Chapter 9 Ashes
Ashes
Declan saw explosions of light up ahead of him as he raced over the dark stone, slicing Leviathan right and left as they came upon him from all sides.
Time seemed to slow as he focused on the figure that appeared as a silhouette limned by sunlight.
Long hair. Lithe muscular body. Flowing white robes with slashes of crimson. Golden sword.
Aquilan!
Declan put on a greater spurt of speed and leaned forward, becoming more aerodynamic in the process.
A Leviathan struck from his right, trying to sweep his legs out from under him.
He leaped over the smoky coils even as he brought Ardreth’s tip down and sliced through them.
A roar and hiss were the response and then the familiar clunk of the fang left behind.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the red jewel at the base of Ardreth’s hilt was glowing brighter than it had been before.
When he’d first unsheathed it–if that’s really what having it appear in his hand from his back was–there had only been a faint red glow deep within the jewel, but with each subsequent death of a Leviathan that glow had grown in brilliance, but had diminished in distance.
Whereas at the beginning, the glow had appeared like a far off star, now it seemed as if the light was swimming to the very surface of the gem, almost as if it was going to break through. Burst out. Explode.
Another Leviathan came up from behind him, surging forward, thinking to catch him unawares.
But Declan knew it was there. As a tentacle tried to tighten into a noose around his neck, he flipped backwards.
That might have seemed like an odd choice to go towards his attacker.
But it was so unexpected that the Leviathan froze.
His body arched over the pursuer as he flipped head over feet.
The Leviathan let out a shiver-hiss of anger as he was just out of reach of its coils.
Ardreth swept below him, cutting the Leviathan neatly in two.
Clank. Another fang fell and rolled away.
Declan lightly landed on his feet and he was racing forwards again. Aquilan was much closer. He ran faster.
Two Leviathan sought to converge upon him as he was a dozen feet from the Sun King.
He brought Ardreth across his front in an arc of death.
Clank. Clank. The Leviathans’ translucent bodies were gone and he could see the glow of dawn only a few feet from him.
He leaned towards Aquilan’s light almost like a flower starved for sunlight.
The Adiva went cold against his chest, protecting him from the brilliant illumination that would have hurt him, but for its presence.
But he didn’t care. He was like a moth to the moon with Aquilan.
Ever straining to get to that luminous body.
He arrived at Aquilan’s side just as the Sun King sent a handful of what looked like glittering dust into the air all around him.
It glimmered and sparked rather like fireworks that were falling to earth.
But unlike those embers that would wink out before they touched the ground, when these embers struck the nearby Leviathan they flared, becoming brighter and spreading.
Fire streaked through the smoky coils causing the Leviathan to shake and shriek before they became half-moon shaped fangs that clattered on the ground.
Aquilan turned just as Declan stopped his forward momentum.
The Leviathan for fifty-feet in any direction were dead.
They were alone and allowed to breathe for just a few moments.
Looking into Aquilan’s beautiful face–luminous really–which was filled with joy at seeing him had Declan’s greeting sticking in his throat.
What he felt was so large when he gazed into those crystalline blue eyes that he couldn’t get it out of the tight, too narrow slot of his throat. So he acted instead.
With Ardreth in his right hand, he extended his left to reach up and frame Aquilan’s right cheek.
He didn’t touch the Sun King. He kept his hand a few millimeters from that silken skin.
He slowly stroked downwards. Aquilan caught his hand and pressed it against his plush lips.
Heat flared within Declan’s body. Finley had explained arousal to him plenty of times, but he’d never felt it. But with Aquilan, he now understood.
“Declan, you’re safe,” Aquilan murmured against his palm.
His lips were soft and his breath hot. Declan’s fingers flexed and he curled them against Aquilan’s chin and cheek.
“And so are you,” Declan was able to mumble. “I wasn’t too late.”
A soft huff of laughter. Not mocking. But relieved. “No, Declan. You were not too late. It was my intention to find you, but you found me instead.”
“Just repaying the favor for five years ago,” Declan said, remembering again how Aquilan had suddenly appeared in the distance on a white horse with that same golden sword raised.
The sword was gorgeous. A jeweled hilt. A keen blade. He could tell even without holding it that it was perfectly balanced and fit the Sun King’s hand as if forged for it. It probably had been.
“You owe me nothing,” Aquilan’s voice dipped, suddenly filled with self-loathing. He lifted his head and his eyes were full of pain. “I am the reason that you were in Lightwell in the first place when the Leviathan came. I might be the reason the Leviathan got through at all.”
Declan blinked, but then he remembered what Ashryn had said, The Sun King Ailduin has been reborn. And he will keep you safe. I know it.
Aquilan was the Sun King. He was Ailduin reborn.
Ashryn had been taking Declan to him to keep him safe.
But they had never made it there. Ashryn had not left this place.
He had been left on Earth likely by Vulre if his brief memory of being shoved towards his adopted parents was correct.
Only Vulre would have done that. Though he was surprised that the Kindreth Blood Knight had not simply killed him.
Ashryn had been dead by that point. It would have been the perfect time to send him into the next life with her.
But Vulre hadn’t. Instead he had disguised Declan to look like a human, taken his memories and dumped him with the Wildes.
Only to never return. He likely had no idea what good people the Wildes were. I was lucky. But why didn’t he come back? And what does Aquilan mean that he’s the reason the Leviathan came in the first place?
“My mother was bringing me to you,” Declan protested. “But she… didn’t make it.”
Aquilan studied his face. His lips parted in pain for Declan. “You remember this?”
“Not exactly, no. Vex showed me where she died. He asked if I had done it.”
“Vex?!” Aquilan blinked. “He came to you too? And accused you of murdering your own mother? He–how can he be so cruel and thoughtless and… yet not?”
“He spoke to you as well then?” Declan was not surprised though his father must have made short work of such a meeting with Aquilan considering how little the length of time was since he’d spoken to his father.
“Yes.” Aquilan shook his head. His lips moved against Declan’s palm. “Why do I think he was with the others, too? Showing them things that they did not know, but needed to?”
“You believe he can be in two places at once? Or more?” Declan lifted an eyebrow. But really he wouldn’t have been surprised if Vex could do something just like that.
“Oh, yes, I’ve read about such spells, but I could never imagine splitting my consciousness like that without compromising my judgment or worse,” Aquilan sighed and more of his hot breath gushed between Declan’s fingers.
“So my father couldn’t even give me his undivided attention while he made up his mind whether to kill me or not,” Declan shook his head and let out a soft, slightly bitter laugh.
It was worse than he’d thought! Vex really didn’t care a whit about him.
He was surprised the Night King hadn’t blasted him the moment his back was turned for all the care he’d shown.
“Kill you?!” Aquilan’s blue eyes flared with anger and alarm.
“My very existence is a threat to the good Night King,” Declan mocked. “He thinks I want his throne and that I’ll be strong enough to take it one day. But I want nothing from him other than for him to leave me alone.”
Declan’s eyes narrowed and sparked with anger.
From everything Finley had told him about Kindreth society and all he remembered of his time at the Venomthorn, he would be happy never to deal with another Kindreth again.
So the thought of ruling them had as much appeal as digging his eyes out with dull spoons.
But Vex was so self-centered he didn’t seem capable of imagining that Declan would want something different than what he did. He gritted his teeth together.
“Yes, he mentioned something about that. He was quite… hurt that you didn’t care about him,” Aquilan said softly. He looked disturbed at the thought of Vex being hurt.
“Hurt?!” Declan snorted. That hardly seemed likely.
But then he considered how Vex might have interpreted his decision to turn his back on his royal heritage.
“Well, maybe, but he’s like a petulant child who sees an old, forgotten toy of his being played with by someone else and wants it back.
Not because he cares about it. He’ll likely break it or simply toss it away.
He simply doesn’t want anyone else to have it. ”
Declan realized as Aquilan tilted his head to the side and regarded him that he had spoken more about Vex than he had about anyone or anything else to the Sun King.
Evidently, his apparent indifference to his father was only skin deep.
His hurt feelings were clearly bubbling up.
He let out a breath and let the anger go. Mostly.