Infinitesimal: A Tale of Dragons and Daring Deeds

Chapter 18: Throne Room

Cael rushed through the rest of the castle, looking for some source of a throne room. He sped up gradually until the two are in a full out sprint through the castle.

"They moved it, they moved it again," Cael whispered. He sounded frantic and desperate, just like he did earlier. Just like with the Sixth.

He stopped in front of one room, opened the door, and just saw a storage room. Lou ran behind him. Cael heaved in his chest. Lou didn't know if it was from the anxiety or the exercise.

Cael bolted past a room with a golden trim on the door. Lou stopped in front of it and waited. He ran around a corner. Lou heard the skid of leather on hardwood.

He walked back to her. His eyes were red and his face was stained with tears. He sniffed, and rubbed his nose with his arm. He didn't say anything, and didn't need to. Lou tried to understand.

Lou turned to the door and opened it. It opened wide to a large room with steel supports. Pillars of marble kept the ground and ceiling apart. A carpet rolled to a black throne. In it, sat a man with his leg crossed over the other and his head against his hand.

Lou and Cael both knew who sat on that throne.

"Cael, boy, I didn't expect to see you yet." King Beauregard said. His voice felt sour and greasy, just like his black hair and olive skin.

Cael didn't say anything. He breathed and blinked. He opened his mouth. All he got out was a choked breath.

"You, you who would bring back such a primeval discourse to this world, shall be punished in the name of the Seven." Lou chanted. She held Cael's hand, entwined with the necklace, and raised it above her. His hand glowed a faint blue.

The king looked sad. "Oh, my, another one of the Seven's brainwashed disciples." A large cloud of black smoke erupted from behind the king. "It seems I'll be taking out more than just my weasel of a son today."

The cloud swept from underneath the king's throne and engulfed Cael. The boy screamed and fell to the ground. His red eyes turned to the shade of blood, a blackness filling up what used to be white. His hand still glowed, the necklace clasped between his fingers.

Cael stared at Lou with hunger. He grinned.

"So, you little knightling, you expect this all to be fine?" Cael hissed. He ripped his hand away from Lou's and glared at the necklace. "You thought this is what Hayden Michello meant?"

Lou shook her head. She knew there was nothing special about it.

Cael leaned back on his toes. His skin sprung icky black scales and ebony claws stretched out form his hands. He slid across the tile floor until he was face to face with Lou. His glowing hand stayed persistent. His whole body was draconic and wrong and not Cael, but the part that Lou once held still glowed blue and human.

"What's the problem, Louanne? Too nervous to show off that power you have? Too stubborn?" Cael grinned through a false smile.

Lou smiled. She let out an airy laugh and kicked Cael in the gut. He fell to the floor, choking on air. His hand's glow took hold of the rest of his body and the scales shot back under his skin.

Lou pulled her scythe off her back. The enchanted glow had not faded, but it was so dim Lou worried if it would still work. She charged.

The king's eyes blew wide while he dodged a swipe from Lou's scythe. He pulled a sword Lou hadn't known he had and slashed it at Lou's side. It clattered off her breastplate.

Lou brought the pole of her scythe back around and hit the king in the gut. He didn't have any armor on his chest and took the full brunt of the blow. Lou grabbed him with her free hand and tossed him onto the ground.

She stomped towards him. "How could you."

The king sputtered out blood. Lou stepped on his chest. She leaned into his face. "How could you."

He rolled his head back and laughed. "How could I what? Fulfill the promise of my ancestors? Cael's fate has been set out for him since he was born. I was planning on Ceri taking his place, but..."

Lou stepped harder on his chest. She felt a bone snap.

"Cael is no property of yours," she growled. She kicked him away from her.

She tossed her scythe on the ground rushed towards Cael. She sat him up. He coughed up black smoke and blinked frantically. The blackness that had engulfed his eyes faded away. Lou smiled softly.

She heard a cough from behind her. Slowly, it evolved into a bitter laugh as the king pulled himself off the ground. The smoke that had pooled on the ground sucked itself into the king's body.

"Whoever told you that," he said, tar and ink dripping out of his mouth. "Is a fool. A pitiful, disgusting fool."

Lou laid Cael back down. She kissed his forehead. She turned to the king. Her eyes filled with bloodlust and fury. Each step she took toward him was heavy underfoot. Her skin turned hard and stiff. From her back erupted small nubs that stretched into large wings. Her armor fell off and clattered on the floor. She didn't even care, her skin was too hard to reveal anything anyway.

She fell onto the floor, golden scales glittering in firelight. While Lou's turned into something incredibly wicked, the king went under his own transformation. He grinned as the Eighth spent his time preparing the king's body, giving him elegantly long horns and deadly talons.

Lou did not wait. She ran for the king, clawing at his throat and neck and destroying anything she came across. The king choked lamely. He was fed up with Lou's fruitless attempts and threw her off of him.

"What do you think you're doing?" The king said. His mouth was turned up in an inhuman grin, teeth sharp and pointed.

"Better than you, you old, outdated prick," Lou retorted with her own blinding smile. She tackled for the god again, pinning him to the ground and snapping at him with her teeth.

She caught his neck in her mouth and bit down, hard. A spurt of blood pooled out and onto the floor. The cloud of the Eighth tried to leave, but Lou jammed her clawed hand into the wound.

Lou scratched and clawed at the king's scaly and mangled body. He was completely lacerated from head to toe, the cloud rushing out from all ends. Slowly, it made it's way back into the throne.

Lou tossed the king's limp body aside. She walked over to the throne and kicked it over with all her might. Once again, all essence of the Eighth fled into the sky and away from Lou.

Her leathery wings flapped. She crashed through a stained glass window while a rainbow of glass clattered to the ground.

She flew into the air and after the smoke cloud. A flash of light shot through the air and intercepted with the Eighth. It gave the demon dragon a physical form for a moment. Lou grabbed it between her teeth and tackled it to the ground.

The spirit of the Eighth manifested a wicked grin.

"I can't die, you stupid girl." It growled.

"Maybe not." Lou said. "But I can keep you from ever coming back."

She shoved her hand through the Eighth's chest. Cael's mother's necklace was safely hidden in her hand. The Eighth's body was soon covered in small cracks of blue light. The spirit the Eighth took flew away from the smoke as the Eighth was sucked into the necklace.

Lou folded up her wings and plummeted to the ground. She landed in a tree and tumbled into a bush.

She landed with her face to the sky. The necklace, now turned black. She rolled off the bush and buried it in the ground.

Someone was going to find it again, eventually. But when they did, Lou was certain she'd be there to stop him.