Brian Rathbone: Regent

Catrin could feel the emotion, and tears came to her eyes. Kyrien's feelings mingled with her own, and such grief was more than anyone should ever have to bear. Desperate, Catrin continued to drive away the demons. Rearing back, the regent queen reached a towering and imposing height. The demons fell back of their own volition, and even Catrin felt fear in the face of such tremendous power.

You are worthy. Protect him.

The words reached Catrin with a wave of compassion, and she could feel the honesty and sincerity as the regent queen looked her in the eyes. The air was sucked from her lungs in shock when she saw a single demon charging through the masses. When it broke into the open, Catrin was terrified to see it wielded a lance similar to her own, save this one looked as if it were made of black glass instead of gold wire. Streaks of light danced over the glossy surface of the lance, and without slowing, the demon thrust the lance into the regent queen's exposed breast. There was a wet sound accompanied by a terrible sigh. Not satisfied with simply running her through, the demon twisted the blade then yanked. Only instead of pulling the blade back out, it yanked it sideways. The lance shattered into thousands of daggerlike shards. With a final wheezing grunt, the queen rolled to one side and collapsed.

In that moment, Catrin realized just how perilous her situation really was. With the regent queen dead, the demons could concentrate on killing her and Kyrien, and she wasn't even mounted. Running back to Kyrien, she leaped onto his back. His pain was palpable and unbearable. It tore at Catrin's resolve, soaking her in guilt and remorse and regret.

"We must live!" Catrin shouted. "You and I are not done-not even close. If we die now, then she died for nothing."

The last words drove Kyrien to reckless action, his anger a force that polluted the air around them. Demons drew closer, their ranks thickening until they blocked the light, which seemed to be moving farther away. It was a maddening view.

Be ready.

Catrin didn't need to ask what for; instead, she drew deeply from the stones in the saddle and the spider globe. When Kyrien started moving, Catrin unloaded a barrage of attacks that turned the great hall into pure chaos. None were safe from her fury, and the air around the openings was once again filled with flailing demons. A rare few managed to remain in the hall, and only one of those managed to stand. Catrin decided to blast those farther ahead since Kyrien could easily handle a single demon, but the beast reached down and, from behind a fallen body, produced another of the glass lances. Catrin thought her heart might just burst.

Planting its feet, the demon was in a perfect position to strike. All it had to do was let Kyrien's momentum carry him forward and he would impale himself. The shock of it stunned Catrin and slowed her reaction. The demon smiled a dark, wet smile as Kyrien approached, even though it must know its own death came just as surely. As the lance was about to pierce Kyrien's breast, Catrin acted out of pure instinct; she cast a wave of vibrating air that sang a high-pitched note. Part of her brain registered that Pelivor knew how to break glass with sound. Glass struck dragon scale, and for a moment the lance held its form, but then it fractured in a thousand places, just as it had been designed to do, only it did so before entering Kyrien's flesh. The look of triumph on the demon's face turned to utter terror as Kyrien ran him down.

Again, Catrin had to concentrate on the demons that blocked their escape. Kyrien needed speed to get them clear of the rock face. His trembling form gave evidence to her concern. Catrin, in contrast, felt as if she could sunder the world, and she feared she would go too far. When she lashed out again, she did so with as much restraint and control as she could. Using a delicate web of energy whose vibration was extremely high and resonance packed a nasty sting, Catrin went for the enemy's eyes. Though she doubted it did any permanent damage, the result was nonetheless astonishing as every demon in the great hall reeled in agony and disorientation.

Pushing stunned demons out of their way, Kyrien gave a heroic effort, trying to take advantage of Catrin's attack, but the effort slowed them. Some demons recovered their vision and moved to block their path. Catrin lashed out with short, precise strikes that pierced the demons and dropped them, the sounds of their deaths lost in the screams of the still blinded.

Holding her breath, Catrin gripped the saddle horn and squeezed with her legs, some of her straps still not secured. When Kyrien launched himself into the air, Catrin bent her knees and braced herself. Though they dropped sharply, they did not quite clear the rocky crags below the entranceway. Based on the abrupt jolt that felt like it broke every bone in Catrin's body, she wondered how Kyrien could endure, but he extended his wings and caught a favorable wind that sent them soaring into the valley.

The air below them hummed with arrows and bolts, and Kyrien turned aside. Only a few shafts managed to strike him, and his scales deflected those. Both he and Catrin remembered the last time she had removed an arrow from a wing joint, and Kyrien still complained that it ached before the rain. Using their speed, Kyrien climbed higher and out of bow range. A pocket of less dense air sent them downward, and Kyrien used it to turn them back toward the mountain. The view that waited would haunt them both. Accompanied by a victorious roar that frightened Catrin more than anything she'd ever heard, the head of the dead regent queen reached the entranceway and was sent tumbling down the rock face. It was an exceedingly stupid manner of celebration, as the rock face was crowded with demons, and the huge dragon head took out scores of them.

For a long moment, Catrin held her breath without realizing it then inhaled sharply when the ferals filled the air around them. In an instant, Catrin readied herself, but the attack never came. Instead the ferals attacked the remains of the regent queen. Kyrien's outrage flowed through the bond, but Catrin convinced him that the queen was already gone and that this could give them time to escape.

Though she no longer maintained the link to Pelivor, she knew that he was still in the dragon's vale-her vale. Kyrien raced along the valley toward the vale unbidden, and Catrin could only hope that her friends were still alive. Guilt and remorse stabbed at her as she second-guessed her decision to leave them. Had she truly been protecting them, or had she simply placed them in even greater danger. The thoughts made her want to cry, but she waited to see what reality truly existed.

She saw Kenward first; he was pointing at her and shouting, but she couldn't hear his words. Blood pounded in her ears, and she could hear nothing over the roar of it; not even the rumble of the wind pierced it. As Kyrien dipped low, Catrin sensed a presence above and behind her, and it was then she turned and saw the giant feral bearing down on them, claws extended and jaws agape. It was a terrifying sight that made Catrin's nightmares seem warm and safe. Nothing can be compared to the feeling of knowing you're about to be torn apart, and Catrin's body trembled.

With unsteady hands, she unbuckled herself as quickly as she could. Kyrien dipped low, allowing her to roll unharmed from the saddle onto the rushing grasses. Tumbling, she hoped she could stop herself before she struck rock. A moment later she found herself lying faceup on the grass, watching a pair of claws only just miss grabbing her, Kyrien having done his best to keep her safe.

Kenward ran toward her. Then Pelivor was there, helping her stand. The rest were huddled within the remains of the Slippery Eel . Pelivor led her back to the ship, and she could barely meet the eyes of those who waited. She had brought them all here, endangered their lives, then abandoned them. And after all of that, after betraying her friends for the sake of the dragons, she had failed. Now they would all die-her friends, her son, her husband, her people-all would die because of her folly. It hurt so badly that she thought she might crumble under the weight of it. The thing that made her feel worst of all, though, was the fact that instead of wanting to protect her friends, all she wanted to do was abandon them again.