“They don’t deserve graves. We will let them burn together, and hopefully their souls are doing the same in another realm.”
Connor nodded, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The digging didn’t end until his arms were numb and his hands blistering. The fire inside the castle had burned fierce but brief. In a few hours, the fire had eaten most everything that wasn’t stone, and now embers and a few random pockets of flames refusing to go out was all that remained of the once ferocious flames.
“We have to go in and get the bodies, don’t we?” Katie asked. She was filthy from the day’s work. Her hair was singed and her hands, arms, and face were smeared with dirt and smoke.
“We have to go in and get the rest of the bodies,” Connor agreed.
The group entered the carcass of the once great castle. It seemed as though most of the fighting had taken place outside of the castle, as only a few skeletal bodies remained inside. Some were in better condition than others, but most the fire had gotten to and burned away both clothes and flesh.
Katie had grown so much in the last few days, but Connor knew how much she had to be screaming inside. Katie wasn’t a fan of spiders, much less burned, skeletal bodies. “You going to be okay?” Connor asked as they made their way to the exit carrying corpses.
“I had to fight down the vomit a few times. It helps if I still think of them as people instead of bodies.”
“You’re doing great, Kat.”
She tried her best at a grin but failed. Connor couldn’t blame her. How happy could he expect someone to be in their present circumstances? Soon the majority of the bodies were gone, and under the moon and stars, the group entered the large stone meeting hall where the last victims, the bodies of the five Council members, were still resting.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The fire hadn’t been able to claw its way down the long stone hall, so the bodies were spared from the fire’s appetite. Connor wasn’t sure if this was better or worse, as the wounds were clear on all five of the bodies. It looked like a long sword was used to inflict the damage and dark blood was everywhere.
Lu knelt next to his father, cradling Adolpho’s limp head in his arms and silently rocking back and forth. Morrigan approached her baby brother’s body, gently closed his eyes with the palm of her hand and lifted his body off the ground. She held him like she had done so many times before when they were growing up, but this time was different. This was the last time she would ever hold Arden again.
Katie took a deep breath and steeled herself as she carried Raban’s body out of the room, and Miyanda did the same with Thema’s.
“Even after condemning me to Karnag, they didn’t deserve this,” Caderyn said as he knelt beside Tien’s small frame and lifted the warrior monk from the stone floor.
Lu and Connor were the last to go. Lu gently held the body of his father, tears running freely down his face. Connor stood beside him. Not knowing what to say, he placed a hand on his shoulder.
Morrigan summoned a fire and lit the pile of the dead enemy bodies as the group laid the Council to rest in their graves. With the light of the fire inside the castle gone now, Morrigan and Katie lit fires on whatever they found that would burn and placed the small flames around the gravesite.
“I think someone should say something,” Caderyn said.
Lu was beyond words as he kneeled, comforted by the women. Morrigan broke into tears. Katie stood next to her and the two embraced each other, softly sobbing. Connor knew the task fell to him no matter how much he wanted to go and comfort Morrigan. What the group needed most was closure.
“Raban, Thema, Tien, Adolpho, Arden, and all the graves we dug today. All the Elites that we laid to rest never asked for this. But when the time came, they fought against the greatest Elite our race has ever known. They stood together and fought. Now the torch is passed to us. Now it is our time to fight, to fight for them, in their memory. They lived and died for the unity and peace of our race, to keep our secrecy intact and stop a tyrant that would enslave the world.”
The flames danced around the group, casting shadows and silhouettes, but no one paid them any attention. All eyes were focused on Connor.
“We take tonight to remember those who have fallen, but tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow we begin a new chapter in history. Tomorrow we embrace their memory and forge our grief into justice. Tomorrow we plan, we recover, and we take the fight to them!”
Heads nodded and Caderyn looked on with a proud smile. The dragon who had remained silent during the speech let out a roar of his own, a roar that added to Connor’s speech and aided in lifting their spirits.
The remainder of the night was spent salvaging whatever food and sleeping items they could from the castle. The only area that had escaped the fire’s wrath was the Council room.
The dragon curled up in a large, leathery, green-skinned ball outside and the survivors sat and ate in silence. They were exhausted, both mentally and physically. Dirt, blood, and sweat clung to them, but no one, not even Katie, seemed to care. Dinner consisted of water, some canned vegetables that had survived the fire, and burned bread. They were beyond the point of fatigue and couldn’t care less what they put in their mouths. Food was only a way to stop the hunger pains in the empty pit of their stomachs. They could fill the void in their stomachs, but every single one of them knew that the void left by their loved ones would never be whole again. After a silent meal, they settled into the large, cold stone meeting room.
Connor was using a folded tapestry as a mattress and a large coat he had found as a blanket. The last thing he remembered thinking about was Laren, and before he could bring up an image of her face, he was fast asleep.
***
The morning came sooner than he thought. It felt as though he had just closed his eyes when he felt someone shaking him awake. It was his father. “Come on, Connor. You have an army to build.”
Everyone else was asleep as Connor sat up, stretching his aching back and sore muscles. Caderyn looked different. He had found a pair of boots and a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt. His long hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his eyes were brighter than they had been before. “Let’s go.”
Connor followed his father outside. The dragon got up like an excited dog and nuzzled Connor, almost sending him crashing to the ground. “Good boy, I’m happy to see you, too.”
Father, son, and dragon walked down past the burned castle, past the large gravesite and towards the forested area that lay a few miles east of the castle.
“I’m not really sure how to be a father, Connor, but I want you to know that I never would have left you and your mother if there had been any other way. I left you to protect you and shield you from the Council’s Law.”
Connor took in a big breath. He had imagined and played back in his head what he would say to his father if he should ever meet him a hundred times, but now instead of anger, he just had questions. “The Law that you chose to break when you married Mom?”
Caderyn looked at Connor as the two walked slowly up and down the grassy fields. Birds were just beginning to chirp and the world was changing from darkness back to grey as the sun began to rise. “I don’t know if you have anyone like this in your life, but when I met your mother, it was like I didn’t have a choice. There were a million reasons we shouldn’t have been together, the biggest, of course, being that she was human, but it was like it was meant to be. I tried not to love her, Connor. I tried with every fiber in my being, but it wasn’t enough.”
Connor directed his eyes to the ground as he thought about what his father was saying and about his own feelings and if he could relate.
“We are an Elite race, Connor. We are the top of the food chain and the most powerful beings in the entire world. As Judges, we are taken and put into an even higher category, and still with everything that I was, I wasn’t able to not love your mother. She was—she is—everything to me. When we did get married, I tried to hide us, but obviously it wasn’t enough. They to
ok me when your mother was six months pregnant with you. I pleaded with the Council for your lives, and that was the agreement.”
“What was the agreement?”
“Well, I had broken a Law punishable by death. Since I had been a Judge and saved our people from conflict, they were,” Caderyn almost choked on his next word. “They were… lenient. I was sentenced to Karnag until you and your mother both died.”
Connor stopped mid-step. “I thought you were sentenced for an eternity?”
“Not an eternity, just until you and your mother died of old age or whatever the other cause might have been. Then I would be freed and given another chance. I don’t want to pretend to be your father all of a sudden and jump right back into the picture like nothing happened. I just want to get to know you and maybe we can start by being friends?”
Connor looked into his father’s brown eyes that so closely resembled his own. Caderyn’s eyes were full of hope, delayed happiness, but most of all, love. “I’d like that,” Connor said.
Caderyn let out a sigh of relief and smiled so wide Connor thought his beard would split in half. “Thank you. I’m here to help you in whatever way I can.”
“I know,” Connor said, letting the moment of joy pass as he turned his thoughts back to their current predicament. “We need a better base of operation. Not to mention the bare essentials, like food and water.”
“I agree. If we are going to present you as a Judge to the Elite race, we’ll need more than a burnt down castle as a home.”
“So first a base, then we build an army?” Connor asked.
Caderyn nodded. “And then we train. Vercin is a powerful warrior as a Judge, and with Karnag emptied, he’s that much more dangerous with an army. It’ll take both of us to face him and you need to learn how to become one with your Elite gene instead of trying to control the power.”
Connor was about to agree when the dragon was disturbed by something. He angled his thick reptile neck in the direction of the main road that led from the castle to the highway.
They were about a mile away, but could see a limo approaching the castle at a fast speed. Caderyn and Connor both looked at each other, then took off at a run to intercept the vehicle. Their Elite gene made what should have taken a seven to ten minute trip no more than a few seconds.
They stopped the limo as it was just about to enter the outer castle wall. Caderyn slammed his fists into the hood and Connor positioned himself by the driver’s door. The car stopped and door slowly opened. “I have so many questions I don’t even know where to start! What happened to the castle and how did you get out of Karnag?” Orion said as he stepped from the vehicle, a look of surprise and happiness showing through his one good eye.
“Orion!” Caderyn said as he stepped forward and embraced his friend in a warm hug. “Connor—Connor rescued me, and the castle was attacked yesterday by Vercin and his followers.”
Orion’s eye went from the castle to Connor and back to the castle again. “I wasn’t here. I should have helped them. I could have helped them.”
“No, you couldn’t have. If you were here, you would be dead with the rest,” Caderyn said.
“The Council?”
“Dead and buried.”
For a moment, Connor thought Orion might break down and cry, but his sandaled feet stood firm as he stroked his black beard. “Well, what’s our next move?”
Caderyn slapped his friend on the back. “We need a place to stay, ferryman. Know of any islands we could visit? Maybe an island with an already standing army of warrior monks?”
Orion’s eyes grew large as he realized Caderyn’s plan. “That could work and it would be safe. Vercin and his army couldn’t reach us there.”
“Is that the best choice, though?” Connor asked. “I mean, Vercin would be here raising an army and preparing to make his move in the human world while we hide on The Island?”
“It wouldn’t be hiding, Connor. We need to regroup. It won’t take long before we can get back in this fight.”
“Okay,” Connor said, still reluctant. “Let’s go wake the others and let them know.”
As the three men walked back to the castle, Connor couldn’t help but ask Orion, “Do you think Zheng will be all right with all of us coming and bringing the trouble with us?”
“Both your father and I know Zheng well. He’ll embrace us and after you defeated him, he will fight by your side until the end.”
“You fought and beat Zheng?” Caderyn asked, astonished.
Connor humbly accepted credit for his victory with a nod. Orion wouldn’t let him be so modest, however. “Oh, Caderyn, you should have seen him! You would have been so proud!”
“I still am,” Caderyn said with a smile.
Their conversation was cut short. The others were already awake and greeted Orion with forced smiles and hellos. “It’s great to see you, Orion,” Morrigan said, “and not a minute too soon. To The Island, then?”
“That seems like the best course of action at the moment. We should probably step outside,” Orion said.
“Step outside for what?” Connor and Katie asked at the same time.
“Orion is the ferryman tasked with bringing Elites to and from The Island. With the help of a sorceress, he’s able to magnify his power and create a window without even traveling,” Caderyn explained as they exited the skeletal remains of the castle.
“Orion and Morrigan can teleport us to The Island?” Katie asked, wide eyed.
“Something like that,” Morrigan said as they reached the courtyard.
“Ready?” Morrigan asked Orion.
“Always,” was his reply.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
As Morrigan placed her hands on his broad shoulders, Caderyn, Connor, Katie, Lu, and Miyanda looked on as the air around the two began to shimmer. Brown and red energy started to emanate from Morrigan’s hands as she closed her eyes. Orion bowed his head as the energy became brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. The space behind Orion began to open until it was the size of a house.
On the other side of the window, the jungle’s lush landscape appeared. “Hurry through the portal before it closes,” Orion said, eye still closed, head bowed and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Lu and Miyanda took hesitant steps as they approached the shimmering glass-like window in space.
“Well, I guess if I have to go, this is as good a way as any,” Lu said.
“You’re scared?” Miyanda asked in her best attempt to tease and encourage Lu. “Come on, Muscles, let’s go.”
The two walked through the window without another word and looked at the rest of the group from the other side. Morrigan’s hands began to shake on Orion’s shoulders as she held the spell, “Hurry, let’s go!”
And that’s when Connor remembered the dragon. “We have to take the dragon—we can’t leave him here.”
The window was beginning to quiver. “Fine, just hurry!” Morrigan yelled.
Caderyn gave Connor a nod as he stepped through with Katie close at his heels. Connor motioned for his nameless dragon, who sat near the castle entrance. “Come on, big guy, let’s go!”
The dragon moved with him. The window was shaking now—both sorceress and ferryman sweating and grinding their teeth, trying to keep the doorway open.
Connor and the dragon stepped through at the same time. Instantly they were in the jungle with the rest of their group. There was a loud snap behind them and the window closed, with Morrigan and Orion sprawled on the jungle floor.
“Let’s try and make that a bit quicker next time,” Orion suggested as he helped Morrigan to her feet.
The dragon seemed to be the only one completely happy with his new habitat. The jungle on The Island was similar to his own in the Amazon, and he ran, smelling trees and rolling in the thick jungle underbrush. “Looks like Little Connor’s taken to his surroundings well,” Lu observed.
“Little Connor?” Caderyn asked Lu with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh,
it’s what I’m calling the dragon until Connor actually gives it a name.”
“I’m working on it,” Connor said as he fell in line with the rest of the group, Orion in the lead. “How does Vengeance or The Hammer sound?”
Katie turned her head to look at him with a disapproving frown. “You can’t give him a name for a superhero or a wrestler. He has to have a pet name that fits him.”
Connor walked behind the rest of the group, the dragon trotting behind him, still smelling his new home. “I don’t know, what do you want to be called?”
The dragon looked at him without a hint of understanding and then nuzzled him with a large snout. “Yeah, I guess we’ll have to come up with one for you later. You’re so different now, I can’t believe I was ever so afraid of you. You’re just a big teddy bear now.”
The dragon gave him a toothy grin and pranced off to search his new domain. The group continued to weave their way through the thick jungle canopy, Orion, Morrigan, and Caderyn talking towards the front, Lu quiet in the middle, and Miyanda, Katie, and Connor bringing up the rear.
“You think he’s okay?” Katie asked Miyanda, motioning toward Lu’s figure up ahead.
“I think what he’s most worried about now is telling his mother and little brother.”
Connor couldn’t believe he had forgotten about Kora and Reap, and more importantly, the job that now fell to Lu to tell his mother and brother about their father’s death and sister’s capture. Katie and Miyanda continued to talk, but Connor blocked out their voices as he thought about Laren. Was she okay? Was she hurt? How were they treating her? He should be looking for her now, not seeking shelter and hiding. Connor made up his mind to look for her as soon as he could. Morrigan and his father had to understand. They would help him, he was sure they would.
Orion’s shout tore him from thoughts of Laren. “We’re here!”
Although Connor had seen the large gates before, they still amazed him. Katie and Miyanda, who had never seen the huge walls of the palace, were speechless. Orion raised a weary fist to the gate and pounded three times. Soon the sounds of bolts and latches unhinging could be heard form the opposite side and the same small monk who had greeted them the first time appeared again. “Oh, so good to see you, brother Orion. Please, brothers and sisters come in.” The small man squinted when he saw Caderyn. “Caderyn Moore, is that you?”
The Trials (The Elite Series) Page 15
