lunged at the savage, driving his sword deep.
“Here.” Tatiana shoved a sword into Ryleigh’s hand.
After discarding the flail, she hefted the sword and rounded on another savage.
A grunt from above her startled her, and she jumped back.
A savage dove from a ledge above the cave.
“Noah,” Ryleigh screamed.
The savage landed on him, knocking him to the ground.
A second savage pounced.
Ryleigh lost sight of Noah beneath the two savages. She plunged her sword into one of them and shoved him back off Noah.
Tatiana went after the other.
Tristan and Jimmy intercepted the savage.
Ryleigh left him to them and ran to Noah. She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the portal. The last of the civilians had just gone through. The edges of the portal wavered, faltered, and started to close. “Pull back.”
She gestured the remaining soldiers toward the portal. She had to get them through before Mia lost control.
Tristan and Jimmy continued to fight.
“Pull back. Now,” she screamed.
Tatiana grabbed Noah’s other arm, and together they dragged him toward the portal.
Noah’s eyes popped open, and he scrambled back, trying to gain his feet.
Wind from the closing portal battered them.
Before he could get his balance and try to rejoin the fight, Ryleigh shoved him through the portal. Getting them all to safety was all that mattered. She’d deal with the consequences later.
Tatiana grinned and shook her head, then dove through behind him. The portal wavered again and shrank.
Ryleigh started toward Tristan.
He waved her back as he and Jimmy finally retreated and ran toward her. “Go. We’re right behind you.”
Savages surged onto the plateau. More jumped from the rocky ledges above the caves.
The portal narrowed.
The instant Jimmy and Tristan reached her, knowing they’d never go through before her, she plunged into the portal.
* * * *
Jackson guided Ophidian to avoid an army of creatures pouring from the remnants of the mountainside, barreling through the debris. Enormous beasts, on two legs, their skin pale gray and covered in ice, tufts of hair sticking out randomly from their heads and faces.
One jumped up, grabbed Dakota’s dragon by the wing, and flung him and his rider across the valley into what was left of the opposite mountain face.
Ophidian swung around, then dove toward them.
As they hurtled toward the creatures still freeing themselves from the mountainside, Jackson tore the bow from his back and nocked an arrow. His arrow found its mark in the center of the creature’s chest but bounced off instead of going through its heart.
It kept coming.
He pulled up and waved the others off. Swinging around, he readied another shot. In a move that had worked against the savages in the past, he signaled Ophidian to shoot a stream of fire, then launched his arrow through the flames. It caught fire and flew into a creature, melting a path through the thick ice covering its chest. It took two more arrows to fell the giant monster.
Using the dragon-fire, the Death Dealers eliminated dozens of the creatures, leaving a path of scorched bodies littering the mountainside.
Confident the others could finish the job, Jackson guided Ophidian toward Dakota. He leaped from his back before he landed and ran toward the dragon crumpled in the snow.
“I’m all right, but Draco’s wing is torn.” Dakota crouched behind the dragon, warm orange light emanating from his hands as he smoothed them over the hole in Draco’s wing.
Relieved to find his friend unharmed, Jackson patted his shoulder and fell to his knees beside him. “How bad?”
“Bad enough.” He looked up, blood trickling from a gash above his right eye, his teeth clenched. “I shouldn’t have gotten so close.”
“Not your fault. Just bad luck you were there when they burst from the mountain.” He added his healing touch to Dakota’s, pouring white light along the edges of the tear, concentrating on healing the wound with a clean seam.
At least when the mountain shattered, the earthquake had ended.
“What were those things?”
“I have no idea, but we’ll investigate once Draco’s all right.”
“Jackson,” Ranger called. He landed his dragon and ran to them. “I think we got them all. Some of the prisoners were killed by debris, but we freed those who weren’t.”
“Did you get any answers?”
“Not really. They were pretty shaken.” Ranger shrugged. “They didn’t seem to know much. They were taken from the human realm and put to work enlarging the opening in the mountain.”
Men who’d lived in the human realm, suddenly snatched from their existence and thrown into the harsh realities of another realm, complete with sorcerers, monsters, and fire-breathing dragons.
“All right.” He would assume responsibility for those men. He couldn’t very well leave them out there to fend for themselves, but he couldn’t take strangers back to Cymmera. He had enough traitors in Cymmera without adding the possibility of more. Someone would have to explain the situation to them and offer them the opportunity to pledge allegiance and become citizens. His people were in charge of Argonas at the moment. He’d have to trust them to take care of it. “Choose four Death Dealers to take the prisoners to Argonas and leave them at the castle.”
“Should they return after?”
Elijah had told him to go to the highest peak, yet a large chunk had been carved out of the shattered mountain. Had Thaddeus foreseen Jackson’s mission and changed the course of history? If Thaddeus had interfered, Elijah’s visions could be irrelevant now.
Something gnawed at his gut. It could be the effects of the snow. Despite his best efforts, some had gotten into his mouth. Or it could be something else. The urgency to return to Cymmera hit him hard. “No. Have them return to Cymmera. We’ll clean up here, then figure out what to do, but I don’t want them coming back out here if we’re gone. Send Vaughn to help Dakota.”
“Yes, sir.” He jogged toward the others.
Jackson squeezed Dakota’s shoulder. “I’m going to leave Vaughn to help heal Draco. I want you two ready to go as soon as I get back.”
“Where are you going?”
