Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Kane
I’m going to kill her.
Rip her apart with my bare hands.
I lay on the ground, staring up at the sky, the metal clang of war at my doorstep. Unable to move or yell or do anything but stay here and wait.
How could I have been such a fool?
Her mouth had tasted of wine and warmth, something I hadn’t allowed myself since I’d returned from the Dryad Realm so long ago. For a moment, I believed there could be more between Deirdre and me than pain.
Then she’d poisoned me.
Gideon… I suspected as much from him, but what had he promised her in return?
Anyone who saw her face would know who she was, and now with the rune on her arm, there was no escape for her.
Not only would I be looking for her, but so would the Lich King, and we still didn't know what he wanted with her, but it wasn't good.
Even if he promised her a way to escape her fate, he’d never be able to fulfill that promise.
My arms tingled faintly, numbness slowly receding, but at too slow a rate.
Breathing in and out, the only thing I could do was wait.
I knew it wouldn't be long and as soon as it was gone, I was going in after them. I didn't care how much time had passed. I would find them both.
Gideon would suffer the most. I wouldn’t kill him outright, and his family would be exiled, all lands and titles removed. The entire line wiped out if I could.
And Deirdre…
A slow tingle started in my hands.
Yes, I wanted to kill her, but I didn’t want to prove Gideon right.
I’d have to find another way to pay her back for this betrayal…
for… my mind wandered to that kiss. A very real, intimate moment.
She was either very good at acting or… No, I refused to believe she actually wanted me.
This had all been part of the plan. Revenge for what I had done to her.
Another tingle in my finger; the prickling sensation traveled up my hands.
Focusing on my thumb, I moved it, then my pinky.
Yet, she didn’t want to leave. I heard the conflict in her voice.
What would I have done if she stayed? If she took the risk of my wrath to stay and save my home? If she had done that, maybe I could have forgiven her, but she didn’t.
She chose to leave with him.
The muscles in my arms twitched and I could lift them slightly off the ground.
Slowly, the feeling returned, the fogginess in my head clearing. Between my immortality and my dragon heritage, not much could keep me incapacitated for long.
Forcing myself up, I sat, moving my arms, my hands, forcing the feeling back into my body.
Shadows fluttered at my fingertips, not fully solid.
I got to one knee and my vision blinked in and out, tumbling around me.
I rested my arm on my knee, breathing in deeply.
Come on, get it together. You need to go after them before too much time passes.
My knees buckled twice before I could stand. I put my hand on the tree, speaking the phrase to enter. The bark shifted underneath my palm, warming from my touch, and I pressed in.
“Kane!” Olivia's scream breached through the door.
I looked up, knowing she couldn't get in here.
The bells chimed.
We’re under attack.
Everything had been foggy, my mind still in a daze.
Realization came in that I had a choice to make. I looked at the lilac tree, my hand halfway in.
Anna screamed and I knew what I had to do.
I pulled out of the tree and ran up the steps, stumbling as I reached the first one.
My breaths came heavy, the remnants of whatever Deirdre poisoned me with still lingering. My stomach turned at the thought. I had wanted her. Her mouth… her body.
But it was all poison. She was poison.
Using the railing, I walked up the steps and placed my hand on the wall, opening the door.
A zombie lashed out at the pixies, its decrepit hands swatting in the air.
I called my shadows to my palms; the blades materialized within seconds, and I shoved the blade up the zombie’s chin, making sure it protruded out the top, killing it instantly.
It fell to the ground in a heap, its white eyes gazing at the stone ceiling.
The sudden adrenaline burst made my head swim with dizziness.
“How many are in the castle?” I asked, leaning against the nearby wall, trying to get my bearings.
“Too many.” Olivia flew by my face, her wings beating rapidly.
The flames in the sconces on the walls flickered as a loud crash sounded below us.
“It's good to have you back,” I said, panting. “Where’s Ella?”
“I'm here!” Ella flew over, the tiny pixie strapped to her chest.
“This is no place for the little one. Go let the raptors out. We'll need everyone to fight.”
Ella nodded and flew off.
“Where’s the queen?” Anna asked.
“The queen is gone.”
“Has she been taken?”
“She left.”
Olivia and Anna exchanged a glance, both of them hovering over me like mother hens.
“Now is not the time to discuss this. I need to get to the control room and raise the castle. How many are inside?”
I took off down the corridor, my pixies following me.
Fatigue strained my muscles. Running felt like wading through mud.
“We're not sure,” Anna said. “Acaden is down there with the blade dancers. There are tons throughout the castle. They were searching for the queen. If you activate the defense system, they'll be trapped in here with us.”
“That's a risk we will have to take.”
We turned the corner, heading toward the back western staircase.
A throng of undead trampled up the stairs.
These were much different from the skeleton knights I had fought back in the human settlement.
These festering zombies emitted a plague with every step they took.
Green gas wafted off their decrepit skin, and maggots and other insects crawled across their bodies.
Milky eyes gazed at us with hunger, their unnatural groans a reminder of what the Lich King thought of life. His twisted minions were a tainted affliction on our lands, and now they were here, in my home.
Taking a step forward, I called the shadows to my hands and my vision blinked out. I wobbled and fell against the wall to steady myself and missed, stumbling forward.
“What’s the matter with you?” Olivia flew to my side, hovering around my face.
“Poison.”
Olivia’s eyes darkened. “Don't you worry. I'll handle this.”
She flew forward and gripped the gray pouch on her belt, facing the horde. Taking a handful of gray dust out of her pouch, she zoomed at the zombies, blowing the magical flakes over them.
Each zombie froze where they stood, their flesh turning to stone. Others reached and scrambled, trying to attack her, but they were no match for my feisty pixie, who moved so quickly that all you could see were swirls of dust.
As she reached the end of the small hoard, she clapped her hands. “That's it. That is all the bone dust I have.”
Another zombie turned the corner, appearing right behind Olivia.
“Olivia!” I screamed, dashing forward and swaying.
The creature grabbed her faster than it should have been able to move. Anna screamed next to me, and I roared, my vision blinking out.
Groans and more howls followed. Gripping the calcified zombie next to me, I shoved forward, my muscles straining with every movement, sweat sliding down my face.
More undead came.
“Olivia!” I couldn’t see her, couldn’t hear her… my mouth watered, and I vomited, expelling more poison.
A loud shout came from behind the zombies, and a massive morning star bashed into two of their skulls. “There will be no pixie meals today!”
Nustul.
I had never been happier to see a dwarf.
Dressed in silver half-plate armor, my stout guest rammed his weapon into any head he could see, roaring with laughter with each swing. Blood splattered across his garb and his ginger beard.
“You all right there, Your Majesty?” he asked while spinning left, smashing the last zombie’s skull.
“I will be, and Olivia?”
The dark-haired pixie flew up and kissed the dwarf on the cheek. “I am thanks to our brave guest.”
Nustul’s face reddened. “Now don’t you be going and getting any of that sparkling pixie dust on me.”
Her gaze shifted to me as I clutched the stone wall for support.
Closing her eyes, she whispered ancient words only known to pixies. Glittering dust spiraled around her, cycling as she elongated, stretching to a full five feet.
Her chest rose and fell as the dust settled.
“Well, that ain’t something you see every day,” Nustul said, propping his morning star on his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Transforming cost them immense strength and I’d only seen Olivia do it once.
“Helping you. We need to get to the control room.” She bent over and slung my arm across her shoulders.
“You three go. I’m making my way through the halls. Those blade dancers of yours are handling the ground floor.” Nustul wiped his long beard onto one of the undead statues.
“Thank you,” I said, leaning on Olivia.
“Here,” Anna said, going near a tapestry. “This passageway should take us right there.”
Anna lifted the tapestry, and we followed her into the corridor, Olivia holding me steady. Anna took a wand off her belt and lit it. The tiny light provided just enough guidance to navigate the stony corridor. Sweat beaded my brow, sliding down my neck. I paused, a gurgling in my stomach.
Not again…
Grabbing the wall to hold myself, I vomited. Olivia grabbed my hair out of my face just like she did anytime I was sick, which hadn’t been very often. It seemed today was a day of many things.
My pixies wouldn’t prod, not now, but after, when the castle was safe and the twisted had been dealt with, they would want to know the truth, but I was too angry and embarrassed to tell them, to tell anyone.
I tried not to think about what happened in the royal courtyard. Based on time, a day would have passed by now. Even if I went into the Dryad Realm and chased them, how many days would have already passed there?
What gem were they talking about? And why did they need my blood?
Wiping my mouth, I stood, not wanting to slow down.
We kept moving, my focus on making it to the control room.
“Here,” Anna said, and we paused by a hook lantern.
I put my ear against the stone, the same distant racket sounding farther away. I nodded, and Anna opened the passage. Looking down the hallway, it was clear. Reaching the control room, I pressed the rune entry button. The symbol glowed, gaining me access, and we went inside.
I had never enacted the defense system. Not in the years I had been ruling. Once activated, the magical golems that the castle rested on would rise.
A magical barrier would create a dome over the castle, only allowing someone with a royal rune to enter or exit.
My father had shown me this room once when I was young, explaining the importance and how to activate it, but to only do so when there was no other option.
Olivia helped me to the controls, then transformed back into her normal form, moving to huddle near Anna.
“Once I do this,” I said, “we kill whatever's in here, one by one. Whatever it takes to secure our home.”
“What about the villagers?” Anna asked, always concerned with our people’s safety.
“We don't know what's happened outside.”
“They were searching for the queen,” Olivia said. “If we tell them she's not here, maybe they'll go away.”
“I don't know. But we have no other choice.”
Staring at all the gears and lights on the dashboard, I looked out the window that showcased the golems and the outlines of their shoulders. When I pressed my hand onto the panel, the dashboard lit up. The rune on my hand pulsed, matching the erratic rhythm of my heart.
The entire castle trembled as the ancient mechanism activated. Far below, stone cracked, and the groan of titanic limbs echoed up through the walls like the grinding of mountains.
From deep beneath the earth, the golems stirred, two colossal constructs of moss-covered obsidian and rune-etched stone. With powerful movements, they rose from their slumber, unfurling like ancient gods reclaiming their dominion.
The castle heaved upward, lifted atop their broad shoulders. Dust cascaded from the rafters, and the stone floor rippled with vibrations as the golems straightened to full height. Their glowing eyes pulsed with magic, synchronized with the rhythm of the castle's heart.
A low hum filled the control room, building into a resonant thrum that vibrated through the air.
Outside, a veil of light shimmered into existence, first a ripple, then a dome.
The protective barrier surged outward from the castle’s peak, stretching over towers and battlements until a translucent globe of magic cocooned the entire keep.
Nothing would get in now. And, unless permitted, nothing would get out.
I stepped back from the control panel, turning to my pixies, who looked at me, their wide eyes full of fear.
Anna started crying, and even Olivia’s eyes watered. The two sisters held each other, sitting on the top of the control panel.
“We can fight these monsters. We’re going to be fine. I’m immortal, remember?”
Anna shook her head and rested it against Olivia’s shoulder, crying.
“The last time the defense system was activated was the day your mother left us,” Olivia said, a single tear sliding down her cheek. “That horrible night when everything changed.”
A strange fear constricted my chest, but I wouldn’t succumb to it. “It doesn't matter what happened on that day because I survived. This is not how our story ends. I refuse to let that happen.”
I gently scooped them into my hands and carefully brought them to my chest. “I promise you everyone involved in this attack will pay.”
Including my wife.