I thought about the Emperor, what he’d told me about the Falak. He’d lied then, saying that the creature would be reborn if he was killed. Of course he’d lied. Everyone had damn well lied to me. Everyone. The Oracle. The Emperor. Maggi. Ollianna.
I rubbed a hand over my face and sighed.
Bryce was stretched out, a piece of grass tucked between his lips. “What do we do then? We can’t give up. I know that’s not an option.”
I nodded. “We have people to save.” Kiara and Ford and the others were in the Stockyards and we had to get them out. “And I have to go to the Emperor.”
“You don’t really mean to give him the flail, do you?” Bryce spit out the grass.
“I don’t want to.” I found myself touching the handle of the weapon. “But that was the deal, and I don’t think I can renege on a magical deal with the Emperor.”
They couldn’t argue with that, even if they wanted to—a deal was a deal, and already I could feel the pull of the agreement drawing me north and to the west. To wherever the Emperor’s throne was.
But first . . . first the Wyvern.
*_*_*
The next day Lila and Trick scooped us up and flew north. The flight to the edge of the Wyvern’s Lair took barely a day. “This is the way to travel,” Bryce said from Trick’s back.
The dragon laughed. “Easy for you to say, you don’t have to carry anyone.”
Maybe I would have joined in their laughter and easy banter if I hadn’t been scanning the sand below us for movement. But there were no ophidians waiting at the edge of the ocean that should not have been there.
And as far as I could see, there was no Wyvern waiting either.
Lila and Trick touched down, releasing the horses from their claws. I slid off Lila’s back and she did a down shift to her smaller form. Funny, but she spent easily as much time small as big now that she had the option.
I smiled at her as she flew to my shoulder. “I’m glad you can still sit with me. I would have missed this.”
She grinned and grabbed hold of my earlobe. “Yeah, maybe I would have too.”
The water rushed around my ankles and I took a step forward. Maks put a hand on me. “Wait, what are you doing?”
My eyes were locked on the water and the waves, the movement of them. Our plan had been simple: draw the Wyvern out and use the two dragons’ size and strength to pin him down and take the stone by force. None of us liked it, but on short notice, it was the best we could do.
Only I didn’t think that would work.
He was serpentine too. What if Ollianna already had him under her control?
The waves grew as each crashed toward us.
“He’s coming,” Trick said, lightning dancing through the sky.
I held a hand up, stopping him. “Wait, just wait.”
“That was not the plan,” Bryce said.
“Change of plans,” I shot back.
The Wyvern exploded out of the water, his head snaking toward us, teeth flashing, anger etched into every line of his body, in the narrowing of his eyes. “You dare come back?”
“Wyvern, the ophidian queen is coming for you.” I spoke as calmly as I could, the waves as high as my hip and rising. “She’s given birth to the Falak and has control of any serpent she sees fit. How long before she comes for you?”
I folded my arms, the water already to my shoulders, as if I were not about to get water up my nose.
I recalled something my father had said only once. Confidence is something that can be faked. But only if you have no other choice.
The waves slowed and he lowered his head until I could have reached out and stuck my arm up his nostril. “The Falak is reborn?”
“Yes,” Maks answered behind me. “Also, my apologies for the blow before. I was not . . . myself.”
The Wyvern turned his attention to Maks and my heart rate shot up. But all the big water dragon did was raise an eyebrow. “How did you get rid of the Jinn masters?”
“The flail,” I said.
He grunted. “Tricky.”
“Indeed.” Maks smiled. “Tricky indeed.”
The Wyvern shook his head. “What exactly do you think I should do? Hand you the stone? If she is as powerful as you say, then would she not kill me if I do not have something to give her?”
I smiled up at him and dug around in my pouch, producing the fake emerald stone she’d given me. “Give her this and tell her Zamira is coming for her. Nobody steals from me.”
The Wyvern stared at the stone in my hand. “She might kill me anyway.”
“The Falak is going to kill us all,” Maks said, stepping up beside me. Lila was still on my shoulder and we stood there, the three of us, stronger than we’d ever been. His eyes rested on each of us as he spoke. “Heart, soul, magic. Perhaps you three are the answer.” He shook his head. “I always hated Maggi. I’m glad she’s dead. I worried she would be in your triad.”
“No, there was never a chance for her,” I said.
The Wyvern smiled, flashing every tooth he had. “Not true. There were lines of fate that showed her leading your triad. Of course, those lines of fate ended horribly for the world. You three, though? I’ve never seen you three in any prophecy or vision. That means either you will save us all or doom us to the Falak’s power.”
Before I could answer him, a wave whooshed toward us, covering the Wyvern, washing him away. His voice was still there, but he was not.
“Take this stone. Its power is that of destruction untold. And may the gods of old watch over us.”
A bed of kelp and seaweed floated toward us, and in the center was a pulsing red stone, perfectly round and about the size of a standard coin. I picked it up and laid down the emerald stone.
The waves sucked away from us so fast, I fell on my ass. Maks grabbed me and hauled me to my feet. “That could have gone much worse.”
I wiped a chunk of seaweed off my pants. “We still have the Emperor.”
Lila nodded. “And Ishtar and our pride.”
Bryce shook his head. “And deal with this Ollianna and her demon spawn.”
“So, yeah,” I smiled at Maks and pulled him in for a kiss, “it was about time something went our way, because what’s coming . . . what’s coming is going to make our time together now look like a walk in the park.”
Lila leapt into the air, shifting into her larger form. “The fire-eyed maid of smoky war,
all hot and bleeding will we offer them!”
I lifted a fist, the stone of destruction clutched in it. “Our battle is more full of names than yours. Our men more perfect in the use of arms. Our armour all as strong, our cause the best; then reason will our hearts should be as good.”
I raised an eyebrow at Maks. He laughed. “Henry IV. Try again, ladies. You have yet to stump me.”
Laughing, Lila scooped us up in her talons and swept us into the sky, and beside us Trick scooped up Bryce and Batman. “Which big bad ugly are we going to deal with first?” Lila asked.
The wind whipped around my face, tangling my hair. There was only one answer. “To the Stockyards. We deal with Ishtar and Steve.”
Once and for all.
Afterword
Well there we go, there’s one more book and we’ll be wrapping this series up!
www.shannonmayer.com
Wyvern's Lair (Desert Cursed Series Book 5) Page 25
