King Of Souls (Book 2)

by Matthew Ballard

“Since you found a way to call me, I thought you might have come further with your training. But,” she tipped her head toward Elan’s Sphere, “it’s plain to see you haven’t.”

  “What do you mean?” Ronan said.

  “You can’t shatter the soul sphere,” Moira said. “I thought I made that clear during our last meeting.”

  With his jaw agape, Ronan stared at the tiny woman as if she’d grown a third eye. “No.” He shook his head. “You said Lora and Elan shattered the spheres to protect their people. I need to protect my people.” He looked into the night sky where murky dragon shadows loomed like a pack of hungry marauding sharks.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “But, I also told you Elan and Lora linked the spheres. You can’t shatter one without shattering the other. They decided together after careful thought and a clear purpose.”

  Ronan felt the blood drain from his face while his legs turned to a rubbery mush. He couldn’t save Rika or the poor souls trapped inside Freehold. Even at full strength, he couldn’t hope to match Trace. Not when he controlled a hundred dragons.

  Ronan crouched and stared into the hard-packed snow beneath his boots. He needed a miracle but couldn’t see a way forward. “I’ll give him what he wants. I’ll give him Elan’s Sphere.”

  Moira shook her head. “You mustn’t do that Ronan. Elan and Lora had good reason for shattering the spheres. Trace wants to combine their power and hold it for himself.”

  Rika slipped her arm around Ronan and glanced toward Moira. “Wouldn’t that be better than death?” Rika said.

  Ronan shook his head. “No Rika. There’s a fate worse than death or have you forgotten Merric Pride’s camps?”

  Rika pursed her lips and nodded. “Moira, can you help us? You’re far bigger than any dragon in Trace’s herd.”

  Moira forced a tight smile. “As fond as I’ve grown of you children, I can’t slaughter my own kind. Not when they’re unwilling participants in Trace’s plan. Besides, I’m far too old.”

  Ronan’s stomach sank with the final chance to save Freehold. He stood and faced Rika. “We’ll have to wake Danielle if she’s not awake already.” He turned to retrieve Elan’s Sphere. “I’ll need my blade. I won’t go down without a fight.” He strode toward Thoth.

  “You aren’t helpless you know,” Moira said.

  Ronan froze. Not helpless? Anger flared behind Ronan’s eyes, and he whirled. “If you have an answer, please tell me. People are dying Moira.” His voice cracked as he pointed toward the Laborer’s District. “Good, hardworking people. Women and children who’ve done nothing to deserve this…assault.” He spit out the last word unable to contain his rage.

  “The sphere’s a crutch Ronan. Nothing more,” Moira said. “You’ve but to look beyond the ordinary.”

  “What does that mean?” Ronan’s jaw clenched barely controlling his anger and frustration.

  Moira’s eyes softened, and she trundled forward leaning on her cane for support. She stopped when she reached Ronan, and her eyes filled with moisture. “Your magic…your true magic lies beyond me. If I had the answer, I’d give it to you.”

  Ronan’s shoulder sagged, and his chin dropped.

  Moira reached up with a trembling hand and pressed her knuckles beneath Ronan’s chin.

  As Moira lifted Ronan’s head up, her eyes met his. “You won’t find the answer here.” She pointed to her forehead. “It’s all in here.” She flattened her hand against his chest covering his heart. “Lean into the ones you love. Let them help you find the way.”

  Ronan took her hand and squeezed. “Thank you Moira. I’m sorry for yelling.” He turned and faced Rika. “Rika, I need your help, I —”

  Rika stood on her tiptoes and kissed Ronan. “Of course I’ll help you.”

  Moira glanced over Ronan’s shoulder at Thoth still staring as if awestruck. “Ronan, who’s your friend?”

  Ronan glanced between Thoth and Moira. “Moira meet Thoth.” He gestured toward the ebony dragon. “Thoth, meet Moira.”

  “I’m humbled to be in your presence,” Thoth said.

  “Ronan, why haven’t you properly healed this dragon?” Moira said.

  “He won’t let me. He said he wants to die on his own terms.”

  Moira pursed her lips and shook her head as if annoyed. “Pride and arrogance. This dragon has plenty of both.” She scuttled forward a few steps. “I’ll have no more of that.” She directed her words toward Thoth. “Do you hear me?”

  “I…I don’t know what to say.” Thoth said.

  Ronan smiled. “Don’t bother arguing with her. You’ll lose.”

  Moira leaned forward and rested her palm on the dragon’s snout. Bright white light flashed beneath her palm and washed over Thoth’s body in an instant.

  The long cut running along Thoth’s abdomen closed. The hole in his neck sealed shut replaced by fresh unblemished scales.

  For the first time in three days, Thoth stood and spread his wings fanning the bonfire’s flame.

  Ronan gazed above Freehold’s eastern wall where the first hints of dawn showed above the horizon. The city would enjoy another cloudless day. “Why have the dragons stopped attacking?”

  “I’ve kept them distracted for a few minutes,” Moira said.

  “Abzu and Tiamat?” Ronan said.

  “And a few others, yes,” Moira said. “But our time is at an end.”

  Ronan knelt and scooped up Elan’s Sphere slipping it into his pack.

  “Ronan,” Moira said. “If you can destroy the bracelet around Trace’s wrist, we can help defeat the Obsith. The dragons under his control will move against him.”

  Ronan nodded. “I don’t see we’ve any other choice.”

  The iron door creaked at the arena’s far end, and Sir Alcott appeared carrying Ronan’s blade. He hurried along the narrow path and stopped before Ronan. “I watched from your quarters, and I thought you might need this.” His words came halted and breathless. He handed Ronan his sheba blade secured in a simple steel scabbard.

  “How’s Danielle?” Ronan said while he strapped the blade across his back.

  “She and Knight Jeremy are awake and preparing for battle,” Sir Alcott said.

  “Move as many people as you can into the Shadow City,” Ronan said. “They’ll have a greater chance of survival under Freehold.”

  Sir Alcott nodded. “What should I tell your sister?”

  “Tell her?” Danielle didn’t need his guidance, but he could use hers. “Tell her to pray for us, and we’ll meet her for lunch.”

  A broad smile cut a wide path through Sir Alcott’s gray beard, and he laughed filling the air with a hearty joyous sound. “I’ll tell her just that.”

  Ronan leaned down and kissed Moira’s cheek. “You won’t leave the city?”

  “I’ll stay nearby dear.” She raised her tiny palm and touched his cheek. “Remember what I said. Find strength in Rika.”

  Ronan nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He faced Rika. “We find Trace and remove the bracelet.”

  Rika smiled and nodded. “As easy as Sunday morning.”

  Freehold

  Rika soared into Freehold’s clear dawn sky as sunlight broke above the walls. The morning light revealed the dragon herd swarming the city like a colony of enraged fire ants.

  Ronan tightened the buckles of his backpack holding Elan’s Sphere. He channeled enhancement energy into his vision and looked across Freehold’s skyline searching for Trace.

  Rika, flying in the form of a golden eagle, climbed higher over the palace district exposing herself to the entire herd. “Do you see him?”

  Above the palace district, light reflected from a dragon's dark blue scales. It circled above four smaller dragons.

  Ronan touched his blade’s hilt and searched for the dragon’s rider. One swing from his blade could end the world’s misery. Shattering Trace’s bracelet would free the dragons and turn them against their handlers. “I think so. Fly faster Rika, toward that group swarming the palace.”
<
br />   An adolescent tea-green dragon swooped toward Rika exposing thin rows of needle sharp teeth. Fire rushed from the dragon’s throat bathing Ronan and Rika’s shield in flames. Lightning crackled from the sorcerer’s extended hand and slammed into Ronan’s shield. Blue spirit energy rushed over its surface from the point of impact.

  Ronan channeled spirit reinforcing his and Rika’s shield and willed forth a tight orb of spirit into his open palm.

  The dragon dove beneath Rika while swinging its tail upward.

  Rika’s shield crackled and shook as a web of thin blue cracks crisscrossed its surface.

  Ronan pushed more energy into their shields restoring them to full strength.

  As the tea-green dragon climbed higher, the sorceress's ring glowed bright purple. Electricity flickered around her extended index finger.

  Ronan hurled the spirit forward guiding and pushing it with his mind.

  The dragon bucked right and Ronan shifted the sphere’s direction tracking its course.

  Ronan’s spirit attack struck the sorcerer’s left side as lightning flashed from her finger.

  The sorceress's lighting attack veered off. She loosed a bloodcurdling scream while her stomach disappeared in a spray of blood. The young dragon climbed higher performing a tight barrel roll that deposited her rider’s corpse into the open air.

  Rika screeched, beat back her wings, and extended her talons. Ronan bucked forward and slammed into her neck sliding from his saddle’s edge.

  A whoosh of air and a roar preceded a flash of glistening teeth dredging a deep trench through Ronan’s spirit shield.

  The midsized dragon, shaded a dull bronze color, pitched downward just missing Rika. It turned a slow arc and reversed its course.

  Ronan channeled energy into his and Rika’s shield repairing the damage.

  Two hundred feet below, the royal palace, awash in an ocean of green, came into view. Danielle stood on her mother’s bedroom balcony surrounded by a sphere of blue energy.

  Beside Danielle, Jeremy hurled spirit attacks at a swarm of dragons breathing fire over the palace walls.

  Ronan swallowed and chased away a deep unsettling ache growing in his chest. He didn’t know how long Danielle and Jeremy could hold on, but the sight served to strengthen his resolve. He had to find Trace and destroy his bracelet before he lost his entire family.

  Rika dodged right and rolled avoiding a large jade dragon.

  Ronan slipped free the sheba blade strapped across his back and sent a wave of enhancement energy pulsing through its core.

  Atop the jade dragon two riders clung to burlap straps attached to the dragon’s crystal saddle. In the rear seat, a balding heavyset shaman sat stone-faced. A silver amulet dangled from his neck glowing a soft shade of muted orange. His lips moved, but the blowing wind and cries of battle shadowed any sound his voice projected.

  In the crystal saddle’s front seat, a sorcerer with a dozen strands of braided blond hair, leaned forward. He pointed his crooked index finger toward Ronan and a silver ring, inlaid with rubies, glowed cherry red. A mocking smirk exposed teeth carved into sharp needle-like fangs. Flame leaped from the sorcerer’s finger and swirled around the jade dragon’s torso. The shaman’s amulet turned blood red while he chanted strange words.

  As Ronan hurled a blue spirit orb toward the sorcerer, a booming sound shook the air beneath Rika. A thistle dragon slithered away with spirit energy sparking off its thick scales.

  Rika shrieked beating her wings feverishly. The force of impact shot her and Ronan upward into a thicket of waiting dragons.

  Ronan channeled energy into his and Rika’s shields and peered over her saddle.

  The shaman, sitting atop the jade dragon, released the gathering firestorm. A blazing inferno swept over Ronan and Rika’s shields.

  Gaping holes appeared in Ronan's shield. Molten fire seeped through spilling a hot orange wax-like substance onto Ronan’s legs.

  Rika’s tail feathers burst into flame.

  Ronan clenched his jaw as searing pain flared along his legs. He channeled spirit into his and Rika’s shields pushing away the remaining flames.

  Rika flew at wild angles as fire and smoke streaked from her right wing.

  “I’ve got you!” Ronan channeled healing magic across Rika’s back and wing. He turned the weaves inward restoring the flesh on his burned leg.

  Rika rolled onto her stomach leveling off her flight pattern.

  Three dragons appeared twenty yards ahead. The largest dragon bore scales of dark blue.

  “Shedu!” Ronan pointed ahead.

  Overhead, lighting flashed and struck Ronan’s shield opening a fist-sized hole.

  A blur of green shot by, and the jade dragon’s bright green scales appeared beneath Rika’s left wing.

  Ronan channeled spirit into his shield while reinforcing Rika’s bracing her for another impact.

  Rika pitched right, and the jade dragon roared missing her exposed stomach by an inch. High-powered air currents rippled in the jade dragon’s wake sending her tumbling through the sky.

  Braids of blond hair streaked by as the sorcerer riding the jade dragon passed an inch below Rika’s wing.

  With a blur of red, Ronan swung his sheba blade and caught the sorcerer’s shoulder slicing his arm free of his body.

  The sorcerer screamed, and blood sprayed from his mangled stump. Red mist showered the shaman seated behind him. The sorcerer’s eyes rolled back in his head, and his body slackened before he slipped into unconsciousness. The jade dragon rolled, and the Obsith caster’s body jerked sideways.

  The sorcerer slipped from the crystal saddle, and his right leg caught in a web of burlap straps. He jerked to a stop bouncing from the dragon’s plated flank. Blood sprayed in the dragon’s wake while the sorcerer’s limp body flailed in the wind. The jade dragon shook from side to side trying to shake loose the sorcerer but only tangled him further.

  Ahead, a half-dozen lightning bolts flashed before slamming into Ronan and Rika’s shields. Long jagged rips and smoldering cracks opened across the shield’s flickering surface.

  Ronan channeled his dwindling power into their shields. Exhaustion, like a dark fog, settled over his mind. “We can’t keep this up Rika.” He spoke over the whistling wind and roaring dragons swirling around them like a den of angry serpents. “You have to go faster. Trace is there.” He leaned forward and pointed over her shoulder. “He’s riding the dark blue dragon.”

  A roar and another thundering boom sent shock waves through Ronan’s shield as a dragon’s talons raked his shield near his head.

  Ronan channeled more energy into his and Rika’s shield, and a wave of dizziness washed over his mind before fading.

  Rika pushed forward trailing a long stream of purple smoke from her smoldering tail feathers. Two dragons crisscrossed behind her, and snapped their jaws shut missing her by six inches.

  Ahead, Shedu appeared arcing above three smaller dragons standing between Trace and Ronan.

  “That’s it Rika. Fly straight for those three dragons,” Ronan said. “I’ll take care of them.”

  Rika loosed an ear-piercing screech. She darted forward setting an unwavering collision course for the three hovering dragons.

  Ronan channeled a deep trough of energy, and an enormous blue orb appeared before him hovering just above Rika’s head.

  Lighting crackled from the sorcerers riding the three dragons and flashed toward Ronan.

  As the sorcerer’s lightning bolts struck Ronan’s shield he willed the spirit orb forward. He guided it toward the center of the sorcerer’s defensive line.

  The front-facing lightning attacks opened deep cracks in Ronan’s shield. Six more bolts connected from above and behind. More lightning attacks split open Rika’s shield, and blue smoke curled skyward.

  Eight smoking holes stood open in Ronan’s shield dripping molten globules of spirit.

  Ronan tightened the grip on his blade and focused on the massive spirit orb hurtling
toward the enemy casters. He found the threads that bound Elan’s magic and the thin blue cord of energy attached to the orb’s center. With a mental nudge, he split the orb into three separate spheres. He directed each toward the sorcerer’s defending Trace and Shedu.

  Ronan felt a sledgehammer’s weight smash the center of his back. The impact pushed air from his lungs, and a sharp flare of searing pain erupted across his back.

  Ronan struggled to breathe as the sky pitched and spun leaving him disoriented. He clung to Rika’s saddle as he drained precious fading energy from his reserves. He restored a wafer thin shield around them both.

  The putrid stench of scorched flesh mingled with black smoke curling from Ronan’s back.

  “Rika…” Ronan clung to that single word, and he willed his body the breath it needed to endure a moment longer.

  Rika screeched and teetered to her right side while thick purple smoke curled just beneath her left wing.

  She’d taken a hit, but Ronan couldn’t tell how bad. “Stay with me Rika,” he said, but the words sent a fresh wave of agony pulsing through his upper back. He craned his neck upward and squinted through a deepening fog of creeping blackness.

  The three dragons defending Trace had vanished leaving a clear path for Ronan and Rika. The emperor, appearing fresh and unmarked, raised his arm and waved off the dragons protecting him.

  Six dragons broke off their attacks and circled above and below Rika leaving Trace alone.

  Pain washed over Ronan making the act of breathing an exercise in torture. He needed to channel healing magic, but the mere thought deepened the darkness edging his vision.

  “You don’t give up easy, do you boy?” Trace said. “That’s an admirable trait, but as you can see,” he spread his arm across Freehold’s crumbling skyline, “ you wasted your energy.”

  Ronan pushed himself up, and crippling pain flared across his back. He channeled a faint trickle of healing magic and directed it deep into Rika’s body giving her left wing some relief. “Why are you doing this? How could so much destruction possibly benefit you? You can’t take the magic. It doesn’t work that way.”

  Trace raised a bushy eyebrow. “Oh? So you know how it works? You interpreted Gabriel’s original notes and brought forth magic into the world? Is that it?”