Ravages

by Kit Bladegrave

  I thrashed on the bed, wanting it to stop, but then it turned into a scream of pain, and she was being dragged away from me, tendrils of shadow wrapped around her body.

  Cassius cackled nearby as the darkness swarmed around her.

  And I did nothing, but stand there and stare. Bit by bit, it broke her down and all the while, she screamed my name, desperately trying to get to me. The betrayal in her eyes stabbed me like a dagger to the heart, over and over again until with one final scream, she was swallowed whole and vanished from sight.

  Forrest… help me… please…

  I jumped out of bed, drenched in sweat and glaring around my room. Stars filled the night sky outside my window, and I sank back to the bed, shaking my head.

  “It was just a dream,” I told myself. “Only a dream.”

  Forrest…

  I got out of bed again, spinning around like a mad man in my room, half expecting to see Kate step out of the shadows, but I was alone.

  “Great, now you’re going crazy.” I rubbed my face vigorously with both hands and left my chambers, hoping it would leave her behind, too. “Keep it together, there’s nothing you can do for her.”

  But after all the hate I felt toward her, all the pain she caused me, the idea of watching the council kill her, of me or Craig delivering that killer blow drew an anguished cry from my mouth, and I fell to my knees in the middle of the torch-lit corridor.

  What was I doing? I couldn’t kill Kate! My father was dead, but killing her, what would that do except open me up to the same darkness that tempted her, that turned her? I would become a monster and Cassius would win.

  That’s why he’d done it. To drive me closer to the edge and forget what we were fighting for. What Kate was meant to do for us all.

  A heavy hand fell on my shoulder, and without looking up, I knew it was Craig.

  He sat on the floor beside me and draped a comforting arm over my shoulders. He said nothing, he didn’t have to. Regret and guilt drifted off him and bumped into me, as well as an unyielding hope and love so strong, there was no doubt of his feelings for Kate. He loved her, more than life itself, and no matter what I or the council decided, he wasn’t going to let them hurt Kate.

  “I’m so sorry, my friend,” I whispered when I thought I could talk. “I was so blinded by my grief, I didn’t… I didn’t stop to understand…”

  He squeezed my shoulder. “It’s alright. Better late than never to realize the three of us are far from finished with each other.”

  “The shards, have you come up with a way to make them work yet?”

  “That would be good news, wouldn’t it?”

  “Nothing?”

  He shook his head. “Lucy is as lost as I am on how to use them to find the rest of the shield, or even create a new shield using them. However it was formed all those years ago, I don’t think we can recreate it.”

  “What do we do then?”

  He stood and helped me up, too. “We wait for Kate to come and when she gets here, we get her away from Cassius and somehow, we’ll find a way to get her back.”

  An ugly voice reared its head in my mind that she didn’t deserve to be saved, but that was far from the truth.

  I clenched my jaw hard, and then Craig hugged me tightly like the true friend he’d become.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t save Kadin,” he said. “We’ll make Cassius pay, I swear to you we will.”

  I had no doubt we would; I just worried we’d be too late.

  “Come on, let’s go find some good demon grog.”

  We headed down the corridor and though I was still angry at Kate, I would not be helping anyone kill her. Not unless there was no option left.

  11

  Forrest

  Craig and I sat in the kitchen through the rest of the night, and when the first lights of dawn broke over the horizon, we tossed the empty bottle of grog aside and cooked ourselves up some sausage and eggs for breakfast.

  We’d ranted about how unfair the world was, about his father and mine. About where we were now and the horrible realization that we could still fail.

  He confessed he loved Kate and I confessed that though I did too, after what happened, I didn’t think I could ever feel as strongly for her as he did. Too much had happened I worried I’d never get over.

  Kadin’s murder broke something inside me, showing me how cruel the world really was.

  Once this was all over, I would be busy rebuilding Gregornath anyway, and aiding my people with their new futures. There would be no time to spend with Kate, or even Craig, for that matter.

  If you all live, you mean, I thought darkly and suddenly, I wasn’t hungry.

  We just tucked into eating, discussing our plans to speak to the council again and let them know we were going to revote on the Kate issue when bells rang out.

  Suddenly, Craig cursed and was out of his chair in a blink, me right behind him.

  We sprinted into the courtyard to see Luca helping a mud-caked rider dismounting and staggering forward.

  “Sire! They’ve come, the enemy! They’re here!”

  “And the others? What about the others at the breach?” Craig asked, holding the man up by his shoulders. “Answer me!”

  The man gulped, shaking his head. “Dead… they… they killed them all!”

  “Damn it,” Craig snapped, lifting his head. “Nora! Get him inside and to safety. Send for Tristan. Tell them the enemy is here.”

  She bowed her head without argument, and holding the rider up with his arm over her shoulders, she maneuvered him toward the doors.

  Craig yelled out orders like a true king, and his soldiers burst into action making ready for the attack that was soon to come. T

  he breach was only a few hours’ ride away, which gave us very little time to get ourselves in position.

  Craig told me to get my armor on and get the shards from Lucy.

  “I thought you said we couldn’t use them?” I asked.

  “They might help,” he said with a shrug. “I’m willing to try anything at this point. Aren’t you?”

  There was no arguing that point, so I nodded and took off to find Lucy. She reluctantly handed over the shards until I swore to her I would not let anyone kill Kate.

  Her gaze held mine for a long moment before she nodded.

  “I knew you’d come around,” she whispered, patted my cheek in thanks, and was off again.

  Greyson and the other witches and sorcerers right behind her.

  As I raced for the stairs, the shards clutched in my hand, I willed Kate to sense me somehow, to know we were still fighting for her.

  My nightmare appeared before me, but I growled and shook my head. It wasn’t going to happen. I was not abandoning her. I put everything I had into those shards and nearly ran into a wall when they burned suddenly warm in my palm.

  “Kate?” I stared at the few pieces as they hummed with power. “We’re here, Kate, and we’re going to save you, I swear it.”

  The shards continued to hum, but did nothing else. It would have to be enough.

  By the time I dragged my leather armor on, donned my daggers and sword, and made it back to the courtyard, the iron gates sealed and locked, Craig was decked out in his full battle gear, the new Executioner blade already in his hand.

  There was no talking, just the quiet clank of weapons being prepared, and arrows being dropped in buckets along the top of the wall. The catapults were cranked back, and for the first time ever, I wished modern technology worked within the realms. Guns and artillery would be extremely helpful right about now, but anything from the human world was always disrupted by the magic here. None of it worked the way it was meant to.

  I took my place beside Craig, and together we marched up the steps to the top of the wall over the gate and waited, peering into the distance.

  “Tristan and his men will be here soon,” he said quietly.

  “Think it’ll be enough?”

  “Gods no,” he admitted with
a bitter laugh, “but if it buys us time to get Kate, get her back to who she’s meant to be, it’ll be worth it. The three of us are the only ones who can stop this. We need her to end this war.”

  “I know, I just wish we didn’t have to lose so many.”

  The wind blew the tall grasses across the plain, almost making it look like we stared out over a lake instead of a field. Beyond, the forests remained silent and dark.

  I wasn’t sure how much time actually passed before we heard the first horses neighing, and the sounds of wagons and catapults being dragged closer and closer.

  Craig’s grip tightened on his sword, and he stepped closer to the edge of the wall.

  Luca frowned behind him, Nora at his right, but said nothing.

  “They’re here,” Craig whispered. “Ready the men.”

  Nora raised her hand out of the corner of my eye and I watched as the archers along the walls readied their bows, and the few dragon warriors left capable of fighting shifted in the courtyard below. Swords were drawn, and it was as if everyone held their breath together.

  When the first plagued walked out of the trees, a chorus of growls started around me, including Craig.

  But the only thing my eyes focused on was Kate.

  I sucked in a breath as a flare of deep sadness and pain hit me hard, and I moved closer to the edge of the wall, peering at her.

  She rode on a horse beside Cassius and Allis, Executioner at her back and that gauntlet holding her new shield on her left arm.

  But there was something different about her.

  “Craig,” I whispered, as my knuckles turned white from gripping the stones before me so hard.

  “Do you feel her?” he asked, hopeful.

  I swallowed hard, wondering if it was a fluke, but then the shards grew hot in my pocket where I’d tucked them away, and that same sadness reached for me again.

  “You were right, she’s in there… but she’s losing the fight. If we don’t break his hold now, we won’t get another chance.”

  Forrest…

  Each time she whispered my name, it was another blow that threatened to send me crashing to my knees.

  She was fighting tooth and claw to get free, but even her dragon was trapped.

  All along the wall, demons and dragons shifted on their feet, leather armor creaking as they waited. The plagued army filled the field in mere minutes, but Kate and Cassius rode on until they were barely fifty yards from the front gate.

  “Such a warm welcome,” Cassius yelled with a smirk at us. “I must thank you, Craig. Now then, where is Raghnall. I expected him to be a bit more… happy to see me.”

  I kept my face carefully blank as Craig did the same.

  It appeared Cassius was not all-knowing.

  “I’m afraid he is indisposed,” Craig finally replied with a shrug. “Being killed will do that to a plagued I hear.”

  Cassius’ smirk turned into a sneer, but it was Kate who gave her head a little shake, her hands fidgeting around the reins of her horse.

  “Raghnall is dead?” Cassius shouted.

  “That he is, which makes me the new king and you see,” Craig went on, “I don’t exactly accept those who have come to slaughter my people. Your best bet is to turn right around and go back to that cursed world. Leave us be.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Why don’t you both come down here and the four of us can discuss things in person.” He grinned at me, and I glowered right back at him.

  The man who murdered my father was so close and, yet he wanted to speak to us under a banner of truce, for a few moments at least.

  Craig stepped back from the wall and turned to me. “Can you control your anger if we go down there?”

  “Why? We both want him dead.”

  “Yes, but he still has control of Kate and Allis is down there with an entire army ready to attack. Chances of our surviving if we strike while we’re down there, alone, are very slim, my friend.”

  Letting Cassius slip through my fingers was the last thing I wanted to do, but Craig was right.

  “I will not kill him, at least not yet. You have my word.”

  “Sire, no,” Luca growled. “You cannot go out there alone.”

  “We’ll be fine, Luca,” Craig assured him. “But, if something happens to me, you are in charge.”

  Luca exchanged a glance with Nora, but she looked at a loss for what they could do to stop their king.

  “As you wish, sire,” Luca sighed and bowed his head.

  “Forrest? Shall we?”

  We waved at Cassius and Kate, and I saw them dismounting before they disappeared from sight as we left the wall and waited for the gate to be opened enough for us to slip through.

  Craig gave the order for them to seal it behind us, to the dismay of his soldiers. They gave in, and when it sealed behind us, I began to doubt this plan of ours.

  We moved through the tall grass together and stopped when we were fairly close to Cassius and Kate.

  The latter glowered at us fiercely, but she seemed off. As if she wasn’t even sure why she was there.

  “Now then, isn’t this better?” Cassius said with another grin. “No more yelling.”

  “If you want to discuss terms then name them,” Craig stated.

  “Ah, yes well, what I want is for you to leave Boshen to me and my commander here.”

  Craig burst out laughing, and I inwardly groaned when Cassius face visibly darkened.

  Craig’s smile was cold. “Is that all? You just want me to uproot everyone and what, move to another realm? That’s not going to happen, and you know it. Not without a damn bloody fight.”

  “You see this army behind me?” Cassius pointed over his shoulder. “They will overwhelm your walls and kill everyone inside. Is that what you want?”

  As Craig and he bantered back and forth, I watched Kate.

  I pushed my mind toward hers, recoiling at first when I was met with so much darkness and hatred.

  Forrest… I can’t… I can’t see…

  I heard the words in my mind and sensed the pain eating away at her.

  You have to fight, I whispered to her in my mind, no way of knowing if she could hear me or not. Fight it! You are stronger than this, Kate, stronger than him!

  Kate blinked furiously and took a half-step back.

  Cassius and Craig immediately fell silent when she growled, and smoke trailed out her nose.

  “Katherine?” Cassius snapped.

  “Fine, I’m fine,” she said, but then she growled louder, and I took my chance.

  Unsure if it would work or not, I rolled all my emotion for her, and those of Craig’s, into one massive thought and reached out to her, willing her to embrace the connection that existed between the three of us.

  My ears felt filled with cotton and my vision blurred while the rest of the world fell away.

  All that remained was Kate.

  She gasped the same time I did, and we both fell to our knees in the dirt.

  She grimaced in pain as Cassius spat curses at us both.

  “You will never get her back,” he seethed and spun around, throwing his arms to the sides. “Destroy them! Destroy them all!’

  Craig grabbed my arm hard as I glanced up in time to see the entire plagued army charging at us across the field.

  12

  Kate

  Nothing made sense.

  Forrest and Craig, they stood in front of me, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my mouth to move. To call to them. I was trapped within my own head.

  Cassius, he and Craig were arguing, but then Forrest, he was there. Not just standing there, but inside my head.

  I saw him, before the darkness swirled in and blocked him from my sight.

  No, I whispered, let me go… let me out!

  Cassius’ evil laughter flowed through my mind as I struggled to get free.

  I fought and screamed in anger, needing to get out of this prison I hadn’t even realized I was in until
now.

  Until we’d ridden up to the walls and I saw Forrest and Craig ready for battle. To fight Cassius.

  To fight me.

  My dragon thrashed and roared, giving me the strength I needed to get through, calling out to Forrest that I was in here.

  Everything that happened the past few days slammed into me, and I gasped in horror, realizing what I’d done, what I’d let happen because I let the darkness in.

  Forrest’s father was dead because of me. He should hate me, he should want me to be lost forever, but here he stood, fighting for me to break free.

  I needed to get back to them. I grimaced as pain shot through my skull and finally, my foot moved. I stumbled backward, cursing as the darkness reared its ugly head, hissing, and snarling, threatening to destroy me.

  But I was stronger, so much stronger.

  Then Cassius called for the attack to start, and everything moved in slow motion.

  The army charged forward, ready to swarm Craig and Forrest.

  They’d never make it back to the wall in time. Forrest started to shift, but Cassius threw himself at him, tackling him to the ground and stopped it from happening.

  Their blades were locked in a fierce battle as Craig wielded a very familiar-looking blade, slicing through the first plagued to reach him as they sprinted forward.

  But there were too many. Too many for them to fight off.

  Arrows flew from the wall as Craig bellowed for them to fire.

  Plagued went down in droves, staying down, and all the while, I stood there, letting them sprint past me as I tucked my head low, screaming for the darkness to leave me alone.

  More demons poured out of the front gates they’d flung open, but then Forrest snarled in pain.

  Cassius had slashed his arm with his blade and Craig, he was on the ground as two plagued held him down.

  No… no… no!

  IA screamed and as the shield Cassius had given me expanded, I brought it up high over my head.

  Cassius glowered at me, yelling for me to stop, but it was too late.

  I slammed the shield into the ground. it shattered at my feet, exploding and threw all of us backward as a shockwave shot through the army.