Chapter 38 Caelus #4
Aros snatched a warhorn from the belt of a nearby warrior and blew it. Three bellows later — the signal for ‘fall back’ — and the entire army, or what remained of it, were moving.
“Caelus, do you have the strength for a shadowgate, or do we attempt a retreat to the Temple of Ares?” Aros asked with clear urgency.
I checked on the level of darkness consuming me. As if understanding our urgency, it was replenishing quickly, if a little unstable.
“I think I can hold it.” He nodded, already moving until I grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. “But no longer than five minutes. And that’s being generous.”
His amber eyes flicked between mine measuring the truth in them. “Got it. On my call then.”
I nodded once, clutching Nyssa tightly to my chest as I stood. Aros shouted orders and people rushed to obey him, clustering in one large group behind us. Indecision shifted my weight from foot to foot until he noticed and took pity on me.
“You’ll be needing your hands,” he offered with a wry grin, extending his arms out to me. Even knowing the depth of his loyalty to her was basically as deep as mine, I still found it hard to relinquish her care to anyone.
“Guard her—”
“With my life, Caelus. I know.”
Years of unspoken messages passed through our gaze in the span of a few seconds.
Aros had earned my trust time and time again, and vice-versa.
If there was a single person I could entrust her care to, in any realm, it was him.
I nodded again and twisted to face the desolate terrain of the Hadaros Desert.
Inhaling deeply for good measure, I closed my eyes and concentrated solely on my designated task, readying myself for Aros’ command. I felt the tendril of darkness coiled around my heart like a dozing serpent sunbaking in the warmth of my lightning.
Come on, little guy. Let’s get our girl to safety.
At the mention of Nyssa, the darkness — which had been uncurling lazily — rushed to the surface of my skin, waiting and willing to commit hell itself to protect her.
Ten heartbeats later — I counted — Aros yelled, “Now!” and I threw my arms out, opening a shadowgate the length of the arena back in Aetherion.
My eyelids snapped open just in time to see him lead the retreat into the writhing darkness of the void, followed by what little remained of our army.
I tried not to count, tried not to look for familiar faces.
I didn’t want to know who had inevitably fallen while I still had a job to do.
Lykos guarded my back while I held the gateway open for as long as I could, and the last few trickles of wounded and refugees vanished into it.
One notable absence gave me pause.
“Where the hell is that bloody dragon?”
Lykos’ golden gaze snapped to mine.
“Nyssa will flay me alive if anything happens to her purple menace,” I grunted.
She was injured in battle — that’s why she left Nyssa stranded in the middle of it.
“How do you know that?”
The warriors speak very loudly. Particularly those dutybound to the service of Apollo.
“Well, where did she go?”
West.
I stared out at the large expanse of golden sand beyond the steadily shrinking shadowgate. The darkness inside me was strong, but not infinite — and it was dwindling by the second.
Fuck, I cursed, seeing no glint of violet scales nor any sign of purple flame.
Suddenly, Lykos’ attention diverted east — behind me. A growl began deep in his throat and a sense of urgency pervaded the bond.
We must go.
But Velira—
Now, Caelus! The dragon can fend for herself but we are not immune to demon flame!
I risked a glance over my shoulder, confirming my fear. Kronos and his beast were on a direct trajectory for our portal.
“Agh!” I hollered, dropping my arms so that the gateway could shrink. We started bolting towards it, already sure we weren’t going to make it because that beast could fly.
I grabbed a handful of Lykos’ fur and swung myself up into the harness upon his back, like we’d practiced a hundred times in training for moments just like this. Moments that were the difference between life and death. Moments where fuck ups could mean the end of the realms as we knew them.
If Kronos made it through the portal and got to Nyssa, we were all doomed.
And upon realising that, I also realised that I had already made my decision.
Lykos, slow down.
What?! he roared. No!
Yes. We’re not going to make it. But we have to ensure he doesn’t either.
With a snarl as loud as thunder, Lykos pulled up short, swinging around to face the demon beast, and threw his head back to loose an uproarious howl.
I took a steadying breath, summoning my lightning to the surface.
A conjured storm rolled in from seemingly nowhere, darkening the harsh glare of Helios’ sun.
Unfortunately, this only seemed to serve Kronos — his beast was now almost impossible to spot within the charcoal blanket of storm clouds on the horizon.
The beast screeched again — a bone aching, teeth rattling kind of sound — giving me some idea of its proximity.
Three.
Two.
On—
Get out of here, you stupid boy!
The ferocity of Velira’s order almost eclipsed the fact that she had spoken directly into my mind — a cosmic no-no between the unbonded. She appeared from behind us, having soared over the shadowgate aiming right for Kronos’ creature.
I said go! she roared again, simultaneously breathing a constant jet of violet flame at the nightmare-beast who pulled up in a sharp incline to avoid it.
Lykos nudged me into action, pushing me toward the significantly smaller shadowgate.
We were out of time.
I kept one eye on the battle in the skies, and one on the ground in front of me as we sprinted across it. One misstep could mean the difference between making it… and not.
The skies lit up in a blaze of black and purple, ricocheting off my storm clouds like a light show, as the air was torn asunder by the terrifying shrieks of skyborn creatures.
Just as we reached the gate, Lykos tossed up an urgent howl.
I twisted as I dove through, just in time to see the glimpse of glittering purple scales divert towards us.
She has to make it. She has to!
I fell through the gateway, landing on my ass yet again, straining against the last vestiges of my unexpected gift of Nyssa’s shadows.
She will, my wolf assured, though he, too, kept his eyes trained on the dissipating darkness before us, ignoring all others demanding things of us.
“Move!” I yelled, hoping that they’d all have the presence of mind to realise why. I certainly didn’t have the capacity to speak it. “Get out of the way!”
And just as I felt the last of that thread of power trickling past my outstretched fingers, Velira appeared.
The dragon soared through with wings tucked tight to her body, landing so hard on the dirt field that she created a divot the size of a crater.
When the dust settled, I dared approach her, both hands held up in a gesture of surrender.
Velira snarled, snapping her enormous fangs in my direction.
“Woah, woah! Easy, Vel. It’s just me,” I said in as soothing a tone as I could muster. “Caelus. Nyssa’s soul-bonded.” I watched as her serpentine pupils dilated, recognising at least that one morsel of speech. “Yes, Nyssa. Your soul-bonded.”
She hissed and snapped half-heartedly, relinquishing that last remnant of pure, instinct-driven beast.
Where is she? she snarled through my mind. Her deep tones, reminiscent of a middle-aged woman, somehow perfectly embodied what I’d imagined she would sound like.
“Aros has her.”
And where is he?
“I don’t know.”
You don’t know?! she roared again, fangs snapping at the sky.
Lykos? A little help here?
A moment later, he responded, Rufus says they’re in your rooms. Aros didn’t want the Queen exposed to scrutiny while in such a vulnerable state.
Good choice, thank you.
“She’s in our rooms, Vel. Aros took her straight there.”
She hissed again, muscles coiled in preparation to fly. Before she departed, however, one enormous gold eye levelled me with a look so intense I feared for the permanence of my still-raised hands had I dared move even an inch.
She is not alright.
“I know,” I whispered back. My heart tore further at the admission. “But she will be.”
See to it that she is or I’ll burn this entire Academy to the ground no matter who stands within it.
I nodded. An immense gust created a dust storm around us as she beat her powerful wings up, up, up, then screeched as she tore through the sky directly to the balcony of the room that had become Nyssa’s sanctuary.
I frowned, turning to Lykos.
“Least she could have done was take me with her,” I grumbled, brushing myself off. “The long way it is, then.”
The long way, indeed.