“What, am I not your type?” He was always more confident and stupid after seeing Emma. These were certainly not men to be toyed with and he knew that he was walking a fine line. A few of the soldiers laughed at his comment, so he knew that he was fine for now.
“No, you’re not. Sorry to disappoint you, but do you know anyone with a tattoo? I’m not in the mood for games.”
“Not around my age. A few of the old guys have them…”
“Well, if you do see someone with one you’ll tell us, won’t you?”
Kovos just nodded his head. This seemed to satisfy them and they continued on their way. He needed to find Legon. It was clear that these men were looking for him. But the men were already heading toward Legon’s house. Kovos thought he could go around the town, but he wanted the cover of people going about their daily business. The soldiers would probably go to the town center and start asking around. He headed home to get changed so the next time they saw him he would be harder to recognize. He would also drag Keither along so it would just look like he was out with his brother running errands. Legon would be safe for now. People in town would be slow to talk, and Legon didn’t venture into the town center often.
* * * * *
Sasha came out of a restless sleep. She had been waking up every few hours with lists of things to do rushing through her head and an eerie feeling that not all was well. She decided to get up and on with her day. The sun was coming up now and she wasn’t going to get any sleep anyway.
She rolled out of bed and began to get dressed. There was a lot that needed to get done. Late last night she came to the conclusion that her and Legon needed to be able to leave at the drop of a hat. After that, the lists had started to run constantly in her mind. The thing was, they weren’t just leaving to go camping for a few days, they were leaving for good, and if they were forced to leave quickly they would need to pack light. This was a problem because when it came down to it, they needed to take a lot or they would be unable to start a new life somewhere.
She paused for a moment to decide what she wanted to wear for the day. She settled on an earthy green skirt and white blouse. She inspected herself in the mirror. It wasn’t good. There were huge bags under her eyes and her face was pale and looked a little odd to her. She leaned closer to the little mirror above the vanity. As she looked she noticed a slight twitch beneath her left eye. “That’s odd, I wonder what it…” she began to think, but the thought stopped as she felt her body become rigid and her vision blur. There was the sound of something hitting the ground and she felt incredible pain all over her body. She was faintly aware of herself on the ground thrashing about, but the pain was so bad she couldn’t think anymore. She had to be dying. And then she thought and felt nothing as the episode shut down her conscious mind.
She awoke to the usual scene: Legon was holding her, her parents were fussing. A dull pain in her left hip told her where she hit the ground. She didn’t remember much about it and was still trying to get her bearings. It felt like her mind was disconnected until she heard Legon’s calming voice. As his voice came, most of her mind came back with it, like someone had uncovered a candle or removed a blindfold. This wasn’t uncommon. She had never told anyone in the family, but she noticed that if Legon was around after an episode her mind seemed to start up faster then if he wasn’t. Stranger still, she knew that even though the episodes made her unconscious, she sometimes had flickers of thought or images, but they were just flickers, and only when Legon was there.
“Sash, Sash, are you ok? Are you back?” he said concernedly.
“Ye… yeah I’m back. How long was I out?”
“Only for a moment, dear. We heard you hit the floor,” said her mother. Sasha tried to raise herself from the floor.
“No honey, just wait a minute before you try and get up,” came her father’s voice.
Sasha raised her hand to block the now dazzling light that was starting to come in through the window. Everyone was still in their bedclothes. Legon was on the floor beside her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and this seemed to give her strength. Having an episode in the house was the worst. Every time it happened she got a huge bruise from hitting the hard floor. At least when it happened outside the ground was softer. A dull throb on the side of her head confirmed this.
“I’m fine now, really I am. I’ll try to take it easy today. I just need to run an errand or two so it won’t be bad.”
“Don’t worry about going out, Sash. I can pick up whatever you need when I go over to visit Kovos. I don’t mind. I’m sure whatever you need is on my way.” Legon squeezed her shoulder a bit in a loving way, but also one that made it clear that there was not going to be any debate. It was things like this that made her love him so much. He had a lot on his plate, but still he was going out of his way for her.
* * * * *
Legon helped raise Sasha from the ground and walked her to her bed. He could tell that she was a bit tender on her left side. As he steered her along he also noticed a slight tremble. The bags under her eyes made it clear to him that she hadn’t gotten much sleep in the last few days, and for all he knew that may have been what had caused the episode. She lay down in bed and he got a list of the stuff she was planning on buying that day.
As he stood up, he could see that there was a lot more that was on Sasha’s to-do list than just getting a few odds and ends around town. He went to ask what was on her mind, but she used one of their hand gestures to tell him that they would discuss it later. This surprised him, since there was no reason not to trust their parents with anything she might be planning on doing. The thought came to him that if she did say what she had planned for the day then their mother would make sure she stayed in bed to rest, but if Sasha appeared to not be fighting it then she would leave her alone and Sasha could do whatever she needed.
“Ok, well I guess I’ll go. I’ll talk to you later Sash. I hope you feel better,” he said as he walked to the door.
He went to his room and finished getting ready. When Sasha had started her episode, Legon had put on only one sock and tossed the other aside. He reached under his bed to get the sock and put it on. Soon he was walking out into the warm morning. It felt good to be outside. He began to make his way to the town center. He would pick up the cloth Sasha needed on his way to see Kovos. As he was about halfway to the town center, he saw Kovos and Keither walking quickly toward him. It was obvious that Kovos was flustered, but Legon wasn’t sure if it was from having Keither with him or something else. He was almost dragging his brother along.
“You need to get out of here. There are soldiers looking for you,” Kovos panted as he closed the last few steps to Legon.
“What do mean there are…?” Legon began.
“Five soldiers stopped me this morning looking for a man around our age with a tattoo on his back. We need to get away from the town center—that’s where they are.” As Kovos spoke he looked over his shoulder, searching the crowded street for a threat.
Legon didn’t need to be told twice. A week ago this news would have surprised him, but now…. They started to walk away from the town center when they heard a voice, one that was almost timid but full of glee. “That’s the boy there, the one I told you about, the one with the demon sister.” Moleth’s voice rang over the sound of passing people and horses.
Legon turned to look at the woman. Standing next to her were three men in leather armor all with the same symbol emblazoned on it—a silver many-pointed star with a green circle in the middle and a half circle in the same green around the star, and on the other side four five-pointed dark gold stars. These men were the queen’s royal guard, not the half-witted servants of Regent Kooth. These men were the real deal. The royal guard was the most highly trained human military unit in the empire. It was rumored that the royal guard was trained by Iumenta and that they had all sworn undying loyalty to the queen. Failure was not in their training, and Legon knew that three on two was not good odds. Kovos could
fight, but Keither was more of a danger to himself than to others. As the soldiers got closer he could see from the way they were sizing them up that they too did not see Keither as a threat.
They all dressed alike. The one to the right of Moleth played with his long red beard, his blue eyes flashing everywhere. He looked to be around twenty-eight or thirty, but it was hard to tell. The one next to him walked like he was in charge, and Legon figured this man was the commander. He didn’t have a full beard but he did have about four days worth of stubble. His face was scarred. The last man was young and didn’t have a beard. He looked stupid, more like the trolls from stories than a man. In truth, at first glance Legon was a little surprised by how the men looked. They had more of the appearance of robbers than royal guard. Of course, Legon had never seen royal guard before, so this might be how all of them looked.
Moleth was bouncing around like an over-excited puppy. She was elated about helping the queen’s men, but she was obviously wearing on them. The one standing next to her placed his hand on the hilt of his sword in a longing sort of way.
When they reached them, the man who appeared to be the commander looked at Kovos. “You don’t know anyone, huh?” he said in a gruff voice.
The man turned his attention to Legon. “Take off your shirt and show us your back, boy.”
This was how the whole thing was going to end. He was going to be killed or taken by the queen’s men. There was no stopping it. Or was there? Moleth had decided to give her opinion on the matter one last time.
“Oh good, I have always disliked this one, he’s…” she was stopped by a command from the man in front of Legon.
“Shut up, woman. You have brought too much attention to us already. If you don’t be quiet on your own we will silence you,” the man said, and for once Legon hoped that Moleth would use some sense and keep her mouth shut. This desire was not for his well-being, but hers. Sadly, she didn’t have the sense.
“Now you wait just one moment—I helped you b…” she started.
“Shut her up!” barked the commander. Legon watched in horror as the man closest to Moleth moved behind her and in one fluid movement unsheathed his dagger and brought it to her throat. Moleth became quiet in an instant and a very real fear crossed her face.
“This is what happens if you don’t cooperate with us,” said the commander. As if on cue, the man holding Moleth pressed the dagger hard and dragged the blade across her throat, slicing the arteries in her neck.
A gurgled scream of pain and terror rose from Moleth. Blood sprayed out of the wound, covering her front as she began to pass out from the loss of blood. Her face washed white as blood left her body, and she gave a slight twitch. The man let go of Moleth and she swayed for what seemed like an eternity before falling to the dirt.
Rage filled Legon. These men had slaughtered an innocent woman to make a point. This was an injustice for which he would not stand. He moved to his left toward the troll man. Kovos followed his lead and they both engaged their respective targets. His elbow came up to the man’s temple before he got a chance to react, and Legon felt the satisfying feeling that comes with knowing that your opponent has just been knocked unconscious. Kovos went with a different tactic, kneeing the commander hard in the stomach, dropping him to the ground and then kicking him hard across the face. The last man, who up to this point had been wearing a wicked grin, came at them, but Legon and Kovos didn’t get their shot at this one. To everyone’s surprise, Keither screamed a horrible, insane man’s scream. The three men turned to look at the boy, who no longer looked like a boy at all. There was rage and hatred in his eyes, pure and clear. Keither lunged for the man. He was no match for a member of the royal guard, but the soldier was taken by surprise, and Keither had a lot of weight behind him. The boy slammed into the man, sending them both to the ground, Keither on top punching every inch he could find. Each blow did almost no damage and the soldier was getting his bearings again. As the scene progressed, a clear thought came to Legon: “Kovos said there were five men, not three.”
“We need to get out of here now!” yelled Legon, and together he and Kovos lifted Keither from the soldier. The man stumbled up, and seeing his two comrades down backed away and drew his sword. The man began to call out for help and the other two soldiers were getting to their feet. Legon, Kovos, and Keither all turned and sprinted toward the edge of town. As they ran they could hear shouts from behind and the distant sound of hooves hitting the ground. They turned up a side street, running into people as they went. Keither tripped on a woman’s skirt and fell, cutting his knee. The edge of town was right ahead, and just past that were the thick woods that surrounded Salmont.
Legon looked back as they passed the buildings that marked the end of the town. Panic took a firm hold of him as he saw five men on horses, three with swords drawn and two with bows. The two with the bows were pulling back their strings to fire.
“Arrows!” yelled Legon as he started to weave.
Kovos did likewise and the two of them pushed Keither back and forth, almost like they were trying to knock him down, but every time it looked like the boy would fall, Kovos or Legon corrected his balance. As they entered the woods, Legon heard the hiss of two arrows fly past and saw them embed themselves deep in a tree. The soldiers were firing combat bows, so the arrows would be moving incredibly fast and could kill from a long range. They needed to get higher into the cover of the trees. More arrows flew by accompanied by the sound of five horses crashing through underbrush. Legon felt one of the arrows scratch his neck as it passed.
They ran, weaving through the trees, jumping over roots and logs—anything that might slow down or trip up the horses. There was yelling coming from the queen’s men, but Legon couldn’t tell what they were saying. All he heard was his own panting and the strained breathing of the other two. His legs were on fire and his body stung from hitting branch after branch. He could see Kovos’ white shirt getting speckled with blood from the many scratches.
Next to him, Keither slipped and Legon caught his arm. He felt the weight on him for only a moment before the boy continued on. He was worried. He knew that Keither had to have some strength, if for no other reason than he was fat, but he knew the boy couldn’t have too much in the way of endurance, and he had hit his knee pretty hard when he fell.
The sound of the hooves stopped. The forest in this part was too dense to ride in, so the men would be forced to go on foot. This was to Legon’s advantage—this was his forest.
“Whoa, hold up guys, there’s no point running. We’ll just be easy to track. You can’t hear in these woods and it’s too dark in here to see very well. They will have to go slow, and if we are quiet and hide our tracks they won’t find us,” Legon said in a soft voice, placing his hand on Kovos’ shoulder. All three of them were breathing hard and all were doing their best to calm down.
“You lead the way. I don’t have a clue what to do up here,” Kovos said. Keither nodded in agreement. Legon was impressed with the boy. He always thought that Keither would fall apart in a bad situation, and maybe he would, but up to this point he had more than exceeded Legon’s expectations.
He took a look around to see what kind of cover they had. It wasn’t too bad. There was lots of growth along the bottom of the trees and a thick wooly moss that they could pull over themselves. He went to work, first hiding Keither. He instructed him to rub dirt and mud on any exposed skin and then placed him at the base of a bush and covered him in debris from the ground. When Legon was done, Keither was just barely visible, and if he stayed still the soldiers might not find him. He did the same with Kovos and then hid himself in the wooly moss at the base of a tree. His was the most exposed area, but if he didn’t move a muscle he would be fine. The sound of boots tromping on twigs gave his trembling body the willpower it needed to go still.
* * * * *
The dirt on Kovos’ face made it sting, and for the first time he realized that his whole body was covered in li
ttle cuts and scrapes from the trees. Thoughts rushed through his mind as he tried to stay still and keep his body from shaking. This was unbelievable. He had seen a woman get killed. Her body had hit the ground right in front of him; he had stepped over her to get away—stepped over the body of a person he knew. As the scene played over and over again in his head he fought back the urge to vomit. He tasted bile in his mouth and swallowed hard. He would not be found covered in his own vomit, dead in the woods.
Whenever he had thought about someone getting killed it always seemed so different in his mind. He had never envisioned all the blood. Sure, there was some, but not like in real life. In real life there was a lot, more then he knew the body could hold. A chill ran down his back as he remembered Moleth’s last attempt at a scream and the look on her face. He tasted the bile again and tried to stare forward. There was sound coming from up ahead.
* * * * *
This was bad—real bad. Sasha felt her stress levels rising out of control, and a bead of sweet rolled down her back. Her palms were covered in sweat, too, and her heart was someplace around her chin. A few hours ago, townspeople had started coming to the shop telling Edis that Legon, Kovos, and Keither had assaulted three members of the royal guard after they witnessed the men kill Moleth. They also said that the men were looking for Legon. It was just too much. She couldn’t stand Moleth—the woman had been calling for her to be run out of town for as long as she could remember—but that didn’t mean that she wanted her dead. She was killed just to make a point, just because they could. After the fight, Legon and the other two had run into the woods to hide, and for all she knew it had worked, because nobody had seen anyone come out.
Sasha knew that Legon was good in the forest and he could probably evade them on his own, but with Kovos, and especially with Keither, she wasn’t sure. She still wasn’t sure she believed that Keither had tackled one of the soldiers. She felt so bad for him. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like watching someone get killed. She felt for Legon and Kovos too, but they had always been so tough and used to violence on a small level. But Keither…He didn’t leave the house, much less see fights or even watch an animal get killed. This must have been one of the boy’s first tastes of the cruel world where they lived.
Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series Page 11
