SWNOVELS Attack: Chapter 22
Wave after wave of Strigoi keep coming. It’s like the waters rising at the change of the tide. Lycans occasionally attack from behind, but we are lucky that Arnulf’s people are in the trees, keeping an eye out for us. We bite and claw our way through the attackers and still, they just seem to keep coming.
Desi, Arnulf’s second in command, notices a tunnel near the castle’s wall’s southern border. Fluidly, he shifts back to his human form and gets dressed quickly. Sword drawn, he approaches the hole cautiously. I walk up beside him and lean against his leg slightly so he knows he has the security of my wolf.
Desi turns his head to look at me and rests his free hand on my back. I move forward and sniff at the tunnel entrance. It reeks of death and stagnant water. It’s safe to assume the Lycans with their sensitive noses would not be traveling this way. If anything used this, it would be the Strigoi.
Dante isn’t far from where we are, and Desi signals him to come over. Dante ambles over to us, and Desi explains that we want to seal the hole up. Dante’s large dragon head lowers to look at the hole, and we watch him tilt his head several times. Dante turns toward an oak tree and bites into it, pulling it out of the ground. Desi and I back up quickly as Dante shoves the tree with its roots down the hole. One problem solved.
Dante raises his head suddenly and launches into the air. Several minutes later, we see why he left so abruptly. A group of Wyverns fly past the castle towers trying to burn our troops. Alaric joins the fight; he’s not as big as the War Dragons, but he’s more maneuverable than they are. Fire rains down from the sky; screams and howls of pain echo through the valley.
The Wyverns hit some of their targets, but not all of us. I reach out through the pack link, telling my people to take cover under anything they can find. Most of the dragons in our ranks on the ground are opening their wings to provide shelter. Thank the Gods that they are with us. The smell of smoke starts to fill my nostrils, causing me to start to sneeze to try to clear them. The woods are on fire, and currently, we are trapped. We have two choices: enter the castle walls and possibly die or remain in the woods and hope the Ice Dragons can extinguish the fires in time.
I reach out through the bond to Alaric and inform him of our situation. I hear his answering roar in the distance. The ominous beating of wings can be heard long before they are seen. Several Ice Dragons swoop in and start breathing their frost flames, stopping the fire in its tracks. I watch the dragons, and it amazes me how each species’ weapons work.
Aurora wanted us to stay out of the castle, but it’s getting to the point that it’s the next logical decision for us to make. I notice that Dimitri and his bears are starting to knock down more of the wall in the distance, making more sections unstable. The Ice Dragon that is with us sees the instability, lowers his head, and pushes at the stones. The wall starts to crumble and give way, falling in all directions.
The noise and vibrations awaken more Strigoi. I watch them claw their way up and out of the earth in the castle courtyard. It’s probably one of the most frightening things I have witnessed in a long time. How many beings have been killed and turned into Strigoi over the years? I hope to live long enough to see my love and brother again.
The Strigoi keep coming and coming like a never-ending flood of death. We can’t keep fighting like this, so I give the order to fall back. We need to rest and regroup. I can see the fatigue starting to wear on my troops; this isn’t good. My eyes fall on my packmates, and I can’t believe what I’m seeing. They are still determined even though the odds seem stacked against us.
Alaric’s roar can be heard echoing through the valley shortly after the sound of paws hitting the dirt can be heard. Our second wave of troops has arrived. Yes! We swap places with the new arrivals and hang back, catching the stragglers. Aurora’s plan for splitting up the teams seems to be most effective. Healers move through the ranks at the back, patching up those who need it most first.
Ellis ambles over and shifts back to his human form before me and leans against the nearest tree. “My man, this is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen! How many deadheads do they have in there?” Ellis flails his arms around then drops them at his side.
I shift back to my human form and look at my flesh slowly, making sure everything is okay. Carefully, I listen to Ellis, and his concerns are quite valid for once. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. It seems like they have stockpiled an army of Strigoi.” Honestly, I’m exhausted, and our outlook seems bleak. I keep looking back towards the wall, watching the others fighting with everything they’ve got. We really need to find the puppet master and kill them off to stop this flood of Strigoi.
I signal Desi, and he flies over and shifts before landing. “Yes, Dom?” He cants his head, studying Ellis closely.
“Can you send one of your smallest flight shifters to go investigate the towers? I have a feeling one of them holds the person controlling this entire mess. If we can cut off the head, the troops should lose their will to fight.” I look from Desi back to Ellis then back to Desi again.
“We have four in our ranks. I can send one to each tower and the others to investigate the castle and courtyard. If they are here, we will find them.” Desi looks to me then over to Ellis before shifting and flying off. His calls fill the air, and other calls answer him quickly. Four little Merlin Falcons come flying out of nowhere, blowing past Ellis and me so fast we can barely tell what they were.
“What the fuck is that?” Ellis looks at the little slate-blue streaks that fly past us.
I shake my head and start to laugh at him. “Those were our eyes in the sky—small, incredibly fast, and super agile Merlin Falcons. They’re perfect for checking out the towers and castle. Now we just need to wait for Desi to report back if they find anything good.” I turn to face the castle, watching the tiny blue blurs buzzing the towers. Occasionally, they stop and hover for a moment, then take off again.
“So, we are basing our future attacks on flying smurfs?” Ellis asks, sounding exasperated.
“Well, since marshmallows can’t fly, yeah, we are relying on flying Smurfs,” I smirk, looking at him. I can tell I pissed him off. It’s all good; he needs to be knocked down a peg every now and then.
Ellis rolls his eyes and stares at the battle before us. “Fucking marshmallows… When the fuck are we going to live down my fuckup? Fuck, man, it was a bloody example of how bad we stand out here.” Ellis suddenly looks defeated; I guess the nickname hurts him more than we knew. I reach out through the bond and fill everyone in quickly.
“Dude, I’m sorry, I’ll talk to the others about it.” I give him the typical clap on the back and look around the forest, making sure no one is sneaking up on our forces. In the distance, I see movement. it looks like an old Crone moving through the trees.
I reach out through the bond to Alaric and Dimitri. They would be best to help identify the Crone once we’re able to get close to her. It doesn’t take the guys long to catch up to me, and I point in the direction I saw her go. We take off through the woods; Dimitri and Alaric in their human forms, and me back in my Dire Wolf form. The Crone has the distinct scent of patchouli oil and saffron. She’s easy to track, which in hindsight is quite concerning.
Alaric stops short and begins to look around. “It’s a trap!” We’re quickly surrounded by ten Lycans and the Crone on the hill.
How the ever-loving hell did they get the drop on us? I whip my head from left to right, trying to determine my best course of action. Dimitri rolls his neck and draws his sword, Alaric mimics him, and they stand back to back. Me, I bare my canines at the Lycans. They don’t know if I have venom or not. It becomes clear that this was a last-minute attack. Even though the beasts look vicious, their body language screams uncertain. I relay what I see to my bond mates, and we are in agreement. They do not present a united front, and we will use that to our advantage.
Several Lycans attack at once, and Alaric and Dimitri move with fluid grace, using their swords to cut through the attackers. I notice between the attacks that they keep dipping their swords back into the scabbards. Ah, I see it now; they have Dire wolf Venom in the scabbards.
I lunge at a Lycan coming in from the side, going for his Achilles tendon, and rip it out. There’s no running once the tendon is severed. He howls out in pain and tries to chase me with no luck—too bad, so sad. I repeat the process with three more Lycans, downing them so that Dimitri and Alaric aren’t overrun.
We finish off the Lycans that were sent to attack us. We carefully begin to track the Crone that happened to disappear again. We find an old shack on the edge of the woods, and it looks like it’s been used quite a lot recently. Alaric and Dimitri hang back as I choose to circle the building, investigating it. After two laps around, I come to two conclusions: one, she’s definitely in there; two, there’s only one visible way in and out.
Dimitri charges the door, and Alaric is at his back to shield him if there’s an attack from the side. The door shatters from the force Dimitri hits it with. The Crone screams, and we hear her body hit the ground. There’s a six-inch long piece of the door through her shoulder on her right side. In her left hand, a shattered vial that she was preparing to throw at us.
Dimitri grabs the Crone and drags her up onto her feet. Quickly, he ties her hands behind her back and searches her robes. “Boys, I would like to introduce you to the Elder Dame. She’s the bitch responsible for the hell our mate has gone through.” Dimitri’s bear is close to the surface, and his beast’s growl can clearly be heard in his voice.
“Easy, big guy… Aurora will be ecstatic if we hold this one alive for her,” Alaric says, trying to get through to Dimitri.
I watch as Dimitri battles with his bear, and it seems to be a losing battle for him. “Dimitri, is it? That Lycan whore’s guard? I guess you failed that task, didn’t you? I could have saved the bitch, but what for? She didn’t deserve to be Vladimir’s mate,” the Elder Dame says, venom dripping with every word she speaks.
There’s that moment in time where things just flash before your eyes. Except this time, the world slows down horribly; I can’t move fast enough. Dimitri’s eyes become that of his bear, and I watch the bones in his face shift. The Elder Dame’s hands break free of the bonds, and her nails turn to twisted claws. Even in slow motion, Dimitri still moves faster. One hand grips the Elder Dame’s jaw, the other her shoulder. I watch his fingers change and take on the elongated claws of his bear. The Elder Dame’s skin flexes then breaks as his claws sink deeply into the muscles and sinew of her neck. The deep crimson rivulets of ichor stream down her neck, streaking her pale-white, withered flesh. We can hear the tearing of sinew and tendons, snapping like breaking rubber bands. Her eyes go wide as she realizes he is going to end her. Little by little, her last spell’s strength wanes as her life force escapes her flesh. Alaric and I can almost move again, but still not fast enough to stop Dimitri. With an unearthly roar that rumbles the cabin, he rips the Elder Dame’s head free from her shoulders. The spell breaks almost as soon as the Crone’s body hits the floor. Dimitri stands there looking like Hercules holding Medusa’s head.
“Aurora will forgive me,” Dimitri states flatly as he stares into the dead eyes of the Elder Dame’s eyes. He stares at her for entirely too long before he spits in her face. His lip curls up as he growls, staring at her. Shaking his head, he storms out the door ahead of us. Something deep down snapped in him; we can only hope that Aurora can heal whatever is broken within him.