Suddenly, Zane dropped her in swift decent back to the ground, releasing her at the same moment the Troll brigade arrived. With the wall down and the camp now visible, the trolls began to shout as they charged toward the Invictus. Zane went with them.
Olivia rejoined Regan.
Regan took Olivia’s hand and pathed, Let’s watch it from above. We can keep a lookout for Margetta, as well as staying out of harm’s way.
I can’t levitate, Olivia pathed in return.
Well, I can do that for both of us. Just keep hold of my hand.
The moment Regan began to ascend, Olivia felt herself rise with ease, and all she was doing was holding the Ruby Fae’s hand. The woman had power.
Olivia was grateful to be suspended in the air because the camp had become the battlefield. Most of the action took place on the ground, hand-to-hand, or with short blasts of battle energy. The Invictus used a variety of weapons as well, mostly daggers and axes. Some hit the mark, but Zane’s troops were well-trained and more often than not his warriors succeeded in knocking the implements away with well-placed shots of battle-power.
She kept one eye trained to the south, all the way from east to west, watching for Margetta.
But the battle seemed to languish and Olivia knew they were running out of time. By now, someone would have alerted Margetta about the attack on her camp.
Her heart racing, she felt a call from deep in her shifter soul. “I think I have to do something to help.”
“Tell me what you need from me,” Regan said.
The oddest thing happened, though. Olivia knew that even from the several-story height where she levitated in the air with Regan, she could bound to the ground and up again quite safely. Her Zephyr battle frequency began to flow through her. When exactly she turned from woman to wolf, she didn’t know. It all seemed to happen in a single, flawless flow of thought and motion.
She was arcing through the air and howling at the top of her shifter voice before she blinked. The next moment she hit the ground and soared upward another five stories at least, performing her Zephyr battle service, arcing and howling, the wind carrying her shifter voice over the battlefield.
When she reached the camp corner, she spun high in the air and came down on the eastern side of the camp. She moved faster and faster, making a complete circuit within the space of only half a minute, then began the next trip around.
She bounded up and down, howling, creating a tremendous wind of her own, one that would confuse the enemy.
She made circuit after circuit. She’d never felt more alive.
The Zephyr frequency flowed through her, giving her an awareness that her movements allowed all three brigades to assault the Invictus enemy with greater effect.
The sounds of fighting, and of both men and women cursing each other, hit her repeatedly and kept her flying in a quick path around the camp.
Only as the din lessened did she slow her pace until she finally stopped in the air near the Ruby Fae.
Regan took her paw and Olivia shifted at the same moment, staying aloft by Regan’s levitation power.
But what met her eye to the south was a terrible golden glow that filled the night sky.
Margetta was back.
~
Zane had never confronted so many wraith-pairs at once in his entire life. He felt lit on fire with the heat of battle and the need to destroy those who had hurt the people of his realm for decades.
Each wraith he brought down with his bare hands, or with the knife he carried in his weapons harness, eased his rage a little more.
At times, he levitated into the air to further orchestrate the movements of his troops, filling in gaps or sending others to support a besieged fellow warrior.
Mostly, he battled.
When he stood over several Invictus pair in a large circle around him, all dead, he finally drew a deep breath. He felt Olivia tap his telepathic frequency. I’m here, he responded.
I’m in the air with Regan. Margetta is to the south but she’s holding steady. What do you want to do?
To keep fighting until the last of the Invictus are brought down. My guess is she’ll keep her distance. Even Margetta can’t battle our five-hundred-strong force, not with so many of her wraith-pairs dead.