Island Shifters: Book 01 - An Oath of the Blood (57 page)

Chapter 33

L
AND OF THE
D
RACA
C
ATS

K
ing Maximus leaned on his sword tiredly, bereft of further stratagems to turn the tide of the conflict and gain an advantage over the Cymans and demons. His newly appointed Captain of the Scarlet Sabers, Gage Gregaros, implored him time and again to leave the battlefield, but he refused, even when his horse was mercilessly cut down from under him. He received word moments ago that two of his loyal vassals, Lady Conry and Lord Paxton, perished in the fight. He knew he was taking desperate chances, but he could do no less.

Not after Colbie Nash.

After the Elves’ horrific defeat earlier that day, and after a brief retreat, the battle resumed and continued to rage. King Jerund assured Maximus that a messenger had been sent posthaste to Sarphia to summon the main branch of the Elven Army. Although, what form that messenger took was a mystery to Maximus as every last Elf who accompanied the King to the Valley of Flame was dead.

Mechanically, he thrust his sword out to hew at the neck of a Cyman battling one of his Scarlet Sabers.

Where is Kiernan? Where are the Savitars?

As objectionable as he found the thought, he admitted to himself that the Massans needed magic to fight the demons Ravener introduced to this war. All of the swords in the world were not going to defeat an entity that could disappear into the form of a wraith and sweep away into the night air.

With a heavy heart, he roared as he lunged at an enemy soldier and was struck from behind. He hit the ground hard, his breath disappearing from his lungs in a painful grunt. Quickly rolling over, he looked up from his position flat on his back to see one of the red-eyed demons staring down at him, an evil smile spread over its face.

He had danced with death for many hours this day, and was almost relieved that the moment had arrived. His old body had reached its limits. The only real concern he had at that moment was Kiernan, his beloved daughter. He prayed that she would remember how much he had always loved her. He had made decisions during the course of this life that he now regretted, but that he had thought were right at the time. He always assumed Kiernan would be happier living with people like her—people of magic—but realized now how prejudiced that sounded. Even so, he loved his little girl very much, just as he loved her mother, the Queen. Grace had magic, too. She did not know that he knew, but he did. He deliberately looked the other way with her because he had no other choice. He could not live without her. Why could he not do the same with Kiernan? He guessed it was because magic, any magic, was a painful reminder of Grace.

He laughed in the shadow of the demon.
She is just like you, Gracie. The girl has spirit to spare, that is for sure!

Maximus looked up at the repulsive creature standing over him and rolled again just as the demon’s spear thrust down where his chest had been. If he was going to die, he vowed, it would be standing on his own two feet and not on his back. He scrambled upright, two hands on the hilt of his sword.

All at once, the demon roared in surprise as it was lifted into the air, held for a few seconds, and then slammed to the ground. Its body thrashed powerfully as it struggled against invisible bonds.

“Hello, Max,” said an unquestionably feminine voice from behind him.

He spun around in shock and peered into the face of the woman standing next to him. It was Gemini, one of Grace’s friends from somewhere in the southern reaches of Iserlohn, and she had her hand thrust out toward the demon as she smiled at him. “Nice to see you again, Your Grace,” she said more formally and bowed her head to him.

Maximus looked around in surprise. Fighting all around the Iserlohn Army were women! Beautiful women who were tearing into the demons with fervor —and magic. Gemini flicked her hand and a woman in silk raced to the writhing figure on the ground and set it afire. Within seconds, the demon stopped moving and then disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her incredulously.

The gray-haired woman shrugged her shoulders. “Keeping a promise.”

He understood immediately. “Grace?”

She nodded and smiled. “Where is Kiernan?” she asked looking around, and then threw out her hands to wrap up a demon stalking behind him.

“I have not seen her since she left Nysa,” he responded and lunged over her shoulder with his sword and stabbed a Cyman prepared to grab her from the rear.

“What are you anyway? A shifter?” he asked

She shook her head, thrusting a hand out to the side and two Cyman soldiers slammed into each other to fall in a senseless heap to the ground. “I am a sorceress, Max, we all are. And, these witches,” she said waving her arm around with a laugh, “are going to save your royal behind.”

Beck stumbled and fell to his knees. With a frustrated groan, he readjusted Airron’s sleeping weight and pulled himself back to his feet. Airron had stopped protesting long ago which was just as well since he refused to talk to him. His focus was only on the walking. Hour after hour in the incessant darkness and unrelenting rainfall. Alone. As good as alone, anyway. He lost all track of time. The tears had dried up and the self-pity was gone. There was only the walking.

The walking and the light.

Less than a league prior, the needle of the compass abruptly spun north. He looked up to see a pinpoint of white light and knew instinctively that was where he needed to be. Miraculously, and at long last, the compass had guided him through the elaborate tangle of magic surrounding Callyn-Rhe.

In Beck’s solitary existence, the light, much larger now, was the only brightness in a world gone dark. A safe refuge in a world gone mad. There, he knew, he would be allowed to unfetter his burdens, both physical and emotional. If only he managed to arrive there before his body gave out. His muscles burned with fatigue and his breathing was labored and painful.

“We are almost there,” he told himself with a weak, hoarse voice.

Suddenly overwhelmed, the tears he thought gone surged again and mingled with the rain on his cheeks. Weakness was not a characteristic he was familiar with. All of his life, his mind and body had been strong. Having strength was what defined him as a person. As an earthshifter. And now, it seemed, when he needed his strength the most, it was failing him.

He fell again and began to crawl on hands and knees through the decomposition of the forest floor, dragging his four friends behind him. Bajan and Airron both stirred, but he ignored their murmurs. He tried to swat at the insects that swarmed over his hands and arms, but it was no use. There were too many, their stinging bites already leaving a trail of welts.

Wait! The light! Where is the light? I lost it!

Crawling more urgently now, he fought down his panic. Reaching for a thick, low-hanging vine, he hauled himself back to his feet. He briefly considered leaving his friends behind while he searched for the light, but quickly dismissed the idea. Without the ability to defend themselves, it would be too dangerous. And, he was not certain he would be able to find them again if he did.

Screaming against the weight draped over his shoulders and back and around his waist, and determined to find the light again, he moved forward. The humidity and rain plastered his clothes to his body. He reached up to clear his eyes of drizzle and as soon as he lowered his hand again, he slammed face first into a wall. With a yelp of both surprise and pain, he stumbled back.

Another wall!

The light and Callyn-Rhe were behind that wall, he was certain of it!

This was the end of the journey.

Gently lowering Airron and Bajan to the ground and casting aside his harnesses, he reached out with his magic to the stone wall in front of him. There was no beginning and no end—it just was. There was not even the smallest of cracks in the smooth earthen surface. He pounded the wall with both fists in frustration. After traveling all this way and suffering tremendous losses, it could not end this way.

The shifters of Pyraan deserved more.

The legacy of their sacrifice deserved meaning.

Taking several steps back, he bellowed in rage and threw every ounce of strength of will he had into his magic and struck out at the wall. Hands lifted in the air, he pushed and raked and slammed at the mountain of earth before him. The air crackled with the amount of magic he summoned, more than he had ever called before in his life. The wind swirled loudly through the forest, but he was oblivious as he continued his assault. Spinning violently now, the air whipped his hair and clothes around his body. Rain fell in torrents as lightning streaked through the dark above.

Then, a sinister rumble sounded throughout the rainforest and the earth shuddered and quaked at his feet. The potency of the reverberation continued to build and build until the energy was released in a discharge so thunderous that the mountain in front of him exploded in a hail of rock and dirt.

Beck dove away from the wall and covered his friends with his body, and the echo and pain of falling debris was relentless.

Then there was silence.

He lifted his head. Light poured through a gap in the wall as large as his house back in Parsis, and he had to hold a hand over his sensitive eyes to shade his view. Lurching to his feet, he scrambled over the stones from the broken wall and stepped through heedlessly.

Unable to contain his emotions, a strange keening sound burst from his throat as his eyes feasted on blue skies for the first time in more than a week. Endless leagues of grasslands, the like of which he did not know existed on the Island of Massa, spread out before him. And it was filled with…

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. A ferocious roar erupted to the left and from the corner of his eye, he glimpsed open jaws filled with pointed teeth reaching for his neck.

Sovereign! No!
Bajan screamed out, watching in dread as the leader of the Draca Cats took Beck to the ground and stood over him, his large white paws pressing into the earthshifter’s chest and pinning him to the ground.

The Sovereign swung his yellow eyes sharply to Bajan.
Who DARES attack the land of the Draca Cats!!

Bajan wrenched his body to his feet and stretched one of his forelegs out in front of him in a shaky bow.
My apologies for the wall, Sovereign. It is I, Bajan.