Page 100 of Theoden
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE WAR FOR PERSIA
“This isn’t Persia, Father,” Marco stated as we soared through the nighttime sky. “This is India.”
“I’m aware of that,” I said.
“Then why did you say we had to get back to Persia quickly. We passed it, Father.”
I rolled my eyes and explained to him using my mind’s voice why we all called our territory, Bahir—Persia. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?” I asked.
“It does. I’m sorry, Father.”
I nodded and tightened my grip on both my son and brother as I flew as fast as I could to get back to our territory because what I had feared had come to pass. Vampire Queen Amara was attacking our lands. While we had been traveling in Italy, Ara had contacted both Titus and I and requested that we get home as soon as possible. At that time, dragon scouts had spotted the Queen’s army coming through the mountain range towards our land. They would be within our borders in a matter of days. I’d had to cut Marco’s feeding frenzy short, to his disappointment, as he’d been killing as many Normans as he could find along the way.
I had to take the shortest route back, which meant we had to forego the ship. I took both Titus and Marco in my arms and took to the sky. Titus was marveling at the view as he’d done the first time I flew with him. Marco was a bit frightened at first, which I found comical. He clung tighter to me as if afraid I would drop him. I would have thought nothing could scare my beast of a son, but apparently, heights or the act of flying did.
As much as I wanted to tease him about it, my mind was focused on concentrating so I could get us back home as fast as possible. I had to take countless breaks and even feed multiple times to regain my strength, but we arrived within days instead of months as we would have with the ship and horses.
The war had already begun and I could see Amara’s vampires attacking the homes of Ara’s vampires, and they were fighting back with swords and their own ferociousness. I kept flying towards Titus’ home, where I dropped him off so he could defend his keep. No one, save my human servants, was at my home, so I continued to Ara’s palace.
As I had suspected, it was under attack with vampires climbing in the windows and pouring into the door they’d broken down. I wondered if they would try to kill Ara or only subdue him. Most likely the latter, because of the forbidden rule to never kill one of the Royals.
But forcing a King or Queen to submit would count as a victory and their territory could then be claimed by the victor. I would not let Ara lose another war, not on my life. I flew through the window with my son in my arms, and released him as soon as our feet touched the floor.
“Kill any vampire you see not having our scent,” I told him.
I had faith that he would survive this battle and he wanted to fight, it was in his blood.
“Yes, Father,” he said, then ran off through the halls.
I searched for Ara and found him fighting three vampires, his sword clashing with theirs as they combined their forces against him. I was exhausted from flying all the way from Italy back home. I had to pass through werewolf territory and stay away from them while I fed and restored my strength.
Still, I dug deep within myself and found the energy I needed to fight. I conjured my fire and directed it at the vampires fighting Ara. He stabbed one in their chest just as I set them ablaze. The vampires screamed as their bodies burst into flames. They flailed as they thrashed about in a vain attempt to put out the flames. I had total control of the fire and I would let it extinguish only when they were dead.
“Mind my home, son,” Ara said.
I gasped in response as one of the vampires set the rug and divan ablaze. I controlled the fire and I put the rug and divan out, but both had been ruined. I put the vampires out once the fire did its job.
“Take your flames outside, Théoden,” Ara commanded.
“What about you, Father?” I asked, not wanting to leave his side.
“I can handle myself, child. Go!”
I nodded and leaped out of the window to attack the vampires on the outside. I burned every one I saw, setting dozens on fire. I made sure to control the amount of damage done to Ara’s home, keeping it to a minimum as my fire was all consuming. Many of the vampires who saw what I could do began to flee the area and I followed in pursuit.
I flew above them, flaming them as a dragon would do. Speaking of dragons, I saw them burning vampires from above, hurling balls of fire at them. Some were breathing fire on full-on hordes of vampires. Humans in the streets fled into their homes, bars, and taverns. It would be our responsibility once this war was over to enthrall the humans in the territory, taking their memories of this away.
For now, we were at war and the humans could wait. I landed and removed my sword from its sheath and attacked three vampires I saw that were attacking a younger vampire in Ara’s kingdom. I stabbed one through his chest, then pulled my sword out and swung, slicing off his head. Blood splattered across my face and clothing, but I didn’t care.
I turned toward the other two, swinging my sword as they parried. They were on the defense as I came at them. They were fast, faster than I was, and well-skilled, these two. Time to use another advantage before I lost the one I had. I aimed my hand at them, palm exposed, then blasted them both with my fire, setting them in flames.
“Parry that,” I remarked.
“Jesus, it is true. You can control fire,” the young vampire exclaimed as he looked at the smoldering vampires in utter awe.
“Fortunately for you, it is true,” I said, then turned and ran down the street to fight more of the attacking army.
