Nodding to the guard at the gate of the Lycan training grounds, she passed beyond the wall and stepped aside as the new, young workers came filing through. Letting the last of them enter, she looked upon the multitude of gaping mouths and wide eyes, before nodding again to the guard at the gate.
“This will be your new home, at least for the time being. Lord Ashton will be your lord.”
As if expecting them, Ashton appeared from behind a wall of Lycan soldiers, twisting his already narrow shoulders to fit between them as he passed. “Ah, speak of the devil,” Anna exclaimed, raising a hand to present the man to the young onlookers.
“Welcome, young masters,” Ashton greeted. His eyes shifted this way and that a moment, looking over the new stock. “We live in dire times, where sacrifices must be made to achieve a prosperous future. Here, in the city of Valdadore, things are changing. We are changing with it. Enemies are at our every border. We can either rise to meet them, or fall beneath their heels. Our wise king has decided to raise an army of Lycans to meet our foes in battle, and it will come to you, good Valdadorians, to guide, train, and see to the needs of this Lycan army.”
Anna watched as Ashton paused for effect, likely expecting some great round of applause but, none forthcoming, she decided to spare him the embarrassment, more or less because she was growing bored. “There you have it, kids. Ashton will get you started on your new duties,” she said, watching the multitude of teens turn to face her once again. “You and you,” she pointed to the young man and woman of her choosing. “You come with me. I have duties for you at the castle.” She watched the healer’s response, but he didn’t even blink at her command. Not even he suspected her of anything. Eyeing up her new toys, she beckoned them to her with a wave of her finger, before turning and strolling back through the gate of the training grounds.
* * * * *
Six days. Six days had come and gone without another sighting of the assassin or his army. Seth stood upon the battlefield stretching his senses to the limit, seeking for any inclination that the attackers were about to reappear. Only he, the crows, and the silence remained.
Behind him, both Sara and Borrik stood upon the city walls with its defenders—now a skeleton crew. They had sorely needed rest, and as such Seth had commanded them to sleep and rejuvenate themselves. It had been two days since he had given that order and still no sign of the invaders returned. He was beginning to think they had abandoned their plans, turned tail, and ran home. But something in his gut nagged him still, telling him that they would return. And although the battle was a pressing issue, and the passing of time was of little matter to him, Seth found it most annoying as there was something else tugging at him, something he knew he had to deal with. Something that felt like it was rapidly racing towards him, and he needed time to prepare.
Reaching out with his power he sought any sign of men in any place they should not be. He’d done it millions of times already, always coming up with the same negative result, but even so, he tried again. Just as every time before, there was nothing to be found. A fox strolled the farm hills a few miles out. A collection of deer galloped through the edge of the forest to the northwest. Bugs and birds were aplenty. And then there was a flash. A flicker. Not that he saw with his eyes, but with his vision of the gods.
Flinching away from the flash, Seth dove backwards as the assassin appeared, all alone, a wicked black blade arcing just out of range. Seth met the man’s silver eyes. Studied his aura, his face, and his clothes. He watched the man’s blessing flare to life as he vanished in wisps of smoke and mist. All that in a fraction of a second.
He hadn’t seen the man coming. He hadn’t been warned by the presence of the man’s aura. The flash had been something different. Something within him, but not quite. Reaching into his pocket he wrapped his fingers around the small trinket and pulled it out to look at once more. The small carving of a man had warned him of the assassin’s coming. It had protected him just as the boy had promised.
Seth looked into the miniscule aura of power that now lay latent in the small wooden figurine. It had hardly any power within it. Barely enough to even take notice of. Less even than a gnat. When the man appeared, however, it had flashed a bright, albeit miniscule pulse of power. But even so small as it was, it had likely saved him from a repeat performance of a week ago.
Studying the figurine’s aura, Seth found it both familiar and strange. It was rather similar to the aura of the boy who had given it to him, which made sense, if he had imbued it with such a wondrous gift. There was something else familiar about it too, and looking deeper, into the core of the aura, he noted the patters of swirling and dancing lights there, just as something else caught his attention.
In the distance another flash occurred, and then a series more, all in very rapid succession. They were so small, that at this distance he would not have even noted them had he not just been studying their equal. As he turned his attention across the field to locate the origins, the air was filled with a trumpeting blast as thousands of warriors let out a battle cry, but Seth had again been alerted.
His magical defenses already in place, he let the hundreds of blasts strike at him, absorbing their power as he sought out the sources of the flashes with his mind. Unleashing a blast of power, he leveled hundreds of enemy soldiers around him as the ground began to shake beneath his feet.
As he located the first object imbued with another tiny aura he noted the sounds of flapping wings and the growl of his second-in-command. He could hear Sara shouting as she defended him, not that he really needed defending. He absorbed another round of attacks, holding the power a moment before releasing it in yet another wave of destruction. The shaking beneath his feet continued to grow, but Seth was too busy to deal with the giant of a warrior who plodded across the field to where his mortal body stood. Scanning about the field, Seth located another imbued object, and then a third. The puzzle was coming together now. Seth understood the assassin and his ability. He understood the man’s aura, and the boy’s as well. Seth knew how he could end this war with no further bloodshed, but first there was the matter of a giant to contend with.
* * * * *
Dodging Borrik’s fireballs, Sara leapt towards the enormous blessed enemy warrior. It wasn’t like Seth to not strip such a threat of its power, but she had been able to tell by the expression on his face that he was busy with other matters. Leaping up and commanding her boots, she took to the air towards the massive man, summoning her wings as she rose. He was a hulking, lumbering creature, all thick limbs and gaping maw. She’d heard descriptions of mountain giants once, but didn’t think that this monster quite fit the bill. In all honesty, it looked like some sort of combination of races, of the likes that her own husband would create, but she knew that this wasn’t his doing. With mottled gray flesh, the hulking monster came, easily twice as tall as Garret was when blessed. The thing had four arms like Borrik, and knobby protrusions on its head where the flesh had been worn away and boney lumps had been exposed. It was apparent to Sara that the thing was used to fighting, so numerous were its scars. But as she lanced down from the sky to attack, she noticed something else of importance. It was old.
Whatever the creature was, it was well beyond its prime. Hunching forward, the giant hulk lumbered on swollen, arthritic knees. In all four hands it held massive stone clubs, and Sara could only imagine what such a weapon would do to her husband if the thing got much closer.
The creature took another step as all those around it were lifted off the ground and thrown from their feet by the impact of its foot. Tucking her wings, Sara knew she was running out of time as she plummeted out of the air. A round of twangs erupted from the city wall as more than a dozen ballista bolts found their target in the monster’s belly. Enraged, the creature turned its focus on the wall, raising its clubs as it leaned forward to charge. The queen of Drakenhurst knew that such a blessed warrior armed with such weapons could make quick work of a city wall, and as such she pointed b
oth of her blades out before her as she found her target.
Driving her swords into the side of the creature’s neck, Sara used her immense strength to shove them as deep as she could as a great roaring scream sounded from just feet away. As the giant head swiveled, Sara extracted her arms, now covered to the shoulders in blood and gore from the pair of wounds she’d dealt. As a great eye came into view, the monster roared again in defiance, its shoulder heaving up as it rolled back to dislodge her. Sara was the wiser, however, and beat her leathery wings to stay in place. Then came the stone club, up and back the behemoth struck, swinging at her and its own shoulder in the same blow. Sara realized her mistake too late.
Chapter Ten
Borrik unleashed round after round of fireballs at the great, gray creature that had never before been seen on the field, but his attacks had little effect. Blessed in size himself, the monster was easily double his height and likely eight or nine times his weight. He could not fight this foe, at least not honorably. Glancing down to assure himself that Seth was safe for the moment, Borrik turned to witness as the beast struck out at Sara, now atop its shoulder.
Watching the massive club arc up and back, Borrik wondered if even the queen would survive such a blow. He knew she could heal instantly, but what would come of a person whose bones were all shattered and healed incorrectly? Borrik launched another set of magical blasts at the beast, but he knew it was too late for the queen. All he could do was watch on in horror as the club fell and Sara half braced for impact, and half attempted to leap aside.
Though he wanted to look away, he watched, transfixed, as the club reached Sara… and she was gone. Vanished. Disappeared like an apparition. Borrik was confused beyond measure. He blinked, and looked again, straining his eyes for any signs of her ruined body, but no evidence of the queen remained.
Jerking his head he spied his master below as the visage of Sara appeared beside him, still poised to take the life-ending blow. As a great, pain-filled scream filled the battlefield, Borrik noted the confounded look on Sara’s face as he turned to witness the damage of the enormous creature’s blow.
Having crushed its own shoulder, the monstrous creature’s arm hung limply at its side, one massive club having fallen to the ground. Blood still pulsed from its neck where Sara had grievously injured the beast, yet it stood defiantly as its scream came to an end. Watching on in horror, Borrik witnessed as the creature leaned forward once more and raised its three remaining clubs, charging straight for the city wall.
Smashing everything in its wake, the giant left a path of half-crushed corpses in massive bloody footprints as it charged. Trumpeting a battle cry that was too loud and too deep to understand, the beast took its final stride towards the wall as thousands of panicked warriors screamed out in terror from atop it. The priest in Borrik screamed, but the warrior in him bid those upon the wall farewell as a loud cracking sound split the air.
Borrik, at first, thought it the sound the impact of the giant, but his eyes were too slow in relaying to his mind what played out before him. Just as the giant charged the final stride and swung its clubs to destroy the wall, its blessing was revoked as the air rushed in to replace his hulking form, making the great soundwave that now had his wolven ears ringing. Instead of smashing the walls to bits, the now twenty-foot-tall warrior ran headlong into the stone of the wall, knocking itself unconscious. With the beast’s failure, a great vacuum seemed to fill the field as the air moved in a wave once again and the field fell silent as all remaining enemies vanished.
* * * * *
Seth stood beside Sara in what was now a largely vacant field. More gore and bodies littered it than moments before, but they were the only beings upon the field that were among the living. Above him Borrik flapped his mighty wings, wearing the same confused look as his wife. All he could do in reply for the moment was grin at them both for what seemed an eternity before he finally spoke. “I’ve figured it out.”
“Figured what out?” Sara asked, an eyebrow raising as she summoned her wings to dissolve back into her body.
“All of it. The enemy, teleportation, and the boy who gave me this,” he said, holding up the figurine that was still in his hand. It had been there all along, he’d just grown so far beyond the signs that they had been lost amongst a sea of auras. Not now though. Now he understood all that he had seen and witnessed. Now he could do more than await the army. He could not only prepare for them, but he could control the battle at will. Even better, he could end the battle altogether. It was time to end this foolishness and turn the tables.
“What is it, Seth?” Borrik asked, settling to the ground in front of him and Sara.
“It is time that I end this,” Seth replied. “I need to see the boy first, but not in a threatening way. If he feels threatened, he’ll disappear.”
“I can get him, he’s used to me coming to visit,” Sara replied.
“I’ll meet you at the castle gates,” Seth said, focusing his power and vanishing.
Feeling his corporeal form shifting across time and space was both wondrous and frightening. Seth marveled at the complexity of moving through a realm that was not Thurr, but akin to it in a sense of life and energy. It was a different dimension, of that he was certain. A dimension through which he could be anywhere and everywhere at the blink of an eye. He wondered, momentarily, if this was how the gods moved, how they felt. He admitted that in that moment he felt powerful, as if he couldn’t be touched.
When the moment passed, Seth felt a surge of exchanging energy as he transitioned from the plane of energy back to the plane of the living. As his awareness shifted between the planes he was met by the aura of thousands and knew that he’d appeared in the middle of the invading army, where the assassin apparently now stood.
Materializing, Seth grabbed the would-be assassin by his throat and hefted him off the ground before the man even noted his presence. Leaping, Seth sprang into the air, flapping his wings and surging upward further. Isolating the man’s blessing, Seth dismantled his aura, removing his ability to be blessed at all, while shouts began to sound beneath him, warning of his arrival. In that moment, Seth knew three things to be true; his rival was not to be found upon Thurr, and he could wait no longer to bring the evil reign of the gods to an end. There was no more time to wait and rebuild nations. There was no more time to teach people of the gods’ wrongdoings. He had to act. He had to put things right. The third thing Seth realized, was that his plan would need to be changed in order to accomplish his goals. Death would be required.
Calling upon his power, Seth infused his voice and called out to the army below him. “My name is Seth Derringer, though many know me by Lord Seth the Death Mage, or even King Seth of Drakenhurst. Some may have told you I am a demon. Some may have whispered that I am a walking god who creates his own demon armies. All you have heard is true.” Seth paused to let his words take effect. “I grow tired of your petty games. I have no time for such squabbling and no heart for vengeance, but even my patience has limits. Know that if you rise against me further, I will bathe this kingdom in blood and fire until every one of your bloodlines is erased from Thurr. You have already seen me die. I have risen from death more than once. You cannot destroy me. You are powerless before me. Even now, your master squirms in my grasp, his blessing taken. See this as your final warning.” Seth released the man and let him plummet to the ground. He heard the snap of both the man’s legs, and watched him crumple into a twisted pile of limbs. He would live, but his recovery would be hard and long. Seth pointed a slender finger down to where the broken man lay beneath him, watching the man’s neck twist until their eyes met. “Your son belongs to me until I see fit to return him.” Then Seth was gone, racing across the plane of power only to reappear upon the field of battle outside the gates of Drakenhurst.
Reaching out, he clutched the dozens of minuscule auras littered about the field, ripping them from the pendants, discarded armor, and coins that lay about the land. It had been a clever
ruse while it lasted; imbuing all the objects with magical locational markers in order to transport an entire army to a known location. It was an amazing gift the assassin had been given. Too bad he used it for evil and war. The boy was a different matter. His gift was single teleportation, but he was merely a messenger and spy, trying to live up to his father’s expectations. Seth knew how it felt to want to make a father proud. Even so, it was time to dole out the boy’s punishment.
Leaping into the air, Seth soared over the castle walls as cheers greeted him. The defenders there were thankful that the behemoth had never made it to their posts. He was thankful too. Sweeping over the darkening city, Seth settled upon a cool breeze and looked at all the progress they had made below. Drakenhurst had really started to blossom. With the guidance of himself and Sara it had become a thriving city with plenty to eat and excess even to trade. But his time was coming to an end here. Physically he’d be staying, however long it took, but it now was the time for him to realize his true limitations, his true purpose. It would be left to those he trusted to continue his work on this mortal plane. His discovery of just moments ago, an entire realm of power and energy, meant that he had much to learn and fast. Something was coming. All he could do was hope that he was on the right path when it arrived. Of that much he was certain.
Winging down to the courtyard below, Seth landed mere feet from his bride and the boy called Gulteth. Reaching within the boy, Seth tweaked his aura so that his ability would remain latent until he was older when he’d relearned what it was to be human.
“Your father’s plans have come to an end, Gulteth. I have traveled to your homeland and put a stop to his attacks,” Seth said, watching the boy’s expression turn grim as his eyes cast down towards the ground. “He lives still, though I’ve taken from him his blessing.” The boy’s eyes raised once more, looking to Sara first and then to him, perhaps gauging whether or not they would kill him. “For your part in these attacks, you will remain with us here in Drakenhurst, or wherever we might travel until which time we grant you freedom.”
Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) Page 200
