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It would crush them.

And Elyria could only watch as⁠—

As nothing.

The soldiers fought on.

Beast and man did not collide.

They could not.

Because huge talons had closed around the monster’s flailing body, plucking it out of the air and soaring away with it.

“Gryphons!” shouted one of the soldiers. Gasps and cheers rang out among the men as Elyria, still on her back, looked to the sky.

And indeed, there were gryphons soaring over the field—six of them. The first one sent the abomination it had snatched up into a copse of snow-covered evergreens at the edge of the field, slamming into a trunk so hard that the entire tree shifted at the root.

More miraculous than the sight of the majestic creatures soaring over the field and knocking monster after monster onto their backs, though, was the fact that each one carried a rider.

Elyria knew these riders.

“Quartered hell,” shouted Cedric, wiping Ashrender free of the black blood coating its blade with the tattered red cloak he pulled from one of the cultist-turned-abomination’s bodies. “Is that who I think it is?”

For one stunned heartbeat, Elyria thought her mind was breaking under the strain of the day—that the madness of battle and the sealing of the Chasm and the relentless use of her magic had finally tipped her into hallucination.

But then a fireball hurled over her head, the heat nearly singeing her temple before lighting up one of the monsters before her, still engaged with the trio of embattled soldiers. Raefe’s blond hair peeked out from over the top of a mottled gray gryphon as it landed swiftly, knocking the flaming beast over.

Something bright flashed in the periphery of Elyria’s vision, and she whirled to see a bolt of lightning shoot through the chest of another abomination. The sleek black gryphon Sephone was riding went in one direction, already in pursuit of a third beast, and the fae went in another. Her striped black and gold wings sparkled under light of the aurora-backed sun when she landed next to Elyria with a grim expression.

Sephone extended her arm. “Need a hand?” she asked, then hauled Elyria to her feet.

Elyria darted over to retrieve her staff from where it had fallen. She plunged the end into the ground and braced herself against it, sucking in a deep breath. Stars above, she hadn’t realized how much she needed this momentary reprieve. She would not waste it, especially since it was evident that she and Cedric were the only ones who would get one.

Sephone’s black eyes raked over their surroundings, narrowing on the pockets of combatants still bloodily engaged on the battlefield, and Elyria followed her gaze. Thraigg, Kingsley, Pious, and Ludov had surrounded one particularly feral-looking beast and were brandishing their axes with resounding bellows. Jocelyn was crouched low, offering aid to someone on the ground. Tristan and Ollie fought, back-to-back, with a group of six soldiers halfway down the field.

The remaining gryphons soared overhead, spears of magic raining from their riders as they swooped in to assist those still fighting. Elyria exhaled when she saw one take down one of the multiple beasts Nox was fighting alone. And her relief tripled when she noticed Sid rip through the sky, barreling into an airborne monster and sending it directly into the path of an oncoming gryphon, who made quick work of it.

At least half of Malakar’s monsters had been cut down . . . but so had their own forces. And Elyria couldn’t let herself think about the fact that there were so many unaccounted for. If she started wondering where Kit was, if Zephyr was all right, how Tenny and Shep were faring, she might never recover.

“Fuck, this is a right mess, isn’t it?” Sephone said grimly. Without looking, she sent a bolt of lightning over her shoulder, and a monster’s pained cry filled the air.

“Certainly wouldn’t have minded you getting here earlier,” Elyria replied.

“Rather rude way of saying ‘thanks,’ Your Majesty.”

Despite herself, the edges of Elyria’s lips quirked.

“Thank you,” said a breathless Cedric as he came up beside them. “Stars above, thank you for coming.” He dipped his head briefly before taking off in the direction of where, despite the arrival of their allies, Tristan, Ollie, and the other soldiers were quickly becoming overwhelmed.

“See? Now, he has manners,” Sephone said.

“Fine, I’ll try again.” Elyria couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “Better late than never?”

“I could not agree more.”

It was not Cedric’s voice Elyria heard in her head as talons and paws touched down on the bloodied snow behind her. She already knew who she’d find when she turned.

Aster Tartanis dismounted smoothly from a majestic white gryphon, already drawing his sword from its scabbard as he approached.