We crawled behind a black stone boulder as arrows kept swishing past us.

“It’s the Druids,” I breathed.

“Would you like to do the honors?” He raised an eyebrow at me, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“Don’t mind if I do,” I replied and rose to my knees, pushing out a powerful barrier.

It was enough to knock them off their feet. I heard them grunting and panting as I stood and moved closer to the rocks from which they’d been shooting their arrows. Draven came to my side, his arms raised in a defensive gesture.

“We mean you no harm,” he said. “We come in peace!”

The young Druids got up and scrambled to get their bows and arrows off the ground, but I pushed out another barrier and knocked them back down.

“We’re not here to hurt you!” I shouted.

“Then… Then what do you want?” one of them asked, short of breath. “And how did you do that?”

“You’re Ori, Malachy, Flynn, Mason, Cassin, and Dain, are you not?” Draven asked.

“How… Do you know us?” Another one stood, dusting himself off.

“I’m Draven. I’m a Druid, like you. This is Serena.”

“Not from around here,” I added.

“Yeah, I can tell,” the first one shot back. “I’m Ori.”

“And I’m Flynn,” the second one said. The others stood up and came closer, looking at us curiously but warily. “This is Malachy, Mason, Cassin, and Dain.”

Draven gave them a curt nod and a half-smile.

“I must say, it’s an honor to meet you all,” he replied.

“I didn’t think there were any Druids left, besides us.” Malachy frowned.

“I thought the same thing, until our Oracles saw you in their visions,” Draven said.

“You have Oracles?” Mason was stunned.

“And an alliance of the free rebel nations rising against Azazel. We’re ready to take the snake down,” I replied with confidence. “What do you say, Druids? Ready to kick some ass?”

They all went silent, staring at us. A good minute passed before either of them spoke.

“We’ve been stuck here for a long time,” Ori sighed. “We haven’t heard from Antara in decades. We’ve lost some of our own to Destroyers. We didn’t think there was any hope left…”

“I know, and I am truly sorry for your loss,” Draven said solemnly. “But we need you. We need Druids to fight with us. We need your power, your natural magic, your willingness to defend this world and take it back from Azazel.”

“But he’s so powerful,” Malachy replied.

“True, but we know where his power stems from, and we’re already taking measures to cut him off. There is hope, Druids, believe me. Our armies are moving in on his castle on Antara, but I need you to join me in a direct attack on Azazel himself. If we come together, we will bring him to his knees. His hubris has blinded him. He’s made mistakes.”

“Such as?” Malachy pursed his lips.

“Not killing me when he had the chance.” Draven grinned. “You can’t spend the rest of your lives cowering in this desert. You might lose but at least you’ll go down swinging or, even better, you’ll win. Either way, Azazel will come after you eventually. And he will kill Thadeus and Damion, too, once he’s done with them.”

The Druids stilled, fierce shadows darkening their expressions.

“You know about our friends?” Dain asked.

“I do,” Draven replied. “And I also know you will stop at nothing to get them back in one piece. They’re under Azazel’s control now, forced to slither around as Destroyers, but they can be cured if we defeat him. Like you, they deserve to live in a kind and peaceful world, not this boiling pot of darkness and poison, and you know it.”

“We’re rusty,” Ori said. “And we’d barely made it to the Twentieth Circle when Destroyers raided the Grand Temple. We don’t know enough to be effective in a fight against Azazel. He was a Master Druid, after all…”

“We have all the knowledge and spells you need.” I gave them a reassuring wink. “We secured the Druid archives, and we have swamp witch magic on our side as well. We’ve got you covered.”

Another minute passed, during which they looked at each other. I recognized both glimmers of hope and jolts of fear in their eyes. In the end, when they glanced back at us, there was determination settling in among them.

“We don’t even know what’s been happening since we landed here,” Ori replied.

“Oh, we’ll fill you in on the way there.” I smiled.

They inched forward, one by one. Curiosity and the desire to destroy Azazel seemed stronger than their defenses. They’d been here for so long, I couldn’t blame them for desperately wanting to get out.

They looked at each other and nodded firmly.

“That creep ruined our lives. When do we leave?” Dain asked, his chin high.

I couldn’t help but feel relieved. Ecstatic, even. It had taken less than I’d expected to persuade them to join the alliance. Draven had made a good point of it the day before, when he’d said that young Druids are naturally full of energy—the best example he could think of was himself. They weren’t calm and composed and patient enough to settle into a home. Most importantly, they understood that their so-called safety wouldn’t last for much longer.

It was only a matter of time before Azazel’s forces came crashing down on them. Draven had given them all the arguments they needed to react, to stand up and join the fight. They probably would’ve come out fighting sooner, if someone had reached out to them. They’d been left to rot in the desert, with years of energy and hatred toward Azazel simmering beneath the surface. No wonder they were so revitalized once they heard about the alliance. They were itching for a fight about as much as we were, if not more.

Draven took my hand, sending warm pulses through my body. I felt his energy, his determination, and his eagerness to take the Druids home to Antara and bring the fight to Azazel. His mind burned with the many ways in which this could go down.

We both felt the same way—no matter what happened, we would fight together and take that monster down. The world depended on us.

We were on to something very good here.