Page 73 of Magic Hunted
I ignored his goading. He was only trying to wear us down. Shanyirra’s white magic flowed over the dome, circling our hands. I willed my magic forth. Green light danced from my fingers, filling the cracks on the surface.
“How..?” Titan’s mouth dropped as shock played across his features before reforming into steely determination. “One elf has already given his life. I’m happy to take more.”
Balls of blue magic crackled to life in the palms of his hands, his magic more brilliant than I’d ever seen it. Sparks spun from the balls, showering to the ground. His mouth spread into the grimace he always wore before he did his worst. My mouth went dry as every muscle in my body tensed.
He drew back his hands, ready to launch the bolts of magic, but before he threw them, they blazed out. He staggered, legs shaking. The whirlwind surrounding him disappeared as shock registered on his features.
His gaze fell on me, dark and unreadable. His features scrunched in rage as he heaved in breaths. “This is not over.”
He crossed his hands over his chest. A halo of blue magic encased him. His body faded and in a second he was gone.
Silence, thick and uneasy, surrounded me. Even the birds had stopped chirping. The warbugs didn’t move an inch. I looked upwards at the dome. It might be fractured, but it still stood glimmering in the sunshine above.
“Where is he?” Serafine said.
“He’s…gone. Retreated,” Shanyirra said, confused.
That didn’t make any sense. He was on the verge of shattering the dome. A few more strikes would be all that was needed. The only thing that would take him off this task was another, more important issue and there was only one thing that Titan did year after year. “What’s the date?” I whispered through a tight throat.
Alerick told me. Time had held no meaning underground without the sun rising and falling to track time, but more days had passed than I’d thought. My pulse pounded in my throat as I looked up at my mates. “They’re going to Conclave. It’s the only reason he’d stop. He has to meet with the other three to refresh his magic at an exact time. They all do.”
Alerick’s face was set in harsh lines, as were all the alphas, both wolves and dragons.
“They’ll be at their weakest. It’s our one chance to end them,” I said.
“But we don’t know where they’re going to Conclave,” Alerick said.
“I know.” I remembered Titan’s desk the day he’d tortured me and threw me out of his castle. There’d been a map spread on his desk. I’d noted it because that’s what I did. I noticed everything, even the most trivial of things. They may mean nothing at the time, but always had the chance to be the most important at the right time. Titan had trained me well. “There’s a cave. Distinctive because the rock formation around the opening looks like a lion’s mane with a wide-open jaw,” I said.
“That’s a cave in the Wastelands,” Taredd said. “There was a rockfall and the way the rubble fell resembles your feline predator.”
That must be it. My blood ran cold when I remembered the sun marking the time of day. The Six planned their Conclave down to the second. They had to. It was the one time when they could actually die. When they had no protection from the magic that rendered them impossible to kill every other second of the year. The sun was dropping into the horizon signaling the ending of the day.
“They’re going to Conclave at sunset,” I said. We had hours at most.
If we didn’t have the right cave, sunset would mean nothing. The Six’s magic would be renewed and who knew how it would reabsorb into them, now that Esoti and Drisella were dead, making the rest more powerful than they already were.
“We’ll make it if we leave now. Our warbugs will dig a path and lead the way. It will be the fastest way there,” Taredd said.
“We’ll ride our draugrs and I’ll call our dragon contingent,” Naet, the imposing dark-skinned dragon, growled.
“I’ll ready our troops and we’ll go as wolves,” Alerick said.
“There is no time to alert our panthers, but my bond brothers and I will go in our animal forms,” Ashir said.
I stepped past Ashir to Serafine and Anise, feeling the magic flow in my veins reacting to theirs. “I don’t know what we’ll find or what to expect, but this falls to us. It would be better if we had all six of us, but we don’t. We have to do what we can. This opportunity won’t come up again.”
Serafine’s lips twisted and her face hardened. “I don’t know about you, but I have a personal score to settle. Magic or not, if it comes down to it, I have my wolf’s claws and teeth.”
“And I have fire ready to breathe and incinerate them to all corners of the seven hells.” Flames danced in Anise’s eyes and her words were more promise than threat.
I was glad these two females had been Chosen alongside me. The elves may have inadvertently made my life a living hell, but we were strong, I had to give them that. I gave Serafine and Anise a short nod. “It’s personal for me too. Let’s stop these fuckers before they destroy the world.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“I know the way. The warbugs will make a tunnel to lead you. It’ll be quicker than following us overland,” Taredd said.
“Let me open the dome to let you through,” Serafine said.
