T. Grey - The Fallen King

Abby wanted to obey him, she really did. But, like hell she’d leave the love of her life to die down here alone.

Abby stepped around him, shot her hand out and then the fight really began.

Pandemonium erupted.

Alrik fought the spell controlling him and lurched after the idummi. Horrible screams of death ripped through the air. The stale, bitter scent of blood filled Abby’s nostrils like copper.

Abby had her target—the queen—and didn’t let her out of her sight. Their gazes collided, ice versus fire.

Abby acted first.

Thrusting all of her power into it, she unleashed a fiery spell meant to burn and immobilize the queen simultaneously.

The queen swiped her hands in the air deflecting the spell. Abby tried again moving faster and pushing all of her power into it. The queen dodged it. She tried again and again only to have her spells deflected with ease.

The queen laughed as if this was all a game while sweat poured down Abby’s face.

The idummi were dropping like dead flies around them from Alrik and his bare hands. But, there were still too many of them. Too much happened all at once. She just needed it to slow down for a minute so she could think .

The queen whispered in demonic calling forth dark powers so evil they made Alrik’s icy magic look downright hot. Black smoke swirled out of the ground like tendrils of flame. Only this wasn’t smoke.

Abby stepped back but the tendrils came for her, snapping at her like hands then they snaked around her ankles and wound up her legs. The tendrils squeezed tight like lengths of heavy rope. They solidified before her very eyes into something with mass, something heavy and strong like a hose. It latched on and yanked her sprawling forward.

Abby pitched to the ground. The tendrils were trying to squirm their way up to her hips. They’d encase her whole body if she didn’t stop them.

Abby blasted the tendrils with a deteriorating spell and the tendrils withered away like dying flowers.

The queen glared at her, then looked around at her demons, most of which were dead, and raced back through the forest.

“Damn!” She really was a coward.

Abby ran after her with only one final glance at Alrik. He kept killing more and more idummi as they swarmed him. She trusted him to be well. She knew in her heart he’d overcome whatever they dished out. After all, she’d seen him fight against a band of rogue demons and those were trained fighters.

The queen raced back towards her swampy camp, her red gown a blur of bloody color in the green hued marsh.

Abby’s heart drummed a thumping beat in her ears. Her breathing sawed from her throat and her neck hurt like a SOB. Each time she swallowed, heck, even just breathed with her mouth open it created aching sensations in her neck like the worst-case scenario of strep throat.

Abby reached the top of the slope that lead down into the marshy swamp and paused.

The queen was screaming in hysterics.

Idummi were leaving by the scores. What had been probably hundreds of demons had dwindled down to less than one hundred, if that.

Abby slowly made her way down the slope. This would end one way or another. Just between her and the queen.

The queen screamed in frustration. “AAGH! You won’t leave me,” she said darkly.

Her arms thrust out from her body, hands curling into fists she turned them as if she was ripping someone’s heart out of their chest. The large crowd in front of her screeched in pain, their bodies jerking, and chests thrusting forward as if they were having their hearts torn from them. They collapsed to the ground shuddering. Dark green blood trickled from their mouths.

Abby could barely stand to watch.

The rest of the idummi stood watching the show with increased apprehension and fear. Several of them had curved knives at their waist and some even had swords at their hips or across their backs. Several started to step towards the queen’s back. Abby stilled to watch. She cheered in her head.

Yes! Kill her! KILL HER!

The demons on the ground finally stopped screaming. Their bodies shuddered in the aftermath of death before freezing in the last position they’d ever be in.

The queen sucked in ragged breaths. Her hair no longer held the immaculate design it’d been in. The colored threads had come loose. The braid, if one could still call it that, was frazzled and fuzzy around her shoulders as if she’d been rolling around the ground. Her dress had torn at the sleeves probably from running through the forest with those low hanging branches snagging her. Green blood had splattered over the very bottom of her dress, ruining the fur trim.

Abby waited. The rest of the demons around her paced agitated, snarling. She could see their visible indecision. She prayed quickly to whoever might listen to her.

Let them kill her. Please let them kill her!

The queen turned around in a slow whirl with her shoulders held so rigidly that the muscles in her neck flexed to reveal a stark collarbone. She bared her teeth in a snarl as if ready to bite. With her arms held out straight from her body, she looked as if one little thing might set her off...only Abby didn’t want to find out what she’d do once that happened.

“Kill him! Kill the girl! Kill them all!” ordered the queen.

Damn. Abby moved fast and ducked behind a boulder jutting out from the slope. Plastering her back against it, she waited straining to hear any footsteps. There was no time to waste. The idummi stormed back up the slope just a few paces behind the rock. Abby squeezed her eyes shut at the sound of the demon’s howling war cry. They were revving themselves up for battle. The thought made her shake. Flattened her back up against the rock, she ignored the sharp points of it jabbing into her spine and back and hoped like hell they didn’t spot her.

She had to act now. There were too many of them. Not even Alrik could take on that many demons.

She had no idea what she was doing. She shook down to her bones with a heavy cold as if she wore clothes that had been snowed on. Standing, she saw the demons had left and started for the queen.

The queen muttered to herself in soft Demonic whispers that Abby couldn’t understand. She hovered near the black cauldron that hung over the fire then snatched a leather satchel off the ground and tossed chucks of herbs into it.

Abby didn’t give her any sign that she crept up behind her. She just acted. Keeping her steps light she ran up on the queen.

Then with a hard jerk, Abby slammed her hands out in front of her using every fiery cell of magic inside her as if shoving someone. And she was in a way.

Abby’s magic propelled the queen headfirst in a horrifying scene. With a bloodcurdling scream, the queen flew into the mighty fire. Abby’s heart roared in her ears. The queen’s terrible screams pierced something inside her, shocking her so all she could do was stand there and watch.

The red gown went up in flames. Her body rolled and jerked in the white-hot logs as if she fought to get away but couldn’t. Flames licked at her hair and skin burning it away in sizzling, burning clumps.

Abby fell to her knees. She’d been shaking before but now she really shook. Her teeth chattered, arms trembled, and her stomach bobbed. It took everything in her not to keel over and vomit at that very moment.

Her stomach gave a vicious roll again, this one even harder as the smell of burning flesh filled her nose, and Abby couldn’t hold it any longer. She doubled over and wretched as her entire body convulsed. Burning acid coated her tongue and stung her throat. After three heaves, she simply knelt there gasping like a fish out of water.