Chapter 4 #3
He held my stare as the breeze moved through his short hair, more emotion in his eyes than I’d ever witnessed before. A thin film of moisture formed there, but it seemed to be taken away by the breeze. “No…”
I inhaled a breath so sharp it was like a dagger scraping against my lungs. It was a sacrifice not for my brother and me, but for our kingdom and for the dragons we loved like we were the same species. Khazmuda.
It took him a moment to come to me. I’m here, Zunieth.
Release the dragons from the wildlands. We’ll lose this battle if we don’t.
I was met with silence.
Khazmuda.
No.
Khazmuda—
I won’t do it.
Tears that I had suppressed this entire battle broke the surface and slid down my cheeks. I don’t want to do it either—
We’ll find a way.
There won’t be a we in the next hour—and you know it.
Silence again.
I love my father, and it kills me to do this…but we both know he wouldn’t want this. He wouldn’t want to risk the Southern Isles and all of us for him. He would want us to let him go…and prevail.
Khazmuda continued to ignore me, processing this realization on his own. He loved my father differently from my mother, differently from us. But it wasn’t a love bound by friendship either, something deeper, something that couldn’t be described with the words in our language or dragon tongue.
I continued to cry, to see Hawk’s eyes mirror mine when he realized the conversation that was taking place in my mind.
My heart bled tears made of blood. The dead of my allies and my foes littered that courtyard, and the villa where I’d fallen in love with a god was nearby, but the place suddenly felt like a scene in a nightmare.
Felt like the underworld.
A silence that stretched on for minutes ensued. Then Khazmuda came back to me. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I know.
But you’re right. He would want my hatchlings to live. My kin to live as free dragons and not vampires. He would want his own wife and children to survive. He would rather fade into the Realm of Caelum than risk losing all of that…
I nodded through my tears even though he couldn’t see me.
I will do it now. I felt Khazmuda leave my mind the way someone stepped out of the room.
Then I started to sob, my hands cupping my face to stifle the tearful scream I wanted to unleash.
Hawk knew what had transpired without asking, and he moved into me and hugged me hard.
It was one of the only times we’d ever hugged, and I held on to him with the same strength that I gripped the horn on Zehemoth’s saddle. His cries were audible next to my ear, mourning the death that hadn’t yet come to pass.
I carried the guilt of my decision…the guilt that would haunt me as long as I lived.
A ruler had to make decisions that no one else wanted to make—and I’d made the most difficult one of all.
Even when decades passed, I would still look in the mirror and despise myself for what I’d done, even if I knew my father would have given his blessing if he could.
I was able to reach him for a moment. Told him what had to be done.
I stepped away from Hawk, my hand covering my mouth to stifle my cry.
Hawk’s panicked eyes looked into mine.
What did he say?
Tell them I love them all…
I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for. For my mother’s screams to come from the castle and across the courtyard…for the world to tremble with the passing of my father…for time just to stop to honor the absence of a great man.
The battle raged on in the sea below. Streams of fire broke out. Ships burned on the surface until the flames were extinguished as they plunged below the water. I hoped my father would somehow arise and take control of the battle and bring us to victory.
But now I knew I would never hear his voice again.
The last words he’d said to me would be with me always.
Defeat them, Lily.
Hawk’s face was as pale as snow as he waited for the moment we heard the news…that our father was dead.
My mother had been devastated by his injury. She would never recover from his death. Just as he wouldn’t have recovered if she’d been the one to pass first. My parents had publicly loved each other, and while it had made me uncomfortable as a child, it had taught me how to love as an adult.
It reminded me of what I had with Callum…who wasn’t here.
Who wasn’t present to comfort me in my darkest hour.
My thoughts were shattered by the sound of horns, a booming sound that came from far in the distance but was still loud enough to announce a formidable presence.
My eyes immediately went to Hawk’s.
His eyes were already on mine.
With tears still on my cheeks, I ran to the stone railing at the edge of the courtyard.
I looked out into the sea to see what was happening on the battlefield.
Ships were still on fire, dragons that were friend and foe still attacked one another, and it took me a moment to understand what had changed.
I gripped the railing as I peered into the darkness, seeing an enormous fleet of ships sailing from the west. A rush of breeze moved through my hair and flicked my tears to the stone below.
Hawk came to my side and stilled when he saw what I saw. “Who are they?”
“I—I don’t know. But there must be at least three hundred ships…”
“The vampiric dragons are headed their way,” Hawk observed. “Now our dragons are attacking the Barbarians without distraction.”
Zehemoth, I need you. I stepped away from the railing and moved to the center of the courtyard so he would have room to land.
Then I reached my mind to Khazmuda. Another ally has arrived to the battle.
Is it too late? Had they already let my father go?
If I were just a second too late, I would never forgive myself.
No. Many dragons resisted my order.
The breath of relief I took was so immense my lungs nearly popped. They have three hundred ships. We’ll crush them at sea.
But who are they?
I don’t know.
You assume they’re your ally, but you don’t know for sure. Could be another kingdom taking advantage of a vulnerable moment. All your allies are here. So who else could it be?
I did call for the vampires from the north…
But could they have come this quickly?
I—I don’t know. But it must be them.
The vampires are about to take the village, Lily. Their aid at sea won’t help us.
Zehemoth appeared from the sky then landed with a tremble beside me.
I continued my conversation with Khazmuda.
Send the dragons to the village. Stop them from breaking through.
I’ll fly to their ships to make sure they’re our allies.
If they are, then we’ll sink the Barbarians’ fleet to the bottom of the ocean with no contest. I’ll have their ships shoot down the vampiric dragons.
I moved to Zehemoth and climbed up his saddle.
Take me to the ships that come from the west.
“Lily, what are you doing?” Hawk asked as he approached Zehemoth.
“I sent the dragons to help with the village. We’ll sink their ships at sea. Bring the army to the village and hold them off until I return with reinforcements.” Without waiting for him to ask questions or agree to my orders, Zehemoth shot for the sky, and we flew high into the darkness.
Are you sure they’re allies?
No. But I think they are.
Zehemoth sprinted across the sky, careful to avoid the deviled dragons that attacked the ships of the allies that had come to our rescue. When we got close enough, I could see the symbols on their sails.
And the images of kingsnakes.
Viper.
“They’re allies,” I said. “Get me to that ship in the middle. The biggest one with the three sails.” It was more regal than the others, with bigger sails, a large galleon with more expansive quarters on the ship. Either the king would be there or Viper.
Zehemoth brought himself to a glide just over the surface of the water, and he straightened his wings like a smooth slab of marble. I left my saddle and ran across his wing, timing the jump perfectly to land on the ship and roll across the deck until I sprang back to my feet.
I immediately searched the faces of the men who stared at me, with slitted yellow eyes from the snake venom in their dead hearts. One pair of eyes stood out from all the rest, not because they were different from the others, but because the intensity was in a whole new category.
It was Viper, in armor with the crest of the snake in the center of his chest, his enormous sword across his back, ready to fight in a battle so far away from his home. His eyes looked me over with a flash of concern and longing before they became authoritative and dispassionate.
I walked up to him, so emotional and grateful that he had just saved my father’s life, I crashed into him and hugged him hard. I sucked in a breath that made my eyes water painfully. I clung to him like he was about to shake me off.
He stood still for a moment before he reciprocated the affection.
“Thank you,” I said through my tears. “Thank you, thank you.” I pulled away to look him in the face, to show my gratitude with my heart on my sleeve.
“I’ll be eternally grateful to you and the Kingsnake Vampires for as long as I live.
The Southern Isles will always heed your call for aid.
Anything you ever need, we will be there for you. ”
Perhaps it was because he was in the presence of an audience of men who stared at us, but he regarded me with a stoic look. “What are your orders, Queen Rothschild?”
He’d come to save my people, but he still deferred to me as the leader, a generosity I didn’t deserve.
“They have an army of vampires on the other side of the cliffs. They’re about to take my village.
I had my dragons turn their attention there to hold them back as long as possible before your men can get there.
They’re vampires like you…but different.
They’re killing our dragons and turning them into one of them.
” I looked to the left, seeing one of the dragons attacking a ship in the distance.
“And those are the ones that attack you.”
“How many on land?” he asked.
“Five thousand. They’ve obliterated most of my army because they’re too strong—”
“A vampire is equivalent to three or four men, depending on the type. What kind are they?”
“I—I don’t know. But they’re fucking strong—even for me.”
“Even for you?” he asked.
There wasn’t time to explain my powers right now. “Divert half your army to the cliffs and the other half to sea. Can that be done?”
Viper immediately turned to one of his commanders who stood at attention. “Separate the fleet. Prepare the soldiers for battle on foot.”
“Yes, General.” He immediately stepped aside to carry out those orders.
“What’s the quickest way to land?”
“The port to the south.”
He nodded then stepped away. “My commander will remain with the fleet, and I’ll lead the men into battle. Have your army hold them back until I can get there. It’ll be much more difficult to defeat an enemy spread out through a city than on the outskirts. You must keep them back.”
“I will.”
He nodded to dismiss me. “I’ll meet you soon.”
I called Zehemoth back, and I jumped onto his wing like last time.
We took off into the sky, dodged a vampiric dragon that tried to take a bite out of Zehemoth’s wing, and flew over the castle back to the village.
I looked down into the courtyard just to make sure the grounds were untouched by the enemy before we came to the edge of the village.
I saw the line of five thousand vampires right at the wall of the village, and I felt my face go pale. The dragons were swooping down and knocking them off their feet, and Hawk and his army were trying to shoot them down from behind the wall but were causing little damage.
“Drop me off behind them. Draw them away from the wall.”
There are too many of them, Sunieth.
“I’ll be fine. Just need to buy us enough time.”
Then I will stay with you.
“It’s okay, I don’t need help.”
We’re in this together—always. He flew over the army, drawing the attention of the vampires below, and then landed in the blood-soaked dirt behind them.
I hopped off Zehemoth and landed hard before I unsheathed my blade and moved forward.
“Roooooaaaaaaarrrrr!”
The distraction worked, and instead of marching forward, they started to march backward away from the village where my people cowered in fear.
I drew them away from my weakened army until my vampiric allies could arrive and extinguish them all.
It gave me a burst of new strength and energy, and I beat the hilt of my blade against my chest plate.
“Come on, let’s go!” On the verge of victory, I felt a rush of adrenaline that made me even more powerful, more ruthless.
I’d been seconds away from losing everything.
Now I was on the verge of winning it all.
They sprinted for me, eyes slitted like snakes, the bloodlust in their stare.
But with my hand gripped tightly on my hilt, I was ready.