I cut off my magic, and the beam disappeared.
Use what you know, Uro thought.
I nodded. “Duffy!” I shouted out. “You realize you haven’t evolved beyond your old self—an unloved dirty cop—you’ve simply gotten uglier?” My voice rung out across the city, magically amplified, though I hadn’t consciously decided to do that.
HAVE YOU STILL NOT LEARNED YOUR LESSON?
“Once a cowardly bully, always a cowardly bully!” I shouted. “Beating up on an empty building doesn’t show strength. You claimed you could defeat me. Yet here I am.” I summoned my fireswords.
FOOL. YOU CAN’T HARM ME WITH THOSE. Duffy dived straight for me.
“I know I can’t. What about with these?” Heat blossomed within me as I called upon my magic once more. I focused on the two fireswords, and in the blink of an eye, they became twenty times larger—I was no longer wielding swords, but rather two slender pillars of fire.
Duffy’s dive faltered slightly, but it was too late for him to turn back. He opened his mouth and breathed fire down upon me. I raised one firepillar to block while sprinting to the side. Once out of the main blast of fire, I leaped into the air. Filled with magic, my jump took me even higher than my abilities usually allowed, high enough that Duffy’s dive brought him below me.
I swung downward. Both firepillars moved as fast and fluidly as fireswords, and they sliced straight through Duffy’s wings and into his torso.
Duffy smashed into the roof.
I landed lightly, then I cautiously approached the downed dragon; a quick glance was enough to assure me Duffy wouldn’t be resurrecting a second time. There was little blood because the firepillars had cauterized the wounds while causing them, but the dragon had been almost cut in two. I dismissed my weapons.
What now? I turned from the dragon’s corpse, and I faced out toward the burning skyscraper. The ability to access fire magic through the Oasis meant that I no longer had to worry about causing elementals to cross over from Brimstone. I had taunted a dragon to attack me, then cut him down like a farmer scything wheat. I was more powerful than ever before, more powerful than I ever imagined being.
This was a glorious victory for me.
And yet.
Ant yet, it felt hollow.
The fire in the skyscraper raged. The heat from it swept upwards, carrying sparks that spiraled out across the night sky, darkening into cinders that would rain down on the city. Far below, sirens wailed, though clearly nothing could be done to save the building; the fire would burn it to rubble. How many had died tonight? Dennis and Ally, at least, though likely many more. And this was just the beginning.
I slumped down on my haunches. The Sentinel Order had come to Lusteer to implement horrible laws which would bring war to Lusteer. And Jo had chosen this moment to join the Order.
Not far away, Persia lay sprawled on the ground, though she was beginning to stir. Would she try to capture me again?
I won’t let that happen, Uro thought.
Okay. What’s next?
Richard Sulle will arrive soon, Uro thought. Follow his lead.
Whatever you say.
Chapter 25
Friday 00:55
It was over.
Persia stumbled to her feet, her head ringing. She touched her fingers to her left temple and they came away bloody. The impact of the dragon’s body crashing into concrete had sent her flying, and only having a banged head to complain about was a minor miracle. She was amazed most of the rooftop hadn’t collapsed; heck, she was surprised the building was still standing.
A tangle of reptilian limbs was all that was left of the threat that had threatened the entire city; death truly was the great leveler. Rune had lowered himself into a squatting position, the dragon’s body at his back, staring out into the inferno that raged in the nearby skyscraper. Around him, small fires from the explosion of the helicopter still burned. The forlorn expression on Rune’s face contrasted sharply with what would be expected of someone who had just accomplished what he had.
Persia knew what fire sentinels were capable of, and what Rune had just done was far beyond that. Not only had he accessed the magic of Brimstone without opening a portal that attracted elementals—something that hadn’t been possible for fire sentinels for many years—the amount of power he’d accessed was something Persia had never seen before, something Persia would have said impossible if she’d not just experienced it. The only explanation that made sense was that Uro had guided him. Despite Rune’s denials, he had to be Beacon.
Fred Hanson came out of the shadows, speaking into his microphone, which was pushed close to his mouth. Persia couldn’t hear his words, just the rise and fall of his cadence. He spoke in a solemn tone like a priest at a funeral. He moved stiffly, showing his age. His dyed-black hair blew in the wind. Persia had no interest in knowing what he had to say. Hanson was a has-been who had been willing to become a propagandist to a monstrous beast just to regain a position in front of the camera. He had sold his soul once, and, with the dragon dead, would be looking for the next highest bidder. Similarly, Persia was sure those politicians who had bowed down before the dragon would now shift their positions and rewrite history in an eye blink by claiming they were forced to appease the dragon while secretly opposed to him. It hadn’t happened yet, and already she was sickened at the thought of it.
She turned her attention back toward Rune. The dragon was no more, but her mission had been to ensure that Beacon didn’t fill the power vacuum. She’d been horribly premature with her previous attempt to capture Rune—even if Duffy were dead, she wasn’t sure it had been the right thing to do. If the dragon’s defeat had been orchestrated by Uro, and Rune was Uro’s representative, why did Rune look so distraught?
Persia took several steps toward him, then she stopped, unsure. A glitter in the rubble by her feet grabbed her attention: Rune’s barbed-wire necklace, she realized. She had seen Rune cut it off earlier. Persia leaned down and picked it up. Jerome, she thought, remembering; Jerome was the name of the elemental. Rune hadn’t schemed to have the elemental possess Noah’s body—in that Flavini had been wrong at least.
The whirring of rotor blades caused Persia to look up. Another helicopter was arriving, this one bigger than the last, and without a ballista hanging from one side. The helicopter landed, a door opened, and Richard Sulle emerged. He kept his head low as he raced out from under the wind of the rotors.
Persia moved to intercept him. “Wait!” she called out.
Sulle was focused on heading to Rune, and she had to grab his arm to get him to stop and face her. “It’s certain that Rune is Beacon,” she told him. “Or at least working with Uro. We have to do something.”
“What’s that? Uro, did you say?” Sulle was only giving her half his attention, if that.
“From his attitude, Rune may have regrets. He may go with you willingly,” Persia said. “We have to be mindful of the danger Beacon poses. You should try to get him out of here.” She nodded toward the helicopter.
“Yes, Beacon. Everyone should fear Beacon.” Sulle shrugged out of Persia’s grip and continued toward Rune. “Leave this to me.”
Persia started after him, then stopped, uncertain.
Sulle moved to Rune, put a hand on his shoulder, then summoned Fred Hanson forward. The cameraman, who had been filming the dragon’s corpse, eagerly moved to get Hanson, Rune, and Sulle in shot.
“I’d like to make a statement about what happened here today,” Sulle said.
“Lusteer, and likely the world, is listening,” Fred said pompously, holding out his microphone.
“The dragon tried to take the city, but the people of Lusteer would never stand for a tyrant to rule. In the name of the people of Lusteer, Rune here brought an end to its short reign of terror.”
Fred lowered down to one knee and held his microphone to Rune, who remained in a squatting position, one hand on the ground. “Do you have anything to add?” Fred asked.
“W
hat he said.” Rune lowered his gaze. “Reign of terror over.”
Fred Hanson straightened and directed the microphone back toward Sulle.
Sulle faced the camera as he spoke. “Though we won the day, it was not without cost. I want to offer my deepest sympathies to all who lost their lives tonight. Whether it was here in Verge Tower, across the way in the Cooper Building,”—Sulle gestured at the burning skyscraper—“at City Hall, at the police station, or one of the other places that experienced violence tonight. For those who aren’t yet aware, the Sentinel Order decided to use tonight’s chaos and the black of night to advance its terrible agenda. They used the tragic death of Mayor Maxwell to usurp his position at City Hall.”
“For those who don’t know you, Mr. Sulle, can you briefly talk about who you are,” Fred said.
“Many know me as Richard Sulle: businessman, philanthropist, and owner of Verge Tower. What most do not know is that I am a shade, and I choose this pivotal moment in the city’s history to reveal that fact.”
“A shade,” Fred said. “Just like the dragon.”
“Yes and no. Yes, I’m a shade, but no, I’m not like him. Just as humans come in many different flavors, from the noble to the psychopathic, so too do shades. Evil is what must be opposed, not those who are different. The world only recently learned about the existence of the supernatural, and the natural tendency was to simplify our understanding by seeing all shades as the same, and this tendency has been taken advantage of by those with an agenda to make good people hateful and fearful.”
“It’s true, though, that shades are more powerful than ordinary people,” Fred said.
“That’s not a reason to massacre them.” Sulle’s fingers tightened on Rune’s shoulder. “Rune Russell has more power than almost anyone, and, as everyone has seen, he’s a bloody hero—more than that, he’s a bloody superhero. Adjustments need to be made, but the Sentinel Order’s plan to kill all shades is no solution, but an atrocity.”
“This country was built on diversity,” Fred Hanson said, nodding.
“Exactly. I want to be a leader in a movement which will seek a new status quo which incorporates the supernatural into society fairly. To that end, and in conjunction with my admission that I am a shade, I am adopting a new name: Beacon Sulle. I am also changing the name of this building to Beacon Tower—let it be a light to those without hope.”
Persia didn’t hear Fred Hanson’s follow-up question. Richard Sulle was Beacon. Persia backed away from the interview. Sulle and Fred Hanson continued paying her no attention. Rune glanced her way but didn’t move to stop her retreat. She turned and broke into a sprint, running for the ramp, and she hurtled down that as fast as she dared. She saw no one as she passed through the dragon’s reception room. She sprinted down empty corridors until she found a door to the back stairs. She charged into the stairwell, then skidded to a stop.
She doubled over, sucking in big gasps of air as she recovered her breathing. Several dark splatters appeared by her shoes; it took her a moment to realize that it was her own blood dripping down. She straightened. The blood was coming from her left hand which gripped the barbed-wire necklace. She took the necklace into her right hand, then wiped her left on her trousers.
The memory of Noah lying still and pale on his bed popped into her head. Noah would have hated what he had turned into, she’d known that from the start. She hadn’t been able to let him go; in a very real way, it was for herself she kept him alive, not for him.
She raised the bloodied barbed-wire necklace so it dangled in front of her face. She also hated the idea of seeing someone else looking out through his eyes, but perhaps it was something she could live for. Noah would have preferred to have his body give life to another rather than just waste away—it would allow his passing to have meaning. Noah had been more giving than she was; he always was the better of the two.
You will have a lot to live up to, Jerome, she thought, then she slipped the necklace into her pocket and started down the stairs.
Uro, the most powerful elemental Brimstone had ever known, had made his move—Beacon had presented himself to the world, and although it wasn’t Rune, the fire sentinel was allied with Uro and Beacon. The Sentinel Order would use brutal methods to oppose him—they’d kill every shade in the city if they were allowed to.
Neither side could prevail, not if Persia was to grow old in a country she could be proud of. The battle against Duffy had merely been a prequel of what was to come—the real war had just begun.
Further Information
Book 5, Fire Servant is due out in 2019, followed closely by the final book in the series, Fire Sacrifice.
In the meantime discover a brand new urban fantasy series with a free series starter, The Demon Mirror, by signing up to my mailing list (you’ll also get to keep up to date on releases).
Get The Demon Mirror plus prequels to two other series at:
http://davidjnormoyle.com/readers-group/
Also By David J. Normoyle
THE NARROWING PATH
Book One: The Narrowing Path
Book Two: The Treacherous Path
Book Three: The Collapsing Path
WEAPONS OF POWER
Book One: The Silver Portal
THE SENTINELS
Book One: Fire Sorcerer
Book Two: Fire Summoning
Book Three: Fire Soldiers
Book Four: Fire Serpent
http://davidjnormoyle.com
About the Author
David is a total man of mystery.
Not really. Learn more at:
http://davidjnormoyle.com/
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Fire Serpent Page 15
