Page 140 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin

They swooped into the watery blue sky in a wide arc. He saw the sea to the north and the mountains stretching towards the south covered in snow… and thousands of demons.

Armies of the nairatta marched along the terrain in neat lines, snaking over the pristine snow, calling out to one another as they chanted and pounded their weapons against the earth.

They spread out in every direction. Some headed east, and some west, but all of them drifted south and towards every corner of Rahajhan.

They were moving inhumanly fast.

Rabin swooped back and over the mountains, heading in the same direction.

They had to stop these monsters before they destroyed everything.

FORTY-EIGHT

Zarya watched the nairatta march over the landscape with her heart wedged in her throat. She had no doubt about where they were headed. They carpeted the mountains in a blanket of darkness, feeding off everything in their wake.

Trails of lifeless trees and grass followed their path as everything died underfoot. Andhera would be the first kingdom to feel their wrath.

Rabin must have sensed it, too, because he dipped south and towards the city. Despite everything that had happened, this had been his home. These people were innocent of Abishek’s deception. Zarya thought of everyone she’d met during her short visit. Urvi, who had helped her, and Dav and Suria, who’d been so hopeful about the future.

She thought of her mother. Was she still trapped in the tower? Abishek claimed he might keep her alive longer if she proved useful. If she was still there, Zarya couldn’t let the nairatta consume the city.

A phalanx of demons was already nearing the walls. Zarya screamed into the wind, but the effort felt futile. She glanced over her shoulder to notice Ekaja staring down with a blank expression. This was her home, and it was about to be devoured.

Rabin streaked across the sky, coasting over a row of demons who barely registered his presence. He dipped his head and blasted out a stream of wild blue fire, torching through their line.

The nairatta screamed, the sound otherworldly, as he fried them all to dust. But more replaced them as they careened over the landscape. Rabin blasted out ribbons of fire while Zarya, Ekaja, and Row used their magic to attack from the sky.

Rabin swooped, pulling ahead of the horde and nearing the city walls.

“Let us off!” Zarya yelled. Rabin briefly touched the ground, and they all scrambled off before he looped into the air and continued mowing through great swaths of demons. He then glided over the city, bellowing out a battle cry in warning.

Zarya heard the shouts from the city’s soldiers registering the threat.

Then Zarya stood with Yasen, Row, and Ekaja as they turned to face the approaching line. She drew on her nightfire, cautious about what it might do. Would it hurt the demons? How was her magic related to theirs?

She shook out her arms and then her shoulders. Only one way to find out.

Placing one hand on top of the other, she stretched them out and called on all six of her anchors, drawing them in before they collided in the center of her heart. Pure sparkling nightfire burst from her palms, sweeping out in a wall of dark magic flecked with light.

It crashed into the line of nairatta like a hammer. They screamed and wailed as her magic tore through them, shredding them apart like shattering glass. She watched in fascinated horror as they exploded, black blood spraying across pristine white snow to the sound of their dying screams.

She blinked, staring at what she had done.

“Zarya!” Row called. “Again! That worked!”

His voice dragged her out of shock, and she nodded.

Ekaja used blasts of fire, wind, and earth to crush the demons while Row drew on dark veins of shadow. The darkness had been freed, and he could finally access it. Yasen cut them down with his sword while Rabin continued circling the sky, taking out pockets of demons with his deadly blue fire.

She had only a moment to wonder why Andhera’s army hadn’t joined them before she focused on the horde and began stalking towards them. Pressing her hands together, she channeled another wall of nightfire, blowing the nairatta apart to the unholy sounds of bodies exploding and blood spattering across the air.

She felt possessed. For the first time in this long and bloody battle, she felt like she had a voice. She screamed as she aimed at another line, tearing through them like a knife through paper.

Through the red haze of her anger, she dimly registered the presence of Andhera’s soldiers filing out of the city. About a dozen Aazheri made up their first defense. They each set to work destroying the monsters—Zarya noticed one filtering out black ribbons of smoke, and her chest tightened at the sight.

But where were the rest?

Hours passed as the sun drifted over the sky, and the demons attacked over and over. This was only a small group compared to their army; the others were already receding into the distance, heading for the other realms.