A Shadow Flame (Book 7) (25 page)

"Face me," she said. "You are a coward."

"I do not care what you call me," Calexis told her. "I need not answer to such a pathetic creature."

"I will kill you," Lexi growled. "I will burn you with fire."

"You will?" Calexis laughed as the shadows filled the courtyard.

"I will destroy you, like you destroy people," Lexi told her, then she slammed her sword into its sheath and began to shift into her dragon form.

Calexis appeared before her among the shadows and dark grey smoke, and she began to shift as well, growing is size and gaining reptilian features, though not completely a dragon.

"You wish to fight me?" she growled. "Then show me your power, dragon."

"You will burn," Lexi growled as her transformation was complete, and she took in a deep breath and let out a blast of burning hot fire.

Calexis stepped to the side and Lexi followed her with a stream of fire that burned a path through the shadows. Lexi began to take in another deep breath when she felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She heard a snapping sound and felt another sharp pain, this time in her side. She looked down and saw sharp metal bolts sticking from her, and two more hit her from different angles, one lodging in her shoulder, the other in her left leg. Lexi howled and pulled at the bolts, but they would not come out. Several more shot toward her, obscured by the smoky shadows that billowed all around her, and she managed to knock one away, but two more hit her, one in the chest, the other in her neck.

Chains pulled tight as she tried to move, and Calexis walked toward her, laughing as more bolts hit their targets. Lexi tried to suck in another breath, but Calexis moved quickly and struck her in the side of the head with her claws, her powerful blow nearly sending Lexi into unconsciousness. Her vision blurred, Lexi tried to breathe fire but another blow to the side of her chest, so hard that she felt as though her powerful dragon bones might break, knocked the wind from her, and acid fire spilled from her mouth, pooling in flames upon the ground. Calexis hit her in the head again as the chains that held her pulled tight, then Lexi felt yet another blow connect with her skull and her legs gave out beneath her. She fell to the stone cobbles of the courtyard, barely able to see from the jarring impact of the powerful reptilian fist that hit her yet again.

"I must thank you, Lexi," Calexis said. "You have gained power that I have sought, and you brought it right to me."

Lexi tried to growl, the frustration and anger burning deep inside her, but Calexis hit her again, driving her head into the ground so hard the impact cracked the stones beneath her. She tried to move, but the chains held her tight and the iron spikes that pierced her limbs and body sent waves of pain through her. Lexi glanced through the fog of the shadows and caught sight of several Darga, hanging onto the ends of the chains, which were run through metal rings, fixed to the stone courtyard, and in her delirium, they resembled her brother Draxis, with his cruel grin.

Calexis spun her sword around in her hand, then she pointed the end downward and laughed as she plunged the blade toward Lexi, but she froze as lightning bolts hit her and shot toward the Darga. Lexi growled and rose to all fours, then she blasted fire and lightning around the courtyard, burning the Darga and several of the chains they held. Lexi knocked the sword from Calexis' grasp as she smashed into her with her powerful dragon shoulder. With lightning filling the courtyard, Lexi sent another blast of flame toward the other Darga, then she began pulling the iron rods from her, ripping them from her flesh, her anger overwhelming the intense pain.

Struggling against the lightning that coursed through her, Calexis scraped her sword up from the ground and she turned toward the blue dragon at the center of the whirlwind of fire and lightning just as three iron rods shot toward her. She blocked one but the other two hit her directly in the chest, and the chains to which they were attached yanked her forward as Lexi pulled on them and let out a blast of fire directly at her. Calexis screamed as she took the brunt of the fire directly, and its blinding heat seared her rotting flesh faster than her power could repair it. She shifted to smoke and the iron rods fell to the ground, then she reappeared right in front of Lexi and she swung her sword and cut a deep gash in the dragon's shoulder. Lexi bellowed in pain and snapped at Calexis with her razor sharp teeth, grabbing hold of her arm, then she whipped her head to the side and sent her tumbling to the ground as her arm was torn apart at the elbow. Black blood spilled upon the ground as Lexi spit out the severed limb and turned to face Calexis, but the dark queen disappeared again in a cloud of dark smoke.

Tendrils of shadow snaked through the air and began wrapping themselves around Lexi, absorbing her lightning, and she tried to blast at them with her fire, but the shadows parted and moved away from wherever her flame touched. More shadows wrapped around Lexi, circling around her neck and choking her, preventing her from breathing fire. She slashed at them with her claws but the shadows were suddenly without substance and it was as though she was attacking nothing, and the dark tendrils that wrapped around her tightened even more. From the smoke, Calexis appeared, with her arm beginning to reform, but made of shadow and smoke. In her remaining hand, she held her sword out, ready to strike as she walked toward Lexi. Calexis raised her blade and held it over her for a moment, then she brought it down in an arc toward Lexi's neck, a stroke powerful enough to cut through scale and bone.

Upon the steps, Aaron peered through the fog and shadow, and he heard echoes in his thoughts, words and voices that he knew. Calexis spoke, as she always did, with cruel laughter, taunting him, and he heard another voice, one that seemed familiar and it was angry and filled with fire and crackling with energy. In the darkness, he saw flashes of fire and blinding light, and more words echoed in his thoughts, about things he knew should make sense, but he could not focus upon them. All he could think about was keeping the shadow away from his power, hoping to distract Calexis long enough for something to happen. Aaron was not sure why he wanted to keep her focused on him, but he knew it was something important, and more words began to echo in his thoughts. Another voice whispered something about the people, that they were free, and the other voice shouted it with fire, and Aaron remembered that the mages were working to break a spell to free the people. From the darkness that surrounded his thoughts, Aaron looked through the smoke and the shadows and he saw fire and light glimmering in the darkness, then he suddenly felt a familiar power as lightning flashed toward him. The shadows parted for a moment and he saw Calexis holding a sword, and he saw it swing toward the neck of a dragon with scales the color of the sky and eyes that spoke of sadness and rage.

Steel met steel, and Calexis glared as Aaron's blade stopped her sword a mere handspan away from Lexi's neck. With his blade, he shoved her back, and she landed heavily a few paces away. Aaron sliced through the shadows that held Lexi, but they returned almost immediately, and he stared at Calexis, with a dark look in his eyes.

"You are killing her," he said, his voice dry, but reverberating with power.

"Would you like me to stop?" Calexis asked, with an impish grin that clashed with the dark shadows around her reptilian face. "Make me stop. There you go. Now, make me do what you want. Show me how powerful you are. Fight me."

Aaron stepped toward her as dark shadows snaked toward him, and he felt the shadow within him twisting into the center of his being, where he kept his power suppressed, moving deeper as he came closer to grasping its abundant energy. What little power he had gathered in his body was quickly running out, but he knew that it no longer mattered. The spell over the people was broken and if he could free Lexi, then she and the others could get away, then he could fight Calexis the way he wanted. The tendrils of shadow curled around his limbs, trying to stop him the way they held Lexi, and Aaron felt his power flicker deep inside him and it was all he could do not to seize it. Instead he grasped the shadows and let them flow into him, joining with the shadow, taking the dark power away from Calexis, and weakening the power that held Lexi.

"Let her go," Aaron said again. "It is my power that you want."

"Perhaps I want you both," Calexis said. "You must learn that there is very little that I do not desire."

"With the power inside of me, you can take what you want," Aaron told her.

"That is true," Calexis replied. "But I will still take her power all the same."

Aaron reached out and drew the dark tendrils of shadow that held Lexi toward him, gathering them in his hand, then he pulled on them. The shadows unwrapped themselves from Lexi and she fell to the stone cobbles, barely conscious and bleeding badly from her wounds. The shadows writhed in Aaron's grip, then they turned upon him and he felt the shadow within him grow even more powerful as he drew the darkness into himself. He could feel the dark power eating away at the last bit of energy he had gathered in himself, and he knew that he could no longer resist.

"You will face me," Aaron said, and the fire within him flared.

"Very good," Calexis said. "Now show me your fire."

"Come," Aaron told her. "Show me your darkness."

Dark grey shadows loomed around Calexis as Aaron burst into flames and moved toward her, his jeweled sword held before him. In a blur, as fast as lightning but blazing with fire, Aaron struck and Calexis barely blocked his attack with her own blade. He struck again, even faster and more powerful, driving her away from the unconscious blue dragon, pushing the dark queen back toward the stairs to the palace. Calexis stared at him hungrily from behind her blade as she blocked another blazing attack, and she stepped back again, just beyond his reach.

Aaron moved forward, hammering at her again and the truefire within him burned even brighter, the energy he had suppressed for so long finally free. The gemstones in his blade began to glow as the abundance of his power filled them, flickering deep red amid the white hot fire of his power, and he hit Calexis' blade again, knocking it back toward her so hard that she nearly lost her grip. A glimmer of fear appeared in her eyes, but her lust for the power he possessed overwhelmed any  trepidation she felt, and when she saw a hint of shadow appear within Aaron's power, she smiled, knowing that he would soon be hers.

Aaron drove Calexis up the stairs toward the palace, and he glanced back toward Lexi as he fought her mother through the entrance and into the grand entrance, but the blue dragon still lay motionless upon the broken stones of the courtyard. There was nothing he could do to help her, but he heard a voice in his ear, a whisper that he recognized.

"We are coming," it said with Ehlena's voice, a dry echo on the wind.

"They are too late," Calexis told him, as she blocked another powerful attack, and having heard Ehlena's voice as well. "They thought they could stop me by desecrating my temple and stealing my power, but they have failed."

"Stealing your power?" Aaron asked as he struck again, the two swords sparking wildly inside the dark entrance to the palace. "It is life you stole from countless others. That power was never yours."

"Fool," Calexis growled as she struck back at him with her blade, the power of her attack driving him backward toward the entrance of the palace and out to the top of the steps. "I am a god. All things are mine to take."

"You are not a god," Aaron told her as he took several more blows upon his blade, the power driving him back toward the steps to the courtyard. "You are slave to a god."

Calexis paused for a moment, with conflict flickering in her eyes as Aaron tried to catch his breath, then she struck again.

"You know nothing," she said with a smile cracking across her face as he barely managed to block her blow. "Soon you will understand. You will know the truth of darkness."

Aaron pushed her away and was about to attack when he suddenly felt his stomach lurch and his breath became short. It was as though a hand had reached up inside him and was crushing his innards, and an icy cold darkness began to spread through him. Calexis stepped back and watched as Aaron stumbled, gritting his teeth and trying to step toward him, but failing to move. The fire within him blazed even brighter and Aaron felt it begin to burn away the shadow, but when he took another step, he felt the dark power grow as it fed on his energy, and the tip of his sword lowered as his strength began to waver.

"Is something wrong?" Calexis asked, her voice saccharine with feigned concern.

"You ask as though you do not know," Aaron said. "Tell me, what is wrong with you. What is it that you do not see?"

"Embrace it, Aaron," Calexis told him. "Let the darkness feed upon your fire and you will discover the truth of it. You will know what it is to be truly free."

"You call this freedom?" Aaron said as he forced his sword up. "I call it death. I can feel the darkness. It destroys life."

"What greater freedom is there?" Calexis asked and she leapt toward him and swung her sword toward him. Aaron barely blocked her blade, and his fire burned even brighter as he reached for more power and tried to counterattack. He knocked her sword aside and slashed at her, but Calexis easily deflected his blade with a quick return and she easily stepped back out of his reach as he faltered. Aaron felt the shadow grow, swirling darkness within the light of his fire and his vision blurred as his limbs refused to move. Calexis took a step toward him, with a smile curling at the corners of her mouth. He felt the shadows of her power grip him and it drove him to his knees, his sword upon the ground.