by Riley Storm
“Either way, this is amazing.”
“But can you get it to work?” he asked cautiously, not letting himself hope.
“I can activate it,” she said. “That’s fairly easy. I…I don’t know if it will do what we want it to though. This is…beyond me. It’s probably beyond the Archmage. No human could do this, Galen. Not that are alive today.”
He nodded. “But you can turn it on.”
“I think. I just…I don’t know if it will actually work. There’s, I don’t know how to describe it to you. It’s complicated, and I don’t know if everything is here.”
“Something is missing, you mean.”
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” she said, at last opening her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
Galen studied her, then the artifact, considering his options. There weren’t any. He had to try.
“Activate it,” he said, then retreated to the edge of the cavern, near to where he had deactivated the wards, to allow Kyla to use her full powers in the room.
The dragons held their breath as Kyla stood and magic began to pulse from her hand.
“Hold on to your butts,” Galen said quietly as she fed energy into the artifact.
At first it just absorbed it, sucking in all the jade energy she could feed it, like a hungry child with an insatiable appetite.
“What is she doing?” Aaric asked as nothing seemed to change.
“Working,” Galen hissed, angry at the doubt in his brother’s voice. He believed in Kyla. He knew she could do this, that she just wanted to help. Why couldn’t the others see the same?
The uncomfortable shuffling of the dragons stopped as the artifact pulsed with golden light, bathing Kyla and the immediate area around her in its glow. She continued to feed it with magic, however, and the circle of light grew larger and larger.
The artifact began to rise into the air, of its own accord or because of what Kyla was doing he didn’t know, but as it rose, more of the cavern was covered in its brilliant touch. Dragon statues were bathed in the rich golden aura, but still the artifact grew brighter. Kyla lifted another hand, and both palms sent streams of green energy into the artifact, only to turn into more light.
“It’s working,” Valla said quietly, the dragons awed by the sight in front of them.
“It’s beautiful,” Galen remarked, his eyes on Kyla.
The light eventually grew so bright that they were forced to shield their eyes from it, looking only at the statues that were covered in its touch. He waited patiently for the spell to reach its peak. To swirl out and over the sleeping dragons and awaken them all.
Galen grinned. The vampires were in for a fight now! He could just imagine the swarms of elder dragons as they took to the skies to fight back the gathering darkness outside of Drakon Keep. What a show it would be.
We’re coming for you, Honorius. Your time on this earth is about to come to an end.
The light exploded into a brilliance that had everyone crying out and averting their gaze entirely, eyelids screwed shut against the brightness.
The wave of magic washed over Galen and his brothers like a shockwave, a physical thing that rocked them back a step. Then it was gone, and the cavern once more was lit only by the flickering torches on the perimeter.
Galen stood, trying to watch every statue at once. He waited for the telltale crumbling, the sharp cracks as stone was split asunder, freeing the mighty dragons from within.
“How much longer?” Victor asked after several more seconds had passed.
“Maybe it takes longer, because it’s waking so many up at once,” Valla suggested.
Galen looked down. “No, that’s not it,” he said quietly. “It didn’t work. It failed.”
The others sagged, distraught as the hope they’d let flare up crumbled and died as one.
Kyla came over to him, somber and dejected. She gave him the artifact, placing it gingerly in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said, hanging her head. “I’m so sorry. I thought it was going to work.”
“Me too,” Galen said. “Me too.”
What was he supposed to do now?
14
Kyla felt terrible.
Like the dragons, she’d thought that the spell was working. The artifact had responded to her touch, to the magic she fed into it. Kyla could feel the spell unfolding, feel the strength of it as it built. Yet she’d been unable to shake the feeling that something was missing from it.
Despite the power, it lacked the proper sequence to unlock the dragons from their shell. That was the best that she could interpret, her impression at least. The spell was far too complicated for her to truly understand, and not for the first time she wondered just who, or what, had created it.
“I thought I had it,” she said, head lowered in defeat, and embarrassment. “I…I’m sorry Galen. I didn’t mean to get your hopes up.”
The big dragon shifter shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Kyla. You tried. For that, I thank you. It was worth an effort, and you gave it your all, that much we could see.”
She shrugged. “I still failed.”
“It just isn’t meant to be then,” the dragon king said heavily. “But now I think it is time for you to go. We have much we must do.”
“Yeah.” Kyla had no other words at that time.
Galen carefully handed the artifact off to one of the other dragons, then gestured for her to head up the hallway to the stairs. She nodded in apology to the others and then took her leave, heading out.
Her foot had just landed on the bottommost step when a hand came to rest on her shoulder. She turned to see Galen right behind her.
“Come here,” he said, slipping the hand from her shoulder and leaving it extended just in front of her as he stepped back into the center of the spiral staircase.
“What is it?” she asked, taking his hand without a second thought and letting herself be pulled off the stairs.
Galen pulled her unexpectedly close and she put her hands up to stop herself from slamming into him. They came to rest on his chest and she felt the power beating there, the strength of his muscles and the rhythm of his heart.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Um. I guess?” She was too confused to answer properly.
“Hold on.” Galen took her arms and wrapped them around his waist, then he did the same to her.
Kyla tried very hard not to be aware of their closeness, a vivid reminder of their embrace post-fight the night before.
The wind swept up around them and the pair shot up through the staircase like a bullet down a barrel. A moment later, they were landing on the top floor. Kyla only then gasped, her brain catching up with what had just happened.
“That was cool,” she said, giggling despite what had just happened. “Thanks.”
“I can do the same to get us to the front gate,” he said. “If you don’t mind.”
Her eyes roved over his figure briefly. “No, that would be nice, thank you.”
How was she supposed to say no to being pressed up against that?
It was a good thing she was leaving, she decided. Things were getting just a little too weird between her and Galen. She needed out, to clear her mind, to think about everything through a clear lens. She’d become far too involved in events for her own liking.
“Thank you, by the way,” Galen said awkwardly as they walked down the hallway toward the exit, a route she was now starting to become familiar with.
“For what?” she asked, too stunned to think it over. Where was the usual gruffness and cool demeanor? He sounded almost…almost sincere.
“For trying,” he said, the rumble returning to his voice. “For attempting to help my brothers and me. You didn’t have to, but you did. So thank you.”
“Oh. Um. You’re welcome,” she said, feeling weird about having such an exchange with a shifter.
They were supposed to be her mortal enemies after all. How was it she’d come to not only respect
one, but try to help awaken more of them? Things really had changed. A lot. Kyla would never again think of them as brutes, or barbarians. She knew the truth of it now, and realized that mages and dragons probably had more in common than either of them wanted to admit.
Maybe she could take this back to the Council, and in time, work to repair relations between mages and shifters.
If they survive the vampires. Which seems unlikely at this point.
“For what it’s worth,” she said as he held open the door for her. “I thank you as well.”
“What for?” Galen asked, leading her out from under the covered awning that stretched across the driveway, pausing only when there was open sky above them.
“For showing me that you aren’t at all what I was taught. That dragons are regal, truthful, honorable, and I hate to say it, but sometimes even funny. You’ve opened my eyes to a prejudice I hadn’t realized I had. Thank you.”
Galen smiled. “I have learned a lot about the mages of this century, thanks to you. I hope that there are more like you.”
“Oh, trust me, most people would say one of me is enough,” she joked.
They both laughed, then Galen pulled her in close. She didn’t panic at the proximity to him this time, though once again she did notice his muscles, and the way he felt. How she fit nicely under his chin, if she were to just lean her head forward a bit.
A gust of air sent her hair flying in every which direction, and a moment later she was flying as well. The cocoon of wind surrounding them carried them past the gently rolling lawns and over the trees, setting her down gently at the front gates.
Galen reached out and a focused burst of wind pressed a button on the side. The metal gates clanked and began to retract.
‘You should go quickly this time,” he said, gesturing at the falling sun. “They won’t pause long. Even if you don’t fully believe me, it’s not worth risking that I’m telling the truth.”
She nodded, searching for the words that were appropriate to the moment. Kyla wanted to ensure that it was properly solemn, but that also Galen understood her feelings.
Feelings about what? About him? You don’t have any feelings about him.
“I…” she stumbled to a halt.
Galen smiled. One of the few smiles he’d graced her with. It was warm, genuine, and made his entire face light up in a manner she’d seen very little of despite spending so much time around him over the past few days.
“It’s okay,” he said gently.
She returned his smile, nodded, and headed through the front gates. Sometimes, it seemed, words just weren’t necessary.
The instant she passed beyond the wards, she lifted her staff and gestured with it. Reality shivered and ripped apart, revealing the portal that would take her back to the same courtyard at the Academy from which she’d departed.
Pausing just before entering, she turned and waved at Galen, finding that she wanted one last look at his face.
He lifted a hand to bid her farewell, and then the gates began to clank closed.
“Okay. Time to go home.”
Kyla faced the portal again, ready to tackle the next step: reporting to the Archmage.
Something flickered at the corner of her vision. She frowned, and strode toward the rift in reality.
But even as she closed with it, she noted that something was wrong. It was growing darker. She was losing sight of the courtyard beyond.
“What the hell?” She ran forward as darkness swept in, eating away at the portal, ripping it to shreds before she could go through.
As it collapsed, she saw beyond it, to the treeline across the road, where a host of creatures were rushing forth from under the canopy.
Kyla gasped as she realized what they were.
Vampires.
“He was right,” she whispered.
And now they were coming for her.
15
Several long seconds passed while Kyla’s brain tried to process the ramifications of everything that had just happened and order them into neat thoughts.
While this was happening, the charging vampires were growing closer at an alarming rate. There was no doubt in her mind that they were as Galen said. No other creature could control the shadows like that, making them come alive to obey the will of the undead monster.
Backing up several steps as reality came crashing over her, dispelling a layer of doubt she hadn’t realized she’d been harboring, Kyla waved her staff in the air, opening another rift in the fabric of reality, this time behind her. Eyes wide at the oncoming sight, she turned and plunged through the portal.
Or tried to.
For a second time, the shadows darted in and ate at it, dispelling the powerful magic before it could transport her back home.
That made Kyla mad.
Spinning, she once more used her staff, but this time it was leveled at the line of vampires. She shouted a word of magic and red fire blasted out in an arc aiming to hit all of them.
Red fire magic met shadowy darkness, and both spells shattered into nothingness, falling to the ground as they countered one another. The strength of their response startled Kyla, but she was falling back on trained reflexes now. Whirling her staff around, she spun, lifted it high and with both hands brought the metal-capped butt end down into the asphalt.
Waves of green energy rippled across the ground. The vampires tried to counter, shadowy claws digging into the onrushing magic. The first wave was shredded, and the second nearly gone, but the third, and fourth, and fifth successive waves blasted into the vampires, scattering them like bowling pins.
Red darts blatted from her hand as she thrust her left palm at the first vampire to rise. The creature tried to defend itself, but the magic penetrated its weak shadow-shield and flung the body back, even as they struck home and ripped the life from it.
Something intangible hit her from the side, spinning Kyla to the ground. Her staff rolled away, and a trio of vampires rushed at her, thinking her defenseless.
Blinking away the sting of hitting the ground, she focused her energy. A long, thin line of red magic appeared in both her hands, coiled around itself. Kyla rolled to her knees, flicking out with one hand.
The whip-like weapon snaked out and around the legs of one vampire at the shins. She got to her feet, barked an order and hauled on the line. The rope flared bright orange-red, and instead of pulling the vampire down, it simply separated the legs from the body, burning right through them.
Twirling like a trained dancer, Kyla lashed out with the whip. It twirled and spun through the air like a living extension of her mind. Vampire limbs began to fall like rain as she separated legs, arms, fingers, ears and even one head from its body. The weapon coiled around her and darted out, coming close but never even so much as singeing a fiber on her body. Kyla was a master at work, and the first line of vampires was paying the price.
But there were a lot of them, and the shadows grew thicker around her, even as her rope burned brighter and brighter, trying to fight them back. She was outnumbered, and while she was likely more powerful than any individual vampire present, that wouldn’t be enough.
She was losing.
Step by step, the vamps closed in, encircling her, pushing her back, their powers working together. Oftentimes, her rope was turned back before striking home now. Her staff was near the edge of the circle, and while she wasn’t finished yet, she was far more capable with it in her hand than not.
“Come on!” she shouted, pouring more magic into her rope. It sliced through the shadowy dome surrounding her, opening a vampire’s face from ear to nose, but the damage wasn’t fatal.
Something shook the ground, and the vampires paused, heads turning away from her as they hesitated.
“She is mine!” a powerful, yet familiar voice roared.
Kyla spun to see a sight that, up until a few days ago, would have been straight out of her worst nightmare.
A giant dragon with scales of bright platinum shot through
with streaks of purest black had just landed on her side of the front gates. Yellow eyes burned with hatred and anger. She saw the mighty flanks expand as it sucked in a breath, and then breath exploded out from the dragon’s maw.
The wind shrieked past her at a phenomenal rate, and now the shadow-dome that had once contained her now protected her as the air moved so fast it split skin apart and flayed the nearest creatures to the bone.
Some of the wind leaked through and spilled Kyla to her knees, then bowled her over, but she was otherwise unharmed.
She came to a stop against something on the ground. A quick palm of the object revealed it to be her staff. A smile played itself across her face as Kyla got to her feet. The ruins on her staff glowed bright as magic pulsed through it. The vampires nearest her were on the far side of the now-failing shadow dome, and as such were also somewhat protected from the dragon’s breath.
But they weren’t safe from her.
The metal-capped end of her staff rose and fell.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
With each touch to the ground, green energy sizzled across the ground and blasted a vampire from its feet, tossing it twenty feet in the air.
One vampire, perhaps feeling emboldened as the dragon’s breath faded, came charging at Kyla, shadows folding around it, armoring it.
She snorted. Red magic shot from the end of her staff, wrapped around the charging creature’s body and squeezed tight. She flicked the staff up and over, and the creature arced high overhead, landing right at the feet of the dragon.
A clawed foot came up and then descended, ending the vampire’s shrieks rather abruptly.
“Inside the wards!” the dragon bellowed as the remaining enemy fell back.
“We can take them!” she hollered, her adrenaline up, battle lust unsated. These monsters had attacked her, a member of the Council. It was time that they felt the truly unleashed powers she could command when given time to prepare. Even now, the energy was coursing through her body, her staff glowing brightly, ready to strike.
“There are too many,” Galen growled, gesturing with the same vampire-crushing paw. Bits of pulped vamp scattered everywhere as he did.
