“Misinformed?” Tove scoffed. “I have witnesses,” she whispered furiously.
“Witnesses to what?” Tegan snapped, losing her own patience. “What is going on here?”
“Of Cord Ivanov sacrificing Lycan to Velvore,” Tove hissed.
Every pair of eyes in the group swung in shock to Cord, who stood tall amongst them. He drank the remainder of his champagne, the glass disappearing when he was finished with it. “Well that sounds positively damning,” he drawled drily.
“Cord?” Sloane asked looking between his brother and Tove uncertainly.
A huge bang sounded within the hall, drawing everyone’s attention to the main doors of the hall. A Drakhyn strolled into the hall, the head of the announcer dangling from its talons. Screams erupted from those gathered, shouts of anger mixed in. Tegan looked at the scene in disbelief. The Drakhyn’s eyes fell on her and she felt others move closer to her as the Drakhyn smiled and put on a pair of sunglasses, shielding its eyes from the brightly lit hall.
More and more Drakhyn entered the hall behind the leader, fanning out and facing the Akrhyn with malicious intent. They looked barely restrained. Sentinels broke free of their stunned shock and started forming into defensive groups, but it was a ball and weapons were few. The Drakhyn pulled its sunglasses further down its nose, its gaze swept the hall, before coming to rest on Tegan and her group again. It uttered one word to the mass behind it.
“Attack.”
The Drakhyn attacked the first Akrhyn they fell upon. Female Akrhyn were being pushed to the back of the hall, while Sentinels scrambled to make anything a weapon. Few Sentinels were armed fully. Tegan reached under her dress, ripping free the knives she had strapped to her thighs, grateful for her combat boots she still cursed the full skirt of her dress. Cord noticed her weapons and grinned at her.
“Michael, your sister,” Salem directed as he too pulled two long daggers from his back. “Cord, can you slow them down?” he asked tersely.
“I can.” Small fireballs started appearing between the Drakhyn, but unlike the last time, these Drakhyn were moving, making it harder for any of the fireballs to catch on their clothing. Cord cursed in frustration before running further into the melee.
“Stay close,” Tove instructed Tegan. “I knew I shouldn’t have put this dress on,” she muttered.
“What did you mean about Cord?” Tegan demanded as she readied herself.
“This isn’t the time,” Tove snapped at her. “Focus on your enemy.”
Tegan saw some of the Castors had grouped together and were muttering incantations as they disabled Drakhyn, but there were so many and their surprise attack was wreaking havoc amongst the guests.
“You ready?” Salem looked back at her.
“I am,” she nodded.
“Stay close to me, you too, Tove,” and then he led them into the fray.
Tegan pushed unarmed Akrhyn out of her way as she advanced on the Drakhyn. Salem, Marcus and Tove were already engaged in fighting, trying to keep Tegan free. There were too many of them. A Drakhyn advanced on her, its teeth bared, talons raised, ready to strike. It swung low and Tegan sidestepped the blow, her skirts hindered her, when the Drakhyn quickly followed the first swipe with a higher blow, she spun slightly on the contact. Recovering slower than she would have liked, she met the next blow with her knife, piercing the Drakhyn’s hand. It howled in pain, jerking back out of range. Tegan went to advance when a sword slid through its neck and the head tumbled to the floor.
Kai stood behind the corpse, breathing heavily. He had acquired a sword from who knew where, and Tegan didn’t care. He held his hand out to her.
“Come on,” he urged. “Sloane has Zahra, we need to get you out of here.”
“I need to stay and fight,” Tegan answered as she saw more Drakhyn coming.
“You’re not equipped to fight and that dress isn’t helping,” Kai grabbed her arm. “Come on, we need to move.”
Tegan looked around quickly and saw that many of the Akrhyn were not advancing on the Drakhyn but shielding the females and herding them to another door. “We’re running?” Tegan demanded incredulously.
“We’re protecting our females, these Drakhyn are making no move to harm them, it’s only males they attack,” Kai told her even as he ran through another Drakhyn with his sword. He pulled the sword out, causing the Drakhyn to slump forward in pain. Kai swung his sword down over the neck of the bent over Drakhyn, cleanly decapitating it. “Comeon,Tegan, let’s move.” He urged her back. Tegan’s every instinct was to take the sword off Kai and rush headfirst into the throng of Drakhyn, but she saw Salem look over at them and he shouted for them to go. Tove was also being moved back by Marcus. Growling in frustration, Tegan shook her head even as she took a step back.
A Drakhyn leapt on Kai and he was suddenly fully engaged in defending himself. Tegan threw one of her knives at a Drakhyn that had caught a female Akrhyn, its hand was on her throat, its talons ripping her dress. Tegan’s knife got it in the shoulder. Hissing, it turned to her and she ran forward even as she threw her other knife. The Drakhyn knocked the female it was holding away, and she stumbled backward. Tegan’s knife pierced its eye and it fell to its knees screaming as it ripped the knife out and threw it away. She kicked it savagely in the head. The female that Tegan had saved rushed forward, wrenching Tegan’s dagger from the Drakhyn’s shoulder and tossed it to Tegan, who quickly slit the Drakhyn’s throat. It wasn’t a decapitation, but it would keep it down.
“Run,” Tegan ordered her. She nodded and headed to the small door at the side of the room. Picking up her other knife, Tegan looked up and saw Cord in the middle of the hall, head bent, murmuring quietly. Absolute chaos was happening all around him but he remained still and focused in his incantation. She saw him open his eyes as his head snapped up, the spell erupted from his fingertips. Fire rained down from the ceiling, Drakhyn and Akrhyn alike cried out in shock and then everything alive in the room was trying to avoid burning. It took a few moments before the Akrhyn realised the fire did not burn them, it ignited solely on the Drakhyn. Tegan saw Cord stumble and rushed to his side, she hooked her arm around him, and he raised weary eyes at her.
“Little tiger, you should be gone,” he told her.
“I’m not leaving you barely standing, lean on me,” she instructed. “How long will it last?”
“Until I stop it or I pass out,” Cord groaned as she moved him forward.