Dragon Falls (Indigo Apocalypse Book III)

Chapter Forty-Two: That Time When You Gain Battle Scars Like Your Best Friend

AUDREY:
"Here, set her here." I gently laid Zavala' still quivering body on a table. My mind was a wreck, as Kendra and Holly moved around us, examining Zavala for injuries. Her taloned hand was still in my human one. A soft hand caressed my face. "Let her go now." Said Holly, her wolfish voice so gentle, so kind, so sweet. "We'll take good care of her now. Here, easy does it, come on." I snarled, tightening my grip on her hand. Agony ripped it's talons over my mind, ripping it to shreds. Like claws over a kill, they routinely and systematically tore deep lacerations into my thoughts. Shredding them like muscles under the predator's assault. "Audrey." I snarled more viciously. Holly wasn't phased. "Audrey, you know me, it's Holly. Kitana's daughter." I snarled, shoving her away and leaning into Zavala's now limp body. "She's inconsolable." Holly murmured to someone. I tried to pull my thoughts together, tried to think, to think. I had found, had, found her. She was right here, right here. Yet, she might as well have been miles away. As far away as the glistening stars were. As far away, as the comet that my best friend and Sydney had created. Far, she was so far away. I sniffed her, pressing my nose against her neck. Zavala didn't react.
The puissant strength of the storm. Everything had cowed at the thunder, at the purity of the northern water I had brought. All the Ragni Di Morte, all of them, who were racing away, racing, with my mate, my Zavala. Racing toward wherever they'd take her. Take her, and, do, unspeakable things. Would they rip her wings off, gut her, slice off the end of her tail so she'd never fly again, a downed dragon, that's what she might have been. I remembered a movie, a long ago movie that my best friend had seen, seen, before all this happened. A line from the movie made me shutter. "A downed dragon, is a dead dragon." I had flown as hard and fast as I could. Flapping my wings, harnessing the wind and water to send me faster. It hadn't been easy finding her. Hadn't been easy searching for her. Hours on end trying to search, calling for her, screaming my rage, lashing lightning down in great bolts, like the rage and agony in my heart. They moved around me, but I ignored them. Had to, had to, my mind was a wreck, unable to form coherent thoughts. My mate, my lover, my wife, my life. Zavala didn't react, not as I rested my head against her left breast, listening to that heartbeat, slow as it was, slow and lethargic. I tried to remember how I had found them, found the Ragni Di Morte as they ran, as they fled with my mate on their backs. It hadn't been easy, I'd known that. Remembered that much. It hadn't been easy finding them. But I had. I had found them. Had, because she was right here. Right here, laying by me. She was here, I was here, back where we needed to be. I did remember how she was taken the first time. Did remember how she was taken from me, how Arachne had gone after her to save her. Save her, from whatever tortures the Dark Queen put her through. I was so deep in my shredded thoughts, trying to piece one with another, that I couldn't understand Ken's words to Holly. "I don't understand." "Neither do I." Said Holly. "Even her scent is different, there's no smell of Audrey on her at all, no scent of anything. There's barely a dracon scent on her." A hand stroked my face, soft, strong, terribly strong. "Come now girl." Amala's voice.
    "You can't do anything for her. Nothing at all. You have to let Sarah work on her now. Come on girl." Amala continued to stroke my face. I realized tears fell from my eyes, tears, as she continued to stroke and croon. "Come now girl, come, come, come with me." "I can't leave her, I can't." "I know." Said Amala. "But you won't be far, not far at all. We just need to know if you were followed, if we need to expect a counter attack for you bringing her back here. You know they are all lined up right? They are all lined up for war. They made their stand, across the battlefield. We need to know if you were followed." My heart sank fast. Of course, of course I hadn't noticed. Not in my rage, not in my puissant furor had I noticed the army I must have flown directly over on my way back here. Of course, I hadn't noticed them at all. "How, how, how many?" "Eighty thousand." I frowned as I slowly rose from my mate. "I don't understand." "That's why we need to ask you questions." Suddenly, I heard the nuances in her voice, the questions she wasn't, saying. Sarah stepped forward, stroking my thigh. "Let me take care of her now. You stay close by for when she wakes. Vera give me a hand here." Vera clapped her hands three times, then stepped forward. "Wow, just wow." "You said give you a hand." Sarah shook her head. "Where did they take her?" Asked Amala. "They, they, they weren't taking her anywhere, at least, not like, to some keep or anything. They were just skittering through the canyon when I finally caught up with them." "Which took you hours since the attack. Hours you've been gone Audrey, hours. Are you absolutely sure?" "Yes, yes she was being taken, somewhere." "Alright," said Amala. "Next, have you noticed a scent on her?" "Huh?" "Her scent Audrey, have you noticed it." "No, why, she always smells like that. Always smells like me." "Take another sniff." Said Amala. Then, "Let her through." I leaned back down, sniffing my mate's neck, then again, then more furiously. "What?" I asked, fresh tears in my eyes. "Exactly." Said Amala. "Audrey, I need you to prepare yourself for the worst, for what I am about to tell you." I already started shaking my head, unable to grasp what she'd say. Unwilling, unable to grasp the sheer complexity of what she was going to say. "I think she already tortured her, and was making it seem like the spiders were running away, running toward her, but set them out as a decoy." She touched my face. "I think she already did whatever she was intending on doing." I wanted to refuse, was going to, but the scent, the lack of a scent, the lethargy all over Zavala. "Oh my God." Murmured Vera. Then Sarah spoke harshly. "Get her out of here, right now." "What?" I asked. "What's going on? What—"Amala get Audrey out of here now." Said Sarah. Amala stiffened, shocked to hear the order in Sarah's voice. "Go, right now Audrey." "What?" I snapped. Then, Zavala, woke.
    She lashed out, admitting a scream, an inhuman, indracon scream. A scream, I only heard, once, before, in, another, monster. "No," I barely spoke the word, it barely came out of my mouth. A faint whisper. "Get her out of here." Said Sarah, her voice coming out more dragon than human. Zavala lashed out, gripping me around the throat. She flung me aside, through the air, and against a pillar. I cried out from the shock more than the pain. "Zavala," I whispered, my voice still coming out harshly soft, a push of air. "Zavala." She screamed again, and flipped off the table, flinging it aside too. Holly snarled as she was sent sprawling under the table. Kitana Snarled viciously. But, Zavala, faced, me. She screamed, a scream of excitement, and, leapt. I cried out as her body slammed into mine, and, as it did, I caught the scent now. Caught it, because someone had cut her, and what leaked out, dripping, padding like little droplets of rain, it was blood, but, the, wrong, blood. "No," I murmured in a daze. "No, no no no no no no no no no." She rose over me, and screamed again. "Audrey." Said Holly. "Don't, move." "No." I murmured once more. "No, no, no no." Zavala wrapped her hands around my throat, and hissed viciously. My body reacted faster than I could've mentally. I bucked and sent her flying off me. "NOOO." I roared. "NOOO." Emotions swirled around me, more acrid than ever before. More puissantly definable than ever before. Rage, burning, white hot rage. Roaring it's furor like roiling flames. Rage, terror, coiling around the rage like a serpent, a host of serpentss. Their venom drooling out from their gaping jaws. Zavala shrieked and leapt through the air toward me. I rolled aside and rose again. Something slammed into me, and I heard Kitana's snarl as she rose over me, protecting me. "Audrey," said Kitana, voice so deceptively cool and relaxed. "Get out of here, right now. Get the others." "What's wrong?" I asked desperately. Desperate for an answer. "This is something you don't need—"Fuck that shit." I snapped shoving up. "Tell me—" Zavala shrieked again, and I nearly wilted under the damning demented sound. "Exactly." Said Kitana. "Go, get out of here. You don't need to see this." "She's my mate." I protested. "She was, your mate." The words lashed through me like a sword stroke. Slicing my heart completely in half. Slicing my head straight off. Tears flowed freely, tears of agony, of such puissant pain there were no words, no true words to define it. But, "Erroneous." I said quietly. "If Kendra was like that, would you let Amala or Kamala tell you that?" It didn't take Kitana very long. "Fine." Was all she said.

KITANA:
I stared at what used to be Audrey's mate. At who used to be Huntor's lover. Zavala crouched, prepared to spring at Audrey. "Zavala," Said Audrey imploringly. "Zavala, it's me, it's Audrey, listen Love, I'm here." Zavala shrieked, a high earsplitting shriek that sent Holly to her knees. Amala snarled, her own ears twitching under the sound wave. Zavala leapt and flew toward Audrey. The air in the tent grew severely, bitingly cold. In mid air, Zavala was hit with an ice ball, and it froze her. She fell to the ground, her body frozen up to her neck. She bared her teeth, but an ice plug formed, gagging her. Sarah stepped forward, her blue eyes hard and sad. Audrey approached beside her, her own eyes filled with tears. "What did she do to you?" Zavala's eyes rolled in their sockets. Fresh air behind me, smelling of, oh no. "What's going on, I thought I heard—" Kneecora's words faded as she saw Zavala's prone shape on the tent floor. Then, the, rage. "What in Dragon Talons is the meaning of this, why do you have my child in ice, what—"That's not your child, not anymore." Said Amala.
    "What do you mean werewolf, that—"She was tortured." Said Audrey, her words so quiet, so soft. Kneecora seemed to understand. "The Dark Queen." Slowly, as if a great weight was on her shoulders, Audrey nodded. "Then there's no way to get her back." Kneecora's voice was cracked, agony in it. "We'll have to kill her." Audrey's head snapped up, eyes going hot with rage. "Fuck no." She snarled. In one step, she was human, in the next, she was dracon, her wings ripping out of her back, tail along side them. Her horns shot out of her head, her talons shooting out of her fingers and boots. "I'm sorry, but—"You will not kill her. You'll never kill her." "We have to." Said Kneecora, despite the creature that prowled toward her. "We have no choice. I have heard what she does to dracons, as you have. If this is what she's done, then there's a monster under her illusion, a monster waiting for the right moment to shed it's illusion." "That's why she smells off." Murmured Holly. "You will not kill her." Said Audrey. "If you do, then I'll kill you." Kneecora nodded sadly. "We have no choice." "We do have a choice, we always have a choice." Audrey snarled. "I learned that from Huntor, you always fucking have a choice. Always." "Child," Amala touched Audrey's face, "If we have no choice, if there's no other option—"None of you are killing her." Snarled Audrey. Light dawned in Sarah's eyes. The light of understanding. "What—"We have no choice." Said Amala gently, cutting me off. Audrey lashed out, snapping Amala's hand from her face, or would have, if she didn't move fast enough to avoid it. Sarah said, in a small voice, "You will." "What?" Asked Amala, apparently confused.
"Exactly." Said Audrey, tears falling from her eyes again. "Wait," Said Kneecora, apparently confused as well as Amala. But I caught on. "You can't." I said. "It'll break you." "Huh?" Asked Holly. "I understand." Said Kendra. "Would one of you please tel me—"Shit." Said Sarah as Zavala broke out of her bonds of ice. The ice shattered and she rolled, her body trembling and convulsing. In fascinated horror, I watched as her skin began to melt, sloughing off her body like dried scales. Revealing the true skin beneath. Her shoulders heaved in a mockery of sex, her hips bucked, and her body changed under the illusion. Her wings fell from her shoulders, melting into dust, her horns melted, her face lost it's luster and before us, a monstrous version of Zavala got to her eight legs. She raised her arms, and screamed in triumph. Audrey screamed, as if the last of her control melted along with the disillusion. She fell to her knees, her eyes going through so many emotions, agony, rage, hatred, sorrow, fury, need, desolation. "How?" Asked Holly in a whisper. Audrey fell to the ground, her screams of agonized rage palpable as tears fell from her eyes.
    Zavala, or, the thing that use to be Zavala, scuttled forward, it's waist mandibles clicking together like snapping bones. Then, a dracon came into the tent, breathless, holding his gut. "They're moving." I turned to Audrey. Her face was even more agonized than when Huntor had first lost her. When he'd lost himself and became the IndoDragon. "Are you sure?" Was all I asked. Audrey nodded, getting to her feet and turning back to What was Zavala. "Do you want any of us here with you?" "No." Said Audrey. "I have to do this, on my own." "Ok, what in the flaming Hells—"We have to go." I said, turning toward the exit. "It's time." Leaving Amala to follow, I followed the dracon out, and into the camp, to face the Ragni Di Morte army. The Sun Dragon Comet, at least, that's what I would've called it, still glistened in the sky, casting the world in bloody colors with lashes of gold and orange, with bits of sapphire and scarlet, of greens and pinks. Stars still flew from it's edges, blazing stars that danced their way across the globe. "Kitana," called Amala. "What did you and Sarah mean?" "Yeah, I'm still lost on that." Said Holly. "Audrey is going to be the one to kill her." I said. I moved through the camp. Spotting her, I called, "Reina," she turned, her eyes wet with tears. "Kitana, Kitana." She rushed and threw her arms around me. "He did it, he did it, they really are bringing back the sunlight." "I have a job for you." I said, pulling her away, to see the seriousness in my face. "Audrey has to do something, she has to do something, and she needs the privacy to do that. Can you make something for her?" "I—I—I—I don't understand." "You don't have to, just do it." Nodding cautiously, she turned away and walked to the tent I and the rest had just vacated.