by Sela Croft
The recent embarrassment of his soldiers being chased off by my troops would be enough to ignite a fire under him. The king would be drooling for battle, aching for the final confrontation, and intent on coming out as the victor. Despite any annoyances he’d suffered, his army was strong and prepared for battle.
I assumed that Alban would attack by force alone. He wouldn’t take time for clever tactics, or delay to assess the situation. That gave me a chance. I conveyed my idea to my comrades, so they could coordinate with my army, and set up the defense along our perimeter.
The major advantage of the royals was their size. Experience had informed me that it took two or three of my men to take one of them down. A way to tip things in our favor was needed. With precision and purpose, my soldiers would be able to run tripwires at key areas of the coastal region.
It was possible to predict which way the Royals would approach. The monsters were so tall that their line of vision didn’t include the ground under their feet. The heavy wires would be positioned along the borders where the soldiers would enter my region.
The wires would provide a defense, and—if they worked as planned—would trip enough of the royal vampires to allow for a fairer fight. It was a tactic that they wouldn’t expect. All could put into place, before the enemy approached.
CHAPTER 67 – MIRELA
Calina needed to feed, so I went with her, feeling rather famished too. She was strong again, and looked more like herself. I agreed with Draven that she’d taken too great a chance trying to force the connection with Alban.
She’d been able to achieve it, but would she be able to again? I didn’t want to say so, but I guessed that the king would find a way to block her. He’d been caught off guard once, but I doubted that he would be again.
Calina was strong like Draven. They’d been raised together and held some of the same views. I admired her courage and conviction, wondering if I’d be as strong in similar circumstances. She’d had more years to practice.
In the basement, I took my fill of human blood. As a younger vampire, I couldn’t go as long without feeding. Hunger gnawed at me much sooner, and it seemed I required more frequent feedings to practice my magic.
Since Selene had coached me in the use of my skills, I’d been diligent about practicing. I was rather proud of what I’d accomplished. Although not many knew of my growing power, since I didn’t brag. The real purpose of honing my talent was to use my ability to further our cause, not inflate my ego.
I hoped that my hard work would pay off when the time came to utilize the skills. I was certain that would happen. I’d had enough close calls already. Life during wartime was volatile, so I had to be prepared for any eventuality.
Calina met me at the top of the stairs, looking refreshed and vibrant. “You appear recovered from the encounter with your father,” I said.
“Yes, the king postures and threatens,” Calina said. “And I must say it was strenuous. But I am a vampire, after all. I don’t stay down for long.”
“Where is Nicolai? Won’t he be concerned?”
“He is on duty, and I don’t expect him to have much time off soon,” Calina said. “Besides, I’d rather that he didn’t know of my trauma. He worries about me.”
“I won’t tell him, but you can be sure that Draven will.”
“I’m certain my brother will tell him, because he’ll want Nicolai to encourage me to be safer.”
“But Draven will be busy with war matters,” I said. “So it may be a while before he gets around to mentioning it.”
“By then, it will be old news.”
“Draven and I had that wonderful evening together,” I said. “But like you and Nicolai, I don’t expect to have time alone for a while. Military matters take priority.”
I held Draven’s love close, even though I had to endure being apart. That sacrifice couldn’t be avoided. It was my dream that one day I would be by his side, and that separation would be a thing of the past. I didn’t know when that would be, or even if it would come to pass. The path before me was unknown and filled with danger. I tried to maintain confidence that together we could overcome whatever was thrown in our path.
Selene appeared in the hallway and walked toward us. “There you are,” she said. “I looked everywhere for you. The feeding area was my last thought.”
“Yes, I worked up quite an appetite,” Calina said. “Would you care to join us in the main room?” She waved toward the room down the hallway.
“I bumped into Draven on the way in,” Selene said, then continued walking toward the large room. After entering, she settled into an armchair by the fireplace.
I took the couch beside Calina, then said, “Was Draven on the way to the command center when you saw him?”
“He was, but I detained him,” Selene said. “He should be there now. I had something important to tell him, which I will also tell you.”
Calina wrinkled her brow. “What has happened?”
“I think the king has been taken down a notch,” Selene said, “even more than from anything previous.”
I was enthralled by the tale that Selene proceeded to tell. I knew very little about the leader of the Dark Fighters, except that he’d confined me to his castle, which had forced me to escape into the rainforest. It seemed there was more to him than that.
Calina stood and paced the carpet. “It’s difficult to believe. I had no idea about Silvain’s history. He’s been a mystery.”
“It’s amazing,” I said, then looked at Selene. “Speaking of taking risks, you do seem to get into some scary situations.”
“I’ve survived so far, but you have a point,” Selene said. “It would be prudent to stay out of the conflict if I can. It’s up to the leaders. Draven and Silvain want the same thing I do: the demise of the king. It’s in their hands now.”
“I could use some air,” I said. “I’ll be in the rose gardens for a bit.”
“Certainly,” Calina said. “You don’t need to babysit me anymore. I’m quite well and have Selene to entertain me. She doesn’t seem to run out of stories.”
I left, craving a few minutes alone. The roses were in bloom, so I took the luxury of smelling their sweet aroma. Maggie was gardening, but she looked up to smile at me. “You do a good job,” I said. “The flowers are lovely.”
“The garden is a favorite of Calina’s,” she said. “It’s my pleasure.”
I sat on the garden seat, breathing in the outdoor air. I needed a chance to process all that had happened recently. If only Draven was with me, but he had other priorities. He’d be busy with military business for a while. I wouldn’t do anything to distract him from such important work.
For several days after Selene’s visit, Draven had been focused on other matters besides romance. I’d been comforted to know that he’d developed a strategy to protect the castle from a Royal Army attack. He’d expected Alban to lay siege to our city with renewed force.
Insults to the king were bound to have repercussions, and there had been numerous events that had enraged him recently. Revenge was predictable, but Draven and his forces had been ready. When the Guardians had gone to the battlefield, anxiety had risen within me.
Draven and his comrades had been leading the troops. He had taken a massive number of soldiers with him, but I wasn’t fully reassured. Until my love returned to me, I wouldn’t rest. Calina stayed behind, and Nicolai had found a few hours to visit her. A while after the troops left, I went up to the tower, in case I could see anything.
The battle wouldn’t take place near the city. Draven had taken his troops to the border, with the intention of ensuring that the royals didn’t get closer. I didn’t expect to see any action, since it was so far away. But I looked anyway, thinking of my love fighting.
I worried for Draven, no matter how well prepared he was. Until this awful war was over, I’d continue to have reason for concern. From the tower, I looked out toward the ocean with the moon gleaming above. I tried to imagine a k
ingdom without upheaval and travail.
Then I noticed a small animal not far from the castle walls. I looked closer and saw that it was a rabbit. His fur was light brown and his ears stood straight up. But he was wiggling. It seemed that he’d gotten one of his back paws stuck. From so far away, I couldn’t discern the details of his crisis.
There was a passage out of the tower to the outside. It was narrow but usable. Originally, it had been designed as a means of escape. If I scooted out the tunnel, it would only take a couple of minutes to retrieve the injured rabbit. It was close by, so didn’t feel unsafe.
I thought to nurse the creature back to health. I went to the stairs and navigated the passage. Once out in the open, I levitated and flew to the rabbit. I’d be back before anyone knew I was gone. When I reached down to free the rabbit’s leg, the small creature transformed before my eyes.
Instantly, a frightening vampire stood where the rabbit had been. Too late, I realized my mistake. I stared into beady red eyes and balked at the sight of the vampire’s stark white hair and yellowed fangs. In that split second, my freedom was snatched from me.
The vampire morphed into a shiny black raven with a wingspan of twelve feet or more. The bird grasped me in its ironlike claws and took off. Wind whipped past, and I shivered from the cold. I feared that whatever comforts I’d enjoyed were lost to me for good.
I was aware of Strigoi abilities, so knew that changing into animal forms was one of them. I’d failed to predict how far the king would go in order to wrest me from the protection of the castle. I’d surely looked into the eyes of Alban, so was on my way to his mountaintop palace.
I hadn’t visited the royal palace, and had no desire to—especially as the king’s prisoner. The huge raven flapped his wings against the brisk air, and my body was rigid with cold. The trip was long enough that I wondered if I might die from hypothermia before arrival.
After a while, I saw the mountains ahead. The peaks rose high against the dark sky, covered with age-old ice. I’d be no warmer atop the craggy mountain than I was flying through the freezing air. The bird made it to the destination and swooped beyond the fortified walls.
Close to the ground, the raven released me from its claws, and I hit the stone with a thud. The impact dazed me, and my limbs were stiff with cold. Before I could regain my balance, a bony hand reached out and yanked my necklace from around my neck.
I looked up at Alban, then at the pendant he held in his hand. In a grating voice, he said, “I’ll take this.” He dangled it from the delicate chain. “The winged horse, a divine symbol…one that I cannot allow you to possess.”
My heart sank; my stallion protector had been stolen from around my neck. Selene’s caution ran though my mind: never take it off for any reason. She hadn’t mentioned what to do if someone else ripped it away.
Without realizing the real value of the necklace, Alban tossed it aside, and it skidded across the stone. It had been foolhardy to leave the safety of my city, to be oblivious of dangers that lurked. But it was too late for regret.
I was in a bad situation, with no help available. And worse, no one knew that I was missing. Since I’d elected not to go out the front gate and past the guards, it would be a while before my absence was noticed. Even then, Alban’s mountain fortress wouldn’t be the first guess as to where I was.
My circumstances were bleak at best. I was in the enemy camp, possessed by the king who wished me dead. Even that would be too easy, as I was convinced that my last few hours wouldn’t be pleasant. I’d gained a lot of strength recently but had no reason to think that I was a match for the king.
Any thought of engaging with Alban was wiped out of my mind the instant that three huge guards heaved me from the ground and dragged me into the palace. I’d been vulnerable before, but not like this. It seemed as though I’d stepped directly into hell, and I hadn’t felt more alone…ever.
CHAPTER 68 – DRAVEN
It had taken days to set up the defensive, and the project hadn’t been completed a moment too soon. Guardian scouts reported spotting royals approaching, so my army had ridden to battle. My troops had been positioned in a gauntlet formation some distance from the castle city.
The wires that were invisible to the royal soldiers would take them down. Then my army could conquer, based on sheer numbers. I’d called any available forces to the battle line. Once the enemy was down, there would be an opportunity to put them out of commission for good.
Even though I’d expected it, the sight of the royals marching toward us was frightening. The behemoths were taller by far than my soldiers, and weighed as much as baby elephants. Their necks were as thick as tree trunks, making it difficult to decapitate them.
Behind the cover of trees and scrubs, my army prepared for the fight. My eyes were glued to the hillsides, as what I witnessed was more horrific than I’d imagined. I had no idea how many royals there were. The creatures moved in large groups, appearing to be a large mass.
At a distance, the royals looked like a black scourge, flowing from one hill to the next. Dressed in solid black, the huge figures flooded the land, reminding me of swarms of locusts intent on stripping the area of all life. It was my goal to prevent them from reaching the castle city.
The vampire mutants moved closer, and my men were ready. With a great thud, the first line of royals caught their ankles in the wires and hit the ground, shaking it like an earthquake. My forces descended upon them, then went in for the kill. Blood of the enemy spilled onto the dirt, and heads rolled.
It was two or three to one, but my soldiers managed the decapitations. I worked with Quin to loosen the head of one massive creature, then another. But the royals continued to move forward, not falling over their own dead, but crawling over them instead.
It was a mass of destruction, making it difficult to separate out the enemy soldiers. My men moved in teams, seeking one royal soldier after the other. Motivated by the chance to conquer, I ravaged as many of the monsters as I could, combining strength with one or more of my comrades.
With horror, I realized that there were too many of the beasts. The more we killed, the more there were. It seemed like a nonstop flow of royals were drowning the hillsides. I could see no end to their numbers and feared that my guardians suffered too many casualties.
The bloody mess went on for hours. My men were exerting themselves to the breaking point, yet the royals were like automatons. They plodded forth, grabbing my men at any opportunity, to wield their swords of death.
The heap of bodies along the tripwires served as a barrier, but it wasn’t enough. The tall soldiers stepped on the headless vampires and walked across their own dead to get to us. If we couldn’t overcome by numbers alone, then all was lost. Retreat was not an alternative, because the monsters would follow. I couldn’t allow them to get close to the city.
With blood dripping from my armor, I surveyed the battlefield. It was a scene of death, yet the royals just kept coming. I couldn’t give in but had no idea how to turn the tide in our favor. I gripped my sword, ready to take another head, when I saw troops approaching from the rear.
That couldn’t be, since the royals had come from the mountains in the opposite direction. I turned, only to realize that it was the Dark Fighters descending upon us. If we were attacked from the rear as well, all hope was lost. I waved to my closest comrades to make them aware of the shift in circumstances.
Before we could retaliate, a horse with a red-orange coat flew in. I looked up to see Silvain riding the magic stallion. “Hold your orders,” the dark leader said. “We’ve come to fight with you, not against you.”
There was no opportunity for debate. If the enemy leader claimed to be on our side, I had to take him at his word. Monster vampires pushed forward, and there was no time to waste. “Fight with us, then, to stop this plague.”
The mutant monsters pushed forward, oblivious to their casualties. The royal soldiers didn’t seem to feel the loss, or fear for their own safety. They
moved toward us like the heartless creatures they were.
The Dark Fighters dived into the fray, fighting strong. The soldiers were fresh, so gave backup to my men who had grown weary from the raging battle. Then Silvain dismounted and began to fight. As I fought, he was difficult to track. He’d vanish from sight, only to reappear in front of a royal.
I attacked any royal who was near enough to kill, yet kept an eye on Silvain. He worked strategically, seeming to know which of the enemy soldiers was a lieutenant. He went straight for the kill of the senior officers, which disoriented the soldiers who were following their commander.
Alban must have been breeding his monsters for centuries, because there seemed to be an infinite number of them. The fighting didn’t abate, yet I surmised it was going to take more than the fighters uniting with my army. Even with the reinforcements, our numbers were insufficient.
The battle was a discouraging sight, with guardians and fighters falling, along with the creatures fighting fearlessly for the king. I dreaded to think what the end might be, but refused to consider allowing the enemy to get past us.
Then an amazing sight made me pause, sword in hand, with my mouth gaping. One minute, Silvain was a fighter dressed in his black uniform. The next, he morphed into something else entirely. I watched it happen, marveling at the ability to change into animal form.
But Silvain didn’t turn into any common animal. He transformed into a scaled creature from the depths of depravity. He was twelve feet tall, with multiple arms and clawed feet. He had razor-sharp blades for wings, and the metal gleamed in the moonlight.
I remembered that Alban’s monsters feared demons, and that was surely what Silvain’s new form was. And he wasn’t just any demon. He’d become a dreaded creature, one that must have risen from the center of the earth.