by Aaron Crash
He saw Tessa weeping in Aria’s arms. Zoey was there, holding them both. And Mouse would squeeze in, saying something sarcastic. Sabina would pull Pru over. Chazzie would be alone for second, and then she’d roll her eyes, say something cutting, and go over to join the embrace. Uchiko would as well.
And Tessa would get through her grief. She wasn’t Merlin. She was stronger.
Steven would have to be just as strong. And just as smart.
Mordred was protecting himself from AnimusChain but not from ShadowStrength. Steven took the strength from him, then turned human. The coils were slack enough, weak enough, that he could slip free.
Steven grabbed his sword and hacked off one finger tentacle, then another, then another.
Mordred howled and pulled his newly forged fingers back into his hands. Blood gushed from his hands.
Steven went forward to finish the Dragonknight.
Mordred coughed up a cloud of poison gas. Steven was forced to retreat.
The wounded Dragonknight staggered back, tripped over a mausoleum, and went rolling down the hill, until he reached the feet of Bedivere, who had pulled himself upright after Paanga’s brutal attack. His rotted flesh was marked with scratches.
Steven triggered his Divination spell and reached out to his Escort. Guard the entrance to Icharaam’s tomb. I’m going for Mordred and his Dragonknights.
He didn’t wait for an answer. The wind had taken care of Mordred’s Toxicity cloud, so Steven could charge forward. He glanced to his right at the south of the hill.
Lancelot had finally gotten his claws into Aria in her True Form. The Dragonknight ripped four long bloody lines through Aria’s back thigh. She breathed fire into his face, then escaped. Lancelot’s tiger-colored scales were slashed and smoking. He’d felt her Animus daggers, over and over, and had the wounds to prove it.
Aria lost her True Form and came crashing down, tumbling across the mud between the tombstones. She must’ve had her Animus sucked from her. She refueled by throwing lightning from a dagger into the Warlings on the hilltop.
Aria got to her feet, but it looked like she’d been through a woodchipper.
The Warlings should’ve retreated while they had the chance. The twins in their tank weren’t going easy on them. When Pru wasn’t shredding them with the machine gun on top of the tank, Chazzie was blowing them to shit with her cannon. Both twins had to be grinning.
Most of the Gris-Gris and Sounders had been taken down as well. They were doing well, but the main event was in front of Steven, the three evil Dragonknights, also known as the Americos Brothers. They’d been manipulating events in the US for hundreds of years, and they’d been good at it.
But not good enough.
Mordred’s forces were ten minutes out, coming in on dragon wings.
Steven’s vassals, Javier, Savedra, and the others, would arrive around the same time. Steven needed to end the fight before they arrived. If he could kill the Primes, many of those brave Dragonskins would switch to his side.
Umbra was somewhere. Steven had to keep an eye out for her black blur.
He faced the three Dragonknights. All were dragons, rising above the muddy ground. Cold rain washed down on them. There was an eerie silence for a minute as they eyed each other. Bedivere’s diamond eyes gleamed. There was an intelligence there.
“We could join you,” Mordred said quietly. “Would you really kill us when we could help you fight the Zothoric?”
Steven narrowed his eyes. “You are such a duplicitous asshole. I’d rather fight every demon in the universe than give you my back.”
“Don’t listen to his lies!” Paanga Komang roared. He came flying in, his black face furious against the yellow and green of his scales.
A black dragon careened into him. Umbra hit the Asian dragon like a cruise missile. They both went spiraling down to smash into the ground on the other side of the hill. The dirt kicked up by their impact was scattered by the howling winds.
Mordred reached and pulled Lancelot to his left and Bedivere to his right. All were chanting something, their voices eclipsed by the winds and rain.
Steven watched as their bodies melted together and they tripled in size. This was FleshForge, turned up to eleven. This was just wrong.
When the transformation was complete, the monstrosity had a single body with a long spiked tail, two legs, two arms, and huge wings. Three dragon heads rose from the multicolored chest. The left side had tiger strips, the center body and the biggest head had Mordred’s white and purple markings, and the right side was gold and orange. Bedivere’s diamond eyes glimmered from the black scales on his face.
All three heads roared.
Steven had to crane his neck to look up at the beast. He’d had a vision of a three-headed dragon at some point, although he couldn’t recall the details. Or had it been a dream? He knew one thing for sure: this fight was the culmination of centuries if not millennia of bad blood and dark treachery. His family’s drama with the Dragonknights would end that day, for better or for worse.
Steven realized something else. The beast in front of him had one heart. Three heads, three Animus cores, but only one heart. The Angel Knife would be there, giving Bedivere life.
It was too big to fight as a human, and he wasn’t going to chance a strike as a Homo Draconis. Steven, in his True Form, ignited his IonClaws and attacked.
The left Lancelot head breathed lightning, which crackled off Steven’s shield spell. The center head breathed ChromaticFury. Steven was able to duck it by sliding behind the right Bedivere head that tried to chomp down on him. Steven sliced off a piece of Bedivere’s neck with his gleaming claws.
“Magica Cura!” Lancelot roared.
The wound on Bedivere healed in seconds. So it was a self-healing monstrosity that could breathe death and cast spells.
Using SerpentGrace, Steven flew onto the beast’s back. He clawed through the three-headed dragon’s scales as fast as he could, but the wounds were healing. Then he felt spectral fingers grab his Animus core. Steven Incanto’d the spell before he lost all of his energy, but the beast had taken over half.
The tiger head swirled around like a cobra striking. Fangs knifed into Steven. The Lancelot head threw him down onto the ground. Steven went smashing through tombstones; the stone ripped off scales while the dust choked him. Duchain Hill was probably not going to recover from the dragon battle.
Steven got to his feet and cast another shield, though he was low on Animus. He needed two force fields. Lancelot, Mordred, and Bedivere showered him with ShadowFlame. The grass was too wet to catch fire. It smoldered, stank, and billowed smoke. He was blinded by the heat, the sheer power of this thing he was fighting, and then he felt Tessa’s mind in his.
Compared to the sound of the fire, the noise of the conflagration, and the caterwauling winds, her voice came as a whisper. HeartStrike, my Prime. Use our Animus to power yourself up, and then rip his fucking heart out.
The FleshForge dragon breathed the last of its ShadowFlame
In that moment, with his shields smoking and dripping flame, Steven flung both force fields into Mordred’s face. His bones cracked and he staggered backward, taking his two other heads with him. Steven followed it up with the last of his Animus, an ElectroArc Exhalant attack. He made the beast shiver and howl from the electricity, the damage enhanced by the rain.
Steven’s Escort had formed a line behind him. Even if they all attacked, the Dragonknights could heal most every wound, and they were all experienced at protecting their energy cores.
Aria stood at the end of the line, to Steven’s right. She called out, “I am your everlasting stone.”
The marriage vows. “I will be the Animus that brings you to life.” He pulled a bit of Animus into him. He didn’t take it all.
“What is this!” the dragon roared from all its heads.
Sabina’s eyes flashed green. “I am your crystalline water.”
“I will cup you in my hands.” Steven eased so
me of her Animus into him. He felt the strength fill him. It was working.
The three dragons tried lightning, but Tessa was there to shield him. He didn’t even flinch. They had to yell the words of the marriage ceremony now, but they weren’t about to stop.
Mouse was next. Tears filled her eyes. “I am your ever-changing sand.”
Yes, she was.
“I will be steadfast in my love.”
At his words, Mouse couldn’t hold back a sob, and a tear trickled down her cheek. He took from her Animus. He readied his right talon. He was going to use IonClaws to power up.
Chazzie was crying by now as well. “I am your verdant life.” The way she said the words, she meant them.
Steven paused to wonder why the women were crying. Then it struck him. This was their marriage. These words meant everything to these Dragonsouls.
He smiled. “I will be the sunlight that kisses you.” He channeled Animus out of her and filled his right talon in a blinding white light.
Even Pru had tears in her eyes. She smiled as she said, “I am your leaping mind.” Again, the ritual had gotten her exactly right.
And Steven replied, “I will be there to catch you when you leap.” Pru was overflowing with energy, and he siphoned away a good portion of it. He raised his glowing right hand.
“I know what you are planning!” Mordred thundered. “You think to use HeartStrike on us. We will stop you. We will spoil your spell!”
Uchiko’s voice carried far. “I am your strong fist.” Her face was so beautiful, so complete, and while her skin was still new thanks to years as a Warling, her eyes were old. There was a peace there that was new. She wasn’t crying. She was his strong fist.
“And I will be your strength just as you will be mine.” Steven powered up HeartStrike despite Mordred’s words.
Tessa came forward, her Peacekeepers in her hands. Her voice was hard, her will strong, and yes, this was their marriage day. “I am your living soul.” She fired both guns into the beast and then yelled, “Incanto!”
Sabina echoed her. Whatever spells Mordred and his cronies had been preparing were ruined.
“Magica Impetim!” the Wayne twins called out together and hurled small bullet-sized bits of pink light that struck the enemy beast like shotgun scatter.
Chazzie laughed. “And y’all thought we were just drinking in the Florida Keys. We done studied up!”
Steven turned and gave Tessa a long look. His voice caught as he felt the emotion choke him. “Tessa, I will be your heart just as you will be mine.”
He whirled forward and charged, casting both SerpentGrace and HeartStrike. His claws flashed as he drove his fist into the heart of the FleshForged dragon. All three heads screamed in pain. The Animus from all three struck Steven at the same time. Three Dragonknights’ worth of power supercharged him. He still had his hand in the heart of the beast, but in that second, in that brief flash of time, all that power gave him a vision.
On Gaia Beta, the apocalypse Earth, where they would face down the Zothoric, he saw a figure in black robes. His face was covered by a mask, not unlike the ones that Uchiko wore. A foul orange wind blew around him across a blasted landscape of yellowed grass, completely dead.
The figure raised his left hand. Curling out, the man showed him his finger with the extra joint. Spider Finger wasn’t on Gaia Alpha, Steven’s world, he was on Gaia Beta, the battle world. And Steven knew they would face off soon.
When he pulled his hand out of the fried chest cavity of the Mordred beast, the Angel Knife came with it. The dagger fell to the ground.
Steven backed away.
The three dragons came apart, and yet in the chests of all three, there was a mortal wound. Bedivere fell and the diamonds in his eyes came rolling out. His flesh immediately decayed and shrank.
Lancelot let out a wheeze and fell to the side, dead.
Mordred stood straight and tall, angling his head upward. He breathed out a last Inferno Exhalant, and the fire coming out of his throat glowed in the hole in his heart. He struck the ground, gave a last sigh, and closed his eyes. Gone. The last of the rain fell and the wind died. The storm as well as the battle was over.
Steven lost his True Form and turned human. The HeartStrike hurt, and he knew he would be weak for days on end. Maybe Tessa could do that magic from here on out. She bounced back quicker than he did.
Then Umbra struck. She blurred up to him. She raised her glowing orange-tipped staff, seeking to smack his head off his shoulders.
Steven didn’t have the energy for a single shield spell. He was about to die.
Umbra dropped her staff. An arrow protruded from her chest. The fletching was jet-black, as was the shaft itself. Another arrow pierced her leg. She went down on one knee.
Steven had seen other arrows like that before. The Shadow Archer’s arrows.
Umbra looked into Steven’s eyes. “You really are blessed. You really do want to change things among Dragonsouls. Mordred murdered Zuzanna. You would never murder me.”
Tessa walked forward and touched Umbra’s hair. “Oh, you do have a tasty bit of Animus in you, Umbra. It’s like a chocolate donut with extra sprinkles. I could kill you easily, but I have a better idea. You lost your Prime. Would you like a new one?”
The woman blinked. “But I tried to kill him. I would’ve, if it hadn’t been for the Shadow Archer.” She spat blood from her mouth. “But perhaps I would like a new Prime.”
“Might I recommend my fiancé?” Tessa asked. “This was kind of like the most violent rehearsal dinner in the history of the world, but I don’t think he’ll run from the altar. He’s too good of a guy.” She paused. She looked up at Steven, and yes, there were tears in her eyes as well. “He’s my heart.”
“And I am yours,” he whispered to her.
By this time, the Escort had gathered around Umbra. The woman’s eyes went from face to face to face. “Yes. I would like to be healed.”
Sabina used Incanto to turn the arrows to ash. Meanwhile, Tessa healed Umbra. The minute she was whole, the Incan Dragonsoul took off running.
Tessa crinkled her nose. “But she said that she perhaps wanted a new Prime.”
Mouse frowned and squinted. “Well, I think we can take that as a perhaps not.”
Steven wasn’t so sure. He knew they’d see Umbra again, but would she be friendly? Or would she strike at them again?
“Look on the hill,” Sabina said quietly.
They all turned. Under the tree, with loose black clothes flapping in the breeze, stood a woman with a complicated compound bow. A quiver of black arrows was on her back. A black hood covered her head. A black cloth covered her face.
Lightning flashed. The flesh around her eyes, the only skin showing, wasn’t white, black, or brown. She had dark blue skin. She drew back her hood to reveal white hair, as white as bone.
The tips of two pointed ears peeked from her ivory curls.
Another flash of lightning, and the Shadow Archer was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Three
THE DAY AFTER THEIR official wedding, Tessa was the first person up. There were people sleeping everywhere, literally everywhere. A tent city surrounded the Infinity Ranch. Trailers and RVs lined the driveway. It was like a rock concert or a bluegrass festival, and that included the dozen porta-potties sitting squarely on the ruins of Wayne Manor.
Eve Downfyre and her fellow wives were sleeping in the great room, some cuddled up on the floor on sleeping mats, others sleeping alone on the sofas. Imogene Summers and the old PNW wives were in trailers, as were Abner Savedra and his Willbreakers. Javier Jones was staying in the hotel in downtown Cheyenne as were many of the Central and South American Primes. Of course Bud was there along with Denise and Fimi.
When they’d come home, Bud was sexed out. Days upon days of keeping his babes full of Animus had taken a toll. And he’d not stopped working, juggling Primacy business and the legal battles in Australia. He was thrilled to get a few hours off in the hotel down
town. Alone. Denise and Fimi had their own rooms. He’d made it clear that he needed a break.
Chazzie and Pru had debated the pluses and minuses of staying in a Cheyenne hotel. In the end, they couldn’t be away from their new husband. They were staying at the top of the central tower, and they had redecorated with lots of pink and fluff mixed with rawhide and bullwhips. There was even a Bud Light neon sign they’d gotten somehow. It was part Road House and part Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Sabina had her little bungalow, and Pru was invited to join her there. Liam had his home next to her. As for the Five Widows, they had their houses to the east.
Paanga Komang had settled on a little tent in the northeast corner. Tessa and Uchiko had helped him set it up. The Onari guard had set up their tents near him, excited for the rituals that would return them to being human. So far, Uchiko had showed zero signs of any aging. The change seemed permanent.
Tessa stood in the kitchen in front of the espresso maker. She looked down at the simple gold band on her hand. Wow, marriage. And babies. Sabina was going to take the first trip into motherhood. The Latina Magician was anxious to meet little Regina. In truth, so was Tessa. A baby at the Infinity Ranch? Hmm.
Speaking of kids, the Three Queens had flown in from Australia, and they were with their kids in a big trailer in the driveway—a baby, a toddler, and the little boy named Cooper, who adored Steven. He owned all of Australia now.
Once the two remaining Dragonlords had heard that Paanga Komang had joined Steven’s Primacy, they immediately contacted Novak, Boaz, & Jessup to end their legal war and sue for peace. Bud liked to think he was the one who broke their will. It was more the fact that Steven owned Indonesia as well as most of the Americas.
There were a few holdouts in Canada. And there were a lot of European and African Primes that were dubious that this child king could really keep his territories together. As far as the coming Zothoric Wars, many were flat out against it. The most outspoken was Silas Forcade, the Dragonlord of the Prussian Primacy. He didn’t like Steven, he wasn’t going to be ruled, and he didn’t want to risk the shadows of teeth and talon.
