by B. T. Narro
The king armed them with weapons. Many of the females took bows rather than swords, which made me even more nervous. It was much easier for one of these krepps to have an accident with an arrow than with a sword, but Grufaeragar had assured everyone that female krepps were the best archers in the world. They would never shoot an ally, he’d claimed.
I wasn’t sure the king really trusted that, but he made a choice to allow them to have bows rather than dishonor the krepps by refusing to give them weapons. I would have to be fine with that.
The other sorcerers and I went to our rooms in the apartments to prepare for the execution. I changed into some of my older robes in case they were going to be torn. I then sheathed the sword Eden had enchanted, wondering how many times I would have to use it before I noticed the durability enchant at work.
When I exited my room, Charlie and Reuben were leaning against the wall as they waited.
“Are you all right?” I checked with Charlie. He didn’t seem afraid.
“Yeah. I’ll be ready if something happens.”
I was very glad to hear that.
“And you, Reuben?” I asked. “Everything fine?”
“It is.” I could see in his steady gaze that he remembered much of what we spoke about last night, and he had no inclination of correcting any of it. I was very glad for that as well.
Eden was next out of her room. She walked over to join us.
“It’s finally time, boys. We’re going to celebrate after this is over.”
Charlie put up his hands. “No, no. Yesterday was too much celebration for me already.”
“There will be no curses in my celebration, I promise. Reuben, what do you say?”
“If others join in, then I will as well.”
Remi was next to leave her room and shut her door after. She looked nervous as she gazed at Charlie while walking over.
“Hey, Remi,” Charlie said happily.
“Hello,” she replied with her head turned slightly the other way.
“Eden wants to celebrate again,” Reuben said.
Remi had an incredulous look as she glanced at Eden, but Eden merely lifted her eyebrows two times suggestively.
Remi chuckled. “I know why you want to celebrate again, but I need a rest.”
“Celebration is rest. We drink tonight. Mellow. No music. Just the eight of us.”
“If you say so,” Remi said.
Kataleya emerged from her room and walked over a bit tensely as she met my gaze. I showed her a disarming smile, which seemed to relax her greatly as she strolled the rest of the way.
“Whose idea was it to all go together?” she asked. “I like it.”
“It just sort of happened,” Reuben answered.
Aliana was next. Like us, she had changed, only her attire obviously required a little more effort than the rest of ours. She wore close-fitting clothes, her bow strapped to her back and her quiver attached to her belt near her hip.
“What are you all waiting for?” she asked.
“Now just Michael,” Eden said.
The door to his room opened. He held the same grin as before as he looked first at Eden, then at the rest of us.
“Let’s go,” Eden announced as she took the lead.
Michael joined her at the front, where she wrapped her arm around his.
The rest of us shared a few smirks.
We gathered in the courtyard with many guards as Cason was brought out from the keep. It was difficult to recognize him with a blindfold across his eyes, his head bowed, and his feet dragging as if he was unconscious. The king must’ve had something added to Cason’s water this morning. The chains binding his feet and hands seemed almost unnecessary at this point.
It was more than a little discouraging to see that Cason might not even be aware that he was about to be executed, but this was the only safe way to do it.
He was carried up the ramp and onto the battlements, where a dais awaited. I didn’t know how such a large crowd had come to gather outside the castle, but the audience of hundreds chatted amongst themselves until Cason was in place—his still-attached head laid on the stone. That’s when they fell silent.
I stood near Michael and Reuben, the three of us the closest to the executioner. The krepps watched from the surrounding battlements, a number of guards strategically placed between them and the dais, just in case. None of the females had arrows loaded on their bows yet, which made me a little more comfortable.
I casted Identify in various directions around me. It was probably overcautious, but I had to make sure no one was here under illusion. I felt nothing from the spell.
I half expected Erisena to be here, but I didn’t know why that was. Nothing was more important to her than guarding the forest. There were the Stormeagles, however, watching amongst the large group down below us. I found my gaze drifting between their familiar faces, looking for Calvin, all the while knowing he wasn’t there.
Cason made no sound as he lay in place. He might’ve been asleep.
The king made his way through all of us, stopping on the other side of the stone on which Cason’s head lay waiting for separation. He took off Cason’s blindfold himself, and finally I could recognize the doomed man’s face and his patchy eyebrows.
“This man is Cason Clay,” the king announced, speaking slowly and clearly. “His crimes are the spreading of dteria, murder, and treason. However, through the efforts of our sorcerers and constables, Cason Clay has been caught and his plans foiled. He plotted to take the city of Koluk by force, during which many would’ve died. However, we intercepted and defeated his supporting army from Rohaer. The rest of the dark mages who used to follow Cason have fled Lycast. They will find sanctuary in Rohaer and march on us when winter is over. They plan to spread dteria across Lycast until there is no longer resistance, but I promise that I’m not going to let that happen. Rohaer will be defeated. Everyone in Lycast will be safe.”
The audience applauded.
The king waited for them to quiet down before he continued. “The death of Cason Clay marks the end of the civil resistance in Lycast. Rest assured that no one, dark mage or otherwise, has the power to threaten any of you as they once did. The corruption established in this kingdom by the late king, Oquin Calloum, has finally been eliminated. Now it is just a matter of protecting our virtues. Assist your neighbors by reporting any crime you witness, as we make Tryn and Koluk safe for all of its inhabitants as well. When spring comes next year, dteria will be eliminated. It will soon be the thieves who are scared of us.”
The crowd applauded again, some whistling enthusiastically.
The executioner was dressed in black, no mask. He picked up the gleaming ax leaning against the parapets and rested it on his shoulder.
If Pearson was coming to save Cason, it was now or never. I watched the skies.
Michael walked toward the executioner as the man readied his ax.
“What are you doing?” I asked. I grabbed Michael’s shirt to stop him, but he smacked me with the back of his hand.
The force of it was too much, knocking me into Reuben and sending us both into a couple others.
“It’s Michael!” I screamed as I hurried to get up. “Pearson is Michael!”
I didn’t know how it was possible, considering I had used my Identify spell just a little while ago. But there was no denying it now as “Michael” shoved the executioner away from Cason and scooped up his body as if it weighed nothing.
I ran toward them, but Pearson—the illusion of Michael fading away—jumped off the battlements just before I could get my hands on him.
I heard a few people scream my name in horror as I jumped down right after them. It was a long drop, but all it would take for Pearson to fly away was a single moment unimpeded. I couldn’t give him that moment.
The ground came at me so fast that I barely had time to get my sheet of dvinia beneath me. It slowed my momentum somewhat as I spread my body horizontally, though I did break through it and
strike the ground face first.
While in considerable pain, I got up and sprinted toward Pearson as he ran through the crowd to stop the hail of arrows from our archers.
“Hold!” the king ordered them so they wouldn’t kill a bystander. Everyone was trying to sprint away from Pearson, many screaming and bumping into each other.
Soon Pearson came to a halt, Cason dangling in his arms. I knew I could grab the dteria that I felt him conjure around his body, but it had practically torn my mind asunder during my previous attempt to stop Cason from flying away. An attempt to stop Pearson would probably injure me in such a way that I would be out of the fight for good, and it might not even work.
There was only one thing I could do instead as he was about to take off. I sprinted at Pearson’s back, jumping at him and wrapping my arms and legs around his body just before he shot into the air.
I felt weightless. I couldn’t breathe for a moment, the air too intense as we arced like an arrow shot at the afternoon sun.
We started to slow for just a moment, then there was another burst of speed as he forced the ring of dteria around him to fly higher and farther. I could feel it beneath my thighs as I had my legs wrapped and locked around his stomach. It would’ve been awkward to be clutching my worst enemy in such a way, but I was too busy trying to hold on so I didn’t fall to my death.
I couldn’t believe the power of this man, whether he be demigod or not, as we flew out of the city and toward the mountains before we started to descend.
He shot a snarling look at me over his shoulder. I was certain that if an unconscious Cason wasn’t taking up his arms, Pearson would’ve tossed me away by now.
“You’re going to regret this,” he said.
Shit, maybe he was right. What the hell did I hope to accomplish?
I considered letting go to land away from him, but I was pretty sure I would crack open my head no matter how hard I tried to save myself with dvinia. I could only clutch Pearson tighter with the assumption he would have to save Cason and himself with a slowed landing.
Sure enough, a thick blanket of dteria swept us forward, eliminating our downward momentum and sending us deeper into the mountains. But soon we started to fall fast once again. At the last moment, dteria scooped us upward as we were about to hit the ground. Then it suddenly dispersed.
It was just a short drop to the ground then. I pushed Pearson away from me in the air, hoping he might come down on top of Cason and at least injure the man. But I struck the ground pretty hard myself as my head hit a patch of grass atop this mountain hill.
A bit dazed, I couldn’t get up before Pearson was trudging toward me with a furious look in his eyes. I noticed Cason on the ground behind him, slowly sitting up with confusion.
I started to take out my sword from its sheath, but Pearson backhanded the air in front of me. Hit with dteria, I flipped backward violently.
I couldn’t tell just how far or high he had thrown me, but the ground was not stopping my fall.
I straightened out as best I could to stop flipping, only to find out that the rocky ground was already right there! I had no time to catch myself.
I could only protect my head so I wouldn’t die as I was about to hit the rocks hard, but a sickening swing of momentum saved me. It swept me upward into the air again.
Nauseated, I couldn’t get my feet beneath me in time. I came down face first, but at least it was on another patch of grass.
I didn’t know why Pearson had saved me, but I was too disoriented to put up a good fight. I started to scamper backward away from where I felt him to be, but I stopped when I realized it wasn’t Pearson who’d saved me. It was a familiar woman.
She was tall, nearly my height, not an ounce of fat across her toned body. Her hair was a luminous blonde, verging on silver. Her eyes were an otherworldly blue, not a freckle on her face. She exuded a powerful presence, standing over me with purpose. She had on just a sleeveless tunic of boiled leather, with ample curves underneath. Suddenly, I recognized her as the woman who had appeared atop the apartments after the battle in the castle. She had jumped over the back wall and eluded the king’s guards.
She spoke with a smooth and confident voice, “Stay here and wait for the rest of your army.” Then she took off into the air and landed on top of the rocky hill from where I had just been thrown. I soon lost sight of her as she walked forward, seemingly to face Pearson and Cason.
I was quick to heal my minor injuries as I glanced around and tried to figure out what to do. We weren’t more than a few miles from the city. I could see a large group of soldiers coming toward us through the opening in the city wall, but they were far. Worse yet, my allies on horseback would have to dismount from their animals when they reached this rocky terrain.
I couldn’t let this woman—or demigod, I was beginning to realize—face Pearson and Cason on her own while I stood here and did nothing. There wasn’t much of a path up the rocky slope, forcing me to use my hands as much as my feet most of the way up. Fortunately, it wasn’t too high of a climb, and soon I had arrived.
“I knew you have been involved,” the woman was telling Pearson.
I didn’t know if Pearson had healed away Cason’s drowsiness, if that was even possible, or if it had simply faded. But Cason now stood just behind the man I firmly believed was a demigod, and I would’ve bet a lot of coin that this woman was one as well.
Cason’s broken chains were on the ground nearby, as well as a rock that had probably been used by Pearson to smash them.
“We made an oath,” the woman continued.
“Our father left. There is no oath anymore,” Pearson said.
“He is just testing us,” said the woman. “He is still here. I can feel him in the dvinia of the forest.”
I felt a chill down my back as I approached the woman. “Souriff?” I asked, identifying the demigod of dvinia.
She nodded as she gestured for me to get back. I had a feeling that she had no idea what I was capable of and she thought I might just get in the way. But I wasn’t going to let her fight alone…and I didn’t imagine this would end in any other way.
“Basael is gone, Souriff,” said Pearson.
“You just can’t feel him anymore because you lost touch many years ago, but even you must have some idea he’s watching. Why else would you not kill these humans directly with dteria? You fear our father will punish you.”
“There is no discussion to be had. Just leave,” Pearson demanded.
“I will after that man dies.” She pointed to Cason.
“Now who’s the one interfering?” Pearson asked rhetorically.
I noticed Cason staring at me, rage in his eyes. It was as if these demigods didn’t exist, and he was already plotting my demise. Perhaps he was still enraged from what we’d done to him while he was in a prison cell.
“I am not interfering,” Souriff said. “He was to be executed by the humans and you interfered. I am only correcting the issue you caused.”
The demigods stared at each other. There seemed to be something unspoken between them.
“I’m more powerful than you now,” Pearson told her.
“You might be, but you are still not strong enough to kill me without waking our brother.”
She must be referring to Airinold. So the stories are true.
Airinold was the creator of dteria, but he was later imprisoned by his father, Basael, for his terrible creation. However, after the Day of Death, when much of the forest was destroyed in a fiery explosion, Basael disappeared. Airinold then broke out of imprisonment. More powerful than the rest of his siblings, he planned to hunt them down and kill them. He transformed himself into Gourfist, a massive winged creature, to aid in his search for the other demigods. Over the years, the creature—or perhaps the dteria—took over Airinold’s mind. He lost his intellect to the savage instincts of the beast. Now he lay dormant in Curdith Forest and only awoke for a few days every few decades.
But his waking d
id not seem to be random anymore. Based on what Souriff had said, it seemed that he was still in touch with the sorcery of his siblings. He could feel when one of the demigods used too much power. That’s when he would wake and search for them, and it was the fear of this that prevented Pearson from using his full strength.
“You saw what dteria did to Airinold,” Souriff said. “The same thing will happen to you.”
I could see from Pearson’s frustrated expression, however, that her words were not getting through.
“We are leaving,” he stated.
“You are not leaving with that man. I don’t know who he is, but I can only assume he’s valuable to you because of his strength with dteria.”
“He was the leader of the dark mages,” I explained. “Until we found out Pearson was really in charge. His name is Cason Clay, and he was going to be executed. You’re right. He’s killed many people and should not go free.”
“If you try to follow us,” Pearson told Souriff, “I won’t hesitate to kill you. If it wakes our brother, it wakes him.”
“We made an oath!” she shouted as she made two claws out of her hands, surrounding Cason with dvinia that I could feel as if it were fire. “Kill him, human,” she told me as she raised her hand, and Cason lifted from the ground.
I didn’t hesitate, drawing my weapon and charging Cason. But Pearson clutched me with dteria and hoisted me up.
“I can hold yours much longer than you can hold mine,” he said. “Let him down. Then I will take Cason and be off. Or I can kill you. Make your choice.”
“I’m alert enough to get myself out of these mountains,” Cason said as he struggled against the dvinia, his hands pushing against the rippling clear energy around his waist. “Just get her to drop me.”
Pearson let me go and hit his sister with a blast of dteria. Her body whipped back, but she stopped midair—the demigod catching herself with dvinia—and soared straight at Cason.
