Page 62 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
“There were six in here,” I replied, glancing back to point out the dead on the other end of the room. “So that makes ten total and accounted for.”
Rayna grabbed the rebel woman and started extracting the dark magic. I took that to mean the slayer still had plenty of energy remaining and hadn’t used that much during the fight. She finished about the same time as Verena did with the other two.
“Conrad, Verena, and Rayna,” I said, pointing at them. “Question these people. I’ll help the shifters go through their things in case there are any other surprises they had planned.”
Everyone nodded, and we got to work.
Chapter 17
Aidan
A shimmering blue lake lay to the west of his position. The soil at its banks was a rust-red color common throughout central Oklahoma, especially in the less inhabited areas. They had selected a training area close to the Shadowan border and the neutral highway between their lands. It would afford easy access for the other toriqan who would be arriving today.
“You’ve done well,” Aidan said, clasping Morgan’s shoulder.
He didn’t have to worry about burning the sorcerer anymore. The young male wore a blue camrium tunic and black pants, which kept his clothing safe from heat and fire, and he’d taken the potion that would render his body fire-proof for a while. With Aidan taking him out so often for meetings with dragons, he wanted him protected as much as possible. Today especially, accidents could happen.
Morgan pointed between two points. “The dome shield extends from there to there, giving us almost a four-mile span.” He gestured at another two places. “And from there to there, which is about three miles. It’s in the shape of an oval. No one can come in or out when it's locked down.”
The land had been cleared of any remaining buildings or man-made obstacles, along with large shrubs and trees that might get in their way. Over the next hour, Aidan expected the eight toriqan who’d sworn oaths to send representatives for training.
The pendragons could come as well, but at the least, they were supposed to send between ten to thirty of their best warriors. Some of those should be flight leaders since they’d need to understand the prescribed battle tactics the most.
They would stay within the protective dome for the next couple of weeks, learning the best fighting techniques and how to work together. Of course, most couldn’t stay for the entire time while also conducting war preparations. They would have others come to replace them as needed. The more who had the chance to train, the better.
Aidan, Morgan, and his chosen warriors had arrived hours ago to inspect the land and finalize the training regime. Though Falcon and Sabryn had many duties, they would be here for the first two days this week and another two days next week.
Ruari and Freya would be the two who’d swap out when they weren’t here. Titan and Eliam—shifters who’d helped Bailey with the rebel problem—would come for three days each week since they were both flight leaders within his legion. Other Taugud shifters would also rotate each day as duties allowed.
For the first few days, it would only be dragons and shifters. After that, Miles and Justin would come with many of their human fighters. Everyone needed to learn how to fight with ground and air forces battling simultaneously. They needed to develop methods to prevent falling dragons fromhitting the allies beneath them. It wouldn’t be easy.
In the final week, sorcerers and slayers would swap out each day to train. Everyone needed to understand their role and how they would interact with others. They couldn’t afford chaos and confusion once the war started, and it had been thousands of years since any battles had been fought where all the races worked together. No one alive had ever done it before.
Their enemy behaved like a hive mind, which was why they succeeded in their territory acquisitions. Aidan hoped to mitigate as many issues as possible to avoid chaos. They needed to work seamlessly and trust others to do their parts.
If they didn’t, they would surely fail.
Hildegard arrived first with her people. Aidan already knew she would only stay for one full day and then come back twice more to gain experience working with humans, slayers, and sorcerers. Like him, she had much work to do at home and couldn’t stay away long. He’d given her and her people permission to fly straight through his territory, so they’d lose as little time as possible to travel.
Aidan was pleased to see Galadon, Lorcan, Callum, Quain, and several others who he’d briefly met from the Faegud. They flocked to the lake to refresh themselves before joining them a short distance outside the training dome.
Once they entered it, no one could see them or what they did in there. He had to be within a few feet to see its slight shimmering translucence. Magic from the outside couldn’t penetrate the shield, and magic cast from within couldn’t leak out. It was the best way to train without the Kandoran spies and seers discovering their strategies. He’d spent a lot of time compiling all the intelligence they had so they could brief everyone who participated on their enemy’s tactics.
He looked at Morgan. “Do you have the training devices ready?”
“Yes, they’re inside the dome.” He gestured toward half a dozen humans resting in a copse of trees nearby. “They’ll help put them on the chosen dragons when you’re ready.”
For the mock battles they’d conduct each day, half the participants would wear special halters with enchanted gems embedded in them. Those would closely simulate the dark magic that emanated from Kandoran forces—human and dragon.
Other than eerie eyes, it would be difficult to tell their side apart from the other, especially at night when most battles would be fought. This would help them get used to using their senses to detect the enemy. It wouldn’t be comfortable for anyone, but it would go a long way in preparing them for what was to come.
As more dragons began to arrive, the time approached to shift into his beast form. Before he did, he worked his way over to his warriors and gestured at Rayna to join him. Bailey had encouraged him to use the slayer more since she had little else to do, especially now that the rebel group had been defeated two days ago and all their plans foiled. He was relieved they’d wrapped up that problem because it could have set them back immensely if they’d succeeded.
Aidan noted Rayna’s horse grazed by the lake, unconcerned by all the dragons around him as he swished his long, black tail. Such an odd animal. Still, he proved useful in transporting the slayer to places that would take longer on foot.
Rayna stopped a few feet from him with an inquisitive look. Aidan had initially resisted using her until Bailey reminded him of the woman’s unique gift for telepathy. Still, he had hisdoubts. “Are you certain you can handle communicating with such a large group?”
“Yes.” She nodded, not appearing the slightest bit nervous at the growing number of dragons. “In a small area like this, it’s not a problem. Distances of more than five miles are where my abilities won’t work well.”
