by L J Andrews
“I couldn’t see you,” she shrieked. “I felt you fading, he had you—I sensed his hold on you.”
Pulling away, I brushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead. “I’m fine. He has Liz,” I said darkly.
Jade’s eyes were wide and filled with passionate rage—I could almost imagine her as a dragon by the way she watched me. “I know. I won’t let anything happen to her, Teagan.”
Sapphire and Eisha were in full form and paced angrily across the stones. Mini was clutching to one of the glowing mage markers, muttering beneath her breath and cursing every few moments. “I can’t feel anyone nearby. No one is answering the call.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped.
“Mages. I’m sending out distressed energy. I feel no one. We could very well be on our own.”
Sapphire growled loudly, and Eisha ignited a nearby pine tree in blue flames. Jade stepped into the center of the sanctuary. “I will reach out to the royals,” she said. “If we fall, I must warn them.”
She didn’t seem afraid, stepping into the open. Sapphire joined her and lowered his enormous head. Jade placed her hand along his scaly neck. When they touched, a burst of power filtered through my soul. I sensed a fierce connection, the pain of their hearts, the dread bleeding through the two royal wyvern.
“Teagan, will you help me? I’m not in my form, it’s harder to connect,” Jade said, though her eyes were closed. She held out her hand, and I quickly gripped her palm. Jade released a sigh of relief, and I was drawn into the power of the royal connection. I almost imagined their voices relayed in my mind as I fueled Jade’s strength. It was urgent, whatever emotion they’d sent to the stars, there was no denying the recipients would know of the emergency.
Sapphire shook his head when Jade released him and she wiped a tear from her eye. “It’s done. All we can do is hope they hear us and find themselves to safety.” Jade faced me, and I understood. I placed my hands on her shoulders before she whispered the words. “Release me, Teagan.”
Closing my eyes, I felt the burn of the strangest power burst through my palms. Jade flinched, but stayed strong beneath the fiery grip. The forest was alive. Every dark hiss was echoing in my ears, and I sensed the darkness. He was coming. Bron’s power beat against my mind as though black ropes of his evil ensnared me in their trap.
“I can’t,” Jade sobbed. “I feel it, I can’t release. Why!” She was panicking.
“Keep trying,” I breathed out, feeling the exertion begin to rob me of my strength.
We didn’t have time. I was knocked to the ground in a furious ripple of energy. Jade sprawled out next to me, her eyes wide and fearful.
“I can’t shift, Teagan,” she gasped, gripping my wrist painfully tight. “I can’t fight him like this.”
The surge shook the sanctuary again. Bron’s forces were coming. I shoved the thoughts of Raffi and Dash from my mind, what had happened on the lawn. Where were the warriors? Clutching Jade’s face in my palms I locked my eyes with her. “Jade, listen to me. We can do this. You don’t need to shift, you are more powerful than I can even say. Hey, no, listen to me,” I scrambled when she tried to shake her head. “We’ll do this together. Stay close to me.”
Mini crept behind us and handed Jade a silver dagger. It was sleek and deadly. “Fight, and defend your people as your parents did,” she said with fierce power.
Jade clasped the dagger, her hands trembling but her jaw set, and she nodded. Mini offered me a knife, but something brought me to pause. “You keep it,” I said, noting how she was without any more protection.
“Teagan,” she began.
“Keep it. He won’t kill me just yet,” I said, squaring my shoulders toward the coming darkness. “He’ll try to convince me to join him first.”
The forest settled in an eerie silence. Apprehension trickled down my spine, and my hand wrapped protectively around Jade’s arm as I stepped in front of her. Eisha’s black head looked to the sky, her wide nostrils flexing as she sniffed the air. Sapphire sensed it too, a constant, rumbling snarl deep in his throat. Then the trees cracked, groaning beneath the influx of enormous serpent dragons.
“Lindworms,” Jade breathed out, her skin growing hot beneath my touch.
So those were lindworms. They were frightening. Their bodies were long and narrow. They had massive wings that reminded me of bats. Some had two powerful limbs toward the back of their snake bodies, others were massive pythons with dragon jaws. All were covered in armored scales the color of midnight. Zomoks filtered between the massive serpents, hissing and snapping their small jaws. One black worm slithered toward the stones, and I anticipated its crossing into the sanctuary, but with an angry hiss, the zomok fired backward. The stones raged in more brilliant light.
“They can’t cross,” I said. “The zomoks, did you see them?”
Jade shook her head. “I only see lindworms.”
“The stones will protect us for a time, but they are raging us with powerful mage energy. I can feel it crumbling,” Mini shrieked.
She wasn’t wrong. There was a desperate protection surrounding us, but like thin glass I could feel fractures spreading through the defenses. I felt a sharp pain in my chest burning a hole through my back. Clutching my chest, I crumbled to my knees to find the air missing in my lungs.
“Teagan,” Jade cried, clutching my shoulders.
“You think a few stones can keep you safe?” his voice slithered like agonizing pin pricks along my skin. Gasping against the pain, I glared at Bron when he sauntered regally through the barrage of lindworms. His hand was open as he approached, aimed at me. The sickening burn only intensified in my body the closer he came. “It’s only a matter of time before this sanctuary falls. Give in, Teagan. Learn from me, I can sense your desire. Ah, there she is. The new Queen of Jade. Last I saw you, you were but a small thing.”
“The night you murdered my family,” Jade shrieked, the burn of her fire sending a new buffer against my own pain. I found the strength to stand. Bron wanted Jade, I wouldn’t let that happen.
“I’m afraid you have me wrong. It was not I who killed the royals.”
“You betrayed them to Nag,” Mini screamed in place of Jade. “Their blood is on your hands as much as anyone. You corrupted the bond.”
“Well, Agatha, I see it’s alive and well in Teagan, here. So perhaps you all were wrong. When will you see that wyvern power belongs to the entire race? It only strengthens both wyvern and mage to have elemental powers for all.”
The dark lindworms snorted and growled in agreement. Bron chuckled, his chilly eyes scanning his dark army. Sapphire and Eisha stepped close to Jade while I found the drive to dull the ache from Bron’s power and take my place in front of her. Inside, I knew I’d found where I belonged. Between Jade and whatever dark plan resided in Bron’s twisted mind.
“We’ll never submit the stones to the lindworms,” Jade shouted.
Bron clicked his tongue, glancing toward me. His fingers splayed wider, and the raging pain tried to take hold again, but whether it was the sanctuary or my drive to protect Jade, I resisted the desire to crumble in a heap. Bron seemed slightly disappointed and slowly lowered his hand. The pain receded like a wave heading back out to sea.
“So be it,” he snarled. The air of propriety lost as his true desires broke through. “I was offering you an opportunity, Teagan. But I see you’re just as foolish as the rest of them. No drive, no ambition to unlock your true power. Your precious queen is finished.”
Bron didn’t wait for me to respond before he lifted his arms above his head and a frenzy of energy surrounded the sanctuary. As he drew his hands back down, I threaded my palms along the ground, forcing whatever power rested below the surface to come to my aid. Bron was stronger.
When his hands touched the soil, the earth shifted angrily. One stone broke, the light of the dragon emblem fading, and a rush of zomoks burst across the barrier through the weak spot. Mini darted forwa
rd, slashing her knife into their scaly skin. My bare hands wrapped around a zomok’s neck. The creature flailed in pain. Jade rushed at my side, jutting her dagger into the zomok’s body.
The dragon fell in a hot, sticky puddle of its own blood. My shoulders heaved as I rushed toward another serpent. “You saw it?” I cried.
“When you touched it, I saw it. Let’s go. Together, right?”
I smirked, a rush of force pummeling from my fingertips as I gripped another zomok’s scaly throat. Jade cut its head clean off, the silver gleam of the dagger staining in black burgundy. “Together,” I whispered.
Chapter 27
Repairing the stone that had given an opening for the wave of zomoks was the priority. Jade and I fell into an easy pace. She kept her back pressed against mine as I waded through the sea of scaly, snapping serpents. My touch revealed the beasts, and she finished them. Bron grinned, seemingly amused at the sight. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and simply watched the angry battle unfold. The mage seemed to taunt us—losing a few of his army while holding back the largest threats, the lindworms. The puncture in the shield of the sanctuary wasn’t large, I only sensed the smallest fracture, but soon it would be enough for the vicious wyvern to cross over and perhaps even Bron.
Mini darted across the sanctuary, I caught her blue flash in the corner of my eye. Sapphire roared like I had always imagined a dragon might when a group of zomoks snapped and spit their poisonous pyre at his feet. Mini leapt through the air almost as if she’d sprouted wings and found a place on Sapphire’s back. Together mage and royal took to the sky, the tiny flaps of wings on the zomoks lifting the little snakes into the air. Sapphire was miles above, while the zomoks only topped the trees. An urgent warning rippled over my chest. I didn’t know how I knew it was going to happen, but I knew something dangerous was coming.
Whirling around, I caught Jade as she sliced out the innards of a particularly fat zomok, and I covered her with my body. From above, Sapphire breathed his molten waterfall of bristling heat. The flames shot through the dark sky like fireworks, devouring the small flecks of black of the zomoks. Each beast burst in greenish gassy puffs when Sapphire’s onslaught of fiery breath swallowed them and dripped along the sanctuary. Eisha took the sparks and splashes of royal fire without a singe against her scales. Jade wasn’t protected by her true form, but somehow I’d known the jade armor coating my back from her seal, and on my arms would protect her. A splash of fire sparked along the grass next to us, sending a rogue flame against the back of my neck. I shouted out painfully, but kept my hold on Jade, though she resisted.
“Teagan, you must move,” she cried. “Don’t do this for me.”
The flames were coming, and I knew if I didn’t move, the skin exposed from my armor was at great risk for maiming. If I moved, Jade was at just as much of a risk. I stayed still, clutching her against my chest, while I caved my shoulders even more around her body. She pounded her fists against me, releasing a shriek to the trees as the molten river of Sapphire’s flames burned along the mage sanctuary, creeping ever closer. Jade was strong—much stronger than before, as if her energy fueled her—and she shoved against me until I stumbled slightly when she freed herself from my arms.
“Jade, no!” I shouted. Bron laughed maniacally as Jade stepped closer to the river of fire. Eisha was tangled with a slew of zomoks, and the full-sized dragon bellowed for her queen to stop, rocking the trees with her cry. Jade didn’t listen and held out her hands, her palms facing the sky. I stood to rush after her, but she waved one palm and I felt underground roots wrap around my ankles, dragging me face down on the dirt. The traitorous earth obeyed the wyvern queen over my call.
“Jade, come back,” I pleaded, my stomach was turning in knots. If she was harmed, it seemed as though my body would crumble slowly and painfully for my failure. That was the physical risk for the mage, but even more painful were the knots in my heart. Jade had become my life, and I wouldn’t stand by and watch her risk it all to save me or anyone else. Clasping the roots, I urged them away. The earth resisted me at first but slowly obeyed. When I was free I soon stopped again—completely stunned as I watched what was happening.
Jade’s palms were trembling, and slowly she dipped her hands just above the slow-moving river of fire. A gilded light beamed in her open palms. Her eyes were a striking gold, almost as though the green color had devoured bits of the fire. She glowed in radiance and vibrant power when she slowly faced Bron and the lindworms. Jade was literally holding fire power in her bare hands.
“You attack my people!” she raged. I gaped, glancing between her and Bron. The High Priest wasn’t laughing any longer. His icy eyes were narrowed, and the lindworms behind him snapped their jaws, desperate for a bite of the queen. “We will fight back with all our strength.”
Sapphire was sinking lower in the sky, I could feel the beat of wind from his magnificent wings. Eisha swallowed a zomok whole, and the others flittered away like frightened field mice. Mini was shrieking for Jade to stop, but she didn’t. Jade raised her hands, and Bron actually backed away.
“If you unleash such power against me, the protections will be broken. Even the strongest mage power will not withstand so much fire power. You want to risk your life, your fellow royal? Teagan?”
“I think it’s time to take a few risks,” she growled.
Jade flung the fire toward the hoard of lindworms. Bron tried to move in time, but a spark of the gilded flames struck his arm. He roared like a dying animal in the night, one hand extinguishing the flames trickling up his arm. The fire engulfed the first line of lindworms. Some monsters took flight, others weren’t so lucky. The power of the fire from a royal wyvern melted their scales from their few bones. Jade was gasping, still holding a handful of powerful fire. She was fading, and I rushed toward her. I wrapped my arms around her waist, releasing all my strength I could through my touch. She smiled weakly. “Together,” she whispered and turned to release the final flame.
The air exploded in bright gold, blue, and green flames. I could smell the bitter scent of scorched lindworm flesh. The toxic zomok pyre was spilling from the corpses on the ground, and Jade collapsed in my arms. But perhaps the most frightening consequence was the sudden swell of exposure surrounding the lifeless stones of the mage sanctuary. The tree boughs all burned with fading embers, the grass had patches of fire, and the dragon emblems had gone dark. The protection around the sanctuary was gone. Jade tried to stand again, but crumbled weakly against my chest. At the same time, Bron positioned himself at the head of what was left of his lindworm pack. His arm was burned, though I could see black armor coating his body as a reaction to the injury. His face was contorted in fury and murder.
“You made a fatal mistake, Majesty,” Bron snarled. Jade lifted her head, her breaths weak and haggard in my arms. Bron flicked his hands and the trees cracked and snapped, dropping heavy logs along the sanctuary. Over the disaster, I heard him shriek for the lindworms to take Jade. To kill Sapphire. To make them suffer.
Sapphire landed from flight in a puff of dust and ash. Mini darted from his back and rushed toward the oncoming army of lindworms. Sapphire shot a new spill of flames while a lindworm spewed a toxic gas. Jade coughed, and Sapphire erupted into the sky again to avoid the smell.
“Jade, can you stand?” I asked, checking her quickly while pushing her away from the lindworms’ plodding attack.
“It’s the pyre,” she gagged. “I’m losing energy quickly.”
I’d been too focused on her I didn’t see the massive lindworm dragon to my side. His shiny ebony claws slashed across my arm, the armor of jade blocking any damage, but he struck Jade’s middle.
I’d never experienced such a blinding, maddening, panic-ridden rage as I did in that moment. Jade crumbled forward, clutching her stomach, when I whirled around on the black serpent. He was massive; when he straightened his neck, he towered over the trees. It didn’t matter to me. Without a second thought I dug into the scorched e
arth and beckoned for any energy left to give. My rage burst through Bron’s dark control in the soil and the ground cracked, the bedrock jutting through the surface. The lindworm roared as I urged more jagged stones upward. The curve of its long spine met the point of a stone, and the lindworm’s scales split in dark blood. The dragon backed away, puffing a stream of dark smoke toward me. I just held my breath and raged more. Like a bed of spikes, dozens of jagged stones from deep in the earth burst through the soil, no less than six jutting clean through the lindworm’s soft underbelly. The dragon hissed and gurgled until his enormous head wavered above me and flopped like a falling stone against the earth. Rushing back toward Jade, I ran into Eisha’s wing.
Her yellow eyes met mine and she hovered near Jade, only allowing me in after she caught sight of the dead lindworm. Jade was gasping, her shirt soaked in blood. I clutched her face and lifted her shirt to inspect he wound. It was deep and already looked infected.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, kissing her forehead. She felt warm and feverish.
“Teagan, finish this,” she said. “Eisha will care for me. You must finish this.”
“I can’t…I can’t beat him,” I stammered, only pausing when Jade’s hand found the side of my face.
“You can. I’ve always seen your power. This is what you were born to do. I would never trust another with this fight, only you.”
My jaw clenched and my chest tightened at the thought of leaving her. She didn’t let me speak and kissed me quickly before nudging me back into the open. Eisha began folding her wings around her queen, separating us.
“Teagan,” Jade called weakly. “I love you!”
Eisha scooped Jade back into the trees, surrounding her in a ring of fire the same way Sapphire had trapped Graham the zomok. Her words rang in my mind, and despite my heart’s protests, I turned back to face the battle. Bron was summoning dark power in the earth. Wooden spikes aimed toward Sapphire blasted through the ground now that the royal had returned to the fight. Mini rushed toward Bron when Sapphire bit into the neck of a lindworm.
