The Druid's Guise: The Complete Trilogy (The Druid's Guise Trilogy)

by Michael J Sanford

  “You’re still alive!” Wyatt shouted.

  The Lord Regent twisted to face him, a sneer splitting his face. “Returned to witness more of your friends cut down, have you, Druid?”

  “Like I said before!” Wyatt bellowed. “We’ve come to stop you.”

  Wyatt was standing near the large timber doors that he had forgotten were all that kept a raging Regency army at bay. The sound of cracking wood reminded him. A quick glance told him the door was still intact, though just barely. More troubling, however, was that Athena still lay at his feet, curled up, not moving.

  The Lord Regent must have been following Wyatt’s eyes, for he laughed and said, “Seems your bright show of magic did nothing to still the fear that races through your friend’s heart. And seems your darling little sister has left you altogether.” The Lord Regent made a show of looking around the large hall.

  Wyatt did as well, but saw no sign of Lucy. They had done what they needed to, hadn’t they? We convinced Athena to stop hiding and to fight. Why isn’t she moving? And where’s Lucy?

  The Lord Regent laughed and slammed a sword pommel against his onyx chest plate, the sound resonating like a gong. The vibrations instilled a tremor in Wyatt’s legs, but he remained tall. He needed to trust his friends, his family. It was all any of them had left—faith in each other.

  Wyatt stepped forward and raised his fists. Pain radiated from his fractured ribs, making every breath painful, but after living Athena’s darkest memory, it seemed trivial. His mind went to the air of the room and prepared to pour the entirety of his life force into it if it meant the end of the Lord Regent and the safety of his family.

  Ms. Abagail and Maia circled away from the Lord Regent, closer to Wyatt, and looked at him knowingly. This would be their last stand. No matter the outcome.

  Wyatt crouched and lashed his mind to the air. Maia fluttered high into the air and Ms. Abagail picked up a chair. But before Wyatt could launch his attack, a new voice slid across the magic he was joined with. It was more than a subtle urging of magic. It was truly a voice.

  “Don’t react,” Athena’s voice whispered. “We’re coming. Just draw the big bastard away from Rozen. I’m going for her and we’re going to end all of this bullshit. Together.”

  Wyatt smiled and charged.

  The Lord Regent matched his attack, but Wyatt veered away at the last moment and rolled over a table. A sword thunked into the wood just behind him, but he spun off the far side, intact. The Lord Regent wrenched his blade free and snarled.

  Wyatt thumbed his nose and darted down the aisle, headed away from both Athena’s still body and Rozen, who was still lashed to a chair. The Lord Regent vaulted onto the table, but had to duck and swat at Maia as the spriteling spun past him, slapping him smartly upside the head. The Lord Regent howled and swung, but cut only air.

  “You sure are a clumsy oaf,” Wyatt shouted, urging the Lord Regent with a wave. “Surely you can catch a fat lil’ Druid like me.”

  The Lord Regent took the bait and made a line toward Wyatt, slapping aside chairs and climbing over tables. Maia darted in again, but caught a glancing blow, and dropped to the floor. Wyatt waved her off. “This is between the Lord Regent and I, Maia,” he called, shooting Ms. Abagail a similar look to the one he gave Maia.

  The spriteling nodded and returned to the air.

  “We have some unfinished business, you and I,” Wyatt said.

  “For once, I agree with you, Druid,” the Lord Regent said, now well away from the others.

  Wyatt was backing himself into a corner, but he held fast to his faith. Athena stirred from her spot on the floor, climbing into a crouch, and smiled at Wyatt. Even at a distance, her eyes sparkled. Staying low, Athena darted for Rozen on the opposite side of the hall. What good it would do to free her, Wyatt didn’t know, but faith held his conviction.

  “You killed Mareck, Gareck, and Grenleck,” Wyatt shouted.

  “That is the least of what I have done, and nothing compared to what I will do,” the Lord Regent said, stalking closer.

  “Your reign ends here,” Wyatt said. “For all of them and for us.”

  Athena pulled at Rozen’s bonds. The Draygan gave no indication she was still conscious, even as she slumped out of the chair and into Athena’s waiting arms. They disappeared from view, going to the ground, obscured by the line of tables between Wyatt and them.

  “So, go on, Wyatt the Mighty,” the Lord Regent said. “Show me your great power. Pour your life into the air once more and cull me with a great wind.”

  Wyatt joined his mind to the air, but didn’t channel anything into it. Instead, he let his mind wander across the magic that swam through the room. He sensed the Lord Regent’s life, and for a moment longed for the ability to drain it from him, but continued on, probing deeper.

  The Lord Regent stepped closer, almost within reach with his blades. “Take the coward’s way out. There is nothing else you can tie your magic to here. And that is the true weakness of your gift.”

  Wyatt’s heart broke as his mind found what he had been searching for, but he locked eyes with the Lord Regent, dropped his hands to his side, and smiled. “And the true weakness of your gift is your greed.”

  The Lord Regent pointed a sword at Wyatt’s chest, but he remained undeterred. He was already channeling his life into hers. Wyatt shivered and had to lean back against the wall to keep from falling as he opened the floodgates of his power and his life.

  The Lord Regent frowned and looked at the air around him. “Seems your magic has weakened, for I feel not even the slightest breeze.”

  Wyatt forced out a short laugh and slid down the short wall to sit on the floor. He looked up at the Lord Regent. “Why would I waste my magic on ruffling your pretty hair?”

  The Lord Regent’s frown deepened, but it vanished at the sound from the far side of the room. Wyatt smiled and crawled forward on his hands and knees. He grabbed at the table in front of him and pulled himself up to lean against it. Every movement was agony.

  Rozen stood atop a table, her eyes wild and alert. She flexed her claws and hissed again, baring all of her razor-edged teeth. Her brilliant eyes were fixed on the Lord Regent. Athena and Ms. Abagail stood at her sides while Maia hovered just over her head.

  The Lord Regent said something unintelligible, and Wyatt could see the tips of his swords shake in his hands.

  “She’s a lot scarier when she’s untied, huh?” Wyatt asked weakly.

  “This changes nothing!” the Lord Regent shouted. He spun toward Wyatt and swung all three swords at him.

  Wyatt watched the blades arc through the air and did the only thing he could in the moment. He let go. Gravity did the rest, dragging his battered body to the floor in a heap. The trio of whistling blades snipped a few hairs off Wyatt’s head, but left it attached to his neck.

  Before the Lord Regent could gather for another attack, Maia shot into view. Her iridescent wings made Wyatt dizzy as she danced a tight circle around the Lord Regent’s head. He swiped at her, forcing her to fall away, but as she did, Rozen drove her body into the Lord Regent. They fell to the ground in a clatter of steel armor and snapping, hissing Draygan.

  Athena and Ms. Abagail appeared at Wyatt’s side and dragged him out of the way as Regent and Draygan rolled across the floor. Maia darted in again, allowing Rozen to spring away and gather herself. She landed in a crouch next to Wyatt.

  “Hello again,” Wyatt said with a grimace.

  Rozen shot him a look he hadn’t thought to ever see again and launched herself at the Lord Regent. Clad in heavy plate, the Lord Regent had only managed to get a single knee beneath him, but he fended off Rozen’s claws with a quick flurry of sword strikes. He only held one blade now, but his free hands moved just as quickly. Rozen spun aside and leapt onto a table. She darted in to rake her claws across the Lord Regent’s cheek before scampering out of range of his return strike.

  “You should have killed me when you had the chance,” Rozen said
. Her voice was hoarse and grating, but no less menacing than Wyatt remembered.

  “There is still time,” the Lord Regent shouted, coming to his feet. He swung a wide crosscut and pivoted in a way to face all of his assailants.

  Wyatt was too weak to move anything but his mouth. “Maybe just take the coward’s way out?” he offered.

  Rozen made to attack again, but the Lord Regent pinned her in place with the point of his sword aimed at her chest. She gnashed her teeth at him. She danced from side to side, but he followed her movement, stalling any attack.

  A sickening crack sounded from the entry doors, and Wyatt knew without looking that they were about to run out of time. The Lord Regent flicked his gaze over Wyatt’s head and smiled.

  “As valiant as your effort was, you will all still die here,” the Lord Regent said.

  A giggle ran through Wyatt’s mind, and he thought it was Maia at first, but she was hovering in place, her face locked in an unusually grim scowl. His eyes flicked around the room. Craning to look behind him, he saw the last pieces of the entrance door fall inward. Shouts poured into the room, but no girlish laughter.

  He turned back to the Lord Regent as he recognized the titter. “I think you’re forgetting something,” Wyatt said. “Or, should I say, someone.”

  The Lord Regent turned to glare at Wyatt just as Lucy stepped from the air directly behind him, clad in a swirl of green light. She drove her body against the back of the Lord Regent’s knees. The Lord Regent faltered, but kept his footing, and spun to locate his new attacker.

  It was all Rozen needed. As soon as the sword left her chest, she vaulted for the Lord Regent. Her long braid slid into her hand and wrapped around the Lord Regent’s neck as she drove her knees into his back. The Lord Regent spun back the other way and gathered his sword. But before he could use it, Athena launched from the floor at Wyatt’s side and wrapped both arms around the Lord Regent’s sword hand, wrestling the blade from his grip. It hit the ground with a clatter.

  The Lord Regent punched Athena with one of his free hands as the others fought to find Rozen. Athena landed back where she’d started from, bloodier then when she’d left, but grinning like a madwoman. Rozen arched her back to lean away from his grasping hands and snarled.

  Rozen’s braid was wrapped more than once around the Lord Regent’s neck, and Wyatt could see he couldn’t breathe. Rozen pulled harder and twisted her body, using her weight to bring the Lord Regent spinning down to his knees.

  She brought her mouth to his ear. “For everything you have done to me, and for all the evil you have turned on my family, may you burn for all of eternity,” she whispered. And with a primal yell, her braid caught fire. It wrenched sweat from Wyatt’s face and cut through the Lord Regent’s neck with a sizzle and a snap.

  Rozen let the Lord Regent’s head and body fall aside, parted from one another. She was panting, eyes glued to Wyatt’s.

  “Holy. Fucking. Shit,” Athena said.

  The sound of a charging army fractured the moment, and Wyatt fell to his knees as he twisted to witness a greater foe. But no army of Regents stormed into the dining hall to avenge their master. No, it was a motley assortment of ill-armed humans and Draygan warriors that skidded to a halt just across the threshold.

  Ezric and Benjamin were at the lead, but upon seeing the decapitated body of the Lord Regent, they looked at Wyatt and spun back to the mixed army at their back. After a moment of stunned silence, they retreated back into the hallway, leaving only the slain bodies of Regency soldiers and pieces of timber to mark their passing.

  “Wyatt,” Rozen said, drawing his attention back to her.

  Ms. Abagail helped Wyatt to his feet as Rozen stepped over the Lord Regent’s body to stand before him. Wyatt smiled amid a rain of tears. Shaking with fatigue, he reached for her, craving her embrace.

  Rozen slapped him. It turned his head sideways, and he could feel that her claws had split the flesh of his cheek. He looked back at her, startled.

  “That is for Ouranos,” she said. “And be grateful. A promise broken should elicit a stiffer penalty.”

  Wyatt nodded. “I guess I deserved that.”

  Athena pushed against Rozen’s side and punched Wyatt in the stomach. Ms. Abagail stopped him from falling, but Wyatt could have sworn he heard her laugh.

  “You know what that was for,” Athena said.

  Wyatt lifted his head. “Should have seen that coming, too.”

  Athena and Rozen fixed him with matching scowls, but Athena broke first and seized him in a fierce embrace. Wyatt gasped, but reciprocated. “I still hate you,” Athena whispered.

  Ms. Abagail wrapped her arms around both of them and squeezed tightly. Maia fluttered down and did the same. Lucy wedged herself between Athena and Wyatt and snaked an arm around his chest. Wyatt let his body relax, held up by the strength of his family. It was all that was keeping him upright and all that he needed.

  Wyatt’s eyes found Rozen looking back at him, no longer scowling. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re smiling,” he said.

  Rozen slung her braid—now extinguished—around her neck, but said nothing.

  “The Art of Conflagration,” Wyatt said with a smile. “That was pretty neat.”

  Rozen’s mouth twitched into a definite smile, but just for a moment. Her eyes never left his and said more than her lips ever could as she gave a curt nod and walked toward the door.

  “She always so serious?” Athena asked as she extricated herself from the group hug.

  “Nah,” Wyatt says. “She’s just been through a lot.”

  “We all have,” Athena said. “And we don’t look alike. Rozen and I.” She elbowed Wyatt in the ribs.

  He coughed and shrugged at her. “Hey, how’d you know I could heal her?”

  “I didn’t,” Athena said. “I figured we were all going to die, but I wasn’t going to let Rozen die strapped to a chair. I know what that’s like.” Athena looked at Wyatt. “And so do you now.”

  Wyatt, Athena, Maia, Lucy, and Ms. Abagail turned to watch Rozen disappear from the dining hall. They stood in silence a bit longer. Wyatt had finally completed the quest he’d set out to accomplish. He should have felt enlivened. But he didn’t. Not even a little.

  “Everything still hurts,” Athena said at last. “So fuckin’ bad.”

  Wyatt nodded. She had said what he knew they were all feeling. Lucy leaned against his arm and sighed.

  “Sure does,” Ms. Abagail said.

  “But it’s real,” Athena continued. “What I’m feeling. I suppose that’s worth something.” She shot Wyatt a fleeting smile, but then twisted it into a more familiar scowl. “And fuck you for makin’ me feel this way. You and this twisted world.”

  Wyatt’s fingers found the mass of scar tissue in the middle of his chest. He played along the edges of it, wondering how he had forgotten it for so long. His mother’s heart beat as his own. Though he had caused her death—and his father’s—his mother’s last act was to save his life with hers.

  “You remember everything now, huh?” Ms. Abagail asked, nodding at Wyatt’s chest.

  Wyatt started and looked into her eyes. “Yeah. My mom…”

  “I know,” she said.

  Wyatt nodded. “That news article you gave me—well, sort of gave me—was wrong. I almost died.”

  Ms. Abagail screwed up her face. “That’s pretty much what it said. Something about critical condition and airlifted. You should have died that night.”

  “Really?” Wyatt asked.

  “You’re lucky to have survived. Guess you got your mom to thank for that.”

  Wyatt didn’t respond other than to shake his head and laugh. The article he had read had said he had been uninjured. Just one more lie his mind had conjured to keep the truth at bay.

  “You all right?” Athena asked.

  Wyatt looked at her and nodded. Then he shook his head.

  “But you will be,” Ms. Abagail said. “We all will be, ye
ah? Eventually.”

  “I don’t know,” Wyatt said.

  “Maybe,” Lucy added.

  Beyond the weariness brought on by healing Rozen, Wyatt felt heavy. Burdened. Athena was right: it hurt. And he knew it would likely hurt for a long time, forever even. But he wasn’t alone anymore.

  “So, what now?” Ms. Abagail asked.

  Wyatt looked around the dining hall. He had half-expected all of the Realms to crumble away with the Lord Regent’s death. It would have only made sense. Whether created by Lucy in her dreams or by some deeper mystery, it existed to harbor Wyatt and his new family on their journey. Didn’t it?

  And he had expected to feel better about it. But every bit of his body and soul ached. Not just with his own memories, but with those of everyone around him. They had shared things no one should ever have to share. And though it brought on a pain that Wyatt thought would kill him, it also made him stronger. No, he thought. It makes us stronger.

  The amulet around his neck glowed subtly, and Wyatt curled his fingers around the warm gemstone. Everything about it still mystified him.

  Lucy straightened up and clutched at her amulet. She looked at Wyatt. Light shone between her fingers.

  “I suppose we go home,” Wyatt said as the magic of both their amulets pulsed with life.

  “Together,” Lucy added.

  “Together,” Athena and Ms. Abagail said in unison.

  “Always,” Wyatt said.

  Epilogue

  WYATT EYED THE clock, silently commanding it to move faster. It seemed to meet the challenge, ticking slower the more he stared. He tapped out the seconds with the end of his pencil. His knees bounced in concert.

  Eventually, his determination won out, the clock struck 2:30, and the dismissal bell rang sweeter than any song. Wyatt exploded from his desk, sending the chair clattering to the ground, and was out the door before he heard any rebuttal.

  Athena was waiting for him in the hallway and punched him in the chest the moment he cleared the classroom door. “About time,” she said, seizing his arm and dragging him down the hallway.