The Awakening (The Fempiror Chronicles Book 1)

by George Willson

  The final Chaser attacked David. David swung high for the rider’s neck, but the rider blocked David’s attempt. David immediately tried to slice across the rider’s middle, but the rider blocked him again. David watched as the rider circled around for another attack, but before he could make any kind of approach, the Elewo, now in control of her Chaser, rammed into the side of him. The shocked rider looked up in time to see the Elewo use the momentum of the crash to leap from her Chaser on to his and deliver a crushing blow to his face.

  The rider’s head snapped back with a sharp crack. His sword clattered to the roof. Never stopping for a moment, the Elewo continued her fluid motion off the Chaser and landed softly on the rooftop. She turned to watch the mass of metal and rider crash to the ground at the base of the building.

  David stared in wonder for a moment before he removed a cloth from his pocket and wiped the blood from his sword. He walked toward the Elewo as he sheathed his sword and stood beside her. Tiberius had told him once that watching an Elewo was impressive to behold, and this experience did not damage that observation.

  “Well done,” David said, standing beside his fellow warrior. The Elewo snapped her eyes to David, and strangely, she took a step away from him. He turned to her, curious. He meant no offense by either his assistance or his words. He looked into the deep, brown eyes beneath the mask as they turned to look upon him. Her expression was indecipherable.

  “Are you well?” David asked, concerned. “I’m David, a Rastem.” He took a step toward her and held out his hand in friendship. She backed away from it. He looked closely at her eyes and saw tears. This reaction was very unusual for an Elewo when he considered that he had never seen an Elewo cry under any circumstances. Then, she spoke.

  “I know who you are,” a familiar voice said. His world stopped. Everything became clear to him. Every reaction. Her surprise. Her tears. He had not heard that voice in years. He never knew if he would hear it again when he had lost it. But most undeniably, he would never forget it. He could only gaze at her, world spinning, barely able to stand.

  “Beth?”

  Voices issuing from far below snapped them back to reality. The Tepish had seen the Chasers fall, and very shortly, they were going to have more problems. They needed to get out of here, but as David turned back to Beth, he found she was already on the move. She ran to the opposite side of the building and leapt from the roof. He ran after her and looked over the edge to where she landed easily on the ground far below. Without a glance behind her, she ran into the night. He had to stay with her.

  He leapt off the building as well. The drop was significant, but part of their strength allowed them to make these kinds of jumps, as long as they landed well enough. He landed softly on the ground and looked in the direction where he saw Beth disappear. Dressed in black, she was invisible in the night.

  He was momentarily conflicted, but with the sounds of the Tepish approaching, he could not risk an attempt to determine her path. He turned to run to a known Rastem outlet nearby to escape, but a group of Tepish guards emerged ahead of him. He turned and found another group emerging behind him.

  Running now would risk leading them to a Rastem outpost. He was trapped.

  The Tepish formed a tight circle around him. David drew his sword and prepared himself for an onslaught, but only one large Tepish approached him from the circle. This Tepish Champion was at least a head taller than David was with a shoulder span that was twice David’s width. He wore a sneer on his face as he stared down at David like a boy might gaze upon an ant.

  “A young one,” he stated. “And I was hoping for a challenge.”

  David did not give the Champion the benefit of a reply, but only waited patiently for him to make his move. The Champion drew his sword and slashed at David. David found the Champion’s size was no indication of fencing skill. He easily deflected the blow with a wrist gauntlet and stepped back.

  David hoped that Beth would report the situation quickly, and possibly send help for him, if she had seen the Tepish approach. Given the sheer number of Tepish around him, David knew that if he defeated this large one, the others would attack and overwhelm him. He needed to hold off the attack until he had help.

  The Champion attacked him again, and again, David deflected his strike. This time, David swung his sword in a lazy arc toward the Champion that he easily blocked. David felt that he needed to give this Tepish someone to fight against, or it would not be convincing. The Champion swung again, this time making several attempts to penetrate David’s defense. David blocked all of the strikes and then swung at the Champion allowing him another easy block.

  David glanced behind the Tepish circle, but he could see no one coming out of the darkness. The Champion had stepped up his attack, swinging faster and harder than he had been. David had to work a little harder to keep the large warrior at bay, and resorted to simply blocking the rapid onslaught, continuing to hope that help was just beyond the shadows.

  “Somebody hold him!” the Champion shouted. That was the signal for David to finish this. He could not risk being held as a pawn for nothing more than an overzealous bully. The Tepish in the circle closed in as David blocked the last swing the large Tepish Champion would ever make.

  He pushed up on the Champion’s blade, swung once more to knock his opponent’s sword completely out of the way, and then ran his blade through the Champion’s chest. The Champion stared at David in surprise before his eyes rolled back into his head. David withdrew his blade quickly as the large man fell to the ground. The circle of warriors looked on their fallen champion for only a moment before turning their gaze to David. He held his sword at the ready.

  As one, the warriors rushed him. He desperately worked to defend himself from their blows using his sword and his wrist and ankle gauntlets, but found himself quickly overwhelmed by their numbers. He was grateful that at the end, he at least knew that Beth was all right.

  Then a commotion arose outside of the throng and the warriors dispersed to defend themselves against a group of both Rastem and Elewo warriors. He looked up to find Beth leading Tiberius and Ulrich along with a dozen warriors to him. She had gone for help.

  The Tepish group tried to hold their own against the sudden onslaught of fighters, but the influx quickly defeated them. Several Tepish broke away from the group and ran back to the fortress in defeat, but the Rastem and Elewo did not give chase. Their battle here was done, and they needed to get back into hiding.

  David wiped his sword clean again as he looked to Tiberius, who approached him. “Thanks,” David said. He sheathed his sword.

  “I hope you weren’t out looking for trouble,” Tiberius said.

  David looked over to Beth, who spared him a glance from beneath her mask before turning to walk away with Ulrich and the other Elewo. As their eyes met, she quickly looked away.

  “No,” David responded, “but I found it.”

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  George Willson was born in 1975 and has lived in Oklahoma the majority of his life. Following his graduation from Broken Arrow High School in 1993 where he excelled in the music program, he had a short tour in the U.S. Army as a trombone player before returning to civilian life in Oklahoma. He started by writing musicals and eventually collaborated on one that had a small scale production in Sweden at about the same time he had a play produced in Tulsa, Ok in 2001. He became a member of the Simplyscripts.com screenwriting community for a time culminating with the production of a short film, No Better Loved Than Lost, and a feature, No Kind Of Life, both of which he wrote, produced, directed, and performed the soundtrack in 2007 and 2009. He still writes music regularly and can play piano along with a dozen other instruments as well as sing, all of which are talents he shares with his church on a weekly basis in its worship team. He has written four novels for the Fempiror Chronicles series, six from another series calle
d The Maze, and two other novels of a miscellaneous nature. He currently lives in Broken Arrow, Ok with his wife and three princesses.