Chapter 20

If Corban hadn’t been holding Neviah up, her legs would have failed her. Iblis was a monster beyond anything they could have imagined. Red scales covered a body so large that it didn’t seem possible for his wings to keep him in the air despite having a wingspan several hundred feet wide. Each of his seven heads sported a horn just above the eyes. The two end heads, as well as the center head, also had a horn on top of the snout.

The messenger that came to give them their new orders wasn’t needed. If they didn’t stop Iblis, no one would. They came together, hovering as tightly as they could so Corban could tell them his plan, but before opening his mouth, a roar sounded from behind and below them, followed by another, then another. Scattered across the battlefield below, men began turning into dragons. The dragons hadn’t skipped the fight; they’d hidden in plain sight! Neviah couldn’t keep count but there had to be more than twenty dragons launching themselves into the air all around them as more transformed still.

Not all were headed for the companion army, as Neviah would expect, but most made a straight line for Alya and Uru. The refugees! They were going to kill the civilians. There were caravans of people leaving the western gate of Uru. Civilian Chayyoth were still transporting the remaining young, old, and infirm from Alya to the mountain pass. They needed more time.

Corban looked between the large group of dragons and the colossal Iblis. There were only the three swords in the air. What were they supposed to do? From somewhere on the wall below, a silver arrow streaked skyward and hit one of the dragons in the head, sending it crashing down onto the city streets, collapsing several buildings under its bulk. They had Adhira, too.

The sight shook Corban from his moment of indecision. “You four must delay the dragons,” Corban said loudly to the other two sets of companions. “Neviah and I will have to handle Iblis.” With those broad orders, Corban turned and flew toward the approaching seven-headed dragon. The Chayyoth Wings charged in around them, splitting into two groups to take on the Shedim.

Though still far away from their target, Neviah shot arrows as fast as she could at the beast. Iblis was too fast. Many arrows meant for his heads were easily dodged. Others were blasted away with his fiery breath. Arrows wouldn’t do the job. They needed to get in close so she could use her sword. There were too many heads. It would be difficult to come close enough to the dragon without being blasted with fire.

Hundred-foot streams of fire spewed forth from each of Iblis’ mouths as they neared, consuming companions and Shedim indiscriminately. Many companions were turned to ash in the first few seconds. The remaining companions were forced to flee the fiery attacks.

Altering their course, Corban began climbing higher and higher into the sky. Neviah turned and kept shooting at the seven-headed monster. Even if her arrows didn’t hit the intended target, at least they distracted a couple of the heads from killing companions. The temperature grew colder and the air thinner, but still, Corban climbed. All sound was lost except the wind in her ears. The air battle below looked surreal. There was fire and falling bodies everywhere, but it was absurdly quiet, all sound lost on the winds below.

Neviah soon realized what her companion was doing. They were positioning themselves behind Iblis, flying higher than the Shedim could. Corban paused in the air, right where they’d start their descent. Looking over his shoulder, his voice thick, he said, “What if today is the day, Neviah? What if today is the day you die?”

She smiled and pulled out her iPod. Putting the earbuds in, she found the song she wanted and secured the music player beneath her leather armor. The opening cords began to play.

Looking her friend in the eye and raising her sword, she said, “Then let it be today.”

With a roar, Corban folded his wings, and they rocketed down, zooming through the sky like a missile. Their speed increased to the point where her vision began to spot with blackness, but she gritted her teeth and refused to lose consciousness. Her ponytail became a whip, slashing at her back and neck, but she refused to feel the pain.

A wall of Shedim formed in front of them with spears ready, but Corban didn’t slow. Neviah let her shield form around her and her companion, and they blasted through the enemy. The impact jarred her arm and pulled her from Corban’s back. She tumbled for a moment before putting her arms to her side and aiming her face at the seven-headed dragon.

By moving her arms slightly, she was able to alter her path just enough to where she was no longer aiming at the dragon’s back but at his right wing. Somehow, the timing was right because when she struck the wing, it was on a downward push, which absorbed nearly all of her momentum. If she’d landed on Iblis’ back, she would have died. As the wing rose again, she tumbled down upon the scaly back. It was like moving across polished steel.

She wanted to look around for her companion, but her arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed by the Shedim. Rising to her feet, she had just enough time to block an arrow with her shield. Scores of Shedim were landing all around her. She blocked a sword swing and managed to sever two arms before she had to take another defensive stance. She blocked blow after blow, but the enemy was so dense she couldn’t make a counterstrike. Iblis appeared to be unaware of the battle happening upon his back.

Neviah’s shield became a partial cocoon, protecting her from the enemy strikes. She needed to move! Every second she wasted meant more lives lost. It was time Iblis knew of her presence. Stabbing straight down with the Sword of Re’u, she tore a deep gash in his scales.

She doubted it was more than a scratch to the seven-headed mountain, but it had drawn blood and his attention. The air inside the shield grew unbearably hot as one of the dragon heads blew fire at her position.

As soon as the fire let up, Neviah sprang into action, sprinting as fast as she could toward the center neck. Every Shedim around her blew away as ash on the wind.

She made it several yards before the head that’d breathed the fire recovered from its surprise. Suddenly, all seven heads were turned and looking directly at her. As seven streams of fire made their way toward her flesh, Neviah hunkered down with one of the dragon’s protruding spikes at her back. The Forest Shield made an airtight wall in front of her, but the fire went on so long that she thought she’d run out of air.

She needed to inflict a greater wound than last time. Holding the shield in place, she let the sword turn into a bow. She reached down with her shield hand, barely managing to get the tips of her fingers around the string. Pulling it back as best as she could, she sent the arrow burrowing through the dragon’s bulk. The fire stopped as the seven heads howled in pain. She quickly covered the space between her and the center neck, but one of the heads quickly recovered from the shock of the wound. She brought up the shield just in time to deflect the fire.

The force of the blast was so great, though, that it pushed her far to the right and dangerously close to the edge of Iblis’ back. The head on the right saw her coming and attempted to duck away from the reach of her sword. The next jet of fire pushed her back and off the dragon’s back between the sixth and seventh heads. With her footing lost, Neviah took the Sword of Re’u in both hands and dug it to the pommel into the seventh neck. As the head bent lower to get out of reach, it inadvertently created a direct path for her sword to slide down. She willed the blade to be as long as possible as it passed between the dragon’s eyes and straight down the center of the snout, leaving a devastating gash that nearly split the head in two. There was a split second where she looked Iblis directly in his horror-stricken face, but then she was falling.

Her music stopped and the only sound was the dragon’s roars mixed with the wind. The wind whipped her hair into her face as she watched the dragon writhing in the sky. Iblis wasn’t dead, but he was gravely wounded. The head she’d sliced through hung limply, bleeding as the dragon retreated. The Shedim fought on but their greatest champion had been bested. Her heart went out to the companions, the refugees, and her friends. There was nothing else she could do for them. Then, she turned to face the rapidly approaching ground.

She never thought it would take so long. In her prophetic visions, she would fall, and then she would die. Terror threatened to overwhelm her, but she fought it down. As the land neared, she couldn’t stop the tears that flowed from her eyes. There was so much she wanted to do with her life. She should have done more for her friends. Closing her eyes, she waited for the impact. Would she feel it?

Suddenly, two strong arms wrapped around her waist. Re’u said he would be there to catch her, but they didn’t belong to Re’u. A roar filled her ears as Corban spread his wings despite the impossible speed they were falling at. Corded muscle strained against the force, bulging through the fur. What was he doing? It was too late for her. There was no way he could pull up in time!

Their fall was no longer straight down but angled slightly from Corban’s efforts. The ground still rushed up to meet them. It wouldn’t be enough. They were moving at an angle but their impact with the ground could not be avoided.

Just before they hit, Corban wrapped her tightly in his wings, rolled so his back was facing down, tucked his head down protectively over hers, and whispered, “Today is not your day.”

The force of the impact drove the air from her lungs. They tumbled along the unyielding terrain, but Corban held firm until the end when she was flung from his grasp to crash against a tree. She lay there dazed. Her ribs were cracked, she was sure, and her left arm was broken. Fighting to regain her breath against the searing pain that came with moving, she stumbled to her feet and over to her companion’s prone form.

“Corban!” she screamed as she knelt beside him. His armor was irreparably battered, and his body lay broken. She rubbed his furry cheek. “Corban?” she cried softly, though she knew there would be no answer. His mighty chest was still.