Authors: Devri Walls
Tags: #Fantasy, #Young Adult, #Adventure, #magic, #YA, #dragons, #shapeshifters, #angels
Putting up a bubble, Kiora leapt over a burning hole in the floor and circled Dralazar. Dropping her bubble, she forced more magic than she thought possible through her hands—straight into Dralazar’s back. He stiffened before falling forward. He wasn’t dead, but his breathing was shallow. The bars on Emane’s cage flickered.
* * *
RUNNING, THE TAVEAN SHOT burning blue over his shoulder. It sent Alcander sprawling, his leg sliced open along his shin. He swore, dragging himself up. He ran through the trees, blood pooling in his shoe as he went.
When Alcander caught sight of him, the Tavean was in front of two small tents, leaning over a basin on a four-legged stand. The Tavean looked up, breathing heavily and grinning. “They are coming.”
Alcander bellowed. He sent the basin flying into a tree as he leapt on the Tavean, pushing him to the ground. He grabbed the Tavean by the face, sending painful bursts of magic though him. “Who did you call?” he yelled. “How long until they get here?”
The Tavean twisted to free himself, magic popping around his fingertips but sputtering out under Alcander’s magical barrage.
“Who?” he demanded again, pushing more magic through. Blood began to run from the corners of the Tavean’s eyes.
“The Shadow,” he choked out. “The Shadow wants her.” He coughed, spattering blood across Alcander’s chest. “You’re all dead.”
* * *
KIORA WAS RAISING HER hand for another attack when the back half of the room collapsed beneath a falling dragon. Ceiling beams and pieces of burning roof clattered down. She heard Emane calling for her as she stumbled forward, coughing and hacking through the smoke and fire.
On the other side of the room, the two dragons struggled. Drustan pushed Soolan off with his back legs as they stumbled back outside, snapping and slashing at each other.
She reached out for Dralazar’s thread. He was still alive. Dralazar rose from the smoke, already healed. She heard, more than saw, the size of the attack he was launching. Using everything she had, her shield roared forth with a boom, much like the shield she had thrown on the island. The attack still sizzled and seared on the outside, threatening to break through.
She coughed into her sleeve, trying to wipe her burning eyes before looking back at Dralazar. The hole in the side of the Manor had helped to clear some of the smoke, but the breeze from outside was quickening the fire’s work on the rest of the Manor. Kiora felt her magic lessen, and she looked down at her hands. It was just like Niall had said. She was out of time. Her magic dropped again and panic surged through her. The Shadow was coming. She had to get Emane out, and she could think of only one way to get those bars down.
She looked at Emane. He saw everything—both the pain and her remaining indecision.
He gave one slow nod.
As her mind revolted, she heard Arturo’s words in her mind. The ones he had spoken to her the first time she had intentionally killed.
They have murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent creatures because of what they believe. And they will continue to murder until there is nothing left. If you stand by and allow them to do as they wish, are you not as guilty as they?
Kiora knew with sinking certainty—Dralazar had to die. He had killed thousands, and would continue to kill more unless she stopped him.
She waited until his attack stopped before dropping her shield and doing the last thing he would have expected. She ran straight at him, spiraling blue cords from her fingers, wrapping his arms to his side. She dumped what magic she had left into the bands, pulling them tight around him.
For the first time, Dralazar looked unsure.
“Release Emane,” she demanded.
He struggled against her bands, which weakened under his attempt to break free. She didn’t have much longer. Suddenly Dralazar yelled in pain, jerking sharply to one side. She looked down to see Emane’s dagger sticking out of his leg.
Her head snapped to Emane, who had his hand outstretched, calling his sword to him out of the rubble. She hadn’t known he could do that.
“Are you going to kill me, Kiora?” Dralazar grunted as she tightened the cords. “I don’t think you have it in you.”
The next drop in magic was substantial, and Dralazar looked down at his hands as well. Kiora knew she didn’t have enough left in her for a killing shot. “You have killed, tortured, and manipulated.” Her voice shook as she tried to steel herself for her next move. “You have trapped an entire valley for your own purposes. If I let you live—” she choked back a sob as a single soot-filled tear ran down her cheek, “I am no better than you.” With a thought, she picked up a burning piece of timber and sent it flying straight through his back. The blackened piece of wood punched through him, protruding from his stomach.
She stepped back, releasing her hold. Dralazar grabbed at the wood as he dropped to his knees, blood gurgling out of his mouth and down his chin. He put his hands flat against his stomach, trying to heal himself, but she felt her magic drop nearly to nothing. He didn’t have enough left, not now.
The bars of Emane’s cage flickered and vanished as Dralazar collapsed on the ground. Choking on smoke and emotions, she ran towards Emane, leaping over a small river of flame that was inching towards her. Grabbing her, he wrapped his arms around her. She buried her head in his shoulder. It felt so good to be near him again.
* * *
KIORA AND EMANE BURST out of the Manor as Alcander came hurtling towards them. Drustan roared from above, “Look out!”
Alcander looked up to see a lifeless dragon tumbling from the sky. He ran forward as Soolan crashed behind him, his underbelly shredded and a gaping hole where his heart used to be.
“Dralazar?” Alcander asked, sliding to a stop and breathing hard.
“He’s dead,” Kiora said thickly.
He nodded his approval. “The Shadow is on its way—I was too late. Drustan!” he roared to the sky. “We need an escape route, fast!”
Drustan landed in front of them. Alcander pushed Kiora up the tail, Emane right behind her. Alcander sprinted around the side of the dragon, leaping up and landing in front of Kiora. “Go!” he yelled, looking over his shoulder at the black cloud rolling in, just as Niall had described it.
Drustan took off as the last of the magic drained from Kiora. The familiar, yet unwelcomed feeling, brought her back from her grief. She was a Witow, and totally helpless. They all were.
“Faster, Drustan,” Alcander yelled.
Kiora could feel Drustan’s muscles straining underneath her, pumping his wings with everything he had. She watched the blackness swallow the Manor behind them.
“There is no way we can outrun this thing,” she said, looking frantically around. Another idea entered her mind—it was madness. But the options were limited. And by limited she meant: certain death regardless of the choice. “Drustan, go for the lake.”
The lake was more of a pond between the Manor and the tree line. Alcander spun around, looking at her like she was mad. Emane and Drustan didn’t question her—which made her feel worse about possibly drowning them all.
The Shadow was closing the distance fast, and Drustan dove without hesitation into the lake. After passing the surface, Kiora felt a tingle of magic. As they cut deeper through the water, the pressure on her ears increased exponentially, as did her magic. She used the last of her air to say the incantation, forming an air bubble around the four of them. Above them the Shadow drifted over the lake, leaving them in total blackness.
Kiora couldn’t see anything, but she was sure they all sat with their necks craned towards the surface, waiting to see if the Shadow would reach down for them.
“How did you know?” Alcander asked, breaking the silence. “How did you know that would work?”
She was quiet for a minute. “I didn’t.”
“Why would you even
think
it would work?” he pushed.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Sometimes I get feelings or thoughts, only they don’t feel like mine. They are almost like someone else’s memories.” Like a vision without the pictures, she thought. Thankfully, no one pointed out what they were all thinking. If her thoughts had been no more than her own silly thoughts, they would have drowned.
They waited under the water, settled on the bottom, until long after the Shadow had left. Without the Shadow’s covering, light sliced through the water, illuminating their surroundings. Kiora was grateful all she saw were fish, no mermaids.
“All right,” she finally said. “I’ll pop the air bubble and replace it with a normal bubble. Drustan, can you swim us to the top as fast as you can?”
“Of course.”
“What if the Shadow is waiting?” Alcander asked.
Kiora looked at him helplessly and shrugged. “Then the bubble will pop when we leave the water. I don’t know what else to do. We can’t stay down here forever.”
Alcander shook his head, rolling his eyes to the heavens as if looking for divine help.
“Just trust her,” Emane said, wrapping his arm around her waist. “She did just save us all.”
Alcander’s eyes glanced at Emane’s arm, his lips tightening to a thin line. Turning around he asked, “How fast can Dragons swim?”
“Make sure you have a good hold,” Drustan answered.
The four took a deep breath as Kiora disabled the spell and put up a concealment bubble. Drustan kicked off the bottom with his powerful back legs and sped towards the surface, the force of the water threatening to pull them off his back.
Kiora’s lungs burned as they exploded from the lake, moving straight into the sky. An audible sigh of relief issued forth from all.
“Where to?” Drustan asked.
She looked around, completely unfamiliar with the area. “Alcander?”
He scanned the ground before pointing to some rocky outcroppings barely visible to the North. “There. It’s the highest ground I see.”
Drustan made a slight adjustment in his heading.
As the tension finally dissipated, Emane spoke up. “Thank you, all of you.”
“You didn’t think we would leave you there, did you?” she asked.
“I had hoped you would, for your sakes. But no, I didn’t think you would.”
“We can’t lose the Protector now,” Drustan said, “we just got started!”
Emane groaned. “How is it, after what we just went through, you can still be enthusiastic?”
“Dralazar is dead—I have much to be enthusiastic for.”
Dralazar
was
dead, at her hand. The look in his eyes as he dropped to his knees would probably haunt her dreams forever.
Emane placed his hand on her shoulder. “I am sorry about your sister.”
Alcander joined the sentiment. “Truly, Kiora, I am sorry as well.”
When she didn’t say anything, Emane leaned forward. “Kiora, it wasn’t your fault,” he said, somehow knowing her thoughts despite their severed connection. “She chose her side. You did what you had to.”
Her heart constricted. “I know,” she said, even though she wasn’t sure she did. “I lost Layla a long time ago.”
They flew silently for a moment before Drustan said, “So that was the Shadow. Didn’t look so bad.”
She smiled at Drustan’s attempt to lighten the mood “Not bad at all. Should be incredibly easy to get the lights back.”
THE END
Coming soon
Wings of Nestor
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Devri Walls
is the author of Solus Series as well as a brand new children’s book entitled Monster Security Services.
Devri lives in Kuna, ID with her husband, two kids and one very bouncy lab. After suffering from an abundance of creativity with not enough places to put it, she turned to writing. Which in the end, turned out to be exactly where she should have been putting it all along.
Devri Walls © copyright 2012
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
StoneHouse Ink 2012
StoneHouse Ink
Boise ID 83713
http://www.stonehouseink.net
First eBook Edition: 2012
First Paperback Edition: 2013
Cover design by Phatpuppy Art
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published in the United States of America
StoneHouse Ink
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 22: Mermaids and Shadow
Table of Contents