The Awakened Book Two (35 page)

Horace came through the doorway with an odd arrangement of weapons. His shield was rectangular and curved in the fashion of the long spearmen that typically held the front lines of Orud armies. But in his left hand, he held a single-bladed axe, tipped with a sharpened point for jabbing.

Kael slung the blood from his blades and held them outward, stepping forward to meet Horace.

Just as he did when they were children, Horace approached without hesitation. He held his shield tight and swung his axe toward Kael.

Kael strafed right and left, parrying the attacks, following with a few slashes which glanced harmlessly off of Horace’s shield.

Horace continued to advance, jabbing sharply at Kael’s chest.

With a double slash, Kael blocked the axe with the left sword and chopped the shaft with the right. Horace’s axe head fell with a clang to the floor. Dropping his swords, Kael lunged forward and grabbed the top edge of the shield with both hands, jerking it away from Horace. The leather straps broke and sent Kael floundering to the floor.

Horace advanced immediately with a kick to Kael’s head.

Deflecting the foot with the inside of the shield, Kael followed with a sweeping kick to Horace’s leg. Horace stood his ground, barely affected by Kael’s attack.

With one giant step forward, Horace rammed his powerful leg into Kael’s ribs, lifting him off the ground and sending him a few feet backward.

The air flew from Kael’s lungs as he sprawled on the floor, struggling to regain his footing.

Horace stood still with a crazed smile on his face. He had always been a formidable foe in hand combat. His legs were strong and fast and knew he had Kael outmatched. After watching his enemy beg for breath, he rushed forward to end struggle.

Kael, his head down toward the ground, saw Horace from behind lowered eyelids. As predicted, the man rushed in, confident in the speed and power of his ranged kicks. As Horace neared with a front kick aimed to the head, Kael glided sideways. The kick missed his face by inches. At full extension, Horace’s supporting leg was vulnerable. Kael drove his heel into the man’s kneecap and felt the crunch of bone as the leg bent the wrong direction.

Horace’s arms flailed outward as he sought balance, his momentum now working against him. He folded under his own weight and collapsed to his knees with an anguished shriek.

Kael threw his whole body behind the punch and crushed the man’s windpipe, sending him backward to the ground.

Horace’s face cringed with panic as he realized that death was imminent.

Kael rose to his feet and glared down at his enemy, watching as Horace’s grip on life slipped slowly away. Kael breathed deeply and released a sigh.

After a moment of silence, He turned around and looked to the fountain, his mind not yet ready to process what his next move would be. He was vaguely aware that he still hadn’t made contact with his mother yet. But his rigid body was still in combat mode. Then he caught a presence out of the corner of his eye.

Dacien stood in the doorway leading into the war room, a grave look on his face.

Before Kael was even able to identify the emotion that he felt, an overwhelming presence of evil was followed immediately by a suffocating feeling in the air around his body. He looked quickly to his left and saw a dark silhouette coming into the atrium from outside. As soon as Magnus’ name came to Kael’s mind, he felt an immense pressure on his lungs and the brief sensation of floating before being hurled through the air.

Kael’s body crashed into the stone wall of the war room, held four feet from the ground, pinned into place by an unseen force.

Magnus stepped into the light with his hand outstretched in Kael’s direction.

The pressure on Kael’s lungs increased to the point of strangulation, causing him to panic. But something else was beginning to happen as well. That familiar feeling of awareness, of broadened sensation covered Kael as well. Kael closed his eyes and began to feel the tangible extension of Magnus’ power as it stretched through the air and held Kael into place.

Kael focused his own awareness on what was happening inside his body. As his lungs started to collapse, Kael pushed back, expanding the soft tissue until they began to work again. Air quickly returned and Kael felt a moment of peace.

{…interesting!}

{I see that you have powers as well.}

{Then I shall have to find a more creative way to make you suffer.}

The voice of Magnus was strong inside Kael’s head, much different than Horace’s earlier warning call. Suddenly, Kael’s awareness vanished in a flash of sensation, like the loss of vision after looking into the sun. All the texture and detail vanished as if the whole world, air, water, earth, had been melded into one object.

Kael’s brain screamed in agony as the pressure moved to his head. With the last shred of strength that remained, Kael focused inside his own head, seeking the location of Magnus’ attack. Navigation was difficult without a sense of the surroundings, but by feel, Kael followed Magnus’ intrusion.

Focusing all his efforts, Kael resisted, trying to fend off the attack, as helpless as a farmer who attempts to block the hail from destroying his crops. The area was too great, and Kael’s powers too limited. And all he could hope to do was delay the inevitable.

Then, Magnus’ presence disappeared. Kael’s awareness instantly expanded to fill the void. From some distant place, he thought he felt his body fall and hit the ground, but he seemed to be disconnected from his physical self. His consciousness was all that remained.

* * * *

Ajani rushed across the paved floor of the atrium. He could see Kael pinned against the wall with his hands around his throat, as if he were being choked to death. But Ajani couldn’t let that happen. He remembered Lemus’ blood-splattered face on that fateful morning, so long ago, and the vision of Kael rushing in with a pitchfork.

Ajani planted his left foot and threw the spear, putting the momentum of his entire body into the shaft of the weapon as it left his hand.

It cut through the air and punctured Magnus’ stomach, knocking him backward several steps.

Kael’s body dropped to the floor, limp.

Ajani ran toward the injured man who was gripping the spear with both hands and watching the blood from the entry and exit wounds in his abdomen. Just before he reached him, Magnus lifted his hand.

Ajani ran into an invisible wall and came to an abrupt stop. He felt an intense anger come over him just before his bones began to break, crushed from the inside out. In this instant, Ajani felt an all-encompassing feeling of peace. He knew that his life debt to Kael had been paid. And he looked to the sky and prayed that the gods would receive him.

* * * *

Saba stepped into the atrium and summed up the situation at a glance. He saw Ajani’s body fall to the floor and could feel that his spirit had already left the body. Kael was on the floor against the wall to the right, alive but unconscious. General Dacien cowered in the doorway; the fear coming from him was tangible. And at the center of Saba’s vision, was Magnus, kneeling in a pool of his own blood, and trying to regain his footing. A dark presence surrounded the man and Saba knew that he was still a threat.

Lifting his hands, Saba contained Magnus’ powers and thrust him backwards until he tripped over the low stone wall and fell into the fountain. A visible blue light accompanied the act that made Dacien cower even more.

With one hand extended toward Magnus, Saba knelt down to Ajani.

The scarred slave’s body lacked the form that it should have, as if his bones had been shattered from the inside. But his face had a look of peace and Saba smiled, knowing that Ajani didn’t go into the afterlife by accident. It was an intentional act on behalf of his childhood friend.

Saba reached down with his right hand and closed Ajani’s eyes.

Looking up to Dacien, he made eye contact. “Get Kael out of here,” he commanded. “He’s still alive.”

Dacien looked behind him at the war room, contemplating an escape.

“He came here to rescue you,” Saba shouted, bringing the man back to his senses. “…now pick him up and get him out of here. I’ll be right behind you.”

Dacien snapped into action, lifting Kael’s body off the floor and draping it over his shoulders. His legs shook under the weight of Kael’s limp body, but within seconds he was moving past Saba and out of the atrium.

Saba released his hold on Magnus and left with Dacien.

* * * *

The waters of the fountain swirled dark with Magnus’ blood. He rose, water and blood dripping from his body. The spear that protruded from both sides of his abdomen broke into two pieces, flying in opposite directions away from him. He stepped out onto the stone floor of the atrium with a look of determined revenge on his face.

My lord is coming, and he will have no mercy on his enemies!

The Awakened: Book Three
is available now for download at
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52668
. Or, visit
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/44641
to get books
One
through
Three
in a single edition.

About the Author

Jason Tesar lives with his wife and two children in Colorado. He works in the microelectronics industry improving and developing processes, and writing technical documentation for integrated circuits manufacturing. In his personal time, he enjoys graphic design, playing guitar, reading books, watching movies, and doing anything outdoors with his family. The Awakened is his first fictional writing. To learn more about Jason, The Awakened, and future writing projects, check out his blog at
http://www.jasontesar.com

Figure 1: The City of Orud

Figure 2: The Northern Territory

Figure 3: The Southern Territory

Figure 4: The Island of Tur'cen