Sky Warriors: Poleuthan's Thief (Sky Warriors Saga Book 1)

by Pendragon, Nicole

  Confused she tentatively reached for his mind, but she encountered a wall, blocking her from his thoughts and burning with red anger and something else she couldn’t name. She recoiled at the touch of the rage that emitted from him and receded into her own mind, bewildered by his wrath.

  Unsettled she let out a weak breath and tightened her grip on her sword, worried. She wondered what had just happened, why Showl was so furious and why he was blocking her. She felt hurt by his actions when he had just stated that she was free to be part of his thoughts.

  Ange choked down the pain and steeled her mind for battle, ignoring the thoughts that bothered her and glared down as they broke through the clouds.

  Showl roared, jarring her bones with the trumpeting sound. She snowy clouds swirled away to show Sora buffeting the two other dragons in a powerful gale, forcing them to stay pressed to the ground as they endured the harsh cutting winds. Slashes tore across their hides, splashing blood cross their bodies and ripping feathers free, and as Ange looked closer she realized they were protecting their Dragonbounds with their bodies, suffering the agony of Sora’s cutting air to keep them safe.

  Anger raced through Ange to see the abuse.

  Showl’s voice suddenly thundered through her head, piercing her skull with agony.

  “You wanted a battle, there it is! If you have the assumption to command me, you better not die!” he snapped infuriated. His voice withdrew along with his ire, leaving her lightheaded and somehow cold.

  Ange was left bewildered by his words, shocked that he had lashed out on her, dizzy, she wasn’t prepared for the jarring impact when Sora and Showl’s bodies collided. She felt the force rock her entire frame as she lost hold of Showl’s horn, tumbling down his neck.

  Quickly she latched onto one of his spikes, holding on firmly and nearly dropping the sword.

  Another roar thundered from his throat, reverberating through his neck, causing Ange to freeze up as the tendons of his neck, felt trough scales and feathers, tightened for the lunge.

  Tensing herself for the impact she grasped feathers past the handle of the blade and grinded her teeth as Showl’s head lurched forward, loud cracking was heard over the storm and winds, Sora’s caterwaul of agony pierced Ange’s ears.

  Determined not to dangle helplessly she began to climb the long thorns of Showl’s neck, Sora’s thrashing only made it harder for Ange to keep her hold secure.

  Showl yelled in pain and released Sora, thrusting his wings to buffet space between their bodies as he recoiled from her furious slashing.

  Ange climbed the last few feet and she wished angrily that she had something to hang onto.

  The sword in her left hand began to tremble in her grip, pulling itself free from her fingers.

  She grimaced, expecting it to fall thousands of feet to the ground below. Instead it hovered over Showl’s head, moving with him. The gem began to glow as liquid steel pooled from the blade, washing over Showl’s skull as a silver and hard white saddle formed, strapping powerful and thick cords around his horns. The mold was elegant as other features formed, including two silver reels in front, past the handle grips of the seat.

  The reels screeched as steel ropes with handles shot out towards her, immediately with her free hand she caught the first handle and released Showl’s spike as the other handle flew by before she caught it too. A gasp escaped her as the cords suddenly yanked her forward.

  She skidded to halt, winded, standing on Showl’s head as something snapped and enclosed her lower legs, below the knee joint. She glanced down bewildered by the white steel boots that held her legs and feet fast. Her sword flew to her side, a sheath materializing around the blade as an ornate white belt formed and snapped around her waist.

  Ange looked ahead to witness Sora flying toward them in a deadly display of speed.

  Showl vainly flew in reverse, trying to avoid her attack. Before she reached them a streak of white slammed into her side.

  Ange gazed amazed as the dragon, Grace, toppling the enraged creature to the air space below. Sora’s jaws parted and a horrid sonic howl rang throughout the sky.

  Even through the wall between their minds, Ange could feel Showl’s agony as the noise ripped at his sensitive ears. A ringing headache pealed through Ange’s head as she nearly doubled over with a scream.

  The white dragon thrashed its head as it roared, letting go of Sora and diving out of range.

  A billow of shadows roiled forward quickly, slamming into Sora’s side, engulfing her as the black dragon materialized, a large clawed forepaw clapped and clenched the screeching dragon’s throat, turning its powerful scream into painful choking.

  Ange sighed in relief as her sonic shout was cut short. Her head still hurt but at least she didn’t feel like her capacity to think had been crippled.

  Showl began to dive again, his jaws parting in an enraged howl. Ice began to chaotically swirl around them, Ange clenched the tethered handles more tightly, feeling the wind push her back as they streaked for the shadowy dragon and the thrashing slate winged dragon. The obsidian rider stood up confidently, glinting knives unfolded from her hands.

  She flung them at blinding speed but the Adherent rider swatted several of the blades away with an up raised arm, she missed one that thumped loudly into her side. Her expressionless face warped into one of agony as she screamed before yanking out the knife and throwing it back which the obsidian rider caught easily as the others rematerialized before her hands. The wounded girl hunched over gasping in pain, cradling her side as Sora pushed free of the black dragon’s grasp.

  The black dragon twisted away quickly, smoke billowing from its jaws, fogging its form and rider. Ange watched intently, awed as the dematerializing rider pulled out an ebony longbow from her back as she noticed Ange’s stare. The black clad girl smiled and winked at her as her face vanished into wraithlike swirling smoke.

  The mass of shadows rolled away like a living thundercloud, expanding and merging with the blackout Showl had summoned with the snow.

  “Pay attention!” Showl’s voice commanded as her gaze continued to linger on the clouds the dark pigmented dragon and rider had vanished into. Ange realized the wall between their thoughts had vanished.

  Ange’s gaze snapped ahead. Sora was launching for them, seeming unhampered by her rider’s incapacity to fight at the moment.

  Ange quickly slipped her hand into the handle, catching it to her wrist so her hand could be free to grasp her sword. Ungracefully she yanked out the long blade, unaccustomed to its length.

  A hoarse battle cry escaped Ange’s mouth, ending in a gasp as compressed ball of blinding light shot up from the storm bellow, grazing and exploding at the slate dragon’s side.

  She roared out in agony as the fulgent orb lanced out rays of blinding golden light as it dissipated. Sora’s side was raw and bloodied, all the feathers on her left flank between her front and back leg were gone, charred, revealing slate keeled scales and creamy ventral scales as she swooped past.

  Showl snapped for her tail as she flew by, missing by only a few inches as his jaws clicked the air.

  Showl stopped, hovering in place as he looped his body around to pursue the injured dragon as crimson droplets rained out from behind her.

  Ange watched confused and then horrified as Sora hissed in fury, wind began to swirl and lash around her, slicing the snow and clouds away. She was suddenly a blur, twisting, rotating, and spinning around them in a clockwise fashion, staying many feet away.

  Horror suddenly washed through Showl’s thoughts as he entered worriedly into her mind, his thoughts distant.

  “We have to get out of here! She’s creating a tornado around us, a vacuum to suffocate us.”

  “A what?!” Ange asked back confused, she didn’t understand the significance of his words, she had never studied storm systems nor really listened to Daren when he got excited over a book he was informing her about. But she did know the significance of suffocation and fear washed through h
er.

  “Hold on tight!” He commanded simply as he began beat his wings in an effort to gain altitude.

  Ange swallowed hard as winds began to lash at her face, sting her eyes, and tire her limbs. She squinted as she gazed up, lost in the swirling black clouds that were racing faster up to the sky then they were.

  She hissed bewildered as her feet began to slip back, as she gazed down. The boots holding on to her legs reeled back as did the wired handles till she was laying on the saddle, molded perfectly for her shape, as the grips locked into place at the head of the saddle to the sides.

  The air became heavy, she gasped, feeling her lungs begin to collapse as she wheezed for air. Her head was quickly becoming light, screaming for oxygen, blacking out.

  “Sh…owl…I…can’t…bre…breathe!” Her thoughts gasped weakly, her head was starting to hurt, just like her constraining lungs and burning throat. Her tongue was heavy in her mouth, dry.

  “Hold on, Angeline,” he whispered encouragingly, a note of terror in his mental voice as he too started to feel breathless.

  Ange’s eyes flickered to the twisting winds, her hunched shoulders quaked as she tried to keep herself up on the saddle. She gazed blankly at the violent pressure system, lost to understand it, bewildered to comprehend how Sora could be twisting around them so rapidly, she couldn’t detect the slightest glimpse of the dragon.

  Her hazel eyes flickered up, she groan, forsaking the little air she had in her body as she helpless gazed at the twister as it expanded high above them.

  She could feel Showl’s hopelessness, his limbs were weakening, and his wings would not be able to pull them above the funnel of wind. He was about to plummet at any moment.

  Ange thoughts started to strain as she glared at the wind, looking for Sora. A beast moving too fast for her to possibly see.

  For a moment, she wished for everything to stop. She wished existence would stop, for only a heartbeat so they could escape, so they could breathe. So they could turn the tide of battle to their victory.

  Her thoughts started to pull, screech out angrily as her mind started to fail.

  Stop…

  Showl’s wings heaved a final stroke, his bones ached and muscles burned, they began to fall.

  St…op…

  His fear and desperation began to claw through her, she could feel him vainly trying to give her the energy that remained in him, his mind started to shut down. The only thought that ran through it was that he had failed her, doomed her.

  Ange snarled in determination, her mind stubbornly fighting the fatigue and despair that threatened to claim her as his vital energy washed through her chocking body.

  STOP!!!

  Something within her soul pulsated, reacted, and began to burn like an ignited sun. A space that had been once black, void, and empty was suddenly filled with an overwhelming force, accenting Showl’s life force.

  Energy spun through her veins and she gasped, life burned into her limbs, in every fiber of her being was suddenly a power so incomprehensible, overpowering, and somehow…divine.

  Then the world was suddenly cold.

  The moment she had met and bonded with Showl, her comprehension of cold had vanished. Now it was swallowing her from the outside in, sucking out the warmth from her every muscle. The sun that had ignited, burned her flesh to life was suddenly drawing back, pulling out the heat to fuel its life and leaving her with a deathly chill that began at the tips of her fingers, the crown of her head, and the soles of her feet.

  She shivered, her breath coming out icy and dead. Her eyes traveled up from her quickly bluing, unresponsive fingers to the scene around her.

  The world was frozen.

  Showl’s mind was in a state of utter shock, as their souls brushed closer she could feel he was suffering from the same condition.

  His eyes focused on Sora, frozen in flight, wings set back within the twister of still wind.

  Ange trembled, too cold to be awed, confused, or startled. Showl roared out in determination. His wings lashed the still air, twisting he plunged for Sora, smashing into her frozen side and chomping into her back. The frozen dragon didn’t move, didn’t react, blood didn’t even leak as scales cracked under Showl’s fangs. He released her as they pulled out from the tornado, Sora’s body hung, suspended in the space Showl had released her in.

  Pain pinched every molecule of Ange’s body, the freezing grasp had pulled up half way up her legs and arms, her lips felt like solid ice, breaking, she felt blood leak out, freezing to her skin. Only seconds had passed since the world had become still.

  Ange’s eyes glanced up, to bewildering sight as the deadening cold continued to claw up her body, aching her bones to agony then emptiness, as her nerves deadened.

  In the heavens, suspended in space where nothing should have existed was the crescent of a planet. The visible landmass was lush as sea blue water rimmed the edges of the land, sparse clouds hung obscuring parts of the surface.

  Darkness rimmed the world and Ange realized her vision was failing.

  “Let it go, little thief!” Showl screamed into her mind. “Let it go!”

  Ange trembled, her unresponsive fingers clutching the handles of the saddle as her brain commanded them to let it go but she could not move. Her frame trembled, locked in winter’s embrace as the smoldering sun within her snuffed out the light from her eyes, the heat in her body, and the life in her soul.

  “Angeline, let it go!” Showl roared into her mind, desperate, pushing for her to listen. “Let go of the imperium universi, or you’ll die under its sway!”

  “I don’t…know how…” Ange replied weakly.

  “You must only release it,” Showl insisted desperately, his thoughts frantic with fear for her.

  Ange swallowed with difficulty, pained by the slow death she was suffering. Her heart was slowing, beating at a lethargic pace as the power within swallowed rapidly the life that remained in her. Her thoughts darkened into silence as Showl’s mind engulfed her, brushing away her weariness, her cold, and agony.

  She slumped on the saddle as reality vanished into the shadows of sleep.

  The sun died making all darkness darker and the universe began to move once more.

  Chapter 15: Palace in a Volcano

  Insatiable cold, it would not be satisfied till all the warmth had been stripped of her. She didn’t know how long she had remained suspended in a cold dark world, shivering.

  Slowly the ice began to melt, slipping off her skin, raising horripilation in the trails they marked. A presence slowly engulfed her, brushing away the cold with a touch that was comforting and warm, thoughts murmured to her, whispering that she was safe.

  Then it pulled back too soon, much to her dismay, yet faintly it remained at the edges of her thoughts, thrumming energy into her fatigued body, melting the cold rapidly away and helping her drift into fit sleep.

  Awareness soon began to pester her, pulling her from soft snowy dreams to the present, to the waking world where voices argued quietly nearby. Making her aware of her outwear and numb body.

  “Rex Showl, we are not the enemy here. You were not so stubborn and cold two-hundred years ago. Has solitude truly changed you so much?” a beautiful female voice asked.

  “Or has your Soulbound?” asked a quiet and velvety voice.

  “It does not matter what has changed me, Regina Grace. I came here only because we needed a safe place to rest where I could tend to her,” Showl replied calmly.

  “Surely you do not expect us to believe she was frozen like a block of ice because of your carelessness,” cut in a masculine and powerful voice, deep and rich. “She is bonded to you, the cold cannot affect her from what I recall.”

  Showl snarled infuriated. “I already gave you all an answer to that, Rex Chrysaetos. I will not continue to repeat myself. Whether the explanation satisfies you or not is none of my concern.”

  “Saeto, leave the subject to rest. When they wish to be truthful with us, they will be
,” Grace’s voice soothed.

  Chrysaetos snorted displeased but fell quiet.

  “When Angeline wakes up and she still wishes to leave, we will,” Showl stated simply.

  “The proud dragon I knew would not abandon his duties so lightly,” snapped Grace’s voice suddenly.

  Ange felt her fingers ball up into a fist but she remained still, intent on listening.

  “Nothing can be more important than your duty to this Council, Rex Showl. Surely you know this,” the velvety voice spoke in. “We are depending on you, we cannot allow this war to continue to wear on. We cannot stand by and allow you to ignore this danger so blatantly. There are more important matters at stake than our desires. If you are not going to help…”

  “Are you threatening me, Rex Corvus? The life of my Soulbound?” Showl hissed, Ange could almost hear his fangs lengthen.

  “He’s not threating anyone!” snapped a furious female voice. “You’re the one that’s not explaining yourself to us! How can we help if you won’t trust us?”

  “Calm down, Amaris,” a voice of authority commanded, yet there was agreement in the voice.

  “Ileana…” Amaris complained, still seething.

  “She is right, Rex Showl,” Ileana continued. “I hate to be blunt, but I will be. As much as I hate the idea of killing one of our own-”

  Showl snarled. Grace’s snarl matched his.

  Ileana, continued on, ignoring the growling and interruption.

  “I will have no choice but to give the command, Rex Glacies. You’re a liability to us out there, the Adherent are persistent, and once they find out you’re on your own, they will not give up till they capture you both. Do you want them to make Angeline a Silent? Torture her till you break or you both die?”

  Showl was silent, Ange could feel his mind was turbulent and troubled.

  Ileana’s logical voice gained a note of sorrow as she continued. “And I am sure you recall Sora. They can do the same to you that they did to her, Rex Showl. And you know I cannot allow that,” her voice became hushed. “Do not make me kill you both. Do not force my hand, Rex Showl. We cannot afford to wait another eight hundred years for you to be reborn and bound and hope you will help us end this war.”