Kastori Devastations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 2) (12 page)

“I’m sorry, Pagus.”

“Kill him.”

Typhos turned away and heard the sound of the gasp only a dying man produces as Carticus choked the life out of him. Typhos bowed his head.

The worst is done.

There’s only one thread left connecting me to my past now. And I will not be so weak when I see her.

21

Cyrus saw five figures coming out of nowhere, all wearing dark robes with stripes of different colors, raiding, killing, and destroying everything. None saw him, but Cyrus didn’t wait to let them get the opportunity as he grabbed Crystil by the arm, who instinctively resisted before running along with him to the far side of
Omega One. Not gonna reach Celeste now. Two of us are gonna have to hide or run or fight. It’s up to us for our survival.

They both crouched on the ground. Cyrus peered around the corner and heard the screams of the dying Kastori. None of them, thankfully, sounded like his sister, and he held out hope that she and Erda had escaped to Mount Ardor. He tried communicating with Celeste, but the intensity of the surrounding magic and his weak powers in establishing the link made it impossible.

He looked at Crystil gazing without focus, deep in thought.
She’s gone into shock. Or she’s having a flashback.
He firmly put his hand on her shoulder.

“Hey. Hey. Crystil. Hey!” he said as he progressively shook her.

She snapped out of it, grabbing his wrists tightly—with much more strength than Cyrus would have anticipated—before she composed herself with slow, rhythmic breathing.

“You OK, Crystil?” Cyrus asked.

Crystil took a few more breaths before she nodded yes.

“Sorry. This moment triggered a traumatic flashback, to when we left Monda—”

“It’s OK,” Cyrus said. “There’s five of them right now. Crystil, we can’t win this fight.”

“Agreed,” she said. “I can’t. You can’t alone.”

“I know. And listen. I don’t know where Celeste is. But I know you’re here, and I know we just went through a lot of nonsense—my fault—but you and I have to stick together. We have to run together.”

“Cyrus,” Crystil said, and to Cyrus’ surprise, she smiled as she grabbed his arm and the two used each other to stand up. “I’m gonna kick your butt later. But I’m going to wait until we’re safe from the real butt-kicking.”

“Oh no, I think I’ll stick behind now,” Cyrus smirked, but a sudden screech shattered their brief bonding moment.

Cyrus ran along the side of the ship and looked to the camp. Pagus kneeled with two magicologists behind him and one very tall one in front. The tall one had blood stains and turned, forcing Cyrus to duck behind the ship.
Typhos. Has to be.
Just thinking about the size of the man and his presence sent a shiver down Cyrus’ spine.

“Gotta sprint to the woods,” Cyrus said. “They’ll probably see us, but they’ll quit eventually.”

“I don’t think that’s accurate,” Crystil said.

“It’s not,” Cyrus agreed. “It’s wishful thinking. But I know we die if we stay here.”

Cyrus glanced around the corner and saw Typhos with his head bowed.
If we run, they’ll just burn everything, but might let us live if they get tired. Our only chance. I’ll use magic where I can, but…

He grabbed Crystil’s shoulders.

“Will you follow me to the forest?”

She nodded. He embraced her tightly, squeezing so hard that Crystil had to tap out.

“That’s in case anything happens,” he said.

“But nothing will. You’re Cyrus Orthran,” Crystil said with a smile.

Got that right,
Cyrus thought as he got into sprinting position.

“OK, go!”

The two fled, ignoring the cries of the Kastori behind them. But Cyrus could not help but turn when he heard a loud, deep voice.

“Cowards!”

Typhos raised his hands and shot lightning their way. Cyrus closed his eyes, bracing for the impact.

Then he opened his eyes and saw a short girl with red robes absorbing the attack.

“Go!” the girl yelled. “Find Erda and Celeste!”

Amira.

22

Typhos looked in awe at the girl with enough power to deflect his lightning spells.
I didn’t sense her. Perhaps seeing Pagus has weakened me. I—

Before he could finish the thought, the young girl cast a spell back, paralyzing and briefly choking him. Typhos refocused, deflected the spell, and paralyzed the girl and pulled her through the air toward him.

He held her in the air, observing her. She had spunk and plenty of energy as she struggled against his magic. She stood no chance of defeating him, now that she had his full attention.
But maybe killing this girl is not the best option. Perhaps we can take more than two prisoners.

“I admire you, child,” Typhos said, his voice slow. “You protect those who cannot protect themselves even though you know we will capture everyone here. You fight back against me and even managed to hurt me. Not many are capable of that.”

He slowly lowered her to the ground, allowing her to speak but keeping her legs immobilized. He walked closer to her.

“You would make a powerful ally. Swear allegiance to me, and you shall do more than live. You shall prosper.”

“Never,” said the girl. “I know what you do and who you are. You’ll kill me before I join you.”

Typhos laughed, admiring the young woman’s fortitude.

“Tell me, fiery one, where are Erda and the girl?”

“Who?”

“Don’t play coy with me,” he suddenly snapped. “You know who I speak of, even if I don’t know her name. The one powerful enough to invade my mind. Or perhaps you know the human and the girl’s brother. They would know the girl’s location.”

Amira’s face relaxed into a smile, and Typhos waited patiently.

To his shock, she spat on him.

“You foolish girl!” he yelled as he raised his sword, stabbing the girl and killing her instantly.

Whatever melancholy had overcome Typhos from the death of Pagus dissipated with the girl’s actions.
I owe you much thanks, child. I am reinvigorated and will find Erda and the girl. They cannot be far. And they will suffer even more now because of your disrespectful actions.

“Guardians!” he shouted. “Find the chief and the girl and bring them to me now! If I don’t have them here, I will have your heads!”

23

“We have no time, Celeste, we have to leave now,” Erda emphatically stated as fire engulfed the tent behind her.

The screams took Celeste back to her own cry on the ship. The heat reminded her of the fires that consumed Capitol City as she escaped. The enemy overwhelming them took her back to her father… and the people of Monda, whom she had left behind.

I can’t do that again. No. If I have power, I have to use it.

“We stay,” Celeste said, her voice nervous for the battle but sure of her decision.

“People are already dying, Celeste. We cannot save those who have died. Soon, Typhos and his forces will descend upon us, and we will have stayed for nothing.”

Celeste dispelled the teleportation spell and looked intently at Erda.
Why is she so insistent on running? The Kastori can’t possibly be that endangered. If we fight back, we repel them.

“Celeste, do not make a grave mistake,” Erda said with a haunting tone.

“My brother and Crystil are still there. I can sense them.”

“If they are lucky, they will find safety.”

“And if not?”

Erda said nothing, biting her lip while lowering her face.

“Erda, I understand you want to run, but I’ve run before. And I hated it. I’m not running here.”

A loud crackle from an electric shock grabbed their attention, followed by an intense struggle and cry. Celeste peered around the burned tent and saw Typhos holding Amira.
Cyrus and Crystil…

That struggle. Amira protected them.

“I’m going,” Celeste said, now resolute in her desire to help.

“Cel—”

Erda didn’t finish, and much to Celeste’s pleasant surprise, the chief followed her, ready to back her up. Celeste turned the corner and saw a black-robed, white-stripped Kastori with her back to her. Celeste held her hand up and cast a massive fire spell on the Kastori before she hesitated, incinerating the enemy before her eyes.

Keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t think about it.

Another Kastori—
no, these are magicologists—
turned to her. Celeste and Erda combined to cast another fire spell. This one burned the magicologist severely, but before they could sustain the spell any further, someone paralyzed Celeste. A magicologist with gray stripes came over and punched her in the gut, breaking the spell only to knock her to the ground, and another one in gray stripes went to Erda and did the same.

“Don’t harm them any further!” a dark voice said.
It’s him.
“I will deal with them. Make sure no one else comes between us.”

Celeste looked over at Erda, on her knees as the young girl was, and breathed in deliberately, partially to calm herself and partially to recover from the hard blow to her gut. Ahead of her, ominous, slow footsteps sounded before Celeste could see the evil man approaching.
It’s like Crystil. The sound of their approach scares you before the sight of their arrival.

When he broke through the clouds of smoke, Celeste looked up in shock at how tall the man was. Typhos was at least half a foot taller than the vision showed, and his sword was bloodier and longer than she would’ve ever guessed. His robes, too, were covered with blood so fresh it it still trickled down.

To her pleasant relief, he sheathed the sword.

“Don’t worry, child, I’m not going to kill you here,” he said patiently. “I have no more need for this weapon.”

He crouched down in front of Celeste. Celeste stared right at his blank slate of a mask, trying to pick up anything she could from him—a shake, a tic, anything she could use to fight back verbally.

“I’m impressed. Most of my captives are too scared to look me in the face.”

“You’re Kastori just like everyone else here.”

Typhos gave a sinister laugh.

“Only in the most base sense, girl,” he said. “I’ve thought a lot about you. You managed to kill Calypsius, and you dived into my mind through my anger. That took an impressive amount of fortitude and insanity. If any of my guardians did that, I would have their heads on the end of my sword. But you…”

He stared at her, and for one of the rare times, Celeste could not sense his emotions.
Envy? Excitement? Curiosity?

Take off that mask and let me see.

“You have such power, child, that it fills me with joy thinking about what we could do with your skills. No one else is as close to me as you are. You and I, together, could conquer entire worlds just by ourselves! We could have whatever we wanted. We could do whatever we wanted.”

Celeste briefly let her head drop, and Typhos put his hand—with a black glove on it—on her chin and lifted her head back to her.

“What do you say to that?”

Celeste gulped, but reminded herself,
stay strong.

“I already have what I want with my brother and commander,” she said. “I have people I love and who love me.”

Typhos’ hand tightened its grip briefly. But the moment was nothing more than a flash as he unclenched his hand.

“Ahh, I see it now. You are the children of your dead father, the ones who escaped with the human. Interesting. I have much to learn, and you have much to think about. But you don’t have to explain now. There’s plenty of time. You are too important of an individual to waste such talent on a place like this.”

He stood up slowly, and took a few steps to his right.
Erda. Stay strong. I’ll do what I can.

“You know that I am not as weak as I was all those years ago when I could have killed you then,” Typhos said, his tone much darker and furious. “If you live here, it is only because the life that follows will be so ugly and terrifying that you wish you had died.”

“I’ve already experienced an ugly and terrifying life, Typhos.”

“Because of your decisions!” he yelled as he kicked Erda in the gut, causing her to double over. Celeste could not help. Someone’s spell had her planted firmly to the ground, able to only move her head. Celeste cried out, but no one responded to her.

Erda coughed up blood as Typhos stood over her, looking at her with unadulterated hatred.

“You know why you lead a terrible life, Erda!” he yelled, the last word especially caustic, as if acidic to Typhos’ tongue. “Tell the girl the truth, why don’t you. How your actions led to this. How your failures made me who I am.”

Celeste squinted her eyes in confusion.