High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  He hated feeling powerless, and that was what she’d just done to him by sending out notice before he could do anything about it. She’d trapped him. It was a dangerous play.

  “I have, Archmage.”

  “Why, pray tell, have you brought us all here on such short notice?” he asked.

  Kyla turned, putting her back to one wall so that she could speak equally to the Council, and to the other mages in the semi-circular meeting chamber. Her lips twitched. There had to be hundreds of her supporters present. Many others were there who could go either way, she knew.

  It all comes down to this.

  “I doubt any of you know this,” she said, speaking loudly, not needing any magic to make her voice be heard, unlike the Archmage.

  She saw the old man’s eyes twitch dangerously, a sign he’d recognized her little slight.

  “But recently the Council received information that the shifters—”

  “Council Member Langston, that is classified information,” the Archmage started, rising from his chair.

  “We received information that the shifters, with the dragons in the lead, had formed an alliance,” she continued, ignoring the Archmage.

  Whispers broke out around the chamber. Good, they still didn’t know this.

  “I was sent to investigate,” she said, her voice carrying to the farthest reaches of the chamber, even as the Archmage subsided into angry impotence. He knew that there was little he could do to stop her, and she was going to make the most of that. He wouldn’t dare challenge her, not in so public a domain. Not yet at least.

  “What I found was horrifying,” she said, letting the word echo out over the room. “Worse than we suspected, in fact. But far from what we expected.” This time, she dropped her eyes on the Archmage, watching for any sign that he wasn’t surprised by her admission.

  The elder mage regarded her with a steady, even gaze. Try as she might, Kyla couldn’t pick out any emotions on his face.

  “Well, what did you find?” another of the Council members asked. “What was so terrifying?”

  “They aren’t coming after us,” she said. “In fact, we weren’t even on their radar.”

  There was some soft muttering from the assembled crowd, and on a few faces she could see people asking themselves why the shifters would need to unite if they weren’t planning on attacking the mages again.

  “The truth is,” she said after a moment, “That they are preparing to fight another battle. Another war. Against an enemy even older than us.”

  “Older than us?” someone asked. “Who have the dragons even fought before us? Why, the only other war that I know they fought was against the vampires, and that’s…” the mage trailed off as he saw the look on her face.

  “Preposterous?” she said, swinging her arms wide, facing the rest of the Guild members now, turning her back to the Council itself. “That’s what I thought. I doubted them when they told me they had bigger problems. That they didn’t have time to cater to our self-important fantasies that they were uniting to come finish us off once and for all.”

  “You’re saying that they truly are fighting vampires?” The voice came from an unidentified member out in the curved rows of seating.

  “I am,” she said. “I have seen them with my own eyes. I have fought them with my own powers, when they attacked me, without provocation or cause.”

  “Come now,” the Archmage said from behind her. “Everyone knows the vampires are extinct. Councilwoman Langston, if you please, enough with this fairy tale. There is certainly something else going on here.”

  “There isn’t, Archmage. I witnessed it for myself. Who else can manipulate the shadows, calling them to their own will? Anyone?” She directed her challenge to everyone, waiting for an answer.

  None came. Mages could do a lot with magic. But they couldn’t do what vampires could. Neither could shifters. To her knowledge, there wasn’t a single creature, in the human world or the paranormal, that could do what vampires could. She waited for someone to prove her wrong, but even the Archmage could do little but look uncomfortable.

  “So they have come to kill the dragons?” the elderly mage finally asked.

  “No,” she said. “They have come to rule. All shifters. The dragons are refusing to bow before them, and so they are preparing for battle. A final battle.”

  “I thought you said they were coming to rule?” the Archmage said.

  Kyla could sense him getting ready to pounce, as if he’d sensed an opening, somewhere that he could inject himself and resume control of the meeting.

  That was the Archmage in a nutshell, however, always needing to be in control. Kyla knew she was going to have to fight him from here on out, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.

  “They are,” she said, taking a breath to continue.

  “Yet the dragons see nothing but a fight? That sounds like they’re just stirring up trouble with the vampires then. Not something to concern ourselves with.”

  Kyla’s jaw dropped open. “Not concern ourselves with? Not concern ourselves with? Are you listening to what I’ve just said? The vampires are back. Back. Returned. Centuries after we thought they were extinct, they’re back and feeling powerful enough to take on the dragons and any shifters who side with them.”

  The Archmage scoffed, but this time Kyla interrupted him instead.

  “Do you not think this is something we should, I don’t know, be doing something about? Preparing for? Or do you all wish to go back to being their slaves, like we were the last time they held power over this world?” She swept her glare across the Council, lingering on the Archmage, before turning it on the rest of the guild members in attendance, letting them all feel the importance of her words as well.

  “You’re young,” the Archmage said, immediately raising a hand to stifle her outburst. “None of us calls your power into doubt. However, it is unlikely it actually was a vampire. Instead it was likely some sort of demon or Fae that has made its way into this world.”

  The rest of the Council was nodding in agreement.

  Kyla looked at the assembled mages, noting many, many faces who disagreed with those sitting in power. She bit her lip, chewing on her next course of action.

  “So you will do nothing, is that what you are saying?” she asked slowly. “You will say that I’m young, that I don’t know anything. Easily excitable, I’m sure is a phrase you would just love to use right now. All because you’re too comfortable in your Council chairs, and you don’t want to believe that you might have to actually act, to do something!”

  The Archmage slapped his hand down on the table in front of him. The lights in the room dimmed. Kyla turned to face the old man, and with a focus of her power, the lights grew bright again.

  He glared at her, but she just stared him down. His little parlor tricks weren’t going to be enough to intimidate her, that was for sure.

  “You are walking dangerously close to a line you do not want to cross, young lady.”

  Kyla considered her next words. She could either back down, relent, and accept that the Council and the Guild would stay there and do nothing. Or she could go for the nuclear option. There was no in between. Not when time was of the essence the way it was now.

  “No, I don’t think I am,” she said, standing up proudly, facing the entire Council.

  Behind her, the audience gasped. Never had anyone defied the Archmage’s wishes, and she knew that they would all be waiting to hear what she would say next. What was about to happen, they would be thinking, asking their neighbors. Was she going to take it any further?

  “Councilwoman Langston, you are out of line. As Archmage—”

  Ah, fuck it.

  “As Archmage, you are unfit for the current era, and you are endangering mages worldwide with your complete and utter ignorance and prejudice against shifters. The vampires will come for us next, but you are too scared to face it.”

  The room was deathly quiet. Even the Archmage, though he was go
ing red in the face, didn’t seem to know what to do.

  “I was prejudiced too,” she said, turning to face both Council and Guild at once. “But then I spent time among the shifters. I learned about them. I fought vampires side by side with one. I nearly died to them. We must act, now, before they grow stronger.”

  She took a deep breath before uttering her next lines.

  “And if you won’t do it, then we need someone sitting there who will.”

  Chapter 28

  The room went berserk.

  Kyla stood quietly, staring directly at the Archmage as the rest of the Council and the Guild members leapt to their feet, yelling and shouting. Some were yelling at her, some at each other.

  She had numbers on her side, that much was obvious to Kyla and had been since the meeting started. It felt good, but unfortunately, much of the power of the Guild resided in the hands of the older mages. If she couldn’t convince them that now was the time to fight, then it all might be for naught anyway.

  “I will have silence!” the Archmage all but shrieked, and the lights again dimmed.

  Kyla didn’t fight him. Not this time. It wasn’t worth the energy. She wanted to let him speak now. Everyone had heard what she needed to say, and now it was all up to the Archmage.

  “You certainly seem to have grown fond of the shifters in your limited time there, Mage Langston.”

  “I am a member of the Council, and you will address me with the respect due my position,” she said calmly.

  “We don’t accept traitors on our Council. Or do you deny that you have been seduced by one of them?”

  Kyla stiffened. How could he know? How could he possibly know?

  The look of triumph in the Archmage’s eyes at her reaction told her that it was a guess, nothing more. She’d just confirmed it.

  “No traitors, and certainly no shifter whores,” he spat.

  The crowd inhaled audibly.

  Kyla shook her head. She wasn’t about to let herself get baited by the old fool.

  “You don’t deny it then,” he cackled. “She has slept with one of them. Spread her legs like a common slut!”

  “You’re an idiot,” she called back. “You are so terrified of what the vampires returning means, that you refuse to even acknowledge it. Your hatred of shifters is over the top and unneeded in this day and age. You are unfit to lead us. I Challenge you.”

  Everyone paused, waiting for the Archmage’s response. A Challenge was formal, it depended on the Archmage to acknowledge it. He could either accept, and the two would duel, or deny it.

  If he denied Kyla’s Challenge, however, he would be forced to step aside, publicly admitting that he did not feel competent to lead. Kyla didn’t expect he would ever do such a thing; it would ruin the arrogant, prideful old man. No, he was going to fight, and he was going to do so on his terms.

  “I accept!” he shouted, lifting his hand.

  Kyla was ready for it though, having expected such a pathetic attempt from him. He was so predictable. Challenges usually took place in practice chambers, but they were not required to. In theory, the mage Challenged could pick when and where the duel would occur.

  Which was why a shield of brilliant jade green blazed to life in front of her as the Archmage’s spell zapped toward her, an angry red line of energy.

  The other mages scrambled for safety, not wanting to be caught in what was sure to be a growing conflagration. Many of the other members of the Council called upon personal wards of protection and stayed where they were, though she saw two of them get up and leave, obviously uninterested in the outcome.

  “Don’t you get it?” she shouted over the crackling sparks as her shield neutralized the attack. “If the shifters fall, we will be the only other paranormal power in the human world. The vampires cannot ignore us, nor what we represent. They will come after us. We must stand together!”

  Her words weren’t for the Archmage, however, but for the others in the Chamber, both on and off the Council. They needed to hear her message. To consider their own options, and be ready to pressure the Council to move in the event she lost.

  The Archmage shouted something and thrust his other hand forward, unleashing a second stream of energy against her shield. Kyla grunted and poured some more energy into her shield. Old and terrified he might be, but the man wasn’t a weakling. He was one of the most powerful mages on the planet.

  Yet he fought without any conviction, without urgency. All he fought with was fear, and that, in her eyes at least, made him weak. His attacks were all brute force, no subtlety, no tactical thought. He was just trying to blow right by her, crushing her like a boot does an ant.

  Not today, Archmage, she thought to herself, feeling the magic pour into her body as she opened her mind to its currents. Not today.

  She’d been using both hands to maintain her shield, but now she straightened, no longer bowing under the pressure, with only her left hand outstretched to block it.

  The right called her staff from where it lay against a nearby railing. She snatched it up, thrusting the tip of it through her shield, and counter-attacking the Archmage.

  Red darts spat forth in a stream, spiraling outward into a massive cloud as they continued to stream outward. None of them individually was deadly, but there were a lot.

  Kyla’s lips peeled back as she felt one of the attacking streams fizzle out and cease. The Archmage was turning part of his attention to her attack. But what he didn’t know was that it was a diversion.

  She couldn’t see him through the cloud of red, but his voice was audible, and she heard him shout yet again, just before he cast his spell.

  At that exact moment, she thrust her staff through her shield again. The tip glowed green, and a perfectly circular beam of green magic shot from the tip. It impacted the unsuspecting Archmage in the right shoulder, spinning him around and to the ground.

  The cloud of red darts swooped up high and then descended on the old man.

  She’d caught him by surprise with her second attack, but that didn’t mean the fight was over. Even as her first attacking spell raced toward him, he flung up a hand, fingers bent. A solid rectangle of green, so bright it turned opaque blossomed into existence, and her spell shattered on it.

  “You will pay for your insolence!” he shrieked, getting to his feet. “We will find out everything you know about the shifters, that they may have let slip while you were on your back for them, and we will use it to crush them!”

  Kyla shook her head, not bothering to reply. He wasn’t listening to what she was saying, letting his fears and prejudices guide him instead of relying on cold hard data, like a smart leader. It was past time that someone new led the Guild. She hadn’t intended it to be her, but for the moment, perhaps, she was what they needed.

  Green from her staff met red from the Archmage’s arm as he renewed his attack, once more trying to overwhelm her with sheer force.

  The magic was singing to her now though, and she rode its currents, unleashing more power from her body than ever before, all just to counter the Archmage’s ferocity. Her life depended on this.

  As did Galen’s. And his brothers. And Olivia, Cheryl, Liz, Sarah were counting on her as well. Even little baby Melina, the youngest of the dragon shifters, was desperately counting on her to win. If she could defeat the Archmage and bring the Guild to aid the shifters…

  Inch by inch, the green began to push the red back. At first she couldn’t tell. The energy was flying so wildly in the room that it was getting hard to see, the light dazzling her vision as it danced and swirled.

  The rest of the Council still stood off to her left, hidden behind a barrier cast by most of the members still in attendance. She couldn’t spare time to judge their reactions, but she hoped that they understood why she was putting herself out there to do this. It wasn’t just for fun.

  “How is this possible?” the Archmage shouted as it became noticeable he was losing. “What sort of black magic have the shifters given
you?”

  “Nothing,” she called back. “I do this on my own. They don’t even know that I am here asking for your help.”

  “You are no match for me! You are not this strong.”

  “I am exactly what I need to be,” she retorted. “Perhaps it is you who aren’t as strong as you think!”

  The red magic suddenly ceased as the Archmage’s eyes went wide at her taunt. “I will show you strength!” he bellowed, thrusting both hands forward.

  Blue light pooled in his hands.

  Kyla only had a split second to realize what he was doing before the spell came lashing out at her, sapphire blue and full of the promise of death if it touched her. She opened herself fully to the magic around her, asking for its guidance, willing it to let her shape it into something that could protect her.

  For Galen.

  The blue beam seemed to come forward in slow motion, but before it could reach her, it shattered on a green-gold barrier.

  Kyla gaped at the odd-colored magic. What was this? What did it mean? She’d never seen anything like it in her life. But it was repulsing the blue magic, keeping it at bay.

  If blue magic is the color of death, then that must mean…

  Life. Green-gold magic was the color of life. Green was creation, but that didn’t mean life, it just meant to build, whereas red was to destroy, though neither was necessarily tied to life.

  Green and red were opposites, so why couldn’t blue have an opposite?

  “Impossible!” the Archmage shouted again, a record repeating itself.

  “As impossible as the Archmage casting spells that have been forbidden except in the most dire of circumstances? I wonder,” she called angrily, speaking to both him and the observing Council. “Just who has been responsible for the uptick of rogue mages with access to blue magic we’ve heard about lately? Could it be?” she asked, gesturing with one hand at the Archmage.

  The Council seemed unimpressed, but that didn’t mean they were entirely on her side either.

  “This ends now,” she said, and took a step toward the Archmage.

  Green-gold magic continued to push back the deadly blue, and with each step, Kyla felt like she was stepping into her destiny, into what she was made for.