29. Ava #2
A thing too great to be defeated. Too massive to be contained. Too deadly to be survived.
Ava’s hopes shriveled within her. Suddenly, she felt so very small. One small creature in a massive forest of shadows. A blip on the map of Rhuin with all its great rivers, mountains, and deserts. A speck in a wide, wide universe.
She wasn’t ready for war, not like this.
She’d never been ready. Those long days when she and Persis and their friend Omarie fled through the Shadewood, chased by Talos and his hounds? She hadn’t been ready then.
When Talos dragged her through the darkness, intending to use her as a tool before he sliced her throat and tossed her to the side? She hadn’t been ready then.
And now that they faced this nightmarish creature that attacked helpless girls and children, that went after the weak and vulnerable, those who should be protected, who should run free through the trees, laughing in the sunlight… She still wasn’t ready.
But if she lost her nerve now, all would be lost.
Finnr and Siri and Roar. Brynja and Ylsi. Prince Haryk.
And Jerrid.
All her new friends. If she quailed now, they would all die in this forest. Devoured by something that had no soul. Something that ate other souls.
And now it was coming for them.
For her.
A tentacle lashed out and caught around her ankle, ripping her off balance. She fell backwards, rolling onto her stomach and grunting as she clawed at the soft ground, grass and dirt embedding beneath her fingernails.
Then the earth fell away, and she soared into the air, high above the ground, which spun in a wild circle beneath her. Nausea surged, and she tried to bend at the waist to reach her ankle.
But the shadow shook her hard, snapping her like a flag in the wind.
Pain lanced up her spine, and darkness exploded behind her eyes. But it melted away, replaced by spangles of skull-pounding stars. Then the grip around her leg released. She plummeted toward the abyss below and squeezed her eyes shut, a scream caught in her throat.
But then something slammed into her, sweeping her up and away from the ground mere inches from her face. The shadow had a hold of her wrist and was swinging her in a wide arc—
But no. Those were fingers around her wrist bones.
Her eyes snapped open, and she briefly glimpsed dragon scales and light-colored hair spinning with her. She twisted as she swung and tried to reach for the hand hanging on to her wrist. But they were out of control, flailing up and over and back toward the ground below.
“Dragon!” she screamed, knowing they would hit the ground with shattering force at any second.
Pain exploded in her back, a combination of violent itching and painful burning. Then she hit the ground so hard it drove the breath from her lungs. Jerrid landed on top of her, and they skidded across the ground.
No, they skidded through the ground.
The force of the impact was so strong that they had sunk into the earth and were carving a path through the soft soil and molding leaves. The burning intensified all along her spine as they skidded to a halt on the far side of the clearing.
Jerrid groaned and flopped to one side, his arm draped across her stomach. She blinked furiously as she tried to clear her spotty vision and make sense of where her limbs were.
“Are you okay?” he rasped.
Everything hurt. But surprisingly, she wasn’t dead or broken. At least she didn’t feel broken.
“I think so.” She licked her dry lips and lifted her head with a groan, her neck creaking in protest.
Everything in her spine continued to crack and pop as she curled into a seated position. She reached a trembling hand behind her head and pressed her dirt-caked fingers against the warm, firm scales coating her neck and shoulders.
And judging by the way her body was talking to her, those scales ran all the way down her back.
An explosion of blue magic wrenched her back to the battle at hand. She scrambled to her feet, Dragon sending her a surge of energy. It zinged through her veins and gave strength to her wobbly legs and aching arms.
Across the clearing, beyond the swath of torn-up soil she and Jerrid had left in their wake, Prince Haryk continued to fight the monster. He hurled explosion after explosion, spinning and ducking to avoid the lashing shadow arms.
Ava moved toward him without thinking.
She sprinted across the uneven ground as she tried to form another magical blast of her own, a magical fireball born of elf and dragon magic.
Jerrid shouted something behind her, but she ignored him and spurred her legs to move faster.
One of Haryk’s blasts missed the shadow by several yards and smashed into the trees beyond, setting them on fire and shredding through massive limbs. She didn’t like the way Prince Haryk’s blasts were growing larger and more uncontrollable.
If she didn’t help him—
Her thought broke off as the shadow smashed a writhing tentacle across the prince’s chest, hurling him backwards.
He landed in a crouch, skidding across the ground with one arm held wide and the other held in front of him for balance.
He bared his teeth and launched forward again just as Ava drew closer.
She sprinted to catch up.
The blind prince of Gelaira flung himself at the shadow, his body rippling with molten blue magic. A scream of warning rose to her throat, but it was too late. Prince Haryk exploded into a magical inferno, fiery blue wings lancing from his back, his body transforming into a horrific blue bird.
The phoenix.
“Prince Haryk, no!” she screamed, but he ignored her as he collided with his nightmare.
They rolled and tumbled through the air, exchanging blows of shadow magic and fire magic. The night sky had never been so bright, lit by the uncontrollable heat of Prince Haryk’s magic.
Jerrid caught her arm. “Stay back. You can’t help him now.”
She tried to shake him free. “You don’t understand. He can’t control that. He isn’t like you. The power of the phoenix is beyond anything this world has known. If he doesn’t pull back now, he won’t be able to. Ever.”
He grabbed her other elbow and yanked her closer. “Then let him. Maybe this is his purpose. It’s his duty to protect this land.”
“No!” She bared her teeth at him. “You don’t understand. If he fully embraces his phoenix, he’ll take us all with him. The phoenix is a Kingdom Killer, Jerrid. He can’t fight his nightmare this way because it will end up destroying him and everyone he is fighting to protect. He’s lost control.”
Jerrid’s face lost what little color it had left, his eyes darkening as he stared at the dark elf prince above their heads, fighting a battle he couldn’t possibly win.
Even if he defeated the monster, how would he come back without Persis?
They had left her far behind in Eroth, where she couldn’t help bring him back this time.
He was on his own.
And once again, Ava was powerless to help her prince.
“We have to help him!” she shouted over the roar of fire and the chilling shrieks of the nightmare. “Jerrid, there has to be something we can do!”
His grip on her elbows tightened as he pulled his horrified gaze away from the devastation they had unleashed by bringing the prince back to fight this thing again. “If we interfere, we’ll just get ourselves killed. Neither of us is equipped to stand up to those two monsters.”
“Prince Haryk isn’t a monster! He’s just out of control—”
“Ava!” He tugged her closer, his facing leaning close to hers. “This is the thing you have never understood about monsters. The thing I have been trying to explain to you all along.”
Angry tears pricked at her eyes, and she avoided looking at him, unwilling to admit that anything he said might be right or true.
“Monsters may look like men—and like elves—but the darkness inside isn’t something you can change.” He released her right arm and caught her chin in his rough hand, forcing her to tilt her head upward and meet his gaze. “You can’t fix us. You can’t control us. You just need to run away.”
She blinked furiously, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye. “I won’t. I can’t! It’s my fault he’s here. I can fix him. I can fix you—”
Jerrid yanked her closer, his eyes blazing with a surge of dragon fire. “You can’t fix me!”
Ava’s blood thundered in her veins, a pulse ticking in her temple. “You’re right. I can’t fix you because you aren’t really broken. You’re just confused about what really makes a monster.”
“I’m not—”
A shudder rippled through Ava’s body, so fiercely that it hurt right down to her bones.
Would you two stop? Dragon roared. The real monster is out there!
Ava’s gaze slid past Jerrid’s shoulder to the battle behind them, a battle raging hotter by the moment. He was right. What were they thinking? They were standing around arguing the semantics of dragons versus phoenixes versus nightmare creatures from who knows where?
She yanked free of Jerrid’s hold and tried to dart around him, but he caught her around the waist and swung her away from the battle, away from the danger…
And away from the prince spiraling into an inferno of madness.