Chapter 14:
Kavryiss
I hated the D’Karr. I hated him for leaving our ruler and for killing the humans. I hated him for using Diana as a breeding ground and for disposing of people at his whim. I hated the blithesome way he ruled over Dobromia; the alliances we had failed to make because of his stubbornness.
He'd drawn me to the end of my rope with his control, and now I was ready to strike back. The laser rifle sounded off beneath my legs, and I could hear Boradrith in the distance calling for me. I looked up at the sky, an endless blend of reds and orange and yellow that floated across the atmosphere like a fog.
And then I heard a deep thunder, and I knew the second sun was destroyed. Diana was the first person to make me believe I was more than the D’Karr's servant. I could do more than just survive. She brought life back to Dobromia. No more scavenging for food or raiding planets.
We were a warrior race, but it didn't have to be that way. If Tredorphen's summary of the Earth was any indication, there was so much more to see than just death and the struggle for power that we found here.
The D’Karr killed Sillevia, the loyal ruler who our people loved. The people had begun to rebel against him as soon as he put his mate to death and now he would seek to take Diana from me as well.
If he was going to take away my everything, then I would take everything away from him in return.
The remaining sun crumbled wildly, exploding in a flurry of liquid and smoke. The sky began to dim with every star that slowly fell from the sun and hurtled down toward Dobromia. My wings whipped wildly behind me as I flew to him, carefully dodging the remnants of the remaining sun that crashed down like a fiery eruption. I knew shifters could take heat better than humans, but I had to take the risk.
He watched me coming, the gold of his wings and the scales that crawled across his body shimmering against the firelight.
He whipped Diana to the ground, and I let out a battle cry, fire sparking from the inside of my throat and stretching far into the air, exploding from my lips.
Boradrith matched my squall and raced toward me.
I whipped around him with nervous anticipation. His scales shone with gold and red, and he wore thick armor. I lunged at him, and he grabbed my arm, tossing me to the side and making me lose my balance.
With a sharp flap of my thick wings, I maneuvered myself to the ground, stumbling to a halt and running up to Diana. I looked at her red eyes and the tear-stained skin beneath her lashes and felt a pang in my stomach. She looked helpless and beautiful, and it filled me with the need for vengeance.
"Are you okay?" I asked and could feel her skin hot against my hand. I grabbed the back of her head and kissed her hungrily. I felt her warm mouth against mine and took just that second to lavish myself in her sticky lips and her sweet breath. I needed that: her. Even for a second.
"I can't believe you're here,” she said, unbelieving.
"What," I teased. "I couldn't leave you," I said quickly. A meteor of fire and gas vaulted toward us and I grabbed Diana, swerving from it with quick wings. I could see Vaikrand watching me not far off, raising his brows as if congratulating me for my swift movements. "I just found you," I quipped.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cried, burying her face into my chest. "I should have listened."
"That's the story of us," I said with a wink in my tone, breathing heavily. "You'll always do what you want, despite what others tell you." I looked at her seriously then. "And that's the beauty of you."
"That would be a lot more romantic if we weren't on the brink of death," she chastised and smiled weakly at me.
The air was still then: the fiery rains furiously beating down against us as though they were protesters to our actions. I felt Diana's long fingers grip against mine and I exhaled sharply. All at once, the stars stopped falling then, and Dobromia went black as night. It was gone. All the light was gone.
The plains would have been cold, ice cold if it weren't for the pools of fire surrounding us. My eyes flicked around the field, but I couldn't catch sight of Boradrith. I pressed my eyes shut and tried to use my sensory perception to get a feel for him.
Silence permeated the air so thickly, it was also like a scent. Then I could feel him. He darted behind me and used his claws against my wings, scraping them firmly and eliciting a grunt from my lips.
I allowed a small smirk to cross my face as I made for the D’Karr; first hitting him in the face with my coiled fist and dragging him down toward the waters. Boradrith let out a blast of fire and electricity.
I dodged it quickly. From my peripheral, I could see Vaikrand fly in, just ghosting the surface before scooping Diana up into his arms. Good. She was safe now.
Now I could really fight.
“So you do have some fight in you,” I hissed.
I charged toward him, slashing my claws from side to side, slicing easily through his human armor. The man hacked into his hands, causing blood to flow harder through his shirt before vainly cupping his wound with his hands.
He looked up at me, incensed, before whipping his rocky tail in my direction. His scaled body was rocky and hard, making it nearly impossible to keep a grip on him for too long. It also made his tail feel like getting hit by a boulder.
We grappled to the ground, and I managed to topple him, beating my fists down and crying out to the pitch blackness with an echoed roar. I wailed my bloody fists down on his stony face one after another until his breathing grew slow and ragged.
I stepped off of him, flicking my tail behind me and wiping the spit from my mouth with my forearm.
Then I heard him stand. I turned to look at him in the endless black night. The only way I could see him was by the fire’s reflection on his golden scales.
“This is it then?” he asked numbly, and I just stared in return.
He looked at me with hauntingly still movements, just the weak flap of his wings sounding out through the air. With that, I charged him, sending us both careening toward the blazing red waters below. I released him from my grasp, watching and waiting for him to fall to his fiery death below, but he clung to my body like a sticky ember.
I passed my hands over his to throw him off of me and felt his claws digging deeply into my center, gripping me from within and clamping on unceasingly. I doubled over, my body aching in pain, feeling the blood coming cool onto my skin and sending a wave of light-headedness through my body. I gripped him with deep claws and felt the blood pouring out and cooling from my stomach.
Roars and sharp cries echoed from my mouth without my consent: fire blistering and bubbling forth from my throat and exploding into ragged bursts of flame.
I winced in pain and drew my tail forth, the unique spike on the end seeming all too convenient at the moment. I drew it forth and speared my leader with it, sending it through his core with as much force as I could muster. His eyes went wide, and I used the length of my tail to whip him off of me, finally casting him into the fiery deep.
I watched as he disappeared behind the thick lava and couldn’t look anymore, falling down to the warm ground below and dragging myself to the nearest fields that I knew of. I fluttered my wings weakly to try and make haste.
Once away from the lakes, all I could see was utter blackness. With the last of my strength, I shot fire to one of the Reduah trees, and it caught, lighting up the small area. I felt my legs tingle, and I collapsed onto the dewy ground below, relishing the cool moss underneath my skin.
My only consolation was seeing her.
And there she was.
Running up to me with the yellow shifter in tow, Diana raced to my side and spread her hands along my body, trying to determine in the low light what was wrong.
“You’re an idiot,” she flustered, feeling my wound and then leaning down and hitting my face with a barrage of kisses.
“Is he gone?” Vaikrand asked stiffly, looking off into the distance.
I nodded, unseen by my friends. “He’s gone.”
“The people will be happy,” the yellow shifter confirmed, and I offered a ragged laugh in return.
“They’d better be,” I said and reached up to touch Diana’s face. “So should you.”
“I am the happiest,” she said with a tear and leaned back in to kiss me once more. “Come on,” she cooed. “Let’s go home. Let’s rebuild.”