“Thank you. That wasn’t painfully obvious,” Ashiyn grumbled. He looked around. “Where is Sihtaar?”
“She took it.” Soryn shook his head. “She took Ember’s daggers as well. And she put a magic inhibitor on me.” Soryn tugged at the collar that was now around his neck.
Ashiyn grunted and then pulled Soryn closer. Using his magic to enhance his strength, he grabbed at the collar and snapped it to pieces. Soryn sat back on his haunches and stared as his magic came flooding back. “She said that was indestructible!”
“Nothing is indestructible. Except me.” Ashiyn got up and rubbed his throbbing neck. The wound had healed, but he could still feel a scar. She would pay for that. How had she taken his blade though? The sword had sworn to serve him. For now, escape was the priority, “Time to get out of here,” he said as he scanned the area.
“There’s no way out except back up the way we were thrown down.” Ember scurried after him as Ashiyn strode toward the crack in the wall they had mentioned.
Ashiyn squeezed through the hole. As soon as he did, there was an angry hiss and a giant maw scooped him up. He growled and threw up his hands to hold the snake’s mouth open, shaking with the effort. “Kill it, Soryn!”
Soryn gestured into the air and shouted a magical command, and fire burst out of the snake, burning it to ash from the inside out.
Ashiyn stepped from the ashes raining around him and stalked to where he could see the hole in the floor above. “Can you get us up there, Soryn?”
Soryn shook his head. “I don’t think so. I can levitate myself, but not all of us.”
Ashiyn closed his eyes and summoned his magic. The air ripped in front of him and he stepped back as Illusion screamed and stepped through to them. Soryn’s griffin followed a little more hesitantly.
“Just full of surprises, father.” Ember said with raised brows as he climbed onto the griffin behind Soryn.
“What now?” Soryn asked.
“Now we remind Seraphine that I’m immortal and get my damned blade back.”
Ashiyn got onto Illusion’s back and sent the winged equine flying through the hole in the floor. The hole led to an empty room but they could hear the army nearby. Once out of the pit, Ashiyn dismounted and motioned for Soryn and Ember to follow him. Stairs led up to a balcony that overlooked Seraphine’s throne room.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“We can’t go down there, Ashiyn.”
Soryn’s harsh whisper right near Ashiyn’s shoulder could barely be heard over the din below them. They crouched on a ledge that overlooked the giant throne room where monsters now swarmed in disorganized ranks. Every commander of the army of darkness had to be there.
“What is she up to?” Ashiyn scowled. Seraphine sat draped over the throne looking bored as her servants gathered. He could see Sihtaar sitting behind her, leaning against the throne. He attempted to use his magic to pull it to him, but it might have well been attached to the fortress for all it budged. His death had severed the bond he had with the blade so that, even with his magic, he couldn’t touch it.
“She thinks she has won. All the heroes are dead. She threw us all into the pit expecting her snake to eat you. As far as she knows her pet gobbled you up when you were dead,” Ember pointed out. The half-elf leaned against the wall behind them not even bothering to be quiet.
“With all due respect, my lord, I don’t think even the three of us have the power to kill that many to get to her. Especially without weapons.” Soryn tugged at Ashiyn’s arm. “Let us away. You can rest and recover your strength.”
“I am fine,” Ashiyn growled, yanking his arm away from Soryn. “There is no retreat, Soryn. There is only victory.”
“Easy for you to say. You and Ember both come back from death. My immortality relies on not dying in the first place,” Soryn said, as he rolled his eyes.
“You’re a celestial, Soryn. You’ll be fine,” Ashiyn reassured him.
Soryn moved forward to study the army. “What if I blow a path through them for you from here? Someone has to stay back and retrieve your sorry corpses when you fall, so you can revive in peace.”
“That will work. Are you coming, Ember?” Ashiyn looked back at his son.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, father.” Ember shoved off the wall and walked forward to join him. “Much like you, I don’t need my daggers to kill.”
“I’d tell you to be careful, but I know you won’t.” Soryn sighed, then stepped to the edge. He began to draw runes in the air with his magic, blinding white lines were visible until each rune was completed and then disappeared with a pop. As he drew, a wind started to pick up in one corner of the throne room below. As the final rune was drawn, a roaring tornado burst to life and rampaged through the center of the room. Some monstrous creatures were drawn into the winds and thrown like ragdolls, as others scattered to get out of the way.
Chaos reigned in the room below. Just the way Ashiyn preferred it. He smirked and, with a wink at Soryn, jumped down into the room onto the path the tornado had cleared for him. Ember landed deftly behind him.
“Stop him!” Seraphine shrieked when she saw them.
The commanders who heard her over the din charged at Ashiyn. He
