let out a long sigh. “Well, I—” A sound from the front stopped me in midsentence. Herne quickly darted out the door, his sword in hand. We had taken to going around armed.
Viktor jumped to follow, but paused as Herne quickly returned, followed by his parents. Morgana and Cernunnos waved for us to stay seated as Herne brought his mother a chair, and Cernunnos swung one around for himself and straddled it.
“Well” Herne asked for all of us. “What happened?”
“Echidna knows how to put Typhon back into stasis. It’s a tricky spell, and she’s the only one who remembers it. She’s talking to the Dagda, Danu, Zeus, and Hera right now. She’s agreed to work with us, only this time, she wants to wound Typhon. If he’s put into stasis wounded, the injury won’t heal the entire time he’s in there, so if he breaks out again, it will give us extra time to manage him.” Cernunnos looked pleased—as relieved as I had ever seen him look.
“What do we do in the meantime?” Herne asked.
“Take care of outbreaks and work with Ashera, who is going to be the ambassador to the United Coalition for the dragons. There’s no going back. The dragons are here to stay, but the Celestial Wanderers and the Mountain Dreamers have agreed to police the Luminous Warriors once Typhon is taken care of. However…” He paused and let out a long sigh.
“They want a seat on the United Coalition, right?” I asked.
Morgana nodded. “While I appreciate all the Spiral Web is doing for us, I was hoping they would agree to return to the Forgotten Kingdom. But the portal to their world is open, and there’s no closing it up again.”
A thought crossed my mind. “Does that mean we could go see their world?”
“Yes, but I don’t recommend it,” Morgana said. “It’s far too dangerous there.”
“So what comes next?” Talia asked.
“Echidna will call out Typhon. If he doesn’t answer her challenge, he automatically forfeits, by the rules of the Dragonni. And then he would have to do as she orders. So he must either answer and fight, or let her drive him into stasis. It’s going to be the most spectacular duel the world has ever seen. At least…since the last time.” Morgana sat back. “Until then, just keep the Fae, shifter, and vampire militias ready to go, and suppress the attacks that the shadow dragons are bringing to bear.” She paused, then motioned to Cernunnos. “Don’t forget to give Herne and Ember the gift that Echidna gave to you.”
“Oh, right!” Cernunnos reached down and picked up the bag he was holding. It was large and looked bulky. He rummaged around inside and then pulled out two quivers, each filled with shimmering purple arrows. One was a quiver of bolts, and it looked the size to fit my bow Serafina. The other looked sized for a compound bow. He handed the former to me, and the latter to Herne.
I took the quiver and it hummed in my hands. “What’s this?”
“Allentar arrows and bolts. They’re made of a very rare magical metal. They can pierce dragon scales. You could conceivably shoot down a dragon out of the sky with these. They won’t work on Echidna or Typhon, but they can be used against all of their children, but each arrow can only be used once, so make them count.” Cernunnos’s voice was low, and I detected a note of respect and awe. “Echidna gave me enough to pass out to the other Hunt agencies. This will help control the damage done until she can rise and challenge Typhon, which will be several months.”
“Allentar…” I had never heard of the metal but as I touched one of the bolts, it reverberated through my fingers and I felt a sense of—almost reverence.
Herne shook his head. “This is an incredible gift. I can’t believe she entrusted us with them.” He turned to me. “Always take Serafina with you, and at least one of these, when you go out. Gyell is still on the loose and we know he’s focused on us.”
I nodded, thinking that the tide was turning. The world would never be the same, but maybe we could make the changes a little more bearable. And thanks to Echidna, we had hope again. And hope held strong through the darkest of days.
Three days later…
Angel, Rafé, and Herne sat in the front row at the amphitheater at TirNaNog. The courtyard was filled with nobility and the sides of the halls