He looked at her, confused. “You speak of things to come.” He realised with awe. “You truly are a wytch.”
“Yes. As will be your first child. You must know that the Isle of the Gifted will be open to her.”
“Thank-you, I think.” He said, looking a bit startled.
But she didn’t give him time to ask questions as she teleported him straight to the caves.
She followed after Marten, and found him next to her brothers and the leaders of the other races at the very front of the army.
“Has anything happened yet?” She asked. “I’m bored.”
“I’m sure you won’t be for long.” Marten retorted. “In case you haven’t bothered to notice, the other side is looking expectant.”
Silver had noticed, and as she gazed across the blood stained grass that marked the borders of the Elvenlands, she took in the expressions of glee that were obvious on the opposing side.
“Yesterday was just to weaken us.” She realised. “They knew no-one could win if we were evenly matched. Kobos must have been searching out an ace.”
Just as the other generals began to react to her statement, the echoing horn blast sounded long and clear once more. The unwavering note lingered for several seconds before smoke, thick and black began to pool in the front of the enemy lines.
“Brace yourselves.” Silver called. Inky black smoke was never a good sign.
The smoke permeated every inch of the opposite side making the enemy impossible to see.
“That is not good.” Marten said the obvious as the cloud became so dense that even the sky on the other side was blocked out.
Then it all disappeared, sucked back into the earth like it was never there.
But the smoke was never the problem. The problem, Silver now saw, was the five figures sitting on thrones, carried by giants, and surrounded by Hellhounds.
“Dear Ancients.” Endis muttered.
Silver said nothing. And with good reason; for the first time since she was child, she was afraid.
Killing one Hellhound would make you a legend. Because you probably wouldn’t make it two steps in one direction before your soul was sucked from your body. But the most terrifying thing about them was that, for the briefest instant after they stole your soul, you would glimpse the glorious afterlife that you had just been condemned never to enter. As hellhounds ate the souls they stole, ending that person’s life and stopping them from reincarnating as they were supposed to.
“There are five?” The dwarven commander marvelled.
“Yes.” Silver spoke past her fear, forcing it down into her gut. “Their names are Issart'e, Maria, Alda, Kobos and Dukran. Each of them is Ancient even by your reckoning, general. None of them will die easily.”
Kobos, having let the impact of his arrival settle, called down from his throne.
“Surrender now and you shall each have a place in our new order.” He announced. “We recognise bravery, and will reward it as such. All we ask is for your leaders to sign over their kingdom to us.”
No-one moved. Not one man.
Silver was shocked. Had she been in the position of the rest of those men, she would have handed over Marten’s head on a silver platter. Loyal or foolhardy? She wondered, as she stepped out into the field.
“Really Ko Ko? Is that how you wanna play?” She asked mockingly. “Why don’t you come down here and fight yourself rather than playing with pets you don’t understand?”
“Ignorant wytch. Have you no thought for your own safety?” Alda asked, her voice deep and snappy with anger.
“Or would you rather she died instead?” Kobos asked, and instantly an image of Romana bound and in the jaws of a Hellhound appeared before her.
“Nice illusion.” Silver replied, flicking it away with a breeze of her hand and replacing it with a leprechaun doing a jig round a pot of gold. “The kingling here is the only one that stupid.”
Marten growled low from behind her as she flashed him a smirk over her shoulder.
“No if you’ve finished playing, Ko Ko, how about coming down here and facing me like a real leader, or are you too cowardly for that? You have ten minutes to decide.” And just like that, she sauntered off through the battalions, leaving Kobos to hiss in fury.
“What the blazes do you think you’re doing?” Marten demanded storming after her.
“Seizing control of the situation.” She told him as she mentally instructed Ash and Icarus to land nearby. “If he fights me, and I win, do you really think that his friends will stick around to get killed as well. I’m calling his bluff.”
“They’re siblings.”
“Look at them, for Ancients’ sake! The tension between each of them is palpable. None of them like siding with the other. Certainly none of them trust each other not to turn and kill them!” They’re nothing without Kobos. He’s the link. He’s promised each of them something that has made it worth their while. If he’s dead, and I make it look easy, then they won’t be able to collect and bang goes their invasion.”
“Will it be easy?” He asked.
“No.” Ash answered for her. “It will exhaust you, even if you take magic from us. It may even cause—”
“Mention it and I will kill both Romana and myself.” Silver cautioned him mentally.
Both dragons gave her a look.
“I will be fine.” Silver informed the kingling. “Tell me if he sends a messenger.”
“Where are you going?”
“To gather more magic.”
“From who?”
“The wytches who are in hiding.” Silver lied. “I need their help to win this.”
“How will I tell you?”
“Tell one of the wytches, they’ll be able to communicate with me.”
With that, she teleported further out into the forest, far from the armies, and once she was settled, she teleported Leigh, Miria and MacArthur to her.
“Thank-you, MacArthur.” She told him. “I’ll teleport you back to the camp now.”
“Thank-you, ma’am.” He saluted her before she dismissed him.
“What do you need us for?” Leigh asked.
“When Kobos is killed and the others leave, there will be an army left that will be leaderless and attack instantly. The hellhounds will disappear if Kobos dies, but there will still be a battle, and you two are the only ones I trust to help me get off the field.”
“Off the field?”
“I’ll be magically exhausted, unconscious by the time the half-Ancients have left. I need you to get me out of there as soon as things go south.”
“I understand.” Leigh told her.
“Miria, you need to do something very important for me.” Silver informed the smaller centaur.
“Whatever you wish, Night Angel.”
Silver was grim as she outlined the plan quickly to the child. “Do you understand?” She asked at the end of her explanation.
“Yes.”
Silver teleported the centaurs to the camp, knowing that she could rely on them more than anyone. They’d been raised to view her as a demigoddess.
Breathing in the dawn air she sat on the dewy ground to await the dragons call. The earth felt stable beneath her while the wind played with her hair, which she un-braided so she could feel the winds fingers lift it and blow it around her face.
“There’s been a change in plans.” Icarus told her as he landed next to her. “Ash and I intend to fight our mother at the same time you battle Kobos.”
“That is how it was in the old days, a wytch’s familiars fought against her opponents familiars while wytches battled each other.”
“I have never seen or heard of wytches battling against each other.” Ash informed her.
“It was a long time ago.” Silver remembered. “A savage war gripped the world and laid waste to it for hundreds of years.”
“The Great Anarchy.” Icarus guessed. “That was around two thousand years before we were born.”
“My family ar
e the sole remaining survivors of that war. And our magicians as well, of course.”
“You have no objections then?” Ash asked.
“I approve.” She replied. “Do not get injured or Romana will kill me.”
“Then we should go; the messenger just arrived.”
Silver nodded and climbed onto Icarus’ back, riding without a saddle and relying on his magic to keep her on his back on the way to the field.
Mere moments later they landed in the centre of the large, grassy plain that the battle had commenced on. From above, Silver could see how the dead littered the floor. Their blood had soaked into the earth and stained the once yellow grass. It was a humbling sight, or it would have been, to someone less experienced than she. In the centre, on opposite sides of an invisible line, stood the leaders of the two armies. On the side closest to her were Marten, her brothers and Knight General Tyrone. On the opposite side stood Kobos and the four others, accompanied by the dragon queen.
She landed dead centre in the middle.
“So Ko Ko, you decided to show after all.” She taunted.
“If I remember it was you who ran away the last time.” He smirked.
“I flew away, having blown up your little rat hole.” Silver corrected, meeting his snakelike eyes. “Now unless I’m wrong you came here to fight me, or would you rather stand around talking all day?”
He gave a low hiss, before nodding.
“I give you one last chance, my sons.” The dragon queen told Romana’s familiars. “Join me, and forget the wytchling.”
“We would rather die.” Ash spoke for them both and growls of hostility echoed all around.
“Perhaps you shall.” The dragon queen replied. “You are after all, still merely hatchlings compared to my age and experience.”
“The fight shall be to the death.” Marten confirmed. “No one else is to intervene.”
“So be it.” Kobos said, removing his blood-red cloak and passing it to Alda, who narrowed her eyes at his casual treatment of her.
Those not involved in the battle left quickly, returning to their armies. Marten hesitated long enough to give her a look, but then left as well. Silver let her eyes drift back to the army behind her. If she failed they would die, there was no question about it. The hellhounds would bound through them all in an instant, destroying everything in their path. Kobos would take over. Romana’s loss would devastate Marten, making it easy for anyone who wanted his crown to pick him off, even if he did escape the bloodbath.
“Are we starting soon?” She asked Kobos, who was still watching the retreating other half-ancients. “Or did you want to take a moment to check your make-up?”
“Disrespectful wytch.” He growled, turning to meet her eyes. “I’ll be sure to mount your head on a pike outside my new castle.”
“Don’t be so certain.” Silver mocked. “Kingling, take note. If I win, I want my own castle, so I can stick this idiot’s head on a pike in front of it.”
There was a groan from behind her, and Ash chuckled before he and Icarus took to the sky, followed by their mother.
Determined not to betray her moves before she made them, Silver stood straight, fixed her eyes on Kobos and focused her mind on both the mental and the physical planes. Kobos found it hard to work magic without moving his hands, a handicap she’d learnt during Romana’s captivity, so his moves would be visible to her. Fortunately, being the more advanced of the two of them, she could do anything she wanted to him without lifting a finger.
Kobos flicked his hands forwards, erecting a shield on the physical plane at the same time that she sent a psychic blast straight for his mental signature. He deflected it, sending it off into one of his own troops, who buckled and fell where he stood, blood leaking from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
In retaliation he slashed his hand sideways, sending a flare of air in her direction. She didn’t bat and eyelid, but simply wished it away as if it had never come for her.
The point of this battle was to defeat Kobos and make it look easy. There was no way to do that if she started jumping and flinching like a wytchling.
The ground heated below her feet, and cracks began to appear. She raised a pillar of earth beneath her, keeping space between her and the heat, then sent the pillar downwards suddenly, forcing the earth up beneath Kobos, tripping him and landing him straight on his butt.
There were chuckles on her side of the field, and she allowed herself a small smile.
“How are you guys doing?” She asked Romana’s familiars.
“There are two of us and one of her.” Icarus replied.
“Don’t get cocky.” She warned.
When she re-focused on Kobos, he had picked himself up off the grass and was attempting to send a mental strike at her.
“Are you trying to tickle me?” She asked, sending it straight back at him with little effort at all.
He snarled, and stamped on the earth causing it to shake and wobble beneath her, jarring her sideways. While she was distracted, he sent another blast of air at her, followed by another, more powerful one.
She caught the first one in the chest, but stayed standing. The second she deflected, but barely.
The next few strikes flew at her in rapid succession, each threatening to knock her backwards. She blocked them, returning the favour by causing roots to grow around his feet at the same time that she created a ring of fire around him.
He froze the fire to ice, and then shattered it with a flick of his fingers. Suddenly the ice rose, and flew towards her in a hail of deadly spikes. She was forced to levitate herself high into the air to avoid them, at the same time she sent a gust of wind at them, driving them downwards and into the ground.
As she landed, she sent another bolt of fire at him, followed by two others. He panicked and punched a hole in the ground before he sent himself spiralling down into it. The fireballs zoomed over the space where he had been and into the portion of his army that had been directly behind him. They were turned to ash where they stood.
When he rose up from the ground he sent a far stronger mental pulse at her, she hadn’t seen it coming so wasn’t shielding and caught the full impact. Kobos smirked as she felt the blood run from her nose. She quickly healed up the small injury, even as she created static mental shields that would stop the worst of any other mental attacks he launched on her.
There was a roar of victory from above, and she quickly peeked through Ash’s eyes to see the dragon queen with a broken wing, hovering haphazardly.
“Well done.” She congratulated them both, sending some magic to heal them both. “Remember, a cornered animal will fight even harder. Do not presume she’s not dangerous just because she’s down.”
There was a mental mumble of agreement, but they were too busy exchanging dragon fire with their mother to fully answer her at the moment.
She checked her own power levels, annoyed to find them lower than she’d like, but she sent another blast at Kobos anyway, this time from behind.
It caught him in the back, sending him sprawling forwards, but he healed himself with a growl.
Then he did something Silver did not expect.
With a war cry he leapt for her, his hand flying to her forehead.
She didn’t allow herself to scream as he began to draw on her magic, instead she did a dangerous thing and funnelled her pain back along the mental bond he’d created when he’d first drawn on her power.
He screeched, just as she pulled her swords and struck him through the stomach.
He staggered backwards, but with the magic he’d been able to draw in just a few seconds he managed to heal himself in an instant, before he assaulted her with a barrage of magical strikes created from her own power.
She shielded, checking her magic again. It was pitifully low. But it was enough. Just enough.
She allowed her magic to stream from her pores. All that was left of it. She drew it from all of her past lives, from all of the sorceresses she’d once kille
d. She drew it from Romana and from the wytches under her command, until it formed a glowing ball of light that pulsed around her. She left a little for herself, not much at all. Merely a drip.
Kobos, seeing the light, and sensing what was coming, ran.
But he was no match to the entirety of her power.
The light caught up with him when he was around halfway to his army, claiming him. Burning him so there was nothing left.
The glow evaporated the moment it claimed its victim, and Silver mentally grasped desperately for the magic left behind. There was none.
She was running on empty. There was no magic left for her.
The reality settled heavily, even as cheers erupted and the dragon queen crashed in a bloody heap to the ground.
She watched as, predictably, the four half ancients looked at her, terrified, before they teleported out of the scene. The hellhounds, no longer held to the surface world by Kobos’ magic dissipated into a thin dust, and the rest of the army, either fled or attacked.
In all the chaos, Leigh found and grabbed her, supporting her on her way back past the tents and into a glade, away from the others.
“Did Miria distract the Kingling?” Silver asked.
“Yes. But why does that matter?”
“The girl’s identity must remain a secret.”
“Don’t worry. Miria looked like she was doing a good job. But you’re here, how would he find out.”
Silver couldn’t tell her that. “You’re ungrounded.” She said instead. “Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“What’s going on?” Leigh demanded. “You’re acting strange.”
“Just stop it Leigh. Keep the kingling away for the next few minutes, and then get Romana’s body away before he sees her.”
“Tell me what’s happening.” Leigh insisted. “All the wytches on the field passed out as I was carting you here. Is this something to do with that?”
There wasn’t going to be any way to keep the centaur in the dark, Silver realised as she felt herself began to slip.
“I used all the magic available to me.” She told her most loyal friend. “Leigh, I’m going to die, and when I do Romana’s body will be the one I leave behind.”
Leigh was silent. “You knew you were going to do this all along, didn’t you!” She yelled. “You could have asked for help. There must have been another way. You stupid, selfish woman! Romana needs you. I need you. The kingling needs you. Every poor damn person in the world needs you! You can’t do this!”
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 28
