Atlas pulled Vale onto Icarus’s back, settingly them down behind her and feeling their hands wrap around her waist. “Hold on tight, Icarus is a bit of a free flier.” Atlas warned, and he hummed beneath them, his chest vibrating. “That was him agreeing,” Atlas lied and he vibrated beneath them again. “Ignore him. Icarus, don’t drop Altair, we kind of want him alive.”
I wouldn’t do that.
“Lie all you want, I know you want to at least,” Atlas muttered to him and Icarus stayed quiet, he wasn’t denying it this time. He stretched out his wings and took off towards the dark sky, sand flying in all directions. “I feel bad for everyone down there.” Vale tightened their grip. “You okay back there?” Atlas asked them as Icarus circled around, talons open wide and going for his prey.
“Yeah, that was a rush,” Vale laughed a bit and Atlas felt their chest rumble.
“The first time I was in the air, I rode in Icarus’s mouth. It was certainly an experience,” Atlas laughed with them. “I don’t recommend it.” Icarus swooped and picked up the two they needed before he circled back and headed towards the tower.
“I don’t like this idea,” Atlas muttered again.
“My feeling could be wrong,” Vale tried to convince them. “This is as good a plan as it gets.”
“I trust Erden and you are his champion.”
“You know more about him than I do… Why aren’t you his Champion instead of me?” Vale asked and Atlas flinched at the question. She had been asking that question over and over again.
“I died,” Atlas shrugged and Vale’s strong arms tightened around her like Atlas was Idris instead.
“I’m sorry,” Vale whispered and Atlas didn’t know which she was sorry for: that Atlas had died or that she wasn’t Erden’s champion.
Atlas didn’t get a chance to ask as Icarus dove towards the buildings and gate surrounding the tower, this was not built with a Dragon siege in mind, or had purposely been avoided. Icarus dropped Cyra and Altair on the top of a building before flying back up with a beating of his wings, Atlas feeling the strength within them. Vale’s crossbow clicked and whirred and fired, hitting a Blood in the forehead once they’d circled round again, Altair looked back at the dead blood and waved at Vale as a thank you.
“Okay, Icarus,” Atlas breathed as she held on tight. “No fancy tricks, I need fires so hot that they’ll think they’re in Hell.”
Easy. He laughed, a screeching roar exiting his jaws and his body heated and emitted a bright orange light. The buildings came toppling down, fires in the streets and Atlas could no longer see where Altair or Cyra were.
“Do you see them?” Atlas asked, and Vale patted her shoulder.
“Altair told you to do this, he has a plan,” Vale tried to assure but the unease in Atlas’s belly only got worse.
Atlas looked up as Chimeras came streaking into the sky, the small flying beasts circling Icarus. Atlas tensed, Get them. Atlas told Icarus through her mind. His tail swung at the ones flying behind them, knocking them into buildings or further away into the sky, and with a beat of wings, the chimeras rolled with the wind like ocean waves as Icarus flew higher. He stayed high in the air, the orange flames lighting up the night like the sun was still out.
“Watch the tower! We see it gone once the others are out!” Atlas called and Icarus growled at the information, his tail still whipping about behind him. “Where’s Zale?” Atlas scowled, searching the glimmer of golden scales while watching the Chimeras pour out of the tower like mice after cheese. “Fuck, come on, Zale, get out here.”
✧
The hissing roar shook the air, sending goosebumps to rise on Idris’s skin as he landed in the sand behind the shade of the colossal tower. After taking a mouthful of sand and spitting it out, he stood to his feet, wiping his mouth.
“That was rough,” Idris muttered as Eden and Esmer got up beside him. Apallon landed in front of them the wind whipping their faces as his wings beat around them, drawing out any other sounds. The mammoth of a beast looked different in the moonlight than in the day, like the embers of liquid gold. Zale slid off his back, catching Bastien as he followed after.
“It’s rusted shut,” Esmer called, pulling on the small gate that leads into the tower. He pulled on it for emphasis, the rusty red covering the once iron gate. Apallon took a few steps forward to reach the gate with his long neck and Esmer quickly moved out of the way of the Dragon’s toothy jaws. Apallon grabbed the bars with his front teeth and pulled it free with little effort, throwing into the sand a ways away.
A horn blew through the air and Zale looked up at the brightly lit buildings. “The braziers are being lit, they’re letting out the chimeras.” Another screech wafted through the air and into their ears. “Shit, get in there, I have to go!” Zale yelled and started pushing them through. Bastien looked at Zale.
“Be careful,” the boy whispered and Idris grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dark tunnel ahead of them, leaving Zale and the golden Dragon behind.
Eden brought out her flashlight and shined the way forwards, sand had built up in the tunnels over the centuries. Idris jumped when something intertwined its fingers with his, he looked down at the small hand, following the fingers to the palm to the wrist up the arm and to Bastien’s face. Bastien stared at him with golden pools, almost expecting Idris to pull away, Idris only tightened his grip and pulled Bastien alongside him. Bastien’s quiet sigh of relief, brushed against Idris's skin.
Idris looked back behind him and it must’ve been the light ahead but it wasn’t so dark. He looked back ahead when Bastien tugged at his arm. A few minutes of crawling through the dark, dry burrow before they come upon the way up. Pushing their way through the grate and Esmer climbed first, helping everyone after. Idris was last, reaching his arms up and feeling Esmer’s strength as he lifted him into the upper floor.
“Woah,” Idris whispered, as he looked around, sarcohpoguses were in rows, some were crumbling while others would be in perfect condition if they didn’t look like they would crumble to dust at a whisper. Eden must’ve had her flashlight on because there was no other lightsource in the room.
“What?” Eden asked and he turned to her, she was just getting her flashlight out of her bag. She clicked the light on and her face dropped as she saw the coffins. “How did you see them?”
“I… I thought your light was on,” Idris murmured, looking around again. “It was like the light was on.”
“We don’t have time to look at the dead people’s above ground burials,” Esmer reminded them and he found the door quickly with his flashlight on, the rusted door slightly hard to push open.
“They were guarding their dead from dark magic,” Bastien whispered, touching the door.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Lots of good that did them,” Esmer mumbled, looking back at them, Bastien quickly stepped after him.
“Kadyn and Zale would kill to be here,” Eden said quietly, her voice echoing off the silent walls. Idris exited after her, pushing the copper-colored door closed, even with no light source, Idris’s eyes seemed to think there was.
Esmer walked beside Eden as she guided them with the light in front of Idris and Bastien, Esmer’s cutlass free from his belt now that they were out of the tunnels. Bastien’s hand was sweating in Idris’s, his pulse thumping against Idris’s finger. Idris pulled Bastien closer as they walked in the behind Eden and Esmer.
“They’ll protect us, and you have magic in your command,” Idris whispered to him, trying to comfort him and make sure the words didn’t bounce off the walls and into ears not meant to hear them. Eden looked back at them for a moment before turning forward again.
Light descended down the stairs through a crack in the wooden door above, it was roughly manufactured and didn’t fit the rest of the interior work, the door had replaced an iron one. They climbed the steps, peeking through the crack, Esmer pressing his lips together in signal. Bastien let go of Idris’s hands, whispering a few words as he touched Esmer at his shoulder. The tiny words creating a spell and Esmer disappeared out of sight.
The door creaked open and Bastien backed up behind it to avoid being seen. After a few seconds of silence, Esmer appeared at the doorway, smiling down at them.
“I can make a pretty good assassin, no?” He teased and Bastien peeked from behind the door and gave him an encouraging smile. Eden wasn’t as amused, putting the light in her bag as she made her way up the stairs and slipped between Esmer and the doorframe. “Come on, a little good job wouldn’t hurt.” Esmer grinned wide, flashing his teeth as he went through the doorway again. Idris followed after Bastien, shutting his eyes tightly as he took a second to get used to the fire light.
When he opened his eyes again, he was met with a grandly broken palace. He looked around the interior of the tower, the fire made this place look golden as it fell apart, a destroyed statue stood in the middle, all the bits and pieces laying before it.
“It was destroyed deliberately,” Eden murmured, touching the base of the stone figure.
“Yeah, so?” Esmer asked. “Come on, we can’t keep stopping to look at their decor.” Esmer growled and grabbed Eden’s arm but she ripped herself away.
“This is our history!”
“Quiet. It’s not mine, and I’d rather live than die learning about some old people who failed us,” Esmer told her with a harsh undertone. “We’ll become history no one will remember if we don’t do this.”
“Wait,” Bastien said as Eden nodded and they stopped moving. He picked up one of the pieces Idris had been admiring. “I feel magic.” Esmer groaned and Bastien looked up with wide eyes as he realized something. “Quiet.” He whispered, “do any of you hear hissing?”
Everyone scrunched their faces and shook their head as they listened to the crackling of the torches. Bastien looked down at the piece, studying the screaming mouth that was unnervingly carved with detail. Idris felt the wisps of magic wafting from the small piece, his heart pounding in the fear it gave off. It was terrified but how could a statue be so scared? Idris felt the words leave his mouth in quiet streams before it began pouring out of him. The pieces started to float before whirling around the base of the statue like a tornado. Bastien leapt back, the piece he was holding flying from his hand and he watched as each piece was brought together, the cracks resealing themselves.
Idris stopped, staring at the statue of the woman that was once demolished, she was an older woman clothed in robes that was in a style that reminded Idris of Atlas’s red shawl. She held up her arms, trying to turn her face away to hide from whatever was in front of her. Whoever had carved her gave her the essence of fear, now that she was together again the feeling washed over Idris, his heart thumping louder against his ribs and he felt like there should’ve been a sort of echo across the room.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A sweet voice came and they looked to the top of the stairs, a Blood Sorcerer stood there, draped in red but missing the dead detail in her appearance. She grinned at all their terrified faces. “She figured it out too late.” A hissing noice came from the stairs and Bastien screamed at them to look away. “No fun if you figure it out, I was hoping to add to our collection.” She laughed as their heads snapped away and whatever was hissing was coming closer. “Thank you, Idris, for putting her back together again. One of our newer undeads freaked out when she saw her, causing quite a bit of a mess.”
“How do you know my name?” Idris’s voice shook as he asked the question. Feeling fingers go into his hair as some sort of caress, the hissing in his ear.
“I know all of your names… except for this one,” she mused, “it looks like you brought a pet for me to play with.” She laughed and Idris’s eyes jumped open as he pushed the hissing creature away from him and pulled Bastien into his arms, staring defiantly up at the Sorcerer. Her grin fell as she looked over at the creature, her expression confused. He gave the creature a look, going up from her long serpentine tail, to her face, a beautiful woman but her hair was wriggling and hissing, snakes. “My Goddess told me all of your names, but I would've never guessed that you were Endor’s Champion, Idris, although she always had a tendency to pick up the hopeless vagrants.”
Idris flinched, Vale’s disappointed face popping into his head. She grinned almost like she could see into his mind and could tell that she was crawling under his skin. “Oh, I’ll have fun with you all.”
✧
Altair coughed as the smoke entered his lungs before swinging and cutting down another Sorcerer lost in the smoke. He swayed and Cyra held him up, able to move through the burning ruins with ease, but it made sense, the White Sun was the Goddess of fire.
“We have to get out of the smoke, the Sorcerers are killing themselves by looking for us in all this Dragonfire,” she told him and he reluctantly nodded, letting her drag him closer to the tower doors, safe from Atlas and Zale’s assault. He was surprised to find Vale at the doors, their crossbow aimed at them until she saw it was them. “You’re supposed to be with Atlas.” Cyra accused, looking them up and down suspiciously.
“Shooting from Dragonback wasn’t where I was most useful,” Vale told them, “Altair, are you okay? What were you guys still doing in the smoke?” Vale helped Altair onto his feet, the air already curing his lungs. “Better already?”
“Elf,” Altair shrugged away the answer. “The Bloods made themselves easy in the smoke.”
“Are all the Chimeras in the sky?” Cyra asked, looking up and seeing the pale, naked beasts screeching in the air, one being snatched up into Icarus’s mouth while the others were slammed into the ground by Apallon’s spiked tail.
“Haven’t seen any ground ones. I hope I don’t,” Vale shrugged, firing another bolt at a stumbling blood. They heard the doors open behind them, Vale turned with a grin with the other two, stopping when Idris walked out first, a blade to his throat. Hissing came behind him.
“Look down!” Bastien screamed from the inside, “Cyra, they have a Gorgon!”
When they snapped their gazes away, a voice as cold as the frozen winter rivers laughed. “Don’t worry, she’ll stay inside, I want to have a nice, civil conversation.” The doors shut and hissing was gone, Altair tentatively looked up, seeing a Elven woman, tall and lanky, her red eyes popping against her copper skin. “And that includes your friends in the sky.” She looked at the Blood holding Idris. “Shoot it down.” She ordered, and the Blood threw Idris onto the ground, Altair ran forward but Avalon smiled and a force threw him back. The Blood cut his arm with his knife, using the blood to make a bow, he pulled back the liquid string and after a moment, looking straight at Icarus let go.
Icarus screeched, his roar almost bursting Altair’s eardrums as the arrow dug under his wing and the next into his throat. Atlas’s scream sounded alongside Icarus’s roar as they began falling. Altair covered his head as the gigantic gray Dragon skidded across the ground, tearing down buildings until he stopped in the courtyard. Altair looked up in horror as Apallon’s outraged bellow shook the ground as he landed on one of the nearby burning buildings.
“Atlas!” Altair called, his voice scared and panicked as he scrambled back up, running over to the Dragon’s body. Sobs came from behind the Dragon and Altair climbed over him, pulling Atlas into his arms as she cried, her hands pushing against Icarus as her incomprehensible mumblings came through her cries. Altair heard Avalon’s laugh and he looked up, able to see her sharp grin over Icarus’s neck. “Avalon…” Altair whispered.
“Oh, so you do know me,” she looked so happy and it made Altair grip Atlas closer. “Little brother, I thought the Elves would’ve erased me from memory.” Every head snapped to Altair, almost as if he had betrayed them.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” he shook his head, every bone in his body ached to kill her, wrap every vine and root around her body and squeeze the life out of her for doing this. She laughed, opening her mouth to say something when Esmer got loose, knocking the Blood holding him back and tackling Avalon to the ground. Idris sat up, finishing the last of his silent words as black tendrils wrapped themselves around his hands and up his arms.
The world went blank and Altair smelled the sweet scent of home.