A/N: Just a warning that stuff gets real in this chapter. Be prepared for more violence and character death than you're used to.
A humidity-induced rain soaked Petra's hair. It plastered to her neck and shoulders. At least the rain helped relieve some of the choking thickness of the jungle air. It softened the dirt underfoot into a pasty mud. Despite the rain, a column of smoke still rose from the huge volcano in the distance. The fiery mountain perpetually smoked and smoldered.
"Who would've thought it would rain in the Fire Empire, huh?" she asked Ivor as they scurried to take shelter under a grove of banana trees.
"I had thought that their domain would be in the desert, not the jungle," Ivor replied. "This was unexpected."
He stepped in the wrong spot, specifically onto an overripe banana that had fallen to the ground. Disgusted, he bent down and started wiping the banana goop off his shoe.
"Deserts are too barren," a buff and battle-scarred man said as he approached. "There isn't enough in the desert to provide for an entire empire's worth of our people."
"That's not true," Ivor countered. "In our home world, there once was a very powerful kingdom in the desert. They built pyramids and invented a language of symbols and pictures. A very brilliant people."
"What was your name again?" Petra asked the man of war. "I didn't hear you the first time because Ivor wouldn't stop gushing about how huge the trees in this jungle are."
"It's Argus," said he. "And I'm glad 'Ivor' approves." The latter statement was slightly sarcastic.
"It was kind of you to escort us to safety," Petra continued. "Thanks."
Argus shrugged. "Hardly a problem. Being general of the army, I know the jungle almost as well as I know myself. There is hardly a tree or grotto therein of which I am not aware."
Argus fought with dual scimitars, but kept them in sheaths at his hips at the moment. Due to the hot climate of his homeland, Argus's clothes weren't much more than short pants and a leather vest. Petra tried not to get distracted by his rippling muscles. Ivor had told Argus to put a shirt on when they first encountered him. Argus did not react well to that comment. He had grabbed Ivor by the collar and tossed him up a tree. It took twenty minutes for Petra to help him back down.
Instead of at a center of command for the Fire Empire, they had ended up at a military camp instead. Argus couldn't abandon his duties as general to take them to the main city. They had spent the past day sleeping in tents and having bananas and meat for dinner.
"I'm very worried about Jessie and Lukas," Ivor said. "The last time we saw them, they were taken prisoner by the ice people. They thought we were intruders from the Fire Empire."
Argus gasped. "The Ice Empire took them prisoner?"
Petra and Ivor nodded.
"Oh, heaven help them," Argus sighed. "Especially if they went to the dungeon overseen by Xena."
"Who's Xena?" Petra asked.
"Only the evilest megalomaniac imaginable." The jungle man shook his head. "She's part of the reason why the Fire Empire is constantly at war with the Ice. Her pride for her empire is so strong that she will leave no boundary uncrossed to fulfill her goals. If your friends were captured and taken to her dungeon, their survival will be constantly at risk."
"Don't say that." Ivor's voice warbled.
"If that's the case, we need to save them," Petra said, standing up. "They need us."
"We've been preparing for the latest battle," said Argus. "The original agreement is that we would fight on the banks of the great river that marks the boundary between Fire and Ice. Until we defeat the Ice Empire, there is no chance of saving its prisoners."
Petra bit her lip. She didn't like to take negativity for an answer when her friends were in danger.
"Argus!" a random Fire Empire soldier shouted, pointing up at the sky. Argus looked up in the direction he was pointing, as did Petra and Ivor. A smear of orange coasted through the cloudy sky, dodging raindrops.
"Great Scott!" Argus exclaimed. "It's Pyra."
"It's who now?" Petra flashed him a confused look.
Argus held out his arm. Pyra, the phoenix, swooped down and alighted upon it. She cawed musically at him and ruffled her fiery feathers.
"A phoenix! How exquisite!" Ivor marveled. "And I thought they were mythical, or at least extinct. Astounding."
"It's been a good long time since I've seen you, girl!" Argus stroked the firebird under the chin.
Pyra squawked and showed Argus the note on her leg.
"Aha! A message from Archer." He untied it, unrolled it, and read it. "'Attention...this is urgent...please help...send for the army…' He wants us to send the army already?"
"Who's Archer?" Petra demanded. "What about Lukas and Jessie?"
"Xena has them. Archer said in his note," Argus said, then whistled to get the other soldiers' attention. "The time to attack is now. Maybe we can end this war for good. Many of my men are tired of fighting. Let this be the endgame."
"Wait," Petra said as he started to leave so he could rally the troops. "We want to come with."
Argus turned. "You do?"
Petra and Ivor nodded. "We need to save Jessie and Lukas. Is there any way we can come along?"
"Uh, sure," said the general, waving them along to follow him. "Come. You can accompany me as part of the cavalry."
"Oh, cavalry?" Petra sounded unsure. "I've only ridden on a horse a handful of times. On second thought...maybe we should..."
"What do you mean, horses?" The jungle man paused and turned to look quizzically at them.
"Doesn't a cavalry ride horses? Not much of a cavalry if they don't ride h—Oh my gosh!"
Argus stroked the scaly neck of a silver dragon. The creature was the size of a polar bear. It had a long neck, dog-like legs, a crocodilian head, and a pair of webbed wings. A small bit of smoke leaked out of its mouth. There was a spiked ball (resembling a medieval flail) on the end of its tail.
Gobsmacked for the second time that day, Ivor stammered something about how dragons were supposed to be extinct.
The old man had a hard time accepting the sight of the dragon in front of him. "I-I thought the Order of the Stone killed the last dragon."
"The who of the what?" Argus frowned. "No. Dragons are alive and well. Why, eight varieties can be found in the Fire Empire alone. But we mostly breed the Silver Spiketail for our purposes. They're the easiest to domesticate and well suited for flying."
"Are you telling me that the Fire Empire cavalry rides dragons?" Petra's eyes went wide.
Argus nodded.
"AWESOME!" Petra let out a fangirlish squeal. "That is just way too awesome! You have automatically become the best country ever. A dragon cavalry. Oh, too epic."
Ivor scratched his beard. "I had no idea she had such a fondness for dragons."
Argus swung onto the dragon's back. Then he motioned for Ivor and Petra to hop up onto the back of a second silver dragon.
"It's safe," he assured them.
Hesitantly they climbed on. Ivor almost slipped off, but it wrapped its tail around his waist and lifted him onto its back. Around them, the Fire Army was gathering into battle assembly. The dragons spread their wings; the noise was like the unfolding of hundreds of sheets of leather.
"Ready for liftoff!" Argus cheered. "Move the army. For freedom! For safety! For justice! Huzzah!"
Ivor and Petra found themselves cheering a "huzzah" along with him.
The dragons took flight.
Jessie couldn't even make guesses as to what it was now.
After laying Edge to rest and sneaking back into the courtyard, Archer had gone his separate way. Jessie, Lukas, and the others had been thrown back into their cells. She'd been too tired to talk with Archer about the tunnel they'd been forced to dig. In fact, she'd been too tired to notice that he wasn't even in his cell that night.
In the morning, when the guards came busting through the door yet again to haul everyone out of their cells, she had made a snark to Archer about how "don't they know even slaves have to sleep sometimes." only to discover that his cell was empty. Dachau, who was usually present to harass the prisoners, wasn't there either. It was strange, and in a place like this, Jessie knew it had to be a bad sign as well.
The sky burned deep red, like freshly spilled blood, with the dawn. A frigid wind slapped Jessie in the face as she, Lukas, and the other prisoners were led outside. The clatter of chains rang obnoxiously in her ears. Her muscles still burned from yesterday's drudgery.
A stone tower, looking like the central building to this evil operation, rose over the frozen courtyard. In front of it, a platform and overhanging bar had been constructed. A length of rope dangled from the beam, swaying in the wind. Jessie groaned at the sight. How many? How many times would this ugly scene play out before they escaped this terrible world?
The prisoners were arranged into rows at the foot of the gallows. Soldiers stood at the corners of the rows and at the foot of the platform. They yelled at the prisoners to shut up (some with especially colorful language) and prodded them with their spears to keep them in line. Taban stood in the corner nearest to Jessie; in fact, he was only a few steps away. Unlike his peers, he didn't insult or strike any captives. Everyone was tense, not knowing if someone was about to be plucked from the ranks for execution. Had there been another escape?
Jessie glanced over and saw Lukas staring heavenward. She wondered what he was looking at, or rather, what he was thinking. Stuck glaring in a thousand-yard-stare? Praying for mercy? Unable to bear looking at the execution about to take place? Who knew.
Xena emerged from the tower, her boots clicking on the ice. Bataan and Dachau followed like her shadow. They rounded about the gallows and walked up the steps to the platform. When they turned, Jessie could see the prisoner hemmed in by the burly henchmen.
The prisoner had a crooked neck.
She bit her lip and resisted crying out his name. Why did they have Archer? Why were they going to kill him? Wasn't one attempt on his life enough?
Archer's hands were bound behind his back. A silk scarf was tied around his neck, and Xena held the end of it like a leash. Jessie cringed; Xena led him to his execution by reminding him of the noose that would soon be around his neck. This woman had cruelty down to an art form. Once Archer was standing on the platform, Bataan ripped the scarf off and turned him towards the noose dangling off the beam. He let Archer get a good look at it before Dachau gave him a shove on the back to goad him forward.
Jessie wanted to tear her gaze away from the gallows, but couldn't. Some kind of horrified interest kept her eyes locked on the scene.
A perverse delight glowed in Xena's eyes as her henchmen stood Archer on the trapdoor. Despite the imminent danger, he kept a hard, stoic glare. He refused to give Xena the satisfaction of seeing him frightened. He hardly flinched when Dachau pulled down the noose and forced it over his head. His eye twitched when the rope loop was tightened.
Xena took in the sight. "Look at you. So determined, even as death stares you in the face. You glow with love for your homeland. You're a bright candle for the Fire Empire. I suppose that's admirable...after all, I love my own nation. I seek to protect her, you know. Unfortunately, it looks like ice and fire will be forever at odds. Fire may melt ice, but today I am going to snuff out your flame."
Archer glanced at her, but said nothing.
"Still, even now, you can spare yourself from this fate. All you have to do is name your conspirators. I know you didn't plan a rebellion alone. Name them, and they will go to the gallows in your place. You can cheat death a second time." She stroked his neck.
Archer spat in her face. Xena yelped in surprise and drew back, wiping the saliva off her cheek. She glared venomously at the stubborn rebel.
"Ah! So that is how you want it!" she shouted, shaking her fist. "I see how it is. Well, then, I have nothing else left to say. What about you?"
"Oh, don't you see, Xena? You've already made a martyr out of Edge, and now you're making another out of me! Can't you see the seeds of a rebellion already?" Then Archer stepped forward and shouted to the crowd. "Crosses, pyres, and gallows are where revolutions are born! You can kill a person, but you can't kill an idea!"
"Shut up!" Xena snapped at him.
Jessie watched the scene unfold, dread knotting up her gut. "This is bad."
"He's gonna die. And we have to watch it." Lukas shook his head.
Jessie had not noticed when Taban strayed from his post and snuck between the rows of prisoners. He had moved as stealthily as a cat. Suddenly, she felt her ankle shackles shift. She yelped in surprise and turned around to see the crusty guard...unlocking her chains?
"Wha-what?" she stammered.
"Shh," said Taban. "Please, just go along with this."
"What are you doing?" she hissed as he removed her fetters and then went to work on Lukas's. "What are you up to?"
"Don't you want me to help?" he retorted, his voice sounding crackly in a whisper. He shucked off Lukas's chains, then nodded at a crevice formed between two dungeon buildings. "I've had it with Xena and her scheming and the murders and all that crap. If you want to have a heroic moment, now's the time."
Jessie stood frozen for a few seconds, hardly believing what he had just said.
"Go! It's do or die time." He gave her and Lukas a push, urging them to go.
They fled, breaking away from the ranks and slipping between the buildings. Pushed by adrenaline, they snuck around the courtyard, looping around the tower to get from its left to its right. This gave them the advantage of getting a three-sixty view of the tower, analyzing its structure and entrances. Knowing that might come in handy later. They found a niche in a space between two storage bunkers, under a metal staircase.
"What are we gonna do?" Lukas whispered to Jessie. "Do we have a plan?"
Jessie shook her head.
"I don't think this will work."
"Yeah, but we have to try. Like what Taban said: 'it's do or die time.' I'm sick of being kicked around by the bad guys. It's time for action."
Jessie leaned in. Xena was lecturing something about a "war of attrition," how the determination of the Ice Empire would outlast the Fire Empire, and how the weak had to be weeded out if society was to remain strong. She gabbed on about the virtues of strength and determination and "patriotic vision," whatever the heck that was. Jessie only half-listened.
"Virtue? Funny, I didn't think the word 'virtue' was even in her vocabulary," Lukas commented.
"How are we going to stop her from killing Archer? We can't attack head-on. She's got too many soldiers posted, and Dachau and Bataan are never far from her side."
"I can't shoot the rope with my bow," Lukas said. "I've seen it done in plays before, but that's just showbiz. It's way harder to do in real life."
Jessie glanced at the noose-rope, then drew her sword. It caught a gleam of red dawn light. She looked at the rope again.
"Maybe we won't have to use a bow…?"
"Enough of this," Xena called over the crowd. "Now you must see the consequences of rebellion. Dachau?"
Dachau gripped the lever that would activate the trapdoor. Archer's head was drooping down, but he glanced up slightly and made eye contact with the henchman. Dachau narrowed his eyes at Archer and made a weird sound like a congested growl.
Jessie didn't know how to throw a sword. Just the sort of time to learn.
Xena nodded to Dachau. "Throw the lever."
Jessie's heart pounded. She could almost hear Lukas's heart pounding, too. She readied her sword and prayed with all her might that this might work.
The henchman gripped the lever and cranked it back. The trapdoor opened and Archer started to fall. Screaming, Jessie thrust the sword. It swept through the air, like a diamond comet, like a streak of blue lightning. Unbelievably and gloriously, it sliced through the rope. Archer tumbled to the ground, alive, with the cut noose dangling uselessly from his neck. Xena and her henchmen stared at the cut rope and the sword stuck in the stone wall, their mouths agape.
Archer was surprised, too. He got up on his feet, staring wide-eyed and clearly wondering why he wasn't dead. A guard standing nearby took notice and prepared to use his axe, but Archer interrupted him with a headbutt. The guard fell to the ground, stunned from the blow. While the axe was falling, Archer spun around and used the falling blade to cut through the ropes on his wrists. Then he spun around again and grabbed the weapon, just in time to point it at the other guard who was coming at him. The soldier quailed at the sight of the unkillable prisoner, now armed with a defeated comrade's weapon.
Xena, still shocked that she had yet again failed to kill Archer, looked around desperately for the rebel who had thrown the sword. She retraced, with her gaze, the path the sword had taken. She caught just a glimpse of Jessie and Lukas in the alley, but a glimpse was enough. She had suspected them to be a threat from day one, and now all doubt was gone. Jessie saw pure murder in the woman's dark-as-sin eyes. She and Lukas fled.
"BATAAN! DACHAU!" Jessie heard Xena scream as they ran away. "It was the blonde boy and the girl in blue armor. Don't let them escape! After them!"
Bataan and Dachau jumped off of the platform and took chase after Jessie and Lukas. While that chase was going on, Archer went on a rampage, hacking through the ranks of soldiers with his new axe, as he ran towards the gates of the prison camp. Actual archers, who stood on the parapets of buildings, shot at him as he ran, but he dodged their arrows. The other prisoners, excited by the derring-do, started to riot. They used shovels and pickaxes to break their shackles and then to attack their captors. Within minutes, the prison had become a battleground.
After a couple minutes of running, Jessie and Lukas couldn't hear Bataan and Dachau storming after them. They slowed down, confused. They stood amidst stacks of wooden crates.
"Where'd they go?" Lukas asked. Classic case of tempting fate.
Dachau suddenly leapt down from a crate stack and tackled Jessie. Jessie wormed out of his hold, scrambled to her feet, and took off running, just in time to miss the henchman's sword. It pierced into the ice she had been lying on a second ago. When Jessie ran, Dachau followed.
"Jessie!" Lukas shouted. But he had no time to run to her rescue. Bataan pounced from the shadows, narrowly missing taking off Lukas's head with a sword. Lukas answered with his own iron sword, blocking the attack. He was stuck in a duel with Bataan and couldn't run to save Jessie. He hoped she would be strong enough to fight on her own. She had demonstrated her strength in the past, so he hoped she could keep it up. For love and friendship, she had to keep it up.
Jessie's lungs burned. Her heart thundered. Her legs protested, but she forced herself to keep running. Dachau was close at hand; his boots pounded the ground as he pursued her. She zigzagged through alleys and made brave dashes through courtyards. It made her wonder just how large this prison camp was. And it made her wonder how long it would be before she ran into a dead end.
"No!" she yelled as she turned a corner and did exactly that. A solid stone wall loomed up in front of her, blocking off her chance of escape. There was higher ground, but it was unreachable from her position. She pressed against the wall and cried out in distress. Dachau approached, sword in hand. It was a cruel, curving blade with brown bloodstains. Tears prickled the corners of Jessie's eyes.
"Just make it fast, okay?" she pleaded. She covered up her eyes so she wouldn't see it coming, and imagined her friends instead. She wanted the last thing she saw to be Petra, Ivor, and Lukas.
The killing blow never came. Instead, Jessie heard a scream, a furious man's feral yowl. She took her hands off her eyes, then gasped at the sight. Taban, of all people, had leapt down from the higher ground, flying-tackled Dachau, and was now trying to wrestle the sword out of his hand.
"Taban!" Jessie shouted. "What are you doing?"
"Saving your life!" he called over his shoulder. "I've had enough of this stinking son of a dog!"
Dachau, enraged by that insult, lashed out with punches. He and Taban wrestled on the ground, almost equally matched in strength. Taban grabbed Dachau's sword and wrested it out of his hand, then flung it away. Before Dachau could throw Taban off his back and retrieve the weapon, Taban pulled out his own dagger.
"Don't look, Jessie," he warned, and stabbed it between Dachau's ribs. The henchman wheezed, bled from his back, convulsed on the ground, and then went still. Jessie shuddered. Even if Dachau had been evil, it had still been an unpleasant sight.
"I told you not to look!" Taban said, exasperated.
Leaving Dachau's dead body behind for someone else to find, they took off running. Jessie didn't know where Taban was leading her, but there wasn't really time to stop and ask. Besides, if Taban had just killed Xena's right-hand man, he probably wasn't trying to lead her into a trap.
"Taban, I don't have a sword," Jessie stammered as they ran. "How am I gonna make it without a weapon?"
"How did you lose it?" he asked. "I thought you had a diamond sword of the finest crafting."
"I threw it to cut Archer's noose. It got stuck in a stone wall."
"Then we have to get it back. That's not a weapon you can just leave behind in the heat of battle."
Having Taban along was an advantage. He knew his way around the prison camp while Jessie didn't, so he could guide her back to the courtyard. When they returned to the spot, it was mad. All hell had broken loose, it seemed. The rioting prisoners were battling their captors. Many had fallen on both sides of the fight, and blood stained the ground. Jessie's diamond sword was still stuck in the wall; no-one had bothered to pull it back out. Taban leapt up onto a parapet, ran down its length, and retrieved the sword before returning it to Jessie. His parkour skills were impressive.
Jessie turned. Xena still stood on the platform, gripping the cut rope with white knuckles. She watched the armageddon raging on the courtyard, then hopped off the platform and ran for the safety of her tower. The guards opened the iron gates for her and then shut them securely in her wake. Jessie just wondered where Lukas was. The last time she saw him, he was in a duel with Bataan. Bataan looked a lot stronger than Lukas…and unlike her blond friend, the henchman was well-trained to kill.
No. She couldn't afford to think about that right now. It was too terrible.
"Xena just ran into her tower," Taban hissed. "Jess, kiddo, we need you to go after her."
Jessie blanched. "I-I'm supposed to fight her? She'll kill me."
"Not if you kill her first." Taban shrugged.
Jessie shuddered. "Kill?"
A fight to the death? Jessie never killed anyone! As evil as Xena was, Jessie could not imagine herself slaying the woman. Wouldn't that be murder? Or was Xena already deserving death for all the murders she committed? She had Edge's blood on her hands, that was certain. The sick child had died under her negligence. She'd almost killed Archer today, and she had tried to murder Lukas and Jessie by sending her henchmen after them. And those were just the offenses Jessie had witnessed. How many more had died by her hand?
Still, could Jessie bring herself to do it? To kill another human being? Mobs were one thing, but this was another person. A person with thoughts, ideas, and ambitions (however twisted they were.) Jessie's mouth felt dry. Her grip on her sword was limp.
"What about the gates?" Jessie mumbled. "The gates are heavy. Guarded, too."
Taban glanced over at the gates and cursed under his breath. "I don't know how to break through."
Just then, a scream interrupted Jessie's thoughts. The voice sounded familiar. She turned around to see Lukas run out from between two buildings, injured but alive. He scrambled across the courtyard. Bataan followed close behind, in a bloodthirsty rage. Lukas's blue eyes were wide with panic. He didn't know where to run. A handful of other soldiers teamed up with Bataan to catch Lukas. They all had their swords drawn and ready to kill.
However, they didn't catch blondie. A large blur of silver swooped down from the sky and landed between Lukas and his pursuers. When it settled, Jessie saw it was a dragon. The silver dragon swept its tail at the soldiers, knocking three away, and breathed out a plume of fire to take care of three more. Bataan was the only one left standing.
"Yeah, dragon!" Lukas cheered stupidly. "Go, dragon!"
Bataan glowered, mouthed something obscene, and then ran in the other direction. A fire-breathing dragon, it seemed, was the only thing that could give the tenacious henchman pause.
The dragon folded in its wings, pleased with itself. When it did, Jessie got quite a surprise.
"Ivor? Petra?"
They turned around and looked down at her. "Jessie! Lukas!"
Not wanting to be left out, Taban shouted his own name. "Taban!"
"Oh my gosh, you have no idea how relieved I am to see you guys," Jessie stammered. "I was worried you were lost, and…"
Arrows flew overhead. Some archers were shooting at the dragon, attempting to stop the Fire Empire's intervention before it even began. A large chunk of their ranks already had to be diverted to meet the incoming Fire Army. The prisoners still left standing cheered as their foes left to meet the new threat.
"And we have no time for heartwarming reunions," Jessie said quickly. "We have to get in that tower!"
"Well, then, hop on!" Ivor patted the dragon's scaly back. "I think we have room to squeeze on two more people."
"I'm gonna hold down the fort," Taban promised, grabbing a pair of swords off the ground. "Fly in and storm that tower! You can do this, Jessie."
Ivor helped Jessie climb up on the dragon's back, and Petra helped Lukas. There was no saddle; they were riding bareback. Ivor was leading the dragon, so he steered by tugging on a frill running down the dragon's long neck. Everyone else held on by gripping the creature's scales.
"Hiya!" Ivor gave the dragon a kick on the side. It unfolded its wings, then flapped them and rose into the air. It floated over the battle below. More dragons from the Fire Army soared around the airspace, dodging arrows shot by Xena's soldiers. The dragon the four friends rode circled the courtyard, garnering enough power to storm the gates. As it passed by a wall, it used its flail-tail to sweep off the soldiers standing on the wall. Jessie cringed as they fell to the icy ground. That would be broken bones, or worse.
The dragon swung around, on path to crash through the gates. The archers on the walls by the gate panicked and armed their bows, trying to shoot down the dragon before it carried out its attack. Ice-coated arrows whizzed at the beast and its four riders.
"Whoa!" Petra exclaimed as an arrow just missed her head. "Dangerous. Why is this world so hostile?"
"Try being a prisoner here for almost a week!" Jessie retorted. "I've been dragged out of bed at five in the morning, forced to mine ice all day, almost had my boyf—I mean, best friend executed by hanging...This world sucks!"
Lukas looked at her quizzically, certain that she had started to say the word "boyfriend" before she corrected herself. But he had no time to ask Jessie about it, because the dragon was coming in hot at the gates. Literally. It was blasting fire out of its mouth to chase away the archers shooting at it. It swept over the gate, breaking some of the gate supports in the process. The iron grate crashed to the ground, and the dragon crashed just short of the stone tower. Ice shards, sparks, and pieces of broken wood flew in all directions.
"Is...Is everyone OK?" Jessie asked.
She got three responses of "We're fine."
"Okay, good."
The archers had been deterred but not killed by the invasion of the dragon, so once they recovered, they rushed at the four friends. They had swapped their bows for short swords. In response, Jessie and company arranged into a backs-to-backs cluster, weapons held out to meet the threat.
"Uh-oh!" Jessie squeaked. "We've got company."
"Run, Jessie!" Petra said. "You and Lukas head into the tower. Ivor and I will hold off these jokers."
So they did. Annoyed to have to leave her friends not more than five minutes after reuniting with them, but understanding the call, she and Lukas peeled away to breach the tower. The doors were unlocked, and the guards were distracted by Ivor and Petra, so they stormed in without a problem.
Inside, the tower was hewn stone, crusted over with ice. Sea lanterns provided a sterile, cold illumination. There wasn't much inside the tower besides the spiral staircase leading to the upper stories. Since no-one accosted them on the ground level, Jessie and Lukas took to the stairs. The scrambled up a few stories.
"This tower looks deserted," Jessie said. "No-one's attacked us yet."
"Who did you see run into the tower?" Lukas asked.
"I only saw Xena," Jessie replied, "but I think there are probably more of her goons hiding here...somewhere."
"But this tower is huge. How will we find her?"
"Maybe we should split up so we cover more ground."
"Jessie, that's a terrible idea." Lukas shook his head. "Every time the group of characters splits up in a story, bad things happen."
"We've been split up from Ivor and Petra for almost a week, and yet we're still alive."
"Barely! I was almost hanged! You were almost killed by Xena's henchmen! I'm so done with this world."
"The sooner we find Xena, the sooner we can leave and...holy crap."
"What's the matter?"
"We have no idea where the portal for this world is. I forgot to ask anyone where it was. How are we going to get out of here if we can't find the portal?"
"Oh, that is not good…"
"Okay, okay," Jessie stammered, trying to stay positive. "If we pull through this battle, we might come across someone who knows where the portal is. At least one person here has to know, right?"
Lukas shrugged.
"I just want to keep hope alive. That's what we need to survive at this point. Hope."
"And good fighting skills."
"Yeah, that too."
They walked up another flight of stairs before the staircase ended. They weren't quite on the highest story, but for whatever reason, there were no more stairs above this level. A balcony girded this level of the tower.
"Let's split up," Jessie said again.
"I told you, I don't like that idea."
"What else can we do?"
"Fine," he said, giving in. Jessie went one way and Lukas went the other. His path took him into an annexed room, small and bare. There were windows lining the outside wall, but most of them were shattered. A hole was ripped out of the stonework, exposing the room to the air outside. The smoky, cold air...
Lukas's stomach felt queasy. He hated the sensation, because it usually meant that something was off. The air flowed strangely through the broken windows. A large draft blew in through the hole in the wall, which opened to a balcony outside. Lukas glanced around, feeling as though he was being watched. Like someone was going to pounce on him from behind. He hated that feeling, too.
He regretted going with Jessie's advisory to split up. What was he thinking? Splitting up was one of those classic mistakes that heroes make in stories. It got them into trouble more often than not.
The door behind him creaked, and feet shuffled slightly on the floor.
He tensed up, then asked in a tiny voice, "Jessie?"
A slight pause.
"No," came the cold reply. "Xena."
Lukas spun a 180. Xena stood behind him, a bloodied sword in her hand and a murderous look in her eyes. Lukas scrambled to arm his own sword. He held it out, arm trembling. Xena didn't swing the sword; she stabbed it at him in a sharp lunge. He narrowly dodged it. Before he even had time to answer the attack, she struck out again. The blade slashed through the air where his neck had been a second ago. The blade whistled.
Xena twirled the sword in her hand and prepared to attack again. She swept the sword down, then to the side. Lukas bent from side to side and slid left and right to avoid her blows. It looked like a mockery of a gypsy dance. Finally, Xena scored one lucky hit that he didn't dodge quite quickly enough. It nabbed him on the shoulder. Lukas cried out in pain and grabbed the now-bleeding shoulder.
Xena took advantage of that and tried to make a killing blow while he was distracted. But he saw her coming just in time. Too disoriented to strike with his sword, Lukas abruptly kicked her in the gut as she approached. It was a harder kick than he expected, and she staggered back several steps. Her head snapped up to glare at him.
Lukas ran away. He slipped through the hole in the wall, going out on the balcony. Which, in retrospect, was probably a dumb place to run, but he wasn't thinking clearly at this point. Xena chased after him.
The scene below him was chaos. It was a three-way battle between the Ice Empire, its prisoners, and the invading Fire Army. Debris and blood sullied the ground. The platform and some scaffolding were on fire. This flame, however, was not the weak yellow stuff of the Ice Empire; it was genuine, hot, crimson flame. It would be beautiful if it wasn't so dangerous.
But Lukas didn't get a lot of time to observe the chaos. Xena burst through the hole in the wall, in hot pursuit. She was snarling in anger and whipping the sword about, no doubt in eager anticipation of hacking her enemy to pieces.
She's mad, Lukas thought. She's gone completely mad.
He lifted his gaze past her. Further down the balcony, Jessie was caught in a fight with Bataan (back for more fighting, apparently) and another soldier. Lukas couldn't run over to help her, though, not with Xena blocking the way. Crap! This was the second time today that he couldn't come to his friend's aid because of an enemy getting in the way. Useless! He hated it!
Xena swiped at him again. He brought his sword up and blocked her attack. Then she changed gears, switching from wide slashes to a series of rapid lunges. She struck with scary precision and reflexes. Lukas struggled to dodge each incoming attack. Xena showed no sign of wearing down; she kept the same fierce expression throughout. Not even Cassie had had such a look of bloodlust in her eyes.
"You can't keep dodging forever," she hissed.
"Why are you doing this?" he stammered, stepping back. "Why all this?"
"I'll tell you why!" Xena rushed forward and slammed her sword into Lukas's, with enough force to throw sparks. "I will not let my people be destroyed by our enemies! The only way to make sure your enemies don't destroy you is to destroy them first. And I'm not going to let any damnable captives get in my way of that!"
She thrust her sword at his head. Lukas ducked out of the way just in time. If he had been a split second too slow, the steel blade would have pierced through his skull. Xena swept her arm around and struck him on his side with the flat of the blade. He staggered from the impact, stumbling off of the balcony and onto a ledge projecting from it. An unguarded ledge, straight above a twenty-meter drop to the hard ground below. Xena darted forward, cutting off his chance to regain the lost ground. He dodged another swipe of the sword. Xena attacked in such rapid-fire that Lukas barely had a chance to attempt an offense of his own.
Xena caught him off-guard, bringing a leg up and kicking him in the gut. Down he went. He sprawled on his back, and his head bounced against the stone. His sword dropped out of his hand and skidded across the ledge, out of reach. Before he could reach to retrieve it, Xena slammed her foot down on his chest, pinning him.
"I pinned you down with my foot. Now I will pin you down with my sword." She swung her blade around and pointed it straight down at him, aimed right at his heart. His eyes went wide. A deranged smile spread across Xena's face, delighted to see the sheer terror in his expression.
Lukas did the only thing he could at the moment. He yelled for help.
"JESSIE!"
"No help from her!" Xena insisted.
But across the balcony, Jessie heard her name and turned to see Lukas's plight. She let out a gasp. She bashed Bataan with her sword, knocking him to the ground, and then ran across the ledge to save Lukas. Her heart pounded in her ears and she could feel her blood rushing through her being. She was only half-aware that she was lifting her diamond sword in anticipation to strike. She came upon Xena from behind and lunged down with the blade…
A scream ripped from Xena's throat, an inhuman shriek. Jessie, panicking, pulled out the blade. Xena collapsed to her knees, her bloodthirsty expression replaced by one of shock, and then fell forward. A red puddle formed under her. She lay there motionless.
Xenophobia was dead.
To be continued...