Accepting their decision, Dreya left them for a moment, teleporting herself to the site of the former Citadel of Doom. She had told the dragons they were not allowed to rebuild the site. The ruins would serve as a reminder of what would happen if Mistress Dreya the Dark ever found out that a dragon had broken the truce and harmed any Chetsuans. There were always to be dragons stationed there, however, as she would appear without warning and expect an instant response to her commands. She didn’t care who they were, just as she didn’t care how they ran their affairs as long as they didn’t harm Chetsuans. This time, she told them she wanted three fighter dragons to help her fight a war against an enemy who, if not stopped, would devastate their world, too.
“And believe me,” she assured them, “he won’t be anywhere near as reasonable as I am. One of you will have the honour of my presence on your back. The other two will be carrying a Chetsuan each.” That caused a stir, so Dreya allowed a ball of crackling energy to glow and spark in her hand, growing in size and intensity. “I’m sorry,” she growled, menacingly, “do any of you have a problem with that?” Her veiled threat had the desired response, quieting them down. “That’s better.” She allowed her magic to dissipate, harmlessly. “Be grateful that my girlfriend’s got me in such a good mood right now. So, any volunteers?”
She picked three with varying abilities, mounted the fire-breather and opened a portal to Daelen’s facility, instructing the other two dragons to follow hers in. They landed in Daelen’s grounds, where Sara and Jessica mounted their dragons. Once in the air, it was time for another portal to Tempestria, specifically the Black Tower.
“Since you so kindly welcomed me into your home,” she told her Chetsuan friends, “I think it’s only fair that I show you mine for a few hours.”
They set down in her grounds, where, as pre-arranged, Laethyn was waiting with his own dragon, Madroit. She didn’t trust the dragons to behave if she left them alone with Sara and Jessica, and he was the only other person on Tempestria who knew anything about controlling dragons. His Black robes also helped – there was no way for the dragons to realise that his powers were no match for hers. Unfortunately, she didn’t trust Laethyn, either, but her friends knew that, and they were well-armed and quite capable of handling him, if necessary. Plus, as a further precaution, she had reactivated some of Ulvarius’ defences that had lain dormant for years. At the first sign of trouble, they were instructed to do whatever was necessary to protect Sara and Jessica. If they killed the dragons, well, there were plenty more where they came from, and for Laethyn, she cared nothing one way or the other.
*****
As Daelen surveyed the scene below him, he could see that the battle had turned decisively back in the allies’ favour. Surrounded on all sides and assaulted by dragons from above, Kullos’ forces were finally contained. It had taken a lot, but the allies were winning.
Dreya the Dark had proven to be an instrumental ally. Besides her innate power, her sharp mind was incredible. In a matter of weeks, she had united the Council, moulded them into a fighting force, opened the door to clerics and rallied together an army. In between all that, she had managed to conquer Phitonia just so that she could use dragons in this fight. It never would have occurred to Daelen. Her actions had clearly also won the hearts and minds of the two Chetsuan girls. They would follow her into the depths of hell to help fight the Keeper of the Underworld if she asked. In fact, she wouldn’t even need to ask.
Teleporting down from her dragon, Dreya resumed her fight on the ground as a lethal shadow. She seemed invulnerable to conventional attacks. Warriors found their weapons useless; how does one fight a shadow, anyway? As he watched, he saw her step up to face a trio of renegade wizards. It was three against one, but they clearly didn’t like those odds much because their eyes widened and, bowing once, they fled before her. They didn’t get far; the three ghouls floated to intercept them and froze their souls. Running away was no longer an option, as far as Dreya was concerned. Had she been anyone else, they would have attacked, their intent had been clear. Intent was the same as deed. They only ran because they were scared of her. What was she supposed to do? Let them go so they could kill somebody else, instead? Daelen could well understand why she was the only mortal mage his dark clone had ever respected and feared.
Dreya’s death knights seemed to be actually enjoying themselves, pitting their undead strength and skilful swordplay against Kullos’ own champions. They were worthy opponents. The members of each side had even taken a moment to offer a knightly salute before engaging in their own private contest. Dreya’s guards gradually gained the upper hand, however, and seemed to be playing with their opponents, content to fence them without going in for the kill. Suddenly, Daelen realised why: Dreya wanted to deal the death blows herself so she could absorb their power. In the future, he could easily believe that she would achieve her dark ambitions of power and become the Greatest Mage Who Ever Lived, in this world or any other, and the higher planes had better watch out, too.
Michael’s forces, unlike Kullos’, were handpicked for their skill and prowess, not just weight of numbers. They had trained for years, inspired by Ossian Miach Kaidool himself and the chance to fight beside him was a dream come true. They wanted to prove themselves worthy of the Champion of the Gods, and they were doing an admirable job.
Not to be outdone, Mandalee was like a living flame. She wasn’t using her super-speed, because she couldn’t afford to sacrifice stamina in such a long battle. Even without that power, though, Time seemed to slow down for her, and now that she was the White Guardian, she realised that the concept might be entirely literal. Perhaps by some new magical instinct, she really was slowing time. She made a mental note to ask Cat later, as she found a gap to throw her returning blade at a female warrior she had spotted trying to sneak up on Windell, who seemed to have become her shadow. She slit a throat with a dragonclaw dagger, before catching her returning blade on its way back with perfect timing.
Beside the assassin, Shyleen added tooth and claw to Mandalee’s clerical magic and blades. It seemed to the ever-philosophical leopard that her bond with Mandalee had strengthened and grown since she became White Guardian. It was like they could see through each other’s eyes, feel each other’s heartbeat, anticipate each other’s movement before it was committed to. They guarded and protected each other, deflecting blows that might have harmed the other. In short, more than ever, it felt like they were two parts of one whole being. The result to the enemy was devastating.
Ossian Miach Kaidool towered above all but a few demons, using his own brand of sword and sorcery. He was like a great rock on the shore: though the tide of the enemy washed over him and threatened to engulf him, still he could not be moved. Much of his magic was unconventional and all the more effective for it. Ravens of Death sent the enemy to their grave, while others were encased in petrified wood. Still more were bitten and stung by swarms of insects that had no interest whatsoever in his allies.
Finally, there was the beautiful Catriona Redfletching.
“Oh, how I will miss her,” the shadow warrior muttered to himself with a wistful smile.
For her part, the druidess seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. For a while, she was a shapeshifting tour de force. Bear form to leopard, to wolf, to falcon, to owl. The enemy didn’t know what they were fighting. She even made use of her mole form, burrowing under the sandy terrain, only to appear behind her attackers, shift to leopard form to spring at them, take them to ground and deliver the killing bite. He remembered her saying how her shapeshifting hurt her, but she would not allow that pain to stop her. Her inner strength was a marvel to behold, and he was grateful beyond words that he’d been granted the chance to know her, if only for a short time.
In her natural form, her magic and trickery confounded her enemies. Refusing to allow fear to touch her, she acted as though this whole battle were pure entertainment. It was a concert of magic put on entirely for her amusement, a show in which she was the star.
“All she lacks,” he told himself, as Catriona taunted a renegade wizard, “is an audience to ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ at the wonders she performs, to cheer and applaud her skill and presentation.” Indeed, it was often not just what she did, but the flair with which she did it.
“You know how they say two heads are better than one?” Daelen heard her remark, conversationally, to a pair of enemy warriors. “Well, I think two heads just makes it all the more likely that you’ll lose one of them.” With a rainbow blade, she sliced cleanly through one of their necks, “or both,” she added, continuing her stroke through the second one. They hadn’t even tried to move – how were they to know a rainbow could be lethal?
A group of a dozen wizards tried to put a stop to her tricks with an anti-magic field. She rolled her eyes, adapted her magic and without even breaking it down, she scolded them, punctuating each word with a death.
“When. Will. You. Wizards. Learn. That. Anti. Magic. Fields. Are. Completely. Useless!”
She used her Faithless spell to place doubt in the minds of a pair of White clerics who were advancing on Mandalee. Justaria had mentioned there were a few of those – fanatics who believed that any magic that didn’t come directly from their gods was blasphemy and saw Kullos as a means to destroy the heathens. Catriona cut them off from their gods and the magic they drew from them.
“That, on the other hand, works every time,” she declared, as she cut them down.
An exasperated Catriona called over to Mandalee, “They just don’t seem to be learning!”
“Cat, I don’t think they’re going to be learning anything anymore – they’re dead,” Mandalee pointed out.
Cat glanced over at her friend. “Oh yeah,” she replied as if she’d just realised her friend was right. Turning back to the corpses, she shrugged. “Sorry.”
Daelen allowed himself a smile, in spite of the situation. She was such a delight to watch…but he had a more pressing concern. Now that the battle was firmly under control and he could be sure they wouldn’t need him; it was time to put an end to Kullos himself. As far as Daelen was concerned, this was his job and his alone.
Quietly, then, he slipped away, but he did not count on the sharp eyes and ears of a certain leopard.
Shyleen spotted him as he left and informed Mandalee, and thanks to their enhanced sympathic link, Cat and Dreya knew it, too. Thus, at some unspoken signal, the Three Guardians fought their way through the enemy ranks to meet together. Cat formed a Rainbow Road, arcing high above the battlefield, so they could confer without having to fight. A couple of particularly bold demons tried to follow, but Cat just nonchalantly pulled her bow and arrows out of her pocket dimension shooting both simultaneously and letting their bodies plunge back into the maelstrom of violence below.
“Sometimes you just have to do things the old-fashioned way,” she sighed.
“Now, where do you suppose he’s going just when things are getting interesting?” Mandalee wondered, watching Daelen disappear inside.
“To fight Kullos alone, I imagine,” Dreya answered.
“While I still live and breathe? The hell he is!” Catriona insisted. Then she called out to Ossian Miach Kaidool, “Hey, Mickey!”
“Don’t call me Mickey!” he shot back.
She ignored him. “We need to keep an eye on Daelen! We’ll come back when we can. Do you think you lot can handle things here now?”
“Aye,” he agreed. “I believe we can cope.”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than another blue portal opened.
Cat shot Dreya a worried glance, already knowing the answer even as she asked, “Is this another one of your schemes?”
The sorceress shook her head. “Nothing to do with me.”
“Then I think we might be in trouble,” Mandalee concluded.
Kullos’ reinforcements, about five thousand of them, poured out of the portal and onto the battlefield.
“Then again,” Michael reconsidered, “I may have spoken too soon.”