by C E Johnson
“We can’t risk you in this mission,” Elaina added firmly.
Achcat gave a fierce scowl, but the anger flashing in his eyes died away. He nodded in understanding. “If you rescue him, give Hadrian these weapons.” He handed Emily Mistmaker and Smokeslayer, clean, polished steel with stones in the hilt. “Good luck.” He remained to watch their departure.
As Luke got into the saddle on his dragon, he gave a nervous laugh. “I’m actually sitting on a dragon. Come what may, I guess I’m glad I stayed on Acacia.”
Ammolite landed in a rush and spoke to the group. “There’s a small space of time between Samil’s flights of dragons. We must depart now.” Emily leapt to her saddle on Ammolite, while Xena jumped into her leather cave.
“We fly!” yelled Queen Elaina, and they were off, gliding along the edge of the forest toward the northern edge of the enemy army. They silently landed in a secluded glade just before midnight and Ammolite immediately went back into the air to scout the area.
“Did the plan work?” Luke whispered while they approached their position. “Does Ammolite see a change in Samil’s troop position?”
What do you see? Emily asked her dragon bondsmate.
The majority of Samil’s troops have regrouped to the south of camp, Ammolite informed her.
Emily kneeled on the ground, shaken, “Can it be Claire?” She felt instantly chilled to the bone.
Samil must have done something to her, Ammolite suggested in a soft voice, I can’t imagine she wanted to betray you.
“Use this information against Samil,” Elaina urged, “as quickly as you can. Link with Hadrian. Continue to misdirect!”
Emily went into a dream-link with her brother. The communication was tenuous through the magus-cage, but she could speak to him with her close proximity. She could sense Samil listening in on their mental conversation. Watch for our approach, she spoke to her brother with again misdirection to fool Samil. We’re to the south of you in a small group. We’ll be there in thirty minutes. As she spoke, she blinked out a message to her brother in the same Morse code that Hadrian had used with her. Her message was simple, Be ready in five minutes. Emily ended the link.
Ammolite supplied Emily with mental images as an overview of the region. Samil’s soldiers were swarming toward the southern area. She suppressed Ammolite’s images and focused her attention on the prison cart in the distance, a large metal cage in the middle of the adjacent field only a hundred yards away.
Anna, Isabelle, Luke, Elizabeth, and Elaina began to set up their crossbow and longbows beneath the overhanging branches, organizing large stacks of arrows and bolts next to their position with their swords close-by. Elaina took command of the small group of archers. “We’ll hold our fire until it looks like Emily or Andrew is in trouble or until they signal us. We don’t want to give away our position too soon.” She turned to her husband. “What do you want to use as a signal?”
“Begin firing if Emily or I raise our hands with our palms directed to the moon,” Dr. D answered. He then glanced at Emily and whispered, “See if you can open the cell door while I watch your back. We’ll have to move rapidly or Samil’s guards will surround us and we’ll never get out.” Dr. D opened and closed his sword hand, stretching his muscles. “Are you ready? We’ll only have a minute between sentry rotations.”
Emily nodded. Are you ready, Xena?
Ready, Xena growled in her mind.
Emily secured Lightleacher and her brother’s swords on her back and signaled to her father with a quick nod that she was ready. Then they were off, dancing across the grass like silent shadows with their full heightening. They arrived at the prison undetected.
“The cage is sealed by a powerful mage-lock,” Emily whispered with concern as she tentatively probed the lock.
Dysis reached out her hands to touch Emily through the cage. “Emily,” was all she could manage with tears streaming down her face. Emily squeezed her hand.
“The lock is powerful.” Hadrian appeared through the bars, looking weary, but excited. “A constant drain on a number of magicians who replenish it.”
Once you overpower their magic, the magicians involved in the spell will know you’re here, Ammolite warned.
“If I open this, you may need to carry me out of here.” Emily glanced at her brother.
“Hurry,” Dr. D hissed as he studied an approaching sentry.
“I’ll carry you,” Hadrian whispered back. “You can do this.”
Emily took a deep breath and readied herself for the challenge. She put her hands on the lock and said her word of opening while calming her mind. She pulled her energy and let it flow. There are so many layers, she gasped, wanting to reflexively recoil from the ensuing drain, but instead remaining steadfast, attempting to sear through the many magical barricades. Her immediate energy loss was massive as a large portion of her strength was sucked away from her in a desperate flash, leaving her quavering and dazed, but her internal magus was just enough to overpower the lock.
Use my strength, Ammolite whispered, sending her what replenishing energy she could spare.
“The half-elf witch has returned!” Emily could hear the unmistakable rasp of Samil screaming far in the distance. He could sense the mage-lock was broken.
“Hurry.” her father urged again. “We have to move.” As Hadrian, Dysis, and Duke emerged from their cell, Emily handed Hadrian his swords.
“My blood swords!” Hadrian held Mistmaker in one hand while quickly passing Smokeslayer to Dysis. Dysis took the weapon with a hopeful expression. She sliced the weapon through the air, and it whispered death in a soft voice.
They’re almost upon us, Xena warned.
They scrambled toward the trees, but even with their heightened motions, they were intercepted by Samil and his lead bodyguards before they made it across the field. “I don’t know how you managed to open my mage-lock, but you must be weakened,” Samil spat. His face looked ghastly in the dark. “Why don’t you all return to the cage? If you do, I promise to release all of you after the battle is finished, and I’ll still give you back the kingdom of Angkor. This is your last chance.” Emily was astounded to again hear honesty in his words.
He desperately wants you out of this war, Ammolite sounded confused, or perhaps he truly cares for the Suci within you.
“Have you thought over your own options?” Emily spoke in a tremulous voice, rocking on nervous heels. “You could walk away from all of this.” She was scared to death, but she didn’t want to show it.
An uncomfortable silence descended upon the groups as they all waited for his answer. The air was thick with uncertainty. “I cannot escape from that which I have started.” He spoke in a soft voice, with a furrowed brow and haunted eyes.
“Then let the moons over Acacia bear witness to your decision.” Emily raised the palms of her hands to the moons and at the same moment she heard a faint whistling in the air as a withering rain of arrows and crossbow bolts spoke of death and destruction. Thyreos o, she murmured while releasing the bluestones from her worn leather pouch to cloak herself, Xena, and Dysis in a shield.
Samil’s head wrenched at a sickening angle as four arrows and a bolt slammed into his magical force field. The arrows had distinctive feathers: blue, turquoise, pink, and green. He gasped, sputtered and nearly fell to the ground, coughing so violently that faint streaks of blood formed on his lips. Chaos erupted as more crossbow bolts began to pepper the assembled magicians. Luke’s rapid-fire crossbow bolt system was in full operation. Samil’s already ghostly white skin drained of even more color, and he went to one knee attempting to catch his breath. His men closed in around him protectively.
“Fight them!” Samil stammered to his guards along with a stream of obscenities. “My rejuvenators will come for me. Quickly!” A coven of vampires materialized out of the dark to join the growing wave of magicians and soldiers who followed his orders and descended in a head-long charge upon Emily’s group, even amidst the incoming missiles
.
“Continue to the woods,” Dr. D roared. They drew swords and shuffled toward the trees, but the vampires were upon them, darting forward with swords that bit at Emily’s group like deadly snakes in the dark night. Xena and Duke slowed the first wave, slashing towards unprotected throats, while the shadowy strokes of bolts and arrows continued to slice through the air.
“Kill them,” Samil screamed in frustration and pain. Darkness swirled around him. His troops made advances past their bondsmates with quick attacks, but the swords of Emily’s group proved a strong secondary line of defense. Smoke and mist flared in small death-clouds around them.
“We need more troops,” Samil attempted to roar, but his voice was shaking with agony and only penetrated a short distance before being snatched away by the wind. Emily’s mind went numb and she lost all track of time as they inched slowly along.
Concentrate, Ammolite warned Emily, you’re about to faint.
Emily could feel a hazy cloud descending over her senses as her already depleted energy was continuing to seep away as her shields were battered time and again. Lightleecher was soaking up components of magus and her redstone ring was giving her attacks strength, but she knew even with this added force, she was losing energy. The mage-lock was too strong. She could feel tiny cuts emerge on her skin beneath her armor.
Watch out, Xena roared. Emily’s magical shield blocked a kill-shot aimed at her head, but pain slashed through her mind, leaving her gasping for air. She closed her eyes in agony, arms thrashing before she stumbled and collapsed. Blackness overtook her. Xena let out a piercing howl and went to stand guard over her unmoving bondsmate.
“Emily’s down!” Hadrian yelled.
* * *
Luke watched in shock from his sheltered position in the grove as Emily fell to Acacean soil.
“Grab her,” Dr. D roared to Hadrian. A light evening wind rolled gently over the field. It stirred both the cloaks of the defenders and the hazy death-smoke forming from the battle. Writhing and twisting in the torch-light, the smoke appeared like a shadowy monster. Dr. D and Dysis stumbled in the vapors, appearing so weary, they could barely stand. However, they guarded Hadrian while he picked up Emily in a desperate motion. The three attempted a feeble, hobbling run toward the trees. Luke could sense their underlying panic. How much longer will they survive?
“I don’t think we can make it,” Hadrian yelled while dodging backwards as a battle axe whistled through the air just before him.
“We’re close,” Dysis screamed. She ducked a mace blow before slamming her sword forward to injure the warrior attacking Hadrian. “Keep fighting!”
Luke fully understood what was needed, but he was scared. I don’t want to die on Acacia. Terror seized his mind while his heart began to thunder in his ears. I’m good with a sword, but the enemy has trained fighting warriors that will cut me down instantly. Fear gripped him as he studied the events just beyond his tree. Hadrian’s shirt had been shredded in the battle and his intricate tattoos looked alive, bending and curling over skin covered in blood.
“A last stand,” Hadrian roared. He placed Emily on the ground at his feet and drew Mistmaker. Dysis leaned on her sword. She gave a brave nod to Hadrian, appearing to comprehend the end was near.
“Cover me, please!” Luke barely got the words out; they wanted to stick in his dry throat. However, his concern for Emily finally outweighed his fear. He threw caution to the wind and launched himself out of the small copse of trees where they were hiding. His heightened speed mixed with his adrenaline to send him headlong onto the battle field. The backs of a clustered group of the enemy were to him and he barreled through those near to Emily like a bowling ball smashing into pins, slamming into their forms in a fury to create a small crevice of room for Emily’s escape. He unsheathed his weapon, easily the largest sword on the field, glinting deadly in the silver light from the moons over Acacia and immediately parried a blow that was aimed at Dysis’ heart.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to him, wide-eyed.
Training and instincts were mixing in a wild rush and Luke felt a spark of courage. I can do this, he told himself. He spun Draculafire in a savage arc and it sheared through his opponents with a fatal keen in a sickening sound of death. As warriors fell to the giant broadsword, they erupted in black and red smoke. Luke tried to blot out the screams of the wounded and the screech of scraping steel and splintering wood, instead focusing on attacking the soldiers standing between the trees and his current position. I have to clear a hole for Emily.
“Incredible, Luke,” Hadrian gasped. “We can move again.” He picked up Emily and began to shuffle forward. Luke felt a surge of confidence flood through his body as they completed several more steps of progress. The gathering mass of surrounding warriors paused to regard their intimidating new opponent. Luke was a tall form in his leather and silver armor that shone dark and foreboding in the moonlight. He held his shield high up on one arm where it wouldn’t slow his velocity. He flipped and twirled his massive sword from hand to hand to stretch his muscles, in what must have looked like a flashy, taunting movement to his foes, but it helped him get a handle on his fear.
“Take him,” screamed an opponent from the back of the mob.
As they focused on Luke, Hadrian yelled, “To the woods!”
Dr. D called to Luke as he dashed away, “I’ll include you in my shield. Give us a few seconds if you can, my brave boy.”
Only Xena and Duke remained at Luke’s side. He retreated at a somewhat slower pace toward their grove allowing Samil’s soldiers to continue to focus on him. All at once, Samil’s warriors attacked nearly simultaneously. Luke again lay waste to those about him with his greatsword in a more graceful and controlled arc of destruction. He was slick with sweat, but he kept a firm grip on the hilt of Draculafire, whirling and attacking in a series of blows not before put in combination on Acacia. All his reading and training began to fuse together with melded fighting techniques learned from Earth, the elves, the Javan, the Lacerta, and the horse-clan. The mixing of styles was thrown together in an unbelievable combination of fury. His mind went numb and his instincts continued to rule his motions as he roared with anger. Time had no meaning as soldier after soldier fell to his heightened strokes. As strong as he was, the enemy had greater numbers. They were everywhere around him, fumbling with desperate attacks that began to score. Sweat and blood began to flow in greater trickles down Luke’s back, and growing pain made him grit his teeth. She must be safe by now, he thought as he began to retreat more rapidly toward the woods in the gathering cloud of death-mist, amidst a storm of multi-colored arrows that hissed in a dazzling arc to support him from the nearby woods. Once he entered the copse of trees, he joined Anna, Isabelle, Elizabeth, and Elaina who whirled away with him to flee.
“Emily has already been taken back to our healers by Ammolite,” Elaina called to Luke as they streaked through leaves and branches. Xena and Duke guided them in a sprint to their awaiting dragons and they were off the ground in seconds. Their formation stayed just over the treetops, like a group of airplanes staying at low levels to avoid radar detection. The green dragons camouflaged with the green trees, attempting to stay nearly silent in flight with the labored breathing of the combatants louder than their wings. Once they landed on their side of the plains, they dismounted and stared at each other in wonder. We did it, Luke was incredulous.
Achcat Tat was instantly in their midst, stepping out of the trees to marvel at Hadrian. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for,” he boomed. “The king has returned!” He let out a war whoop that was quickly echoed through the forest.
Elaina happily elbowed past Achcat to get to Hadrian’s side. They hugged, tears streaming down their faces. Elaina glanced at Dr. D and whispered, “Thank you.”
* * *
The following morning Emily was bathed and dressed by attendants. She felt better, but the gnawing injuries sustained in the fight, and her lingering weaknesses from her swim were n
ow her scourge. Healers were cycling through hourly to recharge her magus, but she still felt an inner hollow exhaustion that she wondered if she could ever fill. She even had a new scar on her back that wasn’t going away. I’m going to be the ugliest girl on this planet, she moaned to Xena who was pressed against her leg.
Badges of honor, Xena whispered.
“More allies are coming in.” Luke took Emily’s hand in his own as they walked outside her healer’s tent together. “The dragons aligned with Tiamat.” Luke pointed out two massive older dragons of gold and red flying overhead. “And Ladon has arrived. He wants to talk with you.”
When they approached Ladon, he turned to regard them with his intelligent gaze. Emily moved to stand before him, hugging his snout before he could resist.
“Must you wrap your small half-elven hands so tightly on me?” Ladon teased. “I’m sure my fellow dragons are laughing at me right now, and you are positively ruining my reputation.”
“Oh, Ladon, you rogue dragons don’t know what you’re missing,” Emily joked with her friend. “You really should have had a bondsmate.” She peered at the nearby dragons and whispered to Ladon, “I hope your friends see my shield is made from your dragonscales. They need to see your great love for half-elves.”
“Hide that shield,” Ladon gave her a toothy dragon-smile, before becoming serious. “I remember a day not all that long ago when you came to Angkor, a young girl with very little power. Now you are an arch-mage brimming with strength, a leader among Acaceans.”
He’s right, you’ve become a strong leader, Ammolite echoed in her mind.
“I’m proud to have you fighting with the true dragons of Acacia,” Ladon spoke in a hushed voice. He stared at her with his eyes of molten gold. “Perhaps the prophecies are true, and you will have a hand in determining if we retain rule on this planet.”
“When will the dragons battle?” Emily asked in a hushed voice. She felt weary, sick and worried all at once.
