Vardaesia

by Lynette Noni

  This time, those warriors were busy fighting Aven’s armies, who were swarming through the treetop city. But just like in Graevale, the Jarnocks were aided by the other mortal races. There were flashes of light, bursts of shadows, and floods of water, along with Stabiliser blasts and the ringing of steel. Through the canopy overhead, Alex could again hear the sounds of the veeyons at war with the draekons, their hideous screeching painful to her ears.

  But all of that she only gave half a mind to, because Aven was unceasing in his assault, their displacement once again only giving her the chance for one brief offensive move that he still managed to block.

  And then they were gone again, Soraya moving fast enough to avoid Aven’s blade as he swung at her this time. But the wolf was too smart for him, too swift, and relocated them to Nialas, disappearing again before his blade could meet its mark.

  With his change of focus towards her wolf, Alex managed to get not one, but two swipes in before he had her on the defensive again, neither of her attacks causing him any damage. But he was beginning to look unsettled, especially when his gaze flicked for a second to take in the view from where Soraya had delivered them, inside the circular meeting room atop the underwater city’s highest pillar. The glass walls allowed for a bird’s-eye view out across the Atlantis-like city, and just like the other places they’d visited, with the exception of the draekons and veeyons, all the races were fighting in amongst the bubble-sphered domes, with Aven’s Meyarins having used the Valispath to venture underwater.

  “What you’ve managed is impressive,” Aven snarled, refocusing on Alex. “But no mortal will ever match the speed and skill of an immortal. Your allies will tire soon enough, and when they do—”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Alex panted to interrupt, mentally calling Soraya again. “Save it for someone who cares.”

  The rage in his eyes was terrifying to behold as he lunged at her again. She met Vae’varka once more, nearly buckling under the weight of his attack, only managing to remain standing because Soraya appeared and spirited them away, this time delivering them to the docks of Tryllin.

  As Alex had been told, the palace was burning, the flames themselves alive and unending. But while the rest of the city had clearly been met with a struggle, from her viewpoint, it didn’t look beyond hope. If she succeeded, Tryllin would rise again, of that she was sure.

  She just had to put a stop to Aven first.

  Lunging back and forth beside the water with the glow of fire burning in the distance, Aven battled fiercer than ever against Alex. She knew she was losing ground, she knew he had overcome her one chance to surprise him, using the technique she’d first learned from the Shadow Walkers and had also used to surprise Zaylin.

  But Alex wasn’t done yet.

  With another call to Soraya, the wolf relocated them again.

  And again.

  And twice more.

  Four times in quick succession they moved, enough that Alex’s head was spinning as they flashed in and out of Woodhaven, Mardenia, Dupressa and even the streets of Meya itself. Finally, Soraya brought them to where Alex had intended all along—to the battle waging across the campus of Akarnae.

  The Library was aware of Alex’s plan, and because of that, it hadn’t enacted the Lockdown procedure, despite the sheer numbers of opposing forces who had come to battle on the grounds. For there to be any chance of success, Alex had needed the wards down so that Aven could go right where she wanted. She just had to figure out how to make that happen, especially since all her attempts had so far failed.

  “Is this where you want it, then?” he asked, murder in his eyes, but a slight lack of focus as well, with him just as disoriented from their continued relocation as she. But that was all she’d been after—distracting him and keeping him on edge so she might remain alive long enough to get him where they now stood.

  “You want your family and friends to watch as I kill you?” he went on, lunging at her. “You want them to see the great Alexandra Jennings fall?”

  “It’s been—a long time—since you cared—what I want,” Alex wheezed out between attacks that she struggled to block. “Why—start—now?”

  She was covered in sweat, her arms were shaking from the repeated strain of meeting his blows, and her hands were sticky and sliding over the pommel of A’enara thanks to the wound on her arm—a wound that was still gushing an alarming amount of blood. But Alex didn’t focus on any of that. She also didn’t pay any attention to the fighting going on around her, to the people she cared most about trying to give her the time she needed. She only focused on Aven. On surviving.

  In between lunges and parries, she tried not to notice as Kaiden and Declan were fighting side by side, close enough to Nisha and Jeera that the four of them were watching each other’s backs.

  She tried not to notice when Meyarins and Claimed humans were taken down by an invisible force—Jordan and Bear, who had promised Alex they would remain under Jordan’s transcendence gift for as long as he was able to keep it up.

  She tried not to notice General Drock, Karter, Hunter and Fletcher protecting the highly targeted King Aurileous, alongside many of the human militia.

  She tried not to notice Roka, Kyia and Zain keeping the teachers and students safe so they could use their gifts as weapons, the three Meyarin leaders knowing the humans were no match against the immortals when it came to swordplay.

  She tried not to notice the battle going on just outside the opening of the Gen-Sec building, a battle that was also happening on the inside—right where the Med Ward was located and all those contained within, including her parents and D.C.

  She tried not to notice the dark blur of Xira and other draekons flying overhead, throwing veeyons out of the sky, just as she tried not to notice how many of the smaller creatures surrounded the majestic race from the Sky Kingdom.

  All of that, Alex tried not to notice. But there were a few things that were harder to ignore while she blocked against Aven’s unceasing attacks.

  Things like the one-eyed juggler, Samson Graver, running across the campus and throwing his smoke-inducing juggling balls at the feet of any Meyarins or attacking humans he encountered, laughing maniacally as he did so.

  Things like Monster, the shaggy little pony she hadn’t given any thought to since she’d last been in her Equestrian Skills class, ploughing through the masses and using his head and his hooves to bulldoze anyone who got in his way.

  Things like Grimm Helkin, who was now fighting against Aven’s army, pointing a finger at those who were Claimed and sending them into a coma-like sleep.

  And things like Sir Camden, the suit of armour now outside of the Library’s walls and fighting like a man possessed while yelling, “For thy fair Lady Alexandra!”

  But along with those things, there were the moments she wished she had failed to note with her enhanced sight and hearing.

  Moments like when Administrator Jarvis was thrown into the side of a building by Calista’s telekinesis, the sickening crunch of his skull meeting the wall enough for Alex to know he wouldn’t ever be rising again.

  Moments like when Pipsqueak lost her life to Gerald’s tattoo whips just seconds before Blake and Johnny arrived and sought vengeance for their murdered father, making sure Gerald would never hurt anyone ever again.

  Moments like when the two Combat boys, Brendan and Nick, were skewered by the blades of Vaera and Gaiel, dying within seconds of each other.

  And moments like when Trell herself was taken down fighting against four Meyarins at once, with Shirez’s agonised scream coursing across the blood-soaked grounds.

  Despite Alex’s aching heart, she knew she couldn’t lose herself in her sorrow. To do so would cause her to act rashly, when right now, she needed to keep a grip on her emotions. Niyx had always warned her to never fight in anger. The same was true for anguish. So she steeled herself and cast all thoughts from her mind but one: the Meyarin before her.

  “You see all this?” Aven said, and for
the first time, Alex was gratified to hear his own breath sounding laboured—finally. But that could have been because he wasn’t fighting just her now; he was also using some kind of shockwave gift, waving his free arm and causing anyone in range to crumble to the ground before they were able to stagger weakly back to their feet. Three times he managed it before Kaiden focused his nullifying gift on Aven, something Alex only knew when Aven’s eyes sought out her boyfriend moments before an entire legion of Meyarins swooped towards him. But Kyia, Zain and Roka had been watching and were quick to jump to his defence alongside Declan, Nisha and Jeera.

  “It’s all happening because of you,” Aven went on, his eyes narrowing at the fight Kaiden and those around him were putting up. The transcended Jordan and Bear had now joined them as well, keeping Kaiden even safer, all so that he could continue blocking Aven from using any of his stolen gifts.

  “No, Aven,” Alex panted, knowing she was coming to the end of her endurance. Her strength had waned and she’d lost enough blood that she was beginning to feel lightheaded. She needed to make her final move against him now if she were to have any chance at victory. “It’s all happening because of you.”

  With a surge of strength drawn from deep within, she rushed at him, her movement fast enough to cause his eyes to widen. He wasn’t going to stop her in time, she knew it. And with a feeling of anticipation, she swung her blade forward.

  But she never made contact, because arms grabbed her from behind and yanked her backwards before her sword met flesh— Skraegon, who had approached without her notice.

  And yet, before he could change his grip enough to either make a killing blow or give Aven the chance to do so, he was crying out in pain and dropping to his knees, with Mayra standing behind him and ripping her silver-bloodied arrow from his shoulder. In one swift move, she drew it against her bowstring and fired it straight at Aven, screaming, “This is for my brother, you kregon!”

  He spun out of the way, but not fast enough for it to keep from skimming along his neck, the shallowest of wounds opening up on his skin.

  In the blink of an eye, Skraegon was up again, tackling Mayra to the ground, her bow no match against his sword that was sailing in an arc right towards her heart.

  And then through her heart.

  “No!” Alex cried, and she wasn’t the only one, for across the battlefield came Cykor’s bellow, with him arriving beside his daughter an instant later—but still an instant too late.

  Uttering a tortured scream, he turned on Skraegon with reckless abandon, the two of them spearing each other with their blades at the same time, the light leaving their eyes as they joined Mayra in death.

  It had happened so fast. Three more deaths. Three more people gone from this world forever.

  Whirling back to Aven with a sob in her throat, Alex found him standing frozen with his hand pressed to his neck, silver blood dripping between his fingers as he stared at her, concern clouding his face for the first time.

  Struggling to push through her grief that cut deeper than any of the wounds on her flesh, Alex realised she’d been right when sharing her fears with the Library. Aven knew exactly what she had planned. And he was going to do everything in his power to keep it from happening.

  If she’d thought he’d been fighting her before, it was nothing compared to the power he unleashed in his renewed attack. Blow after blow after blow he rained down on her, to the point that she barely managed to keep her knees from folding, barely managed to keep raising A’enara to shield herself. Gashes opened up along her arms, along her legs, along her torso. She was like a human pincushion, slowly bleeding to death, protected only by her immortal armour.

  When one particularly vicious strike had her stumbling back and falling to the ground, her heart stopped, certain such a mistake would lead to her downfall. But before Aven could take advantage, Roka was there, pushing him back. Zain, too, lunged forward, both of them crossing blades with Aven in a lethal dance of strikes and parries.

  Seeing them take up her fight didn’t fill Alex with gratitude or relief, only dread, since she knew it would take just one single nick from Vae’varka for them to be dead in moments.

  “Stop!” she screamed at them.

  But as she scrambled back up to her feet, she was too slow to reach her Meyarin protectors before Aven found a weakness in their defences and stabbed Vae’varka straight towards his brother.

  The look of triumph on Aven’s face forced the remaining air from Alex’s lungs as she watched the fiery weapon sail towards Roka, but it wasn’t him who succumbed to the blade.

  It was Niida.

  The queen had heard Alex’s cry and arrived on the Valispath, using her body to shield one son from being slain by the other.

  With a sickening slowness, Aven withdrew Vae’varka from his mother’s chest. Her beautiful face was ashen as she pressed her hands to her wound… and crumbled at his feet.

  “NO!” Roka cried, just as Alex had with Mayra, lunging to grab the queen. But before he could so much as wrap his arms around her, Vaera and Gaiel arrived on the Valispath, along with four more Claimed Zeltora. The six of them leapt for Roka, keeping him from his last moments with his mother as they engaged both him and Zain in combat, drawing them back into the battle.

  Aven, however, remained motionless as he looked down at Niida, his face blank but his eyes ablaze.

  The queen reached for him then, her hands covered in liquid silver as she pressed them against his armour-clad legs and whispered, “I forgive you.”

  And then her body went limp, her golden eyes now sightless as she looked out into nothing forevermore.

  Aven’s chest began rising and falling with deep, turbulent breaths. As if he’d forgotten what had transpired in the palace library when he’d been willing to sacrifice Niida himself, he turned his blistering gaze on Alex and screamed, “You did this!”

  She raised A’enara, ready to meet the blow she knew was coming, ready to try and end this once and for all.

  But Aven didn’t lunge at her. Not this time.

  Instead, four things happened, one after the other.

  The first was that Lena Morrow appeared, surrounded by an armed guard of Claimed warriors, her focus intent on Kaiden as she used her own gift to stop his nullification of Aven.

  The second was that Aven used his returned ability to send out a powerful shockwave that ripped open the ground under Alex’s feet and sent her flying backwards just as a monstrous veeyon dropped from the sky. Easily twice the size of the others, it wrapped its talons around the Rebel Prince and hoisted him high into the air.

  The third was that the veeyon released Aven, who plummeted back down to the earth, his fiery sword blazing as he fell, directly towards—

  XIRA, LOOK OUT! Alex screamed, scrambling back up to her feet.

  But it was too late.

  Because even though Xira twisted away, even though he opened the abrassa and vanished in a wave of inky blackness, only seconds later he reappeared through it with an earth-shattering roar as his massive bulk fell, fell, fell to the ground…

  … With Vae’varka lodged deep into his chest.

  “XIRA!” Alex screamed aloud as he crashed near the lake, the field beneath them quaking enough to set the water rippling. “XIRA, NO!”

  She tore off towards him, her lungs burning and her eyes streaming as she failed to hold in her tears, as she refused to acknowledge how the vaeliana bond between them was fading with every step she took, until it disintegrated into nothing, leaving a hollow, empty feeling inside her.

  XIRA! she screamed again, directly to his mind. XIRA, ANSWER ME!

  But he didn’t.

  There was nothing but gaping silence between them.

  And yet, she wouldn’t give up. She just had to reach him. She just had to reach him.

  “SORAYA!” Alex yelled, but for the first time ever, her wolf didn’t arrive by her side. Hot and cold filled her at once, since she knew the only reason Soraya wouldn’t come when
called was because she couldn’t. And the only reason she couldn’t was if—

  Alex choked on another sob as she continued running through the fighting masses, weaving her way towards her fallen draekon. But she was only halfway there when two simultaneous shouts of warning came, one from Kaiden, one from Jeera.

  “ALEX!”

  With Lena only blocking Kaiden from using her ability, not any of the others at his disposal, the intuitive gift he shared with his sister allowed them both to sense what was about to happen—Aven’s fourth and final move.

  Plucked from his freefall by the veeyon, Aven landed nimbly at Xira’s side and met Alex’s eyes across the battlefield.

  “Do you know what happens when you eat the heart of a draekon, Aeylia?” he spat, knowing his blood in her veins enabled her to hear him above the clamour. “Let me show you.”

  Still sprinting towards them, still too far away to do anything, Alex could only watch as he ripped his blade from Xira’s flesh and reached his arm deep into the wound, pulling out a small portion of the golden heart within and raising it to his mouth.

  At the sight, Alex couldn’t stop her reaction. Right there, in the middle of the warring forces, she bent over and vomited, tears flooding from her eyes as she purged the contents of her stomach.

  “ALEX!” came Kaiden’s shout again, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t control her gag reflex, couldn’t stop seeing the image of the pure, golden blood dribbling down Aven’s chin. “ALEX!”

  She forced herself to look up, just as Aven raised a fisted hand towards her.

  “This is on you, Alexandra Jennings,” he hissed, opening his fingers.

  “ALEX, NO!”

  Alex had only a split second to comprehend what happened next, to see Kaiden running towards her and throwing both his arms out, after which she suddenly found herself cocooned inside a protective force field—Sean’s gift. But battle-weakened as he was, Kaiden used it to cover only her, and she realised as much when, half a moment later, power surged from Aven like an invisible wave, slamming into every living being across and above the combat zone.