Ice Phoenix

A hole ate its way through the dome and sunlight flooded in. A rush of insane ecstasy rose in Baneyon when he saw the queen storm through on her faar. Charging immediately on her heels was Lady Anrath. Hundreds of tiny needles pierced the lightning-ash cloud, and Baneyon watched the dome disintegrate.

Baneyon grimaced as he staggered to his feet, pulling an equally pained Quempa up with him. They were the only ones conscious. As the faars landed, both Lady Anrath and the queen dismounted and walked quickly to the fallen Imeldors and L-Masters.

The tall and dark Lady Anrath quickly coated the more seriously injured L-Master Kalum in ice, and lifted him onto her faar. To rouse the others from their unconscious states, she wove clear sacs of freezing cold water, which she promptly released. In no time at all, Lady Fless, L-Master Ana, and Raimus were sitting up, completely drenched and spluttering.

“As soon as the dome collapses, the dratkaars will start to attack. Lady Anrath will ride out to meet and destroy them, but I want you to clear a path for her,” the queen said to Baneyon, Raimus, and Quempa without emotion.

The trio were aghast, but did not show their alarm. Instead, Baneyon gave a hopeful look towards the queen’s faar. “Could we not borrow Nisa?”

“She remains here with me,” the queen replied. That was the end of any transport relief for Baneyon, Raimus, and Quempa.

“The lightning demon has the pendant, Your Highness,” Quempa said.

“Not anymore, he doesn’t. The masked demon has it. Leave! You are in my way.”

“The dogs already approach,” warned Lady Anrath. She helped L-Master Ana and Lady Fless onto her faar and turned the beast towards the dogs. “Start clearing a path,” she ordered Baneyon with as much feeling as a rock. Baneyon scowled at the dark woman with her white corn braids, and thought pettily that the queen had chosen the perfect companion.

“Move!” barked the queen.

Baneyon held his hand out and called his spear to him. It flew into his grasp and he, Raimus, and Quempa ran towards the dogs, ahead of Lady Anrath’s faar. Meanwhile, the queen aimed an almost hungry look at the demons, her ice-blue eyes glittering in the sweltering heat of the three suns. Like Lady Fless, she also carried two long swords which were crossed over her back.

“Return the pendant!” she called out.

Nashim, with the half mask, stepped forwards. “Queen Julere,” he said. It was the first time he had spoken, and his voice was deep and gravelly. It carried across the terrain and reached the other Imeldors’ ears. Quempa, Raimus, and Baneyon turned and looked back at the demons.

“Had you remained in your sector, you could have lived another day,” Nashim continued to the queen. “But instead, you chose to rescue your worthless comrades. As soon as the dratkaars arrive, your qi will be neutralised and you’ll be on our level.”

“Then I expect you to hand it over before they arrive.” The queen’s tone was dictatorial.

Nashim and Meldogan laughed, but the third demon, Eera, snarled, his face turning nasty. “I’ll hand you this!” He vanished suddenly, but he wasn’t the only one who did. The queen also vanished. A knife slashed the air where she once stood and Eera materialised, looking surprised.

“You’re too slow,” the queen whispered behind him. Her hands came around his head. The shocked expression remained on his face as his body fell away. The queen tossed his head aside carelessly, and it rolled across the cracked ground, leaving a trail of green blood. She glanced at the two remaining demons. Their sneering expressions had disappeared now that their comrade lay in two pieces on the dry, baked earth.

“No qi required,” she said lightly, “and yet, I highly doubt we are on the same level.”

"Eera!” Meldogan screamed. He shot her an enraged look. “I’m going to kill you!“His words carried to where Baneyon and the others were watching.

“Quempa, did you see that?” yelped Baneyon. “She just ripped his head off with her bare hands! Now they’re only two!”

“Keep moving, Baneyon,” his friend said in a grumpy voice. “There’s a reason the queen told us to leave.”

“Yes,” added a still groggy Raimus. The three of them were struggling to stay ahead of Lady Anrath. “Aside from the fact that she’d only demonstrate how useless we are, the other reason is, Nashim still has the pendant. As soon as he figures out how to activate it, the queen won’t be able to protect us. She knows that too.”

Baneyon scowled. “You two are missing the point here. She ripped his head off!”

“And the dratkaars are about to rip ours,” said Quempa. “Focus, Baneyon!”

Baneyon groaned and ran towards the dogs with his comrades. Quempa was right about the dogs — it was going to be a difficult task to clear a path.

Meanwhile, Meldogan was rushing at the queen. Lightning streaked down towards her, but she evaded the strikes and appeared in front of Meldogan. “Die,” she said. Her hand grabbed his shoulder and Meldogan was suddenly unable to move. His eyes widened in terror when he realised his blood was beginning to freeze. Attempts to expel her qi from his body proved futile. The queen’s qi, for whatever reason, could not be overcome.

Nashim appeared at his side and ash blew into the queen’s face. While she was momentarily distracted, Nashim pulled Meldogan away. They retreated at least thirty metres. The ash fizzled and vanished, and Queen Julere advanced on the demons, her expression a frozen landscape of death.

Nashim faced her and hissed. “So the rumours have substance — your breath is comparable to the ice-phoenixes of Dartkala.”

The queen did not answer. Instead, she began running towards them.

"Now, Meldogan!” screamed Nashim.

The two of them combined their qi to produce a super tornado of ash and lightning, directing it towards the queen. Meldogan dropped to his knees and hammered the ground with his fist; it split open and the queen fell through. The tornado jumped in after her.

Lightning struck the ground and dark ash ate away the earth where the queen had disappeared. It lasted for what seemed an eternity, and when it finally subsided, there was no sign of the queen. Only a large scar remained in the ground, where Meldogan had split it open. Minutes ticked by.

A blackened body rose into the air, and the demons shrieked their joy. The queen floated in front of them, her body charred and limp.

“Look!” Meldogan shouted across to the watching Imeldors. “Even the mighty queen is nothing against our combined powers! Her ice failed to fend off the burning fury of lightning and ash!”

From where they watched, Baneyon trembled in disbelief. He refused to believe that the queen could so easily have been thwarted by the demons. She had been their only hope of getting out of Si Ren Da alive. “Quempa, please tell me she’s not dead,” he whispered.

Beside him, his friend also shook. “It was Meldogan,” he said hoarsely. “He was the key. That explains why they weren’t afraid to meet her head on.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t make any sense!”

Quempa threw Baneyon an angry look. “Use your head! Meldogan is a lightning user. How is lightning formed? From the positive and negative charges caused by ice in the air. That means, like the queen, he controls similar elements. We were so stupid! All this time we just thought he was a lightning user, but we never once thought of how he created it.”

Quempa’s words were beginning to make sense to Baneyon.

“Meldogan used the queen’s power and turned it against her,” Quempa continued. “When the tornado struck, the queen grounded herself in ice. At that precise moment, Meldogan interfered and created the negative charge needed for lightning. He created lightning inside her shield. She was completely unprotected.”

“Dartkala,” whispered Baneyon. “You mean to say it was planned from the very beginning?”

“Look out!” shouted Raimus. The first pack of dratkaars had arrived. Baneyon ducked as one leapt over his head. Quempa ran up Baneyon’s back, catapulting in the air. He landed just behind a dratkaar’s neck and sent it crashing into the ground. Baneyon then ran up and kicked it in the head, rendering it unconscious. Four more dratkaars leapt onto Lady Anrath’s faar, but she punched one in the face, sending it flying. Her faar took care of the remaining three; it gored two with its horns, and in one powerful swipe, it broke the neck of the last one.

The ground trembled beneath their feet and everyone, including the dratkaars, was thrown off balance. A particularly violent tremor caused them to slide across the surface. They looked down and were surprised to discover the baked, cracked ground covered in ice. It even reached the demons.

“Hurry!” Lady Anrath said urgently. “While the dratkaars are still confused, head to Mire’s Point!”

In the distance, the demons watched the Imeldors race away, surprised that the ice had reached even them. “Who would have thought the dark woman also wove ice?” said Meldogan, dusting the snow off his feet.

“Whoever said it was her?” came a mocking, familiar voice.

Both demons stared in horrified disbelief at the queen, who was hovering in the air, her cold blue eyes piercing right through them. She was smiling, but it was clear that it wasn’t the friendly kind. Her charred, blackened skin fell away like ash, only to be replaced by dark scales that covered her entire body.

“Excuse the attire, but you didn’t leave me with much choice,” she said, her eyes glinting. “Now, where was I?”

One of Meldogan’s fingers exploded, and the demon screamed. He wasn’t granted any reprieve as the rest followed, clouding the air with bloody spray as lightning destroyed them from within.

“Meldogan!” Nashim reached to pull him away, but the dark demon stopped him.

“Stay back!” Meldogan growled. “She’s controlling the charges in my body! I’m a bomb right now!” His right arm tore to pieces and another blast removed it entirely from his shoulder. He screamed horribly.

Nashim snarled and smacked his fist into the ground. It cracked open, releasing all the dratkaars that had previously been trapped beneath. He was close to unlocking the pendant’s power, but until he figured out how, he had to find a way to neutralise the queen.

Dratkaars surrounded them on all sides. Their vast presence had an immediate effect on both the queen and the demons. Meldogan broke free of the queen’s grasp and returned to Nashim’s side.

“Let’s see how you fare without your qi,” growled Nashim.

The queen dropped to the ground lightly. A smile crossed her cold, beautiful features as she faced the demons. She drew out the swords from behind her back, and they gleamed like cold death in the sun.

“Let’s.”