The Rage Eater

Chapter 47: The Stand

"This way!" Hector said as he pushed open the door at the top of the stairwell and walked across the roof's giant, moonlight-blue stones. With Keri's claws sunk into her shoulder and Dylan nestled under her arm, Sadie followed him through the raging storm towards the turret overlooking the castle's entrance. Thunder rumbled and the wind roared, but above it all was the awful sound of the heavy tree slamming the castle doors, each blow like a drum struck by some vengeful god.

Sadie leaned over the turret and stared down. The orcs were massing around the castle doors, while hundreds of others waited on the other side of the moat, ready to cross as soon as the doors were breached.

"Sadie, what do you need me to do?" Hector yelled, the rain and wind whipping his face. Brutus' head twitched madly, ready for a fight.

"Just keep us safe!" Sadie cried.

Down below, she could hear the door cracking. Fran couldn't hold them for much longer.

Sadie lifted Dylan to her face. "Dylan, I'm going to need you to do something for me, for everyone. And it won't be easy." She paused, holding back tears. She hated asking Dylan to do this—it was wild and dangerous, but he was their only hope. "When I say so, I need you to become lotus clouds. The biggest tree you've ever seen."

Trembling, Dylan turned into a small green leaf, then back into a blob.

"Keri, I need you to pick Dylan up and fly him over the orc army," Sadie said. "And when I tell you to, drop him."

Keri plucked Dylan up and flew into the air, swooping over the orc army.

Sadie cupped her hands over her mouth and screamed, "NOW!"

Dylan tumbled through the air, then transformed into a lotus clouds tree as long and wide as a full-grown man. As the tree fell, the yellow clouds' individual fibres peeled off, creating a blanket of thousands that fell on the orc army like snow.

Some looked up, seemingly more confused than afraid. But as soon as the fibres touched their skin, they began to fall. Some on the ground, others into the moat below. After fifteen seconds, half of the army had fallen, and the others had begun to retreat. After thirty seconds, none who remained were standing.

Fran and the others holding the door exploded in cheers.

It was over. The orcs had been stopped. They were saved.

But Sadie's relief quickly turned to fear—Dylan. Much of his body had been scattered across the moat, lost to the crocodiles.

Was it even possible for him to shift back? she thought. And if he did, would he ever be whole again?

Sadie peered over the edge of the turret. "Dylan? Dylan, come back!" On the ground near the entrance was Dylan—a broken and splintered tree, stripped of its bright yellow clouds. Slowly, the tree shifted back into a blob. "Keri, go pick him up."

Cawing, the great falcon swooped down and grabbed Dylan in her talons, then flew back up to the castle roof and dropped him at Sadie's feet.

"Dylan, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

His eyes were half-shut, and he looked paler than before. Smaller, too. He began shifting into a green leaf, but stopped, like a painting half-formed, before returning to a blob.

Sadie picked him up and cradled him. "Just close your eyes and rest."

Dylan was sick, slipping into unconsciousness. She needed to get him to Master Padwe, fast.

"He's gone," Hector said, returning from a nearby turret. "Disappeared again. I can't make any sense of it. He hated the orcs, every last one."

Sadie turned towards Hector. He was so consumed with sorrow that he failed to notice the three black flies circling his face. Their eyes, like the orcs', were red and black.

Wizard Dvesha's flies.

Finally, Sadie began to piece it together, cursing herself for being so blind. There was only one man powerful enough to command an army of orcs with his mind; only one man capable of locking up a room full of Masters; only one man with a red-and-black-eyed beastly.

"That wasn't your father," Sadie said, anger burning in her chest. "It was Wizard Dvesha. He was controlling him, controlling the orcs."

"The Wizard did this?" Hector said, outraged. "Where is he? I'll cut him down myself!"

The door to the castle roof opened, and Wizard Dvesha emerged in his natural form, gliding towards them under the storm-grey sky, a swarm of flies in his wake.

"All by yourself?" Wizard Dvesha said mockingly. He lifted his hood and turned his head towards the clouds, allowing the rain to fall on his gaunt skeleton face. "Your father thought he was strong enough, too. You're both fools."

Brutus bared his fangs and growled. With a flick of his wrist, Dvesha sent the beastly flying across the roof and against the turret, where it landed with an ugly crack as its spine snapped.

"For beastlies so fierce, they die so easily," Wizard Dvesha said grinning. "Your father's went the same way."

Hector stared slack-jawed at the limp corpse of his beastly, then back at the Wizard's horrible skeleton smile. His face twisted in anguish as he unsheathed his sword and screamed. He charged at Wizard Dvesha, his eyes mad with rage.

Dvesha snapped his fingers and Hector dropped like a stone.

"This, Sadie, will be your final lesson," he said as he bent down to study Hector's still body.

Sadie clutched Dylan tight. He was unconscious now, likely close to death. But it wasn't fear she felt in that moment—it was anger, white-hot rage that thumped in her chest and pulsed through her veins.

Keri flew at Dvesha with her talons aimed at his neck, but Dvesha flicked his wrist and sent her flying straight into the ground, breaking her neck.

Sadie shrieked, her fury spreading like wildfire. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't summon her power.

"It won't work," Wizard Dvesha said. "Not on me. Not on your creator."

"What?"

"You're my little cuckoo. Raised by Gillian until you were strong enough for your powers to manifest. And now look at you. So powerful, so angry."

No, Sadie thought. He can't be my father!

"But I am your father, Sadie. Who else but me could create someone as powerful as you? A girl driven by rage and blessed with fire."

A bolt of lightning turned the grey storm clouds purple.

"Today, marks the beginning of a war," he said, his outstretched arms reaching towards the dark sky. "When the Council of Kings learns of this attack, they'll be forced to retaliate. And when the Kingdom is plunged into chaos and bloodshed, the two of us will grow more powerful than you could possibly you ever imagine."

"No!" Sadie screamed. "I'll never join you. I'd rather die!"

"I'm afraid, my little cuckoo, you don't have much choice in the matter."

Suddenly, Hector's body began to stir. A twitch at first, and then, very slowly, he rose.

"Rage, you see, is the source of my power," Wizard Dvesha said. "It fuels my magic. And the angrier someone is, the easier they are to control."

Hector stood up and opened his eyes—one red and one black.

Sadie shook with fear. "Dylan, wake up! Help me!"

"And you, Sadie, are very angry indeed."

The Wizard snapped his fingers.

Sadie fell to the ground, her mind slipping away, as if being pulled into the depths of cold, bottomless ocean.

And then, darkness.