Page 6 of World At War

After she breaks away from my brother, her eyes blacken, and she focuses on the gathered forces. Through the dragon bond, she calls all the dragons back to her and motions to the cavern nearby. “We’ll rest here for tonight. Tomorrow we’ll head west towards the mountain range in the distance.” She raises a taloned hand and points at the range she’s talking about.

Half way up the mountainside you can see what looks like buildings and a castle. “I believe what we are looking for is there.” Tia pulls out a small dagger that I remember my father had given her. “I feel the pull from what we lost in that direction. Extinction is high on my list of things to do.” All I can do is nod as the rest of our dragon forces enter the cavern behind Tia. There’s safety in numbers and tonight we sleep as a clutch. I assign sleep rotations to make sure we are safe through the night. My mate, brother, and mother-in-law will sleep first. Tia has opted to wake up early in what should be morning on fourth watch. For now, I’ll watch over my family and keep us safe for as long as I can.

Chapter 5

Tiamat

Morning comes far tooearly and just our luck. A massive army has amassed outside of this very cavern. My mother comes up alongside of me and looks out across the expanse before us. “What do you plan to do?” She rest’s her hand on my shoulder as we study the creatures as they move.

“Nikita and her mother rule the underworld. So summoning Nikita would probably be the best and easiest solution.” Looking over at my mother, she smiles and backs away from the cavern entrance.

I start a small fire on the floor of the cavern and it draws the attention of my mates. “What are you doing, Tia?” Draven looks briefly from the cavern entrance, then at me.

“Calling for reinforcements.” Cutting my hand, I let my blood fall into the fire. “I call upon Death Eternal onkhlorosshe rides. I beseech the pale rider to manifest and wipe the field clean. I offer in sacrifice my blood as payment for this boon.” The fire pulses several times, then dies, but emits no smoke.

“Did it work?” Knox asks as he paces back and forth near the entrance.

“Yes, now we defend this position until Nikita gets here.” I can only hope my sister from another mister isn’t too busy with her nest to assist. I would hate to burn out this far from our target.

A thunderous roar shakes the very earth under our feet, and it feels like we have waited forever for it. It’s the call of a wyrm dragon, but that’s not what I summoned. We race to the mouth of the cavern and the largest skull dragon I have ever seen is laying waste to the dark forces that are threatening us.

Once the majority of the demons and demon spawn are destroyed, the dragon lands and two figures step down. One looks like a white specter with a horse made of bone that rides up beside it. The second doubles in size and mounts a much larger horse and they thunder across the land. The specter raises its hands and the dead begin to rise and follow behind it.

Between the dead and the large man on the red horse, they destroy the rest of the demons on the battlefield. They ride up to the cavern as the dragon lumbers closer to us. I don’t know if we should prepare to fight or run for our lives. It’s now that the skeleton horse vanishes from under its rider and the rider shifts. Nikita stands before me with her mate Michael, as well as the legendary Maelstor Rex.

“You summoned me and I have come. Let’s finish this.” Nikita gets a wicked glimmer in her eye and from here on out I know we will be alright.

I close the distance between us and hug her tightly. We didn’t always get along, but in the last five years, things changed. “I’m so happy you’re here.” Nuzzling her cheeks, I smile looking ather two mates. “Thank you for coming so quickly.” I intertwine my fingers with Nikita’s and lead them into the cavern.

“So, what brought you down here?” Nikita moves and sits on Rex’s lap, with Michael next to her.

“My mate’s father was killed and his head was stolen.” Looking down briefly, I sigh, then glance back up at her. “We believe that when the head is stolen, the soul can’t make it to the astral plane. They basically get trapped here in their body, never to move on.” Rex nods along and kisses Nikita’s cheek.

“Tiamat speaks true of our kinds belief. Humans and angels call it purgatory. It’s a place where souls are trapped, unable to move on to the great beyond.” His voice rumbles and part of me is concerned with having a true wyrm dragon in the cavern.

“So these assmunches have his head somewhere down here?” Nikita tilts her head and then waves her hand. A small portal opens and a sort of demon steps out with a glass filled with what looks like blood. Nikita accepts the glass, then looks back at me.

“I can sense where it is.” I hold up the dagger that was Austins and show it to Nikita.

“Ah, the lost is found locator spell. That’s a great one.” She smiles and sips at her drink.

Michael starts to laugh and hikes his thumb over his shoulder at Nikita. “She uses it all the time. She loses her car keys at least once a week.”

Nikita shakes her head, looking at Michael, and then looks over at my mates. “We’ll find your father’s head and lay him to rest properly. Even if we have to burn this place to the ground.” Nikita and my mom tap their foot to music we can’t hear.

“Seriously?” I glance between the two of them.

“What? It’s an excellent song and fits the situation.” Aurora shrugs and laughs. “Onto serious shit. When are we leaving?” Mom puts her hands on her hips and I feel like I’m in trouble all over again.

Nikita glances over at me, then back to mom. “Now. They don’t know my mates and I are here. The element of surprise is ours.” Standing up, I assemble my troops. As I walk out of the cavern, I see an army of the dead standing tall in perfect rows, awaiting their next command.

“It’s nice to be friends with Death and War.” I playfully bump Nikita’s shoulder as we walk towards her troop.

“You’ve got friends in looooow places…” She makes fun of the song and herself at the same time.

“Where the blood runs hot, and the fear chases the drow away.” I fight the laughter, changing the lyrics as we walk side by side.

“I’m not big on small spaces,” Aurora chimes in. “I’ll slip on down to hell spaces, chasing the drow away.” She smirks, trying to keep the game going.

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