Wrath of the Dragon 3, page 8
“Thanks,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”
I carefully stuffed the items into my satchel, and I heard a distant shriek echo out through the streets outside.
“I’m heading out,” Zarrel said. “I can accompany you to your next destination if you want?”
“I’m not really sure where that is,” I said. “What’s your recommended route to the Jade Village from here?”
“Underground,” the winged man said. “If you’re traveling that distance, then you shouldn’t be walking the streets. The Jade Village has some especially terrible demons, and you’ll need all the help you can get to enter safely.”
I could tell by the Savior’s grave tone that he was being deadly serious, and the angels exchanged worried glances.
“We’ve met one of the big fuckers,” I said. “The huge guys with the red veins?”
The Savior frowned, and my stomach dropped as he shook his head.
“Those bastards are tough,” he said. “But there is something much worse lurking in Jade Village.”
“Worse?” Nisha breathed. “But those things made us feel so ill. Surely they have to be the highest-ranking demons here?”
“I wish that were true,” Zarrel said. “Maybe you shouldn’t go. If being around these demons really affects your health, then I can’t recommend you taking this journey.”
“We have to,” Cyra said stubbornly.
I felt completely conflicted. We had to collect all the pieces of the key, but I couldn’t let my angels just walk into an area full of demons that would drain their energy.
“Ryan,” Cyra said as she studied my face. “We’re going with you.”
“But--” I started.
“It’s not up for discussion,” Nisha said. “We came here to save Ruby. Not sit in the dark hiding.”
“We’re with you.” Brooke nodded. “It’s just a little sickness. We’ve been through worse.”
“You could stay here,” I said. “I’m sure Zarrel would let you wait in the cellar until I collect all the pieces.”
“Pfft,” Cyra snorted. “You need us. We’re not letting you walk around unprotected by your angels.”
“I think I can handle it.” I grinned.
“You’ll never know,” Cyra said. “Because we’re going. End of story.”
The three angels folded their arms as they looked at me, and I realized there was no point in arguing any further. I also knew I could give two of them their strength back if it really came to that, and I would just have to figure out how to protect Brooke as we went along.
“Lead the way,” I sighed. “It looks like we’re all heading to the mines.”
Zarrel raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t agree with our choice, but he stayed silent as he carefully opened the door. The huge man peeked out as he unsheathed a sharp dagger, and he gestured for us to follow him into the street.
We slipped out behind him, and I blinked as the morning sun shone brightly down onto my face. It was a beautiful day, and the blue sky was filled with fluffy clouds that rolled lazily above us. Warmth ran down the back of my neck, and I gripped my axe as Nisha gently shut the door behind us.
The amber of the buildings glittered under the sun, and I was struck with a wave of sadness as we hurried past all the ruined stores and homes. It was tragic how few beings Zarrel had managed to gather from his trips out, and we raced past several gleaming bloodstones that made my gut churn.
The angels averted their eyes as we passed them, and Brooke shuddered as she wobbled slightly. I grabbed her arm to steady her, and the water angel shot me a grateful smile. Then she shook herself off as she started to run again, but I was worried she wasn’t going to be strong enough to make the trip.
I tried not to focus on my worries for now, and instead focused on our end goal: collecting the key pieces as quickly as possible.
It took several minutes before I realized that I kept checking I had the key piece carefully stuffed at the bottom of my bag. I couldn’t help the inclination, though, I felt like I was carrying the rarest diamond in the world in my pack.
Then there was a screeching cry that sounded uncomfortably close.
We glanced over our shoulders as we ran over broken glass and gems, and stains of dried blood were splattered over amber cobblestones.
Zarrel eventually slowed down as we reached the outskirts of the Amber Hills, and he gestured for us to huddle behind a prickly bush. The plant was covered in orange thorns, and the winged man kicked some branches aside to reveal a small hole in the ground.
“It’s a small drop down,” he said quietly. “Lower yourselves in and bend your knees when you fall. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” I said as I squinted into the darkness. “Which way do we go?”
“East,” Zarrel grunted as he gestured with his hand. “There’s only one tunnel most of the way, but there should be Jade on the walls when it comes to the forks later on. Follow the green stones, and you’ll find your way.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t know how to repay you.”
“Save her,” the winged man said. “If you really think you can, then that is how you can repay the whole of the Crystal Lands.”
I nodded as a demon howled down the amber streets, and Zarrel narrowed his eyes.
“Go,” he hissed. “Be careful.”
Without another word, the winged man hurried toward the sound of the howl.
“I’ll go first,” I said. “I want to make sure it’s really safe.”
“No,” Cyra said firmly. “I can fly, so I’ll go. If you drop down, then there’s not much you can do if it’s not safe.”
Before I could argue, the red-haired angel dove down through the hole and into the gloom.
“Cyra,” I hissed. “Are you okay?”
“It’s fine,” she called back. “Nothing here but some ugly spiders and something that used to be a bird. Come on down.”
I let Brooke and Nisha fly down the hole as I checked to make sure we hadn’t been followed, and then I hurriedly lowered myself so my legs dangled down through the ground. I put my axe back in my belt as I gripped the edge of the hole, and I lowered myself down so I was dangling from the ceiling.
Cyra held her palms up so I could see the ground, and I jumped down into the tunnel. I hit the floor with bent knees, and I coughed as some debris flew up around me.
The tunnel was narrower than the one we had taken to the Amber Hills, and there was a loud dripping noise that echoed around us. Both walls were encrusted with various gems, and the ceiling sparkled with chunks of gold and silver. There was a strange smell that was a mixture of damp and smoke, but I couldn’t see any signs of a fire.
“Can you smell that?” I asked. “It’s like someone lit a bonfire down here.”
“I think it’s from the rituals,” Cyra said. “They burned stuff throughout the night, I could hear the flames crackling. Maybe they threw the wood down here when they were done.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked seriously. “I know you’re all tough as hell, but these demons could really hurt you.”
“You can recharge us,” Cyra said firmly. “We know that if we get too weak, there’s a very enjoyable way to fix that.”
“For you two,” I said. “But what if Brooke becomes too sick to go on?”
“Well…” the water angel sighed. “Maybe we’ll talk about ways to make me feel better then.”
She twirled a golden curl as she spoke, and Nisha giggled as my mouth dropped open by a couple inches.
“Come on,” the water angel said briskly. “We can’t waste a moment!”
Brooke started to stride off down the tunnel, and Cyra smirked at me.
“Does she mean what I think she does?” I whispered, and the fire angel rolled her eyes.
“I think I found your one weakness,” she hissed. “Noticing when angels are very obviously flirting with you.”
“It’s sweet,” Nisha giggled as we hurried after Brooke.
My footsteps echoed out around us, and I pulled out some of the jewel cake from my pouch. It had a citrus scent, and the top was covered in yellow and blue icing. I took a large bite, and I groaned at how delicious it tasted.
“Good cake?” Brooke laughed as she watched me eat.
“So good,” I said. “Want a bite?”
“Oh, no,” the water angel said. “You need that much more than we do!”
“Exactly,” Cyra said. “She’ll need a bit more than cake from you when she needs to be re-energized.
I nudged the fire angel as I ate my breakfast, and I carefully wrapped half of the cake back up as I placed it back in the bag.
“I was wondering,” I said as I dusted crumbs from my cloak. “How exactly could the demons have gotten into the palace without the key?”
“The trolls said Ruby controls the energy field,” Nisha said thoughtfully. “Maybe she had another key they found?”
“Maybe,” I muttered. “But if Ruby controls the energy field herself, then that must mean she put her own energy into it somehow. Could she do that for more than one key?”
“Who knows?” Cyra sighed. “I didn’t even know it was possible to do that with one object, let alone more than one.”
“Yes, this is the first I’ve heard of an angel creating such an object,” Nisha agreed.
“But if it hasn’t been done before, how could Ruby have…” I trailed off as a thought crashed into me, and Cyra raised an eyebrow as she waved a hand in front of my face.
“Hello?” she said. “Did you just forget what you were saying?”
“Listen,” I said as I tried to order my thoughts. “This might sound crazy, but what if this key is… part of her? Could that be possible?”
“Part of her,” Brooke repeated. “Like, Ruby took some of her own self and made it into a key?”
“That actually makes sense,” Nisha said. “Because that would be the only way for others to use the key to open the forcefield. They would need to possess a part of her themselves, so maybe she wanted to be able to give that power to others who needed it.”
“That would take a lot of trust,” Cyra muttered in an almost hostile tone. “To let someone enter her palace without her needing to be there?”
“How noble,” Brooke said thoughtfully.
“I think you mean foolish,” the fire angel snorted. “Look how well it worked out for Ruby.”
The fire angel scowled at the thought, but I was only half-listening to the women now.
An overwhelming sense of protection buzzed through my veins, and I clutched my satchel tightly as I held it close to my chest.
“Ryan…” Cyra giggled. “Are you hugging the key?”
“No,” I said as I abruptly loosened my hold. “I just… I mean… it might be part of her! I might literally be walking around with part of an angel in my bag. That’s a big fucking deal, I need to be careful.”
“Ughhh, you’re so cute I’m going to die,” Brooke wailed.
“I’m just being careful!” I protested. “We can’t let anything happen to this! Maybe it’s an important piece… like her eye or something!”
“I don’t think she took her eye out,” Cyra snorted. “But I am obsessed with how protective you are. Brooke’s right, you are disgustingly cute.”
The angels giggled as I loosened my grip a bit more from the satchel, and I carefully tucked it under my cloak at my side again. Maybe I had slightly overreacted to my own revelation, but if our guess was right, and this key really was a physical part of Ruby… it was a huge responsibility to be carrying a literal piece of an angel. It felt like I suddenly had four celestial beings with me to look after, and I decided I couldn’t let anything happen to this key.
“So… we could be collecting actual pieces of Ruby,” Nisha mused. “I wonder how she did that. That must be such powerful magic. I didn’t even realize it was possible.”
“I told you she was elite!” Brooke said excitedly. “She must be sooo super powerful. Oh, my goodness, I bet she is ridiculously pretty, too. In my personal experience, the more fantastic we are, the more gorgeous we are. That’s just angel facts.”
“True,” Nisha sighed and stroked her long blue hair.
“It is impressive if Ruby managed this,” I said. “All angel powers are impressive to me, but this just seems crazy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cyra sighed. “I bet I could do that, too.”
“Hmm,” Nisha said. “Perhaps.”
“I could,” the fire angel objected. “She’s not more powerful than us! That’s just some rumor! And I doubt she’s that fantastic.”
“And yet here you are,” I chuckled. “Risking everything for this angel you’ve decided to dislike.”
“I don’t dislike her,” Cyra sighed. “I just don’t get what the big deal is with her. Elite angel? We’re all Throne angels! That is already the most elite celestial being you can get!”
“Don’t be jealous,” I teased. “There’s room for all of you to be amazing in your own ways.”
“I bet you’ll love her,” Brooke giggled. “Cyra and Ruby will end up being best friends, and…”
The water angel trailed off as she came to an abrupt halt and held her arms out to stop us.
“What is it?” I asked as I squinted ahead. “A bloodstone?”
“No,” Cyra croaked, and her amber eyes were wild as she looked around. “Demon. Bad one.”
Nisha pointed silently ahead, and I saw something huge emerge from the gloom.
It made my skin crawl, and every hair on my body stood on end.
The demon was silent on its feet, and it looked like its whole body was dripping with blood. But it wasn’t injured. It was like it had been turned inside-out, and its thick legs were just covered in exposed sinew. The demon smelled like a smoldering bonfire, and its thick talons dug into the dirt of the tunnel ground. It walked on two legs, and club-like arms swung along at its sides. But the worst part was what was on top of its shoulders.
Its head would have been scary enough with its misty eyes and dripping fangs. A flat snout snarled to show off more teeth than I could count, but there were two heads.
Not just one.
They both swayed on long, thick necks, and the four oozing eyes were fixed on me.
Chapter 6
I knew the tunnel wasn’t wide enough for me to transform into a dragon, so I had to make a split second decision on how to fight this demon. I quickly pulled the two new daggers from my satchel, and Brooke whimpered behind me.
“Take these,” I hissed as I held them behind my back, and I felt the angels grab the weapons.
Nisha still had our first dagger from the Night Lands in her hand, but now all of us were armed.
The two-headed beast eyed me up and down along with the angels at the same time. But it hadn’t immediately leapt to attack, which I took to mean something very fucking horrifying: The demon was weighing the situation before it acted.
This fucker had some level of brainpower, and that was the deadliest weapon of all.
Then one of its heads turned around and howled into the darkness of the cave, and I knew it was a call for backup.
I leapt at the beast to try and silence it, and I swung my axe down as both heads spun around to face me. The demon took an unfazed step backward, and I only just managed to connect my blade with the slimy torso. My axe grazed the blood-drenched skin, and I was horrified to hear a scraping noise as my blade hit something solid.
There was some kind of protective shield on its body, like the demons with the hard backs that we’d met before.
“It’s got protection on its chest,” I hissed as I kept my eyes on the demon. “And I have a feeling it just called for backup. Stay back if it drains you too much, but don’t get separated.”
“We’re fighting,” Cyra growled, and I didn’t have time to argue as the demon raced forward.
I had already established that there was protection on its chest, so I aimed right for one of the thick necks. As the beast charged forward, I ran with my axe held high, but the demon swung its huge talons, and I had to dive down to skid on my knees and avoid them. Once I had ducked through the mass of claws, I leapt to my feet and swung my axe right into the fleshy neck on the left.
The demon screeched as my blade slashed through sinew, and I was relieved to feel no resistance from any tough exterior.
“Ryan!” Cyra screamed as the huge talons swiped up toward me, and I kicked the hand closest to me with all my strength as I jumped backward.
My boot crunched against the thick fist, and I stumbled back while I had to maneuver to avoid the second set of claws.
“We’re going to need to work together here,” I panted as the beast roared with fury. “Distract it while I get a better position.”
“Got it,” Cyra growled, and the three angels hurried forward so they were right behind me.
The demon seemed to have realized it was up against a worthy opponent, and it took a second to study me as its neck wound bled. Its dark blood oozed into the crimson substance all over its body, and it became almost impossible to tell where the injury even was.
The thick stature of the creature took up so much space that I would either have to squeeze past or try to slide under its legs and tail to get behind it. This would give me a way better chance at getting close enough to strike at its two heads without the thick talons swiping at my face.
But neither path was very inviting.
I was used to thinking on my feet from my days as a firefighter, but I had to seriously step up those skills in my new life. Fire was deadly, but at least it didn’t have two fucking heads that were both trying to eat me while its massive talons threatened to slice my damn jugular open.
The demon began to race forward again, and a wave of adrenaline and anger crashed over me. I dove toward the beast, and I ducked down to skid on my knees under its wide legs.
“Holy shit, Ryan,” Cyra yelled.
I didn’t have time to think about how fucking dangerous this was. As I tumbled between the beast’s legs, I grabbed a hold of the thick tail that swung from its back and slammed my blade into it.
