Once We Were Kings (Young Adult Fantasy) (The Sojourner Saga) (42 page)

And with her eyes, she told him such that he understood.  Even without hearing her thoughts.  But he chose to respond with words.

"I love you too."

In that moment, just as he turned his head and walked past the lifeless head of the demon dragon, a most dreadful thing happened. 

He sensed it.  Then heard it.  It can't be!  He barely heard Ahndien cry out.

"Render, look out!"

Render swung around.

Ashtoreth lifted her head and opened her jaws.  At this close proximity, the blast of fire would kill him instantly.

But Ahndien came flying though the air straight at Render, her broken legs dangled at an unnatural angle.  She shoved him out of the way just as Ashtoreth blew out a huge fire blast.

Render tumbled to the ground and could only sit up in time to watch it happen.

Ashtoreth enveloped Ahndien with a storm of fire so intense a wake of glass formed rising out of the sand.  Ahndien's body burst into flames and burned as bright as the sun.

CHAPTER NINETY-SEVEN

Shouting in anguish, Render flew straight to the flames where Ahndien's body burned like an effigy.  But the fire grew and grew and was much too strong for him get close enough to help her.  His hands burned as they groped into the fire seeking anything, a hand, her elbow, any way to rescue her.

But there was no possible way for any person to survive such an intense conflagration. 

She was gone. 

All his fury rising up, Render launched himself at the mocking Ashtoreth.  He drew his sword and blasted lightning at her.

But it only absorbed into her scales, causing her body to glow, her eyes to burn brighter.  The rumbling sound under his feet was actually Ashtoreth cackling a giant dragon's laugh.

Then he came directly before her.

Condescendingly, she lowered her face such that her eye, which was about half his height in diameter just blinked at him.

"Didst thou think it so easy to smite or subdue me?  Cower before the right arm of Malakandor! "

"I'll tear you apart, foul beast!"  He plunged the sword into her eye.  But it turned into molten steel when it touched.  Render dropped the pommel as it seared his hands.

Again, Ashtoreth laughed.  She had merely been toying with them.  Like a cat plays with a mouse before finally killing it. 

She lifted her head, took one imposing step forward, her claw coming down and tearing the leather vest on his chest.  She drew a thin scarlet scratch against his skin as his shirt tore open.

Render backed away, but Ashtoreth towered over him.  Lightning crackled at his fingertips.  But it was useless now.  He was powerless to stop her.

The flames of Ahndien's pyre burned stronger still, warming his back.  Ashtoreth took another step forward, prolonging the inevitable just to be cruel.  She snorted two jets of fire from her nostrils and shot a stream right in front of Render's toes.

Render leapt back.

The flames from Ahndien's pyre whooshed and rose up, as though someone had poured a vat of spirit wine upon it.

Ashtoreth swung her massive head down and snapped her jaws just inches from Render's face.

He stumbled.

Fell on his rear.

Got up and backed away more.

He could not fly.  The fear within paralyzed him.

Ashtoreth glowered down.  Behind Render, the fire burned so fiercely it would surely consume him as it had Ahndien.

And then, with the flames of the pyre licking at this back, something reached into Render's soul.  It made no sense whatsoever.  But in his spirit, he knew there was no other choice.

Ashtoreth inhaled deeply, preparing the blast to burn him to death.

Then Render fell backwards...

Into the raging fire.

CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT

Sickened by his inability to help, Lao-Ying watched in horror as the fire which devoured both Ahndien and Render effloresced into a raging sphere of light.  It was as though the sun itself had descended into the valley.

A cold tear streamed down his face.  Unable to hold onto the tree any longer, he fell sideways, all the strength leaving his five hundred year old body.  He leaned his against a boulder, drawing on the last bit of his energy to keep his eyes open.

Alas.  Mei-Liang, my Spring Blossom.  I have waited in vain.

A pang clenched his heart at the realization.  But he resisted the whispers in his spirit that said,
Valhandra has cheated you!
 

"Though He slay me...yet will I trust in Him..." he murmured, his very breath fading.

With a triumphal roar, Ashtoreth stood erect on her hind legs, reached her forelegs into the air, cruel curved talons outstretched, and flew up.  The wind from her beating wings sent clouds of sand at the ever blooming conflagration that had been Ahndien and Render.  The demon dragon cocked her head at the sight, then let out an atrocious cackle that sent a chill through Lao-Ying's expiring body.

The entire world became a darkened blur.  He began to gasp his final breaths
.  Forgive me, Ahndien.  I have failed you.

Try as he might, he could not keep his eyelids open.

Just as they fell, a burst of light, accompanied by thunderous detonation shook the hills and the ground beneath him.  With a grunt, Lao-Ying opened his eyes, for a moment forgetting that he was about to die.

Somehow, he found the strength to keep his eyes wide in wonder.

Even Ashtoreth craned her neck and looked down in astonishment.

A most wondrous thing happened. 

All at once, the visions and dreams Valhandra had given him over the centuries flashed in his mind.  Even before it completed, Lao-Ying's chest and belly bounced in laughter.

From the center of the blazing pyre, where Ahndien and Render had been incinerated, it arose.  Though it had been five centuries since he'd last seen it, it was unmistakable.

First the fiery crest.

Then the smoldering head, the golden eyes shining like the morning star.  The crimson plumage.

Then with a cry as terrifying as it was beautiful, the Feng Huang, the Millennial Phoenix that Valhandra had promised Lao-Ying he would live to behold arose from the pyre.  She spread her flaming wings and rose up.  It was about half the size of Ashtoreth, who flapped her wings wildly and backed away in surprise.

The Phoenix parted her beak and from it arose the most beautiful pentatonic song.  It resounded through the mountains and valley so that every warrior below stopped and looked up.  The song drew a sublime pang from Lao-Ying's soul where it had resided all these years.

He reached his fingers out hoping to feel the warmth of the beautiful firebird, whose spirit had encapsulated his princess, his love eight dynasties ago as she sacrificed herself for her kingdom.  "Mei-Liang..."

Ashtoreth flared out her hood, all nine horns radiating around her neck, and roared.  She sent a massive blast at the phoenix.  But the firebird absorbed it and the flames from her wings seemed to grow stronger.

The demon dragon rushed at the the phoenix and snapped it jaws at her neck, but the phoenix flew away so quickly that her opponent slammed against the rocks, sending an avalanche down the hill.

A refreshing cool wind preceded the phoenix as she flew around the hills toward the crag where he lay.

// COURAGE, MY FRIEND //

A voice he had not expected.  "Ahndien?"  Even in his fading consciousness, he smiled.  But of course.  Though he'd not seen her transfiguration in all his visions, it made sense in a way he could not explain.

As she passed, their eyes met.  Beneath the burning gold veil enshrouding the Phoenix, he could see the same brown eyes he'd come to know.  It was her!

The Phoenix blinked and shot up, streams of fire in her wake.  As she righted herself, she turned to the pyre from which she'd emerged and let out a call that resembled that of both trumpet and bird.

Lao-Ying wrestled with his breath, trying his best to stay alive and witness the end of this conflict. 

Valhandra...grant that thy servant might live but a moment longer...

In her glorious phoenix form, Ahndien hovered in the air.

Again, the ground shook.

From the way the entire mountain range rumbled beneath him, and the streaks of lightning that shot out from the blazing pyre, he recalled the details of a vision he'd long forgotten.  Something he'd envisaged before he'd been granted immortality, but never paid it mind.

Until now.

The Great Deliverer.

Now, he could die in peace.  Though the desires of his heart had not been granted, he knew that he'd fulfilled his destiny.

As the tones rang out, Ashtoreth swung her head to Ahndien's phoenix form, then to the pyre.  Agitated, the demon dragon flew at Ahndien as she sang her powerful song.  Almost outshining the flames of her entire body, the phoenix's eyes shone brilliantly.  So transfixed was she on the blazing pyre that she didn't notice Ashtoreth rising up in attack.

Lao-Ying tried to reach out in his mind.  Warn her.  But his eyes went dim and he could not even hold his head up any longer.  He only heard the haunting scream of the demon dragon growing closer and closer.

CHAPTER NINETY-NINE

High above the ground, the song resounded.  Unlike anything any living being had heard.  The cry of the phoenix instilled courage in some of the human soldiers, and terror in others.  It was strangely alien, and at the same time primal as one's first heartbeats from within the womb.

Flames and lightning flashes emanated from the blazing pyre out of which the grand phoenix had arisen.  The mountains trembled.

Above, Ashtoreth flew straight at the phoenix and clasped her massive jaws around its neck.  Ahndien's entire body burst with such a blast of fire, the heat could be felt in the valley below.  But Ashtoreth did not relent.

The two tossed and tumbled through the air, Ashtoreth trying to break the firebird's slender neck.  Bursts of fire scorched the skin from the black dragon's face, melting it until some of it oozed down, exposing white eye sockets and deadly teeth.  Still, the demon dragon clamped down and thrashed its head wildly.

The phoenix let out shrieks, its body burning hotter and brighter.  From gold to a white hot blaze.

And then, from the quaking ground, out of the smoldering pyre from which Ahndien had transfigured, a most glorious form arose.  First, its snout, then the crest of its head.  It was covered in scales that resembled translucent rubies.

Finally, the arms, jagged spine and tail.

It unfurled its massive wings and let out a roar that shook the entire valley. 

These were the final images that would fill Lao-Ying's mind.  All he had believed, all which had been revealed to him over the centuries, must surely come to pass.  But even then, he could not be certain that the prophesied rise of the Cobalt Dragon and the Phoenix would bring about the end for which he had longed.

In the span of a few seconds—or hours, he could not tell how precisely time was passing—Render perceived his soul, his very essence penetrating what could only be described as a veil.  A veil between the physical and the spiritual realms.  It made no sense at all.  And yet it made complete sense.

Through the fire that should have consumed his physical body, he sensed Ahndien's presence.  Yet she was strong, not burning to death.  But there was nothing around him but power and presence.

In the very moment he detected her, he reached out.

// AHNDIEN, WHERE ARE YOU? //

// OH, RENDER!  IT'S GLORIOUS! //

The joy in her words was unmistakable.  Her spirit rose up and out of the blazing splendor that enveloped them.  That was when he realized that his entire body had begun to transform.

The way he'd seen Greifer...his mother, turn from a small cat to formidable ebony panther.  But this was different.  His hands begin to grow along with the rest of his body.  Blue scales formed on his skin.

His fingers became powerful talons.

Then, all at once, he burst out of the pyre.  Rising so high off the ground he almost thought he was flying.  Yet his feet were still sinking into the sand.  When he beheld his shadow cast by the high afternoon sun, he understood.

The massive head, tasseled beard.

The powerful tail and bat-like wings.

When he stood and stretched out his arms, he saw the shadow of the enormous dragon he had become.  Not for a moment did it bother him, for long before he could comprehend this in his mind, something within his soul had known this to be his destiny, all along.

High above him, he saw Ahndien.  She too had transformed, but into a beautiful firebird.  But the demon dragon had caught her in its jaws and shook her violently.

// ASHTORETH! //

Render cried out.  The sound of his roar echoed through the valley like a thunderclap.  Wings beating, he leapt into the air and flew straight up.   Sand shot up and whirled as it might in a dust storm.

In an instant, Render was upon the demon dragon.  She ignored him and continued to bite into the blazing phoenix's neck.  Despite her own flesh, burning away, Ashtoreth would not release it until she'd crushed it.

Render wrapped his dragon claws around Ashtoreth's throat.

With a mighty blow of her wing, she struck Render in the snout.  Ignoring the pain, Render flew higher up and pulled Ashtoreth's head upward. 

She turned, released her grip on Ahndien and sunk her fangs into Render's foreleg.  The Phoenix fell, a plume of fire trailing out of his periphery.  Then Ashtoreth sent a stream of fire onto Render's hands.

This too caused immense pain.  But to his surprise, the scales seemed to protect him from serious damage.  Even as the fire burned his hands, Render tightened his grip, pulled Ashtoreth higher.

Higher.

And then, focusing on his talons digging into the demon dragon's neck, he summoned all the energy he could.  As a dragon, it seemed infinitely more potent.