Page 87 of Galadon
His strong heartbeat pounding against his chest was the most reassuring thing she’d ever heard. “Then we’ll do our best to work together no matter what the Kandoran throw at us.”
“Agreed.”
They hurried back to the field, Galadon taking his turn shifting at one of the designated spots. There were three hundred and seventy-seven of them in total. Including Rayna and Conrad, ten slayers had shown up since there’d been time to spread the word to them. Seven human sorcerers volunteered between those who lived at the fortress and Javier, with some of his people. The rest included one hundred and fifty Taugud and two hundred and ten Faegud, the latter being the much larger dragon clan.
Their forces had been divided into four groups. Galadon led the largest group, which would attack from the east, with one hundred fighters total, including Rayna, Conrad, Titan, and Morgan. Aidan led another group that would fly around to attack from the west. Lorcan led a group to hit the Kandoran from the north, and the second in command for the Taugud, Falcon, had the final set of warriors that would come from the south.
Each had sorcerers and slayers among them to ensure they were as versatile as possible since they couldn’t be certainwhat defenses the enemy might have in place. It would be a shock if they didn’t have some magical booby traps.
As soon as Galadon finished shifting, he took Rayna into his arms and leaped skyward. Those assigned to him followed behind them. They would fly a little slower to allow the others to get into place before the battle began. It was a warm day without a cloud in the sky, but Rayna noted the wind blew harder than usual from the west. The dragons had to work extra hard flying into it. Galadon didn’t seem bothered, but he was the largest shifter with an impressive wingspan. They were quiet during their journey, focusing on the battle ahead.
Once they neared her old tower and the Wichita Mountains, she knew they had minutes left. Galadon communicated with the other leaders as they continued flying west at a slow pace, and the rest of the dragons stayed close behind him. They were minimizing their use of telepathy by not speaking on open channels, which was why Rayna wasn’t in the loop.
Two minutes until we reach their marked border,he said into her mind.The others are ready and waiting.
She assumed he passed the word to key group members, but slayers were rarely leaders. They preferred to stick with killing dragons or anything evil. On hunts where she could only find a few Kandoran humans, it still took the edge off and bought her another day or two until she could find a dragon.
One time during the winter, she made it two weeks only killing the two-legged variety of enemies. It was a shock, but she’d once been told by Aidan’s uncle—who was in charge of the castle library—that an ancient text he found mentioned slayers had proven adaptable over the millennia. Their ultimate missionwas to protect innocent humans from whatever creatures intended to harm them.
They passed over the low, rugged mountains toward the somewhat flatter terrain of the Great Plains State Park, with a large lake sparkling in the sunlight. She spotted the massive Kandoran camp set up next to it. Even those infected with evil needed water. To her shock, there were several hundred green dragons and at least a hundred humans, more than her last count weeks ago. She could only assume some of the extras came from the underground tunnels where she couldn’t see them, or maybe they recruited more.
Galadon steadily dropped altitude until they were almost skimming the treetops. At the head of the enemy’s army, she spotted Astaroth standing with several robed sorcerers. All of them had their arms uplifted, and their mouths moved in unison, though she couldn’t make out what they said with the wind howling in her ears.
Galadon headed straight for their former torturer with murderous intent. Rayna began to have a sick feeling in her stomach. Their enemy was letting them get too close, and there had to be a reason. As they reached fifty feet away, she caught a faint shimmer in the air above them.
“It’s a trap!” Rayna yelled, willing him to dodge whatever was coming down on top of them.
Too late.
Right when they were no more than fifteen feet from Astaroth, the shimmer fell over their group. They crashed into an incandescent barrier, with her cheek smacking it sharply. Her head spun with Galadon gripping her tightly as they plummeted together a dozen feet to the ground. He managed to land on hisfeet, bending his knees sharply, but the air left her lungs from his hard grip on her chest. She sucked in deep breaths as soon as he let her go and stumbled a couple of steps away.
All around them, other shifters slammed into the same shimmering wall and fell to the ground. One of the Taugud red dragons spiraled from above them, shrieking, and Galadon yanked Rayna back before the female crushed her. Only the back half of their group managed to stop in time. Thankfully, those holding Conrad and Morgan were at the rear.
All the while, Astaroth smiled broadly, pleased with himself. She studied the magic barrier and noted it was similar to the dome they used for training before the war. The main difference being this one trapped them inside rather than preventing anyone from seeing within it. Galadon lit up in flames, shifting since he couldn’t get more than twenty feet off the ground for the time being anyway. He might as well be ready to fight in human form with a sword.
As their forces regrouped, the sorcerer strolled forward until he stood a few feet from the barrier. “You didn’t think you’d reach me that easily, did you?”
“It was worth a try,” Rayna bit out.
He looked her up and down. “You’re faring far better than when I last saw you. In fact, I’d go so far as to say mating with that beast agrees with you.”
Galadon strode forward, now in human form, and blocked her from the sorcerer’s view. “Don’t talk to her, coward. You only pretend to be brave because you think we can’t reach you.”
She noted Morgan standing thirty feet away at another point in the shield, with his hands up as he studied the magicand murmured something under his breath. He was a sorcerer who’d mastered those sorts of spells. Like a pro, he could erect various types in minutes, and once assisted in constructing a massive barrier against the Kandoran that stretched from the middle of Kansas, through all of Oklahoma, and down to central Texas—hundreds of miles.
Of course, that one took a couple of months to prepare, but he’d been key to their success in raising it. He’d also brought down the shield that kept their rescuers from freeing them a couple of weeks ago. If anyone could dismantle this one, it would be Morgan.
While Galadon argued with Astaroth, distracting him, Rayna searched for Conrad. She found him through a sea of red dragons, staring at something in the distance behind her. There was horror in his gaze.
“What is it?” she asked.
“There.” He pointed toward the Kandoran camp, and she followed his gaze.
The other three parts of their forces had converged on the enemy, but with a quarter cut off, the rest were outnumbered. Not by a huge amount like in the big war, but as the fighting began, it was clear they were at a disadvantage without Galadon’s group. They’d assumed only two hundred dragons were in the camp and hadn’t anticipated the current numbers.
A strange scent burned her nostrils, and she turned to search for the source. “Do you smell that?”
“Yeah, I do,” Conrad said, wrinkling his nose. “It’s like rotten eggs.”
