Chapter 18

T he metallic ringing of sword against rapier echoed through Liana’s dream, morphing into the insistent bell clanging.

She jolted awake, tawny wings flaring, her heart pounding. Disoriented in the predawn darkness, she reached for the dagger she always kept under her pillow.

Footsteps pounded down the palace hallway, growing louder.

Liana sprung from her bed just as her chamber door burst open.

Ja’Kan strode in, his typically somber face now stricken, wild-eyed.

‘Your Majesty! The K?str?ls have attacked KySyene on our eastern border. It’s a massacre! We must go now.’

His words tumbled in a breathless rush as Liana tugged on a robe.

‘Sheka, a lieutenant of your army, was sent by General RyKin,’ Ja’Kan went on. ‘He waits for you in the front courtyard to escort you to the battlefield.’

‘Not before I speak to the council. Summon them, please,’ Liana commanded, her voice ringing with authority.

As Ja’Kan hurried away to carry out her orders, Liana turned to face the window, her gaze drawn to the distant horizon.

She imagined the smoke rising from the burning villages and the screams of her people as they fled ahead of the K?str?l horde.

With a hiss, tears misting her eyes, Liana dressed in minutes. She grabbed hold of the crimson and gold armor of the Ilkan Army and her sāb?r swords and strode out of her room and to the courtyard.

She found the Ilkan warrior swaying in the wind from exhaustion, his black-streaked rachís disheveled. Blood trickled from a gash on his brow.

Icy dread wrapped around Liana’s heart. ‘Sheka? Sante for coming.’

He bowed deep, falling to one knee.

‘Do you need medical help?’ she asked, her gaze flicking over his injuries.

He shook his head, ‘I will survive. The war is more important.’

She tugged on her armor. ‘How many warriors have invaded us?’

‘Over two thousand wings. They surprised the border sentries at dawn.’ Sheka helped buckle her weapon’s sheath onto her waist. ‘The garrison is overwhelmed.’

‘How bad is it?’ she asked.

‘KaKos leads the hordes,’ the messenger replied, his voice trembling. ‘They have already laid waste to several kíjís along the way, leaving nothing but ashes in their wake. The eastern guards are fierce fighters, but the K?str?ls had them outmatched in weapons and armor.’

Liana’s hands curled into fists at her sides, anger burning hot in her veins.

‘With me, soldier,’ she barked.

With a flare of crimson wings, Liana turned away from him, her steps angry and jerked as she strode towards the council chambers.

The time for talk was over. The time for action had come.

As she sprinted down the torch-lit corridors, with Sheka and her Shadowing guards, K’Uru and K’Otona, on her heels, Liana said a silent prayer.

Let me reach my soldiers in time. This cannot be the day the Ilkan fall s.

She walked into the council chamber to find some of its half-sleepy members present, others rushing in, still pulling on robes and shoes.

In moments, they’d settled, gazing at her.

Liana stepped before them, arms crossed over her chest. ‘Council! The K?str?ls are at our door to the east, seeking to grind us into dust. They think us weak, ready to bend the knee. But they are wrong!’

A few murmurs rose from the host.

Liana ignored the whispers, her tone gaining intensity.

‘We are Ilkan! The blood of brave Kwen?s flows in our veins, an unbroken line of courage and resilience. Our ancestors built this city from nothing, carved out a home in the harsh wilds. We have held strong for generations and will not fall now!’

More voices joined the chorus of support. Liana raised a fist to the ceiling.

‘I, Your Kwen? , give you my word - we will not surrender! We will not flee! We will stand, and we will fight! And we will show the K?str?ls the true strength of Ilkan!’

The Council erupted in claps.

‘KaKos has chosen the wrong enemy to cross. The Ilki will not tumble to his treachery. Not while I still draw breath. Do I have the council’s permission to summon the Crimson Guard and every soldier in the Ilkanisa and surrounds of the palace to defend our people?’

All members stood as one and gave Liana a sharp bow.

‘ Sante .’

She turned back to Sheka, adrenaline surging through her veins, pushing back her fear. ‘We fly for KySyene. Before we leave, muster the army. Shore up the defenses. We’ll hit them with everything we have. Ilkan will not fall, not on my watch.’

The flight to KySyene was a blur.

As Liana, accompanied by Sheka, Ja’Kan, her Silkanth sentinel guards, and a cordon of Ilkan’s finest warriors, drew closer, it became a nightmare of smoke and screams.

The once-vibrant border city was awash in blood and flames.

Mid-air, Sheka turned to her, his dark eyes plaintive. ‘What are your orders, my lady? The forces await your command. But the K?str?ls outnumber us three to one. RyKin is flailing.’

‘I’ll lead the incursion, stay close.’

Liana soared past KySene’s walls, her eyes fixed on the plumes of black soot that drifted into the pale blue sky. Flashes of distant fires and explosions lit the edge of the urban area.

Liana spotted the milling K?str?l forces and dove, her guards fanning out behind her like the wings of an avenging angel.

Liana’s crimson rachís surged as she took off towards the haze staining the horizon, and the drums of war echoed in the distance.

It would be a battle for survival, a dire stand against a ruthless foe. But Ilkan would rise to meet it. She would fly into its headwinds to face it.

Drawing her sāb?r midair, Liana raised it high, a blazing symbol of Ilkan’s enduring resilience. The roar of Sheka’s squadron, who flanked her, rose with her, and they swept into combat in force.

Into a sky-borne killing field where the K?str?ls had downed thousands of her Ilki warriors.

She raced past her fellow Ilkan warriors, fleeing in a desperate aerial retreat, many trailing blood from terrible wounds.

A keening cry drew her gaze to an Ilki warrior standing alone against a swarm of K?str?l soldiers. His wings flared, curved sword flashing.

He fought with the ferocious elegance of a falcon, downing foe after foe, but they just kept coming.

Liana leaped skyward, her mighty rachís propelling her across the battlefield.

Her guards closed rank behind her, a deadly black, gold, and silver arrowhead. As she closed in, the lone Ilki soldier fell to his knees, a K?str?l blade buried in his back.

Grief and rage ignited in Liana’s veins.

She slammed into the K?str?l soldiers, swinging her twin swords in a whirlwind of steely death. Her squad crashed a heartbeat later, scattering the enemy like frightened prey.

Liana banked her wings as the K?str?l squad fled.

She raced to the fallen warrior and knelt beside him, cradling his chest.

His faltering body trembled as his dimming eyes met hers, bright with pride and agony. ‘My Kwen? .’

‘Shh, brave one. Save your strength.’

Tears blurred her vision as his blood painted her fingers. ‘You fought with honor and courage.’

He shuddered, breath rattling in his chest. ‘For Ilkan, my Kwen? . For you.’

His eyes flared, and he went still in her arms.

She hissed as she eased the combatant to the ground and shut his vacant eyes.

Liana bowed her head, shoulders shaking. So many lives lost and more hanging in the balance.

Surging to her feet, she fixed Sheka, who hovered over her with a molten gaze. ‘Until all my kemí is sucked from me,’ she spat.

With a howl of outrage, she leaped into the air and the fray once more.

The Ilkanite lines were faltering, and she snarled as they crumbled before the relentless onslaught of the K?str?l forces.

Crimson flames exploded across the battlefield as Liana channeled her kríffin power, hurling searing lightning bolts at the K?str?l warriors.

Calling on her by phoenix potency and utilizing all she’d learned from Kaxim, her curved scarlet sāb?rs sliced through the atmosphere, leaving trails of smoldering embers in their wake.

She whirled, unleashing a vermilion wave of kríffin high voltage arcs, striking without mercy.

The K?str?ls screeched in agony, their feathers ablaze by Liana’s constant assault.

Her onslaught began to pay off as the enemy fell in droves.

‘Press forward!’ Liana commanded, her voice resonating above the clash of blade against talon. ‘Drive them back!’

The Ilki surged ahead at her call, encouraged by their queen’s incredible display of power.

Liana spun and pivoted. Her sāb?rs an extension of her body as she carved a path through her adversary’s formations, using lightning bolts to sear, slice, and eviscerate.

The stench of charred flesh stung her nostrils as screams and howls filled the air.

At last, the K?str?ls broke ranks and fled, disappearing into the smoke-stained sky.

Liana landed among the battered remnants of her army, her chest heaving.

They had survived this clash, but only just by a feather.

They still had a war to win.

As the adrenaline ebbed, grim reality set in.

It’d been a hard-won victory.

Fallen Ilki soldiers littered the blood-soaked terrain, their vacant eyes staring up at the cruel sun. Those still standing drooped with exhaustion, many nursing grievous wounds.

In the distance, medics struggled to help the injured. Supplies had been lost in the chaos - food stores burned, water tanks punctured and drained.

Liana’s heart seized at the sight of her soldiers, their wings stained crimson, plummeting from the heavens.

The cries of the wounded and dying shattered the air.

That was when Sheka fluttered to the surface beside Liana.

‘ Kwen? , this was just one front we were fighting.’

Dread went through her. ‘There’s more?’

‘ Naam , by the gods,’ Sheka breathed, his voice cracking. ‘The K?str?ls have pushed through the garrison’s defenses at KySyene. KaKos himself leads the incursion to try and take the metropolis.’

Liana fought down the bile rising in her throat as she rose once more.

In minutes, they were back to the legendary border city’s fortification.

The smoke-choked sky churned with winged bodies locked in bloody combat in the vast plains outside the ramparts.

Everywhere she turned, corpses littered the cobblestone streets - warriors, mothers, children.

‘Locate General RyKin and tell him to pull our forces back to the walls. He needs to regroup and fortify our defenses.’

She spun to face the burning metropolis, wings fluttering in hover. ‘I will find KaKos on the battlefield and end this. One way or another.’

Sheka nodded. ‘As you command, my Kwen? .’

Launching into the air, Liana raced towards the distant enemy lines.

Followed closely by her Shadowing guards.

She slammed into the K?str?l rear guard, scattering soldiers like ninepins.

Her sentinels’ blades cut through any attacks to her left and right, allowing her to focus on her frontal assault.

Liana roared as her swords carved a bloody path through the enemy ranks, reveling in their terror.

Let them suck on the fear her people had felt and quail before the fury of her kríffin rage.