Rika’s lips, mashed against his shoulder, had curled forming a perfect circle. He leaned toward her and brushed her lips with his. “Rika, it’s time to wake up.”
Rika’s head snapped up, and she looked around seeming dazed until she found Ronan’s face. Her lips curved into a sleepy half smile. She stretched upward and returned Ronan’s kiss letting her lips linger for a few seconds. “Is it morning yet, or am I dreaming?”
“Neither I’m afraid,” Ronan said. “We’ve arrived at Trace’s war camp.” Seated atop Thoth’s massive crystalline saddle, he pointed three-hundred feet below.
Miniature people and strange crystal buildings gathered like toddler toys in a playground sandbox.
The thumping sound Ronan heard near the first tree had grown stronger and quicker as they’d drawn near the war camp. He knew he’d find Danielle imprisoned somewhere among the odd assortment of crystal huts.
Thoth’s wings held still, and he pitched left gliding downward in a slow lazy spiral. A puff of white smoke flared from his nostrils as his neck craned leftward.
Lying in a loose semi-circle around the camp’s perimeter, scores of dragons slept under a cloudless field of stars.
Ronan felt Thoth’s gentle presence stir in his head, and he opened his thoughts for conversation.
“Something feels wrong,” Thoth said.
“What is it?” Ronan said.
“The bright light near the camp’s center seems wrong. I haven’t seen it before.”
“We can’t turn back,” Ronan said. “Trace is holding my sister prisoner down there.”
“When we land, take extreme caution. I can’t protect you once we’re among the Obsith.”
“I understand. Thank you for taking us this far,” Ronan said.
For a few seconds, Thoth waited without replying although his mind hadn’t retreated from Ronan’s.
Ronan sensed some tension in the dragon’s presence. “What’s bothering you?”
“I’ve grown fond of you human, and it’s an odd sensation. One I’d never believed possible.”
“Why should that bother you?” Ronan said.
Thoth hesitated before answering. “Once I’m among the sorcerers, I’ll no longer have control over my actions. If I do anything to harm you or Lady Rika, I —”
“Thoth, I understand,” Ronan said. “You’re a prisoner just like my sister. If I can prevent it, I won’t allow them to harm you.”
“If I’m forced to harm you, don’t hesitate to bring me a quick death,” Thoth said. “I won’t resist.”
The thought of butchering Thoth left Ronan feeling unsettled. He hesitated before he spoke. “It won’t come to that, but if it does, I promise.”
Thoth’s presence retreated from Ronan’s mind as the dragon drifted nearer the camp.
Past the sleeping dragons, a half-dozen pinpoints of bright lights moved in a wide arc around the camp’s outskirts. As Thoth descended, he flew over a traveling light revealing a pair of Obsith casters walking the desert sands. The larger man, a shaman, walked several feet ahead of a shorter robed sorcerer. Three-feet over the shaman’s head, a bright ball of flame floated in midair. The flame spilled shadowy light in a wide circle over the desert floor.
Thoth glided past the patrolling guards arousing little more than a casual glance from the sorcerer. Ahead, a tight ring of glowing fires near the camp’s outer edge grew larger as Thoth came within fifty feet of landing. “Ahead is the landing site,” Thoth said. “As I approach, it’s critical that you and Lady Rika jump clear of my saddle before the handlers reach me.”
“We’ll be ready. Thank you Thoth.” Ronan channeled spirit creating clear shields around him and Rika. He sent enhancement energy through his body increasing his strength, speed, and physical resistance. He glanced over his shoulder toward Rika. “Are you ready?”
She gave a short nod as Thoth came within thirty feet of the landing area.
Ronan pulled free his sheba blade from a container attached to Thoth’s saddle and stowed it beneath his long burlap robe.
As Thoth came ten feet from landing, Ronan took Rika’s hand, and they leaped from the dragon’s broad saddle. Ronan curled his body and rolled to an easy stop beside Rika two dozen yards from the war camp’s landing site hidden by shadow.
Thoth touched down and lumbered to a stop inside the ring of fire while three sorcerers scrambled forward.
The first sorcerer tossed a lasso, studded with sharp metallic protrusions, around Thoth’s neck. He yanked and gestured toward the two other sorcerers.
Thoth’s neck jerked downward as the sorcerer secured the rope around a hooked crystal buried in the sand. Electricity buzzed from the metallic spikes spilling through crevices in Thoth’s heavy plates.
The second sorcerer circled Thoth’s hind legs wrapping heavy wire around his ankles. The sorcerer tightened the wire, buzzing with blue electricity, and dug it into Thoth’s exposed flesh.
Patchy spikes of blond hair protruded from the third sorcerer’s tattooed scalp. His gaze settled on Thoth’s empty saddle, and anger flared on his face. His lips tightened merging an intricate weave of black facial tattoos and silver piercings in his lips and nose. He pulled free a long crystal whip attached to his belt. “Where’s Dara you miserable beast?” The sorcerer cracked his whip landing it against the exposed flesh near Thoth’s soft belly.
A stifled roar sounded from Thoth’s throat before he settled onto the sand and lowered his jaw to the ground.
Ronan stomach churned. He bit down clenching his jaw and barely contained an urge to throttle the sorcerers.
Rika’s hand tightened on his wrist, and she leaned forward and whispered. “No Ronan. We can’t risk it.”
“Dara’s life was worth ten of yours. How could you let her die while you lived?” The tattooed sorcerer said while whipping Thoth.
The other two sorcerers joined in pulling free crystalline whips bearing sharp metallic spikes. The first sorcerer lashed Thoth across his face and neck opening thin lines of blood near the dragon’s right eye. The second sorcerer whipped his flank opening dark flesh beneath the dragon’s long plated tail.
Ronan turn a hard glare on Rika. “What if I’d taken that attitude with you in the alley six years ago?”
Rika’s hand dropped from Ronan’s wrist, and her jaw dropped.
“How many more bystanders can the world afford Rika?” Ronan glared at the sorcerers as the continued to beat Thoth. He turned his gaze back on Rika. “Someone has to stand up sometime.” His resolve deepened while he held her gaze awaiting a response.
“What if we’re captured?” The tone of Rika’s words came laced with doubt.
A strained roar came from Thoth’s clenched teeth. He collapsed under the cracking whips and the sorcerer’s maniacal howls.
“They’re killing him Rika.” Ronan’s gaze flickered to the camp’s interior, but the buildings and campfires looked abandoned. “Look around. We’re alone. We can do this.” He wouldn’t force her, but he meant to take action. “What if that were me they were beating?”
Rika’s gaze fell on the sorcerers beating Thoth, and anger flared in her eyes. She turned her gaze past Ronan’s shoulder and peered through the darkness toward the dead black forest. When her eyes again found Ronan’s, a hardened resolve settled over her face. “What’s the plan?”
“Remember last year when you wore the black dress to Lord Randal’s ball?”
She smiled and nodded before shifting into a saber cat.
“On my signal.” Ronan raised his palm directing it toward the sorcerer beating Thoth’s hind end. Spirit energy flared around Ronan’s outstretched fingers.
A blue shield surrounded the sorcerer, and he jumped backward spinning in circles looking for an attacker.
Ronan twisted his wrist inverting the shield’s energy flows. He directed its damaging magic inward. “Now,” he said loud enough for Rika to hear.
Rika bounded ahead speeding past the landing site’s torchlight
. Ronan squeezed his hand making a fist as he’d seen Kelwin Finn do in Winter Haven last summer.
The shield’s blue energy warped and contracted followed by a muffled scream. Glowing spirit magic slammed into the sorcerer’s body and his screams died. Layers of muscle and tissue melted from his body leaving behind an unrecognizable pulp of blood and bone.
Lightning crackled from the two remaining sorcerers as they directed attacks toward Rika.
Twin lightning bolts struck Rika’s shield. A web of crackling blue light flared across her shield’s exterior, but she never paused running across the sand at a full sprint.
Rika leaped toward the sorcerer nearest Thoth’s head, and the sorcerer’s eyes widened. He shrieked with an unnerving childlike shrill and raised his arms in a defensive posture.
Rika pounced on the sorcerer knocking him to the ground and opened her mouth exposing a set of glistening white incisors. She sank her teeth into the sorcerer’s throat, and his screech turned into a hissing gurgle.
Ronan unsheathed his blade and sent energy pulsing through its core. He directed energy into Rika’s shield while sprinting toward the remaining sorcerer.
Rika’s jaws locked around the sorcerer’s neck and she picked him off the ground before shaking him from side to side.
The sorcerer’s screams faded, and his eyes took on a distant glassy sheen before Rika dropped his lifeless body on the ground.
The last sorcerer standing directed a second lighting attack at Rika. He never noticed the streak of red and blue death closing in from the desert’s shadows.
Ronan’s blade never stopped as he sliced through the sorcerer’s neck. He watched with sickening satisfaction as the sorcerer’s head separated from his shoulders. The head jettisoned a hundred feet outward disappearing into the camp’s murky shadows.
The sorcerer’s headless corpse teetered forward with his hand still clutching the crystalline whip. The corpse fell still atop the sand.
Ronan moved with a battle knight’s speed around Thoth slicing free his bonds.
Rika shifted into her human form before joining Ronan near Thoth’s injured eye.
Ronan severed the lasso constricting Thoth’s neck and flattened his palm near the deep cut beneath his eye. For the second time that day, he sent white healing energy flowing through the dragon’s body.
“You’ve taken a great risk human, and I thank you,” Thoth said. “But, you’ve merely delayed the inevitable. With the crystal embedded in my neck, the emperor can end my life on a whim.”
“He won’t have it yet Thoth. Now fly away.”
“Load the bodies onto my saddle, and I’ll carry them away from here,” Thoth said. “It should delay the Obsith for a few extra minutes.”
Ronan nodded and helped Rika load and secure the corpses onto Thoth’s saddle.
“Goodbye human and good luck. You’ll not likely see me again.”
Something in Thoth’s words left Ronan feeling unsettled, but he didn’t have time to argue. “Thank you Thoth. I’ll never forget your help.”
The dragon beat his mighty wings and climbed before disappearing into the starry night sky.
“Ready?” Ronan said.
Rika nodded and pulled the hood tight of her sorcerer’s robe.
Ronan listened for the thumping sound that would lead him to his sister, and his heart skipped a beat.
Only minutes ago, the rhythmic sound had beat strong and steady. Now, it sounded hollow and distant beating with a faint disjointed tremor.
A sharp chill rose along Ronan’s spine, and he enhanced his hearing to trace its location. “I think Danielle’s in trouble. We have to hurry.” He faced the faint sound, took Rika’s hand, and walked fast enough to draw the least notice from the camp’s defenders.
Empty huts and abandoned campfires flew by as Ronan and Rika passed along the camp’s outer edge.
A growing unease brewed in Ronan’s stomach. He didn’t know where the Obsith had vanished, but he welcomed the thin resistance.
“Where is everybody?” Rika said in a hushed whisper.
Ronan froze as his enhanced hearing detected loud cheering from a crowd gathered toward the camp’s center. “I think they’re all gathered in the middle of camp.” He struggled to find the thumping sound then heard a faint beat come from behind a clear windowless building.
Behind the translucent building, the trail ended. Unlike the camp’s other buildings, the strange blue filter didn't appear above its flat roof.
As Ronan rounded the corner, he gasped and stood frozen as numb shock spread across his brain.
Thousands of dead animals lay heaped in a six-foot mountain of carcasses stretching twenty yards long. Atop the pile nearest Ronan, Danielle’s charred body lay face down not moving.
Silver Soul
Ronan’s legs buckled as the horrific scene hit him harder than any knight’s magic ever could. Hot bile forced itself up his throat, and his stomach threatened to spill his dinner over the desert sand.
A pair of strong steady hands took hold of his shoulders lending him strength while blood rushed from Ronan’s head.
“Ronan, if you can still hear the thumping sound then she’s not dead,” Rika said from over his shoulder whispering into his ear. “You can help her. She needs you to stay strong.”
“This lies beyond my ability Rika. There’s not a healer in Meranthia skilled enough to heal her injuries.” His voice shook, and he stumbled forward until he stood over Danielle’s mangled body. “I’m afraid the healing might kill her. She’s so weak.”
“You have to try.” Rika rubbed Ronan’s back and kept her voice low. “She’ll die otherwise.”
Ronan gazed on his sister’s burned face and tried to push away the spreading numbness locking down his thoughts.
Sections of Danielle’s lip had burned away revealing blackened teeth beneath. A mass of charred flesh rose from her nose socket. Her eyelids had burned halfway off revealing slivers of her blue glassy eyes glazed over with death. Her wavy blond hair had burned away replaced with oozing red patches of blistered flesh and stunted clusters of blackened roots.
With the gentlest touch, Ronan pushed away strands of singed hair from Danielle’s cheeks. He leaned forward stopping an inch from her ear. “Hang on Danielle.” Ronan whispered as tears welled in his eyes. “I’m here.”
Ronan pressed three fingers against Danielle’s neck and felt the faintest glimmer of a pulse. Without enhancement magic, he might have mistaken her for dead. He closed his eyes and focused inward on the well of power given him by Elan’s Sphere. Channeling more healing magic than he’d ever dared, Ronan kept his fingers pressed to Danielle’s neck. He sent white flows of healing energy over and into her body.
Milky white weaves surrounded Danielle. They began near her head and spread downward wrapping her entire body in a smoky white cocoon. White energy passed over her lips and in through her nostrils. As the mists faded, Danielle’s condition remained unchanged.
“Why isn’t it working?” Nervous tension replaced the calm confidence present in Rika’s voice a moment ago.
Waves of hot fear flashed across Ronan’s vision, and he stared slack-jawed at his sister’s ruined body. “She’s too far gone…I don’t know how to help her.” With trembling hands, Ronan reached under Danielle and eased her body from the piled animal carcasses. He placed her on the soft desert sand. He wouldn’t have her last moments on earth sullied.
Ronan stripped the Obsith robe from his body and placed it beneath Danielle’s head and neck. "That's better isn't it Danielle?" He choked on the words.
“There must be some way we can help her,” Rika said. “I’ll use my healing power. Keely once did the same for me.”
“And it almost killed her.” Ronan shook his head. “I can’t let you do it. It could kill you both.”
“Then what? We can’t let her die.” Rika knelt over Danielle’s body and tears filled her eyes.
Ronan held Danielle’s limp hand and felt deat
h’s cold grip pressing in. He leaned over her body and touched his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry Danielle. I love you, but I’m not strong enough to save you.” He recalled the first moment he’d seen his sister last year in north camp, and their first conversation in the woods later that day. From the first moment he’d known her, Danielle had never placed her needs above another's. Her soul’s true kindness had shone like a beacon forging an unshakable bond between them. He’d known it the moment he first laid eyes on her. Her forgiving nature and willingness to trust others defined her. She had revealed her true essence.
The odd pull of a strange presence nudged Ronan’s consciousness. Unlike Thoth’s probing push, this sensation felt alien yet natural as if born from his own mind.
His eyes fluttered open, and he pulled a few inches away from his sister.
A thin silvery strand of light connected their foreheads where Ronan’s skin had touched Danielle. A layer of fine silver mist blinked into existence surrounding Danielle as if finally revealed.
A slight groan escaped Danielle’s lips, and her fingers twitched before squeezing Ronan’s hand.
Ronan’s eyes widened and hope swelled inside his chest. “Rika! Look!”
A hundred points of bright silver light, each no larger than a pinhead, winked on. They gathered in the spot on Danielle’s forehead where Ronan had touched her. Like spring moss on a tree stump, the silver pinpoints spread outward. They crisscrossed Danielle’s nose, lips, and scalp repairing the fire’s damage. They moved along her body leaving behind a wake of healthy smooth skin.
Rika clutched Ronan’s shoulder and squeezed grinning. “Ronan, how did you do it?”
Ronan shook his head and stared at his sister afraid to move for fear the healing might stop. With a trembling hand he leaned forward and ran his fingers through Danielle’s thick golden curls. “I didn’t. I mean…I don’t know.”
Danielle’s eyes fluttered open, and she stared into the starry sky. The mist surrounding her and the thin silver line attached to her forehead blinked out as if they’d never existed.
King Of Souls (Book 2) Page 33