War of the Raven Queen: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 6

by Araya Evermore

  ‘There, the elves!’ shouted Issa, pointing to a group of elves helplessly surrounded by Maphraxies.

  ‘Protection!’ Issa commanded as the Maphraxies surged forwards. A shimmering barrier surrounded the elves. Maphraxie swords smacked uselessly against it. Unwilling to use fire and risk the elves’ lives, Asaph swiped and grabbed Maphraxies into his talons. With a clench, their armour crumpled, and black blood oozed over his claws. He threw away the bloody mess to the sound of cheering elves.

  An explosion to the left caught her attention.

  Asaph turned. An enormous black hole yawned open in the courtyard. Feylint Halanoi and Maphraxie alike fell howling into the blackness. Issa stared. What horror was this now emerging? Heavy drum beats came, echoing dully. The battle paused as opponents watched.

  A Dread Dragon screamed within the earth, then out of the cavern spewed hundreds of dark dwarves, Maphraxies and death hounds. The fresh enemy ran into the Feylint Halanoi lines, cutting them down like blades of grass. Over their heads soared a Dromoorai, and it came straight for Asaph.

  Heavy magic hit him, shunting him upwards. The wind disappeared, his wings became flaccid, and he fell out of the sky.

  Issa gasped as they spun. Asaph desperately flapped his wings, but it was as if he were in a vacuum. She grabbed Illendri and closed her eyes. Air magic did not come naturally to the orb of earth and water, but she remembered Haelgon’s lessons in weather magic. Air came, but barely. She filled Asaph’s wings only enough to slow his plummet so that he floated down.

  ‘I cannot fight grounded and protect you,’ Asaph growled, staring up at the fast descending Dromoorai.

  Issa bit her lip, watching the ground loom towards them. ‘That hole they opened, they must have created massive tunnels, maybe even portals. More could come, perhaps the entire legion of Maphrax straight from Maphrax. We must block it!’

  Asaph hit the mountainside. With his wings spread, he slid down it before coming to a controlled stop on a ledge. He ran along it on three legs, still holding her in his fourth, his limping gait jolting every bone in her body.

  He reared up to meet the Dread Dragon. It slashed at him with giant talons, tearing the scales on his back. He sprayed it with fire and raked his teeth along its belly, unable to get a good grip as it passed. The Dread Dragon arced around and returned. Issa pulled on the Flow, shielding them from the fiery torrent.

  Asaph managed to get airborne again, but the wind moved strangely, and he struggled and panted. Shielding him swiftly became exhausting and the Flow sputtered in her grasp. She glanced back at Diredrull. Maphraxies continued to stream out of the black hole. How long before more Dromoorai came? They were all tired and exhausted, and this new enemy fresh. If they became outnumbered, they would lose this city and thousands would die.

  ‘Set me down, Asaph. I must—’ her sentence was cut off as the Dread Dragon dropped into Asaph. They weren’t high in the air and slammed back onto the mountainside. Issa was thrown from his grasp. She rolled over and over, dirt filling her mouth, nose and eyes. Coughing and choking she got onto her knees, her hand grabbing her sword. Asaph was already neck to neck with the Dread Dragon.

  Issa held Illendri up and focused on the earth. Rocks tore themselves from the mountain, lifted into the air and smashed into the Dromoorai, nearly dismounting it. It turned towards her.

  ‘No!’ Asaph roared, snapping at the Dromoorai to get its attention back. ‘Issa get away!’

  Issa nodded and stepped back, looking left and right and wondering how to help. Ehka squawked, wanting her to get airborne. Something caught her eye. In the distance far to the West, a giant dust cloud grew. Had another army come to their aid, or was this a new enemy?

  ‘Ehka, can you go look?’

  He flew away. Issa closed her eyes and connected with the bird. The dust cloud neared, and within it she saw people—soldiers marching. It took her a long moment to believe what she was seeing through Ehka’s eyes. Hundreds of soldiers, most dressed as knights in plate armour and riding horses, whilst others were dressed in leathers, armed with spears and riding enormous brown bears. She stared at the bears as they loped towards Diredrull following a woman seated atop a massive beast. The scar on its muzzle was familiar. Issa stared harder, but the woman had a helmet on and she couldn’t see more than that.

  Ehka had keener senses and a picture of a woman came into her mind from him along with the word, Navadin.

  ‘Jarlain,’ Issa breathed. ‘Oh my goodness.’ There just might be enough knights and Navadin to hold off the enemy.

  Issa reluctantly tore her gaze from the bear riders and focused upon the hole through which Maphraxies poured. Suddenly she knew what to do, she just didn’t know if she had the strength or energy left to do it. I have to try, even if I lose myself in the Flow, otherwise we are doomed.

  23

  Two Become One

  Trying to ignore the roars and clap of jaws, Issa held Illendri before her, absorbing her mind deeper into the orb which reached into the earth, reading the energy lines, hunting for water. Deeper it searched, through dark, ancient rocks never touched by the light of the sun, until it found a gush of water feeding an underground pool.

  With Illendri leading, she followed the water. The river spoke to her of times long past. Once, it wound all the way to Tarvalastone, but since the city had fallen it had been blocked. The Fallen City, the water element called it, and the river here yearned to find the surface and reach the light once more. With Illendri, she could see a way, and all she had to do was coax that elemental yearning.

  ‘This way,’ she whispered to it, ‘this way to the light.’

  When Illendri reached a rock blocking their path, a word came into her mind and she whispered it. The rock cracked and moved apart, allowing the water passage.

  Onwards they flowed, the river, Illendri and she, until they reached another barrier of impenetrable stone. Another word, more a tonal vibration, came to her lips and the stone sunk into the earth, creating a new course through the firmament towards the Fallen City.

  As she worked, Illendri found new water pools and sunken springs, lost since the fall of Tarvalastone. ‘Rise,’ said the orb to the water, ‘rise up.’

  They hit a wall of stone, the outer walls of Diredrull. The water frothed and churned, Issa felt the pressure of it build against the city’s foundations, and still more water came. Illendri called it from every nook and cranny, urging the liquid element to it from all directions, and it filled Issa with anxious excitement.

  A great crack developed deep in the earth. She felt it reverberate through the soil reaching her body even here, far away on the mountainside. Eyes still closed, she saw a tsunami explode through walls and thunder into the darkness beneath Diredrull, filling that gaping black hole. Dark things moved, fleeing from the torrent. Howls, distorted and strange to her remote senses, echoed over the roar of water that tore at everything. It ripped rocks off the walls and ceilings and carried them like toys.

  ‘Rage,’ whispered Issa, sending forth her command, and the water raged. The ground trembled, distant thunder sounded, coming not from the air but from the ground. The great hole in the earth collapsed upon itself.

  Issa opened her eyes and stared. In the distance, the entire courtyard and centre of the city crumbled and sank into the hole. Great turrets tumbled, entire walls vanished. Earth and debris billowed thickly into the air as light dwarf towers and Maphraxie bunkers sunk into the ground together. A torrent of water spurted upwards and out, the river of old gleefully reaching the light. It flowed where it willed, seeking to create a new course, seeking to wash away the creatures that had enslaved it.

  Asaph staggered towards her, his clothes and leather armour in shreds, black and red blood smeared over his face. He limped, and exhaustion etched deep into the frown on his brow, but there was a smile on his face. He took her hand and sank down beside her without a word. Together they watched what she and Illendri had done.

  The Feylint Halano
i retreated back from the river now raging through the city. The enemy were in complete disarray, and those not caught in the flood fled in all directions. Wherever they went, they met the Feylint Halanoi, Karalanths or the Navadin and soldiers just reaching the city. The soldiers, fresh and unsullied, cut the enemy down in their hundreds.

  Issa watched the Navadin in awe as beast and human worked as one powerful unit, spearing and clawing together, the roars of bears echoing over the mountain.

  ‘It’s over,’ said Asaph nodding. ‘The city is ours. Tarvalastone lives again! What's left of it…’

  Issa blinked back tears and hugged him, then gasped. ‘Look Asaph, the sky!’

  Above them, the muddy red clouds paled to grey. In the patches between them, faint blue could be seen. From the West, a shard of brilliant golden-orange light burst through the clouds over the mountain and onto the city.

  ‘So the sun is still there, and it’s glorious,’ she breathed, marvelling at the final rays of a sunset that had not been seen on this land for so long.

  ‘So it’s true,’ Asaph said after a time as he got to his feet and pulled her up. ‘When we take back our lands, the land itself heals.’

  Issa laughed and buried her face into his chest, tears of joy filling her eyes.

  Asaph landed in the rubble of the city, and an ecstatic crowd of cheering soldiers surrounded them.

  He set Issa down and resumed his human form. Ehka landed on a broken section of wall next to her and surveyed the celebrating throng. Cusap’anth and Rhul’ynth pushed forwards.

  ‘Well met, Dragon Lord and Raven Queen,’ said the deer-man.

  There was no time to reply for Marakon and Bokaard came to them, then Eiretonne and Naksu, followed by a nervous Ekem and Ata.

  ‘Thank the goddess you’re all alive,’ said Issa, looking at each of them. ‘And the demons?’ She raised an eyebrow at Marakon.

  He grinned. ‘They’ve returned to report back to their King. They said they had a good time and hope to return.’

  Issa laughed.

  ‘Issa! Issa!’ someone yelled.

  She turned to see Velonorian pushing through the crowd. The elf’s face was flushed, and he was breathless as if he’d just finished fighting and run all the way here.

  ‘Velonorian!’ She embraced him.

  Pulling away, she realised she’d made his face flush even redder. He smiled indulgently. ‘My Queen, I did all I could to protect you.’

  ‘You saved my life several times, Velonorian,’ she said, her voice serious.

  His eyes sparkled. ‘What do you need of me now? Tell me and I shall joyfully get it.’

  ‘Just water… and to check on Duskar.’

  ‘Of course, my Lady, it is done.’ He took her hand, bent low to kiss it, then whirled away to do as she commanded. She watched him go, flattered and bemused by his unfaltering devotion.

  ‘I hope you don’t expect that kind of behaviour from me,’ said Asaph, winking when she looked at him.

  ‘Well, he’s just so darn helpful!’ Issa grinned wickedly.

  Haelgon and Luren emerged from the crowd. Though they were smiling, they hung off their staves and looked exhausted. Their capes were covered in dirt and more brown than purple, and their eyes glowed turquoise, just as hers probably did. Freydel was not with them. She felt a stab of pain, the severity of it taking her by surprise. Forcing a smile, she refused to think about the traitor wizard who had once been her beloved tutor.

  ‘That was some trick you pulled back there,’ said Haelgon, smiling enigmatically.

  Issa shrugged. ‘Not so much me, Illendri has its own powers. Just think of the power all the orbs combined could command.’

  He was about to reply when the crowd murmured and parted. A bear rider made her way towards them. Soldiers eyed the bear nervously, on its face, a scar pulled up its lip enough to reveal huge fangs. But the bear was placid, and his eyes lazily focused on the ground.

  Marakon ran to them and swept the woman from the bear’s back. She lifted off her helmet and a shock of curly black hair sprung out. Soldiers cheered as Jarlain and Marakon kissed unabashedly.

  Asaph stepped hesitantly towards a young man seated on an enormous brown bear.

  Without his dragon form, he could not communicate to the beast with his mind, but it seemed contented enough to let him approach. The mounted man wore leathers instead of a full suit of armour, though he did have a Feylint Halanoi helmet on that mostly concealed his features. But it was the way he moved, and his unruly dark brown hair…so familiar as he dismounted.

  ‘Jommen?’ Asaph called, his heart pounding.

  The man turned.

  ‘Asaph?’ His golden eyes widened.

  The two men ran to each other, laughing. Jommen tore off his helmet to show a large scar which slashed from cheek to cheek across his nose. The redness was fading but the flesh would always be puckered.

  Asaph stared at his old friend, homesickness flowing over him in powerful waves. ‘It’s so good to see you, I never thought I would again! Where are the others, Kahly and Tillin, and what about Gurapoha?’ He scanned the dismounting Navadin looking for people he recognised but it was hard to tell when they all wore helmets. There were people from all of the other tribes—even the far southern tribes he’d rarely met.

  ‘No, Asaph,’ said Jommen quietly, drawing Asaph’s gaze back to him. The man shook his head slowly, his eyes dropping to the ground.

  Asaph swallowed against a painful lump and they embraced silently. In his mind he saw Kahly’s smiling face, athletic shoulders drawing back her bow strong. Gone…

  When they pulled apart, Jommen spoke.

  ‘Barely two hundred of our people remain. Other tribes were luckier, but not by much – some are less than a hundred. The evil ones came on black ships in their thousands…we could not fight them. We fled.’ Shadows passed across Jommen’s face and he swallowed. ‘She fought like a tiger before the end, so they said. Her family, too…all gone. We think they took most of the children away, and that’s the worst bit—’ Jommen’s voice broke and he turned away, his fists trembling.

  ‘Don’t, Jommen.’ Asaph gripped the man’s shoulder. ‘I know how it is. Don’t relive it.’

  ‘So we fight, me and Ooster, and all of us.’ He looked from his bear to Asaph, eyes red rimmed and glassy. He swept his hand over the Navadin. ‘We’ll not stop until they—or we—are all dead.’

  Asaph forced a smile at his fiery friend. ‘You sound like a Karalanth. I’d never even heard about the Navadin until now. Together we are formidable indeed.’

  Jommen nodded, the pain fading from his face a little as he tried to smile. He looked at his people tending their bears. ‘Despite everything we have suffered, all of us are together again as one people, like once we were. Great Doonis came to us through our leader, Jarlain. The old power within us has awakened and every one of us remembers an ancient land lost long ago.’

  Jommen turned and patted his bear who looked at his rider adoringly. ‘But you, Asaph…You just disappeared one day. Only Gurapoha knew where you had gone. Said you had returned home and would say no more about it. Now look at you! We always knew you were weird, but a Dragon Lord? There’s so much we have to talk about, my friend.’

  Asaph grinned. ‘Of course, and soon, but not now. Let’s feast and celebrate. We’ll share a meal and drink dwarven spirits and you can tell me all about home.’

  Asaph and Issa approached the enormous ice blue dragon.

  He rested, paw over paw, head raised but dozing, at the base of the mountain where the remains of the city wall lay in rubble. He was covered in a thousand wounds, more numerous than they were deep. Most had closed but some oozed puss. Asaph was reluctant to disturb him, but Issa kept on walking.

  ‘You wouldn’t let them tend your wounds,’ said Issa to Morhork.

  Many Draxians had come to help the wingless dragon, curious to see their ancient allies of old, but Morhork had sent them away, some running for their lives.
The temperamental dragon maybe helping them, but he was still difficult.

  Morhork opened a golden eye a crack and looked down at them. ‘I don’t need men to help me, they need me to help them.’ He lifted a claw to inspect it, then set it down.

  ‘You came to fight,’ said Asaph, it was a statement rather than a question.

  Morhork took in a deep breath and looked to the North. ‘If I had not, no one would still be alive here now. None could have survived that many Dromoorai.’

  Reluctantly, Asaph nodded. ‘We couldn’t have fought so many at once. But more will come, I have no doubt. Maybe they’re already on their way.’

  ‘No,’ Morhork let out a smoky breath. He sounded weary. ‘No, they will not. They’re heading north, north to the dragons to destroy them, and I’m too weak and exhausted to get to them.’

  A chill went down Asaph’s spine. It couldn’t be true. What care did Baelthrom have about the North when he’d just lost Diredrull, his ancient city?

  ‘How do you know?’ Asaph asked, folding his arms over his chest.

  ‘A dragon knows another’s mind, even a Dread Dragon’s mind. You’ll learn this, in time. I can feel them now, thinking about the North.’

  ‘Those dumb beasts actually think?’ Issa snorted.

  ‘Not really,’ said Morhork. ‘They have thoughts, orders, directions placed in their minds by the Dromoorai—who in turn take orders from Baelthrom. They are not truly autonomous.’

  ‘Then we’ll go north,’ said Issa. Asaph stared at her, clearly shocked she would suggest such a thing and be willing to go.

  Morhork regarded her for a long time. ‘There’s a reason Baelthrom isn’t sending all his efforts here to Venosia. It’s plagued me for a long time but now I think I know why. He simply doesn’t care.’

  ‘What?’ Issa laughed and looked incredulously at Asaph.