Heir of Shandara (Book 4) (37 page)

“It’s all right. He’s still with us,” Tolvar said.

“Form a circle around him. Nothing gets through,” Sarah ordered.

Aaron saw through the eyes of a hundred statues stomping their way out of the city and heading directly for the Zekara.

***

Halcylon’s mouth fell open at the latest sight to emerge from the city walls. It seemed the human still had a few tricks up his sleeve. The city was even better defended than he originally thought.
 

“Focus your fire upon the approaching force,” Halcylon said.

The ground force weapons were able to deal a small amount of damage, but not enough to stop them. There were only a hundred statues, but what they lacked in numbers they more than made up for in size. They were easily thirty feet tall. Following close behind was the enemy army seeking to take the advantage.
 

The main guns were locked on the lead statue. The full charge signal flashed on the display, and they fired. The blast vaporized the target.

Halcylon smiled hungrily. “Fire at will.”

The soldiers in the command center remained focused, but Halcylon could sense the growing excitement in all of them. Victory was near. Nothing the humans had could stand against what he’d brought with him. Their army was overextending itself in this foolhardy charge.

Suddenly the lights in the command center powered down, and emergency lighting engaged. The mobile command center lurched forward, and Halcylon braced himself as it hit the ground. Alarms blared, and a cascade of failure messages sprang up on the emergency displays.
 

“Status report,” Halcylon said.

“Systems are failing all over,” a tech said.

“Which ones?” Halcylon asked. As soon as he asked the question, the remaining holo displays went out, plunging them into darkness. Halcylon cursed. The power in his armor still worked, and small lights appeared from their helmets. Halcylon brought up his comms device and attempted to gain system access. He was denied. He frowned and tried to override it, but it didn’t work.

“I want the systems back online now. We’re easy targets in here,” Halcylon ordered.

“Sir, it’s not just us. We’re receiving reports of systems failing all over— from flyers to mobile ground vehicles. It seems as if everything but personal armor units are offline,” the tech said.

Halcylon heard the panic in his voice. So far, only networked systems were affected. “Remember your training. Our enemy must have a suppressor of some sort. It has to be close by. We find it, and our systems will reactivate.”

“But sir—”

“Move out!” Halcylon ordered before anyone else could raise any questions. There very well could have been a suppressor out there, but that wouldn’t lock him out of the command center systems. That was something else entirely.

***

Aaron focused on controlling the statues, and they fought as one. He plunged through the Zekaran soldiers and came upon the command center. The connection to some of the statues was lost along the way, and Aaron knew they had been destroyed. The Zekaran mobile command center suddenly plunged to the ground, and Aaron pounced. The statues heaved crushing blows, ruining the main turrets.
 

The skies over Shandara darkened as if a sudden storm blew in. A dark rift sliced through the sky, followed by a burst of light. The infected Eldarin landed upon the ground. Soldiers from both armies scrambled to get out of the way. Aaron felt himself clutch the rune-carved staff. He could sense the presence of other Eldarin. They watched from just beyond the dimensional curtain that separated the realms. He wouldn’t call them into battle. The risk to their kind was too great.

The infected Dragon lord let out a mournful howl and spun around. Its great clawed feet shook the ground as it moved. It seemed to be looking for something. Its hide was almost completely black, and its eyes no longer shone with stunning brilliance. It cocked its head to the side, noticing the armies upon the field. The Eldarin’s eyes narrowed menacingly. It lurched forward, snapping its massive jaws at man and Hythariam alike. It took several seconds for Aaron to realize that the victims weren’t killed. Their bodies convulsed on the ground as if they had been infected with the Ryakul virus.

No,
Aaron thought.
This is how it begins. How the infection spreads to the other species. It’s through the Eldarin.

Both armies moved back from the infected Eldarin. The statues of the Safanarion Order wheeled around and charged the Eldarin as it still sought to infect anything that moved. Aaron circled the Eldarin, keeping the statues between the Dragon lord and both armies. Knowing that the infection of any source could lead to them all succumbing forced Aaron to protect the Zekara as well.
 

The Eldarin attacked, smashing the statues with its armored tail. The statues rushed in, attempting to pin the Eldarin to the ground. For a few fleeting moments, it worked. The Dragon lord was pushed off balance. It quickly regained its footing and heaved upward, thrusting the statues away.
 

Bayen led a group of De’anjard forward and began dispatching the newly infected people. Free Nations Army soldiers joined them, using Hythariam rifles to incinerate the bodies before they could rise again. After a few moments, the Zekaran soldiers nearest them were quick to follow their example.
 

The Eldarin made quick work of the remaining statues, and Aaron watched helplessly from a statue head as Bayen blurred into view to square off against it. Aaron opened his eyes and released the rune-carved staff, gasping. Sounds from the battle rushed in with startling clarity.

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked.

“Bayen!” Aaron shouted, and turned toward the Eldarin and then back at Sarah. “He’s—”

“There is no time. You must face the Eldarin. She’s too far gone to save,” Sarah said.

An ear-piercing roar sounded overhead, cutting off his reply. The fallen Eldarin was racing toward them. Aaron drew his swords and leaped into the air, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the others. The Eldarin swung around and was immediately on his tail. Aaron raced along, faster than he had ever been before. Streaks of white trailed him from the glowing crystals in his blades. Still, the Eldarin gained. He led the Eldarin through the Zekara, decimating their lines. Aaron landed upon the Zekara’s mobile command center. The infected Eldarin pounced, leaving a massive gaping hole. Aaron sprinted to the ground and began to wield his swords into the bladesong. Bayen appeared at his side, brandishing his bladed staff. The Eldarin lashed out with its talons, and they both dodged out of the way.

“We have to kill it. It’s the source of the plague,” Bayen said.

“No,” Aaron cried. Death couldn’t be the only answer. If he killed the Eldarin, the sacred pact with the Ferasdiam marked would be broken forever. War with the Eldarin would doom Safanar just as surely as an unstoppable plague.
 

The Eldarin shook its head at some unseen force. Bayen cried out, clutching his chest, sinking to his knees. The Dragon lord lunged its head at Bayen, and Aaron stepped in front of him, slashing up with his swords. His glowing blades bit into the Eldarin’s snout, and it reared back. Aaron swung his blades in a wide arc, using the energy to form a barrier. The Eldarin slammed down upon the barrier, its mouth and blackened teeth attempting to bite through it. The Dragon lord sucked in a huge breath, and a beam of energy spewed forth, slamming into the barrier. The ensuing glow blocked his view of the Eldarin, but the area around him erupted in flames. The crushing force drove the barrier to Aaron’s outstretched hands. Aaron heaved and pushed out with all his might. The barrier expanded, knocking the Eldarin’s massive head back, and dissipated.
 

The sky above them turned lime green. The presence of the other Eldarin felt closer than they had been before. A rift opened in the sky, and the Eldarin poured through. They circled overhead, too many to count. The infected Eldarin growled warily up at them. Aaron wielded his swords into the bladesong, keeping the infected Eldarin’s attention on him. He reached out through the energy to the infected Eldarin. The Dragon lord’s lifebeat was a shimmering mass of darkness with whispers of light peeking through. A low hum thundered through the air as the Eldarin in the sky merged their melody with Aaron’s bladesong. The infected Eldarin shook its head and stood rooted in place. Aaron poured himself into the dance, moving at speeds faster than the eye could track. He circled the infected Eldarin, forming a barrier of light. He felt his physical body begin to slip away as he drew in closer to the Eldarin’s lifebeat. The darkness was being pushed back. Aaron felt echoes of Bayen’s presence being pulled farther away. The Eldarin howled mournfully from above, and a celestial glow surrounded Bayen. Aaron came to a stop. The barrier of light remained, fueled by his connection to the energy. Bayen lay upon the ground, his eyes oddly serene as he looked up at Aaron. His body was translucent, as if only part of him was still there. Bayen rose to his feet and stepped toward the barrier. Aaron went to stop him, but Bayen held up his hand. Aaron’s feet became rooted in place. He felt tendrils of energy wrapped tightly around his legs.

“It’s not your turn,” Bayen said.

Aaron struggled to move his legs and inserted his own tendrils of energy to free them.

Bayen stepped closer to the barrier that was winding tighter against the infected Eldarin. “You can’t. If you cross the threshold, everything will be lost.”

“I can’t let you do this,” Aaron cried. A lump filled his throat, knowing that he was moments from losing his son forever. “Bayen!” Aaron called.

Bayen turned back, and the swirling vortex of darkness seemed to stretch against the Eldarin’s lifebeat.

“My time is up,” Bayen said, his body fading and his voice sounding as if he spoke from a tunnel. The Eldarin’s light spread in a pool around him.

“Don’t go, please, we’ve had no time,” Aaron said.

Bayen glanced down at his fading body and back at Aaron. “They were wrong about you, Father, and so was I. None of this was your fault. I understand that now. You were defending us. You were always defending us.”

A great thunderclap shook the ground beneath Aaron’s feet as the time line tore itself away.

Bayen’s body melted away, and his glowing lifebeat merged with that of the infected Eldarin. The darkness that dominated the Eldarin’s lifebeat relented as the being was forged anew. The darkness didn’t recede entirely but was brought into the fold. The Eldarin circling in the sky came to a stop and hovered, all their collective focus on the cocoon of light engulfing the infected Dragon lord. The cocoon of light collapsed, and a newly forged Dragon lord leaped into the air, joining its brethren. The sky over Shandara blazed overhead as more of the Eldarin came, dwarfing the city walls. They swam through the sky, washing the city in a warm glow.

The tendrils of energy that held Aaron melted away. He was free. “Bayen!” he cried out.

A lone Eldarin separated itself from the rest. Its hide was darkish gray and shone with a light of its own accord. It closed in and hovered in the air. Aaron felt a surge within him as he was drawn into its majestic gaze. The Dragon lord’s eyes were at once both celestial and human mixed together, and Aaron saw something familiar in its gaze. A knowing.

Son.
 

The Eldarin’s head lowered in acknowledgement.

We will meet again
, the Eldarin said for him alone.

The sky split open in a streak of celestial light, and the Eldarin began going through, leaving the realm of Safanar. One Eldarin flew in a wide arc, circling the battlefield, and roared. The De’anjard and the FNA soldiers cheered back in response. At once, the sky that had been awash in color returned to normal as the Dragon lords left the realm of Safanar in a peak of glorious light.

Aaron sank to his knees and dropped his swords. Groups of Zekaran soldiers emerged from whatever cover they’d found. Thousands of their number lay dead upon the field. The FNA, along with the De’anjard, quickly moved in. The Zekaran mobile command center was a smoking wreck. A small contingent of Zekaran soldiers raced toward him, and Aaron recognized the armor of General Halcylon. Halcylon came before him, and his soldiers fanned out.

“You think you’ve won, human. Think again—”

Halcylon was cut off as his legs gave way underneath him. The vicious growl of a maul-cat was heard before anyone saw its shaggy form pin the Zekaran general to the ground with a metallic talon pressed against his throat. Thraw growled menacingly, ready to fulfill his imprint and take Halcylon’s life.

Aaron regained his feet. The Zekara aimed their weapons at him though he was unarmed. They had seen what he could do and were wary.

“Would it be so terrible to throw down your weapons?” Aaron asked. “Look around you. There is no honor to be gained in death. I give you this one chance at life. If you’re smart, you’ll take it. Make any move other than surrendering your weapons, and I will kill you all where you stand.”

The Zekaran soldiers divided their gaze between Halcylon and Aaron. Then one by one they dropped their weapons.

“Let him up, Thraw,” Aaron said.

Thraw’s talon sank deeper into Halcylon’s neck. A trickle of blood came from the wound.