At first, we’d seen Ragnar Peak rising in the distance. Tall, majestic, and boldly reaching toward the sky, the fortress at the top almost beckoning us to hurry up and get there. But then I saw something I’d both hoped for and dreaded, at the same time, since we’d first left the Imen village in the south. I saw Avril and the rest of our team, joined by Arrah and ten other Imen, along with Scarlett’s eerily friendly pit wolf—that was the part I’d hoped for—followed by a throng of daemons as our friends made their way up to the fortress.

My True Sight did not deceive me. The daemons were being led by a prince, one of Shaytan’s sons, judging by his royal attire and gold-threaded horns, though I didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t on the king’s Council. I’d shouted at Blaze, who flew overhead with Caia and Laughlan on his back, telling him to go ahead. Our friends needed us.

When the first explosions tore through the base of the stone mountain, I held my breath.

The rest of us were on horses. A good night’s sleep and some food had certainly helped our delegation members in their recovery. They were nowhere near full capacity yet, but they seemed a lot more focused. Caspian and I led the group, flanked by Pheng-Pheng, Jax, and Hansa. Fiona, Zane, and Velnias were in the middle, followed by the remaining members of the Druid delegation.

I spotted Avril and her team just yards away from the fortress’s main gates, with daemons still struggling to get past the bottom half of the peak. I could see Arrah and Patrik throwing all kinds of explosives at the fiends, disrupting their climb, tearing into the only complete staircase to the top and causing landslides that pushed the rest of the daemons back to the base.

“We need to keep heading for the fortress,” I said, our horses galloping across the hard, dry ground. The Ekar bird flew close to me, until I reached a hand out and its claws gripped my wrist. “Bring us Neha and the Manticores,” I whispered. It blinked several times, then took flight and flew to the north, where the red sand dunes undulated in the simmering distance.

“Who’s that leading the daemons?” Jax asked, squinting. He, too, had noticed the royal garb. “He’s wearing gold threads.”

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Zane narrowing his eyes through red lenses. We were now about two hundred yards away and getting closer with each second that slipped by.

“Ugh, dammit,” Zane muttered. “That’s Cason, tenth in line. Overachieving idiot.”

“Is he that bad?” Hansa replied, pursing her lips as she nudged her indigo stallion to go faster.

“He never quits; that’s the most annoying problem with him. He just never, ever quits. He’s persistent to the point where I think even my father wouldn’t mind seeing him get killed, just so he wouldn’t have to put up with his badgering,” Zane replied. Fiona stifled a chuckle.

“Let me guess, he used to chase you and the older brothers around when you were kids?” I asked, somewhat amused and trying to picture those horned fiends as children—and miserably failing. All I could come up with were miniaturized versions of Cason, Cayn, and the others, just as bulky and vicious.

“Not only is he big, he’s relentless,” Zane said, shaking his head. “We tried losing him in the Valley of Screams a couple of times. He never forgave us.”

“Well, for now he’s still stuck at the bottom, and our only clear way up is currently being blown to smithereens,” Jax replied, looking ahead.

Just then, another explosion tore through the middle of the stairs, spewing dirt and rocks outward. It rained fire and ashes on the daemons trying to get ahead, and then the angled ground slipped from under them and they found themselves sliding back down. Had it not been such a dire situation, it would’ve been downright comical to watch.

“Our only chance is the fortress,” I said. “I sent the Ekar out. We’ll need to hold out for a couple of days, at most, before reinforcements arrive.”

“Ramin is fast,” Pheng-Pheng breathed. “My mother will be on her way by nightfall, for sure.”

“With our team reunited and the extra hands on deck, we should be fine,” Hansa replied with a nod, then grinned as she looked up and saw Blaze swooping in. “Uh-oh, it’s about to get hot down there!”

“Look, Harper!” Caspian said, narrowing his eyes at the peak’s base. I followed his gaze and found myself smirking.

“It’s not complete, but I think the horses can pull it off,” I replied, then glanced over my shoulder at Vesta. “Hey, warrior fae! Think you can coax some winds into helping us jump over the bigger gaps on that western ridge?” I asked, pointing at the fractured set of narrow stairs leading up to the fortress.

She nodded. “I think so, yes! But we need the dragon to keep the daemons at bay.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that anymore,” Hansa interjected with a dry chuckle.

“Whoa…” Vesta’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening as she saw Blaze in action once more. Last time she’d seen him in full force had been during our first encounter in the Valley of Screams. That seemed so long ago.

Amber and blue fireballs were launched from the dragon’s back. Caia and Laughlan were targeting the stronger daemons, specifically the ones who had made it three hundred yards up Ragnar Peak. One by one, the fiends were engulfed by flames and forced to drop and roll back down, screaming in agony.

The left flank of Cason’s daemons noticed us then. They drew their rapiers and darted toward our group but came to a sudden halt as Blaze’s enormous shadow covered them, followed by a curtain of fire. The dragon didn’t forgive anyone, as he circled around and returned for another session of “char the daemon”. His jaws opened wide, his giant fangs glistening in the sunlight as he spat a blazing inferno over the daemons.

We heard their screams and wails. Many managed to hide under their shields, but Blaze’s fire didn’t just go in one direction. It splashed and spilled around like a scorching liquid, slipping beneath the meranium covers and swallowing the daemons on the edges of the compact formation. Cason’s grunts tried to stick to their square grouping, but Blaze was making it difficult.

I couldn’t see their emotions, but their faces told me everything I needed to know—including Cason’s. They were white as sheets of paper. Dread froze their blood and stiffened their joints. They were terrified, too busy taking cover from the dragon to come after us.

Perfect.

“Coast is clear!” Jax shouted. “This way!”

We climbed the broken stairs on horseback, in pairs. For entire segments of up to thirty feet, the ascension was quite smooth, interrupted by wide jumps and a little bit of an airy push from Vesta, to help our stallions conquer the larger gaps. One wrong move and we could end up back at the bottom with mangled horses.

I heard growling behind us and felt a chill gripping my spine as I looked back. Two dozen daemons had slipped from the main formation and were working their way up, hot on our trail.

“Move to the sides!” I shouted at the team. They immediately parted, leaving enough room in the middle for me to send out a strong barrier.

The pulse hit the grunts hard in their chests. They wheezed and fell backward. Ryker muttered a spell, then put his hand out, releasing a flurry of small blue fireballs. They buzzed around like frantic flies but burst into devastating flames once they touched the daemons.

With our followers down, screaming and flailing as the Druid flames consumed them, we continued our climb.

Just a little bit more.