That same power blazing crimson, gold, and black from Jarl Christensen’s eyes.
“Not a single chance in hell.”
Jarl Alexander Christensen refuses Emil Beck’s bargain now, and a sudden commotion devours the far end of the hall. As a towering wall of Bloodwind from all the wards and curses in the hall goes hammering around the space, rattling every door in their hinges and shaking timbers in their vaults, the Jarl’s fierce retinue around us strides in, shifting up into a ready force.
I understand the Jarl’s statement, as he opposes Emil. Because Jarl Christensen’s family has opposed the resurgence of the Black Dragon in their own way for thousands of years.
I don’t know whether they did what they did as part of the Black Dragon Knights or not, but clearly, they took it upon themselves to kill all Bloodwalkers and their mates so no one would ever be left alive in Denmark who could resurrect or wield the Black Dragon.
It makes Emil Beck and his Bloodwalker Litha anathema in these halls. Though my mates and I have pissed Jarl Christensen off, thanks to Mikkel and Lærke being thorns in his side for decades, Emil has done far worse.
He’s admitted to being part of the plan to resurrect and restore the Black Dragon. Not just admitted it, but reveled in it, threatening Jarl Christensen as being the first to go if the Jarl opposes him.
It’s a bad move, as all the Jarl’s hundreds of guards around us suddenly become lost to the power of their Berserkers and Wraiths in the Jarl’s icy hall.
I feel all those ancient sigil-phrases now, pushing us to go ballistic. Because they aren’t only affecting the Jarl’s forces, as all that ice-cold power goes blistering through my veins and those of my drakes.
Whatever those curse-sigils are, they’re pushing my drakes and me togo insane in our power, as well. And the Jarl isn’t keeping that effect from my drakes and me, as his blistering, bloody gaze flicks to me. I understand then that myself and the rest of my Bloodbond are free to go.
If we do our worst with him against Emil Beck.
I’ve never felt such relief to see the dozens of guards, bouncers, and others from The Chartreuse be liberated from their containment now as they stride in. Dozens of them are here, backing up my drakes and the Thorsen twins, each of them blood-streaked and furious as they bristle for battle yet again.
Emil has just as many people, though, and I don’t know how many of them might be his Bloodmates, released from containment and backing him up. He smiles an eager, diabolical smile now. He doesn’t seem concerned that the three-way fight has become us and the Thorsen’s people fightingwiththe Jarl against him.
His closest dragons from theForgyldt Burhotel stand with him now as they shift up. Worse, in every set of eyes, I see nothing but readiness. As if they knew all along who Emil was and what he was doing, I see a vicious knot of people who were behind the Black Dragon’s release from its island prison.
A whole helluva lot more of them than I expected—and not all of them are Bone Mages.
It makes the situation with the Black Dragon far worse than I ever imagined, as I realize we’re up against more than just a handful of renegade Bone Mages acting with Litha. This goes a lot deeper than a simple plot of one drakaina and her mates to take down the world. This has spread, becoming an insurrection.
One that makes the Jarl’s revolt against King Huttr look like patty cake in comparison.
“Emil Beck. Try to wrest this hall from me and pay the price,” Jarl Alexander Christensen says now, as our standoff bristles like all hell rising.
“I don’t want your hall, latest Jarl of greater fathers.” Emil’s dark eyes shine like blazing starlight under the seething vaults. “I want all Jarldomsto fall, including yours, and the Blood Dragon Kingship, as my Litha and I rise to lead all dragons everywhere, with the powers our elevated Bloodwalker bloodlines have been given. Or annihilate them—whichever way they choose—like you. Stupid youngling.”
As Emil Beck’s forces bristle now, though they’re not receiving the benefit of the ancient curse-work woven into the very fabric of the Jarl’s Hall, I realize I have no clue just how old Emil is, nor what he’s capable of.
An ancient magic is in that group, however, as they seethe as their dragons for war. And I know some of those dragons in Emil’s group are old as fuck; a handful of them step to the front now beside Emil in a wide chevron, and I know they’re his own Bloodmates.
Backing up Emil Beck, and the agenda of his co-Bloodwalker mate Litha.
“Fight me,” the Jarl of Copenhagen says as he and his guards get ready to face Emil and his dragons. “But I warn you, Ancient One… I will hold this seat beyond your death. As I soon send you to an infernally darker Void than that of our Ancestors.”
As the Jarl of Copenhagen powers up with his guards, roaring up now into his own dragon, Emil Beck does the same. My mates and I are suddenly trapped in the middle of a dragon-battle as we shift up hard, as well.
Fighting on the side of a Jarl we decidedly hate.
26
CALL
Chaos devours the hall as the Jarl’s and Emil Beck’s forces clash. Dragon energy is everywhere; it’s a bitter battle happening between the Jarl’s forces and Emil’s as my drakes and I, plus Lærke, find ourselves fighting on what feels like the wrong side.
But it isn’t, as we battle with the Jarl’s guards hard, barreling in and swiping, rolling and dodging, and hammering volleys of Bloodspears everywhere as we defend with fast Bloodshields.
To take down Emil Beck—or die trying.
