Wrath of the Dragon, page 22
“You’re right.” The angel nodded. “Let’s do this. We’re going to have to keep low. I am not leaving without my sister.”
“Ready?” I asked, and Cyra nodded again.
Then we crouched down as we sprinted out of the maze and bolted toward the rocky hillside. My heart was in my mouth as we ran, and I was ready to slam my dagger upward if any of the flying fuckers swooped down. The heat of the purple orbs beat down on the back of my neck in an almost painful way, but we managed to reach the bottom of the hill, and we slammed ourselves up against the dark rocks.
I took a second to look around and make sure nothing had spotted us, but there were no signs of attack from any direction. I glanced back at the exit of the maze and shuddered as I thought about the Dark Eater waking up.
“We made it,” I breathed. “Now we just need to do the same thing vertically.”
“Easy,” Cyra said warily. “Time to climb.”
The pathway that led up the back of the castle was twisted and mostly in the shadows of an overhanging ledge. It was the ideal route to go unnoticed, and there were plenty of small overhangs and boulders to hide behind on the way. As we carefully trekked upward, I started to plan our best form of attack. Cyra still didn’t have a weapon, but I was confident we would be able to get one from an underling. They all seemed to have spears, and we already knew that we could slaughter them. Especially if we got one alone.
Then there would be the issue of getting inside, and what we would be faced with once we did. There was no doubt in my mind that the castle would be crawling with more demons than we had ever seen before. Not to mention the king. I didn’t know if he would be bigger than the rest of them, or just smarter.
We just had to make sure we were prepared for anything.
We kept as close to the side walls as possible while we hurried up the hill. The shadows were a welcome shield from the heat of the orbs, and the cries of the flying demons pierced my ears.
It seemed like they were patrolling the castle in a circle, and I wondered if they were keeping their eyes on the sky for any signs of a dragon.
The hill got steeper as we got higher, and I looked up to see there was a row of small, stained-glass windows along the very bottom of the castle.
“Look!” I hissed. “We can break in through one of those.”
“They’re very narrow,” Cyra said hesitantly. “With my wings and your shoulders, are you sure we’ll fit?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” I said. “Besides, if there’s a way to get in through the back, then we should take it.”
My calves burned as we walked up the final stretch of the pathway, and the hill became almost vertical below us. Cyra’s bare feet clung to each stone, and her toes curled as she climbed. When we reached the castle, I helped the angel up onto the flat stretch of rock that the building sat on. Then we leaned against the wall as we glanced down, and we caught our breaths before we shuffled over to the nearest window.
It was made of emerald and ruby-tinted glass, and I couldn’t see much as I peered through it.
“I don’t see anything,” I muttered. “Can you?”
“Not really.” The angel frowned as she squinted through the window. “This must be the dungeon level.”
“Great,” I groaned. “We’ll get to meet the criminal demons.”
“I don’t think they lock up their own kind,” Cyra snorted. “But it probably won’t be long before we come face to face with one of them.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m going to smash the glass and climb through. Be ready to follow right after me, okay?”
“Got it.” Cyra nodded.
I glanced up at the purple sky and grabbed a handful of my cloak.
The thick material would be good enough to protect my fist from the glass, and we needed to break in before we were spotted. I pulled the black cloak around my fist and took a deep breath before I smashed it into the brightly-colored glass.
The window shattered easily, and most of the pane fell through into the dark room on the other side. I punched the remaining shards that stuck out dangerously until there was an empty space to slip in through with no jagged glass shards.
“Here we go,” I muttered, and I turned sideways to go through the pane.
I had to duck down to fit, and my biceps only just scraped through the space. It was a tight squeeze, but I managed to ease through and lower myself down onto the floor of the castle.
Then I looked around to see I was in a very small room with basically nothing in it other than a nearly burned-out candle in the corner. It looked like some kind of storage space, and I gestured for Cyra to follow me.
The angel had more difficulty getting in despite her slim frame. Her wings could fold right up against her back, but they were still bulky. She grunted as she edged in sideways, and I couldn’t help snorting with laughter as she pressed her large breasts down to fit.
“What?” she huffed as she jumped down. “They take up a lot of space.”
“Do they?” I asked. “I can honestly say I’ve never noticed. Haven’t even looked at them before.”
The angel rolled her eyes as she strode toward the wooden door and pressed her ear against it.
It didn’t seem that any of the patrolling demons had noticed our entry, and the cries of the flying bastards continued outside.
“I can hear movement,” she whispered. “Not much, though.”
I put my ear to the wood, and it sounded like there was one set of footsteps shuffling around on the other side.
“Okay,” I murmured. “If there is one demon out there, then we can manage that easily. It can be our warm-up for storming the rest of the castle.”
The angel nodded and pushed her burgundy hair back with a determined scowl. Then she stood back as I gripped the silver handle with one hand and my dagger with the other, and I swung the door open.
A demon underling stood with its back to me right next to the door, and I pounced before it had time to fully turn round.
I plunged my black blade into the base of its neck and tore the tissue wide open, and the demon gurgled up blood before it fell onto the floor face-first. The purple creature smacked against the dark stone with a heavy crunch, and its spear clattered to the floor.
Cyra dove down and grabbed the weapon as I peered around the dark room we had just entered.
I was startled to see that there were multiple faces staring back at me.
But none of them were demon faces.
We were inside a wide dungeon that had dozens of small cells along each wall. The cells were closed with thick, steel bars, and there was a dark brown door on the far side of the room.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. “Who are these… people?”
The prisoners in the cells were not just people. A few men and women stared out at me, but there were also Lunas, dwarves and something else that I couldn’t quite see in the dark.
“Prisoners,” Cyra said. “I knew the demons had been locking folks up, but I had no idea there were so many.”
“Are you here to help us?” a Luna asked.
She pressed her pretty face against the bars, and her small wings fluttered as she hovered over the dirty ground. She had red scratches on her silver arms, and it was obvious she had been in there for a while, judging by her overly thin frame.
“We need to help them,” Cyra said, and I spun around to stare at her.
The angel looked sadly at the prisoners, and I felt my stomach do a backflip at her determined words. She had come a hell of a long way since her distrusting attitude at the market. She actually wanted to help mortals again.
I suddenly wanted to grab her into my arms, but that would have to wait.
“We do,” I agreed, and I bent down to grab the keys from the dead demon’s belt.
“About bloody time!” a dwarf spat. “I’ve been ready to chop some demon heads for a while now! Let me out so I can cut some fuckers up!”
“Is everyone here against the demons?” I asked as I stood in the middle of the dungeon. “We’re on our way to save a friend who’s been trapped by the king, and we could use all the help we can get.”
There was a chorus of agreement and general disdain to the demons, and I grinned.
“Lunas aren’t normally violent,” one of the pink-haired women said. “But I am willing to slit the throats of any of those hellish creatures I pass.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” I said, and I hurriedly began to unlock the prison cells.
As the prisoners were freed, the dungeon started to buzz with hushed voices as everyone checked on one another. One of the cages I opened had a tall man who looked like he was made out of stardust. His skin was dark and had little flickers of silver throughout, even more than Cyra had with her gold.
It was jarring to see such a muscular frame covered in silver glitter.
“I’m a Moon Pixie,” he growled at my obvious confusion.
The huge man strode past me and cracked his knuckles loudly.
“Oh,” I said. “Um, good to have you here!”
I tried to forget my former image of pixies as being tiny, winged creatures, and I kept unlocking the cages.
I couldn’t help smiling as I reached the final cage and found four little starlets huddled together in the dark corner. Their blue fuzzy bodies were massed into one, and they blinked at me with silver eyes. I quickly checked their shadows, and it seemed that these guys were the real deal.
“Cyra,” I said. “You might want to see this.”
The angel strode over and gasped when she looked inside.
“Starlets!” she cooed. “Oh, little things! Did the big mean demons lock you up in here?”
I smirked at the fire angel as I unlocked the cage, and the starlets moved with a bouncing motion toward Cyra. Then she bent down to fuss over them before she ushered them back into the cell.
“You have to stay here,” she said firmly. “No fighting demons for you. We’ll come back to free you, I promise.”
The fuzzy beasts zoomed back into their corner, and it was nice to see the animals with normal shadows.
Once everyone was out, I examined our new mini-army and was seriously impressed with our sudden boost in numbers. A few of them had produced weapons, and it was clear the demons hadn’t done a very good job at searching their prisoners. Two Lunas, three dwarves, four humans, and the pixie man stood waiting.
“Okay,” I said hurriedly. “We don’t exactly know our way around this place, do any of you?”
There was a murmur amongst the group, and everyone shook their heads.
“We just got dragged in here,” a dwarf grunted. “We didn’t get the grand tour beforehand.”
“Fair enough,” I sighed. “In that case, we are just going to have to navigate our way around as best we can.”
“I can feel her,” Cyra whispered, and I turned to see the angel staring at the ceiling.
I glanced up but there was nothing other than dark stone illuminated by the flickering torches.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nisha,” the angel breathed. “She’s in a tall tower. She’s weak, but she’s… she’s very high above us. She has to be in a tower.”
I strode over to the doorway and pressed my ear against the wood. I couldn’t hear anything outside, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until we ran into demons.
At least we had more numbers now, and a whole group that were ready to spill some demon blood. Then I remembered that every creature had a different power in Dracoria, and I studied our new recruits to work out the best way to use them.
“Dwarves, what do you do here in the Night Lands?” I asked.
“Night mining,” one of the bearded men grunted.
“Okay, how can that help us here?”
“We can break through anything and navigate well in the dark.” He shrugged. “Give me a weapon, and I can smash through any natural materials. It also works with skulls.”
“Great,” I said. “Lunas? I’ve heard you can create illusions like dreamscapes, but can you make your dreamscapes bad? I mean, bad enough to disorient demons?”
“Only one at a time,” a pink-haired woman said. “But yes, we can make them go mad with nightmares.”
“Nice.” I smirked. “What does everyone else have on their side?”
“We’re night farmers,” one of the human women said. “Our eyesight is perfect, even in total darkness.”
“We can tell you what lies ahead.” A man nodded. “It’s not much, but I hope it helps.”
“That’s amazing.” I nodded back. “Really helpful. We’ll need to arm you guys, too, I’m sure it won’t be long until we have access to some more demon spears.”
“I can use pixie dust,” the Moon Pixie growled. “It blinds you. I can also crush a demon skull between my hands, but that’s not a power. I’m just very strong.”
“That works for me,” I chuckled. “Okay, this is going to have to be fast and quiet. If we’re trying to get to the taller towers, then we will have to pass a shit-load of demons on our way up. Look after each other, and remember what these bastards stole from you. Let that anger fuel your fighting and override any fear that might trip you up.”
The group nodded, and Cyra threw me a grin as she gripped her new spear.
“Let’s go and save Nisha,” I said.
Then I grabbed the door handle and pulled it open to reveal a stone staircase lit by flaming torches. I began to creep up the steps and held my dagger up as I went. At the top of the stairs, I could see a long corridor that led to an open space. Even from my dimly-lit spot I could see there were demons moving around the open area.
“We’ve got company,” I said quietly over my shoulder. “Once we’re down this hallway, we’re going to need to fight. Remember, keep it as quiet as you can. Anyone with weapons, come to the front and try to get some spears for the others.”
I began to jog down the stone corridor, and Cyra ran behind me. We approached what looked like the castle lobby, and I could hear the growls of underlings.
When we arrived, I paused and scanned the area. The room was huge with two massive staircases on the right. An enormous front door was shut on the left, and lit torches were mounted along the walls. There were oil paintings of landscapes that had been scratched up and ruined, and an old suit of armor was bent and broken in the corner.
Two groups of underlings were moving around the large space, and each group had three demons.
I leapt out of the safety of the hall. Then I raced toward the furthest away group, and Cyra followed. I glanced over to see the prisoners race to the closest demons, and the first fight for the castle began.
I jumped onto one of the demons as its back was turned, and I plunged my dagger straight down into the top of its skull. The purple creature shuddered as I stabbed its brain, and once I twisted the blade in real deep, I ripped it back and let the demon crumple onto the ground.
Cyra slammed her spearhead into another demon’s throat, and it hissed as dark blood exploded from its neck. It was twitching its way toward death within seconds, but the last demon in the group started to howl in fury at us.
I punched it square in the jaw to shut it up before I stabbed it in the chest. I felt the bones break just as my blade pierced the skin, and the demon stopped moving as blood sprayed my face. Then it bent over backward and fell to the ground with a thud.
I wiped my face on my arm and spat out some blood that had gotten in my mouth, and then I spun around to see the other group of purple fuckers had been dealt with, too.
Two of the demons were lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, and the third was being held two feet off the ground as the Moon Pixie strangled it. The demon flailed pathetically for a moment before it went limp, and the huge man dropped it to the ground with a satisfied grunt.
Then I noticed that everyone was staring at Cyra, and the pretty angel glanced my way.
Her wings had come untucked from her cloak in the fight.
“You’re an angel,” one of the dwarves growled. “You work for the gods?”
“Not anymore,” I said hurriedly. “Cyra is a Throne angel. She tried to help the mortals when the gods left, but everyone turned against her.”
“They’re angels,” a dwarf grumbled. “Why should we trust an angel?”
“Because I want to kill every demon,” Cyra snarled. “Can’t you see that? They’ve trapped my friend, and I need to save her.”
Her golden eyes glistened as she spoke, and the prisoners seemed wary but not afraid.
“We trust you,” a Luna said. “We are all in this together now. There is no room for bickering when we are up against evil.”
“Well said.” I nodded. “Now, grab those spears, and let’s go!”
Cyra flicked her hair and smiled at me, and the prisoners hurriedly took the weapons from the dead demons as I raced toward the staircases. Both sets of stairs led off to different sides of the same floor above, and I hesitated before I started to climb.
I turned to Cyra and watched her golden eyes flicker in the torchlight.
“It’s your turn to use your instincts,” I said. “Which way is it to Nisha?”
The angel was silent for a moment as she looked up each staircase. Then she nodded to the left-hand side.
“That way,” she decided.
I took the stairs three at a time as I raced upward, and the ragtag army of prisoners followed right behind me. As we approached the next floor, I could hear the heavy thuds of footsteps patrolling the halls, and when we followed the curve of the staircase, we arrived on a floor covered with more underlings.
Several of them hissed as they spun around to see us, and they began to charge toward the staircase.
“Go!” I yelled as I raced onto the landing. “Spread out! Look after each other!”
I leapt at an approaching demon and grabbed it by the throat as I slammed my dagger into its jugular. Another demon swung its spear at my face, and I ducked down just in time to miss the blade. Then I yanked my weapon from the limp body and swung it into the belly of the other creature. I kicked away its spear as it howled in pain, and blood splattered everywhere as I stabbed it again in the chest for good measure.
