Chaos (Dragon Reign Book 4)

by Kit Bladegrave

  Cassius said nothing, and soon he stood right behind my chair, out of sight.

  I growled in warning, but it was a bluff, and we both knew it.

  Whatever Allis did to me earlier hadn’t worn off yet, and my dragon was still stuck inside my mind, unable to break free. Otherwise, these chains would be broken on the floor already.

  I heard him sigh then in one quick motion, he yanked the chair around and stared intently into my eyes, his hands resting on the arms of the chair.

  “You want to know something funny about destiny?” he asked quietly. “It has a funny way of not turning out to be the way you expect. Of taking you down a completely different road.”

  “Or you just messed up and got screwed over in the process,” I muttered.

  He straightened, his hand hauling back as if to smack me, and I braced for it, but then he snapped his fingers instead, and the chains slithered away, letting me loose.

  I rubbed my sore wrists, watching him closely as he took another step back, and offered me his hand.

  “Really? And why would I take your hand?”

  The hand in question fell to his side, and he turned to Celandine. “You see my sister? Technically that body isn’t really there. It’s only a vessel to hold her spirit.”

  I nodded slowly, gut instinct telling me I was not going to like whatever he was about to say next.

  “All it will take is the snap of my fingers and poof! No more Celandine. You might want to think about that before you use that smart mouth against me again.”

  He offered me his hand again, and even though Celandine shook her head, I was not going to watch her spirit disappear into nothingness. I couldn’t. She was a part of me just as much as I was a part of her.

  I took Cassius’s hand and let him pull me up from my chair. He tucked it in the crook of his elbow and escorted me through the hall as if I were his honored guest, and not a prisoner.

  “I fear you have been led down the wrong path,” he explained as we went, leaving through a small door and into a corridor I recognized.

  It would take us into the armory, or at least it would if this was rebuilt exactly as the old fortress had been.

  “And why would you say that?” I asked, my voice shaking, but I couldn’t decide if it was from fear, exhaustion, or anger.

  “You are under the impression that I am the villain in this story.”

  I laughed without thinking, and he glared at me.

  “What? You have to admit that’s a pretty far-fetched notion to think you’re not the villain. If I recall, you turned against your people with your father, all to get power, which you didn’t need.”

  “Power? You think we did this for power?”

  “Why else would you kill hundreds of innocents and basically enslave hundreds of thousands more? You can’t tell me this plague of yours is saving anyone?”

  He pulled me to a stop outside another door. “You and I have much more common than you think, Katherine, and I believe it is time you learn to understand that, for your own sake, and that of your true destiny that awaits you.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but he pushed the door open and motioned me to go inside first.

  I hesitated, not able to see anything, but didn’t want him to take his anger out on Celandine.

  Tentatively, I walked into the darkness, holding my breath, and waited to be attacked.

  His steps followed me in, and the door slammed shut behind us, making me jump.

  “Now, it is time to see what truly happened,” he said, sounding farther away than I assumed he was.

  “I know what happened,” I stated. “I saw it through Celandine’s memories.”

  “Did you see everything?” he challenged. “Because she did not.”

  I wanted to argue, but fire burst to life before my eyes, blue and white flames that stretched out along either side, forming into images and landscapes.

  It was beautiful to watch, but something told me this light show was not going to be something I wanted to stick around and see.

  Slowly, I stepped backward, unsure of where Cassius was, but not ready to risk my chance to escape.

  I finally felt my back hit something hard and reached around, feeling for the door, but there wasn’t one.

  “What?” I whispered, feeling around frantically.

  “There is no escaping the truth, Katherine,” Cassius said lightly. “Not anymore.”

  “I know what happened,” I insisted. “You and Zohar wanted power, and you used the blood of innocents to get it.”

  “Did my sister tell you why? Did she tell you how this hunt for power all started to begin with?”

  The flames twisted in on themselves before they took on the shape of people, two adults, and two kids.

  I wasn’t sure where this was going, but if there was no door to slip through, I guessed I had no choice, but to watch.

  “The Darrah clan was always strong,” he said. “Even before our family came into power. They were wise and just rulers, always putting others above themselves. We knew our duties as a family and accepted that our lives were meant to serve them, no matter what the cost.”

  The flames shifted, and the two children began to grow older.

  “My mother, she was a gentle soul. Took it upon herself to take care of the less fortunate. Feed them, clothe them, see they had work at the castle when times were hard.”

  “She sounds like a wonderful person,” I said. “Someone you should have modeled yourself after.”

  He grunted. “I did, but it was my sister who did not.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Celandine was the warrior in the family, but she risked everything for her people, gave her life in the end, so what the hell was he talking about?

  “She and father focused on the security of our realm, of keeping it safe from invaders,” he went on, and the flames shifted again showing who I assumed were Zohar and Celandine. “But, father’s paranoia about us being attacked was inherited by her and together, they began to make plans that they claimed would aid our clan, make anyone regret ever trying to attack us.”

  None of this sounded right, but I hadn’t seen anything of the past until Malcolm was already betrothed to Celandine.

  “But no one did attack the Darrahs,” I said, uncertain now.

  I heard his bitter laugh drift over me as the images changed again, more figures joined the first two, and appeared to be discussing something, but they were agitated, fidgety.

  “There was a clan of orcs far to the north. We traded with them, and though they weren’t the friendliest race, we got along just fine. But, my father always feared one day they would decide they no longer wanted to live in the harsh mountains and come down to claim our lands. They outnumbered us though, and an all-out war would only end in our destruction.”

  Orcs? I definitely hadn’t heard them mentioned anywhere either.

  “But my sister refused to drop the issue. What started as peaceful talks turned into a heated argument. Fighting broke out between our kin and the orcs. For a while, it was just minor things, trade shutting down and them refusing to come to the council meetings… but then, one horrible day, a band of orcs was killed by our soldiers.”

  “What, why?” I asked sharply as the images shifted again and the flames turned red, displaying dead bodies littering the ground.

  “They claimed they were ordered to do so, but no commander would admit to the crime.”

  Celandine wouldn’t do that, would she? The woman I saw in my mind, she was not so cold-hearted as to kill innocents. She gave her life to save people!

  I shook my head, not wanting to believe this, but the idea that she was not as good as she seemed took root in the back of my mind. The idea festered and grew as the images shifted once again.

  “In retaliation, the orcs swore revenge, and they got it a few days later.”

  A carriage appeared in the flames and was quickly swarmed by orcs as they rushed in with swords, ki
lling all in the party.

  A woman was thrown from the carriage, and as she knelt on the ground, pleading for mercy, she was cut down, and her body fell.

  “Your mother,” I whispered.

  “My mother,” he repeated. “She was slain without mercy, and the war started. Her death was only the beginning, and soon enough, the Darrah clan and all under our protection would be killed. My father and sister knew they did not have enough power to drive them back, so they turned to dark magic to end what should never have started in the first place.”

  My mind reeled, trying to wrap around what he was telling me. “But Zohar and you, you’re the ones that became obsessed with dark magic.”

  “That is a lie,” he seethed.

  The flames swirled around until they showed two figures inside the same symbol I remembered from the village.

  “Celandine and our father called upon the darkness, swearing only to use it one time to save our people, to avenge our mother. They struck against the orcs after taking it into them, and led the army to victory, wiping the orcs from the history books. The war was over in days. Celandine, she denounced the darkness and purged herself of it. But my father, he was too overcome by grief, too weak.”

  The flames curled inward until there was a single figure, hunched over a gravestone, holding his head as if crying. My heart ached suddenly, feeling Zohar’s loss.

  “The darkness festered inside him, and soon, he came to believe there would one day be another war threatening his kin. He would have no choice, but to protect them.”

  “No, no this isn’t right. Where’s the council in all of this? How could they just wipe out an entire race and no one would say anything about it?”

  He was tricking me, it all had to be a trick, but then the flames disappeared, and torches lit one by one around the room.

  On the far wall was a map of the realms before they’d been separated and there at the northern border of the Darrah lands were mountains marked as the territory of the orcs.

  “The council said nothing because they knew nothing of what happened. Celandine made certain of it. She pushed our father to the edge, and started the feud that killed our mother. Started Zohar on his path to power, to the darkness.”

  “No,” I argued fiercely, but the memories in my mind, the ones I clung to from the time Celandine spent in my head, suddenly they shifted and warped.

  Instead of her worried glance, I saw a dark glint in her eyes, a crooked smile on her face when she realized what her father was up to.

  That night we watched him ride away from the castle, it hadn’t been anger at him for delving into the darkness.

  It had been anger that he was returning to it without her.

  Every image shifted, and felt out of place.

  Even the ones with Malcolm and Broden.

  She loved them, that much I sensed was real, but the horrible truth hit me like a kick to the gut, and I sank to my knees.

  She used them to try and clean up a mess she started.

  The words passed through my thoughts and then Cassius was there, crouching down in front of me.

  “I don’t… I don’t understand… but she became the Vindicar to stop the darkness.”

  “No,” Cassius said firmly. “Not to stop it. To use it. The Vindicar is meant to be given power to use against those who threaten the very existence of our clan, Katherine. To stop whoever may harm us.”

  His words seemed to echo inside my mind, and everything grew fuzzy.

  I shook my head to clear it, but it only got worse. “But you… you joined your father.”

  “I stopped her from killing him because he was not at fault. My sister, she pushed too far. She caused all of this. So many deaths all because of her.”

  His hands rested on my shoulders, and I lifted my gaze to his. I flinched to see the darkness was gone from his eyes and they were the exact same color as mine.

  All that remained was pain and sadness at all he had lost. “Every life changed from that moment on is her fault.”

  “The plague, the darkness… we have to stop it, though… it’ll destroy everyone.”

  This was wrong, so wrong, but then why did it sound like such a good idea? I felt off, and held my head in my hands.

  Even if what happened was true, that did not justify unleashing the darkness upon the realms and slaughtering innocents by the thousands. I had to stop him, stop all of this, but I couldn’t make myself move.

  Images of dead faces flashed through my mind again. My dad, my mom, the illusions of Craig and Forrest dead at my feet. I had lost so much and was only going to lose more if I couldn’t end the plague once and for all.

  Why end it? Think of what you can do with so much power, Kate.

  “No,” I whispered aloud at the nagging words.

  Think of the possibilities. You have been hunted all your life. Even now, even when you fight to save the world, there are those who will still seek your death.

  I clutched at my head.

  It wasn’t true. We were allies now, all of us. They weren’t going to try and kill me, but then I saw it happen all over again. My mom’s body lying lifeless in the house when Dad and I came home. Him picking me up again and rushing us out of there as I screamed for her, wanting her to still be alive.

  The image shifted, and I was hiding up in that tree again, watching the house explode and knowing my dad was gone, too.

  I saw Craig hurt by a father who didn’t want him simply because of who his mother was. Saw Forrest turned against a father who wanted me dead simply for being a Darrah.

  I blinked, and suddenly I stood on a field of battle, sword in one hand and a fully formed shield in the other, but this one… this one was much different. The power it exuded filled me to the core and I shivered at how invincible I felt.

  The image on the shield was darker, and the image of it was of a black dragon, conquering those beneath its wings with flames of death and destruction.

  The entire world was laid out before my feet, and the only thing that mattered now was saving Craig and Forrest, saving them from a world filled with so much despair and pain. So much treachery.

  The weight of the shield on my left arm felt good, and I swung the sword easily as if charging into battle was an everyday occurrence for me.

  “How does it feel?” Cassius asked, appearing at my side.

  “Feels like I belong here,” I told him with a growl.

  “As you should. This is your destiny, Katherine though I fear others will not be as open to understanding as you are.”

  In one smooth movement, I swung the sword towards his throat, stopping a hair away from slicing into his neck. “I will not have them harmed.”

  “Locking them away may be the only way to keep them safe.”

  “Then that is what I will do. They will just have to understand.” I lowered the blade from his throat and sheathed it at my back. I glanced at the shield and with a twist of my wrist, watched it collapse back into itself, forming a gauntlet at my left arm. “That will do perfectly.”

  The field around us disappeared, and we were back in the armory.

  A round table rested in the center of it, and was already covered in maps.

  My feet found my way over there before I even knew what I was doing and suddenly, everything fell into place. This was exactly where I belonged and where I was going to stay.

  I leaned on the table, tapping my fingers on the surface as Cassius joined me.

  “What do you see?” he asked.

  “I see a very bright future,” I replied. “Shall we begin?”

  He grinned and slid a map towards me. “As you wish, Commander. And so you know, your friends are on their way here. They will need to be taken care of.”

  “I will see to it,” I said, and after one final glance at the maps, pushed away from the table.

  This new power flowing through me was about to put to good use.

  Craig and Forrest might not understand now, but soon all would
become clear for them, just as it had for me.

  17

  Forrest

  Every instinct in me screamed this was a horrible idea, but we were out of time.

  Lucy’s message spurred us to run through the trees again until we found a large enough clearing for me to shift in.

  Once I was in my dragon form, I shook out my wings, and Craig climbed up onto my back. He held on tight, and I pushed off, straight up into the clouds overhead.

  My wings pumped hard as I soared towards the ruins.

  The single tower was tall, but there was still a chance any of the plagued below would look up and spot us before we even touched down.

  I circled over the fortress twice before I tilted my head back to let Craig know this was it.

  He tapped my back, and I dropped into a dive.

  Air rushed over us, and I heard him curse, but he held on. Silently, we broke through the clouds, and the tower was in sight.

  A hundred yards off, I slowed us as much as I could, then when we were closer, I adjusted as Craig launched himself off my back. We rolled through the air, but it became thick and heavy, making it hard to breathe.

  Whatever heavy magic we just passed through had to be a shield of some kind, and when I hit the tower, rolling to a hard stop, I knew there was no more chance of secrecy.

  Zohar would know we were here which meant our time was short.

  “Craig,” I whispered, and nudged him when he grunted and pulled himself to his feet.

  “Next time I have an idea like that, talk me out of it,” he groaned and shook out his head hard. “Right, you felt that shield, too?”

  “Yeah. We don’t have much time. Let’s get Kate and get out of here.”

  He drew the sword from his hip, and I made sure two daggers were in my hands before we moved across the open roof of the tower towards the trapdoor.

  I reached for the handle as he stood by, ready to attack anything that might be waiting for us. I lifted it and stepped back, but there was only dim lighting and silence.

  I lead the way down the steps, moving quietly as Craig followed. Neither of us had any real knowledge of the layout of this building, and when we finally reached the bottom of the steps, and a double door rested before us, I hesitated.