The Seventh Spirit

by Adam-Clay Webb

  A menacing smile appeared on the General’s face immediately. “All three of them?” he asked.

  “Yes sir!”

  The man looked at the three boys on the horse. “Dismount. All of you.” Mike, Lex, Kyle and the private jumped down from the horse. “Show me,” the soldier told them. Lex put his palms together, quickly summoning up ice energy. The soldiers behind the general watched in amazement, looks of definite awe and wonder on their faces. The general’s smirk only became more pronounced. He looked over at Kyle and Mike. “And you two?”

  “Well, we have no ice energy left right now,” Mike said convincingly.

  “I see… In any event, marvellous work, Private,” the soldier commended.

  “Thank you, General!” the young soldier answered sharply.

  “You’re dismissed. We’ll handle it from here.” The young soldier stared at the general with a confused look on his face. “You are dismissed!” the general repeated.

  “No way!” the private disputed nervously, “They’re my capture… Sir…”

  “It seems you don’t quite understand, Private,” the general said calmly, “you do not want to cross lines with me.” With that, the general’s men drew their swords. They were dressed even more sharply than the guards at the outer gates.

  The private’s face turned pale, then his disappointment soon became rage and anger. “No!” he shouted, hardly thinking the situation through, and drew his sword against the general. “That’s all you generals are good for!” the soldier raved, “You prosper off the lower ranks’ sweat and blood, and reap our rewards! This is—”

  “Enough! Kill him!” the general ordered. Kyle and Lex stared with wide eyes at the confrontation. Mike grabbed his two new friends and pulled them back from the private. “You three hold it!” the general blasted, and they stopped moving. The other six guards ran past their commander and began attacking the private. Swords banged, and in a jiffy, one of the guards cleanly sliced off the private’s right hand. Kyle watched the hand, still gripping the sword tightly, fall on the grass, staining it with the blood of a man he could suddenly see himself being. Blood gushed from the man’s severed wrist, and before a cry of pain could follow, another soldier jammed his sword into the man’s chest, killing him. The corporal drew his sword from the man’s chest, and staggered back from the falling body. He shivered even worse than Lex, and his eyes were even wider. “Good work son,” the general commended calmly, “you did what was right and necessary.” The young soldier nodded nervously. The general laughed, supposing it was the youngster’s first kill. “Trent! Michael! Dispose of the body!” the general commanded, and the ordered soldiers got to work.

  Lex stared in horror as the private was dragged away.

  “Vincent, Johnman, Gates, come with me,” the general said, “carry the three boys. Today they get to see the queen.”

  Quickly moving soldiers escorted the Icemaker and his friends.

  “So,” the general said, making conversation, “you three are related, right?”

  “Brothers,” Mike answered.

  “Ah, brotherhood, eh?” the general almost laughed. “I had a brother once.” They walked on a tiled street, soft carpets of green grass on both sides. They walked past huge, striking mansions and gardens, and they could see rows of trees in the distances, but ahead was the pride of the palace, the royal tower, topped off with a black flag with a red flame on it, and two gold swords crossing each other behind it. “I had to kill him,” the general continued, “he was a criminal… A soldier too! The corruption in this army! What would it do without soldiers like me?” The other soldiers just kept their silence.

  “What is your name, General?” Kyle asked.

  “General Greyner,” he answered, sounding proud. The talkative man continued ranting off about his brother’s ‘wicked’ deeds until they were at another pair of gates. Just beyond the gates of pure gold were the inner courts, where the royal tower stood.

  “Major General. High Knight,” Greyner greeted the men by the gates.

  “What have we here?” the M.G asked.

  “Icemakers.”

  “I see,” the reply followed quickly, but with no air of surprise or interest. “I heard your little brawl out there. I can just imagine what happened,” the man said to Greyner, sounding displeased, but not surprised or disappointed.

  “High Knight, will you escort us in?”

  “Yes, yes, come.” The knight led them through the gates, and to the base of the royal tower. He unlocked the iron door with a silver key that was in his top pocket. The general took them inside – his three men that accompanied him knew to wait outside. Greyner greeted the diplomats on the first floor, which was a mansion by itself, and led the boys up a flight of stairs, and up another, and another still.

  They climbed for what seemed like a year, until they were finally at the highest room, the royal chamber. A guard was at the door, not dressed in any regular Magmalian uniform. He wore full white, and his white gloves seemed even to glow. He was the most well-trained guard in the army, one of the most skilled fighters the army boasted. It was said that only the under-supreme general could compare to him in battle.

  “Stand back,” the general told the boys, and walked toward the man in white. He bowed before the royal guard, then engaged in a whispery conversation. Then, the guard in white drew for a large brown book. He gave the general the book and an inked feather that was nearby, pointing somewhere on one of the pages. The general wrote for about a minute, then the guard in white signed the book and secured it in the chest he took it from.

  “My Lord and King,” the man in white said from outside the door, “General Greyner is here with three Icemakers.”

  “Send them in,” a voice of authority came from inside the room. Greyner tried to suppress his simper.

  The man in white took a key from his right shoe and opened the door. “Enter into the royal chamber with reverence and great honour,” he recited. The general signalled for the three to follow him, and they entered the king’s abode.

  Before them was an opaque curtain. Mike was jittery with excitement. He had longed to see the Magmalian king in person.

  Are they all idiots? Kyle wondered, Why would they let a stranger into the king’s room with a sword on his back? Are they so sure I couldn’t make trouble if I wanted to?

  “My Lord and King,” Greyner greeted, “this is General Greyner from battalion nineteen of division four. I have the Icemakers your queen desires.”

  “Pull back the curtain,” they heard a kingly voice say. The general grabbed the curtain eagerly and shakily drew it back. The king was seated on his throne before them, the great and mighty, infamous king of Magma Town, King Aragan. He seemed to be around sixty, though he was even a bit older than that. He had a garden of black and grey hair on his head and face, but it was neatly trimmed, and gave his face a refined, noble look. He wore robes of wool and leather, and a crown of gold, lined with jewels that could buy villages. He also wore a fine silver chain with a small emerald pendant. “Well, I didn’t send for you. The queen did,” the king said. He seemed rather disinterested in the whole matter, like he had far more important matters to attend to. “I won’t be bothered with her foolishness.” He pointed to one of the servants there, whose head was slightly bowed. “Send for the queen,” he commanded.

  “Yes, my Lord and King,” the servant answered promptly, and went into another room.

  “This idiotic woman, always putting precious resources to waste,” the king mumbled to himself, “she and Azar are one and the same.” Wrinkles of annoyance and mild vexation arose on his face. Before he could continue grumbling, the oversized doors were opened and the servants appeared with the Magmalian Queen. She wasn’t very young, but obviously at least a few years younger than the king, and she was dressed even more extravagantly than he was. Long, silver-white hair lengthened itself down from her petite, golden crown. It was almost clear, though, that without all the fandangle, she woul
dn’t be much more beautiful that the average woman on the streets.

  “My Lady and Queen,” the general greeted, bowing before the royal woman, “I have here three Icemakers.”

  “My Lord, I’m sorry for bothering you with my trivial affairs,” the woman apologized, smiling with a smile that worried Kyle.

  “My dear general, you brought me my Icemaker?” she asked, still smiling.

  “Yes, my queen, three as a matter of fact!” the soldier said, grabbing on to two of the boys.

  “I’m afraid you’re mistaken, my dear general,” the queen said, but not looking displeased.

  “My queen?” the general said nervously. The king glanced at him with threat, and with the power to have him beheaded with a wordless gesture even on nothing more than a whim.

  “Only the child in the middle, Lex, is an Icemaker,” she told him, “but fret not – I am too kind to punish you for such a simple mistake.” The general glared at the three boys, shaking, wondering if the king and queen would really let such a grave error go unpunished.

  Indeed, he alone made ice before my eyes, the man contemplated, so it seems the queen has the power to tell without even testing them… The rumours of her being a powerful witch must be true then… All the more reason not to cross lines with her.

  She knows my name… Lex considered. The three boys flashed quick glances at one another.

  “So you must be Kyle, then!” she said in recognition, “And you, my handsome friend?” she asked Mike, “I’ve heard nothing about you!”

  Kyle clenched his teeth his fists, staying put with great effort. So she does have Clover, Kyle became sure.

  “Just a friend of theirs!” Mike replied, smiling, seeing the futility of lying to the woman.

  “Woman! Take your business into your quarters!” the king ordered in annoyance.

  “Yes, my Lord! Come, all of you! Thank you, general. Your hefty reward will be sent down the lines to you by tomorrow, so run along now. You have my word.”

  “My thanks and praises, my queen,” the general said, grinning.

  “Come, children, right this way,” the queen called them, and the servant there opened the same doors at her gesture. They went inside another elaborate room, where a table with eight chairs was set up. There were many ornaments of gold, and heavy cotton drapes hung down the windows. The doors closed behind them.

  “Where is my sister?!” Kyle finally burst, still trying to contain his emotions.

  “Oh, the rage of a handsome young man! I love it! Gives me shivers!”

  A weird expression appeared on Kyle’s face, and the woman laughed.

  “Have you really summoned me to help me defeat Trium?” Lex asked, not feeling as certain of it as he did before.

  “I have no interest in such stories, young Lex, though I won’t say I believe they are lies,” the queen answered. “Follow me.” She led them across to the far wall and stood facing it, a door nearby, but seemingly unimportant to her. She placed her palms on the wall, and it begun to glow with red mana. The three watched with keenness. “Ka-Jandam Laever!” the witch commanded, and a red portal appeared on the wall. She stepped back a bit and looked back at them. She was impressed that none of them seemed very surprised. “Your sister’s inside,” the queen said, and stepped into the portal.

  The three exchanged glances, then Kyle drew his sword, as he long wanted to. “Let’s go!” he dashed into the portal eagerly. Mike followed, then Lex. They found themselves in an endless open space, on hard, rocky ground. Piles of rock and large boulders were scattered about, and leafless trees.

  “Clover!” Lex shouted. They looked out at what seemed to be a black cage out into the distance.

  “Lex! Kyle!” the girl’s distant shouts returned. They saw the queen appear between them and the cage in a fast vanishing cloud of redness. Lex’s eyes widened as Kyle’s narrowed. A smirk appeared on Mike’s face. He knew the day was about to get even more interesting. They saw two persons trapped in the black cell.

  “What do you want from us?!” Lex asked the queen, more than just a hint of anxiety and anger in his voice.

  “Did Herriot ever tell you that she and I were close once?” the queen asked.

  “What the hell does that have to do with Clover?!” Lex asked back, already conjuring up ice energy in his palms at his sides.

  “Mana Cube,” the witch summoned. In a cloud of quickly clearing mana, a beautiful transparent cube with gold writings appeared in her right hand. “Do you three know what this precious thing might be?”

  “Think I’ll go for mana cube,” Mike retorted.

  “Smart boy!” the queen cheered him in sarcasm, “But let me tell you its purpose! I have witches and wizards captured, and they’re all brought here. I then kill them, draining all their mana, all their power, into this sacred cube, created by Oga himself, the god of magic. When the power is transferred to the cube, I then use an ancient spell to absorb the power myself… With power like this, how could I not be feared as the most powerful witch on the continent?!” the witch laughed madly.

  “Quite the plan!” Mike acknowledged, “But why go through the works of dragging us three here? Why not just kill the witches and steal their power like you usually do?”

  Lex and Kyle flashed similar glances at the boy between them.

  “Such a brilliant question!” the queen commended Mike, “You see, I have much reason to believe that I am from the bloodlines of both Oga and Kizer! I will kill the Icemaker and have his power as well! I shall start my collection of elemental powers with you, Lex! Be honoured! Hahahahahaha! It’s a pity, though; you two will die for no real reason.”

  So she used Clover as bait to capture and kill Lex, Kyle contemplated.

  “I’m sorry, old lady, but I really can’t afford to go along with that stupid plan of yours!” Lex told her.

  “I’m afraid I can’t die just yet either!” Mike came in. He took off toward the queen quickly. Kyle’s eyes widened, as while Mike ran, his right fist took on a silver coating. He instantly recognized it to look extremely similar to the armour Rhino wore. The queen gazed at the boy’s fist in surprise, but her distraction would cost her more than a light slap on the wrist. He made a quick jump toward the woman, and gave her a hard and heavy blast with superhuman power. The witch flew through the air and slammed into a pile of rocks meters away. She made a bellow of pain on impact, struggling to her feet.

  “So you weren’t all talk after all,” Kyle said, already making a run toward the black cage his sister and Herriot were trapped in.

  Incredible, the witch thought, standing, her teeth clenched in pain, my luck is second to none! I’ll have the powers of an Icemaker and an Ionide in just one sweep! It seems he doesn’t know his power very well, so he shouldn’t be much a fight. If that’s his best, he’s just as dead as my mother. A villainous smirk dominated the woman’s face.

  Combine, a faint, familiar voice advised Lex. Lex slammed the orbs of ice together, struggling to keep the now massive ball of energy contained. He widened his stance in strain. Push harder… the voice insisted.

  Mike ran up toward the witch again, ready with his ‘iron fist’.

  “Azanath!” the veteran commanded, and red mana flashed from her hands toward Mike, then there was a red flash, and a cloud of mana dispersed. With that, Mike’s motion stopped suddenly and completely. He had the stance of a confident athlete heading toward the finish line, but he was suspended in time.

  Ice buzzed about Lex’s hands like sparks of electricity.

  Go, the faint voice told him, and he obeyed. He flung his palms out toward the distant witch, who had already moved past the unmoving Mike. The iceball, though, didn’t go flying as it usually would. Instead, a swift beam of ice energy extended from the boy’s hands. The woman raised her right palm out before her, and a red shield of mana encircled her quickly. The approaching beam of ice hit the shield, and enveloped it in a jiffy. By the time Lex’s chilly hands reached his sides, a magnifice
ntly large sphere of ice encircled the queen, about a meter thick. The mana shield vanished from around the witch, leaving the cold cavity where she stood unharmed. Lex breathed heavily, feeling a bit light headed.

  Finally, Kyle reached the black cage. “Kyle!” the crying girl greeted.

  “H-Hey, lil’ sis,” he greeted her, grabbing her face through the bars.

  “The ropes!” Herriot instructed with urgency. Kyle just noticed that their feet were in iron shackles, and their wrists were tightly tied behind them to the bars of the cage by black rope, similar to the one Kyle himself tied Herriot with back when the masked man had appeared. He quickly ran around to the other side of the cage and slit the ropes, freeing their hands. “Finally,” Herriot sighed.

  “How do we escape the chains?” Clover asked.

  Herriot grabbed on to Clover. “It’s called spaceshifting,” the woman told her, a slight smirk on her face. Suddenly the two were engulfed in a cloud of red mana, then it was like they became mana themselves – all this happened in a time too short for measurement. In a cloudy puff and in a jiffy, they appeared just outside the cage in a clearing mist of red mana. “You’ll get there,” Herriot told the bewildered young witch, smiling a little.

  Finally, Mike found himself taking another step. He landed and staggered forward in confusion. He spun around and looked at the marvellous sphere of ice that was almost touching him. His brows furrowed and crept together. To him, the massive structure had appeared, while the witch vanished from before him in no time at all.

  “Egrus Anam!” the witch commanded from within the ice. There was a loud crash. There was also a nasty splintering noise as the ice exploded in a red cloud of mana. From the chilly explosion flew sharp, quick projectiles of ice in every direction. Mike flung himself behind a nearby tree, his teeth clenched, blood dripping from his back. He drew out the sharp icicles that launched into him as he watched sharp pieces of ice fly past him.

  Lex felt his right hand make an involuntary forward jerk, and his palm opened. A flash of darkness grabbed his eyes, and he watched as the bits of ice flew toward him, but stopped as they reached to where his hand was. A faint black glow appeared around the pieces of ice for a moment. He stared at the hundreds of pieces of ice suspended in the air before him, then the black glow disappeared from them and they fell at his feet. Kyle defended the witches ably with his sword, dismissing each missile that came near them. The frightened Icemaker looked down at his hands. Finally, the red mist cleared, and all that remained was a surrounded queen. The woman looked around, not seeming very frightened.