Chapter 79

The world around us turns to chaos as the tremors continue to build on themselves. Damion throws an arm around me, keeping me from being thrown around as the ground shakes so roughly that I have to clench my jaw together to keep my teeth from rattling.

"What is this dark magic?" The horror stricken Seelie King asks as his terrified looking guards bolster around him.

"It's the beginning of the destruction you've started, you fool." The King of the Unseelie hisses at him as he gains his footing and lunges at Tarquin with his raised sword.

I don't have time to give attention to the world roaring wildly around us. Because the fae soldiers have fallen into a panic- lashing out with swords and magic at each other and the shifters both. The sound of shouting and crashing in the distance has me stiffening against where I'm pressed into Damion's side.

As the world turns to chaos, one of the fae swings an arch of earth magic at us hurling a rock at where Damion and I stand and he spins me out of the way, blocking me with his body. And suddenly Damion's body goes impossibly stiff, rippling against me as a familiar blood chilling growl echoing up his throat.

"*Damion*?" I look up into his face and my heart stops.

His eyes are changing in rapid fire succession of shifting swirling color. *Oh, no.*

"Leif!" I scream out for the red headed shifter where he's engaged in a fight with two other panicking fae. He quickly disarms them and hurries to my side.

"What is it- " his words taper off and his eyes widen as he notices Damion's flickering eyes, "Oh fucking hell, you've got to be kidding me."

"He's going into a frenzy-"

Just then, Damion's eyes settle into the darkest orange I've ever seen them. Veins spider out from his eyes, his skin turning to something else entirely. Something shadowed and leathery. His muscles continue rippling as black deadly spikes pierce from the skin on his back, teeth elongating into sharp points. Black claws protrude from his knuckles and he swings them severing the head off a fae who dares to step too close. He's terrifying and beautiful all at once.

The berserker.

"What are we going to do?" I ask Leif, shifting to the side as Damion takes out yet another Unseelie with a brutal stab.

"We follow the plan," Leif grunts with a firm set of his jaw, "Now, though, you'll have to go with your guards instead of Damion. Hurry, the others should be waiting for you by now."

"What about Damion?"

"I'll keep him from doing too much destruction. Just go. And Lily? Try to hurry." Leif shifts into a mountain lion form, pushing into Damion's side.

I gasp out struggling to keep my feet against the roaring earth as I look for Xavier and Arden. They hadn't gone too far and when I call out for them over sounds of rumbling earth and clanging weapons they hurry to my side.

"There's been a change of plans." I shout to be heard over the noise. They nod, each taking a place at my sides. The vicious sound of Damion's roaring berserker form reverberates up my spine, the sound echoing in my ears as we turn and race up the side of the mountain.

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A small group of tall figures wait for us in an outcropping of trees. At the sight of their familiar faces, I race to them and throw my arms around them both.

"We weren't sure you'd come," I say, my words muffled where I'm pressed against them.

"Of course we came." Elder Aelrie says, patting my back as if she wasn't used to such blatant shows of affection and was unsure what to do with the unexpected hug. But her eyes light up, giving away the fact that she's pleased to see me. When I pull away, she primly clasps her hands in front of her robed body, "Our assistance here is long overdue. We've been hidden away too long while destruction ensued."

Elder Elandorr nods his agreement, "When one of our own calls, we come."

Any other words are cut off as a grating pulse of energy ripples up my spine. The sensation feels like something slowly waking up-a growing haze of old energy writhing its way from the soles of my boots past my shoulders. Goosebumps skitter up my arms, making my hairs stand on ends. I recognize the feeling. I'd felt it briefly during the earth storm after I'd left Elfhame.

It is the same prickle of tense energy that had clued my magic to the fact that the cause of the chaos, was in fact a living creature below the mountain. That it's a creature who has been triggering the earth storms. And that same creature's magic was also responsible for the red fog that seeped from the mountain. Both acting as defense of its home.

The same mountain dragon that the Seelie fae had been hoping to find and capture. That they had been expecting to turn into their own weapon of sorts. Tarquin's drive for power knew no bounds.

The earth rumbles beneath us, shuddering under the soles of my feet. Arden grabs hold of me as I lose my balance. With her other hand, she grips onto a tree to keep us both upright.

"Definitely a rock dragon," Elandorr agrees, crouching to place a hand down on the earth, "You were correct, little one. It's been many an age since the last time one was seen.It took us time to find an adequate place, but we have a new resting place prepared for it. Somewhere it won't be disturbed.

"It will take some time and our combined magic in order to communicate with it," Aelrie says to me, "Try to assist us if you can."

I follow their lead as the small group of elves gather around each other, grasping hands and crouching to mimic Elandorr's kneeling position on the ground.

"Try to push out with your magic," Aelrie murmurs to me, "Focus on aiming your awareness towards ours."

I nod in agreement, trying to ignore the way the earth violently shudders around us in crescendo to do what she said. There's an undeniable pulse through the earth. Like a thrumming electrical shock that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end and goosebumps to prickle my skin.

*It feels like a heartbeat*.

I feel it immediately when the elves are able to make contact with the dragon. The shivering and shaking earth dies down to small ripples, the pull of the dragon's consciousness is overwhelming. The world around us goes deathly quiet as the elves push their collective consciousness toward the monstrous creature who has been causing so much havoc beneath the mountain in response to the Seelie's prodding.

The creature is angry and so so tired. With its state of hibernation continually being interrupted the way that it has been, its magic and energy is quickly depleting. I feel the elves combined energies pushing toward it, coaxing it into ending its attacks and move on from the shifter's mountain to the place they have prepared for it where it can rest without interruption.

Suddenly, the connection snaps. Bursting from the base of the mountain, is the largest creature I've ever seen, larger than the Seelie palace, or even the Shifter's mountain castle. With a rippling roar it takes off for the skies, flapping its leathery wings.

Stilted screams sound from down below as the mountain dragon is made visible to the soldiers. Xavier and Arden curse loudly. The dragon circles the soldiers as it stretches its formidable body and the world seems to go still as it takes off for the distant craggy mountains toward Elfhame.

"The creature knows the way to go," Elandorr says, wiping a weary hand down his face, "But we will follow closely behind it to be sure it ends up where we directed it to go. It's looking forward to a long sleep without interruptions."

"So are the rest of us," Xavier grumbles under his breath and Arden elbows him in the side.

I turn to face the elves who are pulling themselves up to their feet, "I don't know how to thank you for this."

"It is our honor," Elder Aelrie says, glancing toward the disappearing silhouette of the mountain dragon. There are so many things I want to ask them, but the need to track the creatures movements outweigh everything else at the moment. With a parting hug and a promise that I would return to Elfhame for a visit soon, the elves disappear down the mountain.