Migo turned in the air, bracing his wings against the torrential wind of the Maedari. He’d spent all his life afraid of the storm, but now he faced it head on, embracing its wild ferocity.
Ranaz glared down at him, lips curled back in an angry sneer. Sleet hammered down on Migo, making it hard to push back up as Ranaz dropped toward him with incredible speed. Migo thrust everything at him, biting and clawing. Ranaz slipped through the smallest gaps, sliding his sword across Migo’s stomach, tearing through the leathery hide. The stinging pain became more intense. Migo gnashed at Ranaz but was met by a sword across the side of his face.
Ranaz followed through with a two-handed downward thrust, aimed at Migo’s skull. It would be a killing blow. Migo took a risky move and snapped at the sword, closing his jaws around the weapon. The tip of the blade pierced his tongue, but he held the sword fast.
Under the light of the flashing lightning, Ranaz’s eyes widened.
Migo reached up and snatched Ranaz’s legs with one of his paws, squeezing. He jerked his head to the side, wrenching the sword from Ranaz’s grip. It fell away toward the castle below.
“Fine,” Ranaz roared. Flexing his hands. The rings on his fingers glowed with dull, green light just before the air burst. A surge of white-green lightning struck Migo’s body, seizing his entire system.
Sound and sight vanished. The only sensations that remained were pain and the strong taste of coppery blood. His blood.
He was falling.
Sands, he wasn’t just falling, he was dying. Everything was on fire. He was going to fail Katsi. But it wasn’t just her he was failing. It was himself. He wanted to live.
But he was so close! Sands, he was close!
The burning in his chest tightened, becoming sharper, more finite. The energy of lightning that scorched through his body was just that. Energy.
He took a sharp breath, filling his monstrous lungs. The burning in his chest, whatever it was, sparked and expanded, begging to be released. He let out a roar that put thunder to shame. The blinding brightness vanished. Vision returned like a growing wave. He was still plummeting through the sky, a dark Maedari raging around him, but the lightning had ceased.
Ranaz, who up to that point had still been clutched in Migo’s fastened grasp, had just slipped out of Migo’s paw.
Migo flipped, spreading his wings, muscles pulling at the sudden strain. His body rippled with power, emanating from the burning intensity in his chest. He roared again, the frequency of his discordant breath clashing with the storm, the sleet and sand in the air simply stopping as if frozen in time.
Ranaz’s jaw hung open as Migo barrelled toward him. More lightning streaked around them. The lightning tickled Migo’s hide as it bounced along the spines down his back, causing the energy in his chest to burn even hotter.
The energy needed to be free. Migo stretched out his neck and roared. Much to his surprise, white-red flames exploded from his jaws, engulfing Ranaz. The air around Ranaz resisted at first, forming a bubble, waving and cracking under the pressure.
Migo pounded into it once he arrived, jaws snatching Ranaz at the chest, teeth sinking into the emperor’s heated flesh. Ranaz gasped at the pain as Migo spun and dove back toward the castle. One of the emperor’s hands was completely inside Migo’s jaws. He dug his nails frantically at Migo’s mouth, but he barely even felt it. Though the flames were gone, heat still emanated from Migo’s throat, singeing Ranaz’s skin.
“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Ranaz said through gritted teeth.
Migo squeezed his jaws down tighter, crushing ribs, eliciting a scream from the dying emperor. Migo’s teeth had punctured Ranaz’s body in several places, including both his lungs. He wouldn’t have long.
Some of the blood trickled out into Migo’s mouth. Migo cringed in disgust, but they were close to the hole in the castle’s ceiling, so he flung Ranaz’s body through the gap. The blood, however, triggered something in Migo, blurring his sense of thought. He followed the body through the hole as Ranaz fell to the floor. The emperor must have managed to slow his descent enough to not die on impact, but he dropped to the ground and stared up at Migo as he crashed down beside him.
Katsi had freed herself from the wall, and, much to Migo’s surprise, Scales emerged from the rubble as well.
But Migo’s eyes were fixated on Ranaz. He placed one paw over Ranaz’s chest, a growl resonating from his chest. The taste of his blood was still hot on his tongue, awaking something feral that slumbered inside. An urge to rip the emperor’s head off with his teeth boiled within him.
“Migo?” Katsi’s voice trembled as she said his name.
The sores on her wrists were all he needed to see. He still resisted the urge to bite Ranaz, but instead pounded him into the floor, tiles cracking beneath him, blood pooling out from his many wounds.
Ranaz let out one final, wheezing breath before his eyes stilled, the light burning within him going dark.
That was when the entire planet trembled.
Chapter fifteen
Malahem
Katsi watched in horror as Alyssad launched back in through the opening in the ceiling. At first, she thought that perhaps he’d won. He defeated Migo and was going to finish her off. Her heart lunged into her throat as Alyssad slowed just before thunking into the ground harder than would be comfortable for anybody. That couldn’t have been intentional.
She tried accessing her magic once again, connecting with the stones around her. This time, they obeyed as she willed them aside, and her arms and legs were released.
Then came the beast.
It shot through the opening like a bolt of black lightning, crashing into the floor beside Alyssad. The growl that emanated from the monster’s throat was so terrible it made Katsi’s knees quiver, a lump forming in her throat.
Was that Migo? Could it really be him?
This was no waheshi. This was something far worse. It was easily three times the size of a waheshi, but it was vaguely familiar. The closest thing she could think of was that it looked like a massive version of Scales, but lacked all the beautiful colors. It was also covered in significantly more horns and spikes than Scales had. Even still, it was majestic in a powerful, if not terrifying, way.
The beast slammed its paw into Alyssad’s chest with a sickening crunch.
Katsi used her magic to release Scales from his stone prison. Other bricks had tumbled around her little friend and she worried that perhaps he’d been injured, but she also knew that he was much more resilient than he’d been when she first found him as that tiny little lizard in the storm.
“Migo?” she ventured to ask.
If this creature wanted to destroy her, then she knew there was already no escaping. If it had managed to defeat Alyssad, then she wouldn’t stand a chance.
The monster’s eyes shifted over to her. The spark of red light that burned inside wavered for just a moment until it refocused on Alyssad. Something flickered as Alyssad gave one final sigh before he stilled, like the ground itself had felt his death.
Perhaps it had.
