Moonlight War- Act II (The Realmers Book 3)

by William Collins

  Cera’s giggling face flashed in his mind, her expression had haunted him ever since.

  “You didn’t know what Kurrlan planned for me,” he continued. “Whether he wanted to kill me, or just steal my magic. No matter how you spin it, you chose to sacrifice another Venator so you could keep your magic. If you’d never went to Kurrlan, everything would’ve been okay. Yes, I get how not having sorcery would be hard for you. But you still visited Veneseron all the time. You got to train in weaponry, you got to live in the city. You might not have been a Venator with magic, but you could’ve served Veneseron like Arantay does. Maybe you could’ve still gone on missions one day.”

  “They only let Arantay be a Venator because he’s inhuman,” Cera snapped. “They don’t let normal humans be Realmers. Just allies, or contacts. Do you think I wanted to spend my life just being an informant? Being useless. All the Sangel’s have been fantastic Venators. I couldn’t let my bloodline down. More importantly I couldn’t go on being barren anymore. Every day I felt empty. There was always something missing. It was magic. The moment Kurrlan’s borrowed sorcery filled me, I felt alive for the first time. I couldn’t go back to being an empty shell.”

  Evan shook his head. “It still wasn’t worth it. No one’s life is worth making yours better. You weren’t dying, just unhappy. I get it. It must’ve been horrible not having magic when everyone else did. But that doesn’t give you a pass for what you did.”

  “I’ll tell, Evan. I’ll tell them all.” Cera pushed herself off the wall, stumbling toward him. Her vibrant green eyes flashing vehemence.

  She’d suddenly changed tack, going from an innocent girl who loved him, to blackmail.

  “I know now that Kurrlan wanted you for your demon magic. That means you’re a demon spawn. Wait until the whole Fortress knows, Evan. They’ll cast you out, or kill you on sight. Let me out. I’ll leave Veneseron. You’ll never see me again. Just smuggle me out of here and I’ll keep your little secret until the day I die.”

  “I’m sorry Cera.” He tried to keep his tone neutral, and not show how much her words hurt him. This wasn’t the Cera he knew. But maybe he’d never known the real Cera at all. The nice, gentle girl he’d met when arriving at Veneseron had always been an act. He was stupid to still believe any of it was real.

  “You can’t tell anyone, not when you’re inside that cell.”

  Cera dragged herself across the short space of her cell and collapsed against the steel door, pressing her face against the bars of the window.

  “I’ll tell them all when they take me to Del-O-Reth,” she said. “The Republic will be interested to hear what I have to say. They’ll come for you Evan. Maybe they’ll execute you. Or maybe they’ll throw you in the asylum with me.

  “No one would believe you. Borrowing magic from a Dread Lord makes a person insane, Cera.”

  “Evan, please!” She changed tack a third time, sagging against the door as she turned to pitiful begging. “They’re going to lock me up forever. I heard the guards talking. I can’t go there. Please, Evan. You don’t know how horrific it is there. You can’t let them take me. Save me, please. If you ever cared about me at all, you’ll do the right thing, Evan.”

  “I’m sorry, Cera. I can’t.

  “Have you fallen in love with another girl, is that it?” she hissed.

  “Wha--no. Of course not,” he said, shocked by her sudden fury. “But you need help, Cera. You’ll be looked after in Del-O-Reth.”

  “Nooo,” she whined. “Don’t let them take me. You have to save me. You talk about betrayal, but you’re betraying me now.”

  She’d leaned right against the bars now, her face inches from his own. Her eyes glistened as tears started to fall.

  Evan assumed this was another ploy to manipulate him and tried not to let himself be moved. He hated seeing her so upset, but he had to keep reminding himself that this wasn’t the Cera he knew.

  He’d come here, ready to demand her to tell him how she could have betrayed him. Of course, he knew the why, but he still couldn’t comprehend how she could’ve done something so callous. He also wanted to know if any of it had ever been real, if Cera had ever cared for him at all. But he knew now he wouldn’t get a straight answer, only more lies and manipulation. He still felt sorry for her, he couldn’t help it.

  “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I probably shouldn’t have come here. I just had to see you one last time. I wanted some sort of…closure, I guess. I—I wish you all the best, and I hope you get the help that you need.”

  He turned to leave.

  “Can I have one last kiss? To say goodbye,” she called after him.

  For one wild, reckless moment, a small part of Evan was tempted to kiss her. But he refused to be tricked by her again.

  He turned back to her, one last time. “I’m sorry, Cera. Goodbye.”

  “You coward!” Cera screeched. “Don’t walk away from me. Come back. I’ll find you Evan, and I’ll kill you!”

  Evan walked away, without looking back. Cera’s screams increased behind him, changing from anger, to anguish, to hatred.

  He heard her screams long after he’d left the dungeons.

  *

  Evan was beyond relieved to find his friends laughing with one another happily in the Oval. He needed to be around them after his interaction with Cera.

  He’d kept replaying her words in his head as he walked back through the Fortress, but his mood lifted once he found his friends in their favourite rec room. They sat around one of the circular tables, playing the Realmer card game, Realmadon.

  Evan didn’t know much about Realmadon, but as he approached he saw that the battle was between Xavier and Emillia.

  Emi revealed her last card. “I use my Dwarven Pit Fighter card to kill your Gnome Scientist card and the last card you have left.

  “No way,” Xavier exclaimed, “how does the dumbest of us all keep beating us all?”

  “I’m not dumb,” Emillia grinned. “You’re just a sore loser, now give me my winnings.”

  Xavier grumbled about cheating, but handed Emi a handful of merchant marks all the same.

  It was only then that the table realised he was behind them.

  “Hi, Evan,” Joelle said. “Fancy a card battle? You can borrow Zeke’s deck if you want.”

  “Maybe another time,” he said, sitting on the chair beside Elijah and Joelle. “I still need to learn the rules.”

  Jed leaned around Joelle’s chair on his other side and asked. “How was it? By your face, I’m guessing bad.”

  “I… it was, well, I’m not sure I can talk about it right now. I’ll tell you another time,” Evan murmured.

  “No worries,” Jed gave him a reassuring smile. “As long as you’re okay?”

  He nodded back gratefully.

  “C’mon then,” said Emillia, reshuffling her card deck. “Which one of you wants to lose to me next?”

  “I’ll battle you,” said Sabine as she came over to their table. “As long as I can choose the location card.”

  “Bring it.” Emi smiled confidently.

  “Awesome, I can’t wait for you to destroy Sabine,” said Jed, shooting Sabine a mischievous look. “I’ll put a scion shilling on Emi, who wants to bet against me?”

  “You should bet all of your allowance Jed,” Sabine replied. “My location card is the Zombie Wastelands.” She promptly slid one of the cards from her deck across the table.

  A handful of Venators gasped. Evan didn’t know why the card was shocking, but he leaned in eagerly with the others as the card battle began. Several minutes later and he was feeling much better, joining in as everyone whooped and cheered at each card move. Being with his friends and watching the game was a great way to make him forget his troubles, at least for a little bit.

  “Ha, Emi’s still winning,” Joelle said. “She’s unbeatable.”

  “Just wait,” said Xavier, “the tenth turn is coming up. And that triggers Sabine’s location card to begin the zombi
e apocalypse, putting every card on only five life points.”

  Evan’s good mood was disrupted; however, when he saw Sintian and Bane enter the room.

  He noticed that both boys wore Uqari cuffs. Part of their punishment had evidently been taking away their magic temporarily.

  It was the first time Evan had seen them since they had left him stranded. Anything could have happened to him. He felt a hot core of rage begin to build in his chest.

  Unfortunately, his former mission companions sauntered right over to their table. Bane wore a relaxed and arrogant smile, but Sintian’s onyx eyes were afire, a cruel grimace curving his lips.

  “Do you know what you’ve done, Evan? I bet you did too,” Sintian jerked his head at Emi. “Told on us, didn’t you? Taretta has put a fail on mine and Bane’s mission records, thanks to you glarqing bliaks.”

  “Good,” he replied. “You deserve it.”

  His friends murmured their agreement.

  Sintian flinched, as if Evan had slapped him. “I saved your life on that mission, Umbra. So did Bane. And this is how you repay us.”

  “You left me in the middle of an ocean,” Evan said. “With no magic left and no way to portal home. I just told Vanderain what happened.”

  “You better hope we don’t get put on a mission again then,” Sintian snarled. “Next time, when I see a chance to save you, I’ll just let you die.”

  Evan stood up sharply to face him, but Joelle and Elijah each grabbed one of his arms.

  “Calm down boys,” Bane said smoothly, pulling Sintian back. “Sin and I just came for a friendly chat, not a fight.” Bane surveyed the table. “Ah, I love a good game of Realmadon. I’m an excellent player. I’ll take the winner of this battle.”

  “I don’t think you were invited Bane, so why don’t you leave,” he said coldly.

  “It’s a free country Evan,” Bane replied. “I think I’ll go where I please. Besides, everyone knows card games are more fun with big money on the line.” Bane pulled out a wad of Prince’s Pound notes. “And I so happen to have a lot of money. So how about it?”

  Joelle snorted. “Just go away, Bane, and take daddy’s money with you.”

  “I wouldn’t bring fathers into this if I were you,” Bane remarked casually. “Your dad likely spends all his money on food. I wonder how much longer he has until his heart bursts.”

  This time it was Evan’s turn to restrain Joelle as she flew out of her chair.

  “Calm down, it’s not worth it,” he said as he held her back.

  “That’s low, even for you,” Emillia spoke up.

  “Dearie me,” Bane sighed, “you have a lot of cheerleaders, don’t you Evan?”

  “I think she’s still mad that we pulled her back to Veneseron with us,” said Sintian. “She should be happy we didn’t push her in the sea with Evan.”

  “Oi!” Jed snarled as he squared up to Sintian and Bane. “My friends have asked you to leave us alone.”

  Evan let go of Joelle now she’d calmed somewhat and stood beside Jed. Part of him wanted to keep the situation from escalating, but another part wanted to get revenge on the two bullies.

  Bane’s eyes were filled with an icy malice, like a serpent preparing to strike. “Ah, another Mid-Realmer is it?”

  “Yeah, except he hasn’t even had his first mission yet.” Sintian smirked.

  “I see,” Bane said to Jed, “maybe we can abandon you on your first mission too?”

  “Try it, you strange-haired weirdo.” Jed replied. “Yeah, I know that’s not a great insult, but your stupid blond hair has got green bits in it. So…yeah.”

  “C’mon guys, it’s not worth it.” Elijah tried to intervene.

  “Typical,” said Sintian. “The coward would say that.”

  “Who are you calling a coward?” Evan said.

  “Him,” Sintian sneered at Elijah. “My brother has told me a few things about him. You know my big brother quite well, don’t you Elijah?”

  Elijah’s face drained of colour. He blinked rapidly, but said nothing.

  Elijah had never mentioned to him that he knew Sypher well, but maybe Sintian was just being nasty for no reason.

  He felt the situation plummeting out of control, but he couldn’t keep his anger at bay. They’d left him on a strange world where he could easily have gotten hurt or even killed, and now they taunted him still.

  The rest of the Venators in the room had stopped chatting, playing games or watching TV, to crowd around them all. Jed and Joelle had moved to stand directly in front of Bane, whilst Sintian edged closer to Evan.

  “I have a secret to tell you,” Sintian spoke so only he could hear him as Bane and Joelle traded insults feet away.

  “What?” he growled.

  “Remember our little voyage into the Badlands? Firk and Fenik didn’t push Emillia out of the Sandstrider by random chance. I wanted to see if you’d use your demon magic again. So I paid them to do it.”

  Evan looked at him in disbelief.

  “You…”

  “That’s right.” Sintian smirked maliciously. “I know you’re lying about your demon magic, so putting Emi’s life at risk was a good way to see if you do it again. Unfortunately, my plan didn’t work. I guess keeping your secret isn’t worth her life eh, Evan?”

  He answered Sintian’s question with a sickening head-butt, his forehead colliding with Sintian’s nose. At the same moment, whatever Bane had said caused Joelle to slap him hard across the face. Evan was too busy with Sintian, however, leaping on the other boy as he fell to the floor. Sintian got in a punch before he could, however, causing him to fall back.

  Sintian tried to rise to his feet, but Evan struck him in the stomach. As Sintian doubled over, Evan grabbed him in a headlock. The two of them struggled across the room awkwardly as the rest of his friends held back a kicking and screaming Joelle.

  Jed must’ve tackled Bane to the ground, as he saw the two of them wrestling and Jed throw a punch. But then his attention went back to Sintian as he tried to push him away.

  “You stupid, disturbed idiot!” He found himself shouting, letting go of Sintian only to land an uppercut to his face.

  “What in Rueda’s name is going on here!”

  Evan turned to see Mistress Aqenna and Master Gettelung hurry into the room.

  Bane had got the better of Jed, and had pinned him beneath him. But as soon as Aqenna spoke, Bane stood up calmly, acting as if nothing had happened.

  Evan stepped away from Sintian as the Instructors arrived, but Sintian advanced toward him, wanting to continue the fight, regardless. His expression was maniacal, and he licked the blood leaking from his nose.

  “Sintian Stray!” Gettelung shouted, his voice booming throughout the room.

  Reluctantly, Sintian too stepped away, his eyes awash with wild fury.

  “What the hell are you lot playing at?” Aqenna cried.

  No one answered. Evan knew he was in the wrong for attacking Sintian, but he couldn’t believe what he’d done. Emillia was lucky not to have been seriously injured in the Badlands. Evan couldn’t fathom how Sintian could go that far, just because he was obsessed with the fact Evan could do demon magic.

  “I saw it all, Masters.” Sabine said eagerly. “Sintian and Bane were taunting them, but it was Evan and Joelle who started the fight.”

  There was an outrage from the Venators around them, not just from his friends, but the crowd of Realmer’s who’d watched.

  “You’re such a Master’s pet!” Jed roared. “No wonder nobody likes you.”

  “And then Jed attacked Bane for no reason too,” Sabine added, throwing Jed a murderous look.

  “You bliak!” said Joelle, gesturing wildly with her hand. At once, Sabine sneezed and snot poured from her nose. Evan recognised Joelle’s spell as Spicefever, which made the victim’s nose runny with snot that burned like the hottest of peppers. Sabine started sneezing again and again, in-between yelps of pain.

  “Miss Mace,” Aqenna chided
her, running to heal Sabine from Spicefever’s effects.

  “That’s it,” said Gettelung. “Joelle, Bane, Sintian, Evan and Jed. All five of you are in serious trouble!”

  Chapter 51- The Blood Before the Storm

  Brooke paced the length of the church repeatedly, it lessened her worry over Tay and the nerves for the battle ahead. She daydreamed of being back at Veneseron to distract herself. She imagined eating a delicious orc orange pie in the Banquet chamber, (which tasted better than any other pie she’d eaten on this realm) or watching the Unicorn racing on TV in one of the rec rooms. She even missed the rigorous weaponry drills with Master Urkzal. Most of all, she missed simply hanging out with her friends, even the lame jokes Jed told. She hoped Evan was doing okay too. Fortunately the mission had taken her mind off of the fact she was the child of the Demon Disciple Adena, someone she hadn’t even seen a drawing of. But she knew Evan was struggling with being a Demon-Spawn more than her. She could see it in his face whenever the two of them discussed it. She hoped he was having a lot of fun at Veneseron.

  Arantay had disappeared once again; she hadn’t seen him for half the day. She hoped he’d been taking the tincture Vanderain made him which stopped the sunlight exposing his black veins, otherwise he’d cause alarm among London’s citizens. Brooke had been terrified when he first disappeared, chasing Falawn and Kaymor’s coven after they attacked the church. She’d been so worried Tay had been captured by them, or even killed. But he’d returned an hour later, furious and cold toward everyone. The only words he’d uttered since then was that he’d failed to catch his brother. He’d then went straight to the crypt to sleep, and had already left again when Brooke awoke.

  As she paced, Brooke could tell the entire vampire coven was also incredibly tense as they prepared for the battle.

  Vore and his pack had returned to the church at sundown once again, but unlike yesterday, they came fight with the vampires, not against them.

  But Brooke was probably more on edge and frightened than all of them. Aside from the fact she wasn’t an Immortal like the vampires or shifters, she was also far less experienced than the other Venators.