Chapter 22: Ending

"You know what to do with the three of them," Dred said to his minions. The creatures seized Tasmine, Atheria, and Val, leading them over to the "X" shaped metallic panels that stood beside the firepit. He walked over to where I stood at the cage that held Lucas. He smiled at me, and it was not unkind, like I would have expected from one so evil.

He opened his arms to hug me, and I backed away, right into Beltrand, who grabbed the sides of my arms. Dred stared at me, disappointment etched into his face.

"I suppose I should have expected that," he said to me. "I imagine it will take some time before you can accept me as your father. After all, it was only recently that you've learned that the man who lived with your mother was not your true father, that I was the one who had given you life."

"You know about that?" I asked.

"Gianna, I've known exactly where you and Kathia have been all along. It was foolish of her to think that I would not have kept track of my own daughter. I could have taken you and her at any time, but I decided to let her have you for a while. I let you have your childhood with her before you would take your place here as the princess of the Dark Domain."

I looked over at my friends, being bound to the metallic panels that stood beside the firepit. I looked back the Magus.

"What are you doing with them?"

"You see, Gianna," he began, striding over to check on the handiwork of his minions, "they are needed for the ritual that I shall begin very shortly. You have no doubt heard of the demon Valashan? The powerful demon who walked on our plane after being summoned here by a cult that worshipped him?"

I nodded by head.

"He was nearly unstoppable. He was only returned to his home in the Blood Planes by a spell that was so powerful, it killed almost all of the sorcerers and priests who had united to cast it, the most powerful casters of the south."

He gave a tug on Tasmine's shackles, making sure they were fastened securely, then continued speaking. "But what is generally not known is that he was uncontrollable. When he was summoned by that cult, he thanked them by slaughtering them all. The cult had clearly anticipated the demon to obey their whims, but that was not to happen. And the reason why is because they used an improper ritual to summon him."

He was at Atheria's side, checking her shackles. His eyes met hers, and he smiled triumphantly at her. "You should be wishing I killed you that night you came between my daughter and I," he told her. Then he continued his explanation. "It took some time, but my research did finally reveal the proper incantation to bring Valashan here and to allow the summoner to control him for as long as he remained on this plane. But it was a ritual that would be almost impossible to perform, because it required the sacrifice of a light elf, a dark elf, and a human, all of whom had to be female. What made it so nearly impossible is that it also required each of the sacrifices to come to the sacrificial site willingly. They could not be captured, could not be verbally coerced. They had to make their own decision to come. And I could not imagine how I would manage such a task.

"Inspiration came to me the day that I was scrying through my crystal orb, viewing through it a battle that was taking place very near to my own borders. I had just summoned an army of undead to deal with the southern army when I spotted someone standing on a hill, watching the battle. I inspected the young man, Lucas here," he said, gesturing at the cage beside me, "and I could sense something about him. He wore foreign clothes, had objects about him that were not from this place. I was familiar with the dimensional portals that dot our land, and I surmised, correctly, it turns out, that he had come from one of them.

"As I watched him for the next few days and saw him meet with you, inspiration came to me. This boy could be a pawn, if I could use him to bring the three women of the races that I needed, he would prove to be most valuable. I used a spell to transfer some of my own natural power of pheromone control onto him, just enough so that it would ensnare the females around him, and enough to place him slightly under my own control. After that, I merely had to set events in motion. I let word slip that I wanted my own Valandaria dead, so that she would leave and seek Lucas out. I knew her desire for revenge would win over her desire to kill the races of the south."

"You tricked me?" Val hissed at him. "You are lucky that I am in shackles, you bastard!"

Dred ignored her as he continued. "I also knew of the light elf that guarded you from afar. I would need to set events into motion that would cause her to break her oath to your mother and come to protect you and Lucas. So I dispatched some of my creatures to slay Kathia. I didn't want to do this, as she was an excellent lover and she had raised my daughter well. But I also didn't shed a tear when my creatures raped and killed her."

I started to struggle against Beltrand, wanting nothing more than to strangle the life out of Dred. But Beltrand held me fast, chuckling at me from behind.

"Sure enough, Val found you and fell under the sway of Lucas's power, or should I say, my power? And Atheria was also under our control. All we needed was a human female, which you so graciously provided me by travelling to the tower of Altholos and meeting with his young apprentice. She too fell under our power. With the three females of the races that I needed, all that was to be done was to provide you all with a reason to come here, so that I could commit the sacrifices. Since I knew that Lucas was liked by all of you, even without our power, I believed that capturing him and bringing him to me would most certainly spur you to heroically come here and try to rescue him."

"That is why we met little or no opposition our entire way here," Atheria said. "You needed us alive."

"For the most part, yes," Dred replied. "Except when you met with Altholos, I did not want a sorcerer of his power joining with you. And besides, I did not want him alive to participate in a spell to cast Valashan back. So I instructed the creatures that lay siege to his tower to kill him. I also had no use for the dwarf who was with you, so when the opportunity arose to kill him as well, I took it. Now that you are all here, I do not even need Lucas anymore.

"But my daughter, you are here to take your place, to claim your rulership of the Domain at my side. You could convince me to spare Lucas, if you desire. He would make an excellent husband for you. He reminds me a lot of me, perhaps because he shares my power."

"What makes you think I want anything to do with you or this place?" I asked him, staring at him through narrow, hateful eyes.

He gave me a look of disappointment. "I thought your attitude would be like that. You have too much of your mother in you. Perhaps I left you with her too long."

He gave a gesture to the cell door that held Lucas, and it flew open. Two of the hobgoblins in the room rushed in and grabbed Lucas, throwing him out of the cell and onto the floor in front of Dred.

"Like I said, I don't need him any longer. If you choose not to join with me, then I shall snuff him out like he was a lit candle."

I glared at him in hatred and fury. "No, I don't think you will." I told him, my voice confident.

Explosions suddenly rocked the walls of the solid fortress. The ceiling caved in on one side of the room, sending bricks of black rock falling down on the creatures of Dred, exposing the room to the sky. Above us, hundreds of metallic dragons filled the air, their fiery breaths igniting the area around the castle.

"I found out something recently," I told him. "I'm the Queen of the Dragons. And while you've been talking, I called to them in my mind. They're attacking those monsters you have in the courtyard, and they're coming for you as well."

Another explosion rocked the fortress as Dred stared at me. Then he began to laugh. "You called to them through your mind? You mean the same mind that I am connected to?" He held up his hand, showing the ring he wore. "I twisted the magic of this ring as soon as I took it from Lucas, making it so that I could hear your every thought, but you could not hear mine unless I so chose for you to hear. I heard you call out for your dragons, and I called for mine."

A screech filled the sky above us as the colored dragons arrived, engaging the metallic dragons in the sky. Breaths of fire erupted, crisscrossing the stormy sky above us. Metallic and colored dragons flew into each other, clawing and biting at each other. It looked like a war had erupted above our heads.