Her words didn’t settle him down. He shifted from one foot to the other. He searched everywhere but saw nothing anywhere around him.
Elle rushed up to him and threw her arm around his neck. She whispered in his ear. “Ushne. Ushne.”
Her voice calmed him instantly. He put his arms around her waist and hid his eyes against her neck. Whatever danger he saw out there, it must be pretty serious. Just for an instant, she considered staying behind and not going out to the battle after all. The next minute, she discarded the notion. Staying behind wouldn’t protect her from whatever it was. She would be just as alone when he flew out to assault the Urlu forces.
He raised his face to kiss her. “You come find me, Ushne,” she murmured. “You come to me when you’re ready. If you tell me to go, I’ll go. Okay?”
He closed his eyes, rested his forehead against hers, and nodded. At that moment, the crier came past again. “Form up! All divisions, form up!”
Elle tore herself away. “I better go. I’ll see you down there. Take care of yourself. When it happens, you tell me, and we’ll go.”
He stood back and watched her buckle on her armor and her scabbard. She gave him one last kiss and hurried away to join the troops. She didn’t want to miss this, but something major bothered him. This was his moment of triumph, but whatever it was disturbed him so he couldn’t function.
The divisions formed up just behind the ridge where they couldn’t be seen from below. Alan rode his horse back and forth in front of the divisions. The knights’ chargers and the cavalry’s mounts stamped and snorted. Armor clanged all down the ranks. Most of the men wore black paint smeared across their faces to give them a demonic appearance. Elle took her place next to Simon with the infantry.
Alan wheeled his horse around to face the army. “Our Clan ha’es waited generations fer this moment tae drive the stinkin’ hoards from our land. Now is yer moment, ye men o’ Munro. Ye’ll stamp ‘em intae the ground, and the vermin’ll ne’er raise their heads tae disturb us again. Are ye ready?”
A great cheer rose out of the crowd. The men raised their weapons on high and shook their armor to a deafening roar. Horses squealed and reared in their excitement to attack.
Out of the camp, Robbie appeared. He walked through the grass to Alan’s side. His kilt kicked around his knees, and his shins brushed the long grass stems. He was nothing but an ordinary man, but his presence quieted the troops in an instant.
Alan’s horse shied and strained at its bit. It rolled its eyes at Robbie, but he only stood still and faced the army fighting for his crown. He didn’t have to take his dragon form to intimidate anybody. He was every inch a dragon, even when his head didn’t come above Alan’s horse’s shoulder.
Peaceful calm settled over the army. The sight of him standing there told them what they needed to do. Alan spoke in a soft voice, but everyone heard it. “Tak’ yer positions. Ready the first assault.”
The army rushed to the ridge. Horses brushed their sides against each other. Armored bodies jostled Elle into her place. Her heart pounded against her ribs, but she wouldn’t back down on this moment for anything.
Her whole life led to this moment. She didn’t know it until right now, but she recognized the truth. She wanted to fight. She wanted to test herself against hardened men of combat and win the day.
Alan’s voice boomed over the lines from behind. “Ready, first wave! First wave, fire!”
At his word, the siege machines set up on the ridge unleashed their first bombardment. Missiles soared over the plane and struck the castle.
Alan laughed behind the ranks. “That’ll wak’ ‘em up if naught else’ll do.”
The siege machines unloaded shot after shot. Projectiles pounded down on the castle and struck its walls. A thin wail of screaming voices drifted on the wind. The drawbridge creaked upward and slammed into place.
The next instant, a heavy missile slammed against the closed drawbridge. It smashed the wood to splinters. The portcullis came down at the same time and got caught on a twisted plank sticking out of the drawbridge. The hole gaped open. Elle looked through the gap into the courtyard beyond. Nothing protected the castle from invasion.
Alan called out, louder this time. “Ready, second wave! Second wave, forward.”
At his word, Simon jumped off the ridge. Black dye discolored his face and turned him into a raging fury. He planted his feet wide and swung his sword above his head. “Forward, Munro!”
The infantry lunged forward in a body. Thousands of men charged down the mountain heading for the castle. Battle fever infected Elle like never before. She ran down the slope toward that broken drawbridge. She would kill any Urlu she saw and drink his blood. All Robbie’s warnings vaporized out of her mind.
The siege machines pounded their constant fire on the castle in all directions. Walls crumbled to expose rooms and courtyards and stables behind them. The closer she got, Elle saw individual people rushing everywhere behind the walls.
She brandished her saber and ran for all she was worth. She bumped into other armored soldiers, but no one stopped running. The noise and confusion only fueled her burning rage to fight and kill and die in this.
The army got halfway across the field before the Urlus reacted. Out of the yawning hole in the drawbridge, armed men streamed out to meet the oncoming foe. They charged the Munro army in the same headlong rush for blood. They crashed into the enemy forces, and the two armies locked in mortal combat.
In seconds, men with axes hacked the broken drawbridge away. Others threw boards across the moat, and horsemen in plate mail charged onto the field. A deafening ruckus boomed across the plane, and cavalry and knights galloped down the mountain to meet them.
Out of nowhere, a ferocious man with a busy brown beard under his helmet rushed at her bellowing to wake the dead. He raised his sword over his head to cleave her in half. The next thing she knew, all her awareness dwindled to a pinprick. She lost all cognizance of anything around her. All her energy and attention focused on this man. She raised her saber to block his stroke, and all her strength and power trained on keeping her alive for the next few seconds.
Chapter 25
Robbie watched the battle from the ridge. The infantry, knights, and cavalry of the Munro army engaged mounted fighters and foot soldiers from inside the castle. The longer the two armies grappled for every inch of space on the field, the more troops poured out of the castle to defend it.
The siege machines bombarded the castle in a constant drumbeat of pounding missiles. Towers crumbled, and plumes of dust billowed into the clear air.
Alan’s charger trotted down the line. “Fourth wave, ready! Fourth wave, deploy!”
The archers, the last division of the Munro army, set off running down the hill. They formed ranks behind the front line, and the archers dropped to their knees behind the army. The next minute, a hail of arrows peppered the warriors streaming out of the castle. They struck down dozens of Urlus at a stroke.
The Urlus never wavered. They fought in all their raging power to defend their castle. They wouldn’t give up easily, but Robbie never really expected it to play out like this. What was he expecting? He didn’t think they would let him walk in and take the Throne without a struggle, did he?
Where was Elle down there? He wanted to take wing, swoop down, and get her out of there. He never should have gotten mixed up with these Munros, but it was too late now. He could never take the castle alone, but something about this situation didn’t sit right in his mind.
Where were his brothers? Were they captives inside that castle? Were they wandering the countryside? Were they on their way back home, now that they lost Angus?
Alan came trotting back. His horse pranced right and left. Alan fought the reins to keep the animal under control. “Get ye ready! It’s time.”
Robbie climbed up the ridge to gaze out over the scene. He knew the drill. All he had to do was fly down there and unload his fiery breath on the enemy. He could final
ly exact his revenge on these Urlus for what they did to his family. He would do it for Angus.
Alan slapped him on the shoulder from behind. “Go on. Ye can do’t.”
Robbie took a deep breath. He almost changed when a flock of black specks burst out of the castle into the air. They erupted from behind the shattered walls and took wing. They rocketed over the landscape going a mile a minute. In a few seconds, they raced over the battlefield and up the mountain to the spot where Alan and Robbie watched.
Robbie ducked his head, but not before he saw them in all their horrible glory. They were dragons—hundreds of them of every imaginable color. They zoomed on their papery wings over the scene and swooped low to whizz at the soldiers once again. The air hummed off their scales, and their wings sent blasts of air into Robbie’s face.
He stared in stunned shock at the dragons racing all over the place. In front of his eyes, more and more took flight from inside the castle. They stooped at the Munro troops and let loose their jets of flame on the enemy.
The whole scene came out of some nightmare Robbie never let himself imagine. He always imagined himself flying over the Urlus and incinerating them with his own fire. He never once imagined they would do the same thing back.
Alan yelled in his ear. “Get ye up there afore it’s too late! Go on! What’re ye waitin’ for?”
Robbie glanced at him. He didn’t recognize the man he once considered a friend. “What the de’il’s goin’ on? Ye ne’er told me they were dragons, too.”
“Did ye think we needed ye tae ficht an army of men?” Alan screamed back. “Get up there! This is what we needed ye fer. We need ye to ficht ‘em. Ye’re the ainly one that can!”
“I cinnae ficht ‘em all! Are you daft?”
Alan moved his mouth close to Robbie’s nose and shrieked in his face. “Do ye mean tae stand up ‘ere licht a coward and watch those things destroy our army? Get ye up there if ye ken what’s richt. Ye’ll no win the Phoenix Throne any other way.”
Robbie faced the battlefield. His head spun in a thousand directions. Elle was down there. One of those dragons could hit her, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had to get out there and fight them. He had to find her and get her out of here before it was too late.
At the same time, a queer thought weaseled its way into his brain. These were dragons like himself. They lived in a castle, and some of them fought as men against men. That must mean they could change back and forth at will, the same as he could. These were his own kind, so why was he fighting them?
He didn’t let himself think twice. He had to find Elle. Nothing else mattered. He launched himself off the ridge into empty space. The wind and gravity caught him and tore his clothes away from his skin. The cold pierced his bones.
The next instant, he spread his wings and plunged like a bullet at the battlefield. He slashed any dragon he saw with his tail and hammered them with his fire. He never used his fiery breath before, but it came out of him easier than thought. He released his revenge on these dragon people who killed his brother and dispossessed his family. He never gave a second thought to why.
Dragons screamed and plummeted out of the sky all around him. He darted from one to the next. He slashed their wings off and whipped his tail around them to break their necks. He didn’t bother to look at them. He killed without discrimination in his headlong rush to destroy them all.
He streaked over the castle and blasted the courtyards and ruined chambers with devastating fire. He got a sick thrill from seeing women and children running for cover at his approach.
He banked and raced back over the field of battle. Both armies cringed at his approach, and even the dragons hesitated to engage him. They skirted the battlefield and attacked the periphery, but they wouldn’t come near the main field with him patrolling there.
He scanned the ground for Elle. He spotted her locked in a deathly struggle with some Urlu soldier. Their swords clashed, and the man shoved her back to menace her one more time. Robbie narrowed his eyes and bent his wings to dive at the man when a shout went up from somewhere to his left. “The King! The King is coming!”
Robbie didn’t have to hear any more to know what they were talking about. King Farlane Munro would never get mixed up in this battle. They could only be talking about one person, and Robbie already knew who that was.
Alan told him the King of the Urlus would come out to fight him. Robbie had to beat him to take the Throne and break the curse. He turned around and beheld a huge black dragon rising out of the castle. The spikes along its head, neck, and back gleamed in the sun. Its sheer size changed the atmosphere so the air prickled down Robbie’s scales.
Robbie turned all the way around to face the menace. He hovered over Elle. If he won and broke the curse, she would vanish off the battlefield and he would never see her again. The alternative was dying here himself. Then she would be trapped in this world alone.
He didn’t have time to think about that right now. The black dragon gained the atmospheric heights and trained its glittering eyes on him. That dragon dwarfed even Rob. The smaller dragons fluttering all over the place didn’t dare come close. They knew what was coming. Everybody did.
Robbie narrowed his eyes at the thing. This was the creature who killed his brother. He didn’t care if these Urlus were the same as him. He would kill this monster before he budged off this battlefield.
He sensed Elle watching him from the ground. This was the moment of truth. She knew it as well as he did. They would be together, or they would never see each other again. That’s all there was to it.
Robbie flexed his wings and put on speed to meet the demon. The dragon King lowered his head between his shoulders and pumped his own wings. He screamed out of the sky coming at Robbie on the wind.
The two dragons collided in mid-air. Their long necks and tails lashed around their bodies to bind them together. Robbie slashed his fangs at the black devil, but the black dragon put up just as fierce a fight.
Their heads darted in and out. They slashed and cut and dove, retreated, and attacked again. Their screams and roaring bellows echoed across the valley. Robbie pushed his strength to the limit, but the Urlu King still gained the upper hand.
With the two of them locked together, they couldn’t fly. They fell toward the Earth and would have crashed back into the castle. The Urlu King whipped his tail around Robbie’s body. At the last second, he tore himself away. That wicked tail ripped around Robbie’s chest and spun him out into thin air.
Robbie screamed in pain. The Urlu King jerked away and flapped up into the clouds. Robbie flopped in the air, and every sinew ached so he could barely extend his wings. He had to act fast, though. He put out his wings and swooped above the castle into the air just in time to see the King rocketing back at him going full speed.
Robbie flapped a few times to gain some altitude, but the King came in too fast. The black dragon collided with him like a ton of bricks. He bowled Robbie over and over in the air. In the confusion of getting his wings and tail straightened out to make another concerted effort to defend himself, Robbie got turned around in the air above the castle. He righted himself, but when he looked right and left, he saw no sign of the King.
Out of nowhere, the huge black menace crashed into him going faster than ever. He knocked Robbie out of the sky. One of Robbie’s wings bent back at a sickening angle, and pain blasted through him. He screamed in agony. He couldn’t correct fast enough, and his wing hung useless and smarting off his back. He plunged to Earth and slammed into the ground. The impact bowled several soldiers off their feet, and the dragon King descended over his victim to finish the job.
Chapter 26
The Earth shook beneath Elle’s feet. She fought her opponent back and got herself a brief reprieve. She looked around just in time to see Ushne’s green form drop out of the sky and crash in front of her eyes.
She darted forward. “Ushne! No!”
The Urlu man tackled her from behind and pinn
ed her to the ground. The wind burst out of her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. The man pounced on her and sat on her back. She felt him rear back to drive his saber into her from behind, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the dragon splayed on the ground in front of her.
Ushne writhed in circles in a desperate attempt to get his feet under him. The dragon King eyed his pathetic efforts from on high, but the moment Ushne made sense of his flailing limbs and wings, the King landed on him with all his claws extended.
Ushne fell under the King’s talons. The enormous black creature held him down and cut him to ribbons with fangs and claws. Ushne fought back, but he couldn’t do much on his back. The dragon King’s wicked head darted in, chomped Ushne to the bone, and whizzed back before Ushne could respond.
Elle watched in horror. She couldn’t lie here while Ushne met his end. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to see her opponent raise his sword for the killing stroke. Rage exploded out of her. She flipped over just in time to block him from lopping her head off.
Their swords met in a shower of sparks. He bared his teeth and crushed her to the ground. Her arms shivered with the effort, but she held firm. She had to get out of this. She had to put him down so she could help Ushne.
The man tightened his grip, and her elbows threatened to give out. She couldn’t hold him back. He was too strong for her. She had to get on her feet before he overpowered her completely.
She summoned all her strength and bucked her hips into the air. She jolted him, but not enough to unseat him. He sank his full weight on her, but she already knew she could do this. She gave one more violent heave. His sword jittered down her blade, and his lock on her gave way.
She let go of her sword. In one desperate dive, she caught hold of his thigh and flipped him up. She scuttled underneath him and upended him onto the grass. He cursed when his face hit the ground, but Elle already scrambled to her feet and faced him, sword in hand.
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