Chapter 78

Icharged along the outer edges of the battlefield, my axe swinging wildly, the burn in my arm intense with the fury of my blows as blood spilled and Fae screamed when they met with the blunt force of my rage.

At my back, a squad of Tiberian Rats fought to stem the tide of enemy Fae who lunged for us, keeping them occupied so I could carve my path onwards.

I wouldn't shift. Not yet. I knew my father too well for that and I wouldn't present myself as an open target for him to aim his Bonded Dragons towards.

I was going to be the hunter in this game we were playing, and he would be forced out of his hole to face me. This time wouldn't end the way it had before. There would be no tricks or bad luck to thwart me. I had spent every spare moment training for this, aching for it, desperate to see an end to his tyranny and most of all, desperate to sever any lasting tie I had to him and his name.

Lionel Acrux would look me in the eye and see his death had come calling for him. When I threw him to the mercy of the ghosts beyond The Veil, I knew they would make him suffer in endless torment for all he had caused in this life.

My axe collided with a heavy sword, and I was forced to twist beneath the guard of the Fae who had come for me, the big bastard grinning as he brought a second sword around in anticipation of my move.

I ducked, ice splintering from my free hand, a thousand barbed needles shooting for his side and making him bellow as they sank through any tiny hole they could locate in his armour to pierce his skin.

I turned again, bringing my axe with me and the sound of metal ringing against metal cut through the screams of endless battle as our weapons met and slid along each other.

I kicked out, my boot colliding with the centre of his chest plate, right in the face of the smug-looking green Dragon emblazoned there. As he stumbled back, I scored my axe through the air, splitting his throat wide open.

Blood sprayed and my pulse thrashed wildly, but I was already turning away, charging towards a pair of men far smaller in stature than myself and throwing my shoulders into their chests in a tackle. Their weapons didn't even come close to me as they swung with wild terror, and the warriors at my back descended on them where they fell.

I ran on, a path of Dragon fire carved out before me as I unleashed my power, the gold of my own armour replenishing my magic with every passing moment.

The enemy army spread out around me like a sea of ruinous carnage, the ranks to the rear clamouring to get closer, held back by the clash of the front line ahead of them.

A Nymph lunged suddenly from my right, shifting at the sight of me and revealing itself among the masses of its army, sharp probes slashing out furiously.

I swung my axe for the beast, ducking the blow and severing a single probe which fell to the frozen ground between us with a thump.

Blood splattered the surrounding warriors, marring their silver armour, staining that green Dragon and making me grin as I beckoned the Nymph closer.

The Nymph lunged for me again, its rattle pouring from it in a potent echo which buckled the knees of all the Fae who surrounded us on my father's side of this war. But not me and not the violent bastards who fought at my back.

I swung my axe with a savage swipe, the effects of the Nox pollen making my skin tingle as it blocked the power of the Nymph and the creature's eyes widened in horror as it realised its mistake. It had assumed I would falter too, assumed my warriors would crumple like those on its side of this fight had done. So instead of taking advantage of a disoriented, weakened man, falling prey to its power, it found itself with my axe buried in its chest and a bellow of victory rising from all around.

My warriors took full advantage of the weakened Fae before them, using the power of the Nymph's rattle to carve through all those who had fallen prey to it with brutal efficiency.

The Nymph toppled before me and I wrenched my axe free, using its huge body as a launch pad as I leapt onto its back and took a running jump at the rocky side of the mountain that loomed up to my left.

I threw ice into the side of the rockface, creating footholds for me to land on and racing up them until I was high enough to get a view over the army.

The front ranks were buckling, the line which had started off so straight now warped and jagged, dips and curves forming where both sides had fought through or crumpled under the pressure of the opposition.

I gritted my teeth at the sight, unable to discern an obvious answer to which way this battle was going among the chaos, but as the sky split with the roars of a hundred Dragons, I couldn't help but turn my gaze to the distant castle of jade. I blinked at the figures pouring from every window, tower, and turret of the imposing building, the rippling movement and slight shifts in colour against the sky the only way of picking out each of the beastly forms of the concealed Dragons that were racing through the sky towards our army.

"Shield!" I bellowed, my command carried back down the ranks, though I doubted it would be necessary; no one could have missed the sound of those Dragons joining the battle.

The urge to shift and meet the first of them in the sky made my limbs tremble, the Dragon within me stirring, baring its teeth and releasing a low growl. I was far bigger and stronger than any one of those bastards who were tearing through the air, but despite the urge to prove that writhing through me, I could see the challenge for what it was. Father wanted to lure me out. But I wasn't dancing to his tune today.

I forced my eyes from the cloud of scales and teeth which thundered towards our army, my father's Bonded Dragons rushing into the fight like harbingers of certain death. I had to trust in our army's plans for them and focus on my own mission.

I broke into a run, the warriors who had accompanied me this far scrambling to follow me while the enemy engaged them, but I couldn't wait, I needed to end this quickly if I could. Numbers weren't on our side and the sharp truth of that reality would quickly set in if we didn't enact all of our most cunning plans fast.

The mountain became too steep for even my spears of ice to find purchase, and I swung my axe overhead as I was forced to leap from it back into the wild fray of the enemy army. I shot a blast of potent fire magic into the enemy ranks ahead of me, Fae frantically shielding and leaping aside, though I felt the heady rush of more death as some of them succumbed to the blast of my attack.

Fire sprung up around me as I landed and ducked my head low, running flat out, my shoulders slamming into countless Fae, knocking them aside while I cast spears of ice ahead to forge a path.

The element of surprise and my overwhelming use of brute force bought me at least a hundred feet before they managed to form a line and stop me, pushing me into combat, the ring of metal against my axe a heady rush.

I fell into the pounding rhythm of it, the duck and sway, slash and blast. Magic ricocheted off of the shield of ice which I threw up to guard me from all sides apart from the front, the power of it too strong for any of them to penetrate, forcing them to bottleneck before me and wait for their turn to die.

I revelled in the beauty of my armour, the weightless, supple brilliance of it and the warmth of the flames which sang within the metal, such a priceless, stunning thing wrought only of Phoenix magic. The value of it was half of its magnificence, my constant contact with the immensely valuable treasure meaning no matter how much magic I threw at my enemies, I barely even noticed the lag. I was replenishing faster than I would have managed spread flat on a mound of treasure and I murmured praises to my beautiful, magnificent wife between ferocious slashes of my axe.

An echoing boom stole my attention for a brief moment and a lucky asshole got beneath my guard, his sword clanging off of my armour which saved me from death, but he managed to slice beneath my arm where the metal joined.

I roared in fury, blasting him with such powerful fire magic that nothing but soot remained where he had stood grinning in false triumph, and I let my shield close around me entirely. But not before I raised my eyes over the swarming masses of my father's army and took in the war machines which had appeared as if from nowhere, the magic which had been cloaking them clearly no longer needed as they blasted devastation back towards the rebel forces. Towers forged from wood and stone with catapults and cannons bolted to their sides, primed with magic from those who stood shielded within them.

Swords and axes clashed and chopped against the ice of my shield as countless warriors closed in all around me, fighting to reach me and use those same weapons to hack me apart.

I slapped my hand to the bleeding wound beneath my arm, ignoring the burn of pain as I healed it, my mind whirling with what I had to do.

My part in the fight was clear; I had to get to my father, I had to kill him and end this before time could force this battle on and his superior numbers could come into full effect against us. But those towers changed things. They could change the course of this battle long before I ever broke through their lines to hunt him down. They had to be stopped.

I gritted my teeth, summoning water magic to pool in anticipation beneath my feet before using it to hurtle me skyward, only letting the shield break apart once I was certain I was too high for even their arrows to find.

My gaze fell on the wooden tower of war which had appeared ahead of me, dread pooling in my gut as I counted six more, each equipped with a catapult on its rear and an enormous cannon at the front of it, primed with raw magic from the bastards hiding within its hulking shell.

A boom made my heart jolt, the closest war machine rocking wildly as a blast of potent power exploded from the gun, arcing across the sky then slamming down into our army. They shielded but it wasn't enough, and horror spilled though me at the mass of smoking, ruined ground which was left in the wake of the strike, no bodies remaining where it had hit at all.

Father was going to have to wait. I had a new target to destroy.