Avalyne Series 01: The Queen of Carleon (32 page)

When Arianne nodded in answer,  Melia turned to Aeron and exhaled a deep breath.
‘Are you as good with that thing as they say?’ She asked, knowing full well he was. His reputation as an archer had no equal anywhere in Avalyne.

‘
I have been known to be proficient,’ Aeron retorted pulling two arrows from his bow and taking aim at the Berserkers. ‘Are you?’ He cast a sidelong glance at her with a brow raised.

‘
I did not shoot you, did I?’ Melia replied sweetly and did the same with her crossbow.

‘
I will take that as a yes,’ he replied.

‘
Good,’ she almost smiled and then spoke in a more serious tone. ‘We need to clear her a path out of there.’

‘
Agreed,’ Aeron nodded. ‘You take the left and I will take the right.’

‘I follow your lead Prince,’ Melia answered and raised her crossbow to take aim.

Working in tandem, they rained down a deadly barrage on the Berserkers near the altar, each arrow striking their mark, one after the other.  The foul creatures fell to the ground like flies, their corpses joining the already numerous bodies on the ground. 

Suddenly, realising her efforts to secure her prisoner were being compromised by the two archers, Syphia who had blasted another wave of heat at Tamsyn, turned her head in their direction and glared at the two. Aeron saw her jaws widened and guessed a split second before she expelled her deadly breath, what was coming at them.

‘
Look out!’ He cried out as a blast of flame came rushing at them.

Melia looked up in time to feel Aeron’ arms around her waist, pulling her off the edge of the staircase as the ball of green fire came surging towards them. They both crashed heavily unto the ground, their fall broken by the dead bodies beneath them. There was little time to recover however from their near escape because Syphia was hurling more flame at them. Once more, Aeron grabbed her and they were running for cover, barely avoiding the cascading waves of burning bile that not only set the ground on fire but with it any Berserkers in the vicinity.

‘I think we upset her,’ Melia said breathing hard as they took refuge behind a column.

‘
Arrows do that,’ Aeron remarked wryly.

‘
Thank you,’ Melia swallowed thickly, seeing the flames burning in the place where they had been. ‘I do not think I would have moved fast enough to escape.’

‘
Does that mean that you have finally decided to accept the aid of Prince of Halas?’ He asked, scanning the area to see if Syphia was resuming her attack.

‘
I am considering it,’ she replied. ‘If we survive this, I will make proper recompense. For now, did Arianne escape?’

Aeron stole a glance past the column and saw that Arianne was no longer cowering under the stone altar.  She, was hurrying towards Dare but the danger was far from over.

‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘But Syphia’s attention does not linger too far from her,’ he replied seeing the creature seeking out the Queen again. However, instead of pursuing Arianne, Syphia had a new target to fix her attention upon.

The King.

*******

Celene, like Dare and the others had been attempting to reach Arianne when the onslaught of Berserkers and shape shifters derailed that plan
. She found herself fighting back to back with her husband as they had not done since Astorath. Syphia had given the Berserkers somewhere to go after the fall of Abraxes and it appeared now that she commanded their loyalty as fiercely as Balfure had. They were filing into the courtyard in seemingly endless numbers until they were fighting for every inch of ground they made towards Arianne.

Ronen was blocking the blade coming down upon him and held the Berserker in a deathly grip before he kicked out his leg, landing the ball of his foot on his opponent’s stomach and causing him to buckle. Pulling back his sword, he swung hard, shattering the enemy’s blade and taking the creature’s head with it. The Berserkers had no time to scream as it fell before Ronen was once more defending a blade thrust in his direction. The Lord of Gislaine lashed out with his sword, tearing the weapon away from the foul being’s hands and completed the battle when he ran it through.

Suddenly he saw something that made him pause. A group of shape shifters, their black bodies changing shape with each step they took forward, was closing in on Tamsyn. At this moment, the only reason they had been spared the wrath of the Primordial was because the magii was using every bit of magic he could to fight her. However, it appeared Syphia’s shifters planned to ambush Tamsyn and distract the magii long enough for Syphia to gain the advantage.

‘
Celene!’ He called to his wife. ‘We must help Tamsyn.’

Celene followed his gaze and realised what he was staring at and agreed immediately.  Nodding at him in answer, she rushed forward, her sword leading her charged as her blade drove straight into the body of a Berserker in her path. She did not halt her grisly advance until the blade met air on the other side of his back.

‘What are you waiting for?’ She glanced at her husband with a little smile. ‘Do I have to save the wizard myself?’

**********

Dare saw Arianne finally free to leave that damn altar after the Berserkers seeking to recapture her had been put down and offered silent thanks to Aeron and the watch guard Melia for allowing her to do it. His own efforts to reach her had been hampered by the weight of all the Berserkers that were determined to slay a king on this day. It was a pleasure he was going to deny them as he fought valiantly the numbers rallied against him. Aware that he would become their target almost as soon as they had seen him, Dare had sense enough to distribute the forces at hand wisely.

Beside him, Kyou was swinging his own blade; each arch was soon followed by a sharp and agonized scream indicating that the dwarf lord had made his mark. Kyou’s handling of the weapon was next to superb and he was able to defend himself against sword and fork. The Berserkers that he felled lay on the ground unmoving, their black blood running into the dirt around their ruined bodies. The dwarf’s size did little to hamper his ability to fight the formidable Berserkers because the
dwarves not only knew how to make the greatest weapons in Avalyne but they were schooled thoroughly in how to use them.

A Berserkers had slammed his thick skull against Dare’s forehead and sent the king stumbling backwards. The savage enemy came at him with a mace, attempting to crush his skull with a single blow. Dare slipped beyond his reach when he prepared to bring down the weapon upon the king. Dare managed to get behind him and was there to meet the Berserkers snarling in outrage at his escape, with the point of his blade when he sent it through the creature’s neck. The enemy dropped his weapon and clutched the sword, trying to drag Dare forward. Wasting no time, Dare slid the dagger in his other hand through the monster’s flesh and tore open his insides, ending any further effort on his part.

‘DARE!’

Dare spun around to the sound of Aeron’ terrified scream and saw Syphia coming straight for him.

The beast opened her mouth and spewed forth a wall of fire that the king barely avoided when he jumped clear. Hot flames consumed the Berserkers standing near him and screams of agony filled the air as well as the unpalatable stench of roasting flesh. Dare had just landed when he saw a shadow over him and realized that it was Syphia’s spindly but barbed leg about to smash down on him. The king scrambled to his feet and ran forward, trying to escape the reach when another ball of flame stopped him in his steps. Back tracking, he did not have time to react to the tail that came at him.

Arianne watched in horror as Dare was swept off his feet and flung half way across the floor. He landed badly and did not get up again as Syphia approached him. Even Aeron and Melia’s efforts to hinder her progress towards the king did not effect the Primordial since she was now standing over Dare. Her jaw widened and her mouth smoked with green fire as she drew breath in readiness for another fiery assault.

‘You will do no more harm!’ Tamsyn who had managed to escape the shape shifters intending to distract him to Ronen and Celene who were battling them, even in the midst of this confrontation between himself and the Primordial.

‘
And what will you do magii?’ Syphia demanded malevolently. ‘Do you think you are fast enough to stop me from incinerating this mortal? Try me Magii and see which of us is wrong.’

Tamsyn
faltered because it was true. He could fight this creature but could he act before Syphia exhaled the breath waiting inside her body? He was not sure and he could not take the chance. Avalyne was now at peace because the races had rallied around
this
King. Without Dare, Avalyne would fall to chaos once more and might never recover.

‘
This cannot end the way you want,’ Tamsyn said coldly.

‘
It will end the way I choose,’ Syphia hissed, her eyes flashing an ever deeper red ‘Give me the woman and I will leave him be.’

‘
No,’ Tamsyn retorted. ‘Never.’

‘
Then watch as Carleon’s king dies and out of the chaos I will still give them a new king, a king who is not only of him but also of Antion. Not only will the world of men follow him but when I dispatch Lylea, he will be High King of the elves too.’

‘
NO!’ Arianne screamed from where she was. ‘YOU WILL NOT HARM NO ONE! NOT ANYMORE!’

Arianne saw her beloved Dare lying on the ground, blood running from his forehead and knew that he could be dead,
today
. She had given up her immortality to be with him and though she accepted that those years would be only as long as a single mortal span of life, she was not prepared to lose him now. Not before any of the dreams that they had built in their years apart were given shape.

This foul relic of the Primordial had already destroyed Tully and for all they knew, might have killed Keira too. She was not going to allow it to destroy any more lives. Not Dare’s or her mothers and certainly not Avalyne. No more was she going to stand by and let this creature take away all that she loved, beginning with her baby and now its father.

Arianne stepped forward, ignoring Celene’s cries to desist and placed herself before Dare and Syphia. Her child, whether or not he knew it, would protect his parents even from the womb.

‘
This ends now Syphia,’ Arianne glared at him with a stare that could have burned him dead if it was allowed. ‘You will cause no more mischief to any of my kin.’

‘
Empty threats do not become you Queen,’ Syphia declared shortly. ‘You will come with me or I will kill your precious King.’

‘
You will kill no one.’ She said icily and closed her eyes before chanting words of her own, words as ancient as the world itself. ‘Not me, not my husband or my son!’

She was the Queen.

She was an also an elf, with human in her past but there was a Celestial in her lineage and that blood ran through Arianne’s veins. She never called upon him for help because it was not the way of elves to call upon those who had made them immortal only to fight their war.  However, this evil before her was one Enphilim knew well and she needed his aid as she had never needed it before. Her mother had told her to reach into herself, to bring forth the power she had inside her when the needs was great.

‘
Your blood is more than just human or elf. Your grandfather was sired by a god and that too runs through your veins. You will do well to remember that.’

The needs was never as great as it was now and as she made her demand, felt something shift inside her brain.  For a  moment, she could feel the waters of the
Brittle Sea pressing against the undersea walls of rock that surrounded Sanhael. She called upon Enphilim who gave his son a sword made from the heavens.

Arianne hoped he was listening to her now.

‘What are you doing?’ Syphia demanded as she heard Arianne chanting ancient words that predated even the ones her shifters had spoken to resurrect Mael.

Arianne did not listen. She continued to invoke the ancient words of calling and only when the cavern began to shake, did they know what she was doing. The rock began to heave around her and the cracks miniscule when she had arrived began to widen, allowing more and more water to seep through.

‘STOP THIS!’ Syphia bellowed, leaving Dare and approaching Arianne.

‘
Kill her if you dare,’ Tamsyn challenged the Primordial viciously. He recognised the words and he willed his own power into her, giving her the help he she needed to reach the Celestial he served, to gain a boon to fight this evil from the ancient times.

Behind him, Dare started to stir. The reverberations in the rock had travelled through his skin from the ground and roused him abruptly out of his dark sleep. His head throbbed as he sat up but whatever disorientation he felt was driven away when he saw his wife standing before Syphia, uttering words that were so old even he had difficult understanding them.

However, their effect was obvious. Chunks of rock were breaking free through the cave, water was spilling from the ocean in columns of white froth. The Berserkers and the shifters were starting to see the danger and had were lowering their swords, trying to decide what to do.