“It’s not birdsong,” Asla stated and studied it with a frown of concentration. “It’s a message.”
“Hmm?” Devol swallowed a mouthful. “A message?”
“Remember the call sign?” she prodded.
“Caw-caw?” Jazai said quickly. “Wait, the bird is our carrier?”
“No, the owner is,” she replied. “And that’s not a bird—not a real one anyway.”
The two boys narrowed their eyes at the large avian that seemed to look directly at them. It appeared to nod and spread its wings that looked almost segmented. It banked into a turn and headed toward the forest.
“I hope you can run and eat, Devol,” Asla said as she began to pursue it.
“I’m more used to it than she probably thinks,” he told Jazai as he took another bite and they hurried behind her through the village and into the woods.
They ran along the ground for a while, but when they reached a safe distance from the settlement and away from curious eyes, they began to leap up through the trees to get a better view of the bird as they traveled deeper and deeper into the woods.
“These red leaves are so pretty,” Asla noted as she pushed forward through the various hues of red and orange that adorned the trees.
“Ah, that hit the spot,” Devol said merrily as he patted his hands to get rid of any crumbs. “I was worried that I had lost my appetite.”
Jazai shook his head. “I would think eating and running so quickly would make you sick.”
“You know, I think it should too,” he agreed. “But it has never been a problem for me.”
“The bird is circling,” Asla informed them and pointed. “Over there.”
It flew around a patch of land a few hundred yards ahead. The friends nodded to one another as they dropped from the branches and onto the forest floor as they approached, looking for the owner. The avian swooped from overhead, passed them, and landed on the waiting arm of a figure in deep brown leathers with a blue tunic and cowl.
“Are you the carrier?” Devol asked.
“It’s one of the things I do,” the man stated and regarded the three of them curiously. “Among many things. I suppose I could be a carrier for you, but I wouldn’t know that without knowing who you are first.”
He nodded and pointed to himself. “Oh, well I’m Dev—”
Jazai held a hand out to interrupt him. “That’s not what he means, Devol. He’s looking for proof that we’re here for the box.”
The young swordsman nodded. “Right, let me find the card.” He began to search through his pockets but it wasn’t there. Confused, he frowned and tried to think where he might have dropped it.
“Even in the storms, the light will break through,” the diviner stated. The stranger nodded and relaxed. The other two glanced at their teammate. “It’s a passcode,” he explained. “We have several different ones depending on who we’re working with. Zier makes me learn all of them when they change.”
“So, new Templar recruits, eh?” the man chuckled as the bird—which appeared to be much like a falcon if it weren’t for the odd movements and box-like head—scuttled up his arm and onto his shoulder. “You’re very young, I have to say.”
“It isn’t something they usually do,” Asla stated. “Send young trainees, that is, without at least one experienced Templar. I guess they had their reasons, though.”
“I suppose,” the man conceded and lowered his cowl. He appeared to be in his mid-forties with black hair tied into a bun, a handlebar mustache, and deep-set gray eyes. “Nice to meet you. My name is Zeke of the Britana Hunter’s Guild.” He gave them a nod and confident smile. “Today, I am a carrier, and I think I have a package here for you three.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Zeke patted his artificial bird and it launched from his shoulder and flew to a tree behind him as he walked to a small green sack nearby. He picked it up and returned as he unwound the knot on the top. “I have to admit, this was a first for me,” he stated as he slid the bag open and revealed a locked black box within. “Normally, we try to give these a wide berth, but it basically fell into our lap.”
“So what is it?” Devol asked as he took the item. Almost immediately, he felt a powerful burst of dread and his hands began to shake.
“Devol?” Asla asked as she stepped forward hastily to place her hand on his. “What is wr—” When she touched it, her tail went stiff and her eyes widened as she looked at it.
A firm hand settled on their shoulders. “Take a deep breath,” Jazai instructed. “It ain’t gonna harm you, not as long as it stays in there. Relax.” The two responded with quick nods and tried to steady themselves with deep breaths as they brought their Anima up.
“So you know what it is?” Zeke asked him.
The apprentice shrugged. “I can guess—something I tried to do ever since we got the mission. But seeing their reaction and that hint of twisted Magic? I’m fairly sure.”
“So your leaders didn’t tell you?” the man asked and he shook his head. “Well then, I guess it isn’t my place to fill you in. I merely ran it here.” He returned to his original position and picked his large backpack up. “Sorry to toss my job onto you, but I have other messages and items I need to get to their recipients much farther from here. My advice is to get that back to your order as quickly as yo—”
The carrier’s mechanical bird began to caw loudly and urgently. Zeke took a monocle out of his jacket pocket. “What in the hell is it squawking about?” he muttered as he placed the eyewear on. His body stiffened and he gasped in surprise. “Get out of here!” he ordered and turned as his bird flew skyward and dived sharply toward something deeper into the forest. “Hurry! I don’t think I can hold it off for long.”
“What’s going on?” Devol asked and snapped back to the present as he tied the box to his belt. “If it is an enemy, we can help.”
“It isn’t that simple,” the man warned. “This may be beyond the four of us combined.” At a loud crack, he staggered and dropped to his knees. His monocle fell and shattered. The three rushed forward as he clutched his arms, and fresh scratch marks were visible on his hands.
“He must have had a link to his bird to control it,” Jazai muttered. “His exotic was wounded so some of that damage reflects onto him like a majestic.”
“It wasn’t merely wounded,” Zeke stated, his voice cold and angry. He stood slowly and unhooked a pair of hatchets from his belt. “It was destroyed. My artifact once took a full-force hit from an exotic morning star and simply shook it off— What the hell am I giving you the details for. Get away!” A loud, angry roar issued from the tree line. “That monster is here.”
A beast took hold of two trees outside the clearing, split them apart, and tossed Zeke’s mechanical bird at his feet. Devol took a step back, awed and terrified by the creature before him. It looked humanoid—or at least was at some point—and had dark-gray skin with blotches of white around its arms and waist. The monster was massive, easily nine feet tall or more, with a wave of stringy black hair.
Its arms seemed to be bigger than his body, with fists that looked like they could crack his chest with a single blow. But the mask on its face drew his immediate attention. It looked like it was modeled after the demons he had heard about in scary stories shared by other children in his youth. The black background was broken by a wide grin of white or silver-painted teeth, and pure white eyes stared angrily at them. He was unsure if they were its own eyes or the mask’s. Traces of red paint or some smooth material underlined the sockets and curved around the top to give the appearance of horns.
“That’s…” Jazai began and paused to gather his words as his eyes widened and he balled his fists. “That’s a malefic.”
Devol looked at his teammates, who were both in shock. Before he could ask what that was, Zeke cried, “Goliath!” The two hatchets in his hands grew to the size of battle-axes as he summoned his Anima. It was the color of the open sky and surrounded him and the weapons. He roare
d and charged as the boy reached for his sword.
He was given a quick demonstration of how futile joining this fight would be. As the man hurled one of the axes at the terror, he leapt upward as high as he could to try to sink the other blade into its head. The monster merely growled as the thrown weapon struck its chest and sank home, but no blood followed. It seemed indifferent to both the blade and the injury and simply ignored them as it extended a long limb and snatched Zeke before he could land.
The beast’s hand almost encircled the carrier’s entire torso. He still attempted to attack the monster’s head but it responded by headbutting the ax as it descended and shattered the blade. The man cried out in pain his captor squeezed relentlessly, and his metal chest plate bent under the strain.
Zeke was thrown onto the forest floor and blood spurted from his mouth as the monster raised a leg. Devol wanted to rush forward to try to distract it, but before he could move more than a step, the creature stamped its foot down. Bones crushed and broke and after another burst of blood, the man was no more.
“We should have taken his advice,” Jazai stated and his voice cracked slightly. “We need to go!”
“But…” Asla began and her slight frame trembled. “Can we even outrun it?”
Both boys felt a new twinge of fear. She was the fastest among the three and had the best instincts for battle and reading an opponent. If she doubted they could flee, it was almost assured that they could not.
Devol drew his sword and held it out in front of him. “Even if we could, we would simply lead it to the village or get lost deeper in the forest,” he surmised. “I don’t want my last actions to be flight, especially if it is pointless.”
Although his teammates did not completely snap out of their shock, his words did reach them. Jazai held his tome up as Asla hunkered in a battle-ready stance. Both would fight alongside him for however long they could last.
The monster looked at them after it ground its foot into Zeke’s corpse again. It stepped forward and the young swordsman noticed how little its body moved—like it was not even breathing. Furiously, it pounded its chest before it crouched and prepared to attack them. They waited anxiously but instead, it slumped and uttered a gurgling noise. The three were confused but none let their guard down. About a dozen shapes glowed purple around its neck—no doubt runes of some kind.
“Now, now, let’s not get too hasty,” a familiar voice sang. The group spun toward the trees from which two figures emerged, one with snowy white shaved hair, a long dark coat, and red-lensed glasses. The other was very familiar.
“You!” Devol shouted and pointed to the second figure. “You’re the man from the alley—Koli!”
“I’m so glad you remembered,” the newcomer said with a smile and a bow. “I suppose it has only been a short time since then but I would be more saddened if you had forgotten so soon.”
“So that’s the kid you ran into?” the other man asked. “They are simply a group of brats, huh? But they all got majestics.” He smiled, slid his hand into the left sleeve of his jacket, and removed a wand made of dark-black wood that coiled around a red jewel at the top. “This could be a very productive day.”
“Calm yourself, Salvo,” Koli ordered and frowned at his partner. “We are here to test the ghoul, not indulge ourselves.”
“I think we’ve already seen what it can do.” His partner chuckled and pointed at Zeke’s corpse with his wand. “I don’t know if he was a great Magi or fighter or anything, but he was a member of the Britana Hunter’s Guild and the big guy killed him in minutes without a scratch.”
The violet-hair man sighed and pointed at the monster’s chest, where Zeke’s other ax was still implanted. “I would say that qualifies as more than a scratch.”
“Oh, yeah.” Salvo sighed. “Ah well, still no harm done. Why do you need to dodge when you can shrug a beating off, right?”
Koli frowned at his partner before he rolled his eyes. “That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.” He focused on the three friends. “Now on to you as you can see we’ve called our little pet off.” He gestured toward the monster. “But that can change in an instant if we would like it to. While I can’t speak for my partner, I would rather spare you today.”
“Do what?” Jazai questioned.
“Yeah, Koli,” Salvo stated irritably. “We should take their majestics. Why do you want to leave them be?”
The man scanned the three and tapped a finger on his chin before he focused on Devol and licked his lips. “They have potential but they aren’t quite ripe yet.”
They were somewhat unnerved by Koli’s longing, devious stare, and his partner shook his head. “That junk again? How many times has that paid off? How many good fights have you had by letting someone live to come back for you?”
“Exactly twice out of roughly fifty-seven times,” the violet-haired man responded and his smile widened. “And both those times—even a single fight, to be honest—makes the possibility worth it.”
Salvo twirled his wand in his hand. “Damn, you are freaky, but whatever. We still need that box.”
“Quite right.” Koli nodded and ran one hand through his violet hair as he pointed at the box now attached to Devol’s belt. “My young friend, I’ll be happy to let you and your teammates leave here unscathed if you simply hand the box over with the contents inside.” He shifted his hand to indicate the monster. “Otherwise…” He flipped his hand and pressed his middle finger and thumb against one another. “Well, I think you can guess that much.”
“Take the box and run,” the young swordsman instructed his teammates. “I’ll keep them at bay.”
“Don’t be a fool!” Jazai hissed his exasperation. “I won’t leave you and besides, you wouldn’t last long enough for it to matter.”
As much as he wanted to refute that, he had to admit his friend was right. He might be able to hold the beast off for a minute or two, and that was assuming Koli and Salvo did not jump in.
“And…” Asla began and clenched her teeth. “And it is our mission to bring the box back. I would rather die fighting to protect it than return in disgrace.”
The boys looked at her, surprised by the fierce determination that grew in her eyes. Jazai sighed and nodded. “I guess we’re committed, and we all know how this will probably end, huh?” His friends simply nodded as they once again positioned themselves in preparation to fight. The diviner held his free hand up and ran through cantrips in his mind. “Well, all right then.”
Salvo looked at the three young Magi who stood ready for battle, then at Koli, who smiled in genuine delight. “Marvelous,” the man remarked as he prepared to free the monster.
“Whatever.” His partner walked to a standing tree and leaned against it with his arms folded. “It works out for me. We get some new majestics and our box. Make it quick so we can get out of here.”
“That’s not up to me,” Koli remarked as he snapped his fingers and the runes around the monster’s neck faded. “It is up to him.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The beast roared to life. It hammered its fists into the ground before it launched itself high, its target the trio of young Magi below.
“Scatter!” Devol shouted, and they raced out of the way in different directions as the giant landed. He was almost upended by the shockwave of the impact. It swung an arm toward Asla, who was able to leap over it, but the massive arm battered two trees behind her, destroyed them, and scattered splinters and dust around her to blind her briefly. It reared in preparation for another strike.
A moment before it swung, Jazai blinked next to her, caught hold of her shirt, and blinked away before the massive fist connected. They appeared near their friend and the diviner scrambled to his feet and pointed at their adversary. “Chains!” he shouted and deep-blue chains of Mana wound around the titan’s arms and neck in an attempt to keep it in check.
From behind them, Salvo laughed loudly. “Is that all you got?”
The monst
er uttered a belligerent growl, flexed its muscles, and snapped the restraints.
“What the hell?” the boy muttered. “I don’t sense an Anima from it. How did it break my cantrip?”
“I’ll say it is a safe bet that it isn’t normal,” the swordsman responded and prepared to strike when the monster made another assault. The expected attack did not come, however. The giant sagged, its knuckles dug into the dirt and grass, and it began to twitch.
“What did you do?” The question was asked by Devol and Salvo at the same time. The young diviner shook his head. He hadn’t done anything but use the chains cantrip, and Koli didn’t respond. He simply narrowed his eyes at the creature. The giant took a rather shaky step forward and its skin had become noticeably paler. Its bulging muscles began to shrink and wither along with its entire body. Finally, it fell and the two groups stared at a large black wound in its back. A figure in a black cloak holding a kama stood behind it.
“Mr. Lebatt!” Devol shouted when he recognized him.
“Vaust?” Jazai asked and gaped at the mark on the giant’s back that spread rapidly along its entire body. “What are you doing here?”
“I believe that gentleman was the one who was tailing me earlier.” Koli bit his lip. “It appears he is affiliated with the children.”
“Yeah, I could have guessed,” Salvo grumbled and pushed away from the tree. “Well, now we have to retrieve the mask and the box.”
“It won’t be an issue. I’ll take care of it,” his partner offered.
“Fine, then I’ll take care of the new guy and the brats,” he stated, which drew a chuckle from Koli.
“Quite confident, aren’t you?” He patted his violet hair before he placed his hands in his pants pocket and approached the slain giant.
“Hurry up,” his partner instructed and smiled as he spun the wand in his hand. “I get to play now.”
Vaust saw the violet-haired man approach and pointed his kama at him. “Halt, or I’ll kill you as well.”
A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) Page 20
