Dragon Scepter

by Angelique Anderson

  Ecthelion’s eyes widened. “The sky kingdom is falling?”

  Hekla nodded.

  “How will you stop it?”

  Hekla displayed a sideways grin. “With our new dragon friend.”

  “What do you need me to do?” he asked.

  “Gather everyone. March on Aequorus. If you have any more contacts on the inside, you need to let them know. Tell them what the king is doing. Tell them of his alliance. Don’t hold back. Today is when we get Aequorus back.”

  He nodded.

  Hekla stretched out her hand. He looked at it quizzically.

  “Take my hand.”

  He stretched his hand out, and she clasped it, her hand wrapping around his forearm where she shook it gently.

  “I will see you soon.”

  “Yes… my queen.” He bowed.

  Hekla bit her lip but turned around to look at Jetevius. “Are you ready?”

  He raised his brows. “Let’s go.”

  “Where is Isabella?” Hekla asked.

  “She hasn’t returned,” Ecthelion said.

  “Where did she go?” Hekla asked.

  “She left out of the south side of the camp,” Ecthelion said.

  “And she still hasn’t returned?” Hekla asked.

  Ecthelion shook his head.

  Hekla began to wonder what Isabella was up to. She was going to be a key factor in taking control of Aequorus. If they convinced all the Aequorans to disband King Renault, Isabella could let everyone know that she was his daughter, and the people who otherwise wouldn’t have followed Hekla would listen to the king’s daughter. Hekla hoped Isabella would return soon. There wasn’t much time left, and they couldn’t wait for her. And Hekla hoped she hadn’t misjudged Isabella’s character. She seemed to have no love for her father, or for power, but had it all been a front? Hekla’s lips puckered as she thought about it. She hoped that wasn’t the case.

  “We can’t wait,” Hekla said. “Keep an eye out for her.”

  Ecthelion nodded.

  “Come on, Jetevius.”

  Hekla left the camp with Jetevius and a dozen Aequoran soldiers. They traveled the long path to the canyon. After they were far enough away from the camp, Hekla called the dolphins and her otter to her, where they were able to ride them to the canyon.

  Once there, Hekla looked at the surroundings. Her shield blocking the canyon entrance was long gone, but there were no undead anywhere in sight. She hoped they’d gone back to the city in the canyon, and not marched on Aequorus.

  Hekla turned to look at Jetevius. “Is everything prepared?”

  He nodded. “They have brought what you asked for.”

  The dozen soldiers brought crates and crates to the edge of the canyon. They weren’t in the same place as before. Hekla positioned them to be directly on top of the city itself instead of off to the side. Once the few hundred crates had been loaded onto the edge of the canyon, Hekla positioned herself behind them.

  “Behind me,” she said.

  Everyone moved out of the way to stand behind her. She hoped her plan would work.

  Hekla raised her scepter high and aimed it toward the crates. “Wavium Aquum Purum Expandum!”

  A massive underwater wave crashed into the crates, knocking them over the side of the canyon. It pushed them far enough over that they would land all over the city instead of only at the edge had the soldiers only dropped them.

  They waited for several minutes in silence as all the crates descended. Hekla stepped forward, walking to the edge to look over. It was too dark to see where the crates had landed, but she had done the math. The crates should shatter all over the city.

  Jetevius stepped next to her. “Do you think it’ll work?”

  A roar broke the silence. It was louder than anything Hekla had ever heard, and it stretched on for a long time. After several minutes of everyone covering their ears from the deafening roar, a massive flame erupted from the canyon, stretching upward. Hekla and the others had to back away to avoid being burned, which was a weird concept since they were underwater.

  “Never mind,” Jetevius said.

  “Now!” Hekla yelled.

  The Aequoran soldiers began rolling the explosive barrels into the canyon. Hekla focused her magic to toss them toward the heart of the castle. There was nearly fifty of them, and as they unloaded the last few, the explosions reverberated the ground they stood on. Hekla had to reach out and grab Jetevius’s shoulder to keep herself steady.

  “Did you not think throwing garbage and waste all over his castle wasn’t going to be enough? Did we really have to blow it up too?”

  Hekla smiled. “As an extra precaution. Besides, no one needs a castle made of gold.”

  Hekla had planned it out thoroughly. She had had the soldiers gather all of the garbage from the nearby camps, as well as any waste exported from Aequoris. They dumped all the garbage onto the city. But Hekla wasn’t sure if it would be enough. Clearly, the city was of importance to the dragon. It seemed all the resources King Renault had been giving him had all gone to creating the massive castle and city in the canyon. Hekla wanted to make the dragon mad and act recklessly. Destroying the castle seemed like the next logical step.

  Taking a deep breath, Hekla walked to the edge of the canyon as the last explosion echoed to silence. It was quiet. Too quiet. It would be too much to hope that the explosions had killed the dragon and all the undead, wasn’t it? A screech filled the air, making Hekla and the others cover their ears. Then, in the darkness, Hekla saw as the undead began to crawl up the walls. They were fast for being dead. There were hundreds of them, and they kept coming.

  Hekla turned around. “Swim! To Aequorus!”

  She didn’t check to see if everyone else had begun swimming. They had planned it all out. Everyone knew they would have to run. Hekla didn’t look back, but she could hear the snarls of the undead behind her. The dolphins and her otter friend had appeared. She climbed atop the animal, and together they swam away as fast as they could.

  When they arrived at the city, Hekla noticed the protest was in full effect. She noticed that it wasn’t only the camps that opposed the king’s armies, but all the civilians from the surrounding islands as well. It looked to be a full turnout. Hekla smiled as she looked at the crowd.

  The king, irritation clear on his face, but not wanting his soldiers to kill everyone, or at least try. He had to see they were outnumbered. King Renault walked to a stage to give a speech. He seemed to be trying to do some form of damage control.

  “My fellow Aequorans. I do not know where this comes from. I have done nothing but good things for our kingdom. All these speculations I’m hearing—they’re all lies.”

  “What about the dragon?” someone called from the crowd.

  “There is no dragon. Dragons have not roamed Verdil for hundreds of years,” he responded.

  “And the army of undead?” someone else asked.

  “There is no such thing. I tell you, my people, all these acquisitions are false. I have only tried to further our kingdom, but I have been met with nothing but resistance. Telluris has fought against us and killed our people. Their king is corrupted. Caelestis has fought and killed our people. Their king is corrupt. I only seek to take back what is rightfully ours. I am only defending our kingdom.”

  “Lies!” Hekla yelled out.

  The king turned and noticed her in the crowd. He scowled at her. “Guards, capture her. She is the traitor! She is the one behind all the lies!”

  His guards moved toward her, unsheathing their weapons. Hekla stepped back, and over a dozen guards and allies of hers stepped in front of her, ready to protect her with their lives.

  Hekla clenched her teeth, prepared to fight, but not really wanting to. A screech filled the air. Hekla turned to look to the east and saw the undead had arrived.

  “The undead are here!” she yelled. “We need to unite and defeat this evil threat that the king has set upon us!”

  “Lies!” King
Renault yelled.

  Screams erupted in the crowd as everyone else noticed the undead.

  “It’s true!” someone from the crowd yelled. “The undead have come.”

  The guards who were just moving upon Hekla, turned to look at the undead. They repositioned themselves, forgetting about their king’s orders, and Hekla entirely, and facing the undead.

  “Fight!” Hekla yelled. “As one!”

  The undead didn’t have weapons, but they didn’t need any. Their speed and strength was uncanny. Hekla watched with horror as dozens of Aequoran soldiers fell to the ground in minutes. She used her scepter to cast magic, but it wasn’t enough.

  Hekla hadn’t planned on them staying to fight long, but she imagined they would have fared a little better from the beginning. After a few minutes, the tide of the battle turned as the Aequorans learned how to face the undead. Swords and pitchforks were used to stop the army, but it was a battle they could not win. When Hekla really looked out into the crowd, she realized how outnumbered they were. There were thousands of the undead.

  “Stop!” the king yelled. “I command you all to stop!”

  No one paid the king any attention. The Aequorans continued to defend the city and the undead continued to attack.

  “I beg you to stop! We have paid our offerings to your master!” the king continued. “We have given you all the gold and the jewels! You weren’t supposed to attack us!”

  Hekla turned to look at the king with his admission. She wondered how many of the Aequorans had caught his revelation. Hekla hoped it was enough. It was now time to leave.

  A roar came from the distance, and it was getting closer. The king visibly shivered. He was off of his podium and staggering forward. Hekla watched him as he approached.

  “The dragon is coming!” he yelled. “What do we do?”

  “We must abandon the city. We need to reach the surface by the Tellurian and Caelestan territory. Our allies are waiting on us,” Hekla said.

  “Allies?” the king asked.

  Hekla smiled. “We cannot defeat the dragon alone.”

  “We cannot defeat the dragon at all,” the king scoffed.

  Hekla shook her head, disappointed in the king. “Swim!” she yelled out for everyone to hear. “Swim to the surface.”

  “Swim,” Ecthelion repeated, yelling into the air. “To the surface! Hurry!”

  Jetevius repeated the order as well.

  The king scowled at Hekla. “You will pay for this.”

  King Renault didn’t say anything more. After one last glare in her direction, he began swimming with the rest of the civilians toward the surface. Soldiers began to follow.

  Hekla held the rear with her guards, fighting against more undead, and keeping a steady path for everyone to flee. They had to hold the defenses for everyone to escape.

  “Swim to the surface!” Hekla called out.

  A line of swimmers exited the city and swam straight for the surface. Straight for where Hekla had told her sister, Astrid, to wait. She hoped her sister was already there, and she hoped they’d reached Svana in time for her to be there as well.

  As the last of the swimmers from Aequorus swam past, Hekla and the remaining soldiers began backing up toward the surface. They continued to fight, though less offensively as they backed away toward the surface to join the other Aequorans.

  The dragon appeared in the back of the crowd of undead. The undead were dwarfed in comparison to the massive dragon. It didn’t seem the dragon cared much for the undead as he walked forward, his massive paws stepping on top of dozens of undead.

  “Go!” Hekla said.

  Some of the soldiers departed, and yet dozens stayed to fight by her side. Hekla respected their dedication to her, but she wanted them to leave. If they stayed, the dragon would surely kill them.

  “Now!” she yelled. “Swim to the surface! That is an order.”

  The remaining soldiers looked at her reluctantly. She stepped forward, positioning her scepter at the dragon. It glowed a dark blue as she funneled her magic into it.

  “Pyrem Orbium,” Hekla said.

  A large fireball blazed through the water to strike the dragon’s temple.

  “Aquum Purum Orbium,” Hekla said.

  A large orb of water crashed into the jaw of the dragon, immobilizing him for a few seconds with a stun.

  “Wavium Aquum Purum,” Hekla said.

  A massive underwater wave rose up and washed over all the Aequorans in front of her, knocking them toward the dragon. She waited for one more second as the wave crashed into the dragon.

  Duliogial snarled and swam toward them with fury clear on his face.

  It was now time for Hekla to run, or rather, swim for her life. She turned around and swam to catch up to the others. Most had left at her order, but there were still a few who hadn’t stopped protecting her until she turned to flee. They turned to go with her, but not all of them made it. She could hear a few of them screaming behind her as the undead army or the dragon caught them. But she couldn’t dwell on that now. She’d tried to warn them. Now all she could do was flee and hope that Svana and Astrid were awaiting her on the surface.

  44

  Astrid

  Remain vigilant and steady, for it is in the moments that we are not vigilant and steady, we are at our weakest. However, often those who feel as if they are at their strongest, are actually at their weakest because they are not observant on their task, but instead overconfident. Never forget that, and never let your guard down.

  King Michiel the Trusted, Third King of Caelestis, 485 A.V.

  Astrid’s leather boots mashed into the sand, as she watched the waves begin to grow in size. The sound of their crashing against the surf was almost a calming prelude to the terror that she knew would soon be upon them all. War was never peaceful.

  Where is everyone? She wondered.

  Time had stopped. All the world was on pause as she awaited the arrival of Cayden and the Caelestan soldiers.

  Wings flapping overhead drew her attention upward. Her brow furrowed. She wouldn’t hear a bird flapping its wings—unless it was right next to her. And this sound was almost echoing itself, as if there wasn’t only one bird, but hundreds. The flapping grew louder with each second, like the sound of thunder rolling across the sky.

  “What!?” Astrid exclaimed in awe, as she reveled in the astonishing display above her.

  The Sky Ethereals had banded together, each one with a different appearance than the last. A rainbow cacophony of beasts billowing out all over the sky above, nearly blocking out the clouds entirely.

  I thought there weren’t many left.

  It felt with each passing moment that she had more questions than answers, as the rushing wind from their wings whipped her wild emerald hair around her shoulders.

  They stopped their ascent, seemingly frozen mid-flight as they hovered overhead, only one of the sky creatures descended in front of her, on it’s great feathered back, Quimby.

  “Quimby! My friend, thank you for making it here today… but tell me… all these Sky Ethereals?”

  “They are powerful beasts, and they will allow us to achieve aerial attacks. Several of the soldiers are armed with bows and arrows. Sling-shots, small boulders, we will have the advantage in the sky, Lady Astrid.”

  She nodded her head, smiling from ear to ear. “This is better news than I could have hoped for, but where did all these massive animals come from? I thought they were gone?”

  “Well, it seems that in the dark, without the Caelestans calling on them day and night, they have rebuilt themselves. Reproduced. It’s nearly miraculous,” he said kindly, eyes wrinkling at the corners. “It is a victory for us, but I have no doubt we will lose many today.”

  “I hope not, and I will do everything in my power to protect those I can. Tell me, where is Cayden? Where is the Vizier?”

  With Quimby’s good hand, he pointed up to their locations.

  “They are taking up the sides, and
will remain our eyes in the sky, as will I. Hold tight, Astrid, there are Caelestan soldiers marching this way to join you here on the ground.”

  Astrid nodded. “Very well, Quimby. Thank you and be safe.”

  “As well as I can, it is war.”

  “Yes, that it is.”

  Quimby took out the wooden carved whistle used to call the beasts, beckoning one to him. His movements were far from fluid, but Astrid couldn’t help but be in awe at how well he had adjusted to being one-handed. A lesser man would have given up, or at least stayed away from anything that could further put him in harm’s way.

  Marching feet pounded against the ground in the distance, gaining volume as they got closer. Then, emerging from the trees, the lithe beings, wings shimmering in the daylight, emerged. Each outfitted in thick leather armor with the sky kingdom symbol on their chest. They carried long silver swords, heads cradled in leather helmets.

  They were prepared.

  The crashing waves grew louder, drawing Astrid’s attention. Aequoran’s had begun to rise out of the waves, voices lifted in terror as they raced toward the shore.

  It starts, Astrid thought.

  “Ready your weapons! Prepare to fight!” she yelled loudly, pulling her bow from back.

  Ready, Aronus?

  The pressure of his body on her shoulder, the feel of his tail flicking against the side of her face told her he was. Everything was on the line now. After today, things would never be the same.

  “Clear a path!” one of the soldier’s yelled, allowing the Aequorans to get through.

  “Shields up! Protect them at all costs!” Astrid said, watching as they ran screaming into the gathering army of Caelestan soldiers.

  “Aequorans, ready yourselves! We must all fight!” she yelled again, as they stumbled to hide themselves behind the Caelestan army. Astrid turned her attention back to the waves, where more of the water beings came rushing out. When they had finally ceased emerging from the sea, Astrid held her breath.

  Hekla had not been among the people.

  Where was she? Was she dead? Was it too late?

  Time had stalled again. Astrid’s heart stopped; her skin began to grow clammy. She couldn’t fathom the idea of such a loss, to never see her sister again. It was unfathomable.