“They are cursed! The whole Shadow Army is cursed.” I bellowed in warning, and spun towards our Dark Army. My heart stopped. Black orbs stared back at me as I looked at Gallai and the three thousand women warriors that had sworn alliance to Kyr—all engulfed in dark energy. “They were possessed, Kyr. Gallai is cursed. The Dark Army is cursed. They will kill you.”
Pain flashed in Kyr’s eyes, as he looked at his third in command, his friend, her face clouded by a rage that wasn’t hers to bear. We exchanged a glance and he turned to look over his shoulder. “Go back inside!” he ordered a tearful Kah—while she stared at her best friend, now under the Dark King’s influence—Aura and Avrielle. “Wait there until Theo’s Gilded Army arrives. You three can’t fight them alone. Once Theo arrives, tell him to only wound my Dark Army. I’ll find a way to rid them of the evil within. We’ll take the battle to the sky in the meantime.”
“I’m not hiding from them!” Aura yelled, and thrust her hands forwards, pushing her power out. A set of ten lightning bolts shot out of her fingers, slamming into the first row of men that stood in front of the Dark King, and killing them on contact. Their twitching bodies collapsed to the snow.
Laeroth laughed at her attempt, and raised a hand, giving the order to attack.
“What in the Goddess’ Hell! Didn’t you hear my brother? Go inside!” I bellowed at Aura, she ignored me, attacking again. My gaze connected with Kah’s, her troubled eyes were trying to find a way to get us backup. Maybe bring Theo’s army here sooner.
Kyr began to walk towards the Dark King, his dragon form taking shape with every step. “You have always been a coward. Hiding behind an army of men that had their will taken from them, because it is the only way they’ll follow you. Risking their lives before yours as though yours is more valuable, using necromancy because it is the only way you can be powerful enough for people to fear you. Because you are nothing without it. You fail to realize that being a leader doesn’t require the fear of your followers, it requires their respect.”
Kyr’s full dragon stopped a yard away from him and roared.
“You know not what it means to be a king,” his words thundered into the night, spanning the full wide clearing on the frozen lands. “But I will show you tonight. And I will kill you.”
“How dare you?!”
Laeroth’s rage exploded out of him, the black mist rushing towards Kyr. Ash and I transformed, flying towards our brother. The mist connected with Kyr’s cheek, trying to possess him. It swirled around him as my brother recoiled from the hit, but it wasn’t strong enough, it disintegrated before it could truly do him harm.
“I was your father! I raised you and gave you everything. And now look at you, a mongrel that thinks himself better than his king! You will die for following that monster instead of me. I will kill you and make you watch as I rip your brothers to pieces!”
“You were never my father! How dare you compare yourself to the Dragon Lord? Avra is my true father. You will never be the man he is, and thanks to him, I am better than you. I am your king now, and I’ll make you understand the only way you know how. Kneel!”
Kyr’s blue fire shot out straight towards Laeroth, engulfing him whole, but his black mist shot out, becoming a shield around him. The fire raged, trying to find a space to seep in and incinerate him, but it found only resistance.
“What is happening?!” Kyr bellowed into my mind as the blue stream continued to shoot out of him.
I looked around us, desperately searching for the source of the Dark King’s increased power. The fire should have annihilated him instantly. My eyes widened as my true sight connected with the dwarves hidden among the trees at the edge of the vast clearing. The Duergar. They were cloaked in darkness and I knew no one but I could see them, they chanted their evil spell to fuel Laeroth’s power. “The Duergar are here, protecting him! They are hidden by a spell among the tree line.”
Kyr cursed into our minds. “We need to find a way to kill him.” He let out a terrifying roar, his fire shooting out one last time before dissipating. The blow was not in vain; it sent Laeroth back so hard that he rolled on the ground, ending on his knees as he fought to stand.
Kyr laughed in his face and shot up into the sky as we followed. “Dark magic is strong as it feeds on the souls of the dead and evil.” Kyr sent into our mental bond. “It will take more than just my fire to kill him.”
I looked down, searching for Aura, as my brothers moved closer to the black dragons above. Cursing myself, I turned and went back for her. Avrielle stepped forward, looking around her as though calculating her next move. My eyes widened as her hands aimed towards the frozen ground, at the snow beneath the cursed army, and the energy pushed out of her. The ground slightly shook as Avrielle used her Water Faery ability on the land, calling the water within, and light blue ribbons of power rushed towards the ground. The snow began to melt; water seeping from its depth as she pulled it to the surface, swiftly engulfing the warriors’ feet, then began to freeze it again. By the time her hands lowered, half of Laeroth’s Shadow Army was stuck to the frozen earth, unable to break away.
“That will buy us some time!” She turned, and pulled a silver key from her necklace. I looked away from her, but noticed a portal forming in my peripheral vision, as I landed before Aura, protecting her with my body from the Dark Warriors moving towards her.
“Damn it!” I roared and reached for Aura, holding her in my hand, and placed her on the back of my neck. “Hold on to something!” I felt her sit between two of the small horns that spanned the length of my back, and hold tight to my scales as though it were a saddle, the next second I was up, gaining altitude.
“You are a dragon!” she squealed excitedly and I chuckled.
I swerved as Ash’s stream of acid almost hit us and realized I was in the middle of the battle. I had to concentrate. Opening my mouth, I spewed a lightning bolt at the upcoming dragon, and hit him right in the chest. He yelped and began to fall, struggling to fly again. Father was right, they were first-shifted dragons.
“Do not shoot to kill!” Kyr bellowed into our minds. “I have a feeling they don’t know what they are doing. The way they fight… it is as though they are just trying to survive. I don’t sense any malice in them, no purpose. They are just firing at us blindly, probably to distract us. Hurt them enough so that they can’t attack. We’ll figure out what to do with them afterwards.” Ash and I nodded. “Nyx, try to use your true sight to see if you can find Revyr. If you can see beyond the magic, maybe you can spot him even if he is invisible to us. This might be his plan, to catch us off guard. He should be much bigger than the others, from what Father told us. Find him!”
We swerved and divided again as I set out to locate Revyr. The twenty dragons currently in the sky were much smaller than us, maybe thirty to forty feet each, but that was a rough guess. Our presence had distracted them, causing them to stop the fire attack on the temple, for which I was grateful. I knew Father couldn’t hold the temple on his own. Not in the weak state he was in—without his dragon form.
“Damn, that woman is bad ass!” Ash’s dragon voice reached my mind as he shot a stream of green poison mist beside me, paralyzing one of the black dragons.
I frowned. What in the Goddess’ Hell was he talking about? “What woman?” My heart stopped as I remembered Aura was on my back. I stretched my neck to look over my shoulder, and found her shooting lightning down to the warriors trying to get into the entrance to the cave.
“Are you insane?!” I whisper-screamed.
“Watch out!” She shrieked, and I looked forwards to see a stream of fire headed my way. I swerved right at the last second, and as the small black dragon flew past me, I blasted him with a golden bolt. His wing tore, and he began to fall, whirling uncontrollably. Falling from this height with that injury would probably kill him. Damn it.
“Hold on, Aura!”
I soared down and gripped his foot between my teeth, he yelped but I held him tightly, and dr
opped him closer to the ground, then returned to my brothers’ side.
I looked up, searching for Revyr as I sent out another lightning bolt at a Dragon closing in behind Ash—while he was engaged in battle with another, teeth bared and claws ripping scales away. I struck a few more while Aura shot at the men on the ground, and I continued to search for the evil dragon but I couldn’t see him. Where was he hiding?
I found out too late.
He swooped down from above Kyr, his claws sinking into my brother’s shoulders.
“Kyr!” I roared and thrust my wings to get to him, but I was too far from them. Kyr spun in the air, getting him off of him, spewing the blue fire at Revyr but the large dragon disappeared again.
I frantically looked for him. “To your right!” Kyr turned with my warning, and slammed his massive tail against the evil dragon, sending him flying into the mountain. He crashed with a loud thud and rolled down, unconscious. Kyr moved to follow him, but was surrounded by four black dragons that stopped him from ending Revyr while he was down.
A yelp ripped from my throat as a ball of fire crashed against my side—I was so focused on Kyr’s fight that I forgot I had my own to worry about. I spun in the air from the blow and mind numbing pain, then heard Aura’s shrill scream. She had fallen off of me.
“Aura!” my dragon roared her name, and swooped down to her, but she was falling too fast for me to reach her.
“Protect!”
Closing my wings, I angled myself down and began to free-fall, gaining speed like a fired arrow. Everything in me ripped as I watched Aura plummet in slow motion, while I tried to get to her. Her long hazelnut hair whirled in the wind, her arms and legs moving wildly as though trying to grasp onto something.
Our eyes connected as the fight left her. “I love you,” she mouthed to me, almost reaching the ground.
I roared. No! She would not die today. I couldn’t lose her. Using the momentum of the fall, I flapped my wings once and swerved under her before it was too late, catching her on my back. My underside scraped against the frozen ground as my wings opened and thrust us up. She scrambled over my large back until she was gripping my horns, and sitting between them again.
“I’m okay,” she offered before I could ask, but I could feel her. The emotions inside her had opened up to me, connecting us. The terror in her was palpable.
“I’m going to set you down so you can go into the temple. Once Theo arrives with his warriors, you can fight with them.”
“No! I’m staying with you!”
I growled. “Damn it, woman! You almost died.”
“But I didn’t. You saved me! I know you’ll keep me safe.”
I had no time to argue with her.
“Protect!”
I grunted. “I know, shut up already!”
“What?”
“Nothing!”
I injured two more dragons when shouts came from underneath us. My vision zeroed in on Kah, and Theo. Fifty men and women surrounded them as they fought the cursed warriors. Kah disappeared, and a moment later, she was back with ten more men. She was bringing them in groups, and I knew how much she must have been exerting her ability to be able to accomplish that. Desperate times called for desperate measures, she would say. My gaze lifted to the distance and I noticed the golden dust wings of Theo’s army horses flying towards us, an assembly of about a thousand warriors on them, but regardless of their magic bringing them faster, it would be a while before they got to us.
I joined my brothers, seeing them fly towards the ground. We dropped next to Theo and his men. Aura climbed down from my back, sliding down my wing and I felt her elation about my dragon. I tried not to smile, but my dragon self was overjoyed. Focusing on the battle, I turned around with a roar, sending a stream of fire around us to push the Dark Army away from the temple. Our own fighters were compelled by the curse, attacking Theo’s warriors to get inside the mountain. I only needed one guess. They were searching for my father, to end his life.
They staggered back, but some of their skins caught fire—wherever it wasn’t protected by their armors. Their screams pierced my ears while they fought to extinguish it. The firewall created a perimeter around us, to give us a temporary rest while figuring out our next move—introducing Drayvok, and cursed warriors had changed the whole battle. Our dragon forms enraged the Dark King, and that wasn’t helping. Even where we stood, the dark power blasted towards us, trying to hit us, but my dragon fire had formed a shield of sorts, one they couldn’t cross.
A portal suddenly opened to our left and our heads whirled around to find Avrielle rushing through it with a small group of men and women behind her. My eyes widened.
“Brina, Cynwrig. How are you here?” Kyr questioned in his dragon form, startled by their presence.
They hurried to our side with Art and Eisha in their full warrior outfits, and weapons in hand. We transformed to our man forms, the scaled armor suits once again covering our bodies.
“First of all, sweet mother of all things mythical! You are dragons? What the hell?” Brina squealed, stepping in front of us with her Spear of Light in hand. “Crapola! I need to hangout with you more often.” She added, while Cynwrig, Art, and Eisha stood around her protectively. Taking a deep breath, Brina rubbed her belly as though to soothe it.
Our eyes widened once again. Her belly was fully plump under the white priestess gown she wore. “What are you doing in the middle of a battle while pregnant?!” I whisper-hissed.
She raised an eyebrow. “Not only pregnant, I’m in labor. My water had just broken when Avrielle reached us.”
“What?! You are in labor and you came to fight?!” It was Ash’s turn to whisper-scream.
“I didn’t come to fight, handsome. I came to share my peace.”
She turned towards my wall of fire and reached for Cynwrig’s hand, he smiled as their fingers intertwined. The moment they touched, a brilliant light engulfed their hands and the Minastra GalIsacura Arthulis came to life, its shine becoming almost blinding. Lifting her staff, she slammed it to the ground and a wave of light instantly shot out of it, engulfing everything in its path as it moved towards the battle. It went through my fire, smothering it on contact, and swept over the first line of attack.
Our Dark Army.
As the light of Brina’s peace seeped through the women warriors, their black eyes glowed white and the darkness disappeared, freeing them from the Shadow Curse the Dark King had used on them. They lowered their weapons and looked at each other confused, while a wave of purifying light continued to go through their ranks. When their eyes met with ours, they opened up in horror, realizing they were on the wrong side of the fight, they had been acting against us. Their gazes swept the ground, to the injured warriors they had attacked from Theo’s army, and pain visibly rolled through them.
Gallai cupped her mouth, horrified. “I’m so sorry, my king. Take my life, if you must. There is no excuse for my betrayal.”
“It is not your fault.” Kyr reassured, taking Gallai’s hand in his. “Your life is more valuable to me than you can imagine. Let us fight together now. We need you.”
She nodded with shiny eyes, and the women began to turn around to face Laeroth’s Shadow Army. By the time the wave of light disappeared, our full army was freed from the curse. Brina’s power had reached inside their hearts, reviving their own light. Unfortunately, the cursed warriors fighting for Laeroth were not that lucky. The darkness was deep within their souls. They could no longer be saved.
“Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I have an obstinate child to deliver, who will surely make my life impossible, yet look absolutely adorable in a purple bow.” Brina added with deep breaths. “Good luck, guys. I knew you weren’t evil.”
“We can stay, if you need us.” Art offered standing next to Eisha, swords and axes ready in their grasp, while Cynwrig hurriedly guided a very wobbly Brina back to the portal.
“Thank you. But you have already won your war. This victory is ours
to take.” Kyr smiled at them appreciatively. They bowed, sheathing their weapons and crossed the portal back into their world.
Slicing his hand with his own claw, Kyr fed the few dark warriors who had gotten burnt by my fire, and instantly their skins began to heal. Ash and I followed his lead, and moved to help Theo’s Gilded Army, the few that lay hurt on the ground.
“So what now?” Gallai asked, taking her place next to Kah.
“Now, we take back the kingdom!” Kah shouted, raising her sword, and our army roared in response.
They began to run towards the cursed men, and as they reached them, we soon realized the curse was stronger within them than we thought. It took three of our warriors to fight against one, as the dark magic spewed out of them, trying to regain control of our army. Kyr kissed Avrielle and she turned, swords clashing with a shadow cursed man that got to her. Aura began to shoot lightning from her hands again, while Theo and his warriors resumed fighting next to her.
I turned to my brothers before she noticed and asked to come along. I knew she’d be safer on the ground with the Golden Prince and the others. Kyr, Ash and I exchanged a glance, and began to run towards the side of the mountain where Revyr had fallen. Jumping, we transformed midair, and thrust our wings to find the remaining dragons, and end this once and for all.
To our disappointment, the black dragons we had shot down before had healed, and were in the sky once more, spewing fire towards the mountain. At least they were attacking the wrong end, were the peak was real and not part of the illusion that concealed the temple.
“What are we going to do with these children?!” Kyr bellowed, frustrated. He didn’t want to kill them, but we had to find a way to stop them.
“If Ash uses his acid mist to paralyze them, we can stop them for a longer period, but we would need to find something to hold them down.” I offered.
“What if we forced them to change forms?” Ash questioned. “They’ll be much easier to restrain as men.”
Everlasting Kingdom (The Winter Court Chronicles Book 3) Page 21
