She began to speak in her language again and focused on her power. The lightning shooting in sharp slashes through the sky seemed to suddenly be drawn toward her, and at the last moment, she pushed her power toward a group of pixies flying straight for the sprites. The pixies fell lifelessly from the sky.
Peri didn’t feel victorious. She’d taken their lives, and it wasn’t something she ever did lightly.
“Incoming,” Riven yelled, pulling Peri from her thoughts.
Peri quickly reined her power in and turned to see what Riven was bellowing about. Her mouth dropped open. “Bloody hell,” she said through gritted teeth as she stared in disbelief. Because it really shouldn’t have been possible.
“Is he riding a draheim?” Lilly asked, coming up beside them, breathless and looking a little worse for wear but showing no serious injuries. Her mate had trained her well.
“You tell us,” Peri said. “You’re the one that has experience with these things.” Not that Peri didn’t know what it was, but she was feeling a little snappish.
“It seems a little small,” Lilly said, tilting her head sideways as if that might somehow explain what she was seeing.
“That’s because it’s not a mature adult,” Riven said. “It’s an adolescent dragon.”
“Are they as temperamental as human teenagers?” Lilly asked.
“Worse,” Peri and Riven said at the same time.
“And who is that on its back?” said Lilly.
“My father,” Thalion said as he appeared on Riven’s other side. “Ludcarab, former king of the elves.”
“Riven, get as many of the fae focused on the dragon as possible,” Peri said quickly. “Thalion, keep the enemy occupied to give my warriors some time to deal with Ludcarab without distraction.”
“On it,” Thalion said as he turned and shouted out to his warriors.
“What should I do?” Lilly asked her.
“Don’t die,” Peri answered as she magicked away her sword and pulled as much power into her body as she could. It was going to take a lot to deal with a draheim, even a young one.
Just as she was about to allow her light to begin to fill the night, she heard her mate's voice in her mind. “Come and get us. And you’d better bring Kale with you.” Peri didn’t take time to look around. She couldn’t let herself think about the fact that she was leaving her comrades to face a dragon. Her mate had called, and she would answer. That was the way it was with true mates. She’d known when she went into this that she might have to leave at a moment's notice. She flashed and prayed to the Great Luna that all her friends would be all right.
Riven’s eyes widened as Peri disappeared from beside him. He looked around the battlefield, allowing himself a moment to take his eyes off of Ludcarab and his new pet to see if the high fae reappeared somewhere else. He didn’t see Peri anywhere, but he couldn’t keep searching. He had to focus on the biggest threat: the former elf king riding a bloody draheim.
Ludcarab circled around them, his draheim moving slowly, as if he wasn’t looming over a battlefield but instead out for a leisurely flight.
“Where the hell is Peri?” Vale asked as he came up beside Riven.
“I don’t know and don’t have time to care. We need to get a shield up, now,” Riven said as he began to use his power to build a ward over them. It would trap them inside with their enemy on the ground, but it would hopefully protect them from the flames the flying draheim sent their way.
Vale raised his hands and began to chant. He was the offspring of a high fae and that meant his own power was even greater than Riven’s.
Jareth, the djinn, stepped up and joined them. “I can offer some of my power to aid yours.”
Other fae warriors noticed what they were doing and began to chant. The wolves, warlocks, and elves followed Cypher, Thalion, and Vasile’s lead as they formed a circle to protect them while they were focused on building the ward. Riven could also hear the voices of the sprites, who seemed to be focusing on the pixies.
As he saw the power crackle in the air, he noticed the weaving of their combined magic. It began along the ground throughout the battlefield and rose quickly, forming a capsule around them. Maybe they had a chance, Riven thought to himself as he took a deep breath, feeling more confident as the ward formed over their head and nearly closed completely.