[Vankara Saga 03.0] War of Atonement

by SJ West

  “Are you ready for what you have to do today?” Gabriel asked me as I sat alone at the conference table we had used the day before.

  Gabriel didn’t look well. His eyes were red and the skin beneath them was so dark I wondered if he had contracted some sort of disease. He looked pale and tired, making me wonder if he had slept at all during the past few days.

  “As ready as I can be, I guess.” What else could I say? That I was looking forward to killing Karis? Gabriel knew me better than that. “Are you all right? You look ill.”

  “I’m fine,” Gabriel said dismissively, obviously not wanting to talk about himself. “If I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much about today. I’m sure things will turn out the way they should.”

  I saw Dracen approach from the direction of the dragons’ camp. Vincent was following behind him by a few feet.

  It was decided that I should ride Vincent to the capital. It would take at least half the day for the ground troops to travel through the woods in order to get into position around the Fae city. Vincent was selected to stay at base camp with me while everyone else made their way inland. In a few hours, he would fly me into the city. I was supposed to make a dramatic entrance to gain the attention of all the Fae, including Karis. Vincent’s sudden appearance was sure to cause a stir since none of the Fae had ever seen a white dragon before. We hoped to tap into their sense of curiosity and earn a meeting with Karis.

  A small party of Edeson’s men would also be staying behind with me, just in case something unexpected happened. Plus, we needed them to keep an eye on our campsite and the ships still anchored out at sea.

  “I feel odd about all of you traipsing through the woods while I ride in on a dragon,” I told Dracen, and not for the first time. Ever since this part of the plan had been explained to me, it hadn’t sat well.

  “You will make an entrance like a queen should,” Dracen said. I could tell he was exasperated by my complaint from the tone he used.

  “It still doesn’t feel right,” I grumbled.

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Dracen assured me with a pat on the back. Dracen looked at Gabriel. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”

  “I don’t think I would be of any use to you there in my current state,” Gabriel replied.

  I saw him glance down the shoreline to where Tyr had been chained up. Since we needed all of the dragons for the fight with the Fae, surplus chains from the ships had been brought on shore to make sure Tyr couldn’t escape. The heavy iron chains had been draped over his body vertically as well as horizontally and padlocked to the trunks of massive trees the dragons had drove into the ground around him. No matter how hard Tyr pulled, neither the chains nor the trees gave him an extra inch.

  “If the two of you will excuse me,” Gabriel said, standing from his seat, “I think it’s time I had a chat with my dragon.”

  “Be careful,” I cautioned. I knew Gabriel would always be drawn to Tyr. It wasn’t something he could deny or control, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Aurora and I watched Gabriel walk down the beach towards Tyr, each of us feeling a great sense of pity for our friend. He faced a hardship that was not of his own making, and we knew he would have to find a way to make the best of it.

  “In time, perhaps they can come up with an arrangement that will be beneficial to them both,” Aurora suggested.

  “Maybe,” I reluctantly agreed, even though I didn’t hold out a lot of hope that something like that would actually happen. I feared Gabriel was doomed to live a half-life, never quite trusting himself again because of his connection to Tyr. He would have to learn how to keep his own thoughts separate and tune out the hate-filled ones Tyr was bound to have.

  “He’ll find his way,” Dracen told me reassuringly, hoping to ease my disquiet.

  “Where is Lanai?”

  “She’s giving Thomas a few encouraging words,” Dracen said with a small smile. “The two of them have grown close over the past few days.”

  “It makes sense. She missed her opportunity to raise a child when she gave Gabriel up, and Thomas has never known the love of a mother. I’m glad they’ve found each other, especially now when everyone needs the support of a loved one.”

  “I want you to know that you can count on me,” Dracen said, indicating without blatantly saying it that he hoped I considered him to be a loved one.

  I stood from my seat at the table and wrapped my arms around Dracen. I heard him sigh contentedly as I rested my cheek against his shoulder. With only the briefest of pauses, he placed his arms around me too, and without having to say the words, I knew he felt how much I cared for him. I would never be able to remember my days with him as Kira, but I hoped to build a future where he was a key feature in my everyday life.

  “I’ve missed holding you,” he told me, his voice quavering in a way that told of a father’s eternal love for his daughter.

  “I don’t want you to go back to Ledmarrow,” I told him, voicing an idea I’d been keeping secret until now. “I want you to live in Iron City with us.” I pulled back so I could look him in the face as I made my request. “I would rather have you live in the palace with us, but I’ll understand if that’s asking too much from you. As long as you’re in the city that will be enough to make me happy.”

  Dracen smiled, but there was a touch of melancholia in the act. “Thank you for wanting me to live closer to you. Maybe we can talk about it later after everything is over.”

  I smiled. “There’s so much in my life right now that I want to thank you for. If it wasn’t for what you helped Kira do, I wouldn’t have the friends and loved one that I do now. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remember everything about her, but I’m certain she would be happy for me.”

  “She most definitely would.” Dracen raised a hand and lovingly cupped the side of my face. “I’m so proud of the woman you have become. You fight for what’s right in ways most people would shy away from. I know today will be hard for you. It might even be the worst day of your life, but you will persevere. Just remember that what you do today has to be done. Your convictions need to be set on that truth because the slightest hesitation in casting your spell may result in an outcome none of us can predict. Karis must be taken out for the safety of everyone.”

  I nodded. “I know. I may not want to do it, but I will.”

  Dracen drew me back into his arms once more, lending me his strength for what lay ahead.

  After everyone was gone and on their way to the Fae capital, Lanai and I took a stroll along the beach. Neither of us seemed in the mood to talk much. I think we simply wanted companionship as we waited the allotted time for our departure. Hours passed and before I knew it, the time to leave was quickly upon us.

  “We should be going, Sarah,” Vincent said as he walked up the shoreline to where Lanai, Aurora, and I were sitting. I stood from the sand and held out a hand to help Lanai stand up. Just as she got to her feet, a commotion from the opposite end of the shore drew our attention.

  We watched as Tyr rose up onto his hind legs and let out a mighty roar, tossing the chains that were keeping him pinned down off his back. The ten men Edeson left behind began running down the beach with their guns drawn, but I knew any shots they got off would be useless against Tyr. It would be like throwing pebbles at a grown man in a vain attempt to take him down.

  I’m not sure if I was more stunned by Tyr disposing of his shackles so easily or the sight of Gabriel quickly clambering onto Tyr’s back. Seeing this, I began running down the beach, yelling to the men, “Stop shooting! Stop shooting!”

  The men were too far away to hear me, and I watched in horror as one of their shots found Gabriel. He clutched at his left arm, and I heard him cry out in pain, but not even being shot stopped him from continuing to climb onto Tyr’s back. Once he was there, Tyr launched himself into the air with more strength than I thought the injured dragon had left in him. Apparently, he had healed enough in the last few days to successf
ully escape his shackles with Gabriel’s help.

  “Sarah!” I heard Vincent call from behind me. “Hurry, we may be able to catch them!”

  Vincent already had Lanai on his back. When I got to him, I quickly ran up his wing to take my seat in the saddle in front of her.

  “Hold on to me!” I told her just before Vincent launched his body skyward.

  “What is Gabriel thinking?” I asked. It was a rhetorical question, of course, but it was the only one my mind needed the answer to.

  “I think the more pertinent question is where is he going?” Vincent said. “And I think I can answer that one.”

  Vincent’s tone indicated that I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “Where is he going, Vincent?”

  “Straight to the Fae capital.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Why would he go there?” Aurora asked, sounding as bewildered by the turn of events as I felt.

  I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

  Vincent was flying as fast as he could to catch up to Tyr and Gabriel, but Tyr was flying just as fast as us, making it impossible to catch them before they reached the city. Even though he was injured, Tyr seemed hell-bent on reaching the capital before anyone could stop him.

  Gabriel’s actions spoke of a man desperately trying to achieve something specific, but what did he hope to gain by taking Tyr to the Fae capital? Had Tyr convinced him to go there for some nefarious reason? I knew Gabriel wasn’t exactly thinking straight at the moment, but helping Tyr escape made absolutely no sense. And why go to the Fae? Did they have a healer who could make Tyr whole again? Was finding help for his dragon companion Gabriel’s motivation? It didn’t seem like a probable answer, but what else could explain his odd actions?

  As Vincent flew us towards the capital, I began to wonder if my original plan would work now. It all depended on what Gabriel and Tyr did there.

  An hour later, the Fae capital came into view. It was easy to tell where it was from the air because what appeared to be a legion of dragons were circling it.

  “Vincent, you have to get us in range of Gregoire. They can’t attack Tyr with Gabriel riding his back.”

  “Don’t worry,” Vincent said. “Our dragons won’t attack him because of that fact. Tyr knows this. I’m sure he’s counting on it.”

  As expected, our dragons didn’t attack Tyr as he flew below the tree line and into the Fae capital.

  “What do you want to do?” Vincent asked me.

  I wanted to tell Vincent to follow them into the city, but I knew I couldn’t do that yet.

  “Land us near Dracen and the others like we originally planned. We need to make sure Lanai is kept safe. I’m not about to take her anywhere near Karis.”

  Vincent made a gradual descent and found a clear spot on the narrow dirt road that led up to the capital. As we made our way down, I saw the army of automatons that now surrounded the city. When I was a child, I never liked them much. There always seemed to be something hidden behind their eyes, and now I knew what that something was—a human soul. I pitied them now, but that didn’t change the fact that they were a threat to us. With Karis controlling them, they were an army that couldn’t be defeated, no matter how hard we fought against them.

  Vincent touched down on the road, giving me a better view of where our ground troops were. Our forces were already positioned around the city. They were simply waiting for me to do my part, but I wasn’t sure I would be given the opportunity to do that anymore. It all depended on what Gabriel was doing. What was he up to in there?

  Dracen left the safety of the forest and rushed over to us.

  “What is Gabriel doing?” he asked me in a mixture of confusion and urgency.

  “I have no idea,” I told him as I stood to help Lanai out of the saddle. I held onto her arm as I helped her walk down Vincent’s wing. “But I’m going to find out.”

  “Maybe you should wait to see how this plays out first,” Dracen suggested.

  “No,” I said resolutely. “This may not be the way we planned it, but I need to get over there in case Gabriel is making things worse.”

  “He’s already made things worse,” Dracen grumbled. “He’s upset a plan that would have worked. Who knows what he’s telling Karis now! Tyr may have turned him completely against us, and Karis could know your true agenda now.”

  “In every life that I’ve known Gabriel, he has always been a man of honor, even if his recent actions indicate otherwise. I trust him. He won’t betray us, especially not me.”

  “She’s right, Dracen,” Lanai said as she accepted Dracen’s hand to help her to the ground. “My son would not betray the queen.”

  Dracen sighed. “Just be careful. At the first sign of trouble, use your pendant to teleport you to Vincent.”

  I nodded. “I will. I won’t take any unnecessary risks with my life.”

  I couldn’t even if I wanted to. It wouldn’t just be my life I was risking. Unconsciously, I placed my hand against my stomach as I turned to retake my place in the saddle on Vincent’s back.

  “Take me to the Fae queen’s palace,” I told Vincent. Odds were favorable that Karis would be residing in the queen’s home. If he thought himself the new leader of the Fae, what better place to live than the palace built for its royalty?

  From the air, Nuala’s home looked like one giant tree around which the city was built. It was actually composed of ten giant redwoods that had grown so close that the base of their trunks had fused together to form what was essentially a giant fortress of wood.

  “Land on the south side of it,” I instructed Vincent.

  On my first visit here, I remembered the strange way Nuala’s paramour, Kian, entered the palace, and I prayed that the entrance would open up for me as easily as it did for him.

  When Vincent landed near the giant roots sprouting from the ground around the palace, I immediately scanned the area for any hostile forces. There were none to be seen. There wasn’t even a whisper of motion among the trees in which the Fae had made their homes. It was eerily like my first visit, making me wonder if the Fae ever saw the light of day or if they cowered inside their homes all of the time. It was just as well. The less people I had to deal with the better.

  “Go back to Dracen and the others,” I told Vincent. “That way if I find myself in trouble in there, I can use my pendant to teleport to you.”

  Vincent sighed deeply. “I don’t like leaving you here all by yourself.”

  “I know,” I sympathized. “But the best thing you can do for me is to go somewhere safe in case I need a quick exit. It wouldn’t do me a lot of good if you were still on this side of the front.”

  “Be careful. If I’m certain of one thing, it’s that Tyr did not come here to help Gabriel or you in any way. He only cares about himself. It’s the one thing I know for a fact.”

  “I promise that I’ll be careful.”

  “Don’t worry,” Aurora told Vincent. “I won’t allow her to stay if her life is placed in danger.”

  I walked down Vincent’s wing towards the same root I saw Kian touch to open the entrance into the palace. I waited until Vincent was back in the air before I reached my hand out and touched the root. Just like before, the root rose up and made an archway, revealing a black marble pathway beneath it that I knew would lead me directly to the queen’s throne room. I wasn’t surprised to find Fae soldiers lining the walls of the hidden corridor in even intervals. They all turned to look at me, but none of them made a move to stop me as I walked into the palace. The smell of earth mingled with wood in the hallway took me back to the first time I was here. Fallon had been with me then. I wished he was with me now.

  “I’m here,” Aurora reminded me. “Together we can face anything, Sarah.”

  “I know.” I said, taking in a deep breath to brace myself for what would come next.

  As I entered the great chamber of the throne room, Karis was the first one I saw. It was strange that someone who looked so
young could be so heartless and deadly. The pale white skin of Karis’ face seemed to glow as the sunlight that streamed into the room from above focused on him like a spotlight. His thick black hair gave him a sinister look and contrasted dramatically with his bright blue-green eyes.

  As I looked around the room, I saw no one else was here except for Gabriel. I assumed Karis’ false sense of superiority made him feel as if he didn’t need the protection his soldiers would have provided. It would certainly make things easier for me. I wouldn’t have to worry about Gabriel being taken by a guard before I could teleport us safely out of here.

  Gabriel stood with his hands clasped before him and head bowed as if he were studying some speck of dust on the floor in front of him with great interest. I saw him blink, so I knew Karis hadn’t used his ability to freeze people into place on him, but what was he doing here? What was his agenda, and why hadn’t he shared it with me before taking such drastic measures?

  “Well, well, well,” Karis said haughtily from his throne. He sat back in it like a man who knew everything about me when in actuality he knew nothing. “I must say, Queen Emma, I didn’t expect to see you in my palace so soon.”

  “Your palace?” I asked, lifting a dubious eyebrow as I looked around the throne room. “I was under the impression that this was still Nuala’s country. Did she gift it to you like an owner gives a dog a bone?”