Dawn of Man (Thanos Book 1)

by Watson, Thomas A

  “It’s going to hurt, so tense your body when the explosion sounds.” Looking down at his feet, he said, “Purgyon lartcuz polbavic ah nunza.” The powder glowed, and the glowing flowed to Ahnon’s feet and ran up his legs then faded. “They’re coming. Don’t be afraid, sire,” Ahnon said, steadying his breathing.

  “I won’t be scared, Ahnon. Father asked me to show them no weakness,” Jedek said with determination.

  Ahnon turned around and looked back down the hallway, taking a casual stance and sheathing his staff sword then rested his hands on it. Then, a group appeared at the T and looked toward them, several letting out shouts. From down the hall, they heard someone with authority yell, and the group kneeled. “Uh-oh,” Jedek said.

  “What?” Ahnon asked.

  “It’s the boss.”

  “What does he look like?” Ahnon asked, and Jedek described him. “Sounds like one of the brothers. Good work, sire,” Ahnon said, seeing blond hair come around the corner. “Remember what I told you,” Ahnon said in a low voice as the man approached, looking like what Jedek described.

  “I told you he would come, cow. Look who’s stupid now, Ryetan!” Jedek yelled from Ahnon’s back, making Ahnon grin.

  The man laughed and walked toward them without a care in the world. “No, Jedek, that was my brother. I’m Ental, and I’m not as nice as Ryetan.”

  “You look like a baboon’s butt to me,” Ahnon said, making Ental pause then stop.

  “You must be the notorious Ahnon. Ryetan is going to be so mad when I kill you. Those mini stars you threw caught him in the face. It looks like it’s going to leave a scar no matter what magic we try,” Ental said with a fake smile.

  “My condolences, and tell him for me, ‘The pain doesn’t go away…ever,’” Ahnon said, smiling, and his was genuine.

  “I think I’ll take you alive because I would really like to know how you did that. He is almost tearing his face off, and the cuts aren’t that big,” Ental said, his fake smile turning into a vicious grin.

  “Can’t do that. It’s a secret,” Ahnon said. “What makes you think you’re good enough to take me? I’ve waded through your kytensa like they weren’t even there. You’re nothing but a lap dog that I can kill at will.”

  “You remember your words when you hear your sire scream, sho-ka!” he yelled.

  “Ah, did I make the little baby mad?” Ahnon teased.

  “You talk tough for someone who is about to know death, and you don’t have anything ready for me,” Ental said, drawing his sword.

  “Don’t have to,” Ahnon said. “You’re already dead; you just don’t recognize it yet.”

  Ental laughed, then worry replaced calm when he saw the grin on Ahnon’s face. Ental froze and slowly looked around then spotted the crystal ball that was now a deep black and looked like it was boiling inside. The men behind Ental saw where he was looking and screamed. “Don’t move!” Ental shouted, but they turned and ran, activating the magic.

  The ball let out a ground-shaking explosion, filling the hallway with a deep, black fire that melted the very stones of the castle as it shook the ground miles away. When the ball exploded, Ahnon focused his mind and body, pushing with everything he had.

  Jedek thought his arms were going to be torn from his body as Ahnon shot upward. His legs slipped off Ahnon. With his hands still tied and around his sho-ka’s neck, he followed Ahnon like a cape in the wind as Jedek was sure his stomach was still back on the balcony. Jedek’s vision started to go black around the edges, and then they hit the apex of the jump, and his body felt much better without the world of Thanos on his chest.

  Then they started the fall, and unable to help it, Jedek, screamed as they descended to the fourth floor balcony. Ahnon held onto Jedek’s hands so he wouldn’t slip off, gathering what he had left in him. Ahnon pointed at the balcony and couldn’t get his mind to focus on the words. “Salma teno!” he shouted, and they jerked to a slow descent ten feet above the balcony.

  When they touched down, Ahnon couldn’t breathe as Jedek was choking him. Falling to his knees, Ahnon threw Jedek over his back unintentionally. Jedek hit the floor and rolled then jumped up. He looked down the hall and noticed the dead bodies of many soldiers, a few bhari, and a lot of kytensa in the hall. Moving toward Kenna’s apartment, he stopped and turned around, seeing Ahnon vomit up blood on his hands and knees. “Ahnon,” he said, running over to him.

  “Just give me a second, sire. I need to breathe.”

  “I’ll be right back; just wait here,” Jedek said, and Ahnon grabbed his arm.

  “They are in her room, sire. I have to go,” Ahnon said, forcing himself to stand.

  “How can you tell?” Jedek asked, looking down the hallway.

  “I can hear them talking to Kenna, and Minos is in a locked room, wanting out. I’ll go first. If I’m not successful, let Minos out, and run,” Ahnon said, stumbling down the hall, pulling his staff sword. “Hold up your hands.”

  Jedek did and watched the blade slice the rope off with a swing. “Not to sound ungrateful, but you could’ve given me a knife.”

  “Sorry, sire,” Ahnon said, stopping at the door. Closing his eyes, Ahnon faced it, and Jedek could hear Minos barking. Then, he heard Kenna scream. “Open the door, and remember what I told you,” Ahnon said, crouching down.

  Jedek pushed the door open as Ahnon rushed into the room. A man was holding Kenna up by her throat, and two others were standing beside them. Seeing the door open, they turned, but Ahnon was already on them, moving as a blur to the eye. He swung at the one holding Kenna then brought the blade back around, passing it through the other two as they slumped to the ground.

  Jedek was looking at the man holding Kenna, and when Ahnon swung his sword, the man lowered Kenna back to her bed. But the man was still holding her by the throat. Seeing the other two fall, Jedek charged the room, heading to the man holding Kenna. As he ran at the man, Jedek watched his head tilt forward and roll off his neck. Then, he watched the body follow the head to the floor. Kenna jumped off the bed and ran over to him.

  It was only then that Jedek noticed the bodies everywhere in the room. The furniture was destroyed, and there were black marks all over the walls. Karme was a few feet away, still holding her sword but covered in blood with a pool of it around her head. Looking further, he saw only part of Akene, and tears filled his eyes. Moving over, he looked behind Akene and found his mother holding a sword with another through her chest.

  Jedek’s world crashed as he hit his knees, pulling Kenna with him to the floor. He couldn’t think, and he slowly looked at Kenna. He could see her talking but didn’t hear anything and tried to focus on her. Then, like she was coming from a long way off, he heard her voice getting closer.

  “Jedek, I tried. I promise I tried, but I couldn’t do anything. I grabbed a sword, but they just knocked it out of my hands. I jumped on them and tried to bite and claw them, but they just hit me, knocking me out. When I came around, they were dead, and I heard Minos attacking someone in the other room, and these three came!” she wailed.

  Ahnon shook his head, hearing the kids but also other loud noises getting closer. “So it starts here,” Ahnon said, pulling his body up using his staff. He walked over and pulled both of the kids up. “Listen and be quiet; they’re coming.”

  “Kenna, get what you can,” Ahnon told her. “Jedek, let Minos out.” He walked over to the bed. “I can do one more,” Ahnon said, throwing a pinch of powder on the floor. Clearing his mind, he snapped, “Gadtendza,” and drove the end of his staff into the powder, making sparks shoot up.

  Ahnon dropped to the floor, and his pack, his other spell pouches, and Jedek’s pouch and sword landed with him. Grabbing his pouches, he reached in and pulled out a bottle of green, glowing liquid and drained it as the kids came over. Kenna was in a night gown with a bundle over her shoulder. Jedek was standing beside her with Minos, who was covered in blood.

  “How bad is he hurt?” Ahnon asked.

 
Patting Minos on the back, Jedek said, “It’s not his blood.”

  “Are you two ready?” Ahnon asked.

  “Ahnon, you’re going to die if you keep it up,” Jedek warned. “That’s why you keep throwing up blood.”

  “I know, but I just got a second wind,” Ahnon said, holding up the empty bottle, already feeling his body getting energized. “Use double and half on you; then, do one on Kenna,” Ahnon said, jumping up.

  “Ahnon, they took my pouch,” Jedek said, and Ahnon pointed at the bed, where the pouch lay. “How?” Jedek asked.

  “I made it; I can call it. Don’t rush, but don’t dilly dally. The three brothers are coming, and they sound really mad for some reason. I’m not going to lie; I’m too tired to face them. They will kill us if they get close. I can’t stop them. I’m moving to the door to set the hallway up. Then, we leave,” Ahnon said, moving past them.

  He grabbed a handful of foot spikes then sprinkled them with some powder and waved his hand, speaking and watching the spikes disappear from sight but still felt them in his hand. “Bet you never saw this before,” he said and threw them down hall. Grabbing a handful of glass balls, he threw them further. Hitting the floor, they shattered, filling the hallway with the thick, green smoke.

  Closing the door quickly, he moved over to the bodies. Karme was surrounded by a wall of kytensa. “You took more than five,” he mumbled. “You fought with honor. It was my honor to know you and call you friend. We will meet again as warriors and fight side by side once more.” He smiled and leaned down, cutting a lock of her hair. Then he did the same for Akene then Eira.

  Walking over to the bed, he ripped off the sheet and tied two large slings that he crossed over his body. Seeing the kids standing at the balcony, he walked over. “Okay, Jedek on my left and Kenna on my right. Minos, kill anyone that comes in that’s not a friend.”

  “Okay, I will. Protect the little ones,” he said, panting.

  “You can’t leave him!” they both shouted.

  Ahnon stood. “You do realize we are going to fly over the ocean. I really don’t recommend dropping in the middle of it. We can’t swim it.”

  “He can fight. We need him,” Jedek said, motioning to him and Kenna.

  “What am I here for?” Ahnon asked.

  “To save us,” Jedek said in a low voice.

  Ahnon let out a sigh. “Do a double and half on me,” he said, turning around to the leftover sheet on the floor. He made a sling for Minos and called him over. “Minos, you will not move until we touch land, or you will kill us. We are flying, so you must be still,” Ahnon said, tying the sheet around him with his four legs sticking out.

  “I be good but don’t fall,” Minos said, standing rigid.

  Ahnon put the sling on and stood up, grunting. “Sure you don’t want to take the bed? We could use it to float on,” he said, walking over.

  “Thank you, Ahnon,” Kenna said, kissing his cheek.

  “Put your sack on your back,” he said as Jedek did the double and half. Feeling much stronger, and Minos wasn’t taking him to his knees, Ahnon smiled at both of them. “They will be here soon. We have to leave, but we will be back one day; I promise you. Once we leave, don’t talk to me. I’m going to have to concentrate really hard.”

  “Ahnon, you fly with me all the time, and we talk,” Jedek said.

  “I don’t have time to explain, Jedek. We have to go.” To drive the point home, they heard coughing and gagging in the hallway followed by howls of pain. The kids jumped in the slings on each side of his body as he pulled out a packet, standing up and feeling the weight. “Amu kima essuru,” Ahnon said, rubbing the packet across his chest. It was turning gold as he walked over to the balcony and stepped up on the handrail as pounding started on the door.

  Ahnon stepped off, and they plummeted toward the ground with Kenna screaming and Jedek squeezing him tight. Minos was standing like a statue, wondering if he should have stayed behind as the gold disappeared on Ahnon’s chest, and they stopped falling. Lifting up over the castle, Ahnon moved over the city.

  Down below, Michi and the last six bhari had been making a last stand against the kytensa. Knowing the garrison on the other side of the city would never make it, the group was preparing to die in magic. Then they heard a loud roar from a crowd and looked up see admiral Gither leading all the sailors in port in a charge. With tens of thousands behind him, the admiral ran to Michi, and they swarmed over the kytensa with sheer numbers.

  Moving toward the castle, Michi looked up and saw a figure flying overhead with two kids and a dog. “Admiral, they live!” Michi shouted, and the crowd looked up, letting out a huge cheer upon seeing the figure fly off over the city. “Kill them all, and take no prisoners!” Michi yelled, and the mass of sailors surged forward with bloodlust, killing as they went.

  Chapter 16

  Kenna looked at the city below them and could tell they were picking up speed. Looking forward, she watched as they raced up and over the mountains, and in a few minutes, she saw Jaclom in the distance. She had flown with Michi several times, and they had gone fast but not for very long, and the wind was starting to make it hard to keep her eyes open. What worried her was they were still picking up speed and a lot of it.

  The air in front of them started getting hazy then started shimmering, and the wind quit, but they were still flying and getting faster, blowing over the city and coves of Jaclom in less than a second. To Kenna’s horror, she noticed they were getting closer to the water but stopped about twenty feet above the surface. When she looked to her side, the world was just a blur and made her sick, so she just looked ahead. As an afterthought, she looked behind them.

  She squeezed Jedek’s arm to get his attention and nodded behind them. The water behind them was shooting up in the air in their wake as they flew. “How fast do you have to go to do that?” she whispered.

  “We probably don’t want to know,” Jedek said, seeing the water shoot up behind them higher than they were flying.

  “Whisper,” she told him in a whisper.

  “We just can’t bother him,” Jedek said in a normal volume, looking around the vast expanse of ocean. Suddenly, he understood what Ahnon meant about not being able to swim. He was always on a boat, and they had life boats. Out here, it was just see how long you could swim.

  “Jedek, we couldn’t leave Minos,” Kenna said.

  “How did you know that is what I was thinking?” he asked, stunned.

  “You were looking at him,” she said and felt Ahnon change direction. Straight ahead on the horizon was a ship, and they were heading straight for it. “Are we going to land on it?” she asked Jedek.

  “No, we’re going too fast,” Jedek said, and the ship that was on the horizon was suddenly in front of them, and Ahnon dropped down to the water’s edge just before they struck the ship. The impact was only a split second, and they were over a mile away before either one turned around. The ship split in half just as it disappeared from sight. Then they felt Ahnon change directions again and lift back up to twenty feet.

  Out of nowhere, a sea gull slammed into the shield in front of them and was pinned by the air holding it in place. “Ah, poor bird,” Kenna said.

  “He should’ve moved,” Jedek said.

  “Jedek, I don’t think anything can move out of our way.”

  “Yeah, I’m just wondering why he wanted to destroy that ship. I can’t even imagine how fast we’re going, but we have to be far from land, and those sailors can’t swim that far. They never had a chance to even get the life boats.”

  “That was a Multar ship.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Well, it had a Multar flag,” she said.

  “I hope they all drown then,” Jedek replied.

  “I was kind of hoping they would get eaten by sharks or a sea dragon,” Kenna admitted.

  “Oh yeah, that’s much better,” Jedek said, looking at the suns.

  “What are you looking at them for?” she asked.<
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  “We’re going just a little southeast, and we left Gratu over an hour ago.”

  “How long can Ahnon fly?” she asked slowly.

  “I don’t know?” Jedek answered.

  “Jedek, Karme—” Kenna stopped and closed her eyes, and Jedek squeezed her hand. “Karme was teaching me maps and countries. If we are going southeast, we are heading toward Brant or Racor, and that’s over a thousand miles.”

  “I was looking at a map with my dad when they attacked,” he said. “It’s almost fifteen hundred miles.”

  “Your dad?” she asked with tears running down her face.

  “Yes—” he stopped. “He fought them as best he could, but there were just too many of them. I was worried they had gotten Ahnon,” Jedek admitted, nodding to his sho-ka.

  “He wasn’t with you?” she asked, shocked.

  “He leaves me alone, Kenna, plus Dad and Theobald were there,” Jedek replied, feeling his throat tighten. “Ahnon was going to see what Michi wanted at the west wall.”

  “Well, one of the kytensa that came in my room said they lost over a hundred kytensa around the gardens,” she said. “Then they were worried about the brothers getting mad about a bunch of kytensa getting killed in the great hall. I figured you and Ahnon had escaped over the west wall.”

  “No, Ahnon agreed with me that we had to check on you and mom,” Jedek said, fighting the tears.

  “You can cry. I won’t tell.”

  Jedek shook his head. “No. Dad told me to be strong and don’t let them get the pleasure of making me cry. I’ll see them again,” he said, sounding sure.

  “You really think so?” she asked.

  “Yes, I do. My dad told me life is a journey, and this is only a stop.”

  “I can’t wait to see them,” Kenna said, wiping her eyes, determined not to cry again. “I like my family, but I loved yours. Thank you for sharing them with me.”

  “I just have Ahnon now,” Jedek said, laying his head on Ahnon’s shoulder.

  “What about me? We did get married,” she reminded him.

  Jedek sighed. “Kenna, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I really don’t want you in danger. It makes me feel…funny,” Jedek admitted.