A Shadow Flame (Book 7) (24 page)

"Take the shield, Calthas!" Stavros yelled and he let the younger mage hold the spell he had drawn, knowing it would take a minimal amount of power to sustain, then he reached deep within himself and drew his last remaining bit of power and sent a wave of energy toward two of the black robed mages. The impact stunned them and they fell to the ground just as Ehlena's power over the air around them failed completely.

"I can't hold the shield, Stavros," Calthas said, still too drained from being lashed to the crystal.

The other mage priest sent a powerful blast of power toward them as the spell began to dissipate, but it was blocked by Coraline, who stepped in front of them, her arms outstretched. The attack hit her directly and dark energy seared through her black robes, burning them, but the power that had enveloped her began to move and it gathered into a whirling ball in front of her and she sent it back at the mage priest in a focused attack. The energy hit him in the chest and the mage crumpled to the ground, then Coraline turned and looked at Stavros, Calthas and Ehlena.

"Take them out of here," she said. "I will complete the spell."

"No Coraline," Stavros said. "We will help."

"You can barely stand," Coraline told him. "And I can see that the goddess suffers from the dark power. Please, take these mages from this place. Their actions are not their own. All you must do is carry them. Can you do that for me?"

Stavros nodded.

"Yes, we can do that," he said.

"My magic is gone but my strength is returning," Calthas said.

"I have enough power to move the others," Ehlena said, then she smiled at Coraline and sent a wisp of white vapor toward the mage. "It isn't much of a blessing, but I hope it will help."

"Thank you," Coraline said. "Now please go, and when your powers return, you must do what you can to destroy this place."

They made their way out of the temple, with Calthas carrying one of the mages, Stavros another and Ehlena the other two, with her power. As they exited the temple doors, they turned and saw Coraline walk up to the large crystal at the center, her arms outstretched, and she rose up through the air and embraced the crystal. Energy sparked through the air around her, filling the temple with blinding light that swirled with dark power. Dark tendrils gathered around the mage, and began to attack her, but she clung to the crystal, shifting its power to match the resonance of the rest of the crystals in the city.

A powerful flash filled the temple and beams of light shot through the city, followed by a shrill and powerful scream from the direction of the palace.

"We must go," Stavros said to Ehlena and Calthas. "Calexis will be sure to come here, and we will not be able to fight her as we are."

He tried to gather his power to travel, even a short distance, but he was too weak, and all the three of them could do was to hobble across the open square, toward streets that they could see were teeming with grey soldiers and Darga, fighting the soldiers that had come to liberate the city. Almost like the sound of thunder, it was as though the air itself began to shake, and a dark smudge of grey smoke shot from the palace toward the temple. Calthas, Stavros and Ehlena turned and, through the shadows that filled the temple, they saw the silhouette of Coraline in the blinding light of the crystal, then she disappeared, as though she had been burned away by the light.

Inside the temple, Calexis saw the mage smile at her before she disappeared into the light, and she suddenly felt the power that had been gathered in the giant crystal begin to flow outward, into the city. She reached out to the crystal and felt it resist her magic and she could tell that something was different about the spell, that it had been altered in some way. Furious, that the mages had tricked her and were now stealing the power that she had taken so long to gather, she used the power of the shadow to grasp the crystal and began extracting it directly. Even though she was able to take much of it, she felt it resisting her still, and Calexis thought she felt a presence of some kind within the light, and it burned with anger that felt like the dreaded truefire she hated so much. The heat of it burned her, simply from touching the stone. Darkness began to swirl around inside the crystal and Calexis suddenly felt the poison of the shadow begin to flow into her, adding to the dark power she already possessed, and she realized what the mages had done, that they intended to restore the people of the city and take the shadow from them.

Summoning her power, she used the strength of the god within her and grabbed the stone pedestal that stood beneath the crystal then wrenched it from the stone floor and began smashing the crystal with it. Pieces of stone and dust flew from the pedestal but the crystal remained. Infuriated, Calexis summoned more power and she grew in size and smashed her fist into the crystal again and again, focusing her strikes upon it, each blow burning her with raw energy. A crack appeared in the crystal, and a moment later it shattered, releasing a blinding flash and sending thousands of tiny pieces exploding through the temple. Calexis felt the countless tiny cuts in her face and the shadow within her raged at the amount of energy that had escaped, but she had already managed to take a large amount of it, and she knew that there was more power almost within her grasp at the palace, but first there was the matter of punishing those who had interfered with her plans.

Covered in tiny shards of crystal, and surrounded by a dark grey cloud of shadow, Calexis turned away from the center of the temple and walked out through the open doors, not noticing the glimmering wisp of light that hovered in the air for a moment where the crystal had been, before it flitted away. Once she was outside, she saw the two mages and the weak little goddess at the far side of the square, trying to make their escape, dragging several of her black robed servants along with them. She shifted her form to shadow and shot from the temple toward them. The mage, Calthas turned and cast a weak shielding spell, but Calexis appeared from the smoke and the spell crackled and fizzled as she walked right through it, and reached for the mage, with tendrils of dark power gathered around her like snakes of shadow in the air, all of them poised to strike.

A shriek echoed from the sky, followed by a distant clap of thunder and a blur of blue and crackling energy shot from the sky toward the dark queen and smashed into her, knocking her backward and away from Calthas. Calexis slid backward but stayed on her feet, and in her hand she held a jeweled sword that glittered silvergold and crackled against the matching blade that Lexi held. The two of them leapt away from each other.

"Lexi," Calexis said. "I was wondering when I might see you again."

"You see me?" Lexi asked. "No, you do not see me."

Like a bolt of lightning, she shot forward, and Calexis met her blade with her own, and the impact of it shook the air. Calexis laughed then she leapt backward, landing atop the temple.

"Glorious!" she said as Lexi sprang from the stone square and attacked her again, the clash of silvergold steel and the crackle of lightning reverberating through the city. Calexis turned to dark smoke as Lexi struck at her again, her blade whistling through the dark grey cloud that disappeared and moved away from the temple, toward the palace.

Lexi stood atop the temple, angered that Calexis would be so cowardly, but she turned and saw the two mages and Ehlena watching from the ground, and she leapt back down and walked toward them.

"You are not recovered," she said to Ehlena.

"She took the shadow into her to free us," Stavros said.

"You are already poisoned, Ehlena," Lexi said.

"That is true," Ehlena said. "A little more will matter little at this point. Can you do something for me, Lexi?"

"Yes," she said. "What is it?"

"The power that flows within you, the power of Stroma," Ehlena said. "Can you make the lightning flow into me?"

"You want me to attack you?"

"Not exactly," Ehlena replied. "But that may be the easiest way to explain it."

"I don't want to fight you," Lexi said. "I like you."

"Just hold my hand and tell your power to move to me, like you would attack, only slower, if such a word can be used to describe lightning," Ehlena said. "You won't hurt me. I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Ehlena said with a smile. "We don't have much time."

"I must kill Calexis," Lexi said with a serious nod.

"Then take my hand," Ehlena said, and she held out her own toward the blue dragon girl. Lexi took her hand, and energy began to crackle along her arm.

"It won't hurt you?" she asked again.

"It might hurt a little," Ehlena said. "But it won't harm me."

Lexi nodded, then her energy flashed across her hand and began to course through Ehlena. She clenched her jaw as the raw power seared over her body and shot through her, and she was surprised at the sheer amount of energy that Lexi possessed. Ehlena had to wrench her hand away, and Lexi stepped back with a worried look on her face, obviously concerned that she might have hurt her, and Ehlena looked up at her, with lightning still flickering in her eyes and she blinked, clearing her vision.

"Thank you, Lexi," she said. "I will be fine now."

Lexi looked at Calthas, who smiled at her, and the old mage, Stavros, and she glanced at the black robed mages.

"Why do you carry them?" she asked.

"They will soon be free," Stavros told her. "And it will soon be very dangerous here when the others arrive."

"Then you must go," she said. "I must go also."

"I have told Aaron that the spell is broken," Ehlena said with a frown as she stared in the direction of the palace. "I do not think he can hear me."

"I will tell him," Lexi said. "He will listen to me when I yell it to him as a dragon."

"Be careful, Lexi," Calthas said.

"You be careful too," Lexi told him, then she turned and disappeared in a flash of light as she took off toward the palace.

"How were you able to take the power Lexi gave you?" Stavros asked Ehlena. "If I am not mistaken, it seemed to almost be a form of death magic."

"It is similar," Ehlena said. "But if it is freely given it is a little different, and it will last only a short time. I should be able to protect us from the Darga and the grey soldiers until our powers return, for I have some knowledge of Stroma's power."

"Well that's a relief, because it looks like there are around a dozen of those winged Darga headed this way," Calthas said.

Across the rooftops, heading toward the palace, Lexi leapt in blinding blurs of energy, moving to where she knew her mother was waiting along with Aaron, about whom she was now even more worried. She landed atop the palace wall and saw Calexis standing in the open courtyard waiting for her. She also saw Aaron standing at the top of the steps to the palace, staring at her with an almost blank expression on his face, though something about the way his eyes looked seemed dark and cruel, in a way that reminded Lexi of her brother. Angered by the knowledge that Calexis must have done things to him, she jumped down from the wall and walked toward her, sword in hand, and ready to attack.

"Now, my dear Lexi," Calexis said. "Let us see if you are worthy to be my blood."

"I don't want to be your blood," Lexi said. "But I would like to see you bleed."

"Well then," Calexis replied with a fanged grin. "Come, child."

Lexi shot forward and swung her sword in a lightning fast attack, but Calexis disappeared in a wisp of black smoke and the tip of the blade sliced harmlessly through the air. Lexi spun around as she heard laughter behind her, and barely dodged her mother's blade as it whipped through the air where she had been standing only a moment before. In a blur, she leapt to the side, then back again as Calexis attacked once more, and Lexi felt her blade connect, but only barely.

"You have learned to fight," Calexis said, then she reappeared behind her and pain lanced across Lexi's arm. "But you are no match for me."

Lexi moved again, her blade striking metal as Calexis blocked her attack, and she moved even faster, flitting from place to place as the courtyard began to darken with shadows. It was as though she was in more than one location at once, and Lexi struck wildly at the shifting shadows that would dissipate with every swing of her sword, only to reappear a moment later. Her mother's irritating laughter filled the courtyard and Lexi felt pain and saw a gash appear on her leg. She leapt backward and spun around, bringing her sword around in a whirling arc, blocking another strike that seemed to come from nowhere. The courtyard became even darker and it seemed as though there were shadows everywhere. Lexi darted to a spot between the shadows and she swung her sword around blindly, hoping to hit Calexis, but the shadows simply parted and returned.

"You cannot fight the shadow with a sword," Calexis said. "My power is too vast for you to even understand, Lexi."

"I will find you," Lexi said, making sure not to look at Aaron. "And I will stop you, as the mages stopped your magic. I will free Aaron, just like the people are free now. Do you hear that? The people are free. You have no power over them."

"You always were a little simple, Lexi," Calexis said with a laugh. "Always to my great disappointment."

Lexi felt another cut on her shoulder and she dodged to the side and raised her blade, blocking yet another attack.