The Hunt for Freedom

Chapter Fifty Five

"Hold On!" Penny screamed as they soared into a cloud of dragons.

"Where did you come from?" Katalea screamed back, trying to be heard over the endless noise.

"Just be glad we came in time!" She said in her mind. Why in the world were they trying to speak over the Armageddon surrounding them.

Katalea thought flying would be smooth. This was like trying to ride a rocket hurtling through time and space. The charred air was so hot, and they moved so fast that everything was blurred. Katalea called a tornado, a steel grey funnel reaching from the churning clouds, reminiscent of days long gone. She directed in with her mind, a heavenly vacuum capturing countless dragons in its downward spiral, sending them hurtling through space.

Penny hastened their descent, lest they be caught in the powerful vortex. Katalea found herself landing on the shore, surrounded by werecats fighting for their lives. Many had shifted to their feline form to fight off the weredragons who came at them now in human form. Snarling teeth were a better match than fist when taking on the far superior muscle structure of the weredragon warrior. Back to back, ready to fight, Katalea and Penny watched as the tornado continued to wreak its havoc in the sky. Katalea sent up a volley of electric blue bolts for any dragons that happened to escape the tornado.

Dakari scented the air and almost lost his focus. Something was out there that smelled heavenly. The scent of jasmine and the unmistaken scent of feline power. Something inside him twisted, he felt a tightening in his chest. Suddenly it was hard to draw air. A small green dragon, wing bent backwards, crashed to the earth beside him with a thud and brought him out of his stupor.

Behind the carnage of the little dragon, he saw Katalea now, glowing like an eternal queen. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. She was the storm, she glowed as blue as the lightning she sent out. He watched as the wild light flamed through her fingertips. His whole body quivered to go to her.

"Mate!" His tiger screamed. He fought for control. "Must protect Mate!"

Katalea lifted her arms and the thunder roared. It blasted like cannon fire and bolts of lightning numbered in the thousands. It tore out of the onyx sky, blinding hot bolts of glacier blue. The whirlwind of it sent dragons spinning into the abyss. She fell to her knees, astonished by what she had called.

She turned as the salty scent of ocean and pine reached her. It smelled like Christmas at the beach. For a moment all else ceased to exist. In all the chaos, a part of her could not turn from the scent. Looking at Dakari, her heart overflowed.

"Mate?" Her panther roared inside her. Of course, it was so simple, so perfect.

Their eyes met and held. It was like the world around them had disappeared and it was only each other standing on the shore.

"It's Now!" Grandfather yelled, wind streaking around him that tore at his clothes even as the wild rain plastered his hair to his face. Katalea forced herself back into the fight, Dakari now at her side.

Grandfather's yell was the signal all had been waiting for. It reached all through their ears and in their minds.

The werecats stood, and began to sing. The ancient song, taught to all at birth, rose over the sound of the thunder. It echoed off the clouds called in the storm and reverberated off the roaring waves of the ocean.

The song of the ancients hypnotized all that heard it. Wings stopped beating, talons stopped scratching at the air. Dragons fell.

With the sky still awash in blue light, tens, perhaps hundreds of the scaly winged bodies spun, and tumbled, screams ringing in their ears.

Katalea tasted triumph, they were beating back the dragons.

Above it all now, far from the front lines, Essam rode through the storm. His hair flew black as night in the wind. Looking down at Katalea, his golden eyes flecked with his intense grey, shone through the dark, full of hate, fury, and terrible power.

He grabbed a bolt of her blue lightning in one hand and held it aloft like a trident. His voice boomed like the thunder she brought.

"This is not the end!" He roared even as the last of the dragons fell into the sea.

"I am the son of the god of all dragons, the Lord of the North. I rule the dark, and your light is nothing but a dying flame against my power."

Katalea heard the words and shivered, cold seeping into her bones.

"I will slit your throat Katalea, and eradicate your kind off the face of the earth."

He hurled the lightning back towards Grandfather. Katalea screamed out, the sound smothered by the storm. She pushed a wall of wind against it and the clash had even the rocks trembling.

Grandfather staggered back but held his ground. The force of the bolt was lessened by the power of the wind, but it was enough to send him flying back into the wall. His arm sliced through glass, as the window that used to provide the sun beam to Katalea's naps came crashing down.

It hurt her to see him in pain, and she felt some of her power drain. Sensing her weakness a dragon came from the roof flying directly at her. His tail slashed at her, barely missing her heart.

Dakari's heart roared in pain. Mate was in danger. He flung himself around her and sent out a wave of heat. The dragon raced away, his tail smoldering. The effort had him staggering.

"Take what I have, combine it with yours, feel it, use it, end this!" He shouted in her ear.

Katalea opened to it, and felt him. A strange tingle spread within her, warm and encompassing. She felt his power join with hers. She knew his courage, knew his strength, but now knew more, much more. They looked at each other but before they could speak Essam's voice bellowed.

"Love? Mates?" With a disgusted laugh of derision, he hissed, "Love has no power here!"

"You're wrong," Katalea thought and shut her eyes ever so briefly. "It has all the power."

She felt Dakari's power flow through him and into her. Her body trembled with the magnitude of it.

What she hurled out now exploded like the sun. The few dragons left disintegrated in an instant. Only Essam remained. He clawed the air as he tried to escape from it.

With eyes rolling in madness, Essam tried to move forward, but the next blast had him screaming out in shocked pain as he tumbled toward the sea.

Dazed, Katalea saw Essam's face engulfed in fury before he swirled the dark around himself like a cloak, and vanished.

Katalea's bones went to liquid, and she slid to the ground.

Overhead the stars blazed back to life and the moon shed it's light once again.

Katalea grappled to stand up. "Grandfather?" She said, dread in her eyes.

As Dakari looked toward the terrace that they had last seen him on, he was soaring down to her, aided in flight by Penny. As he dropped down, the power was still radiating off him.

"I am alright, young Katalea," he reached for her hand and found it trembling. "I just needed to get my breath back."

She chuckled as he downplayed his role in the battle.

"You hurt him, he's gone." Grandfather spoke softly. The carnage around them was overwhelming.

"Gone, yes, but not dead. I can feel him watching us even now."