"Accept our sacrifice, Malakandor!" Mooregaard's voice resounded through the valley. "And establish thy dominion through thy servants!"
At those words, the earth beneath them shook. The ground beneath the paralyzed legions began to glow. The wall of wind encircling them became a wall of fire, tightening slowly. In moments it would swallow them all.
"Do you see that, Render?" Ahndien's voice quavered. "They're all going to die. The entire military of both kingdoms. There'll be no one to stop them."
"All right then." Render took a deep breath, pressed his forehead gently against hers, and said. "But what have you withheld from me? What did Valhandra tell you?"
"Now is not the time."
"I can see it in your eyes. What I fear most—"
"Think not upon it. By Valhandra, you are the Great Deliverer, do not let such thoughts sway you."
With that, he embraced her, then flew straight down at the two infernal agents of Malakandor.
// PLACE ME ON THE PRECIPICE BEHIND THEM //
"Be careful." Render approached the cliff.
Before he knew it, Ahndien leapt from his arm and landed square on her feet just as he came within striking distance of Mooregaard and Volfoncé. Lightning crackled to life from Render's hands. This alerted them.
Mooregaard sneered. "Ah! Malakandor has delivered the final portion of the burnt offering. Straight into our hands!"
He sent a chilling blast straight at Render.
With his arm, Render shielded his face.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
A bone chilling blast bit into his skin.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
Ahndien set her feet upon a rock above the Torian knight and his female accomplice that had used their abilities to kill the Torian King and the Empress of Tian Kuo. She caught a glimpse of the Torian reaching for the pouch at his waist from which he'd produced the stones that had mortally wounded Greifer.
Now, seeing that this Malakandor-serving Mooregaard could manipulate the air and objects Ahndien knew what she must do. Even as he reached inside, Render began his descent, hands glowing blue and white, lightning crackling from the tips of his fingers.
Before Mooregaard could pull out the sharp stones and hurl them like arrowheads at Render, Ahndien summoned all her energy and sent a blast of fire straight at the pouch.
It flew from Mooregaard's hands and burst into flames. In an instant, nothing remained but ashes drifting to the ground. Both Mooregaard and his partner turned around in surprise and looked up at Ahndien.
In that moment, Render let loose a web of lightning which enveloped Mooregaard and the Lady beside him. They cried out in pain, faltered, but quickly launched themselves into the air.
Mid flight, their bodies stretched out grotesquely as they transformed into two enormous vultures. Brown plumage, sickly pink heads, curved yellow beaks. Their wingspans exceeded that of Lao-Ying's as an eagle.
If only he were here to help.
Right away, Ahndien formed a fireball and hurled it at them. It nearly grazed them. Now aware of both her and Render, they flew down into the valley.
She reached out to Render. It made her anxious to be apart from him right now, when she was so close to the moment Valhandra had shown her in her vision. At all costs, she had to stay by him. To the very end.
// COME GET ME, RENDER //
In a brilliant flash, Render came to her side. "They're about to sacrifice both armies as a burnt offering to Malakandor!"
Once again, she climbed into his arms, preparing for flight. "Do you have a plan?"
"I'll take Mooregaard. Watch for Volfoncé, she may slip from view and catch you unawares."
Ahndien pointed down to the wall of fire surrounding the frozen masses of soldiers. Some of them twitched, many of them looked like frosted statues. They were fully conscious, but completely immobilized.
Like scavengers, Volfoncé and Mooregaard flew about the top of the gigantic fire ring that stretched across the golden expanse of sand.
"Ready?" Render took hold of Ahndien. Somehow, their thoughts connected. Just how much he saw into her heart, her mind, she could not tell.
Dry wind blew through her hair as Render flew into the valley, faster than she'd ever seen him do. If she herself could fly, things would be so much more efficient. As it were, she had no choice but to hold on and try not to fall. "The fire's closing on them!"
Render nodded. "Almost there!"
Why they should care about saving these people escaped her. Yet, it was the will of Valhandra, spoken directly to them, connecting their destinies like the inscription on the swords strapped to their sides:
Two weapons of war—UNITED—one instrument of peace.
The hairs on Ahndien's neck began to prickle as Render's entire body crackled with energy. Her hair unfurled and floated around her as though under water.
White light flashed in the clouds above.
The two vultures that were Mooregaard and Volfoncé now remained suspended above the hapless troops. Righted, they appeared to be standing mid-air, side-by-side, with wings outstretched.
The flames shot up suddenly and began to close in faster.
"Hurry, Render!"
He released a bolt and sent it straight at Mooregaard.
Mooregaard leaned back as it nearly grazed his head. He glared and, with the flapping of his wings, sent a powerful blast of air that hit Render and Ahndien like a stone wall.
She barely heard him calling for her as she slipped from his arms and plummeted into the valley of dry bones.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
I am not meant to die this way!
Wind rushed up mercilessly as Ahndien fell hundreds of feet within a sliver of time. She squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of hitting the ground and shattering into pieces.
But instead of the thud of fatal impact, a piercing screech filled her head. It wasn't the ground that came up under her. It was something massive, warm and powerful, yet gentle.
She opened her eyes and found herself straddling the neck of a mammoth bird, its silver crest and brown feathers as familiar as the back of her own hand.
"Lao-Ying?"
// TAKE HOLD QUICKLY, FLEDGLING //
"Lao-Ying! You came back!" He turned to the right and swooped down. Ahndien wrapped her arms around his neck. Diving headlong, Lao-Ying sped as though attacking the ground. Before she knew what he was doing, something landed behind her on his back and he swooped back up just a few feet from the ground.
The startled voice belonged to Render. "Where did you come from?" They were now behind Mooregaard and Volfoncé, who were looking to the left and to the right searching for their crushed bodies on the ground.
// WE MUST ATTACK FROM BOTH SIDES //
Ahndien gave Render a quick smile. She touched the side of his face with tenderness she never knew she had. "Are you all right?"
"Yes." Not wasting a moment, he embraced her, took a deep breath and leapt from Lao-Ying's back. A thunderous clap jolted the air as Render flew.
Aglow like a silver-tipped arrow, Render drove straight between Mooregaard and Volfoncé. Ahndien and Lao-Ying followed closely. Render brought his hands together cupping a ball of energy that sizzled to life between his palms. From it a streak of lightning lurched forward and split into two, striking both Mooregaard and Volfoncé. They changed back into human form and fell to the ground, though not from a sufficient height to injure them.
Right away, the flaming wall surrounding the warriors of both kingdoms fell. Render turned to face them as they lay on the ground, still as statues. But Volfoncé, still lying on the ground next to her dazed partner lifted a hand, pointed at a large rock, causing it to levitate. She meant to hurl it at Render's head.
"Look out!" Ahndien called, just as it flew at him.
In an instant, Render drew his sword which shone with a dazzling blue light, spun around and sliced at the oncoming rock, which was several times larger than his head.
It
split just inches before his face. The halves fell to the ground with glowing molten ooze bleeding from the edges.
Just then Lao-Ying landed, pinning both Mooregaard and Volfoncé under his powerful talons.
// CLIMB DOWN, AHNDIEN //
She obeyed. Before her feet even touched the ground, Lao-Ying launched into the sky, gripping his prey between his claws.
// FREE THE CAPTIVES. I WILL HOLD THESE TWO AS LONG AS I CAN //
She ran to Render's side. He stood before the entire host of Torian and Tianese warriors, who trembled and blinked—for it was the only movement they seemed capable of.
"I don't know what to do."
"We haven't much time," Ahndien said, filling her palms with a fresh plume. Then she noticed the frost encrusting the soldiers' helmets and fingertips. Right away, she sent a monumental pillar of fire into the air above the entire multitude. The blaze overhead lit the entire area like sunlight. The heat could be felt pulsing in the air around them all.
"Wait, what will they do if you free them?"
"We have to bring them together!" Ahndien sent another surge into the air. One of the Tianese soldiers started to move his fingers, which began to close around the shaft of his spear that lay in his open palm.
Render called out into the valley. "Hear me now! You have all been betrayed."
From the corner of her eye, Ahndien noticed Lao-Ying's flight becoming disjuncted. He seemed to be struggling. But the motion beneath her drew her attention back. "Render," she whispered, still keeping the flames burning hot above them.
All throughout the ground like ripples in the water, soldiers of both armies began to move. There must have been ten thousand of them, or more. Over to the far right and out of Render's view, a Tianese pikeman pushed himself up to his elbows, then to his knees, then to his feet.
// RENDER… //
Ahndien strained to keep the pillar ablaze.
Continuing to address the troops, Render did not heed her thoughts. Or perhaps did not perceive them. "See with your own eyes. This war has been contrived. As was your conflict against the Sojourners!"
The pikeman grit his teeth, pointed his spear at Render's neck and charged at him with great speed and ferocity.
Ahndien stopped the fire and gasped.
// RENDER! //
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX
This would be a fight to the finish. He knew the two vile agents of Malakandor by their true identities: Mooregaard and Volfoncé. Gripping them in his talons, he regretted his years of inactivity pining in the hills as a hermit, all while these two immortals had not yet been defeated. But he had refused to go out and find them.
Now, they had succeeded in doing precisely what he alone might have been able to prevent, had he not disobeyed Valhandra. So many years ago, he'd all but forgotten.
Until today.
In the time Lao-Ying had left Ahndien to wallow in self-pity and hide himself from Valhandra—as though such a thing were possible—The Great Father of the Sojourners had appeared to him in a vision as He had—until recently—for centuries.
Thou shalt receive that which thou hast sought, and find the ending for which thou hast longed.
After centuries of waiting for the promised return of his beloved, he had all but surrendered to the idea that it would never come to pass. And through the years, possessing the advanced knowledge of all the death and suffering that would befall his friends and loved ones through the ages and not being able to die himself, Lao-Ying had grown bitter in his immortality.
But just yesterday, Valhandra had granted his request:
I shall suffer thee to die, as your heart so desireth.
Now, facing death for the first time in half a millennia, Lao-Ying struggled to stay aloft, as Mooregaard and Volfoncé pried themselves free. The old hermit who had once been a prince felt something altogether unexpected. Something he'd not felt for hundreds of years.
Fear.
But not for himself.
He only knew what Valhandra had told him. Render and Ahndien must fulfill their destiny. To bring the warring kingdoms of Tian Kuo and Valdshire Tor into unity. And to reestablish the Dominion of Valhandra's people. Protect them at all costs.
As they loosed themselves from his grip, rather than fall, the traitors of both kingdoms flew outward. Just as Lao-Ying had anticipated, they transformed into spirit creatures of hideous aspect. A pair of massive vultures.
With one flap of his wings, Mooregaard sent a powerful gust that knocked Lao-Ying out of his flight path. The vulture turned to the frozen troops below and hovered over them.
Eagle that he was, Lao-Ying quickly recovered and drove down with all his might. He pointed his beak at the middle of the great vulture's neck. His attention was divided and it hadn't expected Lao-Ying to return so quickly.
One stab.
Pierce the center.
Should have done this two hundred years ago.
Just moments before he reached Mooregaard, Lao-Ying hit what felt like a wall of stone. Only there was nothing before him. He went tumbling to the golden sand, his vision darkening.
// OLD FOOL! DO YOU STILL SERVE A DEAD KING?//
It was the fatally alluring voice of Volfoncé. She had thrown up a wall of air as solid as rock. Lao-Ying's ears rang in pain which manifested in the smell and taste of blood in his mouth. Plummeting, he let out a cry, but no sound came out.
As he hit the ground, a dull pain went through his back and extended to his extremities. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but a blur of muted color and specks of dancing light. Instead of his wing, he saw the outline of his hand, fingers curled in agony. Pain ravaged him—not of the body, but of the realization that he'd failed to stop Mooregaard and Volfoncé.
Failed to protect Render and Ahndien at the moment they needed him most. He stretched his bloodied hand towards them. Before he could form his next thought, a sharp pain went through his ribs and shoulder.
Then with an atrocious screech, the cruel curved claws of the giant vulture dug into his sides. Volfoncé lifted his frail human form into the air. A gritty gust of wind tore against the open wounds on his neck and arms.
Try as he might, he could not muster the strength to transform.
His vision cleared enough for him to discern the valley below, Render and Ahndien struggling to free the frozen warriors, Mooregaard in human form conjuring up a whirlwind of sand.
And the rocks below, upon which Volfoncé meant to dash him to pieces.
// AND NOW, OLD MAN, BEHOLD THE POWER OF MALAKANDOR AS YOU DIE //
CHAPTER EIGHTY-SEVEN
This is useless!
What good was talking to statues? Paralyzed soldiers bent on killing each other, and probably Render himself, if they were able. Without knowing how long Lao-Ying could hold Mooregaard and Volfoncé off, Render began to doubt his ability to do anything useful.
Speak to the valley...
He may as well be speaking to the rock face of the hills.
// RENDER! //
Ahndien's distant call filled his mind. He turned around and instead of the beautiful Tianese who he'd come to love, he saw a snarling Tianese pikesman charging at him with a spear.
Just before the point of the spear reached his vest, Render flew into the air. The pikeman, still stiff as he thawed in the fire Ahndien cast around the frozen multitudes, thrashed his spear about, and finally lobbed it at Render. But it fell limply to the ground. The pikeman shivered and hugged his arms trying to stay warm.
Relieved he hadn't killed the soldier, Render sighed and flew over the thawing troops. In the distance, something odd began to happen. It first appeared to be a swirling dust cloud. But then, even as Ahndien called out to him, the sound of howling wind overwhelmed her voice. Each grain of sand turned black until the cloud itself changed from gold to slate.
"By all that is sacred!"
Beneath Render's feet, the troops began to stir, thanks to Ahndien's warming fire. But a more ominous threat approached. Render fe
lt it in his blood.
In one brief moment, three things happened. Render couldn't react quickly enough to do anything about it. First, an enormous vulture flew by with the elderly human Lao-Ying in its claws. Then Ahndien let out a shout directing Render's eyes back to the black cloud, which settled to the ground across the valley.
Finally, from within the cloud emerged what could only be described an army of shadows. Ethereal, black, and but for the outline of men on horseback with weapons drawn, featureless.
There must have been thousands of them coming at the Tianese and Torians, who were too weak to defend themselves.
"Get up, everyone!" Shouted Ahndien at the staggering warriors. "Look alive, they're coming!" But those that were able to stand stumbled and fell again. Their limbs were too rigid.
Render shot a line of lightning straight into the oncoming horde which for sure outnumbered the two armies they were attacking.
The lightning passed through them as though they were nothing more than a dark vapor.
Then came the first arrow from a mounted archer.
Black smoke trailing as it flew, it seemed nothing but a shadow.
Until it pierced the first Torian soldier's chest.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
Mooregaard laughed subtly as legions of the demon horde sprung to life. Pure spirit-creatures, nothing could stop them from destroying all the pitiful Tianese and Torian warriors, who were like sheep going to the slaughter.
They would then swallow them up in flames. A pleasing sacrifice to Malakandor.
The covenant would be upheld: The middle kingdoms would be Mooregaard's and Volfoncé's to rule in perpetuity.
Streams of black smoke took bodily form and rushed out to the center of the valley. Render and that feeble girl had no recourse whatsoever.
Mooregaard shouted into the valley such that his words echoed repeatedly. "Valhandra is dead!"
Lao-Ying watched in horror as the demon horde drove at the royal troops under Render and Ahndien's guard. Nothing could stop them, neither lightning nor fire.
Once We Were Kings (Young Adult Fantasy) (The Sojourner Saga) Page 28