“Nothing is good about this morning,” the Chancellor hissed. “Can’t you see that war dawns on Sol?”
A great whistling noise flooded over the High Heat like the wave of the Great Drowning, suffocating the shrieks of the Skyriders. We all looked to the army on the distant hill, and watched as blue and pink light began to build behind the glint of the strange metal instrument beyond. The whistling came to a crescendo, and from out of the lens exploded a beam of blue and pink light. It struck the shield of Sol with such force the entire city rocked like its foundation was made of water. Brilliant green cracks shot over the shield in a thousand fault lines, their hues washing the city below in deathly greens. The beam from the lens dissipated, and in the silence it left, Sol’s eyes were to the shield above.
“Triplets save us,” the Chancellor whispered.
We waited, breath held. A sound like shattering glass riddled the air above the city, and in moments, the massive cracks that had snaked through the shield gave way. The barrier fell away in tiny green pieces, dissolving on their way down. There was silence from everyone: the Chancellor, Illindria, the Guardians, even the troops congregated at the front gates.
The shield of Sol had been destroyed.
A roar hailed from the troops on the hill, and with a knot in my stomach, I watched as they spilled over the sands of the High Heat. The soldiers of Sol replied with just as mighty a roar and advanced. Thunder called under their footsteps, while the turbines atop the Solian walls let loose their beams of screaming turquoise light. When the two lines met just outside the gates, the clang of swords and hail of fire sang through the desert air.
K’thas walked to the edge of the tower and peered hungrily out at the violent scene. “The sound of death upon the battlefield,” he said. “It’s like a symphony to my ears.”
And with that, he leapt off the Serpent’s Spine, landing on the ramp to the inner city before charging into battle after the soldiers of Sol.
The Chancellor placed his pinkies to his mouth and whistled. In moments, the sound of heavy wing beats roared in my ears, and a massive Skyrider rose before the Serpent’s Spine. The Chancellor climbed onto its empty saddle.
He looked down at us with bared teeth. “Sol will not fall today. Not to these gods.” And with a yank of his reins, the Skyrider leapt off the tower and swept towards the battle.
“Spike, Lillian!” Illindria called from behind. Her face was solemn, but not worried. “Your city needs you,” she said. “Go and aid its troops.”
“It’d be our pleasure, Mother,” said Solara with a bow.
They turned to the fight. Solara spun in place, her skin exploding into a hurricane of locusts. The insects hissed and screamed, darting toward the battle at once. Meanwhile, Spike stomped his foot and rocketed toward the battle atop a rock he stole yet again from the tower roof.
I turned to Mearic and grabbed him by the arms. “Listen to me,” I said, “I’ll defend the tower as best I can, but if things get out of hand, you must take shelter behind Illindria. Once the Throne is complete, she’ll have more than enough power to protect you and the city.”
“No, you can’t go!” said Mearic, his big, dark eyes pleading me to stay.
“He’s right,” came Illindria’s voice, lips pursed beneath her veil as she stood before her nearly completed Throne. “You’ll stay here and protect me and my Throne.” She regarded Mearic with a feigned smile. “And the Chancellor’s son, of course.”
I looked to Mearic, so troubled by his worried face. “Yes, Lady Illindria. As you say.”
The lift rushed up at our side, and from off of it stepped yet another mason. He walked toward the Throne and placed the second-to-last brick upon the back of it. The brick unified with all the others, leaving no lines.
A tiny hand slipped into mine, and without even looking, I knew it to be Thornikus’s.
“Only one stone remains,” he said. “One stone, and the first step in the plan is complete.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE HAND OF THE MOON
I stood atop the desert hill, recovering from the beam I’d summoned, watching below as war gave birth to battle.
The sound of it was something I knew I would never forget: the screams of men and elves and giants before their metal clashed; the whistling of the turbines on the wall before their beams of light tore mercilessly through the crowd; the rumbling of giant footsteps and those of the strange Solian creatures with turbines on their back.
As the soldiers continued to charge past me, flowing down the hill like an ungodly flood, I saw the twinkle of Oceanus’s gold armor below. She had been the first to meet the army of Sol, her rings of water morphed into mighty whips so powerful it was as though they were made of rock and sand. She flung the soldiers left and right, while narrowly avoiding the beams of their guns and those of the overhead turbines. With a single breath, a wave of water rose under her feet. She heaved forward, riding the twenty-foot wave of sparkling, thundering water into Sol’s gates, barreling through the soldiers emptying out of them.
The last of the Illyrian soldiers charged past me, and I rose to the call of their steps. It was time. With a bend of my knees and a gathering of energy in my legs, I bounded upward from the sand, sailing over the army below before landing nimbly on the other side of the Solian wall.
Four soldiers advanced at once, aiming their miniature cannons at me, the mouths of the weapons glowing with what I knew to be the Scepter’s Light. But before they could fire, I swept my hand through the air and an arc of kinetic energy launched them into the next five lines of soldiers behind them.
To my right, I kneed a soldier into five others. To my left, I spun through the air and sent a punch of energy into a green, wide-headed creature. Winged lizards with dusty, orange scales unleashed blue fire from above, the screams of distant, burning men sending chills up my elven spine. K’thas stood as tall as two giants in the distance, pummeling his enemies with his mighty fists as the souls around his ribcage separated from him to suck the life from them.
My sensitive feet picked up on every advancing footstep, my movements responding with more waves of buzzing energy. My ears remained on high alert, hearing every crash of sword upon spear, the firing of those strange turbines, every watery blast from Oceanus and fiery explosion from Theo. There was nothing I didn’t hear, and when the nearby thunder of footsteps called for my attention, I turned to find one of the green-scaled monsters that sat low to the ground. The turbines of the cannon on its back had already begun to scream and glow an eerie blue, and in only a second, a stream of light exploded out of its mouth. I raised my hand, a shield of sparkling, silver energy rising before me and absorbing the blast only inches from my hand. The beam continued to scream, however, forcing me backward a whole ten yards, my heels dug into the sand and rock of the Orchards as it did. But then came another shriek. I glanced to my right, and there, atop Sol’s outer wall, was another cannon firing a second beam.
I raised the only hand I had left, a second shield appearing to absorb the damage. But quickly the pressure of taking the blows began to build in my arms. The blood pumped furiously through my muscles, and as I struggled to fight the pain, I watched as the veins beneath my skin bulged beyond what any veins should do.
The earth quaked exactly twenty-three feet northwest of my direction, and my eyes quickly fell on the glimmering crystals of a frost giant. It came charging toward the green-scaled creature, shrieking. It opened its great jaws of sharpened ice, and from out of its mouth spread a wind of hissing rain, freezing the beast upon contact. The turbine slowed to a halt, and when the light diminished, I finally leapt out of the way of the other one. The cannon’s beam scorched the earth as it struck. I pressed my finger to the Eternity Diamond sewn to the skin of my forehead and struck the mouth of the cannon with a massive explosion that rocked the battlefield.
I caught the sound of leather wings beating through the air above, and descending upon me was one of the winged lizards. I
ts shadow cast darkness upon me as the rider pulled on the reins and from out of its mouth poured a river of blue fire. But before it could reach me, Theo had flipped through the air and grasped the flames as only a Sun Guardian could. He landed in front of me, sweeping the fires into a barreling, searing wave that rolled into a line of soldiers before us.
He nodded at me, and I to him.
I rushed through the crowd then, stepped onto the back of the ice giant that had saved me, and leapt high into the air. I sailed for what seemed like minutes, until the winged lizard I had been aiming for was in arm’s reach. I grabbed it by the end of its rough, swinging tail and pulled down with all the might in my arms. It slammed to the earth in a rush of dust. And while the rider tried his hardest to unbuckle himself from his saddle, I shot him in the chest with a quick beam of light from my Diamond. Unconscious.
The sound of a million beating insect wings struck me then, and from atop the lizard’s slain body, I watched Solara’s swarm of locusts fly down from the skies above. Her upper body melted out of the swarm as she cut through the crowd, slicing through soldiers with her arms morphed into black, glistening insect blades.
A great roaring came next, and I zoomed in on Spike as he leapt from a hovering rock and landed upon the Orchards yards away. His fists connected with the earth, sending a wave of sand and rock outward in front of him. The ground shook violently beneath me, but I held my hand up and the cloud of earth barreling my way passed by me without incident.
But there came a rumbling at my feet and before I knew it, Spike had launched out of the sands before me, grabbed me by the throat and pinned me against the wall of Sol a hundred feet behind me. My head struck the stone so hard my vision had blurred, Spike’s hand throttling my throat. I could hardly even make out his snarl.
He raised his other hand to me and a shard of jagged glass grew from his fingertip, shimmering as it met gingerly with the skin of my cheek.
“You’re prettier than I remember,” he said, smiling venomously as the glass continued to grow. “Shame about what I have to do to your face.”
A crack of thunder boomed in the distance, and past Spike’s thick head, my eyes narrowed in on Ion hovering above the tower of Sol. His eyes were coal black, washed in darkness, and his arms were out to the skies. Above the tower, a squall of clouds rotated. Light flashed within, thunder soon after. Spike looked back too, though his glass-tipped finger was still pressed to my cheek. In a flash I almost missed, the clouds rolled outward, eclipsing the battlefield in darkness.
In awe, Spike and I and the rest of those battling watched the skies. No, Ion, I thought. Don’t. Please don’t.
Silence came.
The skin of Ion’s arms began to tighten in a sickening fashion, the bones of his hands clearly visible now. It was as though he was dying before my eyes. And then, he threw his fist down through the air, again and again, faster than I had seen an arm move. And a hundred bolts of white lightning reined down from above. They swept through the Orchards, striking anything and everything in their way, sending concussive waves of thunder in every direction. It was louder than regular thunder. So loud it shook me down to my bones and struck fear in my heart.
And as soldier after soldier and giant after giant was struck down, all I could think was: Ion, what have you done?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE THUNDER LORD
I hovered above the tower, winds coiled around my legs and waist, supporting me as I shifted and changed the weather.
The clouds I’d summoned weighed so heavily upon my shoulders it felt like my bones were seconds away from breaking. But I gritted my teeth and resisted the pain, punching downward through the air, each flying fist calling down a bolt of lightning upon the soldiers of Illyria.
I felt the vengeance burning in my chest with each concussive blast of thunder, each volley of lightning that flew down from my clouds.
But even through the claps of thunder and the roar of the battling armies below, I still heard the lift rush up below me. I ceased my assault on the battlefield, and with a sway of my wrist, the winds spun me around until I was watching another mason approach the Throne.
“The final brick,” I said aloud, breathless.
He hobbled past Mearic, past an anxious Illindria, and as the symphony of war played in my ears, the mason lifted the stone above his head and slid it on the top of the Throne. The brick sealed itself with its brothers and sisters, and at once there were no lines to speak of, a shockwave of energy resounded out of the chair, rattling the tower.
It buzzed with energy and glowed a deep red there, beneath the light of the Scepter hovering in the Serpent’s mouth. It brought the hairs on my arms to attention and whispered unintelligible words into my ears, calling me to it. It was the sweetest thing I’d heard, felt, seen. But while I resisted, Illindria did not, her approaching steps cautious, anxious.
The mason quietly returned to the lift, and when he’d disappeared beneath the top floor, Illindria laid the first hand upon the arm of her Throne.
“It’s...it’s complete,” she whispered, tracing her fingers longingly over its arms. The sounds of war seemed to fade now, taking a back seat to the gentle buzz of the Throne.
“And it’s yours,” I said. “All yours. A new Throne for a new pantheon.”
She looked up at me with a smile. “Oh, how right you are, Thunder Lord. Now, let us call forth the powers not yet claimed by the Thrones of this world, and see how Illyria fares against the new Supreme Empress of the Endari.”
She walked around to the front, closed her eyes, and with a deep breath...she sat. A rumbling washed over the Serpent’s Spine, and when Illindria opened her eyes, they were a solid, milky white.
“I, Lady Illindria, Supreme Empress of the Endari, call upon the unclaimed elements of this world,” she said, her voice booming outward in three tones. “This Throne I hereby claim in the name of the Many Plagues!”
The whispers from the Throne grew louder, while Mearic took several nervous steps back. From out the top of the Throne grew ten red branches, barren and leafless as they melted out of the crimson stone. More branches sprouted out of the arms, and ran over the seat beneath the goddess, each as dead as the last.
But as soon as the Throne had been veiled in branches, Illindria’s expression became worried. She grasped her throat and began to cough, stumbling up from her seat. I descended to the tower and ran to her aid to hold her up. But when I touched her, my hands itched wildly and I recoiled. Reluctantly, I looked down at my palms, and watched in horror as maggots wormed their way out of my skin. I shook them off as quick as I could, feeling sick to my stomach.
Illindria had fallen to the floor. She hacked and wheezed until the veil fell from her mouth and one of her coughs was followed by the buzzing of insect wings. The last of the maggots fell from my hands, and I walked around her hesitantly. She stood. I gasped. Her skin was blued as though she’d been suffocated to death. And all around her full cheeks and cracked gray lips swarmed a hundred flies.
She threw her arms forward and the skin of her back began to writhe, the muscles below undulating until six arms exploded out of her, ripping through her dress. She threw her head to the sky and roared in pain. The air filled with the sounds of cracking bones as Illindria’s began to break, lengthen, and heal. She grew taller and wider, her toes and feet stretching across the top of the tower. Her bones ceased their breaking and popping...and she was fifty feet tall.
The pain had seemed to stop and she bared her teeth at the battle being waged below. Flies still buzzed around her mouth, clinging to her cheeks and lips. Her new arms argued with one another behind her. Her eyes were still a cold white, her skin a sick blue.
“Illyria’s reign,” she growled, “ends NOW.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE HAND OF THE MOON
Rain pelted my face like a flood of tiny stones.
Spike’s glass-tipped finger still pressed against my cheek, his mad grin now even
madder. One wrong move and I would have glass in places no being should.
“I suppose we should get this over with, then,” said Spike.
But over the thunder of Ion’s storm, there came a crash of water. His face went wide with shock, though he did not move. Could not move.
“Funny,” I said as he stared aghast, ice creeping over his shoulders and down his arms. “You seem just as stupid as when I last saw you.”
The frost snaked down his hands, locking him in place. And when the sheet of ice swept over his cheeks and mouth, I tugged myself out of his grip and found Oceanus standing behind him. Her finger was pushed hard into his back, her nostrils flared, her eyes calm.
“Thank you, General,” I said with a nod.
She withdrew her finger, Spike now frozen where he stood. We turned and brought our eyes to the fifty-foot-tall monster standing atop the tower of Sol.
“Your thanks are not needed so long as you help me take that thing down,” she said dryly, refusing to look me in the eye.
Illindria leapt down from the tower, and landed upon the ramp to the inner city with a thunderous boom. She was as monstrous as they came, standing tall with her arms and legs and torso shielded by thick, gnarled branches attached by veins of black vines. She stomped toward the battle, each step sending a tremor through the Orchards. Her jaw unhinged, and swept her head from side to side. A river of green, sizzling gas and buzzing flies flooded through the ranks of soldiers before her. Their weapons fell from their hands in an instant, their skin aging a hundred years in seconds before they too fell to the floor.
Dead.
Oceanus stepped forward, her snarl even more sinister than before. “Soldiers of Illyria!” she cried, her voice reaching to the furthest ends of Sol. “Direct all weapons upon that monster! See to her death before she sees to yours!”
What soldiers were close enough to Illindria aimed their sizzling spears at the beast. They fired bolts of electricity at her, but the beams snapped against her earthen flesh with no effect. With one swoop of her many monstrous arms, Illindria flung the soldiers across the battlefield.