by Ben Wolf
“By now, you are all too familiar with the fell beasts of Kanarah,” the King said. “The Gronyxes roaming below the surface. The Dactyls roaming the skies. The Wargs haunting the desert. The Jyraks lurking beneath the waves.” The King paused and met each of their eyes in turn. “All of them are Lumen’s dark creations, twisted beyond recognition.”
Calum couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Could it really be true?
“The Gronyxes are men, driven by their lust for power, now corrupted and laid low,” the King explained. “The Dactyls are Windgales, prideful of their ability to fly, now reduced to scavengers of carrion. The Wargs are Wolves, confident in their concealment within shadows, now banished to walk in darkness forever. The Jyraks are Saurian Dragons, overflowing with strength, now cursed to roam the seas where their strength means nothing.”
Calum exchanged glances with Lilly, and he was sure the look of horror on his own face matched hers. Riley also reacted in kind, but Magnus continued staring out at Lumen, his golden eyes full of fury.
“Lumen destroyed the lives and souls of these wretched beasts. While he was gone, they served only themselves, but now that he has returned, they await the call of their dark master,” the King continued.
Calum had to wonder why the King’s army hadn’t been hunting these beasts during all that time. Perhaps they could’ve eradicated some of them entirely.
Then again, maybe they already had been. Solace had come across as a pretty peaceful place so far.
“And when he calls, they will answer,” the King concluded. “Mark my words.”
Their dark master? But Lumen was the General of Light. Calum was about to ask about that when a flash of white light from below nearly blinded him.
Lumen appeared in front of the balcony about thirty feet away, blazing in all his glory, far brighter than Calum had ever seen, even in his dreams. The light radiating from Lumen actually caused Calum physical pain, primarily in his eyes, but also in his chest—in his heart.
Only the King and Matthios withstood Lumen’s light at its brightest, and even then, Calum noticed the King’s trembling arms and his white-knuckled grip on the wrought-iron railing at the edge of the balcony.
“At long last, we again meet face to face, Taleph,” Lumen said, neither reducing his brightness nor acknowledging the King’s sovereignty.
Taleph? Was that the King’s name? Or was it a derogatory term of some sort? Calum couldn’t tell just by hearing it, and Lumen’s tone hadn’t given anything away. The King didn’t bother to respond, either.
“Nothing to say? A millennium ago, an ocean of words spilled out of your mouth as you banished me to the abyss.” Lumen’s voice had distorted ever so slightly, making it sound darker, more enraged, more furious.
More evil.
“A millennium ago, I said only what needed to be said, heretic,” the King replied. “And in due time, I will speak to you once more, and then never again.”
Lumen laughed, and it seemed to warp the very air around them with waves of power. “Yet another ‘prophecy’ from a failed tyrant. A weak one, at that.”
The King’s arms still quaked as he gripped the railing. Perspiration dotted his forehead once again, and he squinted against the incredible brightness of Lumen’s light. Saving Calum must’ve really sapped a lot of his power.
Calum didn’t know how it all worked, or how long it would take the King to recover his full strength, but he hoped it was soon. Against a foe like Lumen, Calum feared that only the King himself could vanquish him.
“If you really knew what strength was, or the true nature of power, you would not be so arrogant,” the King retorted.
Lumen’s blazing eyes narrowed, and he hovered closer to their position on the balcony. “When I first emerged from my prison, your dog Matthios met me in the field of battle. I gave him my terms for your surrender. Since he undoubtedly failed to communicate them to you, I will reiterate them here and now.
“You, King Taleph, will lay down your crown and your sword at my feet, and you will bend your knee to me. You will renounce your claim to the throne for all eternity, and you will publicly declare me the King of Kanarah and all its peoples, of which I will be the better steward.
“And once you have done so, I will execute you before the people so they will know your reign of tyranny has finally come to an end. On these terms I will not compromise; I will not bend. Most importantly, I will not fail to achieve that which I desire,” Lumen declared.
His terms had changed from when he’d first leveled them at Matthios so many months before, particularly when it came to the King’s fate.
Back then, Calum had believed Lumen capable of accomplishing everything he’d proclaimed. Now, as the King struggled to even remain upright against Lumen’s overwhelming power, Calum wondered if they even had a chance of stopping him.
“I will never yield,” the King uttered, his voice far stronger than his appearance. “And the throne of Kanarah will never be yours.”
At long last, Lumen’s light faded, and everyone managed to face him again. Why he’d let up, Calum didn’t know.
Then Calum found out.
Lumen extended his hand toward Calum, and though he was several yards away, he somehow managed to take hold of Calum and lift him off his feet—from the inside.
It felt like fingers made of white-hot fire had taken hold of Calum’s heart and proceeded to lift him into the air by it. His chest felt like it was about to burst into flames from the inside, and at the same time, it seemed like Lumen was about to rip his heart out.
Calum screamed and clawed at his chest, all to no avail. He heard his friends calling for him, and he heard Matthios ordering Lumen to release Calum.
The pain didn’t stop, but not long after his feet left the balcony, Calum managed to glance down through the pain and saw the city far below. Lumen had suspended him in the air, and now Calum dangled over certain death. Despite the pain, he very much didn’t want Lumen to let go of him, even though Matthios kept demanding it.
“It was foolish of you to think you could escape my light, Calum.” Lumen squeezed tighter still, and Calum thought his heart would burst in his chest. “You are merely a human. How could one such as you stand against someone like me?”
Even if he’d had a good answer, Calum’s chest hurt far too much for him to respond.
But then the burning tension loosened, and Lumen’s fingers retreated from Calum’s heart. Calum immediately looked down, expecting to plummet to his death, but he remained hovering in the air, still facing Lumen.
When he looked over his shoulder, Calum saw the King standing on the balcony with his hands outstretched, as if about to catch a baby. His green eyes had regained some of their vibrancy, and Calum felt the cool sense of relief wash over him.
The King had Calum in his hands, and he wasn’t going to let go.
Lumen laughed again and shook his head. “You would sacrifice so much of your power to save one tarnished soul?”
“Yes,” the King answered without even a hint of hesitation as Calum drifted back and landed safely on the balcony once again. “I would do it for any of them.”
Lilly wrapped her arms around Calum, and Riley patted him on his shoulder, welcoming him back onto solid ground.
“Then you truly are a fool, and you do not deserve to be King,” Lumen said. “And now I will show you.”
Lumen disappeared in a flash and reappeared down at the city gates between Kahn and Rhaza once again. He bellowed a war cry that rattled the floor beneath Calum’s feet, and the attack on Solace began.
Then the King collapsed to the floor.
Chapter Forty
“Your Majesty!” Matthios cried. For someone who struggled with understanding emotions, Calum thought he’d nailed the tones of concern and worry in his voice.
“The soldiers need you more than the King does, Matthios.” Valerie pressed her hand against the bronze plating of his breastplate, stopping him from reaching the
King. “Go to them. Be their bronze beacon of hope. Remember—you are more than a match for Lumen. Do not believe otherwise.”
Matthios nodded, turned, and leaped off the balcony without so much as another word. The exchange got Calum wondering about Valerie’s role within the kingdom again, but the King’s miserable state was even more pressing.
“The rest of you, retreat to the safety of the garden,” Valerie ordered. “Magnus, you must carry the King there. He draws strength from it, and he will need to recover far more if he is to aid us in this battle.”
“Understood.” Magnus scooped the King into one hand as if he were a rag doll, and then he followed Valerie through the halls of Valkendell with Calum, Lilly, Riley, and Condor following close behind.
Axel had awakened in perfect darkness, without pain. He’d remembered everything up until the point when Lumen had removed his mask. After that, his memories went black.
That had been hours earlier. Now he was awake, ready, and brimming with new power.
He’d wanted to test the breadth of his new abilities on the front lines of the battle, but Lumen had tasked him with an even more crucial task. Were it not so integral to the success of their plan, Axel would’ve declined. After all, with his new power, he now rivaled Lumen in strength… probably.
So while the battle raged at the city gates, Axel was on his own, searching for that which was known but had never been found. Thanks to his newly augmented vision, Axel could now see through rocks and stone—an ability he’d never even dreamed to request but that had already become a crucial part of his skillset.
As he scanned the mountainside, he wondered what else he might be able to see through. The idea of trying it out—perhaps on Valerie—came to mind, but he banished the thought to the recesses of his mind. He had work to do, and only he could do it.
Though Axel’s enhanced vision revealed much, he wouldn’t use it all the time. He couldn’t—not if he actually wanted to see what was right in front of him. And whenever he wasn’t using it, his helmet and the mask on the lower portion of his face narrowed his field of vision more than he would’ve preferred.
He’d just have to get used to it, he decided. After all, with power like his, what enemy could even dare to challenge him in the first place?
After another few minutes of searching, Axel located what he’d been looking for: a tunnel, shallow and dug from just outside the city to a house that was positioned along the inside of the city’s back wall.
He traced its path back aboveground outside the city walls and found a narrow path that threaded between the steep cliff face and the back wall of the city.
Axel ascended higher—he could fly now, too, just like Lumen or Condor or Lilly—and continued to follow the path from overhead.
As he’d suspected, it terminated outside the city walls when the cliff face narrowed so far that it actually touched the back wall of the city.
Based on his positioning near Valkendell’s diamond dome, Axel realized he’d found what he was looking for—mostly.
Either way, now it was time for the second phase of Lumen’s plan to begin.
Riley had sensed them when he’d first entered the garden less than an hour ago, but now they weren’t even bothering to hide. He found the sight of them both incredibly reassuring but also destructive to his ego, as their presence proved his existence was not as important as he’d thought.
Five Shadow Wolves, just like him, awaited their arrival in the garden.
When Magnus hesitated to enter, Valerie smiled at him and said, “Do not fear them. They are the King’s most trusted protectors. They also double as spies and, occasionally, as assassins if need be.”
Assassins? Riley marveled at the sight of them. Not one, but five Shadow Wolf assassins?
Riley didn’t know whom the King might’ve wanted dead or why, but sending five Shadow Wolves would more than get the job done every time—that was for sure.
The closer Riley studied them, the more he realized they outclassed him. He’d thought he was the pinnacle of lupine perfection now that he’d transformed into a Shadow Wolf, but these five… they were on a whole different level altogether.
As Magnus gently set the King onto a patch of soft grass, Lilly took notice of one of the Shadow Wolves in particular. The Shadow Wolf, her fur as black as a starless night sky, looked pretty much the same as the others, only she was slightly smaller and had a white patch right on the tip of her otherwise black tail.
Riley recognized the patch immediately, but could it be? It had been so long, and after Riley had fled the tribe, she had suffered and died in his absence… hadn’t she?
When her blue-irises flashed toward him and lingered there for the briefest moment, Riley knew it was either the uncanniest coincidence of his life, or he was seeing a ghost.
Or it was really her.
“Windsor?” Lilly said, using a name Riley had never heard before.
He had always known her as Meliamora, or Melly for short.
Windsor’s head turned toward Lilly, and her eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe it. You clean up rather nice for a slave, Windgale girl.”
Her voice—that was what sold it for Riley. This wasn’t some Shadow Wolf named “Windsor.” This was Melly, very much alive and somehow promoted to a Shadow Wolf.
Just like me, Riley mused. Alright… now what? You know it’s her, and she doesn’t recognize you, so…
“Will five Shadow Wolves be enough to protect the King?” Calum asked. He quickly added, “I don’t mean to insult any of you. It’s just that Lumen himself is here, and—”
“We are more than capable of defending the King from any threat,” said Windsor—Melly—whatever she was calling herself now.
“Melly?” Riley said. It just spilled out of his mouth, uninhibited.
She turned to regard him with her eyes narrowed. Then recognition widened them again.
“Riley?” she asked, her voice low. “Is it really you?”
Riley grinned. He couldn’t believe it—she was alive. “Yes. It’s m—”
Windsor had him pinned to the ground before he could even finish his sentence. Though he’d followed her movement quickly enough, he’d allowed her to hit him because he’d expected a hug or a joyous embrace.
Instead, once she got on top of him, she snarled and slashed at his face with her claws.
Riley took the first attack, and lines of pain carved from his furry cheek down his snout. He blocked the rest of her blows, shoved her away, and leaped back up to his feet in time to see that the other four Shadow Wolves had joined up with her, all of them now regarding Riley as a threat.
“Enough!” Lilly darted between them with her arms outstretched, and Condor followed her into the middle of the fray, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “The King needs rest, and you’re causing a ruckus. What is this all about? Clearly, you know each other.”
“He left me for dead,” Windsor growled, only barely restraining herself. The other Shadow Wolves looked just as ready to strike if Riley made even one wrong move.
“I was banished from our tribe.” Riley dabbed at the claw marks she’d gouged onto the side of his snout, and his fingers came back bloody. The wound was superficial, but it stung.
“You ran away so you wouldn’t have to fight.” Windsor seethed at him. “You were a coward then, and you’re still a coward now.”
Her words hurt far worse than the scratches she’d inflicted. After all, they were true.
Riley wanted to lash out at her in return, to tell her he’d been right, in the end. Had he stayed, Rhaza would’ve killed him. By leaving, he’d found a way to grow stronger. He’d returned to his tribe as a Werewolf and even managed to defeat Rhaza, and now he was a Shadow Wolf. Everything had worked out.
But even though that was true for him, it didn’t—it couldn’t negate what she’d gone through in his absence.
Riley relaxed his stance and hunched over into a submissive posture. “I’m sorry, Melly.�
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“Don’t call me that,” Windsor snapped at him. “Melly is dead. She died the day you ran off.”
“Then I’m sorry, Windsor. To you and Melly.”
Windsor growled at him, but her aggressive stance relaxed some as well. “That doesn’t change what happened.”
“That’s all I have to offer,” Riley said.
Windsor chuffed. “Then there is nothing more to say.”
“Thank you for working out your differences in a peaceful manner,” Valerie interjected. She seemed to smile in virtually every situation, no matter how dire or grave. It was… off-putting to Riley, to say the least. “Dear Shadow Wolves, please take your positions within the garden. We must be prepared in case of an attack.”
Riley couldn’t conceive of how anyone or anything could possibly get into the fortress, short of maybe Lumen himself. And even then, if Lumen did get inside, Riley doubted that five Shadow Wolf assassins could even harm him, much less stop or defeat him.
But with the King weakened, what other option did they have?
Windsor met Riley’s eyes with another cold stare, and then she spread out with the other Shadow Wolves, who melted into the various shadows of trees and large bushes throughout the spacious garden.
Riley had to admit—these Shadow Wolves were good. He’d seen where every single one of them had hidden themselves, but now it appeared as though they’d never even been there in the first place. They’d left no trace of themselves behind, and he couldn’t see them in the shadows, even with his enhanced vision.
More compelling than their prowess was their very existence, and the idea that they’d chosen to serve the King of Kanarah rather than strike out on their own to form tribes.
And that there were five of them. Five.
Riley had thought he was the only Shadow Wolf in the world, just like Magnus was the only Dragon, but he’d been utterly wrong. It all made him wonder more about the King and what was really happening here in Solace. Maybe it was better than roaming the desert in search of food for the rest of his life. If it was, Riley might just have to stick around once this was all over.