Chapter 17
They spread out, running through the trees.
The deep, large prints of the Gek’Dragar were heading in the direction of the city.
Carys kept running. She had to stop them. She couldn’t let them unleash the Blue Death.
She drew in a deep breath, and let calmness wash over her. She was resolute.
As the knightqueen, she would protect her people.
“This way,” Ashtin called.
She saw her knightmaster turn sharply right, following the tracks on the ground.
They carried on and the trees got thicker. Most had dark-green foliage, but some had needle-like purple leaves.
Then, they broke out of the trees. They stood on the edge of a large clearing. Ahead was a rocky outcrop. She saw the Gek’Dragar at the top, hiding among the boulders.
One big soldier popped up, aiming a weapon at them.
“Watch out!” Ashtin yelled.
Laser fire hit the ground nearby, and Carys rolled. As she got back to her feet, she saw Kaden and Nea duck back into the trees. Then a heavy weight hit her, knocking her off her feet.
Sten pinned her to the ground, covering her body with his. A second later, Kaden and Nea charged out of the trees, one blasting blue energy balls and the other throwing jagged red energy spikes.
“Up, Sten.” Carys elbowed him. “They need our help.”
He rolled off and helped her up.
“Stop!” a Gek’Dragar yelled from the rocks. “Or we’ll release the weapon.”
“It’s too far from the city,” Sten said. “It would dissipate and have little effect.”
“They’re stalling for time,” Ashtin said.
Kaden nodded. “Nea and I will sneak in from behind.”
“Go,” Carys said with a nod.
As the two knights pulled back, then teleported away, she turned to Sten and Ashtin. “Let’s keep the Gek’Dragar focused on us, so they don’t spot Kaden and Nea coming.”
Sten smiled. “It’ll be my pleasure.”
She turned, letting her energy coil inside her. Blue light flared on her palms. Ashtin stepped up on her left, his glowing blue sword in his hand. Sten moved to her right, his broadsword forming.
“Go,” she said.
They ran. Carys threw her energy balls, and kept up a steady rain of them. The Gek’Dragar got off a few shots, but they went wild.
Sten and Ashtin leaped into the air, jumping to the top of the outcrop.
Carys paused at the bottom, throwing more energy at a Gek’Dragar. She saw both knights swinging their swords.
Boom.
The top of the outcrop exploded in a ball of flames.
Carys was lifted off her feet, tossed into the air. She hit the ground and rolled.
Her ears were ringing. Stars. Her thudding heart echoed in her ears. Gul, had they released the Blue Death?
She scrambled to her feet. Suddenly, Nea was there, pulling her up.
“Are you all right, Carys?”
“The Blue Death?”
Nea shook her head. “Just a regular explosive. It was a trap.”
Carys’ body locked. “Sten?” She took off at a run.
“Carys!” Nea ran with her.
Sten. If she lost him…
No.
There were rocks and debris everywhere. She scrambled through it. She’d lost her parents, and it had almost destroyed her. She couldn’t lose Sten as well.
She climbed up and over the rocks.
She saw Kaden first, the sunlight glinting off the knighthunter’s blond hair. Then he shifted.
And she saw Ashtin. He was standing there, bent over, his hands pressed to his thighs. His head was bleeding.
“Sten?” Her voice was a harsh whisper. She was barely conscious of Nea standing behind her.
Ashtin looked up, his face smeared with soot and blood. “He’s okay. Kaden teleported us out…just in time. But Sten hit his head.” Ashtin gestured.
That’s when she saw Sten lying on the ground, unconscious and still.
Her heart squeezed. She raced over and dropped to her knees beside him. He had soot and dirt on his face. She pressed her hands to his chest. It wasn’t until she felt the reassuring rise and fall of that broad chest, and the steady thud of his heart, that she let out a shaky breath.
She leaned down and pressed her lips to his.
When she looked up, her three knights were looking anywhere but at her.
“Do any of you have anything to say?” she said.
“I do,” Kaden said.
Nea smacked his arm.
He shot his wife a look, then turned back to Carys. “It’s not about you and Sten. He can be obstinate at times, but you’d have to work hard to find a better man.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t what I wanted to say. The Blue Death isn’t here, Carys. It looks like one Gek’Dragar escaped.”
Her hands clenched on Sten. She wanted to stay with him until he woke, but she had to save her planet.
She touched his face. “I love you.”
Then she rose. All her emotions, everything she felt for Sten, her planet and her people, whirled inside her. All the suffering she’d seen on Ti-Lore. Everything she’d endured at the hands of the Gek’Dragar, it all fused inside her.
She reached deep, thinking about everything they’d taken from her. Her parents. Her childhood. They’d tried to kill her.
Energy pulsed inside her. It was like she could feel the heart of the planet, the heart of her people. She closed her eyes and let it build.
“Carys?” Ashtin’s tone was cautious.
She opened her eyes and heard her knights gasp. She realized that her skin was glowing gold, and her hair whipped around her face. It was glowing as well.
“Carys, your eyes are shimmering gold,” Nea said.
Energy crackled on Carys’ fingertips. It was a gold-tinged blue.
“Take care of Sten. I’ll stop the Gek’Dragar and the Blue Death.”
Sten groaned as he woke,his head throbbing. “Carys.”
“Take it easy, Sten.” Ashtin’s voice.
He blinked, pushing through the pain in his head. His chest ached as well, like he’d been stabbed with hot metal. As he sat up, the world swam.
Ashtin, Nea, and Kaden were crouched in front of him, their faces grim.
“You’re hurt,” Kaden said. “Took a hard knock to the head, and probably have a few broken ribs.”
Sten didn’t care. He pushed to his feet. Gul, it was hard work to get upright. “Where’s Carys?”
“A lone Gek’Dragar got away with the Blue Death,” Nea said. “She’s gone to stop him.”
“And you let her go alone?” Sten tried to steady himself, and when he swayed, he bit out a curse.
Ashtin grabbed his arm. “She gave us no choice.” His tone was grumpy. “She locked us in with an energy field.”
Sten blinked. He turned his head and saw a shimmer of gold around them. He reached out and touched it. It sizzled under his fingers.
“She was…different,” Ashtin said.
“She was pulling extra energy from somewhere,” Nea said. “She was glowing gold.”
Kaden nodded. “She was supercharged.”
“I don’t care if she has more power. She’s not doing this alone.” Sten couldn’t lose her. He loved her. And being the idiot he was, he still hadn’t told her.
He turned to face the energy field. “Help me break this. The four of us should be able to do it.”
All four of them pressed their hands to the energy field. Sten pushed all his frustration and fear into it, energy pouring out of him. The others added their energy, and he felt it crackle through the air, raising the hairs on the back of his neck.
A second later, the shield shattered. He watched as it dissipated.
Sten took off at a jog, racing into the trees. He heard the others following behind him.
It wasn’t long before he saw Carys’ delicate footprints. And nearby, the larger ones of the Gek’Dragar.
A wave of dizziness washed over him. He knew he was hurt, but he locked it down. He had to get to Carys. He would get to Carys.
The trees grew thicker. He smelled gnarron bark and rotting vegetation. Then he raced out of the trees and stumbled to a halt.
They were on a cliff high above the River Camlann. Across the river was Aravena. In the distance, the castle gleamed under the sunlight.
Sten swiveled. Where was Carys?
“Why did the Gek’Dragar come this way?” Kaden mused. “If he’d travelled east, he’d have a more direct route to the city.”
Sten scanned along the purple waters of the river down below. That’s when his gaze fell on a pumping station. There was a narrow, rocky path leading down to the white buildings perched on the water’s edge. Water passed through the station to be purified. He froze. “The Blue Death isn’t airborne.”
“What?” Ashtin said.
“The Blue Death. The Ti-Lore weren’t sure what the Gek’Dragar had done to it, they just suspected they’d made it airborne. But that wasn’t it, they engineered it for water.”
Ashtin frowned, then his gaze turned to the river. “Gul.”
“The Gek’Dragar wants to put the Blue Death in the river.” Which was the main water source for the entire capital city. “It will flow into the city, destroy Aravena, and all the planet’s leaders. Then it will keep flowing to the ocean and beyond.”
“Then the rest of the planet would be easy to conquer,” Nea said quietly.
Without another word, Sten whirled and headed for the path leading down to the pumping station at the water’s edge.
Hold on, Carys. I’m coming.