Chapter 69
Iyana
More magic than Iyana had ever wielded before flowed through her veins.
But unlike when she was in the Dead Lands, now she was more experienced and self-assured.
She allowed the magic to suffuse her entire body until her hands glowed a bright silver.
The white flames from Yrza’s dragon danced in a wide circle around them, but she couldn’t feel their heat.
Holding Khollo’s Downfall aloft, they waited for Rigil to take the bait. She only hoped that the Alpha was confident enough that he could defeat them. It would be good for him to underestimate her. The last ruler who had underestimated her ended up with a dagger in his chest.
The sounds of war had quieted. Iyana didn’t know if it was a result of the magical fire or because the armies had decided to see who would be victorious between the Alpha and the Aztia.
After several tense minutes, Iyana began to doubt that Rigil would show at all, and instead he would force them to battle each and every star before he ever deigned to face her.
But then two stars appeared within the fire ring—one tall and lithe with shadows thrashing around him, the other shorter with his signature sneer firmly in place. Rigil and Hadar.
I’ll distract Hadar, Emmeric said into her mind. You take care of Rigil. He brushed a warm hand along their bond, and Iyana reveled in Emmeric’s confidence in her.
She dropped Khollo’s Downfall back into the bag tied to her waist. Rigil’s gaze tracked her movements, but he’d have to pry it away from her and Iyana wasn’t about to make it easy for him.
Wrapping her hand around the ouroboros necklace, she took a deep, centering breath.
She would either leave this field victorious, or she would die here.
At the thought, the charm in her fist warmed as if Altair and Imo were giving her their strength from beyond the grave.
“Aztia,” Rigil drawled. “Whatever could you have found? It smells delicious.”
“Nothing that concerns you, Rigil.”
“If it’s anything like what your friends released,” he said, gazing at the undulating black cloud in the distance, “then I believe it concerns me greatly. It’s an object of magnificent power and does not belong in the hands of a human.”
Hadar and Emmeric began slowly creeping away from their sides, eyeing each other.
Em had his twin swords, one in each hand.
Hadar grinned at the blades, then waved his hand, and two short swords appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Emmeric would have a better reach, but the Beta had more experience, speed, and magic.
Please stay safe, she whispered to him. Although he didn’t react, fully focused on the star in front of him, Iyana knew he’d heard her and would try his best.
“If you want it so badly, then come take it from me,” Iyana taunted. The shadows writhed faster around Rigil’s feet in aggravation. Good.
Iyana eyed the tendrils of darkness warily. They reminded her too much of the shadows Uther had harnessed from the astmina. A thought occurred to her, and she tilted her head.
“The astmina clasp that Uther wore was made from the heart of a star. It also wielded shadows. A relation of yours, maybe?” she asked Rigil.
Anger flashed in his golden eyes. “My father, Toliman. Before the gods went to sleep, they ripped the heart from his chest and turned it into that abomination.” His lip curled in a purely animalistic fashion.
“Although it did allow me easier access to corrupt that human emperor. And it allowed me in your head.”
When she had first called to the stars for aid and Altair had fallen, a voice in her head had directed her where to go. Iyana’s eyes widened and Rigil grinned.
“Yes, little Aztia, that was me talking directly into your mind.”
Nausea rippled through her stomach—she had unknowingly allowed this monster into her head, but that was just another reason for her to kill him.
“I’m sure the gods had a good reason to kill your father,” Iyana said, trying to rile him up again. Rigil would be more likely to make mistakes if he was angry.
But the star only shrugged, again the perfect picture of indifference. “It hardly matters now, does it? His death allowed me to take my rightful place as Alpha Centauri.”
Making him angry obviously wasn’t going to work. He understood what she was doing. Gathering her magic in her palms, she glanced at Emmeric out of the corner of her eye.
Ready? she asked.
On your signal, Mouse.
Without another word or a cry, Iyana thrust her hand towards Rigil, blasting silver energy towards him.
Black shadows erupted from him with a wave of his hand and dissipated her magic with no effort.
It broke the leashes on their companions, and Hadar and Emmeric rushed towards each other.
The sound of steel rang around them as they met each other blow for blow.
“Is that all you are capable of, Iyana? If so, this will be over with quickly.”
It was nowhere near everything she was capable of.
Especially with so much magic surrounding them—there was an endless supply for Emmeric to channel to her.
Silently, Iyana tapped into the earth side of her magic.
She’d been working hard with it as it was one of her weaker areas, but she delighted when vines broke free of the ground and wrapped around Rigil’s ankles, yanking him off his feet.
The Alpha snarled and used shadows to cut through the bindings, and he righted himself.
Iyana hadn’t expected it to keep him down for long, but she wanted to show him she was no ordinary human girl.
They circled each other slowly, beacons of darkness and light.
Her focus was purely on the star in front of her, and she tuned out the sounds of Emmeric’s fight. She would know if he was injured.
Shouting, Iyana rushed towards Rigil. She grabbed her dagger and imbued it with fire before flinging it towards him. It embedded itself in Rigil’s shoulder. Oh shit, she couldn’t believe she had actually managed that.
Great job, Mouse. Now focus.
Before the Alpha could register the injury, Iyana was upon him, silver light streaming from her hands and into his chest. Rigil staggered backwards at the onslaught, but his shadows were ready to meet her magic.
Iyana spun out of the way, letting his strike go wide.
He plucked the dagger out of his shoulder, and gone was the put-together leader.
Before Iyana now was an unhinged star hells-bent on domination.
His gold hair was out of place and his lips curled in a snarl.
Darkness swirled around his hands before coalescing into a sword. The same weapon that had killed Altair.
In her rage, Iyana imagined cutting Rigil down with a similar blade, and a sword of silver light appeared in her hands. She smiled at the Alpha and went on the offensive.
Suddenly, she was grateful for all the training her friends had insisted upon. While the sword was not her weapon of choice, this one made of pure light weighed nothing and felt more like an extension of herself. Iyana was able to wield it with ease.
Rigil met her every strike with one of his own, still on the defensive.
But she could tell this was easy for him, and he was letting her tire herself out.
Dancing backward out of his reach, Iyana tried to reassess the situation.
She would never beat him in hand-to-hand combat, and the broad grin on the Alpha’s face said that he knew that as well.
Iyana hesitated for too long, and it allowed Rigil to fling a deluge of shadows at her.
They hit her directly in the chest and flung her backwards off her feet.
She hit the ground and rolled several times before coming to a stop.
Her entire body ached from the force of the hit, but she had to get up. Had to keep going.
Iyana! The panicked shout sounded both in the air and in her head. Rolling to her hands and knees, Iyana looked up to see Emmeric turning towards her to help her.
Her eyes widened, and she watched, as if time slowed solely for her to witness this, as Hadar pulled back his short sword and shoved it through Emmeric’s back. The tip of the blade emerged from the Kanaliza’s stomach, red blood dripping onto the grass.
A burning heat pierced her own chest and a maelstrom of Em’s emotions rushed through her—pain, fear, love, confusion, and disappointment.
Emmeric’s gaze met hers, and he reached towards her before his own swords clattered to the ground.
Hadar retracted his weapon with a laugh—that searing pain increased—and Emmeric crashed to his knees, then collapsed onto his side.
His eyes were still glued to hers, his hand outstretched, like he could touch her from the distance.
Red poured from his stomach and dribbled from the corner of his mouth, but all Iyana could see was the blue of his eyes growing steadily dimmer.
A primal scream ripped from her lungs. Wind whipped around her in a tempest of her own creation. He was too far, and the wound was too grievous for her to heal from there. She had put too much magic into her short battle with Rigil. Iyana needed more.
Reaching for the bond between her and her Kanaliza, she found it fading. Fraying at the edges as Emmeric’s life force dripped out of him.
No. No.
Iyana refused to lose anyone else.
The magic of the Aztia took over, and she tunneled deeper and deeper into herself until she reached the place where all she saw was red, and she could not remember her own name.