But I would not cower like a gnat before the jaws of a dragonfly, nay! I would come to my lady’s aid. I would yodel her name to the sky and beg the stars to free her from this terrifying form which had gripped her body.
Orion managed to cover another line of the rebels with air magic, giving them a chance to escape, then he cast ice to try and bind Darcy’s legs, holding her down.
I yelled in encouragement, but Darcy broke through the ice and slammed into a row of rebels, taking them down beneath her paws.
“Oh golly guacamole on a gecko.”
I made it closer and blood splattered my face as Darcy shook a man between her jaws. My dear lady’s eyes swirled with the darkness of the heinous shadow witch who had done this to her and I vowed to save her.
Orion leapt onto Darcy’s back, his hands knotting in her fur as he wrenched her head sideways, forcing her jaws away from the rebels and allowing them a chance to run. But run I did not.
I dug my heels in, my shoulders ramming against the rebels as I fought the tide of bodies which pushed past me, not allowing them to sweep me away with them like a lost coconut to sea.
Darcy shook her head so hard that Orion was thrown off of her, hitting the ground on his back with a crack that told me some vital bone had broken. And as he growled through the pain of it, I saw he was unable to move, his sword lost to the dirt of the battlefield as his Elysian Mate stepped forward to deliver the killing blow.
A gasp lodged in my throat and I jammed my elbows into the rebels around me, forcing them aside, breaking through their ranks like a pea bursting from its pod and at once I was running again, my flail held a aloft as I waved it and screamed loud enough for the sun to hear me where it slept beyond the horizon.
Darcy lifted her head, turning her eyes on me instead of Orion and I kept running towards them, my flail still waving but with no intention of hurting my lady. I was caught within confliction as she bared her fangs at me, and I saw my death shining at me like two pebbled diamonds in her eyes.
“You shall not harm your Orry man!” I wailed, diving forward, my feet leaving the ground as I spun in a somersault, head over heel before landing on Orion and healing him with all I had to give.
He grunted as the snapped discs of his spine fused back together and our eyes met a moment before sharp claws pierced my armour like a hot knife cutting through butter, digging deep into my shoulder and throwing me off of him.
I sailed through the air, losing my grip on my flail, time seeming to slow as the hot gush of blood rolled down my back and the sky and the earth merged together as one.
I scented a river of death upon my flesh and wondered if my time was near as I hit the ground, rolling down a muddy bank, a sea of blood and mud flying up around me as the wind was forced from my lungs.
Perhaps Mama was close, waiting to offer me her hand and guide me into the stars. But I would not go quietly, I would fight until there was no more fight in my bones. I would battle on like the brave warriors of old and stand as unwaveringly as a mountain before the moon this very night.
I lifted my head, trying to get up and the most tremendous boom sounded as Angelica hit the ground before me in her giant red Dragon form. She roared as Mildred’s huge brown Dragon landed atop her, the ugly beast ripping into her throat with sharpened tooth and bloody claw, and my dear Angelica’s roars extinguished in her throat, her final breath rolling over my cheeks as she died and that foul Mildred tore her head from her shoulders, bellowing her victory before taking off into the sky.
Anguish, grief and utter devastation tangled inside me as I forced myself to my feet, and healed myself, spotting Orion taking chase after Darcy on the battlefield, his shirt half torn off and soaked in blood.
Tears ran down my cheeks as I stared at my dear friend Angelica with a sob in my throat like a frog on a lily pad.
“Sweet, darling Angelica!” I wailed, my tears coming hot and fast as I looked to the sky, my gaze narrowing on Mildred as I branded her with a curse of my own making. “You shall die by my hand, and you shall suffer before I send you into the nether world screaming and burning from the inside out! Hear me this day! I shall avenge my ally who was stout of heart and held more worth in her toenail than you shall ever possess!”
“W hat do we do now?” I growled, desperate to charge out there and grab my family, and my friends’ families too. And where the hell were the rest of our families? Were they in this house? Because I sure as shit didn’t know where to start looking for them if they were, and the idea that maybe they’d been disposable, that maybe Lionel had gotten rid of them kept swelling in my mind and making me want to charge into battle without thought. But I had to keep my head. I had to force down my emotions into that dark pit inside me and do what I did best. Pretend I was a fucking cold hearted, blood thirsty asshole who could take anything in his stride without flinching. So that was what I was gonna do.