Annwyl nodded once . . . and smiled.
Brastias rolled on his side, avoiding the warhammer aimed at his head. He stood and brought his ax up, splitting the man from groin to neck.
“Behind you!” Brastias didn’t turn but swung his ax back and up. He took off a soldier’s sword arm, then turned to finish the man off. Prying his ax from the man’s corpse, he glanced at Danelin who called the warning.
“Where is she, Brastias?” the warrior yelled over the din of battle.
“She’ll be here.”
“Well, she and those dragons better be here soon.”
“Why?”
Danelin pointed to the sky and Brastias turned to see why the color drained from his lieutenant’s face. It wasn’t just that it was a dragon. Or that Lorcan rode him. But the fact that they were not alone. Eight other dragons flew with them, geared for battle.
Brastias cringed. Things just became more difficult.
As they flew toward battle, Fearghus gave explicit instructions, while Annwyl clung to his back. “Lorcan belongs to Annwyl. Hefaidd-Hen is mine. Kill every one else who wears Lorcan’s colors. Understand?”
“Wait. Is that it? Has our brother no words of wisdom before we go into battle?” Gwenvael demanded with sarcasm.
“As a matter of fact, I do. Don’t get killed.” Morfyd and Keita laughed as they moved out. His three brothers following.
“And Annwyl. Remember what I told you.”
“Protect my right side?”
“No.”
“Feint with my left?”
“No.”
“Nice ass.”
“No!” His growl of annoyance only elicited a sweet chuckle from his woman.
“Watch my rage, heart of my heart?”
“Condescending cow.”
Chapter 18
The ball of flame narrowly missed her and she desperately clung to Fearghus’s neck and hair as he spun and dove down toward the middle of the battle. For several agonizing moments her world turned upside down and she felt certain she would retch at any second, when the dragon thankfully righted himself. She didn’t care what he said, she was getting him a saddle.
As they neared the ground she caught sight of Brastias. “There! Land me there!”
Fearghus dropped lower, plowed through a contingent of horse-mounted soldiers, and slid to a halt in front of a startled Brastias.
Annwyl slipped off the dragon’s back. She unsheathed both her swords and turned to her dragon-lover.
The two stared at each other.
“Stay well, Lady Annwyl.”
“Stay alive, Lord Dragon.”
Fearghus unfurled his mighty wings and lifted off into the air to join the battle already raging with the other dragons and his siblings.
“We’re glad you’re here.” Brastias stood beside her now, covered in blood, the majority of which she doubted belonged to him.
“Sorry I took so long, my friend.” She tested the weight of her blades. As always they felt good in her hands. She was ready.
“Where is he, Brastias?”
“Up there.” He pointed to a ridge where she could hear the war cries of men. But between her and her brother lay a battery of troops screaming for her blood.
One soldier ran for her, the blood lust having grabbed hold of his mind. She brought her two swords together, stepping aside as the man’s head snapped off his body.
Annwyl smiled at Brastias. “Perhaps you should let me take this from here.”
She wondered what he saw on her face when she looked at him, because he visibly blanched and backed away from her. “As always, Annwyl. They’re all yours.”
Annwyl smiled and charged in, killing all that stood in her way and did not wear the colors of her army.
A bolt of lightning hit Fearghus dead in the chest. He flew back with a roar. Leave it to Hefaidd-Hen to find lightning dragons. Purple beasts from the Northlands with awesome powers, but he already tired of the stinging pain their lightning caused. Plus, he knew they were singeing his hair.
He could see Gwenvael coming up behind the dragon. He moved in again to distract him and barely missed the bolt the beast sent out. As the dragon reared back to send out another, Gwenvael wrapped his maw around his neck and held it. Fearghus dived in and slammed his talons into the beast’s groin and belly, ripping up. The dragon roared in pain as he lost his bowels over the battlefield. And when they released him he dropped to the ground, taking out some of Lorcan’s men in the process.
The two brothers stared at each other. They got along at no other time as when they were in battle together. And Fearghus finally admitted to himself it brought him joy that his family fought with him this day.
The two brothers separated and Fearghus went over to help Morfyd. But as she dispensed with two dragons, one with flame the other with a spell, he wasn’t quite sure why he’d bothered.
Then he saw Eibhear tumble past him. He caught his brother’s arm before he could fall to the ground while he hit the enemy dragon with flame, knocking the beast back.
“Eibhear! Are you all right?” he demanded in the ancient language of dragons.
“Aye, brother. That bitch caught me by surprise, is all.”
“Well, watch your back, pup. I’ll never hear the end of it if anything happens to you. You she likes.”
Eibhear took to the air once again, going after the bitch dragon who had just tried to kill him.
“Morfyd!” Fearghus flew to his sister. “Hefaidd-Hen. Where is he?”
His sister closed her eyes and tried to reach out with her Magick to find the dragon. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she looked at her brother.
“What is it?”
“Annwyl.”
Annwyl tore through her brother’s troops. Most of them she beheaded as was her way. She only wasted time with arms and legs when the head wasn’t readily available. And she only took those limbs to slow the enemy down long enough so she could take the head.
A soldier dived for her. She blocked his blow and brought her other sword down cleaving off half his skull and silencing the man’s screams. She turned as another soldier hoped to sneak up on her from behind. She gutted him, which she also liked to do. Especially when her blade released the entrails.
She realized with a smile that she truly did earn her name. She really
She killed off two more soldiers stupid enough to get in her way, and then charged up the ridge, screaming for Lorcan. As she made it to the top, she slid to a halt in the wet grass. Lorcan waited for her. Waited for her with his dragon.
