Dragon Born: Book I of the Tendaaren Chronicles
Chapter 40: Crimson Tide

Paul’s hand was squeezed her throat and she only smiled. She had never felt so calm so assured. She never stopped watching him. She never flinched or cowed. She only met his demonic eyes with a gentle and conniving smile that made even his skin crawl. He squeezed tighter in frustration.

Aly would not give him the power that he craved in this moment. That is all it really was in the end power. She had moved past human weaknesses like lungs. Her dragon energy pulsed around her. The power of the magic was infallible and unforgiving. It worked within her healing the darkening oxygen-deprived cells. She was immortal and he was powerless to stop it. She was beyond his control now, beyond his cruelty and empty threats. Paul could do nothing. She enjoyed the look on his face as the realization struck. As he realized in this fight he was the powerless one. Out of desperation, he tried to weaken her from within. He released her throat and smiled back at her.

“You smile for nothing, little mouse. You are more helpless than ever.” He leaned into her and kissed her. “Where are your magical friends now?”

She bit him sharp pointed teeth drew blood. A stream of curses spewed from his mouth as he split dark liquid from his face. More demon blood continued to well up from his lip but he ignored it.

“You think that silver-haired elf loves you? That wispy musician?” He laughed. “He knows nothing about you. It was I who saved you from the nothing that you are and the nothing that you have.” She watched as his eyes flashed with a brief glimmer of confidence but they dimmed as he took in her unwavering smile.

She stood tall and unwavering. There was no longer any value in his cruel words. “Spoken like a man with nothing. It took me a long time to learn; but, it is a lesson I will not forget.” She leaned into him. “All bullies are cowards.”

She stepped forward and pulled her sword from its sheath. The elegant metal blade blazed with rainbow fire. She had created it and It was part of her. His eyes widened in alarm. “This should be familiar to you Paul.” He stood frozen as she readied her blade. “Do you remember that night you were first afraid of me? That night you realized exactly what I was? That night that should have ended with me crippled and broken: but, instead I destroyed your demon friends with my fire. You knew how to control the Dyrklow blood. That was easy.” She held out her wrist to him twisting it and letting the dragon fire dance over the brace. “You wiped my memory because the one thing you could not control. The one thing you did not understand was the dragon.”

She plunged the blade into his heart. His dark eyes widened and he screamed in agony. He struggled against her, and she stormed across the room with him still on the blade and plunged it into the wall behind him. He was trapped between her fire and the death that was waiting to claim him. “How many Paul?”

“Oh Aly, you were the only one for me.” He did not deserve the smile on his lips so she twisted the burning blade.

“Do not lie to me, Paul.” Her words were low and deadly. Her voice seethed and her eyes whirled in anger. She was the dragon within in her. “I guess I should thank you. Without your evil, I would never understand the true value of myself and the love that I feel. Without your darkness, I would not know to appreciate the light.”

He smiled back at her. “Little girl, you think your friends can save you?” She twisted again the sizzling blaze of dragon fire seared through him and he groaned. “If That elf loved you truly then how is it that he would turn on you.”

She pulled her blade from him and stabbed him again. “You are taking too long.” He laughed at her. A maniacal terrible laugh that cored her soul. Her confidence wavered when the door opened. A silver elf walked in followed by a scarlet-eyed Alyenna. Paul died laughing as Alyenna dropped her sword. She was frozen in place. Baellnar’s eyes no longer held their familiar sapphire. They were the color of terror, the color of betrayal, the color of blood.

Kaellen’s Keep

It was Emily before them but in body alone. Her soul was gone. Only Scrlestra’s remained. Her telltale blood-red eyes shone through her shy brown hair. They were horrifying and out of place. “Hello darling, I missed you.” It was Scelestra’s voice not Emily’s.

“Yeah well, I didn’t miss you,” Cameron spoke with scorn and hatred. Those were the eyes that had stolen everything from him. Those were the eyes that had destroyed the world and he was being forced to save them.

“Oh but I so enjoyed our time together.” Scelestra’s voice purred and Emily licked her lips. Cameron went to charge; but, a strong hand held him back.

“Hey slutbag, can you not get your own man or do you have to constantly steal someone else’s?” Sparks were flying around Celeste’s hand. Celeste was straining to control her energy. The woman before her embodied all of the pain she had experienced in her life. She was the reason the world was at war. She was the reason her mother was raped and sold into slavery. She was the reason she did not have a family until she was almost too old to appreciate it. Yet, the girl she possessed was not at fault for her evils. Celeste could not let her suffer for the mistakes of others. It was not Emily’s fault that Allabandar loved her. It was not their fault for giving into weakness. It was the natural flow of life and beauty. Scelestra was the cancer that poisoned the beauty of love, life, and family. Killing Emily would solve nothing. She was merely a tool held tightly in Scelestra’s hand. It was Celeste who was tasked with loosening that grip.

“Oh Celeste, your brother wishes you well.” A vicious smile formed on Emily’s lips and she strode over to Allabandar and kissed him on the lips. He strained to push her away, “oh how I enjoyed you most of all.” She said winking. Then she screamed.

Scelestra’s Castle

Alyenna was engulfed in dragon flame. The sight of Baellnar’s stolen soul has broken something within her. Eleanor’s pain coupled with hers and she was alive with Fury. Fire hurtled towards Scelestra’s cheap imitation of Aly and encased it in dazzling prismatic flames.

Baellnar lunged at her and he encased her throat in his hands. Alyenna felt Eleanor’s anguish from that age-old memory. This time will be different. She strained her voice through the grip of his powerful hands. Her own emotions warring within her. “I still love you.” With those words, she slammed the but of her sword into his chest, the fire burned at his skin. The attack pained her but it would not be lethal. She knew when the dust settled he would understand; but, this Baellnar screamed in agony. “Please know that I do love you.” She shouted to him her own pain echoing his screams. “Come back to me,” She said to him pleading.

Scelestra laugher at her. Alyenna’s eyes flashed and she charged the embodiment of evil that had stolen her body. Alyenna was a roaring fireball. Scelestra screamed in an impressive theatrical display of distress covering her face and arms. “Darling please save me from this imposter!” Alyenna’s eyes widened as Baellnar drew his bow. She knew his accuracy Baellnar never missed.

Alyenna held up a hand encased in fire and laughed back at Scelestra. “Do not bring a bow to a magic fight.”

“You are forgetting something very important my dear dragonling, something I have been testing while you were playing at being a hero,” A wicked smile curved her heavily rouges lips.

Alyenna looked back at Baellnar. His eyes were blue. “Aly?” Then the blue disappeared and he sent a volley of arrows towards her. Alyenna blockaded her self from the wooden fires in her own fire. Scelestra’s cruelty knew no bounds. She proved that Baellnar was still in there, and in doing so, she could not kill him.

The volley abated and she watched in a desperate hope that he was helpless; but, she knew better. Baellnar had his own strengths. A great torrential wind began to blow and Scelestra held out her hands and Ice began to trace down her arms and encase her body. “My darling girl you forget that dragons, especially your kind of dragons, hate the cold!” The room filled with an icy wind. Alyenna’s fire began to fade she watched as her powers betrayed her. The cold biting at her skin and her hands. She felt her body freeze with it.

Her mind flashed back to all the times that death had nearly taken her. Each time she was encased in the bitter cold. Icy daggers stabbed through her armor torturing her slowly. She felt her world collapsing. Scelestra screamed. Lightning encased her body and then a familiar voice called her name. She turned through her shell of Ice to see her beloved. His sapphire eyes were desperate he scrambled toward her.

Kaellen’s Keep

Allabandar screamed. Emily held a bloodied knife in her hand. Her red eyes flashed as Cameron dragged her screaming and struggling body away from Allabandar. The would be not fatal, but it was enough.

Cameron held tightly to Emily. He bound her arms and her legs. It may be Scelestra’s mind within her; but, thankfully that was all. The claimed never held her magic. So it was still only a human girl they fought.

Allabandar was biting his own hand. His other had was desperately pressing into the wound on his leg. His own blood poured onto the floor. His heart was being torn in two as he watched the mother of his child, and the love of his life lashed to a chair. She was screaming, trapped by her own madness.

For brief moments he saw hints of her brown eyes, but then it would fade into the blood red of betrayal. For a few brief moments, she would call his name in fear and Agony. Then Scelestra’s voice would prevail. Never before has a claimed waivered and that alone gave him hope. They were fighting Scelestra’s war on two sides, and it seemed she only had the capability of fighting on one.