be all right. Fly high over the wall to avoid the winds.”
“I’ll give you a push,” Darroc added.
Mikayla nodded, then sprinted toward the edge of the bluff. She jumped, zooming up into the air as Darroc shoved her high with his wind. She flew over the wall of water, then disappeared from view.
He needed to use the rest of his army, Kendric realized. Alfred’s power was not going to work as long as Leo kept diverting it. “Farah, make a ball of fire. Then Darroc will drop the wind long enough to blow the fireball at the closest ship. We’ll set their fleet ablaze.”
“Aye, General.” Farah snapped her fingers to start a fire, then circled her hands around to form a fireball.
“Shoot it!” Kendric ordered, and as soon as the wall of water crashed down, Darroc sent the fireball hurtling toward the closest ship.
A blast of wind stopped the fireball in midair, and it dropped into the sea.
“Wh-where’s Mikayla?” Irene asked. “I don’t see her!”
Kendric quickly scanned the sky. With the wall of water down, they should be able to see Mikayla. The silly girl must have crashed.
“We need to help her!” Logan cried. “You could fly over there to rescue—”
“Enough!” Kendric yelled. Shit, the younger ones looked like they were going to cry. “There are always casualties in battle—you know that. Now make more fireballs, Farah.”
With trembling hands, Farah began shaping numerous small fireballs, but then a dark cloud suddenly appeared over their heads.
“What is that?” Kendric glanced up just as a deluge of rain swooshed down on his army, causing the fires to sizzle out. He peered through the heavy sheet of rain. It was only raining on them.
“It’s Hannah!” Alfred wiped raindrops from his face. “She must be close by. Logan, find her and make her stop.”
“Aye, Colonel.” Logan took off with a blur of speed.
Kendric gritted his teeth as the rain continued to pelt them. With two soldiers gone, they were now down to six. Alfred’s lightning power was useless with Leo there to stop it. Darroc was not powerful enough to defeat Rupert. As long as it was raining, Farah couldn’t use her fire power.
He glanced around and hefted up a small boulder. “Darroc, can you blow this through the wall? Then Jared can make it explode.”
“I’ll try.” When the boulder was thrown into the air, Darroc gave it a push, but halfway to the wall of water, it plummeted into the ocean.
Shit. Kendric scoured his mind to come up with another plan. He could shift into a dragon and fly over the ships, but unfortunately, he couldn’t breathe fire. Could he shift into a whale and ram one of the ships? Or could he use the sea creatures that were already there?
He glanced at Irene. He’d always considered her power to be the weakest of the group. Making things grow? It was more suitable for a farm than an army. In fact, she’d only practiced her gift on plants. “Irene, how big can you make all the sea creatures?”
Her eyes widened with shock. “You . . . you want . . . ?”
“Sea monsters!” Alfred shook his fist. “Let’s do it!”
Irene winced. “It will cause them a lot of pain.”
Kendric nodded. “That’s all right. If they’re angry, they can take it out on the ships. Do it.”
Irene hesitated.
“Follow orders, soldier!” Alfred yelled at her.
With a trembling hand, Irene shoved wet strands of hair away from her face. Then she stretched her arms toward the ocean. The surface frothed and churned as all the nearby sea creatures began to grow larger. And larger.
Kendric smiled to himself. This strategy was going to work.
Chapter 24
Leo scanned the wall of water as he stood on the quarterdeck of the Eberoni flagship with Captain Shaw, General Harden, and the dragon shifter Dimitri. The ship to his left was Rupert’s flagship, and Leo could see him with a fellow seaman up in the crow’s nest. Rupert was straining hard to push the armada forward.
The fleet had left the port of Luna two hours ago with Rupert pushing them slowly toward the Isle of Secrets while they waited for the elfin navy to join them. Unfortunately, the wind was not cooperating for the elves, and Silas had sent a telepathic message to Dimitri that they were running a little late. By then, the fourteen ships had been sighted by the Embraced army, so they’d had no choice but to start the battle.
Before leaving the Isle of Moon, Leo and all the