The Wizard's Queen

Chapter 45

Voisin was insane in the team he selected for the initial strike. Kenny was stuck circling the snow-filled skies on a dragon with Derek, Jake Ryder, and Brie. Well, it was only supposed to be Jake and Derek, but Brie refused to leave Derek's side. Voisin would be leading the secondary strike with everyone else that was still able to fight. With many of their forces injured, the pickings were rather slim. Even worse, their strongest players were still stuck in the Elven realm due to the dimensional barrier.

Derek was having too much fun making the snow fall. It helped with their cover, but if he kept it up, Michael Noble would grow suspicious that an army was approaching. They had already taken control of Marblehead academy, deciding to use that as a base for dealing with supplies and healing. Kenny just hoped they would make it in time to stop the wedding. His heart flipped in his chest at the thought of soon being reunited with Riley.

"Look, we're almost at the church!" Derek pointed his fingers straight ahead, the giant cathedral steeple towering into the clouds.

Brie closed her eyes, murmuring spells under her breath. She easily broke through the barrier Michael had placed. It beat Derek crashing through and alerting everyone to their location. Instead, they could still remain hidden until it was time to strike. Kenny was rather impressed with Brie's skills and glad that she chose to switch sides. Not even Marcus would have broken through that barrier with such ease.

"Stop gawking, I created this system." Brie flicked the ends of her hair, a smug look on her face as she turned to face Kenny.

"So, they didn't make any alterations, did they?" Jake asked.

"No, Cory's intel was correct. Nobody but he and I had the sense enough to change the barrier's spell frame."

"See, I knew he would come in handy!" Derek said.

Kenny shook his head at the boy. Voisin had been enraged when Derek decided to bring back two extra people from Ember island. During their small detour to Ireland, one of his stowaways had vanished in the mists of battle, most likely fleeing to resume trade with the underground markets. Personally, Kenny would have preferred if Derek hadn't brought the other guy along, either. He was a whiny fellow who Derek took great pleasure in mentally torturing. He wasn't even a very significant Wizard that was part of Michael's inner circle to even consider taking prisoner. Kenny long since had given up on trying to understand the little tyrant's mind.

Derek increased the speed of their descent towards the church. "Slow down or you're going to crash through the roof!" Jake warned.

Derek only cackled, doing just as the man said. With a loud thundering bang, the whole roof went crashing in, collapsing thanks to the velocity created by the dragon. Screams were heard as those in attendance dove for cover. Kenny caught sight of Riley, his breath catching at the sight of her. She was midway down the aisle, Lineas Gowdie at her side who was shielding her from the falling debris.

"I think we're a little early," Brie mumbled.

Derek ignored her, shouting at the top of his lungs, "I OBJECT! STOP THIS WEDDING!"

All at once they were surrounded, wands drawn and pointing at them. Kenny quickly deflected hexes, jumping from the dragon and rushing through the crowd towards Riley. He had to save her, there was no way she could fight. He could sense her magic levels were off and that her magical stores were dangerously low even after spending all that time in a coma.

Chaos erupted all around him with Derek, Brie, and Jake covering him, the dragon roaring in response as the inhabitants fled from the church. Only, they weren't getting very far, the doors opening to reveal Voisin leading the rest of the Resistance. Wizards took caution to avoid the Bloodystinger's poisonous spines, one prick ensued death. Kenny had taken the antidote already, so he wasn't too worried about accidentally brushing up against the dragon.