He grabbed a demon in his way, stuck it through with his sword, and then flung it wide. It hit a window and kept going, bursting the glass out and down.
“We need to be in the next room,” he shouted.
I fucking knew that. Govam had quietly gotten us up to the fifth floor, killing everyone in our way without tripping any alarms. But he hadn’t expected the clusterfuck of demons awaiting us as soon as we made it to a grand hallway leading back to Dolion’s rooms. He’d expected them to be nearer the ground floor, ready to meet the troops from the ships. The place was fucking swarmed, demons packed in to the point where they were sometimes stabbing each other when trying to get to us.
I’d been the first to throw someone out the window to make room. Now that was our aim.
A line of fire erupted across my back, and I turned and thrust without thinking, catching a shorter demon in the throat. That would do it. Another came at me from the side, though, using claws, and a third charged from the other side.
There are too many of them, my dragon thought. Shift. Let’s crush them.
The ceiling is too low. It’s like Dolion built this whole fucking floor with dragons in mind.
He might’ve.
Yeah, he really might’ve. It was not ideal.
I cut and slashed my way through, making headway. Worry ate at my gut, though. There were so many of them. He hadn’t been worried about us barging in. He’d been ready.
“Come on, Hannon,” I said, converging with Nyfain and fighting my way forward.
A wave of heat rolled into the room from the left. We reached the doorway and then ducked out again as a blast of fire seared the air.
“Great timing,” I murmured, stabbing a demon in the gut and chopping at another.
Nyfain picked one up with his free hand and slammed it into another, knocking the whole lot of them back. Vemar dodged forward, stabbing them as they fell then kicking one that was flailing on the ground.
He grinned and winked at me like the whole thing was hilarious.
When the heat winked out, we turned into the room. It had been so crowded that I hadn’t really noticed the layout, but the demons and wolves had rolled for cover behind the dozen or so small walls placed throughout the room, each a little more than head height and about three people wide. On the sides facing the windows sat chairs or couches or tables with decorations. The other sides, away from the windows, were empty.
Dolion had absolutely thought of dragons when he designed this floor. These walls were meant to protect people from fire coming through the windows.
“We can’t be in here,” I said in sudden panic, seeing Govam and Denski fighting back to back down the way. Wolves snarled and lunged, ripping at demons. Faerie warriors slashed and thrust, spearing or blasting their enemies with magic. “If Hannon does brimfire, we’ll be fried.”
Nyfain nodded, catching sight of something outside the window.
Fire shed from the great bird, dripping like it had at the council battle. Fire washed across his feathers and swirled through the air around him. He twirled like some sort of dancer and then swooped toward the windows. His great beak opened, and I felt my eyes widening.
“Get out of the way!”
Nyfain grabbed me before I could dive, spinning me and stepping at the same time. Fire washed through the room as we hit one of the walls. A demon ducked in with us, and I grabbed him and tossed him into the flames. He died instantly, but the wall behind him held up.
“Or maybe Dolion specifically erected these to combat brimfire?” I asked, out of breath.
“There is no way Dolion could’ve thought of that. Hannon is using his magic, but he isn’t using enough of it to create brimfire. He probably doesn’t know how.”
“Fuck,” I said, taking another long look at that window. I could get to safety. Nyfain, too, and a few of the other dragons. But the wolves and faeries would be fucked if we left. Leala, too. There were no exits up here for those who couldn’t fly.
Dolion had trapped us in.
Hannon
Dig down deep, I told my phoenix as he did another pass and blasted the building with fire. You heard what Dessia said.
I am. I’m killing the demons outright like last time.
But you aren’t getting through those barriers.
Do we want to? my phoenix asked. Our people are in there. They can’t withstand the fire any more than the enemy can.
That was true. What had we been thinking?
Go to the other rooms. Find Dolion, and start hammering him.
A dragon roared below us, the sound full of pure rage. The great orange beast punched fire through the third-floor windows. Screams floated back out. Another dragon, flying lower, was braving the arrows to do the same thing. A third crashed into the side of the building, scrabbling for purchase, grabbing a demon through a newly busted window and wrenching it out. I knew more dragons were around the other side, doing the same thing. But it would only force the demons to retreat deeper into the castle. We weren’t killing enough to help. We had to get Dolion.