He pulled away. “Now, go.”
She opened her mouth to argue.
Derkas shook his head. “You’re needed. Go.”
Zaviana wiped her eyes before rushing into the city. She tried not to look back, but she did one last time. Derkas wasn’t clear anymore. She saw him through thick blue ice as it grew in place of the shattered gate. Zaviana gulped, unsheathed her sword, and ran into the city.
Chapter 37
Devarius stood in Saefron, horrified by the scene playing out before him. He’d joined the resistance to stop the tyrannical rule of the empire. He’d found the wyverns, siphoned their oil, and given the resistance hope. Now, as he looked around, he wondered what hope was left. They were overrun. The battle in the sky was failing, and the battle on the ground was nearly lost. He wanted to do something, but there was little he could do.
He charged forward, his sword held high. Ayla was at his side, using her ice breath to freeze one after another. The warriors weren’t too difficult to defeat. Devarius had been trained well by Orrick, but the shadowmen disturbed him. The resistance hadn’t completely fallen yet. They had warriors, hundreds of them, and they were battling against the empire, but Devarius knew they wouldn’t last.
“What hope is there?” he said to no one.
We need to reach the gate. It’s our best chance to stop more from coming in.
Devarius wanted to argue, wanted to tell Ayla it was hopeless, but he bit his tongue. He nodded. They had to try.
His sword flashed in the air, striking through the gut of another solider. He’d lost count of how many he’d killed. Devarius wished he didn’t have to kill men. He wished he could talk to them, tell them how foolish they were for blindly following the emperor, but he knew his words would fall on deaf ears. He fought on, striking down one opponent after the next, staining his sword crimson.
The gate came into view. Not many soldiers blocked his path. Most of them had already spread throughout the city, and he could only hope the resistance’s warriors could handle them.
A wyvern stepped through the gate, followed by a woman. Devarius’ fists clenched. There was help. He needed to reach them, to help them. Devarius refocused his attack, pushing forward with renewed passion. If they could make a stand at the gate, if they could prevent more of the empire from entering the city .... He dared not hope.
“Ayla, make a path for the gate. We seek an ally.”
Ayla leapt in front of him, swinging her tail to slam several warriors into the air to crash into the sides of buildings. Devarius rushed to her side, deflecting a blow aimed for her throat. He swung his sword three times, knocking the man’s weapon to the ground. Devarius slammed his sword into the defenseless man’s throat. It didn’t go through his entire neck, but the man dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Devarius pressed forward. He became one with the blade. Catching Butterflies, Stalking the Grasshopper, Swatting the Bee. Each form he transitioned to flawlessly. Compared to the easy victims in front of him, he was a blade master. He’d never thought his skill impressive, but he realized why Orrick had trained him so hard, and why he’d used such ridiculous tactics to get him to learn. He was better for it.
After the way was clear, Devarius looked around one last time. Seeing no one, he rushed forward to meet his ally. He skidded to a stop as he watched with disbelief as the open hole where the shattered gate had stood began to fill with solid ice. He watched with mouth agape and eyes wide.
Devarius’ eyebrow twitched. “Zavi?”
The woman turned to face him. “Brother.” She smiled.
“What are you doing here?”
“Blocking the entrance to Saefron. You?”
His eyes bulged even further. “You did this?” He pointed to the ice wall blocking the entrance.
Zaviana shook her head. “No, I don’t believe even I am that powerful. My wyvern and I crashed outside of the city, and we had to fight our way back in. We had help getting back into the city, and help sealing the entrance.”
Devarius raised a brow. “Help from who?”
“It isn’t important.”
Devarius twitched his lip from left to right. “It kind of is.”
She shook her head. “I’ll tell you another time.”
“And since when do you have a wyvern?”
She smiled. “Her rider fell, and I helped her. We’ve bonded.”
He rolled his eyes. “At least it’s not Paedyn’s wyvern. Come on, we have to help take back the city. There are hundreds more empire soldiers in here.”
Zaviana nodded as she unsheathed her sword. The two of them rushed toward the center of the city. They saw skirmishes happening everywhere, and paused as they looked from left to right.
“Where do we start?” Zaviana asked.
Devarius scanned the courtyard where most of the skirmishes were taking place. He paused as he noticed something. His hand sprang forward, finger outstretched.
“There.”
“What?” Zaviana asked.
“Shadowmen. We need to focus on the shadowmen. If we can defeat them, the rest of our warriors will have a better chance of overcoming the others.”
Zaviana nodded.
Devarius dashed across the courtyard. He unsheathed his sword, bringing it up in the nick of time to deflect a shadowman’s blade. Devarius snarled, shoving his sword forward with a push from his shoulder. Metal clung as their blades hit, but other than the sound of metal, it was hard to see what was going on. Only a small bit of torchlight lit the shadowman’s features. Zaviana rushed to Devarius’ side, stabbing her blade through the shadow’s heart. They nodded to each other as they turned away to face more of the shadowmen.
“There are too many of them,” Zaviana whispered.
More than twenty shadowmen surrounded them, making a circle. Devarius gulped as he searched the area for anything they could use to their advantage. A blue light caught his attention. He tilted his head as he tried to see what it was. A lone man rushed toward them, his entire body aglow in blue light. Streaks of blue left his fingertips as he fought against empire soldiers and the shadowmen. Anyone who was in his way was frozen in solid blue ice. Ayla began to help him, and together they froze several more shadowmen and a dozen warriors.
“Who are you?” Devarius asked.
The man smiled as he approached. His skin wasn’t white or brown, but instead, a light blue to match his fiery eyes.
“What are you?” Devarius asked.
Devarius furrowed his brow as he looked at the man. “Shoemaker? I mean, Cederic.”
The man grinned. “Yes.
Devarius’ eyes widened. “You drank the oil?”
Cederic nodded.
Devarius closed his eyes and inhaled. When he opened them, he noticed dozens more men approaching. Each glowed—purple, red, blue, yellow, or green. Elements came from their fingertips as they attacked the invading army.
Devarius swallowed his fear. He wanted the oil to be useful, but he didn’t want this. Devarius wasn’t sure what the effects would be, and he didn’t want anyone hurt because of the oil he’d collected. It was too late now. All he could do was hope for the best. As he scanned his surroundings, he noticed something he hadn’t dreamed of. The tides were turning. They were defeating the empire inside of Saefron. The resistance was starting to win.
Devarius grinned. “Thank you for your help.”
Cederic nodded, stepped past Devarius, and pointed his hands to the sky. Blue ice flew from his fingertips to strike a dragon’s wing. The beast roared, then crashed outside of the city.
Devarius watched with fascination for a moment, then looked at Zaviana. “Come on, there is still much work to do. We need to make sure we’ve defeated all the empire inside of Saefron.”
Zaviana nodded, and the two of them ran away from the courtyard full of glowing icemen, firemen, lightning men, wind men, and acid men. Devarius paused one last time to look at all the elements filling the sky and inside the city from the new wa
rriors. He shook his head in disbelief. Magic. The secret to magic was the wyvern oil all along.
A loud roar silenced the action in the city. Devarius looked up to see a dragon larger than any he’d seen before. The dragon landed in the center of the courtyard, breathing fire in a large area in front of it. People ran screaming. The fire struck resistance men and empire men alike. Shadowmen shrieked and fell, but so did the elemental men of the resistance. They all burned and crumbled to the ground.
“Oh no,” Zaviana whispered.
Devarius turned to face her. “What?”
“It’s the emperor.”
Devarius’ eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. He closed his eyes as he heard the dragon roar into the sky once more. Devarius looked around the city.
“What are you doing?” Zaviana asked.
“We have to stop him.”
“We can’t fight someone that powerful. I tried. He defeated me in the sky. That’s why my wyvern and I crashed outside the city.”
Devarius bit his top lip as he looked at her. He ran over to a mounted ballista. Zaviana followed him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Whatever it takes to stop him,” Devarius snarled.
He unfastened thin rope from one of the torches by his side. Reaching into his sash, he withdrew several vials of wyvern oil. He left their corks on as he held them to the tip of the ballista bolt to tie them to it with the rope.
“Those won’t stay on. The bolt releases too fast.”
“I know.” Devarius raised his eyebrows.
He grabbed the large glass jar next to the ballista. Blue wyvern oil bubbled inside of it. He poured the liquid over the glass vials at the tip of the bolt. Ice formed at the tip, locking the vials to the bolt.
Zaviana’s lips scrunched together in a circle as she watched him. Once the ice formed completely, he dripped some of the oil on the tip of the bolt, then threw the jar in the air toward the dragon. It shattered on the ground, and the snow transformed to ice.
“Distract them,” Devarius whispered.
He stepped behind the ballista and angled it down toward the dragon.
Zaviana’s eyebrows scrunched together as she looked back to the emperor. She took a deep breath, then collected as much energy as she could. As she exhaled, her power rushed forward. Yellow lightning flashed from her fingertips toward the emperor. He saw the attack and blocked the magic; however, he didn’t see the bolt as it approached at the same time. It struck the shoulder of the dragon and exploded, knocking the emperor off the beast. The dragon flew across the city to crash into the side of a building.
Devarius grinned as he unsheathed his sword. Zaviana staggered next to him, drained of energy.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked.
“To stop the emperor.”
He clenched his fists as he charged toward the fallen emperor. Devarius grinned as he neared the man, but his grin faded when the emperor stood. His hands reached up, and an orange glow trickled from his fingertips. Devarius raised his sword to block the incoming fire. He didn’t think it would work, but the element bent around the sword as he charged. When Devarius was close, the emperor had to relinquish his power. Devarius raised his sword high, prepared to strike.
When his sword came down, it met with a blade. The emperor snarled. Devarius grinned. He couldn’t face magic, but a sword—that he could do. Their weapons spun in various patterns back and forth, but neither could gain traction on the other. Devarius considered himself skilled in sword fighting. He was trained by Orrick. There were a select few who could match him with a blade, and all of them had been trained by Orrick. However, the emperor was strong. His parries flickered at unbelievable speeds, and his attacks were even fiercer. Devarius had a hard time blocking them. He even had to back away as he clutched to his sword as tight as he could to prevent it from flying from his grasp.
Their battle went back and forth for what seemed like forever. No attack Devarius could deliver did anything to unbalance the emperor. Left, right, left, left, middle, uppercut. Nothing worked. Devarius tried all of the sword forms Orrick had trained him in, even intermixing a few, but nothing worked. The emperor was a master.
Devarius pressed on. He wouldn’t give up. If he could destroy this man, if he could defeat him, they could win the war against the empire. There was no one else in power to continue it. It would be a long battle of politics and battles before any real progress was made, but they would be leaderless. He shifted his pose, inviting the emperor to go on the offensive. The man smiled, but accepted his offer. Devarius could barely block the flurry of strikes that came at him. He wasn’t a better swordsman than the emperor, but he had been learning, studying the emperor’s attacks, his arrogance.
The emperor’s sword stabbed straight. Devarius knocked it aside. It swung left, right, left, right. Each attack was narrowly blocked by Devarius. Another stab went straight at Devarius. His block slipped, and the emperor’s blade slid to slam through Devarius’ side. The emperor grinned. Devarius grinned back, raising his eyebrows. The emperor frowned, his mouth opening, then his eyes went rigid as Devarius’ sword slammed into the emperor’s armpit.
Devarius’ blade fell to the ground, as did he, backward onto the ground. Pain raged in his side, but it was worth it. He’d hurt the emperor as well. Devarius hoped it was enough. He was out of energy, and without a sword.
The emperor approached, his sword held steady in his right hand as his left arm hung limply at his side. Devarius crawled backward, blood staining the ground as he moved. Before the emperor could reach him, someone appeared out of the shadows.
Ellisar.
“Galedar, it’s been a long time,” Ellisar said.
Galedar grinned. “Ellisar. I suspected you were the face of this so-called resistance.”
“Your lust for power is your weakness,” Ellisar said.
“And your belief that without power people can be controlled is yours.”
“That is the difference between you and me. I never wanted to control people. I want people to be free.”
Galedar shook his head. “You saw the war that happened when people were free. Free people are foolish. They kill each other. The empire is the only way to keep them reined in.”
Ellisar dipped his head. “That is where we see differently, my old friend.”
Galedar raised his sword. “Let this be over, friend.”
Chapter 38
Ellisar and Galedar crossed swords. Each man was a sword master. Their blades moved so fast it was hard for anyone else to see what was going on, or who had the advantage. At first, it seemed the emperor was winning, but the fight turned around just as fast. Neither man was able to inflict a wound on the other.
Devarius backed away, searching for some way he could help. Zaviana appeared at his side, reaching her hand down to help him up. He accepted her help gratefully.
“We need to do something to help,” Devarius said.
Zaviana shook her head. “There is nothing we can do. This is their fight.”
“We can’t do nothing,” Devarius pleaded.
“We can help the rest of the city. Not all of the empire warriors have been defeated yet.”
Devarius nodded. He knew she was right. There was little they could do to help Ellisar’s fight. Devarius had already tried to battle Galedar once, and he had been outmatched. He could only hope the injury he’d inflicted on the emperor would help Galedar defeat him.
Devarius and Zaviana joined the fight in the city. There weren’t many empire soldiers left, and they were able to make short work of chasing them down. They didn’t have many elemental warriors left after Galedar’s dragon had destroyed most of them, but it was enough to fight off the force of soldiers inside the city.
Devarius grew tired as he slashed his blade from one solider to the next. He’d been training relentlessly for months for endurance, but it wasn’t enough; he was growing tired.
Zaviana was exhaust
ed as well. She used her magic a few times, but most of her aid came from her sword. Devarius was impressed with his sister’s skill with a blade, and he wondered where she had learned it.
Once the rest of the threat had been eradicated, Devarius and Zaviana found themselves back at the courtyard. Everyone was at the courtyard, watching with fascination as Galedar and Ellisar fought.
Neither man seemed to tire, and their blades still moved at the same fast speed as before.
Galedar pressed hard against his old friend, his sword making a flurry of strikes from the left to the right. The technique he used looked like a mix between Dancing Fireflies and Swat the Bees. His blade moved seamlessly in circular arcs from the left to the right. Each swing was deflected by Galedar, but it appeared as if Ellisar was gaining. His stance changed halfway through a swing to angle toward the emperor. The strike hit true. Galedar cried out in pain as Ellisar’s blade struck the same shoulder Devarius had injured earlier.
Devarius swung his fist in the air with a grin.
Galedar slowed for only an instant. Then he pressed back hard against Ellisar. His attacks came fiercer, less controlled, but more powerful. Ellisar backed up as he tried to deflect the emperor’s offbeat offensive strikes. He succeeded in blocking most of them, but then his ankle twisted, causing his stand to falter. Galedar didn’t hesitate as he slammed his sword down hard. Ellisar blocked the blow, but staggered as he did. Galedar pressed forward, slamming again and again, until finally, an opening appeared in Ellisar’s defenses. His blade pierced Ellisar’s gut. Ellisar didn’t cry out in pain, but he did fall. Galedar stood over him, his sword held out, and a grin plastered his face.
Devarius snarled as he unsheathed his sword and rushed toward the emperor. His sword blocked the strike meant to kill Ellisar. Galedar smiled.
“Have you come back for me to finish you off?” Galedar asked.
“I believe you have that wrong,” Devarius whispered.
Dragonia: Revenge of the Dragons (Dragonia Empire Book 2) Page 17
