The Judge

by Jonathan Yanez

  Orion was the ferryman, tasked with bringing travelers to and from The Island. Morrigan was one of only a few sorceresses that remained, and when the two so chose, they could create a portal that linked The Island with the rest of the known world. Soon the crackling beside them widened and a window was opened about the same height as a door but twice as wide. On the other side of the window, where the rest of the courtyard of the palace should have been, stood an entirely different scene.

  Sand stretched underfoot as far as the eye could see and a noise of waves crashing could be heard loud and clear. They were being transported to a beach on the Shetland Island were Laren was being held against her will.

  There were shouts from the Elite crowd around them.

  “Bring her back safe!”

  “Good luck!”

  “Kill them all!”

  Lu was the first through, followed by Caderyn and Connor. It wasn’t Connor’s first time stepping through a portal but still he tensed as he walked through. He expected to feel something. A jolt? A cold chill? But just like before there was nothing. He simply took another step in the palace’s courtyard but instead of his foot hitting hard stone ground, it sunk into sand.

  There was a loud snap that echoed through the air as Morrigan and Orion also stepped through and closed the portal behind them.

  “If Julie is here then Vercin will know that we have arrived,” Morrigan advised. “Sorceresses can sense when a portal has been opened nearby.”

  Caderyn nodded as the group huddled on the beach. It reminded Connor of a football huddle he had participated in so many times before. Unlike a football huddle, however, someone’s life now hung in the balance. Someone he cared for very much.

  “Morrigan, you and Orion will hold here and make sure that we have an exit when we get back,” Caderyn said. “More than likely we’ll be coming fast, so be ready.”

  Connor could see in both Morrigan and Orion’s eyes that they would have rather come but they both nodded obediently. “Lu, Connor, stay low and stay together. We have the element of surprise with us now but that can be lost in a moment if we’re not careful.”

  The sun was down now and the sky dark as Connor looked at his father, nodding. He was beginning to really like the father he had never known and he wasn’t even having to try. His father had a similar build as himself with a close cut grey and white beard and long hair that was pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Let’s get going,” Lu said, pulling his hood tightly around his face. “There’s blood to be spilled.”

  Chapter 3

  The run down the beach was fast. All three men turned to their Elite gene for speed. The same gene that made them more than normal. The gene that had decided Connor’s fate and named him as Judge.

  Connor kicked up sand behind him as his feet flew across the beach. He knew he should be concentrating on not making noise or warily eyeing the hills to his left, looking for any enemy sentries, but he couldn’t. All he could think about was his talk with Katie.

  You made the right decision. You told her as soon as you knew and that was the right thing to do. She would have done the same for you. But the expression on her face, you broke her heart.

  The three men rounded a corner and a large foreboding shape came into sight, it was a castle.

  It wasn’t the kind of castle that once stood on the Abelardus estate, or even the castle that had housed his father and the other inmates of Karnag. This castle was old and rundown. In its dilapidated state, it looked more like a fort than a castle. One tall tower stood in the middle of the rest of the decrepit stone walls and ill-kept supporting structures.

  Caderyn took the lead and maneuvered down the beach, his eyes ever watchful of the sea to his right and the open fields to his left.

  The trio stopped behind a dune on the beach directly parallel to the castle. They had seen no one and thus far had run the length of the beach in silence. Three pairs of eyes scanned the fort but even aided by their Elite eyesight, they failed to pick up any sign of the enemy.

  Lu was the first to break the silence. “No one outside. I’m going to break Randolph’s neck if he gave us the wrong information.”

  Connor thought about the possibility that Randolph had been wrong or had even set them up to be ambushed. Randolph Ulfric was a member of the only Elite family who had sided with Vercin. His questionable past with Connor and the Abelardus family had only recently changed from foe to friend.

  “We’re here now and we have to trust that he was telling us the truth,” Caderyn said. “We move in quickly. Once they’ve spotted us, all hell is going to break loose, so keep moving. Priority one is Laren’s safety.” Caderyn turned to Lu and gave him an intense stare. “Understood? We go in, get Laren, and get out.”

  Lu furrowed his brow. “Take it easy, Father Time. My sister is top of the priority list for me, too. I just may kill a few people along the way.”

  Connor took a deep breath in through his nose and let it go slowly through his mouth. He unbuckled the war axe that hung on his back beneath his black cloak. The war axe had been provided for him along with a long knife that was attached to the side of his boot. He looked sideways at Caderyn and Lu as the three readied themselves for the chaos that would soon ensue.

  Caderyn held two short knives, one in each hand, while Lu had refused any weapon, saying his fists were more than he needed. The three called on their inner beasts now; the raw power that their Elite gene provided. That brute force that made them faster, stronger, more animalistic, kicked in and without a sound, they charged.

  Connor’s vision was red and his teeth felt alien as his fangs sprouted to nearly twice their size. The men were across the beach and clearing the short meadow on their way to the fort in seconds. Still no one came to meet them.

  The fort took on more of a shape as they got closer. It was in worse repair than they had thought. The outside wall was made of stone and crumbling in a dozen different places. There were two dilapidated stone buildings inside the outer wall and the tower they had seen from the beach.

  Lu was the first to the wall and cleared the eight-foot obstacle in a single leap. Caderyn was next and didn’t even pause as his legs propelled him upward. He was lost to sight behind the wall.

  Connor sucked in a large breath of the cool night air and readied himself for the jump. Feet driving into the short grass, he leaned forward and pushed off as hard as he could. His body was driven through the air like he was flying. He cleared the wall with plenty of height to spare.

  It was a dark night and Connor gritted his teeth as he prepared for the jolt landing was sure to bring. His cloak flew behind him as his feet hit the ground with a thud that was much too loud for a surprise assault.

  Connor sat crouched, the heavy axe firmly in his hands as he took in his surroundings. Lu was nearly to one of the two buildings, still at a dead run. Caderyn had landed a few feet to his right and motioned Connor to follow.

  All ideas of stealth soon evaporated as Connor and Caderyn both stood wide eyed, watching Lu hit the door of the nearest building like a battering ram and disappear inside.

  Chapter 4

  Screams and shouts shattered the night air as men woke from their beds to find a madman hellbent on destruction in their barracks. Lights turned on in every window.

  “This maniac is going to get us killed,” Caderyn said under his breath. “Connor, the tower—that’s were Randolph said she was being held.”

  Connor understood his father was asking for his decision. He was the Judge now and he would have to make tough choices like this in the future.

  “Lu made his decision and we have to make ours. Laren is the first and only priority.”

  Caderyn’s eyes twinkled as he nodded and followed Connor.

  Connor gritted his teeth, hating what he had said. But it was the only choice to make. Lu knew the plan and had decided to give in to revenge. He would get Laren first and then come back for Lu.

  Lu had bulldozed the buil
ding to their left and his roars could be heard amongst the screams and shouts of the camp’s inhabitants. Now Elites streamed out of the building to their right as well as the tower that stood directly in between the two structures.

  Connor and his father passed the men coming out of the building to their right as they stumbled out of the door, rubbing sleep from their eyes and fumbling with weapons and torches.

  The men streaming out of the tower directly in front of them were a whole different story. There was only one way into the tower and one way out and a dozen or more Elite warriors stood in their path.

  Connor had seconds to gather the information being relayed to his brain through red eyes before the first collision with the enemy.

  They were all clad in the same clothing. A kind of uniform Vercin had chosen for his army of Elites was Connor’s best guess. Black boots, dark green military pants and shirt with a deep brown Kevlar vest as armor. The dozen or so men carried a variety of weapons from maces to swords. There were no guns or bows among them. Both bullets and arrows were painful to a member of the Elite race but not life threatening. It took the blunt traumatic force of one Elite striking another to cause serious injury and death.

  Connor slammed into the lead soldier. He shoved the handle of his axe upward, making violent contact with the man’s neck and skull. Blood sprayed in every direction as he rolled and continued to run forward.

  Connor had never been a violent person and before this night had only ever killed one Elite and that was only to ensure the safety of Lu and Laren. Now, eyes red and with enemies in all directions, he was forced with the decision to kill again.

  He focused on what he had to do and put the idea that he could actually end life behind him. If he was going to survive the night he needed to be focused. He was doing this to rescue the woman he now knew he loved. Connor had no intention of killing anyone if he could help it. The face of the man he had killed still haunted his dreams. Connor knew if the time came where it meant Laren’s life or someone else’s, he would have to kill again.

  Connor dodged a blow from his left as he ran and caught a glimpse of Caderyn to his right. His father wielded both knives like a surgeon.

  Although somewhat inexperienced with weapons and fighting, Connor was young, fast, and strong. This, coupled with the fact that he was a Judge, made him a danger to anyone on the battlefield. Caderyn was older now. He didn’t move as fast as he once did and his arms didn’t hold the same strength they had as a young man, but Caderyn was a seasoned warrior and a ferocious Judge in his own day.

  Caderyn anticipated every move the guards made before they made it, choosing to either strike before or follow up after the enemies’ attack. While Connor looked over, Caderyn ran forward, throwing both knives at the closest two guards. The knives found their targets, sticking hilt-deep in their throats. The unlucky soldiers stumbled, groping at the knives protruding from their skin. Caderyn reached them a second later, pulled both knives out—still at a dead run—and engaged his next obstacle without a pause.

  Connor found himself grateful he would never have to face his father on the battlefield as he turned his attention back to the fight. He ducked under his next attacker, sliding the sharp head of his war axe across his opponent’s chest, cutting the Kevlar vest and skin but holding back so the blade wouldn’t penetrate the soldier’s sternum.

  Soldiers were now beginning to hesitate, becoming less eager to engage Caderyn and Connor after seeing half of their number fall within seconds. A few sidestepped the two, making Connor’s job that much easier.

  The last two men that stood in Connor’s path were large and muscular. Their shoulders spanned almost the breadth of Lu’s. One held a large club, the other a sinister-looking spear. Connor refused to back down, even increasing his speed as he attacked them.

  Black cloak flapping behind him, he fell to his knees, letting his forward momentum send him sliding under the spear thrust and club swing. He collided with the pair of guards’ exposed legs.

  Connor swung the black axe with all the power that he could bring. It was enough as both men fell to the ground, howling in pain, grabbing at their near-severed legs.

  Content that his opponents were down, Connor jumped up and entered the tower’s double wooden doors. The main room was large with stone floors and torches that lit the interior. There was a winding staircase to the left.

  Connor almost jumped as the doors slammed behind him. Wheeling around, axe in hand, he met the red eyes of his father.

  “Easy, killer, it’s me. No time to slow down now. We may have taken them off guard but they’ll be back.” Caderyn finished securing the doors and wiped off dark blood from his two knives.

  “I didn’t know you could fight like that.”

  Caderyn looked up, brushing a strand of long hair from his face. “To be honest, I didn’t know how well I was going to perform. I was afraid being locked up for so long would have made me rusty.”

  “Apparently not.”

  Caderyn furrowed his brow in an expression that was anything but happy. “Apparently not.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, it’s just that—Well, you would think that Vercin would guess we would try a rescue. There were about a dozen guards in the tower, maybe triple that number, and that would include the guards stationed outside in the two buildings, but still.”

  “You still think this could be a trap?”

  Caderyn pursed his lips. “No sentries posted during the night. Only thirty to forty guards total. And a few even turned away as we approached. These are not the bloodthirsty members of Karnag I expected. These are second tier soldiers.”

  Connor paused to give his father’s words thought. He was tingling with the adrenaline of battle. He wanted to run up the stairs to find Laren now that he was so close but he forced himself to stand and assess the situation. “You think Vercin wants us to free Laren, maybe even under-manning this position and stationing his weakest men here?”

  Caderyn shrugged. “It just seems too easy.”

  Connor nodded. “Easy or not, trap or no trap, I have to find Laren. If it is a trap, one of us should stay here and guard the door, in case Lu comes in or they gather and try to take back the tower.”

  Caderyn smiled as he sheathed his knives, clearly approving of Connor’s decision. “Go. I’ll yell if there’s trouble. Be careful.”

  Connor turned and ran across the stone floor, taking the spiral staircase steps two at a time. The tower wasn’t as tall as it had once seemed, and to Connor’s surprise there were only three levels. He ran up what seemed equivalent to five stories before the stairs ended and emptied onto the first wooden level.

  Axe poised and ready, he entered what looked like a waiting room. There were chairs spread out evenly with a desk at the far wall. A door opened to his left, like a doctor’s private office. The stairs resumed their ascent upward on the far side of the room, behind the door. Connor took a deep breath and kicked in the door, ready for anything, anything but what he actually found.

  Chapter 5

  The room was brightly lit with bulbs instead of torches and clean white walls. White linoleum tile was under foot and beakers and tubes covered the counters and walls.

  Connor had to blink to make sure he was actually seeing correctly. He had walked from a shabbily kept tower into a pristine scientist’s lab. Charts were pinned precisely on the wall and a Bunsen burner still heated gently in a corner. Connor stayed just a second longer to ensure that no one was hiding in the room before he shook the goosebumps from his skin and headed for the stairs again.

  There was something wrong about that room. Something eerie that he couldn’t quite place. Fear for Laren’s safety redoubled and lent speed to his steps.

  Connor found himself on the top floor in seconds. This one, like the last, was supported by a wooden floor. There was a long hall with torches lit on either side. Connor’s heart pounded as he saw a figure behind iron bars at the end of the hall. He st
arted to run even as he heard Laren shout a warning. A leg kicked out from the darkness, tripping him and sending him crashing into the rough wooden ground.

  Connor’s axe skidded into one of the many dark places not protected by the torch’s light. Connor rose to his feet and turned to meet this new threat. Blood came down his left temple where he had made contact with the ground. He refused to let this injury faze him as he reached for the knife attached to his left boot.

  “Connor, be careful—he’s dangerous!” Laren shouted.

  The man that stood in front of Connor looked anything but dangerous. He was average height and build with shoulder-length dark hair and pale skin. The only thing that set him apart or made him even remotely intimidating were his yellow eyes and deep set fangs.

  “Connor Moore? The new Judge? The savior of the Elite race? Oh, happy day!” His voice was thick and dripped past his lips in such a way that Connor wouldn’t tell if he was mocking him or actually happy.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, young man, give us a hug!” The man opened his arms wide and smiled.

  Connor didn’t make a move, knife poised and ready. “Who are you?”

  “Who am I? Well, that’s kind of an open-ended question, isn’t it, young man? I mean, I could answer that I am a man, or an Elite, to be more exact. I could answer with my name, or maybe my occupation as an artist, a recently freed inmate of Karnag or—well, you get the point.”

  Connor was getting the point. He now wrote the man off as a lunatic. “Leave now and you won’t get hurt. I’m only here for Laren, not to kill you.”

  The man’s yellow eyes stared at him blankly. There was an awkward pause before the man smiled and let out a huge laugh. “Oh, for a moment I thought you were being serious. Laren isn’t leaving and there’s no universe where you could hurt me. I don’t want to brag, Connor, but I’ve killed—” The man’s voice trailed off and he pointed into the air like he was counting. “Let’s see, carry the thousand and divide by pi, then there was the battle of 1750 and—well, I’ve lost count now, but let’s just agree on 2,892, give or take a few dozen.”