He looked into Kiernan’s eyes, so alive and full of passion. A life where she did not exist would be bleak and empty. He turned to Rogan who watched him questioningly while fingering the short beard on his chin. Beck knew he would grow out that beard with pride and adorn it with gems in the Dwarven custom if he lived. And, Airron, with his violet eyes that sparkled in the moonlight. A world without Airron would be a world without laughter.
Bajan nudged him warmly as if to remind Beck not to forget about him.
“There are some words that must be said before we go,” he said quietly.
“Beck,” Kiernan said sadly. “It’s too painful—”
He stopped her and shook his head. “It’s more painful to live with words unsaid. I don’t want to have any regrets, so I will tell you now what you already know in your hearts. You are my family, my best friends, and I want to thank you for the meaning you’ve brought to my life. In this world or the next, remember that always.”
His friends murmured their agreement.
“Despite this!” he yelled with a paradoxical grin. “Despite knowing the outcome! We will still fight!”
The air around the Savitars glowed as the blood oath coursed through them in a burst of magic as bright as that of the angels.
“We fight together! As one!”
Impossibly, the light glowed brighter.
The Savitars and Bajan screamed out in unity and sped away north after the angels and Draca Cats as fast as superhumanly possible.
Chapter 43
The Valley of Flame
It was dawn of the first Earthshine in Massa’s history without light. Unrelieved darkness blanketed the skies, land and souls of the defenders like a death shroud. The battle for the Valley of Flame had raged all through the night at a terrible cost in lives.
For a while, Maximus dared to hope that they might have a chance. King Jerund, now without his Elven Gladewatchers, had admitted to an inborn talent of all Haventhal Elves of the ability to influence animal behavior, and he was able to call forth the most aggressive beasts of the Du-Chu Forest and Puu Rainforest to aid them in the battle. King Rik Rojin finally arrived with General Klay Arsten and his preeminent Iron Fists, the remainder of the Deepstone Army marching at full speed toward their location. Gemini Starr and her sorceresses proved to be particularly cunning against the enemy. It was somewhat of a challenge initially for the men to get used to fighting alongside women dressed in silks, but their opinions were soon assuaged by the witches’ unique talent for destruction. And, there was Vinni Vee and his Halfie tribe who caused more damage to the enemy than all combined.
Even so, there were simply too many of the Cyman soldiers. And, with the demons now in the fray, his hopes had crumbled to ash.
“We’re beating a dead horse,” he told those gathered around him. “We’ve lost too many men.” The leaders were all there, crowded outside of his tent. Bo Franck, Gage Gregaros, and Lords Etin, Winslow and Hamilton and Lady Knapp. King Rik and King Jerund and their captains and vassals. Gemini Starr and Vinni Vee. He couldn’t see the Scarlet Sabers, but knew they were nearby, surveying his every move. “We’re simply outmatched and outnumbered.”
“Are you suggesting surrender, Max?” King Rik asked gruffly. “Because if you are, the Kings will not live out the day. Ravener could never afford to let us remain alive.”
Maximus shrugged with an indifference he had to struggle to maintain. “Better me than more Iserlohn lives. We can’t throw back another advance of the enemy. When they come again, it will be the last time. We will break.” He looked carefully at the faces around him. Their eyes told him they knew it as well. He went on relentlessly. “As Kings of this island, we have failed our people. If we had not become so isolated and suspicious of one another, we may have had a chance. We should have been working together to create a strong united army, not closing our borders to one another!”
“You’re right, Maximus,” King Jerund replied, “and if we have an island left standing after this, we’ll discuss all of our inadequacies at that time. Until then, we have to find a way. I haven’t given up the fight yet. We can—”
The Elven King didn’t get a chance to finish his thought as a strident bugle alarm went up.
One long and two short bursts.
Enemy advancing.
The assembled group sprinted to their horses and mounted.
“Gemini!” Maximus reached down and grabbed the sorceress by the forearm and swept her up behind him on the saddle. He spurred his horse roughly forward and dodged men and campfires with careless disregard. Gage Gregaros and the Scarlet Sabers pressed in dangerously close behind him.
Their headlong flight came to an abrupt end when they reached the rear infantry, and Maximus was forced to slow. He pressed his mount aggressively through to the front line. He had not seen Adrian or Avalon Ravener since yesterday morning, but they were there now at the head of their armies.
Gemini hissed in his ear.
“Good morning, High Priestess,” Avalon called out from the space between them. Her mouth moved soundlessly and Maximus’s horse unexpectedly reared. While he managed to stay seated, Gemini was tossed to the ground.
Avalon laughed. “No, no, don’t get up for me,” she said mockingly. “You’re fine right where you are.”
Gemini glared at Avalon as she got to her feet. “Still playing childish games, I see, Avalon.”
Maximus wondered how Gemini knew Avalon, but had no opportunity to ask as the other sorceresses smoothly moved in behind their leader.
Adrian, sitting atop his horse, raised a hand in the air. “Enough! I have no quarrel with the witches.” His eyes narrowed with malicious intent. “I have come for the Kings. This is the dawn of a new day, a new world, and there is no room in it for ignorant and cowardly leaders. When the three of you are dead, the fighting will cease.” He laughed. “The people of Massa will probably thank me as soon as the deed is done.”
“You are despicable, Adrian.”
“Good to see you, too, Gemini. What has it been? A few centuries?”
The sorceress spat toward him.
“Why do you call me despicable, Gemini? Because I wish to return to my homeland?”
Gemini stalked forward. “Because of the innocent lives you are taking along the way, Adrian!”
“A means to an end, Gemini, that is all.” Ravener suddenly screamed out in pain. One of the Halfies stood below the Mage pressing a knife into his calf. Ravener kicked out and sent the Halfie flying through the air. Vinni Vee let out a howl of rage, but Maximus jumped down from his horse and restrained the Tribe Leader.
Gemini sucked in a breath. “Citrine! No!”
Maximus whipped his head up. A sorceress with a braid of red hair had also managed to infiltrate the enemy line. She leapt into the air behind Avalon, grabbed her around the neck and threw her to the ground. The witch pummeled Avalon with lightning speed, each fist falling like a heavy mallet.
Avalon groaned in pain, but managed to murmur a spell that flung Citrine to the ground.
Avalon got to her feet and strode to the prone woman. Without an ounce of hesitation, she lifted Citrine’s head and gave it a vicious twist, killing her instantly.
Gemini and her sorceresses screeched in fury.
“Stand back!” Adrian shouted, lifting his hand. “Gemini! We don’t wish to fight you! Listen to me! We need magic in this world. Unlike these feeble Kings, I will make sure that you and all of the witches have a place in the new world! It’s really quite ironic if you think about it. King Maximus hates magic so much, he exiled his own daughter and all the while he had a coven of witches living in his backyard! King Jerund is so blind, he doesn’t even realize that all Elves have magic in the way they can summon animals! It’s not some innate Elven ability. It’s magic! And, King Rik! He killed his own brother because of magic! I promise each and every one of you. Massa will be better served with me leading than these three bloody fools!”
“Avalon must die,” Gemini
growled as if she didn’t hear a word he said.
“Step out of the way, witch,” Adrian threatened.
“Over my dead body.”
“Very well…”
“ADRIAN RAVENER!” The fearsome voice boomed from the Puu Rainforest to the south, and every man, woman and animal in the Valley of Flame shrank back in fright.
Maximus looked up in shock as Galen Starr and an army of white wraiths drifted over the valley in the sky above.
“Demons! Formation!” Adrian bellowed.
The Demon Army responded at once and launched from the ground to meet the threat. Hundreds of white and black wraiths took positions facing each other midair and all was momentarily quiet on the battlefield as the mortals watched from below.
There were a few hushed gasps as several of the soldiers recognized departed comrades now in their spirit forms. One of the wraiths gracefully peeled away from the assemblage to swoop down in front of Maximus.
He fell to his knees. “Gracie.”
“Yes, Max, it’s me.” She reached out and ran the back of her fingers down his cheek. “I am with you, Max, always. Remember that and take care of our daughter.”
He nodded mutely, too overcome with emotion to speak.
Standing behind her as though still on royal guard, was Captain Colbie Nash. Maximus let out a half-mad laugh when his fallen captain winked at him.
His beautiful Gracie bestowed one last heartrending look at him, and then the duo swept back into the sky to take their places among the angels poised for battle.
Galen Starr, at the front of the line, lifted a sword that glowed brilliantly with light. “You will not have this island, Adrian Ravener!”
The angel Mage dropped his sword in a grand flourish, and the demons and angels rushed to close. The concussion of the clash lifted the hair on every person on the battlefield not weighted down by helm. The power of the colossal struggle between the Highworld and Netherworld, the angels and demons, echoed through the air, the ground and the flesh of every being present.
Maximus felt insignificant and small and could only look on impotently.
Bestial roars swung his gaze south to witness hundreds of Draca Cats pour out of the rainforest and over the Illian River to crash into the Cyman’s southern flank.
Then, came the Savitars.
Stalking toward the battlefield with a deadly grace, the air around them crackled powerfully as their eyes swept over the chaos. One by one, they unleashed their magic into the enemy. The earth rumbled and heaved, throwing soldiers several feet into the air. The sky and the battlefield lit up with sorcerous fire. Confusion rang out as mindshifted Cymans turned on one another. Unbelievably, an enormous mantath sprouted up out of the body of Airron Falewir and with terrible noise brushed men out of its path and squashed them into the earth.
At the sight of his daughter, Maximus immediately seized the reins of his horse and mounted. He dug his heels into the animal’s ribs and plunged ahead. “Forward!” he screamed to his front line.
Ravener saw him advancing and turned his horse to flee. Avalon clutched at his legs and Maximus could hear the panic in her voice. “Adrian! Take me with you!”
The dark Mage looked down. “You’ll only slow me! You’re on your own, sister!” Ravener kicked his horse and the surprised animal lunged forward, crashing through the Cyman Army toward Starfell Keep.
The galvanized Iserlohn Army collided with the Cymans in a barrage of violence. Maximus tried to drive through the horde to give chase after Ravener, but one of the Cymans yanked him from the saddle. As one, three lethal sabers lashed out of the dark to deal with the threat.
“Father!”
Maximus barely heard the call over the clamor of battle both on the ground and in the sky. He spun around to see Kiernan running through the throng to reach him. “Kiernan! I’m here!”
She looked so tired and frail as she pushed through the fighting men. He just wanted to wrap her in his arms and carry her away to safety.
Suddenly, she stopped and turned her head to the side.
Maximus stretched to look. Someone was calling to her.
Kiernan produced a weary smile for the woman who approached her.
Maximus’s eyes widened in fright at sight of the redheaded witch Gemini called Citrine. How could that be? Avalon had killed her. He had seen it with his own two eyes!
His blood froze in his veins. “Kiernan, run!”
Kiernan heard his warning and crouched, unsure where the danger was coming from.
The dead witch continued to stalk Kiernan, a knife in the palm of her hand.
He ran as fast as he could, shoving soldiers out of his way and screaming to his daughter. “Look out!” He would never get there in time, he realized. “Oh, Kiernan!”
Galen Starr’s prophecy blazed through his mind. One of those that went forth on the journey to Callyn-Rhe would not survive. He fell to his knees and hung his head in anguish. “I am so sorry, Gracie.”
Daring to look up one last time, Kiernan disappeared from view when a streak of white flashed past her and tackled the witch to the ground. The sorceress landed flat on her back, and the large Draca Cat stood over her commandingly. The witch surreptitiously slipped her hand out from under her body and pulled her knife free.
No.
Her face twisted in a sneer, she jerked the knife upward with both hands and plunged the weapon deep into the chest of the unsuspecting cat.
Red blood stained the Draca’s fur, and he looked down in surprise. Very slowly, as though movement had become too difficult for him, the snowy head lifted and he turned to find Kiernan. Twin green eyes locked for a long, poignant moment, and then the enormous body crumpled down to the ground. The witch scrambled out from under him and disappeared into the embattled mass of men.
“Nooo!” The heart-wrenching scream from his daughter propelled him into action. He pressed forward forcefully, and when he arrived at her side, she was cradling the Draca in her arms.
It was Bajan.
Tears poured down her face and she moaned and rocked in mortal agony as her lifelong companion took a final ragged breath and was still.
***
“Get out of my way!” Adrian screamed, slashing at the neck and shoulders of any Cyman soldier who found himself within striking range of his sword.
I’m almost there!
The road that cut into the eastern side of the valley would conceal his passage until he arrived at Starfell. There, Galen Starr would be powerless against him. Not even the Mage for whom the fortress had been named could penetrate the potent wards surrounding the Keep in his current spirit form.
Adrian struck out at another Cyman standing in his path. The soldier reacted instinctively and swung around, backhanding Adrian so viciously he was swept from the saddle.
“Idiot!” Adrian landed on his feet and cast out his hand. The Cyman scratched at his throat as he began to choke, his face turning first red and then purple as he fell thrashing to the ground.
An angel swooped down close to where Adrian stood. With a wordless snarl, he dove behind an overturned wagon.
They were hunting him. He could end this now and kill everyone on the battlefield, but that would cost him his own life as well, for surely Galen would know where he was if he tried to conjure magic of that magnitude. His only chance was to make it to the Keep unseen.
Suddenly, two big hands reached out and dragged him from his concealment.
“What are you doing? Stop this!” he commanded, but sighed in relief when he saw that it was Lucin.
“It’s all over, Mage.”
Adrian shook his head. “Not yet, Lucin. Get me to the Keep! There we will live to fight another day!”
Lucin’s eye narrowed. “I am not taking you anywhere.”
The skin around Adrian’s eyes tightened. “I should have killed you a long time ago, Lucin. The only reason I kept you alive was to keep these mutants controlled while I slowly changed them into demons!
And you,” he bellowed, pointing, “would have been my last!”
Lucin smiled at him. “I made a promise to myself the night you killed twelve of my soldiers and the innocent Elven girl, Siole, that I be the one to personally see to your death. I do this for Maree and Miah and Titus and all of the Cyman people you ‘ave tortured and abused.”
“A little early to declare victory, is it not, Captain? You see, I have powerful wards set at the Keep. No one will be able to touch me there! And, let me promise you something, Lucin. As soon as Galen has gone back to the Highworld where he belongs, I will travel back to Nordik and hunt down your wife and daughter. I promise you, Lucin, that their deaths will not come quick or easy.”
The Cyman captain just stared at him. “Would you like to finally ‘ear the third prophecy, Mage?”
“This is your last chance, Lucin! Get me back to the Keep now, and I will let your family live!”
With battle raging all around them, Lucin recited the words. “At the final battle, there is hope for the land, all Men, Elves and Dwarves, it is out of your hand; The angels will battle for liberation, the demons will battle for domination; It all ends as it once began, between the raven and the star; who will prevail at the end of the day, is yet to be decided from afar.”
“GALEN STARR!” Lucin roared into the night.
“Lucin! Quiet!”
Lucin continued to scream over the mayhem. “GALEN STARR! GALEN STARR!”
The forbidding white angel with flowing hair and a sword of light heard the call.
A binding spell rooted Adrian in place, and he could only look on in contemptuous acceptance as his mentor and nemesis rushed toward him.
He didn’t utter a sound as Galen’s white sword cut him in half. With a powerful jolt, the world turned light.
Epilogue
A New World
The island of Massa won the battle, but would be forever changed by it. Adrian Ravener was right—it truly was a new world, and the aftermath brought many surprising events as proof of that fact.
After learning from Galen that the passive Cymans only fought for the Raveners under extreme duress and the threat of death for themselves and their loved ones, the Kings agreed to allow them to return to Nordik and reunite with their wives and children. The huge Cyman captain, Lucin, was so overwhelmed with emotion that he cried. He wept even harder when Kiernan Everard told him of his son’s final words.
Island Shifters - An Oath of the Blood (Book One) Page 36