Page 144 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
Aidan’s beast voice filled my head.According to your commander, the enemy is moving all their forces to encircle us. Within the hour, most of them will be within reach. It is time to prepare ourselves.
It appeared my slayer friend was right. I looked up and spotted Aidan heading my way.
“Rayna,” I called while beheading an infected human and finding another foe behind him, ready to take his place. The bastards never stopped coming.
She gutted the one in front of her. “What?”
“I’m heading to the fortress. We’re going to need you and all our best fighters there as well,” I said while avoiding a Kandoran blade slashing at my head. I deflected it and kicked the large man. He fell to the ground, and I stabbed him in the chest. That slowed him down a bit.
She finished her next opponent. “I’m going to need a ride. Onyx is locked down in the tunnels to keep him safe.”
Of course, he’d escaped several times and joined the battles. While the horse killed his fair share of enemies, he also got injured, and tonight’s battle was not the place to test his limits.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Aidan swooped down and picked me up, narrowly avoiding several Kandoran racing to slash at him with their swords and daggers. He’d moved so fast they didn’t get a chance.
“Rayna needs a lift,” I said.
Titan is following behind me. He’ll grab her.
Everyone who joined us at the fortress would get a brief break from fighting so they could recharge before things grew ugly again. It was why we pulled them back now. At this point, nearly every dragon, shifter, slayer, sorcerer, and soldier we had remaining in our alliance was one to two miles from the fortress.
As Aidan took me higher, I could see the heated battle being waged in every direction, with only the east being somewhat less chaotic, but Kandoran forces were working their way over there, too. I only wondered where the three sorcerers were hiding.
We’d closed our ranks, but could we hold them off long enough for the trio to appear?
Aidan set me down on the landing pad closest to the fortress gate. Danae and Phoebe were already there, standing with Kade and Xanath. I spotted Conrad running in our direction across the cobblestone path inside the keep. He had a grim expression and held a small, dark bag. Only one thing could be inside.
“Where do we do this?” I asked.
Aidan pointed at a ruined tower on the southwest side of the fortress. “That’s the highest open point. It should extend the orb’s range, so we catch more of the enemy.”
“And once you close the gates, none of the Kandoran humans will be able to reach us, so we only have dragons trying to attack us,” I surmised.
He nodded. “They won’t bar entry until we have more humans to man the walls, but that is the idea. The fewer enemies who can get to us, the better.”
I spotted movement in the northwest tower. “Is that Colonel Melvin up there?”
“It is.” Aidan looked in that direction. “He wanted a safe vantage point for the battle since he’ll be helping to direct our defenses while Phoebe is occupied.”
I knew the coalition had already relocated all its vehicles and equipment to Tinker Air Force Base, which had a special guard of dragons, sorcerers, and humans around it.The Kandoran had shown no interest in infiltrating the city's southeast side yet, so it was safe for now.
Conrad finally reached us. “Ya’ll ready?”
“Potty break first,” I said, having had no chance in hours and who knew when we would again.
Phoebe rubbed her stomach. “Yes. Good idea.”
We went to the nearest shop that had a public water closet. It wasn’t anything fancy, but Phoebe and I took turns in there. Conrad and the others decided to take advantage and relieved themselves as well. For the past month, we rarely got to use a flushable toilet.
During that time, we also fueled up with some cheesy rolls Aidan had sent out to us. Anything to help us keep up our energy because our next step wasn’t going to be easy. I only felt bad we got a brief break while others fought for their lives out there.
I wiped my lips after the last bite. “Are we ready?”
Everyone nodded.
“Let’s go,” Aidan said.
