by Nyk Nova
His reluctant team groaned affirmatives.
“Well, that’s something.” The general stepped back to the cockpit and looked out the cracked window as more guards rushed down the palace steps. Four of them guarded Jer’ren as she accompanied them with Epok behind her. “Good. This is just what I wanted.”
“Now what?” Calsin asked.
“Everyone but you,” Kade motioned toward Poyn. “Leave your weapons here.”
“What?” Calsin asked. “We’re not only surrounded by Lugazian soldiers but we’re on Lugaz.”
“She’s right, General,” Exin said. “Even with our guns, we don’t stand a chance. Without them…”
“You’re staying on the ship. They don’t know who’s here. Poyn and I will go out. I need this to look like I’ve been apprehended. I just need to get close. If I get her to call off the armada, we can avert a new war.”
“And my place in this?” Roland asked.
Kade took a breath, thinking about the coming choice he’d already made. “I can’t ask you to watch what may happen next.”
“I understand,” Roland said. His tone was conflicted. He knew the stakes and what they could mean, but his mind and his heart were battling each other. Another war was unacceptable, but Kade’s intent was undesired.
“Stay clear of the door,” Kade told them. “You ready?”
“They’re my people,” Poyn said. “You won’t have to worry about me.”
Kade nodded and made his way for the door.
“Drop the wall,” Jer’ren ordered Epok.
The shimmering diamond air faded away as the guards stepped toward the crashed ship.
Guns rose while the door opened.
“Don’t shoot!” Poyn shouted. “I’ve apprehended the Oscerian!”
Jer’ren’s eyes narrowed. “Apprehended? Explain!”
Poyn shoved Kade through the door. “He thought he could use me as leverage. But I got the upper hand.”
“Well done. And General Tare?” Epok asked.
“Dead. At his hands.” Poyn jerked Kade.
“We salute your bravery,” Jer’ren said. “Perhaps we should make you general in his place.”
“I am honored to serve, My Lady.”
Jer’ren stepped toward Kade with dignity and grace, sure in her final victory. “We knew we could not trust you. Still, if your mission is complete, that would count for something.”
“Like an attack on my world?”
Jer’ren took one more step toward them. Kade took note of the distance. It was still too far.
“Only a measure of leverage should you betray us. But now that we know where your loyalties truly stand.” Her eyes shifted to Poyn. “General, you may order the strike on Osceria. And see to it that Kade’Tor Lorenth is publicly executed. We must set the example that Osceria would not.”
“You can’t!” Kade yelled.
Jer’ren took one more step forward, her eyes alight in flame. “You dare to give me orders!”
It was just the distance he needed. Kade tore free from Poyn’s weak grasp and launched at Jer’ren. He raised the broken Sword of Aurtune and plunged it into her chest.
“Empress!” Epok’s hands rose, ready to cast an attack spell.
“Hold!” Kade yelled as Jer’ren leaned against his shoulder. “I twist this blade, she dies. It may be broken but there’s enough left to kill. If you want to live to see another day, Empress, you call off the armada. Call it off and cease all plans for Osceria.”
Jer’ren coughed as she tried to push herself off Kade but he held her firmly in place. She was the only reason he hadn’t been blasted to pieces yet.
Kade kept his eyes on the surrounding troops. “Any sudden moves and she’s done for.”
The coughing from the Empress shifted into a giggle before it was a full blown laugh.
“What?” Kade said as she effortlessly pushed herself away from him. Blood trailed down her royal garb but there was no sign of a wound.
Kade looked down at the broken sword, the white of her blood smeared across the metal. Proof of the wound.
“How is that—”
“Possible, Kade’Tor Lorenth?” Jer’ren said. She pulled the Spirit Ignition Stone from beneath her tunic, letting it hang from the chain around her neck. “Do you even know what it does?”
Kade had no answer, still dumbfounded at how fast she healed.
“I wasn’t sure myself. But it didn’t take much study.” She suddenly faded away but reappeared from the palace entry. “I would explain it but what would be the point of telling a dead man anything?” Her eyes lit up and her hand burst into green flame.
47
Jer’ren threw her hand forward, launching green fire at Kade. There was little concern for who was in her path. The Empress’s rage was complete, knowing Kade made an attempt on her life.
Poyn leaped back into the ship while Kade dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding the magic flame.
“You could have just gone home, Oscerian!” she yelled, blasting another flame at him. “Instead you chose to betray me. And now.” The air around her rippled as she rose off the ground. “Now, you have no home.” Her entire body became engulfed in fire.
Kade stood and took note of his surroundings. There was more than enough room for the Lugaz troops to fire at him, but their fear of the Empress’s power kept them covered. They’d never seen her so furious.
Even from as far away as she was, Kade could feel the heat of the flames around her. He readied himself to dodge another volley of fire. Instead, Jer’ren flew straight at him like a bird of prey with its eyes set on dinner. Kade dropped to one knee and grabbed one of the Lugaz weapons laying in the street. He fired at the enraged Empress, putting four bullets in her before she faded away.
“It’s an infinite spirit divider!” Kade shouted, realizing the power of the stone.
“It is so much more than that, Oscerian trash!”
Kade’s head shot upward to see Jer’ren crashing toward him, the same fire still surrounding her. This was not a fight he could win. Angered as she was, there would be no reasoning with her. And with the stone in her possession, a blade in the heart and a bullet in the head wouldn’t stop her, making fighting an effort in futility. She would never wear down and he was tired from the events leading to this moment.
Jer’ren screamed and the surrounding blaze shrank into her outstretched palm before blasting down at him.
It would have been a simple attack to dodge if the blaze hadn’t widened itself, igniting the air around it. There was no place to run or hide. The wall of fire was already the same size as the Vesper Haste.
“Die Oscerian!” Jer’ren yelled from above the fire.
48
The heat wave from Jer’ren’s attack pressed down on Kade. The metal of the ship had already started to glow red just as it did reentering the atmosphere. The fire wasn’t even going to have to touch him, the heat alone was enough to extinguish the life around him.
There was only one chance and he hoped Exin had been right. Kade shoved the broken sword up as the fire neared. The piece of technology performed as it had with the Volt Blade, pulling the fire into itself.
The intensity of the heat lessened as the Sword of Aurtune pulled the blaze into the handle.
Kade could see Jer’ren fade away as the last of the fire came into contact with the fabled weapon. The flame was like a torch shooting three feet out of the handle.
“That’s impossible!” she yelled, her voice coming from every direction.
Kade kept his head moving, searching for any sign of her or the next attack. The same soldiers who’d hidden themselves from her wrath, slowly came out of hiding, all of them looking at one another for assurances of safety. Their own Empress had little concern for their safety. Kade knew that would not endear her to them. But he didn’t know if that would change their loyalties. He watched their guns for any sign of attack but the troops only looked confused.
“How did you
do that with a broken sword?” Jer’ren’s disembodied voice asked.
“Come out and I’ll show you,” Kade said, swinging his new fire sword.
A flame, much smaller than the last attack, shot up from the ground. It was instantly pulled into the sword and was followed by another.
Kade found multiple blasts come at him from all angles but no sign of Jer’ren. “Is this all the Empress of Lugaz can offer?”
Suddenly she appeared, floating above the steps of the palace. Her demeanor changed from furious to calm.
“You may have expanded your power with the stone,” Kade said. “But as long as I have this, we could be here till the world ends.”
“We will certainly be here till your world ends,” she said with a sinister grin.
She was right. Regardless of their fighting or how long it lasted, the Lugaz armada was heading toward Osceria, assuming they weren’t already there.
“Call them off, Jer’ren!”
“I think not. Captain!” she shouted to one of her soldiers. “Since our new general has chosen to hide, would you call in the fleet. Tell them to raze the Oscerian Capital to the ground. Leave no stone in that city untouched!”
The captain hesitated. She had just placed he and his men in mortal danger.
“Now!” she yelled.
The fear of her power was enough to sway him and the captain rushed toward the palace, feet moving as fast as possible.
Roland stepped from the ship, looking worse than before, the heat had gotten to him as it had cooked the Vesper Haste. “Hold Jer’ren.”
“Roland? You are too late. You could have ended this long ago. Now you will know as your world burns.”
“Mother!” Ler’ren rushed from the palace, dashing under the Empress and nearly bowling over the captain. “You cannot do this!”
“Back inside, Ler’ren! Do not test our patience beyond what this Oscerian has already done.”
Kade’s eyes flicked from Jer’ren then to her daughter. He thought of Roland’s words when he chose his people over his love. He didn’t like where his mind took him, but the thought of his world dying was even worse. His mind was made. There was no other way.
Kade rushed toward the young woman. Ler’ren was happy to have him embrace her but shocked at his actions.
He grabbed her and spun her around, sword at her throat. The ambient heat was already making them both sweat.
“Ler’ren!” the Empress yelled.
“You halt the order to fire or you watch her burn!” Kade shouted.
“No!” Jer’ren yelled, reaching out for her daughter.
“Tell her, princess. You could end all of this,” Kade told Ler’ren.
“I wish that were true, my love. But Mother will let nothing stand in her way.” Ler’ren placed her hand on Kade’s. “If it is what you wish. We will do it together.”
“You barely know me.”
“And yet, we share a common bond. I know you felt it.”
“She will not relent, Kade,” Roland said. “Do it! Jer’ren knows only force.”
“Roland, stop him!” the Empress yelled.
“I trust General Lorenth, Jer’ren. I will do no such thing until you call the armada back.”
“You would forfeit her life for his? Forfeit the life of your own daughter?”
49
Kade’s eyes went wide at the claim and the burning sword lowered slightly. “You lie!” He glanced back at Roland who stood, mouth agape. “Roland! It’s not true! It can’t be!”
“Look at her, Roland. Look in her eyes and know the truth,” Jer’ren said, lowering herself to the steps.
Roland stepped around Kade and Ler’ren, his eyes taking her in for what seemed to him, the very first time.
“Did you know this?” Kade asked his hostage.
“I suspected something was different about me. I did not expect this,” she said.
“Roland?” Kade asked, unsure of what the old soldier was thinking.
“Do you see it, my darling?” Jer’ren asked. “How, in a world barely touched by sunlight, could a Lugazian be as dark as she?”
Roland squinted, looking at her. Her skin was light but nowhere near the white of the rest of her people. He looked back at Jer’ren who returned his gaze with pleading.
“How could this be?” Kade asked.
“A question I find myself asking, General,” Roland said as he turned back to Jer’ren. “When?”
“The night I asked you to leave the war with me.”
“Why did you not tell me?”
“How could I have found you?” Jer’ren asked. “You returned to fighting alongside Korren’Tor. Would you have stayed with me if you had known? Forsaken your oath as a soldier of Osceria?”
Roland turned back to Ler’ren but Kade could see the look in his eyes. The shift in his thoughts that the new discovery created. “Roland, no.”
“She is the unifier, Roland,” Jer’ren said. “The one person to bring our people— our worlds— together.”
“She is right, General,” Roland said. “Please, release the girl.”
“If what you say is true!” Kade shouted to Jer’ren. “Then why is there an armada ready to attack my world?”
“Why else, Kade’Tor Lorenth? Subjugation requires bringing Osceria low.”
“Roland, our people.”
“My daughter,” Roland said, his voice trembling and his eyes staring at Ler’ren. “Please, Kade, release her.”
Kade gritted his teeth. Jer’ren was threatening to take his entire world away and Ler’ren was the only thing stopping her. But Roland’s new insistence was taking even that leverage away.
“Call off the armada!” Kade ordered one last time.
“Release my daughter!” Roland yelled, taking aim at Kade, He fired his hand gun, hitting the butt of the sword. The burning weapon flipped from Kade’s grasp.
“But our people,” Kade said, stumbling backward.
“She is my blood!” Roland rushed to Kade and slammed a fist into his face, further separating him from Ler’ren.
The hit was far harder than Kade had expected from the old soldier. His head twisted and his body followed, spinning him to the ground.
“Yes, Roland! Kill him. He would do the same to our daughter!” Jer’ren yelled.
Ler’ren stared on, torn between her mother’s wishes and her own affections for Kade. Even as Roland struck him again, she remained motionless.
Kade finally blocked a punch and rolled free. “I don’t care who she is. I didn’t defeat Lugaz just so they could destroy our world.”
“You see it, Kade, you see the truth. That she is my blood. I cannot let you kill her.” Roland moved for the Sword of Aurtune. “I only hope that your father can forgive me, Kade. I was happy to have known you.”
“Bring me the sword, Roland. We can unify our worlds under the banner of Lugaz. Freeing all of our people from the perils and horrors of these wars that have for so long plagued us.”
Roland walked past Ler’ren, smiling at the young woman. Her eyes stayed on Kade and were anything but joyous.
“I am weary from it,” Roland said as he stepped into the Empress’s embrace.
“Then let us be done with it. Osceria’s forces will be obliterated and we will walk into the Capitol hand in hand, uniting our people.”
“A thought only dreamt of,” Roland said. “But.” He grabbed the Spirit Ignition Stone from around her neck, yanking it free. “That is not the true Unification.” He stepped back, slamming the stone into the sword handle.
Roland spun around and threw the burning blade to Kade. “General!”
It was a tactic not even Kade could have come up with. He dashed forward and caught the sword. Its green fire, expanded as a renewed blade grew from merging with the stone.
“Roland, why?” Jer’ren asked in shock as the old soldier moved to her back and wrapped his arms around her.
The move was too fast for Kade to slow down and he plu
nged the weapon into both of them.
Both gasped as the burning steel pierced through them.
Kade stumbled backwards, his eyes wide, shocked at Roland’s sacrifice. “Roland. Why? You didn’t have to.”
“The laws of Lugaz,” Roland said. “Now our people and my daughter are saved.” He and Jer’ren fell to the ground.
Jer’ren twisted to face the Oscerian.
“I left you once,” Roland said. “A regret I have carried for many years.”
“I did not wish for your death,” she said.
“Nor I for yours. This seemed the best course of action. Now I can never leave you again.”
Poyn, Exin and Calsin stepped out of the ship, joining the others as they gathered toward the dying couple. All looked at each other for some sort of order or advice. With the Empress’s death, there was no one to give such.
“This was unforeseen,” Epok muttered before using the distraction to spirit himself away.
“What laws?” Kade asked.
Roland and Jer’ren looked at Ler’ren. “You are the Empress now, my daughter,” Jer’ren said.
“An Empress of two worlds,” Roland added.
Ler’ren dropped to her knees, her face contorted but her tears ran dry. Kade looked down at her and could not imagine what she was going through. The loss of her mother and her newly discovered father. Rising to rule so quickly. It must have been too much. Similar to how he felt before Dom Argus’s death but worlds apart.
“It hurts, my love,” Jer’ren said, unable to heal or quickly relieve herself of the pain without the Spirit Ignition Stone.
“Then end it quickly,” Roland told her with a smile.
Her hand burst into green flame and Jer’ren moved the fire to surround them both. “Are you ready?”
“General Kade,” Roland said. “Thank you for freeing me from banishment and for giving an old soldier another chance at life. If not for you, I would not have found her again.”
“Roland, I…” Kade could not find the words.
The old Oscerian soldier nodded to Jer’ren.