Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(45)

A quake rippled across the desert. Broken chunks of earth shot out of the ground, shooting toward the truck. I tried to swerve out of the way, but there were too many of them. A rock as big as a boulder slammed against the truck, shooting it into the air. I clicked out of my seatbelt and jumped out of the turning vehicle as a second boulder crushed it into the ground.

Hands snatched me out of the air before I could fall to a similar fate. Nero held me against him as he flew over the monster horde.

“Did you really have to set off all those earthquakes?” I demanded.

“I didn’t. The quakes came from the magic in these lands. Desert Rose has never seen monsters before.”

“So, you’re saying the land panicked?” I asked.

“Not exactly. It’s not sentient. It was simply reacting to the monsters’ magic.”

“Well, its timing was miserable.”

The desert groaned, almost as though it had heard me. But it couldn’t have. Nero said the land wasn’t sentient. It certainly was beautiful, though. The sand shimmered like gold powder, and the prickly plants sparkled like precious gemstones. A melancholy melody hummed across the desert, singing to my soul. I drew in a deep breath.

And then I snapped out of it. The sight of the monster horde woke me right up. They were veering in the wrong direction. I nudged them back toward the base. It felt so weird—so wrong—to be sending monsters toward all those people. I hoped Nero was right and the barrier could take the impact of so many beasts.

A shriek pierced the sky. I looked up to find a beastly bird diving toward us. It was as large as a car—and it had two friends. I tried to grab hold of the birds’ minds, but they eluded my control. Two of them rammed Nero from both sides. The impact knocked me down.

I fell to the ground, landing in a rolling crash. I pushed off with my hands, trying to peel myself off the scorching earth. I looked up and searched for Nero. The air was thick with flying beasts, a dozen of them now. Feathers and smoke rustled in the wind. I didn’t see Nero anywhere. Where was he?

Fear surging inside of me, I grabbed control over the flying beasts and sent them at the golden glowing barrier. They exploded into puffs of dark smoke when they hit the wall of magic. The land beasts followed them into oblivion. The glowing barrier shook and hissed as hundreds of monsters slammed into it.

A few dozen beasts broke away from my control. They turned and charged at me, anger burning in their eyes, as though they knew it was I who had tried to send them to their deaths. I fired into the storm of their fury. When I ran out of bullets, I threw down my guns and drew my sword. I darted between the monsters, slashing and cutting. Adrenaline pushed me forward, powering my sore, tired muscles. I kept fighting, never stopping.

It wasn’t enough. The barrier had eaten most of the monsters, but too many remained. I was horribly outnumbered. A giant wolf pounced over the others, tackling me hard to the ground. I pushed up, trying to free myself from its enormous weight, but it didn’t budge. Two rows of dagger-like teeth glistened under a layer of thick saliva inside a thick, bone-crushing jaw. The beast snapped its teeth at me—and then it exploded.

I brushed off the burning embers and looked up into Nero’s enraged eyes. There was nothing left of the monster but ash. I’d seen a Magitech barrier do that to a beast—but I’d never seen a person do it.

Wait, that wasn’t quite right. I’d seen Damiel do the same last week. He and Nero shared some terrifying powers.

“Are you all right?” Nero asked, helping me to my feet.

I blinked, too shocked to say anything. Nero nodded, then spun around and ran at the wolf trying to sneak up on him. He jumped onto it and plunged his sword through its back. He pushed off the dead beast and quickly dispatched what remained of the horde.

“That was the last of them,” Nero said as he pulled his sword out of the last lizard.

He was right. I didn’t feel any more monsters.

“You look awful,” I told him, taking in his battered appearance. One of the arms had been torn clear off his uniform. The rest of the leather armor didn’t look much better.

He snorted. “So do you.”

We limped to the gate, passing fallen monsters and what remained of our truck. The collision of several hundred monsters had been too much for the base’s Magitech barrier. It had overloaded. Magic sizzled in waves across the stone wall, weak and erratic. Black smoke rose from the base, carrying with it the stench of burning metal. From the looks of it, the barrier was done for.

I really hoped there weren’t any more monsters hiding on the Elemental Expanse because we’d just blown up our best weapon against them.





14





The Fire Mountains





We entered the base, which looked more like an old Frontier town than a Legion stronghold. Buildings stood several stories tall on either side of the single dirt road that cut through the base. A hot, dry wind blew sand across our path as we walked toward the big building at the end of the road.

Barbed wire was tangled like thorny vines across the stone wall that surrounded the base. The last remnants of magic had sizzled out. The Magitech generators we passed were completely silent. It was a testament to the professionalism of the Legion’s soldiers that everyone here was on high alert, guarding the wall, not standing around dumbstruck. It wasn’t every day that even a single Magitech generator blew out. They were pretty much indestructible. Yet Nero and I had blown out all six at once by throwing a horde of monsters at the wall.