With a smile on his face, Demetrius dodged to the side. The sword ricocheted against the wall. “Good form, young warrior. But too reckless.”
Falcon grunted and dove for another attack.
“Almost had me there,” mocked Demetrius. “Precision is overrated. Keep throwing wild attacks. I’m sure one day an attack will find its mark.”
“Who needs precision when you got power?” said Falcon, ignoring Demetrius’ sarcasm. Falcon took a step back. He needed space for this next attack. “Let’s see you dodge this.” A web of yellow coursed through his emblem as he created a wall of lightning. The air cracked loudly as it moved forward as one.
Demetrius’ emblem glowed a crimson red as he inhaled deeply. “Ingest.”
Falcon rubbed his brow in disbelief as the lightning flowed into the old man’s mouth. A loud burp followed.
“That was delicious.” Demetrius licked his dry lips. “So you’re a lightning wielder, I see. Thank you for the meal.”
“By the elements,” said Falcon, still in disbelief. “How did—” It doesn’t matter how. It’s just some more of that evil chaos. The important thing is to finish this.
“Falcon,” said Faith from behind Falcon. “Stop.”
“Don’t worry,” said Falcon. “I plan to put a stop to this.”
Demetrius yawned as he ran his skeletal hands through his untamed hair. “It’s going to take more than simple lightning to bring down a chaos wielder.”
“I got more for you, fiend.”
Demetrius responded with an amused, “Oh.”
A soft tap landed on Falcon’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Faith,” he assured her before she could speak. “I got this under control. If he wants to eat energy, I’ll give him some that will end him.” He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. He’d been putting a lot of training into poison wielding, with erratic results. Would it be enough? “Gas of Garrados!” He spread his legs just like he had seen in the tutorial manuscripts. It seemed to be working, because a faint blue mist formed at the tip of his fingertips.
Just when Falcon thought he had the hang of it, the mist dissolved without so much as a whimper, causing a wave of rage to spread through him. How can I be this weak?
A sudden loud snap rang in Falcon’s ears. A second later an explosion burst from the ground, sending him flying into a wall.
The smell of fresh fire filled Falcon’s nostrils as he got back to his feet. The hit had dazed him a bit, but he was fine.
Demetrius seemed, for the first time, to waver. “How did you chaos wield?”
“Don’t you worry about that,” said Falcon, trying to keep the shakiness in his voice in check. He stared down at his emblem and his heart nearly stopped. Sure enough it had dark red cracks on it. I chaos wielded. I’m a monster.
“I asked you a question, boy. Answer me!”
Falcon shook himself back to the present. He picked up his katana from the floor. His chest ached as he took a step toward his enemy. No matter how much he wanted to concentrate on Demetrius, he couldn’t get over the fact that he was no different than Volcseck.
Then, without warning, the pain in his chest dissolved as warm hands touched his shoulders. His trembling body returned to normal and his mind relaxed.
“Is that better?” breathed a honeyed voice in his ear.
“Faith?”
“Yes, it’s me. Calm down.”
“I-I-I,” he was at peace, but confused. “What are you doing? This is not the time for this. We m…must stop.” He stumbled forward. Faith pulled him back before he crashed to the ground. “Shal-Demetrius is—”
“Not the enemy,” finished Faith. “He hasn’t attacked you once this entire time. All his moves have been purely defensive.”
His confused mind returned to normal as Faith removed her hands. A hint of rage also returned, though not as strong as before. “Of course he’s the enemy.”
Faith walked by Falcon and extended her hand to the chaos wielder. “Hello, sir. I’m Faith Hemstath. Pleasure to meet you.”
Demetrius brought his hand up and Falcon took a step forward in response. Faith was obviously under some kind of chaos trance and he didn’t plan to stand idly by as the old man attacked her.
But to his surprise Demetrius didn’t produce a weapon or even try to wield as Falcon had expected. Instead he held his hand directly in front of Faith’s and stared in apparent amusement.
“Why are you showing me your hand?” asked Demetrius.
She took his hand and shook it. “It’s called hand-shake. It’s a way to say hello.”
Demetrius scratched his head. “What a strange way to say hello. In my day a simple declaration of one’s clan served as introduction. I suppose a lot changes in ten thousand years.”
“You were in that crystal for ten-thousand years?” exclaimed Falcon.
“Technically it’s sap, not a crystal. And yes, I was there for that long. Give or take a few centuries.” The old man spoke in a casual voice, as if being trapped for so long was an everyday occurrence.
Falcon turned back to Faith, hoping for an explanation. “But h…how?”
“How about we focus on getting these poor children free,” said Demetrius, “instead of focusing on me.”
“Yes,” added Faith. “We should hurry before they’re fully drained.”
“Not to worry. When I was inside the chaos sap I was vaguely aware of what was going on. I managed to suppress the energy being drained into my body enough so that none of the children were in any mortal danger. All you have to do now is release them.”
“Me?” asked Faith, her voice filled with shock.
“Yes,” said Demetrius, moving beside Faith. Falcon readied himself; he didn’t fully trust the newcomer. “You’re a holy wielder, are you not?”
Faith held up her hand, showcasing her pristine emblem. “Yes.”
“And I imagine you’re the only holy wielder in Va’siel.”
“I’m the only one I know of.”
Demetrius nodded. “Then that means you have never had any proper holy training.” He brought his hand to his wrinkled chin as if deep in thought. A second later he took an unexpected jump four feet in the air, much higher than Falcon ever expected such an ancient person to jump to. “No matter. From what I just saw, your holy wielding is enough to suppress the chaos.”
“Suppress?” asked Falcon. He could tell that Faith was just as confused as him.
“Every element has a natural counter. Fire and water. Earth and lightning.” He pointed at Faith. “Holy is a natural counter to both darkness and chaos. I would have thought that, in ten-thousand years, youth would have grown wiser. I suppose not.”
“So what do I do?” asked Faith, obviously not as annoyed by the old man’s words as Falcon was.
“Do the same thing that you did for your thick-headed friend here a minute ago to calm him down.”
Faith slowly moved forward and placed her hand on the sap crystal that contained Iris. A radiant yellow light traveled from her hands and into the crystal. A second later the sap dissolved, creating a pile of clear yellowish goo on the cave floor.
A gargled cough was the first noise Iris made, followed by a series of moans. Suddenly she sat upward, breathing quickly. “W-w-where am I? Let me go, Lakirk. Let me go! Y-you won’t…”
“Relax, Iris. You’re safe now.”
“That’s right, you are,” added Falcon, keeping a watchful eye on Demetrius.
Iris’s words tumbled over each other. “The last thing I remember was Lakirk. He took me. T…tried to…”
“Everything is fine now.” Faith put her arms around the small girl. “You’re going to be fine.”
Iris dug her head into Faith’s jacket as she sobbed. When she finally stopped a minute later, Faith quickly freed the remaining children. It took a moment for them to adjust back to reality, but they were all breathing and moving normally.
“So what is it that you want?” Falcon asked, facing Demet
rius. “Why did you influence Lakirk into freeing you?”
“Me?” He pointed a long finger at himself. “I want nothing more than to rest. Lakirk acted of his own accord.”
“Sure he did,” said Falcon. “How convenient that you’re now free. No one benefited more from this than you. You are responsible, chaos wielder. Who else could it have been?”
“Sure, blame the chaos wielder,” said Demetrius, his voice filled with sarcasm. “Has it ever occurred to you that not all chaos wielders are bad?”
Falcon remained silent. He had indeed never thought of chaos wielders as anything but pure evil.
“Besides,” Demetrius added, “you’re a chaos wielder yourself.”
“I’m no chaos wielder!” snapped Falcon.
Demetrius chuckled. “Bold words for someone who just chaos wielded, and quite badly I might add. You have no control.”
Falcon grimaced. He had spent his entire life hearing how he had no control. The last thing he needed was to hear it from a chaos wielder.
“But that can be remedied,” continued Demetrius. “I can show you how to control it, instead of having it control you.”
“You can’t be serious. Why would I want to be taught by you?”
“Because you have no one else who can teach you. And it’s painfully obvious you need the tutelage. Tell me, have you ever lost control? Allowed your inner rage take over you?”
The words of the ancient man echoed in Falcon’s head as he recalled the time at the arena when he’d turned into a monster. He had been so engrossed that he had almost attacked Aya. Perhaps Demetrius’s offer was worth considering.
“Yes, Falcon,” cheered Iris, apparently back to her old self. “Become more powerful so you can catch Lakirk and kick his behind.”
Falcon turned to Faith, realizing that if he truly wanted to protect her and Aya, he needed to push his wants aside and takes Demetrius’s offer. “I accept your offer, but only for a few days. I have other things to attend to.”
Demetrius took a breath, and Falcon wondered why the old man wanted to teach him in the first place. “Good!” He pumped his fists and did a little dance that involved hip hopping round on one leg. “You’re about to be trained by the most powerful, cunning, and let’s not forget amazing wielder of all the land.” He cleared his throat. “The legendary chaos wielder, Shal-Demetrius.”
Faith clapped.
Iris and the kids giggled.
Falcon stood at a loss of words at the strange antics. His palm struck his forehead as he wondered what in the world he had gotten himself into.
CHAPTER 18
Aya rubbed her eyes. Slowly, the green blur in front of her turned into large leaves hanging from thick long trees.
A second later two heads appeared looking down on her. One belonged to a girl; the other one was a large, white, furred mess.
“Took you long enough,” said Keira, rolling her eyes. She patted her bear. “What do you think, Loriko? How long do you think she’ll survive before she dies?”
Loriko grunted and moved behind Keira.
The blind girl laughed. “You’re right.”
“How did we survive that fall?” asked Aya, picking herself up. She stared up. A thick gray mist that flowed miles above her made it impossible to see the top of the cliff.
“Loriko, of course,” said Keira knowingly. “My bears have all been trained to survive…uncommon situations. Loriko here, for example, pulled us in while we were falling, then took most of the brunt of the blows as we slammed into the trees. Sure, slowing down by willingly crashing into branches is not the best of options, but it beats breaking your fall with your face.”
“I don’t think we chose to crash into the branches. We just did. It’s not like we had much of a choice in the matter.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Loriko eyed the thickest branches as we fell and made sure to land on those. All while holding onto us while falling on her back.” There was an undistinguishable hint of pride in Keira’s voice.
“That sounds so far-fetched that—” Aya winced as she noticed the scratches on Loriko’s back. Does it really matter? Were alive, and that’s all that matters. “Thank you, Loriko.”
Keira grimaced. “Lay down.” The bear did as instructed. Keira then reached in her pocket and pulled out a ball of wrapped leaves. She opened them, revealing a glittering powder.
“What’s that?”
Without answering, the blind girl cautiously put her hand on her bear’s back and ran her hands through the fur.
Why is she moving so slow? And that’s when it hit her. Since Keira was so far from her other bears, she was cut off from their sight. She only had Loriko to rely on.
“Let me do that,” said Aya, reaching for the shiny medicine.
“No! You don’t know where to put the medicine. I do.”
Aya stepped back. “Sorry.”
The bear growled loudly as Keira applied a dash of the powder inside the cut. But it remained a place.
“That’s amazing,” said Aya. “How did you ever gain such obedience from an animal?”
Keira rolled her cloudy eyes. “It’s not obedience. It’s loyalty, a loyalty that is created between two friends. It is something that a Rohad could never understand.”
“That’s not true. I know plenty of loyal Rohads.” Something inside of her twisted in annoyance.
“Sure, tell that to my parents who…” She waved her hand. “Forget it about it. Why bother explaining to someone like you?” Keira put the remaining medicine in her pocket. “And just so we’re clear: I know you tried to save me because you’re expecting some kind of reward. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’re not getting more than whatever the contract says. Got it?”
Aya took a calming breath, opting to forego future discussion. “Sure. Now how about we concentrate on the issue at hand. How are going to get back up the cliff? This way up appears to be littered with loose rocks. We won’t make it if we try to climb it.”
“Climb it?” asked Keira, shaking her head slightly. “Why would we do that?”
“How else are we supposed to get back to the others?”
Keira slammed the palm of her hand on her head. “We’re not going back to the group. We’re going to continue on the mission.”
“But you’re their leader. You have to be there to guide them.”
“Exactly. And I will be there. Raji will lead them to the spot where we’re supposed to meet. We just have to make sure we’re there too.”
“I’m not sure that’s a sound plan,” said Aya, weighing her options. “We don’t know if they’ll even be there. Since you fell they may organize a search party instead of moving toward the rendezvous point. I think we should—”
“Too bad what you think doesn’t matter. I’m the paying client and you do as I say, is that clear?”
Aya steadied herself. “Of course, let’s go.”
And without saying another word, with her guide besides her, Keira took off into the thick shrubbery. Aya followed close behind. Seconds later Aya ducked as a thick branch almost smacked her across the face.
“Careful there,” said Keira with a snicker. Every few seconds Keira would “accidentally” let loose a branch toward Aya followed by “Sorry, did I hit you, mercenary?” or “Watch your face.”
But after moments of doing this and getting no response from Aya, Keira stopped talking and simply walked silently behind Loriko.
“We’re going to need to get food soon,” said Keira.
Aya pointed up at the trees. “There’s plenty of fruit up there. I’ll go get some down for us.”
“What? You think I can’t do it because I’m blind?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I can climb a tree faster than you ever could. Just you see.” She took off in a sprint and hopped on the tree trunk. From the ground, Loriko looked up, providing Keira with the sight she needed.
Aya picked up her speed and ran up the tree trunk, us
ing the momentum to propel herself to the nearest branch. She then flipped to the branch above that. She kept on doing that, flipping and hopping from branch to branch. From the corner of her eye she noticed Keira was moving up the opposite tree at the same breakneck speed as her. How is she doing that without full visibility?
“Got it,” said Keira. She stood on a thick branch. In her hands she held a bushel of circular fruits with a hairy exterior. “I knew that I was the fastest one here.” She held tight to her fruits as she hopped down from branch to branch.
Aya pulled free a few hard purple fruits that dangled from the tree she had climbed. Once she felt like she had secured most of them in one hand, she moved down to the ground. She landed beside the princess.
“About time you got back,” said Keira. She was taking large bites out of the fruit, which she had already peeled. “I hope you’re not too sore that I beat you.”
“It’s fine.” Aya studied the hard fruit in her hands. There didn’t appear to be any way to peel it. That meant that she needed to break it open. She grabbed a nearby rock and hit the fruit a few times. The purple shell broke in pieces. Her stomach growled as she pulled the pieces off and revealed a fragrant soft center. Seeing the lump of chewy fruit reminded her how hungry she really was. She licked her lips and brought the fruit to her mouth.
Loriko danced around Keira in a fit of panic. He waved his paws around and grunted something, though Aya couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.
Keira rolled her eyes. “Fine, you win. I’ll tell her.”
Loriko lay back down beside the princess.
Keira turned her gaze at Aya. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Aya paused, the fruit inches from her mouth. “Do what?”
“Do you even know what you’re holding?”
“Yes. It’s a mangosteen. Learning the different fruits and vegetables of Va’siel is required of all Rohads. Did you honestly think that I would just go around eating random foods I knew nothing about?”
“Well, those texts of yours missed something. That’s not a mangosteen.”
Aya cautiously moved the fruit back and studied it. It had the soft, white texture that the books at the Rohad library had described. She brought the fruit to her nose. The sweet aroma engulfed her nostrils, just as the books had said. She then studied the shell that had fallen on the floor. It was the way it was supposed to be, purple and hard. No matter how much she tried, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Could it be that Keira was just toying with her? She certainly wouldn’t put it past her.
Void Wielder 2 Legacy of Chaos Page 13
