by Ben Wolf
Kallie gasped, then her hand went limp in Aeron’s. She, too, fell to the floor.
“Kallie!” Aeron shouted.
Mehta caught her before she could hit her head, and Aeron kicked himself for not being ready to catch her himself. He dropped down next to her and grabbed her out of Mehta’s bloody arms.
Blue light the color of ice gleamed from her chest, and the golden-bronze mark on her neck glowed as Aeron reached to support her head.
“Kallie, no…” Tears poured from Aeron’s eyes, and he trembled. “Kallie…”
She smiled up at Aeron with her crooked teeth, and her blue eyes blinked.
“Remember,” she said. “Live your life for me.”
Then she closed her eyes and exhaled her last breath. The blue light in her chest faded to nothing.
Aeron buried his face in her neck and wept. He cried long and loud, and he didn’t care that Kent and Mehta heard him. They’d both lost loved ones, too. They understood.
Then Kallie gasped again and went rigid.
Aeron jerked his head up, no longer crying but shocked and wide-eyed. She was still alive?
Kallie’s head arched back, and she screamed and clutched at her chest as if in unbelievable pain. The blue light returned, now blindingly bright.
“Kallie?” Aeron yelled over her screams. “Kallie?”
Somehow, she shot out of Aeron’s grasp and glided across the floor toward the dragon, whose black body also glowed with stunning bright blue light. Kallie’s body struck the wound in the dragon’s chest. Its head reared up, and it loosed a menacing roar.
Bolts of blue lightning arced around the dragon and Kallie, and it roared again and spread its wings. Snow and ice swirled around them like a blizzard, and wind howled along with the dragon and Kallie. Aeron had to shield his eyes from the light, and even then he couldn’t keep it from burning his eyes.
Then it all snapped to an end. The light faded, the wind stopped, and Aeron opened his eyes once again.
The dragon was still there, but it had changed.
Instead of being covered in black scales, now scales as white as snow covered its underside, and the darker gray and blue scales armored its top. Horns and spikes still protruded from the dragon’s back, tail, head, and some of its joints, but they had turned to a crisp ice-blue color instead. They all glowed, and its teeth and talons matched.
In place of its red eyes, dark blue eyes studied its surroundings, including Aeron and the Blood Mercs, with a keen understanding, even calculating. It comprehended them on a level it hadn’t before, and that realization crippled Aeron from the inside out.
The dragon opened its mouth for another roar, but its voice sounded distant, hollower than before. Instead of molten orange and yellow, the inside of its throat glowed icy blue.
Something had gone terribly, horribly wrong. Kallie was gone, the dragon was alive and well, and it had become something different—something worse.
And it was twice the size it had been before.
Kent didn’t know what to believe anymore. The cannon had not only failed to kill the dragon but also sapped Kent of most of Fjorst’s blessing. Worse still, it had transformed the beast into an ice-born dragon that now stared down at him with cunning blue eyes.
He contemplated attacking it with his sword, but Kent knew he couldn’t harm it with ice. He also considered grabbing fire from one of the torches nearby, but by the time he thought of it, it was already too late.
The dragon loosed a stream of icy breath at them, and Kent erected a frozen barrier around them in record time.
When the blast stopped, Kent could still see the dragon through the multiple new layers of ice packed around them. Instead of pursuing them further, it turned back toward the broken wall and barreled through the opening, taking a huge chunk of the wall with it.
Kent looked at Mehta, who swayed as if he were about ready to pass out, then at Aeron, whose face conveyed the exact shock and dismay that Kent now felt.
But before any of them could speak, the floor shuddered under their feet and dropped out from under them. With shouts and hollers, they fell along with the rest of the tower, and Kent cast every bit of magic he could muster to keep them from being crushed in the process.
When the quaking finally subsided, Kent stopped his magic. The ice shield had protected them yet again, but to what end? Aside from the light of his sword, everything around them was perfectly dark. It was still nighttime, and for all Kent knew, they were buried under tons and tons of rubble.
But Mehta was fading. They had to get him help before it was too late.
“Cover your heads,” Kent said to Aeron and Mehta. “And stay near me.”
He raised his hands, touched the ice over their heads, and flooded the last of Fjorst’s blessing into it. Ice shot up from their circular barrier in a gigantic spike, and the barrier followed, carrying the Blood Mercs and plowing through layers of debris and wreckage.
The barrier cleared the remnants of the tower and landed with a jarring thud on the ground, and it cracked open enough for the three of them to spill out. The impact and the strain amplified the hurt in Kent’s chest, but he would live.
As he stood to his feet and helped Mehta and Aeron up, Kent noticed an icy blue light in the eastern sky. It had wings, and it was flying toward Tebaryx, the capital city of Xenthan.
The dragon.
The three of them had survived, but at a considerable cost. And now far more people would pay the price for the choices they’d made.
Kent glowered at the sky. I should have crushed its head with my boot when I had the chance.
Aeron turned to Kent. “What are we going to do now?”
This book is over, but the mayhem doesn’t stop here!
The story continues in Frostbane,
Book 3 of the Blood Mercenaries series,
available in late 2019/early 2020.
Turn the page for more fantasy action———>
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Acknowledgments
First of all, thank YOU for reading this book. I had a blast putting it together, but it was by no means a solo effort.
Thank you to Jesus Christ for changing my life (and the world) forever.
Second, thanks to my parents for believing in me from an early age and for helping to support my dreams and my growth. I love you both.
Thanks to my all-star beta readers, Daniel Kuhnley and Paige Guido, for your excellent feedback, encouragement, and for having my back.
Thanks also to my mastermind group. It’s a secret group, but you all know who you are. (insert evil laugh)
Kirk DouPonce, you are a genius. The cover is exactly what I had envisioned (only better). Thank you for your long-suffering patience with me.
Will Wight, you continue to bless me with your time and feedback, and you’ve been far better to me than I deserve. I really appreciate the time you’ve invested in me, and I’m honored to be your friend.
Dirty Mi
ke Hueser and the BJJ boys, thanks for keeping me frosty.
Thank you to all of my readers! Without you, I wouldn’t be doing this.
Last of all, thank you especially to my intelligent, beautiful, thoughtful, and ultra-supportive wife, Charis Crowe. Your flexibility with my weird writing schedule for this book made it possible for me to get it done in time.
I love you.
About Ben Wolf
In 7th grade, I saw the movie "Congo." It was so bad, I wrote a parody of it set in Australia that featured killer kangaroos. So began my writing career.
I endeavor to produce stories that question the boundaries of morality, faith, justice, and interpersonal relationships. And I do it with action, explosions, gunshots, sword-fights, and battles.
I’ve spoken at 40+ writers conferences and multiple comic cons nationwide. When not writing, I occasionally choke people in Brazilian jiujitsu. I live in the midwest with my gorgeous wife, our kids, and our cat, Marco.
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