“Right,” said Scorio.
“Then you should be fine. Me? I can barely meet his eyes. So, don’t get mad if I don’t help much against him directly. Just thinking of fighting him makes me really upset.”
“I’m shocked,” said Naomi.
“Nice,” said Alain. “Regardless. His last power allows him to see how much people oppose him by the color of their auras. So he’ll know we’re here for blood the moment he sees us.”
“No wonder he got his title,” muttered Scorio.
“His Pyre Lords are pretty intense, too. Valdun -”
“I remember him from our fight against Imogen,” cut in Scorio. “He summons flying horses with warriors riding them, right?”
“Right. But he’s also got a classic damage resistance ability. The more he’s hurt, the tougher he becomes, but the slower he becomes. He’s supposed to be almost immortal because of it, but basically turns into a statue if he’s hurt badly enough.”
“Sounds like Jova,” said Scorio.
“Except she doesn’t slow down,” added Naomi. “Probably why she ended up ruling LastRock and he’s Bravurn’s flunky.”
“Also, he can switch places with one of his summoned warriors,” said Alain. “Gives him a lot of mobility and makes him really hard to pin down.”
“And Amity?” asked Scorio.
“Amity’s rough. I’d rather fight Valdun. His most obvious power once you see it is his ability to convince people he’s their best friend. It’s always on, but when he wants to he can really heighten it, making people side with him or try to protect him no matter what. He’s also surprisingly tough, because any damage he takes he distributes amongst his friends.”
Naomi smirked. “You know, I think I’d actually rather be your friend than his.”
“Really?” Alain perked up, then frowned. “Oh.”
Naomi punched his shoulder lightly. “Keep going, this is good.”
“So his big power is his ability to sacrifice himself. He can do this on a smaller level to just throw bolts of energy at people, but he can also completely explode himself for one big hit. If people are willing, they can feed into that big attack by sacrificing themselves, but for them it’s permanent. He’ll end up reforming a day later, unhurt.”
“He really is the best of friends,” said Scorio.
“Then there’s his other three Dread Blazes,” continued Alain. “Sharess is pretty tough. She has invisible armor, and can change herself into different elements, like iron, or copper, and shape herself how she wants. She can throw herself in that form at people, which can really hurt, and the more desperate she becomes, the more she rallies her allies’ morale. Pretty impressive.”
“I remember her throwing herself at Imogen,” said Scorio quietly. “She was really brave. I hope we don’t have to fight her.”
“Leave her to me if you get squeamish,” said Naomi.
“Then there’s Faridian,” continued Alain.
“We met him on the way in.” Naomi sniffed. “Tried too hard to be nice.”
“No,” cut in Scorio. “He actually was nice.”
“Regardless,” continued Alain. “He can fire a continuous beam of corrosive light. If you hit him, he fractures like glass, spreading his image across a broad area. Makes it hard to know where to hit to hit him again. The more he’s hit, however, the harder he becomes to hit, but the less he can interact with the world. It’s, I don’t know, like he gets pushed into being smoke, or something. I don’t get it. But it allows him to heal like Valdun and come back later. Oh, and he can fly.”
“He can just fly?” asked Scorio. “No need for wings?”
“I think so.” Alain winced. “I’m sorry. But I think there’s some condition to it related to his fracturing power. I never figured it out. Then there’s Jarex.”
“Bravurn’s teleporter,” said Scorio. “Right. He brought the White Queen in.”
“And is probably how Bravurn contacted the Blood Ox,” said Naomi darkly.
“Could be. He’s a good guy. But yes. He can teleport. He’s a Pyre Lord. Actually, we should drop him first,” said Alain, scratching his chin. “Or Bravurn might just teleport himself across hell. He’s hard to hit. He throws these weird beams as his main attack, makes your point of perception shift outside your body so you get all tangled up and confused, and the more he hits you, the harder it becomes for you to see him. Also, he’s got this amazing Dread Blaze ability that automatically sends him to his last place of teleportation if he’s about to take a mortal blow. Which can be great or problematic for him, I guess.”
Scorio took a deep breath. “Xandera, did you catch all that?”
The blazeborn queen didn’t glance back. “I heard but it doesn’t matter. I will simply kill everyone.”
“I like her style,” whispered Naomi.
“Well, this is our rough plan if everybody is present,” said Scorio. “We take down Jarex so Bravurn can’t get away. Ignore Amity so we don’t waste our energy, and try to kill Bravurn as quickly as possible to nullify everyone’s Heart Oath. That’s really the essence of our plan here. The quicker we kill Bravurn, the sooner the others can choose to surrender.”
“Remember he’s a Blood Baron,” said Naomi darkly. “That means he has a Ferula. I don’t think any of us can withstand a direct hit from it.”
“Just a risk we have to take,” said Scorio. “And it sounds like there won’t be much room to run tactics with Xandera, so we’ll just have to adapt as we go.”
“Hey,” said Alain, glancing ahead. “We’re close. It’s lightening up. Hey, um, Xandera? Do you know the layout of the floor ahead?”
“I do,” snapped Xandera.
“I was just asking,” muttered Alain.
“She’s upset, and she’s got reason,” said Scorio quietly. “Don’t take it personally.”
“I mean, I don’t, but you know.” Alain plucked at this robe, shrugged, then sighed. “I guess I’m used to it.”
“Here we go,” whispered Naomi, peering ahead. The light had grown sufficiently bright that darkvision was no longer needed. “No guards, it looks like.”
“Bravurn never expected any real trouble,” whispered Alain back. “Not then, not now.”
“Guess he was wrong. Xandera?” Scorio jogged forward to walk alongside the blazeborn queen. “How about I go first? That way -”
“No.” Xandera raised her burning bright chin, her eyes narrowed, her dark brows lowered. “I need to do this myself.”
Scorio fell back with a nod.
Xandera strode out with regal majesty into the illuminated hallway. It was the same that Scorio had visited two or three times, the main tunnel that connected Bravurn’s suite to the previous queen’s chambers, with other offshoots leading to the caldera and who knew what.
Xandera strode down the brightly lit hall toward Bravurn’s rooms. Great orbs of bright golden light were set high along the walls, illuminating intricately patterned stone that ran along the hallway. Obsidian had been interwoven with iron and ruby to create an ongoing and mesmerizing tapestry of alien artwork.
Nobody was posted outside, but the sound of an argument was distinct, one voice strident and harsh with raw emotion as a man barked a complaint.
Not Bravurn’s measured, icy tone, that was for sure.
Xandera stepped into the broad archway that led to Bravurn’s study, Scorio but a step behind. The same fine furniture, massive desk, and heavy wooden shelving laden with books and scrolls
Bravurn sat in the armchair in the corner, his fingers steepled before his patrician face, his brows lowered, his lips pursed. Amity sprawled in another armchair, as close to horizontal as he could get, a heavy goblet of something in one hand, eyes half-lidded. Jarex sat in the third, saturnine and morose, his heavy, thickly curled sideburns reaching down to his goatee, his wild shock of brown hair unruly, his frown directed at the carpet.