His wings went from long, slow flaps to thrumming in a certain pitch. I sent a pulse of power up to ride the sound, carrying it way out, and added a distinctive flare that essentially meant push northeast. The goal was for the gargoyles to commit my various directives to muscle memory, so I could silently give orders during a battle.
When the gargoyles stopped, I noted their location. Northeast. Good. The next group followed their directive too. On and on we went, my surroundings falling away as I worked the connections. I could do this. I could create Kingsley an invisible （presuming we had enough potion）， silent patrol.
“Okay.” I opened my eyes to find a ring of basajaunak closing me in. Nessa still sat beside me, somewhat placidly, and Isabelle was nowhere to be found. I asked after her.
“Oh, well, a dude sauntered up to her, all bravado, just as the basajaunak were closing in. I guess the guy didn’t see them, because he said something that wasn’t very nice. Then he flew over the crowd in a very impressive display of acrobatics. Dave likes Isabelle. He showed it by grabbing the guy by the head and flinging him.”
“By the head?” I gasped. I hadn’t heard any of that. I’d had no idea my concentration could get so ironclad when I was working on the connections. That would probably be a bad thing in battle.
Nessa grimaced for my benefit. “Yeah. It probably didn’t work out too well for that guy. But in all fairness, he started it. So anyway, after that, the onlookers decided that they had somewhere else to be.”
“Crap,” I said, pushing up to standing. “I need to be able to do that connection thing and pay attention to my surroundings. Kingsley is going to lose his mind when he hears about this.”
“Okay, but mention the guy starting it. I saw the whole thing. I was right here.”
“Dave, please don’t kill people,” I said as I squeezed between Her and Him. Hopefully soon they’d all decide they needed secret nicknames like Phil. Or just join our team and get non-secret nicknames. “We’re supposed to just maim.”
“Sure thing, Jessie,” he replied from the other side of the circle. “I have learned my lesson.”
I turned to quirk an eyebrow at him, but then decided to let it go for now. I’d need to gather all the basajaunak around this evening and explain the rules in detail. Again.
“I’m going up.” I shed my muumuu and shifted, taking flight quickly and joining Tristan. Together we headed north, looking down at the shifter town and memorizing the layout from the air. People stopped near cars or on sidewalks and stared up, shielding their eyes from the sun to watch us fly by.
We were an anomaly in this place.
Just outside of town on the northern side, Austin waited in polar bear form with a handful of our shifters. He reared up when I flew overhead and issued a fierce roar that seemed to concuss the air and reverberate off the surrounding mountains, pushed in close on the eastern and northern sides.
Those areas wouldn’t be so hard for us to defend, I was thankful to note. If the mages had vehicles, they’d find it nearly impossible to get over the almost desert-like shelves of rock and jagged peaks. If they had flying transportation, like a helicopter, my gargoyles would ruin their day.
Then again, they could always erect magical defenses. Sebastian was currently creating a list of what that might look like based on what his network had heard of Momar’s plans. Unfortunately, they were bringing in less and less information as the battle drew closer. Momar had a lot of information on Kingsley’s territory, but we had very little to go on in comparison. It was less than ideal.
I felt a gush of readiness and warmth through my bonds with Austin, felt his anticipation building and his adrenaline pumping. He was preparing his mindset for battle, thinking on how we’d lock this place down and confront the enemy.
I accidentally answered him with a pulse of magic. It blasted love and devotion across the sky and also tumbled downward, rolling across the ground and over all of our and Kingsley’s people.
Traces of it vibrated along each of my connections, flowing into the creatures on the other end. It was like sending a steamy text meant for your loved one that instead wound up on your grandmother’s phone. How awkward.
In my mind’s eye, a thick, solid connection lit up between Austin and me, like an unbreakable axis, and the other connections flared in response. It seemed like a huge, 3D, colorful spider web intricately connecting us all in our preparation for battle.
Then it dawned on me . The mate protector’s magic, the magic Ivy House had reserved for Austin, would not only give him enhanced fighting prowess—it would also allow him to help me direct our army. With my magic, he’d be able to see them, feel them, and maybe even communicate directives to them if we could figure out how. Our situation couldn’t be better suited for it—him on the ground and me in the sky.