RAVENNA ONCE AGAIN found herself clinging desperately to Caelan's massive, scaly dragon-neck. The wind nipped sharply at her cheeks and forehead. Her hair whipped wildly around her head. She grumpily pressed her cheek against his neck and kept her gaze focused downward.
It was near impossible to not look down, to not watch as the interior of the city drifted out of her field of vision — replaced by a sea of ice blue and crimson red.
"There are so many," Ravenna whispered, mostly to herself.
She knew that there would be a lot of cloned ice soldiers waiting outside the walls of Zeporia. Yet the tiny dots that had appeared on Caelan's map did little to genuinely prepare her for the reality of what awaited them on the ground. She was a little surprised to see that Vyses's army was entirely crimson colored. Part of her had expected the clones of her ice soldiers to remain icy blue, as it would have been much harder for her and Caelan to tell them apart.
Coloring the clones a bright crimson color was simply a poor move on Vyses's part. One that leveled the field more to their advantage.
"We can do this!" Caelan's words almost vanished within the chaotic sounds of intense battle. "Are you ready?"
Ravenna sucked in a deep breath.
Then she jumped upward. Caelan's dragon form vanished from beneath her and she plummeted toward the ground. Her hands moved fast. A massive wave of ice rose upward into the air. It caught her and brought her to the ground. The moment her feet hit the earth, the wave of ice exploded around her. Jagged shards of ice shot outward, zipping through the air and eliminating a fourth of the soldiers that immediately surrounded her.
She looked upward, instantly locating Caelan. Ravenna attempted to remain hypervigilant of Caelan as she started to fight. She did want to get too far separated from him — nor did she want to accidentally hit him with any magic.
He swooped in overhead and crushed a cluster of crimson soldiers beneath his massive dragon-body as he landed.
As he fought, Caelan switched between his dragon and humanoid form effortlessly. At one glance, he appeared as a human — slashing his way through the crimson colored ice-soldiers with a glowing white longsword. Another glance, and he stood tall as a dragon, an endless stream of fiery ice spewing from his mouth.
It was an impressive sight to behold.
Yet Ravenna did not have much time to marvel at him like she wanted.
A crimson colored soldier lunged at her. She lifted her arms to protect her face. A wall of ice burst from the ground, growing upward and blocking the soldier's melee attack. Before she could even lower her arms, another soldier swung its sword at her head from behind. She dropped to the ground and kicked out. The soldier hit the ground hard, cracks forming across its torso and armored head.
Her hands moved quickly — the base of her palms pressed together and a sphere of ice formed within her cupped hands. The ice shot outward and shattered the remnants of the soldier.
"Alright," she muttered under her breath and sat upward. Annoyance flooded through her. "I've had enough of this."
She crossed her legs and closed her eyes. A sphere of ice encircled her, acting as a protective shield. Crimson colored soldiers clustered around her. Their swords and maces rained down upon the icy shield. Any crack quickly smoothed over.
It took all of her strength to focus. To mentally slow the world around her and take note of everything that was happening.
Ice danced across her knuckles. Her eyes opened.
A sea of daggers burst from the protective shield. Each one zipped through the air, tearing through the red, humanoid shaped bodies that surrounded her. The red soldiers exploded — jagged pieces of red ice falling to the earth and melting away.
She summoned a few more daggers. Each hovered around her head within the air, waiting to lash out and strike at any crimson soldier that approached. Her hands glowed bright with icy magic. Any soldier that made it through her sea of daggers got blasted with a beam of magic. When the sun centered itself within the sky above, Ravenna and Caelan were able to slow down. The crimson soldiers had dwindled down to a more manageable number — more and more outmatched by Ravenna's ice soldiers.
Caelan soon appeared at Ravenna's side. She lashed out at a crimson soldier that lunged at her and then turned toward him. "Are you alright?" she asked him.
He smiled at her warmly. "You are doing well, Ravenna," he said.
The mere words caused her heart to skip a beat. She hesitated and two crimson soldiers launched themselves at her. Caelan darted in front of her, swinging out with his glowing sword.
"As I was flying, I spotted a small encampment a bit further north," he said. The two crimson soldiers shattered and melted away. He turned toward her completely. "I think that we have done enough damage here. We should be able to leave the rest of the soldiers to our own ice soldiers."
Ravenna nodded. "Do you think that is where we might find Vyses?" she asked him.
"If he is here," Caelan answered.
The duo abandoned the remaining crimson soldiers to the skilled swords of their own ice soldiers. Both darted through the forest, heading to the north. Ravenna maintained her cloud of daggers — striking any crimson soldier that managed to get too close to them.
A small series of leafy green tents soon appeared, partially concealed within the forest. Caelan grabbed Ravenna's wrist and jumped upward. One of the nearby trees bent downward, its branches glowing a bright white color. It grabbed them midair. The magic glow faded and the tree straightened.
Caelan crouched down closer to the branch beneath them. The tree's leaves glowed faintly once more, and rearranged themselves to create a natural barrier — allowing them to remain hidden from sight.
Ravenna peered through the leaves, her gaze scanning over the small encampment. She wasn't sure what to expect. Vyses? Lyth? Maybe a few hundred more crimson soldiers?
"Oh no," she heard Caelan mutter under his breath.
She squinted and looked closer.
There was movement between the tents — a frenzied, nervous motion that was uncharacteristic for the crimson ice soldiers. It displayed a sense of emotion and awkwardness that the magic soldiers tended to lack. The movement was almost...human.
Ravenna gasped. "Are those humans down there?"
Caelan's expression darkened. "Something is not right," he said.
Her stomach twisted into knots. A few humans ran from tent to tent, rolled scrolls and heavy swords grasped tightly within their hands. Each one wore a set of clunky royal armor. Several appeared to stand guard, protecting the tents and vigilantly watching the forest for any intruders.
Even the humans that stood still, clutching their swords tight, appeared to tremble with fear. The humans moved strangely — almost as if they were unused to wearing such heavy armor and wielding weapons.
"Look at their eyes," Caelan instructed.
Ravenna did as she was told. A human ran just close enough to their hiding spot that she was able to focus on its eyes, which glowed with a faint crimson red magic.
"These must be humans from neighboring towns. It appears that they have been spelled. They might not be in control of their own bodies."
"We will have to do our best not to hurt them," Ravenna said. She frowned down at the encampment, watching as the humans rushed to ready themselves for battle. "Do you think that they will know where to find Vyses?" she asked.
He glanced at her and flashed a sly little smile. "There is only one way to find out," he said.