“One of us has to,” Ayden growled, dropping his sword and his knife. He threw his arm forward, and fire ripped from his hand. It exploded in midair where Sebastian's fire met his, and sparks rained down on both of them.
Sebastian laughed. “It's useless, Dragondimn. We both control the Touches. We can fight until the Stars drop from the heavens, and neither of us will win over the other.”
Ayden hurled a dark cloud of ash at him, but again, Sebastian blocked it with his own. Faster and faster, the attacks came, and more and more maniacally, laughter bubbled in Sebastian's throat.
Until, suddenly, cold steel touched his neck, snapping the chain that held the Amulet. It fell heavily from his chest. Sebastian reached for it, but it was too late.
Paik held it up as he backed away from the King. “This was our agreement after all, Your Grace. My assistance. For this.” The eye stared at Sebastian on the wooden Amulet.
“Paik, give it to me now. I demand it.”
“And I refuse it.” The Grand-Master turned. “Begone, all of you!” he shouted at the Dragons where they hissed and belched fire at Sebastian's men who still surrounded them on the rock. A powerful pulse emitted from Paik, shoving the entire company away from him. Ayden's Mirage nearly lost her footing on the slick shale. Her great wings flapped twice, and Ayden sprinted toward the creature, gripping a fin and swinging on. “Up, Luasa!” he shouted. “Before Paik enchants us all.”
A smile covered Paik's face as both the Mirage and the Ember rose from the rock, circling in the sky above them. Sebastian turned his gaze across the mountain slopes. The battle continued unabated, but now there were far fewer blue and silver colors of Lismaria. The Ongalians' green and gold were winning, and Sebastian could do nothing about it.
Paik held his Amulet. And the power.
Something snapped inside of Sebastian's mind. “Briste,” he screamed, pointing at the Grand-Master. “Attack him!”
Briste, his inept, ineffectual Dragon, backed away, his gaze steady on Sebastian, his nostrils flaring in his muzzle.
Sebastian seized a nearby mace a soldier had dropped. He raised it and ran at the creature, hurling it against the Dragon's shoulder. Briste hissed and backed again. Small pieces of brilliant black scale showered over the rock.
“Attack, you dumb beast! If you won't attack the Seer Fey, attack the Dragons!” He pointed at the circling Ember and Mirage who had not entered the fight; their attention remained squarely on him.
The black Dragon still wouldn't obey. With a growl that turned into a gurgle of rage, Sebastian ran at the beast, gripping his wing and pulling himself onto his back. He leaned to the side so he could see directly into Briste's large eye.
“So help me, if you do not kill the Seer Fey, I will kill you. Do you understand me?”
Briste's mouth opened, and ash bit the air. A deep roar shook the beast, and he turned his head, his huge teeth snapping at Sebastian.
Sebastian rolled backward, landing on the dirt-crusted rock behind the Dragon, scrambling to his feet as the Dragon lurched forward, bearing down on Sebastian, teeth bared, smoke roiling from his nostrils.
Sebastian called the ice to his fingers, ready to blast it at the Dragon, to protect himself from the creature's sharp teeth, but the Touch was sluggish, difficult to control.
Gasping, Sebastian sought out Paik where he held the Amulet. The Seer Fey's eyes were closed in concentration, and the pendant in his hands vibrated beneath some spell the Grand-Master mumbled over it.
Sebastian panicked. The Seer Fey would not be powerful enough to overcome the Amulet, but he could certainly repress the powers it had gifted Sebastian.
As he watched, Paik slipped into the struggling mass of soldiers and creatures, disappearing with the Amulet, with Sebastian's source of power and control.
Fury hazed Sebastian's vision. He was helpless to take back what rightfully belonged to him. He swung his gaze back to Briste, who still advanced, his throat trembling with menacing growls. Sebastian lifted his sword, terror opening his sweat glands. Moisture poured down his face as his arm quaked. The Dragon gazed at him for a long moment, and then suddenly snapped open his wings and lurched into the sky with a clumsy display of flight.
Sebastian stared, open-mouthed. Two of his men ran forward to help him to his feet, but Sebastian shook them off. “Where were you when the beast was standing over me?” he growled angrily.
“Apologies, Your Grace. We—we were—”
“Never mind that. I want to talk to my Commander. Where is Jerrus?”
“He is fighting on the south front, Your Grace.” One of the soldiers pointed. “He hasn't stopped for hours; we have sent someone to relieve him so he can gain a few moments rest.”
“Rest?” Sebastian was furious. “What rest is there to be had when we are overrun with Dragon spawn from foreign countries? There is no time for rest!”
The soldier who had spoken cringed, ducking his head. “Nay, Your Grace is right. We cannot rest—”
“Will you stop parroting everything I say?” Sebastian roared, and the man gulped. “Paik, the Seer Fey Grand-Master has disappeared into the fray, and I want him brought to me immediately. Without delay. Is that too complicated of a request for you?”
“Nay, Your Grace.” He bowed. “It shall be done.” He scurried away, dragging four other soldiers with him.
Sebastian paced on the rock, his hands tight behind him, his rage building every time he looked out over the battle. It should have ended by now. By all rights, his niece and nephew should be dead, all heirs-apparent to the throne should have been removed, and he and he alone should be able to sit, unafraid of challenge, on the Lismarian throne.
What had happened? How had such a dream slipped through his tight fingers? He had been so very careful. Twenty years—twenty years—of forethought and planning had gone into his retaking of the Lismarian throne. How under the Stars had his sure grasp on the throne been taken from him nearly overnight by a ragtag band of upstarts who thought to challenge his authority?
It was his brother's twins who had done it. They were to blame. Unhinging rage filled him. He tried to call the familiar ice to his fingers, to freeze a wide radius around him, but taibe worked against him; the Seer Fey's spell continued to repress the Amulet, wherever it was now. A loose stone rested near Sebastian's boot. He kicked it viciously, his anger tumbling out of control.
He looked up. His Commander walked wearily toward him, his armor scratched and dented, his cloak askew and ripped.
“Your Grace wished to see me?” Jerrus asked, bowing.
“Oh, so you do take rests now and then.”
“I—came when your messengers informed me that you wished for my presence.”
“I didn't send them to you; I commanded they find Paik, which they obviously are too inept to do,” Sebastian snapped, “but now that you're here, I task you to find Paik, the Seer Fey Grand-Master, and to take the Amulet back from him. He has stolen what rightfully belongs to me, and as anyone will tell you, such an act does not escape my vengeance.”
“No,” Jerrus murmured. “No, it never does.”
Sebastian speared him with a glance, but Jerrus only bowed. “I will begin a search, Your Grace, in the midst of the battle with weary men—”
“Have you a problem with my orders, Jerrus?” Sebastian's tone was dangerous and icy.
Jerrus's eyes flickered. “Nay, Your Grace. I will bring word as soon as he is found.”
Sebastian's horse picked along the steep slopes, lower than the main area of fighting, and Sebastian's gaze was trained on the valley to his left where his men said they had last seen Paik.
Twenty of his best men, accompanied by Jerrus, followed him on mules. Sebastian had wanted to fly on Briste, but the Dragon would have nothing to do with him.
It was Cedric's fault, and Kinna's. He'd had no trouble with the creature until Cedric had used Dragon-speak on it. Sebastian writhed in jealousy. It wasn't fair that the Andrachen gifts—their
ways with Dragons—had passed only into the hands of his brother's brats.
A flash of movement through the trees caught Sebastian's attention.
“Halt!” Sebastian pulled his horse to a dancing stop; the animal seemed nervous on the steep ridges. His feet weren't as sure as the mules behind him.
In the relative silence punctured by the screams and slashes of the ongoing battle above them, Sebastian heard a steady, low hum—of voices.
He straightened, narrowing his eyes at the thick forest edge and the gloomy interior through which he could see nothing. “Jerrus, how many of our forces have yet to arrive?”
“Six Divisions, Your Grace, but they will be coming in from farther south. Their route was circuitous. The Sanlians are already here and have gathered with our men waiting below.”
Sebastian turned his head back to the woods, standing in his stirrups to get a better viewpoint. His horse shifted his weight.
A stick snapped, and then figures began appearing through the trees. Their heads were down, mantles drawn up over their hair like the temple monks of the Lismarian cathedrals. Brilliant colored plaits hung from their dark robes, and their singing swelled in the air, filling it with enchantment and magic.
Sebastian glanced behind him. “Jerrus?”
But Jerrus's eyes had glazed over, as had the eyes of the men accompanying them. Sebastian sat again, unsheathing his sword, gripping the hilt tightly. “Paik!” he shouted, his gaze searching the moving figures who were now emerging from the treeline and moving en masse up the slopes toward the fighting, hardly stopping to even notice Sebastian and his men.
“Paik!” he roared.
“I am here, Your Grace.” Paik's voice came from Sebastian's left, and Sebastian whirled, nearly unseating himself from his horse. The animal neighed in protest.
Sebastian raked his gaze over the Seer Fey Grand-Master.
Paik only smiled. “Are you looking for this?” he asked, sliding the Amulet from the pocket of his mantle, holding it up for Sebastian's perusal.
“That's mine, Paik, we agreed on it!”
“Your memory of our agreement seems faulty at best.”
Sebastian fruitlessly grasped for the fire he knew hovered beneath his fingers, but only a sheen of blue flames parted from his skin. Hesitating only an instant, he snatched his dagger from his belt and hurled it directly at the Fey, catching him in the shoulder. Paik had not been expecting it; it knocked him from his feet, and Sebastian leaped from his horse, tackling the Fey to the ground. Two Seer Fey from the group still walking up the slopes caught sight of it; they turned, half-running, half-sliding toward Sebastian.
A high, trembling song keened above them, a single note that wavered and then held steady, affecting their struggle. In Sebastian's peripheral vision, he saw a flash of reflective scales. Mirages. Two Mirage Dragons swooping low toward them from the skies, and the note originated from the back of one of them.
Paik grasped Sebastian's throat with one clawlike hand, but Sebastian lurched for the Amulet in Paik's other hand. The Seer Fey stretched his arm high above his head, clutching the piece of wood desperately.
“Give me the Amulet!” Sebastian roared, striking his fist hard against Paik's wrist.
The Fey's fingers flinched open, and the Amulet skittered across the shale, settling a span from both men.
The Grand-Master's green eyes blazed with fury and hatred. His free hand wrenched a knife from his own belt, and he raised it.
With a deafening shriek, a huge, reflective mass landed on the slope with a shuddering crash. A Mirage she-Dragon. On her back, Ayden and Kayeck sat, and Kayeck's mouth was open, the powerful note of taibe still thundering from it. The she-Dragon scraped up the small piece of wood, and buffeted back into the sky.
“No!” Sebastian screamed. The second Mirage circled above Sebastian, diving lower. On its back, Sebastian could see a lone figure, and he screamed in rage. He would know the fiery hair of his niece anywhere.
“Kinna!” he shouted. “Kayeck! Traitors!”
The she-Dragon did not turn in the sky, and his niece's Mirage dropped directly over Sebastian, his talons outstretched.
With the Amulet out of Paik's hands, the Touches snapped back into Sebastian's fingers, and he hurled ash, fire, and ice into the air.
Uselessly. Kinna's Mirage hurtled skyward again, stung and momentarily blinded by the deluge, but unhurt. The she-Dragon Ayden and Kayeck rode was too far away and even more than that, Sebastian had lost control. As his mind pulled the moorings from all rational thought, Sebastian realized that even if he thought he could control the Touches, he would be lying to himself.
The Touches controlled him.
The Amulet controlled him.
And the Amulet had chosen to leave him.
He had to get it back. At all costs. It was his only hope to regain everything he had lost.
He didn't try to define his last thought in terms of the past or the present. All he knew was that he had lost more than he could even imagine.
He threw back his head and screamed at the Stars in whom he did not believe. He had to regain the Amulet, to pull its power back into his control. He'd kill Paik for this. And Kayeck. And all the Seer Fey. He would stamp the race of creatures from this earth as though they had never existed.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kinna
Kinna clung to Ayden as they flew away from Julian and Sage's bodies, sprawled across the rock. While Luasa dipped and weaved through the clashing aerial battles high above the mountain crest, tears formed in her eyes, but they dried in the frigid air almost as swiftly as they came.
Julian, her beloved childhood friend, Julian—whom she had looked up to and respected until the past year when his love for her had caused unforgivable actions—was dead. Killed defending her. He had known the arrow was coming; she had seen the knowledge on his face as clearly as if he had spoken it aloud. He had known he would die, but he had stepped in the path of the arrow none-the-less.
And because of his choice, Sage had died as well.
Kinna knew the Pixie couldn't have wanted it; she had spent years being jealous of Kinna because of Julian's feelings for her. But ultimately, the Pixie had died for her as well.
Ayden's hand covered hers where it clenched over his stomach. “He would do it again, Kinna, if he could.”
She sniffed. “How many more people must die for the Andrachens, Ayden? I'm beginning to believe Cedric has a point. Why shouldn't we abdicate and move on with our lives? Everyone would be so much safer.”
Ayden snorted. “You believe Sebastian's reign to be safe? Come on, Kinna, you don't mean that.”
Kinna sniffed. “I don't suppose I do. But it seems like the closer we come to overthrowing Sebastian, the more people die for our cause. I guess that's my concern. What is it about my cause that makes it so much more important than anyone else's?”
“Because your cause,” Kayeck spoke from behind her, “is more far-reaching than most people's. Each person is given a certain amount of influence, Kinna. Many will move in small circles, influencing those they see on a daily basis. Others—you and Cedric—are given a wide circle. It's what you choose to do with that circle that makes your influence great—or poor. You were given your circle, Kinna. That was not your choice. But you do have to choose what you do within that circle. Make that decision wisely. It affects many people and creatures.”
Kinna swallowed hard as Ayden linked his fingers with hers. She rested her forehead on his back, squeezing her eyes shut, gaining her strength again. “We must find Paik, Ayden. We must get the Amulet from him. Chennuh has gone for the knife, but he will be back soon if all goes well; he's been gone hours.” Worry creased her brow.
“I know,” Ayden said, “I saw him leave at dawn.”
Ember's fiery form shot past them, Cedric on his back, shouting, “Ayden! Paik and the Seer Fey have re-entered the battle; they're climbing the slopes below!”
Ayden's head whipped around
to see, and Kinna half-rising, strained to see past Luasa's wing where she glided, already circling according to Ayden's instructions.
“Bring us around, Luasa,” Kinna shouted and then braced as the Dragon dove through the cloud of fighting Griffons directly to their left and neared the ground, her mirrored belly skimming it.
A familiar presence brushed her mind, and Kinna gasped with relief. Chennuh! She scanned the skies to the west and spotted him, a shimmering glimmer in the afternoon light. Come; I'm here!
Chennuh burst into the sky through a cloud of Phoenixes circling like carrion birds over the skirmishes still happening along the slopes. He pushed them aside with ease, hurtling toward Kinna, his wings slowing him as he caught the wind. Flying above Luasa, his talons snagged Kinna's shoulders, sliding her until she could grasp his fins and pull herself onto his back.
Kinna wrapped her arms around his long neck. The knife?
And in his thoughts, she saw it, molten hot and glowing in Chennuh's mouth. She saw his journey through the skies, his near misses with a rogue band of Griffons who had deserted Sebastian's army and were eager to vent their ire on anything they met. She saw him clawing the mountain apart, gaining access to the Seer Fey chamber, the part where his talons glanced off the Seer Fey taibe that protected the knife, Chennuh's desperate attempt to bathe it in Dragonfire, and the ricochet of taibe back on himself. He'd been knocked insensate, recovering later, though he hadn't known how much later. And when he woke, the taibe was gone. The knife was free.
Kinna squeezed his neck. Thank you, Chennuh.
On the ground far below them, they could see a line of Seer Fey slowly emerging from the trees onto the slick shale of the mountain slopes. Farther to the south, a contingent of horses and mules trailed slowly along those slopes, heading north, Sebastian clearly visible at the head of the procession.
Sebastian would meet the Seer Fey... and Paik, who held the Amulet. Horror seized her; she could not let Sebastian have the Amulet again. “To Paik!” she called. “The Amulet at all costs!”
Unleash the Inferno (Heart of a Dragon Book 3) Page 34
