Chapter Thirty Two
“My book!” Dreyden ranted, as he stalked towards them, reaching out for Kevan. Taking a step back, she grabbed onto the threads of power, and sent it hurling at him. He batted it aside, as if it was nothing, all the while laughing at her. “Not good enough little girl,” he growled, twisting his hand.
Kevan gasped, her body compressing itself, as the feeling of having the shit squeezed out of her popped into her head, clawing at her neck as her struggled to draw breathe into her starving lungs. Dreyden raised his arm, and Kevan squealed as she felt herself lifted off the ground, then tossed across the cavern. Kevan landed with thud, rolling dazed and bruised, but still alert enough to hear the scream across the chamber.
“Kevan!” Kaitlyn felt a rush unlike anything she had ever felt before. It was as if a blockage that had been there had been suddenly removed, and now that empty spot was sucking in power, and she didn’t know what to do with it. In her head, she pictured a rope, and the whirling mists of power whipped around, and she could feel it in her hand. Using it like a whip, she flicked her wrist, sending it flying towards Dreyden, hoping to catch him off guard, screaming when he grabbed at the whip, yanked her towards him.
“Oh children, you have no idea whom you are up against!” he roared, then his voice dropped, he stepped back, and they watched in horror as his body begin to change. Using his hand, he back handed Kaitlyn, sending her in the opposite direction from Kevan, she bounced off the floor, and then lay silent, and still. She was nothing to him, a fly on the wall.
Marcus pulled his sword, letting out a battle cry, and he ran at the mutating body. Dreyden spun around, facing the attacking Marcus, and he flicked his hand. Marcus slammed into a wall, and then was sent flying in the same direction that Kaitlyn had been tossed.
Black what appeared to be ink bleed through his skin, flowing over Dreyden’s body forming sigils and symbols, as the dark magic that he had been playing with for so many years manifested itself on him. They watched as he began to rise off the ground and move towards Leila who had been frozen, watching the attack on her friends.
“I want my book,” he growled, his deepening voice sounded more and more like an animal, as he continued his transformation.
Joseph staggered to his feet, watching as the dark magic consumed all that was cairbare, leaving only a shell with which to hold the magic that he had stolen. Dreyden couldn’t be allowed have the grimoire. The horror that he was now would destroy the worlds without a backwards glance. Stalking closer to Wren, Ronan and Leila, Dreyden pinned them with his eyes. Joseph had to get around and confront him, hoping the obsession over the book would keep Dreyden unaware of Joseph’s movement.
“Which one of you has what belongs to me?” he hissed, his eyes pausing on each one, as if he could read them, before he came back to Leila. “Well, well, if it isn’t the missing claviger,” he snarled at her. “Never thought we’d see the likes of you again; too bad you had to pick the wrong time to surface. Now give me back what is mine.”
Leila stood up straight, and stared at the thing that was Dreyden. “No!”
An evil leer waxed across his face; he was going to enjoy this. “You aren’t capable of taking me on, little girl.” Curling his lips, he stared at her with disgust.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Leila told him, as she moved away from the others, giving herself a clear area to work. His laughter swirled around them, like a snake looking to strike. “I am a great sorcerer, and you think that you can take me on?” he spat. “You are nothing but an obstacle to be removed.”
“You can try, but you won’t succeed,” she taunted him.
“Who do you think you are?” he roared.
“I am the one who controls the grimoire,” she informed him. His eyes flared, as his hands curled into to fists at his side.
“It belongs to me.”
“So come and get it. I dare you,” she mocked him.
Kevan staggered to her feet, her entire body aching, as she tried to focus enough so as to try and help Leila, but it was hard when everything was doubled up, including Kira, as she buzzed around her head.
“Kira, find some place safe and hide,” Kevan hissed in warning, as her body swayed while she tried to grab onto power, but it kept slipping away like a piece of limp spaghetti. Looking around for anything that she could use as a weapon, she spotted Marcus carrying the unconscious Kaitlyn towards her. Joseph moved to get around Dreyden without him knowing. Then she saw something that almost stopped her heart. “Kira” she cried out, but the little Fay wasn’t listening, too intent on Leila and Dreyden.
Dreyden screamed in frustration when he attempted to shimmer, and he didn’t go anywhere.
Leila smiled, and laughed at him. “Oh, the big bad man can’t handle little old me?” Leila taunted.
He bellowed in anger, grabbing at the rocks still scattered around, and throwing them at Leila. He panted with excitement, wanting to see them rip into her body, and watch her bleed.
Leila slammed her hands up, stopping them and sending them back at him. He hissed in anger, as they ripped through him, leaving him bloody.
“You’ll pay for that,” he threatened, as he pulled up magic from deep within, tapping into the power of the ley line, feeding his surging magic into it. He was harnessing the power of old that he had stolen over the years. His anger fuelled him, they could feel it, as the entire mountain began to shake, and he poured more and more power, and magic, into the swollen ley line.
Leila closed her eyes, as she heard the words. Thousands of years of knowledge and power crashed through her, and she took it all in.
Kira danced across the ceiling, unseen by either, as her excitement built for the task ahead. She moved in a deliberate line, straight for Leila, until she was at Leila’s ear. “I am here Leila, you know what to do. Send me straight at him,” she whispered in her ear. “I can do it,” Kira promised. Leila nodded, as she gathered it all within.
“You’ll die for defying me,” Dreyden howled, and he released his magic, throwing his hands out to his sides.
With a sick fascination they watched as the magic slammed out of his hands, crashing into the walls of the cavern, bouncing around the chamber, as it gathered speed and force from the crystals in the walls.
Leila sensed Kira, and knew what she had to do. Opening her eyes, she only saw him, and then she let go, giving herself over to the power within. Kira noticed the change, and she moved herself into position, her sword at the ready.
Dreyden screamed laughter, as it all poured out of him, his laughter echoing around them, and they dove to the ground, looking for any safety, as the chamber began to collapse around them. Leila was silent, as the whirl wind of power pulled up from the ground, and through her. It was like she was throwing magical baseballs at him and Kira was riding the force of the first one.
Holding steady, she aimed directly at the oblivious Dreyden, as he continued to pour everything within him into the swirling vortex that surrounded, and engulfed everything in its destructive path. Dreyden no longer had thought. All he was doing was reacting to his anger, and now it was out of control.
“Die!” he screamed, lifting his head, looking directly at Leila who was on the other side of the chamber, feeding her energy into the counter wave. It wasn’t until it was too late, that he saw the guardian Fay. Kira’s sword, enchanted by Tatiana, untouched by the powers battling, embedded itself directly between his eyes, ending his life instantly, just as both magic’s collided. The mountain imploded in a deafening roar, and it all came crashing down on top of them.