Blood Lands (Savage Lands #5)(31)

“Birdie!” I screamed at her, pointing up at the flags.

Her head went from me to the potential weapons high up. She didn’t bother responding, her tiny figure beelining in that direction, probably quickly mapping out her course as she went. Hopping up on a cage, she leaped to the wall surrounding us, using the frame of the gate to pull herself up onto the ledge where the stands started. There were hollers from the crowd—some seemed to be cheering her on, while others hissed, trying to grab for her, and push her back into the pit. Birdie dodged and weaved past them, climbing higher up the stands. Springing, her tiny frame flew like a bird, jumping onto the points board, clamping onto it with everything she had while she scooted and slinked up the side, reaching the top.

“Damn.” I heard Warwick breathe out next to me in reverence.

Birdie ascended to the top, yanking out the flags. They waved in the air as if she had just won the quest, then she tossed them to us.

Wesley darted over, grabbing the first one and passing the rest to any group who had no weapon at all. Killian, Scorpion, and Kek each got one, while Warwick, Kitty, and Ash had the torches.

It still wasn’t enough. We needed a plan, or we would not survive.

Birdie started to descend, but this time the crowd was ready, knowing the only route she had accessible to her. Running along the ledge of the seating area, soldiers rushed for her, one pulling out a knife. My mouth opened, primed to scream at her.

“Birdie!” A male voice stole my cry of warning. Birdie jerked to the sound, the movement shifting her slightly out of the trajectory of the weapon.

A grunt came from her mouth as the blade grazed her hip, her body falling from the ledge.

“No!” I cried out, her form hitting the dirt with a thud. Wesley zipped to her, getting her to her feet and back toward the fire. Her features seized in pain, and she was limping, but otherwise, she seemed okay.

Her gaze lifted to the stands, to the one who called her name, who warned her.

Caden stood at the rail, his hands gripping the bar, his jaw locked down, eyes on her, but his face held no emotion as if he had never opened his mouth. Istvan stared at his son, his cheek twitching with fury, shock, and embarrassment. Caden had warned her. He helped a fae.

My thoughts were quickly dashed as a bear vaulted for Ash and Kitty with a roar. Its claws sliced across Kitty’s shoulder, flinging her to the ground, ramming straight into Ash, almost throwing him into the firepit.

“Noooo!” Warwick belted. His instinct to protect them already had him jumping off the cage, running like a madman toward any foe wanting to hurt his family. He darted right up to the beast, thrusting out his arm, burning the back of the bear with the flames of the torch.

It reared up, veering around, its paw swinging around in defense. Its mouth opened in a feral snarl, showing off long, pointed teeth. Standing on its hind legs, the bear eclipsed Warwick, stretching over fourteen feet tall.

When the wall came down and flooded Earth with magic, it altered the wild animals’ DNA. They were bigger, deadlier, and more prehistoric-looking than the ones I saw in pictures of zoos from the time before Earth and the Otherworld meshed.

“Warwick!” My throat shredded in my horror. The bear came down on him with all its weight, slamming Warwick to the ground, nails digging into his chest. Before I could move, Maddox leaped from his position on top of a cage near them, flinging himself onto the back of the bear. His arms wrapped around its neck, digging one of his hands into its eye.

The bear’s pained roar shuddered throughout the entire place, vibrating the ground. In a blink, it shook Maddox off, casting him to the dirt with a thud, stealing the air from his lungs.

“Maddox!” Scorpion shouted. The animal’s massive paw slashed across Maddox’s body, the claws gutting him, dumping blood and his insides out onto the dirt. Warwick punched at the bear, trying to stop him as Maddox screamed, his back arching and thrashing while the bear ripped him apart.

The bear reared back on Warwick, its talons slashing for The Wolf.

My mouth opened in horror; tears and grief plunged through my lungs. “Nooooooooooo!” The cry erupted deep from me, burning and sizzling through my soul and up my spine. Time seemed to stop and speed up all at the same time. My universe crashed at my feet.

Fury. Grief. Hate.

My broken pieces forged in wrath, assembled with rage.

I warned the world if it took him from me...

I’d burn it to the ground.





Chapter 9





Power scorched my veins and seared my vision. Lightning crackled and popped overhead, blowing out all the lights except the one illuminating from me. I could taste the strands of all my magic. Sweet with life, bitter with death. The energy of the air, which was Aneira’s dominant force, whipped and snapped through my hair. I could sense the ghosts haunting this land, from wars past to the newly deceased, all coming to me like a beacon. Their light. Their Queen.

I was life. I was death. I was the in-between.

I was The Grey.

I could feel it in my bones, etched within my DNA. There was nothing the same as me. No group or classification to define me. A fluke of circumstance and timing. Tad once told me I had the magic from Aneira’s family line. One side the power of air, the other the power of fire. I contained them both.

I was my own to define. To take life and to give it back.

To control it.