Dreams of Fury: Descendants of the Fall Book IV

by Hodges, Aaron

  After a moment’s pause, Nguyen inclined his head in concession, though Lukys read his concern in the yellowish tinge of his aura. Letting out a breath, he clasped his hands behind his back and positioned himself in the centre of their circle, attempting to draw the attention away from Amina.

  “Very well,” he said, his words echoing from the high ceiling.

  Beyond the throne, a great map of the valley around Mildeth had been laid out by the citadel staff, complete with tiny statuettes representing the warring factions. He moved to the edge of the map. Nguyen and Sophia joined him, and with an accentuated sigh, Amina abandoned the throne to stand with them.

  The map had been updated in the night to show Amina’s troops in the citadel, along with the arrival of the Tangatan army. Maya’s forces seemed small beside their own, representing as they did numbers rather than raw strength, but those numbers were deceiving. The Old One had already surrounded the city by land, ensuring there would be no escape into the foothills. Lukys might have thanked the gods she had no naval ability, but…

  …the gods themselves, the Anahera, would harry any attempt to flee by sea. Such was the power of Cara’s people, it wasn’t beyond reason to believe a single Anahera might sink a dozen ships….

  Lukys shook himself. It would not come to that. They would make their stand here.

  “With your soldiers, Amina, we should have the numbers to hold the walls for a time,” he said softly. “Only…” he trailed off, glancing at the queen.

  “Holding our own is not enough with this creature,” Amina finished for him.

  She crossed her arms, tapping one finger against her elbow as she stared at the red figurine placed in the centre of the valley, where their scouts suggested the Old One had stationed herself. Lukys frowned at the queen’s words, wondering what she knew.

  “My mother…revealed certain truths to my father, before he put the demon down,” Amina elaborated with a smile. Lukys’s stomach twisted, and he decided he was pleased that Cara had not come. The ‘demon’ Amina spoke of had been Cara’s mother too. Amina’s father was the reason she had never returned to her people, to her first daughter…

  Gritting his teeth, Lukys did his best to ignore the comment and nodded. “We are aware,” he said, still staring at the red statuette.

  Surrounded by the dense ranks of Tangata, Maya’s position was unassailable. But he still carried Isabella’s words in his mind, that perhaps there was a way to manipulate the creature, to separate Maya from her followers—before the worst came to pass.

  “According to Erika, the Old One may already have been with child a month ago, when she invaded the Anaheran city. The…gestation of her kind could be as short as three months, before the Fall.”

  Amina lifted an eyebrow at that. “That is more than my mother knew,” she remarked. “My father made sure of it. How could you know such details, Sovereigns?”

  Lukys pursed his lips at the scorn she placed in the word ‘Sovereigns’, but he ignored the taunt. “We have our methods. Needless to say, there is no time to waste if these reports are true.”

  “Indeed,” the Flumeeren queen replied, looking from Lukys to Sophia. “Though…if you can uncover such secrets, perhaps you might also unlock the secrets of the ancients, how they first cursed these Old Ones, removed their ability to procreate.”

  Lukys bit his lip, sharing a glance with Sophia.

  “That…” she started, then sighed. “They destroyed the world,” she continued. “It had…consequences. The males of Maya’s race, our ancestors, were made sterile.”

  “Then how did your kind survive, my dear Sovereign?” Amina pressed.

  You don’t have to answer her, Lukys said silently to his partner, sensing her tension, but Sophia only shook her head.

  “Our ancestors splintered,” she replied after a pause, recounting what she and Lukys had witnessed in that ancient memory. “Some, like Maya, searched for a cure amongst the ruins of ancient humanity, from their magic. Others…they chose peace, unity. They went to the remnants of humanity that had survived the Fall. They bonded, created new lives for themselves, peace. Only…” She looked up, catching the queen’s eyes, holding her gaze. “It was not to last. Divisions appeared, tension rose, and eventually those with Tangatan blood were ostracised, pushed out for their differences.”

  “A tale as old as time, it seems,” Nguyen commented. “Even in the texts my own Archivists recovered, they speak of such divisions within humanity, from before the Fall. Hatred without reason.”

  “Or maybe there was every reason,” Amina interrupted, her eyes still on Sophia. “Perhaps your people betrayed the peace.”

  “Maybe,” Sophia murmured. “Or perhaps it was humanity. Such details are lost even to our memory.”

  Lukys shivered as an uncomfortable silence fell, watching the swirling colours of Amina’s aura. It was strange, how openly they displayed despite her Anaheran ancestry, as though this were a part of her she had no control over. It revealed the truth of her mind to Lukys, the hatred that contaminated her, the distrust she held for Sophia, for even the Anahera.

  “Gladly, we no longer possess the power to destroy worlds,” Nguyen stepped in, playing the peacemaker despite his own grudge against the queen. “So we cannot repeat the errors of the past. But that still leaves us with the question: how do we defeat this Old One?”

  Silence fell at Nguyen’s words as they exchanged glances. Lukys looked at Sophia, then drew in a breath.

  “We might have a way.”

  “Oh?” Amina asked, one eyebrow raised.

  He nodded hesitantly. “There is…something she wants. Or rather, someone. Her former partner. He was with her at the end, with those who sought a cure.”

  “I thought she was the last.”

  “She might be,” Nguyen interjected. Clasping his fingers behind his back, he nodded to Lukys. “By the false-gods, I hope she is. But does Maya think that? But if she slept all this time, perhaps this partner of hers did as well.

  “Of course,” Amina replied, eyes narrowed. “But how does any of this help us?”

  Lukys smiled, glad to be a step ahead of Amina in this at least. He opened his mouth to say as much, but before he could speak, the doors to the chamber burst open with a bang. As one, the four of them swung towards them, hands raised, weapons at the ready.

  But it was only Erika. She paused a moment in the doorway, shoulders heaving, face slick with sweat, as though she had run the entire way there. Lukys frowned, taking a step towards her, before he noticed the tears in her clothing, the blood…

  “Erika?” he asked, his concern growing with each pulse of his heart. “What—”

  “Your Majesties,” Erika spoke over him, advancing into the chamber, before stepping to the side.

  Behind her, a second figure loomed in the doorway. Wings spread wide, at first Lukys thought the figure was Cara, but a second followed behind it, then a third. Steel rattled behind him as Dale and the other guards raised spears towards the creatures, but Lukys could only watch, mouth wide, as the Anahera crowded in the chamber.

  “May I present to you, the Anahera,” Erika continued as though this were an entirely expected event. “It seems they have decided to join us in the fight against Maya.”

  29

  The Fallen

  Adonis no longer struggled as his captives dragged him through the Tangatan camp. His body was an aching mess and he lacked the strength to even stand now. And his mind…

  …his mind was a shrieking torment, a vortex of self-hatred and regret and…ecstasy, joy that he had won, that in the end he had achieved the impossible, freed the Anaheran fledgelings, freed the Anahera themselves.

  The Tangata had beaten him for that, had unleashed their pent-up fury against the traitor in their midst. But in the end, their blows could not harm him, could not change what he had done, could not bring back the escaped children.

  It was only when the silence fell, when his assailants suddenly retreated
from him, that the darkness had invaded Adonis’s mind. He knew what it was, recognised her touch. He’d clung to the memory of his freedom, the light of what he had done, and yet…

  Adonis could not stand against her.

  Now with each step his captors carried him closer to her presence, to the darkness that bombarded his mind, crashing against his consciousness. With each passing second, his hope shrivelled, the light of his defiance dwindling, the despair in his soul swelling.

  Until finally he was thrown to the ground in the centre of the camp. The sun rose slowly into the distant hills, but where Adonis lay was shadow, the sky blotted out, darkened by the figure before him.

  Adonis’s mind withered as he looked into the eyes of Maya. Rage shone from her face, and the force of her hatred battered him, tearing and rending at his consciousness until he felt the very fabric of his being coming apart, the substance of his mind unravelling…

  Abruptly her mind released him and Adonis gasped, sinking to the ground before her, sobbing, shuddering.

  You should have stayed dead, Maya’s voice whispered into his mind, dark, deadly. You have no understanding of what you have done, the danger you have unleashed. The Anahera are no different from humanity. They would see us exterminated if they held that power in their hands. They have already tried once before.

  No! Adonis struggled against her power, against the weakness of his own body.

  But as he tried to stand, two Tangata leapt forward, capturing his arms, forcing him back down, to bow before their Matriarch. Even so, Adonis would not allow himself to be silenced, not so long as he still possessed his sanity.

  These Anahera are not the ones you fought in ages past, Maya. Nyriah, her people they want only—

  He broke off as her anger slammed into him again, the strength of the Old One’s rage silencing his own Voice. He gasped as images invaded his mind, of the Anahera swooping down, fighting, battling against Tangata…no, not his people—Old Ones. Maya’s people, from a time unknown.

  The Anahera will fall, she hissed. They will feel my retribution for the crimes of their ancestors. That is my sole purpose, Adonis, to see my enemies extinguished, to see those who betrayed my people cursed to extinction.

  Adonis struggled against those words, against the depth of her hatred finally revealed. But however he resisted, still he felt his own emotions responding, his own hatred swelling in answer to her call.

  You too shall pay for what you have done, Maya’s voice hissed in his thoughts, sending tremors through his very being.

  This time when Maya invaded his mind, it was not words or emotions she pressed on him, but a pure agony, as though she had poured molten iron over his skull, as though she were running ragged blades through his veins, crushing his chest upon an anvil, tearing each nail from his fingers, peeling the skin from his flesh…

  A scream burst from Adonis, harsh and unending, tearing at his throat, even as he began to thrash. His captors released him and he fell to the earth, digging burning fingers into soft dirt, as though its dampness might extinguish the flames within.

  But there was no escape from Maya. Eyes locked open, Adonis looked into the depths of her grey gaze and saw no mercy there, not a hint of the love she had claimed for him. Nothing but hatred, but the rage of centuries.

  Adonis cried and begged, pleaded for his fellow Tangata to save him, to strike him down and end his suffering. But his brothers and sisters stood in silence now, watching without emotion the fall of one they had respected, had followed. There was no Nyriah to save him this time, no Maisie to drag him from the muddy ditch. Adonis was alone, abandoned, discarded by all he had trusted.

  No, the thought rose through the pain, not abandoned. I chose to be here, to stand against the darkness, to help my people. To put right my wrongs.

  Abruptly the pain vanished.

  For a moment, Adonis thought he had succumbed, that the agony had driven the spirit from his body, freeing him from the punishment of the real world. But then sensation returned, the touch of the earth beneath him, the reek of the camp, the whisper of Voices nearby. Slowly he gathered the will to sit, and discovered Maya still standing over him. He flinched away, but she knelt beside him and reached out to stroke his cheek.

  I feel your defiance, my mate, she said softly, the hope you cling too. Adonis shuddered as laughter whispered into his mind. Fool. You think you have saved the Anahera? Their freedom will be short-lived. The human city will fall, then nothing will be able to protect those fledgelings from my vengeance.

  She looked into the distance then, where the stark walls of the city shone with the morning sun. No, my dear Adonis, your resistance will fail.

  Adonis’s eyes widened at her words and he struggled to retreat from her, but instead he found himself fixed in place, body trembling, unwilling to obey his own will. A sob tore from him as he found his eyes locked with Maya’s, and felt the doors of her trap swing shut.

  Consider this your reward, she continued, a hand falling to her swollen stomach. For the service you provided me. She smiled, and taking Adonis’s hand, she drew him to his feet. The darkness surged, robbing him of will. You will be my executioner, will stand at my side as we slaughter the humans. Laughter rasped in his mind. And when we capture your precious fledgelings again, it will be your hand that snuffs the life from their pathetic bodies.

  No…

  He tried to resist her, to fight back, but his mind rang with the vibrations of her Voice, twisting his emotions, changing him, until…

  …Adonis felt a terrible shame within, a swelling horror as he realised what he had done, the trick the human had played upon him. She had manipulated him, turned Adonis against his own people, caused him to commit the greatest treachery the Tangata had ever known.

  A moan tore from his lips as he prostrated himself before Maya, before all those who stood in witness. Crying out, he begged for her retribution, for her to send him against the humans, so that he might die in honour, might escape the knowledge of the terrible thing he had done.

  And Maya stood before him, before all of the Tangata, and smiled.

  “Now you see, children.” Her Voice carried over the crowd, to the ears and minds of the multitude. “Now you see the power of the humans, their corruption. Not even the greatest of us could resist. Their whispers must be silenced, their power crushed, until every one of their kind has been erased from this world.”

  An ache swelled in Adonis’s heart, a pain that threatened to tear him in two. Such was his shame, he could not look upon the eyes of his people, could not face their condemnation for what he had done. He found himself sobbing, begging.

  Please, my Matriarch, he whispered. Please, kill me. I do not deserve to live, after what I have done.

  Maya smiled down at him, and there was something in her eyes, a mocking laughter that he should have sparked something in him, something other than the awful, terrible shame. Yet there was nothing else within him, only an emptiness, a void where the rest of his mind had once been…

  He begs for death, children, but am I not a merciful Matriarch? Maya spoke again. No, sweet child, I will not give you death, but life! I will grant you—

  Maya…

  The Old One broke off abruptly, her eyes swinging to the west, the colour draining from her face. For a second, Adonis felt a spark of something within, a flicker of life, of will…

  Maya, where are you…please…so weak…

  Raxion! Maya’s voice boomed across the open field, echoing through the minds of all present, searching, seeking. Where!

  Images flickered through Adonis’s mind, of twisting corridors, of endless darkness, of waves crashing upon cliffs. He shuddered, seeking the source, the mind from which they had come, but the images were already fading, the presence withdrawing.

  Please… a last whisper reached them. Others…hunting me.

  Abruptly, the presence vanished, and Adonis’s mind returned to the field outside the human city. He gasped, the flickers of life
returning to him as Maya’s distracted mind released him. She stood looking into the distance for a moment longer, eyes wide, as though contemplating what they had just heard.

  Then she turned her gaze back to Adonis, and the vice closed around his mind once more.

  Well, well, well, she said at last, her Voice thundering in his mind. What have we here? Perhaps I will not need your mongrel offspring after all, Adonis.

  * * *

  A mile away, standing atop the walls of Mildeth, Lukys and Sophia gasped as they came back to themselves, as they surfaced from the depths of the Sovereign gift. Lukys shuddered as he shared a glance with his partner, unable to believe they’d managed it, that their mad idea might have worked.

  That ancient presence within was so utterly foreign, so unlike their own minds, a part of him screamed to hurl it from him. That mind had been an Old One like Maya, a Chead as it thought itself, but unlike Maya, it had chosen humanity over hatred. They had hoped the power of its Voice might be similar enough to Maya’s mate, Raxion, that she would not recognise the difference, not if they limited their words.

  It seemed their gamble had paid off.

  The trap had been set.

  Now all that remained was to spring it upon the Old One.

  30

  The Queen

  Erika watched as the cliffs rose from the crashing waves. They stretched high overhead, towering above the swirling ocean waters, making even the masts of the ship seem small by comparison. Ripples ran through the stone, lines of gradient colours that seemed more a reflection of the ocean below than true rock.

  It seemed too strange to be natural, and yet…the truly unnatural feature of the cliffs lay not in the layers of stone, but at their base. There, the strata abruptly gave way to plain grey stone, untouched by the invisible forces of erosion. This was the stone that defied nature, refusing to bend before the will of mother earth.