Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Thirty-Two: You Will Rue The Day, Even Though It's Night

KITANA:
    "The Forbidden Kingdom." Amala murmured. Holly snickered by my side. Kamala didn't remark. It had taken us several days to travel from Hiquanna's territory and find the rest of our army. Hiquanna. My mother, my, true, mother. The woman, werewolf, I had killed. Killed, and won the territory for. Won the territory, army, everything. Even now, her wolves were gathering, gathering in force to come here, to fight what might become the longest battle ever. The longest part of the war. Battle, because the Ragni Di Morte were here, here in mass. But more than that, the, Dark, Queen, was here. No one had seen her, him, them. But @we all could feel him, her, them. The sheer depth of hatred, the oily tang of malice, the hot lash of agony, the icy scent of terror. The silken feel of venom. Yes, she was here. I rested my hand over my belly. Even now, I wasn't showing, but I could smell it. Smell the life growing inside me. Smell it, and wondered on many occasions why I was here. Why I wasn't home, home, where I belonged. This was no place for a growing babe, no place for a pregnant wolf. But as I looked down at Holly, at Amala and Kamala, at all the indigo we and Huntor had gathered over the years, perhaps to fight in this very war, I knew there was nowhere else I should be. A few dozen feet away, Kneecora was talking to Sarah and Zavala. Audrey stood by Zavala, their hands locked together. My heart thumped as I wondered whether or not any of us would die. If we'd die, and not make it to be revived. Wondered, if we'd die, and just how I could bring them back. A hand ran over my mind, straight through the glass bowl. I sighed.
    Ken knew, just, knew. Without speaking, she knew. "We still have to find them." Said Kamala. "Find them, because there's no doubt they've already claimed the best battle ground. The best positions." "There's also no doubt they'll have many traps and surprises for us." Kamala nodded at Holly's words. Amala looked toward the dark sky, her eyes shadowed. "Hope," said Amala gravely. "Is all we have left now." Hope. Hope that Huntor, Sydney and Arachne would return in time. Hope that they'd have the power to bring back the sunlight and destroy the Dark Queen. Hope, that we'd be able to make a difference, make a dent in her army of Ragni Di Morte. Hope, that we'd be able to win this war. Kneecora approached, her turquoise eyes on the canyons. "They are here, she, is here." Said Kneecora unnecessarily. There was no need for us to nod, to agree, we all knew she was. The same malice tinged the air. The same silken sweet scent of venom. The same sharp tang of terror and hatred. The same cold frozen feeling of horror and despair hung in the air. Yes, the Dark Queen was here, her, and her army. "How many?" Asked Holly. "They outnumber us." Said Kneecora quietly. "There's no doubt about that." Kneecora spoke the words we all knew, all feared. "Can you guess—"No." Said Kamala. And, I wondered if it was for my pup's sake that she said that. If, it was because Holly, though she'd grown up so much in such a short time, should remain as young as possible. But I could see the answers in Amala's eyes. "Many, too too too many. Even for the Uccisore Della Morte." No one had used that term in a long time, in weeks, months. There hadn't been a need to, not really. But, maybe, maybe there was a need now. Maybe the Uccisore Della Morte should come back into the story.
I stood in the tent with the others, a war-map stretched across a table, showing the whole of the Forbidden Kingdom." Frowning, Decre leaned over and pointed at a line of canyons. "My scouts have checked the entire perimeter. The entire place is drenched in the scent of the Ragni Di Morte. However, there is no sign of them." Seeka pointed to a distant cliff edge. "Nor do our's have eyes on the spiders. They are still in the area, however reports aren't clear. All are vague at best. No one can make a visual on the spiders, or any traps they may or may not have waiting." "Doesn't mean they aren't there." Said Audrey, leaning a hip on to the table. Sarah rubbed her shoulder. "They have to know we're here." She said. "They have to know we're aware of what, well, they intend at least. So, why aren't they attacking?" She looked around, at the Molten dracons that were here. Vello, Seeka, a few of their commanders. "I'd suspect it's the calm before the storm." Said Vello. "Both sides are standing at attention, ready to fight, yet both sides don't have sight of each other, yet we know they're there as much as they know we are." "No shit." Said Audrey. Leia moved closer, her green eyes tracking the Forbidden Kingdom. "Wasn't she intending on taking our world first?" She asked. Sarah frowned. "Yeah, she was, that was like her whole intention on leaving the Dragon's Triangle. Yet, we brought her here." Ice trickled down my back. Sarah looked at me. "Why, why did she let us go through all that? All of the effort to drag her back here, and then, she disappears, presumably to take this world." "What are you asking?" Asked Decre. "I mean," said Sarah. "Is she really going to take this world first? I mean we haven't heard anything from back home. I mean, that we are nowhere near aware if she truly intends on taking this world first or just distracting us here, while her armies take Earth." "She's here though." I said slowly. "Her scent, her, scent Sarah, it's her's out there, among the scents of the spiders. She's here, there is no denying that." "Who else is on her side though?" Asked Sarah. "Is it just Ragni Di Morte? Remember Brooklyn's vision? She has bigger, stronger spiders, but what of any other allies to her cause?" "We liberated most of the territories that she's most likely to have swayed to her cause." Said Audrey. "Erroneous." Said Sarah. "We've liberated all we know of. This continent is as big as Pangea, the once great continent. There are possibly hundreds of thousands, or millions we haven't covered." "Fine," said Audrey, waving a hand. "But still, we—" she cut herself off as three dracons hurried into the tent, their eyes hard. Decre turned to them, Kneecora opened her mouth, but Vello said, "What is it?" "We lost three of our scouting pparties." Said one dracon. It seemed, that, we, spoke, too, soon.
    I stared, stared, as my food roiled in my gut. They'd hadn't just been slaughtered, but they had been tortured. They'd certainly felt every lash, every drop of venom. Vello, Amala, I, Audrey, and Decre were sent out to track the dracons who were scouting. Deep in one of the great canyons in the Forbidden Kingdom, they lay, some were splattered against one of the canyon walls, their intestines and organs shredded beyond recognition. "Look at what they've done to you." Said Audrey. "They didn't just kill you, they destroyed you." I sniffed. The acrid scent of venom hung in the air, but, but, but. I frowned, sniffing harder. The scents of Audrey, Vello, Decre and Amala swam in my brain. I ignored them, and moved away, sniffing the desiccated corpses. "What is it?" Asked Audrey. "Wait." I said. Audrey sighed, but waited. Vello was speaking to Decre, and as he did, I approached one flat plain in the canyon. It was huge and spanned further than even my werewolf eyes could see. And, what's more, the distant lights of the Northern Kingdom, couldn't penetrate this depth. Frowning, I lifted my glasses and set them in place. My mask immured my face and through the lens I could see the great canyon. I tapped the lens and flipped through the different ultraviolet lights, and froze, froze, as that red ultraviolet color, that color flashed, and I could clearly see, clearly see what was left behind. I walked further away, seeing the venom trails all over the canyon wall where the dracons were slaughtered. The venom wasn't white, silver white like the Ragni Di Morte. It was pitch black, and it's consistency was, different. "This isn't the work of the Ragni Di Morte." I murmured. There was the sound of dracon wings overhead, and I glanced up, seeing Zavala swooping in, Sarah on her back. As she landed, Sarah Dismounted, and arrowed straight for me. "Why do you have your mask on?" She asked as Zavala shifted and lifted her crown and set it atop her head. Her armor immured her nakedness and she spoke to the others. "There's, something." I murmured, my voice coming out in a dark growl do to the nature of the mask. Sarah raised her eyebrow and took her own glasses out of a pocket, and clicked them into place.
"What—"Red." I answered. She hummed as she flicked colors, then frowned. "What is that?" She asked. I turned, catching Amala's eye. She frowned, noticing my masked face. Audrey turned in our direction. "Do you smell anything, off?" I asked Amala. Her frown deepened. "Does the smell of Ragni venom not count?" Asked Audrey. I shook my head. "No, there is no scent of Ragni venom, that's the problem." I turned, staring hard around the canyon floor. It was huge, miles upon miles across. We were close to one side of the canyon, making it damn near impossible to see the other side, even with, even, with. I raised my hand to the glasses, to my mask. I felt around and felt a kind of tiny wheel. Touching it, the wheel spun, and my vision zoomed in. Zoomed, just in time to see a red dot lash across my sight before disappearing. I wheeled my head toward the right and just saw it again before it vanished. "Kitana?" Sarah asked. "We need to get out of here, now." I said, turning to race back to the others. To my left, another larger red dot lashed out of the corner of my eye. I remembered what those were, remembered encountering just, one, of those things once before, and if they were what I suspected they were, then we needed to take flight, right, now. "What is it you sense?" Asked Amala. But I surged passed her, my hand going to my hip, where a dagger waited. Drawing it, I flung the blade as another dot lashed across my sight, and skidded across the shale as the dagger hit home. "Oh, oh, oh, holy shit." Sarah said, aghast. A few dozen yards away, a scorpion lay dead, it's legs twitching feebly. A scorpion, that was six feet long, a scorpion, who's long stinger was as sharp as my own Ragni daggers. The dagger I had thrown had sank into it's jaws, right up to the hilt. I approached tentatively, Zavala and Audrey flanking me. I snatched the blade out and examined the blood on it. The blood, that melted the blade. "Acid for blood." Said Audrey. "That's disgusting." Said Sarah from behind us. I looked down at the corpse. "We need to get out of here. We're clearly not just facing spiders." Audrey held up her hand. A sword froze into existence, and she slashed downward. Her ice blade hit the scorpion's carapace, and bounced off. She frowned, hitting it again, again, again, again. She stabbed it in one of it's twelve eyes. Then swung it for it's stinger. The blade bounced off again. Audrey swore viciously. "Yeah, we need to go, right now." She shifted, spreading her wings wide. Amala barked a warning, and was sent flying. A red scorpion landed on top of her. It raised it's pincers, no, it's claws, and was about to attack when ice cold wind slashed through the canyon and sent it flying. More scorpions lashed into view, their long red bodies glowing in the ultraviolet red light. "AUDREY." I shouted as Zavala too whipped on glasses. "GIVE YOU'RE GLASSES TO ONE OF THE DRACONS, RIGHT NOW." She whipped them out and shouted, "VELLO." He caught them and slid them on. "How—"TAP THE LENS, YOU WANT ULTRAVIOLET RED." Vello tapped the lens, then spun as a scorpion that would've seemed invisible, appeared before him. His arms roiled with flames, and twin swords appeared in his grip, swords of pure fire. He brought down one blade, the fire slashing over the scorpion's carapace, and doing little damage. Vello swore in his own language as the creature swept out a claw, sending him tumbling. His wings lashed open as he landed, and the scorpion rose to it's back legs. Fire lashed and as it roared, Vello swept fire into it's maw and down it's throat. The scorpion burned from the inside out. Sarah ducked as a stinger swung for her head. She lifted an ice shield, and the stinger swung again, and, broke, her, shield. Sarah screamed as she barely missed the stinger again. She whipped something else out of her pocket, and a blue shield, an, indigo shield, spiraled into existence, much like Leia's shield. The stinger lashed against the shield, and it glowed at the impact, but held strong. Sarah back-peddled as the scorpion advanced. A red lash was my only warning as a scorpion ran me down. I drew my katana sword and the scorpion spun, it's stinger aimed for my gut. I swung my sword at the same time and the blade bounced off the stinger. For a brief millisecond, I stared in absolute shock, and then it bashed me in my gut with it's claws like a bat. I went flying and crashed against the ground, sprawling slightly sending shale spraying. Then I bounded to my feet as it advanced, faster than ever. I swung my blade again, again, again, but it deflected my blows with ease.
    The scorpion bashed me again, swinging it's bulk into my side. I went tumbling across the shale yet again. "FUCK THIS SHIT." I heard Audrey shout, before water swelled around her. She lashed it across the scorpion's head, then slashed with an ice sword. The scorpion made a grumbling sound, as if it were laughing. Then, it's head froze, ice lashing across it swiftly. Audrey screamed as it's head exploded and it's body soon after. "Oh God." Said Sarah before she whipped out her ice fans. But three scorpions converged on her and swung their stingers in unison. A stinger lashed into her shield, then, her breastplate, both lashing with color as they deflected the attack. I swung my blade, aiming for the scorpion's underbelly, but it spun, faster than a creature of that size should be, and I instead deflected the stinger's sharp point. My blade went flying out of my hands though, and shock lit my face, and the scorpion struck. Talons grabbed my shoulders and lifted me skyward. A snarl left my lips as terror took me for a brief few seconds before I realized that Zavala had just saved my ass. The scorpion's claws just barely missed my feet, it's stinger swinging to miss my shoulder. I sucked in the scream as we ascended flying over the battle. Yet, as we rose, I saw the many, many, many, red bodies that raced forward. The many, many scorpions that raced to spill blood. This was a trap, a trap that we'd fallen so easily for. Zavala swore above me, swore as she saw them too. "We can't hope to get out of this." She said. Then, Sarah screamed, but it wasn't a scream of pain. With six scorpions around her, stingers lashing threateningly, backing her into a wall, Sarah dropped her ice fans, and, cowered behind her shield, her scream a scream of absolute terror. More scorpions converged on Sarah, pushing in, their mandibles lashing, their claws ready, stingers poised. "HELP," she screamed. "HELP HELP HELP." And that scream, that scream of terror, it was unlike anything I had ever heard from her in a long long time. "Drop me." I snarled to Zavala.
I didn't remark on the rushing air as I fell thirty feet, as I tucked in on myself and rolled as I hit the ground.As I ran toward Sarah. As, with one step, I was corporeal, then the next, incorporeal. As with one step, I was in the land of the living, then, the next, the land of the dead. Grays, whites, blacks swirled all around me, though I still was in the ultraviolet red hue. A familiar coldness whirled around my hands. It lengthened and I whirled, the katana of death in my grasp. I slashed through line after line of scorpions, the death blade snuffing out their lives as swiftly as light. Ten lay dead, then twenty, then forty. I pounced through their ranks, slaying line after line. I leapt upward, and felt the shift as I returned to the land of the living. The red dots that identified the scorpions for what they were were speeding away, flying over the shale, their steps echoing over the canyon floor. I breathed heavily, realizing that my power roared, it, roared, roared with a vengeance, an ire, a furor that almost, almost couldn't be quenched. I held up my hand, and said, in a voice nonhuman, "Die." Line after line of scorpions fell to the shale, dozen upon dozen of scorpions the size of Ragni Di Morte, just, dead. Their spirits rose, swirling toward me. "Bang." I murmured. Their spirits evaporated, burned away. Sarah peaked out from behind her shield. Her eyes wide, wide through the glasses she bore. "Woah." Whispered Audrey.