Three Broken Kingdoms-Book 1 of the Lost Continent (Completed)

Chapter Forty-One: The Fall of Cobalt

Myra watched, seated on a wyvern beside Viktoria, as the sun slipped beneath the sky in a blaze of red-gold glory. Surely the people of Cobalt watched on with fear as the night eclipsed the day, knowing that despite barred doors and high gates, fire would soon burn through their city. Caelia watched her with her her deep brown eyes, inquiring.

"Soon," she whispered back as the light faded from the sky. The legion of wyverns behind her was an impressive sight: a rainbow of black, blue, golden, red, deep orange, dark green and violet scales that shimmered in the dying light of the sun. It really was a beautiful night, and such a shame that soon it would be draped in bloodshed and fire.

They rose to the skies after the light slipped down beneath and the swift wind of wyverns whistled through the air. The legion moved with the speed of plague and came upon the city for the fourth night. Once a city of commerce, it was now a city of flame and shadow. The gryphons, with their razor-sharp, hooked claws, lunged for the wall with ferocity and tore through the stone. They cawed their triumph to the besieged city and great chunks of rock flew through the air.

Myra and her legion swiftly lunged to the defence of the gryphons, fighting back arrows and cannonballs that were thrown at their counterparts.

With Cobalt's stubborn refusal to yield to the valkyries, their intent tonight was clear: to rip their cherished wall to pieces. All the aerial legion collaborated in ripping down one great piece, and

Myra despaired to see so many fall in such a concentrated area.

The rock flew in the air and smashed down houses as it was torn from the wall. Gryphon claws, Myra reflected, were simply too sharp for their own good. At some point, the gryphons would cut themselves on their own talons and where would that leave them? It only went on for a few hours, but to the people of Cobalt it must have seemed to drag through months.

A great portion of the wall lay crumbled by the end of it, the city bare to the army before it. The wyverns and gryphons fled into the night when the job was done, eager to scavenge a few hours sleep for in the morning they would all enter the city again to at last claim it.

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When the dawn peaked through the sky an army of somewhere around fifty thousand, valkyries and rebels both, stood in the light, swords and shields gleaming, outside the city. The sun seemed to rise with conqueror's glory, the sea lapped behind them and glistened with triumph. This was to be the first city that they claimed, and the world seemed to shine with its glory. But

Myra couldn't forget the price: Ruby's bright and fierce and vibrant life.

The crumbled wall was so stark in the daylight that Myra was once again in wonder of the power of the aerial legion that she led. The valkyries were crowned with a blaze of fire, for fire had been such a vital part of this war, and Myra was crowned most of all. Their famed general, victorious again, after devising the elfin attack and heading the creation of the fire wall.The last hope of Cobalt was crumbled to dust, and the city now lay undefended. If any of the garrison remained, they were now hidden amongst the ruins of a burned city, unwilling to face a threat they could never defeat.

Myra led her warriors through the burned city and the residents fled as they crossed past their houses, the more daring throwing fruit and stones. Diaz hissed and raised her sword, but Myra silenced her with a glare.

"When we take the governor's palace we will deal with any resistance," she mediated. "Until then, sheath your sword."

The warriors found themselves standing before the governor's 'home' and broke down the door. The palace was made of steel and glass and stank of all the luxury that the other Kallians would never have. The first floor was deserted but it was easy to find the safe house hidden beneath. Diaz slaughtered the guards protecting the governor and turned to the man himself, his face white with fear.

"Get away, valkyrie filth!"he yelled desperately, and pulled out a sword of his own. "I'm not afraid to use this!"

"And we aren't afraid to use our own," she told him calmly. "I don't particularly want blood on this nice carpet, but I certainly won't raise any grievances about it."

"The Empress is coming for you all!" he yelled. "She will destroy you."

"Where has she been the last few days, when your city was attacked by night and besieged by day? Right now, the only person who can offer you mercy is me. Surrender your city to us now, or you'll get acquainted with my swords. Drop your blade." The governor hesitated, and she moved closer.

"I suppose it is your choice-" she began, and he dropped his sword, the clang echoing."Wrong move," she told him, and pierced his heart. "Though I suppose there was never a right one. Catch the messengers going to the Empress, Diaz."

Her general smiled and gave chase, grinning with bloodlust.

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Myra stood on the platform, ready to address the conquered people of Cobalt.

"Your governor has yielded control of the city to us. You are now a colony of Miras, part of our mighty kingdom," she announced to the people trembling before her. "We give the city to our allies, Tarua Teris." Nala stepped forward to take Myra's place.

"I am the Chancellor of Tarua Teris, and the leader of our rebellion. The Empress is no longer ruler of this city. We have taken it in the names of the conscripted, the overtaxed and the beaten-down," Nala declared. "From now on, you answer to us. Soon the rest of this country will do the same. Conscription is ended. Those of you with ties to the Empress should consider reevaluating those ties. We are here for the people, not for our own gain. We will fight for you, bleed for you, stand by you...and will we never fail you as the warlords of the past and present have."

There was no cheering, but no one had expected any. Words would never sway them. They had enough of them from the Empress. She felt a sudden stab of empathy for these people: even before the Empress they were doomed to anarchy and cruelty, a world of suffering and being beaten down. Nala would change that. Tarua Teris would change it all.

Or at least Myra prayed they would.