Kaelen's POV.
Valerius's hand dropped. The signal was given.
"No!" I screamed.
The wolf pinning me down hissed, but I didn't care about the claws sinking into my shoulders. I drove my head back into the wolf's snout, the bone shattering. As the beast flinched, I grabbed the dagger and drove it through the creature's eye.
I was up instantly.
Valerius turned, his Dragon-Tooth blade already swinging as it left the scabbard.
"You always were stubborn, Kaelen. Even after a century in the dark."
"You don't get to say my name!" I lunged.
Valerius was stronger, fueled by Hecate's dark magic, but I was faster.
"Fenrir!" I screamed.
The Emperor's black stallion reared as the ground in front of him exploded into flames. I saw him draw his sword, his head snapping up to the cliffside. He saw us.
"Linus!" Fenrir's voice carried over the roar of the ambush. He began to spur his horse up the treacherous mountain path, ignoring the archers.
"Focus on me, King!" Valerius hissed, driving his shoulder into my chest. I flew back, hitting the jagged rock. He stood over me, the Dragon-Tooth blade aimed at my heart. "He's going to die and you're going to watch. And then we can finally begin the era we were meant for."
"I'd rather burn," I spat. I swept his legs with a low kick. He stumbled, and I scrambled to my feet, grabbing a fallen spear.
Hecate watched from the sidelines, her hands folded. "Enough of this theater, Valerius. Kill him before the wolf reaches the summit."
Valerius growled and lunged. He sliced my cheek as I stabbed his shoulder. We were two ghosts of a dead empire tearing each other apart.
"You betrayed everything we stood for!" I shouted, parrying a lethal overhead strike.
"I built your legacy!" Valerius countered. "You were just the face on the coin. I was the one who kept the borders secure!"
Suddenly, a massive weight slammed into the clearing. Fenrir had leaped from his horse, his sword covered in the blood of the archers he had slaughtered on the way up. He stood between me and Valerius.
"Get away from him," Fenrir growled at Valerius.
Valerius laughed. "The Emperor. You've grown into a fine beast, Fenrir. But you're playing in a game that started before your grandfather was born."
"I don't care about your games," Fenrir said. He swung his sword. The power of the strike forced Valerius to jump back, his feet skidding near the cliff's edge.
Hecate stepped forward. "This is touching. The son and the consort, united in their insignificance."
"Mother," Fenrir spat. "This ends today."
"It does," Hecate agreed. When she raised both hands. The mist around us solidified. It turned into jagged shards of black ice, suspended in the air like a thousand frozen daggers. "I gave you life, Fenrir. I can certainly take it back. And as for you, Kaelen... I think a second death is long overdue."
"Run!" Fenrir shouted, stepping in front of me, his cape billowing in the wind.
"I'm not leaving you!" I yelled.
Hecate flicked her wrists and the ice shards flew.
Fenrir roared, spinning his sword to deflect the barrage. The sound of ice shattering against steel was deafening. I dived toward Valerius, knowing he was the key.
If I could take the blade, my blade, I could break her hold.
Valerius saw me coming. He used a hidden dagger and drove it into my side as we collided. I gasped, the cold steel hiting my ribs, but I didn't stop. I grabbed his throat, my thumbs pressing into his windpipe.
"You... lost..." I wheezed.
Valerius's eyes went wide. He looked past me.
Hecate wasn't looking at us anymore. She was looking at the ground beneath our feet.
As she slammed her palms together, a shockwave of dark energy erupted from the ground. The cliffside shifted, the rock beneath me and Fenrir began to crumble.
"If I cannot have a King I can control," Hecate screamed over the wind, "then I will have no Kings at all!"
Fenrir lunged for me as the ledge gave way. He caught my hand, his grip crushing my fingers. We were dangling over the abyss, the gorge hundreds of feet below.
"I've got you!" Fenrir roared.
But Hecate was already there. She walked to the edge, looking down at us with a look of pure annoyance. Valerius stood behind her, his face bleeding, his eyes hollow.
"Goodbye, my son," Hecate said.
She used a pulled out a small dagger and drove it directly into the shoulder that was holding me.
Fenrir's grip didn't loosen, but he let out a choked sound of agony.
"Let go, Fenrir!" I shouted. "Save yourself!"
"Never!"
Hecate raised the dagger again, this time aiming for his throat. She was going to kill him.
I looked at the dagger in my own side, the one Valerius had left there. I pulled it out, with my free hand, I swung upward.
The blade caught Valerius in the thigh, making him stumble into Hecate. She lurched, her strike missing Fenrir's throat and sinking into the muscle of his chest instead.
Fenrir's eyes rolled back. His fingers began to slip.
"No!" I screamed.
In that split second, Valerius did something I didn't expect. He looked at me, truly looked at me and I saw a flash of the man he used to be, the man who had been my brother in arms.
He reached out, grabbing Fenrir's cloak to hold us up, but Hecate turned, her face a look of fury.
She drove her hand into Valerius's chest, her fingers glowing with violet fire.
"Traitor!" she shrieked.
Valerius fell but he took Hecate with him. The two of them vanished into the mist and the darkness of the gorge.
But the weight was too much. Fenrir was dying. The blood from the stab wound in his chest was soaking my hand.
"Fenrir! Stay with me!"
He looked at me, a faint, bloody smile on his lips. "I... I told you... I wouldn't... let go..."
His hand went limp.
And then, we fell.
The wind whipped past my ears. I reached out, grabbing Fenrir in mid-air, pulling his unconscious body against mine. We hit the slope of the gorge, sliding through the jagged rocks.
I felt a sharp, agonizing pain in my back as we hit a protruding stone. Then, a cold, wet sensation.
I looked down. A splintered piece of a broken rebel wagon, a jagged wooden stake was protruding through my stomach.
I was pinned to the ground. Fenrir lay a few feet away, unmoving.
I tried to reach for him, but my hand wouldn't move.
"Fenrir..." I whispered.
He didn't move either.
I could feel the energy in my body leave and within a few seconds, eyes slowly closed.