by L J Andrews
The zomok shrieked in agony as I pulsed every ounce of killing energy I possessed into the creature. The zomok writhed, its skin splitting along its spine, until the tissues and fat of its insides fell into shreds away from the spindly skeletal remains, that dripped in black blood. Any doubt a zomok was there faded, and Thane seemed perfectly able to see the creature in its gory grave.
Thane breathed deeply, his hand cupping his thigh where the pyre had entered his system. “Thank you,” he gasped, through clenched teeth.
I knelt at his side, inspecting the wound. My palms wrapped around his muscular leg, and covered the bleeding pyre gash. I felt the poison slipping toward his heart, but my touch began the reversal. “Thane, you must shift,” I urged, my eyes pleading with his brilliant blue gaze. “I can go on my own from here. Don’t stay in this state for my sake.”
He chuckled, but I heard the tremble in his voice. “I’m injured Gaia. I was fighting…” He winced. “I was bitten by one of Nag’s warriors. If I shift I’ll be even weaker.” For the first time since Thane had dragged me from my bed, I realized how angry and swollen the bruise along his ribcage had become. Old blood was drying around the purple skin, and I was certain in wyvern form the wound would be a gaping, bloody gash. Shifting between forms oftentimes did strange things. Tonight, clearly his human form was keeping Thane alive.
“Why didn’t you say something?” I whispered, pressing gently on his ribs.
He chuckled, though his jaw clenched with the effort. “I feel as though there are more important matters at hand, wouldn’t you agree?”
“But you came to me,” I said, a sting behind my eyes as I realized perhaps for the first time, how dire the situation was. “Why would you risk that?”
“Gaia,” Thane gasped. “I thought…I thought perhaps Bron had killed you. When you didn’t move, I thought…” he winced as he rose to his feet now that the zomok pyre was gone from my blood. “I couldn’t leave you to the lindworms—we need you—I need you to help me fight for our people.”
Clearing my throat, I clutched my sword even firmer before meeting Thane’s eye once more. That protective instinct for the warrior igniting an energized rage in my heart. “Where is Bron?”
Thane smirked dangerously and pointed toward the throne room. “In there. Nag is not far. We must tread carefully.”
“Stay near me, Thane. I can’t watch you die tonight. If your wounds become so great, you must promise me you’ll run and save yourself.”
Thane scoffed, and tugged on my elbow. “Now, High Priestess, you know the answer I will give to that, so I won’t waste my breath saying it. I intend to kill lindworms tonight—I don’t intend to die.”
Thane held his warrior blade with confidence before he kicked open the throne room doors. I lost the ability to breathe when I took in the devastation. Fire ripped at the fine curtains, the beautiful painted windows were shattered, only jagged edges remained. It was the smell—the pungent, suffocating smell of death and suffering that caused my shoulders to curl forward and my stomach to lurch in pain.
Full sized lindworms filled the room, with a few in human form striking against what was left of King Lux’s armored guards. Lindworms were all different. Some had hind haunches, with grotesque wings that scraped along the upper beams, some were only a thick slab of scales like the disgusting serpents that slithered through the grass. All lindworms had enormous, square jaws with sharp, yellow fangs curling dangerously over their thick lips. The elemental dragons were beautiful and sleek, with unique eyes that could penetrate your soul. Lindworms had scales like jagged glass, and eyes like a haunted yellow moon. They were frightening creatures of night energy—the most dangerous to corrupt of any energy offered by the earth.
It was a rare sight to see lindworms as men. Most were pale, though some had rich dark skin that made it difficult to see them in the night. All kept their hair long and matted over their shoulders. One lindworm had shaved his human teeth to resemble his fangs. They fought with curved blades, and serrated knives. They fought like blood was the only desire of their hearts.
Thane had no time to even take a breath once the door opened. A lindworm man with two knives struck at him quickly, while a full-formed serpent blew a stream of boiling flames in my direction. Cooling energy came quickly to my palms, and the rush of power kept me alive. The beast shrieked and snapped its jaws toward my head. I hadn’t seen many battles in my life, but it didn’t mean I didn’t know what to do. My mind worked rapidly. My abilities shoved the flames toward the beast, while he snapped at my body, my palms raised above my head and a large portion of the throne room ceiling slammed along the lindworm skull, crushing its body instantly.
Glancing over my shoulder I caught sight of Thane. The first lindworm was dead, his knives now lining Thane’s thick belt. The warrior handled two more lindworms, but another snake-dragon in full-form was fast approaching. I still hadn’t seen Bron. The room was too chaotic. I wasn’t sure I could stand against my own husband, but I could help Thane.
Reaching the lindworm who had a throbbing, muscular tail I wrapped my palms around its scales and filled its veins with my power. I willed his blood to harden, I wanted him to suffer, and the dark thoughts frightened me. The agony in my soul built as I gripped the slithering beast. By now, he had turned his attention away from Thane and tried to shoot dripping molten breath at me, but my power was too swift. The lindworm released a gurgle, and a dribble of fiery blood spilled out the corner of his enormous jaws. He seemed to be choking on his own flames. When the body flopped in a heap on the ground, the dark wyvern shuddered as though made of solid stone.
Thane shouted angrily and slashed his blade though the effort drew him to his knees. The two lindworms were going to kill him. His injuries were too severe. Then the final few windows shattered in a violent crash as heavy bodies burst into the throne room. Young warriors—just out of training. One was a vibrant russet color, and his body strong. I knew him. I’d just gone with Bron to bestow an honor for achievement in his warrior training. His wild eyes scanned the room and landed on me. I pointed toward Thane, who battled from his knees against the two beastly lindworms.
“Raffi!” I screamed. “Help Thane. Help him.”
Young Raffi wasted no time jumping into action for his higher ranking warrior. The second young warrior, I couldn’t recall his name, was dark. His scales the color of a blue midnight, he joined in. Together with Thane the two warriors clawed through the pasty skin of the lindworms until they were a slaughtered pile of blood and scales.
Slow, methodic, applause.
It was the only sound that filled the throne room once the lindworms were dead. Thane glared toward the front of the room, and perhaps I was too afraid to look over my shoulder at first, but slowly, I turned on my heel. Thane took the lead of the two young warriors, though they were both in wyvern form and towered above him. When I faced the throne, bile rose in the back of my throat.
“What have you done?” I asked, through a broken voice.
Bron ceased his arrogant clapping. His bright eyes were narrowed, but it was the dead body strewn on the ground behind him that made me sick. King Lux, his throat opened, dead on the steps of his throne. Bron raised his palms, aiming toward the three warriors, but I jumped in front of them, blocking his fierce attack. The power of my husband was unmatched—except by me. It still took an enormous amount of concentration to slowly dissolve his energy.
“Thane, go!” I shrieked as Bron tried to strike again. “This is not your fight.”
“I am not leaving, Gaia,” he bellowed in return, stepping by my side as I held back Bron’s power.
“Thane, take your warriors and go find Reya and Malik. Save them! You know I am the only one who can stop Bron,” I said through my teeth.
Thane growled toward Bron who seemed pleased the warrior was helpless against his power. “I will save the royals, but I will come back and help you,” he said with such firmness, I was empowered even more to the poin
t that Bron stumbled when I blasted an electrifying rush of energy against him.
Thane left my side, climbing on the back of the dark warrior and with Raffi at their heels, the three wyverns left me with my husband. The man I was supposed to love for all time—now I feared I would be forced to kill him.
The energy surge stopped when Bron broke free. His eyes locked with me, and he circled around the enormous room. I saw his palms were scabbed and wounded, and that his jade blades were in a heap near the throne. It was the worst thing I could see that night.
“Bron!” I shouted, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. My knuckles pulled white as I gripped the stone blade tight in my hands. The smoke was suffocating, and I saw the blood from King Lux’s throat stained deep into the stones. The jade bloodline wasn’t destroyed completely, I still kept a connection, but it was fading. All I could do was hope that Thane found Reya and the young princess before King Nag. “What have you done?”
“Stand with me, Gaia,” Bron shouted.
I glanced at his blades and pointed at the blood soaked edges. “Your swords—they’ve burned you haven’t they?” My chin quivered with heartbreak, but also fierce rage. “You’re no longer the High Priest. You’re lost to King Nag, you’ve severed…the bond!”
It was even more glaringly obvious when Bron drew a long black blade from the depths of his robes. The jolt of electricity in my heart could only mean one thing. I was forced to battle against my own husband. Bron’s hair flailed about his face as he held out his hand for me to take. “I am still the High Priest, but not of Lux—for me. For the mage. Join me. We can reign together.”
“You killed him,” I muttered, the burn of the stones only strengthening my fury. “You killed the king. Your hands carry the blood of so many—of our own people.”
“I did not,” he insisted. “But his life is a sacrifice. All sacrifices Gaia, can’t you see? The elemental powers belong with all wyvern races. There is no balance in the five royal bloodlines. The lindworms bring the balance of the night. This is needed. Lux was a fool to not see it. He chose humans over the lindworm race—they are wyverns just as the elementals. My power is free now. For the first time in so many years there are no limits to what I might do. Now, rise with me as my queen.”
“How long have you been speaking with Nag?” I shrieked, stalking Bron in a wide circle. Bron holding his ebony sword, me clutching the weapon that held each stone. There was a power behind the stones, I had yet to see it in its fullest, but something whispered to my soul if I coupled the blade with my power—I could be unstoppable.
“Since the last attack.” My breath caught in my throat. For ten years my husband had been conspiring with our enemies. I’d sensed the distance, and chosen to ignore the nudge in my heart that something wasn’t right. Bron scoffed at my contorted expression. “I can hide emotions even from you, my love. Nag was most convincing, and I find myself more aligned with his vision. I will ask once more, Gaia. Join me at my side. Please,” he finished, slowly holding out his hand.
The final word escaped his throat in a whisper. I sensed his love for me, but it was unmistakably overshadowed by the darkness polluting his soul. Hot tears dripped from the corners of my eyes, they splashed down my cheeks like molten rivers, but still my grip tightened evermore. “Bron, where you are going, I cannot follow. I made an oath to defend the wyvern race—the jade bloodline. I will never stop. Death will come first before I submit.”
Bron’s jaw tightened and the black blade tensed in his hand. “If that is your wish,” he glared at me, but I sensed his hesitation. “You are the only one with the power to defeat me.”
I raised the stone sword, my palms raging in heat as my power ignited. “You will have to kill me, Bron. I will not stop defending them.”
Shaking his head, his lips pulled up in a frightening snarl I’d never seen before. Bron, my love, was gone. “Then I’d better strike true.”
Chapter 10
Thane
“Go, find any of the royal bloodlines. Hide them, protect them, anything to shield them from the lindworms,” I bellowed at Raffi and Dash when they dropped me near the dining hall of the castle. I’d caught sight of Gregor. I would stand with the lead warrior until my last breath—he would be searching for Malik and Reya too.
Raffi roared his consent and together the young warriors took back to the dark sky. Unsheathing my blade once more I shoved into the dining hall. Only weeks earlier laughter and friendships had rekindled. Now, I choked back my anguish as bodies of both mage and wyvern sprawled in their own blood across the marble floor.
Gregor remained in human form, it seemed the lindworms had come with their own sort of terrible mages. Bron must have been planning this for some time, to turn so many of the once peaceful people against the dragons. My sword trembled in my palms as I unleashed every ounce of strength I had left.
A mage released a fury of dark energy, thrusting it toward my exposed chest. Spinning away from the blast, I ducked, and sprinted toward the woman. My sword nicked the side of her ribs, but she surged a new stream of power. Raising a dagger against me, the mage shrieked, trying to pierce my heart. I blocked her strike with a furious clang of steel. With enough skill in each step I kept the mage’s hands clutching the hilt of her dagger, enough to ensure she couldn’t lift her hand and blast dark power toward me again. My blade soon found her middle. I hated the way her eyes flashed from the jet black to cool green of her former elemental power as she died.
With my sword still buried in blood and sinew I met the raging cry of a larger dark mage whose palms were raised against me. One blast would take me out—I didn’t have enough strength to hold against pure night energy anymore. Shouting my anger at the mage, I waited for him to strike, but instead his mouth gaped. With a choking gasp the mage fell forward, behind him the quivering, tiny figure of the sapphire mage came to light.
Ripping the blade from the warped insides of the female mage, I faced the trembling bloodline protector.
“Thank you mage,” I shouted, close to her face. “Where is your royal?”
She shook her head, every inch of her powerful armor engaged along her limbs. “I told him to run, we were separated in the attack. I don’t… I don’t know where he is.”
I cursed under my breath, but held any further rages when I caught her terrified eye. This attack was against everyone. I’d lost my king, but her king had betrayed them. “Thank you for saving me.”
“I had to,” she muttered. Furrowing my brow, I eyed her suspiciously. “You are not supposed to fade tonight warrior. I don’t know why, but you cannot die. I predict we will come to depend on your life someday.”
What a strange mage. Shaking away her odd words, I shoved her toward the doors. “Your High Priestess fights the High Priest. Go—help her. I will find the royals. Go!”
The small girl nodded and rushed out of the banquet hall. I prayed silently she would find Gaia. That together they could end Bron. Even if we could rid the castle of lindworms—which seemed on the retreat now—with Bron and mages still fighting this war could continue until we were all dead.
Gregor roared, slicing through two mages at once. I rushed to his side, jabbing the point of my blade through a third, creeping behind him. Together we stood back to back, striking through mages who seemed unsure how to utilize their new manipulated dark energy. It was only to our advantage.
“Thane! Keep your blade strong,” Gregor roared. Dropping his sword, I continued slashing across the mages as Gregor shifted forms. With an enormous bellow, he unleashed orange, boiling, flames across the dining hall. Dark mages shrieked, scorched flesh burned my nose, though I still struck down more mages who simply refused to die.
Gregor’s fangs ripped through soft flesh as they shot blasts of energy at my commanding warrior. The cutting edge of my sword, ripped through the throat of one of the last mages standing. Gregor’s claws exposed the lungs of another. Together we battled in both our forms until nothing remained o
f the dark mages except scorched bones, bloodied bodies, and lost lives that should never have been lost.
I swallowed desperately against the rage toward Bron. He was next. I would slaughter him.
Gregor peeled back into human form, his shoulders heaving, and a long, angry gash along his neck.
“Gregor,” I gasped. “You’re wounded.”
“As are you,” he snarled. “Come on, Malik and Reya took the princess to the council room.”
Shoving outside the doors, I followed closely behind Gregor. Havoc reigned in the hallways. Crumbled walls, shattered windows. Warriors gnawing through the last of the lindworms.
“Gregor, where is Nag? I haven’t seen him since the throne room.”
“Gone,” Gregor bellowed. “Like the coward he is. He killed Lux, that was all he needed and he left. He will return to claim the land, our people. I refuse to see it happen.”
My jaw clenched tightly. Nag was also on the list of those I would slaughter.
My ear pricked to a small sound. Halting my pursuit briefly, I saw a small form buried beneath some of the rubble. My heart throbbed. A wyvern child—dressed in silks and golden sashes. Without hesitation, I shoved away the stones, and lifted the young girl from the wreckage. I didn’t know which royal line she was part of, but I knew she was a royal. She whimpered against my chest, but she was crying. She had the energy to sob, then she had the energy to run.
Sliding her outside, through a small crevice I met her ashen soaked face. “Run, you must run.”
“My mother…”
Clasping her arms, I offered a firm shake. “Go to the edge of the forest! Hide. You must go now!”
Sniffling once she studied my face for a trembling moment before darting into the night. I didn’t know where else to send the child. The lindworms came from the east, the forest was to the west. I could only hope our warriors were driving Nag’s forces further away.
