Sapphire (35 page)

“Why did you tell Lorna the prophecy?” she shouted
over the rushing wind. “If you hadn’t she might not have done all
those terrible things!”

One of his large icy eyes peered back at her as he
answered in his deep roaring voice. “You humans have more power
than you realize. I told her nothing.”

“You didn’t say anything to her?! What do you
mean?”

“I mean, she made up her own reasons.”

“What?! Then why did she want to kill me?”

The heavy rhythmic beating of his wings was her only
answer.

She angrily repeated the question. “Why did she want
to
kill
me?”

“Because of her belief.”

She could tell he was talking in circles on purpose
because he was amused at how easily she became annoyed. This
annoyed her.

“She believed you would destroy this world,” he
said.

“Why would she believe that?”

He angled a bit and she was nearly impaled on a
spike.

Ignoring her questions, he said, “No other creature
creates or destroys as you humans do. All of it done because of
what you
believe
. It is your most powerful weapon.”

His undulating flight was beginning to make her feel
sea-sick. She swallowed, then the sickening realization finally
squirmed its way in.

“The prophecy!” she shouted.

“Yes, the prophecy?”

“There
was
no prophecy. There
never
was?”

He turned his whole head to look at her, and she had
her answer.

“Why?” She couldn’t believe the lack of guilt or
shame in the cold eyes looking back at her. “You created the idea
of it just to make us do what
you
wanted us to do!” Anger
was suddenly welling up inside her. She screamed at him. “How could
you do that?! Everyone believed you had a prophecy about me, or the
world, or whatever, and you
didn’t.
You lied. Is what you
told
me
even true? Was killing Orin what
you
wanted
me to do?”

“It’s only as true as you want it to be,” was his
cryptic answer before she shouted at him again.

“
Why?
Why did you even pretend that there was
a prophecy? What difference did that make to
you?
”

Ava heard the crack in her voice before she felt the
tears starting to well up behind her eyes; tears of not only shock,
but every emotion she had buried since the very beginning of their
journey. How could he have been so manipulative and so indifferent
to the power of his words? His answer, however, shocked her even
more.

“Why did I pretend a prophecy existed?” His laugh
chilled her more than the rain ever could have. “Because, little
human, without belief in something grand, something to feed your
arrogance, you are not so easily controlled.”

She roared almost as loudly as Sirrush.
“
Controlled?
”

Rivulets of blood were running down her palms as she
gripped the spike in front of her. But no matter how she tried to
look at it, he
had
provoked them all into action, all
because of a prophecy, a purpose, a lie they thought existed. She
wanted to scream his false presumptions, tell him how wrong he’d
been, but he was right.

Over the rushing wind, she yelled, “Whose side are
you on?”

His body shook with a laugh. “Side?” He craned his
neck around so she could see his lips peel back in a toothy grin.
“I don’t choose sides. I create sides.”

“You—but why? I don’t understand. Why are you
helping me then?”

“Because,” he said as he banked towards the huge
stone arch. “Change takes belief, and belief takes
sacrifice!
”

Sirrush shattered the peaceful morning with a
tremendous roar that nearly ruptured her eardrums. She let go of
the spike, clapped her hands over her head, and from below saw a
red dragon spouting a cloud of fire as it flew straight for them.
Sirrush rolled, and she felt herself fall from his back towards the
inferno.

She fell through the fire, caught a fleeting glimpse
of a scaled crimson underside, and smelled singed hair. She spun
endlessly towards the earth, and felt like she couldn’t breathe
from the force of the buffeting wind, or perhaps from sheer
shock.

I’m going to die.

No flashes of memories or loved ones before her
eyes, only the beating of her heart and the thought that every beat
would be her last. She tumbled head over feet, her vision
punctuated with sky, land, sky, land. Then dark rain clouds
obscured everything. She was suspended in a soft blanket of gray
until land appeared once again, far too close.

I’m dead
.

Her hands tingled, and her gaze turned earthbound
one more time to see a world of molochs.
I’m falling into
Hell.
Every glowing fiery eye was fixated on her deadly
descent. She wondered if it would be painful. Was this sacrifice
enough? Was this what Sirrush wanted?

She closed her eyes. She waited for impact, for
everything to end. She almost welcomed it. The wind was not so
strong anymore. Her lungs filled with air. Gravity was pulling at
her in a different direction. She opened her eyes, ready to see the
earth inches from her face. The thought made her spasm as if she’d
already hurtled into the ground, but she hadn’t. A clawed hand was
gently wrapped around her, slowing her fall, then her body was
roughly jerked as the dragon turned its nose up mere feet from the
leaping wide jaws of molochs.

She saw a silver belly above her, then finally
screamed when Sirrush turned onto his back to roar and unleash blue
fire at the red dragon diving down at him. The collision was
catastrophic. She was thrown from his grasp as the other dragon
rammed into him, slamming their huge bodies into the ground.
Molochs howled as the two dragons and their massive wingspans
obliterated scores of them like an explosion.

She opened her eyes to find herself face down in the
mud. Her head throbbed, she tried to move and fell back to her
hands and knees, too disoriented to stand. For a moment she didn’t
remember how she had gotten there, didn’t remember the dragons or
the molochs, but as her eyesight cleared she saw a ring of
black-furred legs and claws. She looked up and saw another ring of
burning eyes. All the eyes turned towards the rumblings of roaring
and quaking earth, then with snarls and howls every single one
tried to leap over another to escape.

A dragon’s giant hind foot slammed to the ground
only an arms length from her head, pulverizing the molochs still
trying to climb over one another. Adrenaline pulled her to her
feet, and she threw her head back to see silver dragon pitted
against red dragon, both on their hind legs, tearing with vicious
force at each other’s hides. She turned to run, but Sirrush lifted
his foot and smashed it to the ground right in front of her. She
slid then scrambled to turn and run in the opposite direction. A
red foot crashed down like an asteroid and buckled her legs with
the quake. Something wet and warm splashed onto her head and washed
down her face with the rain. She wiped it away.

Blood!

She looked up as the enemy dragon lifted a hind leg
again to regain balance, its tail swiping through the air, making
her hair fly with a gust of wind. Sirrush was forcing the snapping,
clawing, fire spitting dragon off balance, and just as she made a
mad dash away from the fighting, he snaked his head around and sank
his fangs into the dark red neck. The dragon’s roar gargled then
was silenced as Sirrush twisted his head like a viper, tearing his
foe’s neck, and throwing him to the ground. The molochs had turned
and crept back but still kept their distance. All their hungry eyes
were on Ava next to the silver dragon. She watched as the dying
dragon crumpled, twitched, then fell still, its wings falling like
limp sails. Sirrush had fallen to all fours, his own wings clawed
and ragged, useless, his body covered in wounds.

He began to morph back to his human form. Her legs
shook as she stood and managed to stumble to him. The wall of
molochs was inching closer. He looked only slightly better in his
human body. His scaled armor-like clothing was shredded in many
places. Blood trickled from various wounds as he sat hunched over,
fists on the ground, head hanging.

“Sirrush?” she whispered, carefully, slowly reaching
out to touch him.

He suddenly raised a hand and she jumped away. His
fingers curled, and she felt an atmospheric pressure envelop the
both of them just as the teeming mass of molochs launched
themselves forward. A scream caught in her throat as she saw the
monsters slow, struggle, then writhe in place as Sirrush’s
mysterious power kept them at bay. He was far more powerful,
dangerous, and devious than any of them could have imagined. She
took a few more steps away from him and clasped the hilt of her
crystal sword. It was amazingly still intact after the fall. She
drew confidence from the weapon, though Sirrush had said
belief
was a far more deadly weapon. She no longer knew what
to believe. She only knew she must survive and somehow protect
those she loved.

He lowered his arm but remained crouched, taking
deep shuddering breaths. The effort to protect them was using what
strength he had left, and she worried it wouldn’t hold the
creatures back much longer. The red dragon stirred and she drew her
sword like instinct. Sirrush’s head snapped up, but the dragon was
only turning back into its true form. A body of a man lay lifeless
in the blood-churned mud.

“Gavan?” she said.

She looked at the young man who had hunted her as
ruthlessly as Lorna had. He had tried one last time with all his
magic, with his most powerful form, to fulfill his task. A small
spark of pity flickered in her heart for him.

Surprised at her sudden pity, she looked away.
He
only did it
because that’s all he knew. It was what he
believed, and it killed him.

A lump rose in her throat.

Belief.

Sirrush stood, squaring his broad shoulders as he
towered over her. He stared at Gavan’s lifeless body.

“That was interesting,” he said, indifferently. He
turned to Ava. “I don’t have the strength to transform into another
form again. I may not even have the strength to protect us before
the others come.”

Another form?
She wondered if human and
dragon were not the only forms he could take.
Is he even truly a
dragon? Or a shape-shifter like Gavan?
Her eyes bore into his,
but their icy depths revealed nothing.
Or, is Gavan like
him?

His large hands snatched her by the shoulders, and
she reflexively tried to pull away, but the intensity behind his
eyes held her captive. “For your sake, for all of ours, believe in
what you must do.”

Her eyes played across his face trying to understand
what he was telling her as the molochs were beginning to struggle
through his barrier.

“Think of how this all began,” he said with barely
contained urgency. “Whatever happens, do not follow the path of
your kin.” She could hear the moloch’s snarls growing. His fingers
dug into her shoulders and she winced.

“I thought you didn’t care?” she snapped back. “I
thought you had it all under
control
.” She let her anger out
no matter how much she feared his sorcery. Capella’s words rang in
her ears,
slippery as fish innards.
She tried to twist away,
not daring to use her own powers against him, but he held her
fast.

“Everything seeks to be balanced,” he said,
releasing her. “The unicorn’s sacrifice must now be yours.”

She stepped away from the madness emanating from
him. The molochs were edging closer, wary of the dragon-man, but
sliding nearer all the same. Sirrush looked down at his feet and
spread his palms. After a few moments, two metallic curved blades
rose from the earth. They were still hot, glowing bright orange and
yellow, as he molded them from ores underground. The molochs
nearest them stopped. He grabbed the cooling handles at the center
of the blades and whipped them up and around himself like he was
merely twirling ribbons.

Ava raised her sword. The molochs rippled, looked
larger all of a sudden, their growls growing like an oncoming
avalanche. A streak of gold was bulleting through the air. Some of
them leapt up to snap at it.

“Lula!” Ava shouted, more happy than anything in the
world to see her friend, though she had wished for her to stay
behind.

“The rest of them are coming,” Lula said through
gasps, flying over to Ava. “We saw what happened! Adhara and
Warwick were fighting Gavan, but he turned into a dragon and there
was nothing they could do.”

Ava could only nod silently. Everything was twisting
in on itself. The reality of her world dissolving into pure
nightmare.