by Ben Wolf
“Certain types?”
Magnus nodded. “Dragonfire, primarily, though other powers clearly suffice.”
“I guess so.” Calum waved his hand in a slow arc. “Unless this light didn’t actually work, and we ended up in the wrong area somehow.”
“I suppose it is possible, but unlikely. I see no reason to create two rooms, even if one was to serve as a decoy.”
“To hide one of the most powerful weapons in Kanarah? Seems like as good a reason as any to me.”
Magnus glanced back at him, proud of how Calum’s critical thinking skills had developed since they’d been traveling together. “Point taken.”
Calum grinned. “We’d better at least look around while we’re here. Maybe we’ll find a clue or something.”
“Indeed.”
They circled the perimeter of the room in search of a nook or a crevice or something indicative of a hidden door or anything at all, but to no avail. After fifteen minutes of careful scrutiny, Magnus growled.
“Perhaps it is time we head back up.” Magnus didn’t want to stop, but continuing to search while frustrated wouldn’t do him any good. “We can search again after sunrise.”
Calum stared down at the floor.
“It is alright, Calum. I am confident we are in the right place,” Magnus said. “Do not look so forlorn.”
He shook his head and started for the middle of the floor. “It’s not that.”
Calum swept the sole of his boot across a patch of dirt. He repeated the motion a few more times and pointed his illuminated left hand down at the ground. A glint of green shone after his sixth swipe.
Magnus’s eyes widened. He rushed over, gently urged Calum aside, and uncovered the spot with one swift swipe of his tail. Another emerald, this one several inches in diameter and embedded in the floor, glistened in Calum’s light
“I think we found your other room, Calum.”
“We found something, at least.”
Calum bent down and pressed his left hand against the emerald, and the light flared brighter from his hand. The emerald ignited with green light, then turned yellow, then a vibrant orange.
Calum bared his teeth, and the tendons in his neck tightened.
The sight of him straining so much filled Magnus’s chest with concern. “Calum, are you—”
Click.
The light from Calum’s left hand fizzled away, but it didn’t matter—the emerald glowed orange like fire, illuminating the entire room.
Click-click.
Calum dropped to his rear and clutched his wrist with his eyes clenched shut.
“What is wrong?”
He shook his head and began to rub his forearm. “Nothing. The light—it just burns sometimes.”
Magnus eyed him. “I do not think that is—”
Rocks scraped and ground against each other, and the fiery emerald arose from the floor atop a pillar of translucent blue crystal like that of the Sky Realm.
Within that pillar stood a long ornate sword.
The Dragon’s Breath.
Magnus and Calum stared at it—this weapon that could wield the power of dragonfire. Magnus’s heart rate accelerated with the renewed promise of achieving his goal.
“How do we get it outta there?” Calum asked.
Magnus clenched his fingers together, drew his arm back, and slammed his fist into the side of the pillar. Cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact.
Magnus smirked at Calum. “This blue crystal is aesthetically pleasing, but it is structurally weak compared to most alternatives. The Windgales used it primarily for its appearance in Aeropolis, and I suspect those who hid this sword used it for that same reason.”
With a roar, Magnus hauled back and hit the crystal again, and a section of it shattered, spilling long shards onto the floor. He reached into the pillar, grabbed the sword by its hilt, and pulled it free. It compared to Magnus’s Blood Ore sword in size, but it absolutely dwarfed it in grandeur.
Pale-green metal formed its gleaming blade, and turquoise metal masterfully sculpted to resemble Dragon scales comprised its hilt. An emerald in the center of the guard matched the ones embedded in the statue outside and the floor of the room, and another served as the sword’s pommel.
“That’s incredible.” Calum gawked at it. “How does it make dragonfire?”
Magnus smiled. “I have no idea. Nor do I wish to test it down here and find out accidentally. You could be hurt.”
“But if you don’t try it, how will you know what it can do?”
“I will test it, but I want you to head back to the surface in case I cannot control it. If I do not return in five minutes, come back down.”
Calum eyed him. “What will it mean if you’re not back up in five minutes?”
Deadpan, Magnus replied, “Probably that I am dead.”
“Stop fooling around, Magnus.”
Magnus grinned. “I apologize. It is just that, for the first time since my father’s death, I truly feel equipped to do something about it.”
Calum nodded. “I understand. I’ll head up, but don’t get yourself killed, alright?”
“I am confident I will be fine.”
Calum started toward the stairs.
“Calum?” Magnus called after him.
He turned back.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Calum smiled and headed up the stairs.
A few seconds later, Magnus tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt, faced the crystalline pillar, and swung the Dragon’s Breath sword at it.
Green light filtered into the bottom of the staircase from behind Calum, and he heard a faint crackling reminiscent of a campfire burning. He stopped for a moment. The green light flared again, and the crackling intensified.
Calum grinned and resumed his climb.
A howl split the night, and Riley jerked awake.
Distress.
A call for help.
Dallahan.
Riley sprang to his feet and scanned the camp. Dallahan stood at the northeast perimeter along with three of the Royal Guard Wisps set to guard that section of the camp. Riley rushed toward them.
When he arrived, he barked, and Dallahan turned around.
“What is it?” Riley asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
“Wolves,” Dallahan replied. “Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Enough that I can’t pinpoint a number. They’re going to surround us. Do you think this is—”
“Quiet.” Riley stared into the night. He could only make out a few dozen forms moving in the distant darkness around them, but his nose picked up countless distinct scents.
This was happening. He’d been dreading it, hoping they could pierce through the desert and reach Reptilius before the Wolves found them, but he’d known all along this was inevitable. He’d prepared himself for it as best as he could, and he had a plan, albeit simple, but against the likes of a Shadow Wolf, there was only so much that anyone could do.
Most of the camp had to be awake by now, but Riley still ordered Dallahan, “Go and wake everyone now. We’re gonna need every pair of hands and every weapon.”
Dallahan bounded away.
One of the Wisps turned to Riley. “Hundreds or thousands of Wolves? We can’t possibly fend off that many. We have to flee.”
“No,” Riley asserted. “This needs to happen. Hold your position.”
The Wisp glared at Riley. “You’re not my commander.”
“No, but I am,” a voice said from behind them. Condor. He landed between them and stared at the Wisp. “We’re all deferring to Riley’s lead from now on. This is his domain. He knows it best. He will lead us.”
A few months earlier, Riley would’ve torn Condor to shreds if he’d had the chance. Now they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to fight the same foes together.
Lilly, General Tolomus, and the rest of the Windgales landed around them. Calum, Magnus, Axel, and Janessa, Dallahan, and Embry approached the group on foot as
well.
“What are we dealing with, Riley?” Lilly asked.
“Nothing good.”
General Tolomus stepped into his view. “I sense we don’t have much time to determine a course of action. Should we retreat?”
Riley eyed him then turned to Lilly. “Lumen said he needed the Wolves to join his army. Wolves respect strength. If we don’t stand our ground, we’ll stand no chance of winning them over.”
“We can’t fight thousands of Wolves, if there are indeed thousands, as you claim,” said General Tolomus. “Nor even hundreds.”
“We may not need to.” Riley stared out at the horizon. His keen eyes picked out several streams of shadows moving under the moonlight toward their position. “Stand your ground, all of you, but don’t attack. They have the advantage of numbers, but they won’t harm us if we don’t resist them.”
“You sure of that?” Condor asked.
“Mostly.” Riley glanced at him. “But if not, I want you, especially, to stay out of the fight.”
Condor raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“You couldn’t even kill me.” Riley gave him a wry smile. “What chance do you have against hundreds of them? They’ll rip you apart.”
Condor scoffed, but he matched Riley’s smile with one of his own. “Funny.”
“Form a tight defensive perimeter around the Premieress and the non-flying types. Be prepared to lift as many of them to safety as possible.”
“You just said we couldn’t retreat. Which is it?” General Tolomus folded his arms.
Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Your task is to protect the Premieress. If things go wrong, protect her. Otherwise, stand your ground. Crystal?”
Within minutes, throngs of snarling, growling Wolves surrounded the camp. Several Werewolves stalked among them, and it seemed as if they all stared directly at Riley. A plethora of smells, many of them familiar, hit Riley’s nostrils.
There’s no place like home…
A wave of Wolves parted under the moonlight, as did the few Werewolves nearby. A dark form advanced toward Riley and the others.
Janessa, Dallahan, and Embry growled, but Riley gave a sharp bark and silenced them.
The form materialized into a Werewolf, only different. It stood a few inches taller than Riley, and its black fur didn’t reflect any of the moonlight at all, making it nearly invisible in the darkness.
Silver fur tipped its ears and its tail, and silver irises distinguished its black pupils from the rest of its eyes, also black. Black talons extended from its fingers and toes, and black teeth lined its mouth.
A Shadow Wolf.
Chapter Fourteen
The Shadow Wolf sniffed the air, then he snarled. “Riley.”
Riley’s chest tightened, but he stepped forward, out of the relative safety of the Windgales’ protective shell. “Rhaza.”
“You guys know each other?” Axel asked.
“He’s my cousin,” Riley replied.
“Of course he is.” Axel rolled his eyes. “Everyone not human has to be related to royalty somehow.”
“We’re cousins, but that means little to Wolves,” Riley explained. “Distant cousins. Half his tribe could probably make the same claim.”
“That we are.” Rhaza’s voice was deeper than Riley remembered but still every bit as menacing. “But it’s more than that, isn’t it?”
Riley’s jaw hardened. “He banished me from my home more than a year ago.”
“You banished yourself. Had I found you, I would’ve just killed you.”
“I know.”
“And now you’re back. With friends.” Rhaza studied those around him. “But not nearly enough.”
Dallahan growled, and Riley barked again. Dallahan shut up.
“I see you have a small tribe of your own now. You’ve grown, Cousin.”
Riley’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t patronize me.”
Rhaza tilted his head. “You know I’m going to kill you.”
“I know you’ll try.”
Rhaza bared his black teeth in a toothy smile. “You have less than thirty with you. I have thousands. You cannot possibly hope to—”
“Rhaza?” Calum stepped forward and stood next to Riley.
Rhaza squinted at him. “Who is this human morsel who addresses me?”
“I’m no one of any importance, but I bear a charge from one who would reign over Kanarah.”
Rhaza snickered. “The King hasn’t visited our fair desert in centuries.”
Calum shook his head. “I do not represent the King. I come bearing the authority of Lumen, the General of Light, who calls you to join him in his sovereign quest to usurp the King and rule in his place.”
Rhaza didn’t move, except his black-and-silver eyes narrowed as they fixated on Calum.
Calum glanced at Riley. “As evidence of Lumen’s return, he has blessed me with the ability to show you his power firsthand.”
He raised his left hand, palm up, and Lumen’s light began to glow from within him. It filled his palm and beamed outward, a star in the dark night sky. The Wolves and Werewolves around them bustled and growled.
Rhaza barked, and they fell silent.
“Your trick is nice, but I have no reason to join this ‘Lumen,’ whoever he is.’”
“He is the General of Light, and he’s going to free Kanarah,” Calum explained. “He’s going to put an end to the suffering and oppression—”
“Suffering?” Rhaza snapped. “Suffering? You don’t know the meaning of the word.”
Calum’s jaw tensed, and the light in his palm blazed even brighter. “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know. You know nothing about me.”
“And you know nothing about me.” Rhaza stalked forward a few steps, and Riley positioned himself in front of Calum. “I could snuff your little light in an instant.”
“I’ve been threatened before. You don’t scare me,” Calum said. “Will you join Lumen’s cause, or not?”
“No, little human. I will not,” Rhaza said. “But I will gladly tear you and each of your friends limb from—”
“I challenge you to single combat,” Riley blurted.
Everyone turned toward him, but he’d already given this enough thought. Since Rhaza had rejected the call to Lumen’s army, this was the only way to ensure the support of the Wolf tribes. Riley would have to make it happen.
“Under the laws of our kind, the winner rules the tribe,” Riley continued. “I demand that my friends be allowed safe passage through to Reptilius either way. That is the price I require for my life, should I fail.”
Rhaza squinted at him. “You’re in no position to make demands.”
“Well, I’m making them anyway,” Riley asserted. “The majority of our group is made of Wisps. Among them are General Tolomus of the Windgale Army, the renowned Captain Condor of the Royal Guard, and—”
General Tolomus cleared his throat.
Riley shot him a glare. “—and one who wields the sacred blade of their people. The Sobek is Magnus, heir to the throne of Reptilius, and he wields the Dragon’s Breath sword of ancient times. The rest are all capable fighters and seasoned warriors. You’re welcome to attack, but engaging them will cost you hundreds of your tribe.”
Rhaza inhaled a long breath. “Ancient weapons and mighty warriors do not frighten me, Cousin.”
“So it’s the prospect of single combat against me that scares you?” Riley’s mouth curled into a grin. “I’m flattered, but you know, you can just yield instead.”
Rhaza laughed and shook his head. “No. I will honor your challenge, if you can call it that. As to the wellbeing of your friends, that remains to be seen.”
“I will engage you underground, alone. There’s a subterranean room nearby where we can do battle.” Riley had already examined the underground room after Magnus had come back up with his Dragon’s Breath sword in hand. It gave him his best chance at winning this contest, especially when the only alternative was fighting out in the open air
.
“Don’t want to get killed in front of your friends?” Rhaza grinned. “I understand. I’ve already humiliated you enough for a lifetime.”
Riley growled, and the tension in his chest heightened. Everything hinged on this fight. “Follow me.”
He darted away from Rhaza toward the pit where Magnus had recovered the Dragon’s Breath. Riley knew that leaving first would mean one of two things to those following Rhaza—either it reinforced their opinions of Riley as a coward, or it made him look like the more dominant of the two. He hoped it was the latter.
He awaited Rhaza’s arrival at the top of the pit. His friends and their Wisp escorts made their way over first, and then Rhaza and his army quickly enveloped the entire area.
“We enter the pit one at a time. The duel will then commence, and he who emerges alive, wins,” Riley met Rhaza’s fearsome eyes. “Do you agree to these terms?”
“Of course I agree.” Rhaza displayed a wicked grin. “It will be a pleasure to kill you.”
Riley looked at Condor and Magnus. “Whatever happens to me, protect Lilly and Calum. They need both of you. If you don’t, I swear I’ll come back as a ghost and haunt you until you join me in the afterlife.”
Condor laughed. “I believe it. Fight well, friend, if I may dare to call you that. I’m truly sorry for our past, and I’m honored to have known you regardless of your fate today.”
Riley nodded. It was a nice sentiment that Condor had finally apologized, but it wouldn’t help Riley much now.
“He may be quicker than you and more adept at hiding in shadows, but you are smarter. He only knows how Wolves fight.” Magnus clapped his enormous scaly hand on Riley’s shoulder. “You have been with us long enough to have learned many tactics. Wield the ones that will bring you victory, and I will see you ascend from that pit victorious.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Calum approached him next. “You can do this, Riley. You’ve come so far. Reclaim your honor, once and for all.”
Riley nodded again.
Lilly walked up to him, and all ten of her Royal Guard surrounded them both. She reached out and scratched behind his ears, which he not only allowed but enjoyed. It helped to relax him.