Page 105 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
“Take that one,” I said to Brody, pointing to the one on the right.
I targeted the one on the left, only ten feet from his. Over my head, the shifters surged ahead of us as they moved to attack the remaining Kandoran in the sky. Their orders were for them to go farther to avoid dropping dragons on those of us below. We’d keep inching forward for as long as possible before the battle turned into the inevitable chaos where everyone simply fought to survive.
Meanwhile, half the human soldiers joined us to finish thefallen dragons. The rest stayed back to hold their ground or work to lower the lights and cover them with camrium cloth. That trick wouldn’t work again for a while, but hopefully, we’d get to do it again a few times. It had worked even better than expected to stun the Kandoran.
I fell upon the dragon I’d chosen. Its wings were shredded from gunfire, and one of its eyes had been hit. The creature barely breathed. I could only guess the bullet went through into its brain, and it was slowly dying. Of course, I couldn’t take the chance it might recover. Perhaps the poison had merely kept it down for the moment.
Resting my left boot on its side, I thrust my blade into its body. I sank it deep enough to pierce the heart. The faint gleam in its good eye faded, and the beast let out a final breath.
I looked over to my right. Brody was also pulling a sword from his dragon, having finished it. At least our first kills were easy, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long. He pointed at another dragon fifty feet away.
“Let’s go,” I said, running in that direction.
For the next hour, we moved methodically over the battlefield and took out every Kandoran we could find. Many of the early ones were too injured and stunned to put up much of a fight, but eventually, we reached some that didn’t make it easy. They had either recovered from their initial injuries, or the shifters above had only wounded their wings, so they could still attack but not fly.
Brody and I paused to drink some water from our canteens and wipe the sweat from our faces. Neither of us had sustained severe injuries, only cuts and bruises. I ran my gazeacross the sky, noting we’d knocked down quite a few of the Kandoran, so the shifters weren’t as outnumbered as before.
Aidan was up there, easy to find, ripping through the enemy like they were paper with elongated claws that met little resistance. Most were dead before they hit the ground. I was stunned by how easily he battled with his new strength and powers.
“Check that out,” Brody said, pointing behind me.
I turned to watch as one of the green dragons made it to the place where the shield should be located. There was no way to see the shimmer from so far away in the darkness. The Kandoran struck headfirst into it, and electric sizzles ran over the beast’s body. A moment later, it fell to the ground in a heap. I couldn’t tell if it was dead, but soldiers were stationed back there to finish any enemies who made it that far. They would handle it if it wasn’t.
“Incoming!” someone screamed.
I spun around and looked to the west. All this time, I’d wondered when the human Kandoran army would arrive. The last intelligence I’d heard was that they’d been steadily marching inour direction but farther back than the dragons.
Now they were here—thousands of them running straight at us with knives and swords. I rushed over to Brody and stopped at his side as he gaped at the incoming flood of people. We’d made a point of staying within a mile of our original front line. On this first day, we couldn’t go any farther. Right now, we were close to it, though.
“You ready?” I asked, lifting my sword.
He worked his jaw. “Not really. I prefer fighting dragons.”
“Yeah, me too.”
We took a knee and waited for the infected humans to reach a line of small bike reflectors stuck in the ground that could only be seen from our side. The first of the humans got within ten feet of them as they ran.
“Here we go,” I said, bracing myself.
Two seconds later, explosions ripped through the air, and bodies went flying. Those who didn’t die right away let out unholy screams as bits of them were torn apart. Between the antipersonnel mines from the coalition and the explosives we’d confiscated from the Sooner Mall weeks ago, we had rigged little surprises for the Kandoran army’s first night. All along the line, as far as I could see, they hit our traps. Blasts of fire lit the otherwise dark field. I couldn’t say how many were caught in them, but it thinned the herd. The more, the better.
They kept coming, though. The first ones ran close enough for us to see their faces, and I knew our reprieve had ended. Their clothes were haggard, their skin pale, and their eyes were rimmed in red. These people were much farther gone than the infected people we’d faced in town.
Back to back, we began hacking and slashing away.
Chapter 32
Rayna
Her body hurt, and her head ached from hours of relentless fighting. Rayna enjoyed an intense battle as much as the next person, but this had been a long night. She’d lost count of the number of dragons she’d slayed. It had to be at least twenty, though most were in the first few hours. When the infected humans came, she’d had to shift her focus. They were far more numerous, crafty as hell, and some had surprising fighting skills. Even those who didn’t know how to wield a blade showed more strength than the average person.
Swinging her sword, Rayna cut off the head of a middle-aged woman in a dress who she’d been fighting for the last five minutes. The lady was probably lovely before the Kandoran got a hold of her, but she’d turned into something dark and lethal.
About two-thirds of the humans she fought against weren’t challenging and could be finished in moments. The other third, however, must have had more time to develop their strength and skills before the war started. They were ruthless. Rayna had gashes and cuts from head to toe from battling them, probably a concussion, and her right leg barely held her weight after receiving a hard kick to her knee.
Wiping her blade on the dead woman’s shirt, she turned to look for her slaying partner.
Hugo had been near her not long ago, but now she couldn’t find him. It wasn’t totally surprising. Dead dragons and human bodies wereeverywhere, and it was so dark it was difficult to see. Clouds had moved to cover the sky hours before, blocking the stars and moon and unleashing rain for about half an hour. It had been cleansing at first, but then it got muddy.
