“Whoa!” he muttered, staring down at the key.
But, he had no time to ponder the ease in which the key came to him, and he tucked the King’s Key through his belt loop before racing out of the chamber, down the hall, and up to the main level. Instead of going straight to the group waiting by the mountain’s entrance, he ducked into the fencing room. He went directly to the glass-encased sword. With a wave of his hand, the case sprung open and the sword flew into his hand. Quickly, he tucked the sword under his cloak next to the key, slipped from the room, and hurried down the corridor toward the group departing the mountain. His father lingered by the door with Michael Spencer.
“Dad, wait! I’m coming!” Xavier called, running awkwardly toward the men.
“Not to worry, son. We were waiting for you. I wouldn’t leave you without saying goodbye,” Jeremiah reassured him with a smile, clapping him on the back. He turned to the group of women and children lingering nearby. “I know this is hard, but I promise each of you that we will plan the invasion carefully, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that your loved ones return home to you. Until then, take care of each other. See you all soon.”
There were murmurs of farewell and good luck as the king, Xavier, and Michael Spencer walked through the door, shutting it firmly behind them.
The moment Xavier entered the Cavern of Kings, voices from the past kings began drumming into him, and he paused, staring up at the statues with renewed awe.
“Come, Xavier. It’s a long walk and I need to get these men to Mirror Lake before nightfall,” his father told him softly, extending his hand.
He took his father’s hand and was led deeper into the Cavern. The farther they walked, the louder, more intense the voices became until Xavier clamped his hands over his ears and tried to muffle out the noise. It didn’t help.
“Xavier? Are you all right?” his father asked.
He tried to smile as he dropped his hands. “Yes, sir.”
His father wasn’t buying it and asked, “Are the kings speaking to you?”
He nodded. “They’re just…really loud.”
Jeremiah grabbed Xavier’s arm and stopped him. He looked down at him with worried, tired eyes. “What are they saying?”
He shook his head and moaned. “I can’t tell. They’re all talking at once!”
“Xavier, listen to me. If the kings are trying this hard to speak to you, it must be important. Stop fighting them. Calm down and even out your breathing.”
He did as his father instructed, and soon, the voices grew quieter. “King of Light, it will not work. Your reckless plan will only result in your death. Do not go through with it!”
Xavier shook his head.
“What? What did they say?” Jeremiah asked.
“Ah…nothing. They…stopped talking,” he lied.
When the king opened his mouth to press the issue, Loren called out jovially, “Excuse me, King Wells? Could you move it along back there? We’d like to get to Mirror Lake while we’re all still fairly young!”
Xavier took this distraction to hurry past his father and join the group, exiting through the enormous doors of the cavern. He could feel his father’s presence pushing against his consciousness and quickly shifted his thoughts to Robbie. He thought about her vision and what he saw there. His wife! She would be his wife some day! He smiled at the thought as he felt his father’s hand drop onto his shoulder, affectionately.
“So you saw Robbie’s vision?” he asked.
Xavier looked up, feigning an expression of surprise. “How did you… oh, you were in my thoughts, huh? Well, I only saw a little before she realized I was in her thoughts and knocked me on my butt.”
He snickered. “She will make a fine queen someday. Just don’t be in a hurry. Ok?”
After ten minutes of walking, the group finally came to a halt in front of an enormous rock wall.
“All right, Jer. It’s time to do your thing,” Loren called.
The king brushed past the men and moved to stand unobstructed in front of the stone barrier. He raised his hand and the wall began to rumble and creak as it slowly opened. A blinding white light blasted into the passage from the snow-coated landscape, forcing the group to blink and shield their eyes.
After a moment, Jeremiah announced, “Well, men, let’s head on down the mountain.” He turned to Xavier. “This is where we say goodbye, son. Behave yourself and mind your uncle,” he whispered, enveloping the boy in his arms.
Suddenly, the king went rigid. “What the…” He pushed Xavier at arm’s length, pulled back his cloak, and saw the Sword of the Chosen and the King’s Key strapped to his waist. “Why in the hell do you have the key and that…that sword?”
He twisted out of his father’s hands. “I have to do it, Father. I can’t let anyone else die for me. I can’t let him kill anyone else. I can’t let you die!”
“Xavier…” Jeremiah began, but the boy pushed past him and out into the bright light. “Stop him! Loren! Grab Xavier! Don’t let him teleport!”
But, Loren didn’t reach him in time. Just as his hand closed over the prince’s arm, he was gone, and the king gave a great bellow of despair.
Chapter 26
Child Soldiers
Moments later, Xavier slammed against something wet and cool. The spiraling sensation of teleporting still had his head spinning, and he felt dangerously close to throwing up. He opened his clamped eyes and found himself on his hands and knees in some kind of forest. Slowly he got to his feet and peered around. He knew this area! He had teleported the entire distance to Warwood! He stood in the Wood next to the lake. It was still daylight and by his calculations, it had to be about two o’clock in the afternoon. He had a long time to wait before he could sneak into the palace and kill William LeMasters. In the meantime, he would use his time wisely and scout out the security around the palace.
He withdrew his sword and held it at the ready as he crept through the dense foliage, careful to stay off paths and out of sight. He didn’t want any accidental encounters. His mission was too important to risk. Everything depended on it. Soon, he came to the immense field adjacent to the academy and the coliseum. Half a dozen men wearing black uniforms and cloaks and armed with swords were standing in a huddled group in the middle of the field. The men looked completely relaxed, as though they were confident that no one would dare try to overtake them. They were perfectly at home. Anger soared into Xavier, and any fear he had initially felt was shoved to the back of his mind. Maybe their confident attitudes could be used against them. Maybe they would be so confident in their strength that they wouldn’t see a twelve-year-old boy as a threat. His eyes traveled to the academy. A string of children dressed identically to their adult counterparts marched in single file lines as adults barked orders.
“Damn it, Mr. Calhoun! That’s the second time you’ve dropped your free hand!” a voice boomed a few meters from the edge of the woods.
Xavier immediately dropped to the ground.
“S…sorry, sir,” Ken Calhoun’s voice trembled. “I f…forgot.”
“FORGOT! FORGOT!” bellowed the voice, which was followed by a flickering light and Ken’s screams.
Xavier crawled through the brush toward the commotion. Ken was sprawled on the muddy ground panting, while a man with short, blond hair stood menacingly above him.
“Maybe now you’ll remember, Mr. Calhoun, because if you forget again, this punishment will tickle in comparison to what you’ll receive,” the man hissed. “Now, get to your feet boy, and do it again.”
Ken scrambled to his feet and joined the two lines of children facing one another with swords.
“All right, soldiers! En guarde!” the man shouted, and instantly the group erupted in a series of lunges, feints, and parries. Several minutes later, somewhere within the academy, a loud horn blared.
“Now, you are to practice for an hour this evening, except for you Mr. Calhoun. You will practice for two hours tonight. I’ll see you in my
chambers at seven o’clock. You’re dismissed to your next lesson,” the man order roughly before turning to a small boy at the end of the line. “Mr. Fine? After you gather all the equipment and take it to the storage shed, you can go to the nurse’s station and have that wound healed.”
“Yes, Commander,” the boy squeaked, saluting.
The commander turned and marched toward the academy behind his students, leaving the smaller boy behind to pick up spare swords and sabers. Once everyone was out of sight and the boy was alone, Xavier took a deep breath, stood, and stepped out of the woods.
“Hey, mate. How’s it going?” he called softly, trying not to scare the kid.
The boy looked up quickly, his eyes large and anxious. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t hear you walk up. I was just picking up like the Commander ordered. I…I won’t be long.”
“Need a hand?” Xavier asked, nodding to the boy’s overflowing arms and dozen swords still lying on the ground.
“Ah…no, sir. I can manage. I can pull my own weight, sir. Don’t worry.”
“Why are you calling me sir?” Xavier asked.
The boy looked at him suspiciously. “Well, sir. You are a lord, of course,” he responded, nodding at the royal blue cloak Xavier was wearing. “I recognize the royal colors of course, sir.”
Xavier looked over his own appearance, but as he did so, the hood of his cloak slipped, exposing his white hair. The boy’s gray eyes grew enormous. “Oh, my God! You’re Prince Wells! What are you doing here, sire?” the boy squeaked, dropping to his knees and sending the swords in his arms clattering to the ground. “Are you here to save us?”
Xavier dropped to his knees in front of the boy. “How do you know me? Are you a citizen of Warwood?”
“No, sire. I’m not from Warwood. Master has your picture posted all over the kingdom. We are supposed to be on constant vigilance for you and King Wells. Master has soldiers actively searching for you guys. He says that his men are close to finding you, but I think he’s lying. I don’t think they have a clue where you are.” The boy smiled.
“How did you end up with LeMasters?” Xavier asked.
The boy shrugged. “I don’t remember much before I was brought to live with Master,” the boy replied, shaking his head and sending his long dark hair spinning around his head. “I remember my mother a little. She was always smiling, and she loved to hug me. She did it all the time,” the boy ended, his face becoming melancholy.
“Look…ah, what’s your name?” he asked.
The boy’s grin was back. “Daniel. Daniel Fine, sire.”
“Okay, look Daniel, I am here to stop William LeMasters. When I’m done, everyone being held captive will be freed, but I need your help. Can you get me a disguise so I won’t stand out? Could you get me one of your uniforms, and something to color my hair with?” he asked.
“Yes, sire. I can do that! I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes,” Daniel agreed, jumping to his feet and lifting the swords into his arms.
“Wait,” he called, noticing the deep cut on the smaller boy’s arm. “Hold still.” After a brief white glow, the wound stopped bleeding and closed into a thin, pink scar.
Daniel looked down at the wound. “Whoa! Thanks! I didn’t know anyone…well, as young as you could heal like that!” Then, with another enormous, genuine grin, he raced toward the academy.
Xavier slid back into the cover of the wood’s vegetation and waited. Within ten minutes, little Daniel was jogging back from the academy with a bulge under his black cloak. As he drew near the Wood, he slowed, scanning the wood’s edge.
“Sire? Sire?” he called softly.
“Here,” Xavier whispered.
Daniel slipped into the woods to where he stood behind a bush leafing in young foliage.
“Here you are, sire,” he announced with delight as he dumped a black uniform and cloak onto the ground between them. “And, for your hair…I got this.” He pulled out a bottle of liquid shoe polish.
“Shoe polish?” Xavier laughed.
“Yes, sire. It’ll work; won’t it?” Daniel asked timidly.
He looked at the boy beside him and smiled. “Yeah, it’s perfect! Thanks, Daniel. You did great. Come on. Let’s go to the lake so I have water to rinse this stuff off.”
The boy beamed up at him.
After Xavier colored his hair, he was sporting grungy, dirt-brown locks. It looked horrible, but at least his hair wasn’t white anymore. Then he pulled on the black uniform and turned to Daniel, who sat on a rock watching his transformation.
“Well, how do I look?” he asked.
“Great, sire! No one would know it was you!” he declared in wonder.
“Good. Daniel, from now on, you can’t call me sire or sir. Got it? Call me…Adam, okay?”
“Yes, Si…I mean, Adam.”
“Come on. Show me around and tell me everything you know about the security to the palace,” he instructed, draping an arm around Daniel and leading him out of the Wood.
Daniel, as it turned out, knew quite a lot about the security of Warwood. LeMasters’ men had discovered only five of the eight secret passages into the castle and stationed a man at each entrance. The palace guards always changed shifts at one in the afternoon and one in the morning. LeMasters had claimed the king’s bedroom with his wife, Veronica. Their son, Fox, slept in Xavier’s room.
“Wait! Did you say…his wife?” he interrupted, stopping Daniel. “Dr. Angelo is his wife?”
“Yeah, well, I think so. I mean Fox is their son. They would have to be married, right?” he asked.
“Ah, yeah, I guess so,” Xavier replied as they entered the academy.
“Come on, we need to hurry. General Stephens said that if I was late for electro force training again, he’d cane me!” Daniel blurted, rushing ahead.
“No, he won’t, Daniel,” he retorted firmly. “I won’t let him.”
When the boys entered the gym, Xavier saw a dozen children standing at attention facing a large, imposing man. “Now, electro forces can be used to render your enemy helpless and reeling in pain while you impale him with your sword. May I have a volunteer from the group to assist me in demonstrating?”
A sudden terror rippled down the line of children, and every child’s eye avoided the general’s.
“Calhoun? What about you?” General Stephens questioned.
Ken hesitantly stepped forward and seemed to be fighting back tears. Xavier truly felt sorry for him and without thinking, he announced, “General Stephens? I’d like to volunteer.”
The man whipped around in surprise. “And who are you, soldier?”
“I am a loyal servant of Master,” he replied haughtily, trying not to gag on the words.
A sneer of respect spread across the general’s face. “Good answer, soldier. Now, what is your name?”
“Adam. Adam… Jones, sir.”
“All right, Soldier Jones. Step forward,” the man announced, motioning Xavier to him.
He went without hesitation and stood staring blatantly up at the man. General Stephens turned to the group where Daniel had managed to slip inconspicuously in line with the others. Ken Calhoun fell back into line, keeping his head low and meek.
“Now, watch as I demonstrate how to use an electro force to immobilize my opponent so I can easily take him out,” the general boasted before turning back to Xavier.
But, before General Stephens could raise his hand to conjure the force, Xavier’s hand shot up and sent a stream of electricity into the man. Within seconds, the general collapsed to the floor, and Xavier withdrew his sword and held it inches from the man’s throat. Only then did he release the electro force from the man. Soaked in his own sweat and still trembling from the empowerment he had endured, General Stephens gaped up at Xavier with fear and then hatred.
“Something like that, sir?” he hissed condescendingly down at him.
The general gave a nervous chuckle as he gingerly moved the tip of Xavier’s sword away from his throat and s
tood. “Nicely, done, soldier! Nicely done.” Though everything in the man’s tone and demeanor said he thought the act was far from being nicely done.
“I’m a fast learner, sir,” he replied.
He fell into line with the rest of the group as the other children’s silent cheers and supportive thoughts burst into his mind. He was surprised by their mutinous feelings, but then, he realized that these child-soldiers were just as much prisoners as the loyal citizens who had been unable to escape the kingdom during the invasion. They held no loyalty to William LeMasters or his thugs; they simply feared them and knew of no other way.
“Pair up!” the general barked.
As the group paired up, Ken stepped up next to Xavier and whispered shakily, “Thanks for that. Stephens has been giving me a hard time ever since I started military training. Most of these guys have been in training for months or even years. So, I’m far behind everyone else…and, well, thanks.”
He gave the other boy a quick nod before muttering, “No problem.”
Chapter 27
Captured
Electro force was the last lesson of the day, and Xavier followed Daniel into the halls of the academy. The smaller boy led him into a wing of the school where classrooms had been converted into dormitories.
“You live here?” he gasped.
Daniel glanced timidly at him and nodded. “Yes, S…I mean…Yeah. All soldiers still in training live at the school. The bed next to mine is free if you want to sleep there tonight.”
“Sorry, Daniel, but I won’t be staying. I need to find a way into the palace,” he whispered.
“Oh.” He looked disappointed as he settled on a bare mattress on the floor, frowning. “I could get you in. I’m a kitchen helper at the palace for most evening meals. Sometimes, I bring one of the other boys with me to help. You could come with me tonight.”
The Prince of Warwood and The Sword of the Chosen (Book 3) Page 20
