Chapter 16: Chapter 16

SILVER

“How will we kill the Blood Raven?” I ask.

“You can’t just kill her, Silver. That would bring a far more dreadful fate down upon us. You cannot kill Blood Ravens just because they seek to kill you…

“There are only two ways to officially kill them without repercussion. You must know their weakness; each Blood Raven has a specific weakness that will allow you to take their life.

“Another way to kill them is to formally challenge them to a fight to the death.” Freezkol shakes her head.

“But you must have their level of power for them to accept. You must be a Sprite, a Twin Leading Breed of Dragon, or another Blood Raven…

“Some Sprite Allies, mortals who pair with Sprite Animals, can be just as powerful. But we don’t have any of them here… Perhaps we can negotiate?” Freezkol rattles off nervously.

“Tell me, Silver… Why did Storm chain you up with the prisoner?”

“He is possessed by terror… Can you see his aura? He isn’t here; he is in his head,” I murmur as I watch him pick up a sword and eye it with a smile.

With his side turned toward us, I see a flash of red.

From his eyes.

~Oh shit.~

“Trauma,” Freezkol explains. “He is consumed by it—”

“Wait.” I cut her off, and she follows my terrified gaze. “I think I know how the Blood Raven wants to take her revenge. She has decided.”

“Crimson eyes…” Freezkol stops breathing and almost starts hyperventilating.

“It’s happening again… It’s happening… We…the kids…the Gypsies and the Dragons… We can’t…”

Freezkol forgets how to speak as she is consumed with panic, and I pull at my chains as Storm turns toward us, and his possessed gaze captures mine.

A Blood Rage stares back at me.

A Blood Rage for me.

This is not good; this is kill or be killed—

Oh my Dragon gods, the answer suddenly consumes me…

Why didn’t I figure this out before?

“Let me out,” I yell at Freezkol.

“Jinx was my twin.

“I ~am~ a Twin Leading Breed. How do I destroy the Blood Raven if I challenge her to a fight?” I ask in a hurry as Storm smirks and starts toward me, his eyes becoming redder and redder.

Gypsies start to crowd around, and Dragons who know that crimson gaze start panicking.

When I glance around, I see Drax at the sidelines, staring at Storm with great fear, anxiety, and guilt…especially guilt when he sees me.

“You’re just a kid.” Freezkol’s hands shake with terror as she glances between Storm and me.

“You’re safe. ~You’re safe~, I promise you,” I calm my tone so she listens to me. “I am the only payment needed. No one else will die. Just let me out.”

~“Oh, you smart, silly little thing,”~ the female voice of the Blood Raven filters through my head as Storm’s gaze locks onto mine. He stops ten feet from me while Freezkol starts undoing my chains.

~“You’re going to save everyone, aren’t you? How adorably brave. The satisfaction in stealing your life will be so fulfilling. How enriching.”~

“Everyone come together to witness this moment of history! The freeing of our people…from murder…from pain…from danger…

“So soon, we will be free again,” Storm calls out, in a husky devilish voice, beyond reason and only consumed with what the Blood Raven wants him to feel and say.

“My mate, Silver…has to pay the price, as we all have.”

Freezkol finishes freeing me, and I thrust the chains aside to stand in my soiled purple dress… I mist and stand outside of it, naked and free of the confines of the material.

This way, I can move easily.

“I challenge you, whoever you are, to a battle…a fight to the death…Twin Leading Breed to Blood Raven… Do you accept?

“The only catch is you must fight me in your true form…not hiding in the body of another,” I ask firmly and with a solid resolution. I will fight and I will win.

It is a mate’s instinct and a mother’s instinct that consumes me. My babies have to have a mother. Storm has to live with a mate.

There is no other option.

I have to best the Blood Raven at her own game.

~“Sweet thing, I accept as long as you know the rules of the Sky Gods,”~ the feminine voice echoes through my head and everyone else’s mind in this camp.

~“In a battle to the death, our energies will clash, and the Sky Gods will favor whoever deserves to win. You do realize Storm has a blood debt…and you are my collection?~

~“The Sky Gods do not take sides of the heart. They simply balance out the energies we exert. Storm killed fifteen Mages. I have killed fourteen.~

~“One more life is owed to me. So, with that knowledge…do you accept?”~

“I accept, but I want you to hear what I have to say,” I answer.

I see Storm’s eyes roll back into his head, and he collapses to the ground as the red-eyed spirit leaves him and solidifies into a black-robed grim reaper. At least, that is what it appears to be.

An old hag with stringy gray hair, a crooked nose, sunken eyes…and a belt of skulls, some of them smaller than others…such as two baby Dragon skulls, but these hang from a necklace.

“I will listen to your threat…only to store it away as something to be laughed upon after I add your skull to my Belt of Retribution.”

The old Blood Raven smiles with broken teeth, some missing…and my eyes are focused upon her belt with incredibly unshakable attention.

“Don’t worry; my message is short,” I whisper, and my eyes turn to Storm to see him regain consciousness with his burned-golden eyes.

He blinks rapidly as he takes in the situation from the ground he collapsed onto.

“After I have destroyed you, I will bury those skulls… They do not belong to you,” I whisper, and Storm’s eyes focus on the Belt of Retribution.

His eyes focus.

~“Jinx,”~ Storm’s voice whispers through my mind, and my own head is abruptly flooded with another presence…a familiar and welcome spirit.

~“I am here to fight with you,”~ Jinx murmurs through my mind.

“Do not take this as a sign of victory…Poor ~pipsqueak~,” the Blood Raven cackles. “~I~ summoned Jinx’s spirit…so our fight is fair and good in the eyes of the Sky Gods.

“No one else”—the Blood Raven turns slowly to Storm—“shall interfere. If you do,” she continues mockingly as Storm jumps to his feet and looks ready to brawl, “I ~will~ kill ~all of you~ again.

“A broken promise is one of the most highly frowned-upon disturbances in the energy and magic that surrounds us all. The Sky Gods will smile in the face of your slaughter.”

~“She is trying to upset and unsettle you, sister,”~ Jinx says to help center me.

~“Let me take over, completely, and I will take her life. You are inexperienced and ill-advised, Silver. I have waited seven centuries as a ghost, hoping for this battle.~

~“Planning her death. This fight is mine.”~

“Prepare to meet your end.” I slowly let Jinx take over, and my tone changes slightly because of it.

~“She’s all yours,”~ I tell Jinx right before I feel her presence take over to the point that I’m pushed right back into the corner of my mind.

Now it is like I am dreaming, while Jinx is in control of my body and my words.

“Sky-blue eyes… My dear Jinx…,” the Blood Raven snarls with a grin. “I’m afraid you’ll be meeting your end twice, and this time your sister will be accompanying you.”