King Of Souls (Book 2) Page 17

  Danielle forced down hot bile threatening to spill up from her churning stomach. She grew up in the Prime Guardian’s home. Her mother gave birth to her and Ronan inside its protective trunk. She’d spent every night of her childhood safe in its branches.

  A burst of gleaming silver flashed in the corner of Danielle’s eye, and shook her from her thoughts.

  A sorceress riding atop a silver dragon beat a glowing crystal rod against its flank. The beast adjusted course hurtling toward Danielle.

  Brees directed his raised palm toward the sorceress and mumbled a few disjointed words. The amulet around his neck glowed a dim shade of silver while the dragon closed fast.

  Danielle dove trying to avoid the dragon’s open mouth while the beast closed within striking range.

  Lighting spit from sorceress’s outstretched finger and streaked toward Danielle.

  Brees mumbled something under his breath, and his palm flashed bright silver.

  Wide-eyed, the sorceress screamed commands into the dragon’s ear. She continued to beat it with the long glowing rod showing no mercy. The dragon pitched its feet forward flapping its massive wings as if to reverse course. The sorceress’s lightning attack bounced off a silver wall appearing from thin air a few feet in front of her. Her lightning attack ricocheted backward striking her square in the nose. As if yanked by an invisible hand, the girl launched backward. She dropped the glowing rod before sailing over the dragon’s jeweled saddle. The sorceress plummeted into the fiery treetop of the Prime Guardian’s heartwood home. Her muted screams faded as the fire she’d helped create engulfed her.

  The silver dragon turned and retreated ignoring Danielle and Brees as if they never existed.

  Danielle didn’t dare take a direct approach to the first tree. Not with a dozen dragons and sorcerers swarming its treetop, but she could use the underground access tunnel from her home. She dove gliding through black smoke toward the Prime Guardian’s home.

  She raced past the heartwood tree where the Assembly had gathered monthly for the past two-thousand years. Flames engulfed the tree from top to bottom. Nothing could save it now.

  Flames licked at the upper terrace of Danielle’s family home. The same terrace where she’d stood a few short months ago. She, Ronan, and her father watched the strange lights flicker over the desert sky. The same spot she, Rika, and Ronan had danced, sang and laughed until dawn rose the next morning. That seemed a lifetime ago.

  Danielle’s chest tightened as she streaked toward the open terrace. How had this happened? Why now? Despite their good intent, she couldn’t shake a horrible feeling. Had she and Ronan somehow unleashed this horror? Had restoring Elan and Lora’s magic allowed for this atrocity?

  Through a fleeting patch of clear sky, Keely appeared near the forest floor. She streaked toward an open door in the first tree’s trunk before disappearing inside.

  Danielle extended her talons and touched down on the terrace among toppled chairs and flipped tables. Smoke boiled from the trunk’s interior. The tree’s natural light couldn’t compete with the heavy soot and ash soaking every inch of its interior.

  Brees climbed off Danielle’s back and tore away the leather saddle.

  Danielle shifted into human form and covered her body in a suit of flame-retardant living armor. She flipped open her pouch and pulled free her staff growing it to ten feet tall within seconds.

  Brees gazed through the smoke-filled interior while his amulet pulsed with silver light.

  Danielle knelt, placed her palm against the living heartwood, and gasped. The heartwood should hum beneath her touch. Instead, dead still coldness returned her greeting. “Oh God! Please no!”

  Brees rushed to her side and knelt slipping his arm around her shoulder. “What’s wrong Danielle? Are you hurt?”

  Hot tears streaked her soot-stained cheeks. Her body trembled while she tossed her head side-to-side. “She’s dead Brees. They’ve killed her!”

  Confusion rippled over the shaman’s expression, and he furrowed his brow. “She? Who’s she? I don’t understand.”

  Rage, hot and red flashed across Danielle’s eyes. She shrugged off his arm, stood, and turned a murderous look on the Obsith shaman. “This is my home! This tree has lived for a thousand years and now it’s dead! Your people killed it, and I’ve no idea why!” Her voice trembled as she spoke. “She was like family to me.” She spread her arm outward across the forest. “All these trees that you see burning are members of my family. They’re as alive as you and I, and those savages are butchering them!” She pointed to the sky teeming with dragons and sorcerers.

  Brees’s eyes softened, and he reached for her. “Danielle, I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would’ve tried to stop it. You have to believe me.”

  From somewhere high up inside Connal Deveaux’s burning home, the muted cries of a child hung heavy in the thick smoke.

  Danielle’s skin prickled, and she perked her ears holding up her hand. “Did you hear that?”

  Without bothering a reply, Brees streaked across the terrace. He disappeared like a wraith through the tree trunk’s billowing smoke and ash.

  Danielle followed close behind sprinting toward a broad circular staircase. It rimmed the tree’s core and provided access to every floor of the Deveaux household.

  Brees touched the staircase first taking the steps three at a time. “How many floors Danielle?” His voice rose over the sound of fire raging on the upper floors.

  “Three floors. That’s Ferris’s scream, you’ve got to hurry.”

  Brees vaulted higher passing two floors in seconds before reaching the landing at the tree’s top floor.

  An inferno blazed across the home’s highest floor. The staircase, wooden floor, and every visible piece of furniture burned with reckless abandon.

  Overwhelming heat slammed into Danielle’s face. She gasped and stumbled backward on rubbery legs.

  Brees whirled to face her, and the amulet dangling around his neck glowed like a bright silvery refuge in a raging storm. He raised his palm and his lips moved speaking inaudible words.

  A thin silver coating layered Brees’s clothing and exposed flesh as it did Danielle’s armor, hair, and skin.

  The heat’s intensity vanished replaced by a pleasurable warmth like sitting around a campfire. Danielle’s shoulders relaxed, and she pushed higher up the steps. She stopped behind Brees’s right shoulder and pointed. “Ferris’s room is to the left. Hurry!”

  Brees nodded and directed his palm toward the inferno blazing inches from his feet. He spoke and the fire before him retreated. “Be careful crossing the floor. It might not hold our weight.” He started forward up the staircase.

  Danielle gripped his shoulder. “Wait, I can help with that.” She fished inside her pack pulling free a few seeds. She scattered them across the charred floor and extended her hand. Flows of bright green energy traveled into the seeds and transformed into a living bridge of tight green vines.

  Brees grinned and nodded. “That’ll work. Let’s go.” He commanded the fire backward and moved toward the room where Ferris screamed for help.

  Danielle continued to weave her vine bridge until she and Brees reached the room where she’d heard Ferris cry for help.

  Brees kicked in the half-burned door, and they entered the room. A charred half-burned corpse lay face down in the wreckage a few feet inside the room.

  Danielle gasped and locked her gaze on the remains of Collette Chevrier. She had hired Ferris’s nanny among a field of qualified applicants because of the instant bond she and Ferris formed. Only a few years younger than Danielle, the bright-eyed woman’s life had come to an early end. But, Collete had protected her charge until the bitter end.

  The boy who Danielle had saved from Merric Pride’s concentration camp, cowered under a hand-carved oak bed. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared upward.

  Danielle rushed across his half-charred bedroom floor.

  “Miss Danielle? Is that you?” Ferris's voice quaked
with fear.

  Brees’s hand glowed silver and flames burning a foot from Ferris’s bed retreated.

  Danielle held out her arms. “It’s me Ferris. You can come out now.”

  Ferris scrambled from beneath the bed. He leaped into Danielle’s arms wrapping his trembling arms around her neck. He buried his head into her shoulder and wailed. The sobs he’d held back waiting for rescue came out in a flood, and his small body shook in Danielle’s arms.

  Danielle stroked his soot-stained hair and hugged the little boy. “Shh…it’ll be okay. You were a brave little boy to hide in here.” She shot Brees a glance, and he raised his palm.

  Brees’s hand glowed and a silvery screen settled over Ferris’s body before sinking into his skin and fading.

  Danielle continued to stroke his hair and rub his back. “Ferris, where’s the Prime Guardian? Have you seen him?”

  “He told me to hide in here with Miss Collette.” He lifted his head and wiped away tearstains streaking his face. “I heard him talking to some of the people with him. They were going to protect the first tree.”

  Danielle shot a quick glance toward Brees. She needed to reach her father but wouldn’t risk taking Ferris back through the flames. The fire could’ve already spread to the upper terrace. “Ferris, this is my friend Brees. He’s a good man. Will you let him hold you? I can’t hold you while I’m flying, but Mister Brees can.”

  Ferris glanced toward Brees before burying his head in Danielle’s shoulder. “He looks like them Miss Danielle. Like the bad people burning the heartwood trees.”

  Brees started to speak, but Danielle shot him a glare that stopped him cold.

  “He’s not like the bad men outside. He saved my life, and he saved Miss Keely too.”

  Ferris jerked his head upward. “Miss Keely’s here too?”

  Danielle nodded. “We need to go find her. Can you come with us?”

  “Yes. I want to see Miss Keely.”

  “Can you let Mister Brees hold you? I can carry you both straight over to the first tree. Would that be okay?”

  Ferris nodded and stretched his arms out toward Brees.

  Brees lifted the little boy and wrapped him tight in his arms. He appeared at ease holding Ferris as if he’d spent many hours caring for young children. “It’s nice to meet you Ferris. Can you help me hang on to Miss Danielle? This flying thing isn’t as easy as it looks.”

  Ferris nodded. “I’m a good flier. Miss Keely and Miss Danielle take me lots of places. I’ve never had one bit of trouble. I’ll teach you.”

  Behind Danielle, the flames grew hotter. They ate away at the living bridge Danielle had built moments earlier and threatened to engulf the entire room.

  Danielle hurried past Ferris’s bed before padding across a half-burned carpet. She pushed aside a chest brimming with toys, books, and Ferris’s artwork.

  A large open window revealed burning heartwood branches outside. Flames licked at the bedroom's windowsill.

  Danielle shot Brees a worried look. “We’ve no saddle so hold on tight okay?” She opened the flap to her belt pouch and pulled out a few seeds. “Hold onto these.”

  Brees gave a short nod and tightened his grip on Ferris. “I won’t let go. I promise.” He took the seeds in his free hand and held them tight.

  Ferris buried his head in the shaman’s ash-streaked robes and wrapped his arms around Brees’s neck.

  Danielle shifted into a red-beaked merlin. The falcon’s speed, quickness, and agility offered their best hope of escape.

  Brees climbed onto Danielle’s back and scooted forward placing Ferris in front of him. He wrapped his arm around Danielle’s neck while clutching the seeds in his hand.

  Danielle channeled flows of magic into the seeds nestled inside Brees’s palm.

  Thick narrow vines spread from Bree’s hand and wrapped around him, Danielle and Ferris, strapping them to her body.

  Danielle hopped forward onto the windowsill and gazed into a world engulfed by bright orange flame. She scanned the swaying branches for an opening she might use for escape but found nowhere to fly.

  Brees lifted his palm and spoke. The flames before Danielle receded creating a tight narrow tunnel revealing blue sky on the opposite end.

  Danielle took flight passing through the tunnel as Brees let it close behind her. She emerged beyond the flaming treetop. She pitched right finding herself three hundred feet above the forest floor.

  Above the smoke line, a dark-brown dragon appeared extending its needle-sharp talons toward Danielle.

  Danielle cut left with quickness the dragon couldn’t match and dove into the smoke and flame. She tucked in her wings and picked up speed diving through the shifting smoke. She made a beeline toward the ground and the first tree’s waiting refuge.

  The dragon changed course and angled toward her flashing its razor sharp teeth.

  A soft whizzing sound sliced the air near Danielle’s ear missing by inches. Behind Danielle, a pain filled roar sounded, and she stole a glance over her shoulder.

  An arrow jutted from the dragon’s neck lodged between two heavy scales. A second arrow struck with a sickening crunch sinking into soft folds of skin beneath its outstretched wing.

  The dragon roared pitching upward away from the incoming barrage. Its tail swung wide in a slow arc and connected with Danielle’s hind end.

  The impact sent Danielle spinning downward into the pitch-black smoke. She plummeted through thickening smoke unable to stop her out-of-control descent. A smoldering heartwood limb slammed into her right wing. The impact tossed her sideways through burning foliage.

  Brittle branches snapped and cracked as Danielle fell through the proud tree’s burning canopy.

  Danielle’s stomach heaved as she spiraled through layers of dark twisted wood and leaves. She wailed letting loose a high-pitched screech. She broke clear of the smoke and debris jettisoning into the open sky a hundred feet above the ground.

  Brees clung to Danielle’s neck holding onto her feathers by his fingertips. His body strained against the vines holding him and Ferris to Danielle’s back.

  Ferris’s body shook with violent tremors. He screamed in terror as Danielle spun downward falling head over tail.

  Danielle’s heart hammered. She poured magic into her body willing her wings to beat faster. But, her breakneck speed and rash of injuries overcame her best effort. Even her years of training and mastery over nature’s magic couldn’t save her. The vines securing Brees and Ferris slipped lower. They rode her lower stomach before working their way loose wrapping her hind legs in a lasso. She willed magic into the vines tightening them further around her legs. She could at least keep them with her for their final few seconds of life.

  Brees and Ferris ground to a stop near her battered tail feathers. Brees pressed Ferris’s head into his chest saving the boy from watching the unavoidable impact.

  Brees and Ferris’s downward momentum pulled Danielle toward the earth like an anchor chain.

  The ground came faster closing within fifty feet. Through the burned forest, the Deveaux family pond flashed by revealing the bridge engulfed in flames.

  Danielle closed her eyes and prayed for a swift end.

  Bawold Stronghold

  Chunks of boulder-sized ice mixed with slushy seawater and lapped against the Arianne's hull.

  Tara lay face down on the Arianne’s ice covered deck amid heaps of Porthleven’s dead villagers. She waited aboard the ship, amid half of Porthleven’s former citizens. She felt exposed without General Demos beside her. But, she'd ordered him to oversee the Damocles retreat into the Araxis Sea.

  Aboard an approaching ship, the loud bark of oarsman counting strokes marked the only sign of life in Ripool’s harbor.

  The heavy smack of oars churning through thickening seawater grew louder as the enemy ship closed in. Across the harbor, another warship streamed toward the second stranded naval vessel. That ship, the Knight’s Lady, carried the rest of Porthleven’s former popul
ation.

  The gnawing dread Tara had felt before her arrival in Porthleven returned tying her stomach in knots. The survival of the Baerinese people relied on her plan to capture the soldiers inside Bawold Stronghold. Controlling such a grand port would allow the Baerinese military a strong footing in Meranthia. But, the forces she’d cobbled together couldn’t take the stronghold alone. She’d framed a daring plan, but its execution carried extreme risk. Meranthia’s young king had left her little choice. He’d forced her from Porthleven’s shores because she’d underestimated his strength. A mistake she wouldn’t make again.

  Translucent blue lights shimmered aboard the approaching vessel’s frozen decks. A dozen shielded archers lined the ship’s railing with their longbows trained on the Arianne’s decks. Behind the archer line, a soul knight stood guard, hiding behind his dreaded shield. Beside him, a shorter, heavier man wore a military dress uniform decorated with dozens of medals. Like the soldiers, this man’s soul stood exposed and available.

  Tara’s skin crawled as her gaze locked on the soul knight, and she forced herself to remain calm. She recognized the pattern of his blue soul thread. He’d flown over the Damocles a few hours earlier riding atop one of the Earth Mother’s creatures. He’d likely warned the city of Ripool and could end her plans within the next few minutes. But, what choice did she have? She had nowhere to run.

  The warship drew thirty yards from the Arianne, and the oars fell silent. “Archers load fire shot,” the soul knight said.

  Tara’s stomach lurched, and her chest tightened under panic’s full grip. Had they noticed her movement? Burning the ship now would prove disastrous.

  The short stocky commander glared at the soul knight before turning his gaze on the lead archer. “Lieutenant, ignore that order.” He spun directing his wrath on the soul knight. “Commander Tyrell, when we have our feet planted on the ground you may order the troops as you see fit. But when you’re aboard my ship, I’m in charge.”

  Tyrell gave the puffed-up commander a slight nod. “I apologize Captain Redford, but after what I’ve seen these past weeks, we don’t dare board that ship.”