by L J Andrews
Together we inched along, taking time to wait as Rochelle searched for the stone. It seemed as though hours passed, and when the sun drifted lazily deeper in the sky, I realized it had been hours. We were closer to the stream, I could feel the chill of the water in the air. Rochelle jumped from a small, rocky ledge into a grove of trees mingled with sage and shrubs. The trees were thick enough they blocked out the sun.
Frustration boiled along the back of my neck when Rochelle paused once more. But when she shot to her feet, her eyes were gleaming brilliantly in the light.
“It’s here,” she said, staring straight at a crooked tree. The tree was unimpressive. Knobby branches that split low on the trunk housed sparse leaves, but Rochelle seemed particularly thrilled about the roots jutting from the ground. I rushed to her side, kneeling where she knelt.
I released a shuddering breath when the ground burned with a new energy. Along with Rochelle, I dug through the soil, the tips of my fingers burning from the effort and power surging through the soil.
“I found it,” Rochelle breathed after a few minutes. Carefully, Rochelle reached beneath the surface and removed a small, wooden box. The box was coated in mage warding symbols that glowed like the sun, especially when Rochelle touched the wood. Gaia beamed when she lowered to her haunches at my side.
Rochelle lifted the top of the box, the small brass hinges creaking from years of not being used. A thrilling shudder rushed through my chest, down my spine, and lodged in the pit of my stomach when I saw the stone resting on a satin cloth. The amber stone was golden, and the cut sparkled more like a jewel than rough amber. It radiated power, and I believed I might be able to split the ground or force a mountain from the depths of the earth if I honed the power enough.
“Well done, Rochelle,” Gaia whispered.
“I can’t believe we found it,” she sighed, holding the stone tight to her chest.
“It will help, right?” I questioned.
Rochelle nodded. “I feel like I could take on the entire lindworm army on my own when I hold the stone. If Amber touched me, it would be even greater.”
Gaia nodded, resting her hand on my back. “The stones connect with the mage and wyvern differently. The wyvern race rules the power of the element encased in each stone. They protect the elements, and ask them to heal the earth and prosper their people. They can command the elements, much like us, but they communicate differently with the energies.
“The mage can use the energy of the elements to amplify the power we already have. If we also have the stones,” Gaia breathed through a vibrant smile, “it’s an intoxicating amount of power. If all the stones were united, it would be difficult to stop their energy. That’s why Nag wants them for himself. Using Jade as the queen of the elements, it would only amplify his elemental control. I’m certain he is hoping he can get his hands on each stone and use Jade’s stewardship and Bron’s mage power to rule and destroy what he desires.”
“Don’t lose that then,” I snapped, glancing at Rochelle. “Let’s go get Jade and Amber.”
“Wait.” Thane’s voice shuddered through the moment. My stomach dropped, sensing another delay sneaking up on us. Thane was clutching his blade, his eyes looking through the unusually thick barrier of trees. He glanced at me and nodded for me to follow as he broke into the trees. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, but I took my place at his side.
Thane crouched low, his breaths coming deeper and almost angry when I hunched at his side, my gaze following his. Through the trees, I saw them. My breath was lost in the back of my throat. The energy bursting from the clearing of trees was strong and strange, but I sensed there were weaknesses. Thane’s grip dug into my shoulder. His eyes were ferocious, and I knew he wanted to shift, but it would draw too much attention. Gaia was near us, and Mitch and Athika behind her, when Thane reeled around.
“Mitch, go get the warriors,” Thane snarled. Mitch nodded immediately and slithered through the trees silently.
I kept my eyes focused ahead. I recognized the man leaning against a fallen log. His dark hair was damp and wavy around his pale face. He looked to be my age, but his youthful face couldn’t hide what he was. A tall, bearded man stalked close by, glancing nervously toward the trees. Slowly, I unsheathed both the jade blades. Thane’s muscles tensed, and he scanned the area.
“That’s Prince Ced,” I hissed, nodding toward the youngest lindworm.
Thane narrowed his eyes. “I can’t see Bron, do you sense him?”
“He’s not with them.”
We both whirled around and met Gaia’s fierce gaze. Athika gripped a long dagger, and Rochelle now stood on the other side of Gaia, clutching the stone firmly in her grasp.
“Bron isn’t here?” Thane snarled.
Gaia shook her head. “I feel his power everywhere, but not strong with them.”
Mitch had gone quickly, and soon the trees filled with wyvern warriors, all in human form to ensure complete silence. My shoulders tensed, and I breathed rapidly through my nose. The prince would die—he was responsible for Jade’s suffering, after all.
“I don’t see Jade,” Mitch whispered, crouching low in the shrubs.
“Then I’ll just have to make him tell me where she is,” I snarled.
“Teagan, if he shifts, you must resist the pull of the night,” Gaia hissed quickly. “In lindworm form the energy is stronger, but it is still day, so night energy is weaker than if we fought them after sunset.” Gaia clasped Thane’s hand, squeezing tightly until he met her eye. It was nearly time, the sizzling energy buzzed through each elemental warrior and mage as we waited for the exact moment.
“Today is not the day I will die,” Thane whispered to Gaia. “No fears for me.”
She smiled but said nothing more. I rolled my clammy grip along the hilt and lowered my shoulders. With a snarl in the back of his throat, Thane took the first lunge forward. With a pounding rush of power, I followed right behind.
Warriors shifted. Raffi flew over the top with Dash on his flank. Prince Ced sprung to life, his dark eyes watching in complete shock when elemental warriors and mages rushed his people. The man with the long beard shifted into an enormous serpent with wide wings, though one seemed bent at an odd angle.
The prince raised his hands, and I sensed his gathering energy. Gaia crossed her arms when the prince blasted his power, but I opened the blades wide at my sides.
“Teagan!” she shrieked. “Protect yourself.”
I didn’t. I kept my eyes locked with Ced’s and could practically see his dangerous energy flowing toward me. I’d absorbed the night before, and I would do it again. Rolling the blades in my hands, I rushed even faster toward the lindworms. When the dark power struck my body, I gasped. Darkness blistered through my blood, and I felt the scorching energy clash with my own power.
But I didn’t crumble.
Ced seemed stunned. I stopped my pursuit long enough to absorb what was left of the prince’s power, before meeting his eye with a devilish smirk. My body throbbed in more power as warriors flew overhead. It seemed everyone clashed, leaving Ced and me to face one another. Gaia eyed me curiously before striking at a lindworm who had yet to shift. He blocked the blow of her energy, but she was relentless.
Something was happening inside me. The darkness swirled about, but didn’t weaken me. I’d absorbed energy before, and again this time I’d simply known what to do when I took on the prince’s energy. Ced took a step back. I watched him reach beneath his dark robe and slowly unsheathe a black blade as though he knew what was to come.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I urged the two powers to mold into one. My heart pounded angrily when night energy melted into the mage power. Grinning wickedly at the prince, I thrust my arms open and the fury of the clash of energies blasted a wave through the entire lindworm camp.
Some of the dark serpents stumbled, long enough for the elemental warriors to overtake them. The rush of energy singled out exactly who I targeted. The elementals w
ere unharmed, but Prince Ced toppled to the ground, coughing and sputtering.
Thane slashed his blade at a black-eyed lindworm but found my eye from across the clearing. All the elementals seemed stunned at what I’d done with Ced’s power. But I didn’t care. Clutching the jade swords tightly, I tore across the clearing for the prince. He scrambled for his weapon, a trail of blood dripping from his lip. I thrust my blades on top of him, but the prince raised his black sword, blocking my attack. I reeled back and kicked his spine, daring him to shift.
Spinning on my heel, I swung the blades down in a frenzy. Ced rolled away from my strike and lifted to one knee. His sword blocked my immediate after blow aimed for his head. We locked blades, the prince pulsing more darkness against me; now I blocked his attack, though the energy burned my skin.
“Shift, coward,” I snarled. “I dare you.”
Ced glared at me, the exertion of holding my blades from his head beading across his brow. “I will not,” he snarled. “You must listen to me—”
I didn’t let him finish before I lifted one blade and jolted it back against his weapon. Ced rolled his wrist, breaking free of my blade lock and scrambled swiftly to his feet. The prince gripped his sword but held out his hand, shaking his head toward me. “I am not your enemy.”
I chuckled, my eyes burning with such hatred I could feel it seeping through every pore. “Oh, I really think you are.”
I swung my blade again. Ced again blocked my strike. I spewed my energy against him, but somehow he was swift enough to block the mage power with his connection to the night. Reeling the swords back, we slashed the blades against each other again and again.
Ced snarled angrily when one of my blades slashed along his bicep. His eyes were dark, and his jaw clenched. “Jade!” he bellowed. The sound of it shocked me enough to bring me to a pause.
Then the idea of him speaking her name infuriated me even more. I rushed the prince. Ced sliced his black sword toward my middle, but I dodged in the end. Gaia was nearby, her power sealing a dozen lindworms in a tight energy-sealed prison. I suspected she took a sort of pleasure entrapping the wyverns responsible for guarding her own prison once.
Ced tossed his blade to the ground when he backed far enough away. “I’m not going to fight you. Kill me if you must, but I am not going to fight you.”
I thrust one blade into the earth, deep enough it sent a shock through the ground. Building a surge of energy in my free palm, I stalked Ced, my voice dark with maddening rage. “You took her,” I snarled.
Ced’s shoulders heaved, but he didn’t back away. I saw Thane rushing toward me from the corner of my eye, while the mages and warriors attacked the remaining lindworms with ferocious skill. Even Mitch lodged a knife into the back of a shifted lindworm. It wasn’t fatal, but it gave Athika time to rush at the beast.
“You must listen,” Ced growled.
“You tried to mate with her,” I hissed, the energy in my palm only growing. I stabbed the second sword into the earth. A stronger shock rippled beneath our feet.
Ced shook his head, his gaze locked on my open palms. “No, I never—”
“Whatever pain you caused her, I’m going to make sure you feel it ten times more.”
I raised my hands over my head, a strike of burning light crashing across my palms. It couldn’t have been lightning—no, I couldn’t harness so much power—but then again, I felt as though I was invincible with the tumult of angry power swirling in my soul.
Ced swallowed with effort, but to his credit, the dark prince never backed away, never changed forms. He seemed ready to accept his defeat. Releasing the furious blast of power, the wave struck Ced in the chest. The prince fell. All around, the lindworms shrieked. Everything in the entire clearing rumbled with the surge of power—even a few elemental warriors stumbled.
I expected it to end. What I didn’t expect was to be faced with a raging dragon seconds after Ced fell to the ground.
I stumbled backward when the dragon roared angrily and stepped between me and the lindworm prince. Thane took my place, his sword raised, but his face contorted in confusion. Sapphire and Ruby darted across the space, both taking their true forms and hashing fierce roars toward the prince’s protector. I scrambled to my feet, seeing Ced cough and spit blood in the earth. He’d survived, but I was determined to make him suffer. I rushed to my feet, but the dragon blocking him from me roared before quickly shifting. I was stunned to be met with a tall blonde woman, whose expression was one that could kill.
“Stop this, now!”
“Amber,” Sapphire breathed when his scales peeled back to his skin.
Thane had slipped behind the confrontation and held his blade to Ced’s neck. I shoved by Amber, who grappled for my arm, but I pushed her off. Thane flipped Ced to his back, my father’s strong hand keeping the weakened prince pinned to the forest floor.
“Stop this,” Amber shrieked. I glanced at her strangely, grateful Sapphire took hold of her arm.
I peered down at Ced, accepting the blade Thane held for me. “Tell me where Jade is,” I snarled.
Ced gasped for air. I wasn’t certain if it was because Thane was pressing on his chest, or if it was because he was gravely injured. I hoped for a little of both.
I dug the tip of the blade into his shoulder, and the prince winced in agony. I lowered to my haunches, ignoring Amber’s furious protests. Athika was gripping the rogue royal, and the energy bursting from Ruby’s mage seemed to be keeping Amber in human form.
Ced met my eye when I pressed my face closer. “I’ll ask once more. Where is Jade?”
“Teagan!”
My breath caught in the back of my throat. The blade weakened in my hand, and everything surrounding me fell into an eerie silence. Thane wasn’t focused on Ced, he was looking up. When he met my eye, I knew. I knew what I’d heard, though it was too impossible to accept it as truth.
Slowly, I looked over my shoulder. My heart caught fire in my ribs. My body wanted to crumble and burst at the same time. Jade was donned in her green gown from shifting, her hair damp around her shoulders. She was just there—staring at me, her mouth parted slightly as though she couldn’t believe it either.
“Teagan,” Thane whispered in a husky voice. “I’ll hold him. Go.”
I didn’t move, even when Thane slowly took the hilt of the blade stabbing the lindworm prince. “Go, son,” he whispered again, nudging my shoulder.
My mind snapped to reality, and I burst to my feet and darted toward Jade. I sensed every eye on us as I shoved my way through mage and warrior. My body erupted in a swell of relief, power, and love when I swept my arms around her waist and crushed her against my body. Jade gasped, clutching my neck and burying her face against my skin. I held her so tight, her feet lifted from the ground, but the feel of her in my arms again was nothing less than euphoric. My head was spinning, but I clung to her, absorbing her power like a missing piece of my soul had been found.
Jade clasped the sides of my face, her emerald eyes scanning mine for a silent pause before I pressed my lips against hers. If internal combustion could ever be pleasurable, this moment was it. Jade’s hands trailed along my spine, holding me against her while I kept one hand lost in her hair, the other around her waist so there was no space between us.
I kissed her fervently, the weeks of separation spilling through me as though I would lose her any second. Jade pulled back, gasping for breath, kissing me quickly between her words. “I’ve waited for this moment,” she said, holding her lips longer against mine.
I smiled and nodded. “Me too.”
Jade’s chest heaved when she pulled away slightly and studied my eyes. “You found her,” she whispered. “Your mother?”
I nodded and kissed her hard again, speaking softly against her mouth between kisses. “There’s more,” I said, holding her face in my hands. “I found my father too.”
Jade’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping just so. “How…Bron said he killed him?”
&n
bsp; “Bron’s a liar,” I said, kissing her quickly. “Jade, I think you should know. I’m not exactly a full mage.”
Jade seemed to be wanting another kiss, but she paused, her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
I leaned by her ear, my lips brushing across her cheek. I liked the way she trembled in my arms. “My father is Thane.”
Jade gasped and clenched my shoulders. “The warrior?”
I nodded, trailing my mouth along her jaw and her neck slightly. “Apparently, I’m half dragon.”
Jade smiled widely, her palms on each side of my face. “I knew there was something I really loved about you.”
I laughed and bent in for more, but stopped when a groan burst across the clearing. “Ugh, enough. We know it’s been awhile, but seriously, how long do you want us to hold the serpents while you swallow her whole, Teagan?”
I chuckled and faced Mitch, who stood by Raffi—the warrior seemed to agree with Mitch’s pout when he nodded his head.
Jade tensed when she saw the lindworms sprawled beneath the swords of her people and Ced being held down by Thane. Amber was still pleading with Sapphire to release her, but he wouldn’t relent.
“No,” Jade gasped stepping forward. As though on instinct, the wyvern warriors lowered to one knee—even Raffi and Dash—and bowed to their queen. Jade nodded her acceptance, but quickly waved them away from their salute. “I know this doesn’t make sense, but these lindworms aren’t our enemies. Release them, please.”
“Jade,” I breathed out, my eyes locking with Thane, who glanced at Ced.
She met my eye and clutched my arm. “Prince Ced wants to rise against his father. He helped us escape. These warriors aren’t loyal to King Nag. But the dark High Priest and Nag are surely looking for us. Please, release them. They’ve kept us safe.”
“But I felt your signal,” I hissed. “We all felt the danger.”
Jade nodded. “Yes, and Prince Ced was the one who told me how to release that signal.”
Jade held tight to my hand. Sapphire slowly released Amber, who rushed between Ced and Thane. No one seemed to know how to act. Amber was already trying to heal Ced. My free hand balled into a fist as I watched. I saw Gaia drift toward Thane, surprise evident on her face, but slowly she crumbled the energy prison around the shrieking lindworms. They didn’t attack. They shifted into their human forms and glared at the elementals, each warrior clutching tight to their weapons.
