Thinking quickly, Barda used the last of his sorcery power to increase his own speed. He shot forward just as the Warlock thrust the dagger. It stuck him in the gut instead of the female. Stars flew through his mind and agony followed soon after. His capabilities wore off instantly. He would have crumpled to the ground but the Warlock had placed him back in a holding spell. He just stood there, knife in gut.
The Warlock, making a sour face, tried to wrench the knife out of Barda’s stomach but it must have been lodged between two ribs. No matter how much the decrepit male tried he could not wrench it out. Barda wanted to take advantage of the Warlock’s closeness and tried to conjure a sword but could not, his will spilling onto the ground in the form of red bodily fluid. He tried to give the Warlock a weak punch to the face but the male easily pushed his fist out of the way.
The world around Barda had started to crash down upon him literally and mentally. A fog crowded his eyes as his life drained from his body. He could barely comprehend what happened next when the agents of the Order poured into the village center.
The Warlock hissed as the agents surrounded him with their daggers drawn. He gave Barda one last nasty look before slitting his own palm with one of his own dirty sharp fingernails. The Warlock squeezed his fist and blood trickled onto the ground all the while whispering some dark spell under his breath. The agents, knowing that the Warlock was trying to make a getaway, rushed him. But it was too late. A lightning bolt cracked from the smoke filled sky, striking the Warlock on the top of the head. He was gone.
“I can’t believe… Why?”
Chesna turned Barda onto his back, her eyes meeting the knife sticking out of him. “You don’t know me. You don’t owe me-.”
“You were too beautiful to waste,” Barda said deliriously.
She gave him an angry look but turned away as her pale white cheeks turned red.
Barda could hear the agents fighting off the rest of the soldiers. He coughed hard into his hand sending pain through his abdomen. His glove was now covered in dark blood.
The Reahlic army officers had just now started screaming commands of retreat but it was far too late for that. The army was now in a position of dwindling numbers and disorganization. Many soldiers had already tried to make their escape, but all attempts ended with arrows sticking out of their backs.
Barda felt hands under his armpits as he was dragged backwards out of the dead village and into the forest. He looked up and saw Chesna looking back at him, her face smudged black from the smote and her hair in disarray. Barda could have sworn an angel was watching over him.
Another agent, Barda couldn’t recognize the face through the smoke, grabbed his feet and he was hoisted into the air. It wasn’t long before they had him over a tarp and had placed a large wooden chip in his mouth to stop him from biting his tongue. The pain was incredible and Barda found himself concentrating on it.
Things went black for a moment and Barda woke up to humanoids bending over him. He could hear the hustle of all the agents around him trying to calm the panicking elves.
“He’s lost a lot of blood, we need to operate immediately.” Barda knew the voice to belong to Gardosh the medic and also a very talented swordsman. They were both around the same age and had been inducted to the agency at the same time.
“What happened?” Gardosh asked, carefully snipping the connective parts of Barda’s chest armor and removing it slowly revealing just the handle of the knife jutting from his torso. Blood spilled out from the sides of the wound with every breath.
Chesna gasped and squeezed Barda’s shoulders.
“What happened?” Gardosh repeated more sternly.
“You should probably answer him,” Drohdroh said, kneeling down beside Barda.
Chesna looked up at him and back to Barda, “He… He took this blade which had been meant for me.”
“Why?” Drohdroh asked and Barda didn’t know whether he was talking to him or Chesna.
“Well it doesn’t matter much now does it?” spat Gardosh. “Now pay attention, Droh, and hold his legs. We have to do this quick, I have Xep waiting for me over there.”
Gardosh put his head to Barda’s bloodied stomach and flicked the hilt of the knife. This sent a convulsion of pain through Barda’s body, making him cry out. “It’s pierced his stomach lining. He’s bleeding internally. I will be paralyzed for three sun-cycles after these two surgeries so I will need to be carried back along with Barda and Xep, understood?”
Drohdroh nodded.
“Ready him! I’m starting.”
Chesna pushed down on his shoulders while Drohdroh took to his legs. Two other agents came and pinned his arms down. Gardosh’s eyes went white and he placed his hands over Barda’s body. Gardosh’s hood flew back from the power that now soared from his hands to the area of attention.
Barda cried out loud as the blade slowly slid out of his body, but not entirely, for Gardosh grabbed the blade and used it to cut an even wider slit in his stomach. Soon Barda could feel his innards being mingled with by the healing power and he couldn’t help himself from trying to escape. More and more agents were called to hold him down until he had around ten humanoids over him.
Gardosh didn’t say a word, fully concentrating on the surgery that was taking place. Barda was on the verge of passing out and was hoping he would but the sweet relief of unconsciousness never came. He looked at the veins in Gardosh’s head which had swelled and then back at his stomach that was moving in odd directions as an invisible hand did its work.
Finally, it was done. The slit was pushed together and a needle and thread made its way through his skin stitching up the wound. Barda’s neck ached horribly and he noticed he had been watching the entire surgery with his head up. He turned over and vomited. Chesna brushed his hair as Gardosh stood up warily.
“There we are,” he said.
“Thank you… my friend,” Barda managed to say in a raspy voice.
“It’s about time I saved your hide instead of you saving mine,” replied Gardosh and Barda could see him smiling with his sweat drenched face. “Well I’m off to Xep.”
“How is he?” Barda asked, grabbing Gardosh’s calf.
Gardosh bit his lip and looked back over his shoulder at Xep. “Broken spine, two dislocations, and horrible burns… But! Nothing I can’t fix.”
Barda wanted to ask more questions but Gardosh had already walked away. He felt something wet hit his forehead and looked up to see Chesna crying over him. She looked angry.
Barda opened his mouth to say something but she slapped him hard on the face.
“Are you mad!” She slapped him again as if he wasn’t already in enough pain.
“How could you be so reckless! You don’t know me!” She stroked his hair. Her anger turned to sorrow and she fell forward putting her forehead on his.
They sat there like that for many moments and Barda wished he could have laid there forever. Then, something happened. She bent over him even more and put her lips to his. Then, she was gone.
Barda was placed in a medical bed next to Xep. He was shocked when Gardosh was placed in the bed to his other side.
“What’s going on?” he asked the agents who had brought Gardosh’s limp body in.
“He over used his abilities, sir,” said one agent.
“The other medics say he is in a coma but should regain consciousness within a few sun-cycle,” said the other.
Barda thanked them and sat there a while by himself thinking. Xep was still unconscious from the previous sun-cycle’s surgery and was completely wrapped in medical padding that restricted him from moving even slightly.
Although he had no one to talk to, Barda enjoyed the silence for it allowed him to think about the events that had just transpired. He knew he would have to make a lot of important decisions in the following hours such as should they go and search for any remaining soldiers? How should they go about supplying the elves with aid? And should they finally plan a series a surprise attacks
against the actual army base of Zel?
Barda found that he could not concentrate on any of these pressing matters because the thought of Chesna’s soft lips touching his kept penetrating his mind and pushing everything else out of the way. Where had she gone and was she thinking about him? Did she ever want to see him again? He had only known her for a few hours but he already felt as though half his heart was in another territory.
And where did she learn to fight like that? Her abilities matched even that of his own, perhaps not in that of strength but in that of agility, form, and reflexes. She would make a valuable asset in the fight against the king of Reah.
It wasn’t long before he had made up his mind. He would find her and convince her to come home with him.
He pushed the sheets off his chest and looked down at his naked body, his abdominal area completely wrapped in white bandages. He flexed and gritted his teeth as horrible pain answered. He took a few breaths and started to convince himself that he needed rest on top of everything. The armor he needed to survive in the Green territory would only rip and tear at his wound. He would then most likely die of infection or blood loss. He concluded that it would not be possible to find her in his current position.
22 - Exile
“Food has been prepared,” Xep announced, coming from the secret room balancing three steaming pots. He handed one to Esh and one to Rift who devoured it within a few moments.
Esh was a bit more skeptical. He peered down at the brown Greenish juice and smelt it. He wanted to gag but he saw that the Elder was giving him a very evil eye and so he held it back.
“It tastes better than it appears, young one.” Xep sat by Esh and sipped on his own bowl.
Esh tipped the rim to his lips and took a small swallow. The flavor was that of salted broth with a hint of meat. His stomach growled loudly. Before he knew it, he had drunk the entire thing.
“Can I have some more?”
“Wait just ten more seconds,” Xep replied, taking another sip from his.
Esh thought this to be a strange request, but he waited. Soon enough, his stomach began to bulge and ache as if he had just swallowed a gigantic meal set for four.
Esh was on his side trying to force his stomach to digest whatever it was that had grown inside him. The food must have rejuvenated his mentor for he was up and about dusting the dungeon with some sort of dark Green feather, his free hand clutching a bottle of hot slag.
Esh watched as Xep took his time sipping on the concoction and wishing he had done the same.
“I don’t find a reason to wait,” Rift stated, throwing the duster into the corner and taking a seat next to Esh. He slapped him on the back making Esh upchuck some of the food.
“I think the same,” agreed Xep. He tipped the bowl to his lips and drank the rest of the broth.
Esh lifted his head off the ground but quickly put it back down, afraid movement might make him sick. “Why now? I can barely move.”
Xep turned to him with a very serious face, “This power of yours… your body isn’t in any condition to contain it.”
“So, everyone has to take these sleeping trials?”
“Weren’t you listening to the story at all, lad?” The Elder slapped him on the back once more. “Or were you just picking and choosing what you wanted to hear? Nobody takes the trials anymore.”
“Then why should I take it? Isn’t there a way to just get the Wisp out of me?”
Rift opened his mouth to answer but then questioned his own thinking. He looked over at Xep and he shook his head simply.
“No, I’m afraid not,” Xep said, stroking his beard, “Is it possible? Perhaps. But does anyone in the Order know how to rid a bodily Wisp? No. Until now, this is the first case I have ever heard of a Wisp actually blending with a humanoid.”
“So, what you’re saying is… If I don’t do this, I could potentially die?”
“You don’t listen, do you, lad? There is no potential to it! You will die if you do not succeed the trials.”
“But I thought the trials were banned due to all of the deaths?”
“Well, yeah…” the Elder said, scratching the side of his head. “I guess you were listening.” He paused another moment, trying to choose the right words. “There is a high chance you may not make it through the sleeping trials, that is true.”
“Oh,” Esh said, playing in the sand idly with his finger. It seemed he was not going to have much a choice in this matter. He didn’t want to be put to sleep for an entire month. What about food? How would he relieve himself? Did it hurt?
“Don’t we have to get permission from the Order?”
Xep stood up and left the room once again. It was obvious he was trying to find something else to do. Rift just sat there twiddling his fingers, his head hunched over looking the other way as he bit his lip. He seemed to have aged in the small amount of time Esh had known him.
“Well, no… We don’t.”
“Why not?”
Rift drank from his hot slag, shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well… I’m ugh, not with the Order… so to speak.”
Esh was entirely confused. Wasn’t he training to join the Order? How was he going to join if his mentor wasn’t even a part of it?
“But, then… How am I…”
“Your mentor was exiled from the Order for doing the right thing,” Xep said from behind them. Esh turned to see him leaning against the wall, his head bowed. “And I’m afraid I wasn’t there to back him up.”
“Xep, you don’t--,” Rift tried to say but Xep stopped him with one hand out.
“No, you were right all along. My pride has been the only thing keeping me from coming back to apologize to you… Master.”
Esh’s head turned back and forth looking at Xep and back at the Elder. He could have sworn he saw tears beginning to swell in his mentor’s eyes but they were quickly wiped away with a fake nose itch. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he dared not. Not now.
“You had a future! You did the right thing!” exclaimed Rift with a sniffle, trying to hide it with a forced cough.
Xep walked over and took a knee in front of the Elder. He took his Master’s hand and kissed the top of it. There was no mistaking it now, the Elder was tearing up.
“Forgive me, Master,” Xep said, his head still bowed.
The Elder used the robe on his arm to wipe his eyes, “No forgiveness needed for I’d already forgave you so long ago. In fact, I’m glad the way things turned out. There was no need for both of us having to be kicked out.”
Esh could not stand it any longer.
“Why were you expelled?” he paused then added, “Master.”
Tears formed again in the Elder’s eyes and he turned his head, “Well… I just stood up for what I felt was right is all.”
Xep sat by his Master’s side, looking down at Esh “The Order, isn’t always as pure as one might think. We make…” he looked up at the Elder who was still wiping his face and said, “mistakes…”
“What mistakes?” Esh was sitting up now, ignoring the pain in his belly.
“We were torturing our captives. And not just physically, but we were tearing their souls in half. I was the one who created the process.” Xep looked off into the distance, reliving a past memory in his mind.
“If you can’t touch a soul how is it possible to tear one apart? And what does that even mean?”
“Don’t you see this isn’t a good topic, lad?” Rift’s face was full of hurt.
“It’s ok, Master.” Xep pat the Elder on the shoulder. “I have come to terms with my sins. Esh, to tear one’s soul in half is to forbid that humanoid of an afterlife. And you’re right, it isn’t possible to physically grab a soul and tear it but it is possible to relieve the flesh of the soul through the use of alchemy. Very dark alchemy, that is.”
“Long story short, lad. I stood up to some very important humanoids, gave them my views, and told them I would no longer continue my work if they continued theirs.”
“So, what did they do?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? They exiled me, and around the same time you were born, actually.”
“And what about my parents? What did they do?”
“That,” said the Elder, standing up and giving Esh his hand to help him up, “is a story for another sun-cycle. Right now, we have to get you prepared.”
“What about our work? And what about my training? Don’t I get some time to think?”
“I can handle the trash work myself. Hell, I did it for almost twenty years without your help!” He grabbed Esh’s hand and led him into the secret room. “And your training can’t start with that thing inside you ready to kill you at any moment! I’m afraid any more stress might just let it take complete control over you.”
“Well, what if I just plain don’t want to?” Esh asked as he was led up to the table that had once come to life trying to grab at him with its straps. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. His mentor must have realized this for his grip grew tighter. Esh knew he didn’t really have a choice in the matter, he didn’t want to die, but he wasn’t all too excited about taking a month long nap that he may or may not wake up from.
Xep, who had already started mixing different vials together stopped what he was doing to look up at the Elder who had himself stopped undoing the buckles on the table.
“To be honest, kid, I don’t know what the absolute correct decision in all this is. For all I know I may be sentencing you to death by laying you across this table. All I can do is imagine what your father would have done and this is where my gut leads me to.” The Elder rubbed his new shoulder and grimaced which told Esh that he might not have been completely healed as of yet.
“You think my father would have just jumped straight into this?”
“Yes,” Xep and Rift said exactly at the same time.
Esh remembered from the Elder’s stories that his father had actually performed the trials all by himself and he felt ashamed that he couldn’t conjure up the same amount of courage. He thought about how it had felt to be on the very tip of losing his mind to the darkness underneath and how much he had truly wanted to skin his mentor alive and feed on his intestines. Yes, this was the only choice he had. He didn’t want to die and he didn’t want to hurt the ones he cared about. This was his only option. He would try to be brave.
The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One Page 13
