Chapter 27: Chapter 27

"Not cool, Talia," Kathy said, wheezing as Talia hit her with the butt of her sword when she wasn't looking. Bodies were thrown all over the place. Kathy had not seen Lena or Calypso yet but Aerial and Triton had joined the fight. Thanks to the wolves ripping off the limbs of the warriors, when they are awakened, their bodies could not do much damage as they were disabled. The sword Kathy snatched from the man was bloodied and so were her clothes but she didn't care. So far, there were only a dozen losses from Lunae and the pack. The palace warriors and elementals joined the fight. The shadow warriors in the palace had reduced to a little over fifty. From what Kathy knew, Lena dispersed them all over the colonies so there were more of them all over the kingdom.

"You got better, Princess," Kathy smirked and blocked another strike coming her way. Talia kept on coming at Kathy with her sword and Kathy blocked the hits as best as she could. Kathy delayed killing Talia, she wanted her to burn badly for stabbing her the last time. Kathy then got an idea. She knew Talia would want to exploit any weakness she could. The wolves could handle the rest of the warriors, Kathy needed to deal with Talia and then look for Lena.

"You wanna go hand to hand? Sword's getting boring," Kathy said, hoping that Talia would agree.

Talia grinned, probably seeing it as an opportunity to finish Kathy off.

"I don't see why not, Princess."

Kathy flung her sword to the ground and Talia did the same. Kathy recalled Cynthia's teachings. Everything could serve as fuel to a fire elemental. She just needed to injure Talia enough to bleed heavily.

Talia fisted a black orb in her hand. Kathy smirked, of course, her power was dark magic.

"You don't play fair, do you?" Kathy asked, circling her.

"Fair is boring."

Kathy made a rope of fire and wrapped it around her wrist. Luckily, her element could not hurt her else her wrist would be burning. She called that a flame rope and it was her favorite.

Talia made the first move by firing the orb at Kathy who flogged the blast away using the tail of her flame rope. Kathy flung the rope at Talia who rolled out of the way, thinking that Kathy wanted to whip her but the rope wrapped around Talia's leg. Kathy pulled the rope, causing Talia to fall to the ground.

"You didn't tell me that we are playing jump the rope," Talia let out, gasping for air. She quickly scrambled to her feet. Kathy saw the burn mark on her leg and smiled internally. She needed to make more injuries and make Talia bleed more.

Talia lunged at Kathy with a bigger orb in hand and Kathy put out her rope and set both her hands on fire. They battled for what seemed like forever. Both women were tired and wounded. Talia sported a limp and some visible burns and Kathy, a nasty gash on her arm.

Kathy felt like Talia had been injured enough, it was time to finish her off. She called out to her flames and sent them to Talia.

"This is for stabbing me," Kathy announced with a grin as Talia's eyes widened in shock and pain. The flames caught Talia's injuries, licking the blood in them and then traveling into her veins to dry up the blood in her body. Kathy had mastered commanding the flames to do her bidding. Kathy watched with a smile as Talia screamed in agony, the flames slowly draining her of her blood without burning her entire body. Once Kathy saw she had been tortured to her satisfaction, she let the flames burn her to ashes.

It was time to get Lena.

"That was one of the most gruesome kills I have ever seen. The smile you had on was one of satisfaction. I have to admit, it turned me on. My Wolf thought you looked hot with blood all over you," Asher said as he walked up to her, making her blush. The shadow magicians in the palace were all dead and the wolves swept the castle, sniffing around for any other shadow magician. They had won the first phase of the battle.

His words then replayed in her head and she thought back to when Talia was burning. She feared how she casually watched a woman burn with a satisfied smile on her face. What she feared was coming true, she was becoming a monster.

"No, no, you had no choice. She would have done worse to you if you didn't kill her," Asher told her, probably noticing that she started condemning herself.

"No, Asher, I am becoming the monster I feared I would become." With a sad smile, she walked to where her father and Triton were talking to the palace guards.

"Father, we have to go find the mother."

Aerial's eyes shot to her and a relieved look appeared on his face.

"Princess, I am glad to see you looking like yourself again." She frowned in confusion as even Triton nodded in agreement.

"You almost looked like a different person back there. A bloodthirsty look I have only seen in one person, Luna Celeste. She was vicious on the battlefield," Aerial explained worriedly, making Kathy's frown deepen.

"Wasn't she the one who was killed by her darkness?"

"Yes, but that's not the issue now. Lena is at the combat grounds with their mother and the elders. She is going to force the mother to relinquish her throne," Triton cut in and everyone marched to the combat grounds while trying to avoid the eyes of the strangers and their evil queen. Kathy had a lot of worries hovering over her thoughts. Would she have the darkness too? And will she be able to fight it?

They got to the combat ground and were surprised to see Hala tied to a pole with Lena seated on a chair placed on the platform. Asher had to hold Aerial and pull him back to their hiding spot to stop him from running to Hala.

"Lord Aerial, we have to approach cautiously Lena probably already knows that we have taken back the castle. We don't know what she has planned and we cannot be too hasty in making decisions," Asher said, making Kathy and Trition nod in agreement.

With clenched fists, Aerial stayed put.

"How do we approach then?" Aerial asked impatiently, his eyes darting between them and Hala.

"I mind-linked my warriors to surround the arena. We would ambush them and take out the shadow warriors. Dismembering them so when they rise again, they won't be able to fight."

"What is the sign to attach…." Triton could not complete his question as Lena's voice filled the quiet arena. They moved closer to listen to what she was saying.

"Since the Queen won't willingly relinquish her throne to me, I have no choice but to use my ultimate card," Lena said with a smirk on her face.

Kathy wondered what that could be. Whatever Lena had as her ultimate card couldn't be good.

"Stop your tricks, Lena, and untie me!" Hala growled, the earth trembling a little as she did. Her powers returned slowly as the moon vine Lena used earlier probably finished. But why isn't she breaking herself free?

"You should know by now that I don't do tricks, sister," Lena said, still wearing her confident smirk.

Kathy could see Hala roll her eyes as Lena opened a wrapped cloth to reveal a bunch of flowers. Not just any flower but the moon vine flower. Everyone gasped, including Kathy.

Lena chuckled. "You guessed right, I found the birthplace of the moon vine flower. It was in Africa all along." She chuckled again. "Who knew that you had to dig to find what you were looking for?"

Kathy knew they were done for. Lena had dug up the map from under the throne. No more powers, mind communication and they would become weak.

Lena continued, "Right now, my soldiers have released a large amount of liquid moon vine into the air and will keep doing so until everyone is permanently weakened."

Hala's eyes were still widened in shock as the realization of the situation dawned on her.

Lena tsked with a fake look of concern on her face. "My poor twin sister, now you have no choice but to submit, else I would keep your people subdued for the rest of their lives."

Hala bowed her head in defeat. She knew it was the end and Kathy knew that too.

"Now say the words, little sister," Lena urged, smiling excitedly. With the moon vine in the air, Kathy didn't need her power to know how Lena felt.

Hala sighed and looked up at Lena. Everyone could see tears of pain running down her eyes. The people of Lunae gathered in the arena also had tears in their eyes. Kathy knew she had to do something but what? She racked her brain for an idea, a miracle of some sort to save them from having to permanently be under Lena, then there would be no saving.

"By….By…. By the moon, and the…. the…. the three goddesses of the moon, I give-" Hala paused as her voice broke again.

"Go on, little sister," Lena urged again.

"I gi-"

"No!" Aerial yelled, running to the platform. He was already weakened by the moon vine in the air and Kathy could see it.

Asher then turned her away from the scene and towards him.

"It's time, Jewel. Now or never." Then Asher's mind linked his pack and they ambushed the shadow warriors making Lunae citizens who weren't warriors run away from the scene while the warriors joined the fight.

Kathy blanked out, her powers were useless and she didn't have a sword on her. She didn't have to look for one as a Wolf killed a shadow warrior in front of her and she took his sword.

"I have to get my mother away from Lena," Kathy yelled to Asher who was now in Wolf form. He nodded his big wolf head towards his back as if gesturing that she got on his back.

She hesitated but he growled in annoyance making her grab a handful of fur and hoisted herself up. As soon as she was settled, he raced to the stage, dodging the shadow warriors on the way. They reached the stage and Kathy saw the Oracle and the elders being escorted out of the arena by a Lunae warrior but the healer was nowhere to be found. Kathy suddenly remembered that Cynthia was working on making an antidote.

Aerial already untied Hala and was helping her down the stage.

"Get my mother and father, Asher. Please get them to safety. I have to do something first!" She told Asher, being fully aware that he heard her due to wolf hearing. She climbed down from his back and stood in front of him. He tilted his head in confusion.

"Please help my parents. I trust you."

He nodded hesitantly and put his head on the stomach in a way that showed worry. She patted his head and told him to go. He turned to look at her one more time before running to find them.