Chapter 37 The Shadows of Hellbane
“I claim you in the name of the dragon of night, the fierce behemoth who tortured you on your rise to your new home.”
When Bane lowers his hands, Oberon’s eyes open and blaze red, just like the dragon responsible for killing Calder. The darkness over-coating him melts away, revealing Oberon’s golden skin, but his eyes remain burning red for long moments afterward. A shudder ripples through him, and a smile ghosts over his lips.
“My turn,” an airy voice calls.
The next burst of power hits us and I fall face-first on the cobblestones and writhe. The pain is so immense that I can’t draw a breath. I feel like my body is being crushed by a giant invisible fist. I try to abate my panic, knowing now without any reasonable doubt that it will get worse every single time. Whatever sorcery this is is powerful beyond measure, but I cannot locate its source no matter how hard I try.
“Captain Whist,” Thorne says, as if his announcement isn’t needed. There’s humor in his voice, affection. Different from all the others, he leans towards the woman riding the misty cloud and smiles gently.
“Fodder?” she sings, her voice a melody. Her body is small, her frame looks weak, her features delicate, like something out of a fairy tale. Her white hair floats around her head as if part of the clouds itself.
She floats down the steps of the dais, hovering in the air above Alric with a gentle smile on her face. “Rise, my fodder.”
Alric grunts, his body shaking as the powers that claim us slowly ebb. He stands and crosses his arms over his chest, showing Whist his scales as he uses the power he’s already mastered to crackle lightning and form his own mist around him.
Whist giggles with glee, flipping her hair over her shoulder and revealing the shattered scales that adorn her neck and ears like jewelry. “It seems Alric has claimed the dragon of sea and skies for himself.”
Her words are still like a song as she lowers herself into Alric’s arms. She’s the size of a child compared to him, but her sheer power makes her seem more dangerous than Cinder.
“I accept your claim, Alric, and welcome you into my band as an established sorcerer.” She bops his nose with her forefinger, her own nose wrinkling with delight as she kicks her feet with excitement.
There’s no cheering for Alric, only a silent crackle of electricity as the blues slayers surround them and accept Alric as one of theirs.
“Anara!”
Everyone around me takes a sharp breath, every eye falling on me as I try to unwind myself from the fetal position on the stones. I know the power is coming, and it terrifies me. I belong to no one. I’m not even supposed to be here. The scale I carry comes from a dragon no one has ever seen.
I brace myself, teeth bared, eyes glued to Thorne in a challenge.
This time the power billows straight from him, knocking me with gale-force winds. I land on my back, staring at the storm above, and feeling the heat of the lava below. As always, trapped and helpless. Never belonging. Never whole.
So the power came from him after all. How could I have not known? I feel foolish, childish, stupid. The power pours over me in waves of pain, the sheer force of destiny buffeting me into the ground as if I will become part of Hellbane itself.
“Who claims you, Anara of two kingdoms?” Thorne growls, shaking the ground beneath me with each step as he approaches.
My head turns from side to side as the others surround me, circling me and Thorne. Lips sneer and eyes narrow. I can’t see Zaries, Oberon, or Sylvain. Even they can’t help me now. Invisible magic snakes around me, pulling me into the air and hovering me several feet off the ground. My hair flows loose, wind from Whist whipping it around my head.
There’s no time to wonder if I can fight this, because fire from Cinder bubbles up. Ropes of fire wrap around my boots and yank me to the ground, slamming me back into the stone. I don’t move from where I’m held, conscious I’m at the whim of every captain here. That magic is in control.
My teeth grind, a roar of fury splitting my lips and escaping my throat. “What do you want from me, Thorne?” I scream.
Poisonous vines lash out, whipping me as they wind around my limbs.
Shadows coalesce, feeling like they’re climbing into my lungs, invading my cells.
Darkness engulfs me like death itself, ripping at my clothes and pulling more screams of anger from deep inside me.
I’m tired of feeling helpless. Powerless. Like a pawn in a play, not a player of my own life.
I’m here because I’m determined to forge my own fate.
“I am not a toy for your entertainment!” I cry, my lips opening so wide I feel like my skin might split.
This time, when the power hits, it emanates from within me. Fire ignites my veins, lightning crackles in my eyes, flames flicker past my fingertips. I rise from the hard ground, alive in ways I’ve never experienced. Every single power touching me evaporates like ashes and bursts away in a massive explosion.
Everyone around me, captains and all, falls as a shockwave detonates. A powerful one. One that originates with me, not Thorne.
My body slowly lowers to the ground, now mine to command. Now free of the magic trying to whip me into submission.
I land on my knees, eyes wide in disbelief as I exhale in a rush. As I do, every single ounce of power that grips me and this courtyard evaporates. Silence falls, the noise of magic and people cut off in the shockwave. There’s no sound, not even the storm or the bubbling of lava. The silence makes me cup my ears, trying to see if I’ve been struck deaf.
Footsteps approach, no longer containing the power to make the earth shudder. Now, simply a man walking over cold, dead stone. Thorne’s bandaged bare feet enter my vision and I slowly tilt my head back to stare at my master in the eye.
His blindfold is nowhere to be seen, his clothes are ripped and hanging off his shoulders, revealing hundreds of battle scars. Orbs of silver sit behind his eyelids and crackle with power. His sightless eyes meet mine as he holds his hand out to me.
“I claim you, Anara Hellbane, first of her name.”
I take his hand, rising slowly, heart thundering, knees trembling. My eyes scan the courtyard.
Everyone is unconscious. Every slayer, every trainee, every captain. Knocked out by the power that burst from me, the power I didn’t know I had. The power that terrifies me to my very core.
“You are mine, Anara. I will take you under my wing and train you myself.” Thorne puts his hands on my shoulders and fear contorts his face. “When they wake, they will have questions. Questions I do not have answers to.” He sighs, standing up straight, his mouth a thin line of determination. “You will live in my quarters, Anara Hellbane, away from them all. While they live in their barracks, you will stand by my side.”
“I… Thorne, I don’t understand.” I can barely hear my own voice. It shakes with the terror that rides through my veins like lightning.
“Anara Hellbane, I claim you as my apprentice,” he reiterates. “I will train you, protect you, and keep you. None will touch you, you are one who has never been seen before. You will be greater than them all, my child, or you will die trying to become that which I promise.”
My body trembles uncontrollably as the realization sets in. Hellbane was supposed to be hard, that I knew. But this is something else. I’ve been given a surname I cannot deny, a name I cannot let down. A surname that holds more power in this kingdom than Carpathian, and I know the danger with which that comes.
The daughter of all magic, Hellbane's heir.
My mind mentor speaks, making my vision blur as I focus on his internal words. Thorne disappears in front of me, and all I can sense is immense power engulfing me in a warm caress.
Hear the call that beckons you and know it cannot be denied. Daughter of Hellbane, daughter of Thorne, daughter of my soul. I too claim you, my child. Embrace your destiny!
“Thorne of Hellbane,” I breathe, my vision clearing and the great man coming back into focus. “I pledge my life and lore to you. I am yours.”
I duck my head in reverence, sinking to one knee. The weight of destiny weighs more heavily now, with my two claimed fathers looming over me, one in person and the other in the ether beyond.