47. Blood Against Blood
Blood Against Blood
Kaiden
The walls of his home cleaved like great cracks deep within a mountain. Cahira ran beside him. The north wing was enclosed in darkness, the source of Ukoron and their father’s joining power. His heart beat with the exertion. The fight of his life was behind the doors they neared.
“We do this together.” Kaiden neared the door, nodding at Cahira.
“Together,” she repeated.
They pushed on the doors and stopped in their tracks.
Power like he’d never felt before shoved against his body.
His fire grew cold within his ring, hiding from the dark magic.
The king stood enwrapped in shadows, jerking and yelling as Ukoron entered his body.
Their father’s mouth gaped open. Ukoron’s power was in a form like midnight swirls of pure magic, pushing its way down the king’s throat, pouring into his ears, and creeping into the corners of his eyes.
Fire as hot as white sparks merged with the shadows of chaos.
“Stop.” Cahira pulled from her magic, hurtling a shot of fire at their father.
A whip of power encrusted in flames shot at them. The binding was almost at an end if their father could fight back.
“Father, don’t.” He ran toward the king.
“Enough!” An unnatural roar erupted from their father. His voice was warped with pain and power, mixing with the god of chaos himself.
Kaiden’s body twisted as he was thrown backward and his head cracked against the stone wall.
Ukoron’s magic reached his ankle like a python's grip, twisting and yanking him toward the king — Ukoron.
Kaiden dug his fingers into the floor but to no avail.
His bleeding fingernails scraped across the stone.
His head spun to the left when Cahira’s screams pierced the air.
She thrashed on the ground, flailing her arms in panic.
Whips of power licked her skin, singing, and wrapping her in chaos.
Foam spilled from the corner of her lips, and blood dripped down the crest of her forehead.
The phantom hand around his ankle was replaced by familiar burning fingers which jerked him upright and face-to-face with his father.
The king’s blue gaze darkened to black soulless eyes. A sinister smile slithered across his face, drunk with power.
“What did I do to render such hatred from my own children?” The king flipped his hand and Kaiden crashed to the floor.
A debilitating pressure crept into his very bones and ground him into the cold stone.
“Have I not given you everything you could possibly want? Have I not given you an entire realm to govern? To rule? The Valencia legacy will be the most magnificent line any generation shall ever know. I have given you the keys to the continent and yet you betray me?”
“You’re a monster.” Cahira screamed, racing with her sword held high. She blasted a few bolts of fire at his head but he nimbly dodged them. With a wave of his hand he sent a lash of power around her neck and lifted her off her feet.
“The gods want to live among the mortals. And only then can we ever expect to thrive. Only when we are united will we find the peace and prosperity we seek.” The king brought Cahira closer, as if it would make her understand the reasoning behind his actions.
Cahira choked on her laugh, grasping at the dark tendrils of shadows but her hand only went through the wisps holding her.
“You’re wrong,” Kaiden gritted out. “The gods will destroy us all.”
The king’s laugh was not his own. “No,” He raised his hand and Kaiden was sent careening into the wall behind him. “The gods will destroy you.”
Every bone in his body felt as if it had been broken. His muscles ached and his right eye began to swell shut.
Get up. Get up. Get up!
His magic seemed to scream at him. Kaiden rolled to his side, gasping for air.
Nausea washed over him and he forced the bile down.
He would pass out any minute. Only Cahira’s wheezes of help brought him back to the present.
He pushed off his forearms and dragged himself up the wall to a standing position.
“Father, this won’t end well,” he pleaded.
His father cocked his head, the only human attribute left of him. The man standing in front of him resembled his father, but the lifeless eyes swirling with magic and darkness, controlling his body, were that of a god.
“For you.” Ukoron’s voice crept from his father’s lips in a hiss of venom.
It was ancient and timeless, deadly but alluring.
It chilled Kaiden to his very core. “It is a shame, descendant of Morana, I’ve had my eye on you for quite some time.
Your magic, your blood …” Ukoron ran his tongue across his teeth as if tasting something.
“It sings to me. Just like your father’s, just like your sister.
” Ukoron turned his attention to Cahira who was on the verge of losing consciousness.
Kaiden’s heart beat. Not Cahira.
“You’ve chosen the wrong family to corrupt,” Kaiden growled.
He called on every bit of his magic until he felt as if his skin would melt and unleashed his pain and every beating his father ever inflicted. Ukoron dropped Cahira who gulped air into her lungs, crawling backward.
Kaiden didn’t blink as he lashed out. He sent slices of pure fire toward Ukoron’s head.
Ukoron spun. Blackness blinking out the fire like water.
Again and again Kaiden lunged. He swung. Dove. Spun. Shot. Clashed. Charged. Raged.
But to no avail.
Don’t give up, his magic whispered feebly.
It sounded more of a pant, or perhaps it was his own lungs giving out. It was hard to tell. It was hard to do anything.
Ukoron let a breezy chuckle into the air.
After all Kaiden’s efforts, it hadn’t even fazed the god.
Cahira lay panting on the floor.
If she had been fighting with him, he wouldn't have even noticed. Ukoron held his hand behind his back. Regal and not a single strand of hair out of place. Kaiden’s hatred brimmed over the edge, making his vision a blurry red.
No, it wasn’t his anger. A single tear bubbled at the rim of his eyelids, coating his eyes and trickling down his cheek.
“What’s happening?” he muttered.
He swiped at his cheek, smearing blood. Panic rose within him even as his heart slowed to an unnatural beat. Kaiden latched onto Ukoron’s taunting gaze; he was slowing his heartbeat.
“These were to be the future of Arkan?” Ukoron laughed, bitter and cold. It was as if he was privy to a private council with their father who was now entrapped in his own mind as the god overtook his body. “Disgusting.”
Kaiden’s vision swam and he swayed on his feet.
“Kaiden.” Cahira’s shouts of worry were muffled and distant. “Father, please stop.”
“Your father is gone,” Ukoron said quietly.
Kaiden wheezed and fell to his knees with the lack of oxygen to his organs.
Cahira was speaking but no words sounded.
The cold scrape of stone scratched into his face as he toppled over.
He could only watch through a bloody haze as Cahira stepped forward.
Her mouth still moved but he only heard the slow beat of his dying heart pounding in his ears.
Ukoron smiled at what Cahira said, nodding his head.
He snapped his fingers and vanished; with his disappearance came the return of Kaiden’s normal heartbeat.
“What did you do?” Kaiden gasped.
“I saved your life,” Cahira whispered, watching him struggle to stand.
Kaiden pushed against the floor in anger. He was exhausted and his magic was scraping against the bottom of his core, scavenging for any amount of power left.
“How?” He shoved his shoulder against the wall. Pain erupted down his arm and he cursed darkly. “What did you say?” A lump formed in his throat as his tongue turned to lead. He was going to vomit.
A sharp whistle rang through the hallway as Fintan ran toward them.
“Where is he?” Fintan growled, tears stained his dust-covered face. It mixed with blood which trickled from a wound Kaiden could not find.
“We barely hurt him,” Kaiden whispered under his breath. “He laid waste to our entire childhood home, and we barely touched him.” Kaiden glanced at Cahira.
She leaned heavily on her right leg, staring at the floor and holding her side. She grimaced and lifted her hand. Fresh blood smeared her palm.
Kaiden sucked in a breath. If they didn’t get her help she wouldn’t be conscious for much longer.
“What happened?” Fintan panted as he drew near.
The silence engulfed them all as they looked between each other.
“We couldn’t stop him,” Cahira mumbled between a split and swollen lip.
Kaiden looked at Fintan’s haunted face. His brows were set in a permanent scowl. His face was bruised and bloody. He favored his leg, as he limped closer.
“Where’d he go?” Fintan pushed past Kaiden, running his hands across the walls.
Cahira shook her head.
Kaiden ran his hand through his hair, his magic no longer swirled or glowed. A dark red with a dying light flickered in his ring. He was close to exhausting his magic, like his father probably planned.
“Help me look.” Fintan’s voice reached hysteria. “He doesn’t just disappear.”
“Fintan,” Kaiden looked away. “We need to find the others —”
“No!” Fintan’s shout echoed off the walls.
Cahira and Kaiden glanced at each other. They had already accepted their defeat and Fintan had no idea what they had seen or how far gone the king was.
“This bastard does not get to win,” Fintan growled.
Cahira stepped forward with a wince. She wrapped her arms around Fintan’s neck, pulling him down and forcing his hands away from the wall. A sob racked her body as she began to cry. A cry that broke Kaiden into a million pieces.
Kaiden scowled as he straightened to his full height. “What did you give him, Cahira?”
“Kaiden,” Cahira whispered softly.
He stepped forward. “What —” Dread pulled at his heart, making his knees weak. “—did you give him?”
Cahira winced but raised her chin. “I gave him Aradia. I told him she was here, within the palace.” Her voice was flat and lifeless.
Heat formed between them as his magic enlightened with his horror. “You did what?”
Cahira’s eyes, once sky blue, now reflected his own dark hue. “It was the only way to save you.”
“How could you do this?” He lunged without realizing and gripped Cahira’s shoulders with a shake.
“Get off her.” Fintan pushed him backward and stepped in between them. His own shocked gaze glanced behind him at Cahira.
Rage like Kaiden had never felt before welled up within him, turning his eyes black and his blood boiling. One thought encompassed his mind, his soul, his very being — death.
“We need to find her now.” His voice sounded disgustingly familiar to his father when he delivered a death order.
“She was heading to the catacombs when I last saw her and Rhydar,” Fintan said.
Cahira breathed a slight sigh of relief. “Rhydar is with her?”
Fintan grimaced. “I don’t know.”
“What if she’s made it out?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kaiden spat out. “You told that monster she was here in Arkan. He won’t rest until he’s found her.” Kaiden turned to leave the room, but an earth-shaking crack split the floor, forcing him backward and into Fintan. “Right,” he cursed.
The gods-damned castle was coming down around him.
“Follow me, there’s a secret tunnel to the catacombs through these rooms.” Cahira ran to the wall farthest behind them. Her hands searched for the secret passageway.
Kaiden and Fintan joined her until Fintan’s breath hitched and his hand shifted into the wall. The stone groaned and rolled to the side. The instant smell of moist soil filled the air and Kaiden lurched forward clearing the cobwebs.
“This leads all the way down to the catacombs?” Kaiden squinted into the dark.
Cahira formed a ball of fire to light the passageway ahead of them. “Yes.”
Let’s go,” Fintan took to the stairs in a slow limp.
Cahira’s hand shot out, stopping Kaiden. “Listen, I know you’re in love with Aradia.”
What the depths?
“I don’t need this right now,” Kaiden muttered, ripping his arm away from her.
“What you need to do is have more faith in Aradia and her power. She’s never once been some doe-eyed girl who can’t defend herself. She’s survived horrors long before you entered her life and trust me when I say she’ll continue to do so with or without you.”
“You know nothing of what’s in her future.”
“And you do?”
“Yes.” Kaiden’s shouts filled the passageway, stopping Fintan as he glanced behind him. “Yes, I do and you giving her to Ukoron only confirmed it.”
Cahira froze. “To save your life …”
“Forget my life.”
“You are my brother,” Cahira snapped. “If I had to sacrifice myself too I would have because that is what we do, that is who we are. We’re family first — always.” Her voice cracked.
“Our family” — Kaiden leaned closer, hoping his words weren’t falling on deaf ears — “has never just been you and me. It’s Fintan, Rhydar, Jasper. It’s Aradia. They are who we protect with our lives.”
Cahira nodded. A sad smile which didn’t reach her eyes lifted like she held a secret only she knew.
“Let’s go,” she whispered.
Kaiden followed and as the stone rolled shut behind him, he sent a quick prayer up.
Please, Morana, help me find her before him.