Demon Lord 5: Silver Crown King

by Morgan Blayde

  The far side of the pavilion hosted a clump of magic-users, a mix of demon and fey. These were the guys able to control air and ice. My wind-demons and those controlling air elementals would try to disperse enemy storms while Kellyn’s winter fey would attempt to turn the storms into blizzards, seizing control. This would be one battle front among many.

  Trying to limit enemy intrusion, I’d ordered those in the keep to keep candles, torches, and oil lamps burning everywhere to eliminate shadows. Shadows were weapons to the Shadow Court, and also portals. It’s known that higher ranking fey from that court have the power to step into one shadow and emerge from another shadow someplace else. It was conceivable that in the heat of battle, a small force of Shadow Court assassins might try to slip in and take out our leadership.

  On the side of the pavilion nearest the falls, Drake and Kinsey were gathered with the rest of the cadet family adults. They were already in dragon form, gigantic, scaly gold behemoths ready to kill something. The Old Man was going to catch a ride with Drake over to the bridge. Kinsey had offered, but none of us trusted her not to accidentally drop him and rid herself of a future husband.

  I’d be going with them to the bridge for the first battle, but not in human form. That’s why I was freezing my ass off up here in the ice wind, stripping off my clothing. My blood burned, surging through me. My pulse leaped into high gear. My heart thundered, toughening up. The first time I’d done this, my human side had been swamped by the raging newborn dragon within me. This time, my inner dragon was cooperating with me; I’d have some measure of control.

  Just don’t get bossy, my dragon said.

  I threw my head back and roared. My voice started human, ending bestial. I staggered, stumbling off two feet, going to four. My skin itched, stretched, and tore as new layers formed over growing muscles and bone. The pavilion shrank around me. Once I reached the size of a small dragon, gold-scaled mesh appeared. My hands still looked mostly human, but were scaled as well, displaying jet-black nails. My waist and neck stretched out. My feet became talons that could easily pluck up a cow or two for dinner as I grew bone spurs from my heels for better grasping. Hunger hit like an artillery shell. I’d expected that, ignoring the gnawing. I’d be feeding soon enough. All of us dragons would feast at the bridge. Those that didn’t want to eat enemy fey would find plenty of horses running wild with fear.

  Spasming muscles made me writhe. Fresh bone spurs grew out of my shoulder blades. The spurs separated into ribbing, coated with blood, waving tattered skin and muscle. I could smell my own blood, and oddly, that fed into my hunger. My neck grew more vertebras. I had a new tail that lengthened as joint after joint replicated. I stared over my shoulder at the tail’s scimitar point, made of bone. I nodded. A natural clubbing weapon—like there’s any part of a dragon that isn’t a weapon.

  Protruding from my back, the bony ribs grew muscles, tendons, and ligaments to work them. Wrapped in new, gold-scaled skin, the wings acquired circulation through new-grown arteries and veins. Scaly membranes filled in between the ribbing. Like the other gold dragons, I’d grown wing-flaps attached to my back, one of the differences in design for the royal clan.

  My face melted like candle wax in a blast furnace, reforming with a long toothy snout and a wider field of vision. My inner dragon had become an outer dragon. That left me as the inner voice for a change. I did little but sit back as my dragon form wiggled body parts, shifting weight to get a feel of being free and active. He fanned our wings, drying them, stretching.

  Just remember, he told me, let me control the body. You do something unexpected while I’m flying or fighting, and we’ll probably take damage.

  No problem, I answered.

  Coming out of the transformation, I noticed the other dragons staring. I had a human-style larynx as well as a dragon one, this made my speaking voice deeper as it escaped my throat. “What?” I asked.

  Drake answered. “That looked extremely painful. You go through that every time you change form?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged massive, scaly shoulders. “Good thing I love pain.”

  Lauphram climbed onto Drake’s back, occupying a makeshift saddle. The dragons moved out from the pavilion, lining up on rocks edging the falls. They left a spot for me between Drake and Kinsey. I hopped from rock to rock to join them, stopping with a sheer drop at my forefeet. Bisected by the river, the small valley spread out, its rich detail brought close by high-resolution dragon eyes.

  Drake swung his long neck, turning his head to face mine. “Follow my lead and stay close. You haven’t got our years of experience fighting in this form.”

  “I’ll try not to piss my non-existent pants,” I said. “Can we go kill something now?”

  Drake leaped out into the air, wings snapping open. He glided down, but soon arced up, beating wings vigorously for altitude. The Old Man’s weight didn’t seem to hinder the dragon in the least.

  The rest of us followed, laboring to rise ever higher above the valley, to vanish into the heavens, conquering the sky with raw strength. Just when I thought my tiring wings were going to fall off, Drake leveled out into a glide.

  About fucking time, I thought.

  You can only blame yourself. I’d be stronger if you let me out more often, my dragon-half complained.

  Shut up and fly.

  The air I breathed was thin and cold, but the electric fire charging in my body kept me warm. The land stretched out far below. Catching the sun, the river was a wiggle of silver fire. We followed it to the mouth of the valley and angled to follow the bridge where the new lake stretched under us. Like a blob, the enemy army had little distinction at this height, even to my dragon eyes.

  The Old Man shot a grin my way, unstrapped himself from the saddle, and jumped off into thin air. He dropped like a slab of blue rock, tumbling end over end. I knew Lauphram couldn’t fly, but wasn’t worried. With my connection to the land, I felt his magic touch, a siren call that pulled the lake like a lunar tide, troubling the water, giving it life and purpose. Staring down, I saw a pillar of water stab skyward to intercept him. The fountain hit and slowed him, becoming a shell, a shield. Enclosing him in air, he vanished into the lake—taking full possession.

  On the far shore, clouds were gathered, but stalled, as if nervous about coming closer. We went on, overshooting on purpose, our presence in the midday sun cloaking us from detection—I hoped.

  We now winged above a land that was not mine; dark and wretched with barren hills and diseased trees, enemy territory pushed to the base of the bridge where it was held at bay by my own domain. I had anchored the lake and bridge against the fluidity of the Fairy domains using a large part of the power the Red Lady had given me.

  I imagined the enemy magic-users picking at that knot of alien power, going: “What the fuck!”

  Returning, we wheeled and dropped our formation to better strafe the bridge. We opened our maws. Lightning danced, hazing our features. The golden fire exhilarated, burning none of us. Jags knotted in the air, caressing my face, slithering along my neck, making vision much harder, but that was short-lived as we focused and spewed lightning down onto the mounted riders, igniting their banners, slagging their silver armor, blowing many of the riders out of their saddles. Fey warriors screamed along with their mounts, those not killed at once.

  After hammering the backside of the enemy force, we pulled up to hover, roaring defiance in order to stir up panic. The terrorized horses in the rear threw many of the surviving fey, and plunged ahead, creating a jam in the middle of the bridge.

  Rising up out of the lake, a hundred tentacles of water held their form, using flat, spear-like tips to smack across the throng. Decapitated heads flew skyward, some falling into the water to feed the fish, other heads bouncing onto the bridge, a dire warning of things to come for the enemy Courts. More tentacles came curving in from the lake, harpoons that buried themselves in fey knights, dragging them into the air, then into the water.

  Give ‘em hell, O
ld Man. Give them watery hell.

  I counted various styles of armor, surcoats, and banners. Most of the dead were Storm Court, but there were Autumn Court as well. Looking ahead, it seemed like the Shadow Court fey had taken the branched road into the fake valley. Nightmare Court fey were rushing into the real valley, desperate not to get trampled by their allies.

  Just like I planned.

  My dragon family settled on the bridge and so did I. I walked along, casually stepping on fey survivors, crushing them into paste inside their flattened armor.

  Ahead, a warrior fought to his feet, mouthing curses. Gray clouds swirled around him, vailing much of his motions as he charged. His sword was thick with runes.

  A magic-user, my dragon-half warned.

  No, fuck? What was your first clue?

  He leaped close and stabbed, his sword morphing into a purple-white brand of lightning. I bit his fire and it melded with the electrical blaze in my mouth, adding to my power. I spat that power back at him. He was blown out of his armored boots, leaving them behind as he fell smoking onto a distant part of the bridge, clubbing down several of his allies.

  Throughout this drama, the other dragons were quieting the horses by biting their heads off. Bones crunched. Blood splattered, painting the air with a metallic tang. Equine corpses were swallowed whole. Only horseshoes were spit back out.

  Terrified, surviving horses and riders stampeded off the bridge, taking their chances on the lake.

  I shrugged and followed my dragon’s instincts, letting that part of me feed freely. I was burning calories like a madman, keeping something the size of a dragon in the air, by which I meant me. My claws made quick work, tearing off bloody chunks and tossing them into my mouth. The flavor of horse meat wasn’t much different from lean beef with little marbling, maybe a touch gammier. Of course, I usually like my meat cooked.

  Yuk, my dragon side said. That totally ruins the flavor.

  Belching, in need of an extra-large toothpick, I looked over at Kinsey and Drake. The rest of the family were clustered near them, finishing their snacks as well.

  I said, “Ready to move on?”

  Using a foreclaw to send a thumb-up message, Drake nodded and led the way back into the sky.

  We struggled, belies tight, heavier than ever, as we climbed above the bridge, swinging out from the bridge. Picking up speed, we dodged arrows, spears, and tossed axes. Another veer and we enter the fake valley, disgorging flailing bolts of electrical fire into the Nightmare Court fey. Most of these were foot soldiers with pikes, and spike-helmeted archers.

  Like windblown leaves, a band of fey piled up around some boulders, seeking cover. Bows were strung. Quivers were unslung and placed close at hand for rapid firing. A commanding voice yelled orders. A cluster of arrows shot our way.

  The bowmen were good, but dragon scales turned the shafts aside, those not deflected by the wind of our wings. The archers died under our lashing fire, as they bought time for the rest of their forces to reach forest cover.

  I beat my wings furiously, needing height. Drake watched me a moment, and came along, the other dragons several lengths behind us. His human voice distorted coming out of a dragon’s throat, Drake called over to me, “You have some plan other than setting fire to the forest?”

  “You guys head back to defend the keep. I’ll handle this.”

  They didn’t argue, tearing off into the sky, all except Kinsey, who stayed with me. Maybe she felt curiosity. Maybe growing familiarity was taking the edge of her hatred of half-breeds. Maybe, realizing her attitude toward me meant she had to feel the same for Julia and children like her, had produced a beneficial effect on Kinsey. Whatever the reason, I didn’t run her off. We were all going to have to live together if her wedding to the Old Man actually went through.

  I closed my eyes, wings beating to keep me on hover. I trusted that Kinsey wouldn’t let me get killed in a moment of distraction. We were on the same side at the moment.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Reaching into the land so I can use it against the hiding fey. That’s odd.” My dragon face frowned as I opened my eyes.

  “What is?”

  “Some kind of interference. Almost like someone is trying to twist the ley lines.”

  I dropped, diving to the ground, needing to bury my paws in the earth for greater intimacy. Kinsey followed, landing beside me, looming. I felt vastly annoyed that I was short as a dragon as well as a human. Totally unfair.

  My dragon side echoed agreement; A sin against my glorious destiny.

  “Geomancy?” Kinsey asked.

  “Dammit! Someone is looking for the heart of my land. They’re trying to steal my tie.”

  A spray of arrows came from the forest on our side of the river. Arrows bounced off my scales. I sent a blast of lightning into the trees. More arrows came from another spot. The fey were shooting and running to stay ahead of me. Either they were getting braver, or they’d been ordered to buy time while someone either poisoned my land, or stole it away from me.

  And to think, my plan had been going so well.

  TWENTY-NINE

  “Killing monsters is job security;

  always another one coming along?”

  —Caine Deathwalker

  “Kinsey,” I glared, willing her obedience. “I’ve got to jump out of my body for a few minutes and take care of something. I need you to keep my dragon body alive until I get back. Don’t let him run amok, and get blindsided.”

  I can take care of myself, my dragon objected.

  I had concerns. He was still relatively newborn, and shared my consciousness, but not experience. And once my part of “us” was gone, I didn’t know if he’d stay stable, or revert to pure beast. I needed to hedge my bets.

  Kinsey said, “What happens to either of you is not my problem.”

  I could tell her heart wasn’t in that, but her answer still pissed me off. “Look, bitch, you let my body die, and the Old Man will hold your family responsible. He destroyed Atlantis when just a young-punk demon. Do you think he won’t rip hell out of the dragon home world getting payback?”

  “The emperor will stop him.”

  “The emperor will be too busy having his heart pulled out of his penis by the Red Lady. Now, can I count on you?”

  She actually rolled her eyes at me. “Fine. I give you my word of honor.”

  I couldn’t wait any longer. I warmed a seldom-used tat along my spine, a rose compass with an eye on it: the Shard Mind tattoo. My scaly back stiffened, my wings trembled. I fought for breath as a sharp pain made me think I’d been stabbed in the liver with a spear. This was payment for the spell. The phantom sensation faded, and I saw my dragon form from several feet away. A wildness came into his eyes, a fervent bloodlust. He leaped into the air, beat his wings, and took a shallow glide toward the trees that harbored the enemy fey.

  Kinsey burst after him, yelling, “Hey, wait up, you idiot! You’re going to catch an arrow in the eye.”

  Yell it louder, I thought. Why not give somebody ideas?

  My spirit form was a three-dimensional haze of shadow with two spheres of energy inside: one dark lightning, the other gold. Cut off entirely from flesh, this was a step beyond the usual Bi-locational awareness I’d employed in the past. My brain didn’t have two sets of perception; this was more like astral projection. I merely had to think a direction and my liberated awareness drifted that way. The edges of my sight were blurred, watery. Only the center of my focus remained clear.

  Losing color, everything shifted into shades of graphite as I sank into the ground. It should have been dark, but I saw pale ghost currents of ley energy in what appeared to be a sea of charcoal. Like a diver, I nosed down, swimming through soil and rock, latching onto a ley line, letting it guide me toward the crystal heart it had come from. I went deep, into a kind of timelessness, broken suddenly by concussive waves that rolled me end over end. I felt like a submarine slammed by the detonations of depth charges.<
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  Recovering, I willed myself to my best speed, no matter how exhausting. In my mind, I heard the scream of the land as its awareness thinned, but struggled to stay with me. Fortunately, I’d relocated the heart near my keep for the coronation. It came into view, a crystalline heart with cracks forming over its surface.

  Clutching the land’s heart, like a beast drawn from a demon’s nightmare, I saw a behemoth made of stone, veined with lava, its back a spiked shell. I felt the fey-beast trying to tune to the crystal. It had damaged my link, but not replaced it. Having failed once, it pulled back a gargantuan fist and pounded the heart, as if it could be beaten into submission.

  Fearing that the heart might explode into fragments, ley lines already beating raggedly, I thrust out my shadow hand, the one that bore the shadow tat, the black circle crossed by lightning bolts.

  Plunging straight at my enemy, I concentrated on the black lightning at my core. It flared, sending current through my phantom body. Black lightning wreathed my hand. Crackling jags of black flame arced from me to the creature, but moving through soil was different than air. The dark lightning expanded, curls of it spooling off, so that by the time the charge hit the beast, a lot of explosive effect was lost.

  The earth elemental arched its back. Its face lifted as it screamed, a sound like grinding tectonic plates, felt more than seen. Basketball-sized chunks were blasted out of its shell. These became demonic ladybugs, slicing the soil with sword-like wings. They swarmed in confusion, then turned hell-red eyes my way.

  It was more important to save my crystal than to kill monsters. I willed the crystal to come to me. It bobbed around the big earth-monster and streaked through the swarm, slamming them off course. The land’s heart was faster than the elementals, plunging into my phantom arms for protection.

  I needed a change of venue to be more effective, so I darted upward, pushing hard for the surface. As I held the crystal, our bond strengthened. Its light pulsed in time to my heart. The cracks in it fused shut, vanishing. I sensed that the surface was near.