“My father, he has meddled with magic he should not have,” she said sadly, as Broden hustled over. “Anything?” she asked, straightening.
“No. No bodies and there is no one left in the village. Dead or alive.”
“They can’t all have just disappeared,” Malcolm argued, and I could tell he was shaken.
His argument the other day about Celandine overreacting no longer seemed relevant. The proof was here for him to see.
I was still studying the image, trying to think as I listened to their quiet murmurings of what could have happened when all three voices fell silent.
For one strange second, I thought they finally noticed me, and I turned, ready to defend myself, but it wasn’t me they stared at.
Slowly, I turned to see what they glared at so hotly, and spotted something white in the glowing embers of the firepit.
Broden stepped towards it, brushing the wood away as he reached in and retrieved the item.
I gasped at the same time Celandine cursed.
“Bastard,” she snapped. “He killed them all.”
“We don’t have proof of that,” Malcolm said quietly, and she glowered at him. “At least not enough to convince anyone else the King has lost his mind.”
“Not his mind,” she argued. “His soul. Bring it, Broden. When we return, I want guards posted on my father at all times. And on Cassius. Neither of them so much as leaves their chambers to use the pot without someone seeing.”
“They will not allow it,” Broden warned, carrying the skull back to the others.
“Damn what he will allow,” she seethed. “I will not let him tear our lands apart in his hunt for more power. I won’t.”
The images blurred before my eyes, and I expected to open my eyes before my tiny fire again, but when I blinked this time, I stood inside the throne room of the Darrah fortress.
Celandine stood before her father’s throne, her younger brother seated on a smaller one to this left, and the one on his right, that I assumed was for Celandine, was empty.
Broden and Malcolm flanked her, and the entire Royal Guard stood at attention, facing down their King.
I blanched, and though I didn’t think I could be harmed, I quickly moved off to the side to watch this next memory play out.
“Why do you stand before your King armed for battle, Commander Celandine?” Zohar’s voice boomed suddenly in the room.
I jumped, not missing the threat behind those words.
“I believe you know why, father,” she replied firmly. “We have come to request you step down from the throne, and face judgment for crimes committed against your people, against your kin, and against the great name of Darrah itself.”
Zohar’s eyes gleamed silver for a brief moment as his power pulsed, and his hands gripped the arms of his throne tightly. “You dare accuse me of treason? I am your King!” he shouted, as he leaped to his feet furiously. “You disobey me! It is you who will be tried for treason! Arrest her!”
Not a single guard in the hall moved towards Celandine, but I noticed Broden and Malcolm each step closer, so their shoulders brushed against hers.
“Father, please,” she said more quietly. “I beg of you, step down. If you come clean now, we will find a way to help you right these wrongs. Help you return to your former self.”
His fingers twitched, and I felt the sudden static charge in the air. His eyes narrowed, and the silver glow darkened, until only darkness appeared.
Horrified gasps went up around the hall, and the guards all drew their swords, waiting for the command to attack.
Zohar cackled, quietly at first, growing in volume, until the sound echoed painfully loud off the stones around him.
“You believe you can help me? Then take my hand, daughter, join me in becoming the most powerful generation of Darrahs our world has ever seen! Together, we will rule them all!”
She took a step forward, and I wondered what she was doing when she shook her head. “No.”
“No? You turn down ultimate power, and for what?”
“You have slaughtered innocents, hundreds of men, women, and children for this… this evil! You have created something you cannot control, and you do not understand! I will not have their blood stain my hands as it does yours!”
Clearly, I missed something, but from what I could tell so far, Zohar used some dark ritual at the village, killed everyone, and this darkness… this plague was born from that? Why would he do that just for power? What would drive him to do something so horrendous as to kill innocent people?
Zohar stepped down from the dais.
Broden, and Malcolm immediately moved to protect her from him.
“You have so many loyal to you, daughter. What happens when you send them to their deaths against me? Think they will follow you then? Think they will want to know they are being sent to die?”
“What did you do?” she whispered. “Please, father, just tell what you did… why you did this?”
“War was coming and we were not prepared.”
“War?” she shouted furiously. “What war? There is no war, father! We are in a time of peace, and we can remain so, if you will but step down!”
“The war to bring all the races to heel,” he explained, taking another step towards her. “We were gifted with great strength, and it is time we stretch our wings and use that power for what it was meant for. We are destined to rule over all! And it starts, right now.”
Celandine’s sword was in her hand in a blink, the tip aimed at her father’s throat. “I will stop you. There will be no war.”
Zohar grinned, and leaned until the tip of the sword pricked him in the throat. “Oh, my daughter, the war is already here. You were just too blind to see it.”
I wondered what he was talking about when warning bells rang out and shouts came from outside the hall doors.
Shrieks I’d become all too familiar with hit my ears, and the doors to the hall burst open as the plagued rushed in, attacking the guards from behind.
“The villagers,” Celandine whispered.
And that was when I realized what Zohar had done.
Those he hadn’t used to create this power, he turned into his army of plagued.
Celandine screamed in fury and attacked her father full out, as Broden and Malcolm joined her, but Zohar flung the two back into the fray letting him face his daughter alone.
She landed a hard kick to his chest that threw him backward on the dais steps, but just as she was about to bring her sword down on him, a blur of a body tackled her to the floor, and when she whipped around, she stared in confusion at who was there, but I couldn’t see a face.
And then there was no face to see.
Zohar and the figure twisted on the spot as their dragons burst forth, but they were no longer the bluish green bodies of Darrahs. Their scales had been tainted by the darkness and were onyx and silver as they burst through the wall sending rubble toppling onto the fighting below.
Celandine didn’t hesitate, but shifted and took off after them.
Their roaring resounded in my mind, but I didn’t get to see the battle.
I jerked upright, and was back before my fire. I glanced wildly around, expecting to see myself surrounded by plagued, but I was thankfully alone still.
I rubbed my hands over my face hard to try and shake the feeling of needing to jump into battle.
“Why couldn’t I see the rest?” I murmured, wondering if Celandine would answer me this time, or leave me to my thoughts.
It ended as you would expect, she whispered. The enemy fled, but they nearly destroyed us that day. My father was right in one regard, we were not prepared for a war.
“What happened next, though? Malcolm, he became King and you, what? You just left?”
I had no choice. Being the Vindicar meant fighting at the front lines where my father opened the breach and dragged such darkness into our world. I could not fight the war and take care of our people, so yes, I passed the crown to Malcolm.
My brother, he was not suited for it… the traitor that he was.
I thought back to the throne room. “The person who stopped you from stabbing Zohar? That was your brother, wasn’t it? Cassius?”
Indeed, it was. I had hoped he had not been taken over as father, but I was wrong. So terribly wrong.
“And then Malcolm took another bride and had a son,” I said quietly, feeling an intense wave of sadness hit me that was not from me. “You were there?”
My vision blurred once again, and I stood on a balcony overlooking the throne room.
The wall had been rebuilt, and the decorations were soft ivories and silver, lace and fresh flowers.
Soft music played, filling the air with hope and a promise. I glanced over the railing to see a woman in a white and blue dress making her way down the long aisle towards the dais where Malcolm waited. He was smiling, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I heard a rustle of clothes behind me and turned to find Celandine and Broden, dressed in leather and chainmail, cloaks around their shoulders, looking ready to travel.
Neither said a word, but I noted the hurt in Celandine’s eyes, and the regret of what she had to do to save her people.
Broden rested a hand on her shoulder, and she covered it with hers.
This was after the fight that brought the three of them closer together, linking them for the rest of their lives, which would sadly not be as long as I’m sure they hoped.
“We do not have to be here,” Broden whispered.
“I know,” she replied softly.
“I had not realized you felt for him so deeply.”
A soft smile played on her lips. “Is that jealousy I hear, Broden?”
He growled in reply, and her smile fell.
“I am merely mourning for the life I will no longer have. No husband, no children, nothing, but fighting the darkness until it kills me.”
“I will not let it end that way,” he swore. “Not without giving my life first.”
“It will not come to that I hope,” she sighed and backed away from the railing as the ceremony continued below. “We have a war to fight.”
Together, they turned and left the balcony.
I expected to disappear when they did, but had a few extra seconds to linger, staring down at Malcolm and his soon to be wife.
His gaze suddenly shifted to the railing, and he frowned as if he sensed Celandine had just been there. His frown deepened, and I wondered if he realized he just missed her.
Then I was falling, and my vision cleared again, only to stare at the fire dying down before me.
I built it back up and ate a tiny bit of the rations Crane had packed for me, food that would last for weeks, he told me, and keep me fuller. So far it worked, but food wasn’t really on my mind.
Instead of Broden and Malcolm, I kept seeing Forrest and Craig, wondering what I was giving up because of all this Vindicar matter. Or what they were giving up for me. I couldn’t do that to them, drag them away from the lives they could lead.
In the morning, I’d set out again and find the ruins.
The faster, the better so I could end this, before it had a chance to start all over again.
8
Craig
I watched as the portal opened before my eyes.
Not the portal we needed to open, but one from Gregornath.
Kadin sent word to Forrest, wishing to speak with him and let him know how plans were coming along for the defense of the other realms.
I didn’t think we had time for it, but Crane insisted the portal into the Burnt World wasn’t ready yet.
“Besides,” Forrest had added, “I would be a fool not to let my father know I am headed back to the Burnt World… just in case.”
I didn’t have to ask what the just in case meant.
I had no one who cared about what happened to me there, so I wasn’t about to send word to my father and tell him a damned thing.
So, when the portal finally stabilized, and Kadin stepped out, I growled at who he dragged along with him.
Raghnall.
I hadn’t thought it possible, but he looked more pissed than the last time I saw him, and was currently unarmed. Forrest immediately went to his father, and they clasped hands.
“Forrest, what is all the commotion?” Kadin asked, staring around the chamber.
“We have a situation, but I will fill you on that in a moment. How are preparations coming along?”
“We have found the breach in Boshen and have posted several units to guard it and at least give us some warning in case anything is sent through,” he explained, getting right down to business. “The rest of the army is currently on Darrah lands. The air there has certainly changed, but so far nothing has come out of the breach.”
“And the plagued already in Boshen and Gregornath?” I asked. “Have you managed to track them down and kill them?”
Kadin shrugged, annoyance on his face. “We’re doing our best, but they’re not exactly easy to track. We’ve found a few and have taken care of them. My best scouts are searching every inch of territory for them.”
“And those affected by the plague?” My gaze darted to Raghnall, but all he did was glare right back.
Bastard, couldn’t even admit that he was covering this up for so long, how many of our people he hurt in the process. How many had been affected. If only he’d spoken up when he first noticed what was happening instead of trying to brush everything under the rug, we would not be in this mess.
“We are treating those we’ve found with the help of Lucy’s coven,” Kadin assured us. “They are being cared for as they should have been all along.”
“And the demon army? It’s being readied as well, right?”
“No,” Raghnall snarled as Kadin’s lips thinned. “He is the king of the dragons and has no right to command my army! Neither do you, so don’t think for one second my bastard of a son is going to make me change my mind, or have enough strength to pull me from my seat of power!”
“We have been over this,” Kadin said firmly. “The council has spoken, and you are required to mount a defense, as are all the races, to prevent an outright war.”
“Why would I help the other races, why?” Raghnall’s eyes narrowed, and when he shifted, the firelight caught his irises.
I went very still.
The new Executioner blade was on my back, waiting to be used, and now it seemed, I would get a second chance to test out how well it worked.
I didn’t draw the blade right away, debating if I was merely seeking an excuse to kill Raghnall and be done with it, but then Forrest shifted oddly and tilted his head as if listening for something… or sensing something.
Kadin had started arguing with Raghnall.
Forrest glanced my way, brow wrinkling as he nodded towards the door.
“We’ll be back in a moment, father,” he said, and I followed him out into the foyer. “How crazy would you think I was if I said I sensed something wrong with Raghnall, and not just that he’s a rotten asshole wrong?”
“Not crazy at all. I thought it was me convincing myself now was a good time to finally kill him and be done with it.” I peered back into the room, the two kings still arguing loudly with each other.
“We need to know for certain.”
“His eyes,” I whispered, “I saw the plague in them.”
“When did you say you first started noticing people missing from Boshen?” he asked curiously.
I shook my head, not sure why that was relevant. “Years ago, when I was younger.”
“And was there ever a time when Raghnall was not ruthless towards you?”
I was about to say not, but stopped and stared at the man in question again.
If I thought on it hard enough, there were very few memories I had of Raghnall and me when he was laughing, me on his lap as we ate together, or him showing me the vast history of our people.
Then one day, it was like he was a completely different person. Ruthless
, more so than before. He always drove our people to fighting hard and making claims to take more land, but that was just how his father had been, too. But this change, this made him cruel.
“He’s been possessed by the plague,” I whispered in disbelief. “This whole time? How could no one notice?”
“They were probably too frightened to. You said it yourself how none dared stand against him.”
All this time, Raghnall was possessed by the plague. Pieces of the puzzle slipped into place, why so much of the history of that time was just gone. Why he refused to listen to me, or didn’t want me around magic.
It wasn’t because I was a demon.
It was because he was possessed.
“There are too many innocents in there,” I muttered. “We have to get him out of that room, at least before he takes them all out.”
“Right, plan. Need a plan,” he mused, pacing back and forth, as he tapped his chin.
What we could’ve used right now was Kate pulling one of her impulsive stunts, or losing control and shifting into her dragon form and going after Raghnall before he could react. I knew I should’ve let her kill him back in Gregornath.
“No,” Forrest said suddenly.
I attempted a look of innocence. “What? Just a thought.”
“And she would’ve been guilt-ridden forever over it so no.”
“Too late now anyway.”
We both stared into the room, ready to dive in when Raghnall growled loudly, but he was still just a demon. Nothing had happened, yet.
“Crane,” I said ,and snapped my fingers. “We need him.”
“He wasn’t in there.”
“I know. Stay here, I’m going to grab him. Do not let them leave, not yet, and do not tell them anything about Kate! If anything… say she’s here. Say we’re getting ready to attack Zohar.”
“You really want me to throw that name out there? Seriously?”
I waved at him over my shoulder as I took off for the forges, hearing him mutter something about not having a death wish, but I was already gone, down another corridor and racing out the door.
I heard the forges at work and clanking of hammers against metal as I jumped down the few steps to the open courtyard.
Chaos (Dragon Reign Book 4) Page 4
