The Ancients: Book 3 in the Cedarstone Chronicles

by Sean Stone

  "Good evening, Nickolas," Kayla said gently. He stopped again. He could see the others now. The twelve druids approaching from behind the bushes and trees. She must have been concealing them. They were forming a circle around him. He should have known she wouldn't give him the chance to recuperate before their confrontation. He sent out a call to his disciples but he knew instantly that had not been received. Someone had gotten to them. Kayla must have gone to the house first. He was on his own. He turned slowly to face her.

  "Kayla," he whispered. She was just as he remembered her. Far younger looking than she ought to be. Radiant blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She gave him a fond smile that was quickly replaced with sorrow. "You've finally come to kill me then."

  "I've come to try and make you see reason. What you're doing is madness. It's dangerous and you know I can't let you do it. Just come home, Nickolas," she implored, her voice was full of desperation. She already knew that he wasn't going to agree.

  "This place is as much a home to me as anywhere else in the world," he replied, shaking his head.

  "Elysium is your home."

  "Elysium hasn't been my home for six hundred years. You banished me remember?" he said bitterly.

  "Do you remember why?" she said, mimicking his attitude. "What you did that night cannot be undone."

  "I'm not trying to undo it. I'm trying to correct it," Nick explained.

  "What do you think will happen if you restore Olivia to life? Do you think she'll forget that you murdered her in the first place? Do you think she'll just forgive you and the two of you can live happily ever after?"

  "There's only one way to find out."

  "No. There isn't," she said firmly. The discussion was over.

  "Let's just get this over with," he said sourly. He drew on what power he had left and threw a half-hearted attack which she blocked with little effort. She made no move to attack back. He knew that turning into smoke would not work, he'd done that when she'd possessed Arden back at the house and she had forced him back into his physical form easily enough. He considered running at her and attacking her physically, but despite what she'd done to him he still could not bring himself to lay his hands on her.

  "I can see you thinking of ways to defeat me, my son. But you cannot. So give this up and come with me. This is the last time I will ask you," she said. "I am willing to forgive you for what you have done. Nobody else will."

  "No," was the only reply he gave. She closed her eyes and the druids began to chant. She was gathering power, boosting her own for a massive attack. One that would devastate him. Whilst her eyes were close he seized the opportunity. He summoned all the power he could and turned into smoke. He shot out, creating twelve separate arms of smoke. Each one he thrust into the mouth of the druids. He journeyed down their gullets and filled their lungs. He choked them of all breath. Kayla opened her eyes when she heard their chokes. But she was too late to stop it. As Nick withdrew and solidified the twelve choked druids fell down dead.

  "What have you done?" Kayla asked, looking around in disbelief.

  "If I can't have my disciples it's only fair that you don't have yours," Nick said, a satisfied grin on his face.

  Kayla walked over to Arden's body and crouched down beside him. Nick couldn't deny a hint of pleasure that he was dead. She put her palm on his cheek and whispered something under her breath. "For centuries I have listened to the stories about you. I heard all the terrible things you've done. But I never fully believed them. I never accepted that you could be capable of such evil. Until tonight. Tonight I have seen it for myself. And if there was any doubt, any reluctance about what I have to do, you have removed it. I came here offering you forgiveness. I offer it no longer." She turned her face to him and he saw the fury. The same fury that he'd seen six hundred years ago when she'd caught him and Set on their way to the forbidden door in the temple. Nick's heart jolted with fright. It was a face he had hoped never to see again. But he stood his ground. Like a teenager standing up to his mother for the first time.

  She didn't move so much as a finger, but her attack came all the same. The branches of the mighty cedar tree that towered over Nick snaked down and seized him by the wrists. He struggled against it, but to no avail. He tried attacking the tree with his own magic, but it did nothing. Kayla was protecting it and she was too strong. She was at full power and he was not. The branches hauled him up off the ground and held him dangling helplessly above it. He kicked out with his legs but more branches came to hold him still.

  "Never have I felt such shame." She held out her hand and the ambrotos dagger flew from Nick's belt to her palm. She was the only person on earth, besides Nick, who could command it. "Did I really raise you so poorly? Or did Set corrupt you too deeply?"

  "Spare me your lectures. Just kill me and be done with it," Nick spat. He'd never been more disgusted by the woman standing before him. How dare she lecture him about being a good person.

  She flinched at his words and paused. "You really think I would kill you? You think I'm that much of a monster? No, my son, I am not going to kill you. As much as it pains me to admit it, I have to claim some responsibility for the man you have become. I gave you your first taste of the supernatural when I made you immortal. And now I have to correct that."

  "What do you mean?" he asked, panicking.

  She looked up at him sadly. "Making you immortal was a mistake. I am going to suck all of that stolen magic from you and I'm going to make you mortal again."

  "NO!" Nick shouted and began struggling wildly to get free. The tree only tightened its grip and increased the pressure on his limbs. Again he called to his disciples but again failed to make contact. "You might as well just kill me! What do you think my enemies will do when they find out I'm powerless and vulnerable to death?"

  Kayla ignored him. She held the dagger up in the night sky and began concentrating on it. It had been her dagger once, a long time ago. But it no longer was. Nick concentrated on the dagger as well. His dagger. He focused his power at it. The same power that was held within it. He felt the resonance and tapped into it. Kayla let out a cry and the dagger fell from her hand. Nick saw red extending up her forearm and grinned. He capitalised on her confusion and morphed into smoke, escaping from the tree's grasp. He moved out of the trees reach and quickly turned invisible.

  "The dagger is mine now. It answers to me," he said.

  Kayla looked about, trying to find him, but even her power could not overcome invisibility.

  "Nickolas, if I cannot make you mortal then I will have to kill you," she warned, but he knew that she wouldn't. He knew that she couldn't. Love would not let her.

  "It's a rather uncomfortable feeling, isn't it? Knowing that somebody who means you harm is lurking about, just out of sight. You have no choice but to wait for them to strike," he said. Whilst he spoke he began working on his spell. He'd recuperated just enough magic for what he planned but if he got it even a little wrong then he'd be finished. His magic would be spent.

  "I do not fear you, Nickolas. We both know you can't hurt me. Your magic is too weak. You need to regenerate," she replied. She was still looking around for him.

  "Did you know that Set's in town?" he asked. She stopped moving. Her mouth fell open. "I'll take that as a no. You should have scoped the place out before you acted. That's a lesson Set taught me. More recently he taught me something else." Nick reappeared in front of Kayla. She went to step forward to attack him, but her feet were rooted to the spot. She tried using magic, he could feel the effort exuding from her, but she was unable. His spell had blocked her magic.

  "What did he teach you?" she asked.

  "Oh, I think you know," Nick grinned again. "Don't worry, though, I'm not going to kill you. Or make you mortal. In fact, I'm going to make it so that nobody can ever kill you."

  "No, Nick please," Kayla said as the realisation dawned on her.

  "You cast a curse on two entire races a long time ago, didn't you? You committed a deed akin
to genocide and you have the audacity to come here and judge me. Well, now Set has provided me with half of that curse. Just the curse you used on the ancients. To turn them all to stone. I don't need as much power as you did because I'm only inflicting it on one person." As Nick spoke Kayla's legs up to the knee had already solidified. Nick stepped forward so he was right in from of her.

  "Please Nick, don't do this to me," she begged.

  "Did you really think you would be able to come here and beat me again? Did you really think I wasn't prepared? I lured you here, Kayla! I made sure that I attracted your attention. I gathered all this power so that I could beat you. I even allied with Set again so that I could take you down."

  "But why?" she asked. As if she didn't know.

  "Why? Why? You dare to ask me why? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY MOTHER!" he screamed in her face. All his fury was flying straight at her now. All these years he'd saved it up for her and now was the time to let it out. The curse had reached her waist and continued on up. "You were supposed to love me unconditionally. No matter what I did you were supposed to forgive me. You were supposed to give me all the love that my real mother never could. You were supposed to look after me. You took me in and promised all these things and then when I made one mistake, just one, you cast me aside. You sent me away, back into the world to fend for myself. And then you had the nerve to come here and judge the man that I became. You made me this man. You are the architect of everything that I have become! And now you can pay for that. Forever."

  She reached out and placed her hand on his cheek, stroking his face with her thumb. "Nickolas, my son, you're right," a tear rolled down her cheek, stopping at her lip. "It is my fault. I've failed you. I know. But give me the chance to put things right. Please." The curse reached her chest.

  "I did give you the chance," he spoke more softly now. "Why do you think I lured you here? Not to curse you. No. To give you the opportunity to be the mother you promised to be. To help me. But you chose to hurt me. So I'm going to hurt you." He hissed the words right in her face. She went to withdraw her hand but he covered it with his own, holding it against his face.

  "Please, Nickolas, you need me. You cannot trust Set. He will never let you fulfil your plans. He has too many enemies in the afterlife. He is using you to his own ends. I can help you stop him." Her eyes were filled with desperation and tears. It pained Nick to see her in such a pitiful way. He'd always thought of her as regal.

  "I don't trust Set. But I don't trust you either." Her neck turned to stone. It had nearly reached her hand. Nick pushed it against his face, trying to emblazon the memory of her touch in his mind. Despite everything she was still his mother and he still loved her, even if that was mingled with hate. A part of him wanted to stop what he was doing, but too much required her to be out of the way. A single tear fell from his eye.

  "I've watched you wander farther into darkness with every year. Please, don't go any deeper. I do love you, Nickolas. More than I have ever loved anybody. For as long as you live remember that. And promise me, you won't let Set get that bottle," Kayla said.

  Nick nodded. "I promise," he said. Then the curse took her face and she was a statue. Nick took his hand from her hers and stepped away from his stone mother, wiping the tears from his eyes. It was done. He bent down and picked up his dagger from the floor.

  He needed to get back to the house to find out what had happened to the disciples. They shouldn't have been out of contact for so long. He turned round and something collided with his chest, knocking him off his feet and down into the grass. His dagger shot off into the grass somewhere out of reach. He looked up and saw the oddest creature he'd seen in all the centuries he'd lived. It stood on two legs. Its whole body was covered in fur. It's arms hung at its sides, great talon like claws tipped its over-long fingers. It's nose and mouth had extended half into a muzzle. Its ears were canine and stood up on its head. Its eyes glowed yellow in the darkness and great sharp teeth hung from its mouth.

  "What the hell are you?" Nick asked as he climbed to his feet. It looked like the fight was not over yet. He called on his magic. There wasn't much left but there should be enough for one fight as long as he ended it quickly.

  "We've met before. Don't you remember? The day you murdered my grandfather?" the creature said. Its voice was low and growly.

  "Eric Royce?" Nick asked.

  "The one and only. We used Tenson's power to trigger the transformation early. Only got half way, though," he grinned, exposing even more menacing teeth.

  "Well, it's certainly an improvement on your normal look," Nick said. It explained what had happened to his disciples as well. The pack must have done something. They must have a sorcerer channelling power as well. "But you don't really think you're going to beat me even in that form do you?"

  "Of course not. That's why I didn't come alone." Nick looked around and saw more half-wolves approaching. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty. No more seemed to be coming. He hadn't brought the whole pack then. Maybe the power couldn't extend across them all. Or maybe he just didn't want to march an entire pack of half-wolves across the town. SIT would have a hell of a time covering that up.

  Nick readied himself for a fight. He'd already defeated one ancient and one ancient-jinni hybrid. Fifteen half-wolves should be no problem.

  Nick opened his mouth to speak but they attacked before he could. The first one who reached him lost his head straight away but it didn't make the others pause. He used his strength at first, fighting them hand to hand. It took less magic to increase his strength and speed than it did to cast spells. There were too many for him to match, though. Their claws and teeth were cutting him up, weakening him. He let our a blast of magic that knocked them all onto their backs. Then darted about, killing as many as he could before they could get back up. One leaped through the air, and Nick shot the shadow beam at him, obliterating him instantly. That made them pause. Nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of that. Little did they know that Nick did not have the power to do it again.

  "I've already killed six of you. And we haven't been fighting long. Do you really think you can beat me? Give up. Go home and I'll forget this ever happened. If you stay and continue to fight then I will kill you all. Even those of you who will inevitably flee will be hunted down and your deaths will be so gruesome that little werewolf cubs will tell them around campfires for centuries," Nick warned. He looked around at them all, making sure they all knew how serious he was.

  Eric stepped forward again. "Take him down," he said, and then they all charged at Nick again.

  *

  Richie looked on from the edge of the park as Nick fought the pack. In all his time alive Richie had never seen a half-transformed werewolf. It was a sight he would never forget as much as he wanted to. It was terrifying, not that he would ever admit that to anybody.

  "Are you sure you want us to get involved in this?" Victor asked. "Nick saved us from the Cult, remember?"

  "And we paid for that."

  "Exactly. We're even with him. Do you really want to risk turning him into an enemy again?" Victor asked.

  "One of his people murdered William. His right-hand man according to Clara. Even if Nick didn't give the order he will not stand by and let me kill Jamal. Best to neutralise him now whilst we have the chance. Don't you think?" Richie replied, turning to his friend.

  "I suppose so. But if this goes wrong…"

  "You can spend our last few minutes gloating before Nick kills us," Richie said and smiled. Victor laughed.

  "My god," Victor said. Richie looked over to see what had surprised him. Nick had transformed completely into smoke and was expanding across the park. The wolves were disappearing in the dark cloud and then flying out in bits and pieces. When Nick was a man again about half the pack was at his feet or scattered across the park. There were only four wolves left.

  "Let's go. Before he does that again," Richie said. He ran across the grass, his friend at his side, and his clan at his back. Clara had t
old him not to bring the whole clan. He'd tried arguing but she'd warned him that they would fail if he ignored her. Apparently, the seer had told her what to do. Richie knew better than to argue with a seer and so like the werewolves he had only brought twenty vampires. Isabella had been left behind. She was too impulsive and would almost certainly wind up getting herself killed so they'd kept the fight a secret from her.

  They tore straight into Nick and pulled him off his feet. Richie and the other vampires who had hold of Nick were punching, kicking, biting — anything that would cause some damage, but the wounds were healing as quickly as they opened.

  Nick screamed and threw them all off him. He landed on the grass, but he was not given the chance to get back up. Vampires and wolves jumped on him, attacking again. Some had weapons. Knives stabbed at Nick, metal bars crashed into him. Each blow forced him back down to the grass. Then Nick was gone. No warning. No noises. Just gone. Everybody looked around stupidly. Then came the first scream. A werewolf exploded into pieces at one end of the park. But Nick was not there. A vampire exploded at the other end. Still no Nick. Werewolves and vampires were dying all around them, but Nick was nowhere to be seen.

  "Where are you?" Eric screamed in frustration. Richie was more than just frustrated; he was embarrassed as well. All these people being made a mockery of by one man.

  "Right here," Nick said as he materialised behind Eric. He threw Eric across the park and then disappeared again.

  "Is this how you want to do this?" Richie called out into the air. "A game of hide and seek?"