As they neared the top, Beck reached down and hauled her to safety as if she weighed no more than an infant. Breathing heavy, she flung herself onto her back on the barricade.
Beck knelt down next to her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, trying to catch her breath.
The shifters, incited by the Mage’s dire threats and Kiernan’s fall, exploded into action now that she was safe.
The bodyshifters emerged from the Grayan Forest running at top speed, arms and legs shortening, muscles bulging outward, mouths elongating into snouts, and teeth lengthening into deadly fangs as the majority of them shifted into wolf form. The ground roiled dangerously, creating tremors and fissures from the fury of the earthshifters. The night sky lit up as the fireshifters released their deadly arrows at the Mage and then sprinted for the crude stairs on the back of the bulwark, rushing to the aid of their friends.
Kiernan staggered to her feet and Beck held on to her arm for support.
All the while, a maniacal laugh emanated from the figure that hovered over the middle of the lake. Ravener’s voice boomed over the shouts and snarls of the angry shifters. “I did not want it to come to this, but you have proven that you are of no value to me. Assuming that the four Savitars you hide from me are shifters, I can take no chances. The Magical Kingdom of Pyraan must be destroyed!”
Ravener glared at Beck still standing on the rampart. “Go!”
Adrian then soared straight up into the air, arms waving as he set in motion a dark conjuring. As he worked, the air and earth responded in tandem making it difficult to stay upright. The clefts opened by the earthshifters widened and people screamed as they teetered on the edges and then tumbled into the deep voids. A ferocious cyclone of blowing wind touched down in the square and sucked people, trees, and property into its deadly funnel, spinning them violently and then spitting out the broken pieces.
Kiernan cried out, but stood unmoving, uncertain what she could do to stop what was happening.
Suddenly, over all of the screams and wind, came a terrifying sound of destruction that hammered unstoppable toward the city of Parsis.
Kiernan blinked in horrific realization.
Death had finally arrived and there was no way out.
A tidal wave of water close to a hundred spans high appeared on the northern horizon rushing over the land and destroying everything in its path. The sound was deafening.
“My parents!” Beck screamed, launching himself off the rampart in an impulsive attempt to get down to the ground to save them. As he jumped, Kiernan watched him hit an unseen obstacle and the collision threw him back down onto the rampart.
She reached out her hand. There was an invisible barrier in front of them!
All she could do was watch helplessly from behind the shield as the water poured in over the city of Parsis and all of its inhabitants. The shifters tried to flee, but there was nowhere to go. By constructing a semi-circle shield in front of Beck on top of the bulwark and another for his Cyman Army, Ravener transformed Parsis into a virtual water bowl from which there was no escape for the shifters of Pyraan.
The basin was filling quickly and people tried to keep afloat as the water crashed over their heads. Arms and legs flailed frantically, but a swirling eddy dragged them down and prevented them from getting enough of the air they so desperately needed.
People were dying.
“Help me break this thing!” Beck shouted, slamming his fists against the shield with all of his super strength. His skin broke under the repeated contact and he left blood stains streaked across the barrier. Rogan shifted and struck at the shield with a club of fire, and Kiernan battered it with her sword. They worked together obsessively, and all three were covered in sweat, blood, and tears as they tried to save the shifters.
The water was up over the top of the bulwark now and rising, the city totally submerged.
Then the bodies came.
Kiernan covered her mouth with her hand as they floated by the shield with eyes and mouths open in silent screams. As she reached out her hand in hopelessness, Jorge Owen’s body bumped up against the shield and she flinched in revulsion.
Beck rushed down the back stairs of the rampart and uprooted a tree. In anguish, he ran back up to the shield and swung the trunk with all of his might, struggling to find a way to create a rupture in the barrier.
Abruptly, the tree dropped from his hands and he stood still. Kiernan gasped as Constance and Jaimes Atlan appeared before them. Both were still alive and holding hands.
Beck pressed his face to the shield and wailed to the heavens. “Oh, Highworld! How can you do this?”
The elder Atlans reached out to him and Beck tenderly touched their hands through the shield, tears leaving dirty runnels down his face. His mother had just enough time to mouth that she loved him before the eddy caused her to spin away, arms outstretched to her son as she sank down into her watery grave alongside his father.
Beck threw his head back and howled, the barricade listing dangerously before he released his magic and sank to the ground. His sobs were heartbreaking to hear and Kiernan sobbed with him, cradling him in her arms.
Thankfully, Beck never looked up to see the rest of the grisly scene parading before her eyes. Some of the bodyshifters had tried to shift into a fish form that would have saved their lives, but were stopped grotesquely half way through the transmute. Ravener’s conjuring must have stripped their abilities.
She saw the body of wolves. She saw pretty Katrin Allendale who looked as if she was asleep as she passed by with her pale, ghostly face frozen in death. Mistress Halloran, Jakob Martyn, Joshe and Jeni Falewir, professors from the Parsis Academy, friends, all drifted slowly past her. When the children and babies came into view, the despair became too much to bear, and Kiernan leaned over to the side and retched. Dropping to her hands and knees, she trembled as her stomach muscles contracted painfully. The sickness refused to stop.
After what felt like an eternity, she felt Rogan touch her arm, and she brushed her hair away from her sweating brow and got to her feet.
She looked out over the top of the swirling bowl of death and saw Ravener and his Cyman Army heading east toward Haventhal. As they moved on, the Arounda Ocean filled in behind them. For as far as Kiernan could see, it was nothing but blue water outside of their shield. Pyraan was completely flooded and every living thing who called this land home was gone. Everything and everyone was gone.
They were all that was left of the Magical Kingdom of Pyraan.
Chapter 12
NO MUD
Beck was numb as he rode silently behind Kiernan and Rogan. For hours, he debated whether his grief was going to render him insane or just kill him on the spot. It happened so suddenly that it was hard to wrap his mind around the reality. In a vicious act of violence, he lost everything in his world. All gone. His family, his friends, his childhood home. And now, the prospect of venturing into the unknown and vast land of Massa after a lifelong confinement in exile exacerbated his feeling of aloneness and smallness.
He noticed Kiernan look back at him worriedly as was her habit on the painful ride south. Her green eyes, filled with such compassion, soothed his broken heart. His watery eyes burned with gratitude and a ghost of a smile lifted the corners of his lips as he gazed at her and realized that he really was not alone. He still had Kiernan, Airron, Rogan, and Bajan.
“There he is,” said Rogan, pointing ahead up the road to where Airron stood on a boulder waving his arms to get their attention.
As soon as they approached, Airron smiled and jumped down in front of them. “I did not expect to see you here. What happened? Is it safe to go back?”
Beck shook his head, suddenly finding it difficult to swallow. “No, Airron, we are not going back.”
Airron tilted his head, waiting for him to say more and when he did not, turned to Rogan. “Tell me what is going on.”
Rogan cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I am sorry, Airron, but the
land of Pyraan is no more. Adrian Ravener razed the land and killed everybody.”
Airron’s perpetual grin slowly vanished as the realization began to register in his mind. It would take time for him to process the news. Beck lived through the destruction and it was still hard for him to believe that it was real.
“What?” he asked softly. “But, we had thousands of shifters there.”
“We are all that is left, Airron,” said Beck.
Bajan walked over and nudged Airron consolingly, but the Elf did not seem to notice the big cat leaning against him. “My parents?” he asked, looking at Beck. “Your parents? They are all dead?”
“Yes.”
“I should have been there!” he yelled, backing away from them. “Why did I let your father talk me into leaving?” he asked Beck, tears forming in his eyes.
Before Beck could reply, Airron’s body shimmered and contorted downward, and he disappeared in a covering of feathers and wings and shot into the air.
“’E will be back,” said a deep voice.
Beck whipped his head around to the Cyman prisoner, Titus, who stood in the middle of the road with no bindings and his arms crossed at his chest.
Beck crouched instinctively, but Titus held his hands up and said, “Do not worry. I am not goin’ to ‘arm you.”
“It is not my safety that I am worried about,” Beck said with a murderous look in his eyes.
“I told the Elf I would not try to escape and ‘e took off the rope. I ‘ate Adrian Ravener as much as you and want to see ‘im destroyed. If there is a way we can do it without ‘armin’ the Cyman people, I would like to try.”
“Why do you hate your leader so much?” asked Beck, suspicious of the Cyman’s motives.
“I will tell you, shifter, but let us first settle at camp and wait for the Elf. Then, I will tell you why there is nothin’ I desire more in this world than to be the one to drive a sword through Adrian Ravener’s black ‘eart.”
Beck was stirring a pot of rabbit, leeks, and water over a fire when Airron reappeared. It was painful to see such grief etched on a face usually crinkled in laughter. Beck was just grateful that his friend did not witness the horror of his parents’ final moments. The image of his mother reaching out to him would be the source of his nightmares for many years to come.
“Do you want something to eat?” Kiernan asked Airron gently as he sat down on the log beside her.
He shook his head. “No. I am not hungry.”
Kiernan reached over and squeezed his hand. “I hope you realize that we are here for you, Airron. We are your family and always will be. You do know that don’t you?”
Airron nodded his head and looked at her. “You also know what it feels like to lose a parent.”
“Yes. I was only five when my mother died, but I remember her well and the pain of losing her.”
Beck dished out a plate of the rabbit stew and handed it to Titus. The big Cyman shifted on the log and then took the food hesitantly. Beck did not know if it was his extreme grief or that he just did not care anymore, but he decided not to bind Titus. There was something genuine about the young Cyman, and Beck believed him when he said he would not try to escape.
“There is no mud ‘ere,” Titus suddenly blurted out.
Beck reached behind him for a few twigs and threw them in the fire to keep the blaze hot. “Mud?”
“That is all we ‘ave in Nordik. Mud.”
Beck looked up in surprise. “Well…. we do get mud after a rainy spell, but the sun dries it out quickly,” said Beck, not sure if he was understanding Titus correctly.
“We ‘ave no sun.”
“Of course, you do,” Beck scoffed.
“We ‘ave no sun. The Mage’s dark arts ‘ave blocked the sun for many years. There is only cold and rain…. and mud.”
Beck shuddered and murmured, “I cannot imagine what that would be like.” The sun was intrinsic to life and especially to the elemental magic to which he was bonded. He handed Rogan a dish of the stew in the discomforted silence.
“I feel for your loss,” Titus finally said to Airron. “I sometimes wished death for my own Ma rather than she keep livin’ a life of pain and sufferin’ as one of Ravener’s slaves.”
“Why do the Cyman people allow this?” asked Rogan. “Is there no way to defeat the Mage?”
“You were there, fireshifter! You saw what ‘appened with your own eyes. The Mage destroyed thousands of your magic people with little effort. There’s no fightin’ that.” He put down his plate and stood up. “That is why I tried to tell you to surrender to ‘im. It did not ‘ave to end this way,” he said sadly, shaking his head. “Your parents did not ‘ave to die.”
That riled Rogan. “The shifters did their duty, Titus. If we had bowed down to the Mage, we would have died anyway. It just would have been a much slower, painful death, like the one the Cymans are living.”
Titus stared at Rogan with his one eye. “I ‘ear you, Dwarf. ‘Tis just that the shifters were the only chance your island ‘ad. The only chance my people ‘ad. It will take powerful magic to destroy Adrian Ravener. Can you do it?”
Rogan shrugged. “I do not know, but I can promise you that we are going to try. We travel to the land of Iserlohn next. We are hoping that the King of Men can aid us in uniting the lands against Ravener. Unification is our only hope.”
“Unification is your only ‘ope against the Cyman Army. You,” said Titus, pointing to each of them, “are the only ‘ope against the Mage.” Titus sat back down and speared his hand through his hair, clearly agitated. “Would you like to ‘ear what you are fightin’ to avoid? What ‘tis like to be one of Ravener’s slaves?”
They all nodded.
“Even though the Cymans are good people, they will fight to the death for Ravener. They ‘ave come to believe that fightin’ for the Mage is what is goin’ to save their loved ones. For years, Ravener has brainwashed and dominated the Cyman male. One of ‘is cruel games is to parade the women slaves naked and chained together by their necks in front of the men as they train. If a soldier so much as looks up at the women or slacks for one second in the trainin’, Ravener ‘as that soldier’s Ma, sister, or daughter whipped raw. ‘E leaves the woman with ‘er wrists lashed to a pole for the entire night in the cold temperatures. All of the soldiers ‘ave to listen to ‘er cries for ‘ours.”
He took a deep breath. “The males are whipped and starved and tortured on a daily basis. We do not get much time with our families. Only enough so that we do not get too ‘ardened and forget why we fight. The Mage also did somethin’ even more tortuous on the voyage ‘ere. ‘E gave us false ‘ope. ‘E vowed that as soon as we defeat the people of Massa, ‘e will give us our freedom. It is a lie, but the Cymans ‘ang on to that shred of ‘ope with everything they ‘ave.”
He paused. “And, all of what I just told you about the men, it is ten times worse for the women.”
Kiernan sucked in her breath.
“Why is it that you know the truth and can see through Ravener’s lies?” asked Airron.
Beck answered before Titus. “Because his father is the Captain of the Cyman Army.”
Titus looked at Beck. “Yes, ‘e is and ‘e is not fooled. ‘E has seen great evil in the Ravener Keep. If there is a way to leverage this war with Massa to the Cyman’s benefit and spare ‘uman life in the process, ‘e will find it. ‘E is a good man.”
“Are there other Mages where you come from?” asked Kiernan.
“No. I ‘ave ‘eard there were more at the beginnin’, but now there is just Adrian and ‘is sister, Avalon Ravener.”
“What do you know of this Avalon?” asked Kiernan. “Is she as evil as her brother?”
Titus’ eye glazed over. “In my opinion, the witch is worse. Ravener listens to ‘er and she whispers evil in ‘is ear. She is sick and likes to play ‘er own kind of games with the Cyman male.” Red spots colored his cheeks, but he went on, explaining how the Cyman people came to be through Rav
ener’s experiments with humans and Desert Trolls.
Beck’s face hardened into rock. “I have sympathy for the plight of your people, Titus, but I will fight them to the death as long as they stand with Ravener. I cannot let what happened in Nordik be repeated here in Massa.”
Titus nodded. “And, the Cyman people will fight Massans to the death until they get their freedom.”
Beck held out his hand to Titus. “Friends until enemies?
Titus took it. “Friends until enemies,” he confirmed.
Beck waved his hand and dirt rose up off the ground to cover the fire. “We should get some sleep. We have two days of travel before we get to the border of Iserlohn.”
Abruptly, Bajan rose up off the ground beside Kiernan and started to growl.
“Someone comes,” she said, standing.
They heard the soft scuffing of boots on the road. Beck quickly stood up and peered between the trees surrounding the clearing of their campsite. He was astonished by what he saw.
“Rory?”
The young fireshifter started and then turned his head toward Beck. “Yes, it is me.”
Beck ran out to greet him, the rest of the group following close behind. “Rory!” He grabbed the smaller boy in a bear hug that lifted him off his feet. “How did you escape the flooding?”
“I…. I happened to get out just in time,” he said.
“This boy has the blessings of the Highworld, that is for sure,” declared Airron. “Twice now thought dead and then resurrected from the ashes!”
Kiernan gave him a hug and Rogan mussed his hair. When Titus came into view, Rory turned to face him with a peculiar look on his face. “Don’t worry,” said Beck. “He will not hurt you.”
“Rory, do you think…. is it possible anybody else survived?” asked Airron, hope in his voice.
Rory shook his head. “No. There is nobody else. Pyraan is gone.”
Island Shifters: Book 01 - An Oath of the Blood Page 13