Fire Summoning (The Sentinels Book 2)

by David J Normoyle

  I opened my mouth to reply, but Walker didn’t give me a chance to say anything. “Learn when to shut up. Now. Leave the circle.”

  This time, I did as I was told, moving past Sash and her double bladed staff. I didn’t realize how much tension had coiled in my body until I was a few paces away from the four sentinels and their circle of execution.

  Bobbit moved to follow me, but Sash lowered her staff to block him.

  “Now we must deal with you, Dashel,” Walker said. “What do you have to say for yourself.”

  “I haven’t used any magic since you told me I couldn’t.” Bobbit gaze lowered his gaze toward the ground, and he spoke in a low mumble.

  “And yet you have disobeyed orders,” Walker said. “And as a result, this young rogue was allowed to run riot.”

  “Wait, no,” I said, suddenly realizing I wasn’t the only one on trial. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “What do you say?” Walker looked at Sash.

  “I think he didn’t understand what we required of him when he left active service. Like the boy, he deserves a second chance.”

  Walker nodded and looked over Bobbit’s shoulder at Elizabeth Lowndes and her spinning black disk.

  “Dashel couldn’t control his magic, and thus was no longer useful to us as an active sentinel,” she said. “He failed to prove useful.”

  Walker turned toward Holliday. “And your verdict?”

  “I agree with Elizabeth,” Holliday said. “Although Dashel hasn’t used his magic, there’s always a risk he will. If he isn’t useful to us, then he’s a liability.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked Holliday. “I thought you were his friend.”

  “I am his friend. But we all have to think about the greater good.”

  “You bastard.” I ran at him. Sash stepped toward me, her staff flashing, and I went flying backward, slamming down on the tarmac.

  “You are correct,” Walker said. “The fate of humanity lies in the balance, and we can’t allow emotions to cloud our judgment.”

  I sat up. “It’s our emotions that make us human, you fools.”

  “We thank you for your fine service, Dashel, and we regret what has to be done here today. You are hereby sentenced to immediate execution.” Walker lifted his shield above his head.

  “No!” I jumped to my feet, my fireswords appearing in my hands. “You can’t do this.”

  “Wait,” Bobbit said. “Allow me to die as a warrior with a weapon in my hand. You owe me that much.”

  I charged forward, and Sash stepped in front of me. I slashed both fireswords down at her left hand side and attempted to slip past her. She forcefully blocked my strikes with her staff and sidestepped to keep herself between Bobbit and me.

  “We owe you nothing,” Walker said. “I have already thanked you for your service. That’s as much as you have a right to expect.”

  “Please,” Bobbit said.

  “As you wish. It will still be quick.” Walker nodded at Lowndes and Holliday who stepped back to give Bobbit space. “But you may summon your multani.”

  Walker pulled his shield back, then slammed it forward. Bobbit’s fiery halberd appeared just in time. Bobbit blocked the blow, but was forced backward.

  The way Walker wielded his shield, it wasn’t a defensive weapon at all. It was the height of a short man, giving long reach, and the sides of it flared down to a point at the bottom that was as sharp as any sword. Walker’s big frame promised a degree of strength, but from the way Bobbit almost crumpled from blocking a single strike, the true power coiled within Walker’s body was immense.

  I redoubled my efforts to get around Sash, but Sash’s staff whirled, and she blocked all my efforts without giving an inch.

  Walker’s shield crashed downward once more. Bobbit raised his weapon in two hands, his knees buckling as the heavy shield struck his halberd. The instant contact took place, Walker twisted the shield around, so he could attack with the other edge while keeping Bobbit’s weapon out of the way. Walker then swiped across Bobbit’s right wrist, cutting his hand clean off.

  The speed of the maneuver was terrifying. Bobbit screamed in pain, blood spurting from his right wrist. He didn’t give up, though, wielding his halberd awkwardly in his left hand as he backed away to give himself space. Walker moved forward inexorably. His shield’s next strike slapped Bobbit’s multani out of the way, then Walker’s backswing took Bobbit in the temple, knocking him to the ground. Bobbit lay on the ground, stunned, his halberd still in his left hand, but lying uselessly on the ground. Walker raised his shield once more.

  “Thank you,” Bobbit whispered. Then Walker’s thrust the point of his shield through Bobbit’s chest. Bobbit shuddered once, then his left hand opened and his halberd faded to nothing.

  Sash stepped aside, letting me run past. I let my fireswords disappear and knelt down at Bobbit’s side. His Hawaiian shirt was changing from orange to red as blood leaked from the giant gash in his chest. Blood trickled from his right wrist, pooling by his side. Bobbit’s eyes were open, staring sightlessly into the sky.

  I looked up at Walker. “You murdering bastard.”

  Walker blue eyes flashed as he raised his shield. “Your probation can be revoked immediately. Is that what you want?”

  Remember, Jerome thought. Bobbit lied to protect you and died as a result. Don’t throw away that gift.

  Walker’s silver shield caught the sunlight, dazzling me. I raised my arm, protecting my eyes from the light. “I was wrong to react as I did,” I said, almost choking on the words.

  “Are you capable to learning to control your emotions as well as your magic?” Walker paused, his shield still ready to strike. My life lay poised in the balance—even if I could summon my fireswords in time, I had just seen how long Bobbit, a much more experienced fighter than I, had survived against the sentinel leader.

  “I can control my magic and my emotions,” I said.

  Walker’s chest rose and fell as he exhaled several long breathes. He lowered his shield, then caused it to disappear. He nodded to Holliday and Lowndes, and their weapons also vanished, and they followed him to the stretch limo.

  Walker opened the door and let Holliday and Lowndes enter ahead of him. He addressed Sash. “Teach him what he needs to know. He either learns quickly or he dies.”

  Chapter 5

  Sunday 18:15

  I couldn’t sit still. I unbuckled my seat-belt and stood up, pacing to the cockpit door and back again. My legs trembled and I put my palm against an overhead locker and tried to gather my thoughts. My legs trembled.

  “Sit back down,” Sash said. “We are about to take off.”

  The plane jerked forward and I slid sideways, grabbing a seat back to stop myself from falling. “Okay, okay.” I retook the seat opposite Sash and buckled in.

  I looked back outside. The limo had driven off, leaving Bobbit’s body splayed out on the tarmac. “Are they just going to leave him there?” His hand lay a few paces from the body.

  “It’ll be cleaned up,” Sash said.

  The plane turned and my view of the body was lost. “Cleaned up.” I shuddered.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Sash asked.

  “You have to ask me? I just watched a man be murdered.”

  “You’ve seen death before. You even killed, right?”

  “They were shades, enemies. And I was protecting a friend. Robert Bobbit was...” I hesitated. What was he? Not exactly a friend. I hadn’t even liked him. “He was on our side.”

  “Our power has become a dangerous one,” Sash said. “Every sentinel is a risk, an opportunity for shades to cross over from Brimstone. At the same time, we are the only defense against the shades. Walker and the order must weigh up the risk of keeping a sentinel alive against the reward of having him to fight in the battle to come.”

  “He was told he could retire. Was that a lie?”

  “More of an experiment,” Sash said. “He was unable to fight without drawing his m
agic and creating dangerous rifts to Brimstone, so he was retired from active service. The order thought he still could be useful.”

  “So suggesting I wanted to retire was not a good idea on my part.”

  Sash shook her head. “You must fight or... You must fight.”

  “Fight or die.” I remembered my happiness when I’d first found out I could do magic. That hadn’t lasted long, and the more I learned, the more I realized how much of a curse my magic truly was. I either had to obey this Walker like a good little boy or be killed. “I’ve never learned to be a good little boy.” A succession of foster parent and orphanage workers had learned that.

  “Huh.”

  “You spoke up for Bobbit. Why, if you believe all this?”

  “I’m just explaining why it happened. Personally, I thought he deserved one more chance.” She shrugged. “He died with his multani in hand. That’s all a sentinel can hope for. Or should hope for.”

  “He died fighting friends, not enemies.”

  “The designation between enemies and friends is not always as clear,” Sash said. “He must have suspected that Walker wouldn’t have been happy with him. Perhaps deep down Dashel knew what was going to happen and didn’t care.”

  I thought about him hitting golf balls on the range and talking about the PGA tour. He must have known that was never going to happen. “Perhaps.” He had been strangely fatalistic on the way over.

  The plane accelerated, yanking me back in my seat. Through the window, I watched the greenery blur past. My stomach lurched as the plane lifted up, then quickly settled. After only two takeoffs I already felt like an experienced traveler. The cars and houses below gradually shrunk away. Flying was such an incredible thing, yet it didn’t take long to become commonplace. Just like so many things in the magical world. “What did Walker want you to teach me?” I asked, turning back to Sash.

  “The core beliefs of the order.”

  “Which are?”

  “Sentinels have a true and noble purpose. We are here on earth to hold back the forces of Brimstone. We must put our personal wants and needs below that.”

  “So, as Holliday said, we must serve the greater good even if it means throwing a friend under the bus.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Where’s the core belief that we have to lick Walker’s backside?”

  “That belief isn’t core, it’s a rim belief.”

  Was that an ass joke? Sash didn’t smile, so I decided to ignore it. “Walker told me that I can’t use magic. What if I have to use magic for the greater good.”

  “You aren’t trusted to make that designation. You’ll have to wait until you are accepted into the order.” She paused, then continued in a lower voice. “If that ever happens.”

  The way she said that last caused a chill to pass through me. “How do you rate my chances?”

  “Low, I’m afraid.”

  I didn’t want to hear that. “Honesty isn’t always the best policy, you know,” I told her. “You are saying you expect to have to execute me?”

  Sash nodded. “You aren’t going to fall apart on me, are you?”

  “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

  “Your friend just died. You are under a death sentence. And from what I’ve read about you, you are emotional and volatile.”

  “Being emotional doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”

  “That isn’t the mindset that will get you accepted into the order.”

  “We all have to be logical and act in the greater good, is that it? Like robots?”

  “No, not like robots.”

  I pulled off my seat-belt and stood. I leaned my upper body forward stiffly from the waist and made jerking motions with my forearms. “Rune is bad sentinel robot.”

  “What are you doing?”

  I tilted my head to the side and opened my eyes wide. “Being cute and funny?”

  She groaned. “I’m going to sleep.” She twisted her body to the side and leaned her cheek against clasped hands, then closed her eyes.

  “I was checking you for emotions,” I said. “You passed, by the way. Zero emotion. Walker would be proud.”

  Her head shook slightly, but she didn’t open her eyes or respond.

  Your charm wins them over every time, Jerome thought.

  It’s a gift and a curse, I thought back.

  Chapter 6

  Sunday 20:35

  By the time we were making our final approach, I had forgiven Sash for telling me she’d probably have to execute me. It wasn’t anything she said—she had slept most of the way. It was just that her sleeping face was adorable. It was impossible to stay mad at a face like that.

  The plane touched down on the runway with a bump, and Sash woke up.

  “You are real pretty,” I told her.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Wrong with me? Lots of things probably. What in particular are you referring to?”

  “Why would you blurt out something like that? We have to work together.”

  “I don’t know. That’s just what I was thinking.”

  “Only simpletons say everything that’s on their mind. Haven’t you learned to filter yet?”

  “Still. It’s out there now.”

  She sighed. “Working with you is now going to be weird on top of everything else.”

  “Call me crazy, but I find the openly expressed intention to execute more likely to create weirdness than openly expressed admiration.”

  The plane came to a stop, and Sash stood and opened an overhead locker. She took out a bag and threw it over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.

  “Wait. Aren’t we supposed to be working together? I still haven’t been told what’s happened in Gorlam’s.”

  “We can start tomorrow.”

  “Where are you planning on staying?” I asked. “I have a spare bed at my place. Two actually.”

  “Is that how you work? Call a girl pretty, then invite her back to your place?”

  “I’m still refining my system,” I told her.

  She gave a head shake that was already becoming familiar to me. A what-kind-of-idiot-are-they-making-me-work-with shake.

  Tell her that you have no system, that you’re still a loser virgin, Jerome thought.

  I’m not a virgin.

  Jerome mentally chuckled. You can’t fool me, I’m inside your head.

  Why didn’t I get rid of you when Sash and Holliday offered?

  Because you are too emotional? Haven’t you been following along?

  I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to demand that Sash rid me of the necklace as fast as possible. Jerome was worse than me at running his mouth. Well, maybe not worse—I’d almost provoked Walker into killing me only a few hours earlier—but he was bad.

  Sash had already moved down the aisle to where the pilot was opening the door. She exited and I hurried after her.

  A black car was waiting, and Sash climbed in the back. I hurried down the steps after her. “Wait!” The car started forward. I ran after it and slapped it on the trunk. “Wait.”

  The car stopped and a window descended. I leaned down. “You can’t just leave me here.”

  “This is your city.” Sash was leaning back in the plush interior of the car. “I’m sure you can get home by yourself.”

  “I’m in the airport, and I don’t have a passport or ticket. I can’t leave through the regular channels.”

  “Okay, fine.” She pressed a button and with a click, the door unlocked. She shifted across to the other side, and I climbed in beside her. A partition separated the back from the front. The car accelerated smoothly.

  I looked out the back window toward the jet. “Where’s Bobbit’s SUV?” From what I could tell, we had disembarked at roughly the same place we had embarked.

  “It’s been taken care of.”

  “Just like his body was taken care of?” I asked sharply.

  Sash looked away.

&nbs
p; I still wasn’t doing a good job of showing I could control my emotions.

  The car slowed a fraction, then turned onto the dirt track, and the ride got bumpier. A short time later, the car rumbled to a stop. Its headlamps illuminated the chain link fence with two men in suits standing in front, the same two who had stopped us on the way in. This time, they didn’t search the car. One talked into a radio, then they pulled the gate open.

  “Could you tell me more about what’s going on in Gorlam’s? I have friends there.”

  “I told you that we’d start tomorrow,” Sash said.

  “I have work tomorrow.”

  “Go to work. I’ll be in contact.” When the car reached the end of the dirt track, Sash tapped on the partition, and the driver pulled in.

  “Why are we stopping here?”

  Sash nodded toward the door.

  “I live on Fenster Street.”

  “I’m sure the first taxi driver you hail will be happy to know that.”

  “Seriously? Here?” Even during the day, this wasn’t a busy road.

  “See you tomorrow.”

  I pulled the handle to open the door and stepped out. “Here?” I repeated, smiling because I was almost certain that she was joking.

  Sash leaned across and pulled the door closed. The car drove off, disappearing into the darkness. I waited for her to return.

  It didn’t happen.

  She likes you, Jerome thought.

  You think? Playing hard to get?

  You are such a fool.

  Chapter 7

  Monday 09:35

  When I walked into reception at Transkey, I wasn’t surprised to find Findley waiting for me.

  I had been reluctant to come into work, more interested in finding out what was going on in Gorlam’s, and when Findley had rung me before nine, I’d switched off my phone. But with no way to contact Sash, I had nothing better to do so had reluctantly gone in.

  I raised my hand before Findley could say anything. “I know I’m late. Save the lecture.”

  He rushed over to me. “They want you in there.”