I’ve never fought on a real team before other than with Raffe, but we all fall into a rhythm that doesn’t require words for us to coordinate.

Someone yells behind us.

We all turn to look. The Pit lord has caught Flyer, who was at the end of our formation. Flyer is bent over on his back over the edge of the chariot with the Pit lord pressing on either side of him so that his back is about to snap in half.

Everyone exchanges a quick look, then the entire formation veers, returning to rescue Flyer.

The air is filled with the screaming Consumed looking for bodies.

Hawk and Cyclone lead the charge back to Flyer with a fierce war cry. They are the first hit with the screaming heads. Instead of trying to avoid them, they charge right into them, getting hit with half a dozen each.

As soon as they land on Hawk and Cyclone, they begin chewing and burrowing into their flesh.

Hawk and Cyclone grab the hair of a couple of heads per hand and yank them off their skin. They swing the heads by the hair and use them to bat away the others. Their hands drip with blood as the Consumed hair cuts into them, but they don’t seem to care.

The other Consumed converge on Hawk and Cyclone.

Four other Watchers zip in and pluck and smash the chewing heads off the two kamikaze Watchers, acting as their support to keep them alive. Meanwhile, the rest of us fly in toward the Pit lord while Hawk and Cyclone distract the Consumed.

Instead of waiting, the Pit lord lets go of Flyer and leaps at us.

His blazing wings sweep the air with flames, looking like he’s shooting toward us in a ball of fire.

His fiery wings make it impossible to come at him from any direction other than head-on. And Raffe and I are directly in front of him.

As the Pit lord swipes his blazing wing at us, a Watcher charges between us, protecting us with his body as he punches the Pit lord. Instead of punching back, the Pit lord grabs him by the throat and closes his wings. For a moment, we can’t see anything but a giant ball of fire as his wings encase the Pit lord and the Watcher.

When he opens his wings again, the Watcher is in flames. His remaining feathers along with every scrap of hair on his body are on fire.

The Pit lord drops him, and the Watcher roars as he falls, landing hard and rolling on the ground, trying to smash the flames out.

The Pit lord comes back for us. Raffe holds his air space while the other Watchers rescue Flyer.

Raffe nods to one of the Watchers who then takes position below us. I’m guessing he’s there to catch me if I fall.