Page 216 of The Dryad Storm

Tierney brings her palm to his shoulder, braving the sting of lightning crackling through her palm, a momentous sorrow shivering through the bond between them. Ignoring the hurt, she sends a bolstering wave of water power out to him at the same time that he sends a supporting wave of geopower out to her.

“C’mon,” she says, caressing his shoulder, “let’s get back to work. We have a River to hold.”

Chapter Eleven

Wyvern and Forest Bonded

Elloren Guryev

Zhilaan Forest military base

Yvan’s hand is clasped around mine, our fire power straining toward each other with chaotic force, but unable to connect like it could beforeweconnected.

The sensation has been building throughout the day and into this night, leaving us barely able to focus in on Hizar’drile, who stands with us at the center of the torchlit terrace’s command table, our allies massed before us. A small blue voice amplification rune glows in the air just in front of Hizar’drile’s chin, Vang Troi, Sylvan, and the other Dryads beside him.

“Tomorrow eve, we deploy West,” Hizar’drile charges. “We will have, at most, three days to track down the Verdyllion and wage war on Vogel’s forces before Forest power begins its slide into dormancy and Vogel gains the advantage.”

An uneasy energy gutters through Yvan’s and my fire. As it does through the magical auras of the legion of our Dryad’khin on the terrace and perched all over the surrounding Zhilaan Forest canopy like a sea of Tree’khin, the huge sky portal above us due to be fully charged for passage to the West by this time tomorrow.

Amplification runes from every tradition are suspended above the Zhilaan Forest’s canopy to feed the Forest’s power into our Tree’khin linkage, the runes thrumming with the prismatic might of the Zhilaan’s scattered groves of multicolored deciduous trees.

All my foliage-amplified magic straining toward Yvan.

He sends out a potent lash of fire power toward me, as he has throughout the day, testing our Wyvernbond’s blockage, his aura struggling to embrace me while my fire reflexively reaches for him. As it has every time, our magic slams to an abrupt,sparking halt in the center of our bond, unable to traverse it.

Yvan tenses and huffs out a breath as he meets my gaze sidelong, the two of us exchanging a concerned look.

Because our lack of fire-connection is not our only linkage that’s veering off course.

Throughout the day, the Zhilaan Forest has been whipping elemental energy around our Wyvernbond, as if sounding an alarm while tugging us toward the Forest’s floor.

Vang Troi swipes her stylus, the sharp motion breaking into our disquiet as the voice amplification rune suspended in front of Hizar’drile flies to her.

“With twinned Mages Gwynnifer and Mavrik Glass as our tracking guides to the Verdyllion,” she states, staring our forces down, “we will portal to the continent’s Central Lands, just above where they sense the Verdyllion’s location. Once there, we will break through Vogel’s Shadow net, enter the Sublands, and take hold of the Verdyllion while freeing Wynter Eirllyn and her forces, joining them to ours.”

At the mention of Wynter, an impassioned rush of Ariel’s golden fire streaks through our horde’s bond, Ariel’s eyes glowing sun bright, a look of ferocious determination on her face.

Vang Troi flicks her stylus, and the voice amplification rune streaks to Yvan and me.

I straighten and look out at the sea of Dryad’khin. “Using the Verdyllion,” I roughly state, struggling to focus past my power’s mounting desperation to get to Yvan, “I’ll draw on our combined magic to strike down Vogel’s storm bands, which will likely draw him, the Black Witch, and his forces to us.” I look to Yvan, our eyes meeting in a blaze of frustrated heat before he turns to our Dryad’khin.

“I’ll then face down Fallon Bane, fire to ice,” he says, steel in his tone. “While Elloren and our horde, along with you, our Dryad’khin army, strike down Vogel and take possession of his Shadow Wand.”

Vang Troi swipes the amplification toward Mavrik and Gwynn.

“Once we have both the Shadow Wand and the Verdyllion in hand,” Mavrik says, “Gwynn and I will use our twinned magic to link at least seven Dryad’khin with light power to the Verdyllion, overtake the Shadow Wand’s tether to every bound Mage and Alfsigr, and link the entire tethered West, en masse, to the trees.”

Mavrik, along with all of us, looks to the Dryads at the mention of trees. The voice amplification rune slides to Sylvan.

“Tonight,”Sylvan calmly states, a lethal light in his pine-green eyes, “we will finish charging our weapons, our sky portal, and the storm-shield runes that will surround us when we deploy—runes that will drive back both the Eastern Realm’s weather chaos and Vogel’s Shadow storm bands.” He scans everyone assembled. “Rest well, Dryad’khin. Tomorrow eve we deploy as one united force, fueled by foliage might.”

A wave of thunderous calls of alliance rises from all sides, echoing into the sky at the same moment that a powerfully unsettled current surges through Yvan’s power and I turn to him, shock flashing through me. Because hiseyes... his pupils have lost their vertical Wyvern shape and have snapped into a non-Wyvern roundness.

Vothe, Naga, and our horde mates send us looks of alarm.

As the meeting breaks and everyone disperses to continue runic work, further planning, or to get a few hours of vital sleep, Yvan pulls me aside. His eyes are twin points of violet fire against the evening’s dark, his horns draw in along with his wings, his crimson hair morphing to glamoured brown. “Elloren,” he says as his fire sears against the barrier solidifying between us, “we need to talk.Now.”

We stride into my room, his hand tight around mine, the contact prompting surge after surge of our fire magic toward each other.

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