“My mother. My mother would’ve skinned you alive if she knew you were the one that was going to betray them.”
He moved. It was so fast, and then his hand was over my throat and he slammed me against the wall, hard. “Don’t talk about things you don’t know anything about, little girl. Like your mother and I.”
I spat in his face. He struck my face hard and threw me down onto the floor. I loathed everything about him. It angered me more that Helmut hadn’t mentioned the resemblance. They were twins, but I’d found his weak spot. My mom. That was why he’d fallen for the lookalike.
What was it with villains and people spitting in their faces?
He bent down close to me. “Just so you know, I will get my dragon, Elena. You think claiming him has kept him safe? There are ways to break that good, and bring back the evil darkness that he should’ve been left in.”
I brought up my elbow and struck him as hard as I could on his chin. He flew up onto his feet and staggered a bit.
“Oh, you will pay for that.” He raised his palms but nothing happened. He did it again and then I remembered what he’d said a couple of moments ago when I couldn’t wield my abilities. Then it was my turn to laugh.
“It sucks when your little plan backfires on you, doesn’t it?”
He growled and went for me again. I jumped up and kicked him away with both my legs, and he staggered back giving me time to get on my feet and draw my axes.
He just looked at them and started to laugh as he spit on the floor. “Axes, isn’t that just beautiful.”
“Keep your mouth shut about my mother,” I grunted at him.
Calm yourself, don’t strike when you are angry. Make the other angry instead, and you will always have the upper hand as they will attack with their heart and not their mind. Blake’s words from that day, more or less, entered my thoughts.
Calm down, Elena, I spoke to myself as Goran and I walked in circles again.
“It was clever of you trying to trick me by being your brother. It’s just so sad that you don’t really know him.”
He shrugged. “Guess I can’t play pathetic and helpless, even if I try.”
“Twins don’t really talk about each other like that, unless…” I looked at him. “He betrayed you.” I smiled.
“He was an idiot, chose that wretched father of yours, over me, his twin.”
“I would too if I had been in his shoes.”
He pointed his sword at me again. “I told you to keep your mouth shut about things you don’t know.”
The wall shuddered behind me. It was a sign of war. Goran looked at it for a few seconds and then he grimaced.
“What, am I’m getting hotter about the things that seriously make you tick, Goran?” I carried on as the wall vibrated. “I’ve got a couple more theories. You loathed my father, that we both know, but not because he was so evil as you claimed. I think it was the opposite. He had everything. Got the kingdom, and from what I’m getting from you whenever my mom’s name gets mentioned…” I gasped. Why was I doing this? “He got the girl too. You were jealous of him, weren’t you?” I smiled. He was so pathetic.
“I told you to shut up about Katie.” He spat again as the wall behind us shuddered. Still it didn’t break.
“You don’t have the right to call her that. You burned her in her bed. You are a monster, my mother could never have loved you, and that was why you killed her!” I yelled and stared at him. I huffed. “That was it,” I laughed again. “You told her how you felt, and what, she broke your little bitty heart so you thought she deserved to be burned alive?”
“Shut up,” he growled again. “You Malones just know how to get under one’s skin and… you are just like your father.”
“Well, his blood does flow through my veins.”
He laughed. “Special blood.” He spat on the ground.
Just then he struck. I blocked his sword with my ax and threw it off me, while the other one sliced his chin. He was really fast and had good reflexes. If he hadn’t moved backward, it would’ve hit an artery and maybe, just maybe, it would’ve killed him.
He came for me again, and this time he got a kick in as I went for his throat again. He connected hard with my leg and it felt as if he’d broken it. I fell to the floor, and was surprised that he hadn’t killed me yet.
He bent low again. “I knew what you were that day I saw you in that forest. I knew somehow the idiot had gotten you out of Paegeia. I will find a way out of this stinking world soon enough and then everyone in Paegeia will regret ever crossing me.”
“You know what your problem is?” I replied, and he just looked at me stupidly. “You talk too much.” I head butted him and blood flowed from down his lips as he cupped his nose and bent over.
I kicked him again and carried on using all of his pain to my advantage. The signs of war were still going on outside, making the castle rumble slightly.
Goran was going to die, real soon for everything he had bestowed on my family.
I raised my ax to strike him as hard as I could, when he pulled out a flag mounted in the wall and struck it with force into my thigh.
I sucked in a breath as I just stared at it. No voice, just utter shock grew evident on my face. Then the pain seared up from the wound straight through my body. I grunted and tried to keep my scream at bay.
Blood started to seep out and then a loud buzzing noise started to sing in my ears. It was deafening, just awful and ground into my mind, together with the pain.
I covered my ears trying to drown it out, but it only slightly dampened the sound.
The hallway started to shake, and not the one that I’d thought would shatter, the opposite. It started to disintegrate. It fell away, disappearing into darkness. My heart beat as I looked at it. What type of magic was this?
The other one was still standing. Rumbling again, but it didn’t shatter.
He gave me one kick and I couldn’t keep my balance with the mother of a pole sticking from my leg. I slipped and went over, but my fingers caught onto a rocky ledge a couple of feet down. It wasn’t big enough to hold my entire weight.
Goran appeared on the ledge and saw me hanging on for dear life.
“What is it with you Malones, why can’t you just die like the rest of us?”
I looked up at him. “I guess that is what makes us royalty and you scum.”
His hand sparkled slightly again. It was a purple lightning, similar to Cara’s.
He looked at it too and smiled. “Guess it’s time to say night, night, Elena. Nice to have met you.”
He zapped my one finger. It hurt like hell as I wasn’t immune to Cara’s lighting anymore, but I still held on with everything I had.
More zapping came and it was faster this time. It scorched all of my fingers.
I couldn’t hold on anymore and the flag-pole inside my leg didn’t help at all. In fact the pain started overpowering my entire body.
I didn’t want to look down. It was so dark and I knew whatever was down there, I wouldn’t survive the fall.
A final zap make me lose my grip completely and I fell into the pit of darkness below.
ISAAC
WE ALL WAITED for a long time. The stars were starting to shine through the thick heavy clouds. It’s funny how war was always fought when the sky was filled with grey clouds, as if the universe knew destruction was near, and didn’t want to sun or moon to witness it.
We watched the Creepers from afar.
One of the lords in King Helmut’s militia was checking them through binoculars. The shifters and dragons sight didn’t need to use binoculars. Every creeper, every shiver it made, we saw and heard every movement.
My heart was bouncing of excitement now. It wasn’t just life sustaining me, it was adrenaline too.
Then the first explosion went off. It was the sachets carrying all of Elena’s blood formula. They shivered, but that was about it. The second explosion never came.
“What happened? Why didn’t the
bombs go off?” Someone yelled and more people started to voice their concerns.
“They won’t be able to win this war without us.”
He was right. They wouldn’t. There weren’t enough troops stationed on the other side to win this war all by itself, and Blake had given me specific instructions, to make sure that Samantha would come out of this alive. That was all he wanted from me, and now I couldn’t even get through those creepers.
“Just wait, it will go off.” The lord answered. I could never remember their names.
My father’s Chimera figure stepped forward.
“That bomb would’ve gone off by now. Sir Robert made sure of it. Something is wrong.”
“They won’t win this war without us,” Panic struck through again. More people started screaming and shouting at the same time.
Tabitha stepped toward me. She was a bit smaller than my Eagle figure. “Is it real?”
“What?” I asked, not knowing what this crazy chick was yapping on about now.
“The Dent. Is it real?”
I got what she was saying. “He didn’t explain what it was, but he told me that it wasn’t a spell, that it was real. It’s solid, Tabitha. He is happy.”
“Please, make sure he stays that way.”
“Why are you telling me—” She didn’t let me finish my question and she stepped through the ocean of warriors with Peter lodged on her back. Whatever their plan was, Peter was already in on this and he tapped her softly on her white neck. “Do it,” he said softly.
Do what?
She turned her head around and stared at me one last time. “Never let him stop playing, Isaac. Tell him I will always love him.”
Wait, what?
She lifted off with the speed of light, flew toward the Creepers and picked up one of the nearby barrels with bombs attached. They were the ones that would go off last. Peter wielded his frost.
They disappeared into the Creepers. They were still as deadly as ever, a bit delayed in their actions because of the formula, but from Tabitha’s shriek, we all knew they didn’t make it.
We all stared at them in utter shock. What was she thinking? I bowed my head.
Then the tremble came. It shuddered the earth slightly, a mere vibration, and then the explosion ripped through all of us.
Some of the troops lost their balance and fell over. Some of the smaller shifters fell over too, but the big ones, like me and my father, and the dragons, stood their ground.
I watched in shock as parts of the Creepers fell to the ground, but their sacrifice wasn’t enough. I wanted to go next, but my father and a few of his men stopped me.
“You are the last of your kind. Please, son.” He begged and through the corners of my eyes, eight more dragons lifted off with their riders, charging the Creepers. They all picked up a barrel and flew into different parts. They vanished into the Creepers that were on alert. Then more screams filled the air, and after a few seconds, more explosions came. This time it was louder, stronger, and it felt as if it was going to break my bones, but we were far away from harm.
When the dust settled, we all looked up and heard the loud cracking of Creepers breaking, dying and they came crashing down to earth.
“It worked!” One of the men screamed nearby, sounding extremely happy. This wasn’t a happy moment. Nine dragons and their riders sacrificed their lives, because of one brave dragon and her rider’s actions. They were way too young.
She was a Snow Dragon—a coward—that died as a brave hero today because she loved another she would never have. And she couldn’t live with that. I would make sure her sacrifice was always remembered.
I lifted off with all the speed I owned, and Charged to the Creepers. The rest was following. Shrieks, growls, animal hoots and sounds filled the air as we passed the Creepers.
The other side of the Creepers moved into forests. We all looked around as they destroyed so many parts of Etan. An entire shifter village was lost.
We ducked and dived as creepers still fell to the earth, like a thousand giant beanstalks falling on one heap.
The night sky started to kill Etan’s day that Goran wielded and true light shone through, stars filled the night sky. More chaos erupted as people ran around, screaming, killing and plundering.
Night time started this war, and night was going to finish it.
My father gave orders right behind me and a couple of airborne dragons stayed behind to help calm the chaos below us.
Our orders were Sovereign, to find the King and make sure that Sammy was safe.
Wyverns appeared out of nowhere. It was time to do what I was made to do—kill the enemy.
ELENA
MY SCREAM ECHOED through the dark pit. My heart had never beat this fast in my entire life and I knew that this was it. Goran had a huge smile on his face as he watched my body descended. He was growing smaller as my arms flapped in the air.
The walls of the castle still shuddered and then it was as if a bomb went off.
Goran was no longer watching.
Boulders came rolling down into the pit and my eyes caught on a humungous one that was definitely going to be the end of me. I saw a white flash and realized it wasn’t a boulder at all.
I connected hard with his leathery torso.
“Hold on!” Blake’s deep voice growled and although I couldn’t feel anything besides my leg that was aching with the spear had Goran struck me with. I could tell by the shaking and tumbling motions that we’d just collided with something big. It carried on like that for a few more minutes and my heart was still beating like crazy as I tried to get out of this alive.
His paw suddenly opened and I fell about five feet down onto something hard. I rolled and hurt my injured leg even more.
My scream from the pain echoed off the walls. My head collided with rock and finally connected hard with cold cement.
It all finally stopped. I was still breathing but I’d never experienced so much pain in my entire life. I tried to look up but the dizzy pain in my head rushed through my body, telling me that I was in rough shape. I was stuck in complete darkness, whether my eyes were open or closed. It didn’t matter.
When memories start playing through my mind, I knew that I had passed out.
I DIDN’T KNOW how long I laid there, but I had some sweet thoughts before reality came crashing back to me.
I thought about my perfect life, well how perfect it had become in only a couple of months.
The nightmares were finally gone, the awful memories from that night, well they’d been replaced with a wicked ass dragon that incinerated every one of them on the spot. I wasn’t scared anymore.
My friends were happy, I was happy, Blake was happy.
My father was going to come home. My father is dead.
At once everything came back. I jolted up and took a raspy gasp. I grunted at the pain and coughed hard at the same time until I spit out bile. It had a strong taste of iron in my mouth. Blood.
I knew that wasn’t a good sign but I will heal. I had to heal.
My head ached but not as badly as my leg. None of it mattered anyway as I had to find Blake. The picture in my head wasn’t good. It was of a heap of dragon lying somewhere in the darkness, unconscious.
I pushed myself up and took a couple of breathes as the pain was seriously starting to overpower everything. My breathing felt painful and heavy.
I lit up my finger with a soft pink flame and held it close to my wound.
The spear’s one end had broken off and it barely stuck out of my thigh, but I had to get it out before I could let it heal. I grabbed one part and let my fire die as I rested with my hand against a huge boulder.
I retreated my thoughts, and took off my belt first. I held it up and placed it inside of my mouth. This is going to hurt like hell.
I took a deep breath, got ahold of the side sticking out the back of my thigh where the spear had gone straight through and tightened my grip.
I took a couple of breathes, an
d then I held it in and yanked as hard as I could.
I grunted into the belt, which echoed through the pit again, and fell down against the wall.
Mother…, I grunted and tried to control my breathing.
I coughed again and spit up more blood.
Heal, Elena, Heal. I thought but the tingling sensation didn’t come.
I wanted to pass out but I knew I had to stop the blood seeping from my wound. I lifted up my head again even thought it was spinning and aching like mad. I opened my belt again and tied it right above the wound.
Please just heal, I begged softly.
Blake, I have to find Blake.
I struggled to open my eyes but I knew I had to find him. We had gotten split up once and it had been the biggest mistake of this entire mission.
My hand lit up again and it outlined the scene in front of me.
I struggled to move but I forced each step. I’d never felt this heavy my entire life. Movement didn’t come easily at all.
I had to stop every five seconds to find more strength.
“C’mon, Elena you can do this!”
I stabilized myself against the wall again and pushed forward.
I’d reached a dead end. The light flickering off the flame in my hand reflected on boulders upon boulders with no way out on the right. I turned to the left. It was the same thing.
There was no sign of a way that could lead out.
My heart started to beat heavy as my mind raged with madness.
Please, he cant have been crushed by boulders… He is the Rubicon for crying out loud. “Blake!” I yelled and started to cough again. I sounded like someone who was really sick. It was raspy and it hurt like hell every time I coughed.
I heard a grunt from above. I looked up at once, and lifted up my hand as I could only see more boulders. I remember falling. I fell as I looked back to where I’d woken up minutes before.
I looked up again. “Blake!” I grunted. “Wake up,” I begged. I couldn’t get to him.
He grunted again and it felt as if I could finally breath.
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