Heat crackled in the air around her. Railynn felt her mouth go dry as if all the moisture was being pulled from the air by those distant fires. She could feel the burning heat on her face, even from her considerable distance away from the city.

Ash fell from the sky like snow. It clung to her hair and clothes, the pale color in stark contrast to the midnight blue of her hair that was so dark it was almost black. Railynn looked up at the sky, a piece of ash clung to her eyelashes as a single silver tear traced down her dust-covered cheek. The entire capital city of Leona was burning.

Railynn stared at the white stone walls of the city. They were charred black in the few parts that still stood. Other sections of the walls and even the buildings were crumbling away. The dragon’s fire had melted a large portion of the city entirely. What had not melted, had been turned to ash. Entire neighborhoods were gone. Only piles of ash remaining where they once stood.

In the distance, Railynn could still see the dark shadow of the monster responsible for such destruction. The dragon's large wings cast a dark shadow across the trees and mountains it soared over.

Her eyes, once more, went to the city. The palace that had once belonged to the great Fae Queen Maeve was nothing but ruins jutting out of scorched earth. Railynn took a shuddering breath. Her fists tightening. She felt utterly and completely useless.

"Captain, we should go," the deep steady voice of Devon, one of her best warriors, came from behind her. His large hand came to rest on her arm in a loose grip. She barely registered the touch. She did not hear his words over the roaring in her mind.

"There is nothing we can do," he insisted, giving her arm a slight pull. Railynn still did not hear him. Railynn’s eyes aglow with her magic, she pulled free from Devon's loose hold. The words he said finally registering in her mind a moment later.

"No," was all Railynn was able to choke out. She gazed at the once beautiful city of Norharrow in disbelief and horror. It was gone. Destroyed.

She had never realized how much she loved that Fates damned city until it was gone. In all her years, Norharrow had been her only home. Railynn collapsed to her knees at the scene before her. She had good memories there. Memories of running through the palace halls as a child made her choke on her breath. That palace, the impenetrable white stone wall around the city, they were all gone.

"Benjin, we need to go," Devon hissed to Railynn's second in command. Benjin nodded his head in grave agreement. His eyes were glued to the sight in disbelief. Kneeling beside Railynn, he gently urged his best friend to get up from the ground.

"Rae, we need to go, Devon's right," Benjin muttered. A silent tear traced down his face. Railynn looked at the males around her. They had been on and off of killing fields for the last hundred years together. She had never seen this much pain and sadness in their eyes. Pain from the loss of loved ones and friends — people that should have been safe behind the majestic white stone walls of Norharrow, Leona's capital city.

She could not lose it. Not now. Not when there were potentially survivors. There could be people they could help down there. Closing her eyes, Railynn steadied herself. She felt her magic slowly calm inside of her. It had so quickly bubbled to the surface, threatening to lash out, when she had seen the city. It retreated down into the core of her body. Another breath in and back out. She was calm. It was only then that Railynn allowed herself to opened her eyes.

"No!" she said again, with more conviction this time. She met each of their eyes as she spoke, "We can help," Railynn did her best to keep her voice from cracking as she spoke. This would not be their typical battlefield or mission. This was their home, and in some ways, the task ahead of them would be much harder than wielding their blades and magic against their enemies. Railynn opened her mouth to give her orders, but Nox spoke up.

"We have company,” his voice a harsh whisper on the wind.

The half wraith’s dark ashen hair was already fading into the shadows. His shadow abilities reminded Railynn of the ancient Fae Queen Maeve. Railynn had never asked how such a union between wraith and fae was possible, and she was not sure she wanted to know the answer. Nox’s glowing red eyes were able to see in even the darkest of caves and his ability to become nothing but a shadow was invaluable to their team.

Railynn said nothing, as she pointed at the members of her remaining team and gave them their silent orders. In a flash of golden light, Glenn, the last member of their small squad, was airborne. His eagle soaring towards the treetops. Devon and Benjin obeying the stiff movements of her hand moved in a close formation to her back and sides. Railynn's curved ears could hear movement in the trees ahead. The smell of horses and humans carried on the wind. Railynn motioned to where it was coming from. Devon and Benjin nodded in agreement that they had heard the same.

Railynn's black onyx blade whined as she pulled it from her back. The earth reached up, forming a sword of solid stone in Benjin's hand. Devon pulled his two short blades from his back, fire dancing on their black surface.

"Halt!" A human man called out as he and about twenty Kilian soldiers stepped out from the trees. They were all humans, by the scent of them. Thankfully these soldiers were not like the things they had seen in the forest just days before. Most of the humans before them were not even wearing iron armor. Railynn said a quick thanks to the Fates for that.

"We have you surrounded," the human smiled triumphantly. The man who spoke was one of the few riding a horse. The elaborate design of his uniform spoke of his position of power. He thought himself so mighty and powerful, the poor ignorant fool. Railynn cocked her head to the side and gave him a toothy smile. It was almost unfair to the humans.

"Are you sure?" She cooed as she spun her dark blade in the air beside her. Her now feline eyes glowing as she looked at him. The human man hesitated. His mouth was still partly open with the words he was about to say. His eyes narrowing as he looked more closely at Railynn. And then he went still. The color leaving his face as his mouth opened and closed.

“You’re…” he could barely speak the words. So Railynn politely finished it for him.

“Death,” her lips pulled up in a cruel smile, showing off her delicately pointed fanged teeth. Her name alone was signal enough for the others.

Nox materialized from the trees. His hands and shadows wrapped around two human soldiers. They screamed in panic as he dragged them back into the shadows with him.

Benjin launched himself at the soldiers, his stone sword crushing and cutting through the humans with ease. The earth beneath his victims opening and trapping them in their place as he charged through their lines.

Devon slashed into men on either side of him, his twin blades singing as they twirled through the air. The small amount of fire magic he possessed danced across his blades.

Out of all of them, Devon possessed the least amount of magic, yet he was by far the most skilled warrior. Making him evenly matched with even Railynn at times. The way he moved was both graceful and powerful. He reminded Railynn of her father in many ways, though she would never admit it to Devon.

Railynn gave a feral smile before launching herself into the fight. She was speed and grace and power. Her movements were like a dance as she ducked under an iron blade — her skin tingled as the toxic metal swept over her head. Whirling, she drove her blade deep into the side of a human soldier. When her blade was not immediately freed from the soldier’s body with her pull, she let go of it. She would come back for it later.

Blackness covered her hands, shadows circling them as claws appeared on her fingers. The metal of a human's blade whined against her sharpened claws as she stopped a sword from slicing down on her. Railynn snarled at the soldier before her. Twisting, she pulled the sword free from the man's grasp. Her claws met his throat — blood sprayed as the man hit the ground.

She was a song of death and darkness as she tore through human after human driving them further back into the forest. The remaining humans turned and ran, fleeing from the fight. Railynn smiled, chasing after them, her warriors following. Glenn was at the front, Railynn saw his eyes go wide with fear. Mid-run, the scout shifted into his hawk form. He gave a sharp warning cry as he soared towards the sky. Glenn was too late. Railynn felt the buzz of iron in the air around her. She looked up in horror as the heavy iron net fell on her and her warriors.

It had been a trap. The metal made it hard to breathe as she choked on the air. The iron burned everywhere it touched her skin. Railynn desperately reached for her magic, but even as she did, her claws vanished into black smoke, leaving her hands stained red with human blood. The pain was blinding. Railynn cursed herself for not bringing more of the company she led with them on this mission. How many of her warriors were dead in that burned city just past the tree line?

Hot wet tears silently streamed down her face. Railynn looked to her side where Glenn had been forced back into his fae form. The male had become physically ill from the forced shift. Railynn struggled to clamp down on the panic rising in her as she realized she could do nothing to fix this situation. No more than she could turn back time to save Norharrow. She watched as the soldier who had first spoken came to stand over her. He was already barking orders at the rest of them as he smiled down at her in triumph. The world around her grew dark as she passed out under the iron net.

—

Rae jerked awake. A cold sweat covered her body. Her clothes and hair stuck to her skin. She blinked as her vision cleared. The dream. No the memory, was too painful. It was too real. Rae’s eyes lined with silver as she held back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She knew if she started crying, she would not be able to stop. The chill of a winter breeze made her spine stiffen and her hair stand on end, even as the fading sun warmed her face.

The memory still lingered in her mind. Reminding her over and over again of all that she had lost. It had been just over three years since that day. Three years since her home had been burned. Three years since she and her team had been captured. Not a single day since had passed that Rae did not think of it. She replayed the events of that day over and over again in her mind.

It was her punishment for failing.

Taking a deep breath, Rae looked up at the low afternoon sun and breathed in the crisp winter air. Her arms stretched between two iron posts, the chains holding her arms aloft were bitingly cold. Rae glanced sidelong at them. Testing their strength by slowly pulling at them. The slow movement of her pulls not noticeable from a distance. The chains did not budge, nor did the iron posts they were anchored to.

Rae could no longer remember what it felt like to be free of chains. Exhaustion coated her body, reminding her of her own weakness and frailty. She knew if she tried to sleep, it would not last long. Not here in the pit, not in her cell, not anywhere. Memories kept her company both awake and asleep. But in her dreams, the memories had a tendency to twist, small shadows becoming never-ending pits of darkness. Like ghosts of a past life, they haunted her thoughts and dreams, robbing her of rest.

Memories of this place and the friends it had taken from her ran wild in her mind. She had watched them be burned, beheaded, hung, beaten, and worse here in this very place. The worst. The worst had been Benjin's death. The thought of her best friend and how he died broke her heart all over again.

Rae took a breath, calming herself once more. It was as if the world felt her need for comfort. A gentle breeze pushed at her hair. Not the cold embrace of the winter wind, but a gentle summer breeze. Rae took comfort in the scents and warmth of the breeze.

The wind smelled of the sea as it wrapped around her. It calmed her, settling her fraying nerves. A small smile spread over her already wind-chapped lips as she filled with its warmth. The smell of magic carried on the breeze. The knowledge that no matter how many the humans killed, they could never rid the world of magic. It would survive, if only on the wind.

For the first time since she could remember, she did not feel cold.