Wicked War of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 9) (7 page)

She nipped my ear. "If only." A sigh escaped her throat. "Let's go. We don't have a lot of time before the army we pushed back in the way station makes it up here."

I really wanted to make out with her right then and there. How many people could scratch an experience like this off their bucket list? Unfortunately, duty called. "Giddyup, Trago." I gave the tragon a light slap on the neck.

It didn't move.

I wiggled around. "C'mon. Move. Let's go blow up some stuff."

Trago apparently wasn't having any of it. He snorted and started to walk back into the forest.

"So much for being the first tragon whisperer," Elyssa said in a wry tone.

"Seriously?" I shouted. "I offer you the chance to go ham and you just walk back into the woods? Don't you want a little adventure in your life?"

"Either it doesn't understand you, or it's a lot smarter than it looks," Elyssa said.

As the tragon pushed further into the forest, I realized we'd either have to get off and hoof it back, or figure out a quick way to turn around this reptilian tank. Since I knew the thing's snout was a tender spot, I channeled two thick coils of Murk, curving the ends and hooking them into Trago's nose. I pulled on the right rope. The tragon trumpeted with pain. Its head rotated to alleviate the pressure, but I kept pulling until it was forced to turn its entire body.

When we were headed the way I wanted, I released the pressure and the monster stayed on course. We reached the edge of the forest.

"Open the shield, Shelton!" I called down.

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I sure as hell hope you got that thing under control."

"Of course," I lied. "Total control."

Shelton waved his staff, and a section of the forest shield flickered off. I nudged the tragon forward. For a second, he didn't move so I willed the hooks in his nose to pull forward. The beast made a whining noise and stepped forward slowly, almost as if he expected to run into the shield at any moment.

The Blue Cloaks and Templars gave the creature a wide berth as it tromped past. Once he reached the grassy field, the tragon looked around. He sniffed the air and looked toward the distant stadium.

"Let's go kick some ass," I said and released the spell keeping the monster's mouth clamped shut.

A low rumble sounded in Trago's throat. He looked back at me for a moment. I figured if he had eyebrows, he would have arched one. His head flicked forward. Without warning, Trago sprang forward at incredible speed. He trumpeted a loud roar. Clods of earth flew up behind us. Every time the tragon panted, I felt heat wash across my face. I looked back and saw the bulk of our troops rushing across the field behind the tragon.

I saw two men exit through the massive archway leading inside the stadium. Their faces lit with horror and they ran screaming back inside. Trago roared. His claws clacked as he ran across the stone-paved walkway around the stadium. My mount rushed through the archway and burst into the arena. Two massive construction golems turned to face the beast. The gems on their heads glowed.

Dazzling light beams shot at my monster. At first, the lasers seemed to do nothing to the tragon's scaly hide, but wisps of smoke appeared, and he roared with pain. Trago leapt through the air, his tiny wings fluttering. I heard Elyssa gasp. I braced for impact just as the tragon's claw slammed into one golem's chest and took it down. Trago roared and a gout of ruby flames melted the golem's head to lava.

The other golem focused on us and fired a beam at the tragon's back. I shielded us, but was forced to release the spell forming the hooks in Trago's snout. My mount turned its head, seemingly oblivious to me and Elyssa, and leapt for the second golem. Elyssa and I grunted in tandem as the tragon landed on its second victim.

"I'm getting off!" she shouted.

My crotch was already rubbing raw from the constant bucking and swaying. "Me too."

The tragon slammed a claw on the second golem's chest and stood still to blast it in the face with a gout of flames that looked like a solar flare. Elyssa and I took the opportunity to abandon ship—err, dinosaur. Channeling a rope of Murk, I lowered us to the ground as Trago turned toward the remaining construction golems converging on him.

The sun disappeared in shadow. I looked up just in time to see a block of granite falling straight for us.

Chapter 6

Trago's tail swept across the ground, sending me and Elyssa tumbling out from under the block of granite. It slammed to earth inches away from us. The tragon didn't seem to notice it had inadvertently saved us as it thudded toward its giant attackers.

Battle mages standing near a half-constructed leviathan golem aimed their staffs at us and fired. Beams of energy rippled through the air. I shielded us from the first volley as we raced for cover behind a massive block of rough-hewn granite. The rest of our forces stormed onto the field. A group of demolition Blue Cloaks raced toward a construction golem as it flanked the tragon.

Trago roared in pain as energy from multiple sources lanced into his tough hide. I peeked out from cover and aimed my fist at the nearest construction golem. Focusing my supernatural vision on the laser gem, I fired a beam of Brilliance at it. The golem fired a laser at the same time. My blast met the energy. The two forces coalesced into a ball of boiling energy. I pushed with everything I had. The energy ball exploded. The laser gem shattered and the golem stumbled backward. Its huge body slammed against the tall wall beneath the stands.

My inner demon stirred. I wondered if it would be able to challenge me even if I was in human form. I braced my consciousness, but my demon side didn't surge as it had when I was manifested.

The demolition Blue Cloaks reached their target. Dodging the giant stone creature's feet as it tried to crush them, they traced runes on its knee with their staffs. One of them gave a signal, and they cleared the area. I expected an explosion. Instead, the stone around the runes crumbled as if it had lost all cohesion. The golem toppled forward and smashed into the ground with a tremendous, earth-shaking thud. A wave of earth and sod slammed into a group of battle mages and sent them screaming to their deaths as Trago incinerated them with a blast of fiery breath.

Templars threw sticky aether bombs on the legs of another golem. Battle mages fired volley after volley of deadly energy at them. One blast caught a Templar and hurled him beneath the feet of the golem. I looked away as the monstrous foot slammed down. A small contingent of crimson-clad vampires appeared from behind stone blocks and engaged another squad of Templars.

Elyssa ran to help. I raced after her, but it was all I could do to keep up. I was beyond exhausted. Hunger for soul essence clawed at my insides.

My girlfriend whipped out her sai swords and intercepted a sword thrust meant to cleave off a fellow Templar's head. She twisted the sword from the vampire's hand. Ducked. Ran him through with both her swords.

I channeled a blade of Brilliance and sliced through an attacker's sword like butter. The vampire snarled, fangs flashing, and dove at me. I moved my sword to intercept, but the blade flickered off. He slammed into me. Somehow, I managed to throw him off. I staggered to my feet just as my attacker did. My insides screamed with hunger. Survival instinct took over. My hands shot up, fingers outstretched.

A look of surprise came over the vampire's face as his hands splayed out in front of him. White light poured from the fingers of his right hand while thick oily essence flowed from the fingers of his left. Some of the numbing exhaustion left me. The vampire cried out in pain as blackened veins pressed hard against the right side of his face, while glowing white veins pulsed on the opposite. Unfortunately, feeding from a vampire was unsatisfying compared to a human. The essence seemed watered down.

I snapped to my senses and released my victim. He fell to the ground in a heap. A final cry faded away and the battlefield went silent except for a crunching noise. I turned to see Trago eating the tragon-fried bodies of battle mages.

Elyssa made a gagging noise. I echoed the sentiment. Shelton skirted wide around the monster, a grimace on his face.

Captain Takei approached us. "The people I sent to watch for the enemy troops retreating from the way station just checked in. Apparently, the troops evacuated through omniarch portals only moments ago."

Michael, a grim look on his face, joined us. "Any danger of them using portals to attack us here?"

"I'll have a perimeter of portal-blocking statues established," Elyssa said.

"Good idea," I said. We'd discovered the statues in an artifact warehouse in the depths of Thunder Rock. There were a variety of the statues, each one designed to block a different kind of portal. Some blocked Obsidian Arches while others blocked portals from the different realms accessible through an Alabaster Arch.

Shelton jabbed a thumb toward the tragon. "What about that? We can't just leave it roaming free."

"I'll take him back to the forest," I said. Trago crunched down on a vampire, made a rumble of disgust, and spat out the body.

A female Blue Cloak approached Captain Takei and saluted. "I have the casualty numbers, sir."

He raised an eyebrow. "How bad, lieutenant?"

"Three Templars, one Blue Cloak dead; Eleven Templars, six Blue Cloaks injured." Her eyes looked uneasily at the tragon. "I suppose the tragon is injured as well."

Takei chuckled. He motioned toward the Obsidian Arch in the middle of the arena. "See about making the arch operational, lieutenant. We'll use it to travel back to La Casona."

She snapped a salute and walked away.

I leaned against Elyssa as my knees went weak. I was almost too tired to stand, despite having fed off the vampire. I had no idea how to get Trago back to the forest in this condition. The beast snuffled in the dirt as he searched for more bodies. One of his eyes focused on me and blinked. "We might have to leave Trago loose until I get some rest," I said.

Shelton cast a wistful look in the direction of Greek Row. "I kinda wanted to see the mansion while we were here. Guess that'll have to wait."

A pang of regret hit my stomach. Elyssa and I had been living at Big Creek Ranch, aka the Templar Compound for the Atlanta area. We'd decided to take a room in the underground complex instead of living in the house aboveground. Even though I got along with her parents these days, it would feel really weird sleeping in the same house as them. "I miss the mansion too," I said.

The Obsidian Arch hummed to life. Captain Takei waved his staff and shot up a blue flare. The Blue Cloaks lined up. Michael pressed the pendant at his collar. "Form up, Templars. We're leaving."

A Templar approached Michael and saluted. "We set up a shield across the exit to the stadium. It should contain the tragon."

Shelton snorted. "If Daelissa's people use this arch, they're in for a big surprise."

I took look at Trago as he munched on another body. "We should go before he runs out of corpses."

The troops evacuated the stadium through the portal in the Obsidian Arch. Elyssa and I lagged behind. I was tired and moving slow.

Trago lifted his bloody muzzle and looked at me as I headed toward the arch. He emitted a querulous sounding roar. I waved goodbye. "Clean your plate!" I said.

We reached the arch and Trago tromped toward us. He stopped, cocked his head to the side and regarded us as we entered the portal. We were the last through. Adam, already back at La Casona, scanned the portal with his arctablet. His eyes went huge when he saw the tragon. "What in the hell is that doing there?"

Trago, meanwhile, butted his head against an uncompleted leviathan golem. He bit the thing's leg and roared like a giant reptilian dog that had just found a chew toy. Adam made a slashing motion across his neck and the Obsidian Arch powered down with a long low hum.

"We recruited some extra help," I said as a yawn cracked my jaw. It was almost midnight in this part of the world.

Adam wrinkled his nose. "You look awful. Head into the control room and take an omniarch portal home for some shuteye."

I wanted to give a jaunty salute, but my arm refused to rise. Elyssa practically carried me into the control room. I vaguely remembered seeing the portal open before passing out.

Elyssa was already out of bed and probably going through her morning exercises when I woke up the next morning. I found a small scroll tied with a purple ribbon on her pillow. A grin stretched my mouth. I opened the scroll and read it.

Every day with you is a gift. I love you, Justin.

Elyssa and I had taken to leaving each other little notes like this. We were both so busy it seemed we hardly had any alone time anymore. We were both so tired at night, we hadn't even had a decent make-out session in a while. It was almost as if we had nine-to-five jobs and three kids.

The notification light on my arcphone blinked at me. My phone, Nookli, had been fried from a malaether explosion, but Adam and Shelton had managed to fix it. I ignored the notification indicator and wrote a note for Elyssa on a fresh sheet of parchment.

You, me, dinner and a movie. I miss having you all to myself. I love you, babe.

I rolled the note, bound it with the purple ribbon she'd used, and left it on her pillow.

With a loud groan, I flicked the screen on my phone and saw a message from Dad.

Remember the ball tonight. Dress nice and pretend you're not an ass.

I ran a hand down my face and sighed. Despite the full night of sleep, I still felt drained. It was hardly surprising considering how much I'd been through. A yawn caught me off guard. I let it ride its course and opened my email to read through a slew of reports.

Elyssa's father, Thomas Borathen, had taken troops to Australia to help Commander Taylor of the Southern Australian Legion deal with the former Northern Australian Legion, which was now in cahoots with the Synod. His liaison's email to me reported that they'd captured or killed most of the NAL leadership and were putting their troops through a truth-saying process to weed out the Synod loyalists. Their next step would be securing the Three Sisters way station, the only one in Australia with an Alabaster Arch.