by Krista Rose
“Sir, please.” I swallowed, struggling to breathe past my fear. “You’re sending your men to die.”
He scowled at me. “Chain them. We’ll take these two back with the Firemage to Val Estus. And gag this one. He talks too much.”
“Yes, sir.” One of the legionaires leapt forward, grabbing at my arm.
“You could at least buy me dinner first,” Tanner muttered as another man struggled to pin his arms behind his back.
“Get off of me.” I jerked my arms away from the legionaire. “Legate, please-”
A long, piercing scream, inhuman and agonized, echoed across the clearing, coming from the hole in the rocks. It silenced us, and filled me with dread. The men holding my arms froze, their eyes widening.
“Aurus?” Quarius shouted, and took a step toward the hole. “Aurus?”
I knew what was coming, and I held my breath, waiting.
The Vampyres burst from the hole that Aurus had made in the rocks, black tattered robes fluttering around their emaciated bodies. They surged toward the soldiers, their eyes glowing white and unnaturally bright amidst the decaying flesh of their faces.
The light that had accompanied the legionaires wavered and dimmed. Men screamed as the Vampyres attacked, leaping onto armored chests and ripping out their throats in a spray of blood. Most of the remaining legionaires bolted, desperate to hide among the trees.
“Stand your ground!” Quarius shouted, trying to rally them. He unsheathed his weapon. “Stand your-”
A Vampyre leapt onto his chest, crushing his armor as he was knocked back. He struggled as he fell, and managed to knock the Vampyre off of him. He groaned, and clutched at his ribs.
I drew my sword and swung it, barely managing to hack through the Vampyre’s neck before it could attack Quarius again. Black blood splattered out from my blade. I ignored it as I knelt next to the Legate, checking his injuries quickly between glances at the monsters and men fighting around us. From the crumbled look of his breastplate and the grey color of his face, I guessed him to have broken ribs, perhaps even internal bleeding.
Vampyres were chasing the legionaires into the trees. Screams ripped through the air, haunting and terrified as men fled and died in the darkness.
I swallowed, fighting my own instinct to flee. I knew that if I ran we would all die. “Quarius, I need the key for Brannyn’s chains.”
“Wh…what?” he gasped. “N…no.”
“Legate, if we don’t free Brannyn, we’re all going to die.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “Where are the keys?”
He shook his head. “I… don’t have… them. Aurus…”
I glanced back toward the hole in the rocks, and swallowed. Then I looked back at the Legate. “I’ll get it.” Then I glanced over my shoulder. “Dariel! Tanner! Bring Brannyn over here.”
They, and the scared soldiers with them, scuttled over toward us, Brannyn staggering between them. Dariel’s face was bleak and stunned; he seemed unable to process what he was seeing. “There’s… there’s monsters, Quarius,” he whispered. “There’s really monsters.”
“Dariel.” I backhanded him across the face to jar him from the shock, uncaring that he was royalty. “Wake up. You have to guard Brannyn and Quarius. Do you understand that?”
He nodded, his eyes still glazed.
“Dariel!”
“Wh-what?”
“Do you understand?” I snapped at him.
“Y-yes.” He swallowed, finally seeming to realize what he was up against. He drew his sword, holding it professionally despite its decorative appearance. “I understand. I’ll protect the Firemage.”
“Good. Tanner, come on.”
Dariel grabbed my arm. “Wait, where are you going?”
“We have to find Brannyn’s keys,” I reminded him, pointing to the shackles. “Unless you know how to break him out of those, we have to get the keys off of Aurus.”
“You know, maybe I could stay here,” Tanner offered. “Take Dariel with you.”
I raised a brow at him, then saw the fear on his face, and understood. He didn’t want to risk killing Felice in the dark.
“Alright. Come on.” I grabbed Dariel’s arm and dragged him behind me, toward the rocky hole. He struggled, but finally gave up as I pushed him into the break between two of the stones, nearly invisible from where I had been standing before. The hole was intensely dark, no flickering of light coming from beneath.
“You want us to go in there?” Dariel squeaked.
“Just back me up.” I took a breath before squeezing through the hole and down a narrow flight of stairs.
They had doused the torches, though the candles still burned around Felice’s throne. The air smelled of death and copper, just as I remembered, and I could hear Dariel gag behind me. The floor was sticky beneath my boots, and I forced myself not to think about it as I waited for my eyes to adjust.
There were dark objects lying in the shadows: the bodies of the men who had descended first. A few of them looked as if they had been ripped in half, and I found myself abruptly grateful for the darkness.
“Aurus,” Dariel whispered. “Aurus!”
“He’s dead,” I told him, and swallowed. “They’re all dead.”
“Aurus!” His voice rose in panic. “Aur-”
I clamped my hand over his mouth. “Will you be quiet? Just help me look for the damn keys, alright?”
He nodded, and I removed my hand. “I’m going to grab us some candles.” I nodded toward the throne. “Wait here.”
I walked slowly over to the stone throne, my nerves taught as bowstrings. The candles had melted to stubs, and I winced as I pried one from a golden candleholder, the sting of hot wax burning on my palms. “Ah!”
“Desper.”
“One second.” I shifted my hand, hoping the wax would cool and stop burning me.
“Desper!”
“What?” I snapped- just as a hand slapped onto my wrist, hard enough to bruise.
“You.” Felice stared up at me from the shadows behind the throne, her face stark and terrified even with the white of her eyes glowing. The diamonds still sparkled at her throat, though now they too were splattered with blood. Her voice when she spoke was little more than a whisper. “You have to warn them. You have to hide them. He wants me to kill them, but I- I can’t-”
“I know.” My insides shook, but I managed to stare at her calmly. “I will.”
She nodded, then retreated back into the shadows and vanished. I waited a long, breathless moment before lifting the candle, discovering the mouth of a pitch-black tunnel.
“Desper?”
I glanced back, saw Dariel swaying in the dark, his face pale and terrified. He swallowed several times before he finally managed to speak, his voice barely audible. “Why didn’t she kill us?”
I shook myself. Aurus, I reminded myself. “Later.” I walked back over to him, no longer caring about the wax that had hardened over the back of my hand. “Let’s find the keys quick.”
He glanced around at the floor. “Over here.” He pointed, and rushed to kneel next to one of the bodies.
I brought the candle over. It was Aurus, his throat ripped out, his eyes wide and staring despite the unnatural twist of his neck.
Dariel took one look, and vomited. “Gods.”
“Keys,” I demanded, refusing to process what I was seeing, numbing myself to the horror.
Dariel reached into Aurus’ pocket and drew out a ring of jangling keys. “Got it.”
“Let’s go.” I grabbed his arm, and dragged him from the chamber, pulling him up the stairs when his knees would have buckled.
It had only been a couple of minutes since we had been gone, but the legions had managed to rouse themselves a bit, holding a defensive line through the trees. The Vampyres were being pushed back, though they still wounded and killed the soldiers whenever one of them got too close. In the center of the clearing was a tiny ring of soldiers surrounding Brannyn and Quarius, led by Tanner.
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“Dariel.” I tossed the candle back into the hole. “Get those cuffs off of Brannyn. I’ll cover you. Go!”
He took off at a run, dodging as Vampyres leapt for him. I swung my sword at them, close on his heels as we dashed toward the others. Dariel slid through the men, his hands shaking as he struggled with the keys. The Vampyres gathered themselves, preparing to rush us. Brannyn’s mouth opened and closed frantically, though no sound came out.
“Any day, Dariel!” I shouted, taking up a defensive position beside Tanner. “And why the hell can’t he talk yet?”
“I don’t know where Torelis is!” Dariel dropped the keys, and cursed. “I’m doing the best I can!” He managed to scoop the keys back up, searching through them desperately before finding the one he was looking for. “Got it!” He unlocked the shackles on Brannyn’s ankles.
“Hurry up!” I ducked, narrowly missing a swipe from the rotted claws of the creatures.
Dariel stabbed the key into Brannyn’s manacles and twisted, pulling them from his wrists.
It was like a furnace exploded. Waves of intense, dry heat rocked us, driving us to our knees as Brannyn bolted forward. His body was already blackening, his clothes charring and turning to ash in second. Red lines of fire appeared through his skin as he grabbed the first Vampyre he came to, melting it before it even had a chance to scream.
The other Vampyres shrieked, renewing their attempts to break through the lines of the legionaires. With grim faces, the soldiers drove them back, spears and swords gleaming in the light of Brannyn’s flames.
It was mercifully short-lived. Brannyn, as implacable as the sun, set fire to each of the Vampyres, turning them to ash with blue flames. A few tried to attack him, aiming for the small space of skin around his throat that had not caught fire with the rest of him- the space where Torelis’ magic still lingered. But he batted their defenses aside, and within moments, all of the Vampyres were dead.
Silence rang across the clearing as Brannyn turned back toward us, his eyes blue flames in his blackened, burning face.
I swallowed. “Alright, Brannyn, that’s enough.”
He shook his head, and raised his arms.
I understood at the last second what he was doing, heard the shriek of wind approaching the clearing. “Get down!” I shouted, and dove on top of Dariel, pressing him to the ground.
Sylvathi burst through the top of the trees, raining branches and leaves down on us as we cowered. He screeched in triumph, deafening us as he snatched Brannyn up in one massive talon before shooting back up into the sky. The force of his wings flattened those who had started to rise.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” someone mumbled after a long moment. I looked over to see Quarius staring up at the treetops in wonder. “He really did have a dragon.”
Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he was still.
LANYA
16 Syrthil 578A.F.
Fallor, Valory
“Lanya! Lanya, wake up! We need you!”
“What?” I struggled out of sleep, exhaustion making me sluggish. My head was pounding like a hammer. “What is it?”
“The Legate was injured. We need you to help him.”
“The Legate?” I repeated stupidly, and blinked until the image of Tanner, illuminated by Kylee’s glowball, resolved itself in front of me.
“He’s hurt. Badly. Hurry and get dressed.” He stepped back outside to give me privacy.
I rubbed my hands over my face, then stood and began to look for my dress.
Kylee sat up in her bedroll and scowled at me. “You’re not seriously going to heal him, are you?”
“Of course I am.” I yawned as I yanked my dress over my head. “Why?”
“Because a couple of hours ago he was arresting Brannyn for a fire that he put out. That man hates heroes.”
I made a face at her. “He doesn’t hate heroes, Kylee. He was just doing his job.”
“And what are you doing? Your job? You’ve been wasting all your time and energy healing these people, when we should be looking for Kryssa and Alyxen.”
“Have you seen my boots?”
“Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m trying to.” I found one of my boots, then ransacked my belongings looking for its twin. “I just really don’t have time for this.”
“No one has time for it!” she shouted, her anger spilling across the tent, making the throbbing in my head worse. “No one cares! You would all rather be off protecting strangers than helping your own damn family!”
“Strangers have families, too.”
“Maybe you just don’t love them like I do.”
I turned on her, my frustration finally boiling over. “Or maybe you just have the emotions of a twice-dead rock. People other than you can feel pain, Kylee. I miss Kryssa and Alyxen just as much as you do, so you can stop playing the damn martyr and acting as if you’re the only one that cares!”
She gaped at me, her face pale as her fingers curled into fists. “A martyr?” she repeated in a whisper. “Is that what you think of me?”
“I think you’re selfish.” The words bubbled out of me before I could stop them. “I think you only think about yourself. Nothing else matters except what you want, and you blame everyone around you when you don’t get it.”
“Selfish? What about you? Did you think of anyone else while you were with Aleydis?”
The pain shot through me, sharper than any blade. I took a deep breath and pushed it aside, turning back to my search for my boots. “Like I said, I don’t have time for this.”
“Can’t answer that one, can you?”
I lifted my head and stared at her until she looked away. “Do you really want me to?”
Tanner stuck his head back inside the tent. “I hate to interrupt all the shouting, but we really need to go, Lanya.”
I nodded, and quickly found my other boot. I glanced at Kylee as I jerked them on, but she wouldn’t look at me, and I shrugged before following Tanner from the tent.
“What happened?” I asked as he rushed me along the rows of tents.
“Quarius didn’t believe in Vampyres.” His face was grim. “Now he does.”
I swallowed. We passed the edge of the camp, heading in to what remained of Fallor. “Felice?”
He shook his head. “She escaped.” Then he smiled. “Brannyn, too.”
“Brannyn’s gone?” My stomach dropped out, and my steps faltered. Tanner grabbed my arm and continued dragging me down the ash-choked street. “Why didn’t he say goodbye?”
“The binding is still on his throat, so he can’t talk. His dragon snatched him up.”
“But-” I took a deep breath. “You think he’s going to Mejares?”
“Good bet.”
“Then we need to go after him!”
“First things first.”
We passed into the Legion’s camp, and I stared around in horror as dozens of injured and dead men on stretchers were being carried past on stretchers toward a make-shift infirmary. Glowballs flickered all around us, shedding stark light across the nightmarish scene. The Legion’s lone medic-mage dashed from patient to patient, his eyes wide and frantic as he shouted orders.
Tanner led me past it, toward a large tent near the center.
I hesitated when he gestured, my fear paralyzing me. “How bad is it?”
“It’s not good.”
I nodded, and took a deep breath before I walked inside.
My eyes skimmed over the desk and chairs until they landed on the Legate, laid out on a cot in one corner. Vitric stood nearby, his eyes watchful as a young man with brown hair knelt beside the cot. They both looked up as I entered, and their relief almost swamped me.
“You must be Mistress Lanya,” the brown-haired man said, leaping to his feet to greet me. “My name is Dariel, and-”
“You’re in my way,” I interrupted him. My stomach was already churning with the Legate’s agony, the pressure in his chest making it hard for me to
breathe. “Excuse me.” I stepped around him, and dropped to my knees at the Legate’s side. I pressed my hands to his chest, trying to sense the extent of the damage beneath.
“How bad is it?” Dariel asked, kneeling next to me.
“Seven broken ribs, and a lung about to puncture.” I glanced up at Vitric. “I need you to find Hamar. Tell him I need all the Breakbane and ibrydacia he can get his hands on. Tanner, go help the medic-mage, he needs you more than I do.”
They nodded, and hurried from the tent.
Dariel stared at me, his face grim. “Is he going to die?”
Aleydis’ face flashed before me, stunned and shocked as the light in his eyes faded. I shoved the thought aside. “Not if I have anything to do with it,” I muttered.
“What can I do to help?”
“Hold his shoulders.” I took a deep breath, preparing myself. “This is going to hurt.”
KYLEE
“Going somewhere?”
I glanced up from packing Nightking’s saddlebags to find Lyrel staring at me with an odd smile on her face. She leaned negligently against the rough post our horses were hobbled to.
I scowled. “I’m going to find my brother.” I tightened the straps, then faced her, the hurt in my chest making me hostile. “You going to try to stop me?”
“Not me.” She raised her hands in a gesture of peace. “But if you can wait a few more moments, I will go with you.”
“Why?”
“The nest is destroyed.” She nudged a bag at her feet. “There is no more reason for me to linger here.”
Suspicion had me narrowing my eyes. “And if I told you I don’t want company?”
She shrugged. “Then I will be forced to follow behind you, which I think will be very dull.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “Vanderys asked you to keep an eye on me, didn’t he?”
“Upon risk of extremely painful death,” she agreed cheerfully. “Banishment from the stars, my ancestors’ shame, and so on.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes as her grin widened and she turned to saddle her horse. “But you better not slow me down.”
“Slow you down?” she repeated. “Where are we going?”
