The Jewel of Nirune (The Sword of Time Book 1)

by William Smart

  "You pretend to be a wizard a man of knowledge. Playing around in the backyards of the poor thinking you know something. Trying to insurrect rebellion against your rightful emperor. How did you dare such a thing, what is wrong with your mind? You old fool, you will be happy to know what your meddling has done. All your accomplices; every last one down to the last little old lady who mended the clothes of the rebellion is in jail or on the way to jail, except. A very important group, all the would-be warriors all the criminals with their illegal weapons. They are all dead by now." the voice whispered. "And I actually just came to tell you your beloved savior the great warrior Wuchen Is dead. After all these years of your lying and manipulating. Your favorite nephew. Putting foolish ideas in his brain delusions of grandeur." He smiled for a moment. "You might as well say you killed him yourself. Oh! Are you worried? Did he die well? Can you at least be proud of his death? Maybe he could be a martyr. No! He crawled and begged for his life like a baby in the middle of the street for all to see. There will be no martyr this time old man. But there is something else going on here isn't there? I feel power old man power beyond any I have ever felt, but from where old man what do you know? You cannot resist me. It is like a little fruit fly trying to stop the spider I will rip your mind apart, I will suck the juices of all you know."

  Uncle felt the power of Lijiang's mind running through him, he felt like a little boy trying to escape a monster. He tried to get away, but how does one escape one's own mind and there began a battle of sorts. He ran and ran, hiding behind this outcropping and that, but Lijiang always found him. He could not tell if he was really running or not or it was Lijiang controlling his mind, but it was as real as if they were in actual combat. He could feel Lijiang building force and power as they ran on and on. He lost track of time.

  What did Lijiang want from him? He knew nothing except a little about these Wolvers and what little he knew about Brother Dog. Lijiang was a powerful wizard He must have picked that knowledge from his mind already when he first entered his brain, so what then?”

  Xu was in an old familiar forest now. He turned around and around then he saw his old family home in the distance. Running inside, he slammed the door desperately looking for any weapon but found nothing. All too soon Lijiang was tearing at the wall and door with a terrible strength.

  Xu ran into a corner looking for a place to hide. Finally, he crawled into a flimsy old cupboard that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

  Lijiang was in the house. Uncle Xu could feel him tearing through like a train through a village. The noise was unbearable. Then it stopped nothing. He listened not able to breath, afraid like no fear he had ever felt before. He began to weep uncontrollably. Deep inside, he knew this was some kind of mind control, but he had no knowledge of such extreme magic.

  The doors of the little cupboard flew open ripped to shreds by the terrible force that had become Lijiang. A face with slavering jaws and snapping teeth shoved itself in towards him.

  It said. “I am here to kill the last member of this foolish, foolish rebellion little Uncle, guess who that would be. Uncle reached for anything to fight with. His old staff appeared in his hand. It had a strange glow around the head. He concentrated all his power on that glow. There was a blinding flash.

  Uncle awoke with a light rain falling on his face. He sat up, looking about the meadow. He saw a body lying a short ways off. His staff lay shattered on the ground between himself and the body as was Lijiang’s staff. He slowly got up stumbling a little.

  It was Lijiang laying there in the rain. Well, he thought it was Lijiang but most of the head was blown away. The old man stood there for a moment, shaking at the sight. It was beyond him how this could have happened. He hadn't realized just how powerful Lijiang was till now, so what had killed Lijiang and basically left himself unscathed?

  He reached down and picked up some of the pieces of his broken staff and unintentionally picked up several pieces of Lijiang’s’ as well. There were several pieces of the shattered bones they had found mixed in the blood on the staff pieces He wondered how it had been so shattered. The glass jewel at the end was completely ruptured as if struck by lightning.

  “Ah, of course,” he thought. His mind grabbing on to the most logical explanation. “Lightning!" We must have been struck by lightning.”

  The broken staff moved oddly in his hand like a snake twisting about. He tried to drop it in shock! He tried to shake it loose to no avail. It wasn't stuck to his hands, he just couldn't let go. At first, all the pieces rolled about in his hand; the pieces on the ground gently floated through the air and as he watched. They began to mend themselves. There was a light that began to flash as the pieces of his staff and that of Lijiang began to spin in the air as if they had a life of their own. A sudden burst of energy and when he could see again, he realized it had transformed itself.

  The two staffs had entwined together to make one whole. There were strange magic symbols on the shaft which wound up to what looked like the head of a wolf. The wolf held in its teeth a jade egg. Where this had come from he had no idea. It turned in his hand he thought he saw a slight glow emanated from the egg just for a moment and it was gone.

  He stood there stunned for a moment the light rain was increasing and he tried to use his light spell but the new staff didn’t respond. There was still a glow from the fire, but the rain was pouring down and the fire was soon out. He looked around the glade and realized Lijiang’s body and the bones of the wolver they had gathered were gone.

  6 Wolver Magic

  B

  rother Dog ran on all fours now, a posture he hated but there was no time. He was not a true Brother Dog and the boy was heavy and awkward to carry in this position. He raced through the bush and remembered the last time this boy had gotten in trouble.

  It was the old man who called himself Uncle Xu, who had sent him through some time portal in search of the boy making a way, through time and space to put him at the exact location and time to bring the boy back, by what means he had no idea.

  Unfortunately, something had gone terribly awry. This was not the hero, he had hoped to find or he had arrived too soon in the boy's life?

  But he had no way to contact the old magician. Once he had arrived in the future, he soon realized this was not the right time or place. Too late to make any changes to their plans and he had no way back other than the little cave entrance the old man had said would be there. He had tried in vain to activate the caves portal. The only time the portal had opened was when the Wolver had come after the boy the first time and he was too busy saving the boy to get to the portal. Once that had happened He was totally confused as what to do.

  If the wolver had come for the boy then he must be important after all and why were the Wolver after him. It all made no sense to the Brother Dog warrior. And the Cave required some kind of magic and unfortunately for him, his people either never had magic or had lost it sometime before memory; hence the need to involve these human people in his war.

  For a short period in their history, these humans had used massive amounts of magic, prior to the advent of this Christianity and the beginning of the industrial ages. But the enemy, they faced could not be defeated by the weapons he knew. There was another problem. His scientist had made him very aware that he must be very careful not to upset the time continuum whilst trying to access the magic of the earth people. Causing the smallest ripple in their time continuum could be fatal to all of the universes.

  This was also why he had made this alliance with the unknown wizard Uncle Xu rather than one of the great ones mentioned in earth histories. It had been difficult enough and had it not been for the old man's desperate needs they might have never made an agreement. But in essence, the scientists had decided this old wizard had the abilities they needed and they believed he was unimportant in the earth history having no living relatives. Basically, if the old man died or disappeared no one would notice. But of course, the old man was unaware of this. So here he
found himself in this strange country and time trying to enlist a warrior for Uncle. He had been surprised to arrive at a time that showed the end of two great wars and the beginning of a technological age that had been spurred on by the need to defeat some evil Tyrant of a man, who had tried to take over the whole planet.

  He had expected to arrive in a time of magic to find a great sword-bearing warrior. It was all very confusing and it didn't get a lot better. As time went on he was certain the old wizard had sent him to find the wrong Hero. Alas, he had arrived just in time to find this young strip of a boy walking down the road backward, pulling a reluctant cow on a thin rope. There was what appeared to be another cow following closely behind, bawling and dancing wildly about the dirt road and trying to climb on the back of the first cow. The boy was slapping the other cow across the nose with a small stick while yelling.

  “You leave Bessie alone!”

  The boy's family was watching the strange procession in stunned amazement from their front porch, as had most of the neighbors as the fool boy pulled the cow down the road. He apparently had been sent by his father to collect the cow who had wandered off, probably in search of new pasture.

  It took but a moment for Brother Dog to realize that the animal the boy was slapping across the nose with the slender stick was, in fact, a massive bull in full heat. The bull appeared to be going quite insane trying to jump on the back of the cow that Brother Dog realized was also in heat. The bull was dancing about bawling in frustration trying desperately to mate, blowing snot everywhere while shaking its head in anger and stomping the ground.

  The boy seemed oblivious to the actual danger he was in continued to slap the love-stricken bull across his very delicate pink nose. The bull was getting more upset with every step. Brother Dog glanced around at the humans and realized they seemed to be enjoying the whole show. It was obvious the bull was getting ready to charge.

  The dog warrior was unaccustomed to being on all fours. He was used to fighting with weapons that these hicks might think were even magical, but if he stood up to defend the boy the humans would realize his true form and would probably… well, he didn't know what they would do. Obviously, he couldn't use a weapon to save the boy while the crowd looked on. It appeared, however that this bunch of yokels had no intention of going to the boy's rescue.

  Before he could really come up with a plan, the bull charged. The dog didn't think, just jumped between the boy and the bull and was immediately trampled by hoofed feet. He was kicked several times as he yelped in pain. He rolled over growling as the bull turned and charged with such speed Dog was tossed again.

  He had had many strange battles in his life, but not stranger than this one. He was a warrior of Assus after all. This time when the bull turned and charged he was ready, he dashed between the bull's legs and grabbed the bull's nose in his teeth! He was all of a sudden flying through the air and landed squarely on his back out of breath he laid there for a moment.

  He could hear the bull bawling in pain or rage. Who could tell? And the boy was yelling.

  "yeah!" You get ‘em, Duke!" Get him, boy!"

  Brother Dog managed to roll to his feet and plant himself firmly between the shouting boy and the enraged bull. The bull shook his head menacingly blood and snot flying in all directions now and he growled deep in his throat and barked. He didn’t feel too convincing! He was in extreme pain from the several kicks he had received. So he barked with all his might and stepped toward the bull. He couldn’t think of anything else to do. Slowly he and the boy backed down the road.

  The boy patted him several times on the head and whispered

  “That’s a good boy duke you’re a good ole dog.”

  The bull followed them for a few moments more shaking his head. Then he seemed to have had enough, shook his head in anger turned and simply walked away. Billy and the dog stood there in amazement as the bull walked to the side of the road and began to munch on the grass as if nothing had occurred. Just then one of the Roberts boys showed up and tossed a rope around the bull’s neck.

  “Well, ain’t that something? I was just comin’ to see, what was all the racket,” he said. “Lucky for you, Mother Nature made most of the bovines stupid and forgetful. That old bull really didn’t want a real fight, he was just answering the call of nature. Good thing you had your dog there.”

  “Oh, he’s not my dog,” Billy said. He really didn’t know what “answering the call of nature” meant, except maybe going for a pee. “Think it’s my friend's dog, but what he’s doing way out here I don’t know.”

  They managed to bring the cow into the yard as Billy’s father came over. He had a strange look on his face.

  "Boy, you are the stupidest kid, I have ever seen! I wanted that bull to mate with my cow you stupid little fucker. It would have been a free calf in the spring. You're lucky I don't beat you half to death!"

  "But you said go get the cow and hurry and don't stop for nothin'. You said," Billy said a little shakily. He didn't want to say it out loud, but he was way more scared of his dad than any stupid old' bull. Billy's mom was standing there listening.

  “You did say that Hun,” She cut in, hoping to save her son more trouble.

  “Yeah, but any fool could see that damn bull was gonna give us a free calf!”

  Mom just stood there saying nothing.

  “Damn kid!” He said, glaring at Billy one last time. He looked like he was deciding something shook his head and stomped away mom following after.

  Billy was very relieved, if mom hadn't stepped in he would have got it for sure.

  "He said, get the damn bull, and hurry the hell up and get back! So I hurried. I don't care if he gets a stinking calf, then I got one more cow to look after and as it is they're dropping like flies around here. We ain't farmers. I wanna go back to the city, this place sucks." He said to no one in particular as they had all left.

  He kicked a clump of grass to relieve his frustration.

  Brother Dog was amazed by all this. He had thought most humans were caring and thoughtful of their young. Not that it mattered. He couldn't voice his opinion anyway. Even though he was not a real dog he was fairly sure in this culture a talking dog would not sit well with the local denizens. His paws and legs hurt terribly from being in this form and he couldn't even run properly on all fours. It was a quick lesson on how his forbears had survived. How he longed to stand up on two feet. Well, it would be dark soon he could shift then. But till then it was agony.

  It was after that incident, he realized that something was seriously wrong. The boy was far too young and inexperienced for their purposes. This boy seemed to be living in his own little world.

  Uncle had said that he would find a great warrior who would help them ward off their mutual enemy and save the kingdom. Part of the problem, he faced was the old Magician actually didn't fully know how dangerous their enemy was nor how serious the battle would be. In Uncles Xu's mind, it was simple. Go convince the brave young warrior to help in their battle. It was becoming obvious however that the magician had overshot on the young part.

  This particular young warrior was still afraid of the dark and occasionally cried in his sleep.

  It was very difficult for him to adjust to walking on all fours. Like a… well, like a dog. At first, his front paws bled terribly and then there was the problem that everyone was convinced that he was a dog named Duke that belonged to Billy's friend Gary. People kept throwing bones at him which he would dutifully gnaw until they had left. He was told to go home. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Gary's home was. And the whole idea of someone owning him either truly or for a cause rankled him no end.

  So it was that he had followed Billy one day when he was going to this Gary’s house. The boy had dallied around till it was late evening and then began to panic as it had become dark.

  Brother Dog was still not used to this place and the sudden change of light had left him momentarily blind. In his own world there were three moons and since they
had hunter's eyes, he usually saw very well at night but here. It was dark as Assus Butt.

  Not long after the darkness fell, he had smelled a Wolver coming in the darkness. With Billy stumbling about in the dirt he would be easy prey for the Wolver. Luckily Gary's real dog Duke had smelled it too. He had come bounding past him in the night and locked with the monster. The older dog never stood a chance, of course, but he had given Brother Dog time to adjust. Between the two of them, they had managed to kill the beast, but it had been a terrible fight. The creature was far stronger than them and slithered about like a reptile. In the end, left the old dog was ripped apart.

  The unfortunate incident had left him the opportunity to take the old dog's place, however. After he got the boy safely to the house he had gone back and disposed of the two bodies.

  He had reverently buried the brave old dog with the honors befitting a warrior of Assus. He had then burned the carcass of the Wolver, making sure not to breathe in the scent of the burning flesh. It was one of the ways the Wolvers multiplied on almost every world they were found, people always burned the Wolver dead. The narcotic scent of the Wolver flesh cooking, unfortunately, caused anyone except females to go into a hunger rage. Eating the flesh caused a mutation in almost every species.

  But now here he was carrying this fool boy through the deep forest trying to get to the little cottage before the boy succumbed to the poisoning. Just then his sharp nose caught a familiar scent. Burning Wolver flesh! He stopped in his tracks. Sister Zhoulin! She must have! He stood there for a moment, unsure what to do.

  “But she is female, she should be safe.” he thought

  The boy on his back moaned he was far too hot! With a bound Brother Dog took off running again, he prayed that no one else smelled the delicious aroma. Even being so far away he was tempted to go eat. He came to a small stream and jumped in, partly to remove the scent and partly to cool the boy down. He was almost there.