Disir was on the other side, walking beside Talia, his hand rested on hers, and Peri could see him trembling. Her throat caught to see such emotion in the fae male’s reaction. For all the time she’d known him, he’d always been stoic, almost cold. It wasn’t an uncommon quality of their race. But it was obvious Disir loved his daughter. Gwen and Nissa walked behind on either side of the fallen. And while it was quite a sight to see the four high fae, all glowing in their black robes, what came behind them was truly breathtaking.
The fae army—not including the ones who’d gone to retrieve the other packs and sprites—a thousand strong, were dressed in full battle gear, silver armor that fit like a second skin and shined like it had been polished minutes ago. On their head they wore woven silver bands. Glowing swords were attached to their sides. There was a slight tinkling sound as they followed behind the procession of high fae. The sound came from the tiny bells woven into the hair of the snow-white horses they each rode.
The procession continued, and Vale and Talia were brought to the other side of Cypher with high fae remaining while the rest of the formidable fae warriors rode their horses to join the closing circle. They had to layer themselves in order to leave room for the others joining them.
Next came the other packs who had fought in the Keep battle. The Coldspring pack alpha, Jeff Stone, walked beside his fallen wolf who was laid on a floating wood slab, just like the others with the moonflowers. The entire pack, Peri counted twenty-five, followed behind, their heads lowered in respect for their fallen pack mate. Jeff and the fallen joined the group in the center, while the Coldspring pack continued the circle.
The Missouri pack was next. Tyler led with two of his fallen wolves on wooden biers. His entire pack of fifty followed behind. They wore dark grey uniforms, much like the black ones that the Romania pack wore. On the front of their uniforms was the emblem of a moon over a wolf with his head bowed. Tyler joined the others in the center with the two fallen warriors. His was the last of the fallen.
The last to proceed down from the forest where everyone had been flashed and onto the battlefield were the djinn. Thadrick and Jezebel were in front, with the elders following. And behind them were the rest of the djinn race. Peri estimated there to be around seventy-five. She wasn’t surprised that there weren’t more. A race that powerful should not be allowed to have great numbers. The djinn were dressed in what Peri assumed must be their battle gear, though it wasn’t like any of the others. Their fighting clothes were called shinobi shozoku and made them appear as an army of ninjas. The only difference was that the elders and Thadrick did not wear the head or face coverings. Peri was not sure if this was their typical fighting clothing, as she’d never seen Thad in anything that resembled it, or if it was a special uniform for this occasion. As the djinn joined the circle, the elders, Thadrick, and Jezebel remained in the front while the other djinn gathered behind them, standing in straight horizontal rows. Peri met Thad’s eyes, and he bowed his head to her. She acknowledged it with a respectful head bow of her own.
Now, they had to wait for the fae who had been sent out to gather those that would stand with the Great Luna in this fight. Peri glanced up at the moon, which was almost completely red. They would be cutting it very close.
Just when she was about to say something to Dain, hundreds of fae appeared, each one with Canis lupus or sprites in tow. Moments later, Adira and the pixies loyal to her also appeared, the only other kind able to travel in a similar fashion as the fae. She saw Ciro, Italy’s alpha, with Stella at his side. Her eyes were wide as she looked around the field. Not far from their pack was the Ireland pack. She saw Kale and his Alpha, Angus. The female next to the alpha, holding his hand, was no doubt his mate. Holding on to Kale, with her head tilted as though she was listening to everything she could, was Heather.
Peri let her gaze roam over the area, looking for the