Page 96 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
Help me,his voice whispered through our bond, so faint I almost missed it beneath the screaming of the ancient voices.I can't... I can't hold them back much longer.
"I've got you," I said aloud, my voice hoarse with strain. Blood was streaming from my eyes now, matching the crimson tracks on his face, but I held firm. "We've got you."
Through Sirrax's connection, I felt his massive wings beating against the sky, felt his own struggle as he wrestled with the darkness we were feeding into him. A massive wave of darkness crashed through my mind, and I might have screamed out loud, staggering under the weight of it.
Not… strong… enough…Sirrax forced his thoughts through the bond that was starting to fracture under the weight of the darkness. He was right, we weren’t strong enough. We needed more. Although my instinct to protect her above all else fought against me, I reached out through the bond to the strongest person I knew.
Livia’s response was immediate, blazing through our connection like sunlight through storm clouds. I felt her mind touch mine, felt her love and determination flowing through the bond we shared as dragon and rider. But more than that—I felt her reach further, following the connection I had to Taveth, adding her strength to mine.I'm here,her voice whispered through my mind, warm and fierce.We're all here.She laid one of her bloody hands pressing over mine on Taveth’s chest, the other cupping his face as she forced him to look down at her. I felt her presence in the bond like a warm fire in the darkness—fierce and grounding and full of love so pure it made the shadows recoil. Through her eyes, Taveth saw himself not as the monster the voices claimed he was, but as the man she believed in, the man she had chosen to love despite all his flaws and failures."Taveth," she called out, though I could barely hear her voice over the roar of magic and chaos. "I know you're in there. Come back to me."
The change was immediate and electric. Where my bond with Taveth was the familiar comfort of shared blood, hers was something altogether different—fierce and protective and absolutely unbreakable. Love made manifest, burning away the shadows that tried to claim him.
Through her, I could feel what she felt: not the monster the crystal had made him, but the man who had held her when she had nightmares, who had brought her flowers because he thought they might make her smile, who had wept when the shadows had tried to hurt her.
The relief that flooded through me was staggering. Through our bond, I could feel the others—Septimus, Marcus, Antonius, even Jalend—all of them somehow connected through the web of relationships we'd forged over months of shared struggle. Not magical bonds like mine and Livia's, but something just as powerful: chosen family, loyalty forged in blood and loss and the decision to stand together when the world fell apart.
I pushed all of that love, all of that connection, through my link with Taveth. The shadows around him recoiled as if burned, and for just an instant his eyes flickered from ice-white back to their natural black.
I felt him pull away from the abyss, felt him choose love over power, choose her over the seductive promise of destruction. The voices screamed in fury, but they were no match for the anchor she provided, the certainty of her faith in who he really was.
"Livia," he breathed, and his voice broke on her name like a man dying of thirst finally finding water.
Taveth’s awareness blazed through the bond like the moment the sun breaks above the horizon, flooding us all with light. I felt him slam back into full consciousness like a man surfacing from deep water, gasping and desperate and fully himself again. Through our connection, I experienced his horror at what he'd almost done, his revulsion at the commands he'd given. The crystal blazed in his grip, but now instead of controlling him, he was fighting back against it with everything he had."No," he said, his voice raw but human again. "No, I won't let you use me."The shadows writhed around us in fury, but they no longer movedwith purpose. They lashed out randomly, striking at the sand, at the air, at anything within reach—but they no longer obeyed a single will. Above us, the dragons faltered in their attack, their flames sputtering as the absolute command that had driven them began to fracture completely.I felt Taveth gather his will, felt him turn the crystal's power back on itself. Instead of commanding the dragons to burn, he began working to free them entirely—not to make them his weapons, but to break the chains that had bound them for centuries.The first collar shattered with a sound like breaking glass that somehow carried across the entire arena. A massive red dragon above us shuddered, its eyes clearing as its own will returned. Instead of continuing its attack on the crowd, it wheeled away, soaring toward the open sky beyond the arena walls.A second collar broke, then a third. Each one sent a shockwave through the magical network that had enslaved them, and then it was like the bursting of stars flaring out in the darkness. I felt them all, hundreds, thousands, flaring in the darkness as Taveth reached out across the network and set them all free. Beyond that, the touch of all the minds of the mages, that surge of freedom, of relief and desperate joy as Taveth freed their minds. One particular strong mind joined us, lending its strength to ours with a burst of sheer joy and pride through the bond of blood. Sayven. Taveth’s eyes met mine, and for the first time since I’d met the man, I saw a genuine smile spread across his face. I returned it.The network collapsed all at once, like a dam bursting. I felt it cascade across the Empire-every collar, every binding, every chain of magical enslavement snapping in a wave of liberation that reached from the frozen northern peaks to the burning southern deserts. Thousands of dragons, their minds their own for the first time in centuries, took to the skies with roars of pure joy.In the arena around us, the remaining dragon riders were hurled screaming from their mounts as the greatbeasts remembered what freedom felt like. One rider-Valeria, I realized through the haze of exhaustion-refused to accept her mount's liberation. Even as her dragon bucked beneath her, she drew her sword and raised it to strike at the creature's neck.The dragon turned on her instead.I looked away before I could see the details, but I heard her screams, brief and sharp and then suddenly cut off. When I looked back, there was nothing left of the proud noblewoman but scattered pieces of gold armour and a spreading pool of blood.That's what happens, I thought grimly, when you try to enslave something that was born to be free.The crystal in Taveth's hands flickered once more, then went dark. He let it fall to the sand where it shattered against the stones, releasing one final whisper of ancient voices before falling silent forever."It's done," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "They're all free."I nodded, too exhausted to speak. My legs gave out and I collapsed to the sand, muscles twitching from the strain of holding the connection. Blood covered the front of my armour, and my head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, but we were alive. We were all alive, and the dragons were free.
Livia was suddenly there, kneeling beside us both, her hands moving frantically as she checked us for injuries beyond the obvious. Blood streaked her face where flying debris had cut her cheek, but her eyes were bright with fierce pride and relief. She cupped Taveth's face in her hands, her thumbs wiping away the crimson tracks the crystal's power had carved down his cheeks."You came back," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I thought I'd lost you.""You saved me," he said, leaning into her touch like a man starved for warmth. "Both of you. I couldn't have fought it alone."She pressed her forehead against his, and for just a moment they were simply two people who loved each other, alive against all odds in the middle of a revolution.All around the arena, chaos reigned. The freed dragons were takingto the sky in a storm of wings and roars, some heading for the wilderness they'd been stolen from, others turning their fury on the Imperial forces still trying to restore order. In the stands, the crowd had erupted into pandemonium. Some sections cheered as the cages holding the prisoners were smashed open and innocent people poured out onto the sand. Other sections screamed in terror as they realized the established order was crumbling before their eyes.Through it all, Jalend stood tall in the centre of the sand, his voice carrying across the arena with the authority of his royal blood."The dragons are free!" he shouted, somehow cutting through the chaos. "The prisoners are innocent! This is what justice looks like!"More gates crashed open. More innocent people poured out into the light, blinking in amazement at their sudden liberation. I saw children clutching their parents' hands, old men weeping with relief, women who had given up hope suddenly discovering they might live to see another day.We did it, I realized with a mixture of triumph and terror. We actually did it.But even as I watched the rebellion ignite in the heart of the Empire, I felt a chill run down my spine. A shadow fell across the arena, and I looked up to see a figure standing at the edge of the Imperial box, draped in cloth-of-gold that gleamed like flame in the afternoon sun.Emperor Vamerius gazed down at the chaos below with the cold fury of a god whose will had been defied. When he began to descend the stairs toward the arena floor, I felt the temperature drop ten degrees."Get up," I whispered to Taveth, who was still kneeling in the sand, staring at the shattered remains of the crystal. "We're not done yet."He looked up at me, then followed my gaze to the approaching Emperor. For just a moment, exhaustion and despair flickered across his features. Then his jaw set with grim determination."No," he said, climbing slowly to his feet. "I suppose we're not."
31
The arena had become a storm of wings and flame, dragons wheeling overhead in spirals of liberated joy while their former riders lay broken on the bloodstained sand. But as the golden figure began his descent from the Imperial box, I felt my men gather around me like armour made of flesh and bone.
Marcus appeared at my left shoulder, his weathered face grim but determined, blood streaking his grey beard. Antonius took position at my right, his scarred hands steady on his weapons despite the chaos raging around us. Behind me, I felt Septimus's solid presence, the brother I had found in the darkest places, and Tarshi, still bleeding from his struggle with the crystal's power but standing tall beside his twin Taveth.
Above us, Sirrax descended from the sky in a controlled spiral, his massive form casting shadows across the marble as he settled on the arena sand behind us, wings spread wide in a display of protective fury. His golden eyes tracked the Emperor's movement with predatory focus.
And beside me, so close our shoulders almost touched, stood Jalend. No—not Jalend anymore. Something had changed inhim as his father appeared, some final mask falling away. Lord Jalend Northreach was no longer, and as I watched him stand straight and tall before the man who had spent his life belittling him, I felt a surge of pride as Prince Jalius Valerius sheathed his sword and looked his father straight in the eyes.
We stood together in a rough semicircle on the blood-soaked sand, seven souls who had found each other in the crucible of slavery and war, united now in the face of the man who embodied everything we had fought against. Different arenas had forged us—some in the provincial pits where I had first learned to kill, others in the mountains of rebellion, still others in the hidden places where dragons and riders learned to trust. But we had all bled for the same dream, and now we would see it through to the end.This wasn't the provincial arena where I had first bled as a gladiator—that had been smaller, cruder, a pale shadow of this Imperial colosseum. But the smell was the same: hot sand, spilled blood, and the acrid stench of fear. The roar of the crowd was the same too, that terrible sound that had been the soundtrack to my slavery, their cheers the music of my despair. Different walls, same chains. Different sand, same blood.
Now I stood here free, my sword in my hand by choice rather than command, surrounded by the family I had chosen and the family that had chosen me. The same marble that had witnessed countless atrocities was now witness to their freedom. Prisoners poured from the shattered cages, their faces bright with disbelief and hope. The riders who had commanded those dragons lay broken on the ground, their collars of control as meaningless as my old shackles.
"Every arena is the same," I whispered, feeling the weight of history in every grain of sand beneath my feet. "Built to break us, to make us into monsters for their entertainment. But today weturn this place from a pit of death into the birthplace of a new world. Today we break the chains."
Jalend reached for my hand, squeezing it tightly, and I smiled at him.
Around us, the chaos of revolution raged on. Freed Talfen prisoners had taken up weapons from fallen guards and were fighting alongside the rebels who had stormed the arena. The crowd in the stands pressed against the barriers, some fleeing in terror while others screamed encouragement to the freedmen below. Dragons circled overhead like avenging angels, their cries echoing off the marble walls with the sound of chains breaking.
But all of that—the battle, the fire, the screaming—seemed to fade into background noise as the Emperor reached the arena floor.
Emperor Valerius stepped onto the sand like a god descending to judge mortals. His purple robes shot with gold caught the light and threw it back in waves, and his face... his face was the mask of tyranny made flesh. Not handsome or ugly, but terrible in its absolute certainty, its complete lack of doubt or mercy. This was a man who had never questioned his right to own other human beings, who had built an empire on the backs of slaves and called it civilization.
The crowd hushed as if he had cast a spell over them. Even the rebels paused in their fighting, and for a moment the only sounds were the distant cries of dragons and the crackling of fires.
Terror and fury twisted together in my chest like mating serpents. This man—this monster—had stolen my childhood, murdered my family, and tried to enslave an entire race of people. He had turned me into a weapon and pointed me at other victims of his cruelty for the entertainment of crowds who paid to watch us die. Rage rushed through me as the man I had sworn to kill stopped merely several feet of where I stood. Hehad to die. This is what I had dreamed of for so long, this is what I had vowed as Tarus’s blood had drained into the sand.
But before I could move, before I could even draw breath to shout a challenge, Jalend stepped forward.
"Look around you, father," he said, his voice carrying across the arena with steady authority. "The dragons you enslaved are free. Your collars are broken. The power you built this empire on has crumbled to dust."He gestured to the chaos surrounding us—the liberated dragons wheeling overhead, the freed prisoners pouring from their cages, the broken riders scattered across the sand like discarded toys."You are no longer strong," Jalend continued, each word falling like a hammer blow. "You are a tyrant standing alone, guilty of genocide, cruelty, and the enslavement of an entire people. But even now, even after all you have done, I offer you one final choice."
The Emperor's face remained a mask of cold fury, but I could see something flickering behind his eyes—surprise, perhaps, that his supposedly dead son stood before him speaking with such conviction.
