She swallowed. Could she? She had no idea. But she had to try. No, she had to do it. “You want me to use it as a battering ram?”
“Yes, let’s go!” Helgrom thrust his hammer towards the mass of Australs.
With a war cry of her own, Elasha started running towards them. The daggers in her palms, glinting as if waiting to be filled again. The shield flowed ahead of her. The Australs flew like arrows towards it. She prepared for them to hit it. It would be like smashing into a wall. The shield would naturally want to shatter, but she would have to hold it.
No matter what!
Ten feet separated them.
Then five.
And then…
She closed her eyes as the impact came.
Except it didn’t come. Her eyes flew open. She was still running, but she staggered to a halt as she realized that she was no longer in the Armory’s hallway at Xrdatha. Instead, she was in some kind of huge cavern where a glowing city with purple towers perched on the edge of a massive lake that flowed between them and it.
Illithor!
But that wasn’t what stunned her.
Nor was it the rift that closed behind Helgrom as the dwarf trundled through it as the last of her party from Xrdatha. It closed leaving the hundreds of shrieking Australs without a foe.
Nor was it Rhalyf and Finley who suddenly teleported beside them. Both staring wide-eyed at what did grab her attention like a hand around her throat.
It was Declan. She could see him and her uncle in the massive Leviathan nest that filled almost the entirety of the other half of the cavern. She’d never seen one so massive. Her mouth opened in an “O”.
But then Declan lifted Ardreth. The jewel in the hilt glowed like a red star. It was so bright that it hurt her eyes. She blinked rapidly as her eyes stung with its brilliance. But she couldn’t look away.
Aquilan spun around to go back to Declan who was surrounded by Leviathan. It looked like every Leviathan was converging upon him. But when he lifted Ardreth, they started to flee.
But they didn’t get very far.
She heard Prince Declan shout a single word, “Iefyr.”
The word cut through her like the sharpest of blades. And then he swung Ardreth. There was an avalanche of crimson light that consumed the nest and blinded her for some time. She fell to her knees and brought her arms up to cover her head. When her vision returned, she saw that she was not the only one. All of her group had done the same. Her brother was flat on the ground, even Snaglak hunkered down beside Glom. Helgrom was down on one knee and she thought she heard him whisper a prayer. Rhalyf had grabbed Finley and was using his body as a shield for the young man.
After such a powerful magical blast, there should have been some sound. But it was utterly quiet. She looked back at where Aquilan, Declan and the nest had been. The nest was no more. The entire cavern was clear. There was no trace of the nest. It was like it had never been.
No… that’s not true.
It was then that she saw the single cocoon that had been left over. It began to fall and Declan moved to catch it. But it shattered in his hands, turning to ash as his arms closed around it. Declan collapsed on his knees as the remnants of the cocoon danced around him in the cavern’s currents.
“Good gods, he is Vex’s son,” Rhalyf whispered and looked stricken as he clutched Finley to him.
Elasha looked down at her daggers. She had done something similar, but on a miniscule scale to that. She could have never done what Declan had. She thought of the amount of power it would take to do such a thing with a single swipe of a blade. A single spell…
He is the Night Prince. She watched as her uncle dashed to Declan’s side and caught him as he collapsed. And the Sun King loves him.
Overload
Aquilan cradled Declan against his chest as he used his magical senses to find the hurt. Declan was clearly hurt. He fumbled taking the young man’s sunglasses off his face before setting them carefully aside. He knew that when they got back to Earth that Declan would need them. Because the Sun would rise. The light would reign over the land. And this blasted darkness would be gone.
And they were going back to Earth.
They would be in Tyrael.
Declan would be going home.
