“I’d like that.” Averna whispered. “But Romana, Bronwyn’s death will be very soon. Her life is nearly over.”
“But she’s just a child.” Romana replied, her heart cringing away from the thought of Bronwyn ever getting hurt. “Surely she can’t be put in a battle’s way when she’s this young.”
“The only reason I can have sensed all the people in town today with similar death-dates is that the battle is coming to you.”
“The dragons?”
“I don’t know.” Averna replied. “But I do get the feeling a lot of them will die from fire and claws.”
“I must warn Kate.”
“It’s too late.” A voice from behind her. “They’re here.”
Chapter Nineteen
BROKEN DOLL
Romana turned to find Kate there, her hair wild, her pupils huge from adrenaline. “We want to send all the children to Morendor. Please ask Prince Marten to indulge us.”
“I will.” Romana replied quickly, and then she heard the first explosion. Her dress and cloak turned to armour instantly, keeping her safe. Kate’s did the same.
“There’s no time.” Kate yelled teleporting away. “I’m taking the children there, and erecting a temporary shield over the palace. Come, we’re needed in the fight.”
“I want to help.” Averna told her.
“Are you going to die?” Romana asked.
“No.” The girl replied.
“Then keep the girls safe until Kate can get them all from the island.”
“Where are you going?”
“To tell Marten.”
“I’ll hold the fort, and shall I saddle up Ash and Icarus?”
“Please.” Romana said, teleporting straight to Marten, finding him asleep in his bed. She shook him awake. “Marten, you have to wake up! Damn it, you have to help us.”
“What?” He asked, instantly alert.
“Dragons are attacking the isle, we’re evacuating the children. Please keep them safe. Please. I have to fight, but they’re going to begin appearing in your ballroom soon. Please. Just help. Will you?” Her words were so close to begging she was shamed by it.
“Why are they attacking?” He asked all business as he flung himself from the bed, clad only in loose-fitting trousers.
“Marten will you help me?” She begged, flinging her pride to the flames. “Please Marten.”
“I’ll help. Just don’t go back there.” He replied, pulling on a shirt and crossing the room at elvenspeed to stand in front of her.
“I won’t die.” Romana informed him. “I just need you to ensure they stay safe. Katelyn will be among them.”
“I’ll guard them like family.” He assured her, pulling her to him in a sudden move, and kissing her senseless in a claiming that spoke of desperation. “You come back, you hear me? And tell the wytches Morendor will aid them no matter what.”
“Safeguard our sisters. That will be aid enough.” She replied, teleporting away.
She found her rooms turned to rubble, her internal garden smashed. Instantly she teleported a slightly crumpled Bettie and all the important papers in her house to the ballroom in Morendor before she began the search for Katelyn and Bronwyn, dreading in her heart what she’d find.
Walking across the rocks was impossible, and above her battles raged. She levitated over the rubble. Finding her three wards in the rubble of Katelyn and Bronwyn’s room, Averna struggling to remove them from the wreckage, her hands bloody with scrapes and burns.
Romana lifted away the boulders with air, revealing two broken bodies. Both apparently lifeless, laying limp on the remains of their pink rug, the one they’d chosen together.
“No.” She muttered, sending healing energy rapidly into both of them, to find only Katelyn responding. “No! No! No!” She hauled them both against her, pulling Averna close as she did so and healing the girl. When she had finished healing Katelyn, she quietly teleported her unconscious form to the palace, while Bronwyn’s, body - she choked as she looked over the broken doll that had been such a sweet girl only moments before - she teleported to the shore of the island.
She stood. Wiping tears from her eyes, pulling the grief behind shields of ice around her heart, even as Ash and Icarus dropped to the ground next to her.
“We fight.” She told them, mounting Icarus with a deft grace, while she teleported Averna to the town where most of the fighting was happening.
They rose into the blood-red sky, and she conjured long fiery blades as they began to encounter the flying menaces above them. Romana decapitated many of their attackers and with deft blasts Icarus and Ash killed those that dodged her.
But more came, and then more. The number of wytches on brooms and fighting back was tiny compared to the numbers on the ground. They lacked co-ordination, Romana noticed.
Regroup. She ordered them. Basic arrow formation, defenders to the aft.
Her orders were obeyed instantly, and they flew at their attackers in a hail of fury. Their defenders keeping them safe from the second wave, while their attackers unleashed hell.
They were doing well, Romana thought, until one of the dragons blew fire into the forests and along the cornfields. The young plants and trees caught light quickly, and although Romana tried to extinguish it, only more fire was added to it from stray blasts. The forests burned, the fire consuming Sarah’s beloved trees at an incredible rate. Tears streaked her face as she attacked with renewed fury.
Then, a glint of red ahead of her, and all logical thought abandoned her.
“Murderer!” She yelled at the dragon queen.
The others joined in, their fury at Sarah’s loss also sparking pain throughout them as wave after wave of power surged towards the dragon queen. They all changed course, heading for the flash of red diamond that was shooting fire on those below.
Incredibly they missed. Over thirty wytches and all of them had missed. Romana tried again.
“She’s not really there.” Icarus yelled. “It’s an illusion.”
They were led right into a trap. As they reached the illusion, it dispelled, along with the one hiding the circle of dragons waiting there.
“Give my sons to me, and no more war shall happen between us!” The real queen announced from her position high above.
“We denounce you,” Icarus yelled back.
“We are no longer your sons.” Ash added. “Our allegiance is to our wytch.”
“She will die even if you choose to protect her.” The queen barked. “It is useless to have my two pure blooded sons both of such a rare species, tied to a puny wytch.”
In answer, Ash sent a bolt of hot flame straight for his birth mother, and she screeched with rage before returning the blow.
Romana shielded everyone from the fire this time. Even as she dragons threw all the fire they had at her, she shielded, realising as she did so that the amount of fire here was actually giving her a boost. She laughed a little, before summoning another blade of fire, and aiming it at the queen, it missed, but caught the dragon to one side of her instead.
While all of this was going on, Romana surveyed the scene below, finding only utter chaos. The majority of dragons were still busy burning all that remained of the isle to the ground, the trees groaned, smoke covered the place, and fires blazed so high that they could probably see it in Morendor.
They’d lost, she realised, even as Kate teleported beside her on a broom. “Everyone is safely in Morendor; we will die if we stay here.”
“Take the others. I’ll be there in a moment.” Romana replied. “We have an altercation with the dragon queen that requires solving.”
Kate nodded, and began teleporting the others away, until only Romana and she were the only non-dragons left. Sensing the end of the battle, many of the dragons ceased their attack on the two wytches, to concentrate on destroying the isle.
“Can you shield against them?” Romana asked.
“No. But I’m coming with you,” Kate replied, teleporting from t
he broomstick and onto Ash’s back. “We’re going after the queen, correct?”
“Yes.” Romana replied, even as the dragons they rode turned in the direction of the base of the isle, where fragile, magically supported rock met tiny island.
“What’s she doing down here?” Kate wondered, as they sped downwards.
Romana had a hunch, and hoped to hell she was wrong.
She wasn’t.
They found the queen of the dragons, along with several others, blasting fire at the delicate joining of rocks that held the isle to the land. Her mind tried to refute what she saw, they could rebuild the island even from the burnt devastation of before, but if the isle was forced into the lake, it would become unsalvageable.
As they neared, she saw the structure begin to crumble under the heat there. Soon, there was nothing left, and even as she chucked fire at the dragons, even as Kate pulled the water up desperately from the lake to try and drown them, their home began to fall into the misty water.
They watched as slowly, the structure began to tilt towards them, and then scrambled to move as it toppled with surprising speed, into the depths, leaving rocks strewn over the lake. Burnt ground mixed with boulders of grey stone and hunks of earth. Water flinched away from the impact in great waves, soaking onto the shores in the distance as the mist veil that had protected them torn to shreds exposing the devastation of the dawn.
They flew after the dragons, blinded by fury, and that was perhaps why what happened next was allowed.
Romana saw the bolts that were fired at them; she swerved, and successfully avoided them. A loud roar of pain and a scream of agony told her that Kate and Ash had not had the same luck.
She turned to see them falling through the air, a large part of Ash’s wing was missing, and half of Kate’s side was also gone.
“No!” She shrieked, teleporting them all immediately to the palace courtyard in Morendor.
Guards rushed towards her, but she ran past them, shoving them back with air, reaching Ash and Kate at elvenspeed.
Ringing her palms in flame, she immediately placed one on both rider and dragon.
Oh Ancients, a chunk of Kate was actually missing, crispy seared flesh edging the gap, oh and Ash’s wing. An entire section of pearly shining leathery wing had been burnt away.
She sent as much healing magic as she could into each of them, watching as gradually the wounds closed and drawing on Icarus’ strength to help her.
Guards gathered around her gasping in amazement as the wounds knitted themselves together slowly, and she could see healers sprinting for her as she worked, if she could keep Ash and Kate alive until they got here, then everyone would be fine.
She passed out when the first one reached her, exhaustion sweeping her under even as she felt soft hands catching her as she fell.
Chapter Twenty
A FAVOUR FROM DESPIRATION
Romana woke several times that day to soft breaths against her face, the smell of brimstone overpowering but lulling at the same time, each time sending her quickly back to sleep in wherever warm comfortable place she was in now.
She knew in the times between waking and sleeping, where she drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness that even though it was day, it was really dark wherever she was. She knew from the rhythmic breathing on both sides of her, that Ash and Icarus slept with her, and she knew from the commotion outside that her Icarus had commandeered a large hay barn in the grounds and used the hay there to make a nest for them all. All this information drifted across her mind as she walked the painful path of recovery from near complete magical exhaustion, something that should never have been possible for her to reach, although with all the magic she’d used lately, it wasn’t really a surprise.
When she finally woke fully, she discovered herself nestled like a sandwich between two pairs of wings, the top pair a dark ruby that filtered any light coming through. Blankets had been stuffed around her, and over her, while comfortable warmth was maintained through the high body heat of the dragons.
Careful not to wake them, she teleported outside and ran at elvenspeed into the courtyard. Her cloak came up with just a thought, even as she adjusted to the cold temperature of outside with a shudder.
“Where are they?” She asked the captain as he met her outside the doors. “Where are Katelyn, and Kate, and my sisters?”
“The wytches are all in the ballroom, we’ve tried to make them all as comfortable as possible.” His face was sympathetic, even if he didn’t particularly like her; the captain was not comfortable with women being so badly hurt.
She strode there quickly, pushing through the double doors to find her sisters huddled in blankets in groups and she easily located Kate and the other wytch queens sitting in a huddle and moved over to join them, spotting a sleeping Katelyn and Averna as she did so.
“Romana, I’m glad you’re okay.” Kate greeted her. “I owe you my thanks sister.”
“Are your familiars healthy?” Joanna asked, looking worried.
“Both are sleeping,” She replied. “What will we do?” She turned to look at Kate, “You have informed them of what happened, haven’t you?” She assessed their confused reactions and decided that Kate hadn’t.
“I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.” Kate explained, her face still tear streaked.
Romana took a deep breath and addressed the Coven. “The Isle of the Gifted is gone. The last act of the dragon queen before burning Kate and Ash was to topple the island into the lake.
There were cries of despair, some openly wept.
“Then it is hopeless.” Cass observed, “Our livelihood is gone forever, our homes are gone.”
“Didn’t Prince Marten once offer us a larger island if we healed his father?” Kate asked.
“But we already extracted payment from him.”
“Maybe, we could grant him a favour in exchange for this island. We need a place to call home; we cannot stay here in his ballroom.”
“Romana, go to Prince Marten, ask him what he would want of us for this island he talked of.” Kate ordered. “We will inform the others here of the fate of our homes.”
“They will be devastated.” Romana said sadly. “I will go, but I fear that his request may be of a more personal nature between him and me rather than something of the Coven.”
“Then it is you who may end up carrying the burden of our lives.” Kate said, “But I doubt your prince will do anything to you that you would not wish. But assure him that anything we have to give, we will trade with.” She made to stand and then winced at the movement.
“Kate, are you okay?” Romana demanded. “How much healing did I give you? Was it enough?”
“I shall survive Romana.” Kate replied. “To one as old as me, ‘tis barely a scratch. However, your prince has been hounding us as to your location every hour since we arrived back. Please do keep him from becoming a further nuisance.”
Romana nodded and teleported directly to him, finding him in his office, searching through papers. As soon as he saw her, he was over the desk at elvenspeed and hugging her.
“Ancients, if you’d been hurt.” He muttered as he pressed her close. “Gods Romana, don’t ever put me through that again. Or Endis for that matter, your family has been sending messages through the portal since they saw the smoke coming from the isle. How bad was it?”
“Bad.” She admitted. “Marten, the isle is gone. They destroyed it. I’ve been ordered to beg you to consider any favour that we can give you in exchange for the isle you offered us when I first told you about your father’s condition. I’ve been assured that anything we own is yours to take in exchange. You can ask the favour of any of us, and we will gladly do it.”
Marten paused, looking into her eyes, and probably spotting the desperation there. With a sigh he muttered something about being too charitable as he hugged her again.
“There is an island, called the Isle of Clouds, which the state owns as a gift from the dwarves many
years ago. It is over five times larger than your previous home; it should be perfect for you. I’ll send for building materials to be shipped there.”
“And in payment?” Romana asked. “I couldn’t let you do this without you asking at least one thing of me.”
Marten stepped backwards and rifled through the papers on his desk, producing a sheet of expensive paper embellished with words in gold.
“Read this.” He told her.
She took the paper that he held out, and skimmed through the first bit. “Your parents are holding a ball to celebrate,” she paused and looked up at him “your birthday?”
“Yes, read on.” He told her.
“They enquire as to my health, and wish to know if I would be present as your date. They stress the fact that we have been courting a long time and— Hell!” She looked up at him in disbelief. “You can’t be serious?”
“They feel that an alliance created by our marriage would give them access to both the wytches and the elves.” Marten confirmed.
“You didn’t just say the ‘m’ word.” Romana gasped. “No way. I agreed to be your date for a week, not marry you. How the hell could I put up with someone so maddeningly infuriating?” She asked the world, not caring that Marten snorted at her disgust.
“Maddeningly infuriating? So high your opinion of me is.” He told her sarcastically. “Read more.”
She reluctantly dropped her eyes back to the paper. “No way. She’s put the ‘m’ word and the ‘b’ word in the same paragraph.” Romana tripped over herself as she hurried to the sofa before she fainted then and there.
“You shouldn’t have told my step-mother that you liked children.” Marten told her feigning seriousness. “Now she wants nothing more than grandchildren by the end of the year.”
Romana sat there uncomprehending at the number of bold statements in a few short paragraphs. The queen had seemed so discreet about saying things like this at the conference, but now she seemed to be abandoning all attempts at tact and practically ordering Marten to take her to the ball, marry her and have children.
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 14
