Timol, Granit, and Tranter fired one after the other, while Hrist, still shocked over his brother’s death, stood idle.
The Widowmaker easily evaded two of the bolts and parried a third. The men reloaded, fired again, and had similar results. Frustrated, Weis charged forward. Tranter unsheathed his short sword and followed, while Timol and Granit reloaded their weapons.
Hrist snapped out of his trance, knowing for the first time in his life what true hatred was. Intent on slaying this evil man with one well-placed shot, he carefully aimed his bow, and fired at Norice’s head.
”A true shot,” Hrist thought until the arrow was deflected away by the Widowmaker, who now possessed cat-like reflexes with Celthric in full control. Weis was upon him, and as he attacked his flank, Norice spun around and easily moved aside Weis’ sword with his, then brought Celthric around with lightning speed. So fast was the move, Weis barely had enough time to raise his shield and block the attack.
The powerful impact broke Chief Weis’ arm in several places and shattered the shield with a deafening sound, sending wooden fragments everywhere and hitting Chief Weis in the head, knocking him senseless. After the chief fell to the ground, a bolt and an arrow flew past Norice, and Tranter was in front of him, swinging at his head. The Widowmaker ducked under the attack, feigned a stab to draw Tranter’s blade down, and with amazing speed, shifted his weight backward, and whipped Celthric around, cleaving the tracker in half at the waist. Hrist fired again, grazing Norice’s right arm and catching the Widowmaker’s full attention He then raised the ancient blade above his head and charged.
With the speed and agility of the fastest animal on the planet, the Widowmaker was on top of Hrist, whose only option was to use his bow to deflect the heavy two-handed sword. It was a move that saved his life before, but this time he lost his life when the thick ash snapped in two along with his skull. The Widowmaker attacked Timol next, who fired one last time, missed, and lost his head. Granit, sword in hand, charged Norice. As he was about to stab him, the Widowmaker sidestepped the attack, grabbed the hilt of Granit’s sword with his right hand, turned the weapon around, and plunged the tip into his throat. He smirked at the dying man and then twisted the blade, separating his head from his body.
Weis finally regained his wits and couldn’t believe what had happened. A lowly farmer, with no prior training, killed everyone. He thought about running for the horses, but knew his attempt would be futile.
The Widowmaker turned his attention toward him. “You should have let me go, Chief Weis.”
Weis got to his feet, holding his sword. “You’re a killer,” he said and spat at the ground.
“I did what I had to do.”
Chief Weis looked around at his dead companions. “Even if you kill me, there will be others.”
The Widowmaker smiled. “No there won’t. In time, they will forget about the person named Norice and just remember the Widowmaker.”
“What about your family?”
The Widowmaker began walking toward Weis. “Celthric is part of my family now.”
“Who?”
“You know what to do,” Celthric said to Norice, loud enough for Weis to hear.
“Who said that?” Weis looked around.
“You heard him?” Norice asked. “That’s my new friend. Take a look.” The Widowmaker presented the sword proudly.
Chief Weis had heard stories about powerful weapons with the ability to possess an individual and speak, and now he realized what was going on. “Norice, that weapon is cursed. Get rid of it before it’s too late.”
“Cursed? Oh no, chief, it has given me purpose.”
“Your family needs you.”
“Family? Who do you think I am doing this for?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nor would you.”
“Then tell me, and I can help.” Weis said.
“Do you promise to help me?”
“You have my word on it.”
Norice relaxed his stance and lowered the weapon. “Okay. What do I need to do?”
“Give me the sword and come with me.”
Norice nodded.
As soon as Weis was within striking distance, Norice brought the full weight of Celthric down upon him. It happened so fast, Chief Weis wasn’t prepared, despite having been ready.
The sharp steel bit into his right shoulder and cleaved straight through his jerkin until the blade came out of his left hip, splitting Weis diagonally in half. The last thing he felt before everything went dark was searing pain.The Widowmaker, covered in blood and gore, stood tall, staring out at nothing. He was glad he freely gave himself over to the id of Celthric, because it made him feel powerful and invincible.
Celthric was also basking in the moment. The highly intelligent sword waited a very long time for someone to answer his call, and now he was ready to continue a journey that started more than a century ago. One that would fulfill his own desires and not the ones of whoever wielded him. He also pondered why he was drawn to his journey of finding a pool of water. Maybe during his creation he encountered these waters, and like an inborn calling, he needed to go there once again.
Turning his thoughts back to Norice, he knew the simple farmer was perfect for the task. He was inept with a blade and weak in both mind and spirit, so there was no chance he would take up his own quest. “He just might make it this time,” he thought, then commanded his new host onward.
For six days and nights, through two snowstorms, Norice traveled with very little sleep. Eventually, he came upon a large castle, bathed in gloomy shadows as the day faded into the night. The structure was nestled atop a sheer cliff with only one road leading up, and another one running parallel along the base about a hundred feet down. After describing the area to Celthric, the sword ordered him to stop and wait. Norice began thinking about the enormity of the task of breaking into someone’s home and the physical danger that lay beyond it. He wasn’t a very brave individual, so how was he going to survive if the owner had many guards? Celthric detected his fears and doubts.
“Norice,” he whispered, “trust in me. Our dreams are within reach. You will see your family again.”
“How? Even if I go back, I’m a wanted man.”
“With me, no one can stand in your way. I promise”
Norice knew he was too far invested in this journey, so he really didn’t have a choice but to see it through. “Is this where we are going?”
“Hold on.” There was a long silence before Celthric spoke again. “Yes.”
“What are we looking for?”
“What I’m looking for lies somewhere underneath the structure.”
“And what is it?”
“For your protection I will tell you after we enter. I need to keep the information from you for now.” Celthric could sense that his quest was finally ending, and he was exultant.
“So how do we get in? Do we just ride up to the gate and ask the lord for admittance?”
Celthric mentally scanned the area and detected several secret passages nearby. “There are a few ways in on the road running along the castle’s base. I suggest we take one of them.”
“How did you discover them?”
“I can detect them. Let’s go and…” he suddenly went silent, because he felt someone of intellect trying to scan his mind.
“And what?” Norice asked impatiently.
“Think only of your family or all is lost,” Celthric ordered and allowed his own mind to go blank.
Norice did as he was asked.
In his study, the Lord of the Mind detected a greater presence somewhere outside of his castle. The intense feelings interrupted his nightly studies, causing him to get up and walk over to the balcony. He scanned the thick darkness, looking east and then west, trying to pinpoint the source. He was about to lock into it when it suddenly stopped.
“What do we have here?” Repan said aloud. “An intelligent creature that rivals me. Interesting.” Whoever was out t
here needed to be dealt with and Repan wasn’t a fool because he never let strange findings go unanswered. He left his room and calmly walked down several flights of stairs, through the cold, empty hallway, until he entered the dojo, where he found his bodyguard training. Ying stopped what he was doing after Repan entered.
“What is it, my lord?” Ying asked.
“I’ve detected someone or something nearby that could be a threat to our home. Take Dojar and the skeletons, and let me know what you find.”
“What am I looking for? A man, beast, giant?”
“I’m not sure, but this being has abilities, so be careful.”
Ying bowed and then secured a two-by-four inch metal box on his wrist.
“Whatever it is, it won’t escape my wrath,” he said and turned around to face a wooden man ten feet away. He closed his fist, and an instant later, a long, spiked chain jutted forth from the box, and pierced the target. The chain spun around so fast it made a large circular hole in the middle of the target and then retracted back to its housing. “Do you like it? I just created it.”
“You truly are an innovator. Happy hunting,” Repan said and left the room.
Ying followed a few minutes later, walking briskly back to his room. He loved killing for and serving Repan because the man respected and paid him handsomely for his services, unlike the ungrateful Order to which he’d once belonged. After entering his quarters, he quickly dressed in his special leather armor and wrapped the Gauntlets of Strength tightly around his wrists. A few seconds later, he felt a tingling sensation racing up his arms, which made him believe he was unstoppable. As he was placing his sheathed sword inside of the leather belt, he heard a light knock on his door.
“Sir, may I enter?” Dojar asked from the other side.
“Come in.”
The door opened and his bodyguard entered. He was already armed and dressed in his leather armor.
“Where are we going?" he asked upon seeing Ying ready for battle.
“The master detected an intruder outside. Let’s go find him and make him wish he’d never set foot upon his kingdom,” Ying replied and grabbed a green gem off his shelf.
“Is it that serious that we’ll need the undead?”
“He doesn’t want to take any chances. Go tell Kohter to wait here just in case.”
They left the room with Dojar taking the left corridor and Ying walking straight out to the courtyard to animate six of the Skeletons of War.
After the being inside of the castle stopped probing his thoughts, Celthric ordered Norice to hide the horse and guided him to the secret entrance closest to them. Norice then began feeling the rocky surface until he discovered an outline of a door and began tracing around it with the hopes of discovering the mechanism to open it. He was a quarter of the way around, when the door slowly opened inward, followed by the sound of horses galloping toward him from the far end.
Celthric sensed that there were undead guardians among the riders and knew if they got close enough to Norice, he might cower and scream. He ordered him to retreat behind a nearby boulder, then quickly entered his mind and blocked the fearful sensation. After the horses thundered past their hiding spot, Norice peered around the rock, and caught a glimpse of eight cloaked, hooded riders, and was glad that they didn’t see them.
“We don’t have much time, so let’s move quickly,” Celthric warned.
Norice left the safety of his concealment and entered the tunnel. At the far end, he saw a faint light radiating off the walls.
He cautiously followed the corridor until it ended with a dozen empty stables and stairs leading upward. To his right, he saw an upright lever with a sign above it that read, “PULL UP TO OPEN THE DOOR.” He pushed it down and heard the tunnel door rumble until it closed.
Back in his study, Repan sensed the trespasser as soon as he entered his fortification and quickly scanned the lower levels. He had just covered one of the three secret entrances when he lost their signal, then he picked up the intruder’s thoughts again and could locate his exact position.
What puzzled him the most was that he could do so rather quickly this time, when the previous attempts were nearly impossible to get a fix on the location.
“You’re mine now,” he whispered and left the room.
In the stable area below, Celthric felt that same someone probing their thoughts again and quickly shielded his and Norice’s minds. Once protected, he partitioned off a small portion of his mind and tricked the interloper into thinking he was reading his true thoughts. In reality, it was just an illusion while he read the other’s mind. It was easy enough for him to do now that he was prepared. Celthric discovered many things about him. His true name, the title he went by, his darkest fears, details of his early life, the layout of the castle, the bodyguards in his service, and the undead creatures and how they were controlled. He even learned of his plans for ruling the world, the location of something called the Pool of Knowledge and the traps that surrounded it. The heavily guarded room must have been the source of Repan’s powers, he surmised, and at some point in time, he too must’ve had some interaction with the water as well.
After Repan stopped probing, and Celthric was satisfied that the Lord of the Mind was tricked into thinking only Norice was in his home, he had his loyal subject enter through the eastern portion of the castle.
****
The Lord of the Mind moved down the hallway toward the area that housed the Skeletons of War. He was about to enter the room when Kohter came around the bend. Repan paused to address the young man.
“We have an intruder in the lower levels.”
“Where, my lord?”
“I’ve detected him in the eastern entrance. I want you to go there now and capture him.”
“Are you sure that’s where he is?”
Repan gave him a look that made him feel foolish for asking.
“I’ll go there right away, my lord,” Kohter said and left.
Repan wasn’t going to take any chances. He would take the skeletons with him and guard the pool just in case the intruder slipped past his man.
Something deep down inside nagged at him about the trespasser. How did he enter his castle if the entrances could only be opened from the inside? Was he here to assassinate him? That didn’t make sense. Why would his rivals send just one man? They had to know about his bodyguards, Ying and Yang, and the others who protected him. “Could he be here to drink from the Pool of Knowledge?” That didn’t make sense either, because no one alive, not even his men, knew of its existence. His fears began to get the better of him, and he entered the room in haste.
Norice navigated his way up the creaky wooden stairs. After reaching the top, Celthric told him to stop.
“What’s wrong?” Norice asked.
“There’s a door on your left.”
Norice turned and faced a wall. “Where? I don’t see anything, its solid earth.”
“The wall is an illusion. Feel around until you trigger it open.”
Norice painstakingly moved his hands all around the wall. He came to rest on a small hand-sized indent and pushed. The wall rumbled and slid open, revealing a dark corridor beyond.
“Let’s go,” Celthric ordered.
After stepping inside, Norice saw a lever and pushed it down, closing the hidden door and leaving him in total darkness.
“How much further?” he asked.
“I believe the room we are looking for is another level down.”
“I can’t see anything. How am I going to do this?”
“I’ll guide you the rest of the way,” Celthric reassured him.
****
Repan stood in front of six sets of bones, stuffed neatly in leather armor, and took the gem out of his pocket. After saying a few words, the gem glowed, and the bones began rattling and moving toward each other, until they formed six humanoid figures inside of the armor. The undead knights stood up, grabbed nearby weapons, and took up position in front of their master. With eyes
glowing green, they radiated fear so powerful that if it wasn’t for his superior intellect, Repan would’ve cowered down in front of them.
“Children, come with me,” he commanded, and led his bony troops through a secret door.
The pitch-black corridor that Celthric led Norice through, narrowed and went on for a hundred feet, turned left, and began a steep descent for another hundred. Norice heard the tiny feet of animals scurrying somewhere ahead.
“We need to be careful. I can sense many traps ahead,” Celthric warned.
“I can’t see a damn thing. Are you sure this is where we want to go?” Norice said, clearly frustrated.
“Yes.”
“What are we looking for?”
“Now that we are almost there I can tell you. I am looking for something called the Pool of Knowledge.”
“A pool of what?”
“It’s called the Pool of Knowledge, and it’s very…”
“You made me come all this way for water? And how are you supposed to drink it?” Norice was livid.
“I’m not. You will dip me into the cool water.”
“I’ve killed many people, and for what, so that I can dip you into water? Where’s my reward?”
“The water will be yours as well. Just one mouthful and your intellect will grow beyond the average man. Think about it, you can rule over the weak-minded.”
“Like you do? What about my family, was there ever a demon?”
“Norice, I needed to do what I had to, otherwise you wouldn’t have answered my call or agreed to come with me. You are now the Widowmaker and will rule our vast kingdom.”
“If you do not live up to your end of the bargain, I’ll sell you for scrap,” Norice warned.
A Demon's Quest the Beginning of the End the Trilogy Box Set Page 86
