Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Horses stamp and paw. I feel my men bursting at the verges of their human disguises. They do not burst free because I have not given the order, but they want to.
I have not seen a human kill one of our kind in many hundreds of years. It is a shock to remember it can happen. And it is an even greater horror to remember that I have brought my mate with me. She is deeply vulnerable. I grab her from her horse and I put her on my mount, behind me, handling her like a scrappy little kitten.
“Don’t move,” I growl. “This is real danger.”
“What the fuck, Leroy!” someone shouts from the crowd. “What the fuck did you do that for?”
“We’re here to kill them, aren’t we?” A young man with long hair, glasses in the shape of cats, and a t-shirt that says BALLS on it speaks up. One of our proudest warriors has been erased by this greasy excuse for a human.
“They didn’t do anything!”
“They were coming straight for us!”
As the humans bicker over the actions of their most stupid and impulsive member, I make a decision. If I burn these people, I have to destroy each and every one of them, including the ones who did not attack. If I take my dragon form, and if anyone present takes theirs, then they will have to kill every single one of these people.
I cannot save my fallen soldier, but I can prevent further losses.
My voice booms over the humans, containing the force of my dragon lungs. It is much louder than they expect to be, and I see their eyes go wide as they hear me in their fetid little souls.
“I will give you thirty seconds to go back through those doors. Anybody who remains thereafter will be destroyed.”
“Shit!”
In spite of the death, which is a tragedy I will not ever be able to erase, the mood is not as hostile as one might think. None of these people know what they are doing, and a great many of them look entirely horrified about what they just saw.
“Go. Now.”
My follow-up causes a mass exodus. Once a few of them start running, more than two thirds of them press for the exit. There’s a sense of panic that increases as we move forward, slowly pressing our mounted advantage.
But there are those who do not move. Mostly younger men, a few women. They are the ones who will burn.
“Last chance!”
A few more stragglers make a panicked break for it, leaving behind those who came here to fight, including Mr. Balls himself, who will surely pay for his sins with his life.
I snap the portals closed with a wave of my hand. They are not proper gates. They are flimsy. Weak. Dangerous. And now they are gone.
“Unleash.”
I give the order and all hell breaks loose. My warriors leap from their mounts and transform, taking their dragon forms. The plain is filled with fleeing humans who are now running for their lives before flaming gluts. I leave them to their task. I have a different job to do.
I remain back to pick up our fallen brother, to cradle him in my arms, and to carry him back to the keep on foot while leading Melissa riding my horse. The other horses follow us. The air is solemn. Melissa is uncharacteristically quiet.
CHAPTER 16
Ornix
I place our brother in the crypt, where he will be tended to by the priests. I bow my head over his body and utter a silent prayer for his soul, along with an apology for what he suffered. No dragon should be dead today.
Melissa is up in our room. She did not have to be told to go there, and I hope I will not have to address any discipline issues with her anytime soon.
I go to the dungeons, and find the cause of the problem.
Equinox.
Always Equinox.
He is lounging in his cell as if he finds it comfortable, smirking even before I open my mouth. He clearly knows what happened, and believes he has won some victory.
“Portals opened up across the plains today, and humans poured through into our realm. I think you know why.”
He snorts with smug laughter, the sound of an idiot child who thinks he has bested his betters because he has no sense of consequence. I have failed this creature.
“You should know Erastos has been killed by the human invasion.”
A brief expression of pain passes over Nox’s face. Of course he never considered that there would be losses that did not include me. He thinks that there is a world in which only he and I exist, locked in a battle of wills with no collateral damage. This is the thinking of a petulant child.
“That is too bad,” he says. “But unfortunately, Uncle, the deadline passed.”