by Amelia Jade
Daxxton felt his voice grow stronger. “This needs to stop. We all know who hired them, and that this is but the opening salvo, I’m sure. They’ve been getting ready for this for some time now. With the Iron Scales having been dealt with, Fenris will have no choice but to come for us directly.”
The assembled shifters muttered as he spoke aloud the thoughts they’d all been having.
War was coming.
“What’s the plan?” Asher Owens, Frost Dragon and recent graduate of Top Scale Academy, asked for the group.
“I’m going to the Council with Miranda. There I will invoke Imperare ad Impugnandum.”
A hush fell over the crowd as they realized what that meant.
“You don’t have to do that,” Blaine said. “You know what that will require you to say.”
“I know, old friend. But I think after what happened here tonight, they’ll figure it out soon enough for themselves. I may as well play the last card I have.”
The tall Fume Dragon simply bowed his head in acknowledgment of the wisdom of that thought.
“The rest of you, clean this up, deal with our prisoners, and make sure everyone is accounted for.”
The others nodded firmly and turned away, already divvying up tasks among themselves. In moments it was just him and Miranda.
“You’re really going to do it?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes. Cadia needs to change, and this is the only way it can happen fast enough. Otherwise we risk losing everything.”
The woman he cared so strongly for nodded. “Okay. I will come with you. But I’m curious, what did Blaine mean when he said you’ll have to say something?”
Daxxton turned and moved away from the rubble of the west wing of the house, moving toward one of the stone circles where he could shift without risk of stirring up more debris.
“Only a certain few may invoke Imperare ad Impugnandum,” he explained. “At least in Cadia. I only fit one requirement, but it is something I have kept almost entirely to myself for my life. If I wish to follow through, I will be forced to reveal it.”
“Which is?”
He turned at her and smiled. “Come and find out,” he challenged, before disappearing in a cloud of gold smoke as he shifted once more into his dragon form.
***
The word of the attack on the Nova Estates had clearly reached Cadia proper. He could sense that even before they’d landed, but the sentries’ reports that the Council was once again meeting confirmed it.
He opened the doors hard enough for them to slam, but without enough force to break them this time.
“You,” Klara Nova all but hissed as he strode forward in front of the entire assembled Council without breaking stride.
“Yes, me,” he responded. “Did you think it would be anyone else?”
He turned and looked at the rest of the Council. “I’m going to make this short and sweet. Cadia has become weak, and obsessed with money. Her borders are unprotected and her enemies move against her. This cannot be allowed to stand.”
“And what are you going to do about it?” Klara snarled from her elevated Council chair.
“I’m glad you asked,” he said politely. “I, Daxxton Ryker, invoke the right of Imperare ad Impugnandum. As an Aurum Dragon, one of the Old Blood, a so-called ‘Great One,’ I hereby challenge your right to rule. If any of you object, I will meet you on the field.”
The hall went silent as he revealed the true nature of his being as an Aurum Dragon.
“You are not an Old Blood,” Klara snapped. “The last of them was born nearly fifteen hundred years ago. You aren’t even a millennia old yet. You are nothing but a liar.”
Daxxton shifted his gaze onto her as he summoned the last of his energy.
From within his core, the golden light began to pulse once more. It brightened until the room was lit completely by his internal glow.
“The last of the Old Bloods of your races were born then,” he spoke, his voice taking on an ancient, almost hollow tone to it. “But not of mine. Challenge me if you will. Otherwise I will rule Cadia, and set her back upon the proper path once more.”
Klara simply stared at him in disbelief. The power of the Old Ones was such that they could summon the power of light. If he let it grow, he would once again become engulfed in flame, resembling the Phoenix. It was after all from his kind that the legend of such a bird had begun.
“No.”
The simple word shocked him back to reality. He had hoped his demonstration of power would be enough. But clearly Klara was not ready to back down. None of the others on the Council seemed ready to challenge him. But she wasn’t backing down.
“You are obsessed with your power,” he said sadly.
“This is my Council,” she snapped. “You are not welcome.”
“Then I shall meet you on the field,” he said sadly. “I do not wish to kill another of my kind,” he continued. “But if you step outside, I will have no choice. Please reconsider.”
Klara simply laughed. “Is this the type of weakling we want running Cadia? Unwilling to kill when it’s necessary?”
She hopped down from her chair and strode past him. “Let’s go.”
He saw the feral gleam in her eye. There would be no reasoning with her.
“You can’t do this,” Miranda hissed into his ear as the entire Council filed outside as well, to witness the right of Imperare ad Impugnandum. The Challenge to Rule. Once invoked, if he won, he would be crowned King of Cadia.
It was an old, obscure law, that nobody had thought would ever be called upon. Only certain groups could even invoke it. Old Bloods of the Dragons, the High Guardian, or one of the Council Members themselves. That was it.
“I have to,” he replied.
“You’re too weak, too hurt from your fight with Corbin. You can’t win.”
“I know,” he said as they emerged into the night air. He looked up as the first flakes of snow fell across his face.
How fitting that the first snowfall would be that night. Blood would rain from the skies, but the snow would cover it up in the end.
“Then why are you doing it?” she asked, frustrated.
“I’m not,” he said as the group stopped at a pair of stone circles.
Klara occupied one.
“Well, let’s go then,” she called at him.
“Do you wish to nominate a champion?” he asked wearily, going through the rite.
“No, I’ll fight you myself,” she chortled arrogantly.
“Very well. I nominate Miranda Pyke, Princess of Tanith, as my champion,” he said.
Miranda stared at him. “You can’t be serious.”
“Deadly,” he replied. “It could never have been one of my team. That wouldn’t have been acceptable. It has to be you, a foreign entity and sovereign ruler.”
“But what if I lose?” she asked.
“You won’t. She’s going to underestimate you even more than I did.” His eyes hardened, glinting with steel. “Show her the error of her ways.”
Miranda nodded jerkily and moved to the center of the circle.
“Well, this shouldn’t take long,” Klara laughed, not even bothering to protest the decision, and a cloud of smoke shot through with fire began to swirl up around her legs.
Daxxton stepped up to Miranda, leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I believe in you,” he whispered, and then shuffled clear of the circle, before all but collapsing with weariness onto a nearby bench. He was spent for the near future.
It was out of his hands now. He just hoped he’d done the right thing.
Chapter Fourteen
Miranda
This was all a dream. A bad dream. It had to be. There was no way that this was really happening to her. There was no way the real Daxxton would trust her to be his champion, to fight Klara for him.
Would he?
She glanced over at the Aurum Dragon, her Aurum Dragon, and though he was bone tired from his fight with Corbin, th
ere was no doubt in his eyes. Only a stolid, unyielding confidence. He nodded once in her direction.
He did trust her. Implicitly and completely.
She marveled at his ability to do that, when they weren’t even officially mated. How could he have such faith in her to do what was needed?
Because he loves you.
She jerked at that realization.
Across from her, Klara finished her shift, the large red dragon pawing at the ground in irritation.
Without a second thought Miranda ran back across the circle, threw her arms around Daxxton and kissed him full on the lips. “I love you too,” she said as they parted moments later.
“I love you,” he murmured, kissing her again even as he smiled through it.
“I know,” she told him, giving him a wink. “Now stay still, I have a kingdom to win for you. Never trust a man to do a lady’s job,” she teased.
Her expression with him may have been happy and relaxed, but the instant she turned and headed back for the circle, her face drew grim and closed. There was no more time for laughter. No more time for doubts. The fate of Cadia and Tanith rode on her shoulders now.
I will not let them down.
Her arms spread wide as she approached the center of her stone circle. Inky blackness, darker than the darkest shadows flowed out from her, spinning up around her body like a tight cocoon. The blackness grew swiftly and calmly; there was no rush nor panic to it. It blossomed into a magnificent sphere of pure darkness fifty feet wide, before it began to shrink, tightening around the form it contained, until it seemed to mold to the outline of the Blast Dragon that had appeared within.
The whole event took less than a handful of seconds, but to those watching, it had been much longer than that.
“Let’s be on about this then,” Klara said, and without any further preamble she spat a fireball at Miranda and took to the sky, her huge ochre wings beating furiously to gain her ground.
“Bitch,” she hissed, yanking her massive body to the side as the brilliant ball of flame went sizzling by, only to impact upon a nearby tree in the courtyard.
Wood and bark exploded outward as the tree burst into flame and collapsed upon itself. Several of the Council members scurried out of the way, while one of them went to raise the alarm so the fire could be put out before it got much worse.
The others shouted and cursed at Klara.
That was a good sign, Miranda mused as she took to the air, careful to avoid Klara’s swooping attack as the Councilwoman dove into an attack.
The wind shrieked over the red dragons talons as they narrowly missed her jet-black scales, and Miranda immediately drove for higher ground. Behind her she heard Klara screech in anger as her attempt to end the battle swiftly failed.
She’s not thinking straight. Prolong this fight and you can use it to your advantage. Make her do something ill-advised.
It was a good tactic, but how the hell was she supposed to implement that?
Below her Klara unleashed another fireball, but Miranda easily avoided that one. She didn’t return the attack, choosing instead to conserve her energy. Although she hadn’t expended as much energy as Daxxton had, she’d been in a fight just a few hours earlier as well. Right then Klara had energy to burn.
“Come back here you little flea-bitten whore!” Klara taunted, pushing hard to close the distance between them.
Miranda couldn’t keep her mouth shut any longer. “Listen, you two-bit has-been hack, just because your mate sees you as the worthless sack of scales you are, doesn’t give you the right to be jealous of my happiness.”
She didn’t know for certain that Zoltan felt that way, but given his distinct lack of ever appearing anywhere around Klara unless he had to, she could make an educated guess. Probably. She’d only met the man earlier today, so she was gambling a bit, but Miranda was good at reading people.
The furious rage that erupted in Klara’s eyes told her the insult had hit home.
“I’m going to rend flesh from your bones. I will skin you alive,” she spat wildly, climbing high into the sky as Miranda kept flying higher.
“Come and get me,” Miranda snarled, flipping herself around mid-air and pulling her wings in tight to her body.
She was suddenly a flesh and blood torpedo aimed directly at Klara and closing rapidly.
The Fire Dragon stalled in surprise at the sudden change in tactic, and only that saved her as Miranda unleashed her Blastfire, the wave of pure energy slamming into the right side of Klara’s torso. Ruby-red scales ripped free from her body as they warped and shattered, sparkling pieces falling from the sky mixed with blood and flesh as she tore a ragged strip out of her foe.
The hastily launched stream of fire caressed Miranda’s tail as she flashed by, and though pain assaulted her senses, she had clearly gotten the better of the exchange.
Even as she whipped by Klara, Miranda’s wings billowed out to their full extent and she halted her dive, pulling up and gaining some altitude by sheer force of momentum. Klara was hot on her tail, and fireball after fireball came sizzling her direction. Miranda careened left, right, up, and down as she frantically tried to avoid the stream of superheated attacks that threatened to knock her from the sky.
Although Klara didn’t serve with the Guardians any longer, it was clear she was no slouch in combat, and her earlier frantic actions became measured and tactical the longer the fight went on.
If Miranda was going to do something, she would have to make it unexpected. The question was…what?
A cone of blue-white fire flashed by on her right, more intense than any of the red-orange fireballs. The heat battered at her as she dove below it.
Klara was closing.
Then it came to her.
Miranda smiled internally as she looked over her shoulder, trying to appear afraid and panicked. Klara was closer than she’d expected, but the feral gleam in the Fire Dragon’s eyes told her that her plan had worked.
Her midnight-black wings slowed just enough to allow Klara to close even faster, and she watched as the talons of her front legs reached forward, trying to find Miranda, to get a grip on her to inflict the promised pain.
Almost…
Then suddenly the moment was there and she had to act.
Miranda pulled up abruptly and forced her wings as wide as they would go. The air rushing by billowed the membranes out in blinding agony so intense Miranda couldn’t help but cry out. Below her, Klara flashed by, her head twisting around in surprise.
Just in time to receive the intense burst of Blastfire right in her snout. Skin flayed from bone as the crackling force ripped the delicate skin there into shreds.
Even before she’d finished launching her attack, Miranda was already beating her wings furiously to regain speed as she angled in on Klara.
The red dragon shook furiously as blood flowed freely across her face, whipped by the wind as the two dragons tore across the sky.
It was Miranda’s turn to go on the attack and she did so expertly, using small bursts of Blastfire to force Klara to turn the way she wanted, at which point she would hit her with a slightly stronger blast.
Red scales fell from the sky like hail.
Klara screeched as a particularly powerful force of sonic energy hit almost directly where her wing joined to her body. The Fire Dragon jerked and went into a headlong spin as the membrane flapped wildly, stunned useless.
The pair had lost much of their altitude by then in their battle, and the ground was coming up at a rapid rate.
“Pull up!” she shouted at Klara, angling her own dive to get closer, so that she might be able to help. Somehow.
“Die!” Klara snarled and spat a wide stream of Dragonfire at her, the attack covering the sky as the dragon spun wildly through the air.
Miranda roared more in anger than pain and forced herself to pull up and away from the attack.
Klara’s snarl of delight at the small victory turned to a look of shock as her body impaled
itself on the same tree she’d lit on fire at the start of the duel. The firm wooden stump erupted from the torso of her dragon as the energy of her fall sent the massive corpse slamming all the way to the ground, where it rebounded once, snapping the thick trunk of the tree.
Miranda settled to the ground nearby as Klara Nova let out one last gurgle, and then died.
What had she done? She’d just killed the ruler of another dragon stronghold! That was grounds for war. Miranda began to shake, still in her dragon form, her wings jittering as she realized she’d just killed another dragon for no good reason.
“Dammit!” she snarled, anger overtaking shock and sadness. She whirled to face the rest of the Council, who were also staring eerily at the body. “Does anybody else want to do anything foolish today?” she snapped. “Who else has to die for you to realize that it doesn’t have to be this way?”
The Council swayed backward, away from the fury of her voice.
But none of them spoke aloud.
“Very well,” she said. “The duel is over. Daxxton is now your King. You will submit to him, or I will show you the error of your ways,” she said, her voice deadly quiet. Her words were short and succinct, but none of them were going to make the mistake of dismissing the challenge in them either.
The Aurum Dragon looked up at her as he came close, his hand reaching out to rest against her foreleg in a calming gesture.
“There will be no more blood shed this day,” he said calmly as the Council looked on. “Will there?”
One by one, the Council nodded in agreement.
“Good,” he said wearily. “I am tired of the fighting, though I fear there will be much more to come.”
The members of the Council muttered uneasily amongst themselves at that.
“Fenris won’t stop just because of this setback in their plans,” he said, cutting off the rumblings of discontent. “If you believe they will, then renounce your Council seats now, and I will find someone willing to do what it takes to protect Cadia.”
