novelxo Chapter CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Black heavily buckled boots stepped into the darkened cave entrance crunching the dry soil underneath. Leather stretched and creaked against the heavily built legs and knuckles cracked with a promise of blood shed. Tyran’s silver eyes swept across the empty entrance and felt the dark menace swelling from the belly of the earth. This was the right place but it was odd that it wasn’t as heavily guarded as he expected. That meant this could be a deadly trap for him and those who wandered in aimlessly . Tyran quickly weaved a revealing spell. With that spell nothing that was meant to harm him would remain hidden. The spell floated out and penetrated the thick stone walls but then something black and inky oozed out of the walls and countered the spell, rendering it useless.
Tyran’s eyebrows arched up as the black, inky substance hissed and snapped at him then recoiled back into the walls. He tried again, this time embedding a stronger command underneath and sent the spell once more into the walls.
Again, the inky substance came out, this time more violent than before. It writhed as pure white energy soaked itself into the walls. The evil substance shrieked and writhed out of the walls and pooled in front of him. It twitched and started moving towards him with amazing speed! Tyran jumped out of the way and engulfed himself in the white energy. Spear-like appendages appeared in the ink and attacked Tyran’s protective sphere. They hissed and sizzled when they came into contact with the sphere and produced a smell that made Tyran gag.
Tyran floated over the substance as the energy in the walls illuminated the various booby traps embedded there. Most of them were from the dark arts manuscripts. They were evil and dark spells carved into the walls that could not be seen by a careless Mage. He knew his warriors were on their way and he had to destroy the traps before they met their deaths at the cave mouth.
Tyran started the agonizingly slow process of unweaving and destroying the spells. Because they had ill intent in them, they were very tricky to disarm. Just one wrong move and Tyran could find himself in the afterlife with his father and mother.
A thin sheen of sweat developed on his forehead and on his upper lip as he meticulously worked on the first spell that would have caused a very prolonged and painful death to whoever passed over it without seeing it. The feeling of it was like having your blood carbonated like a shaken can of coke shooting out up but in this case, blood would foam out from the various openings of the body until they eventually bled to death and died.
Calm yourself. A voice drifted to him and he recognized it as his father. I’ll guide you through it.
Tyran took a deep breath and wiped his brow with the back of his hand then went on with the tedious task at hand. Tyran watched as the black inky substance disentangled itself from the pure energy used to weave the trap and it writhed and fled. Tyran created a large sphere of his pure power and zapped the intruding evil. Again, the nauseating smell filled the cave.
Tyran moved on to the next one, and the next until by the time he was done, he was exhausted. Thick sheets of rain began to fall outside the cave and the setting sun disappeared behind the black clouds boiling over the lands. From a distance, Tyran heard the clattering of hooves against rocks. Someone was coming and he wasn’t sure if it was his army or the rogues returning. The paths to the caves from any direction did not allow cars to pass so the rogues either used horses or changed and took flight.
Tyran moved into the shadows and waited.
Suddenly a female appeared at the mouth of the cave. She wore a flowing gown and held what Tyran saw was a staff. Only sorcerers, a group of the Mage that turned their backs on the light, carried staffs. This was because nature also turned its back on them and they could no longer harness energy like Mage and needed a staff to harness that power. A lot of things began to make sense. It explained how good spells could be turned into killing spells laced with dark powers .
“How is his condition?” The female asked as she entered the cave.
“He’s weak but he’ll live.” A male appeared behind her with two horses beside him.
The female nodded. “Good. It will not be of any use to break into a dead man’s mind to retrieve information.”
Tyran couldn’t see the two rogues in front of him but the female’s voice was familiar yet he couldn’t place her anywhere.
“Wait!” Her voice rang into the dark cave. “Something is not right.” her head jerked up and she scanned the walls of the cave then her eyes went down to the dusty ground and she saw a black inky mess in front of her. She took a sharp in take of air and turned to the male next to her. “We have company. Keep your eyes open, this is a very powerful Mage.”
“How do you know?” The male asked as he removed his gun from his belt.
Tyran sneered. That was one weapon that the Mage scoffed at when they were confronted with.
“This.” She hovered her palm over the dead evil mess and sighed. “This can only be done by a very powerful sorcerer or Mage.”
“I’ll go warn the others.” The male took off through the maze of caves.
Tyran would have loved to go after him but he had no idea how strong the sorceress was. He didn’t have much energy left in him to pick up a fight and rescue Noelle too and he couldn’t absorb and command the natural energy around the cave because it too was tainted. He settled back into the shadows and waited to see what the sorceress would do.
The female’s hair tumbled over her shoulders in tight glistening curls. He could make out the color of her transparent ritual flowing gown; blood red. Her skin glowed with an unsettling aura. She was evil through and through and it bombarded his senses like a jackhammer deep in his head because he was Mage of Light.
Her black painted talon nails scraped bits of earth from the walls and her bony hands came back with the black ink writhing in her palms.
“Report.” She hissed to the ink.
The hiss was inhuman and it sent the hairs at the back of Tyran’s neck standing up. His skin crawled and bile boiled up to his throat.
A series of groans and screeches sounded in the air before the female’s head jerked up and she faced the corner where he was hiding with a cloaking spell.
“Show yourself, spell-binder. I can feel that you are still in here.” As she spoke, black tendrils of more of that disgusting black ink crawled around her bare arms.
Only one person got away with calling him a spell-binder and she was trapped somewhere deep in the bowels of the earth. Cold, dark anger unfurled from deep within him. If this female was also responsible for what happened to Noelle then Tyran was not going to look at the fact that indeed she was feminine. If she practiced dark magic then she was much more dangerous than even the dragons who kidnapped his female.
“Show yourself!” she shrieked and tapped her staff down so hard that the entire cave shook.
Tyran removed the cloaking spell and stepped out of the shadows. He saw recognition register into her eyes but he still didn’t remember her. She gasped a took a step back but quickly recovered and held her ground.
“Tyran, son of Gregor, you are far from home.” she purred lightly.
Marlie! Now he remembered. She was once a very powerful Mage and she was a member of his father’s court. So, this is what she was now reduced to. Tyran thought in disgust. “You have something that belongs to me.”
Marlie shrugged her shoulders feigning innocence. “I don’t know what you speak of.”
“Either way, I’ll not allow you to live knowing that you are aiding the dragons to kill thousands of innocents for your own selfish gain.” Tyran gritted his teeth.
“This is a war, Tyran. Of course there will be causalities.”
“It’s not a war.” Tyran snarled. “It’s a massacre and I will not rest until judgment is passed against all those who took part in it.”
“I can not let you stand in the way of what we are trying to establish. You will die just like your parents!” Again, Marlie tapped her staff on the floor and black snake-like abominations slithered down and raced towards Tyran. Tyran sent a wave of pure energy over them and they writhed and died.
Marlie’s eyebrow arched up in surprise. “You are quite as powerful as your father but you are no match for me. I know destroying my master traps took much of your energy and you will be not able to stand and fight much longer. Surrender and maybe I’ll go easy on you.”
“I’d rather die fighting than surrender to the likes of you. You betrayed the Realm and for that you’ll be judged according to my law as King of the Mage.”
Marlie scoffed. “Your threat might mean a lot back home, Mage...” the word escaped her lips with contempt and disgust. “But in here, those are just words.” Again, Marlie attacked sending more of her evil pets towards him.
This time some emerged from the depth of the earth surrounded him, hissing and snapping at him. Tyran concentrated on the last of his energy and heard the whisper, destroy the source...
A small cold smile touched his lips as he let yet another wave through the corridor. Everything went still with only the rain outside to be heard. Marlie took a moment to try and figure out what Tyran had done and her eyes widened when the staff she held split cleanly into two. Lightning sizzled from it, zapping away all the black creatures.
“No!” Marlie cried hysterically clutching her hand that was bleeding badly. “You idiot! Look what you’ve done.”
Suddenly several High Mage began to appear in different parts of the cave. Six surrounded Marlie and two, including Zach, wielded energy swords in their hands. Muffled voices and clattering of horse hooves told Tyran that more of his warriors were coming.
“What should we do with her?” Zach turned to his king.
Darkness entered in Tyran’s eyes as he looked at the female who was nothing more than evil tainting their world. “Destroy her.” he said quietly. Sorcerers were not beings to be given a second chance. If he let Marlie live, that meant he had to prepare a mass grave for the innocents that were still going to die.
“This is not the end. If you think it will stop because I’m dead, you are in for a rude awakening.” She hissed and laughed darkly but her laughter ceased suddenly as Zach brought down the energy sword against her neck.
Her head flew to one side of the cave and it began to disintegrate together with her body right in front of them until there was nothing left but ashes.
“Your power is waning.” Zach regarded his king intently.
Tyran sighed feeling the weight on his shoulders increase. “I need to go and save, Noelle.”
Zach reached forward and grasped Tyran’s arm. “Accept my power.”
Tyran snarled at Zach. “I don’t need your power--”
“If you want to walk out of this cave alive with the queen, my king, you have no choice but to accept it!” Zach gritted his teeth.
Tyran saw the stubbornness of the young Mage and sighed tiredly. He didn’t even have the energy to argue. He clasped Zach’s hand and nodded. “I accept your power.”
Hot white energy began pulse from Zach’s body into Tyran’s. Zach held his gaze until when Tyran saw the young Mage’s face pale down did he release.
Zach staggered on his feet and breathed in hard just as a giant pale wolf pawed its way into the cave.
It was Shadow, Ruvin’s Lycan counterpart.
He sniffed the air and settled his eyes on Tyran.
The dragons are coming this way. The thought was pushed into Tyran’s mind psychically by the wolf.
Tyran nodded towards Shadow and turned to the remaining Mage. “Four of you cover the entrance of this cave together with the centaurs.” he instructed. “Make sure nothing escapes. The rest of you follow me inside. Shadow, lead the way.”
The white and golden furred Lycan led the way, sniffing around for the right direction while Tyran followed behind with the shifters including a number of the half-buffaloes, half-eagles and half cats, the beasts including half-blood lycans and Leos and more Mage.
Noelle cracked her eyes open when she heard the commotion that was happening around her. She looked up and saw that the dragons were arming themselves with guns and blades. Her heart sprouted with new hope. Tyran had found her.
“Kill all of them. Make sure they don’t make it here!” Ron barked but Noelle could see how nervous he was. “You four, stay here and guard the princess. You two, go and get my brother and bring him here.”
Noelle sat up. Tyran was definitely there. She could feel his determination in the air like the way she felt his pain the last time. He was tired and weak but he was getting closer. Soon, he was going to find her and take her home.
“You shouldn’t smile just yet princess.” Ron said coldly. “I have a little surprise for your boyfriend. Oh, he has no idea what I have planned for him.”
“Just admit it, you’ve lost.” Noelle stared up at her uncle and made sure that Ron saw the smoldering anger mixed with hate churning in her eyes.
Ron smiled tightly as his eyes glowed eerily. “I never lose. I always think ahead of things. Of course I knew Lord Mage would come and rescue you. I anticipated his every move and now, you’ll be his downfall.”
This was a trap! Noelle thought with cold dread. She needed to warn Tyran that he was walking into a trap. Ron crouched in front of her and touched her chin.
Noelle’s skin crawled at the contact and she tried to pull away but his bony fingers encircled her neck and squeezed lightly. “I have no use for you, my sweet niece and I want to give Tyran a gift he would never forget for the rest of his miserable life.
“See, let me give you a little secret why I hate Tyran so much. The reason why I targeted Tyran is because he is The Mage of Light. He is goodness, through and through and it is very difficult to corrupt such a powerful being and though it’s easy to corrupt the Fae because we crave power but yet again, your father is pure so he too was targeted. But one thing is for sure; there is nothing easy than to corrupt a female. Through the false accusations of Lord Mage and a heartbreak from Tyran, Queen Seranis turned against first love.” He feigned surprise, “Oh, you didn’t know? Queen Seranis has been in love with the Lord Mage from the moment she laid her eyes on him but since he vowed to take you, his mate, as his queen, that love Seranis had for him turned into hate.
“Ah...” he mused as he looked up into the ceiling. “And then there is Queen Malenna. She is my favorite because she has been aligned with Lord Mage ever since the war with Kruk. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t eradicate the fuckers who followed him and now, they are out with nothing but vengeance in their mind. She’s already dead. I don’t need to lift a finger on her account.” then he frowned as if something disturbed him. “But then there is King Rhol. I’m not sure about him but what I can say is that he should leave while he has the chance. The killing frenzy of the Ghouls is only going to get worse—and that’s my little secret. Now, it’s time for you to die.”
Noelle’s eyes widened as Ron cut out the air-supply to her lungs. She whizzed as the cold tight fingers choked the life out of her.
“What the hell are you doing!” Alston exclaimed when he saw what his brother was doing.
“Hold him!” Ron instructed while he continued squeezing the life out of his niece. “You can save her if you tell me where that bloody Light Sword is.”
“I don’t know.” Alston dropped onto his knees and began to weep.
“Oh really?” Ron tightened his hand and Noelle gasped for air but nothing passed through. She felt her body going limp.
Her hands were still tied so she couldn’t fight him off. On top of that she wasn’t properly fed so she had no energy to do anything. Hot tears ran down her cheeks as she watched her father beg Ron to spare her life.
“Where is the Light Sword, Alston!” Ron yelled.
Alston wept for the longest time before he finally looked up and nodded. “Fine, I’ll tell you where it is but you keep your promise.”
Noelle turned to her father in horror. Did he really know where the Light Sword was or was he just trying to buy time?
Ron snatched his fingers from Noelle’s neck and with a blurry speed went to Alston and grabbed him by his neck then pulled him up until his legs were dangling above the ground. “Speak.” an inhumane hiss escaped his lips.
Noelle coughed as air began to gush into her lungs and prompting them to start working again. She watched in horror as her father gagged as he tried to talk and sent a desperately prayer that Tyran got there in time!
A ball of fire came spiraling towards Tyran and his warriors. He created a shield before them and warned them to stay within the proximity of it. More fire balls came towards them and all of them collided with the energy wall and were stumped down. The other Mage rushed forward the re-enforced energy wall and they continued moving forward. Soon, Tyran and his warriors were confronted by and large number of dragons. He didn’t expect to see so many of them. Fortunately the cave walls contained them so they could not shift into their beast forms but that didn’t mean they were easy to kill.
Tyran noted the undulation of scales on their skins as his warriors attacked them with guns and poisoned arrows. Their scales protected their bodies and the bullets and arrows fell away harmlessly. The best way to kill a dragon was decapitation or destroying the heart and that meant they had to get close enough to do that.
The dragons were quiet strong and they fought with long razor sharp talons and fire balls. Tyran’s warriors never disappointed as they too returned the blows with equal ferocity. There was cracking of bones, moans of pain, shredding of skin and burning of flesh in the air. The air smelled of burnt flesh, ashes, sweat and blood as the warriors and the rogues battled it out.
Tyran fashioned his signature double blades and hacked his way through the rogues. By the time he reached to the other side, his body was slick with blood and other body fluids. Suddenly another dragon appeared unexpectedly in front of him and dragged his claws across Tyran’s chest. Tyran growled at the dragon and crossed his burning swords across his neck then dragged them down sending his head flying to one side of the cave.
Tyran looked down at the deep grooves. He could feel a burning sensation spreading from the wounds through into the rest of his body. Something evil was tainting him from the inside. He didn’t have the time to heal himself as rushed through the cave towards his mate’s calling.
Go straight ahead and turn left. Shadow appeared behind Tyran and lead him through the myriad of entrances. There are more dragons up ahead, be careful.
While Tyran followed the wolf, he noticed the deep grooves on the side of Shadow’s body. He was wounded and hyperventilating.
“Get your keeper back to the portal and go to the infirmary now, Shadow. There is poison in the dragon’s claws.” Tyran warned him.
I’m not leaving until the queen is safely in our hands. Shadow didn’t wait to hear anymore commands from his king and trotted forward towards Noelle’s scent. That would have made Tyran uncomfortable knowing another male knew his female’s scent but this time around he was desperate. He prayed that she was still alive or by the heavens, he was going to bring down the mountain!
Just a little more. I can hear her! Shadow assured Tyran as they turned into another narrower cave and were greeted by four dragons. The dragons began to fire their guns but Tyran was faster than them. He was tired and angry and all he wanted was to get his female home. With blurry speed, Tyran went through all the four dragons with his burning blades. It was as though time was frozen and suddenly one by one, the dragons’ heads fell away from their bodies and they collapsed.
Tyran drew in a deep breath and when he opened his eyes, Noelle was seated right in front of him. She looked small, delicate and terrified for her life! She was paler than usual and her eyes bright with unshed tears. Her hands and feet were bound and Tyran saw the bruises and scabs that had formed there. She was in a wedding dress and she would have looked beautiful if it weren’t for the blood and mud caking it and her body. Though her hands were bound, she was still able to hold on to someone next to her.
“Tyran...” she choked as new tears came down her face and Tyran’s heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
He turned to the side and addressed Shadow. “Go and get the warriors out. I’ll flash my queen back home.”
Shadow moved out while Tyran turned back to Noelle. She struggled to get up but only made the wounds around her feet and hands bleed more. Tyran felt a cold and cruel darkness in him unfurl. “Who did this to you?” He asked, his voice as cold as ice. He entire body quaked with the sheer intensity of the anger and hatred he felt and the temperature around them went down until their breaths were coming out in fog.
“Ron.” Noelle sniffed and hugged the male beside her tightly. “He wanted to know where the Light Sword was and had my father taken. My father didn’t talk so he brought me here to try and convince him. He escaped with the key to the Light sword, Tyran.”
Ron was his number one enemy in the entire enchanted world, Tyran swore silently. There was nothing that was going to save him from his wrath and he was going to find him and kill him with his own hands.
Finally Tyran found the strength to move forward. He undid the tight ropes around Noelle and scooped her off the ground. He didn’t want to let her go and she too held on like he was her only anchor to life. He got hold of Alston and placed a soft kiss on Noelle’s hair. He held his hand up and as it curled into a fist, the cave walls began to crack and boulders started to fall around them.
“Hold on tightly.” He whispered to her and flashed them back home.