Spurned Queen

Chapter 34: The First Battle

***One month later***

Aevran

"The advantage they have over us is mainly the long range attacks," explained the Luna of the Wolfsbane Pack. "They can also attack several foes at once. Our advantages are our numbers and that shifters are generally pretty hard to kill."

"So we attempt to take them by storm," Queen Megan butted in. "I suggest we give them one hell of a beating in this first battle. It will make a statement, maybe make them afraid — and the sooner that happens, the sooner my harpies and I can get out of this mindless conflict, with as few casualties as possible."

The queen of the harpies might as well have taken the words straight from my mind. This was a mindless conflict. The only reason I was here, in this hot tent in the middle of nowhere, was because some of shifters had decided to piss off the wielders, and now the wielders were coming for all of us. No one knew who the hell started it or why the wielders were so bothered as to consider us all threats. I first got wind of this war when I was informed that an unknown group of shifters was pushing to get wielders eliminated. And my first thought was: how stupid.

So here we were. The harpy queen, the Wolfsbane Luna, the leader of the Leopard shifters, the queen of the Nixies, an archangel, myself, and Dreiga, a dragon. I had no clue from where she had come — I thought dragons were extinct on earth. However, who was I to talk?

"Our army is huge compared to theirs," mentioned Izekiel placidly. "We have no practical hope of surprise."

"We will not be doing any surprise skirmishes," snapped Megan to the Leopard. "We will launch a single attack once and for all, pull all the stops, and get this dumb, needless war behind us. The longer it drags on, the harder they will be to beat."

"I agree," stated Krysta, white-gold wings folded neatly behind her.

"Do not pull all the stops," said Dreiga casually. "They're not stupid. They have back ups. The army that will march out here will not be all they have to offer."

Somehow no one found it in them to question the dragon. Something about her was commanding — she was obviously a leader.

"Okay," said the Luna. "We should choose a small, elite group to stay behind while the rest launch the main attack. If they plan to fight in waves, the elite will be our backup."

"How are the vampires, Your Majesty?" snapped the lead Nixie, her tone mocking. She was small and bad tempered, made even more so by the Sahara heat. Her skin was green, she had sharp elfin ears, and her eyes were rainbow colored.

I smiled a cold, dangerous smirk at her, watching her face pale slightly. "I'm sure they're all right, thanks for the concern. Just the smell of Nixie blood is rejuvenating."

Her fists clenched tightly. "We had an agreement, Vampire," she hissed. "You'd better keep your bats in check."

I chuckled darkly. "We'll see about that."

Dreiga smirked.

"Keep the armies coordinated," warned the Wolfsbane Luna. "We don't need a mutiny right now."

"Says the one whose werewolves are always, always, fighting," hissed the Nixie.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. My werewolves fight because it's their nature to not take shit from anyone. They are headstrong and stubborn and they don't settle for less. If a werewolf is dissatisfied with something, he just won't have it. So excuse them if the packs fight among each other— the good result is the hundreds of warriors you see out here now, cramped in tents in this god-forsaken desert."