Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  Before Rissa could target the man, Edric rushed by her and attacked from behind. The soldier paused almost in disbelief as Edric’s blade punctured the back of his neck and erupted in a splash of bloody debris through the front. He dropped his sword and grabbed at the protrusion as if he believed he could remove it. Finally, his knees buckled and he slid off the sharp edge to hit the ground, barely missing the prone Davi.

  Davi bounced to his feet, blood pouring from his cheek and gripping his blood-stained shoulder, but through his pain, he shot Edric an extreme smile of thanks. It lasted all of two seconds before an arrow glanced off of Edric’s thigh and he crumpled to his knees for a moment in shock.

  “No,” Rissa screamed. This needed to end.

  “Briggs,” she yelled at the Tri-Gard member cowering behind her underneath the cover of a huge boulder. “Do something. You need to do something.”

  He looked back at her, shocked etched deep into his face. “I….I can’t, Princess. If I do magic, they will know I’m here.”

  “They already know you’re here. Do something!”

  Rissa was stunned into silence as Avery stumbled into her, nearly knocking her to her knees. A small knife protruded from Avery’s shoulder and blood gushed from the wound. Rissa dropped her bow and arrow and tried to catch the sword-master from slamming her head into the ground. “Avery,” she pleaded but the woman’s eyes were not on Rissa. Instead, they were seeing something that carved fear in her face.

  “The prince,” Avery whispered as she pointed a bloody finger. Rissa followed the sword-master’s gaze.

  Trystan had somehow lost his battle with the captain and was kneeling on the ground between the stout man and another burly soldier. Blood covered his face, whether it ran from his nose or mouth, Rissa couldn’t tell. She was too horrified to even care. The captain’s hand was wound tightly into Trystan’s hair, holding his head back at an awkward angle while the other hand held his honed steel against the Prince’s neck.

  “Trystan,” she shrilled in horror, searching for her bow. No. This couldn’t happen.

  Where the hell was her bow?

  “Briggs.” Her scream was pure frustration as she watched the captain reverse his sword to raise the hilt before bringing it down on Trystan’s head. “They’re trying to take him.”

  The next few moments passed agonizingly slow as if time had stood still. Rissa’s scream was still echoing in her ears as Davi ran like a madman past her and threw himself in a blind leap at the two soldiers about to drag Trystan away. He collided with the heavyset captain, sending him careening into the second soldier and taking them both off of their feet. He rolled with them over and over, down the slight incline and toward the grove of dead trees---and more advancing soldiers. Drawn by the sounds of battle, another contingent of Calis’ army emerged from the copse like gold clad angels of death. More soldiers.

  We are all going to die.

  They heard the ground break before they were thrown off balance. A loud thunder, like a thousand angry gods shouting their disapproval from the mountains above. It echoed around them, over them, through them, reverberating in their bones. These same gods then slammed their fists into the very ground, making it vibrate and pulse under their feet.

  The rockslide began with a few rolling pebbles past Rissa’s feet, but she knew what it meant. She turned back to Brigg’s. His eyes had rolled back in his head so that only the whites showed. As white as the crystal that had come alive with magic in his hands. He was muttering under his breath and Rissa strained to hear the words he seemed to be repeating, over and over.

  “Crystal of the Tri-Gard. Awaken the earth.”

  The pebbles gave way to stones and Rissa glanced up at the peak. Fissures were forming in the stone wall, spreading rapidly like cracks in the lake ice. Briggs was planning on bringing down half the damned mountain!

  She saw Trystan struggling to gain his balance even as the ground shifted under him like it had a life of its own. Running to his side, she threw her arm around him and practically dragged him out of harm’s way from the rocks that had now progressed into boulders. Dropping him into Alixa’s capable hands, she pivoted and ran back the way she’d come, Trystan’s voice calling out for her to stop ringing in her ears. But stop she couldn’t. Davi was still in danger. She needed to get to him.

  Briggs had severed the danger effectively, stranding them on one side of the falling boulders and the Dreach-Dhoun soldiers on the other, but in doing so he’d also stranded Davi. Rissa tried to keep her eyes on him as he was now being dragged by the two soldiers he’d taken out and was relieved to see him struggling since it meant he was still alive. She tried to call out to him, to tell him she was coming, but a boulder the size of her body smashed by, nearly squashing her like a bug. It was soon followed by another and Rissa screamed in frustration as the ground underneath her feet split with an agonizing groan forcing her to stumble back, away from the ragged crevasse.

  “Davi,” she yelled as the soldiers dragged him to his feet. They had to do something. They had to save him. She knew now the soldiers weren’t about to kill him. They planned on taking him prisoner. She tried to run again, to leap over the newly formed ravine if she had to, her desperation making her reckless. Landslide be damned. But hands restrained her.

  “Trystan,” she turned to her brother, her face contorted with fear and pain. “Trystan, do something. You heard what Calis does to his prisoners. We can’t let them take him. We can’t.”

  Her gaze averted back to Davi, willing him to break free. Instead, she was shocked at the sight that met her eyes. Whereas only moments ago he’d been struggling against his captors with the strength of ten men, his fight had now ceased. Soldiers flanked him on either side dragging him back, his face a mask of resignation as his eyes sought out Trystan. Rissa’s heart squeezed in her chest and her body went numb as he mouthed familiar words towards her brother, “Truwa, Brathair.”

  Trystan’s eyes widened as they stayed on his friend, his brother. He shook his head slowly. “I can’t,” he mumbled, his words choking him. Rissa was the only one close enough to hear.

  Tears streamed down her face. “What are we waiting for?” She spun around. “Briggs, use your magic, dammit! Get me over there.”

  Briggs stared at her in terror. “I … I can’t.” His shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

  “You’re the Tri-Gard. You’re supposed to be able to do something.”

  Briggs began to shake, the effects of using so much magic raging through his body. His eyes rolled up into his head and he dropped like a stone, ripples of magic spreading out to shake the earth.

  “No.” Rissa turned to her brother who was still watching Davi as they finished tying him up. She ran to the edge of the newly formed canyon, testing the distance.

  She didn’t have her bow, so she picked up a bloody sword that lay on the ground.

  A hand clamped around her arm. “Princess,” Edric said, his voice bursting out as his teeth clench in pain. A broken off arrow still protruded from his leg. “You won’t make it.”

  She punched at him. “I don’t even know you. Let me go. Davi!”

  “Ri.” Davi’s voice flew across the chasm and she turned to see him take a fist to the gut for his trouble. It didn’t stop him. “Don’t, Ri.”

  Her legs collapsed beneath her and she dropped to the ground, the impact jarring through her. As she hit the dirt, her earth connection tried to calm her, but as the warmth soaked into her, she ripped her hands free. She didn’t want to be calm.

  “Trystan,” Davi yelled before they could stop him. “You promised!”

  Tears clung to her lashes as Rissa looked up at her brother, his face twisted in agony. He glanced toward the ground, searching. Finally, he walked a few paces and bent to pick up the bow and arrow Rissa had dropped in the battle.

  “What are you doing?” she cried. “Trystan.” Her chest heaved and she scrambled to her feet to face him. “We can get him back, Trystan. You and me. Da
vion is our family, we’ll save him.”

  He nocked an arrow. She tried to push the bow down.

  “I promised him, Ri.” He wiped tears from his face. It gutted her. This was real.

  “Please, Trystan. Don’t do this.”

  Avery hobbled up behind her and wrapped her arms around Rissa, more out of restraint than comfort. She knew.

  “No.”

  “Trystan,” Davi yelled again desperately as he was lifted into a wagon. He started to struggle against his attackers.

  It was only a whisper, but Rissa felt her brother’s words in the air around her, cloaking her in despair.

  “Truwa, Brathair.”

  He’d never been a good shot with a bow, but the arrow fell so short a novice would have done better.

  He’d missed on purpose.

  “I’m sorry, Davi,” Trystan breathed. His eyes latched on to Davi and he raised his voice, yelling across the expanse between them. “I’ll come for you.”

  His words held a hope that none of them felt in that moment and a love that crushed them all.

  Davi jerked his head to the side and lunged away from his captors towards a sword that had fallen on the ground. Chaos erupted amongst the Dreach-Dhoun troops.

  Rissa was frozen to the spot, a scream clogged in her throat, as she watched Davi press the tip of the short sword to his chest and plunge it deep in one swift, final movement.

  His body jerked and his hands fell free of the sword as he fell sideways into the arms of a soldier nearby.

  He’d given himself a warrior’s death.

  The soldiers around him scrambled in alarm and started firing arrows towards them.

  “Run,” Avery yelled as she released Rissa and clutched her arm, herding the horses who hadn’t run off ahead of her.

  There was no time to think. Edric slung Briggs over his shoulders and Alixa pulled on Trystan’s hand to snap him out of his daze. He looked at the bow in his hand in shock and then took off.

  Rissa grabbed the bow from her brother to cover their retreat. Her skill did not disappear with a shattered heart.

  The newly created canyon prevented pursuit and arrows began to drop just short of them as they made it out of range. They didn’t stop to catch their breaths until they were around the bend and hidden.

  Rissa slid down against a boulder and buried her face in her hands, sobs shaking her shoulders as her grief poured out. “I love you, Davi,” she whispered, thinking that maybe he could hear her.

  She couldn’t look at her brother as she came to a harsh realization. Trystan almost killed Davi. She didn’t understand why Davi had done it. They could have rescued him if they made it into Dreach-Dhoun.

  No one spoke as they tended to their wounds, all dealing with their own grief. Finally, Rissa’s sobs eased as a numbness encased her. She dried her face on her sleeve and climbed to her feet, walking over to stop in front of her brother who was hunched over on the ground.

  “When did you realize we would fail, Toha?” Her voice was icy. “When did you lose faith in us?”

  There was such pain in Trystan’s eyes as he looked up at her and all she wanted to do was cause him more, but a tear traveling the curve of his cheek stopped her.

  “You don’t understand,” he said, his voice thick. “Davi knew. Both of us did. The imprisoned Tri-Gard is the priority. Davi didn’t want us risking the realm for him, only Ramsey.”

  “We could have gotten them both.”

  “I’m sorry, Sister. We have but one chance to set things right.”

  “Then why’d you promise to rescue him? Why’d you lie to him.”

  Trystan shook his head, letting more tears fall, as he hid his face. “I didn’t lie, Ri. I would have risked it all for him. It would have been wrong, but I would have done it. I am the prince of Dreach-Sciene and I would have doomed my people to save my brother.” He buried his head in his arms and pulled at the ends of his hair. “And Davi knew it.”

  Rissa couldn’t hear any more. She had to get away from her brother and his grief that threatened to swallow her own. She walked away, ignoring Trystan’s plea of, “Ri, stop.” She didn’t stop. She kept walking until she could no longer see the rest of them behind her. Putting her hands on her head, she breathed deeply as her eyes began to water again. “I need you, Davi. I’m so scared to do this without you.”

  She sank down and curled around herself. The sun set and she knew she should find the rest of the group. The mountains were dangerous, but she couldn’t bear to be with any of them.

  She didn’t know how long she cried there, but a full moon hung above the mountains when she finally looked up.

  Feeling eyes on her, she spun around.

  A woman stood watching her. The hood of her cloak was drawn up around her head as she stood out in the darkness.

  She moved closer and bent down. “Princess, are you okay?”

  Rissa wiped her face. “I’m no princess.”

  “No need to lie to me, child. I know who you are and I mean you no harm. I guess I should introduce myself.” Her voice had a musical quality to it that soothed Rissa’s heart. “My name is Lonara Stone.”

  “The second Tri-Gard member,” Rissa whispered.

  “You can call me Lona.”

  Epilogue

  The sounds of a castle in daytime could be called symphony or chaos.

  Metal ringing against metal in the practice yard.

  Armor clad guards stomping through the stone walls.

  Maids scurrying to and fro as if their menial tasks were the most important of their lives.

  People lived and people died behind the high walls that belonged to the King of Dreach-Dhoun.

  Ramsey Kane knew he would never make it beyond the stone towers that were rimmed with steel spikes. He’d never make it across the vast expanse of land between the impenetrable gates and the nearest village.

  Not without his crystal – the same crystal that hung at the throat of his keeper, the King. Ramsey’s strength was returning to him as he lived in his gilded cage, his ornate prison.

  He pulled himself from the four-poster bed and stood at the window, believing his eyes to be deceiving him. He gripped the bars across the window so tight his knuckles turned white.

  The color was draining from the once vibrant palace garden. Right before him, the grasses were drying, the flowers dropping, the trees sagging low.

  How was Calis doing this?

  He released the window bars, prying his fingers free, and stumbled back as he rubbed absently at his wrist. His tattoo that marked him as Tri-Gard was fading without his crystal. A Tri-Gard’s crystal held many powers.

  A thunderous pounding sounded on his door before it was thrust open. Calis stood there with his hands curled into fists and two unconscious guards at his feet. His hands glowed and sparked and everything became clear to Ramsey.

  He’d drained the land surrounding the garden of magic.

  No normal man could hold that much power before his body started to overload and break down. But Calis wasn’t a normal man. He was a man with a Tri-Gard crystal.

  Ramsey’s eyes zeroed in on the swirling white gem that was now glowing as well.

  Calis’ eyes darted around the room as he switched from foot to foot, trying to keep the power he’d drawn from overwhelming him.

  “What have you done, Calis?” Ramsey refused to move closer.

  Calis misunderstood and looked at the two guards on the ground. “They allowed it to happen. Death was too good for them, but I didn’t have time.”

  “Death … you killed your own men.” It shouldn’t have surprised him. “Allowed what to happen?”

  Calis’ eyes blazed blue. “Come.”

  He whirled around and Ramsey had no plans to follow, but a sudden force pulled him forward. He tried to fight it, but Calis jerked his hand and Ramsey was pulled up next to him. His feet didn’t touch the ground.

  “Calis, let me go,” he growled. “How are you doing this? How do you
have this much power?”

  Calis didn’t seem to hear him before he started speaking. “Fifteen years ago, I had you pull memories from a young child as only a Tri-Gard can.”

  “You mean when you forced me to wipe an innocent mind? Screw you, Calis.”

  Calis stopped outside a door and Ramsey was lowered abruptly. His feet slammed into the ground and he stumbled. He knew what was coming next. Calis couldn’t perform the magic himself because he didn’t know exactly how. All the power in the realm couldn’t make up for the skill the Tri-Gard possessed.

  “You are here to wipe that mind again.”

  “Wait, the child is here? They would have to be …”

  “Twenty years old.”

  “Even if I did obey you which is unlikely, I can’t just erase the memories of a full-grown adult. I could scramble the brain completely. The memories are much more embedded at the older age.”

  “You will do it. You know I can force your hand.”

  “You’ve never been able to before. I don’t care what you have to do to me. I won’t help you.”

  “Uncle,” A pale woman with almost white hair and pursed lips stepped from the room. “We’re ready.”

  “Lorelai,” Calis said fondly. He reached out to touch her cheek, but she jumped back as his fingers sparked against her skin, her eyes wide in fear.

  “Ramsey.” Calis grabbed his arm, searing it with his magic.

  Ramsey grunted in pain.

  “Meet my niece. The girl who only recently fulfilled her mission of killing my greatest enemy and your grandchildren’s greatest protector.” The King leaned in close, his touch growing even hotter. “You will do as I say because I’m going to hunt down your grandson and granddaughter and one day soon, you will be begging me to have mercy on them.”

  He released Ramsey, shoved him back and entered the dark room. Ramsey stayed behind to catch his breath, but the force from before yanked him inside and slammed the door behind him.