Tempest (26 page)

Chapter 31

The first wyver landed on the castle wall; his red eyes eerie in the dark, his large, barbed tail swinging into the garden below.

The screams that followed were deafening. The wyver’s eyes met mine, his pupils glowing as he opened his mouth, baring his teeth to the crowd. Lochlen transformed, throwing his golden body into the air, his yellow-green gaze on the beast below him.

“You dare come into human territory, cousin,” Lochlen roared.

The wyver laughed. “I do serve a human king after all.”

Cadeyrn stepped forward. “I take it then that this is your king declaring war on mine,” he said.

The wyver’s red gaze rested on the prince. “He has been planning one for a long time.”

Anger coursed through my veins as I stared at the creature; anger at its stupidity, its barbaric need to kill, and the role it played in Kye’s death.

I pulled back on the arrow in my hand.

“He attacks now, then?” the prince asked. “Where are the human warriors? Or is he a coward, sending beasts to die instead of men?”

Another wyver landed on an opposite castle wall, its jaw dripping saliva.

“Oh, he doesn’t attack yet,” the wyver answered. “In due time, prince. Tonight, we come for the girl, the one who stood before a king as the boy named Sax.”

“And if we refuse?” Cadeyrn asked.

The wyver grinned, his teeth white in the torchlight. “Then we feed.”

I stepped forward even as Cadeyrn grabbed my arm.

“You go now, and it will win the war for Raemon,” the prince hissed.

“And if I don’t, people will die,” I countered.

“A few deaths tonight will be nothing compared to the massacre that would come if he used you against us.”

I stared at Cadeyrn. His face was stern when he leaned in. “We fight,” he insisted.

I nodded, and Cadeyrn turned to the wyvers. “We refuse,” he said flatly.

The wyver shrieked, the squeal so loud most of the people surrounding us covered their ears, going down on their knees as the creatures swept into the garden, their tails swinging.

“Shut the doors!” I screamed. “Shut the doors!”

Guards went running, dragging people into the ballroom before struggling with the doors as the wyvers continued to shriek. I caught a glimpse of silver fur as Oran moved into the night, and I prayed silently to Silveet as Daegan and Maeve lifted their swords.

“Go for their tails,” I told them. “It will kill them.”

It was the last thing I was able to say before the courtyard exploded in chaos. I ducked as the wyvers’ tails swung, their talons flashing through the torchlight. I saw a guard lifted from the walk, his screams loud as the wyver punctured his heart with his talon.

I lifted my bow, pulling the arrow taunt before releasing it, watching as it pierced the end of the creature’s barb. The wyver screamed before going to the ground, its shriek deafening.

Two guards lay on the ground before me, their bodies convulsing, multiple stings on their legs and chests.

I swallowed the bile that rose up in my throat, my eyes going to the sky as Lochlen dove, using his massive body to pull one of the wyvers from the air. They went down rolling, Lochlen’s fiery breath fanning the wyver’s face before he took the creature’s barbed tail in his talons, squeezing until it exploded. The wyver quit moving.

Cadeyrn stood over a third wyver, his sword having severed the end of its tail, his eyes lifting as the ballroom beyond filled with terrifying shouts.

“It’s inside!” someone yelled.

I pulled an arrow, my eyes meeting Daegan and Maeve’s before we went running toward the palace. The fourth wyver still lived, standing tall on two feet in the center of the ballroom, his talons cracking the marble as he swung his tail. The beautiful gowns the women had worn impeded them now, slowing them down as the wyver dug his barb into several of the guests.

I lost my battle with the bile in my throat, and I swallowed the hot liquid that rose as I stopped Daegan, placing my hand on his shoulder long enough to grab his sword, using its blade to slit through my skirts. I handed it back to him, my eyes full of anger.

“Stop!” I screamed as I entered the room, pulling back the hood of my brown cloak, my gaze on the wyver.

The creature paused, his red eyes finding my face.

“Come with me,” he said, “and this will end.”

I shook my head. “No,” I responded, “It’s just begun.”

I pulled an arrow from my quiver, stringing it on my bow, my eyes narrowed.

The wyver laughed. “Do you think I am as stupid as my brothers?” he asked.

“I do,” I answered calmly.

I had found my killing place; the one Kye, Maeve, Daegan, and Brennus had told me about, where I’d seen them go to when they needed to kill and not feel. I’d found it.

Cadeyrn stepped up next to me, but I waved him away. “Let me have this one,” I said.

He saw the look in my eyes and stepped back. This was my vengeance, my war with the creatures who’d stolen Kye’s life.

The wyver spread his wings, flying up toward the ceiling before sweeping once more through the ballroom doors. I followed him.

“I can kill many from the air, girl,” he called out.

Lochlen landed in the courtyard and lowered his head, his green eyes meeting mine. It was the only invitation I need.

“As can I, wyver,” I answered as I swung myself over Lochlen’s neck, my skirts parting over my legs where I’d sliced them with Daegan’s sword.

The dragon roared before kicking off of the ground, his tail fanning behind him. His spines dug into my thighs, but I barely noticed them as I gripped my bow.

“Don’t let me fall, Lochlen,” I begged the dragon.

His head swung back. “I’d catch you if you did,” he answered.

I leaned over and kissed the scales on his neck before stringing my bow. He circled the wyver, and I watched as the beast looked up at us, his red pupils now dilated and uncertain.

“Leave now,” I called out, “and I won’t kill you.”

The wyver grimaced. “Never!”

He dove, and Lochlen dove with him. I dropped the arrow trying to hold on, cursing as I reached for another.

“I only have so many of those!” I scolded the dragon.

A rumble ran through my legs as he laughed. “Then make them count.”

I scowled before stringing the next arrow, my eyes searching the sky. A shriek made me duck, and Lochlen rolled to protect me from the wyver’s barb. I fell off his back, shoving the arrow into my mouth to keep from losing it as I tried desperately to catch his tail. I missed, watching in horror as my quiver emptied to the ground below. I fell. There was no time to scream.

Suddenly Lochlen was there, his massive body catching mine, and I gripped him before jerking the arrow’s shaft from my lips.

“Don’t ever do that again!” I yelled at him.

I felt the rumble in my legs again.

“You laugh now,” I said, “but that left me with one arrow.”

His gaze swung to mine. “Then
really
make it count, and if it doesn’t, I’ll kill him.”

“He’s mine, Lochlen,” I protested.

The dragon just laughed again, swinging around so that we faced the wyver, his tail plunging into the creature’s gut. It slung the beast backward, and I strung the bow, pulling back on it quickly as the wyver’s barbed tail lifted into the air. It was dark, and I knew my aim would be off.

“Hit him again,” I ordered. “Send him near the torches.”

Lochlen complied, diving before pulling around the creature, using his tail to send him spiraling toward the courtyard. I took my chances, my eyes narrowed, waiting until the feeble light lit up the wyver’s barbed tail as he plummeted. I took my shot.

I held my breath. The seconds stretched impossibly long as I waited for the wyver to shriek. He never did.

“I missed,” I whispered.

Lochlen looked back at me. “No, you didn’t.”

It was then I saw the trees. The wyver had landed on the ground near the base of their trunks, and vines had wrapped themselves around his gaping mouth, effectively sealing it shut.

“These beasts make an awful lot of noise,
” the trees complained.

I laughed into the night, the sound almost insane, but I didn’t care. I laughed anyway. I laughed until Lochlen landed, and I slid off of his back into the courtyard. I laughed when the grass tickled my bare legs. I laughed until Maeve, Daegan, and Cadeyrn approached me, Oran winding his way through them until his fur rested against my hands. Then, and only then, did I cry.
 

Chapter 32

The aftermath of battle is silence. Silence and death. It is a lonely feeling that eats at the gut and leaves the body drained. Even in victory, it brings sadness. Raemon had attacked innocent people, using the ball to distract the Sadeemians. But it also left us wondering. How had Raemon known about the betrothal ball? How had he known we’d be there? How many spies did he really have in Sadeemia?

I stood in the middle of the ballroom, my bow dangling from my hand, my hair a mass of tangles. Dirt streaked my face as guards moved around me, lifting the victims of wyver stings while promising them as much pain relief as the king could give them even as they died. Behind me, Lochlen’s golden body sprawled on the marble, his tail curling around my feet. I think he wanted me to sit, but I couldn’t.

Before me, the king stood, his hands massaging his temples furiously as his queen cried. Arien held his wife while Gabriella took it all in, her eyes wide with shock. Maeve and Daegan stood to my right while Cadeyrn stood on my left a few feet in front of me, his eyes on the dais, on his father.

“Welcome to my battlefields,” Cadeyrn said, his voice loud in the quiet room. It echoed, sinking down against my skull and into my body.

His father looked at him as Gryphon stepped from the chaos, his surcoat torn. He’d been as much a part of the battle as the rest of us.

“We’re removing the beasts,” he told Cadeyrn before his gaze moved to me. “I ...” he paused, looking away a moment before facing me again. “I’ve never been prouder to discover I was related to someone as I was tonight,” he said.

I didn’t answer him, although I said things with my eyes I hoped he understood. I couldn’t speak. I kept hearing the moans of the dying and hearing Kye in them.

Gryphon nodded and moved away.

“We now go to war,” the king said wearily.

“It may be too late,” Cadeyrn answered him.

My gaze shot to his. All of ours did.

“How did Raemon know about the ball?” Cadeyrn asked. “How did he know about any of this?”

I stared at him. He was working something out in his head.

“How many Medeisian refugees have we allowed inside our borders over the last couple of years?” he asked.

The king’s eyes widened, and my heart plummeted. When no one answered, Cadeyrn took a step forward.

“How many?” he asked again.

The king’s gaze met his son’s. “Hundreds. Possibly more.”

I dropped my bow, ignoring the way it thumped along the ballroom floor.

“The war has already started,” I said. “He’s already here.”

Cadeyrn’s gaze met mine. “Your king is not so mad after all.”

“What are you talking about?” Maeve asked.

I looked at her. “Raemon is sending soldiers disguised as refugees into Sadeemia. He has built an army from within.”

Daegan looked sick. “Then it was all for nothing,” Daegan said. “We came through the Ardus for nothing. We lost our prince and our friend for nothing.”

Cadeyrn’s jaw clenched. “No,” he said. “Raemon is just beginning. You didn’t enter the Ardus for nothing. He planned it.”

I stared at him. “Planned it?”

Cadeyrn took a step toward me, his gaze hard. “Even if he didn’t know who you were when Kye brought you to him, he saw it as an opportunity. Any commanding officer would. Think about it. He sees his son with a boy who can write in Sadeemian. He knows his son has turned against him, so he makes sure Kye knows about his plan to kill Gabriella.”

“But he was going to kill us!” I protested.

Cadeyrn nodded. “Yes, he was. But if he failed, then you knowing his plan gave him another shot at destroying you. He knew if you escaped, you would use the Ardus to get to Sadeemia. He planned on killing you there. What he didn’t plan on was my men and your fortitude.”

“We were supposed to die in the Ardus,” Maeve whispered.

“But you didn’t,” Cadeyrn said. “Not all of you. That was your first victory. Now, we fight. We start an initiative. All Medeisian refugees are to be sent to the palace to be questioned. I’ll know if they lie, and then we launch our own attack against Raemon. We’ll win,” Cadeyrn promised.

“How do you know?” Daegan asked.

Cadeyrn’s gaze met his father’s. “Because I never lose.”