Legends of Marithia: Book 1 - Prophecies Awakening: Uncut and Extended Second Edition (26 page)

Karven led the dragons from the sky in a
linear formation and they descended in an attack to run over
Kassina's charging forces. His voice boomed over the battlefield.
"Take out as many as you can, and watch for crossfire!"

Chapter 18: Rise from the Flames

“We march together as one. Our hearts beat
strongly in time to the rhythm of our bodies moving in unison. This
is my first war and as their queen, it is my duty to lead our army
into battle.

May the gods favour us in this darkness.”

(Queen Andrielle of Veldrenn)

Nymira leapt from the ground and took flight
with all her strength, her enormous wings clawing their way into
the night’s twinkling sky. She turned sharply into the path of the
flying daggers, twisting her body on its side so that her armour
deflected most of the sharp weapons as they rained down.

“No! Nymira!” screamed Vartan, as some of the
blades landed deep in her unprotected scales and she winced in
pain. She roared in response as she once again landed behind them
both, shaking her head in anger. Quickly, she used her teeth to
remove the embedded daggers from her scales and spit them to the
ground, growling at their enemies in defiance.

Vartan and Leon stood ready to face down the
vampire army that now stood abreast of the assassins, anxiously
awaiting further orders. The night air was filled with the sound of
shrieks and vicious hissing as the vampires eagerly eyed their prey
and licked their lips in anticipation of fresh blood.

Vartan, I have a bad feeling about
this,
said Keturah.

“There’s too many of them!” exclaimed Leon.
“Even if we were the best fighters in Marithia, we can’t take them
all.”

“Then we shall take down as many of these
bloodsucking bastards as we can,” responded Vartan. “I won’t die
without a fight, and they will not kill
me
easily!”

Nymira bumped their shoulders with her nose
before addressing them, the nudge startling both of the men. “We
don’t need to fight these
creatures
. This must be a planned
diversion in her battle plan, and we risk falling into Kassina’s
web. Climb aboard, and let us join the fight where we are surely
desperately needed. We are done here, and are running out of time.”
She lowered her body in preparation for her riders.

A concerned look passed between father and
son, both of them unsure as to the wisdom of her decision. They
took a quick moment to gaze far into the distance, where flashes of
light and distant rumbles surrounded the Elven Woods. Dark clouds
of smoke filled the sky and greyed out the full moon.

They looked at each other knowingly and
nodded before mounting the waiting dragon. Seeing this move, the
assassins pointed at the dragon and blew their horn, once again
giving their attack signal. The vampires snarled and charged at
their position, at full force and with unnatural speed.

“This will be rough. Protect yourselves as
best as you can,” said Nymira.

The great dragon beat her wings as fast as
she could to rise from the ground vertically, changing her scales
to hide them in the night as she twisted to keep the men out of the
vampires’ view. Leon and Vartan groaned with pain, their arms
barely able to hold on to her armour with the force of her
ascent.

“Don’t let go!” yelled Vartan.

Do you go to special lengths to point out
the obvious? Or does that gift just come naturally to you?
asked Keturah.

Vartan growled. "This is
not
the time
to be smart, Keturah!"

The vampires responded by throwing every
weapon they could muster into the night sky, in the vain hope of
injuring them. A silver dagger shot past their heads and barely
missed Leon’s face by a hair’s breadth.

“Damn, that was close!” he exclaimed.

Quiet down back there!
snapped Nymira.
You will give away our position.

Vartan pursed his lips at his father, and
Leon nodded knowingly in response and held on tightly.

Nymira, we have to avenge Tusdar’s death.
I don't think he should have died for nothing,
pleaded
Vartan.

Nymira slowly levelled out her body and
turned back to circle high above the confused vampires below. They
waited on the ground like rats, sniffing at the air and hungry for
blood.

As you well know, our magical powers take
time to build. If I were to cast a spell of the highest order, it
would completely drain me and I would be all but useless in the
battle ahead of us. However, I
can
wipe out the vampire army
below us. It is entirely up to you. I would have just enough
strength left to fly us to Kassina’s front door. I will do whatever
you think is best,
said Nymira.

Vartan turned to Leon for an answer and was
about to speak when his father’s voice filled his mind.

Son, if we don’t stop them here, we will
have to face them in the Elven Woods. You have seen how fast they
can run
.

Vartan’s pale face said it all as Leon
muffled a laugh.

Don’t forget that within my fragile human
shell beats the heart of a dragon,
said Leon with a grin.

Nymira,
said Vartan,
do what you
can. We will deal with them here before we join Andrielle in the
fight against Kassina. These are all the dark sorceress’s creations
and must be destroyed to save them flanking us later.

As you wish, Vartan. Cover your eyes as
best as you can. The dark sky will be bright tonight,
said
Nymira.

She circled high above the vampire army and
focused on casting her spell.

“
Elemento incendii de stellis animus
phoenicis evocat,
” chanted Nymira.

Out of the corner of his eye, Leon noticed
that some stars began to pulsate in the dark sky and then started
to change colours.

Vartan, look at that!
he said with
amazement as he pointed at the night sky.

Vartan glanced up and watched the beams of
light shoot down from the stars and ignite into pillars of blazing
fire as they entered the Marithian atmosphere. Nymira lifted her
head towards the heavens as she opened her mouth wide to accept the
spell’s power.

Duck down and hold on! Now!
ordered
Nymira.

The men followed her order as the beams of
fire were sucked into Nymira’s mouth, and her eyes lit up in flame.
The force of the spell rocked her body hard, and the men almost
lost their grip on her armour with the impact.

Don’t be afraid of what will happen
next—the flames will not hurt either of you
, said Nymira.
So
much power, I can barely hold it in.
Even to their minds, her
voice sounded strained.

Nymira’s scales changed back to her true
form, and her wings suddenly burst into flames. The vampires
screamed, shrieked and pointed at her fiery form. They appeared
excited for the renewed chance of spilling blood.

Nymira took a deep breath before sending a
steady stream of fire into the sky, as if her mouth was an erupting
volcano. The scales and flesh around her maw shuddered violently as
she tried to control the inferno spewing from it. Vartan and Leon
watched in bewilderment as phoenixes rose out of the flames and lit
up the sky around them. Upon their birth of fire they shrieked as
life filled their bodies. The men shielded their eyes as countless
firebirds continued to spawn from the flames. Soon there were
firebirds high in the sky wherever the eye could see, the flames
lighting up the ground beneath them as if it were daytime.

Now, my little ones, destroy all who
follow the path of darkness below us,
commanded Nymira.
Leave none behind
.

An Armageddon-like rain fell from the sky,
the summoned fiery army descending and each selecting their own
targets. The vampires fled toward the forest canopy, but it was far
too late for them to escape now.

An assassin bolted toward the farmhouse and a
phoenix landed hard on his back and pounded him into the moist
ground. It extended its fiery wings and shrieking before
sacrificing itself onto his melting body. The dark creature’s
screams were heard by Nymira overhead as he thrashed on the ground
in an attempt to put out the flames. Like eagles on mice, the
phoenix army slowly picked off the vampires, setting them alight as
they ran for safety. Some of the summoned phoenixes landed on the
ground without targets, their forms setting fire to the hay and
grass around them.

The firebirds’ communicated through cries
which were reminiscent of a bushfire in the wind as they
coordinated their attacks. The vampires that chose to fight slashed
at the flames wildly with their weapons in an attempt to defend
against their attacks. Balls of fire from the birds turned the
vampires into ash as they hit the ground. The injured screamed in
pain and frustration as they pulled back before running at full
force into their attackers.

The screams of countless vampires burning
were enough to satisfy Vartan’s desire for revenge. His heart
pumped adrenaline-fuelled blood through his veins.

Vartan shouted, “Nymira, that was
amazing
! This battle is won!”

The flames on Nymira’s body had extinguished
with the release of the phoenix army and she weakly flapped her
wings. Leon noticed that the great dragon was slowly gliding
towards the earth.

Leon leaned forward and his voice strained.
“Nymira, are you okay?” he asked.

Nymira's voice wavered as she answered. “This
spell has taken more out of me than I had expected. I had not
anticipated such a weakening, but how was I to know? It has been
thousands of years since any of us has cast an elder spell of such
power."

She groaned as she forced her wings to beat
hard, and began to climb again. “I am not going to give up just
yet. We still have a war to win.”

“Great dragon, are you
sure
you are
able to take us to the battle in the Elven Woods in one piece?”
Vartan asked.

They now flew at great speed, and left the
many flames of the vampire massacre behind them.

“That is my concern now, young knight,” she
responded. “I have my responsibilities and I will not fail them.
You just worry about what we face ahead of us. Hang on tight and I
will get us there as quickly as I can.”

Nymira strained as she climbed as high into
the sky as she could and then suddenly dove headlong into the air
below them.

Chapter 19: The Battle of the Elven
Woods

“How do you defeat an army that
regenerates?

For every demon you kill, one of your fallen
gives birth to a replacement. Almost instantaneously, shadow demons
rise from the corpses to reinforce the Dark Army.

Still we fight on—and fight we must, or all
is for nothing.”

(Princess Helenia of Veldrenn)

From the speckled stars above, the gods
watched closely as weapons met flesh that met claws and blood was
spilled, staining the ground beneath them a deep red. As their view
of the war closed in, they focused on one woman amid the chaos of
war.

Helenia found herself surrounded by skeleton
warriors fiercely engaged in battle. She swung her bloodied sword
hard through bone to decapitate one who was about to plunge its
sword into a downed elven warrior.

“Thank you, Princess,” the downed elf growled
as Helenia gripped her reins and reached down to help him regain
his footing. She nodded and they both charged forward into the
enemy lines.

Helenia threw her body back onto her horse as
a burst shot whizzed over her head and impacted a shadow demon
which had leapt to attack the princess. The demon was flung into
the air by the force of the blow, a trail of smoke billowing from
it. It screamed as it landed on top of her horse, wildly clawing at
itself to free the burning shot within. The horse whinnied and took
off galloping through the warzone, taking her deeper among the
Forces of Darkness. Faowind took chase, charging through and
dispatching enemies in the direction of the princess.

Helenia scurried back as far as she could and
shielded her eyes with her arm before the shadow demon exploded
violently. The power of the explosion launched her completely off
the back of the horse, and she landed roughly on the ground below.
The horse’s ear piercing screams filled the air and it fell to the
ground with a gaping wound on its back, bleeding out. Helenia
groaned with the pain as she rolled onto her stomach to regain her
footing, her entire body aching. Luckily for Helenia, her armour
took the brunt of the explosion and saved her from certain
death.

Faowind came to her aid and pulled her up to
her feet. Karven and three other dragons flew over their heads,
setting more skeletons alight. The heat of the flames singed the
hair on their skin. In the confusion, the screams of a few elves
and humans escaped the flames.

“Be careful, princess, and stay close to my
side!” said Faowind.

“Behind you!” she cried, spotting an undead
knight closing in on their position, its shiny sword pointing
forward as it charged.

Faowind turned just in time to cross swords
with the attacking knight. He narrowed his eyes. Both of them held
their swords in position, using all of their strength, and growled
at each other. Helenia’s sword flew upwards into the undead
knight’s head and connected with the metal of its decaying helm,
sending it high into the air before it landed on the ground with a
solid thud. They caught sight of the undead for the first time and
were sickened by the sight. Its flesh was horridly decayed, rotten
muscles holding its form together; its body was animated only by
the spell Kassina had cast to raise them.

“Die!” yelled the undead knight, its voice a
deep guttural sound.

Faowind spun to the side; the attacking
knight’s sword fell hard into a pool of blood on the ground to
splash blood into the air around them. The undead knight fell
forward and dropped to its knees, screaming with anger. Before it
had time to recover from the fall, Helenia swung her sword down
with her full body’s weight behind it, and took its head clean off.
Faowind saw a glint in the corner of the knight’s eye; he crouched
down and raised his shield high to stop a volley of arrows from the
headless, but still animated body.