Page 93 of The Dark Rises
Callyx is taking his place. Equally disturbing, he will lead the demons and shadow wielders. I line them up next. Widening the rows, I make sure there is plenty of room to showcase their beefiest, ugliest, and most brutal-looking demons.
Lucifer is at the front, between the demons and magic wielders. I can’t wait to see what Cormal and Evren come up with to showcase the ruthless leader of The Underworld.
To my right, I reserve two lines for Fallon’s elite, led by him and that ferocious commander of his, Garrett.
I chuckle. Meri was right. Bringing in the monsters right before the battle will truly set the tone. Waving a hand, I add a portal with a few of their worst at the front and scatter the rest behind them. It’s not as if they’ll stay in single file once the battle starts, anyway.
Torin’s dark Elves are added on the other side of Lucifer.
Last, but not least, Valerian’s dragons. I thought to put them in the front to decimate the Phoenix, but if I want to showcase the rest of our gruesome army, I’ll have to place them in the rear. Rivan was right. They’re fast. As soon as the battle starts, they can fly to the front in record time.
I nod in satisfaction. This is the plan. Rivan was right to warn them. In order to preserve this kingdom, I’ll wipe them from the board. I can’t afford not to with my allegiance to Odin and the need to keep the Wilds in check.
When I read up on the Fire Fae Rebellion, I realized part of the reason the first war lasted two hundred years was because of all the cease fires to negotiate terms, which would, of course, then fall apart, causing the war to start up again.
I don’t intend to offer a ceasefire. Ever. The two offers on the table will end when the battle begins, and no other negotiations will take place. These are all-or-nothing stakes. I will offer no quarter. If they choose battle, it will end with their deaths.
With a heavy sigh, I drop into the chair and stare out the window. It pains me to think of going to war against my own, much less killing them, but they have left me no choice. We can’t continue to fight this battle. If they want their freedom, they need to take the offer on the table.
Cormal’sabsent the next day, but I go outside to watch Rivan and Valerian fly maneuvers. Valerian is a beast of a man and the biggest damn dragon I’ve ever seen. The massive black dragon makes the courtyard of the palace look like someone’s yard, dwarfing everything around him. Only the palace itself is bigger. He swivels around and even I swallow at the size of his teeth, and as his golden predatory stare locks on me, I feel the menacing power he wields.
Rivan, in his full Phoenix form, slaps Valerian’s tail and takes off laughing. “Catch me if you can, youngling.”
I frown, not realizing Rivan was so much older than Valerian, but I guess it’s true. The last Fire Fae Rebellion happened prior to Valerian’s birth, and Rivan was already almost a thousand years old.
With a huge roar and a gigantic gust of wind, Valerian shoots up into the air lightning fast. I understand why Rivan wanted to showcase this for our spies. Who knew something that large could move at that speed?
The two chase each other through the trees, showing the Phoenix’s ability to maneuver barely beats the dragon behind him and only in tight quarters. When they move to the wide open sky, Valerian’s ability to use his tail to change course gives him the advantage over a Phoenix.
From a speed perspective, they’re pretty evenly matched. Anyone watching on the ground will think they have a shot at defeating Valerian until he wraps the shadows around his opponent and holds him mid-air. Instead of fire, he freezes Rivan to show how easily he could have killed him.
Blowing a warm breath over the Phoenix, he releases the shadows, and the gruesome smile he gives him is absolutely frightening.
The two of them return to the ground, and their human forms, and shake hands. “Brilliant. Thank you, Valerian.”
Rivan walks over to me. “That should do it. Even if they know it’s staged, it should get our point across.”
“Great job,” I tell them both, then murmur to Rivan. “Biggest damn dragon I’ve ever seen. Enough to scare most Fae.”
Valerian hears me and roars with laughter. “We have exceptional hearing, too.”
Daire strides up next. “Cormal asked us to demonstrate our speed, but I felt we needed to add a little flair to it.” He raises his arm, and a hundred straw dummies appear behind him. Turning, he blows a kiss to Arden.
Tossing me a timer, he pulls out his sword and counts down. “Three, two, one.” In a blur, he takes the straw heads of all one hundred in eight point three seconds.
Stopping in front of me, he asks for the time. When I tell him, he frowns. “Damn it. I’m getting slower.”
Astonished, I scan the field of straw heads littering the ground. “If you say so. Hell of a demonstration. I’m sure a couple of them wet their pants watching it.”
He dips his head. “Happy to help. The real show is about to begin.”
Arden walks over and pulls her sword. With a flick of her hand, she lights it on fire, then multiplies the one into fifty flaming swords. As her sword engages with the first headless dummy, the other swords follow her command, taking on the enemy. What’s most remarkable about this feat is that each sword is moving independently. Thrusting, stabbing, and fighting without a hand on the hilt.
After a few minutes, she changes the swords into one giant lasso of fire and ropes the dummies into a grouping in the middle. The lasso drops to the ground, becoming a ring of fire surrounding the dummies. Lightning strikes them from above. Then, a tornado.
For the finale, she stalks forward, changing instantly from a witch into a dragon, breathing fire. With one exhale, she incinerates the dummies.
Sweat rolls down her temple, but that’s the only sign of the tremendous magic she exerted right in front of us. And our enemies’ spies.
