Chapter 735: New Friends
Ahbi's power engulfed me, her panic as powerful as mine, mixed with so much rage I felt my skin crackle under the fire of her fury even as she dumped me out the other side with a flare of warning.
I flew out of the gap on the Demonicon side, body bursting into full demon form, my maji power crackling. I was already pissed off, scared and full of hate. If Ameline found a way to come at my sister anyway, I didn't care if all the planes fell.
I'd kill her with my bare hands.
And then go back and save Quaid and the Zornovs.
I had one second to see my sister fighting off a pack of attackers, a roar of absolute rage shaking my entire body as my demon's fire blazed around me, shoving down my other egos in her need to reach Meira.
The next second, I felt the dull numbness of impact against the back of my skull and fell, screaming my fury, into darkness.
***
Pain registered first, flaring like a volcano before ebbing backward as my spirit power healed me. Groggy, twinging with the remains of my anger, I struggled to remember what happened.
Ahbi's power crashed into me as my grandmother's spirit woke me the rest of the way with a not-so-subtle kick in the ass. I felt myself spinning sideways, lost in the veil. Had I somehow opened the way again after I was hit? But where was Meira? No way would I abandon my sister.
No. Way.
Hang on. I'd abandoned someone... hadn't I? Not Meira, never her.
Who then did I leave behind?
The veil parted without warning, dumping me out onto hard stone, tumbling out onto my shoulder feeling totally disoriented. I landed with a thud, breath catching as pain surged across my back, easing again a moment later.
Wind rushed over me, chill, though the temperature only just registered, the cold stone beneath me black and sharp and shining. I rolled over with a groan, looked up.
Almost died right then and there.
The edge of the peak cut off beneath my chin, long, long drop stretching out beneath me-
-I fell and fell, heart ready to explode, lungs unable to catch air, the Parade growing larger as I plummeted to my death-
I gasped and pulled back, wobbly from the blow to my head, from vertigo as I scrambled in reverse on my hands and feet, picking up speed as I panted for breath.
Ran into something hard.
Looked up.
A dark shape loomed over me, bending just a little, shining, sparkling eyes shimmering in the light of the moons above.
Holy. Freaking. Hell.
Was this one of the attackers who went after my sister? Panic and fear fought a losing battle with my anger as I wrapped myself in maji power and pushed up onto my very human feet, demon form gone in place of my natural state.
He still loomed over me, though, now his face was no longer in shadow, I could see he was a man. Not really, not mortal. But not demon, either. And Meira's attackers were demons, their red-tinted skin a dead giveaway.
This-whoever and whatever he was-exuded so much power I felt almost insignificant next to him. His physical presence didn't help much, shoulders twice as wide as mine, skin a soft shade of gray, bald head covered in some kind of tiny scales.
But it was his diamond eyes that captured me the most.
Until I caught movement behind him. Glanced around.
Realized we weren't alone. But there weren't other people with us, oh no. That would have been too easy, wouldn't it?
Just my luck, the bowl-like peak I shivered on, the back end open to the darkness, was covered in dragons.
"Welcome," he said in a voice that made my entire body tremble from the depth and pitch of it. "Friend."
Several cogs wound up, clicked together, formed connections as two of the giant dragons shifted, morphed, shrank into human shape and I understood.
Remembered.
Flying in a transport with Ram, heading for Bilhaeder in my pursuit of Ameline, finding ourselves in the midst of a flight of dragons.
The lead one reaching for my mind. And calling me friend.
I shuddered, hugging myself, the pressure of his power so vast I found myself flinching from him, pushing back with my maji magic. He bowed his head, his energy retreating enough I didn't feel the urge to fall at his feet and beg him not to kill me.
Yowza.
"What are you?" I watched, heart about ready to leap out of my chest and pitch itself over the edge alone as more of the dragons shrank into human form and came to gather, to stare with their diamond eyes and press against me with the weight of their power.
"We are the drach," he said. "And we've been waiting for you."
Um. Okay.
For good reasons, I hoped. Time to pull it together, seriously. After all, Ahbi dumped me here, didn't she? And wouldn't have done so without a very good reason.
Meems. "My sister." The words came out in a gasp of need.
He nodded. "We know why you are here," he said. "But your fear the Dark One has taken the Princess is unfounded."
The Dark One? He had to mean Ameline. And yes, that was exactly where my terror went. She'd already told me she was gunning for Meira's power in an effort to complete her maji abilities. This attack, coming so soon after Ameline claimed the taint from Pannera, led me to only one obvious conclusion.
Not so obvious, it seemed.
"The threat to Hathenemeira is much more mundane." I began to grow accustomed to the vibration of his voice, the overwhelming wash of his magic, able to focus at least on what he was saying.
"Who?" Coherent, mostly.
"Ruler has chosen unwisely," the dragon in human form said as the gathering behind him, some still giant and winged, others looking like him, hummed a soft song of agitation. At least, I thought it was agitation. For all I knew, they were getting ready to sing me the song of their people or something.
Hang on. Dad?
"Your sister has made herself an obstacle to one of your father's choices for mate," the hulking man-creature said. "It is this demon's attempt to remove Hathenemeira from her path which has led you here and your sister close to death."
The whole "close to death" part definitely got my attention. And triggered my temper, shoving down the last of my awe, though I remained shivery every time I remembered where I stood.
And that a long drop waited not so far away.
"Why am I here?" I took a step back from him, and to the side, keeping the edge in my peripheral vision. One of the dragons perched above me flared its wings.
"It was time we met," Mr. Chatty Pants said. "The coming of the battle has finally freed us to act. On your behalf."
A woman-okay, dragon woman-stepped forward. "And on the behalf of the Dark One." Her voice came across as a slightly more feminine version of his.
I scowled at the caveat she added.
Sounded like a pain in my ass. This whole balance thing could bite me.
He ignored her, as though she hadn't spoken. "Our tasks have come to a meeting of ways," he said. Wow. More cryptic. I was actually glad, how it fed my anger and kept me from going all gaga again.
"How nice for our tasks," I said. Snarky, hell yeah. "But I frankly don't give two shakes about fate and destiny and the Dark One crap." My demon grumbled her agreement. "In fact, at this second, all I really want to do is find my sister."
He bowed to me, as though his power couldn't have crushed mine in a snap, his people's humming shaking the ground under my feet.
"Of course," he said. Held out his hand, palm the size of a side plate. "Allow me to take you to her, Light One."
Blerg. "Syd," I said.
One of his eyebrows cocked, a shimmer of light passing over his diamond eyes. "Delightful," he said, voice no longer making my bones ache. "I am-"
Hmmm. Yeah. No way in hell I could pronounce whatever he just said.
"I'm calling you Max." I took his hand.
Had the absolute shock of my life as our power finally connected and I understood we weren't so different after all.
"You're maji," I said.
"No." Max's lips turned up into a small smile. "The maji claim the right, but the drach were first."
***
