Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1)

by Stephan Morse

  “I’m the cover if things go south,” He said.

  There was a quiver on his back with dozens of arrows. If he stayed hidden until an escape was needed then perhaps we could dent Daniel’s men. Or maybe I would be a pincushion by the time I tried to do anything.

  Daniel would hopefully be happy with the box, but I honestly doubted it. There was no reason for him to march in here with so many people when I, and the stupid remains, would have walked out in a day or two once the wolves got an all clear.

  We traveled through the woods at a high speed. Every so often I could see the older elf shoot ahead. He would stop and look around. Each time I nearly stumbled right into him.

  “Been searching for ’em by way of those beams. My boy says they run them around as they travel.” He said after our most recent near-collision.

  “Yeah,” I responded. Evan had told me that too.

  “Figure I’d set up here ’bouts.” He pointed up into one of the trees. I looked but couldn’t figure out how the old elf expected to get a clear shot on anything. In the distance, there was rustling which made the elf bolt up. “They’re close. You wander over, ask for your guy and make the offer.”

  “And you’ll be watchin’ over me?” Hell. His accent was contagious and I was poorly imitating it.

  “Like you were my own.” He didn’t even notice the slip. I was happy with his answer, though. The older elf seemed effective with those arrows.

  I grabbed at his arm before the old man could keep walking. He glared at my hand then rolled the chew in his cheek around to the other side.

  “Why the about face?” I asked.

  “Like I told that little girl, we all do what we need to when you’re protecting your own.” The old elf’s head and silver hair fell around his face. “You all tried to help. To save that child’s dream. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have treated you all so rude.”

  “What if someone hurts what’s yours?” I asked him. My friends, those who I claimed were in danger from Daniel’s little gathering.

  He let out one of those single syllable laughs before answering. “There’s always good old fashioned revenge.”

  We walked towards the sounds in the distance. It sounded like a car or van with a loud engine idling. Thoughts of how to approach Daniel kept coming into my mind and falling apart.

  Would I be willing to hurt Daniel if my things were damaged? It was just stuff, right? No. It was more than stuff, it was all mine, what little I owned in this world. Kahina and Evan included in a strange sort of way.

  A few more trees stood between us and a set of lights in the distance. Evan’s grandfather stopped traveling with me and rapidly climbed up a nearby tree. His body managed to avoid making more than a whisper of noise that was drowned out by the giant armored vehicle in the distance.

  “Shh,” He whispered to me. “He’s headed over. Don’t know how he found us. Go. I’ll watch your back.”

  There were four sets of lights bobbing in the distance, two of them could easily be attached to some sort of guns. A clever man would have found the time for a quip. Sector weapons came with different types of bullets for every situation. Only a brief flip of a switch and they’d issue a different type of death for every race. Not that it took special bullets to take me down. At least I used to think it didn’t.

  The lights drew closer. Both the flanking guns stepped out slightly to the sides and took beads on me. A third light scanned the darkness around in an attempt to see if I was alone. Brightness made it difficult to see who was facing me.

  Both my hands went up in the air, slowly. The only thing I carried was a wooden box that felt increasingly heavy. No weapons, no utility belt or shoe gun.

  “Crumfield,” I said. There was a vague outline in the distance that seemed like my friend.

  “Jeff.” I heard his voice come back. He was using my fake name, not something he commonly did, at least not without a hint of mockery. Daniel’s voice was professional and calculated.

  “Got your dead whatever here.” The box rattled a little bit as I shook it. Hell. Ashes don’t rattle.

  The fourth figure that I could make out hissed. Not a vampiric hiss, just an irritated human sucking in air. Daniel was positioned behind the newest person, almost subservient.

  “Look, the deal was to bring you Arnold. You asked me to track him, here he is.” I said loudly.

  “Mister Crumfield, is this your asset?” The fourth man said. He had a lisp that came with heavy weight.

  “Yes, sir,” Daniel answered. Slowly my eyes adapted to the intense lights. There were a few emotions passing across Daniel’s face. Anger? Irritation? Loathing? They were such brief flickers that it might have been imagined.

  “And you vouch for this man?” The heavyset person asked.

  “With my life, sir.” My friend answered.

  “That’s what you’ve placed on the line. Go get the little box and see if it’s real.” The heavy man waved a large meaty arm that barely had any contrast from the surrounding darkness.

  The other two lights were still locked on me. Part of me crossed my fingers in hopes that every story told of elven archers over the years were accurate. Their addictions were just a way of evening out the unfairness of their eyesight.

  Daniel got closer and reached out an arm. “The box, Jeff.”

  “Here,” I responded while giving him the box. Hopeful restraint prevented me from telling the agent to bend over first.

  “This is all that’s left?” Daniel asked quietly.

  “So the story goes,” I said.

  “You checked it yourself?”

  “No. Evan says it’s Arnold’s ashes,” I answered while wondering why the hell we were whispering. The volume cue was easy enough to pick up from Daniel, but it didn’t make sense.

  “What are you two mumbling about over there?” The heavyset man wiggled the fourth flashlight in our direction.

  “One moment, I’m checking out the box,” Daniel answered while sliding the box around. Inside something solid could be heard, like an uneven marble tumbling around. Both his eyes glanced down to the lid of the box, and on it was a completely different image than before.

  I squinted and tried to make out the new picture. Previously there had been a serpent of some sort. Now it was a hooded human shape. A cowl covered the face’s top half. Robes draped down with an intricately carved trimming. One of the figure’s hands was behind his back, a stylized nub and blade protruded out opposite sides.

  I looked at Daniel in confusion. Both of his eyes were peering directly into mine and the barest hint of a smile etched across his face. I knew that look. He was ecstatic and trying to hide it.

  “This is perfect, Jay,” He whispered quietly. “This is it. From here we can really get started.”

  “Is it Arnold?” The fourth man’s voice grew more annoying every time his mouth opened.

  “I’m sorry, man. Don’t shoot the messenger.” Daniel’s voice was still quiet. My eyes glanced down at wooden carving of a hooded figure. That blade behind the back had to mean something important.

  “What the hell, Crummy.” I tilted my head slightly and started shaking it back and forth. Why did the box look different? What was he sorry about?

  Daniel backed up quickly to the fourth man. They were still hidden behind those intense lights. My friend, the Sector agent, was into something shady and had gone stone-faced.

  “No. It’s a fake.” He said.

  “WHAT THE HELL, CRUMMY?” I exploded with anger at the person who acted like my friend. “I got you your stupid kid!”

  “He’s not stupid!” The fourth man yelled back. “He contained our only hope as a race!”

  “Sir?” Daniel’s voice was hard to hear over the blubbering leader of this little group. The larger man sounded like he was having a meltdown.

  “Do it. You warned him, we warned him. If he couldn’t recover the heir then there’s a price.” He blubbered while waving an arm accusingly.

&nb
sp; “What the hell, Crummy!” I leaned over and there was a click from both the men with guns. It made me freeze while imagining just how quickly they could fill me with holes.

  “Here you go, sir.” Daniel was speaking to the heavyset man. The two exchanged an item of some sort. My former friend shut off his light and there was a hint of a grin hanging in the near darkness.

  “We told you. Told you that failure was not an option.” The fourth guy shut off his flashlight too so I could see what he was holding. “This is the trigger for all the wired explosives lining your little home.”

  I started forward to try and tear the trigger away, but a quick series of warning shots destroyed the ground in front of me. Both guards had their weapons leveled back up in my face with their beams of light. Putting up an arm didn’t help block out the brightness.

  Hopefully, Evan’s grandfather was prepared to put an arrow into these two. Quickly.

  “One last chance, Jeff.” With two lights gone I could confirm the fourth man was indeed heavyset. He was older with formerly black hair fading to gray. “Tell us where Master Regious is, and all your little knick-knacks will be spared.”

  “Please tell him, Jeff, I can’t stop him from pressing that trigger if you don’t,” Daniel said.

  Kahina was right. The warning letter had also pointed the finger elsewhere. Was it this man? He was using Daniel, and Daniel in turn was using me. I slowly focused, pushing past the lights, pushing past the worry and honing in on the heavyset man.

  “That’s all there was,” I said while anger gradually built. Rage at being used, being pushed, with the need to make someone pay for all of it.

  “This isn’t enough to be a body, Jeff! Do you think we’re stupid?” Daniel said. He might be punched first. The agent deserved a sound thrashing.

  “Agent Crumfield makes a good point. There’ll be no more lies out of you, Jeff.” The fourth man held that button up high as if elevation implied a larger threat.

  “Don’t.” I shook my head.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to if you don’t come clean.” The man kept shaking and rolling his letters. I was trembling from anger that was only kept in check by a future full of bullets. “All our sources say you have Elo’dorian, and Arnold Regious should be close to him.”

  “That’s him.” I pointed and tried not to scream.

  “Don’t play stupid. It may suit you, but I won’t believe you’re this ignorant. You monsters are all together on this.” The fourth man said with his stupid chubby face.

  “What the hell is going on, Crummy?” I asked. Only Daniel wasn’t around anymore. He must have slipped off into the darkness behind the others.

  “Agent Crumfield is one of us and will lead the faithful forward. We’ll be ending you now. After all, thanks to him we know your weakness.” The blubbery man didn’t even notice Daniel’s absence, instead he moved one finger towards the trigger. “Last chance.”

  “I don’t know…” He cut me off and depressed the button. There was a sharp click and two explosions. Or maybe it was one.

  An arrow flew by unnoticed until the zip of noise caught up. The first gun-toting guard had time to turn and fire into the trees, but it wasn’t enough. Another feathered shaft slammed into his neck. Blood and lifeless thuds told me Evan’s grandfather hadn’t aimed to wound. I didn’t care.

  That little click of noise, like the decaying beep from a fire alarm, signaled the end of everything I owned. All that I owned was gone. My arms were shaking and something needed to pay for it. Daniel? No. Daniel’s favorite saying, the one he’d been telling me all along for a reason, don’t shoot the messenger. Crummy wasn’t the one who had pressed the button. The blubbery fourth man would go first.

  “Monster! Filth!” The man was screaming into the woods. “I’ll shoot you myself! Crippled, weak, you’re like he said you’d be!”

  Only thirty feet away was the man who had ended it all. A spike in anger overwhelmed me so suddenly I barely had time to register my actions. The coherent part of my mind was taking note of the remaining man and his desperate struggle to pull out his sidearm.

  Anger told me quite clearly that he recently destroyed everything I owned. My head pounded. Each heartbeat magnified with intensity, demanding retribution. Revenge. Something swift and sudden. Something that would be clearly understood. I would light this man ablaze and plant his head on a spike as a warning to everyone. To never touch what was mine again.

  Both lights had fallen to the ground, illuminating me as I closed the gap in one leap. A rush of air buffeted away from me pushing towards the ground. Another gathering of force caught around me as I slammed into the other man. Inertia threw off the landing.

  The man had been trained enough to aim his sidearm and pull the trigger.

  Screaming. Growling. Heated and venting all the rage I had. One side of my face was twisted in a snarl, the other passive and detached. This was for vengeance, but it was also a matter of course, an example must be set. Vague sensations of pressure accompanied a sudden movement which sent the man’s body flying away with excessive force. Moments later it would land near the convoy, but his head was still in my hands, sizzling as one side of his face charred.

  I performed exactly as warranted. Now the dead man was unimportant. My body twisted to hurl the remaining head towards Daniel’s armored trucks. Flames outlined their vehicles and made for easy targeting.

  My arm itched and head went fuzzy. Things started slipping out from under me. The ground spun and trees laughed from above. The fire was important somehow. The sensation from jumping over thirty feet to kill a man triggered buried memories that were slipping away.

  I stared into the distance watching battlefield chaos. Wheels were melting, cars aflame and overturned. Fire in the distance was important somehow. The heat grew in intensity as moments passed by. Crackling of branches and groaning wood accompanied howls and gunfire. Secondary explosions went off on other vehicles.

  Hell. What had I been doing?

  Everything felt unreal. My subconscious tried to flee repeatedly towards home, to check on that which was mine. Things I gathered over a lifetime of work. Personal belongings that meant more to me than anything rightfully should.

  “Boy.” Words sprang from nearby, but they were lost in the aquarium landscape my senses had become.

  “It’s not safe here. We’d best hightail it.” The man said. No matter how much I tried to bring myself to the now, those extra senses unfurled and re-wrapped over and over. My vision was broken in a strange kaleidoscope of images.

  Too many words pushed together. It felt like forever before everything registered. Half hearing, half tactile sensation imparted by vibrations. Both at one time overloaded me with a mismatched comparison. Teeth ground as my mind tried to reconcile what was happening amid the anger.

  Who would dare? Violation. Trespass. Danger to collection. Fire. Screaming. Fly. Need to check. Need to feel. Pink Meat pressed thing.

  My jaw clenched tight while I tried to focus, fighting against a strain that threatened to burst me apart. I had to concentrate on sending my senses out. To get away from myself before everything was ruined.

  Swelling in my throat died down but didn’t vanish. Rationality barely kept the lid on my boiler frustration. My focus stopped swimming and head ceased its denying shake. I cast my senses out quickly, spiraled across the landscape. Using myself as an anchor for everything I owned.

  “Boy, we need to go. Wait…” Someone said.

  I could feel a man’s hand reaching over to loosen my grip. One of the firearms was deforming in my grasp, either from heat or pressure. An accent twang cursed from pain. Steam rose from my skin and poured out from between my lips.

  “Shit.” The older man said in the distance.

  Quickly I flew out over a mental landscape, trailing after the thick bundle of links to my home’s possessions. My apartment, my basement, my storage of items. Cheap swords, rare comics, action figures and goodness knew what else.
Each one a thin thread bundled together to form a link. Stuff that shouldn’t matter but somehow did.

  “We’ve got to bind that up.” The words were muddled. Indistinct. It felt like Evan’s grandfather, but I was too torn up to care.

  My mind neared the sixty-mile mark. That was enough to nearly reach the city line. The horizon of other sight loomed ahead as a wall of white. That wouldn’t stop me this time. I would push past the barrier and see the truth of home.

  Evan’s grandfather kept speaking about things that didn’t matter to my strung out mind. Useless sensations flooded by. Muted howls echoed among the trees. Dozens of voices shouting at each other with demanding tones that felt like utter babble. There were too many voices and vibrations in my way.

  The land felt alive. Rain clouds had appeared. Their drops collided with the energy contained within each swaying tree. There was more than that. Tiny creatures huddled in foliage. Birds sat in their nests with heartbeats giving off ghostly images from each pulse.

  Explosions sent out shock waves. Air rippling by tingled against my skin. All this fed into my senses as I stood at the edge of my mental perceptions trying to bash down the immovable wall. I had to see my home and find out what happened. The upper range of my mind taunted me with indifference.

  There was a grunt of confusion in my ears that must have been Evan’s grandfather back at my body. More vibrations ripped through the area. Gunfire answered against the hum of growls and snarls. Explosions overpowered the other vibrations for a moment.

  Delirium fed me terrifying possibilities. Each pop of air might be another object in my home being reduced to ashes. I mentally threw myself at the wall of haze again and rebounded off. My mind was roaring in protest. The wall shifted slightly, a foot, maybe two.

  Physically both knees hurt for reasons I couldn’t understand. Then a jolt of pain shot through both palms and the side of my face. Daniel had lured me out too far away from everything I owned. Evan’s grandfather was speaking again, almost frantic. It sounded like he was cursing then ran off somewhere.