by N. M. Howell
During his many long years among the people, Ragnarok has been careful not let them touch him. He has always worn gloves or bandages or anything to keep his skin separate from theirs. He knew that if he allowed them to touch him, Heaveneath would spread through the tunnels and kill them all, and or he would be discovered. But now, as he kneels beside the Queen, Ragnarok removes his gloves. He has spent the last twenty-eight years earning this people’s trust, for when the princess was sent above ground he hoped that when she returned someday he might marry her and so begin his plan. But that was based on the presumption that Corinnalwyn had lost her magic. He can never set his scheme in motion if the people cling to this Queen. So he offers his hand to the Queen. He cannot kill her outright, but this will do just fine.
“Do you offer me your hand, Analwyn?” she asks. “You have never allowed man nor woman to touch you directly.”
“But neither man nor woman has ever saved this people as you just did. I consider this the ultimate honor, Winter Queen.”
And Corinnalwyn slips her hand into the hand of Ragnarok.
The tide turns.
Yunger’s army has found its second wind and although they are severely outnumbered, the new gravity of their spirits propels them. When they retreated to Moerdra Castle, Laoren’s army began to converge at a central point from which they planned to launch an assault against the land of Dao. The Famished regrouped to their home in the uncharted realms and are now being exterminated by the fire of dragons and the fists of Blackhearts; it is likely that before the night is gone the Famished will cease to exist. The other factions of dragons and Blackhearts have focused their efforts on the Helkar, Norrolai, Meethrul, Vampires, and the few Loqckna who manage to escape Night’s Deep. All Laoren’s most powerful and magical warriors fall to flame and stone.
There are still millions of her soldiers left, three times the number of Yunger’s men and women. The dragons and Blackhearts are a great help, but they cannot be in all places at once and as they fly and stomp further and further out it becomes more obvious that they will not be able to assist the army in the land of Dao. Yunger’s army will need to find the strength to fend for itself. All the soldiers of the army of light are headed to the land of Dao, for there they will make the final stand for all that is good and beautiful, for the very soul of the earth. Laoren’s forces are nearly upon them. It has been a most cruel and savage fight so far. In the mere months that the war has raged, more lives have been lost and more land destroyed than in the entire century of the War of Four Heavens. The last great battle of the war dawns. The earth hangs in the balance, destined for salvation or destruction.
The tide turns.
I can see the witch ahead.
She clutches Thea in one hand like some discarded doll and flies at a frightening speed. But even she cannot outfly dragons. She does not turn around to face us, but I know she senses our presence. I speak into Thea’s mind.
“Do not be afraid. I am here for you.”
Thea smiles.
“Do not placate the girl, false Queen. Now is the time to fear.”
I do not let Laoren’s voice in my head startle me. I lean lower on Roasha as she nears her. Just as we soar to her side, Laoren drops Thea and then flies straight up. Kalsha and Eduard dive for Thea, while Roasha and I hunt for Laoren. She has disappeared into the clouds. We fly up after her. We crash into something and the collision dazes Roasha and throws me from her back. Laoren has solidified the bottom of the cloud. Roasha and I are falling, twisting and turning in the air, and then Laoren bursts through the crystal cloud and flies straight for us. For the first time, I see her face to face: furious, powerful, and full of hate. I find it hard to believe someone so beautiful could be so heartless. But as she nears me I fill the sky with spikes of ice and she flies right into them, impaling herself in several places. She screams and is knocked into a spiraling fall. Suddenly she is consumed by blue fire, for Roasha has regained control of her flight. I slow my fall and land on her back. When she closes her mouth, I see Laoren floating, burned beyond recognition, her hair and skin gone. She seems to be choking. But I know it cannot be that easy.
“I pray you can do better than that,” she says.
And before our eyes, she regains her beauty, skin, hair, and even her clothes. In moments she is perfectly healthy and diving for Thea. Roasha and I dive behind her.
Eduard has retrieved Thea and he and Kalsha have a head start. They are so far ahead we can barely see them and Kalsha is soaring as fast as he can. But in the blink of an eye Laoren disappears and reappears far ahead, alongside Kalsha. I see her and Eduard casting spells at one another. It causes Kalsha to slow. Roasha cuts the sky. When we catch up, Laoren has knocked Eduard from the dragon’s back and Kalsha is diving for him. The witch has Thea. As we come alongside them, I throw out my hand and a black spot appears on Laoren’s back; it spreads and begins to eat her flesh. As she opens her mouth, it travels inside. Her grasp on Thea slips and I catch the girl with my magic. I bring her to Roasha’s back in front of me. I reach out and summon the lightning. A hundred bolts fall through the sky and strike Laoren out of the air. She falls to earth below as Eduard and Kalsha rise again.
“She won’t long,” Eduard says. “Where was she heading?”
“Targaross,” Thea says. “To the Stones.”
“Then we must turn back. She cannot be allowed to have you and the stones in the same place.”
“No,” I say. “We must take the Stones. If she does not use Thea now, it will be someone else years hence. We must end this. Can you make a journey across the Sightless Sea?” I ask Roasha.
“It would be my pleasure, princess, but there is no need. There is a pool in our home through which we can cover great distances. It was used in ancient times to save our race by transporting them to Paradise. One of its sister entrances lies in the Rock Realms.”
“Let us make haste,” says Kalsha.
I can see High Bay ahead and as we soar out over it a massive wall of sand rises in front of us. I sense Laoren behind us. Eduard and I call the winds forth and blow a great hole in the middle of the wall. As Laoren comes up behind I fold the sand wall around her and Roasha turns to unleash her fire. The sand turns to glass and I drop the witch into the sea. Roasha and her husband begin to fly up. We reach the clouds and the dragons level out and make for the Lost Paradise. Suddenly the clouds become hot and we rise above them just in time, for they burst into flames. Laoren rises behind us and casts a flurry of black stars, each large enough to fill a washroom. They are great black entities racing past us with the scent of death. Roasha and Kalsha turn and roll and dive to avoid the spells, while Eduard and I cast behind us. The Lost Paradise dawns on the horizon. We are almost there.
Laoren throws both her hands forward and grins. Roasha and Kalsha begin to slow. I sense their hearts beating irregularly, straining. Laoren is killing them.
“Eduard!” I shout, “She’s after their hearts!”
He and I both place a hand on the dragon we ride and focus on countering Laoren’s magic. It works and we pick up speed again, but she is strong and we must stay focused on the great creatures. We are almost at the Lost Paradise; I can see the great, lush city revolving, water drifting out of it in a soft miss.
Laoren increases her dark hold and I increase my counter magic. She is strong, even stronger than I imagined. But she will not stop us. I say the spell in my mind and then turn my head and scream. Laoren has nearly caught us, but as I scream the sound is so powerful that I can see its waves in the air. It knocks her back like a wall of impassable energy. She comes back immediately and tries her best to break through. She is so close now. I see blood coming from her ear, but I run out of breath and she lunges, catching both me and Thea, and pulling us off into the air.
As we fall, I push Thea away from Laoren as the witch and I trade blows and spells. Above us Roasha dives for Thea and catches her. Laoren has me by my throat and her charmed fists have already drawn blood. Bu
t my spells are no meager tricks and I soon repay her with a fierce pounding. She touches my chest and pushes so hard that her fingers break the skin and threaten to penetrate the flesh. I transform my body into ice and smash my head into hers. She is knocked away from me. She returns to try to trade blows with me, but she cannot hurt me in this form and I can do all manner of damage to her. We fall through the clouds, ignoring the burn of the fire. I rain blow after blow upon her, then grab her throat and grip as tightly as possible. The winter magic creeps along her skin freezing her, taking her breath. I almost think I have her until she kicks me off. She dives again, catching me around my middle and flying down toward the sea, hard and fast. She squeezes me so tightly that my ice form begins to crack, forcing me to turn back to flesh and bone. I cannot break free of her and we plunge into the sea.
The force and speed at which we crashed into the water dazes us. For a time we sink and drift apart, barely conscious, barely breathing. I see her beginning to rouse herself and I try, but I am not ready yet. She grabs the back of my blouse and swims down with me. Down, down we go until the sea becomes pitch black and the pressure all around me builds. It is even harder now to regain my senses as the force of the water above me begins to crush my body. And it seems so long since I took a breath. Finally, I feel Laoren release me and I drift again, in darkness.
Moments pass, quiet, dark, then Roasha’s feet gently pull me up. Some moments later we break the surface and soar for the clouds. I cough the sea from my lungs and take deep breaths as I ride in the dragon’s grip. When I’ve recovered I pull myself onto her great back. Laoren is not so very far ahead, no doubt still recovering herself. Eduard has Thea again and we are all arriving at the Lost Paradise. We soar into the thickest of the vines and it becomes difficult to see.
Eduard, Laoren, and I are casting furiously at each other. Roasha and Kalsha are twisting and rolling and blowing fire at Laoren. They seem perfectly at ease here in their home and I sense Laoren’s growing frustration.
“The pool lies on the highest stone, princess,” Roasha says.
Ahead I see Kalsha turning up and so, too, does Roasha.
“Hold on to her, Eduard,” I scream. “We are almost there.”
Laoren is becoming lost in the vines and we are quickly losing her. At last we break free to the top of the city, where great stones one hundred feet tall float freely. The dragons soar and I look to Eduard and Thea. They smile. Then we hear the sound of a great withering beneath us. I look back and the vines are turning grey, then white, and all at once they die away into the breeze, pale ash blown high and far over the earth. Roasha and Kalsha cannot help themselves and as they look back at the obliteration of their lush home. They give most rending cries of anguish. A draft blows the white ash up like a rushing wave and as it reaches us our world becomes a haze of white movement. We are all blinded.
“Roasha, we cannot stay here,” I urge. “Laoren will be upon us soon.”
But the dragon cannot restrain her pain. Neither can her husband.
“Please, we must move.”
Briefly there is the sound of speed and rushing wind, then a black star the size of a cottage rushes up from beneath and collides with us all. We are thrown from the dragons’ backs. The magic is strong and terrible; it burns through me like fire and daggers and poison. I sense the same effects in Eduard and Thea. I have shut my eyes in agony, but as I open them I see Roasha and her husband falling from the sky, dead.
This is the worst pain I have ever known and as the black magic courses through me, Delara’s scar begins to burn. But we cannot stop now. There is a path that we set out on that we must finish. I close my eyes again and feel. I sense Eduard and Thea, sense them so strongly that it is like seeing them. I fly to them and grab them, then soar upwards. I keep my eyes closed, sensing the world. I can feel the giant stones getting closer. I move around and through them, higher, and higher, heading for the pool. I know without looking that Laoren is behind me. With her magic she moves two great stones ahead of me and with a great crash they collide, blocking our path and sending pieces of stone shooting in all directions. I cast a spell over us and the stones pass through us as if we were phantoms. Then we pass through the stones like water. I fly faster, still sensing. We are almost there. Now she brings together a host of the great stones and their colliding and exploding fills the sky with rock and stone and earth. I do not evade it this time, instead making us harder than stone. Like a shot from a cannon we burst through the wreck of stones and emerge to the highest point. And there ahead is the pool. It is incredibly large, more like lake than a pool, but inexpressibly stunning.
A black dart pierces my chest from behind and this pain joins the agony of the black star. I finally open my eyes. I do not let go of Eduard and Thea, but it takes all of my strength to stay in the air. The black dart begins to twist.
“Eduard, you must take Thea. I cannot hold you.”
In his torture he manages to gather the girl in his arms. I let them go and he flies under me. I push the dart out and the winter magic heals me instantly, taking even the pain of the black star. The tablet has truly made me more. Laoren makes to fly past me, but I grab her leg. Her kick lands on my cheek, but it will take much more to slow me. I know now that there will be no stopping her. She has seen the pool and if I let her go she will simply follow us through. I pull her to me and hold tight. As we come to the final stone I cast a spell at Eduard and Thea; they fall into the lush grass. When they wake from this forced sleep, they will be sore and angry, but safe. I whisper a poison spell in Laoren’s ear, while clutching her so tightly she cannot move her arms. I fly us into the heart of the lake.
Chapter 27
At Moerdra Castle the battle has begun. There are no words to encompass the ferocity, the rage and determination of this fight. With the exception of those species that have become extinct during this war, there are men and beasts from nearly every race of breathing thing that lives upon the earth. Men, women, Fox Lords, Giants, the Helkar, Norrolai, Stags, Vampires, Meethrul, and more. Every manner of warfare is in use, from the most advanced cannons to crude clubs formed of found wood. Magic and steel choke the air. There are screams of the dying and shouts of conquerors. The earth runs red with the mingling blood of good and evil. It is a horrid waste of life and vitality, but this must be done. The earth must be fought for. Evil must be combatted in the places and the people in which it rises. Yunger and his army have arrived to attack from behind. The fight rages stronger than ever and death sits on the land like a sheer and utter nightmare.
In Targaross, too, a final battle rages. The armies have met in the harsh, hot lands of the Rock Realms. Stone and rock and marble are painted red this day, and the dead increase by the hour. Steel and talon and teeth and magic cut the air for death and destruction. Bare hands, too, are weapons and no man’s finger have every wrought such terrible fates. Children whose parents have perished already skirt about the edge of the battlefield, scavenging the bodies for food or supplies. Anything they might use to survive. Bodies fall as eyes are darkened forever and hands drop limp, never to raise a toast or shake a hand again. Somehow, everything that has breath knows: this war will end tonight.
In the Winterlands, Ragnarok still kneels beside the Queen, holding her hand and ensuring she absorbs as much of his poison as he can give her. She smiles at him. The Braelynn gather around him and offer him their best wishes, believing he is honoring their Queen. They have never heard of Heaveneath; they know nothing of its destructive poison or the slow, torturous death which their Queen will die from. They trust in Ragnarok, in the hideous lie he has circulated. They stand by with smiles and pride as he holds the hand of their Queen.
Thea and Eduard still sleep in the Lost Paradise, safe and warm in what remains of that beautiful revolving city. They lie dreaming and oblivious to the battle Nevena wages for them and the world. Perhaps they will forgive her and perhaps not, but the one remaining certainty is that she spared them a most terrible fi
ght.
When I wake I find myself in the middle of a battlefield. The Rock Realms are crawling with soldiers. This is a harsh land, barren but for the stone and rock the ground here is composed of. It is hotter here than in any other land and there is naught to be seen in any direction except for the various grays of the solid ground. I push to my legs slowly; the journey through the pool was a hard one and it has left me nauseous. I gaze around, but I cannot see Laoren. However, her forces notice me and begin to close in.
I conjuring a chain and whip it at the Helkar charging for me. It goes through his heart and then another and another and another. On and on it goes until it has pierced more hearts than I can count. With a mighty pull it slides out again and they drop dead. I whisper to the winds and Laoren’s soldiers begin to turn on each other; the madness spreads far and suddenly they have stopped fighting us and are killing each other. I take to the air and close my eyes; I feel for Laoren. I sense her some distance away, soaring furiously for some destination west of here. It must be the Stones. I transform into lightning and travel with terrible speed.
As I cut through the sky, I leave a trail of booming thunder behind me. Before I know it I have entered the desert from my vision, where the rotted carcasses of ships languish in the hot sands. I am gaining on Laoren at a great rate and she will not be able to elude my much longer. I leave a trail of hot glass as I race across the Wooden Desert. Once I’m over the Targarossian forest, the trees shake as I flash before them. I push my magic and body to their limit. I must catch her. Faster and faster I move until I sense my nearing Laoren. Then I see her: a white speck descending to a castle ahead. She enters. I gather all my strength and just before impact I burn as hot as possible. I crash through the castle wall and several halls in my fury. I have blown half the castle away, blasted stones are still falling from the air and fires are spreading in the ruin. I sense Laoren somewhere beneath. And I can sense the Stones, too. I crash downwards through two floors, landing at one end of a large hall. The castle has taken too much damage and the walls buckle. The whole castle comes down. Laoren already has the Stones. What happens next happens in the space of a second.