Merlin's Kiss

by Stephanie Burke

  "This is for the men whose lives you sacrificed to save your pathetic existence."

  Tybo jerked one fist into the air and Cran levitated a foot above the ground. He added the other fist above the first and made a twisting motion. All heard the delicate bones of his legs crack with the force of Tybo's power.

  Cran's yells turned into whimpers of agony as he continued to float above the ground, a broken man.

  "And this is for taking away the gift from another winged brother," Tybo growled as he clapped his hands.

  First there was no reaction to the thunderous clap. Everyone grew silent as they waited for what would come next. They did not have long to wait.

  Cran began to whimper, then to yell, finally to scream as his body began to jerk and twist. Suddenly there was silence as his body exploded into a pile of ash.

  "Any objections?" he asked as he turned angry red eyes on the observing soldiers. No one answered.

  "Then let us be off," he ordered. "We have much to do and that pompous fool has cost us much valuable time."

  Silently, his men disappeared into the forests and went to their designated places.

  Sadly, Tybo walked over to Zorn, pulling his wings tightly against his back. The red haze faded from his eyes and a deep gray of sadness filled the changing orbs.

  Slowly, he knelt beside the fallen drack, knowing the wound was fatal because he made no move to bite or claw at him.

  "I am sorry, little bother," he whispered as he laid his palm upon Zorn's back.

  At first, he thought Cran's blade had only severed his wings. Now as he took a closer look, he saw that the blade had penetrated the drack’s tough hide to crack ribs and pierce his large heart before being dislodged by his fall to the ground.

  "Grrrrr," Zorn mournfully growled and more than anything, Tybo wished he could understand the little warrior.

  "I don't know if you can understand me, little brother," he said as he brushed one hand over Zorn's head. "But I swear upon my wings that no harm will befall the Woman of Legend. She is the only one who can save us all, and I am sworn to her cause."

  Zorn sighed as he lowered his head to the ground. He was too weak to think, but grateful this powerful warrior wanted to see the Lady safe. No winged person swore on their wings unless they meant what they said.

  "I must go, brother. Would you like me to ease your passing?" he asked.

  Seeing a negative response in Zorn's weak eyes, he nodded and rose to his feet.

  "Until we meet in another life," he said with a small bow, then he too disappeared from sight.

  Protected them, have I? Zorn wondered as he closed his eyes and prepared for the great journey. The pain was still absent, yet he knew from his overwhelming sense of lethargy that he was dying.

  His eyelids flickered as he remembered all of the things he had learned in his young life. How to hunt with Dalis, how to fly and soar with the clouds, how to appreciate the fine cuisine of the humans, the mighty Warlord, Brieana.

  Led a fine life, have I, he decided as his memories flew through his brain. Fought well, I did!

  As he lay there, he felt his breath start to rattle in his chest, and knew his time was short. He laid his head on the soft ground and a toothy grin spread across his face.

  * * * * *

  "Zorn!" Brieana screamed as she urged her unicorn faster towards the weakening thoughts of her purple friend, "Hold on, Zorn! I am coming!"

  But Kerian feared they were too late.

  Leaning close to the neck of his mount, Kerian urged Blaze faster from his position in front of Brieana and Magic.

  "Calm, Lady!" Kerian shouted to be heard over the thunder of the equines’ hooves. "This is a trap! We must proceed with caution. Getting into their trap won't help Zorn or us."

  Some of Kerian's words must have penetrated the thick wall of grief that surrounded her, for she eased up on Magic and slowed his wild gallop to a slow canter.

  "He's dying, Kerian!" Brieana said in a rough voice. "He's dying and I can't get to him."

  Kerian remained silent. What could he say? He felt the young drack slipping away from him and could do nothing to prevent it from happening.

  He slowed their pace and began to cautiously guide Brieana toward their fallen friend.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Death! It surrounded him, pressed in on him like a blanket, blotted out all sounds and coated his eyes in a dark haze. He had always known death was inevitable, but he never expected to die a sacrifice, no, a martyr. Yes, death would have its way.

  A chill breeze blew through the trees, rustling leaves and stirring the silence as Kerian stumbled across the purple lump lying on the ground.

  "Zorn," he called as he slid from Blaze's back and ran to the fallen drack's side, his voice sounding miles away.

  "Is he…?" Brieana could not bring herself to ask the question that was hovering on her lips.

  "Not yet, Lady," he said as he made room for her at their fallen comrade's side.

  "Who did this?" she said as she fell to her knees beside her little purple friend and tentatively raised one hand to touch his barely moving side, feeling the cold begin to absorb the heat from his body.

  Without a word, Kerian rose to his feet and turned to begin following the prints that crisscrossed over the ground.

  Brieana reached one hand for the comfort of the torc as she moved the other hand to Zorn's cool forehead.

  "Zorn? Can you hear me?" she asked as she leaned close to him.

  A trap, it is, Lady! His voice whispered in her head. Flee, you must.

  "Wings," Kerian whispered as he came across the pile of ash and severed wings. "These people do have wings! Zorn?"

  Disturbed now, Kerian rushed over to the drack's side.

  "Zorn?" he whispered urgently. "Zorn! Answer me! How many are there?"

  Know not, Warlord, he sighed as he fought for each breath. Many!

  "Kerian?" Brieana asked as she turned her devastated eyes to him. "Are we in much trouble?"

  "You could say that, Lady," Kerian muttered as he began to mentally plan how to thwart an attack against winged warriors.

  Trust one, you must, Zorn added on a sigh.

  "After they did this thing to you, Zorn?" Brieana asked in amazement. One of his beloved wings was almost severed from his back! The other was damaged beyond repair! The blade that did the deed was still lying beside him, stained black with his blood.

  Retribution, that one did take. He sighed as he again closed his eyes. It was getting hard to concentrate. Rainbow eyes. Drackoon eyes.

  "The pile of ash," Kerian guessed. "He caused this."

  Him, you trust! Zorn roused himself enough to say.

  "Zorn," Brieana sighed, laying her head against his side. "I don't want to lose you."

  Nor I, you, Lady. Flee you must!

  "I cannot leave you like this," Brieana said, tears finally choking her up, making her chest pound and her eyes burn.

  Leave, you must! Trap! he urged. Leave me! Join fathers, I do now. He sighed as if that bit of urgency cost him dearly. You take, he ordered Kerian. You guard!

  "With my life," Kerian assured, dropping to one knee beside the youthling.

  Everything I touch dies, he thought as he watched the life seeping from this drack. Too bad I decided I liked him almost as soon as I lost him, he thought.

  Strong warrior, I am! Tell them! Zorn urged as the light began to leave his already glazed eyes.

  "I will," Brieana whispered, tears running down her pale cheeks. "I will tell them all."

  Good day, it is, to die, he sighed. Then Zorn was no more.

  Brieana sucked in a deep breath and let it out on a sob. She laid her head against his rapidly cooling body and cried her grief. Zorn did not deserve death! He had not even reached full adulthood! These Dark Isle people were monsters!

  "We have to go," Kerian urged her after giving her a moment of time to wallow in her grief.

  "We cannot just leave him here!" Brieana a
rgued, suddenly turning fierce. "We have to bury his body!" Her warrior training was overtaken by her emotional feelings for her fallen friend. Her heart was breaking at the loss they just suffered. All rational thoughts were lost in her grief.

  "We don't have time!" Kerian argued. He looked suspiciously around the small clearing. The more they tarried here, the greater chance there was of a surprise attack from above.

  "I will not move until we have honored his bravery!" Brieana growled, turning heated eyes towards him.

  Instead of anger or sadness on her face, there was the cold stoic face of a warrior.

  "Listen to me," he grated out as he bent low and got right into her face. "Do you want his death to be in vain?"

  "What?" she cried, as she slowly rose to her feet. Kerian knew he was now talking to a royal knight, one of the most feared warriors in the Britons.

  "He died," Kerian said as he jabbed a finger in Zorn's direction. "He died so you could live! He sacrificed his life to warn us of the impending attack and of a trap. Think, Lady! What better trap would there be than to lure you here to his dying body and attack while your defenses are down! Worry not about Zorn! The power that spawned him will retrieve the husk of what he used to be. And that is an empty shell, Lady! Zorn is no more!"

  Brieana took a deep shuddering breath and fought to get her emotions under control. In her mind she knew Kerian was right, it was her heart that objected.

  "It just does not seem right," she sighed finally, her sadness showing on her face.

  "Zorn understood the risks, Brieana," Kerian added kindly as he saw her protective mask crack and her true feelings start to show. "Now it is our task to see his memory lives on in you."

  Nodding, Brieana gave one last look to Zorn's body before turning away. She was quiet as she mounted Magic and made sure Excalibur was secured to the saddle. Looking over her shoulder, she nodded to Kerian once.

  "Then let us be off, Warlord. You are correct. We have business to attend to."

  The warrior was back in control. The Queen had spoken.

  "My Lady," he nodded as he mounted Blaze and in a flash they were off, neither looking back. Like the warriors they were, they put the past behind them and forged onward.

  If they had bothered to look back, they would have noticed a strange glow begin to surround Zorn's body.

  * * * * *

  "The Woman of Legend," Tybo breathed as he watched the couple on unicorns pass beneath him. "And her pet Warlord," he decided as he observed the tall muscular man that led her protectively through the dense trees of the Forbidden Forest.

  She didn't look at all like he expected a great lady to look. In fact, she seemed quite puny.

  But upon closer inspection, he decided there was a bit of steel in her backbone, as he watched her calmly scan the surrounding area. They both knew they were being watched, but they just couldn't figure out how. He had to give them credit. Not too many people discovered that much about him before an attack!

  He nodded to one of his five remaining men, and suddenly the leaves shifted, as if by wind as he moved to intercept. He was tired of waiting. It was time for the games to begin.

  "Woman of Legend!"

  His disembodied voice caused them both to jerk their unicorns to a halt and carefully scan the wooded area around them.

  "The time has come."

  With a nod, his first man dropped from the high branch he was seated on and landed in front of the woman.

  But instead of screaming out in fear, she jerked the reins of her unicorn and forced him to rear. His man never stood a chance as the flashing hooves slammed into him, breaking his wings and nearly punching through his chest.

  So much for the surprise attack.

  He nodded to two others and, drawing their swords, they converged on the warrior, leaving the woman to fight for control of her high-strung beast.

  "Back to back!" Kerian called as two more of the winged men, more cautiously now, dropped from the sky and advanced upon them.

  Withdrawing his battle sword and controlling Blaze with the pressure of his thighs, he readied himself to engage the enemy.

  But instead of swinging their deadly curved blades, one man closed his eyes and began to shake. In an instant, a circle of the warriors ringed them in.

  "What treachery is this?" Brieana cried as she watched, as if by magic, the man began to multiply.

  "Dark Isles treachery, Lady," Kerian muttered as he tried to decide which winged man to attack.

  "They cannot be real," Brieana said, cold anger in her voice. "They have to have some telling weakness."

  Before they could continue with their hurried conversation, the man and his clones attacked and the second followed.

  Clutching the reins Kerian knew better than to start swinging at anything that moved, so he waited, sword arm at the ready to defend.

  It was Magic that gave him a clue. The aggressive unicorn wanted no others around it other than the two whose scents had become most familiar. So when he smelled the strange person bearing down on him in a fighting stance, his basic instincts kicked in.

  Rearing back on his hind legs, he slashed and kicked at the true attacker, ignoring the lesser shadows of the man.

  Cursing, the winged man withdrew and darted backwards to avoid the injury-bringing hooves, leaving himself open to attack.

  "The unicorns can smell them!" Kerian called out as he brought his sword slashing down, barely missing the Dark Isles warrior as he dodged to the side.

  But Brieana was too occupied to answer. While the illusion maker attacked Kerian, the other winged man struck out at her.

  But Brieana, used to battle on horseback, dropped her reins and easily blocked the sword thrust directed at her.

  With one hand, the man again engaged her sword, trying to get in a quick distracting strike so he could gain control of the reins, but this was a maneuver Brieana expected. Kicking one foot free of the stirrup, she lashed out at the man's face, causing him to retreat and give ground while trying to defend himself from sword strikes that fell like hard rain.

  Glancing back to see if Brieana was injured, Kerian kept his attention on the unicorn and which way his head swerved.

  Knowing he had lost the element of surprise, the Illusion Warrior decided to end his particular game. It was costing him too much energy.

  In a flash, his shadows disappeared and Kerian, never one for wasting time, went for the kill.

  Leaning low over Blaze's neck, he kicked the high-strung animal into a full gallop, straight at the man who thought to use magic as a trap.

  "Hell!" the man cried as he saw twelve hundred pounds of angered unicorn flesh with a lowered head and a razor-sharp horn bearing straight down on him.

  With a quick leap to the side, he saved himself from being impaled on that spiral horn, but unfortunately for him, his attention was on the animal, and not on the man seated on her back.

  Kerian narrowed his eyes into small slits as, with one wide swipe, his sword pierced the man's chest. He grunted as his great, serrated blade cracked bone and sliced through tendon, sliding within him to the hilt. Using the forward momentum of Blaze's lunge, he lifted the screaming, flailing man and tossed him easily aside.

  Jerking the reins around, he bore down on Brieana and the man who was skillfully avoiding her swings. The blood lust was now taking over him, melting away his humanity, turning him into the perfect killing machine.

  "Mirage!"

  His battle cry filled the forest, echoing with his murderous intent as he raced towards the man who would hurt his mate. Driven by the scents of blood and death that now filled the clearing, Blaze was only all too happy to comply.

  The warrior, hearing the fierce cry of rage, turned to face a bigger more dangerous opponent! But his lapse of attention cost him dearly.

  "For Zorn!" Brieana called out as she swung her blade low.

  She felt the jerk, then give of bones and tendons as the man's head neatly flew from his body. Magic, excited b
y all the action eagerly fought against Brieana's control as he sought yet another victim to maul.

  "Lord Tybo!"

  Up in the trees, Tybo watched, impressed by the prowess of the two. This situation might not be as boring as he first thought.

  "Lord?" the voice intruded in on his musings.

  "What is it?" he hissed, his eyes flashing a deep brown, showing annoyance.

  "I have sent a message to the Master for reinforcements."

  So much for this being easy, he thought as he watched the shaken warrior. It must be his first battle for him to start blubbering for help so soon.

  "Did I give you that order, soldier?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice.

  "N-No, Lord," the man stuttered as he nervously furled his wings closer to him, a protective maneuver probably because of what happened to Cran.

  "Then you will make no more attempts to undermine my authority. I want the Warlord's sword. Go and fetch it for me. That is the proof I need of his destruction."

  He settled himself more comfortably on his perch high above and with one finger, scratched at his ear.

  "His sword?" the man asked, still remembering what had happened to Cran and weighing that against what the Warlord had done to his fellow soldier.

  "His sword," Tybo confirmed. "Lord Dagon knows the fabled sword the Warlord carries. As proof of his death, the sword will assure Lord Dagon the Warlord is no more." At the rate this was going, he would probably wind up sending the whole accursed army out to be slaughtered to prevent any witnesses from popping up at a later, more inconvenient date.

  "As you command," the man replied, and launched himself at the excited quartet on the forest floor who now cautiously watched the treetops, waiting for the next wave of attack. And speaking of waves…

  "You there," Tybo called out in a low amused tone, pointing to the remaining soldier.

  "Me, Lord?" the man asked, fear clearly in his voice.

  "Go help him." This was becoming more amusing than he would have imagined.

  "Yes sir!" he rapped out, a good little soldier to the last. But then again, they were all pawns in this game.

  Tybo watched as the man gracefully dove down to engage the two humans and their unicorn companions in battle. Settling himself more comfortably, he set his strategic mind to figuring out a way to thwart the major portion of Dagon's army, avoid being slaughtered by the two going berserk below, and help them to foil the Dark Master's evil game. His day was looking up!