Cavus screamed through several mouths. But two of them kept laughing, and began gloating at us.
“Go ahead and run, my little Stell. “Uncle Cavus is used to it. Go ahead and run, and fight every time you feel brave enough. It won’t matter. Uncle Cavus thought you might try to fight this time. He prepared. So fight all you want, and when you finally get tired and give up, Cavus will be ready. It won’t change a thing.”
I winced as I realized the monster was right. I had been throwing around some of my most powerful attacks and using the most powerful of my new weapons, but Cavus’ regeneration was even faster in this form than all of his earlier ones. It looked like his strategy had been to just take the brunt of any attacks while terrorizing Merada and slowly trapping her. His new form was designed to tire us, and I realized that it was working a little bit already.
True to what he had said, he did not chase us as we ran from him. He pursued slowly and loudly, announcing his position with the hisses from his facemouth and the low chant of his leg-mouths.
“We got to figure out a way to beat him,” I told Breena when we had gotten enough distance away to be able to catch our breath. “This current form of his is built to handle massive blasts of power, though. He probably designed it after getting hit with my Soulcurrent,” I referred to the name I had learned for my intense silver fire. “And your power seems to work the same way, so he’ll just keep repairing himself until we get tired out.” I looked down at Merada, considering. “But Merada doesn’t really fight the same way we do, does she?” I asked, because it was technically true. While the Woad Princess packed a lot of power (when she wasn’t a traumatized wreck, I mean), her main gift seemed to be landing critical strikes on vulnerable spots. It was something I tried to do with my own attacks, and she usually made me look like an amateur at it.
“That’s true,” Breena said patiently, flying in front of her fellow Satellite. “But I don’t think she’d know Cavus’ vulnerable spots right now, Wes. He’s an Umbra. He’s not supposed to have any.”
“Right,” I said, looking at her for a moment. “You and I weren’t supposed to beat him, either.”
Breena’s face froze for a moment as she kept hovering.
“That’s…” she began. “Different.”
“No,” I replied. “I don’t think it is.”
Crown them. Crown them, and write victorious love on their arms.
I rage.
Here it went.
I remembered what the Pendragon taught me. What my father had also taught me about crowning others. And what the mad voice, who would probably lead to my death, was still trying to teach me.
Far behind us, more foliage cracked as Cavus broke his way through the undergrowth of his own nightmare landscape. He hissed and laughed and chuckled, caught in the delirium of whatever the hell it was that he wanted to do to the woman I cared about.
I rage, the voice repeated.
My knuckles sparked.
A moment later, they lit up, and silver current began to travel between my fists.
“I’m coming, little Stell. Just wait for me. It won’t be long.”
My tongue invoked the words, invoked the art that may have ended my people’s hidden golden age.
“Let the lightning beget light and fire, and let the fire beget more light.”
“Did you stop running, my little Stell?” Cavus called out. “Did you need a moment to think about what I did to you? What I took from you?”
“Let the light reveal what has not been lost, and what has yet to be gained. All is not lost, Much can be still regained, and many greater treasures have yet to be claimed at all.”
“Is the ugly stupid boy doing his silly trick again?” snake-Cavus hissed. “What part of himself is he burning this time? Will he finally die, and leave me alone with my little Stell?”
Breena said something as well, but I couldn’t hear her. Something melted off of my knuckles again. The silver lightning crackled between my fists in thick webs.
“... for the night, and the dark, and the deep, all hide more than pain, and death, and fear. Greater things lie waiting. Undiscovered wealth that can bring new joys into being….”
“You won’t drive me away this time, stupid boy. I’m not leaving without my little Stell.”
“Strangers that can become friends and family, if they can be but found, and rescued…”
“You’re taking too long, ugly boy. The Soulcurrent takes more from you, the longer you spend forming it. And you had little to even begin with.”
“And finally the journey itself, that can grant unto the seeker hidden pieces of themselves, that they never would have found otherwise…”
“What is this?” Cavus hissed, sounding confused. “What are you even chanting? Are you bungling your single chance to hurt me at all?”
“Now, by my command,” I said, as the silver, burning lightning transferred entirely to one hand, “Let the light reveal the other half of this beloved woman! Let it reveal the crown she deserves and the love calligraphed all over her arms!” With a final cry, I thrust that now-blazing hand to the armband around my bicep.
I felt the mad ghost of Avalon’s former king nod in approval. He had known about the Soulcurrent, and insisted that I use the power for this archaic rite. The silver lightning in my hand sizzled on contact with the ancient regalia. It began to wash over the band so extensively that the burning lightning could have formed a mold of the jewelry piece.
When I tore my painfully blazing fist away, the current had done exactly that.
My melting extremity now gripped an arm-torc of blazing electricity that burned blue at the center, yet gave off a halo of golden light. I slapped the glowing, blazing band around Merada’s arm, around the arm of the piece of Stell that guarded and cared for this world, and spoke the words of the ancient rite.
“Merada Starsown, I acknowledge you as my regent of this world, and as a queen in your own right. Let your authority be on par with mine, and let us strive to resolve any disagreement between us, for the sake of our own hearts, as well as the lives beside us on this world. I hereby mark you as favored, as loved, as powerful, and as good, and I acknowledge that you were already all of these things without me. But let my mark proclaim those truths nonetheless. I hereby see you, acknowledge you, and affirm that you are worthy and valuable.”
The silver fire wrapped around the huntress’ arm, and started revolving around it. The glow intensified.
Daughter, the voice said to Merada, and once again, I realized that it had been calling out to her for a very long time. Daughter. All is not lost. You are who he says you are. You are who I say you are. Seek what is lost. Gain what still waits for you.
Merada suddenly blinked. Her breathing shifted, as if she had just realized a hundred different things at once. Then she started shaking all over.
“It’s happening,” Breena breathed in surprise. “What happened to me.”
The fairy suddenly grew to almost human size, then knelt on the shadowy ground next to her fellow Satellite. “Merada? It’s okay. I know what’s happening. Let me walk you through this?”
“What are you doing, ugly boy?” Cavus called out impatiently and suspiciously. “Why haven’t you thrown the current at me and died yet? Do you have some other trick, stupid boy?”
“He’s still being annoying,” I said, turning to face the direction of Cavus’ voice. As usual, after activating the Soulcurrent, I felt stronger and lighter, like I had gotten rid of a heavy, rotten burden inside of myself. “But aside from being tough and having a lot coils, he doesn’t seem like he has that much combat potential right now. I’ll give you ladies a minute so that Merada can finish processing.”
I looked back at Merada. The beautiful woman’s eyes were still wide open, as if she was having an epiphany, and the armband composed of energy was still glowing as it became more solid. A small circle of red light glowed in the middle of the band, facing out from her bicep. Breena didn’t turn or
answer me, but kept leaning over her sister Satellite, whispering words into her ear that I couldn’t hear, and didn’t need to.
I shrugged, and bounded off to go another round against the nightmare monster.
Chapter 7: Rise Up and Rage, Round 5
Can we risk a full dragon form right now? I asked the new guy in my head, still bounding toward the enemy I had just run from.
Stupid question, Teeth replied angrily. One: we already began changing. Just because the process is taking longer right now doesn’t mean it’s any less reversible. It’ll be a little safer and more potent, though, as you’ve already noticed with your senses. And two: it’s fucking Cavus. Of course we’re going full dragon form for this fight, because not doing so is an even bigger risk. And because fuck him.
Language, I admonished uselessly, as golden scales wound their way down my arms. Claimh Solais once again grew longer and sharper, looking a little bit more like a golden-red claw near the tip of the weapon.
Huh, Teeth noted. You may actually have too many weapons this time. I can only augment about five right now.
Just pick the five strongest ones! I snapped. And don’t do two of the same weapon-type!
Teeth grumbled back in reply, but my instructions must have been clear enough. My spear, Toirneach, the Hoarfolk long blade, and the new two-handed axe I had taken from the Malus knight all changed inside Breaker’s storage space, each connecting to one of my new claw-fingers by an invisible thread. My armor and shield changed as well, growing a coat of golden scales over them and granting my body another layer of protection. I was now covered in dragon armor that ran from triple-spiked boots all the way up to a helmet that merged directly with my lengthened jaw and added an extra row of angry teeth.
My senses had finished sharpening as well. That was unfortunate, because there was very little of this shadowy hell-forest that was a pleasant experience. The whole thing reeked of a hollow, nauseating scent that I immediately associated with Cavus, and the only noise in this place consisted of his depraved moaning and rambling. The one positive was that his oil-black body was even easier to pick out now in the murky dimness.
I aimed for his creepy head and hurled Toirneach at it. The axe left a swath of iridescent energy as it hurtled into his face, prompting another scream from the one mouth that wasn’t crushed.
“Ugly, stupid boy!” the ruined head shrieked as it writhed atop the shrimp-snake body. “Not enough! Still not enough!”
More corpse-gray hands crawled out of the wounds and began stitching the misshapen head back together. “Not enough!” the Umbra screamed! “You can’t kill Uncle Cavus with just that!”
I yanked back on the weapon’s invisible thread. Toirneach came whistling back into my hand. My mind groped around for a proper retort. Then I realized I was still trying to talk with Cavus, and grew angry. I roared instead, Teeth’s fury combining with my own. Shadowy trees and branches all around me crumbled apart at the force of my shout. Even Cavus flinched at the sound of the blast, turning to look at me with two newly mended eye sockets.
“Dragonson?” the monster asked, cocking its awful head. “The little, ugly, stupid boy became a dragonson? When? And which wyrm?”
I roared again, still charging toward him. I threw Toirneach again, but the monster just batted the weapon out of the air with his tail. It grazed a limb, which blew apart in a spray of shadow and black blood, but the corpse-gray hands just pulled a new tail-tip out of the limb’s wound. Something about the roar and attack troubled the Umbra, though. His over-featured head reared back in surprise, gasping from a fourth mouth, three eye sockets widening.
“Aegrim!” he screeched in shock and outrage. “You are Aegrim’s heir! You are Aegrim’s heir, and you are still fighting me! Why? Why would you do this?”
“We’ve already had this conversation!” I screamed, rapidly closing the distance between myself and the shadowy creep. “Now shut the hell up and die!”
I was less than forty feet away, so I burst forward with a powerful leap. There was a blur of movement as Cavus swatted me out of the air with another tail he had been hiding. The limb was at least twice my own size and cratered me into the shadowy ground below.
“This treachery is pointless, stupid boy!” Cavus snarled, still angry and confused. “My urges have Aegrim’s blessing! My urges have Malus’ blessing! You gain nothing by betraying their plan! Your father and your god have promised to give me my little Stell!”
The massive tail had slammed me face-first into the dusky earth. But I sprang to my feet in the next instant, disintegrating the limb in flurry of magic and blows from Claimh Solais. Cavus actually screamed in pain from the attack.
“Not my father!” My dragon-mouth roared. “Not my god!”
Coils looped all around me. I shredded them with Breaker’s second form, the sword of light.
“Not my skies! Not my heavens!” I continued to roar, the pressure from my shout creating cracks in the ground and Cavus’ scales. “Not my birthright! And not my false crown!”
I slashed and shredded my way through another nasty mess of coils.
“I will protect! I will prevail! I will be king!”
The entire forest shuddered at my words. Cavus actually hissed in fear, and began retreating, twisting giant loops of himself out of my reach.
“Traitor-prince,” the monster hissed, sounding revolted. “You have been corrupted! You have given up your throne for the ravings of a mad thing that whispers in the dark!”
The next limb pulled away before I could slash it apart.
“How dare you?” Cavus continued. “How dare you be such a stupid, traitor boy?”
I roared again, projecting all the anger of one who had chosen to rule a world now under attack.
“She is not yours, and never has been! Nor is this world your playground! Now fight me, you unnatural freak!”
I leaped forward again. Another tail batted me out of the sky, but on the way down, I shredded it with my counterattack.
Cavus screamed incoherently with every single mouth on his face and shrimp legs.
“Not your Stell!” the leg-mouths gibbered, changing their chant slightly. “Not your Stell—not your Stell—not your Stell—”
I dismissed my sword and shield back into the respective talons my dragon form had bound them to. Now with all of my digits free, ten bolts fired out of my palms and blasted the crustacean appendages apart in a geysering spout of black-gray gore. The Umbra screamed again, before pointing his remaining jaws at me. Familiar purple energy blasted out from the three mouths on his head, impacting on my hastily re-summoned shield and blasting me across the woods.
“Stupid, stupid boy! Die a traitor’s death!”
I was already charging the monster again. Tails slapped all around me, only to be severed by my blade and the enchantments I had once again surrounded myself with . Cavus seemed to finally notice the weapon, and his eye sockets widened again.
“That?” the monster hissed. “You threw away your birthright for that? A broken blade that failed to shatter all the worlds? That weapon will break you, like it broke itself!”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t need to. Ever since I had left Earth, every person and monster had gibbered on and on about how impossible my existence was, or how I was going against some secret birthright that everyone but me knew about, or how I was breaking everything and bringing about the end times because of the supposedly impossible things I was pulling off, or by the way I combed my hair and brushed my teeth.
I was tired of hearing about it.
So I hacked apart the giant snake limbs that twisted about me, and shrugged off powerful purple blasts, and snarled and roared back at the giant, creepy pervert who would not shut up about how possessive he felt over my friend who kept trying to do her job and save billions of lives every day.
Another one of Cavus’ purple beams pummeled me into the ground with cratering force. The coils slammed over the pit, trapping me, and the tips
of his tails began stabbing down in an effort to impale me. The Umbra kept howling and hissing about how I was young and ugly and stupid and a traitor for not being on board with all the evil shit he and the other monsters wanted to perform. I don’t remember what I said to him, but I dodged and blocked and hacked back at the stabbing tail tips for as long as I could.
Then the next tail grazed my arm, and some of my own scales began to chip off.
God damnit, Teeth, I cursed, drawing back to sever the offending limb, then deflecting the next one with my shield. Unlike before, my entire body shuddered from the effort, indicating that my strength was fading as well.
Screw you, my inner dragon snapped back. This is the longest we’ve ever lasted in this form. You should just stop being such a pussy when you battle gods.
I growled instead of answering him, then side-stepped a triple-pronged attack from three new tails. I slashed them all in half with a single swing, but one of the stumps slammed me against the crater walls. When I bashed it away with my shield, Cavus’ pumpkin head was waiting for me. Five open mouths all fired at once, turning my world into a sea of purple and pain.
“Ugly, stupid boy!” A sixth mouth shouted, before the rest of his face began blasting me again. “ You and your ugly, stupid dreams! You and your ugly, stupid pride! You and your ugly, stupid choices! You tried to ruin everything! You tried to ruin my little Stell! Die!” he screamed again, as another set of blasts blew the remaining scales off my arms and chest. “Die, and stay dead this time!”
I got my shield up just in time, and got a broken arm for my efforts. As soon as the limb flopped uselessly to my side, Cavus fired another cluster of attacks, and I felt my insides begin to burn.
Then a familiar Celtic warcry tore through the air.
Cavus flinched as if he had been struck, then hissed in surprise and pain. He flinched away from me, and from the opening of the crater, I saw red bolts fly through the air after him. One of the Umbra’s tails didn’t get away fast enough, and I saw the blazing red arrow blow it apart. The remains of the limb slithered away, and corpse-gray hands crawled out of the wound to repair it.
Lighting Distant Shores (Challenger's Call Book 4) Page 9