by Dyan Chick
King Osbert held back near the entrance, giving Max and Nora a moment of pretend privacy. Taking her by the hand, Max guided Nora to the opposite end of the courtyard, as far from the door as they could get. He looked into her eyes and brushed the flowing red hair away from her face. The whole wedding had been part of the plan to gain the kingdom, but Max couldn't help but feel a little proud of the woman he now called his wife. "We did it."
She smiled. "Almost."
He knew what she meant. The night wasn't over yet. "True. Almost."
The guests from the ceremony began to flood into the space and servants walked around with bottles of wine, filling the glasses that were left on the tables. Max mingled with the crowd, accepting begrudging congratulations and well-wishes from people who wished it had been their child standing in his place right now. His face hurt from the fake smile he wore and he counted down to when he would no longer have to pretend to be something he wasn't.
As people began to fill their seats at the tables, servants served the guests. The courtyard was filled with quiet conversation as everyone ate. With each course, and each round of wine, the conversation grew louder, dotted with boisterous laughter.
Max and Nora sat at a long table at the far end of the courtyard right next to the king. Nora was keeping her father distracted and entertained, filling his wine glass frequently from the bottle that had been left on their table. Max hardly touched his food. Nobody seemed to notice how distracted the new prince was.
All eyes turned toward the castle as the servants arrived with dessert. Huge platters of pastries and sweets were carried around to each table. Despite the amount of food that had already been consumed, the guests continued to fill their plates with the rare treats.
Max leaned over to Nora. "It's time."
She nodded, then turned to her father. "Excuse me, I'm feeling a bit ill."
King Osbert whispered to her, concern showing on his face. It wasn't an unusual symptom of pregnancy and Nora had made sure she'd excused herself from most meals the last few weeks. Rumors had started to spread about the princess' condition, but it wasn't unheard of for a wedding to come after a baby. Being the daughter of the Necromancer king, nobody would dare openly question her.
When Nora stood, it took a few moments for the guests to take notice, but once they did, everyone rose. She lifted a hand. "Please, sit."
Hesitantly, people returned to their seats as Nora walked back to the castle. Max now sat alone with the king. An empty chair between them. Flutters of anticipation filled his stomach as he waited. The seconds ticked by, time seemed to have stopped. Then, the chatter of conversation was masked by the thunderous flapping of wings.
Glasses dropped to the ground, shattering. Max smiled. They couldn't see the dragon yet, but he knew they could feel her. Everyone gathered would feel the creeping fear the creature brought with her before an attack.
King Osbert turned to Max, a scowl on his face. Max smiled. He was going to enjoy watching his dragon kill everyone.
The dragon was larger than the entire courtyard and she circled above, sending gusts of wind from her massive wings. A rush of wind extinguished all the fireballs and screams filled the air as people began to realize the cause of the events taking place. Max left his chair and headed toward the castle. Standing next to the fountain, he called to his dragon. "Kill them all."
In a rush of heat, dragon fire poured out of the beast's mouth, Max lifted his arm to shield his face from the blaze. The sound of people crying out in pain was deafening. Then, all at once, the cries stopped. The heat lessened. Max dropped his arm and looked in front of him. Everything in front of him was black and smoking. Piles of ash stood where the tables and people had been. He couldn't tell the difference between them.
"Max?" Nora stepped out from the castle and walked over to him. She stared out at the destruction.
Max still had his arms raised toward the sky. He lowered them then turned to face his wife. "It's done." A wicked grin stretched across his face. "You're looking at your new king."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." A strong, clear voice rang out above them.
Max looked up, seeing a figure still standing in the smoke. Somehow, the king had survived. Flames ignited in Max's hands, a momentary loss of control, as the heat of rage flooded through his body. He squeezed his hands into fists, extinguishing the flames. How could this be? How could he have survived dragon fire? After all that planning, what had Max missed?
The king's upper lip was curled in disgust. "My own daughter." He shook his head and locked his gaze on Max. "You may have won the battle, son. But you'll never win the war."
Max scowled at the king. "This isn't over." He grabbed his wife and in a cloud, he vanished.
43
Etta
It was still dark when we gathered in the portal room. Since the sorcerers had determined that I needed to stay hidden until we could find the king, I would be entering with only my guards. Even Celeste would be in going through the portal with the other sorcerers. I was to stay at the rear of the army and wait until we found the king. I'd insisted on wearing trousers and a tunic today. My bow was slung across my back with a full quiver of arrows clipped to my belt. I gripped the bow, feeling a sense of security at having my trusted weapon with me. My magic was what we were counting on and I needed to conserve it so the bow was my go-to weapon until we found the king.
Master Marcus waited with us in the room. "Remember, we need you to go after the king, so don't die."
The words were blunt and exactly what I needed to hear. I was beyond the point of sugar-coating. I knew what we were all risking by doing this. He passed me a coin so I could travel through the portal and I squeezed it tight in my palm.
Butterflies swam in my stomach. This was it. We were going to attack the king. Everything had been leading up to this since I was first introduced to this world. The execution had changed, but the goal remained: eliminate the king.
I stepped forward to go through the ripple. Charles dropped his arm in front of me. "Wait."
Two of my guards went through, then Charles and Yancey stood by my sides while a third guard stood behind me. "Now," Charles said.
A wave of cold washed over me as we stepped through the ripple. It momentarily took my breath from me and I let out a deep breath as we stepped on the other side. We stood in a muddy field filled with yellow grass. I could see the castle in front of me. We were far enough away that the guards looked like tiny specks. They wouldn't be able to make us out at this distance.
The sun was just beginning its ascent across the sky, illuminating everything in a warm, yellow glow. The last few purple and pink clouds of sunrise were being washed away by the increasing brightness of the sun. I glanced to the woods, wondering where the Ravens were hiding. Were Saffron and Ashton there? Did they see us when we arrived? Part of me wanted to run to the woods, see if I could say something to my friends before this started. My heart ached to see Ashton again. Had I made the right choice by telling him I couldn’t be with him right now? Whatever happened today was going to change everything.
We all stood there in a group, silently clutching whatever weapons we had. All around me I could hear rapid breathing and I wondered if everybody else could hear my heart pounding inside my chest. I adjusted my bow and kept staring toward the castle.
My fingers were starting to go numb from the cold and the lack of movement. I rubbed my hands together, then stuck them under my armpits for warmth. Feet around me started to fidget. I shook my hands out, they were starting to tingle. At first, I had mistaken the magic for the cold, but as the tingle crept up my arms, there was no mistaking it. Letting out a gasp, several heads turned toward me. "They're on their way," I whispered.
Hands gripped tighter around weapons and bodies tensed around me. Eyes fixed in front of me, I watched as the first wave of soldiers appeared in front of the king's castle. Everything moved very quickly after that. A horn sounded from the castle, breaking th
rough the early morning silence. It was time.
We broke out at a run, heading right for the growing Gallic army. Waves of soldiers were continuing to come through the portal. Banners held high, the soldiers moved in unison toward the castle.
We were close enough now to see the response from the castle. Archers lined the front, releasing arrows at the encroaching army. The Gallic soldiers held shields above them, deflecting most of the arrows. A regiment carrying siege weapons stepped through the ripple as we arrived. The other soldiers parted, making a clear path for them to head for the castle, battering rams at the ready.
A group of cavalry on horseback came through right as the ripple faded. The general was seated on one of the horses and he rode to the back, waiting for me. I met up with him, my guards behind me. He looked down at me. "You're to stay behind us until someone finds the king. Don't worry, your highness, we'll take care of his soldiers." He called out to his men, and the mass of bodies moved toward the castle.
My guards formed a horseshoe around me, following me everywhere I went. I gave them dirty looks.
"We have to keep you alive till the sorcerers arrive," Charles said. "After that, we'll ease up."
I wasn't sure if I believed him, but I let it go. We'd need every sorcerer we had against the king and his sorcerers.
Cheers rose from the soldiers at the castle wall. I looked up to see that they had already breached the castle and were streaming inside. I shook my head. "That was too easy."
"Something isn't right," Charles said.
The sound of shouting came from behind me and chills crept up my spine. I turned to see the king's army headed right for me. They weren't in the castle, they'd been waiting for us.
"Run!" Charles screamed. He grabbed me around my waist and lifted me off the ground, running away from the charging army.
"Put me down!" I yelled. "I can run on my own."
He set me down and we all took off as fast as we could. My chest ached and my legs were burning as we raced away from the oncoming army. We charged up a hill, finally managing to get out of their path. I doubled over, struggling to catch my breath. Looking up, I watched the king's army clash with the Gallic army. In a surge of bodies, steel met steel and the air was filled with the sounds of battle. I wiped the sweat from my brow. "What happened?"
Charles shook his head. "I don't know how they knew."
A shadow passed overhead, as if a cloud had blocked out the sun. Then I heard the flapping of giant wings. My blood ran cold and my heartbeat quickened.
Looking up, I saw a great, red dragon. Its wings stretched across the sky. As it flew over us, I saw a rider on its back. A man dressed in all black with dark, curly hair. Max.
"I don't think the army was waiting for us," Charles said. "I think we stepped into the middle of another battle."
The dragon flew over the soldiers and flames poured from its mouth. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched the dragon make another pass over the soldiers. There was so much fire, so much death. My eyes were glued to the scene. I couldn't move.
"Etta," Charles said. He never used my name and the word broke me from my trance.
"We have to do something," I said, pushing up my sleeves and raising my arms toward the sky. Charles pulled my hands down. "We have to stick to the plan. You wait for the king."
"We didn't know we'd be fighting a dragon when we made that plan," I said.
"Fine. We need to find the other sorcerers. You won't be strong enough to bring down a dragon alone," Charles said.
He was right. The sorcerers should be here by now. Our original plan was for them to focus on the king and his sorcerers since he usually kept them close by. I would take down the king when we had weakened him enough or eliminated his bodyguards. Now it seemed we'd have to turn our powers to Max and his dragon. I'd read about how destructive dragons could be, but I never imagined that a single dragon could destroy two armies.
Our plans had been thrown off by the appearance of the king's army behind us, and with the dragon in the air, nobody was where they were supposed to be. "Where do you think they'd be?" I asked.
A fireball out of the corner of my eye caused me to turn my head. It wasn't dragon fire, it was sorcerer fire, and it was being launched at the dragon. "There!" I pointed to small group of figures in colorful robes.
The field between us and the sorcerers was filled with people engaged in battle. To make things more complicated, Max and his dragon continued to rain fire down on all of the soldiers. "I'll have to teleport there."
Charles surveyed the scene, then nodded. "It's the only way. You're bringing me with you." He turned to the others. "Yancey, can you teleport yourself there?" He pointed to the other sorcerers.
"I think so," Yancey said.
"Do it," Charles said. "The rest of you, do what you can to bring down that dragon."
I grabbed Charles' hand and squeezed it tight. The smoke rose around us and before I had time to think, my feet appeared on the other side of the battle field.
Celeste was standing with the other sorcerers. She was wearing a satchel across her body, the bag shifted to one side of her. I could see a faint purple glow shining through the bag. She'd brought her orb. We were going to need it.
Madame Lyndsey stood in the center of all of the sorcerers. I ran over to her. "What can I do to help?"
She never took her eyes off the dragon. "Whatever you can throw at the dragon, do it."
I bent my knees to find my sorcerer stance, and lifted my arms to the sky. I wondered how arctic fire would react on a dragon. Calling on the power inside me, I reached down for the ice. My fingers tingled as the cold filled my veins. My eyes followed the dragon, preparing to fight its fire with my own.
Just then, Charles threw me to the ground and landed on top of me. My breath was knocked from my lungs and I sucked in a huge breath of air as I sat up. What was he thinking? I turned to yell at Charles, then shut my mouth quickly. He had an arrow in his back.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Don't worry about me." He pulled me up to standing then dragged me back, away from the encroaching battle. All of the sorcerers fell back. For some reason, there seemed to be more people fighting. It didn't make sense. The dragon fire should have killed so many. I watched so many bodies fall. My eyes found a group of people who had fallen, skin blackened from the dragon fire. To my horror, they stood, reached for their weapons and headed toward us. "That's not possible. They should be dead."
"Necromancers," Madame Lyndsey said. "Max is killing them and the king and his sorcerers are bringing them back."
"No." Max and his dragon were aiding the king. He was giving him more soldiers. Soldiers that didn't feel pain or stop after they'd been hurt. How could we fight against them all? The day had started with so much hope. Now I was beginning to feel trapped. How had things gotten to this point?
The dragon swept down in front of us, breathing fire on the soldiers that had just been poised to attack. Had Max done that on purpose? I stepped away from Charles, who still had an arm around me.
Flapping wings sounded above me and the dragon hovered directly above us. I looked up, fear seizing me, making me unable to move. My heartbeat quickened and my breathing was rapid.
Somebody tugged on my arm, pulling me back. I stumbled and found my feet, stepping away from the giant red beast.
The dragon reared, shaking its head and howled. I covered my ears against its sharp cry but it was too late, a ringing sound muted the sounds of the battle. I couldn't even hear the wing flaps.
It fell to the ground, knocking Max from its back. Somebody had managed to wound the creature. It tried to stand, failed, and collapsed to its side. Part of me felt sorry for it and I had to remind myself of all of the destruction it had caused.
Max seemed unscathed and walked toward us, leaving the dragon behind without a backward glance. "It's me and you, little sister," he called out. "We finish this right here, just the two of us."
I gripp
ed my bow, wondering if I should try to shoot him, but I hesitated. How could I kill my own brother? "Why are you doing this, Max? I never wanted this."
"All you have to do is step down from the throne. Give up."
My nostrils flared, jaw clenched. "Never."
Puffs of gray smoke began to rise around him and as it cleared, I was staring at 12 other sorcerers. All wearing black robes like Max's. These were the other members of the Order of the Dragon. We were surrounded by fire sorcerers.
Madame Lyndsey moved in front of me. "You're not going to hurt her."
"Look at you, traitor," Max said. "I never seem to know whose side you're really on."
"At least I chose a side," she said.
Another gray cloud of smoke appeared and as it faded, a young woman with red hair stared back at us. She was wearing the black robes of the Order. I stared at her, eyes narrowed. She looked familiar but I couldn't place it.
"I think you've all met my wife." Max nodded to the newcomer.
We stood there, facing each other down for a moment. My sorcerers behind me, Max's Dragons surrounding him. As I looked at the smirk on Max's face, I had an overwhelming desire to lash out at him. I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted him to feel the pain that I'd been through.
Before I could decide on the best course of action, a fireball was launched from one of Max's sorcerers. Ducking and moving out of the way, the battle began. Madame Lyndsey threw fire, Celeste called to wind. The ground under me shook and I was knocked down just as a ball of fire came at me. I rolled away from it, and turned to see my opponent. Everything happening around me seemed to come to a standstill as I stared up at the face of my brother.
Max looked down at me. "Come on, little sister. Let me see that blue ice you make."
Heat rose up inside me. I wasn't going to let him kill me. As much as I didn't want to kill Max, I knew it had to be done. The Darkness pulled at me, begging to be released. It was taking most of my energy to keep it away as I struggled to my feet. It's time to show him how much he underestimated you. There was truth in the words but I ignored them. Today wasn't going to be the day the Darkness won.