Legends of the War (War of the Magi Book 3) Read online

  “But she’s family in blood only, not in spirit. She killed my father, her own brother. She killed my mother. She killed my sister. Only the grace of that god prevented me from having to see Rey’s death, though I saw my mother die before my eyes. It just…”

  His voice trailed off.

  “I have to remind myself why I’m fighting,” Eric said, his voice a little stronger than before. “Down there, I realized that if all I fought for was revenge on the dragon that is Artemia, then if I succeeded, I would have nothing to live for. I’m only sixteen. That’s what the god told me.”

  “Do you believe it?”

  Another pause.

  “In my moments of peace, yes,” Eric said. “But the idea of revenge isn’t one I can let go of easily. Too much happened for me to just say that a higher purpose is all I need. It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Then it shouldn’t,” Abe said. “It’s not as if you kill Artemia, fulfill your revenge, and then die from a lack of motivation. You can find a new one.”

  “But that’s not what the god said.”

  Abe bit his lip.

  “Are you sure, Eric, you weren’t hallucinating?”

  He is. He spoke to Chrystos. The god of the magi.

  And, apparently, the god of Hydor. Not just us. But all of the world and its creatures.

  “I’m fairly certain, it was too vivid and I had no control over what happened. Too detailed. Too helpful.”

  “Fair enough,” Abe said.

  He fluttered his lips as a horse would, and their conversation shifted to that of what they would do in Mathos after they defeated Artemia. Zelda lost interest and genuinely did try to fall asleep.

  But one question bugged her. It was a question she tried not to think about on account of Mama’s wishes and the chaos of the last couple of months, but Eric mentioning it had brought it to the forefront.

  Who was her father?

  Her mother never said. She didn’t have a clue. For all of the power she had, she would have assumed Garo, but he seemed more faithful to his wife than to his god, so that seemed highly improbable. The notion that it was a non-practitioner also seemed remote because of the power she had—power her mother had not had.

  Romarus? Roland? A mage she did not yet know?

  The question did not exactly leave her bothered, because she’d spent her whole life without a father and had long ago given up hoping to meet him.

  But it had become something of a minor curiosity, and Zelda wondered if she would ever have the free time to explore the possibility. And if she did, would she?

  ***

  Twelve days after their first meeting, Zelda, Eric, Abe, and Romarus laid eyes on the city that had nearly killed Zelda at a young age.

  And already, the town’s feel differed tremendously from when she had left it.

  CHAPTER 10: ARTEMIA

  The four “borrowed” imperial ships passed through the sea without incident during that first day. Artemia felt content enough to rest on the deck of her boat, a chair presented to her by one of the few guards with her. The monstrous birds above screeched as they chased back the occasional dragon or normal-sized bird, while Ifrit, Odin, and Shiva observed the guards, their glares as intimidating as a typhoon.

  But then the night came, and not only did Artemia face her first challenge, she had her first moment of doubt since leaving Ragnor’s cave.

  When the sun had set and the stars had begun to glisten in the sky, she felt as relaxed as she ever had. She would soon accomplish what not even the greatest magi had ever pulled off. She would have Emperor Syrast at her utter command. She would kill Kara and Abe, once she found them. And if anyone threatened her, she would unleash the demons of Ragnor on them.

  But by midnight, clouds came, and with it, heavy rains and a storm followed. Valigarmanda and the phoenix had warned Artemia’s ship, but the other three did not receive such courtesies.

  “This does not bode well,” one guard said.

  “I’m so sorry, do you fear for your life when you see what protection you have?” Artemia said sarcastically, barely moving from her chair. The rain bothered her, but she had to keep appearances. “You should show your gratitude to these beasts. What is a wave when you have beasts like these?”

  “My… my lady,” the guard said, clearly unsure how to address Artemia. “The guard who returned from Dabira, he warned of deadly monsters of the sea that have arisen in the last couple of months. The rumors state that our victory over Indica has come at the price of losing control of the seas.”

  Artemia had thought to just toss the man overboard for instilling false fear into the others, but their reactions suggested sincerity in his words. Although Artemia still thought of making an example of him, she also wanted to test the veracity of his claims before being caught unprepared in the face of such a monster.

  “Then tell me, soldier, what you know about these monsters. And make it quick. If we are—”

  A thunderous crack filled the air. Artemia looked to the right, thinking it was thunder following a massive bolt of lightning, but her eyes showed her the truth of the guards’ words.

  Massive tentacles wrapped around one of the other ships, breaking it in half. Men screamed and begged for help. Some got dragged under by the mighty arms, while others jumped and prayed to survive the seas. A few swam in the direction of other ships, but all got dragged under within minutes. Fine. Let them be a sacrifice.

  Artemia’s ship jostled as something massive hit it. She would not sacrifice anything further to the wrath of the sea.

  “You speak the truth, soldier,” Artemia said, but she had steeled her voice. “My loyal monsters! You have finally come upon a worthy fight!”

  As if on cue, out of the sea, a massive, multi-headed monster that looked like a dragon emerged, all of its heads roaring with sharp teeth exposed.

  “The hydra!” the soldiers screamed.

  Artemia stood with her arms crossed in defiance, but she wasn’t stupid. She had never heard of this monster before now, and she suspected the red crystal did not give her control over it as it did Ifrit and Shiva.

  “Monsters!” she screamed. “Take out this hydra! Do whatever it takes!”

  Ifrit bounded to the top of the boat and bellowed.

  “It would be an honor to eradicate this worthless scum of Indica!”

  Artemia smiled. Today would mark yet another victory in her battle against the legends of Hydor.

  Above her, the phoenix and Valigarmanda screeched and then dove for the hydra, each taking an individual head. The hydra’s heads, four of them in total, took the monsters individually. They roared back and snapped at the monsters, and the battle began with a cacophony of war cries.

  For as ferocious as the war between dragons and the monsters of Ragnor may have seemed, this seemed like a real battle, and not one that was one-sided. Valigarmanda and the phoenix unleashed their magic, but the hydra moved like a snake—quickly, with counterstrikes, and in an almost impossibly agile manner. Every time Artemia thought the hydra would fall, it moved in a way no being should.

  But Odin did not have to fight on a three-dimensional plane. In fact, when it jumped off the ship, the horse galloped on top of the water, the knight holding its sword aloft in triumph. The soldiers gasped in awe. Artemia just smirked. She had a feeling she hadn’t even seen the full power of the monsters yet. May that come when Bahamut appears.

  Odin moved in and with a swift chop of its sword, decapitated the Hydra. The sword didn’t even slow down when it made contact.

  “Mercy,” a soldier said.

  Anything but, for those who oppose me.

  The other three heads roared in pain and sneered at Odin.

  But then something emerged from the gaping wound.

  Two somethings.

  Two more heads popped up. Artemia boiled with rage. She had the most powerful monsters in the world. How dare Indica have something like this! This defied the very rules of combat!

&n
bsp; “You want to fight like that, then so be it,” she snarled. “Shiva! Freeze the beast and sink it to the bottom! Do not decapitate it. If it wants to die in a prolonged, painful way, so be it.”

  “As you command,” the blue-skinned creature said. “You will not suffer from this being any longer.”

  Shiva hovered off of the boat and advanced toward the roaring hydra. Artemia, arms crossed, felt smug. Yes, she’d gotten caught off-guard by the hydra’s ability to birth two heads, but the solution seemed obvious. Kill it without chopping its head off. Another battle, another obstacle, another easy victory.

  But before Shiva could get there, a new level of rage awakened inside Artemia.

  Valigarmanda dove for the hydra, unleashing its mixture of elemental spells toward the beast. One head took the brunt of the damage, staring down at the bird and roaring at it before it suffered what looked like death.

  But out of the periphery of that attack, like a snake hiding in the corner, another head lunged for the bird. Its aim was true, and while it did not kill Valigarmanda, it chopped off its entire right wing. Artemia could only watch in horror as Valigarmanda furiously flapped, trying to stay alive, before it crashed helplessly into the ocean. When a wave came and took it out of view, Artemia never saw it again.

  She’d lost. She didn’t know what it was like to have that feeling. And she didn’t like it.

  “No!” Artemia screamed. “You’re not supposed to die! You’re supposed to make me a goddess! You can’t die!”

  The battle against the hydra ended momentarily after. Shiva froze the great beast, and within seconds, it sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But the damage had already happened.

  Shiva, Ifrit, Odin, and the phoenix returned. Artemia had no other monsters. She would not continue without loss.

  “You all are supposed to be indestructible!” she growled. “I didn’t take you with me because you might die.”

  “We are monsters of the underworld, but nothing is indestructible, not even Iblis or Chrystos,” Ifrit rumbled. “The hydra is one of the greatest sea monsters, checked by Indica. Her defeat means that the hydra can roam free. Even now, I do not think Shiva has killed it, but merely kept it in place. The beast will rise again. And there are others which will strike if they get the chance.”

  Artemia bit her lip, snorted, and punched a nearby mast with all her fury. She pulled her hand back and showed the bloody knuckles to her monsters, ignoring the shooting pain that came from her broken skin.

  “I, too, bleed,” Artemia said. “But do not confuse being damaged with losing in battle. I don’t ever want any of the four of you to lose in battle. Do so, and you will find yourselves frozen for what will seem like another eternity. Do I make—”

  But her words became interrupted when she heard two more ferociously loud cracks and more screams. She looked over and saw the other two ships, which had managed to avoid most of the battle, wrapped up by tentacles—far thicker and far darker than the ones before. The tentacles tightened and the ships broke apart. No, not tentacles. Arms.

  Men fell into the water. A thick, oval-shaped head emerged from the sea in between the two sinking ships. It sported red eyes and what looked like tentacles where its mouth would be. Artemia clenched her fists as if she might fight the massive beast herself.

  “What madness is this?!?” one of the guards yelled.

  Artemia stared defiantly at the creature. The creature looked back, its tentacles by its mouth writhing with excitement. The two seemed intent on seeing who would blink first.

  “You want a chance to prove yourselves after that debacle,” Artemia said. “Fight that thing off.”

  “It would be my honor!” Odin roared, mounting his horse and charging at the beast.

  Artemia watched intently as Odin closed the ground, its horse galloping faster on water than on land. Odin held its sword out. Kill it and see if this thing grows a head back. Doubtful.

  But then, at the last second, the great monster of the ocean ducked. It dragged the ships and the screaming men down, and all that remained in the area was Artemia’s ship and everyone on board.

  “Coward!” she screamed, adding a few more swears. “You dare to rise up out of the ocean, only to then escape to the safety of the depths? Fight me! I said fight me! You pathetic spawn!”

  But her words had no effect, and the waves became as calm as a sunny day without clouds or winds. The storm, as quickly as it showed up, had vanished.

  “I can’t believe this,” the guard who had warned of the sea monsters from before said. “What has the world come to? What have we gotten ourselves into? Why? Why?”

  “You,” Artemia said, her voice a growl.

  The guard looked nervously at her as she approached. Then, she surprised everyone.

  She smiled.

  “I understand,” Artemia said, drawing confused glances from the remaining six guards in the area. Even Ifrit and Shiva had perplexed expressions on their faces. “What we’re encountering is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Even the creatures on this ship, I did not know about until very recently.”

  “You speak the truth,” the guard said. “We’ve already lost so many men. A few fell off this ship. My friends.”

  “Yes,” Artemia said. “In times like these, I can understand your fear. Look out on that ocean.”

  The guard turned and moved closer to the deck, overlooking the now almost-impossibly tranquil sea. Odin returned, the horse and the soldier jumping back onto the ship, its landing not even producing a thud.

  “Many great monsters await in the depths. But many great monsters live on the land. And many more take to the skies, including the one we seek to destroy.”

  “You mean…”

  The guard didn’t finish his thought. He didn’t need to. Word spread fast of Artemia’s accomplishment, new monsters, and her ambition.

  “Yes, it will make for a great struggle. But I promise you when this is all done, you will find a peaceful world.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  The guard looked on in awe at the world. Perhaps he would find a peaceful world. Perhaps he would find a way to live in harmony with Hydor when it was all said and done. I’ll make sure of it.

  Artemia grabbed her sword and stabbed him. He let out a surprised grunt. Before Artemia would allow him to speak a single word, she removed her sword and kicked him off the boat. He splashed into the ocean seconds later, left for dead. She whirled to the remaining men, who had gathered around each other.

  “Let me make one thing abundantly clear to you,” she said to the five remaining guards. “You are all expendable. I brought you with me not to ensure my victory against Bahamut. No human can ever stand a chance against the legendary dragon. I brought you here to demonstrate my power over the empire and its people. If any of you ever doubt the direction this mission goes, keep it to yourself. It’s what will allow you to live.”

  She saw unbridled fear in their eyes, fear that topped even what the guards who had tackled Indica had shown. She smiled nefariously.

  “You fight with me, or you die by me. It’s that simple. This is the deal I make with you. Defeat Bahamut, and you shall have whatever you want. Die for me, and you shall have an honorable afterlife. Try and run, and the phoenix and Ifrit will show you what hell looks like before you get there. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  She examined the responses closely. All of the men showed sheer terror on their faces. More than one looked like he contemplated just jumping off the ship and choosing death now.

  Good. She had demonstrated her power effectively. She would keep a couple alive, at least, for the purposes of showing the empire what sort of madness she possessed after her victory over Bahamut. She wanted Rufus to know while the emperor might have sought the death of magi, she would seek the death of anyone who defied her.

  “We reach Mathos in four days,” she said. “As this is the only ship remaining, we do not have to wait for the slow or th
e incompetent. Move full speed ahead. As soon as we land, we move out. We spend no time in Mathos. If I change my mind, I will let you know.”

  She didn’t bother to ask if they understood her again. If they didn’t, it would cost them their lives—a fact she had made perfectly clear tonight.

  CHAPTER 11: ERIC

  When Eric, Abe, Zelda, and Romarus arrived at the gates of Caia, they found a strange sight.

  Not a soul stood there. In fact, the gates had risen open. The walls went without patrol. The windows were shut. The streets were deserted. It looked almost like a trap. It probably is a trap.

  “Something serious happened here,” Abe said. “No city ever leaves their gates unattended unless they want to protect something even further within. Something they want to fortify at the expense of its people.”

  “We should check first,” Zelda said. “The rest of the gates. I don’t like this.”

  Eric thought that was an idea which wasted time until he remembered the persecution Zelda faced in this town. In that regard, then, he understood. If he returned to a place that had constantly sought his death, he didn’t think he’d even return.

  That thought right there, that’s why I’m not Artemia. I empathize.

  They patrolled the outside of the wall, looking for even a stray cat within. But no one stood watch. In fact, Eric didn’t even hear any citizens walking around or talking. It sounded as if the empire had ordered everyone hide for an ambush on the magi Eric had with him.

  “Let’s go back to the west entrance,” Zelda said. “We can more easily blend in there.”

  “With what, the air? I don’t know to what degree that will happen,” Abe said with a chuckle. “But you know this city far better than any of us.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  The four of them returned to the gates. Overly cautious, they pressed up against the wall and leaned in. Eric and Abe had their swords unsheathed, while Romarus had his bow gently nocked. Zelda remained in a crouch, prepared to fire her magic.

  Not a soul in sight. No beggars. No citizens. No soldiers.