Page 55 of Clash of Kingdoms
“I love you too, sweetheart.” I cupped her cheeks and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
She squeezed my wrists before she let me go, before she stepped back so I could walk into the stables and grab my horse.
But then I saw my wife standing there, dressed in her uniform and armor, regal and strong…with pain behind her eyes.
I’d found the strength to console my daughter, but I didn’t have the strength to do the same with my wife. Not when she could see right through me. Not when she knew all my fears because I couldn’t hide anything from her. Not a single thought. Not a single emotion. She would never ask me to stay behind while our soldiers fought for us, because she knew I would never agree. If my people prospered, I prospered. If they died…I died with them. We shared a stare of despair and longing, but we didn’t exchange a word, didn’t exchange a goodbye.
I turned away and stepped into the stables to fetch my horse…knowing that might be the last time I ever saw her.
The entire army left on horseback.
Ian and I rode in the lead, the vampires directly behind us. The dragons had started their attack by grabbing the boulders the soldiers had found, and they carried them to the battlefield twenty leagues in the distance.
It was a long ride, the sound of thousands of hooves beating the cold earth, the cacophony the drumbeat of battle. Riders carried torches to illuminate the way because it was still night. Traveling by horse would normally be dangerous, but I feared what would happen if we didn’t ride out to meet the battle.
My son would be killed…along with everyone else.
With my brother beside me and all our soldiers at my flank, we rode out…and then felt the ground rumble once a dragon dropped a boulder from the sky. The cries of battle became audible, and the fiery veins within the demons’ flesh became visible. The sky had turned to a lighter shade of blue, so sunrise was on the horizon. Once the sky changed, visibility would be better, and perhaps that would help win the war. We couldn’t see in the dark, but I suspected the demons could.
The horrors of the battle became visible, the seven-foot demons dominating our soldiers. Before I was close, I saw one stomp on a soldier until his head popped off his neck in the mud. I saw another get a sword through each of his eyes, but instead of killing him, the demon laughed and pushed him aside to fend for himself.
I felt no fear, but my stomach dropped when I thought of Atticus.
I raised my fist and brought the army to a halt. “Circle them until we meet the Kingdoms on the other side. Form a perimeter and attack on both sides. General, to the left. I’ll take the right.”
General Macabre nodded then took his half of the army with him.
Ian stared at me, his face hard in light of the slaughter, like he refused to feel anything.
I could make a speech to rally the men, but the longer we waited, the more the Kingdoms suffered. “Kill these motherfuckers.” I yanked on the reins of my horse and pulled him away, leading the charge in the other direction.
“We stay together,” Ian said as he rode at my side. “We live together, or we die together.”
When we circled the demons the other way and met the line of Kingdoms, we realized how poorly we were faring in comparison. While the Kingdoms had more men than we did, the demons were just too strong. There were bodies of my kin on the ground, burn marks all over their flesh…charred just like Ivory’s neck.
The memory of my wife’s scarred neck sent me into a blind fury. She would carry that for the rest of her life—because I hadn’t been there to protect her. Now I was here, protecting her, our children, and our kingdom.
We left our horses behind, and I went first. I released a scream so loud, it momentarily paused the fight of those in my vicinity. Demons and humans all turned to regard me, stepping into the battle with my sword and axe in hand. At that moment, General Macabre sounded the horn on the other side, to let our brethren know we hadn’t abandoned them to their fate.
One of the demons released the soldier he had by the neck, his flesh so badly burned the bone was visible, and marched toward me, grinning like this provocation was fun rather than a deadly assault. “The king has arrived at the ball,” he said with a grin. “Good thing I’m holding your dance card.”
I’d never faced these opponents before, only briefly down in their kingdom, but the snake had ended that attack almost as soon as it’d begun. This was my first time in battle, first time facing an enemy taller than me, but I gripped my weapons like it was no different from the battle of the Three Kings.
The demon gave a curtsy, a ridiculous gesture when a soldier screamed before a sword sank deep into his stomach behind him. “Let’s dance.”
I spun my sword around my wrist and gripped my axe, ready to chop this fucker into pieces like firewood.
He stared at me, and then an instant later, he rushed me. He sprinted to me and brandished his sword, swinging it to swipe my head clean from my shoulders right at the start, but I ducked his blade and slammed my hand down onto his forearm, making him growl and loosen his grip on the sword.
I struck him again before he could recover, making him drop the sword altogether. I had the upper hand in that moment, so I continued the onslaught as if my life depended on it, striking him in the face then slashing my sword across his other arm, which immediately oozed with blood that looked like liquid fire.
He screamed before he came at me with his bare fists, swinging for my face and then kicking me in the chest.
I fell back but quickly rolled, getting out of the way of the sword he nearly struck me with. My axe hit his chest and embedded in his chest piece, stuck deep inside the metal. I rolled away again before he came down on me, and then my sword met his. He gave a menacing stare before he rained down a flurry of blows on me so quickly, it was hard to keep up.
But I met his sword each time and pushed back with my own fury.
He stepped back, eyebrows hooded in annoyance. “The king knows how to play.”