Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(67)

I turned at the rustle of movement from the staircase. Soren and Nerissa were coming up the steps. They looked like they’d just fought their way through hell.

“What happened to you?” I asked them.

“Earlier today, the Dragons summoned everyone in the castle to a ceremony in the throne room,” Soren said.

“As soon as we got there, the ground sank into the dungeons, trapping us down there,” Nerissa added as several of the castle’s staff came up the stairs behind them. One of them was the master magic smith, just the man I needed.

“I need to borrow the Lightning Spear,” I told him.

“You want to borrow an immortal weapon?”

“I want to borrow that immortal weapon.”

“Why?”

“I need something that can absorb a lot of magic.” I waved at the storm raging outside.

He shook his head. “The storm is too powerful.”

“You said the rod was indestructible,” I reminded him.

“It is, but even it has limits as to how much magic it can absorb. Once it’s full, it will spit the magic back out. The concentrated blasts of magic will devastate the Elemental Expanse, which will in turn throw the world’s weather out of balance.”

“What if we had a second battery to absorb the storm’s magic?”

“We don’t have anything nearly as powerful as the Lightning Spear.”

“That’s not true. We have a magic castle,” I told him.

“You want the castle to absorb the excess magic?”

“Yes. Will it work?”

He considered the idea. “I believe so. In defense mode, the castle can absorb large amounts of both light and dark magic.” He looked at Colonel Starborn. “But I must caution you, the castle might not survive this. It’s never before faced the likes of that storm.”

“We have no choice,” I told Colonel Starborn. “We have to risk it. If this storm spreads, it will devastate the Earth. The world’s cities and walls won’t survive. The Lightning Spear and Storm Castle are all that stand between the storm and the coming of the second apocalypse.”

“Bring us the Lightning Spear,” she ordered the master smith.

“Get everyone out of the castle,” I told the castle staff standing at the top of the stairs.

They all looked at Colonel Starborn.

“Do it,” she said. “And hurry.”

They ran down the stairs as the master magic smith came up, carrying the Lightning Spear. Wow, he sure moved fast.

“Mount it at the highest point on the castle, and it will serve like a lightning rod for magic.” He handed me the rod. “You’ll need to access the controls to switch the castle to defense mode so it absorbs the magic the rod channels. There’s a control panel on the roof of every tower.”

“Thanks,” I said, moving toward the roof access ladder on the balcony.

Nero caught my hand before I stepped outside. “There’s a massive storm brewing up there. You won’t survive it.”

“My blended magic makes me the person most likely to survive a storm of light and dark magic.” At least long enough to place the rod and switch on the castle’s defenses.

I expected him to stand in my way. Instead, he let go of my hand. “I’m going with you.”

“Glad to have you, Colonel,” I said with a crooked smile.

“Get moving!” Nero barked at everyone still in the tower, then followed me onto the balcony.

Needle-hard rain pricked my face as I climbed, one hand pulling me up the ladder, the other gripping tightly to the Lightning Spear. By the time we reached the roof, my clothes were soaked through to my underwear.

“I’m going to lock the rod in place!” I shouted over the hurricane winds battering my body, trying to throw me off the heavily slanted roof. “As soon as it’s in, you need to switch the castle into defense mode to absorb the storm!”

A bolt of lightning crashed against the roof. Red tiles shot in every direction, spilling off the tower. My foot slipped under the force of the avalanche, and I began to fall.

Nero caught my leg—and I caught the Lightning Spear. He pulled me back up, and I slammed against the solid wall of his chest.

“Careful, Pandora,” he whispered into my ear. His breath was warm, driving out the chill the storm had beaten into my bones. “Don’t fall off.”

My heart thumped against his. “I’m not planning on it.”

“Good.”

I lifted my hand to brush a wet strand of hair from his face—then stopped. There was no time for this now. I gave him a half-smile, then climbed up to the peak of the tower and snapped the Lightning Spear into place. I slowly moved back down to Nero. He typed in a few codes to switch the castle into defense mode. Then we hurried down the ladder.

We’d made it nearly to the spiral staircase when a heavy boom shook the castle, blowing a hole in the tower. The wind sucked us out into the storm. Caught in a funnel, I saw the battered face of the Fire Tower. The roof had been blown clear off, but the Lightning Spear was still locked into the castle’s support beams. Magic crackled on the rod and poured down the metal vein. It was working! The castle was absorbing the storm.

Lightning flashed across the sky. The wind yawned, and I dropped several feet in the air. I kicked my feet, trying to find something to grab onto, anything. I crashed into the Sky Tower. The wind carried me across the roof. I tried to grab onto the tiles, but they broke apart in my hands. I dropped off the edge of the tower.