Pandora's Box

Chapter 13: Part II

Pandora's cheeks flushed a hot red. She considered her friend's words, but wasn't willing to recklessly abandon the vast power. "It isn't like that. I know that's what she thinks. But it won't happen. I can control it. I've practiced with it on my own for months and no one even knew. How dangerous could it be?"

"Dangerous enough for us to find another way, princess. Please," Donovan said.

"No promises."

The princess let her eyes track over the ceiling, searching for something they could use to interrupt the Drake-beast's spell. If they failed, Kasaadi's spirit would be snatched from its Eversleep and thrust back into its decaying body interned within the ziggurat. Pandora shuddered at the notion of the Dawn Splitter unleashing its fury on the sleeping kingdom above. An idea took shape. Pandora slipped the wind-enchanted wand into her belt and grasped the lightning-charged wand in both hands.

"What's the plan, Pandi? I don't think there's much time."

"I can shoot him down. The lightning wouldn't hurt him," Pandora said. "But, if I can blind him, make him come down..."

"Then maybe I can get close enough and take him down."

"Exactly. It's all I've got, Novi," Pandora replied. Donovan appeared unsure, but Pandora knew he'd give it all he had.

"Then it shall have to do."

Pandora stayed low and picked her through one of the stately gardens of lush green and brightly colored flowers. She picked a spot offering a clearly view of the Drake-beast's face and then directed Donovan into cover behind a thick tree several feet to her right. She readied the trigger spell in her mind for the lightning elemental—and hoped enough remained of her father to prevent the abomination above from simply burning her to ash instead of landing.

Donovan signalled his readiness from behind the tree. Pandora gave him a flinching nod and took careful aim with the wand. The crystal vibrated in her hand as she poured more and more of her will into the magical weapon. Her arm shook, forcing her to steady her grip with her other hand. She stepped out from behind the bushes and pushed the last ounce of focus into the wand. She uttered the word of power.

"Ximista."

A forked bolt of blinding white lightning arced free of Pandora's wand. The magical charge streaked through until it struck the Drake-beast square in the chest. The undead creature howled in rage, and swatted at the live current pouring into its hollowed eyes.

But ceased its chant.

The Drake-beast panned its glowering red eyes to the source of the sudden agony. The dark energy coalescing at its hands flickered. "Who dares interfere with the will of the Fallen?"

A stark gust of wind tussled Pandora's hair from her shoulders and set her dark cloak flapping behind her. She lowered the wand and let her voice swell with sudden defiance.

"I do. In the name of my father, King Drake, Highest Soaring amongst all Dragonborn, sworn guardian of Kasaadi's tomb."

The Drake-beast's crimson eyes flared with amusement. His voice formed a perfect imitation of the late king. "I am your father."

Pandora raised the lightning-enhanced wand again. "You are nothing but an empty shell." She let the current crackle at the crystal's tip.

The Drake-beast laughed and slowly descended to the floor, landing about five paces from the princess. And only two from a wide-trunked tree...

"Foolish child. Do you honestly believe that toy will do anything more than annoy me?"

"Not by a stretch." Pandora gave a guilty half-smile. "But it did distract you."

The Drake-beast's fiery eyes narrowed and the creature contemplatively tilted its antlered head.

Donovan slipped silently out from behind the tree trunk. He raised his sword, taking aim at a spot between the Drake-beast's shoulder-blades...

If you're truly in there, goodbye, faday...

The short blade speared the Drake-beast through the chest with a sickening crunch. The creature howled in anger and clutched at the sword. Fury painted its face as it spun, wrestling at the offending steel. Then, it suddenly stopped. Lowered its hands. Looked at the sword.

And laughed.

"The fool-queen sends children with their toys to fight her kingdom's battles." The Drake-beast lashed out, the back of a hand catching Donovan in the chest and launching him into Kasaadi's grave marker.

Pandora watched in horror as her friend slammed into the crystal slab and fell down in a heap. The Drake-beast turned and raised his arms, palms facing the cavern's hidden ceiling. "I've no more time to waste on you, child."

Cracks formed in the earthen armor of a dozen terra cotta soldiers. Ancient curtains of silt rustled from their shoulders and weapons. One by one the long-slumbering spirits of the warriors standing watch over the Dawn Splitter's grave poured back into their shells.

And groaned in eternal agony.

The reanimated guardsmen spun in unison, spears lowered and swords raised. Pandora's heart seized as they marched on their shared target. Donovan fought to gather himself, staggering to his feet and looking as though the room were spinning around him.

Pandora wrestled control of her focus back under her command. She leveled both wands and unleashed her fury. Lightning, burning and brilliant, flashed out from the left wand and let its arcing current smash the three clay soldiers closest to Donovan to rubble. The princess cried out and slashed the air with her right hand a second later. A wall of cyclonic air slammed into another tight group of terracotta warriors with the force of a giant's fist, swatting them away like dolls.

"Novi, get up!" Pandora shouted. "I can't keep this up!"

Donovan struggled upright, taking up his sword from a pile of sand that used to be a statue. A sharp whistling sound rushed at him from his left. The cadet instinctively ducked. A sword longer than he was tall cut through the air where his neck was a moment before and slammed into the crystal grave marker. Donovan rolled right, and sprang up. He released a tonfa from its loop on his belt and savagely swung.

The modest weapon smashed the clay soldier's arm above the elbow and the ancient guardian watched in confusion as the appendage crumbled to dust. Donovan let not a moment pass. He swung again, caving clay knees out from under his foe. The guardian fell, smashing into jagged shards of clay like a dropped decanter.

Pandora heaved a second streak of forking lightning. And then a third. Donovan ran and slid between the legs of a clay soldier. He swung the tonfa and fractured a clay leg at the thigh and then rolled free of the falling warrior's flailing limbs. He gave Pandora a jubilant look as the princess used another gust of wind to heft a terra cotta soldier wielding an ornamental pole-axe over the side of the ziggurat.

We can do this, Pandora thought. Even as the edges of her vision began to fray and her arms had nearly gone numb through the elbows. There's only a half-dozen left.

A slow, echoing clap came from overhead. The Drake-beast had once again taken flight and was hovering above the crystal grave marker. Dark energy wreathed his taloned hands. "Impressive." He lifted his hands as he had before. "But not nearly enough."

Pandora's lungs hollowed as realization gut punched her.

The remaining terra cotta statues—all of them—howled with the same feral, agonizing tone their siblings had when conjured. The clay soldiers wasted no time. They set upon Donovan like a pack of starving wolves. Pandora lashed out with alternating stings of lightning and crushing winds, scattering and obliterating waves of clay bodies. For his part, Donovan held his own, parrying sudden flurries of attacks as best he could while backing up.

Pandora watched as her friend finally ran out of room. The terracotta soldiers' advance pushed Donovan to the edge of the ziggurat. Pandora summoned the rest of her fleeting power for a final strike...

But collapsed to her knees.