by Sunny
There was a loud crack and I turned back to see Ruric cleave his sword halfway through the thick tree trunk. Only thin fingerlike roots were wrapped around his ankle, tugging ineffectually at him; all the other branches capable of reaching him had been hacked away. With muscles bulging, his big form straining, he yanked his sword back out and, with a roar, struck again, cutting almost through the entire thickness of the trunk this time. A great heave, and the Tree of Death toppled over with a loud crash, its limbs still moving, but weakly now, slow and sluggish. Blood was everywhere, and the thick red sap that bled from the tree was not much different from what leaked out of the injured demons.
With edgy fear and anger, the guards chopped up the downed tree into smaller pieces.
While they did that, Hari yelled at Sarai for putting herself in danger.
“And what about you, fool?” Sarai yelled in return. “Endangering yourself like that was endangering me, also.”
Hari opened his mouth, but words choked in his throat as the truth of her words struck him. Her eyes glaring black daggers at the idiot demon she had just saved, Sarai turned her back on him and strode away.
I walked over to Hari. “She’s right, you know.” Both of us watched Ruric grab the stump and yank it up out of the ground. The squirming roots were so long, the final bits of them had to be pulled out by hand. “Things are different now that you are bonded,” I told him. “What affects you affects her, and vice versa.”
“Are you saying that I cannot put myself in danger anymore?”
“Sometimes that’s not possible. I’m just saying that you do have to think twice before you risk yourself again. Be aware of the consequences. That it affects not just you alone anymore. Different, huh?” I said with a dry smile.
“Yeah, it sucks.” He grimaced. “But it’s better than being snuffed out, not existing anymore.”
“Much better,” I said pensively, my eyes wandering to Talon’s slender form. “You may even find with time that it doesn’t even suck, that it’s something wonderful.”
The look on Hari’s face said that was highly unlikely, but I had high hopes for him. “There’s more depth to you than you would have anyone believe . . . even yourself,” I said, smiling at my own words. They were hard to believe. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Talon saved you, not I,” he said, looking away.
“You both did,” I returned softly.
We watched the guards carefully sweep up all the last bits and pieces of the Tree of Death into one great pile.
They used broom-branches they had fashioned from neighboring trees. I didn’t blame them in the least for not wanting to touch the weakly squirming tree parts with their bare hands. The multitude of heads, old and new, was swept into another pile, along with Derek’s shriveled and desiccated corpse. And the two bodies of the demon guards, whose heads had been torn off and drained by the Tree of Death, were gathered into a third, separate pile.
“I guess they need to start a fire,” I said, and moved forward to help them do that. Provide fire.
“No!” Hari said sharply. He reached out to stop me, and I leaped back away from him like a frightened deer.
A crushing moment of startled silence.
“Forgive me—” Hari started saying.
“I’m sorry—”
“—let someone else start the fire.”
“—I guess I’m still a bit skittish,” I said shakily.
“There’s no need to use your gift, Lucinda,” my brother said behind me.
I swung around, my eyes wider and more wild than I would have liked. I was more than just a bit skittish. My heart was pounding in my chest.
“It would be more prudent to let Father take care of starting a fire,” Halcyon said in a calm and even voice, “in light of your recent ordeal.”
“You mean after I burned myself up along with Myrddhin.” The words tripped quickly, nervously out of my mouth. “A novel way to destroy your enemy, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Hurts like the dickens.”
“If Myrddhin was as evil as that cursed tree . . .”
“More,” I said.
“Then you did us all a huge favor. Father and I can handle the rest of the cleanup.” Halcyon’s eyes, damn his hide, were too knowing and compassionate as they rested on me.
I couldn’t hold his gaze.
Blaec had no problem supplying the fire they needed. He stepped forward, and the guards retreated from the three piles. Power rode the air like an unseen current, and the faint image of a much larger shape overlay the image of my father’s lean form for a moment. Then he opened his mouth and a powerful jet of fire streamed out and flamed the separate piles.
“Dragon fire,” Halcyon murmured. “Highly effective.”
“Those poor guards,” I said, watching the headless bodies writhe as they burned.
“Once the Tree of Death got ahold of their heads, they were doomed. It would be too dangerous now to try to heal them. Hopefully their souls won’t be chained here like the rest.”
As fire lit the three piles, and burning smoke drifted up to mingle with the fog, the mists around us thickened and took on a more defined substance until you could clearly see the ghostly forms streaming above and around us, gathering and twirling around the rising black smoke like a powerful whirlwind, tunneling up. It was quite a sight.
“Mierde,” the captain exclaimed again, while others mumbled curses and imprecations in other languages.
With one last, powerful, hot stream of dragon flame from my father, the wood, flesh, and even bone incinerated until nothing remained of them except floating ashes and sparks of ember that twined and lifted up with the ghostly whirlwind, burning the ghostly forms away until none, not one white wisp, remained, leaving just smoke. No fog, no mist. No more ghosts.
“Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. Be at peace,” I murmured and looked up at the first clear sky these cursed mountains had likely seen in over a thousand years. The third red moon, Rubera, was arcing up as Kantera, the yellow second moon, slipped down the horizon—red and yellow. Or red and gold, like the phoenix bird I had been.
A rebirth, like mine? Or simply the ending of a curse?
Poor souls. They were at peace now. But I wasn’t—far from it, as the noisy thump of my heart reminded me. Its pounding beat proclaimed that I did not belong here anymore. Not just in Bandit Land but in Hell itself. I looked like a demon, smelled (or rather didn’t smell) like one. Did not sound like one, however; no more echoing demon silence. So what was I? I pushed that away to deal with later.
“Now we have to find and destroy the book,” I said quietly.
“Book?” Halcyon asked, turning to look at me.
“An old book of death spells that Myrddhin or someone else wrote. Derek must have found it, because he used death magick to pop into the living realm and grab me. It’s one last piece of evil we have to destroy before leaving this gods-forsaken place.”
We ended up dropping back down the hole Myrddhin had emerged from. We searched the walls, floor, and even the ceiling of the subterranean cavern where the mad sorcerer had lay entombed for almost ten centuries, and where Talon and I had come together. But there was nothing down here, just a gaping maw in the wall where the roots of the tree had ripped themselves out. It felt suffocating down here. An odd thought since I didn’t need to breathe. Or had that changed, too?
When we resurfaced, Ruric, along with the help of the entire red and yellow team of warriors, pounded the ground above until the roof of the cavern caved in and was buried in dirt.
It didn’t take us long to make our way back to Purgatory. By the time we reached it, our wounds were beginning to heal—a comforting thing to see. Three other teams of royal guards had secured the settlement and rounded up most of the bandits, who were, also to their bewilderment, starting to heal old wounds and injuries they had probably borne for years, maybe even decades. I doubted any of them were lucky, or unlucky enough, to reach a hundred years here.
Th
e guards in our three teams hissed at the sight of the skinned demon hides strung on the shoddy dwellings. I almost didn’t even notice them anymore; there were so many other more horrible things I had seen and experienced today.
A word with the captain of the other teams told us that no unusual book of spells had been found. But then they hadn’t known to look for it. We split up into several groups and went hunting. Ruric and Hari, and his two ladies, paired up with Talon and me. Brielle led us to Derek’s bedchamber, and after we tossed it thoroughly, took us down to the hidden subterranean cell where Sarai had been held captive for all these many years. Brief shivers shook my body as I ran my hands and probed my senses along the walls and ceiling of the dank prison. I had been at Myrddhin’s mercy for less than an hour, and that short amount of time had been scarring enough to me already. I couldn’t image twenty-odd years spent as his prisoner.
We searched every corner of the old palace but came up empty-handed. The other groups had just as poor luck. A thorough hunt through the temple, private dwellings, work sheds, and surrounding ground turned up one book, and two old scrolls from the temple, but none of them contained anything about spells or death magick.
Questioning all the captured bandits was equally as unyielding. No one had any knowledge of such a book. Nor had they ever seen Derek or any of the previous bandit lords in possession of any book or scroll.
“It’s not here,” Halcyon said.
“One of the bandits may have found it and taken it,” my father said. “Not all the bandits are accounted for. But sorting out who perished and who managed to escape will take some time.”
“Maybe it doesn’t exist,” I said pensively, “or is hidden so well that no one can find it.”
“If that is the case, we’ll do our best to make it even more so,” my father said grimly. With the help of his men, he demolished everything there—the old palace, the temple, all the surrounding structures. Even the crumbling arena was torn to the ground. Then, everything that could be set on fire was torched and set ablaze, including those vile demon skins.
“That’s it,” I said, watching everything burn. “That’s all we can do for now.” Only time would tell if that elusive book and its evil contents—death magick—would ever resurface. “Thanks,” I said, turning to my father and brother. “For coming to rescue me.”
“We were on our way, but your bondmate got to you much quicker than we were able to,” my father said, and passed along his gratitude, in turn, to Talon. “I am in your debt,” he said nodding to the dark Floradëur.
“I’m sorry,” I burst out, interrupting, “but I can’t stay here any longer.” A wild yearning to be gone, away from here, shivered my skin. Rippled through my soul.
“I’m returning to the other realm,” I told Hari and the two females he seemed to have accrued. “My thanks, Hari, for saving me so heroically and selflessly. But Derek . . . he’s gone now. And you seem to have new responsibilities, a new path to follow. I free you from your honorable service to me.”
The High Lord nodded agreement. “You have accounted yourself with great valor and distinction, Hari, a true dragon lord of our clan. But my daughter is right. Your feet are set upon a new path. As such, I release you from your service to me as well, and open the doors of my home to you and your two ladies.” Blaec’s gaze drifted to rest meditatively upon Sarai’s painfully cautious reserve. “With your son’s ties to my daughter, milady,” he said, addressing her, “we are family. And your bond to Hari puts you under the protection of our dragon clan. You are welcome to stay at my home while you decide what you wish to do. But I would be quite delighted should you decide to stay on as permanent residents. My home has been long empty. I would enjoy the company.”
With simple grace, my father solved my greatest dilemma—what to do with Hari and his two females. Brielle was too young and too weak to risk crossing the portal to the living realm. Nor could I stay here in Hell and offer the protection that Sarai and Brielle so obviously needed, not with my loudly beating heart, which had startled everyone here, bandits and royal guards alike.
I didn’t belong here in Hell anymore. Things had changed. Not just for Hari but for me as well. My awakened organ loudly drumrolled again. Away! Away! it seemed to cry with each unsettling beat.
“Talon.” I turned back to my dark Floradëur with a small pang in my heart. “I know you have to stay, to speak with your mother . . . get to know her. Come back to me when you can,” I said softly.
One last duty to discharge, I thought, looking at Ruric. He dropped down heavily onto his knees, shaking the ground. “Forgive me, Princess, for failing you.”
His words didn’t surprise me. I knew he’d feel that way. “You didn’t fail me, Ruric. Nothing could have stopped Derek from taking me. You shoulder guilt that doesn’t belong to you. But you, too, are discharged from your service to me. Honorably.”
“I would still serve you, Princess,” he said with his head bowed.
“There’s no more danger, no more rogue demon. Derek is destroyed.” I glanced at my father, seeking his help. It was he, after all, who had first peeled Hari and Ruric off himself and assigned them to me as my bodyguards. Take him back, my eyes begged.
The High Lord shrugged. “It is Ruric’s choice.” “Please, Princess, I wish to remain with you,” Ruric said humbly.
“But . . . I don’t need a bodyguard anymore.”
“Then how about an honor guard,” Blaec suggested. “It would make me easier knowing he was with you.”
“And I,” chimed in my brother.
Both ruler and former ruler of this realm ganging up on me. Not fair. Especially when Ruric lifted his pleading gaze to mine.
I sighed, wondering just how much of his desire to serve me was influenced by a certain blind human. “Then come,” I said, gesturing for him to rise. “Let us go home.”
“I left the others at High Court,” Ruric said. “Safer, I thought.”
“Then first we stop at High Court.” I glanced over to the other half of what I had thought of as the bronze pair. It felt odd breaking up the two of them. “Hari,” I said, catching his gaze one last time, “if you ever have need, send word to me and I will come.” Then I was striding away. Running across the ground.
As I called up transformation from deep within me, I wondered how much of me had changed? Had I kept my abilities or lost them? Then I had my answer as the power stirred, rose to my will. It was like calling up my demon beast but even wilder, more primitive, pulling deeper from within my blood—Dragon. It rushed out of me, stretching my cells, changing me to something both beautiful and monstrous. Gloriously strong.
As I transformed into the dragon of my blood and bloodline, my limbs lengthened, my spine bent, and my T-shirt ripped away as golden scales rippled over me and covered my skin.
“Hop on,” I said in a deep resonate growl to Ruric. He sprang onto my back, and the ground trembled and shook as I ran. I spread my wings, snapping them open like taut leather sails, and we lifted off the ground in a rush of wind.
Ruric clung to me and shouted, “Your father.” Looking down below I saw my father running after us, several alarmed guards trailing him. As I watched, the High Lord’s slight demon shape began to shimmer in a remarkable transformation that stretched him out and out and up into a huge and long, black serpentine dragon. It was a glorious sight, one I’d never thought to see. He launched himself gracefully into the air amidst shouted protests from his guards, a large dragon smile on his face that showed more free and delighted emotion than I’d ever seen on his face.
He was a stunning creature, differently formed than I. Where I was big and bulky, my father was sinuously lean, a mature dragon. While I flapped my wings to catch and ride the wind, he flowed with wings outspread, gracefully airborne, the most dominant predator of land, sky, and maybe even sea.
His fierce dragon cry trumpeted the air, and I threw back my head and added my bugling call to his.
His poor guards. A
n eight-member team set out at a dead run after us. They must be having a hissy fit over my father taking off like that, alone, unguarded. Although I couldn’t imagine what could possibly be of threat to a four-ton, fire-breathing dragon.
Blaec playfully arced and twisted through the air, unburdened by a rider, executing a couple of tight and graceful somersault loops—definitely something I wanted to try at the next opportunity.
Flying in the company of another dragon was exhilarating, and time literally flew by. In less time than I imagined, the dark spires of Darkling Hall, my father’s residence, came into view. Shouts came from the sentry as he caught sight of us: easy enough to do with my booming heartbeat presaging our arrival; it was an arresting sound, much louder in my huge dragon form.
Four royal guards—all that had remained behind—raced out into the courtyard. Thankfully, they didn’t try to shoot us down. I doubt any of them had ever seen the High Lord in dragon form, but it was a well-known fact that we were the last existing members of the dragon clan. Hopefully they knew that the gold dragon was me; Ruric, riding on my back, large and recognizable, should have been a big clue. But if they had any worries or doubts, they were firmly put to rest by the unusually tall and gaunt demon who rushed out into the courtyard.
Winston, the butler of Darkling Hall for as long as I could remember, gazed up at us with moisture glistening in his dark eyes as he watched the High Lord swoop down to land with perfect, light precision—no rustiness at all—and shimmer back into his less prepossessing demon form.
“It has been a long time since you’ve flown as dragon, my lord,” Winston said with more emotion than I’d ever heard before in his voice. For a moment, I thought he was going to break form and say something personal, but he reigned himself in. Ever the perfect butler, he handed my father one of the cloaks he had brought out.
Blaec swung the cloak around himself, grinning broadly. “There are two dragons that soar the sky now; maybe even a third one soon. It is good not to be the only one anymore.”