Last Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 2) (36 page)

              “The Knight who would defy the empire.”

              “No,” Conner said, shaking his head.  “I am but a commoner.  A foreigner. 
Arata
.”

              “No, I hear when they think I am not listening.  The empire wishes you dead.  It is why they killed you.  The empire always gets what it wants.”

              Conner touched his healed skin through the holes in his tunic.  “Did you do this?  Do you heal me?”

              The man who was once emperor of the greatest empire the world had ever known nodded his head.

              “How?”

              “The words of the
Subtaria
.  A spell from the web of magic.”

              “Magic?”

              Hargon looked around, not listening to Conner any more.  “They will be back soon.  They cannot find us.  Me especially.”  He looked over at Conner and said in a demanding voice, “Help me up.”

              Conner cautiously stepped forward, still unsure of the man who had possibly saved his life.  He thought his legs would still be weak, but his body felt refreshed and strong.  He easily helped his savior up to his feet.

              “We must escape the city quickly.  Soon all the centurions will be looking for me.”

              “For you?  Why you?” Conner asked.

              “My brother will be looking for me.”

              An explosion rocked the city.  Both turned to see a fireball exploding from the highest windows of the palace.  Even though the palace was several hundred feet away, they could feel the air move and the ground shake. 

              “He now knows I am gone,” Hargon observed.

              “Your brother?”

              “Yes, Prince Tarcious.  Although with my absence, I would guess that soon he will become Emperor Tarcious.”

              “You’re the emperor?”

              Hargon scratched his beard.  “Was. I am now dead.  Well, not truly dead like you were.  But dead enough.  And if Tarcious finds us, we will both be really dead and there will be no one to call us back from beyond.  Come.  To the western gates.  We will go far away from here to lands far to the west where we can hide from the reaches of my brother.”

              Conner didn’t move.  Hargon had taken three steps and when Conner didn’t follow, he turned back.  “Come, we must move quickly.  The centurions will be scouring the city and they will soon close the gates.”

              Conner turned back to the pile of bodies.  “Master Goshin,” he said.  The memory of his good friend being slain by Prince Tarcious came flooding back, and tears followed.  Master Goshin, hard as he was in training, was the softest and most loving man he knew.  He was a great friend who had pushed him to do things with his body that he could not have done on his own.  He could not just leave him.

              “They are all dead,” Hargon said, tugging on his torn tunic.  “And I have nothing left in me.  I am too weak to try it again.”

              “You must!” Conner snapped back.  He tried to pull away from Hargon’s grip, but it was too strong.

              “No,” Hargon said.  “You must let him go.  I am sorry, but there is nothing I or you can do any more.  And if we stay here much longer, the centurions will return and we’ll be caught.  And then we’ll be really dead.”

              Conner let himself be led out of the alley.  The fireball that exploded in the palace blew itself out, but they could see the damage that it did.  One of the walls had been completely demolished, pieces of the stone wall were spread across the street.  Many people were on the ground having been struck by the debris.  There were centurions running around, but they were heavily outnumbered by panicked Tarans who were yelling and screaming in fear and confusion.  With the chaos, it was easy for Hargon and Conner to get lost in the crowd.

              Hargon led, but he kept one hand grasping Conner’s tunic to make sure that he didn’t get lost.  When Conner suddenly came to a stop, Hargon turned back quickly.  “Come, we must move faster,” Hargon said sharply.

              “Karmon,” Conner said.  “We must go to Karmon.”

              “West,” Hargon argued.  “We go west.  The western gate is closer and I know the lands to the west.  There are some old friends there that would help us.  We’ll live a comfortable life in peace, far, far away from my brother.”

              When Conner shook his head, Hargon pulled Conner by the tunic into the shadows of a building and out of the way of the crowd.

              “Whatever you did, you didn’t save me,” Conner said.  “I was sent back.  I didn’t remember it all, but I know we have to go east to Karmon.”

              “The spell I cast on you saved your life.  You were not breathing.  You were dead and if it were not for me, then you would still be dead.”

              “I met someone.  He called himself Michael.  He told me I was not ready to die and that I had to go find something.”

              Hargon stepped back away from Conner and gave him a long, close look.  “What do you mean you met someone?  I was here the whole time you were dead.  Just me, no one else.”

              “I saw him like I can see you now.”

              “You mean you had a dream when you were dead?”

              “It was not a dream.  It was real.”

              Hargon scratched his beard.  “I do not understand the ways of the gods.  Maybe you dreamt it, maybe it was the gods speaking to you.”

              “His name was Michael and he wasn’t a god.  He was just a messenger of the Creator.”

              “Okay, then what did this not-god-messenger say?” Hargon asked.

              “He told me to find the Ark of Life.”

              “Ark of Life?” Hargon replied with a snicker.  “The Ark of Life?  The ancient weapon of the Hurai?  And just what would you do with the Ark?  Become emperor of the world?  I’
“
ve done that, by the way, and it’s not all that great of a job.”

              “No,” Conner said, not catching the sarcasm in Hargon’s voice.  “He wants me to hide it.”

              “Hide it?” Hargon asked.  “Hide it from who?  And isn’t it already hidden?”

              “The Deceiver,” Conner replied.  “Michael said that he is coming back and he wants the ark and since Prince Tarcious knows where it is, it needs to be hidden again.”

              “Tarcious knows where the ark is?”

              “Yes.  He told me so.”

              Hargon shook his head to try and clear up his thoughts.  “Tarcious told you about the ark, and then this Michael also told you about it in a dream?”

              “Yes.”

              “So why don’t you just get the ark and use it on Tarcious?  Problem solved.”

              “I don’t think it’s supposed to be used.  It’s too powerful.”

              “Is that what this Michael told you?”

              “Yes.”

              “I wouldn’t trust him.  Get the ark and use it.  If you don’t want to use, then I would gladly use it on my brother.”

              Conner shook his head.  “I was told to take it away and hide it.  I trust Michael.  He’s a soldier in the Creator’s army and would not lie.  So that’s what I’m going to do, find it and hide it.

Hargon let out a long sigh.  “Very well, but when it comes to fighting gods, I don’t think a weapon can ever be too powerful.  Did this Michael guy at least tell you where it is?”

              “Well, yes,” Conner said.  “It is under the castle at South Karmon, but I already knew that.  Your brother told me where to find it.”

              Hargon shook his head wildly and grabbed handfuls of his long, stringy hair.  “You are confusing me.  I think you need to start from the top.  Who are you, and why are you here?  And why were you talking to my brother?”

              “We don’t have time for me to tell you the whole story.  Not now.  But he said the empire had it until a few hundred years ago when it was stolen and hidden in Karmon.  He wanted me to steal it back for him.”

              Hargon said.  “That was a lie.  Tarcious is very good at lies, so I am sure he gave you a real doozy.  The Ark of Life was never held by the empire and if it had been, one of the many insane men who claimed the throne of the empire would have used it to try and take over the world.  If Tarcious knows where it is, then his next move won’t be to ask some other boy to try and steal it for him, he will use a method a little less subtle.  He will send the army after it.  My ancestor, Emperor Shardon, spent much of his life looking for the Ark of Life.  His quest was an obsession that made him insane.  He stretched the empire from one end of the continent to the other for the sole purpose of finding the ark.  And it nearly tore the empire apart.  If he had found it, he surely would have been ruler of the world, and maybe still would be today.  But instead, he died a crazed man, alone and headless.  Tarcious will be no different.  He will destroy anything in his path to get his hands on that ark.  We must hurry, not only to get to the gate before it is closed shut, but before Tarcious gets to your homeland.”

About the Author

Brad Clark grew up in the modestly sized city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, but now resides in a small town in the southwest corner of Michigan. He works as a software engineer at a local family-owned software company.
Reading and writing has always been his passion, but the stories that were jotted down into piles of notebooks never made it beyond a chapter or two. But after much nagging from his wife and kids, he broke down and published his first novel as an e-book. His love for the fantasy genre started when he was a young boy and had never left. That love for swords and sorcery grew into an idea for a story, and that story become his second novel, Knight Fall, book one of the series of books called the Champion Chronicles.
As much as he has a passion for reading and writing, Brad is also an avid road bicyclist and runner. Springtime is running season as he prepares for an annual half-marathon. Summer, though, is his favorite time where he can spend hours in the saddle, riding his bike on quiet back country roads.
With five kids, two still at home, writing is a way to escape from the business of life. His stories come from his love of the genre and from his heart. Whether the stories work for the rest of the world is not why he writes, he writes because he simply wants to put his dreams on paper. He never wants his writing to be work, he only desires it to be a fun hobby and hopes that others can share in his stories.

You can follow Brad on twitter @booksbybrad or visit his website at
www.booksbybradclark.com