CHAPTER

29

Kael and Clara landed at the edge of Weshern, joining Bree and the dozens of Seraphim peering down. Not thirty minutes ago the first warning had sounded, resulting in the mad scramble that had brought the Weshern Seraphim out to defend.

“What do you see?” Kael asked his sister. She crouched before him on one knee, squinting at the clouds below.

“Not much,” Bree said as she stood. “They’re too close to the Beam. We won’t know what we face until we fly over.”

“We know exactly what we face,” Clara said. “The shadowborn’s army. This is it. Can’t you feel it?”

Kael did feel it, a tangible power hovering in the air. Not that anyone wanted to voice that belief. Everyone prepared as if this were just another battle. They spoke as if Center’s knights were the ones flying up toward the Beam to engage. An army of demons? Creatures of ancient stories with power similar to the fireborn that had rampaged across Weshern’s surface in one hellish night?

No, Kael felt no surprise in seeing so many of his fellow Seraphim lost in shock and denial. If not for his time standing in the presence of the lightborn, he might have joined them. Their entire flight from the holy mansion to the island’s edge had shown chaos below, shops closing up, windows and doors boarded shut, and hundreds fleeing toward Weshern’s center. The initial reports had only been of demons rising from the ocean and climbing the Beam toward Weshern’s surface, but as more scouts arrived, detailing similar assaults on Sothren, Candren, and Elern, the panic had grown. This was it, the large-scale, coordinated attack Kael had warned them about, and hardly anyone believed. The nightmare was coming true.

“If this is his main assault, then consider it a blessing,” Bree said, flexing her right gauntlet as if it itched to fire. “We can end L’adim’s threat here and now.”

“Nice of you to remain optimistic,” Kael muttered.

“Someone has to, so I guess it’s my turn.”

Olivia lifted into the air from the center of the group, signaling for attention. She didn’t get it. Everyone was too lost in their own arguments, their own thoughts, so she had to whistle multiple times to finally gather all eyes her way.

“There will be no formations for this battle,” Olivia shouted. “We fly as one unified force. The demons are climbing toward our home, Seraphim! Our people are scared, our cities in danger of ruin. Those monsters must not set foot on our blessed lands, do you hear me? Weshern is ours. Bleed and die for it.”

The new commander turned around and dropped over the side of the island. The remaining Seraphim of Weshern followed, one long swarm diving over the edge. Kael’s chest beat with excitement and nervousness. Olivia was right. A victory here would be immense. A loss, however, meant everything.

Bree led their way, Kael and Clara trailing after as the trio formed the tail end of Weshern’s attack force. They pushed through the clouds, their wings solely for control, their speed coming from gravity’s pull. Kael shifted the shield on his shoulder so it was before him. Whatever surprise awaited when they broke through the clouds, he’d be ready for it. The sky darkened. Their direction shifted inward, a swarm of silver wings entering the shadow of Weshern. In its shade they saw the demons’ ascent.

Nine iceborn climbed a blue-white pillar built from the frozen Fount surrounding the Beam. Their size stole Kael’s breath away. They dwarfed the fireborn giant they’d battled in Elan Village. They made mockeries of Center’s war machines and cannons. Six hands clawed into the wide spray of water, each finger bigger than Kael’s entire body. Their heads were the size of houses, their brow crowned with frosted horns, their hair made of long icicles larger than any waterfall. The Fount shimmered and froze at their touch, hardening into one more piece of the growing tower. They saw the approach of Weshern’s defenders and opened their mouths in unison. Their words roared throughout the land, louder than the Beam, louder than the cracking ice of the Fount.

“THE AGE OF MAN ENDS. COME DIE.”

Stoneborn giants followed, a third the size of the iceborn but far greater in number. They bore no crowns or hair, but their hands and feet were long, curved hooks like ice axes and crampons that allowed them to climb the iceborn’s pillar. Swirling all around them, clinging to both stone and ice, were the stormborn and fireborn. They remained the slender little creatures Kael recognized, flitting rapidly about as they waited for their bridge to be complete. Already they reached halfway up the Beam, and it seemed the iceborns’ pace increased the closer they neared the top.

Stay back, Bree signaled, relaying the order all the way from Olivia at the front. Strike from distance.

Their commander wished to test the defensive abilities of the giants, a wise enough decision. Kael turned the knob to activate his focal prism. He wasn’t sure how useful his ice might be against fellow iceborn, but the giants would feel his sting. Besides, they didn’t need to kill the brutes to protect Weshern. Sending them crashing back down to the ocean waters would be enough to buy precious time.

Olivia shifted their path so they gently curled toward the nearest iceborn. The creature continued climbing, each one of its six arms pulling it higher. Ice flowed out from it, extending its tower out at an angle from the Fount. Others were joining it, Kael saw. They didn’t need to just follow the Beam, but also extend away from it so they might reach Weshern’s edge and then the surface. Under no circumstances could that happen.

On mark, Bree signaled. Kael looked to Clara beside him. She caught his gaze and gave him a wink.

Give them hell, she mouthed.

Their prey paused as the Seraphim closed into range. Two of its arms ripped chunks of ice free from the frozen Fount and flung them through the air. Others nearby did the same, their throws lobbed higher, precisely timed so they’d cross paths with the Seraphim during their projectile’s descent. The Weshern Seraphim split, half curving left, the other half right. The first few boulders ripped through the heart of their formation, clipping two unlucky Seraphs and shattering their wings. Olivia guided their swarm back together, more boulders falling harmlessly to either side. The iceborn giant now in range, the commander let loose with her lightning. The single hit was unimpressive compared to the target’s size, but then the rest unleashed their elements.

Stone lances smashed the creature’s sides, pounding cracks into its hard body. Fire bathed the weakening form, punctuated by lightning. Kael joined in with the rest of the ice wielders in forming a wall jutting out directly above the giant’s head to block its path. The demon roared, deep and pained. Two arms smashed at the ice above, two others throwing chunks in wild, desperate sprays. The barrage continued, breaking it, tearing it apart. The giant fell in pieces to the frozen ocean below. Kael pumped a fist, their swarm of Seraphim immediately speeding toward the next massive eternal-born.

The iceborn giants rushed closer together, merged onto a grand platform built by their combined power. The waters of the Fount splashed weakly nearby, what little that continued to flow up the hollowed center of the frozen tower. Olivia circled it from afar. Kael kept his shield at ready. The next defensive barrage could be devastating with so many gathered together. The eight giants stood perfectly still, a chilling image. Kael knew the lightborn could speak to each other with only a thought, and he wondered if the other eternal-born bore similar powers. The giants then broke apart, whatever plan of theirs officially decided. The stoneborn soon followed, remaining evenly spaced apart with arms raised and boulders ready to throw. No matter where Olivia led their attack, at least one of the stoneborn would be ready. As for the iceborn, they began forming a bridge jutting up and out from the platform, the sides of it curling to form a sort of tunnel. Now walking instead of climbing, their progress came at a frighteningly rapid pace. Only two worked the front, the others constantly reinforcing the bridge as well as watching for attacks.

Olivia led them lower to the base of the frozen tower instead of heading them off. Stormborn swarmed it, climbing up to Weshern. Nothing a second barrage couldn’t fix. Ice and flame wreathed the tower, scattering the demons. Olivia landed upon the tower, jamming the sword in her left hand into it like a pick. Fire and lightning blasted the ice in an attempt to break the structure at its root.

By the time the barrage ended they’d cut maybe a foot into the structure’s wall. Kael realized why it had taken so long for the iceborn to climb their way up the Fount. They’d layered and braced the bottom in anticipation of just such an attack, its thickness at least fifty feet. Olivia leapt off, the Seraphim following. She continued the barrage against the base, this time from afar. Stormborn scattered, lurking at the outside edge of the concentrated fire. Watching. Waiting.

When the Seraphim settled to a hover with their firepower most heavily concentrated, the stormborn leapt off the ice. They crossed the air like little bolts of lightning, their speed breathtaking. Kael blinked once at the brightness and then the stormborn were among them, clawing at whatever they could get their hands on. One had the misfortune to grab hold of Kael’s shield, its hands sizzling into mist as the light flared. Another died with its head lopped off by Bree’s sword as it scratched its claws into her wings. Clara flitted about, striking down the falling stormborn with her ice. Dozens of the stormborn fell to the ocean, either unable to take hold or still clinging to a dead Seraph in their grasp, their eyes burned away, their mouths leaking smoke.

Four Seraphs died in total, and many others hovered away injured. Olivia quickly ordered the retreat. Stormborn gathered in the center of the crater Weshern’s army had chipped away, chittering and laughing in mockery of their attempts. All the while, the iceborn giants above steadily advanced toward Weshern’s edge.

A double blast of lightning skyward signaled for them to gather about their commander.

“The iceborn are the key,” she shouted. “We can’t stop the swarm, and we can’t break the base. We have to stop the ice’s spread. It’s our only hope.” She glared at the stormborn. “Break apart into smaller formations. We’re more vulnerable together than we are apart. Fly strong, fly fast. There is no retreating from this battle. Fight until you fall like soldiers. That is my last order.”

Dread spread throughout them, and Kael felt it strong in his heart. He glanced to Bree and Clara, unspoken communication bringing them into a triangle formation.

Olivia rushed back to the sprawling bridge, which reached for Weshern’s edge like the long strand of a spider’s web. Weshern’s forces followed, this time much more spread out. Bree shifted their path toward a length of bridge least defended. Fire bathed her swords. Light shimmered across Kael’s shield. Two stone giants waited for them, hands clapping together as if eager for their approach. Bree picked the nearest, her body gently bobbed up and down so her path would be harder to predict.

The stoneborn curled their boulder-fists close to their chests and slammed them together. Their own bodies cracked. They flung their hands, the pieces exploding outward in a massive spray of stone shards. The three refused to pull back. Live or die, they were going to fight. They avoided the first two such attacks, their wings shimmering as they increased the throttle to close the final gap. The stoneborn defended again, this time hastily, without much time to aim.

Bree corkscrewed through the shards, momentum growing, giving strength to her slashes. She curled sharper inward, her swords exploding with fire as they ripped across the stoneborn’s pale right eye. It roared and fell back, green blood showering the air. Kael and Clara jammed heavy lances of ice into Bree’s newly opened wound, puncturing the eye and digging deep into whatever lay beyond. The stoneborn slid off the side of the bridge, body tumbling for the ocean.

Momentum carried the three beyond the bridge. They curled about for another pass, giving Kael time to assess the battle. With the Seraphim spread so far apart they were better able to pressure all points of the ice tunnel. The problem was the fewer numbers made it that much harder to damage the gigantic iceborn. They couldn’t break the ice faster than the giants repaired it, especially now that it was close enough to the island’s underside that the iceborn could build long veins of supports to keep their bridge aloft. The lesser demons crawled through the tunnel, safe from harm. Foot by foot, the bridge tunnel reached for Weshern’s edge, the stoneborn defending it with barrages of thin, sharp javelins. Bree pulled their little squad away and slowed to a hover, allowing the other two to catch up.

“I can try to use my fire near the base of that tunnel,” Bree said, pointing toward the great ice spire. “I’m not sure if it’ll be enough, but we have to try before there’s too many supports near the top.”

“They’ll be ready for us,” Kael said. “Look at how many stormborn and fireborn are waiting. There’s not a chance you make it there safely.”

“There is if you lead with your shield.”

He shook his head.

“I can block some attacks, but what am I to do when they dive atop us? I’m not a miracle worker here.”

“Liar,” Clara said. “You both are miracle workers, so act like it. We collapse the tunnel, we end the entire invasion, yes?”

Kael shrugged.

“I believe so,” he said.

“Then we go for the base, danger be damned. And you’re both wrong. This time, I’ll lead. I have a plan.”

Clara angled parallel to the ground and fired up her wings. Kael knew he could overtake her with his stronger wings but he kept a safe distance behind. If she wished to lead, then so be it. He’d trust her, just as she’d so often trusted him.

The wide platform with the connected bridge steadily neared. Stoneborn waited ready to defend it, an additional two dozen stormborn cackling and zipping about their feet as well. Clara kept their path directly toward them, with no attempt to weave or dodge to potentially confuse their attack approach. Kael frowned, yet to see Clara’s plan.

Clara slowed just outside reach of boulders from the stoneborn. Her gauntlet weaved a magical dance, creating wall after wall of ice before her. They varied in size, height, and closeness to the bridge, a veritable maze of them all high above and starting to fall. Realizing what she was doing, Kael created a few more walls of his own and then fired up his wings. With so many chunks of ice falling, the eternal-born would struggle to see their approach. The stoneborn flung boulders but their power weakened with the contact of each wall. The three of them split for different walls, dropping with them to use them as a screen for their flight. Kael chose the highest of the plummeting walls, flying closer and closer while the sky filled with explosions of ice, stone, and echoes of thunder.

Kael braced his shield and flooded it with light. The ice wall directly before him blasted apart, granting them passage. Desperate stormborn lunged from their perches. Kael batted them aside with his shield, then followed it up with a wall of ice of his own. It fell to the bridge, blocking another salvo from the stormborn. Clara lofted volleys from afar, slamming her own ice boulders against the defending eternal-born on the bridge, forcing them to scatter.

The way clear, Bree shut off her wings and stabbed a sword deep into the ice to grant herself a hold. Her right hand pressed against the surface. Kael formed a circular wall around her, granting her time and protection. Red light swelled beneath her palm, releasing in a tremendous explosion. Bree drained her prism dry, her fire rolling through the center of the bridge. Water flowed in a torrent from cracks that split in all directions. It didn’t break, not immediately, but the bridge connecting Weshern with the frozen Fount was severely weakening.

The fire suddenly ceased. Bree’s forehead slumped against the thin ice. Stormborn raced to close the distance, their mouths dripping with electricity. Kael’s heart seized with horror when Bree didn’t flee. She looked too dazed to even move. Desperation overtook him. He grabbed his gauntlet and fired a single lance at the ice directly beneath her. It crashed through, cutting off her chunk with her sword keeping her connected to the bridge. She fell, demons diving after her in chase. They cared not for the fall so long as they might slay the Phoenix. Kael imagined his speed growing, not needing his throttle to propel himself downward at a maniacal clip. He curled at the last second, undercutting the demons and grabbing hold of Bree’s waist. The two banked away, the demons’ impotent howls their only weapon as they plummeted to the ocean far below.

Kael gradually slowed his speed as he waited for Bree to recover. He felt her body shudder, followed by light trickling into her wings as she turned them back on.

“I’m fine,” she said, gently pushing him away. “Did we succeed?”

He gestured to the bridge.

“I’d say we did.”

No iceborn were nearby to repair the damage she’d caused with her explosion of flame. The cracks continued to spread, the noise like a thunderstorm. The long arm reaching for Weshern began to crumble chunk by chunk, eternal-born falling with it. Kael let out a whoop, one that turned out to be premature. The collapse ceased halfway, the support beams linking to the island’s underside keeping the Weshern half aloft. Even worse, Kael saw that the bridge had finally reached the surface, curling up and around Weshern’s edge and onto the lands above. They’d cut off any potential for reinforcements, but a new battle now raged.

“What do we do?” he asked.

“We have to flee to the surface,” Clara said, joining them. “The civilians are our new priority.”

“Wait,” Bree slurred. She pointed. “We’re not alone.”

Golden wings screamed as knights of Center appeared from above the surface, their approach unseen due to Weshern’s sheer size. Their gauntlets flashed with power. Fire and lightning slammed into the lone iceborn in the middle of the tunnel, melting its frozen flesh. Stone and ice boulders broke limbs and shattered fingers. Kael felt hope spring anew in his chest. Had Marius shown a change of heart? Unlike their response during the fireborn invasion, the knights had not left them to suffer and fight on their own.

“Take out the iceborn giants first,” Kael said. “End any chance of more demons joining the fray.”

The stoneborn joined the stormborn in racing to Weshern’s surface. The few fireborn that had accompanied the invasion remained defensive, little globs of fire flying from their hands as they cackled and howled. Two iceborn giants remained, their efforts focused on strengthening the remaining tunnel’s connection to Weshern. Center’s knights raced toward one while Bree led their group toward the other giant swarming with Seraphim, bathing its body with lightning and flame. It roared as two of its arms flailed, the other four clutching the tunnel. Ice flowed from its grasp in great sheets. It kept its head down, its body curled inward so its back endured the brunt of the blows.

Bree flew a direct collision course. Fire lashed from her swords, traveling in a long line toward the giant. It melted a thin groove into its back, seemingly nothing compared to the iceborn’s size. Kael readied his ice, unsure of its effectiveness. They closed in, nearby Seraphim gathering, their gauntlets eager to destroy the beast. Elements bathed its body. The long blue arms shuddered. Cracks spread from its spine in all directions. Kael rushed closer, thinking it ready to die. He thought wrong.

The iceborn reared back onto its hind legs, all six arms flailing outward. Chunks of ice flew in wild directions, overwhelming in number. Seraphim frantically scattered. Bree’s formation broke. On instinct, Kael curled and weaved, convinced every second could be his last, until suddenly the creature was in front of him. The giant towered ahead, arms spread wide and grabbing at nearby Seraphim. Silver wings crunched between its fingers. Kael searched, but every direction led into the reach of its hands.

Well, all but one.

This is insane, Kael thought, his arms crossed behind his shield. You’re insane, Kael, you’re fucking insane …

He felt the twin crystals in his shield burning, eager for release. Kael granted them their wish. No slowing. No hesitation. Kael closed his eyes and released every shred of power into his shield with a frantic scream. The impact struck his shield but far softer than expected. Ice cracked. Armor gave. Mist enveloped his body. He screamed louder, protesting the pain and resistance with all his might. The ringing of the shield broke the demon. The breaking of the demon overwhelmed his cry.

Kael blasted out the iceborn giant’s back in an explosion of blue blood and a thousand shards of ice. He spun into a hover, fists at his sides, adrenaline pounding through his veins. The iceborn faltered, a waterfall of blood flowing out the gaping hole in its chest. Its hands slipped off the ice bridge. Its death cry was a pitiful wail.

The knights swarmed the final iceborn giant near the edge with plumes of flames. The stone wielders smashed the bridge again and again, each boulder focused on the exact same spot. The walls of the tunnel collapsed. The nearby supports crumbled. Kael pumped a fist and let out a whoop as large chunks of the bridge broke and fell in huge sheets. No more eternal-born would reach Weshern’s surface.

The formation of knights broke away and flew toward Center now that the underneath battle was won. The Weshern Seraphim flew together around the lip of the island to the surface. Kael waited until he spotted his sister flying in to join him.

“Top that, Bree,” he said, grinning ear to ear.

“The day’s not over yet.”

Kael’s easy smile faded at the sight of an angelic knight flying their way. Bree noticed his displeasure and turned.

“Is that … him?” she asked.

“I think so,” he said.

Their father’s golden wings easily crossed the distance. Neither sibling spoke. What might they even say? Liam eased into a hover before them. Tears wet his eyes. Hesitation graced his lips. None of that emotion reached his voice.

“It’s good to see you again,” he said. “My squadron flies to aid Sothren but I will remain here until the Weshern threat is defeated. Might I join you in formation?”

Bree wiped at her face, and she looked to Kael for an answer.

“The last I saw you, you were dropping me to my death,” he said. “And now you wish to join us?”

Their father struggled for words, all the while unable to meet their gaze.

“Turn me away if you must. It is your choice, my children, but I offer amends in the only way I know how.”

Was that an apology? Kael didn’t know, but he clung to that hope nonetheless. Innocents were dying upon the surface. He would not turn away aid to soothe his own wounded pride.

“Welcome to Phoenix Squad,” he said. “Consider yourself a temporary member.”

He smiled, so briefly, so fleetingly, but it gave them a glimpse of the beloved father they’d lost.

“Very well. Lead the way, Phoenix, and I will follow.”