Dragon's Keep: The Complete Dracengard Series

by Christopher Vale

  “Protect the Commander!” Gelispee shouted and it took a moment for Ashleen to realize he meant her and not her father. The remaining Paladin, few in number as they were, surrounded her, ready to fight the draks to the death. The drakmere, now emboldened with the sudden collapse of the “angel,” attacked with renewed vigor.

  Ashleen lifted her head as she wiped tears from her cheeks. She had managed to fight through the death of her father, to push it to the back of her mind until the battle was over. This was different. She felt dead inside. She was ready to give up and let them kill her now.

  “Commander!” Gelispee shouted as he turned toward her. “Are you alright?” Ashleen did not answer, but stared back at him with lifeless eyes. “Ashleen!” he shouted while grabbing her by the arm. Her eyes met his and he exhaled, relieved as he saw a spark of life there.

  “We need you to fight!” Gelispee shouted. She nodded slowly. He smiled at her. It was the first time she could remember ever seeing him smile. Suddenly, his eyes went wide and he coughed blood all over Ashleen’s face. She screamed as she noticed a blade protrude from his stomach. Her eyes jerked up and she saw a large drak standing behind the old Sergeant at Arms. The drak pulled its great sword back and Gelispee fell dead on the stones. Ashleen looked down at Gelispee and then back up at the drak. The beast raised its sword over its head to kill Ashleen.

  Instincts of survival suddenly leapt forth, pushing the pain she had felt out of her mind. Before the drak could swing, she leapt to her feet and sliced its body in half with her Sword of Light. The two halves of the beast collapsed in opposite directions.

  Ashleen glanced around at the drakmere closing in on them. The Paladin were fighting bravely, but were no match for the vastly superior numbers of the enemy. The drakmere pushed forward and Ashleen and the remaining Paladin met them with ferocity, fighting desperately for their lives. Ashleen knew, however, that even with her seraph-like speed, they could not possibly fend off all of the drakmere.

  Suddenly, a roar pierced the night and Ashleen looked skyward to see Chaundra diving down toward them with Metatron atop her back. With a burst of flame, Chaundra sent the drakmere fleeing. Cheers arose from the Paladin. Then Ashleen saw the others, Terrwyn in the lead, coming to Caerwynspire’s defense. She smiled at her friends and the sadness she felt was suddenly replaced by excitement and joy.

  The joy was short-lived, however, because Ashleen soon remembered the shedom. Her eyes found Rayfen not far from where he had slain Faith, staring skyward as Ashleen had, at the attacking dracen. Ashleen gritted her teeth and charged forward in a blur of gold.

  Rayfen did not see her coming until the last moment and he barely raised his blade in time to deflect her blow. Their swords met in a thunderous clank as light collided with dark. Ashleen released a cry of rage as she fought the shedom, pushing him back in defense. His surprise at her speed and agility soon evaporated, however, and he faded into the darkness only to reappear on the other side of her.

  Now Ashleen was the one fighting defensively as Rayfen pushed her back, his dark blade difficult to follow as it moved through the darkness of the night. Ashleen deflected blow after blow, but she didn’t know how she could continue to keep up. Suddenly, Rayfen swung with all his might, knocking the sword from Ashleen’s hand and causing Ashleen to fall down onto the ground.

  ***

  Tythan stood with his men on the wall of the city as the draks continued to climb. There were thousands of the beasts and though Tythan and his men were only there as reserves, with large numbers of Caerwyn’s forces moving into the city to protect an attack on their rear, Tythan and his men were suddenly responsible for a large section of the wall.

  Tythan had never been in battle before. He was a prince and had certainly trained for it. He understood strategy and tactics, but he had never actually fought one. He stood atop the wall with his men as the drakmere began to force their way up.

  “Be ready!” Tythan shouted to his men. “Remember, if you kill them before they kill you, then you’ll have nothing to fear!” This remark elicited a nervous laugh from the ranks.

  The laughter faded quickly, however, as large numbers of drakmere began to reach the top of the wall. Tythan’s men poked at them with their long lances, sending the beasts toppling back down. More took their fallen comrades’ places, however. Tythan’s short sword was in his hand. As soon as a drak’s head was within range he swung down, splitting the beast’s skull right down the middle. More came after it though. Tythan swung again. Then again. Each time a drak was dispatched more would take its place.

  Tythan heard shrieks and saw several of his men thrown over the wall and down to the rocks below. More lost their lances than their lives this way, deciding that if a drak yanked the lance to just release it and let it go. Once the lance was gone the man would draw his short sword and continue the fight.

  The draks had found that yanking a man over the side was a much easier proposition than fighting the humans while hanging from a wall. The beasts would simply reach up and snatch the soldier by the breastplate, shirt, arm, whatever, and jerk him over the wall. The men had to act fast to protect themselves.

  A drak reached up and grabbed Tythan by the breastplate. Tythan sliced across with his sword chopping the beast’s arm off at the elbow and sending it falling to its death with a blood curdling shriek. Other draks crested the wall, however, and the men were losing ground, the main force being pushed back from the wall.

  Suddenly, Ariana was at Tythan’s elbow. “Tythan!” she shouted.

  He turned with shock to see her. “What are you doing here?” Tythan demanded. “It’s too dangerous! Get back inside the castle!”

  “Tythan, come with me. I have a safe place for us!”

  “Then you go, I must fight these beasts off.”

  “There is no hope to win Tythan. You cannot defeat Her Majesty and Our Dark Lord’s army.”

  Tythan turned to face her, the color drained from his face. “What did you say?” he asked.

  “Come Tythan. Once the White Fortress falls, Empress Andalynn will rule all. She shall reward us for our loyalty!”

  “You are a Shebath worshiper!” Tythan said. It was not a question, but rather an accusation.

  “Yes, my love. Now come with me and we shall be safe.” She grabbed his arm, but he slapped her away.

  “No!” he shouted as he stared at her red-faced and enraged. “You are a witch! You have seduced me with your evil magic! Seduced me to betray my own father!”

  “What?” Ariana shouted. “I love you, Tythan!”

  Tythan raised his sword to threaten her. “Run witch before I cut you down myself!” He saw the tears in her eyes, but she obeyed, turning and running away.

  Tythan turned back to the battle at hand. His men were being quickly over powered. There were just too many drakmere. Tythan wanted to cry. He felt so betrayed. The woman he loved had deceived him. She probably did not even return his affections. He fought back the urge to fall down weeping there on the spot. He had a battle to fight, and he no longer cared if he lived or died. Tythan raised his sword and charged into the fray with a fierce battle cry, slicing and stabbing. His men, encouraged by the prince’s bravery, joined the fight. They met the draks coming over the wall, but Tythan’s men began to fall in droves.

  A drak snapped at Tythan, its large fangs barely missing the prince’s face. Tythan fell backward onto the polished stones. He scrambled back as the beast moved forward. Suddenly, Tythan saw Ariana there beside the drak. She slammed into it. “Leave him alone!” she shouted. “I command you!” The drakmere turned toward her, drew back its battle sword and then thrust, stabbing her right through the middle.

  “No!” Tythan shouted. He scrambled to his feet and lunged upward, driving his sword into the monster’s throat. The beast fell back with a gurgle before dropping dead onto the stones. Tythan scrambled over to Ariana. He lifted her head into his arms, cradling it.

  “It’s alright,” he said trying
to comfort her. “You are going to be alright.”

  She looked down at her blood soaked hands and dress and knew he was lying. She placed a bloody palm against his cheek. “It was not a lie. I love you, Tythan,” she said with tears in her eyes before coughing up blood.

  “You’re alright, Ariana! Just hold on!” he shouted, but her lifeless eyes told him that she was already dead. He pulled her close and began to weep. Tythan could hear the draks closing in, but he didn’t care. He had nothing left to care about. “I love you,” he whispered to Ariana and closed his eyes expecting the drakmere to kill him.

  Tythan felt a hand grab him by the collar of his breast plate and lift him to his feet. He spun expecting to see a drakmere standing there. Instead he saw Aura. “Lead your men!” she shouted at him and then disappeared in a flash of light. Tythan glanced around and saw hundreds of draks lying dead where she had slain them. It gave him and his men a chance.

  Tythan saw his men staring in wonder at what had happened. They had almost lost and suddenly a seraph appeared to save them. Tythan nodded at his remaining men. “Kill them all!” he shouted as he raised his sword and charged the drakmere that were cresting the wall.

  Chapter 22

  Dillan scanned the city searching for Rayfen. He realized that this was his opportunity to kill the Black Knight and avenge his family. He found him quickly. “Ashleen!” Dillan shouted as he saw Rayfen knock her to the ground. He urged Bran into a dive. Kill the shedom! As the thought flashed through his mind, Dillan felt the determination in his dracen. Bran wanted Rayfen dead almost as badly as Dillan did.

  Metatron heard Dillan cry out “Ashleen!” and turned to see the prince diving downward atop his dracen. He saw Rayfen standing over Ashleen as she laid on the ground. “We must save her!” he shouted to Chaundra, confident she knew exactly who he meant.

  “This is the nephilim’s fight, Keeper!” Chaundra replied. “Let them fight it!”

  “No!” he replied. “We must…” he began, but Chaundra cut him off.

  “I know you love her, Metatron, I can feel it. But you cannot let your emotions rule you like a human,” she said calmly.

  Metatron took a deep breath. He knew Chaundra was right. Ashleen was not his prize to protect and she never would be. She was a warrior and if the humans were to defend themselves during the Great Darkfall, then they needed leaders that could kill a shedom. If two nephilim and a dracen could not slay a single shedom, then what hope did humanity have against the armies of Shebath?

  “Very well!” he relented. “Then let us slay some drakmere!” With that, Chaundra dove toward the ground as she released a terrifying roar. Metatron glanced briefly at Dillan before returning his attention to the battle.

  Dillan saw Ashleen fall, her Sword of Light knocked several feet away. “Faster!” he shouted in Bran’s ear. The dracen’s roar split the night as Rayfen raised his sword above his head, ready to kill Ashleen. Rayfen turned to see Dillan and Bran diving toward him. Bran released a burst of flame, but Rayfen leapt back out of the way.

  Dillan leapt off of Bran’s back into a somersault as the dracen turned upward toward the sky above. Dillan sprinted for the Sword of Light, scooping it up in his hand as Ashleen pushed herself up to her feet and drew her steel sword. Rayfen shot to Dillan, slamming into him and sending him soaring backward over the the side of the wall.

  Dillan could see the jagged rocks below as he fell. Closer and closer, larger and larger. Dammit Bran! Suddenly, he slammed into the back of his dracen, knocking the air out of Dillan as Bran soared skyward.

  “Little close for comfort!” Dillan shouted.

  “It’s not my fault you let the shedom knock you over the edge!” Bran shot back.

  “Well, let’s go kill him!”

  ***

  Erec found himself fighting with a group of Caerwyn soldiers, many of them civilian reserves, so they were young and old, men and women. Aura had abandoned him to assist on the wall. After all, there was no way to defeat the drakmere in the city if they could not prevent hordes of others from entering it.

  Erec stood at the front of a line of thousands of Caerwyn who had rushed out of the castle and formed a human perimeter between the drakmere and the castle gates. They formed up in a phalanx with long spears pointing outward. Behind the first row was another row and behind that another. Behind the third were soldiers with short swords.

  Erec had taken a position in the front when one of the others had fallen. He’d had much experience with fighting drakmere. That combined with his rank as king, convinced the others to listen to him. “They are going to leap over the first lines!” he had shouted as the draks charged forward. “The second line should stand far enough back to impale any that do.”

  Erec had been correct. The first wave of drakmere did not even slow down, but rather sprang right over the first line of soldiers. They were quickly dispatched by the second line of lancers. The strategy had worked well for a while, but then the drakmere began yanking the lances—and sometimes the lancers themselves—out of the line as they had done in Avonvale. The lines were thinning rapidly, but the draks kept coming in wave after wave.

  Erec lunged forward, missing the drak’s middle. As the beast sidestepped the attack it reached out and grabbed hold of Erec’s lance, yanking it forward and bringing Erec with it. Erec fell flat on his face upon the hard stones. He was somehow able to draw his sword from its sheath as he rolled over onto his back. He was unable to stand though, and the drakmere stomped on his breastplate, slamming Erec back down onto the ground.

  Erec could see the drool dripping from the beast’s fangs as it bent over him hissing loudly. Erec thrust upward with his sword, stabbing the drak in the head. The beast shrieked as it stepped backward, freeing Erec to stand. Erec did so and sliced to his right, chopping the bottom half of another drak’s leg off. Erec then rolled up into a kneeling position and thrust his sword outward stabbing another drak just below the chain mail covering its stomach.

  Erec pushed himself to his feet, spinning and sprinting for the lines of lancers. He did not come close to making it before he felt the giant claw of a drakmere snatch him by the collar of his breastplate and yank him backward, slamming him into the ground.

  Erec felt his wrist snap as the drak stomped on his sword hand, causing him to release the weapon with a yelp of pain. The drak reached down and yanked the breastplate from Erec’s chest, with such force that it snapped the buckles loose. It brought its face close to Erec and Erec punched it in the eye with his free hand.

  The drak cried out more in shock than in pain, but then slammed its giant clawed hand around Erec’s throat. “You should not have done that,” the creature hissed. “Now I’m going to eat you slowly.” The drak opened its mouth wide and was about to strike when suddenly it recoiled like a snake from a hoe. The creature shrieked as it turned and fled, along with the others. Erec breathed a sigh of relief as he realized what had so frightened the monsters. He watched as three dracen flew over him breathing fire at the retreating draks. He sat up and turned around in time to see the dragons land in front of the lines of Caerwyn soldiers.

  The Caerwyn soldiers cheered as the drakmere fled in the face of this new threat. Erec pushed himself to his feet, while cradling his snapped wrist. He realized that there were riders on the backs of the dragons. Could it be?

  “Terrwyn?” Erec shouted above the noise of battle and watched in amazement as his twin sister turned around to face him, excitement shining in her eyes.

  “Erec!” she cried gleefully, causing the others to turn as well. Erec smiled as he recognized Willem. “Climb on!” Terrwyn shouted to him. Erec rushed over to her, recovering his sword and sliding it into its sheath as he did so. He climbed in the saddle behind her, much as he had done with Ashleen. As he did so, he saw a man climb down from the back of another dracen and heard cries of “Lord Caius!” arise from the Caerwyn troops. Caius took the position of leadership with the soldiers.

  Terrwyn turned
and wrapped her arms around Erec and he kissed her cheek. “I’ve missed you so much,” he said.

  “I’ve missed you too,” she replied. “So much has happened…I…”

  “We’ll talk about it later,” he said. He then spun in his saddle to look at the spire which still had draks ascending it. He pointed with his good hand. “Taite and Merdith are up there,” he said.

  “Well let us protect them!” Terrwyn shouted.

  “Willem, you and Shimmer come with me to defend the castle walls!” she shouted, then turned to her other side. “Eamon, you and Jade destroy the draks in the streets!” The others nodded and Avon flapped his mighty wings ascending into the air. Shimmer and Jade did likewise.

  ***

  Lisabeth sat in a chair in the tent Anne had provided her. Two guards stood inside with her, watching her closely. Anytime she moved the slightest muscle their hands flew to the hilts of their swords. She knew in a fair fight she could defeat both guards. They were Valish or Libethan after all. This would not be a fair fight, however. As good as she was, she couldn’t possibly hope to win a fight with two armed guards if she was unarmed. Certainly they were not that ineptly trained.

  She slowly stood and the guards’ hands went to the hilts of their swords, the blades sliding partially out of the sheaths. “Relax,” she smiled. “I just need a drink of water.” She turned her back on them and walked over to the small table, lifted the pitcher, and poured water into a cup. As she lifted the cup, and raised it to her lips she suddenly squealed like a little girl. She turned and ran back toward the guards as she dropped both the pitcher and cup. “It’s a spider!” she shrieked as she grabbed one the men by the arm and hid behind him. Both guards laughed.