Hail to the Queen (Sage Trilogy, Book 3) (39 page)

“I know, and all by yourself too.”

“My manifestations feel real enough for me…for you,” Thorn forced a smile. “But in all seriousness, I’m just sick of you cockroaches surviving the apocalypse. This really has to end here. Are your groups in place? Because my creatures should be hitting your borders right about now.”

A number of explosions echoed across the sky, and the first screams and shouts emerged. Catherine noticed a fire break out
from where the village was. She began to have flashbacks of when Alexander attacked, and remembering the lives that were lost that day just angered her further.

“The sooner we kill you, the sooner this ends,” Catherine said. “Let’s go.”

Catherine put the palms of her hands forward as the electric purple winds swirling around her concentrated around them like bracelets. They spun around them faster and faster, and then a beam of purple energy erupted from her hands and fired towards Thorn like a missile.

Thorn unsheathed his steel sword and blocked the beam, keeping it at bay as she continued to fire at him. Zain and the straggling Langorans ran forward with swords drawn but just before they were able to hit the King, red creatures popped up from the dirt and began jumping onto them, exploding on impact. Zain managed to swat one away just in time.

“Stupid Prattlians making tunnels under the meadow!” Zain shouted as he kept some at bay.

A large red dragon shrieked up above and began shooting a stream of fire
out its mouth across the village while spiders, stone golems and an army of armored soldiers, faceless and wielding axes, began to pour into the Kingdom at all entrances.

Catherine ceased the beam attack and switched to trying to grapple Thorn
with the energy, but he dodged her attempts to bind him each time as he turned to clash swords with Zain.

“Kyran, I see you!” Thorn shouted
suddenly as he kicked Zain away and swiped at the air behind him. Kyran suddenly shimmered into view, and he clutched the wound on his chest as he backed away. Zain recovered and met Thorn head on again, but this time the King of Zen-echelon grabbed the sword with his bare hands, crushed it in his fist and stabbed Zain in the chest.

“I’ve found her,” Thorn whispered as he pulled Zain close. “Let’s see how fast you are.”

Thorn kicked Zain off his blade and began running towards the castle as Zain scrambled to his feet, screaming the entire time.

“Stop him! Stop him! My wife’s in there! He knows where she is!”

Catherine growled as she pursued Thorn with inhuman speed, drawing forth her purple energy sword and slicing at all the manifestations that tried to get in her way. The spiders and the faceless soldiers fell easy but when she came to the stone golems, her blade just ricocheted off their concrete frame. Ducking their attacks, she finally reached Thorn and leapt at his back. He pivoted just in time and grabbed her wrists in mid-air. Raising her high into the air, Catherine went to kick him in the face when one of the golems suddenly smashed a fist into her spine. She cried out as the armor on her back shattered and the golem reared back for another blow.

“Wait a second,” Thorn said
to the golem as he studied Catherine’s pained face. He looked behind her and chuckled at the sight of Zain and Kyran trying to get past hundreds of faceless soldiers and red creatures that now surrounded them like a mob.

“Ah, Catherine, you’re the one I really want,” Thorn sighed amorously. “And I don’t know what the chase was all about. I don’t need to be in the castle myself to get the job done. Even now, I have thousands of my red beauties strategically placed all around the structure and surrounding your precious Prattlian strategists. After they’re all dead, I can retrieve the stones myself.”

As soon as he stopped speaking, thousands of small explosions sounded off from within the castle, one after the other. The castle began to collapse and within seconds, it imploded onto itself. Several faceless soldiers ran past Thorn to retrieve the stones from the dead carriers.

“With you, however,
I can get your stone personally,” Thorn said as he handed Catherine’s wrists over to the golem to hold. The golem clasped them tight as Thorn took the steel sword and began sawing at the front of Catherine’s armor.

Catherine’s face reddened in anger as she brought forth a wave of energy into her hands. She flexed her biceps as she lifted up and broke free from the golem. She wasted no time in punching Thorn in the face as hard as she could. He staggered and she called forth her sword, ready to plunge it into him when the golem punched her i
n the shoulder. Catherine cried out and stumbled, just enough for Thorn to shatter her sword with a palm strike and once again grab her wrists and lift her into the air. Just as the golem got ready to hit her again, she suddenly disappeared from Thorn’s hands.

Thorn raised
an eyebrow in confusion and looked behind the equally confused golem, watching as his soldiers and creatures were suddenly being cut down at an alarming rate. The young Sages had arrived, and they were mowing down the creatures like they were blades of unkempt grass. From the chaos, James emerged from the midst with Catherine in his arms.

He glared at Thorn in disdain as he set his love down
onto her feet.

“I hate being the damsel in distress,” Catherine muttered as she rubbed her back. James snickered and glanced at her.

“Hey, don’t feel too bad. You’re the only one that ever got a hit off on him.”

“Where have you been?”

“Arimus and I have come upon some interesting pieces of information. By the way, Dominic and Alexander are dead.”

Thorn’s eyes widened in surprise as James flashed him a smile.

“Yep. Seems impossible right? Well, not so much once you’ve been to the Sage Academy. Found out some really cool stuff there.”

Thorn rushed forward with his steel sword poised, his face
distorted in rage once he heard where James had been. James pushed Catherine aside and met the King head on, calling forth his white eidolon and smashing Thorn’s steel blade in one swipe, but the King was quick. Not caring about his weapon, he tackled James to the ground and clutched his throat. James stuck his eidolon through him but Thorn didn’t seem to care. He just began punching James in the face as hard as he could while continuing to squeeze his trachea. Catherine leapt on Thorn’s back, clasped both fists together, infused them with power and then brought them down upon Thorn’s exposed head.

Thorn
wobbled as he was set in a daze and James kicked the King off of him. Catherine called her blade forward and struck at the King, slicing away without mercy as James clutched his face from the pain he endured. Finally being able to focus, he joined in, calling forth both white eidolons to finish the job. Thorn managed to break out his daze suddenly and he grabbed both Catherine and James by the throat, squeezing tight as they swung at his arms with their respective blades. Thorn grit his teeth and refused to let go until he suddenly found himself armless – Arimus and Kyran standing exactly where his arms used to be.

Kyran and Arimus placed their swords at Thorn’s throat and were just about to take him down when a fireball hit Kyran’s back, sending him flying into the grass
, and a stone golem hit Arimus in the back of the head, knocking him off balance. The red dragon swooped down and grabbed Thorn’s slumping body, and carried him off into the sky. The creatures and faceless soldiers vanished immediately and Zain fell over in mid-swing, trying to hit the Dragon as it left.

“Did he just get away?!” Zain screamed as he pointed toward the dragon in the distance. “And where is my wife?” Zain
ran off toward the castle ruins as James and Catherine helped Arimus and Kyran to their feet.

“Is everyone okay?” Arimus asked as James poked at his swollen right eye.

“Could be better.”

“We need to go after him,” Arimus said. Catherine scoffed and sat down on the grass to rest
, wincing after she touched the bruise on her back.

“Arimus, that is probably the most reckless thing I’ve heard you say yet. I’m thinking that we should enjoy this small victory and regroup.”

“For when he comes back, Catherine? No, we may not be so lucky. We must go now. James and I have come upon some information that could end this today. Now that Thorn knows we’ve been to the Sage Academy, he’ll do everything he can to end this tonight. He won’t be expecting a frontal assault, and even if he is, he’s been wounded. He won’t be at his best facing us. This is our chance, while he’s weak. James and I promise to explain as we go.”

“You want us to head to Zen-echelon?” Catherine said in disbelief. “How are we going to get there in time to make a difference?”

“How about with this?” James said as a large red and purple dragon swooped down in the meadow. Catherine screamed and summoned her sword but Arimus got in the way and held up hands of surrender.

“Wait! Wait!” Arimus cried out. “James and I summoned this. Not Thorn.”

“How?” Catherine demanded as James patted the dragon on side of its belly. It leaned down and nuzzled its horned head against him as its wings flapped in approval.

“I might call her Scarlet,” James laughed as Catherine glared at him. “Hey, where is she anyways?”

“Impeccable timing on your part,” Kyran said as he leapt onto the dragon’s back and sat with legs crossed.

“Kyran, you want to do this?” Catherine asked in confusion.

“We’ll explain on the way,” Arimus said. “But trust us, we have to do this now.”

“Okay,” Catherine groaned, rising to her feet. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Catherine!” Zain cried out as he ran towards them. “What are you doing?”

“It’s hard to explain,” Catherine said wearily, pointing to the dragon. “But we’re headed to Zen-echelon. We’re going to stop Thorn right now…how are the others?”

“Damage hasn’t been too bad throughout the Kingdom, and Tyuin is still alive…but he lost his wife in the castle explosions, and so have I…the stones are gone…”

“Then Thorn must have them,” Catherine replied as she reached into her pocket and then threw Zain the stone of Quietus. “Keep that safe, and begin rebuilding. Have the groups maintain their positions and k
eep the people calm. You’re in charge until I return.”

“Should we come with you?” asked one of the young Sages. Catherine smiled warmly and then let James help her up onto the dragon’s back.

“I’m sorry,” Catherine said. “But this is our fight. No offense, but we can’t afford to lose you right now. This Kingdom will need its Sages. Protect the others in case Thorn returns. We won’t be long.”

With Catherine and the remaining three seasoned Sages on the dragon’s back, it lifted up into the sky and took off
for one last ditch effort towards Thorn’s Kingdom…

*              *              *              *              *

“So that’s the gist of it,” James replied as they all sat cross legged on the dragon’s back, flying high above the clouds. “Thorn isn’t nearly as powerful as he makes himself out to be. But that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. He’s smart, and he’ll be figuring out a way to take us down once and for all. Maybe a giant red exploding creature or something.”

“So that’s how you made this dragon,” Catherine said, looking at its skin. “It’s beautiful.”

“It doesn’t have any strength,” James said. “It’s made solely for flying, but I haven’t had the time Thorn’s had either. For years he’s learned to create multiple manifestations at once and infuse them with incredible power. It must be taxing on him and his carrier.”

“If we can get the stones away from him, then it’s all over,” Arimus said. “
He’ll be completely powerless. Finding his carrier will be the key.”

“What do you think he’ll do with the stones he took?” Catherine yawned.

“He won’t have time to find carriers for all of them, but this does complicate things. With all the stones being the same, we have to ensure that we retrieve all three from him. He can’t have a single one in his possession or this starts all over again.”

“So this is why he’ll try to eliminate us as soon as possible…we know too much.”

“Exactly. It’s already bad enough that the Kingdoms have united. We’ve saved many lives today through our teamwork, but he can’t let this go on. My bet is that he’ll probably put the stone into a new carrier, someone who still has a lot of life left. He’s been hitting the Kingdoms one after the other. I’m sure whomever he’s using now has got to be close to death.”