by James Somers
Behind them, Sadie thrust Malak-esh through the protective wards barring her from entering the coliseum. The barrier, which had been invisible, made a rushing sound, appearing like a blue flame and then extinguishing suddenly at the sword’s intrusion. She wasn’t going to wait, worrying her father and Laish. After all, she might rush ahead foolishly in her present state of mind.
Laish bathed the vampires behind them in lightning to make sure they got the point. They scrambled away like scalded dogs, hurrying to get help from others that were no doubt nearby. The Breed never retreated. They simply regrouped.
“Get after her,” Laish scolded, but Brody was already on the move trying to catch Sadie.
She ran the length of the tunnel ahead, pausing when she reached what appeared to be the entrance to the arena. Brody tried to cry out to her, wanting her to stop before she was harmed. Instead, Sadie rushed ahead, Malak-esh raised high, screaming a cry of battle.
Brody turned back to Laish. The old elf wizard had stopped his attack on the vampires. While they had gone for help, someone else had taken their place.
Ishbe stood in the street a hundred paces away, looking at them with malice in his eyes. Brody recognized their former Master at Arms immediately. He looked almost exactly as he had nine years ago standing upon the inner wall of the Tower of London.
Only now, he was dressed in black breeches and a matching shirt and boots. Across his breast he wore armor made of shimmering red scales. A great broadsword appeared in his hand from nothing. The double-edged sword had the appearance of gold with sunlight playing upon the blade. It was as tall as a man, but Ishbe hefted it easily, as though it were as light as air.
This was the fallen angel, Black, still wearing the same guise he had used to deceive them when Tom and Charlotte were alive. The same body that had been pierced by a mysterious assassin’s bullet nine years ago upon the wall when he sought to overthrow the Descendants with his army of giant metal men. He looked like a man, but he was much more. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. A devil.
“Go!” Laish called back to Brody. “Don’t let her get away from you.”
“But he will—”
“You’ve already lost Sophia! Don’t let Sadie die as well!” Laish barked.
Brody ground his teeth together, watching the angel and his friend. If he left Laish now, he might be killed. But if he didn’t catch Sadie, she might face a similar fate in the arena.
Laish turned to Brody, looking over his shoulder. Grim determination. That’s all Brody could see in the elder elf’s expression.
“I’ve lived a very long life,” he said. “Don’t let her go without her father.”
Brody nodded brusquely. He couldn’t stand to turn away, but neither he nor Laish was willing to risk Sadie’s life for his. Brody turned and went after her, knowing that he might have just laid eyes on his friend for the last time.
Hours since his return to Rockunder, Warner stood by his dragon, Thorn, watching the progress of the Shade King’s spell casters. He had provided Liam Shade with the location of the city where Brody West and his followers were believed to be hold up. The spell casters were in the process of feeling out through the spiritual plane for the place. Up until now, no one in Rockunder had realized that such a place existed.
Liam waited anxiously on horseback. His vast army was assembled upon the quad behind him, filling up the space completely. So many Leprechauns and other Descendants had turned out to fight against West that their numbers spilled far out beyond the training quad into the city for several blocks.
Werewolves, elves and humans had also come to join the king’s cause. Each of them wanted their chance. They wanted their chance at Brody West. The Lycans wanted his head on a platter. The rest hoped for fortune and fame.
At least three hundred of the most powerful spell casters available had been assembled. Most of them were elves and Leprechauns, close relatives in the Descendant order. Other than the Sons of Anarchy, directly birthed from human women and fallen angels, these two clans tended to possess the most Superomantic ability.
A gateway one hundred yards wide began to take shape. Liam grew restless on his mount, a brown stallion arrayed in golden armor plate matching his own. He was young and inexperienced compared to his father, but he would at least look like a king riding into battle.
Several hundred cavalry riders waited anxiously in the wings. They, with their king, would make up the first wave in the assault. The spell casters would be necessary on the other side as well. With their combined ingenuity and power, it was planned that a bridge of sand would be spelled into place spanning from the seashore to the top of the city wall and over.
Liam had even had the foresight to arrange for three teams of one hundred Superomancers who would work in shifts. These, on this side of the portal, had been given the task of opening the gateway and maintaining it until his army passed through. Another two hundred spell casters waited within gold plated chariots.
These would be ushered to the front line among the cavalry riders whose charge it was to protect them and the king. These spell casters would then divide into their hundreds by group. The first would assault the wall with various magical attacks such as lightning and seawater. Elemental spell casters were especially good at these sorts of attacks.
The next group would control the manipulation of the sand bridge, constructing it and maintaining it until the army was able to pass over into the city. The cavalry would divide also, part going over with Liam and the foot soldiers while the rest protected those spell casters maintaining the bridge for them. If they lost too many, the bridge would collapse.
It was a good plan. Liam was pleased with how matters were unfolding. He thought of his time with the druids days before his father had been killed by West. His desire had been to see Brody destroyed. That wish was presently unfolding quite nicely.
However, Taranis had also mentioned something else. The price, he had said, would be great. Liam wondered if his father’s death had been that price paid in full. Could his prayer have been the cause? Had he unknowingly killed his father with his desire to undo West?
No. He would not concede to that sort of thinking. West had been the one. He was the ruthless killer. Liam had long suspected the man being capable of such treachery. After all, West had entered into his father’s throne room upon that first day and held his sword to the Shade King’s throat.
That was who Brody West really was. Not the gentle friend he had pretended all of these years since. It had been just as he witnessed a few days ago. West had been jealous of his father’s power. He had wanted Brian Shade out of the way—his desire for the throne so great that even his own wife had not been too precious a price to pay for it.
Liam put any further doubts from his mind. He was the Shade King now. His new army would march with him into battle and he would see that West paid for his treachery with his life. And when the deed was done, Liam would keep the sword of his enemy, Malak-esh, as a trophy of that victory.
With such a weapon in his possession, he had no need to fear either mortal or angel. No one would stand in his way, even if he decided to go forth into the world, expanding his rule to the ends of the Earth. In his estimation, his father had been a weak king. Still, he missed him. But he would be a greater monarch than Brian Shade had ever dared to dream.
The gateway solidified before them. A world most of them had never seen came into view. Descendants of every race, along with humans loyal to the Leprechaun’s Shade King, grew nervous for the battle ahead. Would they know glory or the pain of death? Animals, from Dragons to horses, tensed to be on their way with their riders and chariots.
Liam raised his father’s sword. The jeweled pommel caught the light of a million infused gemstones shining from the city’s streets and the cavern walls. He would prove himself the better man today.
“To victory!” he cried.
He urged his stallion forward. The entire army shifted behind him. Cavalry horsemen took up wi
th the king. Chariots fell in line with them, carrying their drivers and pairs of spell casters. Infantry soldiers followed them all like a carpet of ants scouring a forest floor.
Warner called to Thorn. The black dragon beat his wings, carrying them into the air. A dozen dragons of varying color followed their alpha. They raced ahead through the portal where they would take up their place over the city when the king was ready. From there they could swoop down, bringing destruction with their fire breathers and acid spitters.
Steadily Liam and his army advanced until he was through the portal gateway created by the first one hundred spell casters. These had been positioned on the back side of the portal. Liam and his army had marched toward them, stolen away from Rockunder just fifty paces from the Superomancers and deposited upon a sandy shoreline in this newly discovered spiritual realm.
The eerie light of infused gemstones gave way to direct sunlight now. This place was warm, and the salty sea air buffeted them immediately. A beautiful blue sea stood between Liam and the city offshore, just as the Dragon Rider, Warner, had told him.
The shadows of dragons circled the army upon the sands, waiting for the Shade King to give them leave to attack. But the time wasn’t yet. Liam waited for his army to assemble. In the meantime, his second hundred spell casters came to the forefront in their chariots.
They disembarked and came to stand before the king. the next hundred moved into position behind them. They looked at one another and then began to work in concert, carrying out the king’s plan for a bridge of sand.
The distance was nearly one half mile. Liam wondered if they could accomplish the task. Certainly there was no lack of material. This entire area was comprised of sand with great dunes of the stuff standing like mountains apart from the shoreline.
Liam smiled as he saw dark clouds beginning to form from nothing in the air above the city. In mere moments, a great thunderhead had begun to churn and boil, growing ever darker. Thunder rolled across the heavens as lightning began to strike down upon the city.
He laughed heartily, raising a fist in triumph toward the leading spell casters. However, to his surprise, they were all looking back at him in bewilderment. Not one of them was focused upon the city. Not one of them was attacking it. The storm had another origin.
Judgment
I had lost sight of Adolf at this point. The battle was still raging in the arena, and I was doing my best to stay aloof, striking down foes that presented themselves. There was no lack of them. Everyone of these slaves kept by the vampires wanted to take our lives and save their own.
I heard the order given by Yusupov. He was calling all of his Breed spectators into the arena to make sure the job was done right. In seconds, vampires had swarmed into the fight. Faster than many of the others, except for the few Lycans, they immediately became our greatest threat.
Attacks came from almost every direction at once, my own kind trying to kill me. They cared nothing for the fact that my mother had been their queen. The allegiance they should rightly have showed to me as my mother’s son and Tiberius’s grandson was non-existent.
Yusupov crashed into me as I turned, barely avoiding a sword thrust. The blade passed by under my left arm, raking my side and opening my skin across my ribs there. I tried to ignore the pain, thrusting my palm under his chin in order to deflect his momentum.
Furious, he swung away with his weapon and back with preternatural speed. I brought my own sword down with my right hand, attempting to deflect the strike. Yusupov adjusted his trajectory slightly, forcing me to let go of my sword. His blade struck the pommel of my weapon a fraction of second later.
Had I not released the weapon, Yusupov would have taken my right hand at the wrist. I had heard of his reputation as a master swordsman. Apparently those rumors were true. And now I was unarmed.
He lunged in to strike, screaming angrily. A bar of bright light interrupted him, severing his blade close to the cross guard. Sadie was suddenly there between us. She pummeled him across the jaw, startling him more than injuring the man. However, she reversed her swing and caught him unguarded, thrusting Malak-esh deep into his torso.
Yusupov leaped away quickly, but the damage was done. The wound in his belly was already bleeding terribly. He looked into my eyes briefly and then fell forward onto his face and moved no more.
I was so surprised by Sadie’s sudden appearance that I almost hugged her. But there was no time for pleasantries. A battle was still raging all around us.
Then I noticed another bar of light, like Sadie’s sword, cutting through foes behind her, heading our way. It was the twin of Malak-esh, another Angel Fire on the move through the crowd.
“Your father is with you?” I asked.
“He found me in a prison cell,” she said, making ready for any attack headed our way. “We’re here to get you out.”
Several slaves and a few vampires moved in around us. Sadie pushed her power through the sword, igniting a fire upon its blade. Both swords magnified any power the user applied to them. These two twin blades were the only weapons we knew that angels feared.
In seconds, Brody was cutting through the line of vampires trying to surround us. They wisely retreated when they saw what swords he and Sadie wielded. They were legendary by now among the Descendants.
“We have to get Adolf,” I said.
Brody looked up as a shadow expanded over the arena. Our gazes followed his, finding a cloud boiling above us that grew ominous in size in a matter of seconds. Thunder and lightning soon followed, striking the city.
“Oh no,” Brody said. “It’s happening.”
By now, a great deal of the fighting had ceased as eyes moved skyward. This was not some random natural event. A terrible foreboding came over me.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
In the sky overhead, silhouetted figures could be seen each time the lightning illuminated the cloud. Winged human forms clashing in battle with what appeared to be the three cherubim. They had not been visible in the air over the city before. However, the thunderhead above us now appeared to encompass them and a battle taking place with heavenly angels.
“God has sent his host, as I was told would happen,” Brody said. “We must escape this place. A terrible judgment will come upon us here. The Lord’s wrath will soon destroy the city.”
Across the arena, we heard Adolf’s mad war cries as he continued to fight. Only the Angel Fire swords were keeping our attackers at bay. They knew better than to come at us. Their weapons would be cleaved in two before they ever struck a blow.
“We’ve got to get to him and leave!” Brody said, making his way across the battlefield toward Adolf.
Sadie was looking around. “What about Laish?” she cried.
“He’s dealing with someone!” Brody said. “Come on!”
“So you think you can take me, old man?” Black asked.
“I’m a realist,” Laish said. “But I figure, I owe you for my brother.”
Black smiled. “Donatus did not have to die that day,” he said. “But he foolishly interfered in my affairs.”
“Donatus was many things, but he was not a fool.”
“I wouldn’t repeat his mistake, if I were you,” Black warned. “Step aside. It’s West I’m after.”
Laish held up his hands. Electrical discharges dances between his fingertips. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You can’t win, old man.”
“I don’t have to win,” Laish replied. Then he attacked the angel.
Liam waited as his spell casters harnessed billions of grains of sand, forcing them into place within the bridge construct they were creating together. Slow and steady the bridge formed, spanning the distance between seashore and city wall. Until the final measures were put into place, Liam and his army would not be capable of marching over. The grains of sand were positioned, but they had not been solidified as a whole yet.
The massive thunderhead swirling over the city had not abated in the le
ast. If anything, the clouds had grown darker, broader, churning out more lightning. As yet, it had not rained, which seemed strange. The air was growing hotter but also less humid.
Liam dismissed the phenomena. He had no time to worry about the weather. There was a city to conquer and a murderer to bring to justice.
He called out to Warner, who was circling close enough to hear the king’s command. Liam thrust his sword toward the city. “Go, dragons!”
Thorn and his rider reacted instantly. They had waited long enough while the Shade King’s army assembled. The dragons were ready to go into battle. The thrill of the fight fueled a growing hunger for violence that they did not often have the opportunity to enjoy.
The spell casters soon had the bridge in place, spanning the distance to the city. Final wards and locks were placed to the spell matrix, completing the work. All they had to do now was to support the framework so that an army could cross without the entire thing falling to pieces and dumping the Shade King and his soldiers into the sea.
The lead Superomancer signaled Liam that all was ready. He could proceed at any time. So far, no response had come to them from the city. Either no one was there, or they were so preoccupied that they hadn’t noticed an entire army at their door.
“Forward!” Liam called back.
The command passed from unit commander to unit commander all the way back through the ranks. Cavalry riders proceeded forward. The Shade King rode at the forefront, protected by wards that were being carefully maintained by spell casters.
He smiled as his army began to march across the sand bridge. The construct head firm. Victory would soon be his. “I’m coming for you West.”
Lightning surged from Laish’s outstretched arms toward the fallen angel known as Mr. Black. He never would have thought that he would ever undertake such a task. Picking a fight with an angel was pure suicide. But he was trying to buy time for Brody and the others. And he did have unfinished business regarding his brother’s death.