The Crooked Knight (The Path of Zaan Book 2)

by C. K. Rieke

  A green dragon felt the mighty blow of the Major’s ax, nearly cleaving its neck clean off. It knocked him away before he could finish the kill, and savagely mauled two soldiers in its wrath.

  In the frenzy, soldiers screamed in pain and agony, yet also yelled in victory if a dragon was wounded. It was a bloodbath of chaos. Astor and Zelestiana flowed throughout the battle, their swords slashing through the night. Instead of taking on a dragon at a time, they drifted through the battle, inflicting wounds as they could.

  “Surround it dammit!” the Major yelled to his troops, as they fought one of the bigger ones. They continued to slash and hack at it from different sides, while trying to avoid its blood-soaked talons and gnarled teeth.

  Gar, who’d been waiting in the dark, crept silently along the wall, inching his way closer to a dark-green beast, his sword was held firmly in his hand. A group of soldiers had cornered the dragon up against one of the homes on fire, and he felt his opportunity, and stabbed his sword into the dragon’s hind leg. Blood flowed down his blade as he pulled it from the rotten flesh.

  The battle raged on. None of the dragons had fallen, but many men and women had. Finally, after a monstrous blow to it neck, the Major managed to cut through the last part of the neck of one of them. One down. Astor and Zelestiana eventually took another down with enough puncture holes in its neck, causing it to bleed to death.

  In the fray, the casualties rose on the soldier’s side. Dozens had already been killed or maimed, and the number of dragons was growing as they continued to descend from the sky above. All a while, the largest of the dragons hovered high above, at the center of the storm.

  Zelestiana, Astor, Gar and the others fought with everything they had, yet it felt to not be enough as the death toll rose.

  “What do we do now?” Gar asked them. “We’re eventually going to be overrun by these evil beasts. The soldiers are falling like flies. We aren’t going to be able to survive much longer.”

  “I’m guessing we need the big one to come down,” Astor said, looking up to the center of the spinning circle of dragons above. “It looks like it’s got something, someone on its back?”

  “Is it Xelex?” Gar asked. “Can you see?”

  “No, I don’t think its him, I don’t see the light of his ax. I think it’s someone else.”

  “Riverend,” Zelestiana said.

  ***

  Dark clouds burned with auburn haze as the dragons loomed high above Holdenbrook. Roars and hisses rang throughout the town as the dragons continued to tear through the soldier’s ranks.

  Running through the battle, Gar approached a small clay house off to the side of the square and slid under it porch, stopping next to Lily, who was rife with fear.

  “Gar! Thank god you’re here, this is insane. The dragons are ripping through them. What can we do?”

  “Listen, we’re going to make it through this, it’s almost time for our plan, we’ve just got to wait a little longer,” he said.

  “People are dying, Gar. What are we waiting for?”

  Zelestiana and Astor managed to kill another dragon in a savage fight, blood pouring from its mouth and chest. In a furious rage, more dragons began their descent, they swirled down in large numbers then.

  “Here they come,” the Major yelled. “Have at them boys. It’s us or them. Show them what you’re made of!”

  Gar, watching the dragons drop to the ground, felt his heart racing. He looked over to see the terror in Lily’s eyes. “They just need to hang on a little longer,” he said.

  He watched as the chaos ensued. Roars of dragons, the snapping of teeth, and the flashing of talons. He saw the blood-stained blades of soldiers flashing under the crimson sky. Blood-curdling screams were heard, and occasionally he felt the earth shake as a dragon fell limp.

  Lily’s eyes were bloodshed, and her cheeks were wet with streaking tears. “I’ve never seen this much death, this much destruction. We’re going to die Gar, unless something changes.”

  “Just a little longer, Lily, we just have to wait a little longer,” he said, staring at the large dragon flying high up in the center of the storm.

  ***

  “There are too many of them,” Astor yelled to Zelestiana as their swords slashed at a savage gray dragon with black horns running down its spine. “Look around, the soldiers are fatigued and falling. Soon there won’t be any left. We can’t fight these all ourselves.”

  “I know, you’re right.” Zelestiana slashed through a decaying wing of the dragon, her sword tore through, it ripped like a satin sheet, and the dragon roared. “All we can do for now is take down as many as we can.”

  Major Gylem ran over to them, his face covered in blood, his eyes frantic from the fight. “What about the girl? When is she going to come in?”

  Zelestiana shot in, “It’s too soon.”

  “We can’t wait any longer!” Gylem said.

  “We should wait until he comes down,” Astor said. “Otherwise, he might never come down.”

  “Who, who’s up there?” the Major asked.

  “We believe Riverend himself may be on the back of the big one up there,” Zelestiana said. “We’re waiting for him to come down.”

  “It’s got to be now, or there won’t be anyone left to fight him!” the Major said, spit and blood shooting from his mouth.

  “I’ll go find Lily,” Zelestiana said, and ran off quickly.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  BRIGHT, blinding lightning shot out, and the thunderclap was so strong it awoke the dreaming Gogenanth. His bloodshot eyes burst wide open, and his body jolted. He realized his body had been shivering, it was tense and fatigued. He shook the daze off and focused his eyes on the tree before him, it was scorched by the lightning, and burned slowly.

  He looked over at Wollen, who appeared but half the man he was. He had dropped in weight significantly. He lips were cracked and dry, his hair and beard in even more dismay than before. His body hung limply from the chains.

  Gogenanth tried to speak, but a cough came out first. It was harsh and dry. “Wol . . . Wollen,” he managed to whisper.

  “Wollen, wake up,” he saw Wollen’s eye twitch. “There you go. Wake up, don’t be such a pansy.” His eye twitched again, and slowly opened, unfocused.

  He painfully turned his head and looked into Gogenanth’s eyes. The slightest curl of his mouth hinted at a smile. “You look terrible,” Wollen managed to say.

  Gogenanth gave a brief chuckle, “I probably do.” Wollen’s head sank back down. “Wollen, listen to me, we have to get out of here.”

  “Easier said than done, huh?” Wollen whispered. His eyes were closed again.

  “I don’t know how, but if we don’t get out of these chains, we are going to die.”

  Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Gogenanth’s neck stood straight, and he heard the brittle, hollow voice of devil risen from hell.

  “Incorrect, man of the east, you cannot die . . . yet,” Xelex’s voice echoed around the hollow, black walls of Barrier Cliff. The few remaining dragons in the fortress screeched and growled.

  “You friend, however, can die when he has suffered enough to appease my Lord.”

  “You will not survive this world, Xelex!” Gogenanth shouted as loudly as he could, although his voice strained. “You hear me? We are going to put you in the ground! Your ashes will burn and fade to nothing.”

  Xelex appeared then in front of Gogenanth, his form wispy and translucent, as if he was made from the air itself. “And how will that happen when all of your friends are dead?”

  “What do you speak of demon? Tell me now!” Gogenanth yelled, his voice made the figure waft in front of him.

  “Riverend is already off with his dragons, surely your friends have met their end.”

  Gogenanth’s head sank. Wollen looked up at Xelex then. “They will kill your pet dragons. You will see,” he barely gathered the energy to say.


  “Hah,” Xelex barked a slight, hollow laugh. “The strength of mortals is weak. Your friend, Zaan, will find that out soon too. I’ve discovered where he’s been hiding. He’s in Dillengrad with your friend, the ironbender. Your friend’s been using his powers outside the circle of blue flame, I can feel his power.” He laughed a slow laugh again, and his image faded off quickly into the wind.

  “No,” Gogenanth said, “Xelex, come back and face me! Fight me!” Gogenanth gritted his teeth, and shook his head. He trailed off in fatigue, “Fight me, not the boy . . . ”

  He then caught a glare out of the corner of his eye. It was a reflection coming from one of the low-laying side walls of the castle. The light danced off and on in the darkness. Gogenanth squinted to focus in on the source, the golden light was blinding. Then it vanished, and as the shapes came into focus, he saw the unmistakable smile of Ezmerelda. Behind her was the outline of the broad shoulders of Yule.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  THE unmistakable stench of death was heavy in the air. Blood spattered the dry dirt, and the feel of iron’s raw presence loomed in the battle. Lily’s senses were on overload, she had never witnessed such destruction, such death.

  The last time she had seen a person die was at the Battle of Gildur and the Witch, where both perished in a tower of flame. She sat and watched, helplessly.

  She laid low to the ground, underneath a porch at the side of the battle. She watched as the dragons continuously pummel her friends, and the soldiers in the field, she felt that same helplessness again. She looked next to her. Gar’s eyes were unblinking, and the flames of combat reflected on his wet eyes. He was in a trance, and his mouth hung open.

  Out of nowhere, a body rolled violently towards them, and landed right in front of Lily’s face. The soldier’s face was covered in blood, and her open, bloodshot eyes met Lily’s and seemed to ask for help before her body went slack.

  Frantically, Lily looked over and grabbed Gar by the shoulder. “What do we do? They’re getting murdered out there. They don’t stand a chance against those monsters? Tell me what to do. I’m so scared. They’re dying!”

  “Wait, just hold on a little bit longer! We just have to wait for him to come down,” Gar said. “Please come down soon,” he whispered to himself.

  Suddenly, Lily saw someone running frantically towards them. “Zelestiana!” she yelled. She watched as Zelestiana hurdled over fallen soldiers, leapt over a dragon’s tail, and slid into the ditch next to Lily.

  “Zelestiana,” Lily yelled. “You are covered in blood!”

  “Listen—” Zelestiana said. “It’s time, we are going to lose this fight. The dragons aren’t going to stop until we’re all dead.” The death dragons roared in the background. A person screamed, and the sound of bones breaking snapped in the distance. “It’s your turn now, Lily.”

  “Don’t we need to wait?” Gar asked.

  “We’ve waited long enough,” Zelestiana said. “Lily, it’s all up to you now.”

  “I’ll try,” she said.

  “You can do it,” Gar said. “I know you can.”

  “You have to. It’s the only way,” Zelestiana said, looking into her eyes.

  Lily closed her eyes, and began to imagine it happening. “Repeat this word,” Zelestiana whispered into her ear. “Odinell. Feel it in your mind. Feel it on your lips. Feel it all around you.”

  “Odinell,” Lily whispered. Nothing appeared to happen. “Odinell,” she said again. Lily heard screams in the distance.

  “Focus on the word, and focus on the distance, feel the warmth of it,” Zelestiana whispered.

  “Odinell,” Lily whispered again. In the darkness of her closed eyelids, a warm blue hue began to emerge. She repeated the word, and what she was striving to feel, began to creep into her mind. She repeated, “Odinell.” They crept closer. “Odinell.” She was almost there. Then. There they were, standing all around her, in her mind. She opened her lips and softly spoke, and the word echoed throughout her mind. “Help us, please.”

  ***

  A few soldiers began to retreat and tried to run out of the town. Astor watched as the dragons chased them down and easily killed them, biting the head off one, and crushing another with a swipe of its heavy tail. He and the Major had managed to slay a handful of dragons, but there remained over a dozen more. Neither would admit it, but they were growing fatigued from battle, but the death dragons showed no signs of slowing.

  “Your men are dying! They are beginning to flee,” Astor told him.

  “Cowards. Hold your positions!” the Major yelled out.

  “This may be our last push, Gylem. Your men don’t have much strength, and we are about to be outnumbered.” He looked up directly into the sky. “And the big guy hasn’t even come down yet.”

  “Well-” the Major said, “-if this is how I die, I’m going to go fighting the creatures of hell until the bitter end!”

  Without warning, the dragons suddenly stopped their advance. Something was coming. The Major and Astor held their weapons firmly in hand. The dragon’s eyes began to dart around in different directions around them. Astor and the Major looked at each other. “Lily,” Astor said, “Lily did it!”

  The ground beneath their feet began to shake. Dried clay began to crumble from the small structures around them. Their thatched roofing began to shake free. Astor’s heart beat frantically as the low rumble all around grew to a roaring sound like a tidal wave. The dragon’s eyes began to shoot more wildly around them, trying to find what was coming.

  With great speed a black beast rushed past Astor, he heard its growl as it brushed past his arm. The black beast leapt onto an unsuspecting dragon nearby, its teeth bit down into the thick scales of the dragon, and its claws tore a bloody mess into its neck.

  “Is that—”said Gylem. “A panther?”

  “Not one,” Astor said. “Look, there’s a pack of them! Lily’s called the panthers to the fight!”

  They watched as the panthers mauled the dragons, who roared in pain and fury.

  “Get them! Kill every last damned one of them!” Gylem yelled out.

  “Look,” Astor said, and he pointed over at three bears that ran into the battle. They were huge, brown grizzlies that went and viciously attacked a black dragon with green stripes.

  Soldiers yelled in excitement from the sidelines. More wild cats jumped in, another panther and two female lions. Snarling, they flashed their sharp claws and teeth. They went for the neck. They went for the kill.

  The soldiers hollered from the side and jumped in excitement. Zelestiana ran over to Astor’s side, and shook him by the shoulders “She did it!”

  Dragons bit and clawed, and the panthers and lions fought back. “This is the most vicious thing I’ve ever seen,” Gylem said. Bloody saliva shot from a tall bear’s maw.

  There was a deafening roar from high above. The fighting ceased momentarily, and all beasts and men looked to the sky. The giant dragon above let out another loud shriek that echoed through the air. A low voice spoke down, it was unworldly. “You bring beasts to fight with you.” The dragon let out another roar, and it began to descend in a crescent shape.

  “You may think you can defeat my children, but—” the figure yelled down, “—the dragons of Riverend are immortal. As am I. Armoz has given us life again!” His eye glowed like a dragon’s, as the big dragon landed in the center of the battle. Riverend stepped down off his mighty, black dragon, who roared again, deafeningly. The panthers, lions, and bears growled at him as he dismounted.

  He walked up slowly towards Astor, Zelestiana, and the Major. They could see his pale, dirty face, with rotting skin. He had one bright yellow eye with red specks, the eye of a dragon, the other was pitch black. “This is not how it ends. Even if you defeat my dragons, they will return. Again, and again. By the will of Armoz, my Devil King. We will always return to hunt you down, until there are none of you left.”

  “You’re wrong, Riv
erend,” Zelestiana said, stepping forward. “We will defeat you, and you will die just like every other devil in this world.” She held out her blood-stained sword. “See, your babies bleed just like everything else.”

  He yelled out, and the dragons roared with him. Zelestiana looked around to see the battle waged again, with the dragons and animals tearing each other apart.

  “Come on. What’ve you got?” Gylem yelled to Riverend, standing before them.

  “I don’t like the looks of this,” Gar said.

  Riverend reached behind his back and pulled out a long, flowing black whip, it was a cat of nine tails from underneath his ragged coat.

  The whip was black as night, each of its nine tails were colored a bright red, the color of fresh blood. Each point held a small, golden tip. He lifted it high over his head, powerfully high. Then he brought it down and it snapped with the force of crackling thunder, brought down from the heavens, or hell as it were.

  The Major, Zelestiana, and Astor stood not far from him and the huge dragon behind. They began to fan out in slow strides. Riverend stood calmly, with his feet spread apart, pressed firmly into the dirt.

  Major Gylem stood with his axe swaying in his strong hands, he even carried a hint of a smile. Zelestiana’s eyes were focused squarely on the whip, as it lay ready behind him on the dirt, ready to pounce.

  Astor stood straight, his sword as his side. “Sure would be nice to have Gogenanth here.”

  “Nothing lasts forever,” the Major said. “We will laugh about this when this demon’s head burns on a spike.” The black dragon behind Riverend let out a mighty roar, and took large strides to stand at the side of Riverend.

  There was one last still moment, that crept on. A moment that felt like a long breath of an eternity. Eyes met. Stares meant for killing. Remorseless, battle-worn, hardened. They stood with the load roar of war around them, ready to fight the commander of the death dragons. The Major dug a heel in, Zelestiana stared with unwavering focus, and Astor stood confidently, waiting. Gar held his ground, and even Lily had come up to face Riverend, her sword in hand.