Dragon Mark

by Kit Bladegrave

  “No,” Tank snarled then threw his head back with a roar.

  More and more answered the call this time, and I nodded in agreement.

  “The time has come for us to show Radnak what we’re made of. It’s time to take this war to him.” I spun around in the circle until my eyes landed on Orella’s. “It’s time to attack the Fell Gates.”

  “What? Have you gone insane?” she yelled. “We don’t have enough men.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” I argued. “The longer we sit here and try to think up a plan, the harder it’s going to be to hit Radnak where it hurts. We go in now, right now, and we attack with everything we have. We end this.”

  “You said it yourself, those gates cannot be breached easily,” Robert pointed out. “We’ll never get through.”

  “He’s right,” Nora’s voice called over everyone, and the crowd parted as she walked toward me. Everest’s body stood tall and strong, but I sensed the weakness in her. This could very well be the last fight for her, too. “Attacking now is what Radnak would not expect.”

  A few more aggravated mutters echoed around her. “How do you plan on getting through?” Selma asked her loudly.

  “With magic. I alone cannot do it, but with your help, and all the other witches and warlocks here willing to aid us, we can breach it.”

  “And the second those gates are open, it’s fair game,” I said firmly. “I won’t lie, this fight won’t be easy, and yeah, a lot of us are going to die… which is why this is not an order. I will only take those with me who volunteer to go. You will not be judged if you decide to remain behind, but know that if we fail, the final defense of our clans falls to you.”

  I waited, holding my breath. Nora stepped forward and bowed her head. “I’ll fight beside you, always.” She said it, but for the first time in days, I heard Everest’s voice, not Nora’s.

  I nodded at her, and we waited to see who else would join.

  Most of the faces stared back at me with uncertainty, but then Selma stepped forward. “I will join you.”

  “And me,” Robert announced.

  “Us, too,” Mr. Winchester stated as he and Jared stepped up.

  “And me,” Amelie announced, bounding over to take Jared’s hand. He scowled at her, but she stood on her toes and kissed him. “Deal with it. I’m not watching you leave and not come back.”

  My heart ached to have Everest here with me now, but then a hand slipped into mine and I let out a heavy breath.

  She was here, she’d always been here.

  I felt her now and watched as more and more came forward, raising their fists in the air and roaring. Soon, every gathered person was nodding and shouting for our victory at the Fell Gates.

  “We can do this,” Nora whispered beside me. “We will do this.”

  “The magic you’re going to use to breach the gates, what will it do to Everest?” I asked quietly.

  Her hand squeezed mine. “Everest wants me to tell you to stop worrying. You only have one job when we get there.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked, unable to not smile, hearing those words in my head in Everest’s voice.

  “Kill Radnak and get your ass home in one piece so you can lead your clan.”

  “I need Everest by my side to do that.”

  “No matter what, Slade, this has to end,” Nora urged.

  For the first time since meeting her, I heard the fear in her voice. We were out of time. That message came across loud and clear.

  “Is there another way without using so much magic?”

  “If there was, I would use it, but this is the only way.” She leaned in and kissed my cheek. “That is also from Everest. Now, I must go prepare, and you should do the same.”

  She walked away, through the crowd, taking Selma and a few other witches and warlocks with her. We were so close to the end, and all I wanted was to look into those eyes and see Everest staring back at me.

  “Alright everyone,” I announced loudly. “Prepare yourselves. We leave for the Fell Gates in thirty minutes. Head to the encampment and then… then it’s on to Hell.”

  A chorus of battle cries and shouts reverberated throughout the town.

  “You hear that, Radnak?” I whispered as I glared up at the night sky. “I’m coming for you and this time… this time, one of us isn’t walking away.”

  The portal at the encampment was sealed from the other side, but together, Selma and Nora broke through the enchantment within seconds.

  I rushed through with Tank by my side, and we took out the two Black Diamond guards, ready to blow their horns and raise the alarm on the other side. We tossed their bodies into the brush and reached back through to wave the rest of the army through. We hastened off into the trees, splitting in two, and followed the road.

  Several more stations of guards, Black Diamonds and Priests alike, were set up along the way, and each station was quickly eliminated with swift efficiency. My heart beat like a war drum in my chest, each step taking us closer to our final great moment.

  “There,” I breathed when the gates finally came into view. “Guards along the top of the wall.”

  “Twenty at the bottom,” Preston pointed out. “Mixed, it looks like. The second we step out of the trees, they’ll see us, raise the alarm.”

  “So we don’t let them see us.”

  “What are you thinking? If we start picking them off, I think they’ll notice falling, screaming bodies hitting the ground.”

  I looked at him as I backtracked quietly through the trees until I found Selma. I tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Slade?”

  “I need your help. The gates are guarded by men up top and bottom.”

  She frowned. “And…”

  “And I was wondering if you could give us some help with the weather,” I said with a wink.

  Selma started cracking her knuckles then shook out her hands with a wicked grin of her own. “That I can most certainly do.”

  I hurried back around to find a few of our dragons which were leaner when they shifted and told them the plan.

  Over his shoulder, Preston stared at the wall in glee, he was definitely one of the better dragons for this task. Tank was too large, but there were two others who were a bit smaller than Preston, such as Jenny. Their small group disappeared into the trees as I grabbed Tank and tugged him toward the road.

  “I was hoping to get a few more kills in before we breached the wall,” Tank muttered.

  “Oh, we will, you’re coming with me to take out the other ones.”

  He drew his knives and held them in his hands, ready, and with a dark glint in his eyes.

  I lifted my hand over my head then brought it down for Selma to work her magic.

  The weather here was always overcast, so fog rolling in wouldn’t be too suspicious, I hoped.

  It pushed out of the trees and down the road. The guards near the gate pointed at it, and I held my breath, but they just yelled for more torches to keep up visibility. Atop the wall, the clouds drifted lower and lower, until we lost sight of them completely.

  I listened closely and heard the quiet swish of wings soaring through the air.

  “Move in,” I whispered.

  And with Tank, Aiden, and Jared beside me, we hurried toward the gate on foot.

  Using the fog as cover, we crept in closer and closer, until we reached our first figure, clad in red.

  I wrapped my arm around his body, covering his mouth with my hand, and plunged my knife into his chest. He gasped, and his body sagged to the ground. I stepped over him and moved to the next. Nearby, a body plummeted to the ground, and I glanced up in time to see the tip of a wing before it was swallowed up again by the fog.

  No alarm bells rang out, no cries of panic. Yet. Aiden was like a ghost in the fog, his blade moving swiftly.

  Tank broke necks with his strength, grinning wider each time a dead enemy hit the ground.

  “What’s going on?” a panicked voice called out. “Wh
ere is everyone?”

  “Kill him,” I whispered urgently to Aiden.

  “Baron! Baron, where are you! Help!” He kept yelling, and his cry was picked up by those on the wall.

  I hurried after Aiden’s shadow and caught up with him just as he grabbed the shrieking Black Diamond and ran him through.

  But the few atop the wall were yelling for the alarm to be sounded now, and for more men to be sent to the gate.

  “Damn it. Out of time,” Tank growled. “If Nora’s going to breach the gate, she best do it.”

  I told him to go find her, and he sprinted away into the fog. Preston, Jenny, and the other dragon joined us at the gate, shifting back as they landed.

  “They’re calling from inside the gate,” Preston told me. “In about five seconds, they’re going to realize there’s no one left on the wall.”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  Those words didn’t come from me.

  Nora had appeared.

  She was flanked by Selma, Amelie, and all the other witches and warlocks we brought with us. Her eyes flashed violet with Everest’s magic, but then the color shifted until I was watching an ever-changing rainbow. She held her hands out toward the gates, then Selma and Amelie reached out, placing one hand on either one of her shoulders. All down the line, the others did the same to the person who stood before them.

  “You might want to stand aside,” Nora said, her words tinged with the amount of power flooding through her veins.

  I cleared us all away from the gates, remaining a moment longer to stare into those eyes. A flicker of Everest shone back at me, and I bowed my head to her, not Nora, before I ran off the road.

  “You think she can really do this?” Tank asked.

  “We don’t have a choice. Make ready because the second those gates come down, we’re going to charge in there and kill them all. Remember,” I said as I drew my sword, “Radnak is mine.”

  The fog was suddenly illuminated as Nora unleashed her magic on the gates. The violet mist clashed against the Priests’ blood magic like a thunderstorm.

  I expected to hear metal groaning under the weight of such a heavy assault, but instead screams of the damned souls that created the gate resounded around us. The sound set my teeth on edge, but Nora never let up. She took a step closer, and the magic increased, battering into the gate again and again. The witches and warlocks with her staggered on their feet, some buckling to their knees from the effort to keep up the chain of power, but they never broke contact.

  Nora’s hands started to shake, and a yell tore from her body as she pushed against the gates, taking another step, then another. Beyond the sound of the storm of magic, I heard warning bells ring out. There was no way to hide this attack.

  I gripped my sword, willing the gates to break open so we could attack. All other sound fell away, and I all I heard was Nora’s yell. Everest’s yell. How much more of this could she really take before it destroyed her?

  “Look,” Tank yelled, pointing.

  The gates splintered, pieces of metal and stone falling away as the cracks spread. The violet lightning struck the weakened spots, again and again, driving through them until we could see through clear to the other side.

  “Come on, Everest,” I whispered. “Come on.”

  Lightning grew in her hands until she held a massive, swirling ball of it. With a shriek that made my heart clench, knowing Everest had to be in pain, she unleashed that lightning against the gate and it exploded.

  Nora and the rest of the witches and warlocks were sent to the ground from the shockwave, but the gate, the great gate protecting the Blood Moon Priests, was no more.

  I waited a few seconds longer to ensure Nora was moving at least, as soon as I verified it, I turned my full attention to the next stage of this fight.

  Before the dust settled, I rushed out of the trees and yelled with my sword overhead. The army followed after me, and our battle cries met the yells of panic of the Priests and Black Diamonds inside the walls; clearly not expecting such a force to be attacking.

  I slashed through the first Priest I came to, cutting him down before he could use his power on me.

  Our army swarmed the threshold, and soon fighting broke out all throughout the courtyard. More Black Diamonds rushed out from the fortress, but there was only one I wanted to see. My sword dripped with blood as I pushed my way deeper and deeper into the enemy lines.

  Every few seconds, I caught sight of Tank or Preston, but there was no time to ensure we stayed in an unbreakable line. Radnak, I was here to find him and end him.

  No matter what the cost.

  Something scalding hot slashed across my back and I whipped round to see the black and red-robed Priest standing there, more tendrils hanging by his sides.

  He leered at me as he slammed them into the ground once before he spun. They streaked out around him, and I barely managed to get my sword up in time to block them before his other hand came down, and more slashes appeared on my chest.

  I grimaced but ignored the wounds. I waited, timing it just right so when he lashed out again, I caught them on the blade of my sword and yanked as hard as I could, pulling him right off his feet. He grunted as he fought to roll over and get back to his feet, but I planted my boot in the middle of his back and grabbed him by his neck.

  “Where is Radnak?” I growled.

  “You will not win this war,” he hissed with a laugh.

  “Is that so? Then I guess we’ll just have to kill as many of you as we can.” Still holding him in my hand, I rolled my shoulders and shifted, taking the Priest with me as I threw myself into the sky.

  When we were high over the fortress, I brought him up to my face, seeing the fear in his eyes. My gaze darted down, and he screamed even before I dropped him.

  His body splattered on the stones of the courtyard and I roared in challenge, needing to draw Radnak out.

  He was here. I felt his dark presence hiding in the shadows.

  “Radnak,” I roared, striking the fortress walls with my fire again and again. “Come out and face me, you coward.”

  I scoured the courtyard, the mass of bodies fighting, but it was hard to tell if we were winning or not. I squinted, the haze of smoke and fog making it hard to see…

  And then I saw—

  I snarled in rage and dove for the ground, landing before Radnak and the person he held in his grip, choking her.

  Everest.

  “Let her go,” I growled.

  “Why would I do that? She’s caused me quite a few problems lately,” Radnak said calmly. “Think I’ll break her pretty neck and be done with it. Think it’ll break you, too.”

  “You won’t escape, not this time.”

  He stared around the courtyard. “I will. My army can be rebuilt, and you forget, I own the Emerald Petite and the Sphinx clans now. I’ll break them out of their prisons and use them to kill you all. I’ll pick up right where I left off.”

  Nora’s eyes opened wide, but she didn’t seem scared. She was trying to tell me something. I was careful to keep my eyes on Radnak while watching her out of the corner of my view.

  The necklace, it was starting to glow. Whatever was about to happen, she wasn’t worried about him breaking her neck.

  “Give up now, and we might consider making your death a quick one,” I snapped.

  “I think I’ll have to pass on that, Lost Heir. Now, say goodbye to the woman you love, if she’s even still alive in there.”

  “After you, asshole,” Nora spat, and a burst of violet mist exploded outward from the necklace, taking a chunk of Radnak’s hand with it. He clutched his wounded hand to his chest as blood spewed from it.

  “You bitch!” He backhanded her.

  She fell to the ground, but I was there, ready to bite down on Radnak and end him.

  As my jaws went to close, he shifted, faster than should’ve been possible, and I fell backward, tripping over my own tail as my wings spread out to the sides to balance me.

/>   It wasn’t possible, but the proof was right before my eyes.

  Taking in those two souls had made Radnak much larger, changed him and his dragon form. I cursed as he spread his wings, over twice the extent of mine, and a set of wicked sharp claws that could easily tear into my scales, judging from the way they glinted in the dim lighting.

  “Now, Slade,” he growled as I realized my mistake too late. “Let us finish this.”

  I had to catch him off guard, it was the only way I would be able to bring him down. My wings pumping furiously, I took to the sky with him right behind me.

  I sped up, needing to dive down on him from above—white-hot pain seared through my leg and I glanced down to see him right on my tail.

  I hadn’t lost him at all. His claws dripped with my blood, and I swung my tail around to bash him in the head.

  It smacked him, and he flew off course, but was right back on me a second later. I was smaller, faster, but those wings of his were too large. I dropped low and came up behind him, latching my jaws onto his tail. He bellowed in rage, thrashing his body to dislodge me and I tumbled over onto his back.

  I dug my claws in deep, but his scales were too hard to penetrate now, and they scratched right off.

  He barrel-rolled, and my wings fought to catch my plummeting body.

  Attack after attack came, those claws slashing along my sides and down my legs. All he needed was to get lucky one time, and he’d gut me.

  The burning pain from all my wounds made it hard to keep flying, but I pushed on, if not for my sake then for the sake of my clan and their lives. They were all in my hands.

  I stopped short again, and opened my jaws wide, surrounding him in shadow flames to hold him off. I needed more time, needed a way to break through his thick hide. My flames hid him from my sight, but my hopes rose when I heard him shriek in agony.

  This was it. I just had to keep trapping him with fire.

  But then his head reared out of the wall of flames I created and before I could dodge out of the way, he grabbed hold of my right wing and tore it.

  I nearly blacked out from the pain, and a scream I never knew I could make echoed from my jaws.

  My wing hung limply at my side, and all I could do was watch him hover over me as I fell.