by Nicki Ruth
“Why do you waste your power on those not worthy of it. Even now you try to save them from destruction at the expense of yourself. Stop this foolishness.”
Karina sighed. “Oh, Lillian. You’ve learned nothing, even after all this time. Even despite your banishment.”
The voice chuckled. “Perhaps. My daughter has taught me many things so far.”
“Will you help?” Karina pleaded.
“Help?” She laughed. “No, sister. I will watch and enjoy. Appeal to my daughter, although she still fights against our desires. Until we meet again.”
Davina fell forward, gasping. “Did . . . did I do anything . . .” Her voice shook with fear, but it was the voice he knew.
Jason gathered Davina in his arms. She’d inherited a dark gift that weighed on her, even though it granted her tremendous power. Davina had come dangerously close to destroying much of Damurios but his father was there to help her keep tenuous control over her—or the being’s within her—desire for destruction.
“Everything’s fine. We just need to figure out how to defeat the enemy. I think you can help us.”
∞∞∞
Cade rose into the air, scouting an aerial view of the enemy. He fired on them as they emerged from what was left of the forest he and Wushien had decimated with fire and wind. Wushien’s winds pranced across the landscape, but the enemy regained their feet. Only those touched by his red flames seemed to succumb, but many remained upright and flailed forward as burning men.
He hoped Wushien would hold them off, while he went to find their ship to destroy it and the rest of their army. It wasn’t hard to find. The giant monstrosity of twisted metal and engines hung above the mist at the borders of their sanctuary.
As he approached, they fired at him with bolts of energy. Now was the time to release his drogulis.
Power surged through him as his limbs stretched, his fingers morphed into sharp claws and his face lengthened into a snout lined with large teeth. His wings beat a powerful downdraft that pushed some of the energy bolts out of his path. He roared through his release, screeching his rage at those who came to destroy them, and opened his jaws unleashing a torrent of fire as he swooped over the ship. He would melt their ship around them and burn everything with his hottest flames. They kept firing, but he evaded their lasers and energy bolts. Even their bullets did nothing to dent his scaled armor.
Cade narrowed his eyes as he saw the marking on the side of the ship. He knew who was behind the attack. He thought he’d burned the mage to death, but his magic must have saved him from the ravages of Cade’s fire.
Paxor, the demented dark mage who’d once succeeded in trapping Cade into an enchanted pendant for a lifetime of servitude.
But never again.
This time, he had much more to lose. He wouldn’t let them take the children to a life of agony and slow death; not let them take . . . Jason.
This time, Cade would make sure Paxor and his ilk were rendered to ash.
∞∞∞
They’d just finished discussing their plan when a roar shook the small cave. Cade! Jason jumped up and rushed to the exit.
“Jason, wait!” Davina called behind him.
He paused, eager to go.
“We aren’t going to charge in recklessly, remember. We have to stick to the plan,” she reminded him.
He grimaced, clamping down the urge to race to Cade’s side. Cade’s call echoed through the valley and reverberated inside Jason, and he was anxious to take to the air. “I need to get to Cade. But come on. I’ll take us to the ship, and we’ll find the source of the dark magic.”
“And stop the invasion beneath the earth. I’ll do all I can to keep them at bay,” Karina added.
“My Queen, if you insist on going, let me accompany you,” Amir said as he stumbled to his feet.
“Amir, you haven’t regained your full strength yet. And I need you to stay here to help protect these innocents with Karina. Please.”
“Don’t fret yourself, warrior. Your queen will return to you.” Karina’s voice held an otherworldly resonance.
Davina nodded, and with a reassuring glance at Amir, who scowled fiercely at them, they took off.
Karina told them the source of the reanimating magic was most likely on the enemy’s ship. With Jason’s vision, they would be able to find it, and once they did, Davina should be able to destroy it since it was most likely blood magic. They didn’t have time to send word to Alexios and Brandr. Amir had recovered enough to be of help to Karina should they need to defend the others, most of whom had already armed themselves, deciding they would fight.
Jason carried Davina as they flew high above a rampaging wall of fire and wind, which blocked any path to the caves. Soon, Wushien appeared next to them on a cloud of moving leaves and feathers, his twin fans at his side, jet black hair and yukata billowing about him.
“We’re headed to the enemy to find and debilitate their magic. Where’s Cade?”
Wushien nodded. “He headed that direction as well. I’ll continue to hold them off here.”
“Good luck,” Jason called to Wushien as he descended on the wind.
They soon came upon an immense black ship that hovered above the ground. Below, its engines roared, blue and white light illuminating the land and revealing a giant drill hammering into the earth. This was the threat Karina guarded against; they were seeking her earthly god power buried deep within the earth, which was responsible for their thriving sanctuary. The sound was deafening.
“Oh, gods!” Davina cried.
Just then, another roar shook the night. In the distance, Jason saw a magnificent golden beast, with a crown of horns on its head, spitting fire from its mouth. Its scaled chest and leathery wings glittered against the artificial light from the ship.
Davina gasped. “Is that a dragon?”
“That’s Cade,” he replied with a grin and a hint of pride.
The beast—no, Cade—dove like a missile through the air, dodging energy balls as he twisted. Then, wrapping the bulk of his body around himself, he spun, encircled by fire, like a whirling ball of flame. Shots of laser and energy bolts bounced off the fiery mass. The spinning soon stopped, and the beast released a blue stream of flame that barraged the ship. Loud cracking sounds rose above the din, the ship’s metal straining under heat and cold.
“That’s amazing!” Davina said with awe.
Jason couldn't speak. Cade was breathtaking. Heart hammering in his chest, he flew them closer, looking for a good spot to land. But his eyes returned to Cade in the sky, firing on the ship, half of which blazed with orange and red flames.
Then, Jason screamed as the unthinkable happened. A black light laced with threads of green flashed out of the ship towards Cade as he turned on his wings to dive again.
The light pierced Cade on his flank and he faltered for the briefest of moments. A dark chain, similar to the one Jason had seen around the girl, jerked Cade from flight, and he plummeted from the sky with an agonized howl.
Chapter 21
Cade felt a numbing sensation at his side seconds before he slammed to the ground. He lay stunned on the jagged edge of a ravine, his body frozen. He growled as he tried to get his hind legs under him to stand, but his body wouldn’t respond. His wings draped behind him. A low rumble of laughter met his ears.
“At last, I’ve found you again. And this time, you won’t get away from me, Cadeonidas.”
Paxor.
Cade bared his teeth and called his flame to roast the trespasser.
“Oh no, no. We can’t have you doing that. Your flames belong to me now.” Paxor smiled as he came into view, dressed in his customary cobalt blue robes, waking ever so casually towards Cade, unconcerned about the potential danger.
“I’ve missed you, Cadeonidas. Look at you, so gloriously beautiful.” Paxor sighed and tipped his head back, as if savoring the sight of the drogulis before him. “This time I’ve prepared for you. We will spend an eternity together, you
and I. It took me years, but I was finally able to track you down. I knew your noble desire to find your kind would eventually let our paths cross.”
Cade raised his head, rage coloring his vision. But his flames didn’t respond to his call. They churned as if bottlenecked within his core. He snarled, revealing his sharp teeth as Paxor strolled even closer to his paralyzed form.
“What’s the matter, beauty?” Paxor asked, stopping just out of reach of Cade’s large jaws. “Not happy to reunite with me? Thought you’d killed me? Oh? Maybe it’s because you realize I have you at a serious disadvantage. You see, after I recovered from your awful parting gift, I spent years developing just the right spell to ensure I have full control over a fiery beast such as yourself. Much has been sacrificed for this, but I’ve succeeded.”
Cade growled as the mage placed his cold hands at the side of his head and began to stroke his scaled hide. The touch funneled panic through him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t call on his fire, and something at his side kept him numb.
The numbness was deceptively reassuring, but Paxor had wrought something terribly sinister to have him immobilized this way.
“Ah, such a beauty. There were only a handful of drogulis ever formed by the gods. They were the rarest of the vahanan servants. But the golden drogulis was the most revered of them all. Glittering like a star of the heavens, its beauty was envied. It contained the most unspeakable powers, ones the rivaled even those of the gods. Your father, the first, was a magnificent specimen, if the tales are to be believed. Oh yes, Cadeonidas, you are worth all the years of toil, all the sacrifice, to have you as mine. This time you won’t get away, I’ve ensured it. I even kept your precious necklace so you can feel at home again.” Paxor began to laugh, but the sound morphed into a distorted, maniacal cackle, and the scales on Cade’s back trembled.
“You feel it don’t you? Your strength slowing, seeping from you.” Paxor grinned as he bent lower to the side of Cade’s head looking directly into his eye. “You’d better take to your human form, Cadeonidas and conserve your energy. You’re going to need it. But don’t worry, once you’re back in the pendant, we can prolong your existence until I have all your flames. And with your power, I’ll join the ranks of the gods.”
Cade gnashed his teeth at the mage who sidestepped away from his head and chuckled.
“You’ll behave. And I have those young you’ve been harboring to ensure that you do. Now come along.”
With a wave of the mage’s hand, dark mist enveloped them. Cade howled as he felt himself being transported. He’d rather die than see himself enslaved again.
∞∞∞
“Don’t worry, he’ll be all right. They don’t want him dead,” Davina reassured a shaking Jason.
He didn’t want to believe what he had just seen; Cade had crashed from the sky at an alarming speed. But he knew Davina was right—Cade was all right. He must be.
“Let’s find a way in. I sense several live bodies within, including the children,” she said gently.
Jason returned his attention to Davina and nodded. He needed to clear his head and finish what they’d set out to do, which now included rescuing Cade. He took a breath, folded his wings away, and gestured to Davina. “Come, the scent of them is coming from this direction.”
Jason led the way, relying on his newfound vahanan gifts of sight and smell to discover the enemy. How far he’d come. What he’d viewed as a curse was his biggest blessing.
They came to a door that was sealed from the inside They looked for a control panel of any sort to open the door. Then Jason tried to use force to push against the frame, but it was securely locked. He cursed inwardly and shuffled forward to find another way of entry when a click and hiss of a depressurizing compartment sounded, and the door popped open ever so slightly.
Jason glanced at Davina, unsure of what to make of this peculiar development. She shrugged and gestured for them to go inside. Jason suppressed a chuckle at Davina’s determined yet unhurried demeanor. He was glad to have her at his side tonight.
“I’ll go first, Your Majesty,” Jason teased, knowing she hated the title.
“Hush, you!” She shoved playfully at his shoulders.
They entered a darkened hallway where lights flickered on and off. Damage to this part of the ship was moderate, and they were able to pick their way carefully around debris that littered the way.
“Psst!”
Jason whirled around at the sound. “Show yourself,” he demanded.
“Hey, cutie. If you promise to get me out of here, I can show you where they took those kids.” The voice belonged to someone young, maybe female. Jason couldn’t tell or sense from which direction the voice originated.
“And why would I trust anyone on this ship. I can find the young just fine on my own.”
“Oh, come on! I helped you just now. I unlocked the door.”
“Show yourself,” Jason said. “Then we can make deals.”
He heard a grumble, then a petite figure emerged from a shadowed corner. The light flickered for the briefest moments for him to see a young woman with elven ears, spotted skin, and brown hair that covered half her head. The other side was shaved to the scalp.
But Jason’s jaw dropped when he noticed what she was wearing: a fitted black mesh top that exposed her small breasts and a brown bikini-like bottom with two strips of some kind of animal hide hanging at either side of her waist. One long, dangling feather earring hung to her collarbone.
“I’m Garland. And if we hurry, we can be off this ship before they notice. They keep the prisoners below. Come, I’ll show you.”
In a flash Jason placed a blade to her neck, holding her to the wall.
“Now, Garland, you seem a little too eager. Leading us into a trap, are you?”
“Wait, Jason.” Davina stepped forward to the wide-eyed Garland. “Do you really want to help?”
“Look, I just want off this ship of horrors, okay? Please. I can help you. I know where the traps are hidden and how to best get out.”
“Davina, we don’t want to waste time. We don’t need her,” Jason said impatiently. He really wanted to be on his way to find Cade and the others. He kept thinking about worst-case scenarios where Cade was concerned.
“Why don’t you try to see if she speaks the truth. You can do that now, can’t you? We should try to help all who need us on this ship.”
Jason bared his fangs in warning at the woman, who shrank back, and slowly removed his blade from her neck. “All right, let’s see if you speak the truth. And, Garland, if I find you’re lying to us, I’ll slit your throat. Do you understand?”
Garland swallowed and slowly nodded. Jason listened to her mind, her thoughts tiny whispers flitting in his ear, her heartbeat rapid but steady. She was scared and had been taken against her will and abused on this ship.
“Okay. You pass. Let’s go.”
Garland’s shoulders visibly sagged in relief and confusion. “I told you,” she mumbled. “Not that way—this way is faster. Come.”
Jason gestured for her to lead the way. Davina followed while he brought up the rear. He heard Davina whispering with Garland as they quietly made their way down one deserted hallway after another. Where was everyone? For a ship this size, there should be a considerable crew. He didn’t sense anyone here, nor did Davina it seemed. They finally reached a door where Garland signaled for them to stop.
“This door leads to the holding cells. The young ones will be somewhere that way. But there are wards and enchanted passageways that could be dangerous. Most of them I should be able to disable, but—”
“Thanks, Garland,” Jason said abruptly, “You’ve helped a lot. We can go from here.”
“But you promised to take me with you!”
“Don’t worry,” Davina interjected. “Wait here and be our lookout. We’ll be back for you.”
Garland’s face fell, desperation clouding her features. “Please, I can’t stay here,” she begged. “This ship i
s death.”
“Garland, look at me. I, Queen of Damurios, promise to take you from this place.”
Garland’s eyes grew wide at the revelation, and the two women clasped hands. “Okay. I . . . I’ll wait.” Garland unlocked the door, and Jason led the way through.
It was also deserted here, but he sensed vahanas near.
“You could’ve been a little nicer to Garland,” Davina chimed into the quiet.
“Are you kidding me? I can’t afford to look out for someone else right now. Father would have my hide if I let anything happen to you.”
Davina chuckled. “I can take care of myself.”
“Shh,” Jason held his hand up for them to stop. “Something’s here.”
He felt Davina peering over his shoulder, but she couldn’t see what he could. A thin web of threads hung just above the ceiling, their magical signature faint but warning. He didn’t want to waste time trying to study the magic, so they would have to crawl under it. He found several more web-like traps as they moved along. No wonder the hallways were empty. They had their own webbed security.
Soon after, they came to an area that was manned by heavily armed guards.
“Finally,” Jason said under his breath to Davina. “I’m in a mood to spill some blood. Do you want to stay here, or are you joining me? It’ll be messy.”
Davina grinned. “You truly are your sire’s son.”
∞∞∞
Cade heard a commotion down the hallway, but his mind was hazy, as if drugged. He found it difficult to focus, and he needed to concentrate to plan his escape. Paxor had left him in a cell of invisible walls, their borders cast in magic that pressed on him.
He cursed the mage. How had he survived? He must have spent considerable resources to track Cade’s whereabouts to spring such an elaborate trap. Cade worried about the fate that awaited the children.
Paxor would make sure they spent their lives in unspeakable agony. Gods, if Paxor found out about Jason, the mage would not rest until he added him to his collection. He prayed Jason was safe with his sire.