Sound carries on a still night, so when I heard hushed voices ahead, I hid behind some rocks. A ragtag group was making their way single-file down the mountain, their progress slowed by the old and sick among them. My warrior had been true to his word. He’d freed the villagers.
I stepped out where they could see me clearly. Held up my hands to show I had no weapons drawn. “I’m a friend of Magnus,” I said softly.
An older woman started to come toward me, but the lad at the head of the line blocked her way.
“How do we know it’s not the Dark One in disguise? He has many faces,” the young man muttered.
I knew he’d never believe me if I said I was his queen. Instead, I took a knee and recited aloud the oath my subjects offered when came before my throne. “The Lord of Darkness would never pledge his loyalty to his sworn enemy, even to trick you,” I finished.
“She’s right.” The woman approached, stretched out a hand. “I am Rianne. Any friend of Magnus is a friend of mine.”
I clasped it in mine. “Praise the Goddess you’ve escaped. I’m…I’m Meli.” Fortunately, she didn’t notice my hesitation. Claiming to have the same name as their regent might have stirred suspicion of me anew.
My heart sank at how few there were. Antonius said our enemy had taken an entire village captive. I expected to see dozens fleeing, not a handful. Were more survivors on the way? I didn’t know how to broach the topic without causing her grief if this small band was all that remained.
“You must be tired. And cold.” Their clothes were in tatters, and the temperature was still dropping. “Magnus and I took refuge in a cave about half a league down the mountain from here. There’s a fire burning in front of it and food hidden inside. Go there. Warm yourselves. Eat and rest for a bit before you go on.”
She inclined her head. “Thank you, my lady. We will wait there for the others to join us.”
So others had survived as well. “Thanks be,” I murmured. She was shivering, so I took off my coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, ignoring her protest. I was younger and stronger, able to withstand the cold better than she could.
After a promise to watch out for their comrades, I headed the way they’d come. Following their route was easier than trying to retrace Magnus’s steps. He’d stayed far from any path, taking the steepest, hardest route to avoid being seen by any sentries who might have been posted.
I passed the remains of a fire. The ground around it was disturbed, and dark patches under the newly fallen snow told me there’d been bloodshed. I knew Magnus was all right. He couldn’t have freed the villagers if he’d been badly injured or… My mind wouldn’t allow me to finish the thought.
Heavily trod ground ahead led me to the mouth of the cave in time to find another band of villagers fleeing. Once again, I introduced myself as a friend of their rescuer and told them I’d already met their comrades. I gave them directions to the cave and said they must all leave it before dawn, whether we returned or not. If Magnus and I weren’t victorious, the evil one would send his soldiers after the prisoners to punish them for escaping.
An elderly man with stooped shoulders told me the Dark One’s followers had just found the door to the temple they’d been searching for. “The ones who aren’t busy digging away the rubble that blocks it are so busy congratulating each other, they never noticed when we snuck away.”
“Thank the Goddess. You must go now,” I said. “Your friends are waiting. Hurry!”
“What of you?” He grabbed my arm, his weary eyes suddenly wide with alarm. “You cannot go in there. They’ll make you a prisoner like they did us. The evil one is unspeakably cruel, and his followers do his bidding without question.”
I patted his hand. “Thank you for your concern. I may not look like a warrior, but I’ve been trained by the best. By Magnus himself. I have to be there to fight at his side.”
The old man studied my face. “I see determination in your eyes.” He sighed. “Long ago, I’d have gone back in with you but I’m too old and feeble now to be of any use in battle. Besides, I’m the last of the village elders. These people need my skills and my knowledge if we are to rebuild. There’s only one thing I can do for you.” He moved his hand from my arm to the top of my head and recited a blessing. “May the Goddess protect you and keep you from harm.”
I kissed his wrinkled cheek. “Thank you.”
It was eerily quiet inside. The old man told me to bear right when the passage split. He said the Dark Lord’s followers were celebrating, so I expected whoops and hollers to echo off the stone walls as I ventured deeper into the mountain. Instead, as I made my way along the dimly lit corridor, I heard faint voices, whispering like the wind, becoming louder with every step I took.
I rounded a corner and stopped dead. A scene of utter chaos lay before me. The passage opened into a huge cavern, littered with bodies. Magnus stood in their midst with his back to me, sword hanging by his side. He seemed frozen in place, not even trying to defend himself as a horde of men attacked him, trying to drag him to the ground. Here, their voices were deafening. Shouting, pleading, cursing. I heard some speaking in the ancient tongue, but I couldn’t make out their words.
His attention was centered on the far end of the cavern, where a huge bronze door stood open. The chamber beyond was lit with an unearthly red glow. I made out a shadowy figure next to a stone altar but all else paled in the radiance thrown off by a huge gem lying atop it.
Clear as a mountain stream, it had hundreds of facets reflecting every ray of light that hit it, no matter what the angle. One brilliant red beam shot straight to the stone in the amulet on Magnus’s chest, like a beacon.
The longer I stood there, the more distinct the voices became. But one, deep and sonorous, resonated above the rest.
“You say you’re a man of honor. Yet your past is as dark as mine. Your queen – our queen – deserves someone better.
“Listen to them, Magnus. The voices of those you slaughtered. Hear the truth – and then perform the most honorable act of your life. Wipe the slate clean that you may enter the afterlife with your honor intact. Listen to their voices then wield your sword one last time – and take your own life.”
The Lord of Darkness. He’d seized on my lover’s greatest strength – and his biggest weakness. The code of honor he lived by. The Dark Lord meant to conquer him not with brute force but by insidiously taking possession of his mind, just as he did with Drayke. It seemed to be working since Magnus was allowing the men to attack him without defending himself. If it went on much longer, I feared the Warrior of the Seven Stars would die by his own hand.
I didn’t stop to think or plan or strategize. With a wild cry, I charged straight at Magnus’s attackers. They were too close to him for me to wield my sword without risk of injuring him, too, so I unsheathed the dagger he’d given me, thrusting it into whatever body parts I encountered.
To my astonishment, each one I attacked disappeared before my eyes in a cloud of dust. That’s when I realized the Dark Lord had summoned his forces from beyond the grave. Their power over my lover was not physical but mental, just like his.
When the Dragon Lord and I battled our ancient enemy, he nearly turned Drayke. But at the crucial moment, my words of love tamed the beast within him. Brought him back from the brink.
Magnus had taught me a great warrior does not fight for himself. He fights for those he loves. It was time to remind him of that.
I slashed and whirled, sending his ghosts back to the realm of the unseen. As I did, I raised my voice to drown out all the others.
“Magnus! Warrior of the Seven Stars! I am your Queen – and your lover. You swore an oath to the Goddess long ago in a fortress hidden deep within Mt. Jarazal. You vowed to protect me, to fight by my side against the Lord of Darkness. Fight to the death if you must.”
I saw his eyes flicker toward me and softened my tone.
“I need you, Magnus. The Dark Lord is about t
o seize the power of the Sacred Stone. I cannot stop him alone. I need you now, my love. Fight with me, for only together will we defeat him.”
He came out of his trancelike state so fast, he nearly knocked me off my feet. With a roar, he slashed his way through the hordes around him, sending them whirling off in clouds of vapor. He charged through the doors of the temple.
I saw the Dark Lord reach for the diamond, watched Magnus grapple with him. Suddenly an evil laugh rang out. Our enemy disappeared, leaving Magnus clutching the Sacred Stone.
Though he was gone, his deep voice boomed out.
“You want the diamond? Take it. But with it comes the weight of your guilt for all the honorable men you’ve murdered. The stone was forged by the earth itself, turned into a brilliant gem by millions of tons bearing down upon it for untold millennia. You’re a weak, flawed mortal. Do you think you can bear its weight?”
I saw Magnus falter. His legs buckled, but he didn’t let go of the stone. He grabbed for the altar with one hand to support himself and missed, falling to the ground with the giant diamond landing on top of him.
His chest rose and fell underneath its bulk as he gasped for breath. I didn’t know whether the sacred stone was truly that heavy or if the Dark Lord had tricked his mind with another illusion. All I saw was my lover suffocating before my eyes as the diamond crushed him to death.
Chapter Nineteen
Melisandre
I didn’t have the light of the Seven Stars beaming down on me inside the cavern, allowing me to tap into its energy, as I did when I met the Dragon Lord. But I remembered Drayke’s words that night.
“You’re the granddaughter many times removed of the most powerful sorceress who ever lived. Her blood flows in your veins. You have the ability to harness the energy of the stars,” he’d said.
Ever since I was a child, I’d been able to see things, know things I couldn’t have seen or learned by any rational means. I took that for granted. It wasn’t magical or mystical. It was a gift I was born with, as others are born with the ability to flawlessly play music they’ve heard only once or do complex mathematical equations in their heads. But having power to summon the energy of the stars? How could I possess that ability and have been unaware of it all my life?
He went on as though I’d asked the question aloud.
“Deep in your heart, you know magic exists, even though your rational mind won’t believe it. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. Tonight you watched me transform into a fire-breathing dragon. Now it’s your turn to harness the magic within you. Raise your arms to the sky, Meli. Feel the energy flowing into you. Entering through the palms of your hands. Now, breathe it in. Can you feel it?”
I did as he asked and then nodded. “I think so.”
“Hush. Don’t speak. Empty your mind. Just concentrate on the energy. Listen to my voice and let the power fill you. Let it pour through your body, flow through your veins. Breathe it in until you’re bursting with it. Now – gather it into a ball. Can you feel it? A bright light pulsing deep inside you? I want you to take a deep breath, count to three, then send that burst of light rushing through your outstretched arms and out your fingertips. Are you ready? One, two…”
I didn’t know what to expect. The dazzling rays shooting from my fingers startled me so badly, I almost fell over backward.
Though my analytical mind rejected the idea even now, that night I discovered I did have power. Mystical power. He’d proven to me I could summon a force that defied the laws of the Universe as I knew them.
He went on. “What you just did – I called it magic, but it was mystical, not magical. You harnessed the energy of the cosmos to do your bidding. Our ancestors branded it as sorcery. They’d have shunned you as a witch. Very few ever born have possessed the power you do. That’s why the Lord of Darkness wants not only your kingdom but you as well. He must control your ability to summon the force of light from the Seven Stars. For only the light can defeat him.”
Only the light can defeat him.
Drayke’s words rang in my head, and I knew instinctively what I had to do. This time I didn’t even bother counting to three. I closed my eyes, envisioned boundless energy flowing into me, gathered it into a beam of pure white light – and shot it unerringly into the heart of the stone.
Chapter Twenty
Magnus
I thought the lightning bolt would kill me.
I lay on the ground, gasping, with the weight of the stone slowly compressing my lungs until there was no room to draw in a breath.
Barely conscious, with the world turning dark, time slowed as I watched it come at me. So bright the light seared my eyeballs, even after I squeezed my eyes shut. My body jerked convulsively when it hit, and the impact drove what little breath I had left from my body.
I gasped and heaved, like a man does when he’s sucker-punched in the gut. Air rushed back into my lungs, and I rolled over on my side, curling into a fetal position. Wheezing and fighting a wave of nausea.
Tiny crystalline shards covered my whole body. Around me, thousands more glittered harmlessly in the yellow-gold light from torches still burning. The red glow that had filled the temple was gone. As was the Lord of Darkness.
Fighting to get my breathing under control, I rolled over onto my knees and stood up. Though my legs were trembling, I refused to give in to weakness and lean on the altar.
I knew Melisandre had mystical power. She’d told me about it, and so had Drayke. But seeing it first-hand, reeling from the blast of energy she’d harnessed, the sheer might she wielded came as a shock.
“I’d better be careful not to piss you off.” I went for casual humor, to hide a very real pang of fear.
Melisandre didn’t answer.
I turned around to face her, expecting to see her make a face at me then laugh. She lay outside the chamber, motionless. Collapsed in a heap on the ground, as I’d been a few moments ago. I stumbled toward her and fell on my knees.
“Meli? Are you all right?” Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t respond.
I gathered my queen into my arms. Her body hung limp, and her head fell against my chest.
“Meli?” I shook her, but her eyes didn’t open. “Melisandre!” I shouted, shaking harder, like a madman. Still nothing.
To this day, I blame the bolt that hit me. It addled my wits or else I’d have realized the truth sooner.
My queen wasn’t going to open her eyes and throw her arms around my neck with a smile. The blast of energy she’d sent out to save my life was powerful enough to destroy a diamond, the hardest substance in our world. Powerful enough to shatter the sacred stone into a million fragments.
So powerful it stopped her heart.
Chapter Twenty-One
Magnus
I had only seconds to react. I wasn’t about to waste them wailing in grief.
Instead, I tried a remedy I’d read about in one of the ancient scrolls. It came from a story I would once have dismissed as a myth. But as I’d recently discovered, at their heart, myths are based on fact.
In the tale, a handsome prince brings his beloved back from beyond with a kiss that breathes life into her.
I kissed my queen.
But it wasn’t just a kiss. I took the story literally, covered her mouth with mine, and sent the breath from my lungs pouring into hers. Then I forced it back out with my hands pressing down on her breasts, only to do it again.
I don’t know how long I continued. Time ceased to exist. I couldn’t stop while her body was still warm, her breasts soft beneath my palms. All the while, I prayed silently to the Goddess.
“Please. I love her. Send her back. Not just for me. For all the good and innocent beings in this world. We need her if the Light is to defeat the Darkness.”
Suddenly her body shuddered, then she choked and gasped. I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her breasts.
“Magnus?”
When she
began gently stroking my hair, I gave in and let the tears flow.
“Are you crying ?”
I scrubbed my eyes with my fists. “Of course not,” I lied.
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember?”
“All I know is that I saw you dying. Suffocating from the weight of the diamond on your chest. I didn’t stop to think. I just summoned the light and sent it back out. I wanted to destroy that damned rock so it couldn’t hurt you or anyone else ever again.”
I gave a shaky laugh. “You did that, my love.” I pointed to crystalline shards littering the floor of the cavern. Slivers sticking out of the walls where her blast had driven them into the very stone. “If we hadn’t been deep in the bowels of the earth, you’d have sent pieces of that ‘damned rock’ halfway across the Universe.”
I took a deep breath and went on. “The force you summoned was enough to stop your heart from beating.”
“Did you…wait, I remember now. You did. You brought me back to life. With a kiss.” She smiled at me. “You have magical powers, too! How romantic! I can’t wait to tell Drayke.”
“Don’t you dare! It will ruin my reputation as a stoic warrior.”
“You’ll just have to think of some way to keep me quiet,” she teased.
“How about this – if you tell him, I’ll drag you across my lap, yank off those tight britches you’re wearing, and spank your ass till you promise never to speak of it again,” I threatened.
“Oooh! That’s my dominant warrior.” She put both hands on my cheeks and drew my head to her lips.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Melisandre
“So this is why you didn’t want me coming along.”
Though familiar, it was the last voice I expected to hear. Drayke stood at the entrance to the vast chamber littered with dead bodies and sparkling diamond shards.
Chaos Born: A Sci-Fi Menage Romance (Warriors of the Seven Stars Book 2) Page 11
