60. Riggs

60

Riggs

As I faced Daize, Tez and Nikolai released the battlefield.

The valley dissolved into chaos.

Without Finn's bloodmagic to keep them united and compliant, the underworld troops now fought themselves as much as they fought our warriors. The coalition broke apart as underlords took the opportunity to bolt, and take as many of their minions with them as possible.

Finn had abandoned them. As our army pursued them into the mountains, they had no possible escape except to sneak to other gateways in the outlying towns.

What Tez and Nikolai had done blew my mind. It had saved us. And now I stood opposite the one who had made all this chaos possible, and the rage rose within me.

"Face me as a human, Daize," I snarled.

My nephew didn't comply right away. But then Tez ranged up behind me, and the traitor writhed his way to human.

He picked up his tailspike and glowered at me. "You should have stayed dead, uncle."

"Too bad for you I didn't," I snarled back at him. "You have single-handedly brought the Dragon Empire to its knees. You have betrayed your family, and your people." I straightened. "But I am a man of honor. I will therefore grant you a warrior's death."

Daize snorted a laugh. "You think you can beat me? I was the top fighter in my class."

One corner of my lips twitched upward. "I'll let you in on a little secret," I said. "So was I."

Breana stood off to one side. She'd resumed her human form, along with her body suit of beautiful icy-blue scales that emphasized every curve. But her expression was filled with worry. You don't have to do this, Riggs. We have him. He can spend the rest of his life in a dungeon.

That is not Dragon justice, I said. I was given this sword for a reason.

You have fulfilled the destiny Fate decreed, Caliel's voice reflected his alarm. He'd hurried off to tend to wounded soldiers, and now glanced my way. There is no need to give him the opportunity to finish what he started.

I received support from an unexpected quarter. Daize deserves to die, Tez stated. That sword is all about justice. And that is what this is.

I faced Daize with the sword drawn, and he bent to pick up his tailspike. "You and that muscle-bound idiot Tyrez were always too good for the rest of us," he sneered. "The Emperor's favorite sons."

It surprised me that he would feel that way. "Your father was always the heir," I said. "We never wanted it any differently."

"My father was a fool," Daize stated. "He was so bound in tradition that it took everything I had to make him see that things had to change. The underworld coalition would have made the Empire strong again. You have doomed it to die."

We began to circle each other. "You didn't do all this to save the Empire. You did it for yourself."

"An alliance with the underlords would have made the Empire wealthy," Daize snarled.

"Made you wealthy," I corrected. "This has always been about you."

His furious eyes flared metallic blue. "You were always the favorites, you and Tyrez. You got the best of everything. Taran sired me, but he would have overlooked me as heir." Enraged, Daize had problems holding onto his human. Scales popped up on his cheeks. "Taran sired me and then ignored me. Until my half-brother bit it. Then I finally got his attention."

My gaze narrowed. "You had your half-brother killed."

Daize shrugged. "Semantics. He's dead. That's all that matters."

"You will be joining him shortly," I promised.

"We'll see about that." And then, he came at me.

At first, we were well matched. He was a little taller than me, but not as muscled. His extra reach was negated by my strength. And we had both been trained by the best the Dragon Empire had to offer.

But he only had his tailspike. And I had Excalibur.

It was an extraordinary weapon, but now it was merely a well-crafted sword. It relied upon me as metal crashed against crystallized bone, and we called on every trick we'd been taught. Then we stretched beyond, as we ducked, dodged, spun, and leaped.

The Dragons and others gathered and started shouting encouragement. As both Excalibur and Daize's tailspike could penetrate Dragon scales, we were soon both breathing hard and covered in blood.

It was time to finish this.

I took a single, long stride toward him, landing on the balls of my feet and swinging the sword in a vicious overhead strike.

Daize raised his own to block—but my weapon was no longer there. I shifted Excalibur in mid swing from two hands to one. While the talons of my left met his tailspike, my right sliced the sword horizontally across his middle.

Memory told me I'd done this sneaky signature move before, when he'd tried to kill me the first time in that alley. He obviously hadn't paid enough attention—and this time, my strike was true.

It sliced clear through his scales, cutting him open.

He gasped and clutched himself, and then, he turned, and ran into the crowd of Dragons.

Our rules of combat dictated that they not interfere, so the crowd pulled away from him. A second later, Daize rose from them as a Dragon.

He was trailing blood, but I wasn't about to leave it at that.

Let the others catch him. Breana suddenly sounded frantic.

Not in the rulebook, Venus, I said, tossing Tez the sword. Any fighting now would be by tooth and talon.

Go get him, Riggs, Tez snarled.

A split second later, I was also airborne.

The Dragons followed me. I sensed that Bree, Caliel, and Tez had climbed up on Talakai.

I pursued Daize through the mountains. He stuck to the passes at first, but then rose above the peaks, aiming for the frigid cold.

I rose with him, flapping hard. He was badly wounded, and as his lifeblood slipped from him, I had little doubt that he would soon turn to finish this. Traitor he may be, but he was also Dragon.

He rose into the clouds, and vanished.

I went in after him.

When his talons came at me, I was ready. We were both trained by the Legion, but I had years of experience on him. All the tricks were now nearly instinctual.

That one wasn't creative in the least.

He grabbed for my wings. They were the most vulnerable part of me, and he intended to shred them. But I twisted my body and brought my powerful hind legs up and around. My talons ripped through his belly scales and almost finished what the sword had started.

When he flung his head back and screamed, I sank my teeth into his throat.

The scales there were thick, but not thick enough. My teeth penetrated partway, and hesitated. Waiting to see if he'd yield.

"I will kill you," he snarled, his voice strangled by my jaws. His foretalons pricked my shoulders, and he tried to use his hinds on me.

So I closed my jaws, spread my wings, and shook him.

The snap of his neck echoed through the clouds, and I released his body.

Riggs! Where are you? Breana sounded even more frantic.

Energy tickled across my skin as a Dragon dropped from the swirling vapor above. I caught the barest glimpse of a thin figure with flying white hair—and a crimson bolt shot straight at me.

It was too close to duck, but as Breana screamed through my brain, Tez sent a wild pulse from the sword. Caliel grabbed it and flung it at me along with a burst of his talent…

Just as the bolt hit me squarely in the head, and everything went black.