Faowind came to her aid and pulled her up to her feet. Karven and three other dragons flew over their heads, setting more skeletons alight. The heat of the flames singed the hair on their skin. In the confusion, the screams of a few elves and humans escaped the flames.
“Be careful, princess, and stay close to my side!” said Faowind.
“Behind you!” she cried, spotting an undead knight closing in on their position, its shiny sword pointing forward as it charged.
Faowind turned just in time to cross swords with the attacking knight. He narrowed his eyes. Both of them held their swords in position, using all of their strength, and growled at each other. Helenia’s sword flew upwards into the undead knight’s head and connected with the metal of its decaying helm, sending it high into the air before it landed on the ground with a solid thud. They caught sight of the undead for the first time and were sickened by the sight. Its flesh was horridly decayed, rotten muscles holding its form together; its body was animated only by the spell Kassina had cast to raise them.
“Die!” yelled the undead knight, its voice a deep guttural sound.
Faowind spun to the side; the attacking knight’s sword fell hard into a pool of blood on the ground to splash blood into the air around them. The undead knight fell forward and dropped to its knees, screaming with anger. Before it had time to recover from the fall, Helenia swung her sword down with her full body’s weight behind it, and took its head clean off. Faowind saw a glint in the corner of the knight’s eye; he crouched down and raised his shield high to stop a volley of arrows from the headless, but still animated body.
Rumble…
The earth quaked and knocked them both down to the ground, as well as the Dark Army in their close vicinity. As the dust began to settle, Helenia recognised the body of the Dragon Queen lying in the middle of the battlefield. She could see that the dragon was not breathing and appeared lifeless.
Karven's growling voice boomed over the battlefield, “No! Nymira!"
The Dragon King marched with furious intent, ignoring the weapons raining down on his armour and scales as he powered on through the destruction. Nothing else mattered as he made his way to Nymira and nudged her now-lifeless body gently with his head.
Andrielle came into their view as the dust continued to settle, her armour covered in splashes of blood. She knelt down and grunted as she ripped her sword out of a downed skeleton warrior. The Queen of the Elves approached the dragons, small fires around them reflecting off her shining armour.
“I am so sorry, Karven,” began Andrielle. But Karven would have none of it.
“Our queen has fallen – there is nothing left to say! She must be avenged!” growled Karven with a shaking voice, his eyes fiery.
His power appeared to affect the other dragons as their eyes also grew fiery and narrowed. His voice rang over the battlefield. "Dragons,” he screamed, “it's now or never... Show them our fury!"
The King of Dragons entered into an uncontrolled fit of rage, as he flew with purpose into the middle of the Dark Army and wildly began to attack anything that came within his reach. The remaining dragons landed around him and they fought from the ground as a unified group. Finn and Karven both leapt on the attacking golem, absorbing the powerful blows from its fists as Glaucus pounded into their scaled flesh. Tails swung viciously into a group of shadow demons, sending their bodies flying high into the air, and the dragons breathed fire over them as they fell back to the ground.
“Take down those dragons, now!” ordered Kassina in a booming voice.
The Dark Army closed in on the dragons as the battle continued fiercely. The sound of laughter was heard over the screams, and Kassina emerged from the smoke. She stepped over the dead and dying as if they were discarded rubbish on the battlefield. Andrielle and Faowind stood together beside Helenia. They gripped their swords tightly as the sorceress came to a halt a short distance ahead of them, the wind blowing her hair across her face.
Vartan, where are you? Helenia desperately sent out her call.
“Oh please,” snarled Kassina, pointing a long finger at them all. “Your precious boy should be well and truly dead by now, along with his pathetic excuses for parents. All of you are next! You will all die here tonight.”
“No! My love! You lie!” Helenia cried.
The princess took a few furious steps towards the sorceress, but stopped herself in her tracks as Kassina raised her hand and attempted to throw lightning at the elves. A few sparks flickered at her fingertips and she shook her hand in annoyance. Kassina sighed, reached down to her hips and drew out both of her swords to her sides, adopting a defensive stance. She smiled, revealing her pearly fangs as her fingernails grew into claws and her eyes narrowed. “I guess I will have to kill you all with my bare hands.”
Andrielle snarled. “Do you seriously think you can defeat the three of us without your magic?”
“Everyone always underestimates me! I am somewhat used to that. Why don’t you come closer and find out by how much?” taunted Kassina.
Suddenly a man’s voice yelled from behind her. “Why don’t you turn around, wench?” Kassina half turned to see Vartan and Leon standing beside Nymira’s dead body, their weapons drawn.
“So here we all are by fate's design. But these odds are hardly fair, are they? It is time to even them up a little,” giggled Kassina. She sheathed one of her swords, brought a small horn to her lips and blew hard. Andrielle cried, “Watch the battlefield!” and they turned to face all directions, waiting for whatever reinforcements Kassina was calling in.
“Oh, were you expecting your vampire army?” Vartan's voice was lathered with sarcasm.
“Let’s just say that their energy is all burned out and couldn’t make it here tonight,” said Leon. “Are you so afraid of us that you need all of your vampires to help you? Enough talking – let’s get this over and done with.”
The men approached Kassina, as Helenia and Andrielle circled behind the sorceress. Vartan took a quick moment to glance over at the dragons that were still battling the large remainder of the Dark Army. Some of the dragons had fallen, but the majority of Kassina’s army was being defeated.
The catapults were in pieces now, uselessly lying on the battlefield surrounded by countless dead. Some of the downed warriors from Andrielle’s army cried out in pain as they lay on the ground bleeding. Without warning, a handful of silver daggers rained down on their position.
“Take cover!” shrieked Andrielle as she crouched down to avoid the falling weapons. Suddenly the sound of choking was heard from Faowind, who had a dagger’s hilt poking out of his throat. Blood burst from his mouth as he collapsed on the ground, clawing at his flesh and staring at them with desperation in his eyes.
Leon cried out in pain, “not again”, and he fell to the ground with two daggers half embedded in his legs.
The seven attacking vampire assassins charged out of the forest, drawing their swords.
“It seems you didn’t manage to kill all of my faithful servants, now did you?” snarled Kassina as she drew her other sword and ran at Andrielle.
Kassina swung both of her swords in a circular motion, bringing them back together with full force at Andrielle’s neck. The queen leaned back as far as she could in her armour, and the blades only sliced through the air in front of her face. Andrielle kicked forward with all of her might into Kassina’s stomach. The sorceress was thrown back by the blow, but quickly recovered as she turned to face Vartan’s sword now stabbing at her face.
Kassina swung one sword with just enough speed to knock Vartan’s out of the way and brought her other sword up to slash Vartan’s chest, drawing a trickle of blood. She quickly returned to her defensive stance.
“Do you still think you’re special?” she laughed mockingly.
Vartan took a few rough steps as he steadied himself and turned towards the waiting sorceress, his adrenaline meeting his anger. Helenia ran into the path of incoming vampire assassins, throwing her sword
hard and fast to crash through the heart of her closest attacker. The vampire’s body flew backwards in the air with the impact and fell to the ground.
The princess panted as her heavy armour bounced against her unconditioned body, her soft flesh pressing against the cold metallic surface where fresh holes were torn through her undergarments. She leaned down to tear her sword out of the dying vampire and swung it hard to decapitate another. It landed on a vampire’s blade, sparks filling the air between them. Trisa appeared from behind Nymira and grunted as she dragged a groaning Leon away to begin tending to his wounds.
Andrielle breathed heavily and ran at Kassina’s flank, their swords exchanging blow for blow and neither of them finding flesh. Vartan wielded his sword with both hands and ran to Helenia’s aid, as the four remaining vampire assassins circled her.
Two vampires branched off to focus their attention on Vartan, slashing wildly and hissing at him. Vartan jumped over the sword of one attacking vampire, and plunged his sword deep through the head of another, its acidic blood running down the blade. He came face to face with the disintegrating vampire, and could smell its nauseatingly putrid breath as it screamed into his face in defiance. It was as though its breath held the story of a thousand bloody deaths. Helenia elbowed another vampire away from her and spun to slice the head off the other. It bounced onto the ground beside them before shattering into dust.
Kassina growled and her face contorted as her swords were met with the determined queen’s defence. She spat through the right eyehole of Andrielle’s helm. The queen groaned as she stepped backwards and shook her head in confusion, her vision partly blurred. Kassina pushed her to the ground, where her body landed on top of Faowind’s cooled corpse. The dark sorceress laughed wickedly as she raised her sword.
“Say goodnight, great Queen, as I put out your lights forever and send you to the underworld!” screamed Kassina.
Andrielle scrambled to stroke a shining jewel on her armour that emitted a bright blue light. Kassina watched as Andrielle’s armour moulded into a solid mass, allowing only a tiny slit for her to breathe through.
Kassina snarled as she brought her face to the queen's helm and screamed, “Damn you!”
Helenia cried out as a vampire’s blade found her shoulder. She fell to her knees and groaned with pain as the vampire started to swing his sword to slice through her neck. Vartan screamed as he ran between them and met the sword with his own, then punched the vampire hard in the face. The sorceress turned away from the immobile Elven Queen, and watched as Vartan dispatched the last two vampire assassins with relative ease. Their bodies fell apart before her eyes.
Kassina spread her legs out to a wide stance and pointed a sword at the boy of prophecy. “It's time to end this. Vartan, come and fight me... Maybe you will do a better job than your useless mother. What was her name? Oh yes, I remember your father’s blood curdling cries… Victoria."
Be careful, Vartan, said Keturah. She is hiding something, but I can't read her… she has some form of protection.
He turned to stare Kassina down, his body pulsating from the adrenaline and anger built up inside of him. He gritted his teeth as he cried, "Don't you dare say her name!"
Vartan charged at the sorceress with confidence; each swing of his sword connected powerfully. Sparks flew into the air between them as they focused on nothing other than each other. The battle was fought with such ferocity and speed that it was difficult to tell what blows had landed. With a scream, Vartan brought his sword down with fury toward the top of her head.
Kassina crossed her swords high to catch his. He grunted with frustration as he applied all of his might to push his sword downward. Beads of sweat poured down his brow. Kassina groaned as she forced his sword higher into the air.
Vartan yelled in her face, “You heartless wench, it is you who will die here tonight!”
Vartan, listen to me! pleaded Keturah. Something is wrong – get away from her as fast as you can!
I can handle this. She will die at my hand! responded Vartan.
“That may be so…” said Kassina, grunting as she forced his sword even higher, their faces only an inch away from each other. Vartan could feel her rich breath on his skin. Her eyes glowed red momentarily, then she stuck her slithery tongue out and licked her lips seductively.
“If only you had made the right choice, Vartan, and joined us, everything would have been different. We could have ruled the world together under the Blood Red Moon. You could have had everything, you could have even had… me,” she said.
Vartan spat in her face and kneed her hard in the ribs. Her hold wavered momentarily, and then she pushed his sword back up with all of her strength. Her suggestive smile twisted into a contortion of hate.
“That was the wrong choice—you fool!”
She grinned at Vartan with a knowing smile, and cast a spell.
“Praefocere limus venenatus defundatur.”
A slimy green liquid burst from her mouth and landed on Vartan’s face. He struggled as best as he could but was unable to stop the liquid from shooting up his nose, sliding down his throat and infecting his body. The tip of his sword dropped to the ground and he felt dizzy. Vartan weakly picked up his sword to defend himself before falling onto the ground. His body felt so heavy that he could not move a single muscle. Kassina laughed loudly as she sheathed her swords and raised her right hand in the air, letting off tiny sparks before sending a few bolts of lightning into the sky.
“Silly boy! Did you really think that I would leave myself so drained that I could not cast spells of the lowest order?” said Kassina. “Tricking all of you to get you alone was the easy part, but this will be the beginning of Marithia's end. With your death, your precious prophecy, that all your hopes rest on, dies with you and for all who resist us.”
The sorceress closed in on his fallen body. Vartan could only watch as her hair blew in the smoky wind; she tucked her hair behind her ears. His eyes were heavy and increasingly difficult to open. Vartan blinked as he hazily watched Kassina raise a shiny dagger into the air, running her tongue along the blade, and felt the burning white pain as she plunged it into his stomach. His blood splattered on her face, and he could only watch as she licked it off her lips.
Again he felt the pain as she stabbed him through the ribs. His voice was heard from afar as he screamed out in agony and spat out steaming hot blood. Kassina lay down on top of his body, digging the dagger in deeper. She smiled as she slurped the blood off his lips and swallowed it. He could feel her hot breath on his neck as she slid her tongue along it before bringing her face back up to his.
“You have the sweetest blood I have ever tasted. I will take great pleasure in draining the rest of your body and turning you into my personal slave,” said Kassina with a wicked smile. “I know of your powers, but as a vampire you will be immortal, and I have methods of making you obey me so you will never take your own life. Your prophecy will never be fulfilled, and this world is ours.”
Karven saw through the swarm of enemies around him and caught sight of the fallen boy of prophecy. The dragon king roared and his charge shook the ground as he closed in on their position. "No! Vartan! This cannot be!"
Vartan’s eyes became heavier as he choked on his own blood, his pain turning to a dull ache. Kassina’s eyes suddenly widened and she cried out in agony. Her body slowly began to disintegrate on top of him.
Vartan heard Kassina’s voice whisper, “Who?”
As the dark sorceress’s body turned into dust, Vartan saw Trisa standing above him, with Helenia’s sword shaking in her hand and Karven's great form behind her. Vartan felt weak, and his eyes were too heavy. He closed them, barely able to keep up the energy to listen to what was going on around him.
Trisa wrapped her arms under his. “Quickly now, help me move him!”
Vartan grunted in pain as he was carried for a short distance. He opened his eyes one last time and saw Helenia’s and Trisa’s blurry faces crouched over him. Standing
behind them was his mother, her form translucent and flickering in his vision.
This is not right, my child. It was not the right time for you to end your human life. You must hold on and you must live. Focus on something that you can hold onto, quickly.
“I love you, Helenia…” began Vartan, as his eyes closed and he began to drift into unconsciousness.
“I love you too, but you can tell me that again later! Vartan – Stay with me!” Helenia screamed, slapping his face.
“Look – what is this?” said Trisa’s voice. “It fell out of his backpack.”
Vartan felt his head being shaken until his world became dark and he could hear no more.
Chapter 20: Ashes to Ashes
“The darkness surrounds me like an endless suffocating blanket. Its threads run straight through my soul and hold me tightly within its vice-like grasp.
I can hear its voice – its sweet voice – calling to me, aching to pull me deeper into the abyss. All the while, I can still feel them clinging on to me, holding me back from the unknown. Why won’t they just let me go?
Were we victorious? Am I dead? I don’t even know what to think anymore. Wait, I can hear it again. It wants to talk with me… I am here, Talonsphere; I am waiting, and I am ready to be reborn.”
(Sir Vartan of Greenhaven)
The air was pungent and reeked of rotting flesh and blood. The skies were filled with the thick smoke of the smouldering forest. Fallen corpses began their slow decomposition to join the elements, while the remaining wounded edged closer to death as each moment passed by.
Rumble…
The first icy drops of water fell from the dark sky and splashed heavily on Andrielle’s armour. The rhythmic beat of the rain on her moulded exoskeleton almost sent her to sleep and made her nearly oblivious to the horror surrounding her. The hail beat on her armour like a drum. Slowly, the enchantment wore off and her armour moulded back to its original form. Her entire body ached and was freezing cold, but she managed to prise herself up to a seating position and take in her surroundings. Her foggy breath escaped her helm and she blinked her eyes heavily to focus them.
Legends of Marithia: Book 1 - Prophecies Awakening: Uncut and Extended Second Edition Page 18