by Ben Wolf
If he survived, of course. Death was always a possibility, even for a Shadow Wolf.
For now, Riley fixed his attention back on the King, who lay on the grass with a serene expression on his face and his fingers clutching clumps of grass blades. If the King couldn’t recover in time, would Lumen and his army break through to the city? Or into Valkendell?
Or would Matthios and Gavridel and the King’s soldiers be able to hold them back?
Riley didn’t know, but either way, he would be ready.
By the time Lilly realized Valerie had left the garden, she had already returned with a pair of silver-clad soldiers. Both of them toted large burlap sacks over their shoulders and set them down before Lilly and Calum. Within, Lilly found her pink armor, the pouch containing the Aerostone, and, most importantly, the Calios.
Up until that point, she hadn’t dared to ask about the sword’s whereabouts, but even just the sight of the Sky Realm’s sacred blade gave her a sense of relief. She picked it up, and as she held it, the sensation of the sword’s ivory hilt conforming to her hand inspired new confidence.
She separated herself from the group to don her armor in private, and when she returned, Calum also wore his armor and wielded the Dragon’s Breath sword once again. She’d always thought him good-looking, but seeing him standing there, clad in the Windgale armor her father had given him, Lilly had to fight to contain her excitement.
Valerie stood at the entrance to the garden and addressed them, still smiling. “Your task is simple: Guard the King. Valkendell’s defenses are stout, and her soldiers are valiant, but should they fail, you are the King’s last line of defense.”
“Where are you going?” Calum asked.
“I am responsible for overseeing a number of logistical concerns here in the fortress when there is not a battle raging on the city’s doorstep,” Valerie replied. “When we are at war, my list of duties constricts to only a few crucial tasks. It is those tasks that I must now attend to.”
Lilly tried to imagine what those tasks might be, especially from the perspective of someone like Valerie, who’d seemed to function in a sort of administrative role at the King’s side, but she came up empty. Lilly had assumed Valerie’s primary role at the moment would involve personally taking care of the King, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
Valerie gave them all another genuine smile, a gracious nod, and said, “May the power of the Overlord protect you.”
Then she left the garden.
Lilly turned to Calum and kept her voice low. “Do you find it at all strange that less than three days ago, we were on the exact opposite side of this war?”
He nodded. “Yes, but a lot has happened since then.”
Lilly considered that as she glanced back at the King, who still lay on the grass with his arms outstretched, tranquil and calm. “What confuses me is that we’ve been entrusted to guard the King of all Kanarah. Out of everyone in this kingdom, why choose us?”
Calum turned to face her. “Why not us?”
Lilly grinned at his naivety. “Because we were his sworn enemies until only last night.”
“Sure, but you are the Premieress of the Sky Realm, Magnus is the Dragon King of Reptilius, Riley is the alpha Shadow Wolf of the desert Wolf tribes, and I’m Calum the Unifier.” Calum gave her a wink. “Who else is better-suited to protect him?”
Lilly was about to rib him for his “Unifier” comment, but a familiar face entered the garden through its main entrance. Unlike the group of silver-clad soldiers following him, the man wore golden armor denoting him as a general, and he carried a daunting golden spear unlike any Lilly had ever seen before.
Lilly found the man’s eyes first, and upon recognizing her, the man shifted his gaze to Calum and fixated on him.
“You.” Captain Anigo pointed straight at Calum.
Then he raised his golden spear and stormed forward.
Beynard Anigo hadn’t seen the boy named Calum since they’d battled in Lumen’s camp a few nights earlier.
Now another battle had begun, this time down at the city gates. Lumen’s army had finally come, and it was up to the valorous soldiers in the King’s employ to prove their mettle once and for all.
In the aftermath of Anigo’s escape and subsequent return to the city of Solace, he’d been taken to meet with the King personally, the first time he’d received such an honor. After providing a detailed debrief, Anigo apologized for having failed to properly defend Kanarah City, and he had openly welcomed whatever punishment the King saw fit to levy against him.
To his profound surprise, the King had promoted him instead, and now he was General Anigo.
It made no sense to Anigo, and he’d expressed as much to the King, who’d listened intently to every objection Anigo presented. He’d explained every fault, every failure, and every mistake he’d made along the way. He’d revealed his deepest deficiencies to the supreme sovereign of this land, the man whom Anigo had sworn to protect and serve with his very life.
None of it had fazed the King.
Instead, when Anigo finally stopped describing his shortcomings, the King had praised him for his loyalty.
His loyalty.
Anigo had been rewarded, promoted, and preserved because of his loyalty above anything else. It was truly a transformative moment for him in terms of his service to the King.
He’d been effective as a commander in pursuit of local fugitives and deserters here in Solace, but upon leaving the city, he’d done nothing but flounder, flop, and lose. It had made no sense to do anything but demote him and relegate him to menial tasks for the rest of his career.
The King hadn’t agreed, and so now he was General Anigo, charged first and foremost with leading the King’s personal guard. After all, the King had reasoned, who better to oversee his personal protection than a soldier who’d proven his loyalty—even on the brink of death?
Like every charge he’d been tasked with before, General Anigo took his new commission seriously. So when he saw Calum standing in the King’s garden, flanked by his usual cadre of misfits, holding the sword he’d used to cut through General Anigo’s blade when he’d been trying to escape Lumen’s camp, he reacted as his loyalty dictated.
He attacked.
Calum didn’t want to fight Captain Anigo again. They were on the same side now, and though it probably looked like Calum and his friends had infiltrated the garden and overpowered the King, that wasn’t what had happened.
But how could he convince Captain Anigo, a man who hated him and who was already charging toward him with a golden spear in his hands, of that truth?
Calum realized he couldn’t, so he raised the Dragon’s Breath sword and defended himself.
The impressive golden spear in Captain Anigo’s hands clashed against the Dragon’s Breath sword, hard and solid. Unlike conventional weapons, the spear didn’t break due to the overwhelming power of the Dragon’s Breath sword.
Instead, a flash of golden light rippled down the spear, and Captain Anigo immediately attacked again. It was some sort of magical weapon, just like the Dragon’s Breath and the Calios, only Calum didn’t know for sure what kind of powers it wielded.
Calum defended every one of Captain Anigo’s strikes until the King himself intervened.
He appeared at their side and caught an elbow from each man, mid-swing, stalling their blows. Through his malaise, he simply said, “Stop.”
Captain Anigo looked at him as if the King had just ordered him to jump off Valkendell’s highest balcony.
“General Anigo,” the King said, his voice as fatigued as he looked, “you already know Calum. He is now your ally.”
With that, the King returned to his spot on the grass and lay back down.
Calum met Anigo’s eyes, and they stared at each other for a long moment.
Finally, Calum said, “General Anigo, huh?”
“Yes,” he replied, glancing around, still wary of the situation. Then he motioned to the group of soldiers
positioned behind him. “I now lead the King’s personal guard. It would appear my stubbornness has yielded unexpected and undeserved blessings.”
Calum waited for a quip from Axel, but it never came. Then he remembered they’d parted ways, and heartache crept into his chest. He washed it away with the distraction of talking to General Anigo.
“I owe you my thanks,” Calum said. “If you hadn’t told Gavridel who I was, he probably would’ve killed me instead of capturing me.”
“You owe me nothing,” General Anigo said. Then, reluctantly, he added, “In fact, I suppose it is I who owe you my gratitude. Had you not convinced Lumen to spare me, I would be long dead by now, rather than alive and well and tasked with the King’s protection. So… thank you.”
Calum couldn’t help but smile. At the time, he’d wondered if convincing Lumen to spare Anigo was the right call. “I’m glad it all worked out.”
General Anigo scoffed, and it, too, reminded Calum of Axel. “I’d hardly say that. They’re fighting a war down in the city.”
“Do you have any news?” Lilly asked. “Updates from the battle below?”
Condor hovered right behind her, his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case General Anigo tried anything.
“I’m afraid I do not,” General Anigo replied. “We were cautioned to avoid the windows as much as possible, and I have heard no reports other than what was relevant to my charge of keeping the King safe.”
Lilly’s brow furrowed. “I see.”
Calum put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure we’ll learn your uncle’s fate and the condition of your people soon enough.”
She touched his hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you.”
“In the meantime, you needn’t fear,” General Anigo said. “We are surrounded by thousands of men, led by two Imperators, and we are shielded by layers of impenetrable white stone. We are perfectly safe in here.”
A realization struck Calum like an arrow to his gut. He turned toward the back wall of the garden, his eyes wide.
The secret entrance.
He’d discovered it, and he’d told Axel about it, and then Axel had gone back to Lumen.
If Axel had told Lumen about the secret entrance, then—
Calum recognized the sound of stone lightly scraping against stone.
He’d heard it that night when he’d seen the King entering the garden from the secret entrance. He’d seen the section of the wall moving. He wasn’t supposed to see it, but he had.
And now he was seeing it again.
Someone was coming through the secret entrance.
Panic gripped Calum’s chest as he ran to face whoever it was, but he stopped short upon seeing a dark form emerging from the shadows within the tunnel behind the wall. Its black boots crushed several roses as it walked into the garden.
The hulking figure wore tortured black armor and a matching helmet, with its edges jagged and flared out, almost as if someone had ravaged the metal during the forging process. In between the armor, an aura of darkness shrouded the figure’s joints as if it were a constant flow of some arcane energy from within the armor.
He wore a black metal mask on the lower half of his face just like Lumen and Matthios. Between the mask and his helmet and the angle he was holding his head as he entered, Calum couldn’t see any of his face. He also carried a large sword, its black blade jagged and brutalized like the armor.
Was this some new terror conjured by Lumen? Some ancient evil that he had awakened to serve him?
At first, Calum didn’t recognize anything about the figure, but then the sunlight hit the metal edges of the sword and the armor, revealing the telltale light-blue glint of Blood Ore. The figure raised its head, and Calum froze in place.
Calum stared into the figure’s bloodshot dark-blue eyes, and his heart dropped into his churning stomach.
It was Axel.
Chapter Forty-One
The horror in Calum’s eyes was priceless. Axel almost laughed aloud, but he thought better of it. He wasn’t there as Calum’s best friend or as an ally. He was there for one reason, and now he’d achieved his goal.
“Axel…” Calum started to say. “What happened to you?”
Even though Calum couldn’t see it, Axel smirked behind his mask. He replied with only one word: “Power.”
Five dark forms darted at Axel from their hiding places across the garden—five Shadow Wolves. They’d tried to hide from him, but he’d seen them as plainly as he’d seen Riley standing out in the open, or Calum, or the King himself, lying on the grass, soaking in the sunlight from overhead.
With his sword, Axel swatted away the first Shadow Wolf as if she were nothing but a fly. The second Shadow Wolf raised its black claws to strike, but Axel shuddered to the side and jammed his elbow into the side of its head. The Shadow Wolf tumbled across the garden and came to a hard stop against a tree.
The third and fourth Shadow Wolves came at him from opposite sides. He caught them both by their throats, stopping them dead in their tracks, and then he slammed them together, head-to-head. They dropped at his feet.
The final Shadow Wolf launched at him from behind. Axel opened a black void in the air behind him, and it swallowed the Shadow Wolf whole. Another void opened in front of one of the garden’s white walls, and the Shadow Wolf reemerged and slammed into the wall with a loud crack.
It all happened within less than a second’s time, but Axel had perceived every attack coming as if in slow motion while he reacted twice as fast.
When he met Calum’s eyes again, the horror in them had disappeared. Instead, Axel saw fear.
Calum looked at the two Shadow Wolves lying unconscious at his feet, then he looked over at the other three Shadow Wolves, each of them in various stages of consciousness or recovery.
Behind him, Riley darted over to the first Shadow Wolf, the one Axel had swatted away with his sword, as if to tend to her. She rose to her feet and growled, but she didn’t attack a second time.
“What have you done?” Calum uttered.
“Only what was necessary.” Axel loved how menacing the mask made his voice sound, even though it was somewhat muffled.
“What happened to you?” Calum repeated.
This time, Axel did laugh. He tapped his helmet. “You always were a slow one. What do you think happened? Lumen made me his Imperator, just like he promised.”
Calum took an involuntary step back, which Axel appreciated. It wasn’t as good as bowing, but it still demonstrated reverence. The best part was that Calum had done it out of reflex, so it was a genuine response.
Axel laughed again. “I told you to come with me.”
Calum shook his head. “This… whatever this is… it’s wrong, Axel.”
“If you could feel what I feel, and if you could do what I can do, you wouldn’t be saying that.” Axel’s feet lifted off the ground, and he hovered in the air five feet above the top of Calum’s head. He smiled wide, even though Calum couldn’t see it. “I can fly, Calum. Isn’t that incredible?”
A charcoal blur hit him from the side and slammed him into one of the walls.
The impact jarred Axel, but it didn’t hurt. He’d been distracted, so he hadn’t seen it coming this time. But it didn’t matter—he had power now. He could handle anyone or anything.
“Good to see you again, Farm Boy.”
Axel’s smile widened, and he pushed back on Condor as if he weighed nothing.
Condor, though, didn’t just accept it. He’d seen what Axel had done to the Shadow Wolves, and as one of the only beings in the room capable of tracking what had happened, he’d prepared himself to have to deal with Axel accordingly.
Condor slipped under Axel’s arms and drove the pommel of his sword hard under Axel’s chin. The blow stunned Axel for an instant, but in that time, Condor managed to draw his sword and get behind him.
It was enough to spur Axel to stop being lazy. He spun around and batted Condor’s blade away, only to find i
t slicing at his neck this time. Axel parried again and threw a powerful counterattack that knocked Condor halfway across the garden.
When Condor didn’t immediately attack again, Axel called to him, “You said you would come to me when I was ready to fight you. Looks like that day has finally arrived.”
“I do recall saying that. And I suppose you’re right,” Condor said. Then his voice darkened. “You are ready.”
“Condor!” Lilly shouted. She dashed up to hover beside him, wielding the Calios.
“Stay back, Premieress,” Condor said. “I have to put this Farm Boy out to pasture.”
Before Axel could make another move, a thundering voice cut through the tension, followed by a blinding light.
“Axel,” Lumen said as he emerged from within the secret passageway. “Enough. You have done well.”
Axel lowered his sword, but he didn’t sheathe it. It, along with his Blood Ore armor, had warped and adapted to his new dark powers, providing him with an exceptional level of protection, so much that when Condor had tried to run him through from behind, Axel had almost let it happen.
He doubted Condor’s normal steel sword could’ve actually pierced his armor, but he hadn’t wanted to find out that way, either. New power didn’t mean he could become a stupid fighter. Better to repel the attacks instead.
As Lumen drifted farther into the garden, his light faded some, but everyone still recoiled from his presence—at least at first.
Calum, predictably, was the first to stand up to Lumen, followed by Magnus, Lilly, Condor, Riley, and the female Shadow Wolf. They all faced him in a miserable attempt to block him from reaching the King, all the while ignoring Axel completely.
It irked Axel, but at the same time, he understood his role. Lumen was to be the new king, not him, and that was fine with Axel. For now, he was content to lean against one of the walls and watch.
“Please,” Lumen said, as if mildly annoyed, “you cannot seriously hope to defeat me, nor will you keep me from that which is rightfully mine.”
