by Edward Brody
The Dark Hand laughed as he sat the cow’s head on his desk. “No. When I was young, they called me the Deceiver. It was only later that I was called the Dark Hand.”
I was confused as hell. If he wasn’t part of the Magi, how had he found me? How did he know my name and that I was a Reborn? Adeelee would’ve never told Jax’s brother anything about me.
Seeing that the ruse was up, the other robed man in the room pulled back his hood, revealing stubble faced man with a dark red bandana wrapped around his brow. The Sparrows were behind everything all along.
“How did you…” I muttered. “How did you find out about the Fellblade?”
“A little bird told me,” the Dark Hand said amusingly.
“A little bird?” I asked.
The Dark Hand looked up and raised his chin to the robed man who was standing nearby. The man left the room, and moments later he returned, marching two familiar faces inside.
Satorin—the man who had tricked me into Recalling to the Sands—was bruised and battered. His face was swollen, and when he was marched beside Adeelee, he muttered to me and gently shook his head. “I’m sorry…” His hands were shackled in front of him.
Right behind Satorin was his wife, Maleena. She looked relatively unharmed, but like her husband, her hands were also shackled.
“Would you believe it?” the Dark Hand said. “A few of my Sparrows were passing through Stonefort when they happened across this deserter buying food at a stall—like a typical, average-day citizen.” He smacked his lips. “Would you believe it? I trusted Satorin to track down the person who stole the Fellblade, but instead, he ran off and had other plans.” He paused before saying, “I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all…”
I swallowed hard, realizing that we had all fucked up—Satorin, me, everyone—but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Satorin wink at me. It was very faint gesture and I almost didn’t notice. When I looked closer at him, I realized that jutting between his fingers was a tiny key.
The bastard had always told me he was a great sleight of hand.
I took a deep breath and tried to reason with the man sitting in front of me. “You have your ancient weapon now, so we’re even. Let them go, and we walk away square.”
“I could do that,” the Dark Hand continued, “but I’m impressed with you, Gunnar. I can’t let you leave without extending an invitation to the Sparrows. A bloody tyrant has his eyes on these lands, and having a Reborn by my side might tip the scales in my favor.”
“He would never join you!” Maleena blurted. “You’re no better than Dryden!”
The Dark Hand’s eyes went wide, and he lifted the idle sword beside him and threw it at Maleena. The sword flipped in the air once and landed cleanly in Maleena’s throat.
Maleena gagged as she reached helplessly for the hilt with her shackled hands. Blood poured from her mouth, and she collapsed, spasming on the floor.
“No, no, nooooooooo!” Satorin cried, his eyes a mix of dread and panic.
“Maleena…” I said low. I lifted my hand a bit, wanting to fight, but quickly put it back down, knowing that any attack from me would likely lead to all of our deaths.
Satorin suddenly yanked his hands free of the shackles; he had freed himself with the key.
He lunged with both hands toward the Dark Hand. He had no weapons—only the anger and rage from the death of wife, driving him to do anything to kill him.
The Dark Hand nearly fell out of his chair when Satorin landed on top of him, but before Satorin had done any damage at all, the tip of Tymrial’s Blade came jutting out of the back of the Bloodletter.
Satorin coughed a single time, and his body jerked as blood poured out of his mouth. The Dark Hand shoved Satorin off of the blade, and he collapsed on the floor. His blood mixed with Maleena’s, forming a thick, red pool near Adeelee’s feet.
The other Sparrow in the room chuckled at the terrible deed.
“Satorin…” I muttered. I was flooded with a mix of emotions. Satorin had attacked me and trapped me in the Sands, so he wasn’t on my list of favorite people. But underneath the terrible things he had done to me, he seemed like a decent guy. He had taught me mentalism and rewarded me for the return of his wife. I thought one day we might even be friends.
“Well,” the Dark Hand said cockily. “That was unexpected.”
“How could you…?” I muttered. “Let Adeelee ago, please. Take me if you want. I’ll join you if you let her go.”
Adeelee grunted wildly through her gag and shook her head at me. I don’t know if she thought I was serious or not, but it seemed like a trivial issue to me. I’d join the Sparrows to set her free, and I could leave later. It didn’t have to be permanent.
“Great,” the Dark Hand clucked. “I guess we have ourselves a Re—”
The Dark Hand’s head flung back, and his eyes turned a glowing white. His shoulders went limp and it looked like he was possessed by something. The other Sparrow in the room was looking up at the ceiling with glowing, odd eyes as well.
On the ground, Satorin had risen to his knees. Blood was pouring down his chin and his robe was soaked, but he held his hands together right in front of his chest. His eyes were flashing white, and he seemed to be channeling some sort of spell.
“Take the ancient sword and run, Gunnar!” Satorin yelled. “Get out of here now!”
My heart pounded violently, but I dashed over to the Dark Hand and lifted away Tymrial’s Blade. With my other hand, I grabbed Adeelee by the shackles and started running for the door. When it was open, I turned to Satorin. “Come on! Let’s go now!”
Satorin shook his head. “No… I have no more reason to live anymore.”
“What? No! Come on!”
“Use your fire on the barrels in the corner. It’s blasting powder. Free yourself, and kill the Dark Hand, so I will know I served some purpose other than evil in this life.” It was then I noticed tears streaming down his face watering down the blood that was covering him.
I looked down to the body of Maleena on the floor, and it stung me. If there was one thing I knew about Satorin it was that he truly loved his wife. He would’ve done anything for her, but she was gone. I didn’t know if Dr. Winston had programmed an afterlife in Eden’s Gate, but if there was one, Satorin would want nothing more than to join Maleena there.
“Hurry, before my spell ends!” Satorin shouted.
I felt a sad lump in my throat as I raised a Fire Curtain over the barrels, but then I just grabbed Adeelee by the shackles and ran.
Chapter Fifty-Two
2/13/0001
The room below the deck of the ship exploded as Adeelee and I ran across the plank. The blast was so strong, a giant hole formed in the hull of the ship and wood went flying into the adjacent cliff.
On land, a battle had already started. The two robed Sparrows were fighting all of Unity—one was holding his glowing sword in his hand, and the magical hand of the other was swinging out of the other’s palm. Ozzy, Jeremy, and a couple of our guards had been hurt. They were struggling to get up to their feet, but otherwise, the rest of our army had the two men surrounded.
Everyone stopped and turned when they heard the blast of gunpowder and saw Adeelee and me jump off the plank and onto the shore. The two defending Sparrows looked at each other as flames started consuming the mast and spreading to the rest of the ship. Realizing their defeat, the one with the sword dropped his weapon, and the magic hand of the other man retracted deep into his palm.
“Adeelee!” Jax yelled.
I stood up with Tymrial’s Blade still in my hand and reached down with my free hand to help the princess up, but just as she was standing, a wave of tiny brown birds swarmed behind me.
The birds didn’t attack but rather slammed each other in a way that they formed a humanlike figure. When the birds fell back a second later, The Dark Hand was standing there in their place. The black robe was gone, and the leather armor he was wearing had been burned severely. His ar
m was charred black, part of his beard was missing, and the side of his face was burned.
He lunged forward, punched me in my ribs and grabbed Tymrial’s blade out of my hand. He lifted the sword as if he were about to swing it at Adeelee, but an arrow landed in his chest before his swing. The Dark Hand barely flinched, but it caused him a moment of pause.
“You bastard!” Jax yelled.
The Dark Hand seemed to have no idea that he was looking back at the real bastard—that Jax was actually his brother. As far as he was concerned, Jax was just a random bowman in the army I had mustered in an effort to save Adeelee.
Donovan started to break away from the group and was running to close the distance between him and the Dark Hand, but the Sparrow’s leader pulled back Tymrial’s Blade. The blade grew a bright, energetic yellow, and when he swung it in the direction of the army, a wave of powerful energy, fifty times the size of an Arcane Slash hurdled out.
Donovan’s chitin armor was ripped from his chest as he flew back on impact, and the energy wave continued forward until it struck all of Unity, throwing back the entire guild and our guards. Even the two Sparrows that were surrounded had been hit by the attack and found themselves moaning on the ground.
I reached out and shot a futile Fireblast at the Dark Hand, but he grunted loudly and flinched but nothing more. His eyes were filled with rage, and he raised the sword as if to strike me and Adeelee down, but no sooner had he lifted the blade than a large, thick green vine shot out of the ground below, wrapping itself around the Dark Hand’s body and lifting him into the air.
I heard the sound of two more vines shoot from the below and turned to see both of the other Sparrows wrapped in vines and being raised. The members of my army were picking themselves up off the ground.
Behind me, the Queen and King of Mist Vale rode slowly into the valley, atop their regal, white great cats. Four High Elves riding white horses were right behind them. They entourage stopped a few meters away.
The Dark Hand groaned in pain and squirmed as the Queen’s vines clutched his body tightly. Blood seeped through the burns on his face.
“Cristo Rutherford,” the Queen said sternly. “What have you done?” she looked down to Adeelee on the ground and nodded to. “Run to your father, my child.”
As Adeelee scrambled to her feet and ran, I backed away as well. I knew I was witnessing something that was far beyond my pay grade.
“The High Elves will not tolerate such dishonor!” the Queen said loudly.
The Dark Hand gritted his teeth and began groaning loudly. As his voice became louder, he suddenly seemed to muster a burst of strength and freed his arm enough that he was able to swing his sword and slice the vine that was holding him.
He fell to the ground and landed expertly on his hands and knees, but as soon as he landed, more vines shot out of the ground and reached out to attack him.
The Dark Hand ducked, dodged, and sliced through all of the vines that came towards him, and when he saw an opportunity, he straightened himself and lifted Tymrial’s Blade straight up into the air.
A bright yellow energy beamed down like a laser and into the tip of the blade, causing it to glow intensely bright. When the beam disappeared, the Dark Hand grunted as he swung the radiant blade down in an overhead motion and struck the ground.
A massive wave of energy flew out of the sword, and hurdled towards the Queen, carving a crater in the ground and spewing dirt in all directions.
Everyone near the Queen bowed away, but the Queen sat quietly and confidently on her mount, unmoving.
A tall, thick wall of magic shaped like a heater shield appeared directly in front of the Queen. The energy from the Dark Hand’s attack pounded into the shield, and for a moment, it seemed the Queen had nothing to fear.
The energy from the attack continued forward like fast moving ocean waves, and in seconds, a small crack formed in the shield of magic, and a second later it shattered. The attack struck the Queen, tossing both her and her cat back and to the ground in heaps.
“Faranni!” King Ryvvik shouted.
“Mother!” Adeelee cried. One of the High Elves had ungagged her and was working on freeing her from the shackles.
The Dark Hand laughed and looked at Tymrial’s Blade in admiration.
The King slid off his cat and reached for a for a thin katana sheathed at his waist. “This will be your death, Cristo. You’ve made a grave mistake.”
The Dark Hand grinned and lifted his sword again, causing another beam to shoot down from the sky and into blade.
The King ran at an impossible speed, and a moment later, a burst of pearl-white flames surrounded his body. Before Cristo could lower his sword, the King had closed in on him and swiped his katana across his gut, causing a chunk of leather armor and blood to fly into the air.
The Dark Hand grimaced and swung his sword at the King’s head, but the King was so fast that he was behind him before the swing was complete. Again, the King slashed his blade, hitting the Dark Hand’s back, and when the Dark Hand spun to counter, the King had already zoomed to his other side.
King Ryvvik continued to slice with his katana as vivid white energy surrounded him, and the Dark Hand swung aimlessly.
Go King, go! I thought. I couldn’t believe how fast and powerful the usually humble elf was.
When the Dark Hand swung his blade a final time, he simultaneously reached down with his free hand and pulled a tiny vial from his bag. He dropped the potion at his feet, and its contents exploded into a huge cloud of smoky grey dust.
The King started coughing and was forced to jump away. He looked into the dust as he coughed, trying to locate his target.
“Over there!” Adeelee yelled.
Everyone turned, and around a hundred meters away from the battle, the burned and blooded Dark Hand stood on the edge of the coastline. He was limping away but held on tightly to Tymrial’s Blade. He took two steps, kneeled, and slammed his hand into the ground.
The King started running in his direction in his incredible speed, but before he could close in on him, a giant brown sparrow swooped down from the sky. It lifted the Dark Hand with its talons and started flying away and over the sea.
The King stopped, sheathed his blade, and kneeled to one knee. He pulled one hand back behind his ear and extended the other in front of front of him as if he were firing an arrow. Out of thin air, a shimmering golden bow appeared in his hands, already nocked with a huge, glowing arrow.
The King released the arrow towards the Sparrow, and it sped through the air, leaving a trail of slowly-dissipating energy behind it.
I’m pretty sure everyone was holding their breath, as I was, as we watched the arrow near its mark, but just as it was about to strike, the giant sparrow veered to the side, narrowly avoiding being attacked.
The King pulled his magic bow back again, and another arrow appeared, but before he released it, the Queen shouted from behind.
“Leave, him, my King. We have our daughter now. He would be a fool to try a stunt like this again.”
The King turned, and when he saw that the Queen was on her feet, he reluctantly released tension of the magic bowstring, and the bow and arrow faded away. He stood and hurried to the Queen, wrapping his arm around her. “Are you okay, my love?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine!”
I turned around to make sure everyone else was okay, and only two bodies were lying on the ground—both of them wearing black robes.
All of the dark elves and Jax were already kneeling silently with their heads bowed to the King and Queen. The rest of Unity was standing around looking at me like they didn’t know what to do.
I dropped to a knee and bowed to the Queen, and behind me I heard the sound of my remaining friends joining me.
After a moment, the Queen said, “You may rise.”
I stood, and Adeelee ran to me, throwing her arms around my shoulders. She didn’t sob, but I heard her sniffle into the nape of my neck. “Thank you, Gunnar
. Thank you.”
I squeezed her gently. “Of course.”
“We were already riding home from Galien when we got word of what happened and came as quickly as we could.” the Queen explained. “Luckily, the fool you left in Edgewood had some idea of where you were headed.”
“That’s Aaron,” I said. “You met him before.”
“Yes, the ‘Sizzler’ is what it seems he’s calling himself now.” The Queen smirked.
The King stepped forward and placed a strong hand on my shoulder. “Thank you for what you’ve done, Ambassador. Thank you for saving Adeelee.”
I just nodded, not really knowing what to say.
The Queen turned to the High Elf guard behind her. “I want ten of our men stationed here in Edgewood at once. I can’t allow our ambassador’s home to be poorly guarded in the event that the Sparrows seek reprisal of some sort. Spread word to all High Elves that any Sparrow is now to be captured or killed on sight if found in our forests.”
“Station our soldiers in Edgewood?” the guard questioned. “But my Queen… the… the… dark elves.”
The Queen turned her gaze to the dark elves who were still on their knees bowing their heads, not bothering to stand, despite having already been given permission to do so. “I don’t care,” she said. “Our elven guard can defend themselves if needed.”
The guard shifted nervously. “But the dark elves could—”
“Disobey, and you’ll be stationed in Edgewood as well!” the Queen barked.
The guard shifted again and nodded. “Yes, my Queen.”
The Queen turned back to me. “And one other thing, Gunnar. I’d like you travel to Galien to fetch a—” She paused, turned her head a little, then looked to the King. “Did you hear that?”
The King nodded. “That’s the second time I’ve heard it.”
“Is it?” the Queen asked.
A woman screamed loudly from somewhere far in the distance.
“Come,” the King said and started walking for the hill where the three robed men had earlier appeared. The Queen, Adeelee, and the guards followed right behind.
