Offspring (The Sword of the Dragon) (53 page)

Ilfedo wiped his brow and paused a moment to allow the sword of the dragon to reenergize him. All night he had been fighting. All night the sword had kept him from tiring, and now he stood far ahead of his army and his friends. He thrust through another giant, and another, and another. One more approached, and he jumped into the air, holding the sword above his head, and cracked the giant’s helm. After landing in a crouch, he spun. Fire spewed from the blade, and he straightened and stepped past giant human torches.

He crested the valley’s rim and glimpsed the megatraths fighting around the ramp to the citadel. Dead and dying littered the city. The knowledge that Oganna was there too drove him mad, and he continued on without consideration for the danger. He descended into the city by way of the roads and fought within visual range of the ramp.

Then he saw her glowing silver figure, and the giant man opposing her. The giant blasted the ramp, and she fell a long, deadly distance into one of the demolished buildings. Her adversary leapt down after her.

His daughter, his most precious companion! He cried out, and his sword burned those closest to him. He stabbed and hacked all in his path as if they were hay in a field until at last he stood at the base of the ruined structure. The giant with his back to Ilfedo laughed hysterically and pounded the now-almost-unrecognizable body of Oganna. The wizard spun his staff to strike again and spoke to the motionless body. “You have failed, young one! But at least you died at the hand of I, Razes.”

Ilfedo smashed his fist into the giant’s lower back and toppled him with a stiff kick to the back of his leg. Razes’s head crashed into a large stone, and when he picked himself up, he had to wipe blood from his mouth.

I
n Ilfedo’s hand the sword of the dragon blazed as never before, and the living fire upon his armor burned with unparalleled fervor. He felt the rage boiling inside of him, and when he looked again at his daughter, he was filled with hate. He stepped over a foundation stone and held his sword with both hands before his face. Only one thing mattered to him now: vengeance.

The giant looked down at Ilfedo and spat. The staff in his hand dripped with Oganna’s blood.

Ilfedo stepped closer. “Don’t you dare touch my daughter again.”

“And what if I do?” the wizard mocked. “Will you kill me?” He spun his staff and scoffed. “Do you think that I fear you? You are lower than the dust and worthy only to be ground into powder. Your body will hang in my hall alongside that of your daughter, and it will be a warning to all that oppose me in the future.”

“You are mistaken, wizard, for it is you that will be an example to
my
enemies. And when this day is done and your soul has fallen into eternal darkness, then I will laugh at your corpse and feed you to the birds.”

Razes stomped toward him and sneered. “Prepare to die!”

A series of cries and roars echoed around him. Caritha appeared from behind a pile of rubble. She pulled her rusted blade from a giant’s breast and let him fall beside her. Another rushed her from behind, but his eyes opened wide, and he fell forward. Laura took her blade from his back and stood side-by-side with her sister. Beyond them, cutting a path through the enemy masses, charged Levena, Evela, and Rose’el. They reached Caritha and Laura, then formed a line.

Rose’el eyed the wizard. “So,
this
is the big, bad enemy. I’d expected more than a coward that cripples young women!”

“Just say the word, Ilfedo, and we’ll help you cut him into a thousand pieces.” Caritha stepped through the rubble, and her sisters formed a half-circle around the giant.

“Yeah.” Rose’el pointed her blade at the giant’s head. “I’ll take
that
off!”

Razes advanced and spread his arms. “Is this supposed to make me afraid? You are like insects beside me.” He beckoned to his forces, and a line of giants stamped toward the Warrioresses.

The sisters touched the tips of their blades together and sent out wave after wave of energy into the giants’ midst. The wizard’s forces fell back, their hair smoking and their faces red. Ilfedo let his sword shoot fire from its tip and addressed the giant. “It looks to me like you are outnumbered.”

Cackling, the wizard raised his staff at the sky, and lightning struck the ground, opening a large hole. Razes sneered and looked into its depths. “Come,
my children
, you have work to do.” Out of the hole slithered a multitude of vipers that swarmed around him in a protective circle.

Ilfedo dashed to Caritha’s side and shook her shoulder. “Get Oganna out of here! I’ll keep him busy.”

The sisters climbed the rubble into the ruins and looked upon their young charge. “No, it cannot be!” Levena clamped her hand over her mouth.

Evela screamed and tears ran down her cheeks. Laura closed her eyes and knelt in front of Oganna.

Rose’el swallowed hard. Her body trembled, her shoulders quaked, and her eyes moistened. “Is she already gone?”

“Hurry, she isn’t breathing!” Caritha grabbed Oganna’s blood-soaked legs, and Laura held her arms. Both of them gasped and stared in horror at the mutilated face.

“Is she, is she, is she dead?” Laura choked back a sob.

“Not yet. Come on!” Caritha said.

Levena, Rose’el, and Evela charged into another wave of giants, stabbing every which way. Caritha and Laura grunted under their burden as they followed the path over the dead and dying that the sisters created. They carried Oganna along the highway. As they approached the valley’s rim, a shout caused them to look up.

Ombre and the Elite Thousand crested the hill. The warriors of light stretched in both directions for as far as Caritha could see. The giants were losing ground, and the swords of light could be seen everywhere, piercing hearts and severing limbs.

The regular army charged into the city, leaving heaps of dead giants in its wake. When they reached the citadel, they protectively surrounded the surviving megatraths. Hopefully Oganna’s friend, Vectra, was among them.

Caritha helped Laura set Oganna down on soft grass. All five sisters knelt around her. “What can we do?” Evela cried. “She looks dead already.”

“But she isn’t. Not yet.” Caritha drew her sword and touched it to Oganna’s chest. The others followed her lead. “Draw upon the strength that Father gave us, the powers within—use it up if necessary—drain yourself completely of it if necessary—feed it into her.”

The viper’s head peeked from under Oganna’s collar. It rubbed its head gently on the young woman’s neck.

Caritha sent the powers within into her sword, and the weapon glowed. Tendrils of blue and red light latched on to Oganna’s chest from all five swords. Caritha screamed in pain and her sisters soon followed. It felt as if the fabric of her existence was ripping out her heart. But she held on as the power left her blood.

A cocoon of light cascaded around the body, and through its veil she saw Oganna’s wounds close and the blood dry. The energy receded and snapped back against the swords, throwing Caritha against the ground. When she sat back up, Oganna’s chest heaved steadily, and her eyelids fluttered open.

Caritha embraced her and cried on her shoulder. The others wept too, for Oganna’s beauty was forever gone. Her face and arms bore the ugly scars inflicted on her by Razes.

“It’s all right,” Oganna said through her own tears. “I’m here. I’m alive.” She gazed heavenward. “Thank God for that.”

The sisters looked at each other, unable to reveal the horrible truth. Oganna’s eyes froze on her arms. Her skin felt rough, rather than smooth. She felt her face and the realization hit her. “I’m—ugly.” She buried her face in her hands and wept.

Caritha and her sisters tried to comfort Oganna, but they could offer no consolation. How could they? They hadn’t lost
their
beauty. And so they cried with her until a tremendous explosion rocked the earth and they spun around.

Rose’el pointed to the base of Ar’lenon. “
Ilfedo!
What does he think he’s doing?”

Ilfedo drove his flaming blade into the ground at Razes’s feet and blasted the rocks out from under him. As the wizard’s vipers sailed through the air, he directed the sword of the dragon at them and roasted them alive before they touched the ground. He slammed his shoulder into the wizard’s abdomen and brought his blade around in a swift arc, slitting the giant’s arm just above the elbow.

Ilfedo’s army swarmed into the street, and the wave of giants fled. Razes screamed at them, “Back you fools! Destroy them.” He cocked his arm and thrust his blade-ridden fist into Ilfedo’s chest.

Ilfedo stumbled. He glanced down at the deep wound. But how had the wizard penetrated the armor of living fire? Ilfedo felt faint. The world spun around him, and he fell. As the world darkened, Razes cackled.

Suddenly the sword burned his hand, forcing him to drop it. It hovered in the air above him and shot the living fire into his body. It felt as if he had gone from a frigid night’s chill to the warmth of a sunny day. The blood stopped flowing, and his flesh healed without so much as a scar to show for the deadly wound.

Razes stepped back, and Ilfedo saw astonishment in the wizard’s face.

He grinned. “Nice try.” He rose, took his sword in hand, and stabbed into the ground. The stones and dirt blew up again in the wizard’s face and threw him into a wall of stone. Before the giant could rise, Ilfedo shot fire from the sword of the dragon. The wizard held his staff in the flame’s path, and it absorbed the living fire.

Ilfedo jumped forward, smote him on the chin, and cut the wizard’s staff in two. He stepped back, hoping to receive the giant’s surrender. Instead, small orbs of energy formed in the wizard’s hands.

“You think that you have defeated me?” The wizard eyed his orbs greedily and then chucked them in rapid succession in Ilfedo’s direction.

As the orbs broke harmlessly on the sword of the dragon, the sword left Ilfedo’s hands and hovered before him. He felt as though he had left his body and lay inside the sword. He shot like an arrow straight into his opponent’s heart. When it was over, he returned to his body and opened his eyes.

Razes slumped against the wall, and his remaining orbs fizzled out of existence in his hands. His eyes froze open and his breathing stopped.

Ilfedo grabbed hold of his sword, drew it from the corpse, and sheathed it at his side. The armor of living fire gave way to his everyday apparel, and he walked out into the city. He could see the last of the giants scrambling out of the valley, heading north, and he knew that they would not be coming back. Several Art’en flew above the giants, yet they too did not glance back. Heaving a sigh, he walked down the highway, stepping over the bodies of the giants on his way.