Chapter 12
Aiden
it’s tricky and witty, it jeers and lies,
it’s bark as bad as its bite.
So, Kaed lives after all. The King’s trust in his survival over the last year, and his strategies to escape from the rebels’ prison was not misplaced.
And he retrieved the Princess too. But how?
My lip curls as my nose almost touches the pane of my mother’s old window, where I have been ordered to remain for safety.
The battlefield is a cathedral of ruin. Nykholas, his Phoenix, and the Captain plummet from the Seas Above like meteors.
My half-sister strapped to Kaed’s front with ropes of black smoke as the Volker try desperately to control the situation.
The army struggle against the unending tide of creatures, and flames of every colour erupt from Ember Court’s Tower.
A slender pyramid of sandstone veined with golden symbols of prayer and war.
Some of the fire hesitates, twisting and turning midair as if unwilling to strike Nykholas, turning instead toward the beasts that encircle them.
Cheers erupt at the sight of the Captain and his apparent return, but something is… off.
Kaed moves faster than magic, landing brutal blows on Nykholas’s face.
On his own soldiers. The Lieutenants on the ground relay commands to their airborne units, Dragons and Phoenixes surround them to fend off the relentless swarm of sea beasts.
Theron smashes a vial of royal blood into the basin, and the Chasm closes instantly.
Creatures still suspended within it plummet to the ground met by blades and crushing hooves of the giant rams of Ashen Reach.
I rub my thumb and forefinger together, something in my chest tightening.
“Capture him! Do not hurt him!” My uncle bellows from the arena’s edge, panic-stricken, “He is under a spell.”
Tilting my head, I squint, wondering if he truly believes a handful of Volker can best a male like Kaed.
As if he is anything less than a weapon made flesh.
Eyes glazed and unblinking, he hammers through crowds as if batting away smoke.
My lips part. Mind control. And it would have to be a damn strong elixir to restrain him.
Of course, the rebel cowards would not come themselves into an open battle like this; they can only play tricks in the dark.
How incredibly risky to send their own hostage home to do their bidding.
I am almost impressed, but boldness and stupidity do tend to resemble one another.
He releases waves of grey smoke from his palms, soldiers and beast alike tumble from the air, Nykholas among them.
From their ziggurat watchtower, Ashen Reach soldiers summon storms of ash, commanding it to encircle him, but Kaed gathers it into his hands, shaping a single burning sphere.
Some dive to the ground as he hurls it back, and by the time it explodes, the Captain and the woman vanish.
The rolling ash, something like a scorpion scuttles off into the haze.
The legions of sea creatures are nothing but observing shadows above now.
Watching. Waiting. My grip tightens on my sword as my head pounds with the realisation that they are on their way back to the rebels.
Both now hostages imprisoned gods knows where.
After I gather my thoughts, I stalk through the bustling tunnel toward the arena.
The Volker who have not been sent after them relive the battle’s victories.
They mourn their fallen, and spin theories on how Kaed managed to get past us, when Nykholas had not yet even managed to breach the Chasm with his unit.
The acrid stench of burnt flesh surrounds me while trainee Volker clear the arena.
Lili digs through the entrails of fallen beasts before tossing them onto the cremation heap. What a royal fuck up that was.