King Of Souls (Book 2) (57 page)

Ronan snapped his eyes open and lifted his head peering around the empty cemetery.

Nothing stirred. Even the shifting wind had faded leaving behind a welcome calm, but something undefinable had shifted. Reality had changed.

Ronan’s head buzzed as he tried to pinpoint the alien sensation, but it lay just out of reach. He turned his gaze toward Rika and froze.

A dark green aura of pure energy wrapped Rika’s body like a shimmering glove.

Ronan’s heart pounded, and his head swam. In his limited time using magic, he’d never experienced anything like this. Recalling Moira’s words, he opened his mind to Rika. A twisting cord emerged from the dark green energy and attached itself to Ronan’s thoughts.

The cord thickened twisting and dancing in the morning sunshine.

Ronan eased his hand forward, and his palm hovered just above the writhing energy mass.

Energy, pure and sweet, radiated from its surface leaving Ronan’s hand buzzing.

Goose bumps rose on Ronan’s flesh, and he stretched his mind along the cord until he found Rika’s pure aura. Raw, unfiltered energy poured through his mind. It felt like Elan’s power but concentrated by a thousand fold. Ronan tapped a minuscule amount afraid using it would leave Rika unable to recover, but he had no choice. She’d die without his help.

White flows of healing magic poured from Ronan’s palms. The energy flowed in waves across Rika’s body and in through her nose, eyes, and mouth. Twisting wisps of white seeped into her skin closing scrapes and cuts crisscrossing her body.

Ronan turned the healing power on his own body weaving white flows across his back and breathing it through his nose. The pain in his body eased and disappeared.

Rika’s eyes flickered, and she sat bolt upright gasping for air. With wild untamed eyes she jerked her head in every direction.

Ronan disconnected his mind from the energy flows and slipped his hands over Rika’s shoulders. “Rika, it’s me. You’re okay.”

Rika clutched Ronan’s hands and squeezed as if her life depended on it. “What happened?” She looked around the empty graveyard. “Where are we?”

“We’re behind the citadel. Near Master Tyrell’s grave. A snowdrift cushioned our fall.” Had he damaged her using whatever strange power he’d channeled? “How are you feeling?”

Her eyebrows furrowed, and she glared. “Feeling? I’m scared to death. How do you think I’m feeling?”

Relief washed over Ronan. Whatever he’d done, she appeared her normal self. He reached for his power but found himself drained. Somehow he’d imagined the power would’ve restored his internal reserves.

Rika stood, faced the citadel, and gasped as she took in the wreckage. She whirled facing Ronan. “We have to get back up there. We can’t let Trace get away with this.”

Ronan shook his head. He wouldn’t use her soul energy again. What if he killed her? “I’m tapped out of energy Rika. If I channel another drop, I’ll collapse.”

Her head pitched sideways, and her eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand. Look at you.” She ran her hands along her body. “Look at me. You’ve healed us both. Stop this nonsense.” She walked a dozen feet away and picked up Ronan’s sheba blade planted in a snowdrift beside a white marble headstone.

Ronan didn’t know what to tell her. He didn’t know how he’d managed the feat let alone explain it to Rika. “I used what I think is your life force to heal us both.” His shoulders sagged. “I’ve no idea how I did it, but it just happened. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” A broad smile spread across her face. “It’s like Moira said. You’ve unlocked something inside you Ronan. It’s wonderful!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the wrought iron door leading from the cemetery. “Use it again.” She stopped in a small clearing near the citadel’s rear wall and tossed him his blade.

“But —” Ronan raised his hand trying to slow her down.

“Since when does Ronan Latimer give up so easy?” Rika shifted into a jet-black war hawk and turned glaring yellow eyes on him. She shrieked a piercing cry that left no doubt where she stood on the subject.

Ronan leaped and grabbed hold of Rika’s back.

She took off in a burst clearing the citadel’s collapsed rooftop seconds later.

Ronan shifted his consciousness and found the strange altered reality. Rika’s dark green aura appeared blazing with the same fury he’d seen in the cemetery. He tugged on a small thread and wove it into a protection shield and suppressed a gasp.

The shield held three times stronger than anything he’d managed with Elan’s magic alone.

Rika climbed, and the horde of dragons came into view. They swarmed across Freehold raining fire into homes and businesses along its entire perimeter.

Over the Laborer’s District, a cluster of dragons circled an area heavy with black smoke and orange flame.

“Elan’s Sphere fell somewhere over there.” Ronan pointed toward the dragon cluster.

Without further prompting, Rika pitched left and climbed speeding toward the dragon cluster.

Ronan peered over Rika’s side and gasped.

Thousands of flickering lights appeared across Freehold. They shone through stone, smoke, and the earth itself. Dim gray pinpoints danced and hummed as if calling for rescue across a vast ocean.

Ronan felt them buzzing below like a throng of fireflies at a midsummer festival. He recognized each light as a human soul. His mouth fell open, and he gawked, wondering about the possibilities. Would pulling on so many threads kill him? “Rika, hold still. I have an idea. If I collapse and fall, catch me.”

Rika screeched in protest, but she heeded his call and beat her wings in rapid succession. She hovered in place seventy feet above the burning city.

Ronan’s body thrummed as a cold chill swept along his spine. The boldness of his idea left his head spinning. “Here goes nothing.”

Ronan opened his mind and reached for the threads.

He wound them together, one thread at a time, crafting a thick gray rope. Thousands of thin soul threads, each a hair’s breadth, hung and shimmered as if waiting for his touch.

Ronan held his breath and tugged. An ocean of power roared through the soul threads cascading in an infinite pool of pure energy.

His eyes shot open, and he gasped. Exquisite beauty unlike anything he’d experienced filled his mind leaving him nearly overwhelmed. Faced with such beauty, he felt small and insignificant. “I had no idea…” His words trailed off as tears of pure joy formed at the corners of his eyes.

Two dragons, noticing Ronan and Rika, broke from Trace’s cluster and flew toward them.

Ronan channeled the combined energy of every soul within Freehold’s walls. His body blazed with blinding blue light. Spirit energy burst from every pore of his body racing outward like a million shooting stars.

Rika screeched, and her body trembled beneath Ronan’s legs. But, she never wavered holding steady while blue energy raced across the sky.

The approaching dragons roared and bucked unwilling to move closer to Ronan. Command whips appeared in the hands of their slave masters. Electricity snapped and cracked against their hides forcing them ahead.

Ronan scanned Freehold’s skyline, and an idea tugged at his thoughts. He remembered words Moira spoke in the ice cave. She told him to look beyond using brute force. She said to look beyond the ordinary. Ronan smiled and nodded to himself. “Yes…that should do it.” His voice sounded thick and harsh in his ear as if the words came from a far older man’s tongue. A stranger’s voice.

Ronan raised his arms skyward and focused the souls’ collective energy.

A blue dome of pure spirit shimmered over Freehold’s skyline forming the largest spirit shield the world had ever seen. Thick enough to withstand a thundering dragon herd.

Nausea slammed into Ronan like a stone fist doubling him over while a wave of dizziness set his head flip-flopping. “Rika, you have to move.” He fought for each word, his tone harsh and guttural.

“Hang on,” Rika said, and she hammered down her wings darting thirty feet skyward.

The dragons circling the Laborer’s District roared. Orange and red flame sprayed into the spirit shield covering Freehold. But, they might have more luck chopping down an oak tree with a butter knife. The flame attacks bounced away and disappeared.

Sorcerers and shaman turned their raw power on the city’s shield. They sent waves of electricity, cold, and fire into the dome, but the shield held strong.

Ronan clutched Rika’s neck pulling in ragged breaths. He opened his mind and reached for the soul threads hanging loose over Freehold. He found them but couldn’t find the inner focus needed to draw on their strength.

Over the Laborer’s District, Shedu hurled his enormous bulk into the shield and let loose an agony filled screech. He bounced from the spirit shield. The heavy scales covering his right shoulder glowed orange trailing curls of black smoke behind him.

Across Freehold’s skyline, Trace’s entire herd turned and flew toward Ronan.

“Ronan, look out,” Rika flashed upward as a turquoise dragon hurtled forward and snapped his jaws shut missing Rika by an inch.

The sudden change in direction triggered a fresh wave of nausea, and Ronan struggled for breath.

A vast presence pushed on Ronan’s mind, and he recognized Thoth’s calling. “Thoth, what’s happening?”

“Silver Soul, you can’t use such magic without expecting consequences. Shedu has relayed the emperor’s rage,” Thoth said. “You’ll not survive the encounter unless you can find your focus.”

“I can defend myself,” Ronan said.

A midsized rust colored dragon changed course and slammed into Rika. She plummeted a hundred feet downward toward the looming spirit shield.

Rika shrieked and beat her wings furiously trying to stabilize her flight pattern.

“No!” Ronan’s body lurched, and he flailed sideways. His left hand slipped, and he dangled from Rika’s side clinging to her feathers with one hand.

“This will not end well,” Thoth said. “You know little of containing such power. Think!”

Ronan pulled himself onto Rika’s back while she found air beneath her wings. Using the soul threads, he could channel enough spirit to decimate the entire herd, but could he control it? He would destroy Freehold and wipe out an entire species. Thousands would die by his hand. “I’m open to suggestions.” Ronan scooted forward on Rika’s back and pulled in deep ragged breaths.

A dozen feet above Rika, Shedu appeared and slammed his tail into Rika’s broadside. The force of impact sent Rika spinning end over end across the sky like a sparrow trapped in a tornado.

“No matter your shield’s strength, Rika doesn’t have size enough to compete with Shedu. Once the herd joins in, she'll not last,” Thoth said. “A long fight will not end in your favor.”

Ronan clung to Rika’s neck as he somersaulted across the sky.

Rika’s wings caught air, and she stabilized hovering fifty feet above the spirit shield. “I can’t take much more. The shield’s holding but I’ll black out soon.”

Ronan squeezed her shoulder. “Hang on a little longer Rika. I’m feeling better.”

“You must act now,” Thoth said.

“Thoth, I appreciate the pep talk, but I could use a few more concrete ideas.”

Shedu pinned back his ears and rushed forward bridging the distance to Rika before bringing his tail around for a fresh attack.

“Open your mind to Lady Rika, and find her soul thread,” Thoth said. “Draw on the human souls below, and I’ll guide you.”

Trace’s herd grew closer to Rika and would arrive in seconds.

Ronan found the aura surrounding Rika and opened his mind to hers.

As the rust colored dragon swung its tail toward Rika, a massive red and black hawk appeared overhead like an avenging angel. The shaman riding atop the dragon stared wide-eyed at the looming war bird. The sorcerer pounded his command stick into the dragon’s flank oblivious to the impending attack.

Ronan gasped, and the link connecting him to Rika scattered. “Father!”

The sorcerer never saw it coming. Connal Deveaux sank his talons deep into the caster’s arm yanking him from the dragon’s back.

Connal released the sorcerer dropping him into thin air. As the sorcerer fell, lightning arced from his finger and streaked toward Connal.

A man with shaggy brown hair sat atop Connal’s back. Around his neck, an amulet like those worn by Obsith shaman, glowed a bright shade of blue. His palm flashed and a mirror-like surface appeared hanging suspended near Connal’s flank.

The lightning bolt bounced from the reflective surface. Connal pitched right just missing the dragon’s snapping jaws.

“Focus!” Thoth said through the mental bridge. “We have seconds before the entire herd is on you.”

Ronan forced calm through his mind and found Rika’s soul pattern shining around her body.

Two more war birds appeared above the turquoise dragon, Keely and Danielle. Before the sorcerer commanding the turquoise dragon could react, his chest exploded in a wash of blood. His face froze in a grim expression of pure shock while the spirit orb continued skyward and scattered.

Knight Jeremy Brooks flashed a wide smile toward Ronan. He rode atop Danielle’s back clutching the pommel of a leather saddle with one hand. Whispers of spent spirit energy trailed from his upturned palm.