by Apryl Baker
“I’m glad you could make it, my love,” Hera crooned. She turned to the red-eyed Kronos, who stood straight-backed. “Go and kill the granddaughter while I deal with Tobias.”
The next moment, Kronos turned and disappeared into the fog. Tobias looked back, a cry of warning on his lips. When he looked behind him to warn Val, there was no one there, not even a sound from the army in the fog.
“Val!” Tobias yelled. “If you can hear me, Kronos is coming for you!”
“If I were you, I’d worry about yourself,” Hera said, conjuring a blazing red whip in her right hand. She cracked the weapon, sending a shower of sparks exploding into the air. “It’s your day of reckoning, Tobias Dendali, and I am your judge, jury, and executioner.”
Tobias and Hera circled one another, each measuring their opponent before the fight began. Tobias understood how powerful Hera had to be to have brought a spell like the fog to life. He would have to win this fight not with brute strength, but skill.
“Come!” Hera said, her eyes alive with the fire of battle. “Let us begin!”
Hera rushed forward and brought her whip down on Tobias. Tobias rolled to the right, sending a green blast of magic from the end of his staff.
Hera whipped it from the air before it hit her like it was a fly in her path. A laugh erupted from her lips. “You’ll have to do much better than that.”
Hera summoned a second whip in her left hand. She swung both of them in the air, bringing them down on Tobias at once. Tobias blocked the first one with his staff, but the second connected with his left ankle. A burning sensation scorched his skin. Hera pulled back on the whip, taking Tobias’s foot out from underneath him. His head slammed against the hard ground as another wave of pain exploded in his skull. Tobias’s vision blurred as he was dragged across the pavement.
“I expected more.” Hera tsked. “We could have been more. But you turned your back on me, you—”
“You did that to yourself.” Tobias grabbed the whip around his ankle, despite the way it burned his hands. He released himself and struggled to his feet. “We were young. Yes, I made a mistake in using you, but that doesn’t justify the path you have taken. You became this person by your own hand. I’ve paid for my sins and will continue to do so. It’s time for you to do the same.”
Tobias called every ounce of strength he could manage. Green crackling energy raced across his entire body. Even his vision tuned green as the magic covered his eyes. He summoned two short blades, one in each hand.
“You are to blame!” Hera screamed as she too allowed her red magic to course over her frame. She brought two identical red swords to her own hands. “You, and you alone!”
Tobias and Hera rushed forward, exchanging strikes. They moved so fast they would have appeared as red and green blurs, had anyone been present to witness the fight. Every time their blades struck one another, a shower of sparks erupted. As soon as Tobias made contact with one of Hera’s swords, he broke off the attack and positioned himself to strike again. Speed was his ally now, not strength.
Hera pressed the attack as the two fought on. Soon, Tobias’s muscles began to burn from fatigue.
Hera brought her hands overhead in a move that forced Tobias to bring up his own swords to block her. Their weapons met with a crack of sparks. Hera pushed down hard, forcing Tobias to a knee. His arms over his head to fend off the blow, Tobias didn’t know how much longer he could hold.
“Swear to me, swear your allegiance to your queen, and I may let you live,” Hera said as spittle flew from her mouth. “Swear to me!”
The blades above Tobias were so close to the top of his head he could feel the heat caress his face. “I swear! I swear!”
Hera let up on her attack for the briefest moment, shocked and pleased that Tobias would yield. Tobias grabbed his moment of opportunity, shoving her swords to the right with his own and rising to his feet. He replaced the two swords in his hand for a single green knife held in his right hand.
Tobias sank the blade hilt-deep in Hera’s heart. He leaned in and whispered into her ear as she struggled to exhale her last breath, her face a mask of surprise. “I swear to kneel only before the one true Queen of Atlantis, my granddaughter.”
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
The fog that rolled over the Atlantian forces blinded them. The soldiers lost all sense of direction and became separated. It was like being in a vacuum, with only the silence and thick gray substance that wrapped around them. Occasionally, the sound of gunfire or a scream would echo around them, causing the panic crawling through them like an unwanted virus to wind higher and higher until it choked all sense of hope from them.
It was that debilitating.
Valeria fought back her own fear of tight or closed off spaces. This fog reminded her of the closet, darkness everywhere, only this darkness was dense and wet gray fog. She managed to survive her childhood. This was nothing. Or at least that was what she told herself.
She stopped moving, blindly looking for anyone, and listened. Hera sent that monstrous creature that was once Kronos out into the mist with the distinct command to kill her. He was here somewhere. Hopefully, he was having the same issues navigating this hope-sucking fog she was, but she wouldn’t bet The Emerald Queen on it.
A sound behind her had her twirling, her sword at the ready. She had a pistol, but she preferred her sword. Silence met her. The absolute echo of utter silence. Where was he? She did a complete three-sixty turn, and saw nothing but the deep, deep fog that muffled everything.
Should she keep moving forward or wait? If Tobias killed the sorceress, would the spell dissipate? Would its effects wear off?
Another scream tore through the mist, and she jumped, unprepared for the sharp burst of sound in the quiet. She took a deep, steadying breath. This was pointless. She’d press on and hopefully reach the palace steps.
Something massive hit her from behind, and she went soaring through the air. Her head bounced on the marble pathway. She blinked, trying to clear her vision, and pushed up to her knees, her sword still in her hand. The energy to lift it was another matter, but she had to try.
Laughter filled her tiny bubble of the vacuum. Laughter that made her cringe. She recognized Kronos’s laugh, but it had a deadlier lilt to it now. He was raised from the dead by a black sorceress who controlled him. He was nothing but an empty vessel for her own dark arts to warp and twist an already vile person. It made him even more dangerous.
“Show yourself.” She tried to make her voice as hard and commanding as possible, but the fall she’d taken knocked the breath from her.
Another laugh floated through the air.
Creepy little monster. “Kronos. Only cowards hide.”
A hiss this time. He didn’t like that. She wasn’t sure if some part of Kronos remained in his corpse, or if it was Hera, and she didn’t like being called a coward. Either way, if it made the monster show himself, she didn’t really care which was the case.
“But you are a coward, aren’t you, Kronos?” Valeria kept her voice soft, betting he could hear her. “You and Hera both. You tricked a man into betraying his family to gain the throne. A right you did not earn. Either of you. I bet it really galled you both when Atlantis refused to harken to you, that it stayed hidden from you. The city knew how much of a sniveling coward you are.”
Snake-like tongues wrapped around her ankles and tugged so hard she lost her footing, her sword dropping from her hand as she fell. Reaching out, she grasped the handle just as Kronos started pulling her toward him, a low chuckle resounding like an echo over the valley. She twisted and sat up, her blade coming down across the gross green appendages, slicing through them with little effort.
A howl lashed at the confines of the little vacuum they were in, and Val wasted no time in scooting backward, kicking the remains of the creature’s tentacles from her feet when she stood.
“You have to do better than that, Kronos, but then again, you were never a fighter, were y
ou? You let others do all the dirty work and reaped the benefits of those actions. But not today. Today you have to face me all alone.”
An arm the size of a tree trunk lashed out and struck her, sending her sprawling backward. This time she kept a tight hold on her sword, and her back took the worst of it when she smashed into some kind of stone statue.
This was not going as planned. She couldn’t fight him if she couldn’t see him. Using what little energy she had left, she summoned the light within her and forced her intent into it. She wanted to cut through the mist and see Kronos. The small flame leapt to life in her palm and grew in intensity until it spread outward, bathing the area around her in a blinding green light.
That was when she saw him lurking at the very edge of her field of vision. He’d grown three times the size he’d been as a man. His head had been grafted back onto his neck, held there by the eerie red glow of Hera’s magic. Foam dripped from his mouth, and he lumbered almost clumsily toward her, but she knew better than to think him anything but lethal. What he lacked in speed, he made up in brute strength.
She used the tree to pull herself up, confident the light wouldn’t dissipate. A groan slipped out when she turned toward Kronos. She hurt everywhere. Kronos grinned at her, his lips bloated, and the serpentine tongue that flicked out caused Val to shudder.
He had no weapons as he advanced upon her except the strength Hera gave him. Val was weakened from the damage she’d already received, but she stood firm, her sword in her hands, ready to face the beast.
Green fire sprang to life and danced along her blade, engulfing it, strengthening it. She gasped, not expecting it. The sight of her sword held her frozen in awe for a few seconds, but only for a few seconds. She swung at Kronos, and he hissed, the blade slicing through him as easily as butter.
Valeria pressed her advantage, using her skills as a trained swordsman to slice the slow-moving creature to ribbons. He roared, and his big, beefy hand caught hold of her and shook her like a rag doll. Her head bounced back and forth, aggravating her head wound. The beast’s blood and spittle soaked her, and she fought to free herself. He let out a howl of rage so deafening, Val wouldn’t be surprised if her ears bled.
Her sword fell, and she cried out in anger. The only thing she had to rely on was her magic, something she still wasn’t comfortable with, but it was all she had left.
Intent. It was all about intent. She needed him to let go, so she thought of fire. She let her magic spread over her entire body and heat to a blistering intensity. Kronos dropped her, and she bounced, but only once. She jumped to her feet and took several steps away from him.
Nothing she was doing seemed to make a difference. He was a creature of magic, not flesh and blood. The wounds she inflicted were like pinpricks or the sting of a mosquito.
Her eyes zeroed in on the place where Hera reattached his head. He’d died from a beheading. Maybe if she was able to sever his head from his body once again, the magic that animated him would stop? Could it be that easy?
No. He was a good three feet taller than she was, and her sword was nowhere in sight. This wasn’t going to be easy.
He gave her another of those crazy grins and stepped toward her. Val walked backward, looking for her sword and summoning her magic at the same time. No sword…but she could pull a sword out of the hat. Concentrating hard, a blade of green fire formed in her hands just as the brute reached her, and this time she didn’t fight him when he picked her up. She was banking on it.
Kronos lifted her, leering at her, his eyes wild with glee. Red fire burned within them. Hera’s magic. Not waiting to see what he would do, Val pushed every bit of intent she could find into the swing of her sword. It lodged into the side of his meaty neck, and she cursed silently, doing her best to pull it free. Kronos growled and shook her, but she ignored him and managed to release the blade. She swung again and again, clinging to the blade as hard as Kronos was trying to wrest it away. She kept chopping until the blade severed the last of the magical bindings that kept his head attached to his body.
And then she fell.
When his head rolled down his arm, the magic animating him died, or so she thought. The mist around her was clearing, her soldiers coming into focus, looking confused and frightened. She stood taller, the body of Kronos at her feet. They needed to know she was with them, that she fought for them. More and more people began to move closer to her as she took a moment to gather her strength.
“To the palace!” She raised her green sword into the air and commanded them to charge on. The day was not won until Hera was dealt with. Her soldiers, much like her crew, understood the bite of the command and followed it without fail. She took off herself, only stopping to pick up her sword when she saw it glinting in the black, bloody mess a few feet from the now fallen Kronos.
She saw Tobias on the steps struggling with Hera. This was his fight. She understood that on a level most couldn’t imagine. This woman had caused all his pain, his guilt, his need for atonement. She ruined him the day she caused him to betray his family. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she was to blame for everything just as surely as if she had.
When she reached the bottom steps, she held up her hand for the men and women to stop while the fight between the two magicians raged on. She could hear the roar of Dragons behind her, feel the heat of their flames even from this distance, but she never took her eyes off her grandfather and his foe.
When he stabbed the woman through the chest, a cheer went up in the crowd, and Valeria let out a quiet sigh of relief. She’d feared Hera would get the best of Tobias. He hadn’t practiced his magic in years, and Hera had spent centuries honing her skills. It was a testament to his stubbornness that he won.
She walked up the steps, and he turned when she approached. He looked grim. Grimmer than she’d ever seen him. Why was he upset? He’d done what he set out to do. He’d avenged his family.
“We won, Tobias.” She hugged him. “Stop frowning. We won.”
“I…I just…” He shook his head and cleared his throat. “I thought I’d feel something when I killed her. She took everything from me. I kept my promise to my brother, I set everything right again, but I still feel the same burden of guilt.”
“You’ll always feel that way.” Valeria laid a hand on his forearm. “Every crew member I’ve ever lost in battle weighs heavily upon me every day. I know their names, have memorized their faces, and the guilt of what I could have done to save them is always with me. It makes me a better captain because I’m always learning from that guilt. Don’t hide from the guilt, Tobias. Embrace it, and use it to make you a better person.”
He nodded, but didn’t say anything else as the Atlantian forces made their way into the central courtyard in front of the palace. Dragons flew over the skies, terrifying and brilliant all at once. Ryder had proven her loyalty to Valeria, and it wasn’t something she took lightly. The girl had been responsible for so much carnage, but she’d changed over the last few months. She valued all life now and didn’t see it as simply a means to an end.
Lukas and Ileana stumbled up the steps, dirty and bloody, but both grinning like fools. They looked ready to steal all the Christmas cookies and then boast about it while they dunked the sugary delights in warm milk.
Val watched as more and more Atlantians began to slowly come out of their homes and businesses to join the growing crowd. They looked more terrified of her than they did the Dragons circling over them. They’d lived in fear for so long, they didn’t know what to make of the girl who’d stolen the crown from the only ruler they’d known for almost two centuries. She couldn’t blame them for their caution.
“I am Valeria Dendali Riverthorne. I am one of the last living Dendalis, granddaughter to Tobias Dendali. Many of you are asking yourselves, what does this mean for me? Many of you are celebrating that Kronos’s rule is over. I am not Kronos or Hera. I do not use fear or rage to guide me.”
She licked her lips and took a step, but the sear
ing pain in her side made her gasp. She looked down to see the red stains blooming along her abdomen. Her sword. That first toss from Kronos…she landed on her sword. It must have stabbed her, and she’d just pulled it out, not thinking and scared out of her mind.
Lukas was at her side in an instant. She stopped him when he tried to get her to let him tend it. There was something she had to say to these people.
“I grew up in DeCadia, cast aside by my family, forced to grow up in conditions no child should ever suffer. All I ever wanted was to belong somewhere, to be where I had family. During the trials of the Crucible, I learned I had that all along with the men and women of my crew aboard The Emerald Queen. They accepted me, they loved me, and they were my family. Family isn’t blood. It’s the people who love you and tend to you, much like this oaf here trying to pull me away.”
Lukas let out an exasperated sound, and instead of trying to make her leave, he let her lean against him for strength. She might fall soon. It was a real possibility, but she hoped she’d be able to get this out first.
“I came here searching for a home and family. What I found was a cruel leader who had stolen the crown not through any rite of passage, but through deceit and treachery. I found people suffering from that rule. It called to me, even though I wanted to run. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to be the queen of anything, but this city called to me on a level so deep I couldn’t deny it. When I looked into the eyes of the children who’d been abandoned and lost for a century, I couldn’t let that pass. I had to do something. I had to help.”
Lukas’s arm slipped around her, and she pressed against him, her vision going a little blurry. “I can’t promise I will be the best leader, but I will promise you I’ll be fair, patient, and kind. Doesn’t mean I won’t be stubborn and swift and brutal in punishment when it’s merited, but it will be dealt with a hand tempered by compassion and kindness. That is a promise. I will work with all of you to rebuild the city into what it once was under the rule of the Dendalis.”
