Chapter 24: The Battle for Trinivan

LYDIA

“I’m sorry for everything she put you through,” said Dorian, stepping closer to Lydia in her dungeon cell with an apologetic look on his face. “But, to be fair, I suppose part of the blame lies with you as well.”

Lydia gritted her teeth angrily. She had thought Dorian was trustworthy, but now she knew his true colors: he was the worst type of cad—the kind that thinks he’s a hero.

With his free hand, Dorian reached out toward Lydia, who weakly recoiled with her remaining strength. Dorian lowered his hand, looking dejected.

“I wish you had just taken the time to listen to reason,” he said. “If you had come with us willingly, then none of this would be necessary. You made this bed, and now you have to lie in it.”

Fear began to grip Lydia’s mind. Was there really no escape from this?

The wizard looked down at the polished jade stone in his hand, lightly stroking it with his thumb. “But I suppose none of that matters now,” he mused. “Your powers are fading, aren’t they? I can feel it just as clearly as you can. Soon you’ll be nothing but embers.”

Lydia struggled as best as she could in an attempt to prove him wrong. There was no way that she would ever give this sniveling rat the satisfaction of seeing her vulnerability.

In a fit of desperation, Lydia attempted to summon enough magic to melt through the manacles on her wrists…

Nothing happened.

“You see what I mean?” Dorian inquired. “You’re merely stoking the ashes at this point. You may as well just stop trying; you’re far past the point of it doing you any good.”

Dorian held up the stone, moving closer to Lydia.

“I can make you happy, Lydia,” he said softly. “You might not believe me now, but I’ll be able to show you soon enough. Once Gabriel and the others are out of the picture, I’ll be able to provide you with anything you could ever possibly want. You’ll forget about him soon enough, and both of us will be far happier for it.”

He brandished the stone. “You just need to give me a chance.”

Lydia struggled to turn her head away from Dorian as he moved the gemstone toward her, but her energy was completely depleted.

“Just you wait,” said Dorian, his voice a threatening whisper as he moved ever closer to Lydia. “Someday, we’ll look back on this and laugh…”

***

GABRIEL

Gabriel sprinted toward the castle gates at full tilt, the heavy snow pulling at his boots as he did so. All around him, the winter air had erupted into total chaos. Adria, Redmond, and Elise were fighting to stave off the ice serpents currently converging on them.

As Gabriel neared the castle, the crystalline head of one of the serpents emerged from a nearby alley, its jaws open wide in anticipation.

Gabriel braced himself, and…

~Fwoosh!~

A wave of heated air washed over Gabriel, causing his cloak to billow in front of him and obscure his vision. As the wind died down, Gabriel saw the body of the serpent collapsed lifelessly on the snow-crusted ground, its head melted into a dripping, watery stump.

Turning around, Gabriel saw Lucius and Elise standing directly behind him and realized the blast of hot air must have been a combined effort on their part.

“I may not be a Slifer,” Lucius said, popping his knuckles loudly. “But I know enough magic to keep pace with you young pups.”

“Watch who you’re calling young,” said Gabriel, grinning.

“Compared to me,” Lucius retorted, “you’re still but a sapling. You should learn to respect your elders, your majesty.”

“Perhaps we can reschedule this pissing contest for another time,” Elise shouted. “First things first—let’s finish the mission.”

Gabriel flushed with embarrassment. “Agreed,” he said.

The king turned to face the castle. The building was surrounded by a moat that was presently iced over. A sturdy drawbridge of black oak obstructed the main entrance, crusted with ice from the freezing rain.

“Stand back,” said Gabriel, taking a crunching step forward. “I can do this much for myself, at least.”

Lucius and Elise watched as several black tendrils of shadow extended from the ground around King Gabriel’s feet. The tendrils reached out toward the great oak drawbridge, worming their way into the minuscule cracks between it and the actual entryway.

With a heavy groan from Gabriel, there was the sound of cracking ice and groaning wood as the tendrils pulled hard against the drawbridge, loosening it from its upright position and yanking it down until the entrance gate was wide open.

Gabriel took a moment, struggling to regain his breath. Lucius patted him on the shoulder.

“You win the pissing contest for now,” he said. “Now let’s go save Lydia.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, now,” came a voice.

Elise, Lucius, and Gabriel looked ahead to see Jora standing in the now-open gate to the castle. The scar-eyed Wizard Hunter was brandishing a longsword, which he held one-handed.

“Jora,” said Gabriel, his voice tense.

“Not ~just~ Jora,” said the Wizard Hunter. As if on cue, another figure slowly strode out from around the corner of the gateway. As the figure came into view, Elise let out a sharp gasp, covering her mouth with both hands.

“Calix,” she said, her voice tinged with pain at the sight of her mate.

Sure enough, the enthralled monarch stood before them. The jade stone set into his forehead gleamed with an added layer of glossiness; as Gabriel focused his eyes, he could see the stone appeared to be encased in a protective layer of ice.

“It appears that we may need to divide our efforts,” said Lucius. “Elise, do you think you can dislodge that stone from King Calix’s head?”

Elise swallowed, steeling herself as the air began to swirl around her. “I can certainly try.”

Gabriel nodded, though his confidence was shaky at best. He knew he was asking a lot of the Wind Slifer, but he could see no other options.

~Let’s hope all of her training with Lydia will pay off…~

“Good enough for me,” Lucius replied. “Gabriel, you can sense Lydia’s presence. Find her before any more harm befalls her. As for this one-eyed bastard…”

Lucius took a step forward, his fingertips crackling with energy. “Leave him to me.”

***

Lydia

Wh-where am I?

Dorian

Hello, Lydia.

Lydia

Dorian?

Lydia

What have you done to me?

Dorian

Nothing as of yet.

Dorian

The jade stone creates a mental link between its host and the creator.

Dorian

In your current state, I simply thought this might be a more straightforward way for us to communicate.

Lydia

Get the hell out of my mind.

Dorian

Even on the cusp of becoming a thrall, you remain as much of a spitfire as ever.

Dorian

That’s what I love about you the most, Lydia. You always speak your mind.

Lydia

I refuse to do your bidding, Dorian, and I will never love you.

Lydia

If you truly knew anything about me, you would know that I will never allow myself to be controlled by another.

Dorian

And yet you still allow yourself to be controlled by destiny.

Dorian

By King Gabriel.

Dorian

By Lucius Voltaire.

Dorian

By your father, Decimus.

Dorian

You speak of control as if you truly knew what it meant, when the truth is you’ve never been in control of your own life or actions.

Dorian

Don’t you see, Lydia? I’m not the one controlling you.

Dorian

I’m the one who will set you free.

***

“Lydia?… Lydia! Gods above, please wake up.”

Lydia slowly stirred herself awake and found herself looking up at a familiar face.

“Gabriel,” she said, smiling weakly up at him. Her heart filled with elation at the hazy vision of her beloved mate. Freed of her manacles, the Slifer found herself cradled in Gabriel’s arms as the king knelt on the dungeon floor. She could hardly believe he was real.

“Dorian was here…” she murmured. “Where is he?”

“Slippery bastard teleported away as soon as I kicked in the door,” Gabriel replied. Sure enough, the door to the dungeon chamber lay open, hanging precariously on a single hinge.

“But that doesn’t matter right now. I’ve got you, and you’re safe.

Realization kicked in, and slowly, weakly, Lydia reached up and placed a hand on her forehead. To her relief, she did not feel the smooth surface of the jadestone, only the sticky layer of semi-dried blood that coated her face.

Turning her head slightly, she noticed a few flecks of jade shards littering the floor and quickly put two and two together.

“Come on,” said Gabriel. “Let’s get you out of here.”

***

Rather than teleport, Gabriel instead elected to walk, carrying Lydia through the dungeon corridors toward the surface.

“Before I left, Lucius and Elise were busy fighting Calix and that Wizard Hunter up top,” he explained as he went. “And you’re in no condition to be joining that particular fray. Best we play this close to the vest.”

There was no sign of Evine as they moved through the castle. Lydia kept expecting her to leap out from behind every corner and closed door, dagger in hand...and yet, she never did. The Slifer speculated that she must have vanished with Dorian when the rescue team arrived.

Finally reaching the surface, Gabriel made his way through the courtyard toward the front gates of the castle. It appeared as though the fighting had mostly died down at this point; while much of the courtyard was in shambles, Lydia could see Redmond and Adria sitting among the rubble, both of them short of breath.

“Lydia!” the Slifer heard the voice of Lucius as the old wizard came doddering over. “Are you alright? Gods above, what did they do to you?”

“I’ll be okay, Lucius,” Lydia said, weakly and somewhat unconvincingly. “I just need some time to rest.”

“Glad to see you’re alright, Lucius,” said Gabriel. “Tell me, what became of Jora?”

“Well, he certainly gave me a run for my money. That is until I dropped a portion of the castle walls on his head. Crushed him flat.”

The wizard thumbed his nose. “Needless to say, that’s one Wizard Hunter who won’t be bothering us for a while. However…”

Lydia noticed that Lucius appeared to look somewhat forlorn. “That isn’t to say that this battle was without casualties on our side, either.”

Lydia felt Gabriel’s chest rise as the king let out a gasp. It was then that she noticed two figures slightly further ahead, resting on the wooden drawbridge.

She saw the Wind Slifer, Elise Moran, resting on both knees with her head down, her expression unreadable.

Lying in her lap was the dead body of King Calix, a long icicle still piercing his chest.