The Rising

by Kristen Ashley

  She hastened a glance forward just in time to see Gal pulled from his mount.

  “No!” she shrieked, rage boiling through her, using her blade at random, slashing and hacking and…

  A fierce wind blew her hair back at the same time she felt the impossible.

  A wisp of invisible fabric slid across her face, and in astonishment, she froze and watched as necks were broken, throats were slit, intestines oozed forth, and bodies dropped all about them.

  Suddenly, there was nothing but stillness and the only living creature standing on the ground was Gal.

  And then, six flashes of lightning struck the road before them, these happening on a blustery, but clear and sunny day.

  From these strikes formed four men and two women.

  On their chests, they had metal shields that sparkled in the sun. Layered leather armor cupping their shoulders and going down their upper arms. Aprons flowing out from under their heavy weapons belts. These were red with yellow and orange markings on them: a face with hair that was flame around which curved a dragon. Plated forearm shields. Extremely long-bladed, bloodied swords in hands and double quivers filled with arrows at their backs. Thick scarves were bunched and coiled about their necks. Their black hair swept back from widows’ peaks and fell long past their shoulders.

  And their red trimmed in orange mantles were drifting lazily in the breeze.

  As one, they planted the points of their swords in the dirt of the road, hands one folded atop the other at the crest of ornate silver hilts.

  And each fell to a knee with bowed heads.

  After but a moment, one of the women lifted her head, her eyes pinned to Chu.

  “My king,” she said.

  Oh dear, I thought.

  “What the hell?” Brix demanded.

  “Shite,” Chu whispered.

  King Aramus

  MAR-EL

  They had received Magnus’s bird.

  The raven had come direct to him with the dire message.

  And if Aramus lived beyond that day, he vowed never to tell a soul, except (perhaps) her, that when he sighted his queen galloping toward him, his relief was so great, he nearly fell off his horse.

  “What the fuck is happening?” Cassius demanded, reining in Caelus so tightly, his mount’s head arced to the side, his front hooves came up from the earth, and his hind end shunted around to accommodate his body’s movements.

  “They have an army,” Mars reported.

  “How do they have a gods-damned bloody army?” Cassius asked. “And who the fuck are they?” he went on, jerking his head toward a cadre of the party they’d greeted.

  “They’re Mystics,” Serena answered, explaining the four men and two women on steeds adorned with scalloped red bunting along their reins and long blankets over their rumps, the flesh of the horses so elegant, Aramus would be sending ships to that continent to procure some.

  If, again, he lived beyond that day.

  “I can see they’re Mystics,” Cass bit out.

  “They’re Mystics?” Elena asked, her emphasis drawing Aramus and Cass’s attention.

  “You know about this?” Cass asked her.

  “It doesn’t matter about this, they’re Chu’s,” Serena stated. “What matters is, the priests were wrong. The Beasts have venom. And it does freeze a being. But only their conscious inside them. Their bodies become instruments of the Beasts.”

  Well…

  Fuck.

  “Nautilus has been besieged by their army,” Ha-Lah said, shuffling her horse closer to his. “It is very bad, Aramus,” she finished on a horrified whisper.

  He looked down at her, wasted precious time doing what he considered a priority, thus taking her by the neck, pulling her to him, and pressing his lips to hers.

  He let her go, and she whispered, “I am all right.”

  None of them were all right.

  Thus, he simply grunted.

  “Our women,” Lahn barked, regaining Aramus’s attention to their populace huddle.

  “Your men, all of them,” Nav began, “remain behind guarding them. And the women have erected a magical barrier, rendering their hiding place invisible.”

  This apparently sufficed for Lahn for he said no more, his large body visibly relaxing.

  “Do we know anything else?” Elena asked.

  True was gazing up as he said, “We hunt.”

  “We hunt?” Cassius asked.

  “It’s time to institute the plan,” True stated.

  And then they heard them and all either looked up or twisted in order to do the same.

  There, in the sky, they saw the dragons.

  “Yah!” he heard, turned back around and saw Mars charging, followed by Apollo, Basil and Kyril.

  “Heeya!” True shouted, and off went True with Farah, Lahn, Wallace, Luther, Bram and Florian.

  Chu wheeled around, set off, and Serena, the gnomes, and the Mystics rode after him.

  “Fortune shine on you, my brother,” Cassius stated gutturally, and then he set his heels into Caelus and burst forth, Elena at his side, Tor, Mac, Hera, Nero, Rus and Ian going with them.

  “Let’s go, darling,” Hal-Lah urged softly.

  He looked down to his wife, who had weapons at her belt, his men, all of them bloodied, but fortunately, none of them wounded.

  “Where is Silence?” he asked.

  He felt instant hatred of the look that came over her face.

  “I do not know,” she whispered.

  And he drew in breath.

  “Jah!” he yelled, digging his heels in his horse.

  And they rode.

  King True

  MAR-EL

  He winced as the stream of fire raged down from the sky, the heat wafting from it feeling like it singed his flesh.

  But when the dragon’s flame receded, the horse and rider racing before them could still be seen, and he and all the riders behind had to avoid the crater.

  Frey had warned that the elves in his realm had shared the Beast would be immune to the blaze of a dragon.

  But his horse?

  Another stream of fire shot down and True rode carefully in order not to cross it.

  Then, almost not making the jump, he and Majesty nearly ran into the charred remains of a horse.

  Right then, the horse was not immune to dragonfire.

  The last had been a mishit.

  An almighty shriek could be heard from above.

  They looked up, and True immediately shouted, “Evade!” as the great dragon started to spiral through the air toward the earth.

  He, Farah and Lahn scattered, and the ground trembled when the dragon crashed to the earth.

  And, riding on, but looking back, True got his first glimpse of a Beast as creature, not in the form of a man, ludicrously tall, head sunk into a matted ruff at its broad neck, long, shocking claws raised, standing on his back hooves atop the regal, powerful body of the flailing dragon.

  “I thought they were indestructible!” Farah cried in distress.

  Dragons were.

  Unless, apparently, they came up against a demon of the gods.

  Bloody fabulous.

  Another awesome and terrible shriek sounded behind them just as another dragon flapped forth and rained fire on the Beast and the dragon’s fallen brethren.

  “Round and re-engage!” True roared, not liking the knowledge the Beasts could leap great heights and bring down dragons.

  He pulled his reins left and Farah and Lahn followed him.

  “He goes to the Mouth!” Lahn yelled. “We do not have to give chase! We can follow him!”

  “We know that!” True yelled in return. “But he does not know that.”

  Lahn either saw the wisdom of keeping the Beast on the run and getting the damned thing where they wanted him without delay or decided not to waste energy arguing about it as they made their round only to cut it tighter when the fallen dragon righted itself.

  It took hold of the Beast in its jaws,
shook it and then let fly, sending it careening across the black rock of Mar-el.

  “Thank the gods,” Farah called in relief.

  He had a wife who worried for dragons.

  He’d rejoice about that later, seeing as, in the now, after taking that brutal roll, the Beast simply jumped to its cloven feet and raced away.

  And it did this fast.

  He bent over Majesty’s neck and whispered, “Fly.”

  As ever, his righteous steed gave all he could give to his master.

  And as they rode, hell bent for the Mouth of Triton, above them soared two dragons.

  Teddy

  Just Outside the Abyss

  MAR-EL

  The great dragons circling in the air, the sea beyond the gaping hole in the earth churning wildly, they came.

  Nineteen lieutenants of four rulers (and six Mystics, wherever the bloody hell they came from) stood against the onslaught as what seemed like thousands of armed, expressionless, Airenzian, Dellish, Mar-el and even Nadirii living wraiths charged toward the abyss.

  “They’ll be slaughtered,” Moira whispered.

  “You stay with them, I go,” Faunus ordered Saturn.

  Teddy opened his mouth to shout No! but Saturn covered it with his hand and pulled him back down behind the outcropping of rock where they hid.

  And the love of his life charged forward.

  Chu of the Trusted

  Just Above the Abyss

  MAR-EL

  The Mystics were legendary.

  But even they could not bring down what Chu estimated were at least five hundred men and women with weapons, no thought, no free will and no sense of pain.

  And Serena was using battle magic to attempt to gain them the upper hand.

  Thus, because of it, she was flagging.

  “Fight, not cast!” he grunted, staving off two blows, one with sword, one with dagger.

  His warrior did not reply.

  He fought on and did it knowing, if a miracle did not occur, and soon, he would die by the sea fighting beside the woman he loved and men he respected.

  He came to terms with that in naught but a second.

  But he did so determining that his end would not come until she was no more.

  So yes.

  He fought on.

  And even when the first Beast burst forth and the dragons pulled back, for Frey would not send down their fire if it might strike an ally, and True, Farah and Lahn on their horses exploded into the clearing, he did not feel hope.

  Until he witnessed Dax Lahn of the Korwahk whirl on his arse in his saddle, jumping over the rump and landing stoutly on his big, booted feet.

  “What’s that man doing?” Serena yelled.

  Chu was otherwise engaged.

  He could not answer, and he could not fully watch.

  But that did not mean he did not catch the king of the Korwahk stand strong and dispatch a stream of challengers, most coming more than one at once, and he did this without moving either foot.

  Just wielding his sword.

  Even when he had to fight at his back, he simply twisted at the waist, as skilled with his blade at his rear flank as he was faced forward.

  Chu had never seen the like of it.

  But in that moment, he was glad as fuck for it.

  Elena, Cassius and Tor rode in, chasing their own creature, and they entered the fight.

  And then Aramus and Ha-Lah.

  Not long after, the regiments that the realms had brought with them finally made it from where they’d gathered in hiding, and they entered the fray.

  Only then did Chu take heart.

  Until a new wave of the enemy came racing up the coast.

  They were chasing fairies, pixies, sprites and gnomes.

  But they were being chased by Zees carrying broad, curved shields, and they were accompanied by…

  Bloody hell.

  Highwaymen.

  King Cassius

  Just Above the Abyss

  MAR-EL

  The Beasts had engaged.

  It was bedlam, he had no idea who was winning, or who was losing, or when they came into the fight.

  First, they spat their venom.

  But Elena and Serena had prepared for that, doing this finding high ground, and casting magical shields for those who didn’t have them (for the Zees, always smart, had shown and played it just that way).

  So, then the Beasts fought.

  And as the bloody fucking fates would have it, Mac was the closest to one.

  Emotion roared through Cass as he saw Mac’s body fly through the air.

  He landed on the stone and skidded on his leathers, his limbs uncontrolled, his friend obviously unconscious (or gods forbid, dead), toward the end of a cliff.

  “No!” Cass roared as Hera chased after him with such intent, when he rolled over the edge…

  She went with him.

  Of a sudden, Cassius stood stock still.

  He raised his face to the heavens.

  “NO!” he thundered.

  And the day was banished.

  And all about them there was night.

  Teddy

  Just Outside the Abyss

  MAR-EL

  “They’re losing,” Saturn whispered, watching a battlefield that was now impossibly being fought in the night, a battle that was lit coral by Nadirii magic.

  A sprite came flying their way, and they all ducked, then they all flinched when they heard the moist noise of it hitting a rock behind them.

  “Teddy, take her and go,” Saturn ordered. “Get her to safety. Just go.”

  Teddy looked to his friend.

  He was warrior.

  He could no longer hide behind a rock in a time like this than he could fly.

  “Go,” Teddy forced out, his voice thick.

  “No,” Moira whimpered.

  Saturn took her mouth in a fierce kiss.

  Then he rose, leapt the rock, and raced to the fray.

  Teddy put his arm about his friend and pulled her closer.

  “I’m not running,” she stated.

  Teddy stared at what was happening before them.

  All the rulers were there. Their lieutenants. Rulers from across an ocean. Gnomes. Fairies. Pixies. Sprites. Zees. Soldiers. Dragons were raining fire on the outskirts, incinerating men and stone. People were falling into the hole in the middle that they were all fighting around.

  And day had become night.

  But there was more.

  Vines were breaking up from the rocks, snaking swiftly across the stone, wrapping around the legs of the enemy and pulling them back, dragging bodies across the grit and hurling them into the distance or over the edge of the cliff.

  Great waves were crashing against the rocks, rising high, the water falling what seemed like with aim, washing away members of the army with blank faces, taking them over the side into the sea.

  And still, that mindless army, hacking and hewing, killing or falling in droves…

  And those Beasts, with their slashing claws and ridiculous speed…

  This is what hell looks like, Teddy thought.

  “I’m not running either,” he whispered to Moira, tightening his hold on her.

  They both jumped when, suddenly, they heard a boom from a cannon.

  The earth shook and a great mass of the side of the cliff fell away, taking down enemy, as well as some gnomes, who fairies and pixies dashed to grab and heft back up to land, all this because a cannonball had slammed into it.

  Another boom.

  And that cannonball tore through some of the enemy, and into the belly of one of the Beasts, who took it then zoomed across the stone.

  Yet another boom that hit the side of the cliff and made the earth shake.

  “Good aim,” Moira whispered.

  “The gods are with us,” Teddy said by rote.

  “I disagree,” she retorted furiously.

  With what was happening, he could not argue that.

  �
�What…?” Moira asked, her question having more words, but she could not utter them.

  But Teddy knew what it was.

  For the dark sky shafted with coral light had now filled with waves of green light, and every swing True took, the earth exploded under his enemy, at the least taking the enemy combatant off balance, but for some, these detonations blasted away legs.

  And then the sky took on surges of red.

  And the blade of Mars’s sword struck fire with each blow, thus every enemy it touched caught alight and toppled away, racing about meanderingly to burn to death unconsciously.

  And then shafts of blue could be seen through the dark, and every swathe of Aramus’s sickle sent a great sluice, a miniature tidal, the powerful gusts of water driving his enemy back to topple into the hole.

  Last, beams of white slithered through the sky, and Cassius’s sword struck… actual… lightning.

  “Their eyes, Teddy, look at their eyes,” Moira breathed.

  Teddy did.

  Cassius Laird’s.

  Pure black.

  True Axelsson’s.

  Pure green.

  Mars Laches’s.

  Pure fire.

  Aramus Nereus’s.

  Sea blue.

  “Maybe the gods are with us,” Moira whispered.

  Teddy searched for and found Faunus and then Saturn.

  They both were up, uninjured, and they remained fighting.

  Only seeing that did he silently agree.

  The Beast thrown back by the cannonball careened again into the fray, bursting forth by digging his claws into the rock to propel him just as, of a sudden, whizzing zooms could be heard all around.

  Dozens of tridents came from nowhere, embedding themselves into the rock, from which instantly spun men who yanked the tridents out.

  In order to use them.

  And streams of flame came from the hands of petite, black-haired woman with a purposeful look on her face wearing nothing but a wet nightgown and striding barefoot and fearless over jagged rock.

  Silence Laches, Queen of the Firenze.

  Shafts of electric blue shot from the ends of the tridents, striking the enemy. And any enemy it touched immediately fell.

  Other tridents soared through the air, and through bodies, and when their mission was accomplished, they returned to their owners only to fly again.