Slade shifted back into a human, decreasing his size instantly, and rolled out of the way—a trick we’d learned from Doran. He yanked his axe off his back and charged forward with a shout, his eyes wild. Isen knocked Slade back with his tail, but then Jasin tackled him, tearing into his side with his claws. I trapped Isen’s front and back legs with earth magic, forming stone around them so that he was unable to move. He struggled against me and I added ice, making it creep up his body, but he was so strong I knew I couldn’t hold him for long.
“Now, Slade!” I yelled.
Slade’s axe flashed with a glow the color of fresh leaves before he swung it at Isen’s chest. The Golden Dragon let out a piercing shriek as the blade cut through his scales, fueled by Slade’s own magic. Isen thrashed and fought with everything he had, blasting us with lightning and wind that sent us flying back, but we didn’t stop.
Where the axe touched Isen, stone began to form. Dark gray slate quickly spread across his body, covering the golden scales, while his ear-piercing howls continued. When the stone covered his face, the Golden Dragon finally went silent.
Slade yanked his axe from Isen’s chest. As soon as it was removed the dragon’s body broke apart, crumbling into hundreds of pieces of rubble at our feet.
A soul-rending scream filled our ears from outside the Spirit Temple, so loud and horrifying it could only be from the Black Dragon herself. She’d sensed her mate had died, and although I empathized with how much pain and suffering she must be going through, I didn’t feel bad for what we’d done.
As if responding to her screams, the temple walls on every side of us suddenly burst apart in a spray of stone and dust. It covered us, blinded us, and filled our lungs. When I could see again, I realized she’d torn open the temple’s walls, leaving only the roof and the columns holding it up. What had once been a beautiful building was now little more than ruins, which looked as though they might collapse at any moment. Gods, the Black Dragon was powerful. Too powerful, even now with one of her mates gone.
Now that the temple was open to the world on every side, I could see the other Dragons fighting under the hazy sky. Sark and Reven shot fire and ice at each other, both moving so quickly they were little more than a blur. The Black Dragon tossed my father aside, causing him to hit the rocky mountain behind the temple, where he fell and crashed into the stream below. She then soared back into the thick of the battle, grabbing more of our soldiers in her talons to drain their lives. We had to stop her quickly.
A huge green dragon slammed against the floor of the temple in front of me, his wings spread so wide it blocked out everything else. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done,” Heldor growled.
He snapped at me with his fangs, but then Auric was there, yanking me out of the way with his air magic. He blocked me with his golden body and faced Heldor down, while Jasin and Slade moved in from either side. Four huge dragons ready to fight, and me standing in the middle of them.
“Go,” Auric told me. “Help Reven. We’ve got this one.”
I sheathed my sword and ran out of the temple, or what was left of it anyway. As the plains below me came into a view, I stared at the destruction before me, the revulsion from so much death nearly overpowering my senses. It was against everything my life magic stood for, and it took all my power not to run away. The Black Dragon fed on death and misery, eating the darkness and becoming stronger. It was time to take away more of her powers and end this nightmare forever.
35
Reven
I felt a tug through the bond, urging me to go to Kira, and I changed course immediately to swoop down toward her. She stood in front of the crumbling temple, covered in pale dust, making her red hair appear almost white. As I drew near, she leaped onto my back, her eyes blazing with determination.
“Let’s stop Sark, once and for all,” she said.
A grin spread across my face, making my fangs emerge. Sark had taken everything from us—and now he was going to pay. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”
I launched us into the air, the wind whipping at my wings. Sark rose before us, his blood red body shining under the sun. Hatred filled my chest, along with my need for vengeance, but I didn’t let it consume me. This wasn’t only about revenge or justice. This was about stopping him from hurting anyone else.
My body was already burnt in three places, and my ice had torn through the scales on Sark’s back. We’d already been fighting for what felt like hours, but neither of us could best the other. With Kira by my side, that might change.
The Crimson Dragon opened his mouth and scorching hot fire flew toward us. I let out a stream of water from my own mouth to combat it, while Kira threw bolts of lightning and blades of ice at Sark. He managed to dodge them all, moving unnaturally fast despite his size. In both forms he was an expert of combat, and he’d had many years to hone his skills. He was the one fighter I was willing to admit might be even better than me.
Across the field, the Black Dragon suddenly let out another of her terrible screams, which tore through my ears, struck me in the heart, and ripped through my bones. Balls of fire suddenly rained down from the sky, as if the sun itself was attacking us, and soldiers below us screamed in agony as they hit the fields and consumed them. Kira did her best to stop more flames from falling or the fires from spreading, while I blasted what I could with water, but it was too much for us to handle. The Black Dragon’s magic was too strong, fueled by her pain over her mates’ deaths and the lives she’d been stealing.
She fixed her beady black eyes on the temple and suddenly rushed toward it, flying so fast she was little more than a dark blur. A spike of panic shot through me. Auric, Jasin, and Slade were in there, and they were no match for her. Doran flew after Nysa only seconds later, but one of his wings appeared to be injured, slowing him down. They might be able to distract her for a short time, but that was all.
“Heldor must have fallen,” Kira said.
“We need to take out Sark now!” I called to her.
“Get me close to him!”
Sark was momentarily stunned by the death of Heldor, but he quickly recovered and let out a roar of his own. He blasted us with unending fire, but I wove through his attacks, while Kira deflected them away from us. But every time I tried to get close to him, he darted away.
I reached for Auric’s magic through the bond and summoned thick clouds around us, hiding us from Sark’s gaze. He tried to burn them up with streams of fire, searching for us in the haze, and I flew past him, then swept back around. I approached him from behind as quietly as possible and drew up alongside him.
Kira launched herself off my back, using her air magic to guide her onto Sark’s crimson body. As she landed, he spun around and let out a harsh shriek, while she held on tight so she wouldn’t fall. He swiped for her with his claws, but she drew her sword and stabbed it into his back, forcing him to release another pained roar. Ice began to form around the wound, but then his entire body erupted into flames and melted the ice.
The bastard wouldn’t die, and I worried he would hurt Kira if this continued. She was immune to his fire, but not his fangs or claws. She yanked at her sword, unable to budge it from his scales, as he tried to knock her off him and slashed at her.
I flew up high then dove down toward him, pressing my wings close to my side. When I was seconds away from slamming into him, I shifted into human form, my black cloak flying behind me as I drew my swords. Flames scorched me and I covered myself with a layer of ice, but it quickly melted away. I had no air magic to guide me, but I landed on his back beside Kira, and stabbed both my swords into his thick neck.
Sark let out an unholy scream and the flames shot higher, burning me despite my own magic’s protection, but I refused to let go.
“This is for my family,” I said, as I dug my father’s twin blades deeper into Sark’s neck. Ice spread from the dual blades and across his body, consuming the flames. As his body froze, he tried to knock us off him, his wings beating a
t the sky and his talons reaching for us, fighting until the very end.
The last bit of life left Sark as the tips of his wings froze, and we began to plummet to the ground. Another mournful, horrible scream came from the Spirit Temple as the world rushed up at us. We were too low for me to safely turn to a dragon—we’d hit the ground before I could raise my wings.
Kira grabbed me around the waist, and I felt her magic wrap around us. We jumped off Sark’s back just before he struck the earth with a heavy thud. His body cracked into a million pieces of ice at the impact, and they all exploded outward with dirt and grass from the garden where he’d crashed. Kira and I leaped wide, her air magic guiding our landing, taking us away from the danger and safely planting us on a patch of grass nearby.
I straightened up and brushed myself off, while eyeing Kira to make sure she was all right. My clothes and magic had melted into my skin from the knee down, and now that the fight was over the pain from my burned and blackened skin became agony. None of that mattered though, because Sark was gone. The millions of pieces of ice that had once been his body melted away under the dim sunlight and sank into the earth, and the weight of my families’ deaths lifted off me. They were avenged, along with Kira’s family and friends, and everyone else who had lost their loved ones to the Black Dragon’s enforcer.
“Three Dragons defeated,” Kira said, with something like awe or disbelief in her voice as she stared at the Spirit Temple’s remains.
“The Black Dragon must be weakened now,” I said.
She took my hand and clenched it tight. “Time to face her.”
36
Kira
The second I touched Reven I realized how badly he’d been hurt by Sark’s fires. He stumbled forward anyway, but his feet and legs were so burned it must have been excruciating. Still, he shifted into his dragon form, his scales blackened in many places, and lowered himself so I could climb onto his back.
“You’re hurt,” I said, as I got on.
“We’ll worry about that later,” he said through gritted teeth.
As he took off, I placed my hands on his scales, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do enough to heal him, but hoping it would ease the pain. He flew into the open space between the columns of the Spirit Temple, where dragons fought, and magic flew.
Doran, Auric, and Slade all surrounded Nysa, who bared her fangs and hissed at them, before lashing out with ice and a swipe of her claws. If she touched them, she’d be able to use her death magic against them and drain their lives. Jasin was crumpled against a pillar, unconscious, injured, and in his human form.
Every time one of my mates got a blow in with their air or earth magic, I felt a sense of hope—before watching Nysa’s scales heal themselves almost immediately. She wasn’t immune to fire, earth, or air anymore, but the Spirit Goddess inside her made her powerful anyway. And with Doran’s water magic too, she was nearly unstoppable.
“Protect Jasin!” I told Reven, as I hopped off his back. I knew he would never listen if I told him to stand back and rest, but he might do this for me. “She still has water magic, and Jasin is weak against it!”
Reven hesitated, clearly itching to fight, but then let out a snarl and stomped over to stand guard over Jasin’s unconscious body. As he did, Slade was thrown back against one of the huge columns, bolts of ice piercing his wings. He hit the ground with a heavy thud that shook the foundation of the temple, sending debris falling from the cracked and broken ceiling.
I rushed into the battle just as Auric was tackled by my mother, her talons tearing into his scaled back, making him cry out. Ice formed around his body, holding him in place, and she opened her mouth to drain his life. I drew my sword and rushed her with a yell, desperate to save my mate, but she slapped me with her tail and sent me flying, along with my sword.
As I hit the ground, Doran slammed into Nysa’s body, knocking her into a pillar. It snapped under her weight and part of the roof caved in on her. But I knew she’d be back up soon.
All of my dragons were injured. I felt their pain through the bond, and there was nothing I could do about it. The Black Dragon was too strong for us to defeat—but I had to try anyway.
Doran flowed into his human form and bent down to pick up my sword. His hazel eyes met mine as he gripped it tight. “There’s only one of her mates left now.”
I realized at that instant what he was about to do and panic gripped my throat. “Don’t do this! There has to be another way!”
“We both know there isn’t. I love you, Kira.”
“Father, no!” I yelled as he stabbed the sword into his chest. Fire spread across his body instantly, engulfing him completely. I rushed toward him and made it to my father’s side seconds after he hit the ground, but by then it was already too late.
Through the fire I cradled Doran’s head in my hands, tears leaking down my face, as the light left his eyes. I’d once hated and feared him, and then I’d doubted him, and then I’d grown to love him. He knew I would never be able to kill him, even after he seemingly betrayed us, and he’d given his own life so we would have a chance.
As the fire vanished, I buried my head in my father’s chest, letting myself sob, my hands covered in his blood. Nysa screamed behind me, her voice filled with pain as she reared up out of the debris. I could only imagine how bad it must hurt to feel every single one of your mates’ deaths. I wished with every breath that it hadn’t come to this—or that I didn’t have to defeat my own mother now.
Enva’s words came back to me and I wondered if it was true that Nysa, deep down, didn’t want to fight me and just wanted this all to end. She hadn’t attacked me so far, and she hadn’t killed my mates. Maybe it was true. Maybe I could find a way to break through to her and convince her to stop.
I pressed a kiss to my father’s burnt forehead and whispered, “I love you too.” Then I pulled my sword from his chest and turned to face my mother.
Nysa stomped out of the rubble and shook it off, her tail whipping about her and her wings raised. Shadows clung to her black scales and her eyes glowed like the shades outside. She looked like she was about to tear the entire world down.
I moved in front of her, my sword at my side, and yelled, “Mother!”
She gazed down at me like I was an insignificant bug in her path, one that she could stomp at any moment. “You,” she said, putting so much venom in the word it burned me.
“I don’t want to fight you, mother, and I don’t think you want to fight me either. Neither one of us has to die today.”
“You’re wrong,” she said, yet she didn’t move to attack me.
Hope surged inside me and I stepped forward. “Free the Spirit Goddess and we can work together to defeat her. With the Gods’ help, we can split her into Life and Death, and send Death back to the Realm of the Dead.”
She dipped her head low, her sharp fangs glistening as they drew near. “You killed my mates,” she hissed. “And now I shall do the same to yours.”
She brought one of her huge clawed feet down on me, pinning me to the ground with her talons. As she loomed over me, she opened her mouth wide and began to drain my life—along with my mates’ through our bond. Inky blackness squirmed up from my throat and into her, making me weak. With my life being sucked out of me I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fight—I was going to die at the hands of my own mother.
Suddenly a wave as tall as the temple crashed into her, knocking her off me. Reven stumbled toward her in his dragon form, assaulting her with non-stop water, giving me a chance to recover. I drew in a deep breath as I got to my feet and reached for my life magic, letting it restore me.
There was no reasoning with Nysa. Whatever goodness that had once been inside of her was gone, lost to the corruption that had taken hold of her. It was time to save her from what she’d become.
I summoned all of the elements at once, causing my body to rise up into the air while fire and water swirled around me and huge chunks of the temple’s marbl
e lifted to my side. Lightning danced in my hair. Lava gathered at my fingertips. Fog spread through the temple.
My mates moved behind me, facing Nysa down, each one battered and broken but still fighting. They gathered their magic and reached through the bond that linked us all to fortify it.
My connection with my mates gave me strength. The blessings of the Gods gave me power. Love and compassion gave me purpose. I collected all of that inside me, and then I released it at her, hitting her with every element. My mates joined in, blasting her from every side, making her arch her wings and scream. Fire and ice, earth and wind, lightning and lava, steam and storm—it all converged on her in one final push.
I reached out with my air magic and grabbed hold of my sword while Nysa’s body tried to heal the damage we inflicted on her. All four elements inside my blade leaped to my command and the sword flew through the air, hitting Nysa in the heart. It buried deep into her chest, and every element spread out from it, washing over her one by one.
She reared up and I prepared to strike again, worried it wouldn’t be enough—but then her body changed. She resumed her human form, so small and unassuming compared to the dragon she’d once been, and then collapsed.
My magic vanished and I hit the floor, then took off running toward her. The hilt of my sword protruded from her chest, but she still managed to cling to life, even as black blood seeped onto the cracked marble. I kneeled over her, and her eyes met mine.
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” Her voice was a gravely whisper laced with pain.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my throat closing with emotion. “I wish it didn’t have to end like this.”
Ride The Wave: Her Elemental Dragons Book Four Page 16