“He wishes.” She replied. “I’m the daughter of two Ancients Marten, my powers are nearly equal to my parents, and he never could drain me completely, even with the other three trying as well. And my magical potential never changed, just the amount that I had in me.”
“And you heal instantly with the glow.” Marten replied, rubbing smooth circles on her back with his palm as he moved her back over to the bed. “I saw it happen.”
“As long as I’m never drained that much again, which it should theoretically be impossible to do,” Kobos had depleted a lot of his power the last time, and had needed to fill himself with magic before he and the others could take more, draining her to a dangerously low level before they were all glutted. “And there’s something you should know, he has created demons. Hundreds of them.”
Marten’s face went white with shock as he continued to gently massage her shoulders. “How can we defeat them?”
“Wytches or dragons can kill demons.” She replied. “Dragons would be best, but as far as I know we only have two on our side.”
“So we will have to find more dragons then.” He replied. “How many would we need?”
“Over two hundred.” She replied, and she didn’t voice her greatest fear, that Kobos had in fact managed to do the impossible and create a demon dragon. If he could do that, then there was nothing that could stop him. Two demon dragons would tear the world apart with their blood hunger. “Now get out, because I am most certainly not staying in this hideous nightmare of a nightgown. Send in Joanna if you would, in fact, just let them all in. My bedroom cannot stand another beating like this.”
He didn’t laugh, didn’t move. His hands stopped circling and gripped her shoulders tight.
“They said that you weren’t mine.” He told her.
“No,” she told him. “I’m not yours, you’re my consort. Now get out there and let me see my sisters.” She smiled, turning to give him a small push out the door.
He pushed her back hard enough for her to fall sideways on the bed, waking up Averna.
“Sorry,” She muttered, hugging the teenager.
“I was awake already.” Averna told her as Marten left. “You two are vomit-worthy.” She said it sarcastically, but Romana had head the wisp of longing there
“You’ll have the same in time.” She assured the teenager.
“Sister?” Came a quiet voice from the doorway.
“Cass?” Romana guessed, knowing that her glowing skin was quite a sight.
They all rushed through the door at once, hugging her furiously and promising her that they’d searched endlessly and threatened millions to try and find Kobos’ lair.
“I know where it is.” Romana replied. “And I know who I am.”
A hushed silence fell over them.
“There were orders.” Joanna whispered. “We were told by the Ancients themselves and forbidden to tell you until it was deemed essential by Kate.”
“I understand, and I don’t care about that.” She replied. “But I want to know what it means for me. I can’t really ask my parents now, because I don’t even know who they are, all I know was that they are Ancients.”
“It means you are the first and only one of your kind.” Cass whispered. “And it also means you are to be cherished as our queen. You are someone who was chosen. But you are also someone dangerous. If you ever lose control for more than a second now that your full powers are released then fiery winds will devastate the world.”
“But you are always our sister.” Leanne finished for them. “And now we shall get you your revenge.”
“Show us the way to Kobos’ lair and together we can decimate the population of his demons.”
“Sisters, I fear it is more complex than that.” Romana warned. “I think that Kobos has found a way to make demon dragons. The most powerful of demons. Should we attack the consequences of it may be severe casualties on our side.”
“Then we should launch a scout party anyway.” Joanna argued. “Surely it is best to know what comes at us.”
“My sisters, hear me.” She beseeched, “this is not a man to be tampered with lightly.” Maybe she could do it, now that she was at full strength, but it was not for her to lead her sisters to their demise.
“We have no fear of death.” Cass replied. “We will go with you to scout these tunnels.”
“Any who wish to back out, raise your hand.” Romana decided.
No hands went up. The loyalty of her sisters overwhelmed her and tears rushed to her eyes as she leapt up and hugged them again.
“Can I come?” A tiny whisper said from behind her. Averna was sitting on the bed and looking at them longingly. “I could kill anyone who intends to hurt you. If I got close enough to Kobos then I’m sure my power would work on him as well.”
But did the little girl want another stain on her soul? Romana wondered, as all of the wytch queens looked at each other questioningly.
“Never mind.” Averna muttered darkly, seeing their expressions.
“You can come.” Romana decided. “Ash will take care of you. We will need the dragons if demons rush at us.”
“When do we leave?” Allie asked.
“Twelve hours.” Romana replied. “But for three of those I won’t be available.”
“We’ll be ready.” Cass promised.
“Meet in my reception area.” She received guilty looks. “I do still have reception area after you guys went supernova at Marten, don’t I?”
“Well, it has a new skylight.” Leanne said guiltily. “I’ll get someone to fix it and the stuff in this room.”
“And the induction tools?” Romana asked, “And what about the books. Some of those were centuries old!”
“Good thing we have a book wytch then isn’t it.” Katherine, the book wytch in question, commented.
She nodded. “I’ll be out for a while. Joanna, you can keep order until then right?”
“Certainly.” The other wytch queen replied. “I made you some new clothes before that though. I also took the liberty of telling the other threads in your old ones to disintegrate. No use in letting Kobos find a way to track me as well.”
“I’ll be back.” She replied.
“Three hours.” Joanna confirmed, and she nodded.
“Where are you going?” Marten demanded, striding into the room.
“Out for a fly.” She replied. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Not if you take me with you.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?” He asked.
“I mean I am having some time alone with my familiars, without you. End of story.” She snapped back. “There’s no need to get all stroppy about it.”
“How can I protect you if I don’t know where you are?”
“That’s the point.” She replied. “You can’t. And you can’t follow me.”
“Kobos could—” He began, but she cut him off.
“Kobos has been prohibited from touching either of us.” She replied. “If he does then the Ancients will punish him.” Marten opened his mouth as if to argue further, so she threw herself out of the bed and slapped him. “Do not let this thing between us go to your head.” She ordered. “I am the queen of all wytchdom. I am the daughter of two Ancients and you will not clip my wings for the sake of protecting me.” She erected a force field between him and her and teleported in front of the wardrobe and pulled out the clothes that Joanna had made for her.
The other wytches had quietly left the room at Marten’s entrance, and she watched as the thread in the clothes slowly unwound and then re-sewed itself around her, making her the perfect wytch queen gown. It was identical to her other one with the same boots. She pulled up the hood of her cape and strode from the room, unhindered by Marten who was still trapped behind the magic that it was now effortless to keep up.
She shielded herself as she walked out to her reception area. Wytches were already repairing the ceiling, which did indeed support a new skyli
ght, some were removing debris from the floor and Katherine was indeed ordering books to repair themselves and stacking them back on the bookshelves. Thankfully, Bettie and the other important little things about the room were miraculously intact.
She walked through and her sisters all bowed as she passed, most of them were lesser wytches, who were required by protocol to bow if she passed them, but some were wytch queens and she didn’t know why they were bowing to her. She rubbed her hand over the thirty gemstones that were embedded over her heart.
Kobos had tried to take them out, she remembered as she moved towards the large door where Ash and Icarus were waiting for her, he’d cut so deep as to reach bone, and found that they were fused to her ribcage. This really was permanent; she wasn’t going to be able to leave this unless she died. If she died, which Averna was convinced she wouldn’t.
Chapter Thirty
END ME
She climbed onto Ash’s saddle with a smooth leap, and tried to push Kobos’ many tortures from her mind as they flew with exhilarating speed through the clouds to circle at a height that not many people, even dragons, could ever reach.
She did see some dragons, though, some shooting fire at each other, which was unusual. Nearly all dragons fought for the dragon queen, there shouldn’t be this many fights going on.
It’s civil war. Icarus told her, reading her thoughts. They’re choosing to abandon the dragon queen in favour of forming a rebel faction that intends to place us as their figureheads
And how do you feel about becoming kings? She asked, detecting a hint of bitterness.
It’s nothing I would volunteer for, let’s put it that way. Icarus told her.
He may not like it, but I think there might be some hot rebel dragonesses out there waiting for us. Ash inserted. Typical man that he was.
Where to mother? Icarus changed the topic.
Try and follow one of the rebel dragons, provided that you can tell them apart that is.
We can. Ash informed her, but did not elaborate.
How? She asked.
They all carry a slight burn on their left shoulder, while those loyal to the queen carry her mark there. They didn’t need to explain that the rebels had likely burned theirs off, resulting in almost impeding pain.
Her familiars immediately changed course to follow three dragons in the midst of a battle, one clearly trying to get away, while the two larger ones were still constantly battering each other with flame. Romana sneaked a glance at their shoulders, two burn marks, one on the one backing away and the other was on a dragon who seemed to be desperately drawing the attention of the queens soldier.
Should we help them? She asked, not sure about the situation.
The soldier would send out an alert, telling the queen where we were. Icarus told her.
There would be dozens here in minutes. Ash completed. We’ve been having trouble hunting they have been searching so hard for us.
Could we stop them from coming after you while you hunt, Romana asked.
We’ve tried everything. Icarus told her. Short of turning invisible, which I can't do alone, we’re unable to do much.
They watched as the larger dragon increased its attacks on the smaller one which was still trying to back away. Instinctively, she knew that the soldier was a man, while the two dragons fleeing were female. Unable to intervene while being seen, Romana watched as the stronger female finally gave up with fire and launched herself at the soldier, clawing and cutting all the while receiving more damage than she dealt. Distracted, the soldier did indeed stop his attacks upon the smaller one, which used the opportunity to fly south. The other rebel gave a last roar, ripping the soldier’s wing from its back before flying like a drunken bumble bee after it.
Block the soldier’s mind from communicating with anyone else. She decided. I want to know more about the rebellion and its effects on the queen.
It’s done. Ash informed her, you have only a few minutes now though.
They flew to where the soldier had fallen to the ground, and she winced at the sight of him.
His blood was splayed around the area in large enough quantities to make her wonder how more was still pouring out.
“End this.” He muttered. “End me.”
“You don’t deserve the honour.” Ash snorted, the words rumbling from underneath her. “Should we torture him now, mother?”
“He is in enough pain as it is.” She scolded her son. “We shall heal him and take him to the isle to recover.”
“Why?” Icarus asked, “He’ll betray us.”
“Not if I bind his mental speech.” She replied, dismounting with a fluid grace and walking straight up to the large head that fell back as if the dragon no longer possessed the strength to hold it up. He looked at her in total resignation. Clearly expecting to die or be healed to be tortured. She would do neither.
“Angel?” He asked. Did he think she was an angel because of her skin?
She moved over and placed her left hand over his forehead, channelling the flames into his body and commanding them to heal, even as she invaded his mind with her own, his weak state the only reason she was allowed in so easily.
Inside she nearly wept at the cruelty this dragon had endured. Not many had survived for so short a time and known so much hurt. He had been a simple man until his strength as a black agate dragon had been rumoured to the queen and she had sent for him to be inducted into her army. Once there, hell had been unleashed to keep this man contained and on her side. His family had been murdered before him; even his son had been killed. Now he’d shut down, swearing never to feel again, becoming the heartless assassin that the queen had made him. He’d only lost this battle because of his injuries from a previous fight preformed for the queen’s entertainment.
Feeling invasive at her perusal of his mind, she quickly put up strong barriers preventing him from speaking to the queen or any of her allies or soldiers, which would cause him to black out if he tried, and left the psychic plane to find him fully healed but still unconscious before her.
“My newest home on the Isle of Clouds had several dragon sized rooms didn’t it?” Romana asked her familiars.
“Six to be exact.” Ash replied. “We will take him.”
“Just give me a picture of one of the rooms that you don’t mind him having.” She replied, and Icarus replied instantly by projecting a picture of a pastel painted room to her, with views of the lake from a window by which you could enter or leave providing you had wings or the ability to fly.
“I’ll engage the force field to prevent him from leaving later.” She replied, teleporting the black agate dragon into the nest in the room she’d been shown before re-mounting Ash. “Take me to the other two.”
They were gone in a rush, the wind ripping through them as they flew southwards. Romana knew the instant Ash and Icarus caught the scent of the two females, but was still surprised when they angled sharply towards the ground, quickly passing through the clouds and entering an area of snow covered peaks. Below them, one of the dragons lay dead against the snow, the larger one, Romana realised, her injuries had been too bad for her to recover from in time. Perhaps if they’d gotten here earlier things may have been different.
But the smaller one, was lying down next to the corpse of the other, and didn’t seem to move when they landed.
Romana teleported directly to her, even as she sent a current of fire into the larger dragon to try and heal the damage and restart her heart. Two, anxious, nail biting moments later; there was a stutter and a cough. Romana could have danced with relief, even as she turned to heal the smaller one. To her shock, the smaller dragon was in fact only a child. At least six months to a year younger than Ash and Icarus.
Romana sent a wave of healing energy into the young dragoness.
“She’s going to be fine.” She reassured the girl. “Your friend will be fine. Don’t worry. Now I’m going to send you both to somewhere safe, okay?”
The dragoness mutely nodd
ed, merely staring at Romana’s glowing skin like it was something mind-blowing.
She teleported the two dragonesses to another room which she knew had two nests instead of just one. Since the dragonesses had seemed close, it would probably be best to make sure they were able to see each other when they woke.
Do we know where they were headed? Romana asked.
They have a camp on the Crab Islands. There are over a hundred dragons there following the decisions of a council. Icarus told her.
Are we going to meet them? Ash asked.
Have you not gone before? She replied.
Ash turned invisible and flew over the camp while listening for any conversation he could pick up. Icarus told her. We have no real desire to meet with them.
Then we should probably go back and see to our guests. She replied, I don’t want the soldier waking up before I’ve set up the force field.
He called you angel. Ash recalled. We should kill him for thinking of you that way.
Hadn’t they been through the no killing rule already?
You cannot just go round killing men for thinking that I’m pretty. She replied. You heard the dragoness and her fascination with my skin; I think it might be that which caused him to mistake me for an angel.
Or he desired you.
For goodness sake! He has a good five thousand pounds on me. Plus Marten clearly ‘desires’ me. Why don’t you kill him?
Because he’s good for you. Ash told her
Even when he’s trying to lock me up in order to protect me?
Good for you if a little ignorant. Icarus amended
Maybe time apart will teach him that I don’t want to be protected.
She saw the Isle of Clouds come back into sight, although the Isle’s old name was pretty much forgotten. They flew effortlessly through the veil and she leapt from Ash’s back as they circled the mountain in which she lived.
She used the air currents to guide her to the dragoness’ room first, placing shields around both rooms before she entered.
They were both asleep, she realised as soon as she got there, both copper dragons, both dirty and underfed she noticed with alarm, teleporting a meal for them from the slaughterhouse in the village straight into the room.
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 21