“It’s madness,” Katsi reasserted. It was like Mashe from the Bayvana Tribe had warned her. Seers and their visions could never be trusted. “How could you trust a vision so completely?”
“I’ve already seen the terror a bleeder army can unleash. They would stop at nothing to rule Malahem, even if it meant turning every single person into a waheshi. So yes, some people will die, but that is a far better fate than becoming one of those monsters.”
Katsi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He was willing to kill half the people on the planet out of fear that they might turn into waheshi? “I’m not going to have any part of this.” She should never have come back into the castle. She should have taken Scales with her to go after Migo. Mazanib was no place for her. She connected with the air and zipped toward the wall, but her magic disconnected when she was halfway across the room. She dropped, bouncing off the side of Alyssad’s bed frame. Her leg stung from striking the brasswood framing, but she stood and glared at Alyssad. “What did you do to me?”
One of Alyssad’s hands was held with the palm upward, fingers curled. “I’ve connected with every element around you. They will not obey you. This is my castle.”
Katsi let out a labored breath and stumbled away from him, backing toward the window. “I thought you said you didn’t want to make me do anything. I should be free to leave.”
Alyssad thumbed his beard with one hand. “You’re right. I don’t want to make you do anything you aren’t willing to do, but that doesn’t mean I won’t make you do it if I have to.” He stalked toward her as she backed against the wall. “Now I must ask you to reconsider your options. If you don’t help me, then you’ll become like Hannashe, that armlet you wear. Perhaps I’d make you into another ring.” He tapped his fingers, seven of them equipped with rings. “This way, I’d have your power for myself.”
Katsi shook her head again. “No.” She’d already sworn that she’d never let anyone use her again. She would not be a tool to bring such destruction, even if it meant her own death. “Never.”
Alyssad frowned and closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Very well.” He twisted his hand.
The bricks of the wall behind Katsi came alive, folding in and around each other, quickly wrapping over her wrists and ankles.
“I take no pleasure in this,” Alyssad growled. “But I must do what it takes.” His sword was halfway out of its scabbard when the window shattered.
A shrieking Scales came clamoring through, teeth gnashing, claws slashing. Alyssad barely even spared the creature a glance. A wall of stone burst up from the ground just in front of Scales, who smashed his head straight into the hardened surface. More tiles and bricks assaulted Scales, absorbing him into the ground.
“No!” Katsi struggled to wiggle free, but her bounds held fast. She couldn’t connect with anything. Alyssad had effectively cut her off from her magic. She screamed. Wasn’t she powerful? Why didn’t she have the strength to break free? “Scales!”
“A drakotah,” Alyssad said with a smirk. “ Where did you get one of these?” But then his smirk changed into a frown.
There was a distant crash, so enormous that it shook the whole castle. Alyssad’s frown changed to a sneer, and he stared at Scales even harder. “It can’t be.” He pulled his sword all the way out and turned to the door.
Katsi was held fast, unable to move or use her magic, but she stopped struggling. Something about Alyssad made her worry even more. His widened eyes were something she’d never seen before. And the way his mouth gaped before slamming shut as he focused in on the door.
Something had startled the most powerful man in the world.
Chapter fourteen
Broken
Blackened clouds billowed behind Migo like a cloak. Thunder crackled through the air as he dove toward the castle, the angry sky matching the energy that burned in his chest. He’d been flying without pause since leaving the shaman hideout. His body had barely even tired, and now, with the castle in sight, he was reinvigorated. He tilted his wings, gliding down through the cool wind that tore through the air.
Rain nearly stood still beside him as he dove, glimmering under the light of flashing lightning.
And he burned.
The fire in his chest no longer felt like pain as it had when he was transforming. Now it was a source of strength. It carried him forward, urging him on.
Kill the emperor.
Free Katsi.
These thoughts consumed him.
Lightning struck all around him. Like jagged spears they pierced across his vision, close enough that he could feel the heat and smell the burned air as he passed through it. He flexed his claws and rolled his muscles as he tucked in, diving for the front door of the castle. He didn’t know where Katsi would be held, but he’d tear his way toward her.
Migo wasn’t exactly sure what his body was capable of, but he knew it was powerful. Nagesh had enough faith that it would be sufficient to defeat Ranaz, and Migo was soon to find out if that held true.
He drew close to the ground just outside the castle door. Two guards outside screamed in terror, one of them scrambling for the door while the other bravely stepped forward, holding his poleaxe at the ready. It was no doubt studded with silver, and thus likely capable of piercing Migo’s thick hide, so he proceeded by spreading his wings wide just before dropping down. He slashed a claw out, long talons reaching. The movement was so quick that the guard couldn’t respond fast enough.
The action happened in the blink of an eye, and the guard’s body ripped in two. Migo landed with a thud. The other guard was fumbling at the door. Migo snapped one of his wings forward, jabbing straight into the man’s back with the spine.
A deep growl emanated from Migo’s throat, resonating from the burning in his chest. Whatever the Ashjagar was—whatever he was—it was clear that it was created to kill. And kill he would.
He leapt forward, tucking his wings against his body, crashing through the heavy, iron-bound door, letting out a ferocious roar. He struck so hard that the door shattered, as well as much of the stone framing. Rubble tumbled around him. As he broke through, he crushed another guard who stood behind the door, and several people mingling in the entryway shrieked in terror.
His focus was sharp. In the blink of an eye, he absorbed every detail of the room. Every person entered his mind in perfect clarity. All that mattered was that none of them were Katsi. None of them were Emperor Malrabia.
He charged through the room, talons tearing into the tiled floor. People dove away to avoid him, but he paid them no mind. They were insects. Meaningless. One of them couldn’t move quick enough and got battered away by Migo’s arm. He could feel the man’s shoulder and arm as the bone crunched on impact. He could hear the flesh squish. Every sense was so tuned. The only way Migo could refrain from being overwhelmed by the various sensations was to focus solely on his objective.
The next door was enormous by normal standards, but still too small to fit Migo. He bashed through that as well. There were voices. Hundreds of them. And music. He turned to follow it. The wide halls granted him enough room to move quickly as he navigated his way to the room with all the voices. The doors were already wide open, and more screams of terror announced his arrival as he slid through the frame, the spikes on his shoulders gouging into the stone framing once again, splitting the heavy brasswood doors in two.
Sheer panic greeted him as he entered what could only be described as an immense ballroom, easily four times the size of the one at Rikaydian palace. People tripped over each other, shoving and fighting to escape through any other door they could find. These were the elite of Mazanib. Cowards, all of them. Where were the soldiers? Where was anybody willing to protect the innocent? The lack of resistance fueled his anger further.
But he scanned the room quickly, rising on his haunches to peer down at all the people. He recognized a few of them, but there was no Katsi or Ranaz. “Where’s the emperor?” he demanded, but his voice only escaped as a terrible roar that shook the whole room, the crystal chandeliers tinkling and trembling. The intricacies of his throat and tongue were still not able to form coherent words, which added to his frustration.
But then he felt it.
He snapped his head to one of the doors. Everyone in that vicinity screamed anew as Migo returned to all fours, leaning closer.
The air tingled. He could practically smell the magic, a scent he could only describe as burnt nectar. It called to him.
He lunged for the door, but not before noticing that a few people in the room were watching him carefully. One was a woman, paler skin, speckled with freckles, light brown hair and gray blue eyes that regarded him with vague recognition. Another man was also watching him, dark brown skin, wide black eyes, rolling two metal vials in his hands. He could taste the magic that flowed through their veins. They made no move to stop him, and that was all that mattered.
