Tortured: An Epic Dragons and Immortals Romantic Fantasy (Fallen Emrys Chronicles Book 3)

Chapter 22

They see me off without pomp. Huflaih lands and gives me a leg up. Westin will not lend me his dragon stone, and I’m fine with that. This way, Huflaih can keep them apprised of my progress.

I secure my supplies and my twin blades to the saddle. I won’t need them yet.

I plan on using them to sever Caedryn’s head from his body.

Huflaih and I fly on all day. Caedryn grows wise to my intentions, and he slips into my mind. I pass the hours in flight, taunting him as he taunts me.

You think you can kill me, Kenrik?

Do not doubt my fury. I hug myself closer to Huflaih.

If you cross into the Great Divide, I will take action.

He would fear me once I breached the desert. Dragons can traverse the desert easily.

This puts me too close for Caedryn’s comfort.

I laugh. You fear me. Afraid I’ll break your legs again?

You have no idea what I’m capable of, princeling.

A few hours after dark, Huflaih and I reach the edge of Morvith and the beginning of the Great Divide. I sense Caedryn’s restlessness—his fear.

He knows exactly what I’m capable of.

And I know what he can do.

Caedryn is nervous.

I’m furious. Anxious.

After hours of flight, Huflaih and I draw closer to the citadel. I can’t see it, nor Caedryn, but I know he’s climbed to the top of the tower and awaits to unleash whatever hellfire he’s building within his body.

It can’t be anything as wicked as what he did to Niawen.

“Faster, Huflaih! We’re almost there.” I’m feeling reckless and wild, but I know I must control myself, must be prepared for a targeted strike as if my team is here with me, as if I’ve scouted the citadel and I know exactly how I’m going to attack.

I will rely on my premonition.

Kenrik, I see you want to play,Caedryn says.

I do nothing but growl. My thoughts are too focused.

I will take him down.

I sense a change in the atmosphere when we are two-thirds of the way across the Great Divide.

The vestiges of a strange power surge up through me. This is nothing I can control.

Caedryn is channeling vast amounts of power, and I feel the results as electrifying shocks through my body.

A repetitive chant distracts my own thoughts. I can’t understand the words. The tongue is not one I’ve ever spoken.

Caedryn is using magic. Something dark.

This has nothing to do with the light.

The sky darkens as frightening, black, thunderous clouds roil over the horizon and draw together with alarming speed.

“Is this Caedryn’s doing?” Huflaih shouts. “It’s going to be one hell of a drop off.”

I lean in over his dragon body. “Can you rise above the storm?”

“I can try.” He begins his ascent. “I see the citadel!”

His dragon sight is far more enhanced than my superhuman sight.

The storm clouds clash together and roll into a tight funnel. Lightning streaks through the torrent. As the funnel grows in height, I realize it’s not the altitude we want.

“Go around. Bank!” I exclaim.

The sky is so dim that if it weren’t for Huflaih being able to see in the dark, we’d get turned around.

Whipped around at least.

Huflaih strains in the tendrils of the maelstrom. The currents want to draw us in. Still, the storm over the citadel grows.

All at once, a shrill cry cuts through my mind.

Caedryn in his unholy tongue.

The tempest rears as if a horse in fright and drives through the expanse toward Huflaih and me.

The clouds and rain and tornado of weather suck up the desert sand.

We are being pelted by thousands of grains. A wrath that scourges and tears at my flesh.

Huflaih doesn’t like the onslaught that whips and tugs at his wings, but his scales shield his flesh.

“Drop!” I shout. “Drop. You need to leave. I’ll press on without you. Westin will kill me if you’re injured.”

“No! I’ll will help you. I’ll see you through until I can see the whites of Caedryn’s eyes!”

The torrent’s spiral closes, intensifies. I’m dizzy and clinging to Huflaih and his saddle with all the power the light lends my muscles.

You will expire!Caedryn screams. This will be the end of this.

Yes! Please let it be the end, I hiss.

“Watch out!” I see the change in my mind’s eye before it happens, but the storm is too great.

Too much for a dragon to dodge.

The might of the funnel shifts and drives itself into Huflaih and me as if Caedryn suddenly commands it to.

My grip fails.

My legs release from the saddle.

My body is thrown to the side, away from Huflaih, and then whipped up into the spiral.

I’m completely blind as I close my eyes to avoid the scourge of the sand. My body tumbles endlessly. I’m so drenched in the deluge I can’t draw a breath without feeling as if I’m drowning.

“Huflaih!” I can’t hear him. He’s gone from my senses. I only hope he escapes. “Return! Return to Westin!”

Please let him survive this.

I tuck my limbs tightly to my body. I can’t stir. Can’t control a single one of my movements.

The storm completely commands me.

I feel the thrust, sense it before it happens.

My premonition tells me I’m going to hit the desert floor.

And then I’m hurled. Straight through the abyss.

This is the end.

Defeated by a storm.

I won’t ever reach Caedryn, but at least I’ll be free of him.

Maybe I’ll see Niawen.

The light in my body sears through me, strangely, without my control.

My body jars, and I think I’ve made impact, but I don’t feel the pain of broken bones, of smashed organs.

I jerk as if impaled. A gruesome sensation rips through my heart, and then I’m weightless.

I’ve met death.

My bond with Caedryn is severed; I feel as much.

The pelting sand is gone.

Comforting lightness holds me.

I open my eyes. I’m in a gray void, being sucked and coaxed along.

Then piercing light blinds me.

I startle from the shock of it, just as my body smacks the ground.

I groan but remain motionless.

Lots of hurt. My body has shattered.

Is this death?

Niawen?

Nothing, but I didn’t really expect to hear her, did I?

Caedryn?

Nothing. Blissfully nothing from my villain tormentor.