(William)

The last month had been a wild tragon ride. Chasing saboteurs, putting out fires, dealing with an influx of refugees, and setting up sticky snares. With the help of the snares, eight days ago, they had finally captured that crazed Shadow caster, Selena Flint.

What a nutjob. William snickered.

Still, the most exciting thing had been the primordial summoning, which had happened about two weeks ago.

Scraps, it’s been so busy that I haven’t been able to sleep late for a while. He yawned.

The enemy had not been idle. Six days ago, they had finally reached Stoneridge. The valley and all roads leading to the city had been inundated by stinking Shadowlanders.

The Shadowcloaks had constructed an earthwork defense around their command base using rhinotuskers. Those beasts were massive herbivores with wide, curved horns, perfect for plowing. Large sections of the Redwood Forest had been cleared for the enemy encampment. Tents spouted up like weeds.

Stoneridge had been surrounded.

Enemy ships were scattered across the Lonely River. William saw a few dozen barges, several battle frigates, and a warship. Supplies and soldiers were being offloaded from some of the ships and new barges arrived daily.

William had been stationed with his aunt on the southern wall of the city. He peered into the distance and scanned the different banners.

“Aunt Lisa, what’s that banner next to the Shadow Queen’s flag?” William pointed to a burgundy banner with a golden serpent eye in the center.

His aunt scanned the perimeter. “Since the Queen’s banner is a rider atop a dragon…”

Lisa paused as something caught her attention. She jotted down a quick note and handed it to one of the runners. “Take it to the Lord Commander.”

“Right away.” The runner saluted and dashed off.

“Hmm, where was I?” Aunt Lisa pursed her lips. “Oh, right, the banner. Houses with a blood connection to House Verla incorporate a dragon motif in their standard. That dragon’s eye emblem belongs to House Jade. You’re already familiar with two members of that line. The Demon Twins, Alecta and Vala Jade.”

William snorted. “Aunt Lisa do you know what Mary and John call the Demon Twins? It’s kind of funny.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Our twins call their twins the Psycho Sisters!” William snickered.

His aunt smiled briefly, but her attention was focused on enemy troop movements. William wanted to ask another question, but he hesitated. His aunt was busy. She was using a hawk-eye shift to gather intelligence and take notes. She had already dispatched five runners in the last hour.

William thought of the other casters. He wondered what the twins were doing. He knew that John and Drake were covering the western side of the city. Mary and Lin were patrolling the northern defenses and Rose and Claire had been assigned to the eastern wall. Lady Yana oversaw the reconnaissance missions.

They had been hoping to find more shifters after retaking Stoneridge. After all, a capable shifter was a force to be reckoned with. Instead, they had quickly discovered that anyone who had displayed any Nature magic had disappeared.

William fiddled with a smooth pebble in his pocket. He shifted from foot to foot.

What happened to the other shifters? he wondered.

A gust of wind blew a bug up his nose.

He sneezed and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve.

Standing in the wind for hours, waiting for something to happen, was boring.

We’ve been doing this for days. When is something gonna happen?

He shifted his eyes and peered into the distance for the umpteenth time. Hundreds of trees had been cut down.

Whack! Whack! Groan! THUMP! A tree fell.

Whack! Whack! Groan! THUMP! Another tree fell.

Whack! Whack! Groan! THUMP! He rolled his eyes. His only solace was that the Shadow Lands got the brunt of this terrible tree-chopping torture.

The cursed cacophony did not end with the felling of trees. The processing of all that wood was just as loud. Mechanical contraptions mounted on top of wagons screeched and rasped as they cut the wood into planks. He dulled his ear shift a bit more and leaned on the battlement.

He cocked his head to the side. There were tall pipes next to the choppers, which blasted columns of steam into the air. The skeletal structures of many bridges had been assembled. Craftsmen milled around, doing this or that.

Seriously, when is something interesting going to happen?

William sighed and continued to monitor the enemy movements for a while, until he heard a familiar voice.

“Morning,” Toby greeted him.

William instantly shifted his ears back. “Hey, Toby.”

“Can you believe the nerve?” Toby gestured toward the battlefield. “Landscaping without a permit.”

“Hah, that’s a good one.”

After a moment, Toby’s expression became serious. “There sure are a lot of them.” He surveyed the valley and shook his head.

“Well, we’ve been outmanned in every fight so far and we’ve managed to come out on top. At least, that’s what Ivan keeps telling me.”

“Oh yeah, Ivan’s right,” Toby proclaimed. “We’ll still beat them up and make them beg for mercy.” One of his eyes turned toward William, while the other remained fixed on the southern road. “Your brother will probably come up with another crazy plan.”

“Well, if Ivan doesn’t come up with another plan, I’ve got a few ideas of my own.” William gave Toby a wolfish grin.

“Oh, really…” Toby rubbed his hands together. “So, what do you have up your sleeve?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” William looked smug.

His aunt shot him a look, but he pretended not to see it.

“I haven’t seen Ivan today,” said Toby. “What’s he up to?”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him either.” William shrugged. “He has been super busy since we caught that psycho caster.”

“Oh, yeah, that sticky snare was brilliant.” Toby laughed.

The two chatted for a while, until the construction clamor suddenly stopped. William peered into the distance.

A line of enemy soldiers parted, and a few dozen riders galloped through the opening. They were followed by Queen Esmeralda Sapphire and her retinue.

William gaped. The Shadow Queen rode atop a golden desert scorpion, twice as large as a battle horse. She was not using a saddle. Instead, she was seated on a golden throne, bolted onto the carapace of her exotic mount. The reins that she held were fastened to metal loops that were embedded into the pincers of the arachnid. The scorpion’s tail curved above the queen. A wide sunshade was attached to its deadly stinger and gently swayed above her head.

The scorpion slowed before coming to a stop, some distance away from the city walls. It flattened to the ground and obediently uncoiled its tail. Servants quickly removed the parasol from the stinger and bowed their heads. Esmeralda glided gracefully down the scorpion’s tail. Guards fanned out around her.

The queen lifted her arm and cast Lightning Strike. Jagged streaks of brilliant light shot from her long thin hand. The lightning branched off and pierced the sky. Her army erupted with cheers.

William’s heart skipped a beat as a thunderclap ripped through the valley. The air vibrated and throbbed around him. His ears rang. He gulped. He had never seen such power.

Thousands of squawking birds fled the forest canopy. The booming sounds of war drums joined the roar of the soldiers below. The battle cries ended when Esmeralda lowered her pale arm.

“Thank you for coming out of your little hole.” The queen’s disembodied voice traveled on the wind like a whisper and William knew that everyone had heard her. “You’ve saved me a great deal of trouble. I no longer have to march north and drag you out of the muck like the maggots you are.”

Next to him, Toby shivered. “Her eyes are so dark and empty. They look like void portals to the Underworld.”

The Shadow Queen gestured toward the city. “Do you think that you’re safe behind your stone walls? Think again… Stoneridge is going to be your cemetery and you are standing in your graves.”

William’s blood ran cold. He watched inky tendrils of magic coil around the Shadow Queen. He had been tasked with looking for magical signatures. His aunt had told him that he needed to keep an eye out for Shadow casters using Invisibility. His magical sight gave them an edge against the enemy.

“Look.” William pointed in the distance. Dark clouds coalesced and moved with unnatural speed toward the city. Gusts of wind buffeted the defenders. The storm leeched the color from the battlements, dyeing everything in shades of gray. The sun was swallowed by the rising tempest.

Stoneridge was plunged into darkness as more clouds merged above it. Violently chaotic gales of wind swirled overhead. Streaks of lightning flashed between the bulbous black billows. Rumbling thunder boomed above the city and reverberated against the walls of the ancient fortress.

William peered at the dark vortex in the sky. It looked like the gaping maw of a primordial beast. A raindrop hit him on the face, and he blinked. The air grew thick and heavy. Rain pelted the ramparts. It was as if the primordial beast overhead was spitting on the city. Another crack of thunder erupted from above and the storm was unleashed.

The dark nightmare overhead pummeled the city with rain, hail, and blasts of wind. A streak of white shot down and ignited a silo, setting the building ablaze. Distant bells rang, signaling that Stoneridge was under attack.

“Take cover!” Lisa bellowed. She looked at William and Toby. “Get to the guard tower.”

She shifted and sped toward the silo. The moment she flew over it, the raging flames on the south side of the building were snuffed out.

William was frozen in place. He stared at the city in disbelief. Explosions rocked Stoneridge. He put his hands over his ears and watched the destruction and chaos. A man ran through the street, enveloped in flames. A woman dashed out of a tavern, clutching a soaked tablecloth. She threw it over the burning man. Others came out with buckets of water. On a different street, lightning struck amidst a group of soldiers, tossing them like ragdolls to the ground. Everything around him felt surreal.

Someone grabbed his arm and pulled at him.

“Move!” Toby yelled, while dragging him toward the safety of the guard tower.

The hair on William’s arms stood up. Reflexively, he raised his hand and redirected a lightning bolt that streaked toward them. He raced after Toby toward the safety of the tower and ducked inside.

William crouched down next to the wall and took deep breaths. His heart pounded in his chest.

Don’t panic… Don’t panic… Don’t panic!

Toby laid a hand on his back. “Hey, are you alright, buddy? You saved our skins out there. I don’t know how you did it, but great job deflecting that lightning. I think I might have peed myself a bit, but officially, it was the rain.” Toby chuckled nervously.

William gave Toby a weak smile. “Yeah, that scared the piddle out of me, too. Just give me a minute. My hands are still shaking.”

As he tried to compose himself, William looked around. Soldiers and civilians had taken shelter in the guard tower. The quiet sobs of a young girl caught his attention. Her long black hair and clothes were soaked.

“I want my daddy,” the girl kept pleading as she wept. She held onto an elderly woman and hugged her stuffed doll close to her chest.

Heat crept into William’s cheeks. He was hiding with the old women and little children, while others fought for the city. Without hesitation, his aunt had flown into the storm to put out the fires. He had seen soldiers and civilians rush to help others.

What did I do? He winced. I froze in fear…

His muscles tensed and he trembled. The more he thought about it the angrier he became.

What am I doing here? Why am I cowering when others need my help?

He prepared to shift and fly out into the storm. Then, he remembered what his aunt and brother always told him – “Think before you act.”

He poked his head outside of the guard tower and surveyed the city. Most of the devastation was caused by the lightning.

What can I do about the lightning? he thought frantically. Oooh, a moment ago I redirected a lightning strike. That could help, but how can I do it again? He racked his brain until an idea took shape.

That’s it, I got it!

His eyes zeroed in on the ancient structure near the heart of Stoneridge. The Dark Tower and its iconic crown spires were known throughout the kingdom. It was even more famous than the Bell Towers of Pike.

The ten-story hexagonal monolith predated the construction of the city, and it was the perfect place to carry out his plan.

“I’ve got a scathingly brilliant idea!” William declared.

Before Toby could reply, William dashed out of the tower, jumped over the wall, and shifted into a falcon.

Flying through the storm was grueling. William was buffeted from side to side like a kite in a cloudburst. His focus was on the Dark Tower ahead of him and he kept flapping wildly.

As he flew, he noticed a few structures that were being consumed by fire. He swooped above a storehouse and used Advanced Levitation to suffocate the flames. He wanted to put out some of the other fires, but he had bigger fish to fry. As his Aunt Lisa loved to say – “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The Dark Tower loomed ahead. Six curved obsidian flying buttresses formed the open shape of a rounded crown. Atop the crown, a massive seventh spire pierced the sky.

William landed under the dome of the crown. He wolfed down three booster bars and cast Light Shield.

I’ll keep the shield just in case…

He tried to remember exactly what he had done to redirect the lightning. He had reacted instinctively. It kind of reminded him of the Advanced Levitation he had practiced with his aunt.

I can do this.

He closed his eyes and lifted his hands. He visualized tugging the bits above the city. Nothing happened. He growled and strained harder.

Still, nothing. He continued to struggle.

A memory tugged in the back of his mind, and he reached out and pulled on it. He squeezed his eyes tighter and spread his arms in a familiar gesture that he had never used before.

A magical funnel, formed of multiple channels, sprouted above the tower.

A streak of white light curved and struck the Dark Tower.

It worked!

The next lightning strike hit the market district. William grimaced. He braced himself and doubled his efforts. He needed to extend the magical channels over the entire city, like an upside-down umbrella. He dropped his Light Shield and poured more power into his funnel.

A barrage of lightning strikes blasted the Dark Tower. A staccato of thunder rumbled above the city. William shifted his ears to dull his hearing.

The tower had become the perfect lure for catching lightning.

He was vaguely aware that there were fewer fires starting around the city.

A loud noise startled him. The outer spire of the eastern buttress crumbled, and pieces of rubble crashed down.

Scraps… He gulped.

The minutes that passed felt like hours. William shoved a few more booster bars into his mouth to fuel his magic. His hands trembled and his body shook. He gritted his teeth and pushed on.

We’re not gonna be defeated by the Queen of Dirt. He stood defiantly.

The storm ended as quickly as it had begun. William slumped down on the wet stone surface, feeling drained. His ears rang and he felt as battered as the Dark Tower.

He crawled to the balustrades, pulled himself up, and leaned on the railing. He surveyed the city. Trails of smoke rose, but there were no fires.

He looked up and grimaced. The metal spire of the partially collapsed buttress had melted. He had been fortunate that the dome had not dropped on top of his head.

He stood shakily and swayed on his feet. He smiled briefly and then collapsed.