Rogue Light

by Brian Nyaude

Rogue Light

  Destined Legends

  Bryan Nyaude

  All rights Reserved. The characters, events, and settings of the story are all a work of fiction and a product of the writer’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 by Bryan Nyaude

  ISBN-13: 9781311449498

  LCCN: 2014920990

  Cover Design by Shutterstock.com

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to my family and friends who supported me and believed in my dreams. Thank you for your patience and loving support, you are the inspiration and the motivation that keeps me writing.

 

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Prologue

  The castle lay in ruins, torn asunder by the might of my allies. In every direction, our enemies fell, lying helplessly in the debris of the fallen towers. We had finally done the impossible; however, the worst was soon upon us.

  “Hold your ground,” I yelled to them, trying to keep them from falling apart in spirit. “Do not let her escape us.”

  The sky roared above us, thundering with rage of oblivion. We looked up and finally saw it, our looming demise. An army of monstrous beasts accompanied by a swarm of serpents was descending down towards us from the heavens themselves.

  “This is the end,” one of my allies cried, falling to his knees.

  “No, it’s not,” I assured them, raising my sword into the air. “It is over when we can no longer lift our weapons.”

  The very earth beneath our feet shook violently as a shriek echoed above us.

  “No, it is the end,” a voice spoke, hidden within the clouds.

  This voice, I knew it too well. Looking up, my heart shattered, jolted with unspeakable fear. How could this be? The creature lingered a bit in the clouds before descending down towards us too, behind the other creatures. It was just as I feared, this was her true form beneath the cloak.

 

  1

  “It’s here guys,” Paul whispered with excitement and uncontrolled joy.

  One of the merchant caravans we had been waiting for had finally appeared from the city. We were hiding in one of the tall trees surrounding the great city of Yogo completely out of sight waiting to ambush. I wasn’t too sure it was the smart thing we were about to do in broad daylight. Even though we had planned it all out weeks before, it still didn’t feel right.

  “Come on Rid,” Tye growled at me as he unsheathed his sword slowly. His eyes widened with suppressed anger as he glared at me. “There is no backing out of this one.”

  We were going to rob one of the Rainku’s merchant caravans and escape to a neighboring country. Everyone in the world feared the Rainku. They were monsters with extraordinary fighting skills and weapons of great powers that were unrivaled by anything. Their presence in our world had only brought pain and destruction. None of them had a sense of humanity or mercy within their hearts. So many great heroes and kings all over the world had fallen because of them. Due to this, most the world fell into turmoil and calamity. Even the most powerful warriors left dared not raise a finger against them. What were we thinking? Robbing monstrous humans was a thing only a stupid idiot would do and that clearly put us in that category.

  “Are you sure about this guys?” I said to them in a trembling voice. “We really don’t have to do this.”

  “Why not?” Tye replied me rudely. “We’ve been through this several times already. It’s just one merchant caravan and after that we will flee Yogo and leave this business for good. Don’t you think it’s time we finally found happiness and start living like everyone else? Now get it together Rid the merchant caravan is getting close. ”

  He was right, we did deserve to be happy all three of us, but the price of this happiness was something that could come at a heavy price. I had a gut feeling that told me to run, but I couldn’t. Tye’s words had got the best of me and I was also tired of eating from the dumpsters every day. I had known happiness once, and it seemed like it was only yesterday. It’s hard to believe that I had once been the proud and arrogant prince of Rogue. However, my cunning stepbrother bested me and I was framed for a crime I didn’t commit. Because of that I was banished far away from Rogue to ever wonder the world as an outcast. It was terrible and sometimes I cried being all alone so far away from home. If only they had given me a trial I would have been able to prove my innocence. Well I could’ve tried somehow. But unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The kingdom of Rogue didn’t have too many bright people to begin with. We were easy to anger and the only thing we understood more than eating was fighting. Somehow I had escaped my country’s curse, but in exchange I had been made into more of a coward. Along my solo traveling I met Tye and Paul who ambushed me and tried to rob me. Mysteriously we became friends after a serious fight and they were the ones who introduced me to stealing. They taught me every secret to the business and even taught me the most secret code of thieves.

  It went something like this, “You only steal what you can get away with! If you get caught, you never turn your partners in crime in under any circumstances. Failure to follow the code will result in death yada yada yada!”

  I really hated this way of life, but it was the only way to survive in the harsh and cruel world.

  “Now,” Tye said jumping from the tree onto the caravan.

  Paul did the same and hell broke loose. It was too late to stop them and I just couldn’t abandon my friends at such a critical time. I jumped onto the caravan too only to trip and fall hard to the ground below. I was clumsy at times or rather it just a bad habit of misfortunes that haunted me? Looking up, all I saw was chaos as people were in the midst of a fight. There were about a dozen soldiers who came quickly out of the caravan fighting my two friends. Fortunately, Paul and Tye were experienced fighters. They thrived well in the heat of violence even against many adversaries. I heard the frenzy cry of metal as swords clashed followed by yelping screams. It was an all out brawl to the death which seemed to put my two friends at a big disadvantage. I got up slowly patting the sore spot on my head. No one seemed to be aware of my presence which I found rather peculiar. My objective was not to join the fight, but to infiltrate the caravan and steal the valuable contents. I stealthy made my way towards the horses and hid behind them untying them free. I did this to buy time for us to escape once the ambush was done. The horses let out a mild noise while remaining stationary. Luckily the soldiers were too distracted to notice me, a chance I gladly
welcomed to sneak into their caravan quickly. Was this a trap? Not even one guard seemed to be guarding the caravan, a rather strange and yet bold tactic. It was unusual to find this many soldiers travelling with one caravan outside Yogo in broad daylight. That only meant one thing, the contents inside had to be priceless and very valuable.

  It was very dark inside and quite spacious. There was a strong smell of cinnamon chocolate inside that made my stomach growl. My mouth shivered as I licked my dry lips firmly. It had been two days since I last ate real food so I was really starving. I hadn’t come for a quick meal, however, the strong smell of food was just too much to resist. Quickly, I searched through their belongings and found some food which I stashed in my pockets.

  “Is this really it?”

  There wasn’t much treasure except for some pair of silver gloves, a shiny steel shield and a golden arm gauntlet. They all looked pretty useless to me, but I took them anyway and sneaked out of the caravan unnoticed. Boy, Tye and Paul were not going to be happy with these trinkets. The sun reflected brightly into my eyes blinding me for a bit. I could hear battle cries and the sheer clash of raw steel piercing through flesh roughly. I gazed and noticed Paul and Tye slowly backing away at their limits. The plan had gone off smoothly, a little too smoothly, but who cared as long as it worked. After making sure Paul and Tye were okay, I ran a distance and stopped when I was a good bit far away from the caravan. With my body hidden behind a tree, I signaled Tye and Paul using our secret bird call and waited. There was a long ominous silence for some minutes, and then I heard footsteps and screams heading in my direction. Cautiously, I peeped out to see who was approaching. It was Tye and Paul and they were running very fast. Excited I ran towards to tell them the good news, but they didn’t stop. Wondering why I stopped only to see them, the creatures of fierce aggression and brutality. The Rainku treasure dogs were on our tail.

  “They could have at least given me some warning before they ran past me,” I said to myself turning around to flee.

  Running normally wasn’t going to elude these dogs as they were bred to chase and feed on treasure thieves. I dashed quickly as fast as my legs could extend without looking back. Perhaps I should have listened to my gut feeling the first time, but I didn’t. My legs felt numb as my arms tensed strongly trying to revoke anymore movements. It felt like my head was going to explode with all the blood rushing to my brains. Within seconds, I had caught up to Paul and Tye as they were slowing down.

  “Something isn’t right,” Tye panted looking us both in the eye

  “What gave it away genius?” I rattled in anger. “I bet it’s those giant dogs chasing after us.”

  “Quit it Rid,” Paul interrupted us completely. “Tye is right, I think we fell into a trap.”

  “Obviously and I don’t think we can outrun them,” I took a glance back at creatures quickly before looking straight ahead.

  “It doesn’t make sense. Are they after us or something else?” Paul asked trying to make sense of the situation.

  “It doesn’t matter now okay?” Tye panted gaining a few more steps ahead of us. “Just keep running and don’t stop.”

  There was a long silence for a minute, all we could do at the moment was continue running without any sense of where we were going.

  “We have to split up,” Tye said finally breaking off the silence.

  “Are you out of your mind?” I yelled at him. “No! Let’s stick together.”

  That was crazy talk! In the back of my mind I knew he was absolutely right. There were only two treasure dogs hunting the three of us. One of us had a chance of making out of this alive. “Darn! Okay you win,” I finally spoke agreeing with Tye. “This was all I could grab from the caravan that seemed of value.”

  “Seriously! This junk looks worthless, “Paul panted shaking his head.

  “Well if it’s not good enough you can always go back and get some more,” I commented sarcastically.

  I handed Tye the shield and gave Paul the gloves. It was a tough decision, but necessary nonetheless.

  “See you guys in Okaya,” Paul said giving us the nod, vanishing in a different direction.

  Tye hated saying good bye, but before he leaving he mumbled, “don’t die.”

  I smiled as I kept running. I knew this wasn’t the end and we would all meet soon in Okaya.

  I ran a good bit far headed in the north east direction without a moment’s spare. It was then I heard the cry of large dogs and looked back. The two treasure dogs from before were still chasing me viciously. Why me? It seemed they had been attracted to the sweet smell of meat and chocolate that I had in my pants. Either they had a sweet tooth or it was the gauntlet they were truly after. Slowly, my body grew weary from exhaustion alarming me that I had pushed it pasts its normal limits. My only problem at the moment was the dogs. I had to lose these dogs some way but how? Not in a million years had I thought I would ever leave Rogue and yet here I was running for my life far away from home. The dogs were getting close and I was getting extremely tired, my legs were numb and my head ached terribly. I wanted to rest so bad, maybe I should have taken the gloves or left the food back in the caravan.

  “Leave me alone you stupid mutts,” I growled at them with words of utter distaste.

  I think they understood me because they started to run even faster.

  “Yikes,’ I yelped and proceeded to run even more aggressively without a clear direction. Despite my panic, I felt uneasy about something. If the dogs wanted to, they could have caught and killed me minutes ago. Yet all they did was pursue me while keeping a slight distance.

  Oh well! It was good fortune that I was still alive and saw no use in thinking about it anymore. The forest surrounding Yogo was very thick and dense that I could barely see where I was going at that time. Nothing was going according to our original plan. If we had known that treasure dogs were guarding the merchant caravan from the shadows, we would have reconsidered and fled the scene. I looked around while running through the treacherous dark forest. It was quiet and almost ominous for dear comfort. Honestly, it seemed like I had been running for hours. Sheer desperation and absolute fear was the only thinking keeping me on my feet. I caught a glimpse of the sun as it was setting beyond the horizon amazingly. Would I survive this day? I was definitely in a troublesome situation.

  For some reason, I looked back and saw the dogs no more than a few feet from me, catching up fast. I admired their persistence, although rather annoying.

  Up ahead was a dangerous river named after Dohn Claf. An infamous murderer and thief who did a lot of terrible stuff when he was still alive. The river had gained this reputation because it had also claimed so many lives of men, women, and children in the past and present. What made this river worrisome was what lay beneath it. A series of uncontrolled waves, sharp stones, and of course the infamous sand piranhas. Such was my fate, to be trapped in oblivion with only one path ahead. In my eyes, the only choice I had was to cross the river. It was the only way to lose the dogs. There was no other option in the matter. Two other slight problems to add, I despised water and disliked piranhas more than anything else. And now I was going to jump into such a dangerous river. What luck!

  The chances of me crossing safely were very slim and the chances of me getting eaten by the dogs or piranhas were very high. Clearly, fortune was not in my favor. However, there was nothing I could do about it, but try. I felt my body tense as I got closer towards the bank of the river. Without delay, I slowed down and discarded the red meat in my pockets. Throwing it further away from my reach, I had no use for such uncooked meat. It only served to attract the sand piranha towards me the moment I got into the river. Soldiers eating half cooked meat, it just didn’t make sense, but didn’t matter at the moment. To my surprise, the dogs stopped in their tracks and walked towards the red meat. They sniffed it for a second before proceeding to eat it. They were well mannered and took their time to eat it as they watched me curiously. Their eyes were dark
and gloomy, showing no signs of compassion in them. And fur raised and dark as the pure abyss. I shivered at the thought of them attacking without warning. Oddly enough, all they did was watch me as they ate their spoils. In their mind I was cornered, clearly they didn’t think I had the guts to cross old Dohn at such a time as this.

  The more I thought about it the more it looked like a bad idea. The rapid waves were surging strongly that it looked impossible to cross even with a boat. In those few minutes the dogs had stopped to chow down, I had gotten a few seconds of rest. Although, not enough for what I was about to do next. Crossing this river was going to be the toughest thing I had ever attempted. A great fit worthy of legend, if I survived of course. I felt a sense of danger arising as the dogs were finishing the last of the half-cooked meat. Desperately, I ate the cinnamon chocolate to replenish my strength and backed away slowly. The gauntlet was a problem, not going to be easy to cross the river with it in my hands. I came up with a quick choice and wore the gauntlet onto my right arm. “What in the world.”

  The gauntlet sunk deep into my hand, completely merging with my flesh. I was spooked out by this new discovery as my eyes almost popped out. The dogs began to gnarl as they were done eating, moving closer to me with each step. I took my mind off the gauntlet and looked towards the threat. There was no way I could fend off these dogs in my current state. My only option was to jump into the river and swim to the other side. If possible, I wanted to avoid this option at all cost. Without much thought, I rushed out into the river and swam roughly through it. The dogs didn’t even move. I could have sworn they were laughing at me struggle to swim this impossible river. Strangely, I didn’t feel tired or weary at all, as if some of my strength had been rekindled back into me.

  Regardless of admirable attempts, the rapid waves were infuriating as they seemed to keep pushing me back, still I didn’t give up. Something was pushing me ahead, more than my willpower. To be exact, more like someone else. Whenever difficult situation emerged, the person I thought of the most was Daphne. Seeing her fair face in my mind was the only thing that kept me going through all the hardships and struggles. I yearned to see her more than anything else in this world. There was nothing I wasn’t willing to do to bring that reality to pass. She was the one person I missed most when I got banished from Rogue aside from my mother and father of course. All the times we had spent together meant more to me than the treasures and jewels of this world. Would I ever see her again? I had to, there was no way I was going to leave things as they were or be an outcast for the rest of my life. With that motivation in my heart, I forced my body past the pain and swum hard in attempt to get to the other side. Yes, I caught a glimpse of the other river bank and it was getting closer. I was doing the impossible, my once futile attempt was finally paying off. I heard the dogs start to bark as my feet touched the ground beneath the shallow water. I had done it, I had crossed the river.

  “Serves them right,” I said to myself getting out of the river on the other side.

  The air was cold and windy, as the sun was almost gone from the sky. I shivered for a second as I tried to warm up. Honestly, what I had just done was impressive. Not a lot of people could cross this deadly river and come out unscathed. If only someone had been here to witness this fit of worthy of being written in legends. Although, a little too amazing even for my taste. I sensed another presence helping me, although it was just me being paranoid as usual. But why had I not hit any rocks or encountered piranhas while crossing old Dohn? It was indeed unusual for me to be this lucky this many times.

  I coughed out some water as I sat down to really rest my body. The dogs ran west to the shallow end of old Dohn which gave me a few hours head start. By the time they got here, I would be long gone or so I thought. Somehow they weren’t like normal dogs, their intelligence was beyond me and that was a bad thing. Three to six hours at best wasn’t enough for me to rest and find a safe place to hide from the dogs. I felt a slight tingle in my right arm and raised it up for a closer look. Indeed, the gauntlet had really merged with my body. Was this a good or bad thing? Something about this object made me feel uneasy. What the! I looked on other side of my arm and saw something surprising.

  “When did I get tattoo markings?”

  It was freaking me out more than the fact that two very big vicious dogs were after me. The tattoos resembled two guns and I didn’t remember ever getting them at all which was the crazy part. Maybe I had gotten the tattoo, but I don’t think I would have forgotten unless I was drunk. True enough, I had been a slobbering drunk in the past, I wasn’t going to deny that. But I think I would have definitely remembered something as important as a tattoo. Oh! The sound of water hitting the shore distracted me from my misfortune. I closed my eyes and faintly slept by a bark of a hidden tree.