The Heir of Moon-Fire

Chapter 9

Lysandra's POV

A horn sounded in the middle of the night, jolting me from my sleep.

I immediately shifted into a ghost leopard as I ran down the halls. I entered the courtyard, skidding to a stop in the snow, letting out a roar.

I scanned the field as I awaited the rest of my guards.

A dragon, Elentiya, landed in the soft snow, sending a plume of it high in the air. When the snow fell around her, she was once again, fae. I ran to her side as more ghost leopards surrounded us. About time! I thought to myself. 

Elentiya glanced at me nervously before focusing on the threat ahead of us.

She gripped my fur tightly as if it was somehow rooting her to the earth.

"It's him," she whispered so quietly that I barely heard. 

I turned my attention back to the threat, a fae male who was flanked by several wyverns and at least six more faes.

Lyria landed a second later, shifting from phoenix to fae. Rhoe and Aedion stopped on my left.

"What's going on?" Aedion demanded. Lyria sucked in a breath.

"It can't be," she said. She turned to Elentiya, who had paled so much that she was practically the colour of the snow landing around us.

She nodded. It was almost imperceptible if I hadn't been looking for confirmation.

"Vincent," Lyria snarled, a rare occurrence as she was slow to anger. "Son of Hades." Her snarl deepened as she spat out Hades's name.

Lyria barely had enough time to register the fact that they were almost upon us when an iron-tipped arrow hit her. She twisted enough to prevent any permanent damage to her shoulder. 

Anger flashed through her eyes as she ripped the arrow from her shoulder, letting some of her magic heal the damage.

I saw her create a bow of ice and wind. She snapped a flaming arrow in place before firing. 

"What did Dad tell you!" Elentiya shouted at her.

"Yeah, yeah..." Lyria replied with a roll of her eyes. "Don't get fancy."

I laughed slightly to myself before ordering the ghost leopards to help me take down one of the four wyverns.

I tore through the wing of the pure white wyvern as a ghost leopard lunged for its throat. The other six attacked its belly and tail.

An arrow pierced my leg as the wyvern fell to the ground, a ghost leopard removing its jaws from the wyvern's throat.

I turned in time to see Aedion slice through the throat of a second wyvern while a third lay motionless in a heap. The fourth was the biggest, and several icy arrows had pierced its shoulder and sides.

There were burnt bodies as Lyria and Rhoe hit the last wyvern with everything they had. I let out a roar as I leapt at the fourth wyvern. 

A wall of darkness struck my side, sending me sprawling. I got up with a snarl as my claws sunk into a shoulder of a fae who had turned his back to me while fending off the attacks of my leopards.

With the male dealt with, we went back to attacking the final wyvern.

I was so busy attacking the front that I didn't see the attack from behind until it was too late. The wyvern's tail threw me across the field, the poison seeping through my veins.