Chapter 7 Rhianelle #3
I shouldn’t be this comfortable. This is my first time flying at such a height. Yet something about it feels right, as if my body remembers something my mind has forgotten.
The mate bond pulses between us, warm with Landon’s approval.
“I told you I would show you the Fae King’s strategy,” he says, his voice turning serious. “The flight patterns, the formations. I can teach you all of that. I can show you how his forces will move, where they’ll strike, how they’ll coordinate their assault.”
He guides his wyvern higher, and Sunstorm follows. We climb until the air thins and the world below is nothing but a patchwork of colors in the fading light.
“But the truth is, none of it matters,” Landon continues.
My stomach clenches. “What do you mean?”
He is quiet for a long moment, his jaw tight. The wind carries us forward, toward the darkening east where the first stars are beginning to appear.
“Prince Finnbheara.” Landon’s hands tighten on his reins. “You met him at the prisoner exchange. The one on the red wyvern.”
I remember. The prince with the easy smile and the massive crimson beast. His wyvern had been strangely aggressive toward me, though I hadn’t understood why.
“His wyvern’s name is Sanguisyl,” Landon says. “It means Red Rain in the old tongue. He is one of a kind.”
“All wyverns are impressive,” I say, unsure what he is trying to tell me.
“No. You don’t understand.” Landon brings his wyvern closer, close enough that our legs nearly touch in the air. “Most wyverns breathe fire. Some rare ones breathe frost or poison. But Sanguisyl doesn’t breathe anything.”
I frown at him. “Then what makes him so dangerous?”
“When Sanguisyl opens his mouth, an ancient power emerges. Something from before the first age.” He stops, his expression haunted. “I’ve seen it once, during a demonstration for the king’s war council.”
The sun is nearly gone now, just a sliver of gold on the horizon. Shadows stretch long across the world below.
“There was a city,” Landon says quietly. “An old abandoned settlement. The Fae King wanted to show off his secret weapon. Finnbheara flew over that city, and Sanguisyl opened his mouth for five seconds.”
My heart pounds. “What happened?”
“The city was gone.” He looks at me, and his eyes are hollow.
I stare at him. For a moment, I am certain I misheard him. Cities do not simply vanish. Even the greatest spells leave ruins.
“It was completely erased. The buildings disintegrated, and the walls crumbled to dust. Five seconds, Rhianelle. That’s all it took. The ground itself turned to ash and glass.”
The world tilts. I grip Sunstorm’s saddle, suddenly aware of how high we are and how far there is to fall.
“An entire city,” I whisper. “In five seconds.”
“The power has limits. Sanguisyl needs several days to recover before he can use it again, and the effort drains Finnbheara terribly. He remained unconscious for three days after that demonstration. But in terms of raw destructive capability...” Landon’s voice is quiet and grim.
“Nothing can stand against it. No shield, no magic, no force in this world. When Sanguisyl opens his mouth, everything in front of him simply... ceases to exist.”
I think of Aelfheim and Volundr. Of my people gathered in the streets below, unaware of what is coming for them. Of my knights and commanders and all their careful plans.
Useless. All of it useless.
“My people. The children.” My voice breaks around the words.
Landon’s expression is tortured. “Eirik Bloodhound will use Sanguisyl. When the king comes for Aelfheim, when he brings his armies to your gates, that weapon will be at the front. You need to know that.”
The sunset has faded to purple now, the world below lost in shadow. We hang suspended in the darkening sky, and I feel the weight of doom settling over me like a shroud.
“Aelfheim has nothing equal to that,” I breathe.
The mate bond between us throbs with shared agony. Landon is telling me this even though it tears him apart. The part of him that has spent his life serving the Fae King must hate himself for this betrayal.
I think of Coral on the platform below. I think of my people who trust me to protect them. I think of Rainer, Shade, Blaire, and my knights.
They will all die in the red rain.
The first stars appear overhead, cold and distant. Below us, somewhere in the darkness, Coral waits for me to return. Beyond that, beyond the mountains and forests, an ancient power prepares to turn my world to dust.
I am the Elven Queen. I am supposed to protect my people.
But I have just learned I am utterly powerless to do so.
The wind carries us onward through the gathering dark while the mate bond hums with sorrow. Every person and place I love seems destined for an end I cannot prevent. I have no idea how to save them.
“I need to think,” I say finally, my voice hollow.
I don’t know what I need. There is nothing to think about. I have no strategy against this annihilation.
Landon nods silently and turns his wyvern toward home. Sunstorm follows, carrying me back through the darkness to Volundr, a kingdom that will soon be nothing but dust and memory.
The red rain is coming.