by Eric Vall
Chapter 1
“You’re almost fully recovered from the death curse, Valerra.” I pulled my hand back from the forehead of the dangerously beautiful woman lying on the bed in front of me. “Still, you shouldn’t be fighting anyone or anything for a few weeks. We don’t know if there will be any after effects or complications from removing the curse. And that’s not just coming from King Rodion and me, even the princess agrees. No transforming back or straining yourself until we give you a clean bill of health.”
Valerra was the only other dragon I’d met after coming to the world of Inati, and her human form showed evidence of her true nature. The features of her face were sharp and almost exotic, and the pupils of her amber eyes were catlike as they glowed in the room. Scales dotted her skin, exposed by the simple nightgown she wore, and they were the same crimson color as her hair. The tips of two pointed fangs poked out between her luscious lips, and her hands were tipped by razor sharp claws.
“How annoying you all are,” Valerra breathed out, and strands of crimson hair fluttered around her face. “This is one of the reasons why I never left my canyon. People are annoyances.”
“Yeah, well, you’re going to have to deal with it.” I leaned back in my chair and suppressed a laugh at the petulant expression painted over her face. “You’re going to stay here with us, and I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you or your egg.”
Valerra rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, but then she froze, and her amber gaze zeroed in on a point past my shoulder.
“The little princess approaches,” she murmured. “Perhaps something is troubling her.”
Before I could answer, I was distracted by the sound of almost feather light footsteps running up the stairs and toward the doorway of the suite of rooms I was in. Then the door swung open, and a calming swirl of purity filled the room.
Alyona, the princess and Divine Maiden of Rahma, stood panting in the doorway of the room. As always, she was an image of otherworldly beauty in her white dress and had a slight glow emanating from her. White hair, the color of starlight, fell down her back in loose waves except for her raven colored forelocks. Those were pinned back and away from her delicately flushed face.
“What’s the rush?” I asked as I rubbed the crick out of my neck and sauntered over to her.
“The orichalcum mine is under attack,” Alyona replied, and anger shone from the depths of her amethyst eyes. “I just received the message.”
“How many people are at the mine today?” I demanded as I narrowed my own eyes. “Did they take any guards with them, did any of the guild warriors accompany them?”
“Laika, Anton, and Natalya are the only ones at the mine--” the princess began to respond before she was cut off.
“I will aid you,” Valerra suddenly declared as she shifted behind me on the bed and made an almost silent noise of pain. “You will need all the help you can get, and if you fall, then there will be no one to protect my sister’s egg since I am still injured.”
“No, you’ll stay here.” I turned to glance at the recovering dragon and pointed at her to not move. “You’re still recovering. There’s no way I’m going to allow you to undo all of the work we put into healing you. If you want to thank us, be grateful and stay in the damn bed.”
“I am not a weak hatchling!” The other dragon made an affronted noise that was close to being a growl, but she laid back down on the bed. “You are quite the bossy whelp. Remember who chased you out of the canyons.”
“Just stay there and rest, you can threaten me later,” I muttered before I stalked out of the room and made my way to the staircase that would bring me to the rooftop.
“Laika’s message said they’d been attacked by creatures from the sky,” Alyona said as she trailed quickly behind me.
“Is it demons?” I asked, and rapid fire questions fell from my mouth as my mind shifted from healer to warrior. “Where are the king and my father? What about the warriors from the guild?”
“Laika isn’t sure what the creatures are, but she thinks they’re demons,” the priestess replied, and she had to take two steps at a time in order to keep up with my pace. “Father is with Ruslan by the aqueducts, I’ve sent a message to them, and Father has replied. They’re on their way back to Hatra in order to defend the city in case of an attack. Daya has left with a squad, but Laika, Anton, and Natalya won’t be able to hold off the demons long enough for the guild warriors to arrive. ”
“But we’ll make it in time,” I growled out just as I shifted from my human form into my dragon body. “Guide me to the mine.”
Alyona gracefully climbed onto my back, and once she was securely astride me, I opened my wings and soared into the sky. The city of Hatra el Shamash grew small beneath us as the land stretched out to the horizon. On one side were the glistening sands of the desert, and on the other was the sprawling green canopy of a forest bordered by distant snow-capped mountains.
“Head to the Asuran village in the center of the forest,” Alyona’s clear voice rang out around me, amplified by her magic. “The orichalcum mine is east of the village, and there’s a small clearing right before the entrance.”
“Hold on,” I snarled as I soared over the forest with Alyona on my back, and I kept my senses alert for any hint of attack. “There’s something odd in the distance, it feels like miasma but not quite. Almost like the demons who came out of the gate by the canyons. It’s like someone is ripping my scales off one by one.”
“You’re right,” Alyona replied, and there was a spike of purity from the princess as her power fanned out around us and then darted off in the direction of the mine. “It feels slimy and almost acidic as it grates on my senses, but it’s not miasma. Nor is it exactly the corruptive presence of a demon. It’s close, but not quite there.”
We didn’t have to wait long to find out exactly what was attacking the mine and our senses. There was a swarm of monsters right above a dip in the forest canopy, right where the clearing to the orichalcum mine was supposed to be.
The creatures didn’t look like the putrid insect-like demons I’d seen before, in fact, they all seemed to be women. They had feathery wings and humanoid bodies, but that was where things got strange. Dark blue blood oozed from their eyes and mouths, and they screeched into the air while they dove back down through the dip in the forest canopy. There must have been twenty of them.
“What are those things?” I growled out to the princess on my back. “Are those demons?”
“Harpies,” Alyona answered as she formed a glimmering barrier of purity around the two of us, “but they aren’t themselves. It’s as if they’ve begun to become demons.”
“Become demons?” I tilted my head back so I could glance at her. “That can actually happen?”
“Rarely, but yes,” Alyona responded, and her voice was tense as she tightened her grip on my spikes. “There is also a species similar to them within the demon world, but they wouldn’t be able to stand direct sunlight. This is something different. Even if a harpy had managed to fall and become a demon, there shouldn’t be this many. Especially during the day.”
“Whatever they are, they’re going down,” I growled as I picked up speed. “They attacked what’s mine, and they’re going to pay for it.”
My immense wings brought us quickly to the edge of the fighting, but Alyona’s barrier kept the demonic harpies at bay. I peered down at the clearing, and I easily picked out two wolf Demi-Humans and one Asuran fighting off the mutated harpies.
The Asuran was the blacksmith Natalya, with the trademark horns of her people and shoulder length pale blue hair that fanned out around her as she slashed at the harpies.
Her dark gold eyes glinted angrily and reflected the light from the two orichalcum blades she wielded with ease.
The harpies kept aiming for the stone entrance of the mine, but Natalya was able to keep them at bay.
Anton and Laika were the two wolf Demi-Humans, members of the Blue Tree Guild who had vowed their loyalty to my city. Anton’s gray hair and fur was tinted crimson by flames as he launched fireballs at the harpies. His tail bristled and swished behind him, and it almost moved in tune with the crackling of the fire in his hands.
Laika was the fearless leader of the Blue Tree Guild and all of its clans. Her stormy gray eyes were alight with the excitement of battle, and her long, gray hair whisked behind her like a second tail. She had an enormous broadsword in her hands, and she wielded it easily as she launched attack after attack on the harpies above them. Dark blood, clearly not her own, dripped from the planes of her leather armor and smudged the blue stitching of her gorget until it was barely noticeable.
“Evan!” Laika called out to me as she pulled her broadsword from the stomach of a harpy and cleaved its head off with one sure swing. “They won’t stay down, they’re like the Corrupted Corpses!”
“We need fire!” Anton added as he covered the fallen harpy with his flames. “Burn them to ashes, that way they won’t get back up!”
What a pity you don’t have any fire power, Asher’s sardonic voice rang out through my mind. Oh, wait, but you have my lightning. I’d say that’s far more useful than any old fire.
He has a point, Miraya, the spirit of the Sword of Healing, chimed in. You know, for a former enemy, you’re not quite as useless as I thought you’d be.
I ignored the two bickering voices inside of my mind as the proverbial lightbulb went off. I didn’t need fire to burn something, my lightning would work just as well, if not better. With one release of my lightning, I would be able to strike down all the harpies.
I just needed to lure them away from my friends first.
“Alyona, I need you to trap all the harpies inside of a barrier with us,” I ordered as I dove into the swarm of creatures and lashed out at them. “We’ll take them out in one blow! Take this barrier down and then make another one on my signal. We’re gonna lure them up into the sky.”
The princess on my back didn’t reply, but the barrier around us vanished. The demonic harpies took that as a sign of victory, and all of them went in for the kill around us. The creatures were single minded and even turned away from my comrades on the ground.
I flew higher up into the sky, and the harpies clambered after us. I didn’t even need to be able to see them, I could sense their grating presence as they followed us higher and higher into the clouds, and their shrill shrieks stabbed at my ears. They almost surrounded the two of us at this point, so I had to time this perfectly.
Three more seconds, and I would be able to give Alyona the signal.
I began to gather my power, and it crackled along the spiritual sea deep inside of me. It was begging to break free and run amuck, but not yet.
Just one more moment.
“Now!” I called out to the princess on my back, and then I spun around in the air to face the demonic harpies.
A shimmering and multicolored barrier came to life around us and every single one of the harpies. They screeched in confusion as the immense purity of the barrier began to choke the very demonic essence from their bodies. They coughed up globs of black blood, and some of them clawed at their own flesh desperately.
For a moment, I thought I heard the harpy closest to my head cry out “please.” Confused, I held back on my lightning power and summoned a status check on them.
Classification: Demonic Harpy, formerly Harpy.
Condition: Infected by demonic essence. Incapable of feeling physical pain
Priority: Body falling apart due to rejection of demonic essence. Demonic essence incompatible with original body.
Danger: Susceptible to permanent destruction by fire.
Status: Reanimated dead.
That explained it, they were just like the Corrupted Corpses that had overrun Hatra once. Their bodies weren’t their own anymore, and their minds were barely there. These harpies were just tools for someone in the war that had been ravaging this world for thousands of years.
“I’ll put you all out of your misery,” I promised the demonic harpies as their shrieking reached an earsplitting crescendo. “Your bodies won’t be defiled any longer.”
The anger inside of me grew, but it wasn’t directed at the demonic harpies anymore. A raging inferno burned inside of me for whoever controlled these poor creatures, and I let it fuel the strength of my lightning.
You cannot bring them back, Miraya whispered from deep inside of my mind. Even if we combine our powers, they have already passed from this world.
I couldn’t do anything to heal them, but I could do something to ease the pain inside of what remained of their minds. So, I pulled forth my healing magic and poured it into my lightning.
Then I let my power loose, and white lightning scattered all around us and struck each harpy in the chest. There was no smell of burning flesh, the lightning was almost a comforting light, and the harpies felt nothing but the gentleness of falling asleep. I could give them a peaceful end, and I would get revenge against whoever had desecrated them like this.
The ashes of all the harpies scattered all around us and down into the forest. A wind swirled up against my wings, and I thought I heard a soft voice whisper “thank you” in my ear.
“They’ve been freed,” Alyona murmured mournfully to herself as the wind carried her voice to me. “They were suffering so much, and now they’re free from whatever was controlling them.”
I hated to hear the princess sad, and suddenly an idea struck me that would hopefully cheer her up.
“Alyona, we’re gonna fall,” I called out to the princess on my back as I swooped toward the ground. “Get ready for me to catch you.”
“Fall?” she echoed in puzzlement, and I could almost hear the way she tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Just hold on to me,” I urged. “It’ll be fun, I promise.”
There wasn’t quite enough space in the clearing for me to land, so there was really only one thing I could do. And if it made Alyona laugh in the process, then well hey, two birds with one stone.
So, I shifted from my dragon to my human form in mid air and quickly wrapped my arms around Alyona. It was a short drop to the ground, maybe fifteen feet, but I wasn’t worried about our descent. Alyona had an immortal body, and I had the strength of a dragon. Besides, if, by any chance, either of us got hurt, I would be able to heal both of us.
Not that I would allow even a scratch to find its way onto Alyona’s body, though. I was more than sure of my physical abilities, and this wouldn’t be the first time I’d changed from flying to falling.
Alyona laughed joyfully in my ear as we plummeted toward the ground, and I wrapped my healing power around the two of us as the forest floor rose up to meet us.
A moment later, we touched down gently on the ground, unlike my crash into the top of the stone tower where I’d fought Asher.
“That was fun,” Alyona giggled gently into my neck before she let go of me. “There’s something freeing about falling like that.”
“Told ya.” I grinned at the princess and allowed my hands to linger on her waist before I turned to our waiting comrades. “Is everyone okay? I didn’t sense any wounds on anyone when I was up there.”
“My Lord, I thank you.” Natalya bent her head forward, and strands of her pale blue hair covered her face from view. “Although we are unharmed, the demons were too many. We may not have been able to hold them back for much longer.”
“I’ll always protect my people,” I promised as I placed my hand on Natalya’s shoulder and brushed away some of the ash from her tunic. “Where did the demons come from? Was it a demon gate or a magical array?”
“No.” Natalya
blinked at me and tilted her head. “They came from the skies above the forest, near the eastern half. Toward the mountain range.”
“How far can they usually fly?” I looked over my shoulder at Alyona and quirked an eyebrow. “Do you know if they need to rest while flying long distances or is it something they can easily do?”
“Harpies do travel from their territories occasionally,” Alyona replied, and her amethyst eyes shifted with the sunlight as she glanced in the direction of the mountain range, “but they do not have the endurance for long distance attacks. They prefer to lure and entrap, not outright attack like in this instance. Not even if they were turned into demons.”
“So, they’d definitely need to have a home base.” I frowned as I looked over the clearing in front of the orichalcum mine. “This feels like a very orchestrated attack. They would have had to scout out the mine and figure out a day when there would be the least amount of people here. Once they figured out a pattern, they attacked the mine. Either to destroy it or to steal the orichalcum. We need to figure out what they were trying to accomplish with this attack.”
“I was meant to be here alone.” Natalya tilted her head as she frowned. “Laika and Anton came with me when I ran into them at the gate. I do not think I would have been able to hold them back long enough for help to arrive.”
“Lucky that we did,” Anton muttered as he wiped some of the harpy guts off his leather armor. “Otherwise, you would have been a snack for them. Not to mention, no one would have known you were under attack until it was too late.”
“Ah, you’re right.” Natalya blinked back at Anton as she moved a strand of hair behind her ear. “Perhaps I should no longer come alone in the future.”
“You don’t say,” I replied dryly. “Orichalcum is pretty important, to us, but, remember Natalya, it’s definitely not worth your life.”
“I will keep that in mind.” Natalya nodded her head sharply in agreement.
“Demonized harpies wouldn’t have been able to touch a holy metal,” Alyona mused as she tapped her finger against her chin and let out a small sigh. “So, it would only make sense that their goal was to destroy our access to the mine.”
