Wings and Heartbeats (Manorian Fanfiction and crossover between ACOTAR and TOG)

Part 35: Surprise

"Where did they go?" Rowan barked as he reached Feyre, The High Lady killing off-handly, her eyes distant and wide. A Valg soldier took that as an opportunity to lunge for her side, Rowan sliced off his neck.

"I-I don't know."

"I shouldn't have kept her that unsupervised," Rowan growled already readying to shift into hawk form to soar to find Aelin.

Just before he flew off, his wings already catching the wind, Feyre grabbed a hold of his left-wing, pulling him down. He squawked in outrage. "We need you here, "Feyre said, the fear and worry in her eyes made true by the fact that her mate, too, was gone.

He shifted back ", You have Lorcan and Aedion and the rest of the court."

At that, he shifted once more, flying off.

-

 Manon hissed an arrow flex by, missing her by mere inches, grazing her cheek as it soared by. Blue blood welled, dripping. She ignored the slight burn as she fired a shot that had the sharpshooter dead straight in the heart.

Reloading her bowstring off-handly, she aimed for a general who seemed to be directing the volley, pulling the bowstring back, the tight and tense string cutting into her hand, she released the arrow.

It struck true, the Valg tumbling at the clean shot through his neck.

She didn't waste time as she pulled out daggers by the plenty, throwing them with each flick of her wrist, they sliced through flesh as Abraxos soared over the targets, giving Manon time to pull the blades and sheath them for later use. 

So many dead, many of her own people.

She will save the mourning for later. Right now, she continued to fly and slice and fire, death was a song raging within her blood. Petrah and Bronwen was a force of nature in their own right, despite the fact that Petrah lacked much of the battle skills as she should have.

"We can handle things here," Bronwen said, lithe on her broom ", You can help with the beasts down there."

Manon ignored the command within those words, instead, she nodding as she made Abraxos descend into the lower layers of the battle, she flew past the High Lord of Day, a beast of daylight, flew past Thesan, fighting with his captain back to back, she flew past Lysandra and Aedion, the shapeshifter shifting from a blood-splattered Ghost Leopard into a lithe and swift wyvern.

They flew side by side, killing what they could from their vantage point. They eventually reached one of the snake-like beasts, its maw was big enough to fit more than three soldiers comfortably. It opened its jaws, fangs gleaming as if grinning in malice.

She dived straight for its opened mouth, Lysandra soaring for its tail.

Just before it could clamp Abraxos and swallowed them both, she jumped off, landing on its head, Abraxos soaring upwards. Gritting her teeth, Manon hung on to the scales of the beast as it thrashed, she had the side view of Lysandra being thrown side to side as she clamped onto the beast's tail.

Drawing Wind-Cleaver from her back, the blade singing, she angled the sword and pushed through the beast's thick hide. The audible tearing of flesh and tendons and muscle was accompanied by a roar loud enough to shake the skies of many worlds. 

Manon only pushed deeper, twisting the blade, balancing her stance as the ground below her moved and thrashed. She barked in pain when the thing managed to throw her off, releasing itself from her and the blade, her body thudding against the ground.

She was quick on her feet and was back up in a matter of seconds, spitting out dirt. Lysandra now had her jaws clamped around the wound Manon had inflicted, dragging her jaws sideways in an attempt to decapitate the beast.

She was halfway there before a shake of the beast's head had Lysandra hanging by a thread. Cursing, Manon felt the burn wound on her stomach started to ache, she nocked an arrow into place as Abraxos came soaring back with help, Dorian.

Manon raised a brow the both of them, before gesturing towards the ready arrow. Without a word, Dorian set the time on fire. Shouting a command for Lysandra to clear way, she fired the arrow straight into the beast's opened maw.

And with whatever magic Dorian doused the flame with to not blink out, the beast start to burn inside out.

-

"You ready?" Aelin said as they hid within the shadows of the biggest room Under the Mountain. There were weapons lined at every wall, injured Valg soldiers were being healed, some being killed outright if they didn't seem worth keeping. 

"Let's hope we don't fucking die," Rhys muttered before once more taking Aelin's hand and began to close his eyes.

Moments later a hole within the ground opened, simply peeled apart, the mountain shaking, debris raining as all the Valg in the room whipped their heads towards the shadows emerging from it.

As Keir's Darkbringers rose in waves and two thousand gleaming grins lighted the dark room.

It was a simple trick. If one could cut open a way to another world, what if you're doing the same thing in the same world? It certainly didn't drain Rhys that much either.

Aelin and Rhysand, Queen of Terrasen and High Lord of the Night Court, stepped out of the shadows, grinning like helions as they watched the Darkbringers bring down the stronghold.