Alyx carried her momentum into the captain, darting around his side and slashing while he blocked another blade of Cass's lightning. Her sword bit at the plate, breaching the metal with a spray of blood.

She activated Resonating Blade, and the cut duplicated itself under his armor. Blood dripped between the overlapping plates and down his armor.

The demon pushed itself back to its feet, leaping at the nearest paladin, its lightning sword jammed into the man's chest. The paladin shrieked.

"No, you don't!" Cass shouted, appearing at the demon's side, her dagger slicing through the space between demon and paladin.

Her blade didn't touch the creature, yet it still recoiled with a hissing curse. Its lightning blade flickered out as it turned on Cass, only to reappear free of the paladin's chest to swing at Cass.

She dodged out of the way, the lightning blade missing her by a breath and not more.

Behind the slyphid, Ahryn erupted in purple flames.

The demon's eyes flickered toward her youngest brother. Several of the nearby paladins turned on him, swords raised.

Cass disappeared.

What was Cass thinking? Ahryn couldn't defend himself from—

The demon launched itself on the nearest of the paladins, ripping through the man and leaping at the next.

It really was protecting Ahryn?

She shook her head. She'd assume Cass had a plan.

Cass always had a plan.

They were often mad plans. But they worked.

"Blasted demon," the captain hissed, watching his men attack Ahryn, only to be decimated by the demon. Pain echoed in his voice. More pain than Alyx would have expected from the wounds she'd inflicted on him thus far.

"Do you have time to worry about them?" Alyx asked, diving back at him with renewed vigor. She sliced at him, her sword cutting and slashing. He turned aside her strikes, redirecting the vast majority with his shield.

Kelstor swung his horns at them as he turned to charge Ahryn.

Alyx ducked under the attack, charging a Heaven's Strike along her sword, as his good horn scraped against the captain's raised shield.

She swung up as he slipped past her, her sword slicing across his armored side.

He twisted, batting her sword aside with his shield, his face contorting in a pained grimace as he moved.

Too slow, she was already drawing back for another cut.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Her blade danced around him, tracing over his armor. It glowed with her aura as she slipped in Heaven's Strikes amid her regular attacks. Everyone was another strain on his armor. Fortitude didn't falter, but all metal eventually gave out.

He swung back, his huge blade slamming into her sword, looking to brute force his way through her defenses with his superior Strength.

This wasn't how a man of his level should be fighting. A man of his position and level should have a Sword Mastery skill. With it, he should be carving her up, even with his wounds.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, +1 Dex, + 1 End]

Kelstor stormed across their fight, lunging through them. She darted back, his body glancing across hers, his claws scraping past her, his tail whipping into her and the captain as he passed, leaving a gash across her face and a dent in the captain's armor.

Alyx's eyes followed his path. Ahryn was over there now. How had he moved from one side of the room to the other so quickly?

Cass slipped into Stealth, disappearing as the demon slashed down another paladin. As Kelstor bowled into another group of paladins between him and the boy.

Cass had done it then? To throw Kelstor at the captain?

The captain lunged at her. His blade bit into her shoulder before she could block. Pain bloomed across the wound.

He drew back again, hacking at her side.

She deflected the sword, his Strength reverberating through her arms.

Alyx pushed through the numbing pain, snaking her sword around his. Her Reverberating Blade found a gash in his armor, cutting deeper through the torn flesh below. A dozen shallow cuts materialized over his body as she activated her blade's ability.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

But none of it was enough. His sword chopped into her side, her shoulders, her thighs.

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[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

For every cut she made, he found two openings to exploit.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Every time Kelstor charged between them, claws swiping and jaws snapping, chasing Cass and Ahryn, she was left with as many wounds as the captain.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

His sword pushed hers wide. It sliced across her chest. Her armor split before his blade. Pieces fell to the floor. Gashes ran across her chest, blood running over torn clothing and ripped skin.

What was Cass planning? How much longer did she need to hold out?

Alyx glanced toward Ahryn, looking for Cass, as she deflected another sword strike. He was by the door, the demon between them.

The demon ripped a man's head off, dropping both head and body to the bloody floor. It was covered in even more wounds than she was. Its dark skin, writhing like a thing possessed, was slick with the crimson liquid.

The captain swung again. Alyx blocked, her Strength approaching the captain's and nullifying some of the shock of the impact.

The demon dodged around another swipe of Kelstor's claws as the dragon rampaged toward her brother.

Behind them, in the doorway, she spotted Pellen. She'd caught up. Marco must be with her, too. Surely, with him at her side, they could turn this around.

The captain's next strike slipped through her defenses, slashing her thigh. She bit back the pain and countered with a strike of her own, calling Heaven's Strike to her blade and sweeping it across his side.

She couldn't beat the paladin captain alone. But with Marco covering her defense…

Her eyes darted around the room, looking for him.

He would have run to her side. Unless he thought there was tactical merit in protecting Pellen or Ahryn. But he wasn't.

He wasn't here.

Cass dropped out of Stealth behind Ahryn, scooping him up and sprinting away from demon and dragon. They both gave chase.

Still no sign of Marco.

No sign that Cass was moving on to the next phase of her plan.

Kelstor charged through. His thrashing head slammed into the captain. He grunted, taking the strike to his shield.

Kelstor's head bounced back for her.

A dark blue force shield materialized between her and the dragon. Kelstor rolled past.

The captain lunged, blade sliding through the weakened barrier with a crack of breaking magic. Alyx sidestepped, her sword swinging into his unprotected flank.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Okay, Marco wasn't here. That was fine. Pellen was plenty, as long as she had Focus.

How long would she have Focus?

Would it last long enough for Alyx's Strength and Endurance to ramp up to the captain's? Would it last until Cass's plan swung into effect? Until Telis returned with the Grand Duchess?

Or was this entire thing a house of cards waiting to fall at the first setback?

This would be so much easier if Kelstor fought at her side. But there was no reasoning with a feral dragon. He didn't recognize her. He couldn't.

Not unless…

She deflected another sword strike, parrying with a stab of her own.

She couldn't bond with an adult dragon.

If it were that easy, they wouldn't put down feral dragons. If it were easy, ensuring the dragonlings had knights before their ninth birthday wouldn't be such a priority.

It wasn't done.

It was something out of the founding myths of the duchy. Not something for a mortal woman like her to be considering.

But she had Alacrity's Blessing and with it the right to bond with dragons. That had to count for something.

It was fresh on her soul. Was it enough?

It was the Major Blessing. Did that help?

Kelstor's claw slammed down as he roared past again. She rolled out of the way, his claw tips scraping over her armor.

Getting near a feral dragon was dangerous. And one needed to maintain contact with one for an extended period to perform the binding, all while he raged.

The paladin swung at her again. Her sword snapped up to block, but his shimmered out of existence, only to reappear a fraction of a second later swinging at a completely different angle. It sliced through her defenses, her armor like wet tissue paper, her Fortitude crumbling before his Strength.

She grimaced. He still had more tricks? She skirted back to buy herself a moment to regroup.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

He stormed after her, his sword swinging.

A lightning blade flew through the space before her, its edge scraping across his armor. Another pair of blades followed it.

His sword whipped out to strike the Tempest Blades from the air.

Would Kelstor even accept her as his knight? Feral dragons weren't sane. How would that affect the process? Dragons rarely made a second bond if their first knight died. Was that because they were unable or because they were unwilling?

Another dark blue barrier appeared to block the captain's sword.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Kelstor reared back, unleashing a blast of dragon fire over the cathedral. The heat was intense, the floor melting where his breath touched directly.

The paladins nearest him incinerated without even a scream.

The demon grabbed Ahryn and spirited to the far side of the room, dragging her brother behind him.

The paladin captain slammed his shield into the ground, dropping into a kneeling crouch behind it, a green force field appearing between himself and the flames.

Alyx turned and sprinted out of the path of the flames. She didn't have a skill to stop that. All she could do was run.

The dragon fire rolled through the room, consuming everything that wasn't fast enough to get out of its way. They surged toward the dragonlings in their containment circle.

They were directly in the flame's path. The dragonlings pressed against their prison's invisible walls, shrieking for help. Would the fire pass through the barrier? Would the heat? Could the dragonlings withstand either?

Marco could easily block the flames with his shield if he were here. But she didn't have that kind of defensive skill.

Pellen flipped frantically through her spell book.

Ahryn tugged at the demon, shouting for it to turn around. To save them.

She could only watch as the flames raced forward. Could only watch as another generation of dragons died on her name's watch.

Cass appeared between them.

She raised her hands before the incoming fire. It licked at her, its tendrils surging forward only to be turned aside by Cass's Will and cascading like a river around the vulnerable dragonlings.

But not without scorching Cass. The heat blistered Cass's skin.

Could Cass hold it back?

Alyx's heart pounded in her chest. Her body swelled with so much unspent energy stockpiled high from Endless Assault.

This couldn't continue. Whatever Cass's plan. However long they had to last until the Grand Duchess arrived. This had to end now.

She couldn't let Kelstor continue like this. She couldn't let him kill the dragonlings or Cass or Ahryn.

She ran along the edge of his flames, the heat a physical force buffeting her back and sapping her endurance. But she couldn't let it stop her.

She reached out for Kelstor. Would touching him be enough?

She had never seen a binding ritual. The last one to be held had been before she was born.

She'd heard that it was usually done in a sealed chamber within the dragon's lair outside the influence of others, where dragon and knight would be safe during an otherwise vulnerable time.

How much of that was required? How much was just good practice? How bad of an idea was this? Could it be worse than one of Cass's plans?

Kelstor's flames sputtered out as he ran out of breath. His head whipped around at her, his jaws snapping at her outstretched hand.

She pulled back at the last second, narrowly keeping her hand. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe this was impossible.

But the only other options were to kill him or let him kill her. And those weren't options.

"Pellen, hold the dragon in place!" Alyx shouted over the room. She could only hope the little mage still had the Focus required of the binding spell. "Cass, protect me!"

Alyx ducked around Kelstor's head and leapt onto his back. She slid into the nook between his wings and his neck, where his knight—where her mother—would sit.

She buried her hands in his mane and—

The world went dark.

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