Knight of Flame

by Scott Eder

  Head bowed, arms hanging limp, Gray dropped to one knee.

  The swollen bellies of the corpses split. First one, then a second, then a hundred black flies with bright green wings crawled from the ghastly wombs and took wing. Three amorphous clouds of shadow seethed, buzzed and flew through the doorway into Gray’s office and out of sight.

  I’ve seen a fly like that before, at the hospital, just before…

  “Stop the flies!” She ran after the swarms. “They trigger the orbs. Burn them!”

  The Knight of Flame ran for the door, but Agridda swooped in and knocked him off his feet. Her momentum carried her beyond the doorway. Cassidy slipped through to see the last erratic stragglers fly up and out of the open roof hatch.

  “No!” she screamed.

  We failed. She couldn’t believe it and stared up at the moon through the roof. After all the shit we’ve—I’ve—been through, we failed? Anger bubbled inside her, blowing the lid off her cool containment.

  Magnus and Dev charged into Gray’s office ready to defend her from some new enemy.

  “This ends now.” The intensity of her emotion bled from her pours in beads of salty rage. She drew her cutlass and swung at the imagined image of Gray she conjured before her. Brows lowered, she eyed her friends, watched their demeanor change as her intent smashed into their psyches like a club.

  A murderous glint flickered in Magnus’s eyes. He bared his teeth.

  Dev’s flame changed from yellow-orange to a deep, intense purple.

  As Magnus turned, a heavy weight struck him from the waiting room and knocked him off his feet. He crashed to the floor and lay still. Cassidy would have been worried if she hadn’t caught the wink he directed at Dev.

  Twin yellow eyes floated through the door within a net of silky black shadow. Agridda’s hissing laugh filled the room when she saw the Knight of Earth down.

  Dev growled and launched himself at the Maven who hissed and shrank back as his indigo flame kissed her essence in defense of the downed giant.

  The Maven gave up ground, backing away to keep out of the reach of Dev’s dagger. He pressed forward, drove her around the room. With each contact of the Knight’s anointed blade, charred bits of shadow drifted to the floor.

  Thank goodness for Stillman’s oil. Cassidy’s hopes flared. We’ve got her.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Magnus rise and raise his axe over his shoulder.

  Cassidy wanted to help, wanted to slice off a hunk of Shadow, but to get that close would risk getting in Dev’s way. Again, she felt more of a hindrance than a help. Emotions ran high, but they weren’t right. She sensed the confidence and hope from her guys, but the only thing she got from the Maven was amusement and her ever present hatred. No fear. No concern.

  Why not?

  Magnus licked his lips and tightened his grip as Dev steered Agridda towards him, hacking to her left or right depending on which way she drifted. When she was in his sweet spot, he swung for the fence, put all his formidable weight behind the blow. It sliced her across the middle and parted her darkness like smoke. The force of his swing twisted him around so he didn’t see her bottom half wither and slide to the ground.

  “Pathetic.” Arms crossed, Gray stood in the office doorway. “Thank you, my daughter, for entertaining our guests while I recover. Pull yourself together.”

  “Yessss, Father.” Agridda floated into a pool of darkness in the corner and emerged whole.

  “And you, Sinclair. You are harder to kill than one of my brother’s little pets.” A cruel smile crept over Gray’s face. “I will see you dead tonight.”

  Cassidy’s hopes fell. All the progress they had made, gone. And now they had Gray to contend with as well.

  Dev redoubled his attack and threw himself into Agridda’s shadowed center. Her essence sizzled, but that was all. She didn’t scream or hiss like she did before.

  Dev noticed and broke off his attack, but the Maven countered, took the fight to him. Dark tendrils speared out at him at varying heights and frequencies. Large, black shadow spikes, like the ones that killed Wren, tried to pierce his defenses, but Dev sheared through anything that got close. For each piece he cut off, another flowed in to take its place.

  Magnus turned on Gray and brandished his axe.

  That other feeling stirred, the faint one Cassidy felt before the gunshots outside hit Dev, only this time it was much closer. She looked up through the roof, half expected to see a face looking down, but saw only the night sky splattered with stars.

  I’m useless. I brought emotion to a knife fight.

  Dev backed up, Cinder a crystal streak in front of him. As he passed Gray’s desk, he set it on fire. The ancient, dry wood blazed in seconds and banished the shadows within reach.

  Gray drew a slim knife from his pocket and flicked it at Magnus. Razor thin slivers of midnight showered the approaching Knight. Most bounced off his faceted surface, but a few found their mark and stuck into his diamond surface. Before long, he looked like an enormous porcupine, but the shadow quills seemed to have no effect, didn’t hamper his sweeping movements as he swung his axe at the Shadow Lord.

  Gray backed away and sent more shadow quills across the room.

  Magnus leaped forward and thrust the cap spike at his opponent’s exposed chest, but Gray easily dodged the big man’s attacks.

  Cassidy hunkered in the corner and waited for her chance to strike.

  Don’t mind me. Focus on the big man. That’s right. A little closer.

  Though huge by office standards, the penthouse was a miniscule battlefield. While Dev and the shadow bitch fought near the back corner, Magnus and Gray battled near the doorway. As Gray evaded, he worked his way deeper into the room and closer to her.

  Come on. She wiped her sweaty palms on tight leather pants and adjusted her grip on the cutlass.

  Magnus backed Gray into the corner, but Gray only smiled. His eyes continually reassessed his position in the room. Magnus knew one direction, straight ahead, and kept his eyes buried in Gray’s midsection.

  Gray glanced up.

  Something is very wrong here.

  Gray escaped from the corner and turned Magnus around under the open sky.

  Cassidy caught another quick glance up and twitch of Alexander’s lips. The other sense she’d been feeling was close, right on top of them, and hungry.

  “Magnus, look out!” Cassidy screamed.

  A large black reptilian head snaked through the roof, bit down on the Knight of Earth, and lifted him out. The last image she had of Magnus was his huge legs kicking like mad as they stuck out from between giant white teeth.

  “NO!” Dev screamed and slashed harder, but it made no difference.

  Gray watched the fiery movements of the Knight of Flame and conjured a black ropy tendril that hovered over his shoulder while he contemplated the Knight.

  No. Dammit. No.

  Cassidy screamed, charged and swung her cutlass. Gray frowned and sent the tendril at her instead. It caught her in the stomach and drove the wind from her body. She dropped to her knees and gasped for breath.

  The next tendril wrapped around her waist and pulled her in close.

  “Agridda, Gothrodul, I grow tired of this charade.” Gray marched Cassidy, lashed in shadow, to the center of the room, just below the opening in the ceiling. He willed another shadow rope into existence and snatched Dev out of mid-leap, who flared and thrashed against the pull, but had to douse his flame as Gray snugged him in with Cassidy.

  She expected more rage or at least anger from the Knight of Flame, but what she sensed was determination, concern, and that other feeling, the one she’d noticed before but refused to explore. She could see it in the way he looked at her.

  Her heart soared. After Amy, she thought herself dead. But the Knights brought her back to life. And Dev…he was at the center of it.

  “How nice.” Alexander bound them together, face to face, with a single inky tentacle. “As I said, Sinclair—”


  “Don’t say her name,” Dev growled.

  “Tonight is your last.”

  Gothrodul lowered his snout through the roof and sniffed Cassidy’s hair.

  She cringed from the dragon’s maw, burying her face into Dev’s shoulder.

  Dev struggled as much as he could without hurting Cassidy, but all it did was brush his strong body against hers. When he met her eyes, they were pure crimson.

  Agridda moved in close for the kill.

  “I shall give Sinclair to my dragon. Would you like to watch, Knight of Flame? No? I can see your feelings for her.”

  Dev looked at Gray then back at Cassidy. She wriggled one hand free and caressed his cheek, his skin hot and smooth. His body trembled with the force of keeping his flame in check. Her own feelings crystallized in this place, under these dire circumstances. She named it.

  Love.

  It filled the emptiness in her soul. She let it spread throughout her being, and delivered it to Dev through a look, her radiant smile, and her new power as the Knight of Water. She’d say the words, but the presence of Gray and his minions would stain the moment.

  His face opened in wonder, eyes as wide as his mouth. With the revelation, he lost control. His flame burst unbidden.

  Cassidy hoped for that, wanted to be lost to his passion instead of the dragon’s teeth. Heat washed over her, but his flame sizzled against the watery protection of her element.

  “How touching.” Gray’s lips curled in disgust. “Time to die.”

  Cassidy cupped Dev’s flaming cheeks and pressed her lips softly to his. She pushed all of herself into that contact, wanting him to understand how she felt.

  The Knight of Flame jerked. His skin thrummed under her touch. His eyes turned white. His flame burned a pure, brilliant white.

  The shadow bands holding them disintegrated. Dev pulled Cassidy in tight, out of the way of the dragon’s descending jaws, which snapped on empty air.

  Gray shielded his eyes while he threw everything he had at the glowing Knight, but no sooner had the shadow magic manifested than the Knight of Flame’s righteous light burned it away.

  Cassidy circled around to the other side of the desperate Shadow Lord, cutlass primed for a killing blow.

  We’ve got him.

  The dragon’s head slammed down again, but the Knights weren’t the target. It sunk saber-like teeth onto Gray’s left arm below the shoulder and yanked him into the air. He squirmed like a juicy worm on a hook, features locked in a rictus of shock and agony. Blood and saliva sprinkled the floor as the black snout pulled the struggling Shadow Lord out and, with a beat of its tremendous, bat-like wings, disappeared into the night.

  The snatch and grab happened too quickly for Dev or Cassidy to do anything about it. One minute they had Gray at their mercy. The next, he was dragon chow.

  A small pocket of Shadow cowered in the farthest corner of the room, just outside the boundary of Dev’s radiance. For the first time, Cassidy sensed fear from Agridda. Her insight into the shadow creature’s emotional baggage might have earned her a little pity, maybe even a shot at mercy, but this bitch killed Wren…and enjoyed it.

  So let the sunshine in.

  Cassidy nudged Dev, pointed to the last remnant of Shadow in the room. The Knight’s flame intensified, a star going supernova, and bathed the room in its glory.

  Nowhere to run, Agridda reared from the corner and slinked across the room. She squirmed under the harsh light of Dev’s retribution, looking for some bolt hole to escape as her body frayed and melted away.

  Cassidy sensed Agridda’s hope rise the closer she got to the doorway and the promise of cool shadows in the waiting room. Mere feet away from dark salvation, the Maven’s body had been reduced to little more than a dark patch around her sickly yellow eyes.

  Stillman, a resigned look on his face and a deep sadness in his eyes, stepped inside the office and slammed the door.

  All hope gone, the Maven screeched, a piercing howl that sputtered and died as the light destroyed her.

  Thunder rumbled and a light rain began to fall. The first few cool drops splashed onto Cassidy’s upturned face.

  I’m alive.

  With the immediate danger gone, Dev dropped his glow. Sirens sounded in the distance, getting closer.

  “We need to get out of here,” Dev said. The weight of his arm settled comfortably over Cassidy’s shoulders as he pulled her close.

  “We can’t go down.”

  “No.”

  “Any other options?”

  On the roof, heavy steps crunched from the edge of the building to the lip of the opening. As they progressed, the tread changed from heavy to medium to light, until the footfalls barely registered at all. Cassidy peered at the ceiling as if she could see through it to the walker above.

  Small rocks and debris rained down as fingers appeared over the edge. Dev stepped in front of Cassidy to face the unknown. Scraggly strings of long blond hair slid over the side before a familiar, yellow-bearded face entered the picture.

  Magnus.

  The Knight of Earth pulled himself over the edge and belly-flopped onto the hardwood like a dead carp. Scrapes and bruises marred his tan skin, but otherwise he appeared intact.

  Dev eased him over onto his back. “I thought you were dead.”

  “Me too,” Magnus rasped.

  “How did you get away from the dragon?”

  “When he couldn’t bite through me, he threw me over the edge, but not far enough. I slid off the roof and managed to grab a ledge one floor down.”

  “We need to be gone from this place,” Stillman said. “I had hoped Cyndralla would have been here.”

  I am here. The words sounded in Cassidy’s head. Startled, she looked for their source. Dev must have heard them too for his gaze raked the room.

  Cassidy felt exasperation above her and looked up into iridescent, purple-scaled nostrils perched over a giant snout full of sword-like teeth.

  Another dragon? This one is…good? Maybe? At least it doesn’t seem to want to eat me.

  The dragon sniffed the air, like a bloodhound on a scent. What is that smell, Cassidy Sinclair?

  “Wh-what smell?”

  You do not detect that scent. The dragon inhaled deeply, drawing strands of Cassidy’s hair toward its waiting maw. It… cannot be. So long.

  Cassidy felt the pang of sadness directly above her.

  The dragon shifted position and focused the point of her snout on the Water Knight.

  I forget myself. Do not fear me, Knight of Water. The thoughts echoed in Cassidy’s head. The tone was oddly familiar.

  Are they coming from the dragon?

  Yes. In this, my true aspect, I cannot form your human words. The dragon’s maw shifted away and a brilliant, purple eye peered down at them. It is I, Cyndralla, Knight of Air.

  Cyndralla is a…dragon?

  Dev smiled. “She comes in handy sometimes.”

  You will be safe on my back, Knight of Water.

  It all clicked into place—the odd comments, unusual, ignorant behavior, and strange physical anomalies.

  With the dots connected and the knowledge that this dragon wasn’t going to eat her, Cassidy admired the beauty and majesty of the Knight of Air.

  Thank you, Cassidy.

  Hey, that’s not fair. Cassidy thought at Cyndralla. You shouldn’t be in my head.

  Is it not? The big purple orb narrowed. You sense my heart. Why should I not be able to sense your thoughts?

  Cassidy hadn’t considered that point. She did see into the hearts of those around her, eavesdropping on those most intimate things kept closest to the vest—emotion.

  Do not worry. You will learn to control it in time. You are but a babe to the element. Give yourself the chance to learn. Cyndralla winked and reached a scale-covered arm down into the room. The few remaining fluorescent lights shimmered across her natural armor, challenging Cassidy to name the shade of purple.

  We must hurry. The huma
n authorities have entered the building.

  Dev helped Magnus rise and straddle Cyndralla’s arm. She raised him up and set him carefully between her wings. Stillman climbed up after, and steadied the injured Earth Knight.

  Once we are airborne, my magic will hide us from the sight of the humans.

  Dev followed next, and then Cassidy, who, as soon as she settled behind her Knight, wrapped her arms tight around his waist.

  “What of the elixir?” Stillman asked.

  It is done. Cyndralla informed them. We should have enough to negate the orbs in this region, but we’ll have to make more for the rest of the country.

  The orbs. In the excitement, Cassidy forgot about their failure.

  Dev spoke up so everyone could follow the conversation. “We failed, Cyndy. Gray triggered the orbs.”

  That is unfortunate. In what manner did this happen?

  “Flies. Swarms of flies,” Cassidy answered.

  Then we are safe for I found and destroyed them. In my journey to find your location, I sensed the evil on the wind. I tracked the source to two swarms and incinerated them before they touched the ground.

  “Wait. Did you say two?” Dev asked.

  Yes.

  “But there were three.” Cassidy said.

  Chapter 55

  LEFT ARM HANGING BY A THREAD of muscle and shattered bone, Alexander dangled from the teeth of Gothrodul. Wind whipped him about as the landscape rushed by under his feet. Soon after take-off he’d blacked out from the pain, but his rage woke him.

  “Land, you stupid beast, before my arm comes off,” Alexander commanded. “There, on top of that building.”

  The shadow dragon banked right, tucked its wings against is scaled side, and dropped like a boulder. At the last possible moment, mere feet above the tar and stone roof, he unfurled his wings and skidded to a rough landing. Alexander tumbled from his mouth and rolled across the rocky surface minus his left arm, which resided behind a wall of sharp teeth.

  Gothrodul spat it out. Whoops. His long forked tongue slid out and licked the fresh blood from his snout. Sorry for the abrupt landing. Misjudged the distance.