The Endless Knight: The Seekers Trilogy (The Watchers Series Book 6)

by T. C. Edge

  Ajax looks at me with some measure of ambiguity as I stumble my way to our destination. When we get back in the car, he comes out and says it.

  “You don’t know where you’re going, do you?” he asks blankly.

  “I’ll get us there,” I say confidently.

  “Where, exactly? This is like a wild goose chase.”

  “To where we need to be, AJ. Wherever we end up, that’s where we need to be. Drake told me that himself.”

  I see him roll his eyes and shake his head as he continues on, turning the car left and heading North. We pass by another couple of settlements that don’t seem right, and each time he gives a little sigh that begins to grate on me.

  It annoys me to think that he doesn’t trust me, and that he doesn’t trust my grandfather. Does he think I’ve come out here for my damned health?!

  “You don’t have to make that stupid little noise each time,” I say, unable to hold in my irritation.

  “What noise?”

  “That little sigh. For God’s sake, AJ, cut me some slack here. I’m trying, alright.”

  “Yeah, trying to get us killed. I should turn around and drive back.”

  “Since when did you become such a coward?”

  “Excuse me?!” he asks, skidding the car to a stop off the track, and turning his eyes to me.

  “You’re spending all your time with Vesuvia these days,” I shout, unable to hold it in any more, “and not doing your damn duty. And, finally, you get a chance to do some good, and you’re moaning and doubting every damn thing I do. If you wanna go, then go, I’ll walk the rest of the way on my own…”

  I get out of the car, swinging my bag onto my back as I go, and begin marching down the track. I’m stamping so hard I barely see him coming, but react just quick enough as he comes charging at me from behind.

  He moves to tackle me to the ground, but I’m swift enough to sidestep him, pushing him along so his momentum carries him into a thorn bush. Roaring, he bursts free of the leaves, little cuts inflicted on his skin from the thorns, and comes at me again.

  He swings at me, hard, a fire roaring inside his eyes.

  “You think you’re more special than me…” he calls, fists flying. “You always did!”

  I manage to hold back the storm, dodging the blows, but don’t fight back. He’s wild and panting, his focus incomplete, his emotions getting the better of him. Yet still, his natural gifts come forth, his arms moving faster, his large body looming ahead of me as I try to hold him back.

  Eventually, he manages to sneak through my defences. I see the attack coming, but it’s too strong and I can’t stop it, his fist moving through my palm and connecting with the left side of my face. My skull rattles and I move backwards, hitting the earth. And as I do, I spy the shape of a familiar town right ahead.

  “Stop!” I shout, holding my arms up as he comes down on me.

  He follows the look of my eyes, and sees the same town.

  “That’s it,” I pant, his heavy body holding me down. “I’m sure about it. That’s the place…”

  He takes a deep breath, and heaves his weight off me. For a moment, I stay down, before his hand comes out. I take it, and he pulls me to my feet so that we’re standing face to face.

  “This is stupid, AJ,” I say. “I’m sorry for what I said. I…I didn’t mean it.”

  Another large exhale of air pours out of him as he nods and locks eyes with mine.

  “I guess I’m sorry too. I just…I get the feeling you’re not telling me everything, that I’m not being kept in the loop.”

  “I know. I think we’ve just been on different paths these last couple of weeks,” I say, trying to get around the question. “But we’re here now. And we need to stand together. You’re my best friend, Ajax. And I need you.”

  “Don’t get soft on me, mate,” he says, a smile creeping onto his face. “Now come on, let’s check out this town.”

  Leaving the car off the side of the road, we wander down into the town, and I feel an instant recognition for the place. I move to the middle of the central square, and take a look around, and note the old frames of long dead cars, and the strewn rubble of buildings littering the floor. I turn to look left, and see the mountains in the distance, and the little remains of Knight’s Wall below. And then, my chin tilts up, and my eyes scan the sky, and there I see the faint sign of the moon beginning to appear, so faint behind the remaining light of the sun.

  But it’s there.

  I turn to Ajax, who watches on at me with hopeful eyes, our morph masks long since discarded and left in the car.

  “This the place?” he asks.

  I nod at him. “This is the place.”

  12

  AK1

  There’s a general sense of awkwardness between Ajax and I as we sit in the ruins of an old house, looking out into the square. The light is slowly beginning to change, its brightness fading a touch, the warm oncoming hues of sunset just starting to approach.

  I know, soon enough, I’m going to have to step out there and wait for the Seeker. I know, now, for certain that he will appear. And I know, too, that Ajax needs to stay here, hidden from view, and allow the scene to play out before him.

  What I don’t know, of course, is what will happen. All I’ve seen is the two of us here, at this place and at this time. What happens beyond that initial meeting is subject to doubt. I just have to hope that my instincts, and Drake’s, prove correct.

  Still, as we sit and wait, I find a question bubbling to the tip of my tongue, something that I never knew Ajax felt.

  “Did you mean what you said back there?” I ask. “That I think I’m more special than you?”

  He doesn’t answer for a second, clearly figuring out the right response as he fidgets with his feet. And yet, the delay is enough for me to know there’s some truth to it at least.

  “Sometimes,” he admits candidly. “I don’t know, it’s just an impression I’ve gotten in recent years. Maybe it’s just your desire for adventure, to be known. You’ve always wanted that a bit more than me, I think.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I think I’m more special than you. Really, I hate the idea that you think that. I’ve always thought you were stronger than me…”

  “No,” he says, cutting in. “That’s not what I mean. It’s not about strength, or power. It’s about you wanting to be a legend, like your parents. It’s as if you’ve thought that’s your right, you know.”

  “I don’t think it’s my right. Just my duty, I guess.”

  “Well, maybe you were right,” he says. “I mean, everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been through…most of it’s been through you. You’ve been more important to all of this than me. I guess, maybe I’m just being jealous.”

  “You shouldn’t be. We’ve been side by side on everything so far. We’ve done everything together. We’re a team, AJ, and that’ll never change.”

  “I know. It’s just this war. We left looking for adventure. I never expected this, Theo.”

  “Nor did I. But everything that’s happened so far has told me one thing: we were born for this, both of us. Athena’s always talking about believing in yourself, right, and having confidence in your abilities. Well, we should have confidence in ours. We should be proud of ours.”

  “Yeah, I’ve just felt a bit side-tracked lately.”

  “Because of Vesuvia?”

  He nods quietly.

  “I care about her, Theo.”

  “I know you do. And I think you two are great together. But right now, we’ve got a war to fight. That’s where our heads need to be at.”

  “And what about you? Velia and you seem to be getting along well.”

  Her face flashes across my eyes. I won’t admit it, not when I’m trying to be so stoic and strong, but I miss her already. I can understand exactly where Ajax is coming from. If it were Velia injured in that room, and I wasn’t having any luck with my visions, maybe I’d be doing exactly the same.


  “I like her,” I tell him. “We…we kissed the other night.”

  “You kissed?!”

  I shrug and try to act cool about it. Really, though, memories of that kiss are flooding my mind when they shouldn’t be. I need to keep my head in the game here.

  “Yeah, before she left. So, I get where you’re coming from, AJ, I really do.”

  “But right now you need to focus,” he says. His eyes move to the sky, taking in the changing light. “You think he’s on his way here now?”

  “I hope so. It would be a shame to come all this way for nothing, right?” The slight tickle of nerves in my voice must be obvious.

  “Yeah,” he says. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t get violent. You know, do what he was born and bred for.”

  “I’m hoping that there’s something else in him,” I say. “And if not, well…we tried, right?”

  “Yeah, they can put that on my headstone. ‘He died doing something foolish. But, hey, he tried…’” His eyes dart on me sarcastically, but I know that it’s what he’s truly feeling.

  And there’s a growing part of me that’s feeling the same.

  “Anyway, you’d better get out there,” he says. “I’ll be here, Theo. I’ll be right here.”

  I look at him and feel happy for his support, for his friendship. If anyone was foolish, it was me, thinking I could come here alone, come here without by best friend.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I say quietly, our eyes locking for a few moments. And then, I turn, and step out of the house and into the open square.

  I pace forward, feeling the clock ticking down in my head. The light is close now, so close to being how I remember it. I scan the sky and see the moon, growing clearer, more bright. It hovers in the heavens, gently moving into position. Any time now, the boy will appear.

  As my heart pounds, and my breathing grows deeper, I shut my eyes and try to calm myself. Slowly but surely I get a grip of my functions, focusing hard on maintaining my poise. Holding my head down, I count to ten behind my eyelids. And then, on ten, I open them wide and stare straight forwards.

  A figure looms before.

  Cloaked and hooded and shrouded in shadow. Only a dozen metres away he stands, silently entering the square as I held my eyes closed.

  I look at him, and the vision locks in time, passing the threshold into reality. And for a good few moments, I merely indulge in it, bathe in it, watching the Seeker before me as he stands like a statue.

  I sense it has to be me to make the first move. I take a step forwards, closing the gap a little. As I go, I open up my desert jacket, and reveal that I have no gun, my knives left over in the house with Ajax.

  “I’m unarmed,” I say loudly, hoping for him to do the same.

  He doesn’t. He merely stands there, watching me approach, giving nothing at all away.

  I cover more ground, and creep a little closer.

  “Have you come alone?” I ask.

  I look closely for movement, and see the slightest nod of his head. Then, from behind his hood, his voice growls.

  “How did you know I’d come here?” he asks.

  “A vision,” I answer. “And you?”

  “Something…drew me here. I don’t understand why.”

  “A connection,” I say. “There’s a connection between us…”

  “There’s nothing between us,” comes his voice, cutting like a sharp knife. There’s hatred in it, so pure and deep, something he’s been taught his entire life.

  I don’t answer. Countering his claim might force him to attack. Instead, I draw back, keeping my voice calm as if I’m dealing with a hungry tiger.

  “Do you…do you have a name?” I ask tentatively.

  His head shakes. Then he answers. His voice is still simmering with heat, just off the boil.

  “No name. A designation. They call me AK1.”

  AK1, I think. That must be short for Augustus Knight 1. The first of the clones…

  “The initials of your father,” I say quietly.

  He doesn’t answer.

  I take a breath, and move another step closer to him. Beneath his hood, I can see that his face is tight, his jaw stiff and lips locked together. And his grey eyes, just about visible under the shadow, flash with that sign of blue.

  I take a chance, creeping towards the reason I’m here.

  “And what about your mother?” I ask.

  I see his chin lift a little, casting more light over his face. He stares at me, and I see a frown knotted over his eyes, narrow and intense.

  “I have no mother,” he says. “You know what I am…”

  “I do,” I say. “I think I know more than you do.”

  Those words cause a reaction in him. It’s as if he’s heard such sentiment his entire life, heard others speaking of him in such a way. As if he’s nothing but a weapon, a blunt object without any emotions or use beyond chaos and war. As if he’s not a real person at all.

  But he is. And so those words cause him to stir, suddenly bursting forth from his standing start. With a couple of paces, he comes straight at me, marching on across the gritty earth as the moonlight continues to grow in the sky.

  I instinctively lean back, but hold myself firm and don’t move. Instead, I let my hands hang by my sides, showing him I’m not here to fight. I add my words in an attempt to halt him.

  “I’m not going to fight you, AK1,” I say, but they do nothing to stop him.

  Reaching me, I see his face clearer than ever, tangled into a web of confusion. Confusion, perhaps, that he’s felt his entire life. His fist lifts and I sense an attack coming, but maintain my position, not holding up my arms in defence.

  I see some doubt behind his hood, his fist stopping momentarily as I whisper again.

  “I didn’t come to fight,” I say. “And I know you didn’t either.”

  Again, my words need to be carefully chosen. Clearly, telling him what he thinks or feels, or how he acts isn’t the right course of action.

  “You have no idea why I came!” he barks, suddenly sending his fist flying at me.

  I shut my eyes and brace for impact, sensing his tough knuckles coming straight for me. Before they can hit, however, I feel another presence, another body, intervening and stopping the blow.

  I open my eyes back up and see Ajax right there beside me, his large paw wrapped around the Seeker’s fist just in front of my face. For a split second, no one moves. And then, like a volcano, the young clone explodes.

  He tears his fist back out of Ajax’s grip so fiercely he nearly takes my friend’s hand with it.

  “You’re trying to trap me!” he roars, pouring straight back in towards us.

  Ahead of me, the world fills with white as his fists surge, flying from all angles. I have no choice now but to lift my hands and try to defend myself, Ajax doing the same. We stand together, as we have so often, deploying a stance of defence as we try to weather the storm of flying limbs.

  Yet this boy is beyond anything we’ve faced. Beyond the threat posed by Athena when we trained with her in Petram. Faster, stronger, more accurate with his blows.

  And yet, we too have grown stronger as the days and weeks have passed. Those early days were the first of our training. In the last few months, our powers have grown exponentially, our abilities creeping up towards those of the legends of the past.

  And so, for a few minutes, we hold our own, fighting off the boy and keeping him at bay, stopping his most perilous and powerful blows as we try to subdue him.

  He uses only his fists to attack, no weapon coming forward. But it’s not the same for Ajax. From his belt, I see him bringing forth his extendable spear, a quick click of the button shooting the blade from one end.

  In the midst of battle, the Seeker’s eyes light at the sight of shining metal, and his anger and power seems to rise up another notch. He turns his full attention to Ajax, attacking with a thunderous combination as my friend attempts to put the blade into his gut.

 
“NO!” I shout, trying to hold Ajax’s arm back and knock away the spear.

  Yet the clone needs no help from me. He quickly penetrates Ajax’s defence, and hooks a fist right across his jaw. It’s enough to send him straight to the turf, his eyes rolling back in his head and body crumbling like a house of sand beaten down by the surf.

  I stand back and look upon my friend, a sight that would usually cause a stir in me to avenge his beat down. But not this time.

  This time, I take a step back, and let my arms fall by my side again as AK1’s eyes surge back up to mine. His hood now hangs down the back of his neck, flicked back during the fighting, his full face revealed to me. He’s breathing hard, his eyes glowing with flame, his nose and lips contorted into a grimace of hate and anger and confusion.

  “Why did you do that?!” he growls at me. “Why did you try to knock away his weapon?!”

  “Because we’re not here to fight,” I repeat, my eyes wide and holding no lies.

  “THEN WHY!” he shouts. “WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”

  He comes at me again, his burning anger unrestrained, but I refuse to react. Reaching out, he takes my collar with his hands and presses me to the ground, pushing me against the earth again and again.

  “WHY DID YOU COME! WHY!”

  His fingers creep over my throat, starting to cut off my air supply. I see his entire face burning with confusion and unsuppressed rage, his eyes so savage they could kill.

  I take a grip of his hands, and summon my full strength, pulling his wrists back and giving me space to breath. And with my breath, I shout out to him: “Because you’re more than you think you are…you’ve been lied to your entire life! You’re…you’re like my brother, AK…”

  His hands weaken. His eyes stare. His body lifts from mine, stepping up and back.

  He looks at me for a long while as I cough and regain my breath. There’s something inside him that says he knows, that says my words make sense. That the connection between us is real, and he knows it.