Dark Blood(146)

Skyler’s right. This has to be his mark, Ivory. There’s a fresh wound here.

Ivory inspected the small ring. Perfect. Good eyes, Skyler. This disc is iolite, she identified. Already there was a thin thread of blue-violet light emanating from the disc.

It’s a violet stone that enhances vision on the astral realm, Tatijana explained to Skyler just in case she didn’t know.

Very volatile under the right circumstances, Ivory added. Do exactly as I do and then get out of here fast.

Ivory didn’t wait, shimmering into her natural form, careful to avoid the strings of amber venom seeping in long strings from the roof of the mouth as she hovered in the center of the worm’s throat.

Skyler gasped as fibers reached for Ivory, like tentacles following the source of heat. Ivory was fast, dodging them and using the light like one of her arrows, striking deep, penetrating into the worm’s tough wall. When she let go of the disc, the weapon followed the light, crashing hard into the pattern of scars.

Both Skyler and Tatijana followed suit without hesitation, releasing first the light like a spear and then the disc, nearly simultaneously. All three weapons pulsed with light and then burst into a violet wash that bathed the walls of the worm’s throat in vivid color. A shrill, penetrating sound followed, the piercing notes threatening to destroy all sense, so that all three hastily muted the volume.

Hurry, hurry, Ivory urged, rushing toward the mouth of the worm.

The giant cavernous body of the creature rolled again. Bucked harder. Began to thrash violently. Tatijana and Skyler kept up with Ivory, dodging the venom and avoiding touching the walls of the spiraling worm. Condensation formed, an eerie haze when the violet light spread like a smoky red tide staining everything in its path a bluish purple.

The three women hovered just behind the double rows of serrated teeth. The sense of urgency was strong in all of them, as if they shared one mind—and one goal.

The worm rocked violently again, thrashing as more smoky violet light poured from the three discs and curled as vapor in every direction. Ivory appeared to be concentrating hard.

Three, two, one, she counted down and then burst forward.

The worm’s throat contracted. Squeezed. The walls narrowed behind them. The mouth of the worm gaped open to cough, every muscle constricting violently.

Ivory didn’t need to tell them to hurry. They followed her frantic attempt at reaching the surface. The ground trembled and shook with intensity as the worm thrashed, maddened by the burning in its throat. Shock waves like seismic anomalies reverberated through the ground. Dirt fell in on itself all around them.

I can get us out faster, Tatijana volunteered. Let me.

Tatijana squeezed past Ivory, shifting into her dragon form so that she could dig their way out far faster than they could. Her wedge-shaped head burst through the surface, continuing upward so that she could use her long neck and front claws to protect the others from the fierce battle taking place aboveground.

Branislava saw Tatijana’s dragon head emerge from beneath the surface and something deep inside her settled. Behind Tatijana’s dragon came first Ivory and then Skyler. She wasn’t alone fighting a war against two, possibly three mages. Her lifemate and the others were holding off the mage’s army to give her the chance to bring down Xaviero’s seat of power, and she was close. She could feel it now, the taste of victory. It was all about not making a mistake.

All three women had gone through a fight, but they’d emerged alive and victorious. They hurried to make their way through the battlefield to get to her side. With the exception of Ivory, three had been born of Dragonseeker blood. Ivory was lifemate to a Dragonseeker and over the years his blood had become hers, so technically, the mages would be dealing with four powerful Dragonseeker women.

Tatijana, I need you and Ivory to take the two trees there. Branislava indicated the tree directly opposite from the one she had released. Ivory, if you could take the one at the bottom of the pentagram, that would be helpful. Skyler, you and I are going to work on the ones on either side of Xaviero. He’s setting up a triangle with the fire and his brother. You can see his position.

She dug a small diagram in the dirt with the toe of her boot. I’ve figured out what he’s doing and how he set up his power grid. We’ll have to open our minds to one another for this to work properly.

Ivory was a loner. Other than Razvan she didn’t share her life—or her mind—with anyone else. If this was to work, they’d have to do it together.

Ivory knew her meaning immediately and simply nodded. I am a warrior first. Whatever needs to be done, I will do.

Branislava breathed a sigh of relief. She’d put her sister closest to Ivory in order to give Ivory aid if needed. She would be positioned with Skyler. Both women were powerhouses in their own right, and all four of them connected had every chance of bringing down the two mages. She did her best to convey that confidence while she instructed them on how to peel back the layers of magic Xaviero had wrought.