The Rise of Fortune and Fury (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 5)

Along with Carrick and Finley were Myles, Zora, Boral, and Zaid. Myles had launched his drone into the sky and set it to hover over the center of the clearing. It was quiet and couldn’t be heard. The fisheye camera lens—equipped with night-vision tech—provided a clear view of the entire area and they huddled around his tablet screen to watch and marvel at the clarity of the feed.

Deandra and Rebsha were there as well with their contingent of Light Fae that they convinced to join the fight. They stood back a little deeper from the edge of the woods, battle armor in place and iron swords in hand. Behind them were the handful of daemons and fae—regardless of if dark or light—who were ready to fight.

Maddox was on the west side of the clearing with the Brevalians. His smartphone was tapped into the drone, and he had a communications device in his ear to talk to Carrick. They had moved in closer, too, as the clock ticked nearer to midnight.

And on the east side were the annihilators. Caiden, Titus, and Priya had managed to amass a strong group willing to help end the threat Kymaris posed. Titus had also been provided with an earbud comm so he could communicate with Carrick as needed.

As it stood, all of those in the woods poised to battle evil would charge together when Carrick gave the order. Finley might be the one destined to take down Kymaris, but Carrick was the one in charge.

When it happened—when things became real—it was fast and somewhat shocking.

One moment, there was only the dark of night. In the next, the ritual field came into focus in what appeared, at first, to be an explosion of light.

Finley gasped, the light so bright the camera feed from the drone went white.

When it cleared, the field was lit with small bonfires along the perimeter, spaced about fifteen yards apart from one another.

That wasn’t the only surprising thing. In addition to the fires providing light, the field was full of daemons, all with black auras and ugly as sin. Big, hulking beasts with mottled skin, most of who carried crude weapons like machetes and sledgehammers. Some had guns, but not many. In that respect, Carrick was glad he had Boral and Zaid buy their own daemon forces those black-market munitions.

The daemons moved toward the edges of the ritual field, clearly setting up a barrier of protection against anything that might come out of the woods to try to stop Kymaris. They set up in groups of two and three, their gazes roaming everywhere and on high alert. Fortunately, they could not see their own enemies twenty-five yards in because of the cloaking spell.

They knew Finley, as the one destined to thwart the prophecy, was coming, but they weren’t sure what she’d be bringing with her. As such, Kymaris had hedged her bets and brought a lot of forces. There had to be twice as many daemons in the clearing than those hiding in the woods and ready to fight on Carrick’s command.

Things only got worse. In a flash, at least thirty Dark Fae appeared in the center of the ritual field. She apparently had some luck finding progeny that would be loyal to her. It was unknown, however, whether these newly appeared fae had powers since that was always hit or miss with that race. Carrick would assume so because Kymaris had unlimited power at her disposal with the Blood Stone, and she knew how to share it.

Bottom line—Carrick, Finley, and those dedicated to fight with them were severely outnumbered by daemons almost two to one, but they had more magic at their disposal, even if the Dark Fae that just arrived all had their own magic.

It would be a close battle if fully engaged, and Carrick hoped it wouldn’t get that far. He was banking on he and his brother being able to swiftly distract Kymaris enough that Finley could get the lariat on her to dampen her power and get control of the Blood Stone.

Reaching out slightly, Carrick easily found Finley’s hand as she stood beside him. He squeezed it briefly, and she responded. They didn’t look at each other, but they didn’t need to. Their touch was strength enough.

Releasing her, Carrick spoke quietly into his comm unit, which went straight to Maddox on the west side and Titus on the east. “Stay alert. Be ready to move on my command.”

While Carrick, Maddox, and Titus were wired in directly to each other, they also carried walkie-talkies where they shared a frequency with the variety of scouts they had placed throughout the woods.

Carrick’s unit crackled at his hip, and one of the scout’s voices came through. “We have movement on the south side. Heading your way.”

All eyes moved to the edge of the clearing. As if melting from the darkness, individuals in black robes appeared. They walked in single file, emerging from the forest. Their hoods were pulled low so their faces couldn’t be seen. They were of varying heights and their hands were clasped serenely at their stomachs, looking almost peacefully monkish in nature.