Endless Flight

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Endless Flight Page 38

by A. C. Cobble


  “I know what his sword did to him,” interrupted Towaal brusquely. “That is unfortunate, but the man must fight. On one hand, I can count the number of men in Alcott better than him with a blade. That’s not counting his other abilities. If Eldred is here, we need him.”

  Ben gulped.

  Towaal was finished packing and bustled out of the door. Ben and Amelie followed closely behind.

  The guards had moved into the building, following Ben and Amelie. They stared in surprise as the trio rushed back out. The guards made no move to stop them.

  Barreling across the square, Amelie asked Towaal, “Is Eldred dangerous? Can the two of us not face her?”

  Towaal shouted over her shoulder, “She is very dangerous. She is very strong. Her knowledge of battle magic is undisputed. She has an, ah, affinity for causing pain and damage. I think that’s why she spent so much time with the initiates. I do not care to face her.”

  Fifty strides from the keep, a raspy voice sounded in Ben’s head, “Where are you running to, Karina?”

  Towaal froze. She then pivoted on one heel to face the porcelain-faced mage.

  Ben struggled to determine if he’d heard the voice or thought it.

  “Eldred,” Towaal stated flatly. It wasn’t a question, but the porcelain mask bobbed in acknowledgement.

  Eldred’s voice, like a snake moving across a dry rock, sounded again. It was like a hollow echo inside Ben’s skull. “Tsk, tsk. You know the Veil is looking for these two.”

  Ben watched warily. Behind Eldred, a dozen armed Sanctuary guards fanned out. He worried more about the mage. Something wasn’t right with the masked woman, and after watching Meghan get murdered, he didn’t think she had any intention of taking them alive.

  Towaal didn’t answer Eldred. Instead, she slipped a hand inside her pack and drew out an ancient, palm-sized copper disc and a black book with a purple emblem embossed on the cover.

  Eldred’s head turned to follow the motion as Towaal passed Amelie the book and showed her the copper disc. “You see this. You understand why I am showing you?”

  Amelie nodded.

  “What is that?” sounded the voice in Ben’s head. “What have you found? It feels foreign to me, old. Did you find something special up here near the Wilds? It doesn’t feel like a weapon or a repository of power,” declared the voice with a note of triumph. “What do you hope to do with it?”

  Obviously sensing something was off, the pedestrians in the square were starting to disappear. They didn’t know who the two women were or why the armed men were intently gripping their weapons. After the demon attack, no one needed to know. They didn’t want trouble.

  Ben eyed the walls of the keep. This far away, he wasn’t sure if Rhymer’s soldiers could tell what was happening.

  Towaal responded, “You are correct, this is very old. It was created long before our time, before the Veil’s time.”

  Eldred titled her head, listening. The porcelain mask stared at them, giving away no hint of what she was thinking.

  Towaal took a deep breath then asked, “Would you like me to show you what it does?”

  A flash and an awful ripping sound split the night air and a shimmering light flashed into view. A bestial shriek filled the square.

  A dark shape shot out and one of Sanctuary guards went down, screaming.

  Without looking back at them, Towaal shouted, “Run!”

  Ben swept out his longsword and Amelie’s gaze bored into her former teacher.

  Eldred stared confused at the fallen guard and the black shape that was attacking him.

  “Do not be stupid. There is something wrong here. I am sensing an unnatural power in that woman. Something dark and terrible. I can try to delay her and I have an idea to save myself, but not if I am protecting you as well,” growled Towaal. “Run, and do not look back!”

  Two more small creatures materialized in the square and leapt forward. The Sanctuary guards slashed and hacked at the little demons. Red and purple blood sprayed from torn flesh as the melee raged.

  “What have you done! How did you do that?” demanded Eldred, the painful scrape of her voice screeched across Ben’s conscious like nails on slate.

  He and Amelie ran.

  An explosion ripped behind them but neither spared a glance back. At a full sprint, they charged down a street and Ben steered them toward the southern gate, exactly where Eldred would expect them to go. With the ruckus in the square, he didn’t think she’d be following immediately.

  Cracks and booms rocked the city as the battle escalated. They could hear the roar of the demons. It sounded like a lot of them. Within heartbeats, shouts and alarm bells went off as Rhymer’s worn-down military was called to action once again.

  At the gate, the guards were milling about in confusion, clearly unsure if they should be keeping demons out or keeping people in.

  Ben helped them.

  “Demons in the square,” he yelled as they approached. “Dozens of them. All swords to the square!”

  The sergeant in command listened for a heartbeat. The sounds of battle confirmed what Ben told him. With a wave of his hand, his men left their posts and ran to face the threat.

  Unmolested, Ben and Amelie slipped out the gate and raced into the darkness. A thin sliver of moonlight lit the way.

  They made it to the forest surrounding Northport. Trees enveloped them like a comforting blanket. Ben didn’t fear what was in the dark, he feared the white porcelain face behind them.

  They kept running until a quarter league into the forest a razor sharp pain stabbed into his skull. He stumbled forward onto his hands and knees. It pulsated down his body in waves, wracking him with violent shudders.

  Slowly, the pain subsided. He saw Amelie lying beside him panting and gripping her head. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

  “The Rift,” he mumbled. “It’s like when we destroyed the Rift, but smaller.”

  Amelie scrunched up on her elbows and knees, whimpering softly.

  “Maybe that means Eldred is dead. Maybe that means…” she choked, her thought left unfinished.

  A thunderous boom shook the ground. Ben looked back and saw a violent plume of fire light the sky from Northport.

  “She’s not dead yet,” he responded.

  Amelie staggered to her feet. Through gritted teeth, she groaned, “We need to keep moving.”

  Motivated by terror, Ben and Amelie ran through the night. The thin, winter bare branches soared above their heads, letting in the cool light of the moon.

  They had their weapons, two water skins, and the clothes on their backs. That was it. There was no food, but even if they had some, they wouldn’t have taken time to stop and eat it.

  “Do you think Towaal…” started Ben.

  “I don’t know,” gasped Amelie. “Maybe.”

  Alive or dead, Ben didn’t know which one he was asking.

  By the time the sun peeked above the horizon, they were stumbling forward, exhausted. Ben could barely keep one foot in front of the other. No matter how frightened they were by Eldred, he knew they would have to rest.

  In the pre-dawn light, he spied a thick stand of bushes fifty paces off the road. He dragged Amelie toward it. He hoped it was far enough away that casual passersby wouldn’t notice two people sleeping underneath. He was so tired he didn’t really care.

  The Road II

  Ben jolted awake and looked about in a panic.

  Slowly, his drumming heart slowed. Around him, the bright winter sun shone down on a quiet forest. The bush they were tucked under appeared undisturbed. Amelie still slumbered beside him. It was cold, early winter, but he’d been snug in his thick woolen cloak. Lying pressed next to Amelie, he’d retained enough heat to sleep, just like their first night outside of the City. As he sat up, the chill snuck in. He shivered, and his stomach rumbled to express its discomfort. It had been a day since he’d eaten. The excitement and panicked flight the night before took a lot out of him.

 
; Amelie, stirred by his movement, opened her eyes. Her cheeks were rose kissed from the cold. Aside from a lone leaf sticking out of one side, her hair was delightfully mussed. He smiled down at her and she smiled back.

  “Back on the road, no food, no direction,” she mumbled sleepily. “We’re starting to make a bad habit of this.”

  He nodded then scrambled out from under the bush to see what their surroundings looked like in the midday sun. He noticed immediately, there was no conveniently located tavern with keg full of ale and a hearty soup on the fire. He shook his head ruefully. Amelie was right, this was beginning to be a habit.

  She crawled out and stood beside him.

  “Do you think Towaal and Rhys are okay?” she asked.

  “Towaal said she had a plan to escape,” he responded. “I trust her. But the fire and explosions last night…”

  Ben didn’t continue. What was there to say? Hopefully their friends were all right, but there was nothing he or Amelie could do about it now.

  He stretched and watched a bird flap away from a nearby nest. Ambling over to peek in, he saw half a dozen small eggs.

  “I’m going to feel guilty about this all day,” he grumbled before scooping the eggs out and splitting them with Amelie.

  Cracking the small things open, they sucked out the raw yolk. He preferred his eggs fried with an ample shake of salt and a side of hot bacon, but you take what you can get.

  Tossing the broken eggshells to the ground, Amelie asked, “Where to now?”

  Ben sighed. “We don’t know what happened last night in Northport. There is no way we can go back there. Issen is under siege and getting captured outside the walls wouldn’t help your father. With it encircled, I don’t think our odds of getting inside would be good. I’m sorry, Amelie, but I’m not sure what we can do right now to help your family.”

  Amelie nodded. She didn’t want to say it out loud, but Ben was right, they didn’t have the resources to assist Issen.

  Ben continued, “The Sanctuary is likely to follow us anywhere we go, and most importantly, they now know we were in Northport. Even if Towaal defeated Eldred, they will know. They will be looking for us in Whitehall also, that is too obvious, maybe even Farview, for all I know. We have to do something unexpected, something they would never guess we will do.”

  Amelie moaned, “I was worried you would suggest this.”

  Ben grimaced apologetically. “We know there could be consequences to us destroying the Rift and we saw how easily Towaal opened a new one. There is only one group of people who may know how these things work. We have to understand what we unleashed by destroying the first one. We have to tell them about it. The demon threat is real. Someone has to confront it,” he insisted.

  Amelie adjusted her sword belt, wiggling her two scabbards so the rapier and dagger rested easily on her hips.

  “Lead the way then,” she said. “I don’t know how to get to Irrefort.”

  The End

  I started writing as a hermit, squirreled away in my office during the dark hours when my family was sleeping. For three years, only my wife was aware that I was working on a book. She was suspicious. My previous hobby, painting, ended with one still-blank canvas. My mom was the second person to know. I told her I wrote a book about a week before Benjamin Ashwood was published.

  Since then, as you know, I’ve gone public. The encouragement, positive reviews, and comments I’ve gotten have been amazing. I’m not sure I would have gotten around to writing the second book without that. So, thank you early readers for keeping this alive.

  And thank you to my wife and family for giving me the space to keep going. I wrote Endless Flight in six months, which was six times faster than Benjamin Ashwood. What I did on my time for the first book, I did on their time for the second. My wife has been remarkably understanding. She only occasionally gives me The Look. The kids though, are responsible for almost all of my interruptions. Wait, why am I thanking those guys? Let’s move on. Outside of the family, I need to thank James Z for his feedback on Book 1 and his input on Book 2. In a few quick e-mails, he saved you all from reading some ridiculous and physically implausible sword fighting scenes.

  I had the same professional team involved with Endless Flight as I did with Benjamin Ashwood. My cover and social media package were designed by Milos from Deranged Doctor Design (www.derangeddoctordesign.com). Milos did a great job of creating a cover that matches the feel of the book. And inside the cover, Nicole Zoltack did great work proof-reading (www.nicolezoltack.com). She’s proven that I know almost nothing about the English language. Finally, as of this writing, Tantor Media is in production for audiobook versions of Benjamin Ashwood and Endless Flight. I haven’t heard the audio yet, but I’m confident they’ll do a great job. I’ll give an early tip of the hat to Eric Michael Summerer, the narrator.

  For updates on the next volume in the series or just to chat, please check out my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/accobble

  Thank you for reading my book,

  AC

 

 

 


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