Firebird

Chapter 22

Beckett

It only took a few hours to execute our plan and take flight. No one complained as we led them through the tunnels and out the door leading to the mountains. Kyla led my unit and we flew in tight ranks. I didn't take long for us to find the army. Scouts reported back that there was no sign of Vallan or his personal guards. We were currently in the next valley over getting ready to fight. It was eerily quite as we got ready, not wanting to give ourselves away. It was crazy how quiet this army could be. I watched Kyla get the weapons organized on the saddlebags. She struggled slightly due to Tanwen and Drake nuzzling each other, neither wanting to move away from each other. I understood that feeling.

"I think everything is in order, love." I told Kyla as I walked up to her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. "This will all be over before we know it."

"I know. Just please be careful." She whispered. "I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose any of you."

"We'll all be careful. This isn't our first battle." I told her. "We trained for this. We can finally end this before it's fully begun."

Just then a whistle rang out, travelling through the army. Our signal that it was time. I looked back at her and kissed her one time. We nodded and mounted the dragons. They finally pulled away from each other and prepared to take flight. The final whistle rang through and we shot into the sky. I've been in this position before. The start of a battle. Everything seemed to move too fast and there was no time to take everything in. We moved in the formation we'd trained in and I felt as though we were unstoppable. The army below us had no time to prepare for the attack.

I glanced around to see all the other units descending upon the army. We were a force to be reckoned with. Tanwen dove hard then leveled out a few feet from the ground. We followed suit and soon we were colliding with the army. The men could do nothing but try to run. It was going according to plan until I heard Kyla cry out. I looked to see her pointing ahead and yelling at us to pull up.

They had catapults and there were boulders flying our way. We pulled up and scattered to the skies. I lost sight of Kyla and Tanwen immediately. I knew what happened. Tan camouflaged and now I couldn't find them. I looked around and noticed the twins were still with me.

"We gotta find a way to get those catapults down without getting hit." I shouted. They nodded in response and together we took off.

No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get close enough. We flew high above the battle to regroup. I still couldn't find Kyla no matter how hard I looked. I could tell Drake was getting anxious too. A few guys from my unit caught up with us and we decided on a course of action. Together, we flew back into the battle. We only used the arrows when needed. Drake lit up the battlefield. I looked around again for Kyla but this time, I didn't have to look hard.

She and Tanwen were almost directly over the catapults, getting ready to fly down. Tanwen blew fire and they both lit up. This is what her father told us about. She looked like a goddess. They were both engulfed in flames as they descended onto the catapults. When they got closer, Tanwen blew fire and smashed through every catapult. A loud cheer sounded around the battlefield. But it wasn't over yet. Vallan showed up and started to walk onto the battlefield.

And Kyla was heading straight for him.