by Ben Wolf
“Who was it that attacked you?” Calum asked.
Captain Perine’s jaw hardened, and he frowned at Calum. “Reptilius. The Saurians.”
“The Saurians attacked?” Lilly pushed past Condor. “There wasn’t an insurrection?”
Captain Perine’s eyes widened, and he dropped to his knee before her. The soldiers behind him followed suit and pressed their hands against their chests, fingers outstretched with their wrists crossed—the Windgale salute.
“Answer me, Captain,” Lilly commanded.
“Forgive me, Your Highness.” Captain Perine stood upright and sheathed his sword. The soldiers stood and relaxed their weapons. “I didn’t recognize you at first, but your armor is unmistakable, and I remember your face. I shouldn’t have—”
“I said answer me, Captain.” Lilly’s voice took on a firm tone. “Tell me what happened to our home.”
“Right away, Your Highness. Less than two days ago, the bulk of the Crimson Keep’s army assaulted our Realm—” Captain Perine swallowed, then shuddered. “—led by Kahn, the Dragon King of Reptilius, himself.”
Chapter Six
“Kahn himself?” Magnus repeated.
Calum gawked. Kahn—Magnus’s uncle—had killed Praetorius, Magnus’s father, and then succeeded him as the ruler of Reptilius. Together with Vandorian, Magnus’s oldest brother, Kahn had murdered Magnus’s siblings in an attempt to secure his claim to power.
He would have murdered Magnus, too, had he not escaped—somehow. That part was still hazy for Calum.
What’s more, Kahn reigned as the only living Dragon in Kanarah, which meant he was all but invulnerable, at least as far as Calum knew. Beyond that, Calum only had a limited sense of Kahn’s capabilities, though he feared he might soon witness the aftermath of Kahn’s power firsthand.
“Vandorian commands their army under normal circumstances, but for whatever reason, Kahn spearheaded the attack,” Captain Perine said. “Dozens of Saurian warriors rode on his back up to Aeropolis and spread throughout the city like a cancer. Once they controlled the lift, we stood little chance. They just kept coming, more and more of them—”
“What of—” Lilly’s voice cracked with emotion. She steeled herself and continued. “What of my father and mother?”
Captain Perine shook his head. “I’m not sure of their fate. When we fled a few hours ago, the outside of the fortress was swarmed with Saurian scum, but as you know, it is the most fortified structure in the entire realm. Perhaps they—”
“I’ve heard enough.” Lilly’s voice quivered, then it hardened. “You and your men will accompany us to the Sky Fortress at once.”
“Your Highness,” Captain Perine began, “I don’t think it is wise to venture back to the city until we know for sure that—”
“No, Captain,” Lilly cut in, resolve etched onto her beautiful face. “There will be no discussion or dissension. Your men will carry my non-flying companions the rest of the way. If there are any survivors in our city, we must aid them. Let’s go.”
Calum hadn’t decided which method of travel he disliked more: transporting via Lumen’s portals or flying via the assistance of Windgales and Wisps. Jumping dozens or even hundreds of miles left Calum feeling sick and woozy, but the prospect of his feet leaving the ground and entrusting his life to someone else while in midair had more or less the same effect.
As usual, it took the majority of the soldiers just to get Magnus off the ground. With Condor, Lilly, and Kanton’s help, the soldiers managed to get the rest of their party airborne, and they ascended toward Aeropolis. They climbed higher into the air, leaving both the ground and hundreds of battered refugees beneath them.
When they broke through the clouds, plumes of thick black smoke, stark against the otherwise clear skies, caught Calum’s attention, but he soon found he couldn’t look away from the devastation before him. Where he had marveled at Aeropolis’s grandeur and beauty on his first journey up to it, the destruction he now witnessed saturated his gut with grief.
Aeropolis’s spires, once pristine spikes of blue crystal, now amounted to mounds of blackened stone suspended by towering gray pillars. Bodies of slain Windgales, some soldiers and many more civilians, lay strewn across the silver platforms that served as the spires’ bases.
Some of them lay in pools of red, and others amounted to nothing more than charred corpses. Calum spied a few green reptilian carcasses, most of them clad in full armor, scattered among the dead Windgales, but not nearly as many.
Even from a distance, Calum could see that the Sky Fortress yet stood, but its multiple gold-tipped spires and towers lay in scorched ruins on the expansive silver platform underneath it. Kahn had reduced it to a basic cube-shaped structure of black metal, devoid of all its former opulence, but as yet impenetrable as far as Calum could tell.
That impression changed as they closed in on the Sky Fortress. The once-polished brass doors at the front of the Sky Fortress now existed as a pool of cooling metal, and instead of two Windgale guards, two Saurians clad in black armor watched their approach.
The Saurians pulled swords from their scabbards and hissed. Condor, who’d been assisting Calum upward, released his hold under Calum’s left arm and shot toward them.
The soldier holding Calum’s right arm glided them both to the platform where they watched Condor dispatch the two Saurians in quick succession.
When Condor turned back, dark blood streaked across his chest and face from the two Saurians. He approached Captain Perine. “They’ve breached the fortress. We need to hurry to the throne room.”
Captain Perine hesitated. “Again, I must ask, is it wise to bring the Princess into—”
“I’m going with you,” Lilly asserted.
Captain Perine bowed his head. “I mean no disrespect, Your Highness. I just wondered if perhaps we should clear the way so as to ensure your safety.”
“I am capable of defending myself, but you and Condor may lead us inside.” She focused her attention on Calum. “Calum, Axel, and Riley will also protect me, as will Magnus.”
Calum nodded and drew his sword. He would guard Lilly until the very end, even at the cost of his own life, if it ever came to it.
The interior of the Sky Fortress no longer exuded the grandeur Calum had witnessed during his first visit. Now it looked more like a firestorm swirling with blades had destroyed everything and everyone within.
The crystal chandeliers that once hung from the lobby’s lofted ceiling lay shattered on the marble, and the torches and matching flower pots that had adorned the walls now existed only as pools and streaks of melted brass across the white marble floors, along with blood. The grand staircase that had spiraled upward in the center was entirely gone.
What proved the starkest difference to Calum was the lack of Windgales and Wisps zipping about. The fortress had once been a vibrant, active area, but now it had crumbled into an open-air crypt for dozens of Windgales and about a third as many Saurians. Half the Windgale victims wore armor, but the other half wore fine clothing, now torn and saturated with crimson.
Condor led them between two enormous piles of blackened crystal rubble, toward the throne room.
Calum recalled the polished wooden doors that fed into the next chamber. He lost himself staring at one of the wrought-iron handles lying in a pile of smoldering gray ash on the floor until a sharp hiss broke his concentration.
A platoon of a eight Saurians, two of them Sobeks, stood outside the black steel throne room doors—doors that were now horribly bent and contorted. One of the Sobeks pointed a spear at them that looked too big for even three men to carry, let alone to wield in battle.
“Captain, order your men into the attack phalanx,” Condor ordered. “Take out the Saurians first, then assist Magnus and me with the Sobeks if we haven’t already killed them.”
Captain Perine hesitated at first and fixed his eyes on Lilly.
She nodded to him and nocked an arrow in her bow. “Do as he commands.�
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“Attack phalanx,” Captain Perine barked. The Windgale soldiers formed a hovering wall, three Windgales high and four wide. The formation almost resembled a massive purple eye with Captain Perine as its deep violet pupil. “Advance.”
Each of the Windgale soldiers raised their arms until their knuckles leveled with their chins. Their elbows cocked behind their heads, ready to strike with their weapons. While Condor and Magnus circled toward the two Sobeks, Calum and Axel stood next to Lilly, one on each side, ready in case any of the Saurians tried to make it to her.
Riley growled, and Janessa, Dallahan, and Embry began to orbit Lilly’s position in wide circles, and Kanton hovered nearby as well. Meanwhile, Riley evaporated into the shadows of the nearest rubble pile. He blended so perfectly with the darkness that Calum didn’t know if he was still there or if he’d moved on to another spot.
These Saurians didn’t stand a chance.
Captain Perine yelled another order, and two Windgale soldiers, one from the top level and one from the middle level, darted forward, blades first. Their swords clanged off those of two of the Saurians in quick succession, and then the two Windgale soldiers retracted back into formation. The attacks continued, rapid-fire, in a coordinated but complicated pattern.
Magnus stormed toward the Sobeks as Condor arced behind them, and they engaged the enemies in a harmonic union. Magnus traded blows with the Sobeks while Condor zipped between them, his blade clanging against their thick hides.
Condor’s sword clipped the neck of one of the Sobeks, the shorter of the two, and he recoiled. Then Magnus whirled around and lashed his broadsword at the Sobek, opening a deep gash in his throat. He dropped to the white marble floor, clutching at his neck.
Apparently, Magnus’s new hand was working properly already.
In a surprisingly fast motion, the other Sobek raised his sword to strike Magnus, who was defenseless to repel the attack. Calum opened his mouth to shout, but a dark blur rammed into the Sobek before he could swing.
Riley. He hooked his right hand around the Sobek’s massive leg and lifted up, toppling the Sobek onto the hard floor. Condor dropped out of the sky and landed on the Sobek’s chest, then jammed his sword into the Sobek’s open mouth. The Sobek writhed and convulsed for a moment, then he stopped moving.
Axel gave a mirthless chuckle, and Calum had to smirk at their efficiency.
In the time it took Magnus and Condor to take out the two Sobeks, the Windgale soldiers had winnowed the group of Saurians from six to only two. A thrum sounded next to Calum’s ear, and one of Lilly’s arrows lodged in the left eye of one of the remaining Saurians. He half-roared, half-wailed, and the Windgale soldiers finished him the next instant.
The final Saurian didn’t last long after that. Captain Perine grunted another order, and instead of two Windgale soldiers attacking at once, six of them attacked the final Saurian and brought him down in a flurry of stabs and slashes.
“Hurry.” Tension twisted Lilly’s expression. “We need to get inside that throne room.”
Condor nodded to her, then to Captain Perine. “Shield phalanx around the Princess. Calum, Axel, and the Wolves, follow Lilly inside. Magnus and I will lead.”
With one vigorous ram, Magnus plowed through the mangled steel doors and into the throne room. Condor followed him inside, then Captain Perine and the Windgale soldiers, who surrounded Lilly in a protective half-sphere. Calum, Axel, Riley, Kanton, and the Wolves entered last.
To Calum’s surprise, the interior of the throne room looked almost the same as it had before he’d left Aeropolis with Axel, Magnus, Lilly, Riley, and Kanton in search of the Arcanum. Overall, its structure remained intact, unlike much of the rest of the Sky Fortress.
Instead of crystal, dark metal formed the room’s walls. Two rows of marble pillars, white and colossal, outlined the main walkway and reached up at least two hundred feet to the ceiling, mostly untouched, except for the occasional chip or gouge.
The main difference compared to before was that the corpses of dozens of bloodied Windgale soldiers and nobles now covered the once-pristine floors. Multiple Saurians and a few Sobeks lay amid some of the Windgale bodies, and gleaming weapons lay in pools of dark blood just inches away from the lifeless fingers of their owners.
One of those corpses lay propped against the blue crystal throne, clad in shimmering blue robes like Lilly’s cape and adorned with yellow crystal. A crown, also made of yellow crystal, lay on the floor next to him.
Avian, the Premier.
Chapter Seven
“No!” The word spilled from Lilly’s mouth as horror clenched icy fingers around her heart. She darted out from behind the layers of soldiers and landed before her father.
“Lilly, wait!” Condor called after her, but she ignored him.
Dark splotches of blood soiled the fabric on his arms and legs, and a large red stain marred his stomach. His eyes were pinched shut, and his jaw tensed with strain, but he still drew breath.
Lilly tuned Condor out and crouched next to her father, cradling his head in her left arm. She cupped his jaw with her right hand. “Father? Open your eyes if you can hear me.”
His eyelids cracked apart, revealing his cool blue irises, and he looked at her. The tension in his jaw slackened, and his lips curled into a faint smile. “Lilly.”
“By the Overlord, he’s alive! Condor, Kanton—someone help me!”
Both of them zipped over to her.
Upon seeing Condor, the Premier’s eyes narrowed, and his relief reverted into a scowl. “What is he doing here?”
“He saved my life, Father. Multiple times. Now he serves me in—” Lilly stopped short of telling her father about Falcroné’s death. It would only make things worse. “—in our time of greatest need. He is an ally once again, and that is all you need know for now.”
Her father scoffed and waved Condor away with bloody fingers.
Footsteps approached from behind, to which Condor said, “Stay back. Give them space.”
“Don’t—don’t waste your time,” her father moaned more than said. “I’m dying.”
When Kanton hesitated, Lilly glared at him. He began to unpack his healing supplies.
“Don’t say such things, Father. Kanton is one of the finest healers I know. Besides, Captain Perine is going to send someone to find Lord Elmond at once. He can repair any wound, no matter how—”
Her father pulled his bloodied hand away from the wound in his stomach, stalling Lilly’s words. Neither Kanton nor Lord Elmond could save him now.
“Oh, Daddy…” She resisted the emotion rising in her chest and forced herself not to cry.
A crash sounded from the opposite end of the throne room, near the door through which they had entered. A cacophony of hisses and guttural roars filled the throne room, cutting Lilly’s grief short.
Her head swiveled, and she laid eyes on a dozen Saurians, all of them Sobeks wearing silver breastplates.
“The Supreme Guard,” Magnus growled. “Aside from Vandorian’s personal guard, they are the most formidable Sobeks in all of the Crimson Keep.”
Condor left Lilly’s side and positioned himself at the head of the group next to Magnus, Calum, and Axel. “We protect Lilly, no matter what.”
Magnus shook his head. “We cannot defeat this force with our current strength. They will overcome us.”
“Just buy me some time,” Lilly called to them. “Let me say goodbye to my father. Just a few moments, and then we can flee.”
“Done.” Axel rolled his shoulders back and held up his sword. “You want a few minutes, you got ’em.”
Magnus huffed. “Axel, we cannot—”
“We’re gonna have to,” Axel interrupted, “for a few minutes, at least. If you could’ve had a few more minutes with your father, wouldn’t you want ’em?”
Magnus’s eyes narrowed, and he exhaled a long breath through flared nostrils. “Form a defensive perimeter around Lilly. Condor and I will take point.”
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br /> “Captain Perine, establish a perimeter around the throne. Protect Lilly and her father at all costs.” Condor hovered above the rest of the group and floated toward the Sobeks. “I’m Condor, Captain of the Royal Guard. If you surrender now like the cowardly lizards you are, I’ll ensure quick and merciful deaths for each of you.”
The Sobeks chuckled and hissed and then started forward.
“Lilly,” her father said, his voice weak. “I have no time left. Your mother is already dead, and that means that upon my passing, you will succeed me as the next ruler of the Sky Realm.”
Lilly’s heart shuddered at the mention of her mother’s passing, but she remained focused on him. She would mourn them both later.
Swords clanged behind them, near the doors, followed by hisses, roars, shouts, and screams. The battle had begun, and that meant Lilly had precious few moments left with her dying father.
The Premier turned his head toward his yellow crystal crown, which lay near his left hand, the one not covering his wounded stomach, and he reached for it with bloody fingers. Strain tensed in his face until Lilly leaned over and nudged the crown within his grasp.
That simple act threatened to tear her heart asunder, but for her father’s sake, she held her resolve.
Her father exhaled a long breath, then he clenched the crystal crown in his hand.
“Normally we would hold a coronation ceremony in the presence of the entire Sky Realm to commemorate this moment, but your friend Kanton will have to suffice as our official witness, given the circumstances.”
Kanton nodded. “I’m happy to serve, Premier.”
A weak and furtive smile formed on her father’s lips. “Lilly, lean forward.”
She complied, clenching her eyes shut to stymie her tears. Her father placed the crystalline crown on her head.
“Rise. Look at me.” Her father’s body quivered, and he winced, but his eyes remained fixed on hers. “There is one more thing I must pass to you. It is knowledge… our secret knowledge. It is the only means we have to rule our people. Without it, the Premier or Premieress need not exist.”