Cassian is halfway to us when the blast shoots through the sky and completely incinerates thousands of soldiers. My friend screams, but I can't hear anything other than the dullest of sounds as the power hollows out my ears. I feel Rhys's power stretch out again as the High Lord's rally, but I'm not expecting it when the Cauldron strikes in the midst of its own troops. The Carver, that strange, inhuman being, is wiped off the earth without a hint of effort.
To their credit, the Illyrian's and the human armies don't break rank while others panic. It's a small relief when Cassian lands and pulls Nesta into his arms. "What is it, what—"
"It's gone quiet again." She breathes and that's a small mercy.
"Get back in line. The soldiers need you there." Rhys commands only for Cassian to bare his teeth.
"What the hell can we do against that?" He asks and my wings extend the same time as Azriel's. We glance at one another and nod.
"Together."
"I'm going in."
"And so am I."
"No." Rhys snaps, but neither of us pays him any heed.
"Chain me to a tree, Rhys," Azriel says softly. "Go ahead. I'll rip it out of the ground and fly with it on my damned back." The men stare at one another even as Az secures the buckles on his body. Violet eyes turn to me as I do the same.
"You gave me authority over them. I won't abandon them." I tell him and roll my shoulders to feel my wings. His mouth opens only for another horn to sound and that weight in my chest becomes heavier. That won't belong to another ally. We have no other allies. We all turn to look and see ships, an entire armada of ships, all with Hybern's flag. Amren swears.
"We might need to run, Rhysand. Before they make landfall." She says despite the fact that I know he will never run. Not so long as people's lives are in danger here. Which means the rest of us won't either.
"Azriel, you lead the remaining Illyrian's on the northern flank." I can see that Rhys hates the command, but my mate only glances at me before shooting up into the sky.
"I'll find you afterward." He tells me and I swallow the emotion that rises in my throat. I know he doesn't mean after the battle but after this life.
"Good luck hunting to whoever's first." I return before Rhys's attention turns to me.
"Go into the Attor's ranks. Slink through their shadows and take out the archers." His eyes slide over the scars on my wings that are stark in the sun while I turn to Shadow in the last second.
"Stay with Elain." Nothing will happen to her. His big amber eyes shine at me and I swallow before I push myself into the air, shooting for the ranks of beasts.
"Stay close to Shadow. Keep them safe." I tell my shadows while I hear the pup cry. I don't turn away when I hear the trumpets, or when I see the other armada of ships along with the white-winged soldiers filling the sky.
"Drakon and Miriam. They're here." Azriel tells me and it takes all I have in me not to cry. A chance. There's the slimmest chance of winning this.
"Then let's show them how it's done." My shadows burst from me, the twin to Bryaxis but airborne, as I shred into the Attor legion in the sky. It's harder to focus than it was on the ground, but I keep to Rhys's instructions. Slipping in and out of shadows as I slice and rip and tear my way through the ranks. I become slightly more careful when those white wings move to my side, but attack with no less savagery. A flickering light catches my eye more than once. The shape of a bird burning through Hybern's armada, but I have no time to spare it a good look.
YOU ARE READING
Shadowsinger
Fanfiction"Perhaps this is death and it's playing a game with me. Maybe that's all death is, reliving the moment it took those that you most loved." Kaira's life ends with her family in the cold snow on the edge of the wall dividing fae and human lands. She's...
