Earthbreaker's Promise
Chapter 10 - Zanna

She could feel her blood boiling but Zanna was holding her emotions in check, barely. The only outward signs of her rage were that her fangs had fully descended and that her fingertips now ended in three inch claws that could gouge stone and penetrate armor. Zanna was stuck playing a game of cat and mouse against Theron, a game she felt she was intimately familiar with. Except never before had she been the mouse.

Several attempts to restrain or even grab hold of Theron with her powers had failed. All she had for her trouble was a fresh cut along her cheek that was letting warm blood run down her chin and drip onto the floor. Changing tactics, she was now using her power to keep herself away from the dual sided glaive Theron wielded with ease.

Except that's not Theron.

Not that the reminder did her much good. He talked just like Theron. Moved like him too, with that otherworldly grace the vampires and fae shared. The biggest difference was that emotions played across his face, emotions she hadn't seen in nearly a century. Since the day she had helped him bury his wife.

There were fifteen feet in between Zanna and Theron. Noticing her distraction, Theron crossed the distance in a blur of motion. Zanna used her power to shove herself out of the way and rolled into the movement to come up standing across from him again.

“A bad time for your head to be in the clouds, my Queen.” Theron called, a twisted grin pasted on his face.

“You have no right to call me that!” She snapped and the ground beneath her fractured.

“Then fight me!” He roared and lunged forward again.

Zanna had already anticipated the attack, her body in motion as soon as it began. Theron’s eyes narrowed as she leapt towards him. He barely had time to blink before she stabbed four claws through his shoulder, used the leverage to deliver a knee to his nose and threw him to the ground below her.

Zanna shook cobwebs from her head as she landed, immediately turning to face her what used to be her friend. Theron was already back on his feet, teeth bared and stained red from the broken nose. Even as she watched, his nose shifted and healed.

“It’ll take more than that.” He said, spitting blood out on the floor. “Don’t hold back because of a friendly face.”

In a second he was on her again, glaive whistling through the air in a clean slice that took several inches of hair as her head leaned backwards. A surge of power shot her towards him and Zanna sent her elbow crashing into Theron’s face. The attack staggered him enough that she was able to duck below the second swing and come up behind him.

Reaching back, Zanna grabbed hold of his neck and pulled him over her shoulder. The sound of his glaive hitting the ground rang out as she threw him head over heels towards a nearby pillar. A loud crash echoed in the castle as Theron crashed and within a second Zanna was slamming an open palm into his stomach that caused him to cough blood. The pillar crumbled with the pressure, falling on top of him as she jumped away. A few moments later pieces of debris scattered as Theron stood, bleeding and with his armor broken but still with a smile on his face.

Zanna snarled in response. He knows I’m wary of doing anything that might be permanent. As if I wasn’t already at a disadvantage. Unless… She sent a glance towards the monolith that loomed in the center.

“Tell me, creature.” She said, stalking towards him like a predator. “Do you look forward to being sent back to your prison?”

A flicker of fear in his eyes told Zanna everything she needed to know. It was afraid of being sent back. Which meant it was possible, she just had to figure out how.

“Don’t be so smug, Queen. You have no idea what it takes to return one of us to the Vault. Tell me, are you willing to risk your friend’s life if you fail?” The words were brave, but he still backed away as she approached.

“Your kind has been gone from the world for too long.” She said. “You don’t understand what it means to be one of the Queen’s private guards.”

“And I’m sure you’re about to enlighten me.”

“The short version,” she said. “Is that one must be ready to lay down their life for their Queen, whenever she demands it. So I will either send you back or destroy you. Theron would understand.”

Zanna took a moment to gather her power. The stone floor underfoot cracked as she shot forward faster than even a Fae’s eyes could track. She had already crushed his neck in her grip and sent them both slamming into the Vault exterior with an echoing crash before his limbs even tensed.

“No!” He shrieked. “You can’t do this. Your friend will be lost to you forever!”

Zanna ignored the frantic kicks that glanced against her body. And she ignored the arms struggling to remove her hand from his throat. With the power she was channeling, he would’ve had better luck pushing against a mountain.

“I am the Queen!” Zanna screamed, inches from his face and her voice echoed out around them.

“Ravager!” She slammed his head back against the pillar causing a red stain to mar the glossy black, star filled surface.

“Earthbreaker!” Another slam, this one hard enough to make his eyes roll back in his head even as the castle rumbled around them.

“Keeper of the Void!” She used her free hand to cut through what remained of his armor, sending the obsidian shard sliding across the floor.

“You think you can wear the face of a man who is like a brother to me and not court my wrath?! I’ve crushed mountains. Killed thousands. Ended entire cities!”

Zanna closed her eyes and imagined the Vault’s barrier wrapping around Theron. She felt it ripping in several places and ignored it. When the placement was done, she pictured the Void.

“And I, Queen Zanna, send you back.” She whispered and let the barrier snap backwards like a band.

For a brief instant, she saw something covered in shadows separate from Theron. Then his eyes closed and he slumped in her grip. Without the rage, Zanna’s own strength faded. Force of will alone allowed her to catch his head in her lap while they fell to the ground together. She didn’t realize she spent the next several moments holding her breath, until his eyes fluttered open and her breath left her in a whoosh of air.

“My Queen?” He asked and her face stretched into a smile at the emotionless eyes that looked back at her without a trace of black.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zanna put her head against his chest. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” She whispered and put her arms around him for a brief hug.

A whisper of wind and Theron was standing beside her, gently pulling Zanna to her feet.

“My apologies, but may I ask what I’m doing here? And why are you wounded?”

“Long story. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I vaguely remember a party, and then leaving to take my shift on the Vault. Then there were these voices…. after that, nothing.”

“It’s all my fault,” she said, thinking of the event several weeks ago that he was referencing. “If I hadn’t sent you down there by yourself we wouldn’t have had a breach. I should have-”

“A breach? When?”

“You were the breach,” said Zanna. “The Void used you. To carry a piece of the Vault at all times so that my powers were sapped whenever you were near. And I’m sure they somehow sped up the rate at which the Vault itself was deteriorating.”

“So those wounds are from me? I hurt you?”

“No, not all of them. A lucky human managed to land a blow while I was distracted.”

“An assassin came into the castle to attack you? Where were Ambrose and Lorina while this was happening? Where is this human now?”

Zanna held up a hand to stop the tide of questions.

“Do you remember Tiller?” She asked. “He was the soldier who rallied the humans during the battle of Oak Forest.”

“I do. We were investigating reports of a large group of Rogues that were terrorizing the town. When we arrived, the humans had already engaged them and were close to losing the battle. Somehow, Tiller turned things around. We later sent an envoy to express our condolences and ask for their in replaceing a longer lasting solution to the Vault.”

“The girl’s name was Nefry.” Zanna said, thinking of the young woman they had unwittingly sent to her death. “They captured and used her for experiments on what would work against us before killing her.”

“Not long after that,” she continued. “Tiller formed his army to come after us. They call themselves the Crusade, and they’re likely to be marching towards the kingdom as we speak.”

“Then we should be on our way.”

Zanna shook her head. “If I left now, the Void would surely escape.”

Theron looked her up and down, his gaze searching. “Your strength is lacking my Queen, I can feel it. But I also know you believe what you say.” Silence, but he was clearly not done. “Take from me.” He said.

Zanna gasped even as her mouth watered and her fangs descended. “You know I can’t take straight from the vein,” she said, but she struggled to sound reluctant. “I can’t stop. What if-”

“This is no time for debate.” He said.

He pulled the remains of his tattered chest piece free and dropped it to the ground. Theron titled his head to the side, leaving the pale column of his neck exposed. Finally, he dropped to his knees. All without breaking eye contact.

“You know what happened last time.” Zanna said. As far as protests went, it could’ve been more believable. Especially if she could’ve taken her eyes from the steady pulse in his neck.

“Take. From. Me.”

Movements blurring, Zanna struck, her body leaving the ground as she wrapped herself around Theron’s chest. In a second, her fangs were buried in his neck and she barely suppressed a moan as warm blood rolled onto her tongue tasting of foreign spices. After a few deep swallows, each one sending tingling waves of pleasure shooting through her, she felt her strength returning. In her mind’s eye, the pond she used to represent her power quickly expanded into a lake. Then she kept drinking.

You have to stop, Zanna.

Ambrose’s voice again, interrupting her meal. She hated the link between them in that moment. It had been so long since she had taken straight from the vein. Cups of warm blood just didn’t pack the same...punch.

Zanna.

She had missed this. Drawing pure power straight into her body. Feeling a heart slow just beneath her palm. Taking what she needed without a care.

Zanna! You will kill him if you don’t stop right now!

She screamed and the ground shook as she forced herself to stop pulling at his throat. Resisting the urge to latch onto him again she shoved against his chest. Theron was sent across the room like a cannon shot him out and he rolled to a stop.

He struggled to his feet, a hand against his neck, with blood sliding down his chest to drip on the floor. For a second, her vision blurred and Zanna realized she was shaking trying to contain herself. More power surged through her than anything she had known for some time now. All she would have to do is reach out, and she could pull him back into her grip.

“This is an order,” she whispered. “Get out of here before I kill you.”

Zanna closed her eyes to center herself and when she opened them he was gone.

“Are you yourself?” Ambrose asked.

“I almost killed him,” she sent back. “Another few seconds was all he had left.”

“But you didn’t,” he said. “You remained in control. Why didn’t you tell us you were so weak? Are you strong enough to finish?”

“Yes,” she lied, ignoring his first question.

“Good, I will finish getting the people safely away. Call for me when you are done, Zanna. And I will come to you. Be careful.”

Zanna paced back and forth across the chamber as the link went silent, her attention focused on the Vault. Around her, the excess energy lashed out from her body like a whip, cracking the floor and causing pieces to fall from the ceiling. In the middle of the destruction she did her best to dismiss the bloodlust so she could concentrate. When all she wanted to do was replace another neck to drink from.

She could flee, destroy the tunnels and the castle, leave the Vault trapped deep in the Earth until she could return. Except the Crusade was on their way, and the humans were tenacious. They would tear apart the very mountain itself in an effort to replace them. In the process, they would eventually disturb things enough to unearth the Vault. And when they did, the Void would be able to escape.

It would serve them right. We could have worked together to control this threat. They chose persecution.

Zanna stopped her pacing and stared at the Vault. Leaving the humans to deal with the problem was an entertaining idea. But she was the Earthbreaker, and she wouldn’t flee from her duty, nor betray her people with such a cowardly act. And that made her face a reality she had tried to put out of her mind.

She wouldn’t be able to make it out of this chamber once she sealed the Vault. That was something she had recognized on the battlefield, when the echoes of the Vault had brought her to her knees. Now, her powers were surging from the blood she had just received. But her close proximity to the stone was already leeching it away, and sealing the Vault in a way the humans would have trouble reaching it was going to take every bit of it she had and more.

They would still replace it, at some point. She only hoped that there would be a successor before that happened. Another Earthbreaker to make sure the cursed prison stayed closed.

I will do my duty as the Keeper. She reached out to the nearest tunnels, collapsing them piece by piece. As the Queen. Zana pushed herself further, her arms shaking with strain. And as the Earthbreaker. The crucial supports of the castle above creaked under her attentions.

“And you.” She said to the Vault, uncaring of if they could even hear her. “Will not see the light of day for a long, long time.”

With a strangled cry, Zanna’s power pushed out like a flood. She felt the hundreds of tunnels completely give way. Then the castle started to fall into the ground, the Earth itself swallowing it up. In seconds, the ground beneath her feet was shaking and cracking apart as everything started coming down around her. Then she focused all she had left on the Vault and slammed the barriers down with such force that the pillar itself sank through the floor and fell beneath her. Even over the thunderous roar, she heard it crash somewhere in the depths below.

Zanna collapsed to the floor, her strength gone. Yet there was no pain. She felt numb, almost detached from her body as the ceiling came down around her. The sound of someone screaming their denial reached her through it all, but she was too weak to respond. Too weak to even say goodbye. Then darkness encroached on her vision until she knew nothing at all.