by Ben Wolf
From that point on, all they could do was watch and prepare as Magnus and his Sobeks completed the next phase of the plan. With the claw on his forefinger, Riley ripped open the first bag of flour and got to work.
Though Magnus’s talons couldn’t pierce the slick white surface of Valkendell’s central spire, he’d flown high enough that he’d managed to secure a tight grip to its spiked point with one hand. Even so, without purchase from his feet or tail, he knew he couldn’t hold on forever.
He tucked his wings tightly against his back, pulled his legs in close, and hung by one arm from the impressive structure. His Sobek warriors lowered themselves on ropes attached to the spikes and dorsal spines along Magnus’s back toward the uppermost windows of the spire.
Though he was considerably stronger than he’d ever been as a Sobek, he also weighed much more. If Valkendell’s exterior had any grip to it whatsoever, it wouldn’t have been so bad. As it was, Magnus had to resist the impulse to claw at the stone with the talons on his feet in a vain attempt to pull himself up higher.
It didn’t help that half a dozen Sobeks were crawling down his limbs and inadvertently tugging him lower and lower with each passing second. Before long, though, the tugging stopped, and then a three-tug sequence signaled to Magnus that the Sobeks had safely made it into the windows.
With that, Magnus pressed the soles of his feet against the spire and kicked off. His wings billowed open and caught the air, and with several mighty flaps, he’d ascended high above the city once again. Someone would’ve heard his wings thundering against the air, but given the absence of Dragons in the East, he hoped the people of Solace wouldn’t know what to make of the sound.
He soared over to the mountains that formed a natural barrier along the eastern border of Solace and landed among the cliffs. From his vantage he could view the tower, remain concealed among the rocks in the darkness, and swoop back in to finish his role in the rescue operation when the time came.
For now, though, all he could do was wait.
In the dead of night, Rhaza feasted on the mountain goat he’d captured and killed. Though wounded and permanently weakened thanks to the shard Riley had plunged into his side, Rhaza could still use enough of his powers to hunt. He wasn’t dead yet, and that gave him hope.
Hope for vengeance.
When a brilliant white light flashed over the desert scrub and stopped before Rhaza, he staggered back, away from his kill, and tried to shield his face with his hands. It didn’t work. The light was far too bright.
Rhaza thought perhaps he’d finally met his end. Something had gone wrong, and the wound in his side had finally given out, and now he was looking at the physical embodiment of his path to the afterlife.
Instead, a huge humanlike figure emerged from the light—or perhaps he was the light itself. Rhaza couldn’t tell. His eyes were better attuned to manage darkness, not stare into blinding white light.
As if the light-man had heard Rhaza’s thoughts, his light faded some. He hovered in the air, staring down with blazing eyes of pure white light.
“I bid you greetings, Rhaza of the Desert of the Forgotten,” the light-man said through the mask that covered the lower part of his face. Matching white armor covered the rest of his body, a gold-hilted sword hung from his side, and a golden crown sat atop his head. “And truly, there was never a more apt name for your current state of being than ‘forgotten.’”
Rhaza ignored the insult. It was, after all, true. His tribe had left him behind, now following Riley instead. He was supposed to be dead, and had Riley actually finished the job properly, Rhaza would’ve been.
But more importantly, recognition sparked in Rhaza’s mind. Riley and his insufferable friends had mentioned allegiance to someone known as the General of Light—a being known as Lumen. Could this be him?
“Who are you?” Rhaza asked, still wary.
In his current condition, he stood no chance of fighting back against anyone. He was surprised that some errant Werewolf hadn’t tracked him down and tried to kill him with the hope of transforming into a Shadow Wolf.
Then again, Rhaza had been careful. He’d avoided the usual routes the Wolves took through the desert, and he’d lingered nearer to the mountains than he would have otherwise had he been well.
“I am who you believe me to be,” the light-man—Lumen—replied. “And I have come to make you an offer. Join me, serve within my army, and I shall restore to you everything you have lost.”
Everything? Rhaza’s eyes narrowed. His tribe, his standing… his health and his abilities… Could this Lumen fellow really give him all of that back?
“And much more,” Lumen added. “I will grant you power unlike anything you’ve ever known. Will you join me?”
Rhaza was either incredibly lucky, or he was hallucinating as he died. Either way, he decided to answer Lumen’s call.
“I only want one thing,” he replied. “Revenge.”
“You shall have that, too.” Lumen extended his hand, massive and glowing. “Do you accept?”
Rhaza didn’t hesitate. He took hold of Lumen’s hand, and they both vanished in a flash of light.
Thanks to the flour, Riley and his Werewolves looked like lupine ghosts, front and back. About the time they finished, the first of the ropes lowered by the Sobeks reached the bottom of Valkendell.
Riley signaled, and the Werewolves rushed out of the shadows and began their frantic climb up the ropes.
Riley stayed back at first to keep watch. The flour was supposed to help camouflage them against the white backdrop of the fortress’s walls, and the ropes themselves were braided from lighter strands, but none of it would make the Werewolves invisible. Riley was prepared to silence anyone who noticed and tried to call out a warning.
No one did. Before long, the Werewolves had made good progress up the steep climb, despite their talons being unable to grip the surface of the spire, so Riley darted forward and began climbing himself.
It only took a few minutes for him to reach the window. Together, along with aid from the pair of enormous Sobeks who’d lowered the rope, Riley and the two Werewolves who’d entered through that window patted off the flour in a cloud of dust.
When they finished and were more or less back to their original colors, Riley led his two Werewolves and the two Sobeks deeper into the fortress.
With his role in the first portion of the rescue complete, Condor spent the next several minutes flying around the spire of Valkendell, peering through its various windows. It was a whiplash sort of reconnaissance, but he was only looking for one thing: Lilly.
He spiraled up and down the tower as fast as he could fly and still process what he was seeing through each window. At one point, he caught a glimpse of something fiery red-and-orange and shimmery with some yellow-gold on top. It captured his attention, so he circled around again for a closer look.
There, through one of the windows, he could clearly see Lilly standing next to Calum. The two of them were speaking with someone Condor couldn’t see from his vantage point in the sky, but the two of them, at least, looked unharmed.
As much as Condor liked Calum, Lilly was his true priority. And he could get her out of there himself in no time.
He lined himself up with the window and waited for his moment.
“What do we do if the King decides to imprison us,” Lilly asked as they headed back to their chambers, “or worse yet, kill us?”
Calum had given that a fair bit of consideration already, but he wasn’t so sure his plan was any good. Axel had doubtless already made plans of his own and was already enacting them, as evidence by his disappearance after dinner. He’d run off, and they hadn’t seen him since.
“Your escape plan has been the same this whole time,” Calum said. “You jump out one of those windows and fly away.”
“I won’t leave you alone.” Lilly squeezed his hand and gave him a reassuring grin. “So get that thought out of your mind right now.
“Wel
l…” he began, “I was thinking I’d jump out the window, too. Then you could glide with me like you did when we were escaping Captain Brink’s sinking ship until it was safe to let me down.”
Before Lilly could respond, a trio of soldiers rounded the corner ahead of them, so she and Calum moved to the side of the hall and let them pass. They both glanced back to be sure the soldiers were out of range before continuing their conversation.
“That was a lot different,” Lilly muttered. “We were over the water, and we weren’t that high up in the air. If you fell, or if I had dropped you, it wouldn’t have killed you.”
“No, but those lake sharks sure would’ve,” Calum countered. Even thinking of them renewed his shudders. “Plus, you’re faster now, and probably stronger. You’re the Premieress, after all.”
“Being the Premieress doesn’t make me the strongest Windgale in all the land, though. That title probably belongs to General Balena, or perhaps to Condor,” Lilly said. “But you’re right that I’m faster. Meaning I could probably crash us into a building or the street much quicker than before.”
If she could joke about the peril they were in, so could he. Calum looked her up and down with a grin as they reached the hall with their chambers. “I’m sure that dress of yours would create enough drag to slow our descent.”
“Very funny.” Her voice was deadpan, but she was smiling anyway.
They stood there before one of the windows in the hallway. A fresh warm breeze washed over them from outside, and the stars twinkled overhead. She leaned forward to kiss him, and he matched the motion.
“Guys!” Axel’s frantic voice pulled them apart.
They both looked up in time to see Axel clanking through the hallway, clad in his blue Blood ore armor and wielding his Blood Ore sword. Calum noticed a thin line of discoloration where Gavridel’s axe had struck Axel’s chest, but otherwise his armor looked as good as it had when Magnus had first bequeathed it to him.
Lilly gawked at him. “What in the Overlord’s name are you doing?”
Calum stared at him, too, but he forestalled his questions for the time being. Lilly’s question had pretty much summed them all up anyway.
“I’m getting outta here before the King decides to drop us in the sewers along with yesterday’s bathwater.” Axel held up the makeshift satchel of food he’d harvested from the banquet hall. “Got supplies, got my armor and sword back, and I’m ready to go. I came back for you two, though. With everyone distracted by Lumen’s army, this is our best shot.”
Calum glanced at Lilly, and she returned it. With no additional hesitation, Calum said, “We’re not going.”
“Don’t be stupid, Calum. This is our chance,” Axel insisted. He even shifted the satchel of food to the same hand he was carrying his sword with and extended his hand as if he were some grand hero there to rescue them. “It’s now or never.”
Before Calum could answer, a dark form burst through the window and landed between them. The figure’s sudden appearance nearly hammered Calum’s heart clear from his chest, and he positioned himself in front of Lilly to shield her from whatever threat had just presented itself.
Then Calum recognized charcoal armor, black hair, and piercing blue eyes.
“Condor?” Lilly stepped out from behind Calum.
Condor crouched on the stone floor, looking up at Calum and Lilly, and then at Axel, who’d dropped his satchel of food and drawn his sword back to strike.
“Hello,” Condor said, grinning at them.
Then he shot toward Lilly, grabbed her around her waist, and zipped back out the window, leaving Calum and Axel alone in the hall.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Let me go!” Lilly demanded.
Condor’s entrance had nearly scared Lilly out of her skin, but once she’d realized it was him, a sense of comfort had replaced her surprise. When he’d grabbed her and hauled her out the window he’d just entered, that pushed everything back in the wrong direction.
“Easy, Your Highness,” Condor said, his voice far too calm given what he’d just done. “You’re safe now.”
“I was safe before!” Lilly pushed against him to break free, but he refused to let her go. “I order you to release me, Condor!”
He complied, albeit with noticeable reluctance. By the time he let her go, they were nearly back to Lumen’s camp, which was positioned about a half mile away from the city walls. Though Lilly couldn’t pinpoint Lumen’s exact location, she saw soft golden lights glowing from inside several of the tents down below them.
Instead of speaking to Condor, Lilly immediately faced Solace and launched back toward it, but he caught her by the hem of her dress.
“Your Highness,” he said, “I don’t think it is wise to return to—”
She swatted his hand away from her dress and stared daggers at him. “I’m going back, Condor. I promised Calum I wouldn’t leave him, and I don’t intend to do so.”
She tried to take off again, but Condor’s hand caught her wrist this time.
Lilly met his piercing blue eyes again, this time with every bit of fury she could muster.
“Premieress…” His voice took on a more sullen tone. “Lilly, I—”
“Condor,” she interrupted. She almost got lost in his eyes like she had so many times before, but this time, she managed to keep her head above the water.
She did it by thinking of Calum and what they now shared.
Condor was still handsome, cunning, and capable, but he wasn’t Calum, and he never would be.
“Condor,” she repeated, this time less abrasive. “I need to go back.”
Condor gave a slow and reluctant nod. “If you intend to stay, then I will stay with you.”
Lilly shook her head. “I don’t think—”
“Regardless of whatever else may have changed,” Condor said, “my duty to you has not. It never will. Please, Your Highness. I once gave up everything to be able to serve the Sky Realm. Please don’t take this away from me as well.”
Lilly hesitated, but she couldn’t deny his words. He had endured much to be able to serve as her Captain of the Royal Guard, just as he had on behalf of her father for a time. Whether or not he’d be of any help should the King try to kill her, Lilly didn’t know, but she had to admit she would feel safer if he were around.
“Very well, but we must go back now,” she agreed.
Condor gave her that priceless smile. “Lead the way, Your Highness.”
Together, they shot back toward Valkendell.
Calum and Axel crowded the window as soon as Condor took Lilly away, but before either of them could say anything in response, a familiar voice called Calum’s name.
“Calum?” Riley called.
“Riley?” Calum turned back and found Riley standing before him in all his Shadow Wolf glory, flanked by two Werewolves and two towering Sobeks. “How in the world did you get in here?”
It wasn’t the only question on Calum’s mind, but it was the one that came out first.
“And is that flour in your fur?” Axel pointed at a white patch on Riley’s left hip.
Riley glanced down and patted it away. Sure enough, a plume of white dust poofed into the air. “No time for any of that. We’re here to break you out. Magnus is gonna be waiting for us down on the street to fly us outta here.”
“Let’s go.” Axel started toward them. “I’m ready now.” He walked past Calum and glanced back. “You comin’?”
A huge part of Calum wanted to go. The familiarity of Riley, and soon, being reunited with Magnus, tugged him closer to just saying yes.
But everything he’d learned about the King so far kept his feet rooted to the floor.
“Calum?” Axel said. “Are you—”
Riley’s head whirled around, and a fierce growl issued from his throat.
From behind them, two figures emerged from the adjacent hallway. Only then did the other Werewolves and the Sobeks turn back for a look as well.
The King
and Matthios stood there, blocking one of their exits.
Behind Calum, heavy footsteps shook the floor. He looked back and watched as Gavridel, armored in his full gemstone regalia, filled almost the entirety of the hall in the opposite direction, both side-to-side and top-to-bottom. Gavridel again held both his amethyst and diamond axes at his sides.
They were trapped between three of the most powerful beings in all of Kanarah.
“Stand down.” Matthios’s eyes flared brighter than the usual amber hue of molten bronze. He pointed his double-sided spear at Riley, who was clearly the biggest threat of the group, but he was addressing all of them. “Or we will eradicate you.”
Calum’s eyes locked on the King’s. They stared at each other for a long moment as Riley and the infiltrators backed away from the King and Matthios, clustering together with Calum and Axel to the right of the window.
As the group began to take a battle formation with Riley in the lead, the two Sobeks on either side of him, and the Werewolves flanking Axel and Calum, the King and Matthios began to advance.
Calum’s heart pounded in his chest. He hadn’t wanted any of this. He hadn’t needed to be rescued. Riley and Magnus had done it anyway, and now it had gone all wrong.
Calum glanced back at Gavridel again. The Imperator still hadn’t moved. He didn’t need to. He was virtually a wall unto himself, glistening with every gemstone color in the torchlight.
They couldn’t win. Even with Riley’s speed, it wouldn’t happen. And as much as Calum hated to admit it, the Sobeks and Werewolves wouldn’t even register as threats to warriors at the level of these Imperators, and even less to the King.
“Don’t fight them,” Calum said, hoping Riley would quickly understand they were far outmatched, if he hadn’t already. “We surrender!”
“No we don’t!” Axel countered. He pointed his Blood Ore sword at Gavridel. “This is the rematch I’ve been waiting for. I thrashed a bunch of your soldiers today. Now I’m gonna do the same thing to you, big boy.”
