Page 143 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
The largest Kandoran she’d ever seen headed toward her tower. Phoebe readied her spear and prepared to throw it when she caught a flash of green in the back of the dragon’s throat.Oh, shiffit!She threw herself to the ground and crawled down the steps just as large balls of flames blasted over her head in rapid succession.
The heat was unlike anything she’d felt before, coming within inches of her legs.
When they finally stopped coming, she lifted her head and found the top of the tower had been obliterated. Even the floor where she’d stood before was jagged and uneven from the scorching spheres. Nothing would have been left of her or her growing child if she hadn’t made it to the stairs.
Taking a deep breath, she rose to her feet and walked down to the battlements. The dragon was looping around for another pass. They’d have to throw everything they had when it got close if they hoped to stop it. The only problem was that the male had a greater range with those flame balls than they did with their spears.
Just then, she spotted Titan and Eliam slam into the Kandoran from each side. They ripped and tore into the giant beast, so much smaller than their enemy that they almost looked like hatchlings. Phoebe held her breath as she watched them struggle to inflict damage.
The large dragon got his claws into Titan and threw him away, so he went tumbling through the air. Then he turned his head toward Eliam, who was on his back, shredding at the scales there. The Kandoran opened its mouth, and Phoebe screamed for him to run, but they were too far away. With the sounds of battle nearby, he probably couldn’t hear her or know she shouted at him.
A green ball zoomed from the dragon’s mouth and right at the fierce shifter’s head, disintegrating it. Tears filled Phoebe’s eyes as she watched the rest of his body stiffen for a moment and then tumble toward the ground.Dear Zorya, he’d been one of their best.
“Nooo!” she whispered with a hand over her mouth.
Zoran appeared then. He clamped his jaws onto the Kandoran’s neck, close to the head. He was ensuring the enemy couldn’t get him with those flame balls. Then he reached up with his claws and struck one into the back of his opponent’s head, piercing the brain. He didn’t let go until the beast’s body sagged.
For a moment, they started to fall together since he couldn’t hold that much weight aloft, but then he got free a hundred feet before reaching the ground. The Kandoran smashed into a tree, breaking most of the branches on the way down with audible cracks.
As the eastern sky turned hazy pink and orange, the Kandoran finally withdrew, stopping mid-battle and flying away at top speed. Exhausted shifters didn’t try to block their retreat. Phoebe could only guess the enemy wanted an up-close assessment of the fortress and their defenses, which was why they’d fought longer than usual.
She raced across the battlements to the stairs. Once on the ground, she made record time getting out of the fortress and across the open field. A short way beyond it, through scrub brush, broken trees, and numerous bodies, she found Titan. He was still in dragon form and hovering over Eliam’s remains. Sounds of mourning came from his throat as he rested his head on his friend’s torso. It was like his soul had been wrenched apart.
Tears pricked her eyes as her heart broke for the brave friends, together no more.
They’d been born a month apart, and their parents were also close in those early days. All through their youth, they’d hardly been parted and did everything with each other. They’d even taken turns sleeping at each other’s homes. That had continued beyond childhood. They'd stood side by side fornearly two hundred years and remained the best of friends. As each lost a mother or father over time, they still had each other—until now.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, lightly placing her hand on his back. “He fought bravely.”
In fact, he’d helped stop the Kandoran dragon from coming for her again. It tore Phoebe up that she couldn’t have been out there fighting in the open, but she’d had her own task. She had to remind herself that fortress defense was important as well. Not to mention keeping the tiny life inside of her safe. Still, the loss of Eliam broke her heart.
I don’t know how I’ll live without him,Titan said in a mournful tone.
She rubbed at the scales on his back soothingly. “You’ll take it one day at a time. Honor him and live for him. He was a hero who helped keep our home safe. There are still battles to be fought, and he’d want you to keep fighting them, so his death is not in vain.”
Titan lifted his gaze to hers, yellow eyes burning with sorrow and rage.I’m going to kill as many of them as I can.
“Good,” she said.
Freya and Ruari landed next to them. Pain filled their features as well when they looked at Eliam’s headless form. The Taugud had lost over forty so far in this war, but this was the worst because they knew this shifter so well.
We will help him,Freya said, taking a step forward.You have enough to do at the fortress.
She was right. Graves would need to be dug, weapons gathered and cleaned, and she would have to get a count of thewounded and dead. Phoebe was tired, so tired.She prayed this would all be over soon and no more people she cared for would die.
Chapter 45
Bailey
We fought with everything we had, but the Kandoran took down the shield an hour after sunset. Those of us on the ground retreated two miles back to I-35. The enemy caught up to us quickly, even with half the shifter forces diverted there to slow them down.
Near midnight, I found myself, most of the slayers, the ground forces, and half a dozen sorcerers within a mile of the fortress. We were slowly moving as a unit along the Highway 9 corridor and surrounding area. The shifters in the air followed at a slower rate, fighting viciously. Of course, they weren’t outnumbered nearly as much as those of us below. Conrad had already gone to the castle to begin freeing the orb from its numerous physical and mystical protections. Whether the trio of Kandoran sorcerers showed up or not, we were out of time and had to put it into play. At the very least, we’d cure all the infected within a ten-mile radius.
Rayna fought with us tonight, violently swinging her blade as Kandoran humans swarmed our way. For the first hour after sunset, she’d blasted the enemy with lightning using a dark, ominous storm Galadon had created for her. They’d killed hundreds with their combined power, but the oppositioneventually overran us. She’d had no choice except to switch to her sword. The lone shifter let the storm dissipate and focused on physical attacks.
Sweat beaded the slayer’s brow now. She’d expended a lot of energy and weakened herself. Rayna glanced my way before returning her attention to the next approaching enemy. “I think they intend to take the fortress before dawn. There are so many of them that they must have committed most—if not all—of their forces.”
“Agreed,” I yelled, working to be heard over the noise of swords clanging, screams of pain, and squishes of mud where we tromped. She was only ten feet away, but it felt much farther.
