Page 73 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
I would have faced the same thing on D-day if I hadn’t been a born slayer. A green dragon’s fire had scorched my legs in the first hour of their arrival. The lower half of my pants was vaporized, along with my shoes, but my skin had remained perfect. These people weren’t so lucky.
Everyone walked in silence as we passed the horrific ruins that came one after another, but Conrad, Rayna, and I exchanged solemn looks. We were the protectors of humans.Despite that, we hadn’t been here to save this place. While it wasn’t our fault, the sacred duty born within us still mourned that we hadn’t stopped the massacre.
It was noon when we found the headquarters for an artillery unit that hadn’t been totally obliterated. Their NBC room remained untouched. Like the day before, we worked quickly. I took the first watch, figuring I could switch back to Galadon later in the afternoon when patrols would be more likely. Everyone was getting faster at tossing masks into the portal, which was good since Verena didn’t have to hold it open for as long and tax herself. Of course, our batches were also smaller since we weren’t finding as many as we did in the training area.
We’d just finished sending another load of masks from a second intact NBC room when a Kandoran patrol arrived. My heart thundered in my chest as I spotted them in the sky. We didn’t have any cover at this unit, but we had risked it since it wasn’t that late yet. The others were putting the masks in a pile outside the building in anticipation of portaling them.
I ran around the building and waved my arms. Galadon was frowning at the sky, having sensed something, but he couldn’t see anything from his vantage point. Everyone else stopped what they were doing, and we dashed inside, carefully closing the door behind us. I could only hope the Kandoran patrol didn’t fly close. They’d likely notice a giant pile of olive-green mask bags that hadn’t been there before and stop to inspect it.
After half an hour, I crept outside. The skies appeared clear, but to be safe, I found some trees to stand under and watch for a while longer. When no dragons appeared after fifteenminutes, I returned to get the others. We needed to wrap up this round of masks and get them sent to Norman.
It would be the last time before Verena could no longer portal. She was still partially burned out from yesterday, but I estimated we’d gathered at least six thousand since we started. If we included the ones we’d collect from Tinker Air Force base and other locations in the coming days, that would surely be enough for us and any allies who couldn’t get their own. Still, we’d find one more unit on Ft. Sill after this and organize those masks for a final shipment in the morning.
Galadon replaced me as the watch this time.
As the rest of us worked to toss the masks through the portal, I felt a sense of satisfaction that we’d accomplished so much in a short amount of time. The lone shifter could go back and pass the word on how to raid the military bases in Texas within their territory. His clan had managed to recruit many humans down there for the war—far more than us with our smaller land area—and they’d also need protection from any gases the enemy launched.
We moved from cover to cover, often ruins, as we made our way to the final unit, where we’d stop for the day. I hated being out in the open since patrols were difficult to spot until they got close. We were already tired and sweaty as the temperature climbed high again. It was mid-September, so we had a bit longer before cool weather came to Oklahoma.
“Damn, it’s hot,” Conrad said with his hands on his knees after we’d made our latest dash to a large, lonely tree.
Ft. Sill was not known for its thick forests, that was for sure. There were a lot of open areas that didn’t help our cause at all. I gulped the last of my water, rueful that it would be an hourbefore it refilled again. Usually, that wasn’t a problem, but I’d drank a lot today.
Galadon tensed. “Something is coming.”
I turned to look in the same direction as him, not seeing anything over the mostly intact buildings across the street. An eerie quiet had taken over the area, though. No bird or insect sounds like we usually heard—even in Kandoran territory.
“What is it?” I asked in a whisper.
He shook his head. “I can’t see anything clearly, but I sense a large force is on its way, and it’s coming for us.” He glanced at the other shifters. “We need to get into dragon forms before they arrive.”
They didn’t hesitate to step into the open and light up in flames.
I pulled my sword, keeping my gaze on the skies. Chills ran up my spine. I couldn’t sense anything before, but I did now. They were getting closer. It felt much stronger than when a patrol flew by, which barely tweaked my senses. This was bigger…much bigger.
“Shit,” Conrad cursed, pulling his sword. “Over there.”
I turned in the direction he looked and found a large group of green dragons flying from the north. They were so low to the ground that they barely kept from skimming trees and buildings. It’s why we couldn’t spot them until they were close. It disturbed me how well they used tactics to their advantage that I wouldn’t expect from robot-like dragons. The sorcerers pulling their strings were intelligent and ruthless.
As they flew closer, my mouth went dry. More and more Kandoran came into view until I counted over sixty. Even withour group, I didn’t think we could take on that many and survive. There were nearly eight of them for each one of us.
“Dear God,” Verena said, making the sign of the cross with her hand touching her forehead and chest. “I’ll do my best to knock down as many as possible, but I don’t have much power left.”
It occurred to me that I’d never seen her use offensive magic. “What will you do?”
“I don’t have anything flashy like your friends, but I can freeze them in the air so they fall,” she said, taking a position behind me and Conrad.
Rayna moved off to our side about twenty feet. “I’ll bring the first few down with lightning, but I don’t want to risk draining my strength by doing more.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I turned to the shifters who’d just completed their transition to dragon form. “Galadon, you take the lead in the air. Let Rayna know if you need us to do anything specific from the ground, and she’ll let you know if we need anything.”
He dipped his chin and then flared his wings to take off. Freya, Titan, and Eliam joined him, sending a torrent of wind at us as they rose. The lone shifter led them to a spot a hundred feet ahead, twisting his head back to look at Rayna. She frowned as she met his gaze.
A tense silence followed as they undoubtedly communicated telepathically.
Moments later, she grinned. “He’s going to help me.”
“How?” I asked.
