by MJ Schutte
‘I ask, you answer. Lie to me and I will let the panther rip your head off,’ he said without any emotion.
Elric nodded, the fear dancing in his eyes.
‘Who are you?’ Brighton asked.
‘Elric, a hunter from Avarya,’ the answer came quickly.
‘Why did you attack my people?’
‘Supreme Richard sent us,’ Elric answered.
Brighton looked at Lilian. It was as he thought.
‘Mischief, get off him,’ Brighton commanded the cat.
Mischief reluctantly stepped away.
‘Get up,’ Brighton said to Elric.
To Lilian and Adri he said, ‘Go wait by the river. Take Mischief along.’
Lilian took Adri’s hand and called Mischief. They walked off without argument. The old hunter slowly got up, fingers pinching his nose to stop the bleeding. He looked at the two headless corpses.
‘What happened to them?’ he asked quietly.
Brighton didn’t answer, instead he asked Elric one last question, ‘Why do you follow Richard’s orders?’
‘Because the Supremes are the true leaders of the world. All of Avarya follows Supreme Richard, he is our leader,’ Elric answered.
Brighton’s white energy link slammed into Elric’s head. He did not drain the man’s energy immediately. Instead, he just took enough to cause pain. Elric screamed and dropped to his knees.
‘I am far more powerful than Richard and yet I don’t force my will down on the people,’ Brighton said calmly.
He stopped the energy drain for a moment but did not sever the link.
‘Please, don’t,’ Elric begged.
Brighton pointed to Michaela’s corpse.
‘Did you give her a chance?’ he asked as he drained more energy from Elric.
The hunter’s body twisted in pain again. Brighton concentrated on his left arm. The bones inside snapped with a sickening pop.
‘Please!’ Elric begged.
‘What about him?’ Brighton asked softly, pointing to Joshua.
Elric’s right arm snapped back, the bones also shattering.
Brighton severed the link.
Elric knew he would never use his arms again.
‘Please kill me,’ he begged.
‘Oh no,’ Brighton said. ‘You are going to take a message back to your master.’
He walked to the pile of wood and picked up a piece slightly thicker than his arm.
‘Get up,’ he commanded.
The hunter struggled to get to his feet. As soon as he was standing Brighton swung the stick in a large arc and brought it down on the man’s right ankle. The bones crushed instantly under the heavy blow. Elric fell to the ground again screaming in pain.
‘Get up,’ Brighton commanded again.
‘I can’t,’ Elric screamed.
Brighton brought the stick down on Elric’s right knee, also crushing it.
‘Get up,’ he said again.
Elric didn’t move.
Brighton brought the wood up and aimed for Elric’s left ankle.
‘No wait! I’ll get up,’ Elric cried.
He struggled to his feet putting all his weight on the good leg only.
Brighton tossed the wood away.
‘This is my challenge to Richard: I will fight him anywhere, anytime. He can pick the weapons or we can simply pit our powers against one another, I don’t care. Should he not accept the challenge I will hunt him down like the coward he is. Now repeat this back to me word for word.’
Elric repeated the words.
‘Good, now go,’ Brighton said softly.
‘But I can’t walk,’ Elric complained.
Brighton picked up the piece of wood again.
‘If you don’t go now I will make sure you can only crawl for the rest of your miserable life,’ he threatened, tapping the stick against Elric’s good leg.
Elric quickly hopped out of the campsite, wincing in pain.
Brighton looked at the two headless bodies. In a fit of anger, he unleashed two white bolts of energy onto them. Both were ashes in an instant.
He walked off to go find Lilian and Adri. They were waiting for him at the river.
He put an arm around each of them and whispered, ‘I’m so sorry.’
Adri was crying uncontrollably against his chest. Lilian’s face was also wet from the tears but she wasn’t crying anymore.
‘It’s not your fault,’ she said to him.
They stood like that until Adri calmed down.
‘Wait here, I’ll go bury Joshua and Michaela,’ Brighton told them.
‘May I help please?’ Adri asked in a small voice.
‘Me too?’ Lilian added.
Brighton nodded and they set off back to camp.
The burial was quick and simple. As soon as they were finished Brighton picked up his bow and quiver.
‘Are you going somewhere?’ Lilian asked.
‘Yes,’ Brighton said.
‘Are you going to share some more information,’ Lilian prodded.
‘Elric will take about a day and a half to reach Richard. Add another day and a half to that for Richard to make up his mind and send someone back here. That gives me only three days,’ Brighton answered.
Lilian and Adri looked at each other.
Neither knew what Brighton was going on about.
‘You will need to explain a bit better,’ Lilian said to him.
‘I need to go get Brac and his men. Richard will undoubtedly try to lure me into Avarya where he has lots of protection. I need someone to handle the untalented people so I can concentrate on Richard and the Dark Ones,’ Brighton explained.
Lilian’s mouth hung open.
‘It took us five days to get here. How are you going to make it to Brasten and back here in three days?’ she asked. ‘And why will it take Elric so long to get back to Avarya?’
‘First, you don’t want to know about Elric. Second, we stopped a lot along the way travelling from Brasten. I will get energy from the surroundings so I can run all the way there and back. I plan on bringing Brac and five men here so I should be able to feed them energy through a link so they can keep up with me,’ Brighton answered.
‘This is insane!’ Lilian exclaimed.
‘Perhaps, but I don’t have any other ideas. Wish me luck,’ Brighton said as he scooped Lilian up in his arms and gave her a long kiss.
He gave Adri a tight hug and whispered, ‘Look after her for me.’
Walking past Mischief he gave the cat a quick scratch on the head and said, ‘Keep them safe.’
Brighton set off towards Brasten almost at a dead run.
Elric collapsed. He was exhausted. Travelling through the woods in his state was extremely difficult. It had taken him all night and most of the morning to reach the road. He knew he couldn’t stop, he needed to deliver Brighton’s message to Richard.
Richard will not take it lightly; he will probably go after Brighton himself.
Elric tried to get up but nearly passed out from the pain. He tried again gritting his teeth against the pain. Finally, he was standing on his good leg. Just before he resumed hopping towards Avarya, he looked around.
Two travellers were coming his way. He shouted as loud as he could. The travellers, two women, spotted him and picked up their pace. When they reached him both started talking immediately.
‘Wait!’ he shouted.
Both women clamped their mouths shut instantly.
Elric spoke as calmly as he could, ‘I need to get to Avarya urgently but both my arms, my left knee and left ankle is broken. Will you help me please?’
The women quickly agreed. Without hesitation they started cutting branches to make a litter for Elric. In no time it was complete.
‘You two certainly know what you’re doing,’ Elric commented.
‘We are healers. We travel between towns and help people,’ the one woman replied.
The other produced a small vial from her rucksack.
&n
bsp; ‘Here, drink this. It will dull the pain,’ she said.
When Elric made no move to take the vial, she realized that his arms were useless.
‘Sorry,’ she apologized and held the vial to his lips.
He swallowed the bitter tasting fluid in one gulp.
The women helped him onto the litter. They picked it up, one at the front and one at the back.
‘You two are stronger that you look,’ Elric commented, his mind starting to spin a bit from the pain medicine.
‘Years of practice,’ one woman replied.
‘I’m Bertha,’ she said.
‘And I’m Katryn,’ the other introduced herself.
Elric introduced himself.
‘We will take it slow, that way there will be less pain,’ Bertha said to him.
‘No, I need to get to Avarya in a hurry. It’s a matter of life and death,’ Elric urged them.
‘In that case we will hurry. Tell us when the pain is too much,’ Bertha replied.
They set off at a brisk pace. Elric floated in and out of consciousness. He didn’t know whether it was from the pain or the bitter fluid they gave him. Along the way, the two women peppered him with questions about what had happened to him and why he was in such a hurry.
‘A band of robbers attacked me,’ he lied and didn’t say anything after that.
Eventually the women gave up and started talking to each other.
They reached Avarya just after midday. Elric directed them to his house. A number of Dark Ones were standing guard at the front door.
‘We’ll take him now,’ a Dark One told the two healers.
Two Dark Ones picked Elric up from the litter and carried him inside.
Richard was sitting in the kitchen having lunch. They put Elric down on the floor in front of Richard and left.
‘Supreme Richard, I have a message from Brighton,’ Elric began.
‘Did you kill the women?’ Richard asked slowly.
‘We killed one girl and the younger boy. Brighton and the other two girls are still alive,’ Elric replied.
‘The five best hunters in Avarya cannot kill three girls. How pathetic,’ Richard snarled.
Elric didn’t like where this conversation was going.
‘Brighton is clever. He set traps that killed one of my men and killed two more himself. There was also a big black panther that killed the last hunter and very nearly got me. I barely escaped with my life but not before Brighton tortured me. He is very powerful.’
Richard’s black energy link slammed into Elric’s head but he didn’t drain the hunter’s energy immediately.
‘He is nothing but a boy! I am the most powerful human alive! I have no need to prove this to him!’ he shouted at Elric.
Slowly he started stealing Elric’s energy.
‘You have a message for me?’ he asked.
Elric repeated Brighton’s message through gritted teeth. Richard’s anger reached boiling point. He instantly drained the last of Elric’s energy. The last thought Elric had, travelled along the link into Richard’s mind: You truly are a coward.
Brighton slowed to a jog. He had been running all night and most of the morning. Earlier he sensed four people in the woods. He left the road and headed in that direction. It was still a fair way to Brasten but perhaps Brac’s men patrolled this far. He slowed to a walk.
‘That’s far enough,’ a voice called to him.
Brighton stopped. He suddenly realized that he did not know what Brac’s energy felt like. Although he had used his sense when Brac was around he never put the face to the energy signature.
He knew the man was slightly to his left but didn’t look.
‘I’m looking for Brac,’ Brighton shouted back.
‘Brighton?’ a familiar voice called from his right.
‘Brac? Is that you?’ he called back.
Brac came out of the bushes.
‘What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Avarya?’ the hunter asked.
‘Well, yes, but we have some trouble there,’ Brighton replied.
‘Come sit, have something to eat and tell me about it,’ Brac invited.
‘Thank you but I have no time. I’ve come to ask for your help,’ Brighton replied.
‘Anything. You know we stand with you,’ Brac replied.
‘Yes, I know. I need you and about five men to come with me to Avarya,’ Brighton said.
‘There are only four of us here. I will send word for one more,’ Brac said as he made a gesture with his hand.
A man materialized out of the bush but before Brac could talk to him Brighton said, ‘No, that will take too long. We need to leave immediately. We’ll just have to make do with four.’
‘Three. And why are you in such a hurry?’ Brac said.
‘There are four people here, you said so and I can sense them,’ he said to Brac.
‘True, but if we’re going to join you, I need to send one man back to my troops in Brasten. If we’re not back by sunset they will send out a search party.’
Brighton nodded his understanding.
‘Very well, three it is. I hope these guys are as good as you at being invisible.’
Brac just smiled at Brighton.
He had a quick word with the young man still standing close by. The hunter disappeared into the woods.
‘Now tell me why you’re in such a hurry,’ Brac repeated his question from earlier.
‘We need to get back to Avarya in two days,’ Brighton replied.
Brac started laughing but then saw that Brighton was serious.
‘That’s impossible,’ he declared flatly. ‘We can run hard but not for that long.’
‘I just made it in less than a day and a half,’ Brighton countered.
‘Surely you’re joking,’ Brac exclaimed. ‘Nobody can run that fast for that long.’
‘I can and if you guys stay close to me you can too,’ Brighton said.
Brac shrugged his shoulders.
‘I don’t understand but I trust you,’ he said.
Another hand gesture from him brought the other two men out of the undergrowth.
‘Listen carefully,’ Brighton said to the three hunters. ‘We’re going to run fast and for a long time now. You will feel a warm sensation in your body from time to time, just ignore it and keep running. If you get tired don’t stop, just let me know.’
The three men nodded.
‘Last thing, stay close to me,’ Brighton said as he turned and started running.
Chapter 19
THEY RAN UNTIL Brighton was getting tired. He slowed slightly and gathered some energy from the surroundings. One by one he established a link to each of the men and let some energy flow into them. He picked up the pace again. The three hunters kept up easily. They reached the campsite just after sunrise.
Lilian flew into Brighton’s arms and buried her face in his neck. He gave her a tight hug.
‘I was so worried. Are you alright?’ she said softly.
‘Yes, I’m fine. Any disturbances here?’ he replied.
She shook her head.
‘You came back faster than I thought. It hasn’t been three full days yet,’ she commented.
‘I was lucky. I found them at least half a day’s run this side of Brasten. It saved us a full day,’ Brighton explained.
Brac stepped closer.
‘Miss Lilian, Miss Adri, so nice to see you again. This is Liam and Nelson,’ he introduced the other hunters.
Lilian and Adri exchanged greetings with the men.
Brac stepped closer to Brighton and spoke softly, ‘Would you mind telling me how we just ran for that long without getting tired?’
‘I gathered energy from the forest and shared it with you through a link,’ Brighton replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Brac didn’t quite understand but nodded anyway.
Lilian touched Brighton’s arm.
‘How is your body holding up having all that energy passing
through it?’ she asked with concern in her eyes.
‘I’m learning exactly how much energy to let through my body. I feel fine,’ Brighton answered.
‘But I thought Evangeline showed you everything you needed to know about your talent?’ Lilian asked.
‘Yes she did, but knowing what I can do and doing it effectively are two different things. I used far too much energy to kill the Supremes back in Zedonia and when the Dark Ones attacked us a few days ago. Smaller amounts would have been sufficient to get the job done. I’m starting to understand exactly how much energy is needed to perform a certain task,’ Brighton explained.
‘That’s good news,’ Lilian replied.
She struggled to imagine Brighton becoming more powerful but she knew he would since he now started honing his skill.
Adri stepped closer.
‘We were just about to make breakfast. Are you hungry?’ she asked the men.
Brac looked at Liam and Nelson. Both shook their heads looking a little confused.
‘Strangely the three of us are not hungry. If you think about the distance we covered it doesn’t really make sense,’ he answered.
‘I’m not hungry either but we should all eat,’ Brighton said to them. ‘All of us still have some of the forest’s energy in us but it will dissipate quickly. It will leave us feeling weak if there is not some other form of energy to replace it.’
Adri and Lilian immediately started preparing a meal.
Brighton explained the situation they faced in Avarya to Brac.
‘We can’t simply walk into Avarya like we did in Brasten. There are far too many Dark Ones here, and Richard also has many loyal untalented followers. I need to find a way into the city without harming innocent people. I don’t believe that all of Avarya follows Richard like Elric suggested.’
‘We can help,’ Brac immediately replied. ‘These two men are like ghosts. They can disable any defences Richard might have set up along the route. My only concern is the Dark Ones and Richard. As I understand it they can sense us coming. There is no way of hiding from them.’
‘I can do something about that,’ Brighton said with a wide smile.
He explained the use of healing energy and how it hides a person temporarily from the Dark Ones’ sense.
