Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

J axxon heard the heavy sound of boots crashing down the hall and headed toward their rooms. He stood up from where he was working as the door burst open.

“More Vralgari soldiers have arrived!” said one of his men, nearly out of breath. He’d been tracking the horde in the north and had flown a great distance tracking them on his dragon.

“They learned the explosion occurred at the Picard mine in the south. Powerful magic created a shield to protect human children working in the mine!”

The rest of their men ran into the room to hear what was happening as the man looked at everyone.

“The Vralgari and their horde are headed here! They’re coming to the south. To the human colonies.”

“How many are coming this way?” asked Zade, worry lining his face.

“All of them!”

“ Kylo?...Kylo, where are Tiara and the rest of the women? ” Jaxxon called down the bond with his dragon. Jaxxon couldn’t breathe until his dragon responded. Kylo had been surveilling the southern mines from the skies where the women had gone to work. He would know where the girls were, though Kylo had been keeping a safe distance from them.

“ They just got off work at the mine. They’re headed back to the human outpost, ” said Kylo.

“ The Vralgari are on their way. Watch your flank and the younger dragons, ” Jaxxon said as he and his men grabbed their gear. “ Don’t let the Vralgari see you, no matter what happens. We can’t let them know we’re here. ”

For once, his dragon didn’t argue with him.

“If Prince Aeralis has tracked the magical object to the same mine where Tiara works, she might be in grave danger!” Zade looked at Jaxxon and then at the rest of their men.

“Could Tiara or one of the women know something about what the Vralgari are searching for?” asked Jaxxon, his mind racing as his eyes widened. “Do they have the magical object?”

“It doesn’t matter if they have the object. They have Crelentian magic! If Prince Aeralis finds them...”

No one dared speak of the atrocities Prince Aeralis and his demon horde had already unleashed on Crelentian females, ensuring Jaxxon and his men would be the last of their kind.

Jaxxon’s tattoos shifted into their warrior pattern. As each dragon scale tattoo took shape, like a giant puzzle pulled together by a magnet, his shadows flowed freely.

“We must find the women before the Vralgari.”

Jaxxon ran as fast as he could toward the science outpost, with Zade on his heels. His men were pulling back from all their locations, all headed to the same destination. To save the women.

Cloaked in their shadows, they barreled through the streets at speeds most couldn’t imagine. Not only did Crelentians have great speed, but their agility was superior to most. Their powerful legs pumped as they jumped over cars, merchant stands, and anything in their way. Their acrobatic skills came from years of riding on the backs of their dragons, where they learned to balance, jump, and sprint.

Two of his men had been monitoring the women’s movements from the ground while Kylo had been watching from the skies. Jaxxon reached his men on the coms to get their exact location.

“Where are they now?” Jaxxon yelled on his coms, running down an alley that let them out onto one of the major streets.

“Tiara and the women are almost near the fork in the road between the mine where they were working and the marketplace,” said one of his men.

“I know the street. I’ll intercept them,” said Jaxxon. “Stay with them until I get there.”

He knocked over stalls as he ran through the area. His men were running behind him, and Zade was already in front, turning the corner.

As he rounded the corner, he heard Kylo growl down their bond. Tapping into Kylo’s vision, Jaxxon saw the battle unfolding at the science outpost. Smoke bellowed in the air, and gunshots rang out.

“Oh no, we’re too late. The Vralgari are attacking the science outpost,” Jaxxon yelled to his men as they continued running.

“Tiara and her friends are running toward the outpost. They can see the fighting from where they are. You need to hurry, Jaxxon!” his man bellowed through the coms.

“I’m almost there!” Jaxxon yelled into his coms as he sprinted through the busy marketplace.

His adrenaline pumped as his heartbeat pounded in his chest. Squinting his eyes, he could see Tiara and her friends. They were a few feet ahead of him, but their shapes were lost within the haze of smoke rising from buildings on fire near the outpost. Flames danced along the destroyed buildings, and the smell of blood filled the air.

“No! No! No!” Tiara’s shrill screams pierced the air. Maya, Lori, and her other friends screamed for people to help those at the burning outpost. Their screams were a desperate chorus sung over the rhythmic pounding of their feet against the cobblestone street .

The girls ran so fast that they matched the men in speed, their determination terrifying in its intensity. Any doubt they were Crelentian females left the men’s thoughts as they pumped their legs fast to intercept the women.

As they approached the outpost, they saw a bloodbath unfolding before them. It was still some distance away, but they were closing the distance fast. He had to get to Tiara and her friends before the Vralgari saw them.

He pushed harder as he surged forward, closing the gap between them. Grabbing Tiara around the middle, he lifted her into the air as she kicked out. Fighting him, she tore at his face, yelling for him to let her go. Her pleas and cries lit the night air as she struggled to reach her human colleagues. Maya, Lori, and the other girls with them did the same.

“Let me go! I have to help them!” Her voice streaked with panic. She pounded her fists against his chest as she struggled to break free of his grasp. She fought hard, but Jaxxon wouldn’t let her go.

“Tiara, stop!” Jaxxon yelled, but she wouldn’t hear him. Her screams broke through the surrounding noise, pleading and desperate.

“Please...please, that’s my family! That’s Ms. Hazel down there,” she yelled. She strained against him, dragging Jaxxon forward with a strength he hadn’t anticipated. She was relentless as she fought him.

Jaxxon’s heart clenched at the pain in her voice, but he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t let her die. He tightened his grip, forcing her to stay in place even as she clawed at his arms while her eyes locked on the massacre unfolding ahead of them.

But Tiara wasn’t listening as she stomped on his foot, finally breaking free of his grip.

With a sudden, guttural scream, she thrust her hands forward. A blinding light burst from her fingertips, iridescent gold and pink, cutting through the darkness like a spear of hope.

Jaxxon’s breath caught. Her light magic! He knew she had elemental magic—all Crelentian females did, but it still shocked him to see her use it. The raw force and the sheer brilliance of her magic amazed him.

Falling back, she nearly passed out as Jaxxon caught her. Her light magic sliced through two demons, cutting them in half as they tried to run down several humans. But it wasn’t enough. More demons pounced before the humans could get even a few steps away.

“It’s too late, Tiara,” Jaxxon shouted, his voice thick with anguish as she regained her composure and began tussling with him again. “Listen to me. It’s too late. The outpost is overrun with Vralgari and their demon horde. There’s too many to fight.”

“No, I can do this. I can do this,” she screamed, beating on his chest.

But he wouldn’t let her go, even as her nails tore into him as she treated him as the enemy. His men were trying not to hurt the women as they all fought them hard to get away. They wanted to reach the humans still resisting, but it was a losing battle for the few left. And Jaxxon didn’t have enough men to take on an entire army of Vralgari and their demon horde, even with his dragons.

Jaxxon hugged Tiara to his chest, looking into her eyes. “Listen to me,” he growled, shaking her. “Look down there! Really look down there!” He turned her by the shoulders, forcing her to stand still and focus on what was happening before her. He hated to make her take a closer look, but it was the only way to convince her it was too late.

“Is there anyone in the outpost with magic? Even a little magic?” he asked her twice. She looked perplexed but finally shook her head.

“No,” she cried. “They don’t have any magic...”

“Then they’ll die a quick death. For those with magic, their deaths are slow and cruel.”

Zade and the other men dragged the women away from the scene, but Tiara wouldn’t move.

“Are those...demons?” Tiara screamed, pointing at the fighting in the center of the outpost.

And then the entire outpost exploded.

“No!” Tiara fell to the ground as she turned to her friends. The men let them go as they all ran back and hunkered around each other, crying and screaming.

“Our people activated the self-destruct button. It’s the last resort when no one is left,” cried Lori, her body shaking with grief. Maya passed out, as did one of the other girls. They would have all died from the explosion had they ventured further.

Tiara looked up at him, just enough to meet his gaze. Her eyes, red and swollen, reflected the depth of her pain. The sad sight chilled him to the bone. “They were everything,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

The sob that escaped her was so broken and hollow that it nearly brought Jaxxon to his knees. He lifted her and held her tighter as she collapsed into him, her body shaking with grief. His heart ached for her, but there was nothing he could say, nothing that would make this right. They stood there, bathed in the flickering light of the distant flames, the smell of death thick in the air, the sounds of demons still feasting on what little remained.

The silence between them stretched out, the weight of her loss hanging in the air like a storm cloud. He didn’t know what to say or how to comfort her when there was no comfort to be found. Jaxxon’s heart bled for them. Their screams were a reminder of his pain when his family was slaughtered.

At that moment, all he felt was anger. A rage built up in him that he knew well. A rage that taught him to be brutal, coldhearted, and to be a warlord.

Jaxxon stood fiercely, his voice devoid of emotion as he stepped back and looked into her eyes. “You tried. You did everything you could.” His shadows unfurled around them as he held out his hand. “Now, let me and my men save you and your friends.” She nodded as tears continued streaming down her face, falling like raindrops to the ground as she held onto her friends.

At the gates of the outpost, a Vralgari turned in their direction, scenting Tiara’s magic she just used .

“What in hell is that?” said Tiara, standing and pointing at the winged man who turned their way.

The Vralgari spread his wings wide and launched into the air toward them. He screamed with hunger. And Jaxxon was sure he didn’t need to explain to Tiara that this wasn’t good.

“Carry Maya and the other girl who passed out! Run!” Jaxxon yelled to his men as he grabbed Tiara by the hand. But before they could get a few steps, the Vralgari they’d just seen shrieked in the sky above them.

Tiara screamed when the Vralgari’s broken body hit the ground in front of them. It was torn apart, with its severed head landing nearby.

“What the...” She looked up, but Jaxxon was already pulling her and her friends away from the area.

“ Thanks, Kylo. Now get the fuck out of here, ” Jaxxon yelled down their bond as another Vralgari launched into the sky toward the two young dragons who accompanied them on the voyage. “ A Vralgari is after the young ones! ”

“ We lose no one, ” Kylo growled, turning back toward the two young dragons in trouble. “ I’ll tear that Vralgari soldier from the sky before he alerts the others. ”

Jaxxon saw Tiara looking at him with a frown. She didn’t know he was communicating with a dragon high above the cloud cover. A dragon who had just saved them from the clutches of the Vralgari. And he didn’t have time to explain as he cast his shadows wide around them. His men did the same. The horde was coming in fast, and so were more Vralgari.

Reaching a corner, he turned to see Maya and the other young woman back on their feet and fully alert. However, their state of mind wasn’t good as they continued crying.

The demon horde howled and screeched, cutting down colonists in the marketplace. Some feasted on those with magic while other demons continued running toward the area where Jaxxon and his group were. Demons were everywhere.

“Stand still and don’t make a sound,” he told the women. His men moved in front of each woman, their shadows cloaking them. Their shadows solidified into the men’s weapons of choice, each sharp and aimed forward. Zade’s circular axes were in both hands as he nodded to Jaxxon that he was ready.

Four demons ran right past them, and then two more.

“What’s happening? Why can’t they see us?” asked Maya.

“Shh,” said one of the men as another demon came down the street.

“And why can we see you?” said Tiara, but Jaxxon didn’t respond as he moved her back further into the shadows behind him.

“Tiara, do you or your friends have a magical object or anything the Vralgari are after?” She shook her head, as did the other women when asked.

Jaxxon looked at Zade, who signaled the women weren’t telling the truth. Zade glanced pointedly at Tiara’s amulet and back at Jaxxon, who only nodded. He gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists. They’d deal with it later. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting to safety.

Tiara shook with fear behind him, holding on to his shirt as a large group of demons ran down the street, coming directly toward them. Their stench was like death itself. But the horde was smart.

“We need to move. Our shadows can conceal us, but the Vralgari have other ways to find us. Including scent and sound. We could create a sound barrier, but it will use too much of our power.”

“I’m afraid to move,” said Lori, crying loudly.

“Shush!” Jaxxon swore as he stared at her.

“We must move before we’re discovered. The death that awaits isn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy. We have magic. And that’s what they want.” Jaxxon looked at the women as they nodded. He had to keep them alive. And that meant they had to follow his orders no matter how heartless he sounded.

“Stay close and within our shadows. We must get to the trading docks.”

One demon turned back toward them, sniffing the air. His large hairy ears perked as he moved toward where the women were shaking so loudly that Jaxxon knew the demon had heard them.

Jaxxon ran forward, his shadows morphing into a massive battle hammer with razor-sharp edges. It was covered in black and liquid silver symbols that rippled a deadly aura. Enveloping the demon in his shadows like a net, Jaxxon brought his hammer down, crushing its right shoulder and barely missing its head. The demon fought back, its long claws catching Jaxxon’s torso and ripping through his shirt. He hit it again, ripping its chest open.

The demon screeched in pain, alerting the other demons to where they were gathered before Jaxxon broke its neck.

Jaxxon looked at the women huddled together. Terror marred their tear-streaked faces. He stood tall, his dragon scale tattoos pulsing with elemental power as he smiled wickedly. Their eyes widened at the power raging around him.

“Those fuckers are hard to kill. But so are we!”

He nodded to Zade as he moved forward with his twin circular battle-axes. His shadows blended with Jaxxon’s. The combined elemental magic was formidable as the shadows solidified into a powerful shield around them.

“Are you ready to run in the shadows, ladies?”

Tiara and her friends looked at each other. And then Tiara stepped forward. “Hell yeah!”