by L J Andrews
“It’s the pyre,” she gagged. “I’m losing energy quickly.”
I’d been too focused on her I didn’t see the massive lindworm dragon to my side. His shiny ebony claws slashed across my arm, the armor of jade blocking any damage, but he struck Jade’s middle.
I’d never experienced such a blinding, maddening, panic-ridden rage as I did in that moment. Jade crumbled forward, clutching her stomach, when I whirled around on the black serpent. He was massive; when he straightened his neck, he towered over the trees. It didn’t matter to me. Without a second thought I dug into the scorched earth and beckoned for any energy left to give. My rage burst through Bron’s dark control in the soil and the ground cracked, the bedrock jutting through the surface. The lindworm roared as I urged more jagged stones upward. The curve of its long spine met the point of a stone, and the lindworm’s scales split in dark blood. The dragon backed away, puffing a stream of dark smoke toward me. I just held my breath and raged more. Like a bed of spikes, dozens of jagged stones from deep in the earth burst through the soil, no less than six jutting clean through the lindworm’s soft underbelly. The dragon hissed and gurgled until his enormous head wavered above me and flopped like a falling stone against the earth. Rushing back toward Jade, I ran into Eisha’s wing.
Her yellow eyes met mine and she hovered near Jade, only allowing me in after she caught sight of the dead lindworm. Jade was gasping, her shirt soaked in blood. I clutched her face and lifted her shirt to inspect he wound. It was deep and already looked infected.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, kissing her forehead. She felt warm and feverish.
“Teagan, finish this,” she said. “Eisha will care for me. You must finish this.”
“I can’t…I can’t beat him,” I stammered, only pausing when Jade’s hand found the side of my face.
“You can. I’ve always seen your power. This is what you were born to do. I would never trust another with this fight, only you.”
My jaw clenched and my chest tightened at the thought of leaving her. She didn’t let me speak and kissed me quickly before nudging me back into the open. Eisha began folding her wings around her queen, separating us.
“Teagan,” Jade called weakly. “I love you!”
Eisha scooped Jade back into the trees, surrounding her in a ring of fire the same way Sapphire had trapped Graham the zomok. Her words rang in my mind, and despite my heart’s protests, I turned back to face the battle. Bron was summoning dark power in the earth. Wooden spikes aimed toward Sapphire blasted through the ground now that the royal had returned to the fight. Mini rushed toward Bron when Sapphire bit into the neck of a lindworm.
“Traitor!” Mini shrieked, raising her blades high over her head. I tore across the sanctuary to come to her aid, but skidded to a stop when I saw Bron lift his hands, and Mini halt. A branch, shaped more like a spear, had lodged in her middle, run clean through her armor. She gasped, glancing furiously at Bron. He only chuckled.
The same rage I’d felt for Jade encompassed my spirit as I watched Mini fall to her knees. Sapphire bellowed and stomped toward his mage, snapping his jaws and tearing through any lindworm flesh along the way. Bron held up his fists and the lindworms halted their pursuit.
Embracing the fire in my soul, I slammed my hands along the earth, and in furious rolls the sanctuary split in two clean pieces in order to separate the High Priest and the Sapphire Mage. The ground shifting and sliding was deafening. I was positive the entire state could hear the commotion. Bron steadied himself once my fists were no longer pulsing angry fire into the soil. Everything seemed to silence. Sapphire took a position of protection over Mini, who lay still on her side. His wings covered his mage, and he snarled toward the lindworm army.
Bron studied me. There was power wrapping around my legs, the same feeling I’d experienced before—almost as though the earth wanted me to uncover a great secret in the sanctuary.
“You’re in a losing race, Teagan. Look at what has happened to your friends in one night. You can learn much from the lindworms. If you want to experience true power, then come with me,” Bron hissed across the divide.
Mini still wasn’t moving. I needed her. I didn’t know how to stop Bron from destroying everything. Jade was on her back in Eisha’s ring of protection, and the lindworms still eyed her hungrily. Sapphire wouldn’t leave Mini. I was utterly alone against the High Priest. I shuddered believing I couldn’t do this—not now. I wasn’t ready.
“Give in, Teagan. I have more power than you,” Bron whispered.
There was the peace I’d always felt. It began slowly, kissing my shoulders, then trickling up the back of my neck and around my shoulders until my tight chest eased, and a strange, urgent peace settled like a lead ball. “I’ll never stop,” I replied.
Bron sighed dramatically. “I wished it hadn’t come to this. I truly don’t want to harm you.”
Search your heart. Never before had the voice come so firmly in my head. Bron signaled the lindworms to retreat slightly, and they obeyed. The High Priest prepared to strike, I could sense him gathering his power as I stood still and unmoving.
Search your heart.
What was I meant to do? What was I supposed to search? On cue, there was a pull to command the sanctuary to surrender its secrets. To hand over its power. While Bron raised his hands above his head, I lowered to the ground. My eyes clenched shut, and the rumble shook my core. I wondered if Sapphire had spilled another river of fire by the way my palms burned along the grass. The peace rang in my mind, screeching for me to use my power, to accept my fate. Then I saw it. I saw what was buried in the earth when the pit opened. An arm’s length away, there were two gleaming jade blades, crossed and gilded in pure silver with sparkling emeralds along the hilts.
Bron released his dark power, and I lunged for the swords. It seemed ridiculous to use a sword against the dark energy Bron shot my direction, but it was the only reaction I had in the moment. Keeping the powerful weapons crossed over my face, the rush of darkness from the High Priest struck against the two blades. The metals absorbed the power, as though a new barrier had created from their jade edges. Bron seemed shocked. For the first time, he was at a loss for words. Then his dark brows curled, and his eyes chilled my heart.
“Those do not belong to you. Those belong to me,” he growled, stomping toward the edge of the split ground.
These weren’t ordinary swords. A smile crossed my lips, and I glanced darkly at the High Priest. I’d never handled true swords. The metal was heavy in my grip, yet the way they sealed in my hands, it seemed as though they were simply extensions of my body. The energy pulsing from the stones, the silver, the cutting edges, left me with unwavering confidence that their unusual power would guide me in handling them against Bron and his army.
Bron snapped his fingers and crossed the divide as the soil built a temporary bridge for him at his command, and soon he stalked closer toward me. I slashed one of the swords and the mage stopped, ducking away from its strike.
“Give them to me, Teagan. You will find their power deadly.”
“No,” I shouted, my grip crushing the emerald crusted hilts. “You can’t touch anyone again. I’ll die first.”
Bron snarled, his youthful face seeming ugly and despicable. “As you wish.”
Bron slowly pulled out a blade from some hidden sheath on his back and struck against my sword. His blade was unique too, it had a strange power. There seemed to be missing jewels that once belonged in the steel. Only divots remained. Clearing my thoughts of fascination from his sword, I held firm against it with the jade weapon. My muscles ached beneath the lock.
“Powerful mages always have unique weapons. But the trouble is, I have more power than you. How do you plan to survive this fight, Teagan?” Bron snapped close to my face.
I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t afraid, because I was absolutely terrified. A dangerous power filtered from the High Priest, yet I found the strength to press down. His blade and the jade blade
coated in strength that rolled the soil beneath my feet. Bron snarled, clutching his blade with both hands as he fought against me. When he was weakened, I swung the second blade, forcing Bron to step away. The dark mage rolled the blade once in his hand, the darkness of the cutting edge matching his soul.
“You’re part of me Teagan. It isn’t the natural order to stand against one another,” he gasped.
I lunged with the swords once more. “There’s nothing natural about you,” I snapped when Bron blocked my strike again. Electric heat surged through my body, strengthening my weakness against the man, and my movements fell into place. The power of the blades was overwhelming, but allowing my mind to open to the energy raging along the metal, I found Bron seemed less intimidating the longer I gripped the weapons.
As though I’d been trained in the art of fencing my entire life, I slashed the swords back and forth with Bron. At times he took the upper hand and I was forced to spin out of the trail of his black sword, but I had him on the run now. His back inching dangerously close to the split in the earth. He tossed a wave of black power toward me, but I blocked the invisible energy attack with the sword. My grin built across my face when I noticed the powerful priest was…fading? Could I be so lucky?
Sapphire folded down into his human form and shouted through the clash of swords. “Teagan, she says to command him to leave. The swords, use the swords.”
Sapphire mimed stabbing the blades in the ground while one hand was pointing at Mini. She was still alive. She knew what was happening. Bron hissed in frustration at Sapphire’s voice and was about to signal his army once more. I wasted no time and questioned nothing at the odd request. Stabbing both blades deep into the earth, I locked eyes once more with Bron’s icy stare.
“Leave!” I shouted into the night. “Leave and never come back!”
Bron screeched, like I’d imagine a demon like him might. “You can’t hide from this, Teagan. This isn’t over.”
Slowly, as though the night were devouring his skin, Bron folded into thick blackness. Whatever burst of power erupted from the swords, it was too great for his dark energy to remain. The lindworms hissed and spat their pyre and gas into the sky before taking flight to the glimmering stars. Abandoning their prey and the royals, the zomoks and serpents left the forest, bringing the bloodshed to an end and the familiar quiet of the trees surrounding us once more. It was over.
Chapter 28
There was only a moment’s pause after the final lindworm escaped into the night. I needed to see Jade, but Mini was only a few paces from where I stood. Sapphire was clutching her head in his lap. Keeping the swords tight in my grip, I darted toward the pair and kneeled cautiously when I saw the damage to the mage.
“Mini,” I breathed out, my stomach curling, and for a moment I thought the heat flushing through my face would cause me to vomit. Mini’s blue armor had faded to the wyvern marks, but they weren’t blue any longer. Blood stained along her middle, coating the beautiful marks on her arms and shoulders and legs in rich, sticky crimson. She smiled, but her eyes were glazed and distant. Gently, her hand reached out for mine and I gripped her fingers.
“You did it,” she whispered with difficulty, gripping tight to Sapphire’s bloodstained forearm. I saw his face. He looked nowhere but down at Mini. The way his jaw set and the gentle way he held her; I knew. It rolled my stomach once more, but I knew.
“Mini, you’ll be okay,” I choked out. Through all the pain, she chuckled. A trickle of blood stained her lips when she shook her head. I placed my hand on her shoulder, using what energy I had left to add to her fading strength.
“No, I won’t,” she breathed, sucking in a haggard breath. “Teagan, those…” she winced and gripped Sapphire’s arm tighter.
“It’s okay Mini,” he said. “Just stay still.”
Shaking her head, Mini tried to speak. “Those aren’t ordinary swords,” she said through a shudder. I thought I’d lost her for a moment when she stared at the sky, but she rolled her eyes toward me. “The High Priest. These belong to the High Priest…you,” she said, pointing toward my chest.
I shook my head, crushing emotion pressing against my heart. “No, I’m not, Mini. I’m not the High Priest.”
She nodded through another violent shudder. “You are. You are strong. Take care of Kon…for me.”
Sapphire cleared his throat and closed his eyes when Mini drew in a final breath, releasing it slowly. She was gone. I clutched her hand, the reality refusing to settle in my mind. “Mini,” I said, shaking her shoulders. She couldn’t leave me to do this alone. I shook her harder. “Mini, no. I can’t do this.”
I flushed when my voice broke and I sounded more like a desperate little boy than a mage who had fought against the dark High Priest. Death hadn’t been a part of my life. I’d only lost imaginary parents that I’d never known. As I shook her lifeless form, I felt Sapphire’s strong hand grip behind my neck, and he forced me against him. I was gasping, the air never really striking my lungs as the pain mounted in my chest.
“She believed in you, Teagan,” Sapphire said in his low rumble. “We all do.”
I covered my eyes, trying desperately not to lose my control, but the burn in my head was making it harder the longer time passed. Mini was dead. Jade had almost died too. My head shot up, the stabbing ache in my heart shifting across the crushed sanctuary. Eisha was gone, so was Jade.
“Where is she?” I shouted.
Sapphire placed his hand over Mini’s body, just as Jade had done to Bart. He whispered something softly in a language I didn’t know, and slowly the bright particles of light broke from her body and filtered into the sky. I watched in awe as Mini’s light absorbed into the goodness she’d sacrificed everything to protect. Sapphire cleared his throat again and glanced to the ground. “When Bron was gone, I saw Eisha take Jade away. The pyre is painfully toxic.”
“You need to get out of here,” I said quickly, seeing for the first time how pale he looked.
Sapphire nodded. “I can sense they are at Eisha’s house. Come with me. Don’t forget the blades,” he said weakly. The same moment I gripped the blades, Sapphire molded into the fierce blue dragon and lowered his shoulder slightly so I could climb on his rigid spine. Taking my place behind his wings, I watched with a dull ache in my chest as the bloody sanctuary faded through the clouds.
Dawn was creeping in the distance when we arrived at the enormous house. I leapt from Sapphire’s back and burst through the doorway. I stumbled backward when I slammed into Dash’s bulky figure. He faced me slowly, his eyes tormented and exhausted. I saw his forearm, the skin littered in bloody gashes, but he seemed genuinely relieved to see me.
“Dash, you’re alive,” I muttered. I suppose I’d assumed the two warriors had been killed when Bron had arrived at the sanctuary.
He nodded and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You are the new mage,” he whispered. “I felt the darkness lift. What happened?”
Sapphire walked in behind me, clutching the two blades. “Teagan banished the High Priest.”
“Where did you get those?” Dash hissed, glaring at the swords.
I stared at him curiously, but Sapphire was the one who spoke. “The sanctuary offered them to Teagan. They are not used for darkness now.”
Dash lifted his brow and smiled, a pure smile crossing his face, and he seemed ready to pull me into a hug. “Amazing. That’s one bright spot. Teagan, the woman the zomoks had—”
“Aunt Liz!” I practically screamed, raging guilt building in my throat. I’d almost forgotten Bron had taken her captive. “Where is she?”
Dash pointed toward a door. “We got her. She is sleeping soundly, with a little help in keeping her asleep. She is injured, but alive. I’m not sure how to handle her memory.”
I slumped in relief, and now I wanted to pull Dash into a tight embrace, but I didn’t. Instead I leaned against the banister. “Maybe she should know the truth.”
“We can worry about it later,”
Sapphire insisted. “Were you injured?” he asked Dash.
Dash nodded, his lips pressing tight. “There were so many zomoks, then we were surrounded with lindworms. I don’t understand how so many passed through the barrier. Raffi he…” No, I shook my head, I couldn’t hear of another death. “He is badly wounded, but he’s resting. I wanted to come to you, but I had to take him…” Dash trailed off, but Sapphire clasped his hand on the warrior’s shoulder.
“You fought valiantly, and there is no shame in protecting your fellow warriors.”
“Where’s Jade?” I insisted, feeling the exhaustion of the night creeping across my body.
Dash cleared his throat and pointed up the stairs. “Eisha is caring for her. It’s the third room at the end of the hallway.”
I took the winding, wooden steps two at a time, forgetting how every inch of my body ached. The door was ajar, and I pushed inside. Eisha jumped, her face creased in worry, but Jade smiled at me from the enormous poster bed.
Tears welled in her emerald eyes, and she reached her hands for me, which I quickly clasped in my own. I smiled, the tight emotion threatening to break through, but I didn’t care if Jade saw. She was alive. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I brushed her forehead several times as though she might disappear. Jade’s middle was wrapped in a strange cloth that smelled oddly of peppermint and lavender. Her warm hand found the side of my face, and I was keenly aware I was coated in blood and ash. “You saved us,” she said through quiet tears.
I didn’t care that Eisha was standing a few feet away, I couldn’t hold back for a moment longer. My lips found hers, and I held the sides of her face as I guided her mouth with mine. The passion and pain of the night expressed through the very touch. I rested my head against hers after a long moment. “Mini is gone,” I whispered. Jade drew in a shuddering breath, but didn’t speak. “I thought for a second that…you…” the words wouldn’t even form.
Jade gripped the back of my arms as I leaned over her and shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. Looks like you’re still stuck with me,” she said lightly.
