With pure white flames running wildly up his leg and side, Gorgrog collapsed heavily. Kendra leapt forward, and
Vasilis glared like lightning as she slashed him with a fatal stroke.
As she backed away from the blazing form of Gorgrog, Kendra realized that the demon horde had grown tranquil. The astrids and fairies around her began to fly away. From the mass of stunned demons came a dark warrior who looked like a slightly smaller version of Gorgrog. His antlers branched more like those of a moose, and he wielded a great battle-ax.
"Orogoro," the Fairy Queen said, now standing beside Kendra, a withered brown corpse cradled in her arms.
The huge demon rushed forward to claim the crown from the burning form of his father. While Orogoro reached for the crown, face contorted in pain from the searing white flames, the astrid captain Gilgarol landed behind him and, with a mighty stroke of his longsword, slashed off one of his huge feet. Orogoro wailed in anguish.
"Away," the Fairy Queen cried, flying skyward, the corpse still in her arms.
Crelang and Rostimus alighted beside Kendra.
"Well done," Crelang said.
"We have orders to take you away," Rostimus added respectfully.
"Let's go," Kendra said. With the fall of the Demon King, and with Bracken out of danger, her euphoria had abated. She saw Bracken, Warren, and Vanessa being carried away by other astrids.
Rostimus picked her up and took to the skies. Crelang glided at their side. A flying demon belched fire at them, and Crelang pierced its neck with a javelin. No other enemies harassed them. The entire demon army seemed confused. Kendra began to hear voices crying, "Dragons! Dragons are coming! Dragons from the west!"
Rostimus brought Kendra to the top of a wide ridge behind and to one side of the shrine. Many of the other creatures of light already awaited them. From the high vantage point, Kendra looked out to sea, where at least twenty dragons were speeding toward Shoreless Isle. Kendra watched for a long moment, wondering if the dragons might make the difference. She had slain the Demon King, but a vast host of demons remained.
"Do you need healing?" Rostimus asked.
Kendra patted herself. "I don't think so." She studied the crowd around her, searching for familiar faces. "Have you noticed any of my friends?"
Rostimus and Crelang guided Kendra to Trask, Newel, and Doren. She asked if they had seen Seth, and Doren pointed her in the right direction.
Kendra found her brother seated beside Bracken. Both had already been revived by the Sands of Sanctity. Seth rose excitedly when she approached.
"I watched you with the binoculars," he gushed. "I think Vasilis may like you even more than me! After you took the sword, I remembered that Morisant hinted the sword might take to you. I couldn't believe you did it!"
Kendra hugged her brother tightly, relieved that he seemed all right. Then she turned to Bracken, and they embraced desperately.
"None have ever seen a blade shine so brightly," Bracken said into her ear, making no attempt to hide his awe. "What you did was impossible. Not in our most farfetched fantasies did we hope to slay Gorgrog."
Kendra released the embrace, feeling pleased and embarrassed. "What happens now?"
"Now we pray our plan works," Bracken said, brow furrowed.
Behind Seth and Bracken, Kendra saw the Fairy Queen seated beside an older gentleman with a frail build. She held his hand and spoke softly to him, but he sat motionless, wearing a vacant expression.
"Who is that with the Fairy Queen?" Kendra asked.
"My father," Bracken said softly.
"What?" Kendra exclaimed. "I thought he was dead!"
"None of us actually saw him die," Bracken explained. "We assumed he had been destroyed. As we fought Gorgrog, Mother sensed his presence, but she hardly recognized him. When Mother and I recovered him, at first we thought he had been changed into one of the undead. But then we realized that he was cocooned in powerful demonic spells that kept him alive, conscious and feeling, but on the brink of death. Gorgrog had been wearing him as a trophy, dragging him around Zzyzx for centuries. I can't imagine my father's suffering. The Sands of Sanctity brought him back physically, though he has not aged well, and there is no sign of his horns. He's catatonic."
"How terrible," Kendra said. "Is there hope he'll recover?"
"There is always hope," Bracken said. "Unicorns are among the most skilled healers, and Father had a resilient spirit. Time will tell. Mother swears he seemed to smile when Gorgrog fell."
Kendra, Seth, and Bracken watched from the ridge as a multitude of flying demons rose up to engage the oncoming dragons. The dragons attacked without reservation, lightning flashing from their jaws, or glaring bursts of flame, or seething streams of acid. At their lead flew Celebrant, scales gleaming like platinum. He looked to be everything Raxtus had described--enormous, agile, powerful. Whenever his teeth or claws struck, demons plunged from the sky.
A trio of dragons skimmed low across the mass of earth-bound demons, drenching them with fire. From the midst of the demons, the gigantic Brogo threw his morning star, knocking one of the dragons from the sky.
Celebrant and three other dragons--the smallest of the foursome had to be Raxtus--swooped to the rescue. While the other three dragons defended their fallen comrade and helped him get back into the air, Celebrant opened his mouth and released a blinding blast of white energy at Brogo. The energy split open his mask and knocked the colossal brute to the ground. Tucking his wings, Celebrant rammed the titanic demon, raking and biting ferociously. When Celebrant returned to the sky, Brogo lay crisscrossed with deep lacerations and had lost an arm.
Elsewhere, the final team of astrids defending the shrine turned and fled, wings flashing. Orogoro hobbled near the front of the demonic host, using his battle-ax as a crutch.
Following his lead, the demon horde began pouring into the pool and vanishing.
"Oh, no!" Kendra exclaimed.
"This is part of the plan," Bracken said, watching in grim silence. "I ordered our forces to withdraw."
The Fairy Queen came up beside them. "The demons have always dreamed of conquering my realm. It is a kingdom of light and purity. Nothing will please them more than to ravage it."
"Wait," Seth said. "You hoped this would happen?"
"Mother destroyed all of her other shrines," Bracken said. "She has evacuated all of her people along with what talismans and energy she could bring. Her kingdom is now empty and has a single gateway."