“I don’t want to go,” Ky spoke up, resolute.
He stopped, and shot her a furious glare. Years of bottled-up rage contorted his features, and he flushed an angry red. “Why not? Don’t tell me you’re in love with this warrior, now. Do I always have to share you? You love me—me! I saved you from living in those hallways forever, and will keep you from remaining in this castle once we leave. Does that mean nothing? It’s my love that brought you back to this earth, and your love for me.” He paused and smiled, calming himself. His entire persona changed in an instant. “Come here, my darling.” Ky felt the necklace pull her toward him. When she fought his command, it felt as if her heart was being cut out of her chest. “Sh. Do you hear that?” he asked and searched the room.
“Of course, I do. They’re breaking down the door.”
“No. It’s laughter. I hear our child laughing.” He spun around looking up to the ceiling as if sound was coming from above. Ky couldn’t hear anything, but she understood this king was unstable. “I’m coming,” he called out. “Our children are calling for me. There are so many that need my attention. Yet I never can find them no matter how many hours we play, while I search for them. You sent them away! How could you! They hide from me now when they call.”
As if remembering what he was doing, he shoved more instruments into his pocket. Just then the door busted its hinges and crashed to the floor. A dust cloud and small rocks billowed as Cobaaron emerged. Warriors spilled in behind him. He locked eyes onto Ky, and then the necklace. “Stand back everyone,” he instructed. “Let me handle this.”
“Catch,” King Verellis said to Ky. Her necklace spun her, and she caught a long sword midair. “Kill him! Prove you love me, not that dog.”
Ky felt the necklace tug her toward Cobaaron. When she tried to fight it, her heart felt as if it was being wrenched from her chest. Ky drew her sword back like an arrow in a bow. Cobaaron circled her. “Put that down, love.”
She started to weep. “I can’t. The necklace.”
“Kill him!” Verellis yelled.
Ky was thrown forward as her legs moved before she was ready. She thrust the sword toward Cobaaron. He flipped backward; his feet compressed the blade and yanked it out of her hands. He landed, crouching on the ground. The sword inches away. Ky involuntarily lunged for the weapon and Cobaaron booted it away. The sword slid across the room. She whirled and ran for it. Cobaaron grabbed her around the waist and they rolled onto the floor. She started scratching, slapping, and kicking. He pinned her down, rendering her unmovable.
There was a loud rumbling noise from around the room. A wall of stone sprung up around them, as stones grew from the floor and stacked on top of one another. The king laughed. He erected a barrier between them, and the warriors.
Ky felt around her. She grasped the only thing in her reach. Her fingers found a rubber wand. She swung at his head. “Fight it, Ky.”
“I can’t,” she cried. “It feels like it’s ripping out my heart when I resist.”
She scurried away from Cobaaron when he ducked. The king tossed her the sword; she caught it and spun to face Cobaaron. The moment they locked eyes, Cobaaron ran for her. She drew her sword back once again. This time Cobaaron took the whip from his belt, lashed the sword and yanked it out of her hands before she could attack. He continued to run toward her. She flinched when he lunged. He clutched the necklace and tore it out. Ky shrieked in agony.
“No!” King Verellis yelled.
She glanced at her chest, certain her heart was ripped open. Only four deep small holes oozed blood. Cobaaron put his hand over the wound. He broke the necklace with a crack of the whip. Vast amounts of red blood poured out of the jewel, expelling an impossible amount if the necklace weren’t magical.
Ky screamed from the blistering heat. Cobaaron watched the king as he spun the whip high in the air keeping the king back. When he felt her blood cooling, he stood and thrashed the whip to coil it.
“You will pay dearly for what you did to her,” Cobaaron growled. “I’ll kill you with pleasure for touching my partner.”
The king removed the hourglass from his pocket and shattered it on the floor. The sand flew high into the air, and spun around Cobaaron as a wild, windy storm. “Don’t do anything, Ky. Stand back!” Cobaaron commanded. A moment later Ky couldn’t see Cobaaron because the swirling sand was too thick. The king then hurled two swords into the tornado of sand. They disappeared into the growing twister. Ky couldn’t see anything, but the king threw the swords where Cobaaron had been standing. She couldn’t hear anything but rushing wind and the sound of sand pelting objects around the room.
The king wasn’t happy with what he saw. He threw in a glowing orb; there was a loud boom. He threw in a jar with a dead animal floating in liquid. The creature opened its eyes when the king touched the container, and doubled its size before it was tossed. The jar disappeared.
The turbulent storm of sand moved around the room as if it was following Cobaaron. Ky wished she could see him, to know he was okay. The only reassurance she had was that the unsatisfied king kept lobbing objects. The king tossed in three magical instruments at once, all of them matching bronze with wings. Then, in a frenzied panic, the king dumped anything he could reach.
The sand burst into a much larger tornado and spun violently around the room. There was an explosion of light. The sand became clear glass before burning a bright orange. It became hot, and the king froze, pleased that something was brewing. Smoke billowed from within the magma tornado. Cobaaron slowly became visible from within the whirling hot glass. He had small scratches all over his skin. His hair was windswept and wilder than ever. He was covered in silver sweat. Then the hot magma splashed to the floor and blackened as it cooled.
“You’re light,” King Verellis breathed. He turned, trying to flee but found himself trapped within the very wall he built. The king hurriedly took a long straw-like object from his pocket and blew through it. Cobaaron was ready, and spun his magical whip. Tiny poisonous pins shot out; anything the sharp needles hit fizzled and smoked as it melted. The needles hit the magical whip, and fizzed, but the king’s poison didn’t harmed the charmed weapon.
Then blue water shot from the straw. The water formed into a huge ball, and engulfed Cobaaron. The liquid inside the sphere spun Cobaaron violently. He began flipping in the churning water, clearly forcing him to bend painfully. He pulled his arms and legs to his chest, though it made him roll faster.
Ky knew it wouldn’t be long before Cobaaron ran out of air. Ky screamed and charged the king, who was watching Cobaaron with great concentration. Ky attacked him, jumping on his back, and began hitting every inch she could. With strength she hadn’t expected, he punched her, knocking her back to the rock barrier. She lost her air, and gasped for breath.
Then she saw it. Cobaaron was blazing like a Star. His silver veins were boiling the water, quickly altering it to steam. Vapors filled the air making the room sauna-like. The ball of liquid shrank, and he gasped for air when the water evaporated enough it no longer covered his face. Then he straightened, and his feet touched the ground. He staggered out of the water, dizzy from spinning. The fluid sphere continued to steam, slowly lost momentum, and then rained down forming a puddle.
Cobaaron glowered at the king looking as if he could kill him with his bare hands, wanting to rip him apart.
“You’re a witch,” the king said.
“He’s a chief,” Ky corrected him with pride.
Cobaaron lunged at Verellis. The king stumbled back, extracting a wax candlestick from his pocket. The king hit the wick hard and the candle smoldered thick smoke that quickly filled the room. The smoke darkened the chamber, and all Ky heard was the loud pounding on the rock wall as the warriors continued to try to make their way through. Ky saw the king pass inches from her as he fumbled around looking for something. The smoke began to clear. The king found a pair of goggles and put them on. Just then Cobaaron punched him so hard he toppled.
The king pulled out another candlestick and went to whack the top, but Cobaaron knocked it from his hands. The king wrenched a tall case of objects on top of Cobaaron. Maroon, green, and yellow sparks flew into the air. A silver snake ring fell to the floor and clinked as it rolled toward Ky. The jostled snake awoke, and slithered while lengthening. The serpent saw Ky, and slinked toward her. She scampered backward crawling as fast as she could, but the wall stopped her.
A birdcage popped open and released a small wooden girl who bolted. A small bell hit the floor and chimed so loudly the three screamed, covering their ears. The ringing bell vibrated the shelf’s remaining items, which sent glass objects, metal ornaments, and fragile trinkets shattering. The room was filled with magical items, all dangerous.
Cobaaron fought a small, dark-lightening cloud, while the king tried escaping an enormous plant that hung him upside down. The snake slithered up Ky’s leg. She tried to kick it off, but the scaly reptile kept coiling around her, not deterred. The sinuous body squeezed around her waist and arms, and pinched her legs together.
The snake continued to loop around Ky. “Cobaaron,” she screamed over the ringing bell.
Cobaaron was hit by lightening. He bellowed in pain, and was knocked back to the wall, but the cloud followed him.
The king, squeezed by the plant, yelled with gritted teeth, “Get the wooden girl, or we’ll all die.” The snake apparently understood, because the serpent uncoiled, abandoning Ky.
The wooden girl ran and hid under the leaning shelf. The only thing keeping the tilted shelf from falling flat was the globe of spinning water. That was when Ky saw Cobaaron’s men fighting stone warriors. She wondered how it was possible, but then the snake rammed the shelf trying to get to the tiny girl. More instruments fell, some into the water. The objects contorted into a whirling shadow of bats. The claws on their wings scratched at the men, instantly killing whoever they slashed.
An urn was among the objects that crashed to the floor; ghostly, unnatural creatures emerged. They took one look around, and then lifted their hands tossing Cobaaron, Verellis, and Ky into the air. The apparitions of former men cursed the king. “How dare you? You lock us up, when we could have gone to the afterlife!” they spoke in low, wicked voices. They slashed their hands and the three of them had deep cuts on their bodies. Ky screamed in pain as boiling blood seeped from her.
Cobaaron’s blood poured silver, but unlike hers it healed without compression. “The woman didn’t trap you. She’s innocent, let her go,” Cobaaron pleaded.
“So are you, Cobaaron!” Ky insisted.
Then there was a soft singing from underneath the shelves:
“Time again, time again, hear my poisonous pill.
Time again, time again, hear my poisonous pill.”
The doll hummed. Every magical thing in the room, and where the warriors fought, slowed.
“Cover your ears,” Cobaaron yelled. Ky felt so exhausted she almost couldn’t hold up her hands. Even her blood stopped trickling. Somehow it was healing.
The beings that held them up, released their grip. Cobaaron, King Verellis, and Ky crashed to the floor. The king covered his ears. Cobaaron ran to Ky and muffled the song as the doll continued to sing:
“Back again, back again, it’s your own will.
Back again, back again, it’s your own will.”
“Cover my ears, love,” Cobaaron breathed out in a quiet breath as his eyes began to close, as the doll soothed with her melody. Ky quickly pressed her hands over his ears, and held them tightly. The snake twisted into a large mound and tightly squeezed around itself. Everything else shifted backward. All of the magical things moved in reverse recalling all their movements, even the doll ran backward, until things returned to their instruments. Smoke filled the room before billowing back into the candles. The hourglass was the last to mend. Even the shelf was upright again. The creatures that fell into the water globe were afresh on the shelf. The little wooden doll was once again in her cage on her perch.
“Home again, home again, be still, still, still.
Home again, home again, be still, still, still.”
The wooden doll’s song slowed, never finishing the last few notes. She shook her cage demanding the king to let her out, now that she had saved them. The king ignored the doll. Then the snake, that had coiled up to drown out the sound of the doll’s singing, untangled itself and slithered toward Cobaaron.
The serpent grew, sensing the need to be larger and stronger. Cobaaron backed away, as the snake neared. He stepped on a sword. Without taking his eyes from the growing snake, Cobaaron picked up the sword when he took another step back.
The snake slithered toward him and then stretched its long neck up until the head was taller than Cobaaron. Its fangs dripped with venom. Without warning, the serpent lunged for Cobaaron. He sprung out of the way, barely escaping.
The split tongue vibrated as the snake hissed. Its yellow eyes followed Cobaaron as it continued to grow. The reptile attacked again, and the sharp fangs gouged into the rock floor. It missed Cobaaron by inches. As if purposefully not getting too far from the snake, Cobaaron swung his sword and cut off its head. The snake writhed, and then fell still.
Cobaaron immediately faced the king, who was taking two swords from the back wall. Cobaaron swiftly swiped his sword under the venomous fang and smeared the poison on its blade. The second the king faced Cobaaron, he threw the lethal iron at the king. The sword whistled through the air, traveling so fast it was a blur. The sword drove into the king with such force it knocked the king back. He fell, sitting on the hard floor, as the lethal weapon nailed him to the stone wall.
The king’s eyes dripped blood from the tear ducts. And his mouth spewed foam and blood. He slumped over, lifeless. A king was dead.
Then a roar from shaking rocks echoed in the room. The temporary wall crumbled to the floor. They were no longer separated from the warriors. But the rumble continued even after the wall collapsed. The floor, even the entire castle shook. “It’s giving in!” Cobaaron yelled.
He quickly seized Ky’s hand and then rushed toward a window. Ky braced herself as they crashed into a glass window. They dropped several feet before Cobaaron managed to grasp vines that grew up the castle. Ky tucked her head into his chest as glass pelted them as other warriors jumped from the crumbling castle. Cobaaron slid down the side of the castle. The foliage barely slowed them. They landed on the ground hard and rolled as they tumbled along the rocky ground.
A second later Cobaaron hoisted her and dashed toward the drawbridge. The entire structure was failing, as large stones dropped from the towers. The bridge fell with the walls. He sprinted faster. The bridge was crashing down. He increased his speed. They were halfway across the thick wood when the drawbridge split into two long pieces. Warriors hurdled over the rocks as they ran to keep from being buried alive. They didn’t stop running even after they passed the gate. It wasn’t until they were at the edge of the burning forest that Cobaaron abruptly stopped.
The castle fell with a thunderous noise. It looked like an old ruin with fresh growing plants thriving around it. Warriors and women continued to emerge out of the dust and wreckage as they made their way to the edge of the forest.
When they all gathered, it became obvious they lost numerous men. Octavos counted the warriors, and reported, “We lost all but seventy-four studs. Do you think we should search for the twins and everyone who went with them?” Octavos asked Cobaaron, but by his tone, he knew they were dead.
“They’re lost. They died with honor,” Cobaaron said.
“Did you kill the king? You must have if the walls fell,” Octavos stared at the castle.
“He’s dead,” Cobaaron affirmed.
Warriors who were listening bowed while on one knee, showing their allegiance. There was a murmur among the troops that quickly spread, as all warriors dropped to one knee. Soon women, too, fell to the ground with their arms stretched out toward Cobaaron. Everyone was showing reverence; Oc
tavos was the last to bow with the warriors. “Then you are the true king,” Octavos said.
Cobaaron took Ky’s hand, having her stand next to him. “This day we overcame a great obstacle to restore light to the world. The men that died today were brave and should be honored. Celebrate them; remember those who gave their life for this mission. But keep in mind this is only the beginning. We will undoubtedly see more death. And not just men, but women also, because this is everyone’s fight and it’s far from over. Rise. We’re not out of danger. We are still trapped in the fire.”
Octavos stood, and clapped his hand in Cobaaron’s, shaking it. “You always think of your men. I’m honored to follow you. Should I recruit other warriors? There are several tribes around this area. It would take me some time to search out all the men we need. Possibly months, but…”
“You must,” Cobaaron said. “I’ll take the women and most of the men. We’ll first visit the Escape Mountains and then Sarnia.” Cobaaron gave a sideways glance at Ky as he told Octavos his plans. “It will be important to recruit Wyt. His visions are the strongest I’ve seen among Stars, and he could help us if I can persuade him. I’ll send message boats to all the cities once I’m there to tell them the first king is dead and I’ve appointed myself king of the City of Lights. I’ll prove my sovereignty once all the kings are dead. I’ll ask for Stars to unite there once again under my protection. I’m sure it will anger the two kings when they hear of my plans and they’ll seek me out for battle. I just hope you’re back in time to join me. I’ll need your help.”
“Should I take warriors to escort Stars as I go?” Octavos asked.
“Yes, that was my hope,” Cobaaron said.
The Coming Dawn Trilogy Page 30