Dragon Sword (The Dragon Lord’s Bride #2)

Chapter 32

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

We flew ever closer to the shadows in the heart of the forest and the nearer we came the colder the air became until I was shivering. Goosebumps stuck out from my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Will’s eagle was in the lead and I could see his brilliant golden eyes inspect every hint of movement beneath us. He guided us lower to the trees so we flew about thirty feet above what had once been the treetops but was now a mess of thick black fog.

That’s how he knew when to dodge the sudden bolt of shadows that shot out of the deep darkness. The weapon zig-zagged through the air and missed the eagle king by a feather’s breadth. The other eagles took evasive maneuvers as more of the bolts darted out of the black cloud. I gripped tight to the claw that held me as my legs were swung around like I was a rag doll.

Sylvia’s eagle was the least agile and one of the bolts struck its wing. Its feathers burst out of its skin and revealed the impact point, a mass of black rotting flesh. The bird screeched and plummeted to the earth with Sylvia hanging on for dear life.

I used both hands to tug on my eagle’s foot. “We have to help them!”

The eagle shook its head. “If we follow we will be closer to the attack!”

Sylvia and her eagle disappeared into the darkness that shrouded the forest. My eyebrows crashed down and I yanked on the claws that held me. “Then let me go down there alone!”

“Only by order of my king!” the eagle countered.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. I reached up and grabbed a handful of feathers which I then yanked down. The eagle gave a squawk and dove close to the top of the cloud. Then I delivered the coup de grace when I opened my mouth wide and snapped my teeth down on one of the toes. The eagle screeched and instinctively opened its claws.

I dropped into the mist and crashed through some branches before my butt found the solid earth. All was as quiet as the grave as I sat up and was immediately choked by the vile gas that had replaced the air. A coughing fit nearly overcame me but I clapped a hand over the lower half of my face, stifling some of the putrid stuff.

An idea struck me and I lifted one hand. My fire sword shot out and immediately burned away the suffocating air, clearing a circle around me. I eased myself onto my feet and raised my sword high. The firelight illuminated only about ten feet around me but I didn’t need light to tell there was trouble.

The screaming told me that.

“Help!” Sylvia shouted and her terrified figure raced into my light area. Her bag bounced against her back and her weapon was tucked under one arm. She was too fast to brake properly and crashed into me.

The hulking figure of her fallen eagle galloped after her with its blackened eyes hungry for flesh. I thrust my sword in its face and the flames burned its beak. The creature skidded back and snapped his rotten beak at me.

“Back!” I shouted as I waved my sword at it. “Get back!”

Embers flew out of my weapon and landed on the creature’s head. It reared back and screeched before turning its feathered tail and running back into the shadows. I let out the breath I’d been holding and turned to my cowering companion.

“You okay?” I asked her.

She straightened and cleared her throat. “Of course I’m alright.”

“Then could you let go of my arm? You’re hurting me.”

She and I looked down at her hands which had a death grip on my arm. Sylvia blushed a little and jerked her hands back. “That was hardly a grip at all.”

I rubbed the red indents that perfectly outlined her fingers. “Anyway, where do we go from here?”

Sylvia cast her eyes over my shoulder and frowned before she nodded in that direction. “That way.”

I half-turned and saw what she meant. The shadows were darker in that direction. Even my light couldn’t penetrate very far into those blackened depths. I swallowed the lump in my throat and together we ventured into the forest.

My thoughts were ever on my husband who flew above us. I couldn’t hear any shouts from him but there was no doubt in my mind he worried about me. I was worried about him, too, as we trudged through the rotten landscape. It was like a nightmare where someone had splashed rotten paint everywhere. The stench of decay hung over everything.

The area began to look familiar and I wasn’t surprised when we passed through the ring of huge trees that surrounded the stones. The fog cleared ahead of us enough to show off the circle of stones and the path that led up to them. There were no columns of soldiers this time, but we weren’t alone. Three figures stood in front of the altar. Two I knew. They were Luja and Lady Akka.

The third was a stranger to me but I felt Sylvia stiffen at my side. The old woman was as wizened as Akka but sported short hair that puffed out on the sides of her head, completely hiding her ears. She wore ragged traveler’s robes.

I didn’t need three guesses to know this was Mother Dunn. However, I was struck by the faint resemblance between Dunn and Akka. Standing side-by-side as they were, they almost looked like-

My mouth fell open as I thought back to what Will had told me about Akka. She’d had a sister who had been exiled for dark magic.

The trio glared at us as we entered the clearing. A screech could be heard overhead and I saw that the clearing stretched all the way to the sky. Three eagles circled overhead and I could decipher Will riding one of them with a passenger in the talons of another.

“How did you get through the mist?” Luja shouted as he drew his sword.

Akka narrowed her eyes at me and held up a hand. “Stay your sword, you fool. She has dragon magic at her call.”

He shot her a sharp glare. “You told me nothing could harm Varjo so what should that matter against your master’s magic?”

She snapped her head around to scowl at the soldier. “Our master will be weak after his long slumber! Her foul magic will irritate him!”

Luja scoffed and strolled past her toward us. “Then I will handle the irritation now.”

A shadow warned him of danger and he leapt back in time to avoid the king of the eagles landing where he had stood. Will hopped down and rushed over to me while Alisa was unceremoniously dropped close beside us. She landed hard on her butt and shook a fist at the eagle as it flew back into the sky.

“You did that on purpose!” she snapped.

Will reached us and grasped my arms before he looked me over. “Are you alright?”

I looked past him at our foes partially hidden behind the eagle king. “I don’t think any of us are right now.”

Mother Dunn rubbed her wizened old hands together and cackled softly. “No need to fret, my dear, no need to fret. We’ll soon take care of you and your ilk.”

“You plan to release the monster bound to the stones,” Will guessed.

Akka sneered at him. “Monster? You judge others and fraternize with those monsters who inhabit the city? Decadent filth who wronged our family all those centuries ago. Who sent my only sister away from me to live among the mortals.”

“She earned her punishment,” he countered as his eyes fell on Luja. “But what’s your part in this?”

Luja folded his arms over his chest and grinned. “Power, of course. I was promised the right of the kingship if I helped these lovely old crones free their master.”

“Stop this worthless chatter,” Akka snapped as she reached into her robes and drew out a sharp knife. “We shall begin the ceremony forthwith.”

Luja puffed out his chest and turned where he sauntered to the altar. He spun on his heels and bowed low to all little group. “I am glad to give some of my noble blood for this cause.”

Akka held out her hand to him. “Your hand.”

“You must stop this!” Will shouted as he raced forward.

Mother Dunn let loose a scream like a banshee. The sound vibrated the air and created a vortex that sent us all, even the great eagle, tumbling away from them. Will allowed himself to be pulled up to me where he wrapped his arms around me. Sylvia snatched Alisa’s hand and tucked them both against the ground. The eagle king dug his talons into the ground and uprooted the stone path as he came to a stop, his wings stretched out on either side to protect us from the torrent.

While all that was going on, Luja set his hand in Akka’s outstretched one and steadied himself, but he still winced when she dragged the sharp blade across his palm. Akka lifted his bleeding wound over the altar and his life liquid dripped onto the stone. A faint black glow emanated from the shrine and I felt a tremor of something cold and heavy fall on me.

Luja’s greedy eyes were so focused on the light that he didn’t notice when Mother Dunn slipped up beside him. She drew another dagger and grabbed the side of his head. He didn’t have a chance to do more than jerk back, but that gave her the opening she needed.

She dragged the blade deep across his throat.