I turned to Orion, trying to keep calm as more screams sounded out in the tunnels. “Get our armour and weapons,” I directed. “We’ll head for the exit to stop them and block their way in. Meet us there.”
He nodded before shooting away out of sight into the passage and I turned to Gabriel, his eyes moving back and forth as he hunted the stars for answers. But when he came back to us, his features were grave.
“I couldn’t see them coming,” he cursed. “And now I see so much death, I cannot bear it.”
“Is Lionel here?” Tory demanded, a growl to her voice.
Her answer came in a bellowing roar from the surface and every Fae in the room looked up, before a swarm of them came running towards us.
“My Queens, what do we do?” one of them called, while others cried out for more direction.
I shared a look with Tory, unsure if I was truly ready to lead an army into battle, but it didn’t look like we were going to get a choice in the matter. And if Lionel was here, then a fight was coming, and we had to do our best to lead it.
“Hamish!” I cried and he burst out of the crowd. “Arm the rebels. Get the blades we imbued with our fire and make sure everyone has one.”
“Yes, my lady.” He ran back off into the crowd, drawing a group of people around him to help, including Washer and some of the Oscuras.
“We have to stop the Nymphs from getting in here,” Tory called.
“Follow Tory and I to destroy our enemies!” I yelled and a cheer of ascension went up that rattled the roof.
“I’ll follow you shortly.” Gabriel ran over to his family, speaking with them urgently and my heart squeezed with dread as my gaze fell on my little nephew. A snarl spilled from my throat. I would not let any harm come to him today.
Tory and I let our wings burst free of our backs, the dresses we wore allowing for them to spread wide either side of us. We took off above the rebels, swooping through the door and calling out for our people to follow.
Mothers pushed through the rebels with their children, trying to get them out of the way as Dante, Leon and Rosalie Oscura worked together with the earth Elementals to deepen the new tunnel in the back wall and usher all of the families through it.
A surge of bloodthirsty eyes looked up at us as the Fae who wanted to fight spilled out into the passage beyond the dining hall and we led them away from the vulnerable, hurrying towards our enemies to stop them.
As we flew through the winding tunnels, rage burned along my veins and fire spun within me like an inferno. This place had become a home to us, somewhere full of light and laughter and love. And I was not going to see it fall.
We flew over Hamish and Washer as they handed out swords to the front line, arming our people as we raced on and anyone who had a blade in their grip followed.
I pressed two fingers to my throat, casting an amplifying spell so my voice rang back to the rebels, glad Orion had taught me how to do it properly. “Lionel may have found us, but what he doesn’t know is that he’s standing on a nest of wild creatures! We are a family forged in the dirt, ready to fight with everything we have for the people we love, for the freedoms he stole from us! So let him hear us coming, let us roar like the beasts we are when we’re together! And let him fear the trembling at his feet, for he has awoken us, and we are ready to fight with tooth and claw!”
The rebels roared in response, the sound filling up the corridors just as we rounded another passage and a line of Nymphs descended on us.
Tory grabbed my hand and our Phoenixes collided, a burst of blooming fire tearing out of us and slamming into the first wave of Nymphs. We took two down with the blast and the rebels pressed forward, swinging their blades as Phoenix fire ignited along the metal and slashed through the Nymphs.
The horrifying sound of Nymphs rattles carried through the air, locking down my magic and the magic of anyone close to them, making me growl a curse.
Tory and I blasted Nymphs with our power as we continued to fly, pressing on toward the farmhouse, desperately needing to seal the entrance to The Burrows as fast as we could.
Our Order powers rushed together once more and the Phoenix bird burst from us, my heart thundering up into my throat as I watched it sail away, colliding with one Nymph then the next, taking them down as they were turned to ash that scattered over the crowd who swarmed chaotically below us.
“We have to destroy Lionel,” Tory snarled.
“Let’s get to the surface,” I said in agreement and we flapped our wings, moving faster through the passages. The cry of battle went up all around us, the glint of fury in the eyes of our people below us, their courage bolstering my own as the two of us swooped along above the masses.