Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

  “What of the fey?” the pale man asked with an evil smile. “Shall we begin?”

  “Not just yet,” Draxis answered. “The humans are starting to slow their war. It seems rumors of the dragons being resurrected have spread out from the city of blasphemy. They crushed my servant’s rebellion much too quickly. With Brawne gone, there was no way to stop it. Losing him was a pity.”

  “So, what is the next step?”

  Draxis sighed. “You are not going to like the next step,” he said calmly, eyeing the pale man, as if anticipating his reaction.

  “I will do whatever you command, My Lord,” the pale man said, the smirk still on his face.

  “Good, then I need for you to rally your brothers. And, get the lycans,” Draxis told him.

  The pale man’s smile disappeared in an instant. “... My lord,” he hesitated.

  Draxis threw his head back and laughed. “I thought there might be some resistance. But, know that any humans that survive will belong to you and your people. You will be made lord of whatever remains of the eastern kingdom. The lycans can have the west. With thousands of miles between the two.”

  The pale man sighed. “As you wish, My Lord.”

  Xion slowly faded back to the blackness of sleep. His last thought before he drifted off completely, was that he needed to ask Warren what “lycan” meant.

  Xion woke slowly the next morning. He heard people around him moving and talking, but he could not figure out what anyone was saying. He could feel through the bond that Aurum was still near him.

  Xion groaned as he opened his eyes and pushed himself up to a sitting position. Sapphire, who was sitting next to Venitia, looked over at him and started giggling. “Xion, your hair is a mess,” she laughed.

  Xion reached up and brushed down his hair with his fingernails. It was raining harder than it had been when he went to sleep, and the rain quickly flattened the mane of matted hair down. He felt his face flush. He had never given any thought to what he looked like before, but he got an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach when Sapphire laughed at him.

  “Are we ready to go?” Xion asked, trying to get the attention off of himself.

  Paarathax, who was standing nearby and leaning against a tree, chuckled. “We’re ready.”

  Warren, who was petting Tenebris not far from Xion, interjected, “Can we maybe wait? Like, a few days, or so?”

  Xion shook his head. “We need to hurry.”

  Chapter 19: Ambush

  They left a few minutes later, to many objections from Warren. Xion explained to everyone what he had seen of Draxis in his dream. He decided not to mention the fact that he had overheard Ava and her mother talking, he did not think that Ava would be very happy to know that anyone had been listening.

  “A pale man, with red eyes, sharp teeth, and doesn’t like lycans,” Warren listed. “Is Draxis working with vampires?”

  Xion laughed. “Vampires aren’t real.”

  Everyone stared at him, and his smile quickly fell.

  “Wait, are they?” he asked in surprise, his heart started beating faster.

  Sapphire nodded. “They are, they’re just really rare, now.”

  “Vampires? Like the dead people that drink blood?” Xion asked, hoping that he was misunderstanding something.

  “No, the other vampires,” Ava answered sarcastically.

  “Vampires can’t be real,” Laira insisted. “They’re just myths to scare people from wandering the wild in the middle of the night.”

  “With all the creatures that actually wander the wild, why would there need to be myths to scare people?” Paarathax asked pointedly.

  “There aren’t as many things out there,” Xion mused. “We crossed all of Ustama, and we only had to fight a couple of things.”

  Paarathax chuckled to himself. “Maybe you got lucky. But, trust me, the space between cities and villages is covered in bloodthirsty beasts, vampires among them.”

  “Okay,” Xion said, terrified by the thought that vampires could be real, “then, why do people think they’re myths?”

  “Because of the Cult of Azuren,” Venitia answered coldly.

  Xion looked to Sapphire for answers, but she just shrugged. “Azuren is the god of the sun,” she said, “but I don’t know about any cult.”

  “It’s a cult that seeks to destroy anything they believe to be ‘dark’. Vampires, lycans, necromancers, even the dark ones,” Ava answered.

  “Oh, gods!” Sapphire gasped. “The dark ones!”

  Xion raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, the evil elves, right?”

  “She’s talking about the prophecy,” Warren said with a shaking voice.

  Paarathax furrowed his brow. “Not even Draxis could rally the Unseem together,” he said, sounding like he was not sure.

  “We can worry about that later,” Xion interrupted. They had so many issues that were more pressing, what may or may not happen with the prophecy could be discussed when it mattered. “What are lycans?”

  “You know what werewolves are, right?” Xara asked with a laugh.

  Xion wanted to think that she was joking, but the way the conversation was going, he doubted she was.

  “Oh, come on,” Laira groaned. “Vampires are bad enough, but you can’t seriously be telling me that werewolves are real, too.”

  “Dark magic is punishable by death in every kingdom for a reason,” Paarathax answered.

  “They aren’t the only lycans, though,” Warren added. “Lots of people have used magic to make themselves more powerful.”

  “How does turning into a wolf make you more powerful?” Xion asked.

  “They have more than just the ability to transform into animals,” Sapphire told him. “Anyone with magic can become an animal, lycans have healing abilities, increased strength, and a bunch of other things. Like vampires, they try to keep most of their abilities hidden, so they can surprise people with them.”

  “How do people use magic to become… those things?” Laira asked, looking around at all the mages around her.

  “Really dark magic,” Xara answered. “But, not all of them are evil. They just want to live longer, or to have the ability to change things they couldn’t otherwise.”

  “Why do I get the feeling there’s more that nobody’s saying?” Xion asked.

  “Is there more?” Laira demanded, sounding terrified. “Worse than vampires and werewolves?”

  Ava laughed. “People have used dark magic to become a lot of things: vampires, lycans, liches, windigos. And then, there are the things they make other people become with dark magic: animated skeletons, zombies, mummies, ghosts, ghouls, you name it.”

  “And, whatever those things in the watchtower were,” Warren shivered.

  Xion remembered the creatures Warren was talking about. They were creatures that looked vaguely humanoid, but made entirely of darkness with glowing blue eyes. They sucked all the willpower out of the people around them, Xion had laid down and given up, not minding if he was killed. They still had no idea what the creatures were.

  “Okay, I think we’re scaring the human,” Xara laughed.

  Xion looked over to see that Laira had wrapped her arms around one of Ava’s and was walking so close the two were nearly pressed together.

  “We’re about to go into a fight for our lives, and she’s afraid of a few words?” Warren teased. “This fight is going to be fun.”

  Xion nodded. Warren had a point. It was going to be difficult at best, Laira could barely hit a target with her bow, she had no ability to use magic, and he was going to have to lose one of his friends or get locked in the Five Hells himself.

  “Everyone stop,” Xion said sadly.

  Everyone stopped walking and looked at him expectantly. The rain poured through the leaves above them, and lightning streaked across the sky, briefly illuminating the forest. With a sigh, Xion made his decision.

  “Paarathax, I need you to take Laira back to Evergreen,” he said with as much conviction as he
could muster.

  “Are you kidding me?” Laira yelled. She clung even tighter to Ava when she said, “I’m not leaving you guys.”

  “She definitely has to go, but why not send her with Sapphire?” Xara asked, eliciting an angry glare from Laira. “We need Paarathax for the fight against the giant group of assassins.”

  Paarathax stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “You don’t want me to be there?” There was something in his voice that Xion did not recognize. He got the feeling that Paarathax was upset.

  “Venitia volunteered to close the portal,” Xion explained, “Sapphire needs to come in case someone gets hurt.” He did not add that Xion would feel much better if she was with him. “Warren can think faster than anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “And, he really doesn’t want to go,” Warren interjected.

  Xion tried not to laugh as he finished, “Ava and Xara are both amazing warriors, they both have to be there. And, I don’t trust anybody else to actually take Laira back.” He smiled and said, “Anybody else would just come back after ten minutes.”

  “Fair point,” Ava agreed.

  Paarathax sighed. “Alright, come on, then,” he said to Laira.

  “No, I’m not leaving,” Laira insisted.

  Ava turned to her and took the bow out of the quiver on her back and tossed it to Xion. “You’d just get yourself hurt.”

  Laira glared at her for a moment, and then her face softened, and she looked like she was about to cry. She grabbed Ava’s shoulders and pulled her into a kiss.

  Xion turned his head immediately to look away and found himself looking at Sapphire. She was staring at the ground and her face had gone red. Her eyes kept darting toward Xion and then quickly returning to the ground.

  After a few seconds, Venitia cleared her throat. Ava and Laira must have continued kissing, because a few seconds later, Venitia said, “Alright, that’s enough.”

  “I swear to the gods, if you die…” Laira said quietly.

  Xion assumed that meant it was safe to look up, just before Warren said, “Why does that keep happening to everyone but me?”

  Xion laughed, more to relieve the nervous energy of the uncomfortable situation than because he actually thought it was funny.

  “Xara, how about you?” Warren asked, he grinned and winked at her.

  “You couldn’t handle me, little boy,” Xara replied with a smile.

  “You don’t know what I can handle,” Warren chuckled.

  Xion had never had a problem with Warren making those kinds of jokes before, but this time it gave him an odd protective feeling over Xara. Even though he only found out she existed a few weeks before, she was still his sister.

  “Enough of that,” Xion interrupted.

  Paarathax laughed. “Come on, Laira.”

  Laira looked like she was going to try to argue, but she ended up just pecking Ava on the lips one more time, and then walking over to join Paarathax. She removed her quiver and tossed it to Xion. “Don’t come back without her,” she said fiercely.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Xion smiled, slinging the quiver over his shoulder. He felt a lot more comfortable heading into a battle with a bow than he had with the sword.

  Laira allowed Paarathax to lead her away, but she kept looking back, like she was afraid she would not get to see them all again. Xion wondered if she would. If something went wrong and Venitia was not able to close the portal from the other side, one of them would have to. Xion was determined to be the backup plan, if it came to that. Draxis had been right, he would gladly sacrifice himself to make sure his friends were safe, and he could not be burned by the fire in the Hells, so he was the best option, besides Venitia.

  The rest of them waited until Laira and Paarathax had walked out of sight, and then they continued on to the tower. It was a silent, solemn walk. They all knew what they were walking into, and nobody could bring themselves to say anything about it. The further they walked, the heavier Xion’s heart felt. He was sure that closing the portal was not going to be easy, even if Draxis expected it to be closed.

  When they got close to the clearing where the tower stood, they all crouched and moved through the forest slowly, trying to be as silent as possible. When Xion was finally close enough, he peeked through the trees to see that the clearing was empty.

  The tower stood exactly like it had before, but there was not a single person to be seen. Near the tower walls, there was a large spot where the air shimmered and flowed, there was not any color or shape to the distortion, but Xion could feel it from yards away. It gave off a cold, evil feeling. It did not belong, it was unnatural and wrong. It reminded Xion of the feeling he got when Agron had used necromancy around him.

  “Anyone else get the feeling this looks too easy?” Warren whispered as they looked down at the empty field.

  “It’s The Hand of Dreskar,” Ava said coldly. “The guild of thieves and assassins. They aren’t going to wait out in the open.”

  “Right, super fun,” Xara joked.

  “Do we just… run in?” Sapphire asked uncertainly.

  “There is always the chance that I can get through, one person can help me close the portal, and the rest of you fight off any attackers,” Venitia suggested. “Once the portal is closed, you all run.”

  Xion drew his bow. He had already tested it, it was larger and gave less resistance than the one the troll had destroyed. It would not shoot as far, but he did not foresee that being an issue.

  “Sounds as good a plan as we’re going to get,” Xion mused. “Ready?”

  The all nodded, Xion took a deep breath, and they all ran out at once. They all let out battle cries, except Warren, who started chanting a spell as he ran. Xion saw the air ripple around them, Warren was summoning a shield.

  At first, it seemed like they would make it to the shimmering pocket of air without anything happening. They made it halfway to the portal, and then Xion heard what sounded like a stampede behind him. He glanced back to see that dozens of members of The Hand had appeared. They must have been hiding in the trees, maybe just feet from where they had stopped.

  Xion cursed and looked back to where he was running to see dozens more were sliding down the tower with ropes in hand, connecting them to the top of the first floor of the building. Xion pulled an arrow from his quiver and started taking shots at the army running toward them.

  There was no way that they could make it to the portal before clashing with The Hand. He hit several of the warriors from the tower, but not nearly enough to give them a clear path. Sapphire, Ava, and Xara were launching fire every few seconds, and Warren kept the shield up behind them. They made it almost all the way to the portal before the two groups converged around them.

  Xion summoned his magic, the fire burst to life inside of him, he felt the power course through his blood. He fired one last arrow into the crowd of armor clad warriors in front of him, when it connected with one of them, an explosion erupted from where it hit, tossing ten of the warriors away from the impact, and knocking a dozen more to the ground.

  Xion dropped the bow and drew his sword. He would prefer to fight with the bow, but in such close quarters, the sword was a better option.

  He had just enough time to block an attack from one person, before another enemy blade stuck at him. He pushed enemies away with magic, blocked sword strikes, sliced at his attackers, and fought as hard as he could.

  Around him, Ava struck down an enemy every few seconds with her dagger. Xara brought down enemies just as quickly, swinging her thin black blade so fast Xion only saw a blur. Sapphire and Warren fought people off as best they could with magic.

  Venitia did not need a weapon. Once the fight started, her wings came out of her back, and her fingernails grew into claws. She threw her wings out hard, slamming them into the enemy, ripped through armor with her claws, grabbed people and leapt into the air to drop them on others. It was terrifying, and Xion was glad that she was on their side.

  They were a
ll fighting valiantly, but they could not gain any headway. Every warrior that was knocked down was replaced. Every step they took forward got them pushed back. It did not take long for Xion to realize that what he had seen of The Hand before was not the entire guild, reinforcements must have arrived at some point.

  They fought for nearly a half hour before Warren called over the roar of battle and thunder, “You think maybe you could do that magic teleporting thing?”

  Xion had once magically transported himself and Ava across a short distance, to escape a collapsing building. It had taken so much energy out of him that he had fallen unconscious for a week. If he did that now, there was no telling how many of them he could actually save. And, he would almost definitely be useless for the rest of the fight.

  “Not likely,” Xion called back as his sword cut through someone’s armor. His blade sparked with fire as it impacted, and Xara, who was standing not far off to his right, gasped.

  “Xion, dragon’s fire, now!” she called to him.

  “What are you talking about?” He yelled back as he blocked a strike from a dagger.

  “You did it in the forest when you fought Vairiel!” she reminded him.

  It took Xion a moment to figure out what she was talking about. He had no idea that what he had done had a special name, but it made sense. Fire that was not extinguished by water, it had to be particularly magical in some way. Xara had even hinted that it was special, but he had not known about his lineage at the time, so he had not put any thought into it.

  That had wiped him out of energy, too. He hoped that if he were to do it on purpose, instead of it just bursting out of him, he could control it better. Either way, if something was not done soon, they would succumb to the sheer numbers against them.

  Xion tried remembering what the fire had felt like, he willed his body to recreate it. He felt the fire pool in his stomach and rush out toward his mouth. Even though he was ready, it still surprised him, and made him feel like he was going to be sick.

  Xion felt the fire rushing up his throat and opened his mouth as the bright red flames rushed. Xion’s friends all closed in behind him as he slowly turned, pushing the fire out for as long as he could. He almost managed to walk a complete circle around his friends before he ran out of breath.