When the pain lessened enough so that she could control herself, she unleashed the enchantment, letting it rain down on the beasts below. She opened her eyes, and watched in awe as the rain seemed to light up around her, glowing droplets of her spell falling to the earth.
As the water hit the beasts, steam rose from those who had been enchanted to stay on fire. Though the rain itself hadn’t been able to touch the eternal flames, the spelled rain did, and doused them. Some of them howled in rage or confusion, it was hard to tell. Many of them stopped their advance, shuddering on the ground.
The army, unaware of the enchantment, took advantage of the enemy’s sudden halted movements, and charged in at them, wiping out a large portion of them before Gryffon sent the signal to cease fire. Layna sent him a grateful look.
The glowing rain continued to fall down upon them, and Layna watched as the wall of the shimmering water came towards them. She raised her arms to it, welcoming the refreshing downpour. The light seemed to wash over her, calming and soothing her, and she fervently hoped that the beasts experienced a similar feeling as it washed them clean of the atrocities committed against them.
The dragon-beast – which had previously been in the sky – crashed down to the ground with an ear-piercing shriek. As it hit, it split into the many parts that it was, dozens of individual animals rolling away from the impact. Layna cringed, but was heartened as they all started moving again, shaking out and flexing limbs that had been attached to other creatures for so long.
Many of the soldiers had dropped their weapons to their sides, watching in amazement as the creatures before them transformed back into ordinary beasts. Others still held them at the ready, but more than one had their mouth hanging wide open.
Layna collapsed onto the ground with relief. It had worked. There would be no more fighting or dying. The thought of the dying reminded her of what she had just done, and she raised her hand to her neck where the mark of the Dark King was. She had spent so much time worrying that she would turn out to be like him simply because she was of his bloodline. And now, when she had finally accepted that bearing his mark did not determine her fate, she had been forced into performing blood-magic.
With shaking hands, she took out the small mirror she had for communicating with the Council back home. She angled it so that it showed her the small mark behind her right ear.
She let out a strangled sob.
It had turned bright red.
*
Katya heard the call for mages to add their power to a spell that Layna was developing, and immediately added her own, fending off an attack as she did so. The horde had turned out to be far larger than they had thought, and she hoped that whatever spell Layna was concocting would help to sway the odds in their favor.
At the moment, with their sheer number along with the devastating blows of the dragon-beast, their troops were getting depleted faster than Katya cared to think about. Even though the gate open to Gelendan continued to produce more soldiers by the minute, the portal seemed to be supplying bloodbeasts at the same rate. There was no telling how many more it contained.
Katya worked her way towards Layna and Gryffon to see if she could determine what kind of spell she was working. The clouds above started to glow with a soft light, which grew brighter and brighter as Katya watched. It seemed to pause, as though Layna couldn’t go farther with it, and Katya tried to pour more strength into their connection.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something sneaking through the shadows towards Layna and Gryffon. They were both looking ahead of them, out across the canyon where the bloodbeasts were, and did not see it approach. She broke her contact with their spell, hoping that the lesser energy wouldn’t affect their enchantment, but needing her wits about her.
Katya growled deep in her throat and Marak wound down her arm at the ready. As the figure emerged from the shadows, she saw that it was Kali. She was holding a long dagger out in front of her. The blade caught the light and glimmered with a dull greenish glow. It was no ordinary blade, probably enchanted to cut through magical shielding and to magically poison its target as well. It appeared that Kali was not going to take chances on the two monarchs living through another of her attacks.
Katya lowered her arm to the ground to allow Marak to slither off, and approached the woman herself, very quietly. She raised her hands to form a spell before her, but realized that for some reason much of her power was still tied up with Layna’s though she was not consciously supplying it. She could tell that if she withdrew even the tiniest portion, it would all fall apart. So, it would be like old times, just her and Marak going in for the kill.
She positioned herself behind the woman, keeping one eye on the arm with the poisoned weapon at all times.
“Stop,” she commanded Kali.
The woman whirled around, the dagger poking at the air between them. Had Katya been standing a foot closer, she probably would have gotten sliced by the tip. Depending on what the blade had been doused with, a slice might be all that it would take.
Katya stepped sideways and slightly backwards, warily eyeing Kali’s movements. She doubted that the woman would use magic herself, connected as her quarry were to it at the moment. They would realize she was there the second she did so.
Instead, she lunged forward and tried to plunge the knife into Katya’s stomach. Katya moved out of the way again, and saw the tip of Marak’s tail disappear underneath the woman’s robe. She unsheathed her hidden knives. Having used magic against the bloodbeasts, she had only the knives she always wore with her, but no sword.
She used one of the knives to knock another blow off-course while she waited for the bite from Marak she knew to be coming. Sure enough, after another moment, Kali suddenly stiffened. She looked slowly down onto her arm where Marak was making his way slowly out from her sleeve.
“Marvelous, isn’t he?” Katya asked her, letting her guard down slightly. Now that Marak’s poison was spreading through her, she had little time left. “He was a gift from my father.” She paused, thoughtful, for a moment. “Seeing as how you are the reason he is dead, I’m sure he’d be quite pleased that the two of you were introduced. Of course,” she smiled cruelly at the woman, “I made some improvements to him myself.”
Kali looked at her wrist where two small puncture wounds were oozing blood. She slumped forward slightly, then scowled at Katya.
“How dare you! Can’t you see that they need to die? The beasts must be allowed to cleanse the world. It’s what the prophecy says!”
“I’ve never been very fond of prophecies myself,” Katya told her.
Layna and Gryffon both suddenly collapsed onto the ground, and Katya grew unexpectedly weaker from her connection to them. Kali took advantage of her distraction, and she turned and dove towards Layna with jerky movements, holding the blade out in front of her. Katya shook off the weakness and moved with blinding speed to intercept her, knocking the blade completely out of the woman’s hand. She crumpled to the ground, defeated, and Katya stood over her until she drew her final breath, making sure she didn’t try and make any last desperate attempts. She felt more and more power being drawn through her into Layna’s spell, and she closed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times to regain control over her power. She put up shields to limit the amount of power the spell could draw out. Hopefully whatever she was doing was almost completed, she could tell that it was eating away at many of the mages connected to it, Layna and Gryffon included.
She was dragging the body away from the monarchs for good measure when something strange happened. She could feel Kali’s life-force, recently departed from the woman’s body being dragged away to be used for a spell. Blood-magic. She immediately readied herself to defend against it, but then realized where the power was being dragged to.
Layna was drawing in the power from the dying to help to power the spell. Katya felt sick to her stomach. Even though she wasn’t directly causing the deaths, benefiting from the dying force of a
creature was still considered blood-magic. The power gained from it was easy, and therefore corrupted those who dabbled in it easily. Had Layna turned down a dark path?
With enough power for the spell, Layna set it loose, and the clouds above showered down a rain shimmering with magic. Katya was awestruck as she witnessed the single-most amazing spell she had ever seen. The rain actually washed away the changes that had been made to them with the blood-magic spells that had twisted and distorted them into the fearsome creatures they were. Now, before their very eyes, they reverted back to the normal dogs, bears, lions, and even smaller creatures like squirrels and snakes.
Layna made an agonized sound, and Katya’s attention was immediately drawn to her, worried that Kali had somehow completed her mission from beyond the grave. Layna was looking in her mirror at the mark of the Dark King behind her ear. As she turned her head, Katya could see that it had turned bright red, the same color that Nathair’s had been. The color of blood-magic.
Katya moved forward to comfort her friend. “The fact that it pains you so much that you had to do it proves that you’re not like him.” She realized now that Layna must have lost control of the spell, and it was drawing the power from the mages of its own accord. If she hadn’t used the extra magic to complete it, she would have ended up being responsible for their deaths instead. Katya far preferred her having simply taken advantage of the already dying.
Layna looked up at her with puffy eyes, on the verge of tears. “Does it? I used blood-magic.” She looked down at her hands as though they were physically covered in blood. She whispered again, barely audibly, “I used blood-magic.” She rubbed her hands together, trying to rid them of the unseen taint.
Gryffon touched her gently on the shoulder and Layna turned into him, burying her face in his shoulder and unleashing the tears that had been waiting to come.
“They would be glad their deaths were not in vain,” he whispered into her hair, “they are the reason the rest of us will live.”
She sobbed for some time, while Katya stood on awkwardly. Hunter came to stand beside her, but did not comment on the situation. Gryffon gave him a tight-lipped smile and a nod.
The sounds of victory could be heard around them: Triumphant yells, clapping, and even the occasional crying from relief and sorrow.
Hunter finally cleared his throat as soldiers began approaching their position to congratulate the Queen on her impressive use of magic. Gryffon gently nudged her off of him, and she wiped her eyes on blood-stained sleeves. Seeing the blood, she clenched her teeth together, putting on a brave face.
As the first of the soldiers came into view, whooping to one another and cheering, she even gave them a smile.
“We did it, Your Majesties!” exclaimed the closest, patting Hunter on the back as he neared them. Hunter smiled broadly and reached out to shake another’s hand.
“What should we do with all these animals?” another asked, peering down over the canyon’s edge.
Katya looked down into the canyon, and indeed, it was now littered with animals. There was no telling what kind of impact they would have on the local ecosystem.
“I’ll take care of it, Queen Layna,” she offered, “I can work with the tribes to make sure they are rounded up and appropriate homes are found.” She could tell that having been forced to use blood-magic had pushed Layna to the edge of what she was able to handle. After everything she had been through, Katya could hardly blame her. And now, to have had to have given up her daughter’s talent and her own integrity in order to save her people…Katya felt the need to lift the burden from her, even if it was only a tiny bit.
The look that Layna gave her was one of such profound relief that Katya got a warm feeling. The fact that she wanted to – and got enjoyment out of – helping a friend simply for the sake of making them feel good, made Katya feel good too. She had come a long way since being a cold-hearted assassin. She took Hunter’s hand and pulled him in for a hug. He happily obliged, giving her a kiss on the top of her head as well.
More and more people streamed to where they were gathered, all cheering triumphantly. Slade joined them with a group of the tribesmen and hesitantly made his way over to where she and Hunter stood.
He eyed Hunter warily, who glared back at him stonily. He cleared his throat.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “I believed Kali’s lies and I shouldn’t have, and I hurt you in the process. I didn’t really mean for it to go quite how it did. But between thinking that you were part of the Dena’ina,” he glanced over to where several of the actual Dena’ina were standing, “and still believing that they were responsible for my parents’ deaths…”
“And everything else Kali had told you,” she filled in as he trailed off, unable to come up with the words. She sighed, and held out her hand in a gesture of peace. He took it gratefully and shook it, while Hunter watched, still glaring.
Hunter pulled her back in, putting his arms around her in a backwards hug, and Slade backed off. Katya found that she rather enjoyed the embrace, and was pleased that Slade got the hint that the truce was all he would get from her. While she could forgive him for what he did, she had no desire to promote any sort of relationship with him, even friendship. That he could have so easily played with her emotions like that still hurt. She looked over her shoulder into Hunter’s kind eyes. She would stick to the man she knew would always be there for her. Who had been there for her when she was little. Her other half.
CHAPTER 16
People lined the streets of the capitol in anticipation of the second annual Festival of the Dragons. As promised, the reinstatement of the religion was incorporated into the celebration, though Layna did manage to meld the two ideas together. They taught the truth of the dragons’ origins and pointed out their fallibilities, but still regarded them as gods. Already hundreds of priests from Gelendan and Treymayne alike were making the pilgrimage to see the Kiani Stones on display, and Layna had arranged for them to hold a religious meeting in order to combine their faiths and select a council of their own to ensure that there were no ulterior motives being carried out behind the veil of religion.
Layna sat on a dais with Gryffon next to her and Phoenix standing wobbly up against the railing, clapping her hands and laughing at the commotion below. The parade that was set to march through the city streets would be one to remember, and people from all over had flocked in to see it. Amelia had suggested it, both to entice people back into the city which had been avoided for months as the site of the curse, and to bolster the local economy and get the city people back on their feet after the tragedy.
Layna looked down into the crowd and spotted Charles standing with his entourage of children, as well as Natalya and Alina. The two sisters had moved back to their home, Hardonia, and were helping them to rebuild. Layna had been unable to decide which honor to present her with, so she had finally decided to do both. She had formally knighted the girl, which had been enthusiastically received by the rest of the Knights, and also offered her lordship over the lands which Lord Morven’s father had previously governed. He was stripped of his nobility for his part in his son’s activities, though was allowed to remain at his estates. He took the humiliation gracefully, and Layna got the feeling that he knew what his son had been involved in was wrong, but had been unable to see past the fact that it was his son. Layna felt confident that he wouldn’t try and wreak revenge on anyone for the outcome. Regardless, Natalya had refused this second honor, asking instead that it be given to another household she knew to be fair and just people, and Layna had obliged.
Natalya caught her eye and waved happily. Layna smiled and waved back. She was glad they had made the trip.
Not only were there people from all over Gelendan coming in to watch the parade, but it would also mark the momentous day when representatives from all of the three parts of their once united nation were in one place: Gelendan, Treymayne, and the Forgotten tribes.
Katya was the firs
t to walk up the stairs to the dais on Hunter’s arm, looking radiant. She had come a long way since her troubled past at the hands of the Order, and Layna was happy to see that she had found someone that so obviously complemented her perfectly. She was also pleased that she would finally be able to get to know the girl better who had helped save the world time and time again. Katya had been working closely with all of the tribes to find homes for the misplaced creatures who had been turned from bloodbeasts back to their original form, and this post had led them to establish her as their combined chief. All of the tribes still had their own leaders, but they all had agreed that Katya should be the speaker between them and she in turn would communicate with Gelendan and Treymayne for them.
Katya and Hunter were followed by two of the younger tribesmen from the Myaamia: Lorcan and Raina. They had volunteered to be part of a mission of the tribes to learn more about the ‘Lost Ones’ as Katya had told her the tribes referred to those outside their ranks. Now that they were aware of the Forgotten Ones’ – as the original survivors had called themselves – existence, it was clear that some sort of arrangement would have to be made between them. For the moment, they were trying to learn more about one another in order to help integrate their societies in some way.
Next came their Council members, who all grinned brightly at them as they passed on their ways to their seats, followed by several members of the Treymayne Ieldran. Lady Aria was in attendance and accompanied by – Layna did a double-take – none other than Noam. He was part of Treymayne’s court who had very obviously had a crush on Lady Aria for some time, and who had made Layna’s stay at their palace rather uncomfortable. He gave her a self-satisfied smirk. As with most of his intentions, she wasn’t sure what the motivation behind this expression was. She had never been able to figure out whether he was making her uncomfortable on purpose or not. Lady Aria seemed to take his personality quirks in stride, however, and she nodded a greeting to Layna.
Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) Page 21
