Divided (Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses Crossover)

Chapter 38

"And if it's not a shifter?" Aelin asked. 

Gavriel was the one who answered, "Then we have to hope that your flame burns hotter."

Aelin smiled grimly, pulling up as much magic from her well as she could as she stalked out of the cabin door and began barking orders. 

Aidan felt the attitude on the ship change as soon as Rowan landed and practically ran into the cabin with Aelin. Something was very wrong. Aidan looked out into the distance, trying to discern what could possibly be out there that worried the great Rowan Whitethorn. 

She noticed that once Aelin had gone into her cabin the ship started to sail slower. Looking at the nearest ship, it had slowed down as well. 

Before she had time to process it, her aunt was back on deck barking orders at every crew member she could see. Aidan only heard snippets of it, but one thing caught her attention. Aelin was ordering them to take down the sails. The crew jumped up the ladders, tearing down the green and silver banners that Aidan had come to love. Every single one of them was taken below deck, and the rest of the ships were following suit.

Touching her aunt's arm lightly, she asked, "What's going on? Why are you taking down the sails? Don't we need those?" 

"Adrian's fleet is almost on top of us, and he has a dragon. I'm hoping that taking down the sails will pause him long enough for me to kill it. And if not, hopefully taking them down will save them from being completely destroyed out here," Aelin hurriedly explained.

"Well, what do you want me to do? How can I help?" Aidan asked. 

Aelin pulled on Aidan's hand and led her toward the back of the boat, "Just go to your cabin and stay put. I'll come get you when it's over."

Aidan pulled her hand free, "No. I'm staying here with you. I can help."

Aelin sighed and placed her hands on either side of her niece's hand, looking deep into her eyes.

"Fine. Stay next to me or Azriel though, so we can watch out for you," Aelin said, stopping quickly and pulling a leather bag out of her cabin and pushed it into Aidan's hand. 

"Put this on your back. It has the Mirror in it. I don't want to lose it if things go wrong," Aelin explained, hurrying them both towards the very front of the ship. Crew members continued to move about, and soldiers lined up around the boats rails, waiting. 

The entire armada went quiet when a resounding screech filled the air. Aidan thought that even the sea went still in anticipation of the huge flying beast that came into view in the distance. Unlike Rowan and Azriel's flying, the dragon flew clumsily, as if it were too big for itself to maneuver, and under it, the blood red of Femora's sails popped into existence. 

After the initial shriek of the dragon, the crew and soldiers began moving about doubly fast. Intense fear gripped Aidan's heart when the dragon did not stop as it came closer and closer to their fleet. Aidan knew deep down that Adrian didn't care if they were friend or foe. It didn't matter that they had let down their sigils, he was going to burn every last ship into ashes. 

Aidan waited for Aelin to give the order for her to do something, anything, as the beast flew towards the very end of their armada, but she just peered at it, scrutinizing its every move. It wasn't until it opened its mouth that she finally gave a command. 

"SHIELDS UP NOW! ARCHERS NOCK!" 

Throughout the rest of the fleet, Aidan heard other captains yelling the same thing over and over. Aidan thought the shields would be useless until she realized it wasn't the soldiers that moved into action. Rowan and Aelin were holding hands, directing all of their attention to the magic shield that first surrounded the ship they were on and then expanded onto the neighboring ships. Many of the more powerful magic wielders were lost in concentration. Even a shadowy dark shield was permeating from Lorcan, and Tamlin was mumbling something under his breath, exertion evident on his face.