Mason yelled, but I didn’t stop or turn around. Radnak was my problem, and I would face it head-on. No more cowering or hiding away. We were going to finish this, today.
“Stop,” I shouted as I broke through the last line of dragons and stood in front of him. “I’m right here. Stop hurting them.”
Radnak lowered his hand.
The pained cries behind me stopped. I chanced a quick look to ensure no one was dead.
Radnak’s eyes glowed. “You see what you made me do? If you had just listened to me in the beginning, none of this would be happening.”
“I won’t let you come back.”
He screeched a laugh as he spread his arms wide. “I’m already back, my child. All I need now is you.”
“Yeah, you do need me. Don’t you.”
His brow rose, at least on the side of his face that had one, as his mouth opened far too wide to be natural. “Are you trying to bargain with me, is that it? So much like your mother, always thinking you could outsmart me.”
After Everest had managed to stabilize me in the clinic, all my memories came back. Including all the times my mother took me from one place to the next. Hiding, we were always hiding from this monster. She managed to keep me safe for so long, but then Warren showed up and dragged us to Radnak. She fought tooth and nail all the way to the end when he drained her of her blood and used it.
“My mother was the bravest woman I know,” I told him with a growl. “You will not speak of her again.”
“You have no place ordering me about,” he stormed. “Come here, and we will finish this.”
“No.”
His smile turned into a leer. “Say no again to me, daughter, and you will find that cage will be your new home for the next five centuries.”
I leaned closer. “I said, no.”
His eyes flared redder, and I flinched away. The smile returned to his face. “You think you can stand against me? You will fail.”
“Emry,” Mason yelled from behind me.
I ground my teeth, knowing how many lives were at stake. The army in front of me was too large. We’d never be able to stop them. Radnak was already too strong. How were we supposed to get him into that trap? He’d never fall for it, at least not easily. I needed him thrown off balance. Needed him angry and desperate.
Praying this was not going to end badly, I unsheathed the non-enchanted dagger from my side and pressed the point against my chest. Mason shouted again, but it was Radnak’s reaction I had to pay attention to. His eyes narrowed, and his face went dangerously blank.
“As I said, you need me, and I’m assuming that means alive.”
Radnak didn’t say a word, but those eyes bored into mine. My hand shifted on the hilt of the dagger. There was a commotion behind me, but I wasn’t about to break my gaze away from Radnak’s.
“Well? If you want me to come with you, you leave them alone. You take your army, and you leave the valley.”
“I see.” Radnak took a step closer, and my resolve faltered in the face of such evil. “And you thought this plan of yours would work? You are not strong enough to take your own life.”
“Aren’t I?”
“Emry, don’t do this!”
I wanted to whirl around and tell Mason to shut up. I didn’t plan on killing myself but then frowned. Mason wasn’t behind me. He stood in front of me, right behind Radnak. What the hell was he doing? He was traveling? And from the look of it, I was the only one who could see him. He motioned for me to keep talking and I pressed the tip of the dagger harder against my skin, glaring as fiercely as I could at Radnak.
“I’ll do it unless you do as I say,” I warned Radnak.
The laughter that slipped from his mouth made my skin crawl. “As I said, just like your mother.” Radnak moved too quickly for me to react. He grappled me in his arms and chucked the dagger away. “You will give me part of your soul, and then you will learn to respect your father, or you will never see the light of day again.”
I kicked and thrashed in his arms, but his grip was too strong. He turned around, and I saw Warren approaching. That bastard, of course, he would be here. But whatever Radnak was going to say never made it out of his mouth.
Mason brought his dagger down between Radnak’s shoulder blades.
He shrieked as he released me and tried to wrench it free. Everything happened quickly after that. Mason yelled at me to run.
Then Warren saw him and shouted to attack. As I sprinted away from the Black Diamonds and toward the park, Slade shouted orders of his own.
“Now, do it now! Mason, get out of there!”
I didn’t look behind me, but the sky was filled with orbs of bright, white light. They landed in the ranks of the Black Diamonds. The resulting explosions had them shouting and yelling as the ground quaked. Everest and Selma were waving me down, and I kept on running until I reached them.
Mason was on the ground between them. Everest slapped him. He jolted upright and glowered at her, rubbing the back of his head. “You have to hit me so damned hard?”
“It was either hit you hard or hit you twice,” she muttered and hauled him to his feet.
“Are you crazy?” I shouted.
Mason shrugged. “Had to do something.”
“What did they just do?”
The bright white light was fading slowly as the Black Diamonds stumbled out of it, holding their faces.
“Stops them from being able to shift. Won’t last forever though.”
A roar came from the sky.
I cursed. “Warren, he must’ve missed being hit.”
“You get Radnak to the circle,” Mason told me and stepped back, raw anger in his eyes as he glared at Warren’s dragon flying over the town. “I’ll take care of him.”
Just as he was about to shift, I threw myself into his arms and kissed him. “Don’t die.”
He kissed me back as he crushed me to him. “You either.” He backed away and shifted into a magnificent Shadowguard with scales that glimmered. He pumped his wings and shot off into the sky after Warren. They clashed together, growling and snarling as they clawed and spun, but I couldn’t stand there and watch them. Radnak. I had to get him over here. I wracked my brain trying to come up with a plan when Everest shouted a warning and yanked me out of the way.
A bolt of red lightning struck the ground where I’d been standing. I searched the madness that had erupted in this peaceful town as Slade led the main attack against the invaders. But marching forth from their ranks was Radnak, eyes alive with red fire and lightning crackling up his arms to his shoulders.
“Alright, you know the plan,” Everest told me. “Don’t get killed.”
“How is that good advice?” I shouted after her, but another red bolt was unleashed at me, and I darted to the right.
Facing down Radnak made me more clearheaded than I’d been in a long time. I moved quickly, only stopping long enough to glance back and ensure he followed me. Overhead, Warren and Mason battled. When Mason was struck in the side by one of Warren’s claws, I froze, as he faltered in the air.
“Come on,” I whispered, willing him to right himself. “Don’t you dare die up there.”
Mason shook out his head, sucked in a deep breath and as Warren closed in on him, he unleashed a fiery hell on the Black Diamond. Warren turned and fled, with Mason on the offensive now.
A bolt struck right behind me, and I was running again, through the park.
“You can’t hide from me, daughter,” Radnak bellowed as he attacked again and again. “I will finish the ritual, and I will be reborn.”
“Over my dead body,” I muttered then cringed at my choice in words.
The circle had been drawn around the fountain. I couldn’t see it, but I sensed the magic Selma used. Radnak would too. This plan wasn’t going to work. The second I thought this, my feet froze and panic set in. We weren’t going to win this fight. Radnak was going to catch up to me, and we’d be screwed. There was no giving up, not now. We had to try.
And worst-case scenario, I would ensure Radnak never got his hands on my soul. I had the enchanted dagger. I’d just have to use it on myself.
“There is nowhere to run.”
I turned around to face Radnak. The fountain was right behind me.
He launched an attack at me, and I flattened myself on the sidewalk. The bolt struck the stone dragon figure behind me, and it exploded. Water sprayed out soaking me, but I hardly noticed it. I stood up, walked to the edge of the fountain, and stepped in.
Radnak watched me closely as I continued to back away. His gaze was locked on me.
“You want my soul?” I taunted. “Then come and take it already.”
A vicious roar came from the skies, and I caught the sight of a dragon crashing to the ground. My heart clenched. I couldn’t look away from Radnak to see if it was Mason or Warren. My every breath was shaky as I took another step back and another, willing myself to stay together. Mason was alright. He had to be. That wasn’t him lying on the ground dead. It couldn’t be.
Radnak was only a few steps away from the circle.
Just a bit further…
Two steps more…
He stopped and grinned at me, his expression dark. He spread his arms wide and inwardly I cursed. “You really think I’d fall for this trap? I am not some simple-minded dragon. I am Radnak and will not be brought down by you.”
He raised his hands and I braced for the attack he was about to unleash on me.
I needed to use the on myself and be done with it.
A figure appeared behind Radnak, a sword in her hand.
Everest.
She swung down aiming for his neck, but he spun around at the last second, knocked the sword to the side and wrapped his hand around her neck.
She choked and sputtered, the sword falling from her hands. I rushed to help her, but Radnak threw his other hand back at me, and the lightning struck, knocking the air from my lungs.
“You have been far too troublesome for far too long,” he seethed at Everest. “Time to die.”
Everest’s eyes flared to life, but the magic swirling around her hands was overcome by Radnak’s’ blood magic.
I yelled, pushing to my feet, but a second strike sent me to the ground.
Slade shouted and plowed into Radnak taking all three of them down.
Everest was free. Slade raised his blade to Radnak.
“Touch my wife again, and I’ll tear you to pieces,” he warned, shoving Everest behind him.
Radnak seemed to float back to a standing position. “You can die with her. It’ll be touching, don’t you think?”
While Slade stared Radnak down, I crawled to the other edge of the circle. We were running out of time. I glanced back as Slade released a war cry and engaged in hand-to-hand with Radnak. He was no match for the wraith, not as powerful as he was. Slade and Everest were thrown to the side, and Radnak whirled back around to me, raising his hands.
I grabbed the dagger at my lower back, ready to end it when a dragon barreled right into Radnak from the side. The shadows that created Radnak scattered.
Mason! He landed, opened his mouth, and a ball of fire drove Radnak back into the circle.
“Now, Emry,” Everest shouted, voice hoarse.
I grabbed a chunk of stone from the fountain and crawled out of the circle just as Mason drove Radnak into it with his fire. I stabbed the sharp stone into my palms and just as Mason let up and Radnak’s form took its shape again, I slammed my hands down onto the symbols. They burst to life with a red glow that turned black, then white.
Radnak shrieked as his arms were thrown to the side and blood shot from his mouth.
My hands burned, but I didn’t move them away from the circle until Radnak sank to his knees, coughing and sputtering. The magic left me drained, and I hunched over, dizzy and ready to pass out.
I thought I heard someone say my name, but my hearing was muffled. The pounding of my heart was too loud.
“How dare you,” Radnak growled, and I lifted my head enough to see him pushing himself upright again. “You cannot stop me.”
Red lightning crackled in his hands again, and I shook my head in disbelief. No, it couldn’t be possible. We were stopping him, we had to be. He moved his hands, one over the other, in a circular motion, building up until it formed a tight ball of pure energy. “All you’ve done is brought more pain down on your head. Your blood, your soul, they will be mine.”
I had no strength left in me to even dive to the side. A figure darted to my right just as Radnak raised the energy over his head to launch it at me.
I knew exactly who was rushing in to try and save me. “Mason, no!”
Too late. The red lightning shot toward me and Mason threw himself in its path. His body curled around me to keep me safe. He growled and snarled as the magic struck the center in his back. His arms around me loosened, and he collapsed to the side in a heap.
“Mason,” I whispered, terrified.
His back was burned.
“Mason, open your eyes. Look at me, damn it!”
He didn’t move. I checked his neck for a pulse, frantically praying.
Radnak hunched inside the circle, his energy nearly spent.
The anger I had for this bastard after all those years of watching him kill and torture dragons, of seeing him kill my own mother, of his basking in his evil deeds burst free. I reached for the dagger at the small of my back and stepped around Mason’s unmoving form.
“You,” Radnak spat, struggling to stay upright, “won’t kill me.”
I unsheathed the enchanted dagger, not slowing my steps.
“You are my daughter? You are mine,” he ranted. “You will do as I command.”
The burn on my left arm came to life, but I gritted my teeth and kept walking.
“You are nothing. You are weak, just like your mother, just like all of them. Just like that poor boy who died for nothing.” He raised his hands, but his magic barely sparked at his fingertips. He stumbled backward, but he wasn’t getting away.
He raised his arms to block my attack, but fury drove me, and there was no stopping me. I lunged forward with a battle cry ripped from my very soul and aimed the dagger at his face. He screamed as the tip of the dagger sliced his cheek all the way down to his jaw. It wasn’t blood that spilled forth, but black smoke.
I attacked again and again, slashing at every inch of him. When he was covered in wounds, all of them oozing the evil that had brought him back, I gripped the dagger tightly in my hand and brought my arm back.
“You,” he whispered as he raised his head to look me in the eye, “are my daughter. Are you truly going to kill your own father?”
“Go to hell and stay there.” I plunged the dagger into his heart.
He reached for the hilt.
I let it go and backed away. He tried to yank it out, but it buried itself deeper into his chest until it was gone. He clawed at his own body as it sucked in on itself then imploded sending me flying backward.
I landed a few feet away from Mason’s prone body and sat up in time to see the dagger fall to the grass, shimmering in the sun that now broke through the storm clouds.
Radnak was gone.
I crawled through the grass to reach Mason. His hand twitched, and I grabbed hold of it tightly. “Mason. You have to live, alright?” I checked over his back again and bit back a cry. “You are not going to die on me. I won’t let you.”
“Emry!”
Everest and Slade joined me, both cursing at the sight of Mason’s wounds.
“The remaining enemy forces are retreating,” Slade said. “We need to get him help. Emry, help us get him inside now. Come on. He’s going to be fine.”
I wanted to believe him, but even he looked uncertain.
I held Mason’s hand the entire time more Shadowguards came over to help us lift Mason.
I did the only thing I could think of.
I whispered over and over that he had to live. He had to. He was all I had now, and he had to live.