Ice Phoenix

The rest of the team, as well as Lorn and the prince, looked on in horror as Baneyon plummeted. They were two hundred metres in the air, and even though they could hear Terrana’s heartbreaking screams, they could not break through the strange translucent barrier the demons had created to separate them from Baneyon and Terrana.

The barrier was cylindrical, with an approximate radius of twenty metres and, so far, it was proving to be impenetrable. The moment anyone got too near to it, it drained their qi. The Imeldors could only look on hopelessly as the abomination that was Eera tore Baneyon apart.

Scrambling around like a wild animal desperate to save his friend, Quempa flew to the ground and began burrowing, hoping the barrier would not extend too deep.

“Quempa! No!” Raimus shouted out in alarm. He flew after Quempa, who had already disappeared below ground. When Raimus managed to reach the entrance of the tunnel that Quempa had burrowed, he spotted the little Imeldor lying unconscious about thirty metres down. It took Raimus nearly everything he had to draw Quempa from where he lay without killing himself in the process. He carried Quempa back into the air, so he could avoid the hell dogs on the ground.

Lady Fless flew to his side. Panic furrowed her face. “We’re running out of time! Without Baneyon, we can’t contain the air for much longer,” she said.

“I agree,” Raimus grunted. Every one of them was struggling to breathe. He pointed to the vortex above. “I give that ten minutes before it tears up everything within a thirty-kilometre radius. We must leave this planet now.”

“But what about Terrana?” Lorn cried. He had been injured in the attack when Eera had crashed into them and sent them toppling off Dragoth’s back. There was a nasty gash on his leg. The prince was holding him up, and Lorn actually owed him his life. Prince Gil Ra Im had pulled him out of Eera’s path and had carried him to a safe distance before the barrier had come up.

“Her Highness has summoned the faars and they are fighting the demons now. While they are buying time for us, we need to leave,” said Raimus.

“But we can’t leave Terrana behind!” Lorn shouted.

“We don’t have a choice!” said Lady Fless. “We need to —” Something grabbed her from behind and flung her into the barrier. She twitched like a worm on a hook as the barrier drained her.

Garok hovered in front of them. “No one is going anywhere,” he sneered.

Lady Anrath dashed to help Lady Fless, and as Garok tried to stop her, Raimus and L-Master Ana attacked the demon together. Mud materialised around Garok and the demon suddenly found himself trapped in a coffin, woven by Raimus. The mud transformed into granite. L-Master Ana lunged forwards. She had barely laid a hand on the coffin when it exploded, and Garok burst out. With a snarl, he sprang at Raimus, who was too slow to react. Garok thrust his hand into Raimus’s chest, ripping out his heart. Raimus fell backwards and hurtled to the ground, still holding onto Quempa.

“Raimus!” L-Master Ana shouted, as she watched Raimus fall. She tried to go after him, but she didn’t get very far.

“Ana, watch out!” screamed Lady Anrath. L-Master Ana’s concern for her comrade proved to be a costly mistake. She spun around, only to find Garok swinging the phoenix spear at her. She still wore a surprised look on her face when her head toppled forwards. It was picked up by the vortex in the sky. The rest of her headless body followed after Raimus.

Garok laughed loudly and looked towards Lorn, the prince, and Lady Anrath. Lady Anrath had succeeded in rescuing Lady Fless, and she now carried her, as well as L-Master Kalum over her shoulders. Both her comrades were comatose, and Lady Anrath willed them to live as she shrugged them off her shoulders and sent them towards the prince. The powerful warrior then flew towards Garok, placing herself between the boys and the demon.

“Get away from here, Your Majesty,” she called out over her shoulder.

Garok’s eyes widened. “Your Majesty?” He stared curiously at the prince, and then laughed excitedly. “What a fantastic surprise! Who’d have thought the queen would have brought her own son to this planet?”

Lady Anrath clenched her fists. “You need to shut up and die,” she growled. She leapt towards him without any warning, and smashed her fist into his face. Garok staggered back. Lady Anrath pulled him forwards and slammed her knee directly into his solar plexus. But the demon’s armour prevented her from delivering any serious damage, and Garok quickly recovered, moving away from her.

He swung the phoenix spear at Lady Anrath. She leapt over it. Garok kicked her, and his foot connected with her stomach. Lady Anrath fell backwards, and she watched as Garok brought the spear down on her. Nothing short of a miracle would have saved her and, luckily for her, it appeared.

Eindz, Lady Anrath’s faar, materialised above Garok. His powerful jaws clamped around the demon’s shoulder and shook him from side to side. An ordinary person would have been torn to pieces, but Garok was too wiry, and he managed to break free of the faar. Sensing the change in power, Garok acted quickly and shot straight towards the prince.

He came up behind the prince, twisting both his arms behind his back. The prince cried out and dropped his charges, who floated freely beside him.

“Your Majesty!” Lady Anrath cried out, fearful for the prince’s safety.

“Stay back!” Garok warned. Then, he turned his face to the sky and shouted. ”Queen Julere, I have your son! Surrender if you wish him to live!”

Silence surrounded them.

Even the vortex seemed to pause for a moment to observe what was going on below. Five figures descended from the sky and the queen was soon face to face with Garok. She was holding onto her two swords. Dragoth and Nisa hovered behind her. Lady Anrath, dragging the unconscious Lady Fless and L-Master Kalum, joined the queen with Lorn and Eindz. On Garok’s side, Nashim and Meldogan appeared. The two groups faced each other in an uneasy truce.

The queen spoke. “Let me guess. You want me to return the pendant that I just stole from your worthless leader in exchange for my son’s life?”

“Do not mock us, ice queen,” snarled Nashim. “The pendant is worthless in your hands. You can’t deactivate it because it was I who activated it in the first place, therefore, it will only respond to me.”

“Hand the pendant over!” Garok twisted the prince’s arm and everyone heard it dislocate. Prince Gil Ra Im grunted in pain.

“Don’t give him the pendant, Mother! Destroy it!” He yelled horribly as Garok dislocated his other arm.

“Prince!” Lorn sent a pleading look towards the queen. He couldn’t understand why she was just floating there, her face devoid of any emotion.

“The pendant or your son!” shouted Garok. “Which is it, ice queen?”

Queen Julere did not utter a word. Instead, she licked her lips as her eyes travelled over the three demons, noting their weapons and their increased qi levels. Her indifference to her son’s plight made the demons nervous. “He is not my son if he is unable to kill any of you,” she said finally.

Her words stunned them all. Lorn couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could she be so cruel to her own son? How could she really be willing to risk his life for the pendant? He clenched his fists in anger.

“You mock us once more,” snarled Nashim. “Very well, watch as your son dies. Garok!”

Garok moved to snap the prince’s neck, but it was like stone. Confused, Garok spun the boy around. “What’s going on here?” he asked, frowning. He hissed and stepped back at the sight of a cruel, reptilian face staring back at him. Prince Gil Ra Im was covered in scales.

The queen inclined her head. “Like mother, like child,” she said coolly, “and if necessary, my will is his will.”

“Impossible,” hissed Nashim, his eyes widening in horror. ”Get away from him, Garok! She’s channelling her qi through him!” But his warning came too late. The prince moved so quickly that Garok didn’t even have time to blink.

Queen Julere thrust her hand upwards, and the prince did the same as she controlled him. His arm popped back into place and his scaled hand plunged into Garok’s neck. It continued upwards, ripping through his brain. Garok collapsed, and the phoenix spear fell from his hand. Queen Julere lunged forwards and snatched it. Then, she dragged her son away from Garok and swung the spear around. It cut Garok cleanly through one arm and exited through the other. He split into four pieces.

"Garok!” shouted Meldogan. He shot the queen a look of pure hatred and moved to attack her, but Nashim restrained him.

“Stay back, Meldogan!” warned Nashim. “That blade’s forged from velassium. If she cuts your head off, you’ll really die.”

The queen threw both her son and Lorn onto Dragoth. “Get out of here,” she ordered.

Dragoth snorted and flew off with the boys. Without hesitating, the queen advanced on Meldogan. Lightning struck her, but she deflected it with the spear. She was nothing less than godly as she channelled the terrifying power of lightning back towards Meldogan. The demon was forced to leap out of the way, playing into the queen’s trap. She moved with incredible speed and grasped Meldogan around the neck. Her fingers sunk into his flesh, and Meldogan roared in pain.

“Meldogan!” cried Nashim. He leapt forwards, attacking the queen with black flames, but they splashed harmlessly against the phoenix blade. With the blade, the queen appeared invincible, and she did more with it than Baneyon ever could. Nashim’s attacks could not reach her.

The queen somersaulted towards Nashim, dragging Meldogan with her. She landed on his shoulders, catching his head between her thighs. With a violent twist, she snapped his neck. But Nashim did not die. The pendant’s power continued to keep him alive, and he began healing immediately. However, while he healed, he was unable to move. The queen jumped off, leaving Meldogan with him.

“Die,” she said, swinging the phoenix spear around with both hands.

She could have ended it.

The spear would have finished both their lives, and they would have been no more, but it never reached them. Instead, the queen stumbled forwards and the demons looked on in disbelief as they spied the bleeding hole in her stomach. She coughed and blood sprayed from her mouth. As she swayed from side to side, struggling to remain in the air, a small person lowered itself in front of her.

The queen found herself staring into a pair of black, malicious eyes. Terrana leaned forwards, her face barely centimetres from the queen’s, and pulled the phoenix spear from her hand.

“This doesn’t belong to you,” snarled Terrana, grasping the spear with a bloodied hand — the same hand she had used to punch a hole in the queen’s stomach. Those were the last words the queen heard before Terrana plunged the spear into her. The queen dropped from the sky.

Nashim flew after the queen, but Terrana paid no attention to him. She didn’t care that he was going after the pendant. Everyone reeked of the pendant’s dark qi, and that was enough reason for her to kill all of them. A cognisant part of her still remembered how Baneyon had died, and that whatever had torn him apart had been steeped in dark qi.

Terrana opened her mouth and screamed. The barrier behind her shattered and even the vortex in the sky disappeared. Blue flames erupted around her. Whatever human aspect she had possessed had long vanished — there was not a single trace of the little Fijian girl from Sector Thirteen when she attacked the demons.