“Dammit. How is he doing that?” Bess asked.
“We haven’t seen an Archmage in many generations,” Cara noted.
“I could do without seeing him now,” Bess muttered. “And Ash was right about the Derangers too.”
Tyrez scanned the oncoming horde for the Torshins—he had no idea what kind of range Demeti had with those energy blasts. “Get that shield up,” he commanded. The Watchers were busy creating a buffer to protect the Firethrowers, who were standing on one of the ledges.
“Roger that,” Cara replied.
The howls of the Derangers rang across the grasslands. High pitched with a feverish insanity. Tyrez couldn’t stop the involuntary shiver that passed through him.
If it hadn’t been for Ash’s ability, they would never have known that Rindek was targeting this realm. The Archmage’s plan was clear—weaken them with the Derangers, use the Dire packs to overwhelm, and then Rindek would finish them off.
The mountains, and their crystalline power, would have been his.
Tyrez kicked himself for not figuring out this would be Rindek’s next move. The crystals had been seeded across many realms, but the beds here were extensive, and so was the power they wielded. For someone like Rindek, their energy could enable him to sweep across the realms, leaving nothing but devastation in his wake.
In retrospect, they’d been lucky to get a week from the moment the Legion was destroyed. He could only theorize that the Archmage hadn’t quite been prepared for this next move to take full advantage of the Legion’s destruction. It hadn’t given them much time to stage a defense. But thanks to Ash, they had a chance to do so.
Did the Archmage know this mountain was filled with defenders? How much of the Dragon’s plan to curtail Rindek was also known by him? Rindek had his own Seer, but he wasn’t of Ash’s caliber.
As the furred bodies spilled through the gates, Tyrez spoke into his comm device. “Stand ready tier one.”
Kade’s deep voice replied. “You might want to close your eyes.”
Tyrez snorted. The sound was obliterated by explosions echoing across the grasslands, directly beneath the feet of the Derangers. Howls turned to screams as the lead creatures were blown to tiny bits, but those behind them pushed through, oblivious to anything but the target.
They ran directly into the second line of mines, and more died. But the others still came.
The third line wasn’t as effective, as the Derangers were not as structured or numerous now. As the survivors emerged from the smoke, Tyrez snarled.
“Hit them,” he barked into the comm.
Human-form Sabres emerged from openings in the mountain and fired energy missiles into the oncoming horde. They burned through the Derangers, leaving charred bodies in their wake.
The smoke from the explosions blurred the sight lines, but now a seething mass of bobbing heads and panting jaws emerged from it. An endless tide of Dire packs, leaping over the Derangers’ bodies, their eyes focused on the mountains.
They weren’t alone. Scattered among them strode hulking animals that Tyrez had only seen in Ash’s visions. They were huge and heavy, with thickened skin lying in layered plates and three horns on their blocky heads. Straps were attached to thick rings running through their noses.
Human figures straddled their necks—but Tyrez was sure they were likely Dire males. They held something across their chests, and his stomach knotted. The dart guns, loaded with the parasite. Just in case the Dragons decided to join the party.
Seated on raised platforms behind the Dire drivers were women. The alpha females.
Something soared above them, and Tyrez’s eyes widened.
Razir beat him by a breath to an identification of the graceful, swooping forms. “Wyverns.”
They resembled Dragons, but lacked front legs—their forelimbs were their wings, which made them awkward on the ground but wickedly agile in the air. Wyverns were beastoids, not shapeshifters. Known for their tricky tempers and vicious natures, they were fortunately not common and generally didn’t spread far from their native realm. But to Tyrez’s shock, there were two—and they each had a figure perched upon their narrow backs.
Rindek. And the other must be Demeti.
“Can you reach them?” Tyrez demanded of Kade.
“No.” The Sabre snarled. “They’re staying out of range.”
“Shards.” Razir’s teeth kept trying to emerge, slurring his speech. “Give my Dragon three seconds with that bastard.”
Tyrez agreed. It was all he could do to hold back his own beast. He wanted to dive down on Rindek and tear him to shreds.
