“Kill him!” Deux yells.
Lirin cries out. “Run!”
I refuse to move. I simply shift closer, twining my tail around his, dragging us so close we’d be touching if our weapons weren’t between us.
Ronit grabs me and drags me back while Brio takes the blow that was supposed to fall on my dragon.
“Brio!” I fight to get free, but I can’t get free of Ronit. “No!” I snarl and fight my alpha, but he’s suddenly swimming upwards, ignoring the others. “Ronit, no! Go back. Please. Go back.”
He ignores me.
I wrap my tail around him, ignoring the spines that stab into my tail, fighting to still his movements, while I slide my hands up his chest until I cup his face.
“Look at me,” I whisper.
Ronit snarls.
“Ronit, please. Just look at me for a moment.”
I feel him soften, and his movements still.
“I’m not leaving you like this. Let me help. We can do this together.”
“You can’t. You need to leave,” he rasps out, and his voice is…ruined.
“Ronit,” I whisper, reaching up and touching his throat, where I find massive scars. “What did he do to you?”
For a moment, his head leans forward, pressing against mine. An intimate moment, a pain and a grief that goes as deep as our souls and then further still.
No. He’s given up, they all have.
Not happening. I’m not losing them.
I pull away first, using all my skills to break free. I stream as fast as I can back towards the bottom, a fire burning inside me.
Leviathan screams, and I see him fall, all teal that splutters and almost goes out.
Brio slams into Canto, and they struggle, breaking rock, smashing the seabed, two Goliaths refusing to give in, fighting a losing battle. The outlines of them leave teal stars in the ocean around them.
I grab Leaf’s face and stroke my hand along his serpentine head.
“Change shape,” I choke out. My head is buzzing, and my fingers tremble. Was I too late?
His eyes open in my mind, exhausted, full of pain.
“Change!” I command. I sketch a rune on his muzzle, and he screams as he’s forced into the shape of a man.
I turn, ripping open the world again.
“KIT!”
The cat comes running, easily passing through the water cascading into the human world. I slam it shut the instant he’s in here.
Kit’s shape grows and then explodes, and a giant tentacled creature takes Leviathan’s spot. Buying us time that I need to save him.
I hold my unconscious Leviathan and swim backward with him.
“Attack!” Deux screams.
