Chapter 30 #2
Bondmate! Sirrax’s voice roared through my mind, and in that instant I realised he had shifted to his dragon form and taken to the sky above us, trying to draw the dragons away from the crowd.
Stronger together! Use bond!I understood, and opened my mind further, allowing the dark power to flood along our bond into Sirrax.
A mighty roar filled the skies as it hit him like the rush of spring flood and I felt his pain and panic for a moment, before he rallied his own strength.
The relief was immediate and overwhelming—what had threatened to tear my mind apart was suddenly bearable, distributed across three souls instead of crushing one.
The thing that had been consuming Taveth snarled in frustration as its grip weakened.
The shadows around him writhed like dying serpents, their movements becoming erratic, uncertain.
I felt Taveth stir deeper in the connection, his consciousness rising toward the surface like a drowning man fighting toward air.
The real him, the brother I'd thought lost forever, was still there. Still fighting.
Help me, his voice whispered through our bond, so faint I almost missed it beneath the screaming of the ancient voices. I can't... I can't hold them back much longer.
"I've got you," I said aloud, my voice hoarse with strain. Blood was streaming from my eyes now, matching the crimson tracks on his face, but I held firm. "We've got you."
Through Sirrax's connection, I felt his massive wings beating against the sky, felt his own struggle as he wrestled with the darkness we were feeding into him. A massive wave of darkness crashed through my mind, and I might have screamed out loud, staggering under the weight of it.
Not… strong… enough… Sirrax forced his thoughts through the bond that was starting to fracture under the weight of the darkness.
He was right, we weren’t strong enough. We needed more.
Although my instinct to protect her above all else fought against me, I reached out through the bond to the strongest person I knew.
Livia’s response was immediate, blazing through our connection like sunlight through storm clouds.
I felt her mind touch mine, felt her love and determination flowing through the bond we shared as dragon and rider.
But more than that—I felt her reach further, following the connection I had to Taveth, adding her strength to mine.I'm here, her voice whispered through my mind, warm and fierce.
We're all here. She laid one of her bloody hands pressing over mine on Taveth’s chest, the other cupping his face as she forced him to look down at her.
I felt her presence in the bond like a warm fire in the darkness—fierce and grounding and full of love so pure it made the shadows recoil.
Through her eyes, Taveth saw himself not as the monster the voices claimed he was, but as the man she believed in, the man she had chosen to love despite all his flaws and failures.
"Taveth," she called out, though I could barely hear her voice over the roar of magic and chaos.
"I know you're in there. Come back to me. "
The change was immediate and electric. Where my bond with Taveth was the familiar comfort of shared blood, hers was something altogether different—fierce and protective and absolutely unbreakable. Love made manifest, burning away the shadows that tried to claim him.
Through her, I could feel what she felt: not the monster the crystal had made him, but the man who had held her when she had nightmares, who had brought her flowers because he thought they might make her smile, who had wept when the shadows had tried to hurt her.
The relief that flooded through me was staggering.
Through our bond, I could feel the others—Septimus, Marcus, Antonius, even Jalend—all of them somehow connected through the web of relationships we'd forged over months of shared struggle.
Not magical bonds like mine and Livia's, but something just as powerful: chosen family, loyalty forged in blood and loss and the decision to stand together when the world fell apart.
I pushed all of that love, all of that connection, through my link with Taveth. The shadows around him recoiled as if burned, and for just an instant his eyes flickered from ice-white back to their natural black.
I felt him pull away from the abyss, felt him choose love over power, choose her over the seductive promise of destruction. The voices screamed in fury, but they were no match for the anchor she provided, the certainty of her faith in who he really was.
"Livia," he breathed, and his voice broke on her name like a man dying of thirst finally finding water.
Taveth’s awareness blazed through the bond like the moment the sun breaks above the horizon, flooding us all with light.
I felt him slam back into full consciousness like a man surfacing from deep water, gasping and desperate and fully himself again.
Through our connection, I experienced his horror at what he'd almost done, his revulsion at the commands he'd given.
The crystal blazed in his grip, but now instead of controlling him, he was fighting back against it with everything he had.
"No," he said, his voice raw but human again.
"No, I won't let you use me."The shadows writhed around us in fury, but they no longer moved with purpose. They lashed out randomly, striking at the sand, at the air, at anything within reach—but they no longer obeyed a single will. Above us, the dragons faltered in their attack, their flames sputtering as the absolute command that had driven them began to fracture completely.I felt Taveth gather his will, felt him turn the crystal's power back on itself. Instead of commanding the dragons to burn, he began working to free them entirely—not to make them his weapons, but to break the chains that had bound them for centuries.The first collar shattered with a sound like breaking glass that somehow carried across the entire arena. A massive red dragon above us shuddered, its eyes clearing as its own will returned. Instead of continuing its attack on the crowd, it wheeled away, soaring toward the open sky beyond the arena walls.A second collar broke, then a third. Each one sent a shockwave through the magical network that had enslaved them, and then it was like the bursting of stars flaring out in the darkness. I felt them all, hundreds, thousands, flaring in the darkness as Taveth reached out across the network and set them all free. Beyond that, the touch of all the minds of the mages, that surge of freedom, of relief and desperate joy as Taveth freed their minds. One particular strong mind joined us, lending its strength to ours with a burst of sheer joy and pride through the bond of blood. Sayven. Taveth’s eyes met mine, and for the first time since I’d met the man, I saw a genuine smile spread across his face.
I returned it.The network collapsed all at once, like a dam bursting.
I felt it cascade across the Empire-every collar, every binding, every chain of magical enslavement snapping in a wave of liberation that reached from the frozen northern peaks to the burning southern deserts.
Thousands of dragons, their minds their own for the first time in centuries, took to the skies with roars of pure joy.In the arena around us, the remaining dragon riders were hurled screaming from their mounts as the great beasts remembered what freedom felt like.
One rider-Valeria, I realized through the haze of exhaustion-refused to accept her mount's liberation.
Even as her dragon bucked beneath her, she drew her sword and raised it to strike at the creature's neck.The dragon turned on her instead.I looked away before I could see the details, but I heard her screams, brief and sharp and then suddenly cut off.
When I looked back, there was nothing left of the proud noblewoman but scattered pieces of gold armour and a spreading pool of blood.That's what happens, I thought grimly, when you try to enslave something that was born to be free.The crystal in Taveth's hands flickered once more, then went dark.
He let it fall to the sand where it shattered against the stones, releasing one final whisper of ancient voices before falling silent forever.
"It's done," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"They're all free."I nodded, too exhausted to speak.
My legs gave out and I collapsed to the sand, muscles twitching from the strain of holding the connection.
Blood covered the front of my armour, and my head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, but we were alive.
We were all alive, and the dragons were free.
Livia was suddenly there, kneeling beside us both, her hands moving frantically as she checked us for injuries beyond the obvious.
Blood streaked her face where flying debris had cut her cheek, but her eyes were bright with fierce pride and relief.
She cupped Taveth's face in her hands, her thumbs wiping away the crimson tracks the crystal's power had carved down his cheeks.
"You came back," she whispered, her voice breaking.
"I thought I'd lost you.""You saved me," he said, leaning into her touch like a man starved for warmth.
"Both of you. I couldn't have fought it alone.
"She pressed her forehead against his, and for just a moment they were simply two people who loved each other, alive against all odds in the middle of a revolution.All around the arena, chaos reigned.
The freed dragons were taking to the sky in a storm of wings and roars, some heading for the wilderness they'd been stolen from, others turning their fury on the Imperial forces still trying to restore order.
In the stands, the crowd had erupted into pandemonium.
Some sections cheered as the cages holding the prisoners were smashed open and innocent people poured out onto the sand.
Other sections screamed in terror as they realized the established order was crumbling before their eyes.Through it all, Jalend stood tall in the centre of the sand, his voice carrying across the arena with the authority of his royal blood.
"The dragons are free!" he shouted, somehow cutting through the chaos.
"The prisoners are innocent! This is what justice looks like!
"More gates crashed open. More innocent people poured out into the light, blinking in amazement at their sudden liberation.
I saw children clutching their parents' hands, old men weeping with relief, women who had given up hope suddenly discovering they might live to see another day.We did it, I realized with a mixture of triumph and terror.
We actually did it.But even as I watched the rebellion ignite in the heart of the Empire, I felt a chill run down my spine.
A shadow fell across the arena, and I looked up to see a figure standing at the edge of the Imperial box, draped in cloth-of-gold that gleamed like flame in the afternoon sun.Emperor Vamerius gazed down at the chaos below with the cold fury of a god whose will had been defied.
When he began to descend the stairs toward the arena floor, I felt the temperature drop ten degrees.
"Get up," I whispered to Taveth, who was still kneeling in the sand, staring at the shattered remains of the crystal.
"We're not done yet."He looked up at me, then followed my gaze to the approaching Emperor.
For just a moment, exhaustion and despair flickered across his features.
Then his jaw set with grim determination.
"No," he said, climbing slowly to his feet. "I suppose we're not."