“Wait. Forbidden blades?” Holding a hand out, Layla stopped Rikyava. “The fuck? You’re going to practice with Dragon-killing weapons on my men, Rikyava?”
“Chill, Layla. We’ve been practicing with them all week.” Rikyava winked at her now, teasing but not at all apologetic. “Dusk and Fury can each withstand ten strikes per hour now. Pretty baller.”
“Dusk, Fury, why didn’t you tell me?” Astounded that they’d been doing such dangerous combat-training recently, Layla blinked incredulously at her mates as a hot wash of protective anger surged up inside her from her drakaina. As a wave of scorched bourbon-orange scent seethed from her skin, Dusk corralled her around the waist, pulling her away from Adrian. Holding her close, he sent a soothing rumble into her.
“Easy, Layla.” Dusk spoke as he smiled tenderly. “We’re doing fine. And if Hunter Binds any of the Desert Dragon King Lethou Mathii’s Black Spear Dragons against us, we’ll need to know how fast we can recover from poison. Don’t worry, we’re holding back enough that we have strength to heal.”
“I know, just…” Layla protested as she smoothed her hands down his lapels. “I worry about you. All of you.”
“We worry about you, too.” Dusk smiled sweetly as he kissed her lips. “But you’re a ball-busting powerhouse of a drakaina and we’re ovary-busting powerhouses of drakes. You’ve got to let us flex our muscles for battle, Layla.”
“Just as we trust you to do now, too.” Fury spoke up also, pinning her with his bright silver eyes.
Even though she didn’t like it, Fury had a point; and taking a deep breath as Dusk held her, Layla absorbed it. Nothing was assured in this upcoming battle at solstice; and no one’s life was, either. If they were going to fight Hunter, they had to bring it – and Layla knew everyone practicing close to their edge right now would make their Bind stronger when battle came. Still, her drakaina gave another roar of fire through her veins with a scorched bourbon-orange scent, worrying about her drakes fighting with deadly poison. But Hunter and his army of Royal Dragon Binds were deadlier yet; and as her Bound men’s energies smoothed through her with a deep, loving support now, Layla cinched an arm around Dusk, reaching out to clasp Adrian’s hand. As she looked to Adrian and Reginald and then back to Fury and Dusk, she saw a dire knowledge in them all.
That they all had to bring it when Hunter finally came for them – or die trying.
“We’ve got to bring our A-game at solstice, huh?” Layla spoke with a wry smile.
“Good thing we have an A-Team to do it with.” Dusk grinned tenderly down at her.
But even as Layla smiled back, soothed by her drakes, she suddenly felt a massive roar hit her through the Bind. Reeling, her fingers clamped hard upon Adrian as all her men staggered from that roar. And as a vision opened up through them all, Layla saw it was her Royal Storm Dragon Rhennic Erdhelm far away in the Loire Valley who had roared through them. A view of a storm-dark sky suddenly filled them; Rhennic rushing up fast into his massive Royal Storm Drake with another terrible, thundering roar.
As Dragons of all kinds suddenly came flooding out of a black rift in the sky over Château de Chambord, home of the Storm Dragons of Europe.
CHAPTER 2 – STRIKE
Black storm-clouds roiled through the sky over Château de Chambord, as Layla’s entire body flooded with fear at Rhennic’s battle-roar. As lightning careened above the Château in Layla’s vision, a hundred of Rhennic’s Storm Dragons slammed into over three hundred enemy Storm Dragons, Phoenix, and Desert Dragons seething down from the rift. As Layla watched the two sides engage, she felt Rhennic already fighting. Roaring through the air, diving upon enormous spear-tipped wings with their white, red, and blue fractal scales that melded violet, he swiped with massive talons, shedding waves of plasma-lightning from every viciously serrated scale.
Blitzing enemies out of the sky as he battled.
But their opponents were fierce, and Layla felt Rhennic’s roar of frustration as he saw them moving in tightly-controlled strikes, uncanny for such a varied force. Suddenly, she realized as Rhennic did, that these attacking Dragons were operating in a hive-mind – Hunter’s Royal Dragon Binds rather than some conscripted force of regular Dragons. As Layla and Rhennic both realized it, she felt a flash of insight from Adrian; how each Dragon in Hunter’s Bind-army was not just Bound to him, but also to each other. It produced an enormously deadly, unified force as they all fought and roared together, turning on a dime to attack where any one of them saw Rhennic’s forces were weakest.
Devastating the Storm Dragons of France.
As Rhennic watched his top Lightning-Strikers fall, blasted out of the sky by this immensely coordinated and deadly force, Layla suddenly understood how Hunter and his Binds had decimated Wahdi Atlamenta ages ago. As hellfire rained down upon Château de Chambord, exploding white lightning-stone towers and blasting craters in the ground as the summer fields and orchards went up in flames, Layla heard Rhennic scream. She watched as a cadre of thirty Desert Dragon Binds poured white fire down upon theaurumpear orchards, the trees torched and everything roaring as all the nearby fields caught fire. As Dragon after Dragon was blasted from Rhennic’s force, he suddenly found himself battling for his life with only thirty of his best Strikers left. And as Layla and the rest watched with terror far away at the Paris Hotel, paralyzed from shock at Hunter’s insanely brutal attack, Rhennic’s battle was nearly over.
And it had only been minutes.
LAYLA!!She felt Rhennic roar through her mind.I need an exit! NOW!!!
With a gasp, Layla was liberated from paralysis as she realized what Rhennic was asking. Joining hands quickly with Adrian, Dusk, Reginald, and Fury, Layla opened her heart wide – flooding her Bind-power deep into her men. At the same time, she thrust herself into the ether, feeling Adrian do the same; Dusk, Reginald, and Fury following as they pushed their effort to a massive degree. With all her heart, Layla thrust her power down through Rhennic’s Bind, hurling her full understanding of how to make a portal to him – as Adrian thrust into Rhennic the control he’d need and Dusk provided safe grounding. Reginald provided the certainty it could be done and Fury provided power as his massive sea-drake roared through them all.
And then Rhennic seized their power and hurled it – right at a patch of empty black sky.
It split. With a crackling concussion, the storm-black sky ripped open; and Rhennic and his thirty remaining Lightning-Strikers were hurtling through that rift in the ether at full-speed as they fled their losing battle. Layla felt a moment of panic as they hit that rift; she’d not chosen a destination for them. In desperation, all she could think of was the grand main lobby of the Paris Hotel, and that was where the rift’s end suddenly went. A crash and a roaring of Dragons came from down the hall as the rift snapped out.
And the Storm Dragons of France made it through.
They were already running. Layla and the rest were hurtling out of the Hotel Head’s office and racing full-tilt down the hall as she heard a roaring of Dragons reverberate all through the Hotel. It was a roaring of the heart and soul, as they rounded a corner and saw Rhennic and his last Lightning-Strikers shifting down fast to human – healing injuries as they lay in a tangle of scales and flesh all through the grand lobby. Rhennic’s massive Storm drake was draped half-in the Mermaid fountain, and Layla ran to him as Adrian, Dusk, Reginald, Fury, and Rikyava went quickly to a number of Storm Dragons who weren’t moving, beginning to heal them.
Rhennic shifted down quickly; as Layla arrived, she saw a few last lacerations and bruises heal as his human flesh returned, leaving him standing butt-ass naked beside the fountain. But as if he’d not left the battle yet, his Dragon was still high in his veins, white plasma-lightning still roiling in his violet eyes, so furious with rage they were nearly black. Terrible waves of plasma still flooded out into the air around him – and with a gargantuan roar of pain and loss, Rhennic whirled, throwing a fist right into the Mermaid fountain’s basin and cracking it with a horrible report. Plasma-lightning surged through the fountain, exploding it as water plumed up everywhere. Heaving back, Layla cast up a shield of wind to protect herself.
Even as her eyes filled with tears to feel Rhennic’s anguish.
With a shudder, Rhennic’s rage broke as he fell back against the fountain’s ruined basin, burying his face in his hands as water surged out over the lobby. Layla heard him gasp as Reginald moved quickly to him, settling his hands on Rhennic’s shoulders and pouring a smooth oceanic harmony through him. Rhennic didn’t look up as Reginald eased that vibration through his sinews. It wasn’t as good as how Dusk could calm people, but Layla heard Dusk’s Crystal Dragon tones in Reginald’s ministrations.
As Rhennic gradually came to stillness.
