“Shh.” I try to calm her.
“I would have followed you into the flames, my lady.”
“Don’t talk like that. You’re going to be ok.”
Thorn and Ethan run up to us.
“Take her to aid, now.”
I stand, lifting my sword from the mud. I turn on my heel to see the steps of Dragon’s Den behind me. No more guards. Nothing stopping me. “Helwain,” I mutter under my breath, “is mine!”
XIX: Dragon’s Den
“Jaria, wait!” Thorn runs after me as I hasten my steps to Dragon’s Den. “Jaria!”
I stop on my heel and turn to him. “See to it that Rulsh is not left dying in the mud. Help our men escort out any remaining civilians, help find anyone wounded, and prepare a pile of our dead.” I turn back, walking up the steps.
“Jaria!” He calls again, but does not follow me.
I shove open the wooden doors of Dragon’s Den.
“Helwain!” I call out into the darkness, making my way inside.
Laughter echoes the tall chasms of the hall.
“This ends tonight.” I call out walking slowly up towards the throne. “The dragons are mine.”
He steps out from behind the throne, wearing his emerald and gold armor.
“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised you made it this far. Tell me, what exactly is your plan here?”
“I want your head.”
He laughs, stepping closer.
“No man shall ever have the pleasure of killing me.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m a woman.”
“And what can a woman do?”
A pair of footsteps sounds behind me. Without turning my head I look out of the corner of my eye to spot Ethan, blade ready.
“Ah, and she has brought her precious guard to fight her battle for her.”
“I fight my own battles.”
“Really? Then tell him to stand down.”
“Afraid, are you?” Ethan interjects, now standing only a few feet to my left.
“Of you? My dear, I’ve enslaved people like you my whole life.”
“And yet you don’t remember their faces.”
Helwain cocks his head, stepping off the throne until he’s level with us. “Oh, yes.” He approaches Ethan. “I remember your face. Tell me, does she know who you are?”
“Do I know that he’s my brother? That you had our mother, Lady Akidira, brutally assassinated in the town square before our eyes? Yes. I know exactly who he is.”
“Pity. Now that she’s the rightful heir to the Seven Sanctums, you are nothing more than her guard dog, boy.”
“I’m not a boy.”
“Oh, but you were once. And you escaped right through my fingers. Rest assured I will not make that mistake again.”
“I’ve had enough of this.” I say.
“Oh really? Enough of what?” Helwain turns to me.
“You’re stalling. I have a blood dragon outside and my brother to my left. This ends now.” I take a step forward.
Helwain draws his sword with a defensive jump back. “Now, now. Have you forgotten about your father?”
“I have not forgotten. I will kill you and then rescue him.”
“But, you don’t know where he is.” Helwain teases. “Very soon the fire will reach the throne room. The fire that started in your father’s cell, below us. Tell me, clever girl, did you not smell the oil when you entered the palace?”
My heart sinks as I look to my feet. I’m standing in a shallow puddle of what I thought was rain.
“You have a choice, and I will give it to you. Come after me, or save your father. There’s still time to save him…probably.”
“Do not fall for his tricks. I will go after father, you stay.” Ethan takes off running, around Helwain and behind the throne, down to the dungeons.
“Ah, see? What are brothers for. He knows the dungeons very well after all, having lived there for many years himself. Though, I have made a few upgrades since his escape.”
I swing my sword at him. It clashes into his cuirass. The tip of the sword just barely cuts his chin, drawing blood.
He pauses to wipe his chin, then looks me in the eyes. “Stupid girl.” He swings at me missing my arm by a hair. Turning sideways I throw a low swing to his legs, leaving a dent in his armor.
“Queen of dragons.” I hear the blood dragon in my head. Another swing from Helwain. This time he doesn’t miss. His gold sword slices deep into my right arm, loosening the chain mail.
“Yes, now.” I whisper back within my thoughts to the blood dragon.
A blood curdling screech pierces the air so loud Helwain covers his ears. Smoke pours in. I turn to see fire racing up the steps and into the hall of the throne room. A seam of flames rips between us as we jump back. A thud comes from the roof, knocking loose columns and banisters. The central part of the roof begins to cave in. I run to the front corner of the room and shield myself from falling debris.
“It cannot be!” I hear Helwain scream in disbelief behind the flames. “The blood dragon is mine!”
The blood dragon leans his head into the opening.
“No!” Helwain turns to run from the oncoming black flames of the dragon. The weight of him causes the roof to give way, saving Helwain from the fire. He ducks behind a falling pillar. The blood dragon takes off.
“Jaria!” I look up to see Thorn burst through the flaming doorway.
“I’m here!” I yell back from the corner, coughing from the smoke.
He runs to me. He extends a hand to help me over the pillar when a crumbling from the roof forces us both to recoil. Large pieces come crashing down. I cover my face waiting for it to end when a piece lands on my ankle, crushing it with a snap. I let out a scream.
“I’m coming!” Thorn runs, jumping over flames and throwing debris to the side.
“I’m stuck, I think it broke my ankle.” I cry out from beneath the rubble.
“I’ve got you.” He lifts the pillar in front of me throwing it to the flames.
“This one.” I look down at my ankle buried under a large piece of roofing. “I’m trapped.”
“Not for long you aren’t.” He steps over the remaining debris and pulls the roofing up slowly. Even for him, it’s heavy. Gritting his teeth he lifts the piece off my leg. I crawl as far as I can before he drops it back down. “Can you walk?”
I shake my head as he lifts my arm over his shoulder pulling me to my feet. “I don’t think so.”
“Then I’ll carry you.” He pulls me up around his neck, holding my feet and arms together as my body folds around him. A rumble comes from above. “We’ve got to get out of here, now!”
“Wait! Ethan is still in here! He’s looking for my father!”
A crackling that sounds like thunder comes from above, we look up to see a line tracing quickly through the roof, like a crack in ice.
“We have to go!”
Before I can get another word out, he sprints over the rubble and out the flaming entryway. I look back as the remaining roof and walls collapse. Father. Ethan. I push the thought out of my mind as my eyes burn from the flames. Thorn starts leaping down steps, one after the other as the palace is engulfed in flames behind us. I shut my eyes at the sight. We reach the ground. He lies me up against the fountain in the town where the rest of the wounded have been gathered. He turns back to the palace.
“Where are you going?” I call after him.
“To find Ethan and your father.”
“Wait!”
Thorn races away.
“My lady, are you alright?” One of the woodland elves approaches me with water. I shake my head. “Here, drink this.” He lifts the container to my lips. Cool, refreshing water trickles down my throat. “It will help.”
I point to my foot. “My ankle, I think it’s broken.”
His brow furrows with concern as he looks down my leg. He moves it slightly, jolting another scream from me. “I’m sorry my lady. We will fix it. Rest now. The bat
tle is over.” He pauses with a soft elven smile. “We won.”
“We didn’t win.”
“What do you mean?”
“Helwain got away.”
“But…Dragon’s Den.” He looks over to the ruins, alive with flames.
“I didn’t see him die.”
“That doesn’t mean he lived.” I cannot draw my gaze from Dragon’s Den. Flames play up around the remaining pillars outside the great hall.
“Rest now my lady, I will have someone tend to your ankle.” I wave him off and rest my head back against the fountain. The very fountain my mother was assassinated in all those years ago. Fitting that I should be here now, destroying the Realm. Watching my home and watching Dragon’s Den burn to ashes as I sit here with a broken ankle. I feel so useless lying here unable and unknowing if my father, brother, and Thorn are alive.
“My lady.” Thorn stands before me, charred with ashes.
I look behind him. “Ethan? My father?” I ask.
He lowers himself to my level on a bent knee. “My lady,” he takes my hand in his, “Ethan found your father.”
I wait for more, but he says nothing. His eyes search the floor a moment. “What is it?” I ask with a catch in my throat. “Just tell me.”
With a deep sigh he lifts his eyes back to mine and pauses for a moment longer. “Ethan found your father, but…”
“But what?”
Thorn hangs his head. Dirtied locks of sweat-drenched hair drip around his face.
“Thorn, tell me.”
“He was already dead.”
I recoil my hand from his, drawing back from the pain that courses through my heart.
“No,” I whisper aloud. “No, no, no, no, no.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Ethan?”
“Ethan is ok. I got to him just in time.”
“Where is he now?”
“In the front of the village, with Hothor.”
“Tell them to evacuate the rest of the citizens. Anyone too injured to travel will stay with me until they have been healed. Any elves with healing powers are to stay and aid us here.”
He nods and steps away to give the orders.
It's been a week since the attack. Sitting under the pale blue lights of the enchanted forest, a calm washes over me. My father had died in Dragon's Den before Ethan could get to him. Ethan had almost died in his attempt to rescue him. Helwain had escaped. What is left of the Realm is being re-built. The walls have been broken down and many of the citizens have come to the forest to help. We've been informing them of the truth; about Helwain, about my mother Lady Akidira, about the Writings of Assassination and the ruse that was invented to cover the truth behind our immortality.
Now that the Realm is broken apart and Helwain has fled, immortality has been broken. Anyone who has lived in the Realm is once again susceptible to injury and death same as any other man, woman or child in the lands of the Seven Sanctums. News of our battle has begun to reach other sanctums, many of which have volunteered in our hunt. Helwain can run but he can’t hide. After the loss of my father, nothing will stop me. I am out for blood.
The Writings of Assassination: Book One Page 22
