Reborn: Draconia World Book 5

Chapter One Trap “Son of a b***h. I’m going to kill you.” I heard Tim shouting behind me, while I stood paralysed, watching as Idris was dragging Avianna away. He had trapped her in some kind of golden chain that she couldn’t get out of. She was crying for me. I sensed her pain throughout my body; it was terrifying. This couldn’t really be happening. The elders had vanished, or maybe I was too shocked to care. In one moment, they were standing beside me, and in the next, the tunnel was filling with dark smoke. I couldn’t take Avianna’s screams; I rushed after Idris, but there was nothing but pitch-black darkness in front of me. Everything was happening so fast. Idris, my Idris. This was impossible. He couldn’t have betrayed me again. We loved each other, but was it real, or had he been lying to me all this time? The enormous pain of betrayal sliced through my chest, spreading to every nook and cranny of my body. The ground beneath my feet began to shake, and large rocks were falling all around me. The tunnel was becoming unstable. Timothy went for him, but within a moment, he screamed out in agony, and suddenly, flames surrounded us. Idris must have already vanished, but how? There wasn’t another exit for him. The Dark Ones must have figured out how to move through the magical portals, or they were using the cracks of magic. “Avianna!” I shouted after her. It was too hot in here; we needed to get out, but I had to save her. She was gone; I couldn’t hear her internal voice anymore. More rocks were falling, and the fire was spreading so fast. Our oxygen was diminishing by the second, and I could hardly breathe. I panicked, wondering if this was really the end, if I was destined to die in here. “Fran, come on. We have to get out of here,” a voice reached me. I was too upset to react. The pain was distant, dull, because I was overwhelmed by Idris’s unexpected betrayal. Deep down, I wanted to believe that this was just a dream, a vision that couldn’t possibly be true. I was hit with something, maybe a rock or another object, because darkness suddenly obscured my vision for a moment. Part of me wished I could just die in here, but then the tiny voice inside my head reminded me that I wasn’t a quitter. If I gave up now, it would mean that I had let Dara die for nothing. “We are getting out of here, now. Come on,” the voice was commanding, dragging me from behind. It was so hot; my skin was burning. Someone else was shouting, or maybe the screams were just inside my head. This couldn’t have been a trap. No, no. I prayed to the God of the Lower World. I prayed that it was just a nightmare. My heart jumped in my throat when I could finally breathe again. The same calming voice was talking to me as he poured water all over my face, and I started coughing. I rubbed my eyes until I could see what was going on around me. My father backed away to the wall, and then collapsed onto the ground. He was breathing heavily, and half of his face was burned. Other members of the League were around; some of them were burned, too. Where had the fire come from? Gregory was standing very close to me, holding something that looked like a bucket. “Are you all right?” he asked me. I wasn’t all right. I just couldn’t stop going over what happened in there. The worst part was, I had been separated from Avianna, by a man who was supposed to be my rock. Maybe he was being controlled again, just like he had been during the meeting with the warlocks. Anything was possible in the tunnels controlled by the Dark Ones. “Yeah, getting there, but I’ll find it hard to heal without Avianna,” I said, clenching my fists. “How could he have done this to me? He was supposed to be on our side!” “You never should have trusted him in the first place,” Timothy shouted. “He probably sent the Dark Ones to our location, to Mangus’s property.” He looked like he was in pain, and in a way, maybe he was right. Idris had betrayed me once before, but back then, it was supposedly a misunderstanding. “He caught your dragon; he knew what kind of spell to use in order to separate you. I’m not sure what to think—” “Right now, we haven’t got time to dwell on it,” Cole said, appearing next to my brother. “We need to head over to the square to join the others before the Dark Ones show up.” He was right. I needed to pull myself together. There was no time to stop; we had to fight. Idris’s betrayal shook me to the core. He’d ripped me from the inside out for the second time, but I had to keep going. Avianna would have wanted it that way. He promised; how many times had he promised me that he would always be standing by my side? My breathing sped up. Gregory handed me some kind of potion. I didn’t even question it, just drunk it down in one go. I needed something, anything that could take my mind off of what had happened just a moment ago. How long could I go without Avianna? I had no idea. The burns slowly began to heal. I stood up and handed the rest of the potion to my father, feeling guilty that he had just been left there. The League didn’t really care about him. “He won’t hurt your dragon,” Cole said, approaching us. “Maybe he was only trying to protect her.” He was probably trying to make me feel better. “Well, he’s dead to me now. I’m going to kill him myself if anything happens to Avianna,” I said, pushing away any emotions that indicated Idris was on our side. There was always hope. Everything hurt, but more than anything, it was my heart that was bleeding. How did the Dark Ones know we were going to be there? This question kept coming up. I just wanted to know who set us up. “My guys set a few more explosions in the tunnels in case the Dark Ones decide to come back,” Cole added. “I heard from upstairs that everything is going smoothly.” At least we had some good news. I helped Timothy to stand and we started moving. I couldn’t believe we were leaving the tunnel, and I was returning without Avianna. The silence around us started to bother me—until it didn’t. We walked for a long half an hour, hearing explosions, and the tunneled ceiling above our heads began shaking. The smoke was rising ahead of us when we came out of the tunnels. We hoped that some of the wardens were defeating the Dark Ones. Gaining control of the council buildings was crucial, and I couldn’t imagine that all this preparation had gone to dust. Next would be Dimond city, but that was another part of the plan. It was still early, only around eleven p.m. There were rumours that a lot of mages had escaped to the underground. Overall, the wardens had taken them by surprise. We walked in silence until we got to more populated parts of the city. Cole was talking to his people, while Gregory was listening, and walking next to him. We were seeing devastation all around: wardens running and screaming patriotic slogans, seeming cheerful. The magic rose as we were getting closer to the centre. Was it possible that we were winning? At some point we decided to split up, as some of the wardens were fighting with a group of mages who had been singled out. I caught a few with my magic, channeling my anger and energy against them. The streets were gloomy, filled with fallen bricks, and dead mages. There were many dead wardens, too, lying on the streets, along with the wounded. I was seeing families and even children sobbing. It was heartbreaking, and guilt soared through me. They shouldn’t have been forced to fight. “There is a group of wardens fighting with a few Dark Ones. Come on,” my father told me, pointing at the gate leading to the old part of the city. There were at least twenty wardens; some of them were being pushed out by only two Dark Ones. Now I was seeing the real picture. Even with the numbers we had, we were the weaker side. Damn it. I didn’t expect this. The eggs enhanced the wardens magic, but the mages were much stronger. I charged forward, not looking back, and not waiting for anyone. I was furious and unable to control myself any longer. Deep down, the tiny voice inside my head kept reacting and telling me that everything was going to be all right, that Idris wouldn’t dare hurt Avianna. Extraordinary blue light exploded from my palms as I reached the small space between the gate. The Dark Ones were tired, but their energy beamed through the darkness, hurting and killing many wardens. I attacked with everything I had, and, with my magic, one was struck almost instantly. My father was shouting something, but I wasn’t listening to him any longer. The wardens must have gotten some encouragement from me, because the moment they sensed my magic, they fought like lions. The Dark Ones began to back away. It was like some kind of power had exploded inside me. I fed on their fear and their fury. I wanted to fight—I needed to feel some kind of satisfaction after what happened inside the tunnel. I was hitting them with spell after spell. My hands were shaking like crazy, until someone grabbed me from behind. I lost my balance, hearing whizzed breathing by my left ear. “Hello, precious. Once I s***h your throat, your wardens will start running away. No one has ever defeated the Dark Ones.” I didn’t recognise this voice. At that point, I didn’t really care who dared attack me. My instincts took over. The mage punched me in the stomach; pain paralysed me for a second, but it was only temporary. I hit him with my elbow and spun around. He was ugly as hell, and it seemed he’d come out of nowhere, trying to help his comrades. His skin was pale, almost ashen, and his dark cloak was tattered, hanging off him. Maybe this was the way they all reacted after hours upon hours of using their precious magic. I smiled at him, thinking about Avianna. She was alone with that monster in the darkness. “You’ve already lost, my friend,” I snarled and then threw a ball of red light at him. This was supposed to work as a distraction at first, but it struck him directly in his chest. Then another ball of light swirled around his body. I used my left leg to deliver the final kick. He was thrown a few meters away, landing in a pile of trash. I waited for him to get up, but he didn’t. Several wardens approached, and someone patted me on the back. My chest was rising and falling in rapid movements. “That was badass. Who are you?” the stranger warden asked. He had a huge gash on his cheek. “Francesca,” I replied, barely recognising my own voice. “Thank you for what you have done,” the same warden said. “I didn’t think we could hold them off.” “Come on, apparently the council building is ours,” Timothy said as he approached me. “We have to go.” I looked around, seeing that the wardens had killed the two Dark Ones who were fighting by the gate. My father must have helped them. In the distance, I could see Cole talking to a group of wardens, probably sending them to the other parts of the city. I wasn’t entirely sure if we could defeat the Dark Ones. Most of them had relocated to the underground. For now, that gave us an advantage, but it was only a temporary victory. I was a little worried about the dragon eggs we’d left inside the house. Idris knew about our location. I suspected he might send the mages to steal them back, but, right now, the whole city was under siege. The Dark Ones had other problems, so I doubted they were going to be concerned about dragon eggs. We rushed all the way to the council building. There were several buildings where the Dark Ones resided, but this one was the most important. It was where the hearings, ceremonies, and other important events were held. This was their key location. I felt nauseous passing so many bodies lying on the streets. There were hundreds of them, and my heart was thumping loudly inside my chest. We were seeing more and more families sobbing over their loved ones. Damn it. I should have expected this, but it was still painful to watch. Part of me couldn’t stand it, until I saw Rhian with Nicolas. They looked exhausted, but I could see relief wash over their faces when they noticed me in the crowd. “Are you guys okay? What happened?” I asked, confused and worried that this whole uprising was slowly going nowhere. “We did it. I mean, the wardens did it. The Dark Ones are dead—well, a few escaped, but the council is ours,” Rhian said, and tears began spilling down her face. Then she hugged me, and I was a bit emotional, too. We were surrounded by too many dead bodies. The magic was soaking the place. Nicolas looked a little worried, probably seeing my burns, but he managed to hug me, too. “Is Avianna around?” Rhian asked, staring at me. “She’s confusing me with that invisibility potion.” Then everything came rushing back: Idris and her screams. I thought my legs wouldn’t hold me for a moment. I felt so lost. “No, she’s gone,” I said, unable to tell them what had happened in the tunnel. This was just the beginning, but I couldn’t go on without my dragon. “What do you mean, she’s gone?” Nicolas asked, horrified. Then I explained. I told them about the surprise in the tunnel, and about what Idris had done. This whole thing felt like it was just a bad dream, not reality. “Impossible, they must have used their magic to manipulate him. Idris has always been loyal to you, and to wardens.” Rhian was saying. “You didn’t hear Avianna when he threw that thing over her. She was in pain, and she was screaming. He said that this was supposed to be done a long time ago,” I informed her, wiping the sweat off of my forehead. I just wanted to forget about her pain. “So, then he just vanished?” Nicolas asked. “Disappeared in that tunnel?” I nodded, wondering what he was planning to do with her. I refused to think of the worst. “He won’t hurt her,” Rhian insisted. “It’s hard for me to say this, but my nephew isn’t capable of hurting people he cares about. He loves you too much. There has to be more to it.” I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to tell her about that first time on the London Bridge, but I didn’t think I could. “Everyone is gathering in the main auditorium,” my father said as he approached us. “Apparently that warden from the League wants to address everyone.” Rhian was wrong. Old Idris was gone. He was never on my side. He must have been pretending this entire time, and that was what hurt the most. “Let’s move,” Nicolas said. “It’s time for a new beginning.” He was right. It was time to get over our fears and embrace our newfound freedom.