Chapter Eighteen
–Torsten–
WHEN SKARDE PUT a knife to Katana’s throat, I saw red.
When he put it against my unborn child, I saw the blood of my enemy.
While I was upset that in the end I would be separated from my mate and child, I relished the battle ahead, ready to end Skarde and his darkness once and for all as our blades clashed.
Ready to claim the throne, even if it were only for my weaker half, knowing Katana and our child would survive and rise to the top of our tribe, respected for all time.
There was no doubt in my mind that I would succeed even when my enemy’s fury met mine in a clash of blades that was fast and furious.
One so intense I soon realized while I’d anticipated his power, I had underestimated his skills.
Ones as superior as mine, making our war of blades more precarious by the moment.
If that weren’t alarming enough, he used his darkness in such a way I had to counter with my demi-god powers more than I would have liked, and it drained me far too quickly. So quickly I knew it was time to catch him off guard.
Time to do what I had intended all along.
So, I dropped to my knee, blocked his blade, seized his wrist, and locked eyes with him. When that happened, I knew I had him, and the darkness churning inside me met his in a battle beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
One moment, we were in the forest, and the next, I was on a battlefield I didn’t recognize, caught within a black void, thrusting my blade at Skarde, but it only ever went straight through him, never meeting its mark.
Yet I saw him there, as I knew he saw me, so I didn’t stop, refusing to give up, determined to claim the silver crown on his head.
Determined to make it mine.
“Yet ‘tis not yours nor will it ever be,” another voice I couldn’t quite make out growled. I didn't know whose voice it was, but I knew it wasn’t Skarde’s. “So be gone, dragon!”
I felt its anger at my unwillingness to give up and hand over what was rightfully mine.
“No,” I roared, feeling its fury fill me now, its inky darkness wrapping around me, pulling me away from Katana. Away from my offspring. Dragging me down. Trying to drown me. And I should let it if it meant winning.
My vision dimmed.
Everything grew darker.
Everything except the silver crown on Skarde’s head.
“No,” I growled, knowing it couldn’t stay there. It was all that stood between life and death for the Realm and for my kin. Everything that mattered most.
For all I loved.
So I used every last ounce of strength I could summon from somewhere deep inside, all I felt for everyone I meant to protect, and found the power to reach out and swipe it off his head.
Despite the horrific roar of denial that filled my mind at its being taken, I managed to thrust it aside before I was slammed back so hard, by such terrible fury, I knew I was lost to this world.
The darkness had me.
I was gone.
Falling.
Vanishing.
Or was I lifting? Rising?
“The darkness does not have you any more than it had me, my friend,” a familiar voice said. “So take my hand, feel it in yours, so I might pull you back.”
“Who are you?” I murmured, struggling to speak, unable to see anything but darkness. “How do I know you?”
“You know me because we were both where you are now,” he replied. “We battled despite not being at war with each other. Battled because we were unknowingly pitted against each other.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand, only to see Skarde holding his hand out to me in the darkness. “Take my hand, friend, and I will bring you back.”
“It’s okay, my mate,” Katana said from somewhere nearby, though I couldn’t see her. “He was used just like his brother, King Haldor, but now the darkness is gone, so take his hand.”
“No,” I whispered. “’Tis too dangerous for you...for our child.”
“Please,” she whimpered, her voice close to my ear and her hand warm on my chest. “Take his hand and come back to me. Us. Please, Torsten.”
Though I couldn’t see her face, I could make out her dragon eyes in the darkness, looking at me with such love that no darkness could replicate.
Love I could trust because it wasn't weakness but strength.
A beacon of hope.
So I reached out and took Skarde’s hand, only for the darkness to peel away as I cracked open my eyes to Katana’s.
“Hey there,” she said softly, cupping my cheek and blinking back tears. “Welcome back.”
I kept blinking, trying to acclimate myself, trying to understand what was happening, as Skarde let go of my hand and Frey and Katana helped me sit up.
“Drink,” áma urged, pressing a skin of water into my hand as I continued trying to make sense of my surroundings.
Drakkar and a slew of his warriors had their weapons aimed at Skarde, who sat back carefully as my brother’s blade came especially close, as if he were a prisoner under guard, which would make sense given Skarde’s previous behavior.
“You just dealt with a considerable amount of dark magic, so you need to drink, cousin,” áma insisted, handing another skin of water to Skarde, kinder to him than I might have expected. “You too.”
Eyeing each other curiously, if not warily, Skarde and I drank the cool water, which I appreciated because it soothed my parched throat.
“What happened?” I finally said, glad to see all were well, yet confused about how I had gotten here because it was all a bit hazy.
“The last I recall, we were flying to the Dragon Lair, then...” My gaze drifted to Katana's womb, and warmth spread through me as I remembered more, given my darker side had clearly taken over at some point. “You’re with child. We’re having a baby. ”
“We are,” she said softly, a tear rolling down her cheek. “You remember that, then?”
“I do.” I pulled her onto my lap, needing her and my unborn child close, knowing they were safe even as I didn’t entirely understand why. “Yet I know ‘twas not me you were with after we arrived at the Dragon Lair, was it?”
“No,” she said gently, her dragon brushing against mine and catching me up, as only dragons could. “It was not.” There was no missing the sorrow in her eyes when she looked at me now. “Is your darker side gone, Torsten?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, yet I felt different. “I feel...” I shook my head, struggling to find the right words. “Complete in a way I’ve never felt before...less conflicted. More certain I am on the right path now more than ever before.”
When Katana looked to áma, as if she might know what that meant, my cousin only shook her head.
“’Tis impossible to know what happened to Torsten’s darker half, other than to say he feels different to me now, too.
” Her warm gaze settled on me. “As if he found love and a sense of peace that pleased both sides of him.”
“I do recall feeling peace within the darkness,” I admitted, looking at Katana with all the love I felt for her before turning my attention to Skarde, agreeing with áma that he was no threat. Not anymore.
And now that he, we, were free of the darkness, I could back that up.
“We have met before, have we not?” I said to him, seeing him clearly enough now the darkness had lifted.
“Did we not train together in our youth?
‘Twas a time when humans and dragons were beginning to learn to fight alongside each other, and I took you under my wing, so to speak, because you were smaller than most.” I eyed him over, impressed.
“Though I can see you have grown some since then, friend.”
Skarde eyed me for a moment before recognition flared in his eyes, and the corner of his mouth shot up.
“I seem to remember me taking you to task on how to wield a blade properly, but ja, I recall you now, and ‘tis safe to say you know how to wield a blade just fine.” He winked, finding levity despite all we’d faced.
“But then, you had a good trainer, even if I am only human.”
“And a warlock,” Drakkar grunted, not about to let us forget that.
“Yet like my brother, not an evil one,” Skarde returned, speaking the truth.
“We were well matched,” I granted, speaking to Skarde about our youthful battles, seeing no sign of the enemy within him.
If anything, I saw a worthy ally who could fight every bit as well as I, and I made that clear to all.
“And now here we are, having faced darkness itself and survived yet without a crown, it seems.”
“Because the crown is no longer a crown,” áma said softly, her gaze trained on Drakkar, and with good reason, as even he seemed stunned by the axe that suddenly appeared in his hand.
“Nor does it seem fueled by darkness now.” Her gaze lifted to Drakkar’s eyes as if she searched for something in him.
“Hopefully that will not change as time goes on.”
While I understood Drakkar now faced his role in the prophecy, I wondered at the strange, if not uneasy, way áma looked at him.
Before I could address it, she spoke to all in an authoritative tone, which, when combined with the golden flare of her aura, demanded respect and obedience.
I couldn't help but notice Skarde seemed in awe of her, too, or was it a little something more?
“The Leige and his mate, my sister Marjorie, thank you for defeating great evil this day,” áma said, clearly communicating telepathically with them.
“They want everyone but their kin to return to the Dragon Lair. The rest are to go to the Realm so we might discuss what comes next.” Her gaze went to Skarde. “You as well, proxy king.”
“To the...Realm?” he said tentatively, shaking his head. “I’m not so sure if—”
But it was too late. áma’s immense powers were clear when she touched the nearest tree and chanted under her breath. A moment later, everyone, including Taro and Skarde, were standing beneath another Ygdrassil on a cliff overlooking the Realm, yet not the Realm itself.
“Come with me,” she said as a light, mystical fog caught in the dying sun swirled around us as we headed down a winding, root-covered path, but not before her gaze went to Skarde. “The Leige awaits us all. Even you.” She shook her head. “No harm will come to you as long as you stay close to us.”
Even though there was no darkness attached to him now, I knew something wasn’t quite right, and sensed what that might be, explaining why we were not brought to the Realm. After all, where had the darkness gone? Had my darker side defeated it when he sacrificed himself?
Or was it hidden somewhere, or within someone else, yet again in plain sight?
The very question Blaze addressed soon after we gathered around a small fire in a cave overlooking the frothing ocean bathed in a brilliant sunset, making the Ygdrassil ignite like pure gold in the distance.
After introductions were made, I couldn’t help but notice Frey and Taro still stayed close to one another.
He’d saved her from Skarde, allowing her time to escape and seek help, and had been willing to die not just for her but for all of us.
Blaze welcomed everyone more robustly than usual, clearly happy to see us alive and well, but more than anything, he was proud of what we had accomplished.
He grasped my arm, hand to elbow, and looked me dead in the eyes, truly impressed.
“Especially you, brother. Yours was a true sacrifice. A selfless act of courage that does our people proud.”
Yet where did the darkness I had so valiantly fought off go, Blaze wondered aloud, after he and Marjorie congratulated us on our unborn offspring and everyone discussed what had happened since we left the Realm.
Not just that, but how we should proceed now that Drakkar possessed the Viking blade-turned-axe.
“Wherever the darkness went, one thing seems certain at this point,” Marjorie replied as we all enjoyed an ale outside of my mate, who chose water, claiming it was better for our babe. “This is the darkness spoken of at the root of the prophecy determined to ruin the Realm.”
“Darkness that is very likely created and controlled by something or someone else,” áma enlightened. “Someone who means us a great deal of harm.” She gestured at Skarde. “Enough that rumors are spreading that it could be a dragon within our own ranks.”
“And that darkness touched many of us in the final battle,” Drakkar said, as he understood why Blaze and Marjorie were being especially cautious by keeping us outside the Realm. “But none as much as áma and me.”
“And me,” Katana said, but áma shook her head. “No, you were pulled away from the darkness when Torsten broke free.” She looked from Taro to Skarde. “As were you two. Skarde we witnessed firsthand, and Taro was not close enough to be touched by the darkness when it fled.”
“So after everything we just faced, there’s already another enemy among us,” I grumbled, displeased, given what I’d sacrificed, startled by my thoughts, considering I was defending my darker side. But, in truth, he had impressed me.
More so, he no longer seemed like my enemy.
“Ja, our enemy could very well already be among us,” Blaze conceded, looking at me with pride and encouragement. “Yet things would be worse if you and your mate didn’t take all the right steps within the prophecy, showing courage when ‘twas needed and protecting the Realm.”
“He’s right,” Marjorie echoed, just as proud, making us realize just how far we had come, no matter if it felt like we’d taken a few steps back.
“Had you all not gotten us this far, things might be looking very different right now.” She glanced from the Realm back to us.
“We could be looking at the complete destruction of the Keep, Realm, and all those who call it home.”
“So what now?” I wondered, shaking my head. “When so few of us can be trusted to carry out the prophecy?”
“We work together, even if ‘tis from afar.” Blaze looked at Skarde. “Assuming you are as eager to keep peace betwixt a kingdom you do not recall inheriting and my Realm? I would hope you are willing to do whatever it takes to avenge your brother’s death and keep your people, and mine, safe?”
“I am,” Skarde said without hesitation, nodding once. “Just tell me what you need, and I will do my best to see it through.”
So Blaze did, and by the time we all parted ways, we had a plan.
One that would either ultimately save everyone we cared about and ensure a future for those who came after us, or not.
Something Katana echoed later, when we were alone in my, or better still, our chamber near the top of the Keep, after I asked her something I had been waiting to ask her for too many dreams to count.