Rise of The Mortokai

by D G Palmer

  But Finn knew that, even with all his magic, that would be a hard thing to avoid.

  ‘I’m hungry,’ announced Finn.

  ‘Ok, cool! Now you get to try some London cuisine! First stop...’

  ‘Leon?’ Finn frowned as they stood outside the restaurant.

  ‘It’s named after one of the owners dads, but forget the name, it’s all about the food; tasty and healthy.’

  After she had sampled some of the food on the menu Finn had to admit that it was pretty tasty, not as good as Eveline mind you, but still pretty tasty, especially the little custard tarts with the flaky pastry.

  After they’d finished there, they went around the block into Borough Market where Finn’s eyes lit up.

  ‘This is just like Snack Street back home! Just a little smaller maybe, but the principle is still the same. She tried a bit of everything and made sure she got a bag of chocolate and cinnamon coated hazelnuts to bring back to Eveline, as a gift she claimed, but secretly in the hope that the talented Ariest cook would be able to recreate it and keep Finn’s new craving satisfied.

  Daniel continued his whistle stop tour of central London crossing the Thames and taking in the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham palace, Hyde park and eventually onto Oxford street. Finn was bewildered by the amount of people she had seen so far; to think that she still hadn’t seen the same person twice on their trip.

  They ploughed their way through the busy shopping street, being buffeted this way and that whilst Daniel held Finn’s hand so as not to lose her in the crowds. Time was getting on but Daniel had one more stop to make on the way home.

  ‘And this is it, my school,’ Daniel revealed.

  ‘Wow. It’s pretty big,’ Finn remarked. ‘No wonder you have so many hobthrusts here.’

  ‘You know, there was I time when I couldn’t even see them,’ Daniel smiled as he reminisced back to that fateful day with Trinity in the library. She had said that people stopped seeing Fae when they stopped believing in them. Well there was definitely no denying that his eyes had been well and truly opened to the world of magic. ‘I’m sure the Mage Academy must be pretty special though, better than this, anyway.’

  ‘Probably. I’ve never seen it but it’s in imperial city so it must be pretty impressive since those High Bourne elves wouldn’t have anything aesthetically displeasing near them.’

  Hearing this piqued his interest mightily. As much as Daniel had been impressed with Murias City and Almedia, he knew that there was much more Ariest had to offer, good and bad. His curiosity fuelled his hunger for knowledge. Not just knowledge gathered from books but knowledge from experiences too. He had been told about the High Bourne by Nyriel, and Aradia had spoken to him about the Tolgarr, but he still felt the need to encounter them for himself.

  ‘I had some good days here, not many to be fair, but I’ll still miss the place,’ Daniel said.

  ‘I guess it is kind of the end of an era for you,’ replied Finn.

  ‘It’s true it kind of is. Onwards and upwards to better things.’

  All of a sudden, popcorn kernels began to rain down on the pair accompanied by voices Daniel knew all too well.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ Bobby Brinkmeyer smiled wickedly. ‘if it isn’t our good friend, Daniel Welsh. I knew you couldn’t hide forever. Providence would finally deliver you to me.’

  ‘”But I’ll still miss the place”,’ mocked Jack Thompson. ‘You’re a joke!’

  Willis Jeffries added his two cents. ‘Have they finally kicked you out so us normal people don’t have to look at your freakish face?’

  Daniel tried to ignore them as best he could. He took Finn by the arm and started walking in the opposite direction of his tormentors. But to no avail.

  ‘Are you kidding me? It looks like Ghostface has got himself a little girlfriend,’ said Bobby.

  ‘She looks a bit of a mess if you ask me,’ laughed jack.

  ‘What did you expect? It takes a freak to love a freak!’ Willis retorted.

  Daniel could feel Finn flinch at that remark.

  ‘Why don’t you use your magic and shut them up?’ She whispered. ‘Show them you’re not that same person anymore.’

  Daniel simply shook his head and carried on walking as the popcorn continued to bounce off his head. He wished he could use his magic on them but he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to cast a single spell. His mind was filled with a whole gamut of emotions; fear, anger, embarrassment, all negative emotions that hindered the flow of Essence and the use of magic. And even if he did manage to overcome them what if he lost himself in that Essence euphoria again?

  No, it was better to ignore them; small minded people get bored quickly. Unfortunately for them, people with fiery tempers reach their limit quicker.

  ‘It’s time for you to pay for that little sucker punch now, Daniel,’ said Bobby. He threw his cup of fizzy drink at his victim, which hit him in the back of his head and it exploded everywhere, causing the three bullies to laugh their heads off. ‘So that’s what you look like with a bit of colour!’

  Finn pulled her arm free of Daniels hold, which caused him to swear under his breath because he knew what was about to come; they were going to get a lesson on how to get beat up by someone that loved to scrap.

  Daniel looked on as she gave them the chance to apologise, which they laughed off. Again, she told them to say sorry, and again they refused. Then Jack made the mistake of trying to push past her which resulted in him receiving several back-hand slaps, each one accompanied by her lecture of having better manners.

  Bobby and Willis watched in astonishment as Jack slumped to the ground holding his reddened cheeks. A moment later Willis made a move to grab Finn but she was too quick as she took hold of his wrist instead, yanked him towards her several times and shoulder barged him each time before flipping the dazed and confused boy over her shoulder like a rag doll and left him in a heap on the floor.

  Only Bobby Brinkmeyer was left.

  After Seeing his cronies despatched with such ease Bobby wasn’t about to take his opponent lightly and didn’t intend to hold back either, girl or not. He just as well might have done because as he threw his first big right hander, she easily slipped it and doubled him over with a punch to his stomach.

  ‘All you had to do was say sorry to Daniel then we would have avoided scenes like this,’ Finn said matter-of-factly.

  ‘I - I’m sorry,’ he stammered.

  ‘And...?’

  ‘And what?’

  ‘And you won’t trouble him again or I’ll come back again.’

  ‘No! No, I won’t trouble him again.’

  That’s when Bobby saw the wrinkled-up noses on the faces of the recovering jack and Willis, and felt then the warm dark patch that was spreading across the front of his jeans. It was the same look that they and he himself had given Daniel, now he was subject to it but instead of enduring it he ran away. With their leader gone and humiliated the remaining two helped each other and also left.

  Daniel was more than a little happy to see Bobby get a taste of his own medicine, even though he knew his mum wouldn’t be entirely happy with how the situation was handled. He wished, however, that he could have been the one to do it, to put Bobby in his place once and for all.

  The way people reacted to his albinism had shaped the person he had become: guarded, reclusive, some people took it as meekness. Now he knew that to become the person he wanted to be he would have to take back control, not let others dictate who or what he could become.

  And that included prophecies!

  Chapter Ten

  It had taken a lot of courage for Trinity to confess her feelings to Daniel. It had been a major hurdle for her to overcome. The feelings had been there for so long but she never quite knew how to express herself, or what to say, not until two things happened. Firstly, the forest dream and secondly, seeing Finn getting closer to him.

  On both occasions she felt as though her affections were truly being tested; she cou
ld either persevere and ignore the dreams relentless warnings to renounce Daniel and declare her fondness for him or she could do as the forest wanted, forget him and not reveal her love for him at all.

  Trinity had made her choice. She couldn’t envision a life without Daniel in it. But now she was faced with an even greater test. Having told Daniel how she felt about him only to see him leave for Earth shortly after, with Finn.

  Mornings in The Dirty Dog were a far cry from the rambunctious evenings the tavern was known for. Sure, it still had the one or two drunkards that were a permanent feature of the establishment, almost like furniture, but the clientele that frequented at this time were less interested in the drink.

  Deals were being made in The Dog all the time, legitimate and otherwise, so if you didn’t fancy being taken for a ride you made sure you kept your wits about you. Basically, the only thing you would wash your food down with would be a nice glass of water.

  It wasn’t just scoundrels and cutpurses that made it their inn of choice; there were also the shady Nobel’s and merchant guild masters that felt somewhat safe there conducting business on neutral territory.

  Eveline set a plate of breakfast down in front of Trinity then she returned to her seat at the counter next to Tristan. She watched a forlorn Trinity absentmindedly play with the food for a moment and sighed. ‘That girl is in trouble. She’s got it bad.’

  ‘I agree,’ Tristan said between mouthfuls of food. ‘I sometimes get like this.’

  She stared at him with an eyebrow raised and her head cocked to one side. ‘Excuse me? When exactly have you been like that?’

  ‘Oh, a lot of times! That downtime between quests is a killer. The danger of questing puts fire in your belly and when you don’t have it you miss it.’

  ‘So, you think she’s depressed because she misses adventure?’

  ‘No doubt.’

  ‘And this is why I sometimes wonder why I am still with you,’ she exasperated. ‘You are such an idiot sometimes. She’s pining for Daniel, you dolt! It’s obvious.’

  ‘Nah, trust me.’

  Eveline rubbed her brow. She could feel the first twinges of a headache coming on.

  ‘Fine, don’t believe me! I’ll go prove it then,’ he said as he stood up and went over to Trinity. He grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the tavern.

  Trinity rubbed her arm where Tristan had gripped her. He didn’t release her until they had arrived at Union Park, next to Union Plaza and she wasn’t particularly happy about it. All she wanted to do was wallow in her heartache and wait for Daniels return, not be manhandled by a self-centred show-off.

  A shady man suddenly stepped out from behind a tree, threw open his cloak and made them an offer. ‘You need a steppin’ portal? I can get you from ‘ere to Corivel or Treimatox in the blink of an eye and the price is very reasonable. What d’ya say?’

  Trinity had barely calmed her nerves after the street dealers unexpected appearance when she suddenly heard shouts coming from the nearby town’s guardsman.

  ‘Oi! We already told you, you can’t deal here without a permit! Oi!’

  ‘Oh-oh, gotta go,’ the shady man said as he sprinted off with the town guard in pursuit.

  Now that they were alone in the park Trinity took the opportunity to question Tristan. ‘So, why are we here? Why am I here?’

  ‘Eveline seems to think that you have this long face because you miss Daniel, I told her it’s because you’re bored,’ he stated, ‘so I’ve brought you out here to take your mind off things and keep your sword arm sharp because adventure is always just around the corner.’

  The young Druid rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe this guy. But, in saying that, she could do with the practice. ‘Fine,’ she submitted, ‘let’s get this over with.’

  Tristan drew his sword and Trinity summoned her Schiavona. They went round after round, their swords dancing around each other. Swordsmanship however is just like magic in the sense that you need to concentrate completely on what you are doing. One stray thought and you might miscast your spell, or you might allow your opponent to slip your thrust and slap your behind with the flat of their sword.

  ‘Touché!’ he yelled with a grin.

  She glared at Tristan. All she really wanted was to find out what was happening back on Earth with Daniel and Finn not have to deal with Mr Misogynist invading her personal space whenever he could. He was handsome, that was easy for Trinity to admit to, but she really didn’t know how Eveline put up with the rest of him.

  Tristan was the better swordsman but the rounds of sparing would have been much closer calls if Trinity’s mind hadn’t been elsewhere. The fact that he got uncomfortably close, at every opportunity, also disrupted her concentration and furthermore annoyed her.

  The flashpoint came when in a heated exchange of parries and thrusts Tristan eventually had Trinity pinned against a tree. ‘Do you know,’ he whispered, inches from her face, ‘that if it had not been for that Shade you and I could very well have been the Goddess and Consort?’

  ‘I guess I should be thankful then,’ Trinity replied as she struggled to free herself.

  ‘Forget about Daniel, move on. You and I make a much more believable couple.’

  ‘This was your plan to take my mind off of Daniel? By telling me that you’re a better choice?’

  ‘You’ll see for yourself,’ Tristan responded as he leaned in to kiss the startled Trinity.

  Trinity hadn’t expected him to attempt such a thing but this was the final straw. She had endured All the butt slapping, derogatory comments about Daniel but Tristan trying to kiss her had tipped her over the edge. She had had enough and she intended to let him know in her own inimitable style. Being a Druid Trinity could become any animal she had seen, even from a magazine, and she knew exactly what creature she needed to become to get her point across to the disrespectful egotistical lothario.

  Tristan’s lips were nearly upon her but he never had the pleasure, as right before his eyes she transformed into a 3000lbs Giant Short-Faced Bear, the largest bear that ever lived. She stood over 14 feet tall on her hind legs. Tristan’s grip was broken and he fell to the ground in a heap. Trinity dropped down to all fours; even like this she still stood taller than the average man, and she brought her face within inches of the fallen Tristan’s. She bared her teeth and the let out a hellacious bellowing roar.

  When she had finished, Trinity transformed back to herself, stood over Tristan and said, ‘The next time you try that I’ll eat your face off.’ Then she headed back to The Dirty Dog. She had worked up quite a bit of an appetite. To say she was looking forward to finishing her breakfast would have been an understatement.

  I guess Tristan was good for something after all, Trinity sniggered to herself.

  ‘I WAS JUST TRYING TO take your mind off things,’ laughed Tristan, still dusting himself off as they returned to The Dog.

  ‘Whatever,’ Trinity dismissed his explanation, ‘just go tell Eveline to bring me some more eggs will you.’

  ‘Ok, but I may have a genuine distraction for you. I’m to go to Hyasda’s Herbs and Alchemy store later. Sometimes she sends me on errands to find specific ingredients usually in dangerous areas. Maybe you should come with me.’

  Trinity was non-committal as she sat down and waited for the eggs.

  Just then the tavern door opened and two strangers, a woman and a man, strolled in. They appeared to be in their late teens and were dressed in garb which suggested they were from the hot, harsh southern territories of Ariest, as did their dusky completions, and this was confirmed when the woman walked to the counter spoke with a Semitic accent.

  ‘I would like to speak to the proprietor of this establishment,’ the woman said in a soft voice.

  Eveline turned to call Mavis whilst Tristan, ever suspicious eyed the travellers. He watched as the male looked around the tavern then made some hand gestures to his compatriot.

  ‘You’re right,’ she replied with a smile, ‘this is b
ig. It must be busy at nights and should be very lucrative for us.’

  ‘I’m Mavis, this is my place. So, what do you want?’

  ‘My name is Teresa Bint Ishraq and he is Jarl Gálvez,’ she began with a flourish. ‘We are travelling minstrels from Sisoara looking to make a bit of coin while we—'

  ‘Not interested,’ Mavis dismissed and turned to head back to what she was doing before she was interrupted.

  ‘Of course, we would give you a cut of our takings, for the privilege,’ Teresa continued, ‘say 70/30?’

  Mavis stopped dead in her tracks. ‘70/30?’ Ever the business woman, any transaction where she would get the biggest share of the cake always piqued her interest. That didn’t stop her negotiating further however. ‘70/30 And you buy your own drinks.’

  ‘70/30 and we’ll drink water,’ Teresa responded.

  The tavern owner thought for a moment and then broke out into a smile. A deal had been brokered. ‘Welcome to The Dirty Dog!’ She shook their hands and introduced them to Eveline and Tristan.

  ‘Jarl, was it?’

  ‘My partner cannot speak,’ explained Teresa to Tristan. ‘He does his talking with his music. Perhaps you would like a small sample of what we have to offer?’

  ‘Excellent idea! I should make sure that you are up to the standard of my clientele.’ As soon as Mavis had finished that statement Eveline shot her a look of disbelief.

  Tables were pushed aside by Tristan, and a space was created for the entertainers. While this happened, Jarl, had swung his bag off his back and taken out a long slim case, which he handed to Teresa, in it was a flute. He then pulled out a 10-string lyre which he strummed and plucked to test its sound. In a few moments they were ready to begin.