Page 51 of Creatures of War

“Who?” Philit asked. “The dragons are too distracted with the battle, or do you mean the Fae?”

He made a good point. Philit easily led us through the hallways, working toward the middle of the academy.

“There!” Zilon pointed out the window.

Tanja zoomed by on the captain’s back with a hard expression, her bow and arrow cocked. She let it fly before spinning higher up. We moved to the window, pressing up against it to see where they were going.

“This way,” I said, running further down the hall. “We can only wait for them to land.”

They chased after me. “Be careful, Rayna,” Philit said.

“There’s some balconies this way,” Zilon said.

We ran that way.

“Watch out!” One of the guys grabbed me and yanked me back just as the glass shattered and bodies were tossed through.

I was pushed further behind all three of them as two Fae stood up. They were tall and lanky with glacial blue eyes, and they didn’t seem fazed at all by the fact that they were just shoved through windows. Right before our eyes, even the shallow cuts on their faces closed up.

“Rayna,” one of them hissed. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”

That got the other Fae’s attention.

“Back the fuck off,” Philit warned.

The Fae approached us, uncaring. They didn’t seem affected by the three dragons before them. Their eyes remained on me. It felt like my breath froze in my chest.

My skin grew hot and prickly. I was scared of the Fae coming closer and killing my dragons. I stepped closer, pressing my hands against Philit and Landers’ backs. That hot prickliness filled my fingers, and by the way they stiffened, they’d felt it too.

“Hand her over,” the first Fae said.

Another Fae landed in the hallway through the open window. Three versus three. It looked like it could be even, but the guys weren’t the best fighters, having no time to train, and their wings were still bound.

“No.” Philit’s definitive answer was deadly.

The Fae charged.

Landers and Zilon roared as the three of them surged forward, clashing with the Fae.

My heart jumped back in my throat, and I almost felt like I was going to choke on my fear as I watched them fight. It was clear that compared to these particular Fae, my guys lacked experience. Even Philit was having trouble fighting them.

One of them roared, fire bellowing out in the chaos of the fight. It took me a moment to realize Landers had just breathed fire. It took the Fae a moment to realize it too. The prickliness in my skin built back up, like I was the one about to breathe fire instead of my guys. It gathered in my fingers again. I briefly wondered if this was why Landers just breathed fire despite being in human form, and if I could help them could do it again.

That one feeling sent that heavy tingling through my bond with the dragons, and then all three of them were breathing fire.

Everyone was shocked. Me. The Fae. My guys. It should be impossible. They weren’t even in their dragon forms.

One of the Fae was the fastest in getting over the shock, and went for Landers, tackling him to the ground. But then Landers did his magic again—fire spewing out of his mouth and right into the Fae’s face. The Fae screeched, quickly getting off and away from Landers, as he wiped at his face.

The other two Fae were getting ready to renew their attacks when there was a roar, and the window closest to the Fae shattered. Tanja rolled in, righted herself, and then in quick succession, sent two arrows flying through the air. They hit their marks, getting the two standing Fae right in their eyes. They stood for a long moment, not moving, eyes wide, with their unhurt eyes wide. Then, their heads exploded in bits, and their bodies collapsed.

“Rayna,” Tanja said, running to my side.

There was whooshing wind before Captain Corniz landed in the hallway: big, naked, and absolutely furious.

He looked around and spied the remaining Fae still rubbing at his crispy face. He stalked up to the Fae, grabbed his head, and twisted. There was a crack and then another crack. The Fae fell to the ground, his head rolling only a couple feet away from his body.

“What are you guys doing out here?” Captain Corniz asked, now stalking toward us. It was so hard not to look, and once I did, I had to focus on Tanja standing in front of us.