It’s led by Lithava and her drakes, and championed by their creature,as the Black Dragon blasts another volley of its terrible oilslick hellfire down upon the palace. That hell-oil sticks like tar, roaring up into cursed black-violet and caustic crimson blazes everywhere. Bjorn fights in a tight cordon now with the top Kingsguard elite, engaging a contingent of rebel Jarls and their best fighters, along with our King and Prince.
The defenders come for those controlling this madness with the Berserk nature that is our bloodright, as they careen up in surges of raging Blood-might to do battle. Cyclones of Bloodwind seethe from them; torrents of Bloodspears are cast from their wingtips, even as everything around them is decimated.
Because our King’s most elite forces are tough dragons, fierce and composed as they fight. The Usurper sends terrible ropes of oilslick-black hell down upon the King and his most stalwart fighters, but they’re the best of the best. Bjorn and his Kingsguard join the King, the Prince, and their Jarls, as they blaze hard at the Black Dragon now, razing incredible magic at its wingtips to topple it from the skies.
They finally manage to blister it enough to ground it. But that’s almost worse, as the gargantuan giant crash-lands into a massive section of the palace now, decimating everything. Just like in Copenhagen, the creature is that big and that strong; as it flails, it knocks down several sections of the palace.
Massive white stone foundation blocks scatter like tinkertoys now as enormoussilberskraetimbers shatter. But even though it rains hell upon the King and his fighters, going for its eyes now as they dodge flying debris, I see the King suddenly pick out Lithava and her drakes far above, engineering this attack.
King Huttr and Prince Halfdir are twin spears of madness as they let their elite forces and best Jarls harry the Black Dragon now, surging right for Lithava and her drakes in a hurricane of fury, on the hunt.
They are not our royal family for nothing; towering in stature, impeccable in their rageful might, our King and Prince are ungodly in theircommand of our magics as they careen upwards like two barbed darts, right for our enemy’s heart.
But our enemy has no heart, as she screeches battle commands to her rebel Jarls and their forces to battle our King now. Bjorn and his best Kingsguard are with King Huttr and Prince Halfdir, protecting them as they crash into Lithava’s foreguard, battling them out of the way.
As the King, Prince, even Bjorn, surge in with unhinged fury to battle Arvid and Lars, Emil Beck, and Bjorn’s father, Oggi, I feel how all of them go Berserk with their need to put this rebellion down.
Through my familial bonds to my uncle and cousin, I feel how each of their hearts turns to the most furious rage now, as they face the epicenter of this rebellion. Because Lithava and her drakes have orchestrated all the problems they’ve been facing with their Jarls, for months; Bjorn’s fury is no less, as he comes for his father in a tirade of golden rage now, fully Berserk thanks to everything Oggi Magnussen has done.
Through our Bloodbond, I feel that no one is home inside Bjorn’s dragon right now, as he comes for his father like a hurricane of madness, ready to hammer him out of the skies.
Our enemy sees them coming, though. Even as Bjorn breaks the neck of one of his father’s big Magnussen protectors, giving the King and Prince a clear shot to Lithava and her drakes, and Bjorn to his father, I suddenly feel the Black Dragon’s attention turn.
Even though Hedda has banished me from its mind, I still feel it as the monstrous creature turns its head, hearing Lithava screech.Watch out!I barely have time to scream through my mind to Bjorn when the Black Dragon opens its great maw.
Blasting Bjorn, King Huttr, and Prince Halfdir with its heart-cursing roar.
And making them plummet from the skies.
21
WAR
Bjorn surges in, diving in front of his King and Prince to defend them, as the Usurper roars its terrible heart-cursing magic. All three are hit by the Black Dragon’s blast. Terrible crimson curses spiral out from them, coating their bodies as blood jettisons from them in countless rips, and their bones shatter and crack. A roar thunders throughout the Void as I scream with the towering overtones of my dragon ripping from my throat. Because our Ancestors have screamed with me, as our Lineage’s best fighters fall.
Lithava’s roar of triumph echoes through the burning skies as well, as a sudden, towering fierceness fills me. I shift, blasting our lodgings in Harnakje apart as I roar all through my bones for Baldur to rip us open a portal and get us to Stockholm, stat.
Though I want to tear Lithava out of the skies as my inner dragons crash together into my furious Bloodwalker might, crazy love fills me instead. The blackest side of my nature gets seized in the jaws of my brightest now, and I know where my true heart lies.
It’s not punishing Lithava right now; it’s saving those I love. As Iconcentrate all our Bloodbond’s furious power into one massive lance now, my drakes shift up fast into their dragons with me.
I am a firestorm of focused intent as I thrust that lance right through us all, seizing our bound power and spearing it into Bjorn through our bond. I feel his strength gutter from those diabolical curses spiraling into him, as I give my all to save him now.
That blast didn’t quite get his heart, thank all the gods. It’s a battle of life and death anyway to mend his bones and refill his blood, and banish the other curses claiming him, as I pour my all into my insane drive of love now, to keep Bjorn with us.
Our power pours down through that connection to Bjorn, but his life-force flickers, threatening to go out. I won’t let it, as I rage and wrath now in a towering inferno of power and devotion to defend my First Drake; I come into a true, shining place inside my heart now, as a torrent of white auric fire seethes from me.
That fire blazes down my connection to Bjorn, from all of us. Everything inside me focuses on the depth of my love for him, rather than my hate for Lithava, and I feel that love surge right down through our Bloodbond into him.
Even though Bjorn’s beautiful heart is wrecked by his father’s involvement in all this, plus the Black Dragon’s curse-work flooding all through him now, I feel how that sundering energy is thrust back.
Bjorn feels our love; as his heart gives a massive thud, it lights up with our white auric fire, tinged a bright crimson and gold from Bjorn’s own power, banishing those curses from his chest as his bones mend and his blood rushes back.
Bjorn’s righteously courageous heart shines pure gold now as the Black Dragon’s power rushes away—and I hear Bjorn roar.
Because he has felt my love, all of us; it lights him up from the inside now, banishing the darkness as the curses punishing him are cast back. Everything inside me shakes from the towering overtones and bass notes inBjorn’s dragon-voice, as his furious scent of battlefield char, peat whiskey, and good cigars floods my nose.
As Bjorn roars to the skies, returned from the brink of death, his magic floods back to us. He gives a masterful heave as his incredible Blood Magic resonates with Baldur’s now, ripping open a towering portal for us, right to the Grand Palace.
