Fell Dragon Book 8 Part 16

Greetings all

I forgot to mention last week that this week is some sad posting, so get ready.

Bolx had enjoyed living with the humans for the last two years. While he had at first remained close to Saita’s side, her family had quickly adopted him into their fold. Viribus had been the friendliest of the bunch, surprising his family, as he never took to anyone else quite like this. Saita had encouraged his friendship with Karesh’s side of the family, as it was the easiest way to have him come into contact with Astec.

The man had been standoffish to the Saith from the day he had stepped foot on the human home world, and it didn’t take Bolx long to realise why. This had been Saita’s first love, and the feeling had been mutual for Astec. It was nothing but jealousy and fierce protection over Saita.

Seeing as in the past Bolx had never had to compete with either of the twins, this was something he didn’t know how to handle. What made it more difficult was Bolx’s intentions. The castle had never released anything official about him and Saita, and this made Astec wary about the Saith and his potential intent with the queen and her son.

Astec had spent years trying to make amends with his son, and now that they were writing letters and chatting every few weeks, he was worried that Bolx would see the child as his own. Bolx, however, didn’t want to come between father and son and would have told Astec that much, had the human spoken to him.

Viribus refused to get in the middle of it and directed his sister to deal with it. She had forced the two men to sit and discuss the animosity. Before Astec could say anything, Bolx had simply said.

“He is your son, me being in his mother’s life doesn’t change that. I will not father him, but I will look out for him. Can you accept that and stop being a jealous asshole?”

The look in Astec’s eye told him that he had overstepped a boundary, but he was done pussyfooting around the man who barely spoke to him. Kiai had laughed and echoed his sentiments to her nephew. While that hadn’t fixed the friction between the two men, they had become more tolerant of each other.

Bolx had enjoyed Kiai and Barik’s company too. He and Saita were often invited to their planet to partake in the growth that the planet had seen. While it had first been a hospital planet, it had evolved from that. With enough interest being shown in a planet that treated the sick and injured, that was neutral, was something many in the universe wanted. What had started as a single hospital quickly developed into an entire planet with various recovery methods. The one thing that Kiai had been most proud of was that only half the planet had been developed, while the other remained forested, with poachers being harshly punished if they wandered into it.

Saita was thrilled the first time she had seen it. She immediately disappeared for a few days into the forest to see her old friends. At first, Kiai had told Bolx to not interfere with what the queen needed to do, eventually, he couldn’t stand not knowing what she was doing.

When he had found her, he had observed her interacting with the Vulpine as if she were one of them. As she travelled through the forests, she was always accompanied by a large black and white wolf. It was as if the two were introducing her to the various tribes on this half of the planet. Bolx had watched her interact with the large wolves completely relaxed, despite the injury she had received from a Wolven years ago. He particularly enjoyed watching her interact with the children of the tribes and packs. It hurt his heart that he couldn’t give her what she wanted more than anything in life.

Once he was sure she was in no danger, and that she would return to him when she was ready. He returned to spend time with her cousin and her family. It was nice getting to speak his native language once again. Young Saita was sharp as a tack and enjoyed practicing his father’s native tongue. Bolx guessed his age to be round about Aidan’s age, making him ten. Soon the boy would be coming home for his first holiday. Saita was almost as excited as Astec to have their son returning for a short time.

As Bolx tried to go to sleep that night, he couldn’t help but feel the yearly sadness creeping up on him. This was the anniversary of his coming to this timeline. He had hoped to spend it with Saita, to make it hurt less, but she had been out for another night with the Vulpine.

Bolx tried to banish the memories, but they kept creeping into his mind. He had been so happy knowing that he and Kaiden were going to have a son. They had been throwing names back and forth for a while but still hadn’t come up with one they both liked. They had been happy, the pregnancy hadn’t affected her training, and she was still deadly, using her abilities to destroy the Wolven they were able to hunt down. Bolx should have known that his happiness wasn’t going to last.

It happened so quickly. A wave of Wolven had descended on the planet, and Bolx was forced to call all the Guard that had come with him to help defend the planet. They weren’t making any difference, and again and again, Kaiden had to step in to defend the planet.

The planet was suffering massive waves of Wasting Diseases and thousands to millions were dying. The skies remained red with the number of bodies that were being cremated daily. There was nothing that could be done. Despite how hard they fought, there was nothing they could do about the disease that was undermining them. Again and again, Kaiden had to bury her family. Myla was the first to fall, followed by Karesh, and then all her cousins. Astin and Kartec had tried to help with the fighting, but they had been cut down not too long ago, leaving Saita as the sole heir to the throne that was quickly crumbling under her.

Bolx wanted to take her somewhere else and give her time to recover, but he had heard reports from all their allies that the mass deaths and attacks were happening everywhere. This truly felt like the end. Yet, he and Kaiden continued to fight back-to-back, until one day, she no longer could.

It had been subtle at first. She was tired, he knew that, but one day, after dispatching several Wolven, she sighed heavily and dropped her arms to her side. She looked pained and could barely stand. Bolx needed to get her off of the battlefield before she collapsed and showed any form of weakness. The humans were on the point of faltering and Bolx couldn’t afford to have them break.

He gripped Kaiden’s arm and tried to pull her from the field while trying to call for a retreat. She surprised him by pulling away from him and staring defiantly into the distance.

“It’s here.” She said softly.

“Kaiden, you’re exhausted. You need to rest.”

She closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them. There were tears in her eyes.

“It’s over Bolx. I can’t anymore.”

“We can still.”

“Edzeeker already escaped. I saw how he did it. It’s not difficult.”

“What are you muttering about?”

“I can’t watch more of those I love die.” She looked up at him. “The Dragon is here, and I have nothing left.”

Bolx felt the blood rush from his face, “Then we must retreat.”

She slowly shook her head and added a hand to his chest. She took a deep breath, “Whatever power I have left I will save what I can.”

“Kaiden?”

His soldiers had surrounded them, preventing the Wolven from getting close enough to injure them. Kaiden smiled at each of them.

“Thank you for your service.” She said.

In a sweeping motion, she ran her hand along all their backs, and they disappeared. Bolx had no idea what she had done but even the Wolven looked confused. Bolx brought his defence up to protect her, but the Wolven now looked over to where she had looked earlier. They then knelt and howled to the person walking toward them.

“This universe is done.” Said Kaiden softly.

He tried to grab her arm once more, but she grabbed his hand and didn’t allow him to touch her. She continued to look out toward the distance.

“Bolx, I have the Wasting Disease.”

Her words hit like a blow, and he almost collapsed, but that was nothing compared to the next thing she said.

“I lost the heartbeat earlier, and now I feel no life.” She looked up at him. “You are all I have left, and I’ll be damned if I let that thing take you from me before I go.”

“Kaiden!”

She wasn’t listening, her focus was on the creature coming at them. She broke eye contact with it to look up at Bolx. The pain and exhaustion shone on her face. Bolx knew she was done.

“Then I will fight with you to the end.” He pulled his arms back.

That was all Kaiden needed to push him away from her as tears streamed down her face. The last thing he heard her say was, “I love you.”

This was the first and only time that he ever told him that she loved him. So, you can imagine how scarred he is about this.

For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here, Book 3 here, and Book 4 here, Book 5 here, Book 6 here, and Book 7 here
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
Alternate Timeline Brucel
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 15>>You are Here>>Part 17 (Friday)
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