by LJ Andrews
“Who are you?” I shouted, my arm flinging out to the side and pushing Jade back when she tried to step next to me. Eisha’s enormous form blocked her queen from following me, though I heard Jade’s angry protests as I continued forward.
“I would like to speak with you, that’s all.”
“Let her go.” I pointed at Liz.
“Not yet.” There was a gut-wrenching power about the man. A familiarity that unnerved me to the core. He took a step closer. Shadows followed him like a misty cloak. “You see, I want to make certain we really hear each other. If you don’t do anything foolish, she’ll be safely returned. Won’t you come here? It’s time we get properly acquainted.”
“I asked who you were.”
“The jade mage.” He gestured to my armor. “Such power comes from those marks on your skin.”
My fists balled when he avoided my question. The suffocating desire to protect the house, protect Aunt Liz, sent my head into a spin. I had no weapon, but ever so gently the whispers of the forest found me and I built the spark of power in my palms.
“Oh, no,” he said with a grin. “There’s no need to fight. I only want to know you, Teagan.”
“I don’t want to know you.” My armor hardened when he took a step closer. A threat to Jade would strengthen the mage armor. He wouldn’t be getting closer. He laughed. How I hated his laugh. It tossed my insides.
“We’re of the same power. There’s no need to hide any longer. My name is Bron and you ought to know me. I am the High Priest of all the mage. And if you are the jade mage, then you come from my bloodline. So—” Bron’s grinned twisted in darkness. “That makes you, my son.”
Chapter 26
Part of me recognized Bron from the moment I met his silver eyes. But hearing those words, that he too believed he had some sick claim on me as a parent, caused my knees to buckle beneath my weight.
A cry broke through the night air when Mini shrieked and rushed out onto the lawn. Her body was completely coated in armor, her blade gleamed like stars beneath the moon, and her eyes spoke of nothing but slaughtering Bron where he stood.
“Agatha,” Bron said with twisted pleasure. “How wonderful to see you.”
“Pity, I can’t say the same, Bron. You disgrace the mage race! You’re a murderer and a traitor.”
Bron cocked his head, and all was silent for a single, tense breath. The ground rumbled, and Mini stumbled as the lawn separated. A crevice wider than Eisha’s BMW split along the manicured grass of Wyvern Reform House. Bron’s eyes flashed dangerously as Mini slipped into the fissure. She screamed and clung to the edge.
“Mini!” Sapphire roared inside the house.
Bron chuckled, but hardly moved, as if it took no exertion to break the bedrock. Chilling and mesmerizing all at once.
Slamming my fists on the grass, the shock of Bron’s power resisted my own. An audible groan in the soil shuddered in the night. I absorbed the frigid magic of Bron’s energy and forced it back. His energy was frighteningly strong. I could hardly grasp onto my own as his resisted. My stomach twisted in sick waves as the voices from the earth turned to chaos, like the energy was confused over which mage to obey.
Mini gripped the edge of the crack, legs dangling over the oblivion until she found the strength to pull herself over the edge.
Without hesitation, Mini dug her fingernails deep into the damp soil. Once the lawn was bright and peaceful beneath the blue light of the sky, now it shredded in angry clumps of dirt and rocks. The pressure between Bron, Mini, and me burst in a visible surge of power. A flash of gilded light escaped the soil for the briefest glance. Stone scraping on stone echoed through the forest as the crack carved up the center of the drive. Wood snapped and bent. The house split along the porch. Glass shattered. Windows popped. Then, in a hiss, the power between us came to rest.
A deathly silence. Stillness that seemed locked in time.
“Impressive,” Bron said as though he were bored. “Teagan, I fear lesser mages have fed you lies about me. Aren’t you curious, even the slightest about who you really are? I can sense your torment. I can help you.”
The way Bron studied me, his eyes practically carved into my most private thoughts. But he wasn’t wrong. Even after all the bitterness at the idea of him crept along my heart, I was curious. It was impossible not to wonder.
“There’s nothing I want from you.”
“Oh, I think there is,” Bron returned.
“Teagan, we must get to the sanctuary,” Mini whispered so softly I hardly heard her. “Our duty is to protect the royals; he will kill them. He’ll kill Jade.”
A primal instinct, the fiercest kind, unlocked inside. I’d allowed myself to be distracted. Jade was exposed in the broken house.
“Why do you view me as the villain so quickly?” Bron took another step.
“Well, you have my aunt tied up by snakes, moron. That could be part of it.”
Bron clicked his tongue, and his jaw set firmly like a stone. “Such a pity you were raised around lesser magis. You sound just like them. But I suspect there’s a reason why Agatha is here as well.” Bron flicked his silver eyes at the house. “You didn’t really think you could keep them from me, did you? I can smell them. Where are the royals?”
It was enough to set me and Mini into a blinding rage. I rushed at Bron. Mini struck at the pack of zomoks. She slashed at their bodies; they bit at her. Her sapphire armor held against their needlelike teeth, but one slashed its jaw against her cheek. Mini sliced her sword through its heart.
Bron’s attention remained on me. I discovered the wretched insanity in his power soon enough. With the wave of his hand, I crumbled. I grappled for my throat. An invisible force squeezing, crushing my windpipe.
“Stop this tantrum.” Bron crouched by my side. The shrieks of the zomoks and Mini’s foul mouth were gone. Bron’s eyes, this close, were a flurry of power. Like a winter storm at night. I gripped his dark tunic, desperate for air. Black dots speckled the corner of my eyes. He grinned and covered my hand with his. “You are part of me. I will teach you how to use your power.”
Bron unclenched his fist, and a painful gasp of air rushed back into my lungs. I coughed and gagged on the grass. My head spun, but I caught Bron’s curse to the old gods.
Around the house a new jagged barrier, made of stone and sod, blocked Bron and me out. From the sky a thunderous growl shook the ground. Enormous wings plunged from the stars. Raffi and Dash released a stream of flames, forcing Bron to expend his energy to block the pyre.
The two warriors weren’t alone. Three new dragons I’d never seen had joined the fight. Electric yellow scales, earthy brown, and a strange splatter of white and black on the third. Large like Raffi and Dash.
I scrambled to my feet and fumbled my way to Mini’s barrier.
Bron whirled around on the zomoks. “Stop them.”
A hand curled around my arm. Mini shouted at me. “To the sanctuary, come now!”
Raffi lashed his spiked tail at Bron. The High Priest flung a flash of green energy at me, but it failed to stop my retreat and the dark mage was forced to face the wyvern warriors. A glare of energy hit Raffi’s left wing. The dragon bellowed his pain, but rained pyre over the lawn.
“Mini! My aunt!” I cried.
“We’ll get her. Right now we must seek help. We can’t stop him, Teagan. If you’re dead, you can’t save your aunt or the queen!”
With roar and curse at the stars, I tore away to the trees.
“Where is she! What about the house?” I screamed in Mini’s face. No lights signaled any life in the house. Where was Jade? What about the other reforms? They didn’t know dragons existed; how would they stand against a mage?
“I’ve protected the house. Bron isn’t after any other magis. He’ll follow us.”
Panic pounded in my chest, making it hard to focus and breathe. “Mini, where is Jade!”
“Eisha took her to the sanctuary, now pick up your fat feet.”
&
nbsp; “Raffi and Dash, they can’t stand against him.”
“Teagan,” she said. “This is your next lesson. We all have roles to play. Yours is to protect the sole heir of the jade bloodline, it is your purpose. The warriors must fight. Have more faith in the wyvern. This is what they live for, Teagan. They are not alone. More warriors will come at their call. At least that is the hope.”
“You didn’t need to add that last part,” I said in a snarl.
Mini released my arm and shot into the black trees. My heart thudded painfully as I was torn in all directions. Cold, dark power rippled beneath my feet, and without much control I glanced over my shoulder at the fading house. Bron struck down one of the blue warriors, his painfully frigid eyes locked on me. The distance between us hardly seemed far enough. I wanted to be everywhere, to help everyone. But the greatest drive came for Jade. I had to see her.
The forest became a never-ending emptiness. The peace I’d once enjoyed in the trees was now a tumult of power. It shrieked at me to utilize its energy, then ripped away, obeying the dark, slithering magic I couldn’t shake. Harsh, icy wind shocked my senses, but I ran faster. Breaths came easier, power in the soil fueled my energy. I quickened my pace until I took the lead.
Mini dove down the slope leading to the sanctuary. The first time I’d entered the mage sanctuary I’d stumbled like a fool, now I found a pace that propelled me quickly across the ground until I crossed the blanket of protection from the stones.
Every wyvern emblem pulsed in gilded light. Jade stood across the clearing.
Sprinting through the stones, I surrounded her in my arms, holding her against my body. Her arms crushed around my neck, and she nuzzled into my shoulder.
“I couldn’t see you,” she said, voice hoarse. “You faded, he had you . . . I sensed his hold on you.”
I brushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead. “I’m fine, but he has Liz.”
Jade’s eyes 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 clung 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 growled.
“Mages. I’m sending out distressed energy. I feel no one. We could very well be on our own.”
Sapphire snapped his jaws, 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.”
Unafraid, she stepped 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 heat filtered through my blood. I sensed a fierce connection, the pain of their hearts, the dread they shared.
“Teagan, will you help me? I’m not in my form, it’s harder to connect.” Jade held out her hand, and I quickly took it. She released a sigh of relief, and I was drawn into the power of the royal connection. It was urgent, whatever emotion they’d sent to the stars, there was no denying the recipients would know of the emergency.
“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, the burn of magic spread over my palms. Jade flinched, but stayed strong beneath the fiery grip. The forest was alive. Every dark hiss echoed 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 coiled around the sanctuary.
“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 gripped my wrist painfully tight. “I can’t fight him like this.”
The surge shook the sanctuary again. Bron’s forces were coming. Where were the warriors? I shoved the thoughts of Raffi and Dash from my mind.
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. 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, Queen Jade.”
Jade clasped the dagger, hands trembling, but her jaw set. She nodded. Mini offered me a knife, but something brought me to pause. “You keep it.”
“Teagan,” she began.
“Keep it. He won’t kill me just yet. 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 cried.
So those were lindworms. Long, narrow bodies. Massive wings reminiscent of oversized bats. Some had two powerful hind legs, others were massive pythons with dragon jaws. All were covered in armored scales the color of midnight. Zomoks filtered between the 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 said.
She wasn’t wrong. There was a desperate protection surrounding us, but like thin glass I could feel fractures spreading through the defenses. A sharp pain bloomed in my chest and I crumbled to my knees.
Jade reached for me. “Teagan!”
“You think a few stones can keep you safe?” His voice left hot sparks of pain across my skin.
I lifted my eyes, glaring at the High Priest as he materialized from the shadows. His hand was open as he approached, aimed at me. The sickening burn intensified the closer he came.
“It’s only a matter of time before this sanctuary falls,” he said. “Give in, Teagan. Learn from me, I can sense your desire. Ah, there she is. The new Queen of Jade. Last we met, you were but a small thing.”
“The night you murdered my family,” Jade cried. The burn of her fire sent a new buffer against my own pain. I found the strength to stand. Bron wanted Jade, and there was no way in hell I’d 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. “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.
“We’ll never submit the stones to the lindworms,” Jade shouted.
Bron looked at me, his fingers spread, and the raging pain tried to take hold again. Whether it was the sanctuary or my drive to protect Jade, I resisted the desire to crumble in a
heap. Disappointed, Bron lowered his hand. The pain receded like a wave heading back out to sea.
“So be it.” His voice darkened 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 surrounded the sanctuary. I threaded my palms along the ground, mining for energy. Bron was stronger.
When his hands touched the soil, the earth shook 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 forward, 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.
“You saw it?” I cried.
“When you touched it, I saw it. 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 dripped in dark blood.
I pressed a palm to her face. “Together.”
Chapter 27
Jade and I fell into a unified dance.
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, amused. 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 lindworms to cross over and perhaps even Bron.
Sapphire roared 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. As if Mini’s voice entered my head, I knew their plan.
