The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (25 page)

“
So you need me to
investigate the camp?” I asked.

“
Yes,” Mistress
Carlia said. “With your memories I have concluded that it is the
same device your Desroche is using to control the
Evenawks.”

“
Are you certain?” I
asked in shock.

“
Yes, the waves and
ripples it causes are an exact match to your memories of the
original device,” Mistress Carlia answered.

“
The original device
must not have great range,” Cathy said. “He wouldn’t have been able
to march across Archanion to Balendar if he tried.”

“
Explains the lack of
immediate attack,” I added. “The army must have become difficult to
manage when he tried to send them out. He would’ve needed to be
with the army and use his magic to maintain order.”

“
Not the most
effective battle strategy,” Cathy said.

“
I see what you mean
by this helping us both out,” I said to Mistress Carlia.

“
We needed you to
fulfill your duties either way, Kairu,” Mistress Carlia pointed
out. “Assisting you was unexpected, but welcoming.”

“
Still,” I said.
“Thank you.”

“
I am not done yet,”
Mistress Carlia said. “The Sisters and I have been working on a way
to disrupt and destroy the magical disturbance.” She turned to
Fawna and nodded. Fawna left the group and headed off to the
storeroom. “We created a staff that will handle the problem, but
sadly that is its only purpose. You will not be able to attack
anyone with it but it will be able to stop Desroche’s machine in
Ghanlar as well.”

“
Thank you,” I
nodded. “I am glad I came back here to check up on you
guys.”

“
As am I, Kairu,”
Mistress Carlia smiled.

Fawna returned with a tree branch
wrapped in vines and flowers. She presented it to me and I could
feel the power in the wood. It was finely crafted and a lot of work
had gone into making this staff for me. The flowers gave it an
uncomfortably feminine quality though.

“
That’s a very pretty
staff,” Cathy said, shooting me a playful look.

“
Thank you,” Fawna
said. “The flowers were my idea.”

Cathy chuckled. “You have very good
taste.”

Fawna smiled.

“
I appreciate this,”
I said, placing the staff behind me so it was between the pack and
my back.

“
We request you leave
immediately,” Mistress Carlia said. “I will send a group of
Huntresses with you. The camp contains many enemies, but if you can
lure them into the forest, the Huntresses will occupy them so you
can destroy their control device.”

“
A solid plan,” I
said.

“
Yes, it is the same
one you will use to attack the Evenawk capital,” Mistress Carlia
smiled.

“
Are you stealing my
ideas now?” I asked playfully.

“
I have not said
that,” Mistress Carlia said confidently. “Please be quick though. I
have reports that the device does odd things to the Huntresses.
Some that have spent too much time scouting it have reported
strange aggressive thoughts and blanks in their memory. This has
made the others uncomfortable so I need not stress the importance
of destroying this device.”

“
Agreed,” I said.
“Before I go, is there anything I can get to help restore some
energy?”

“
I’ve got plenty of
Telu Vine Water?” Mistress Carlia asked.

“
Pass,” I
said.

*****

The walk to the edge of the forest was
much calmer but no less exciting. Mistress Carlia had given me some
berries to help restore some energy and I had been feeling
fantastic since. Never have I felt so alive and noticed how
beautiful the world was around me. The trees were perfect, the
flowers were perfect, the sky was perfect...

“
Isn’t today
wonderful?” I asked Cathy.

“
Okay, you need to
relax,” Cathy said. “Here have some water.”

I took her super smooth flask and
enjoyed the cool, crispness of the heavenly water. “Wow,” I said
dreamily. “You were right. That was great.”

Cathy chuckled. “What’s going on with
you?”

“
Nothing,” I
answered. “I just feel better. Less tired. Tiredless, if you
will.”

Cathy laughed. “I
guess the berries aren’t good for Human consumption.”

“
They were tasty.
Like licking honey off of a salt block.” My eyes went wider in
shock. “We should go get something to eat.”

“
We can’t, sweetie,”
Cathy said, throwing her arm over my shoulders. “We have a battle
to fight.”

“
They’re not going
anywhere,” I said, waving dismissively. “We could totally grab some
dinner before we fight. Why are you holding me?”

“
So you don’t wander
off and get hurt,” Cathy answered sweetly.

“
Aww,” I said,
resting my head on her shoulder. “You always look out for me.
That’s what I love about you. You’re so caring.”

Cathy chuckled. “That’s great. Here,
have some more water.”

I straightened myself up and took
another drink of water. It was still amazing and I started to
wonder why I didn’t just drink this stuff all the time. Cathy had
to remind me twice to drink. I should be figuring it out on my
own.

The Nao Huntresses stopped and started
rubbing their heads. They took a couple of steps back and joined
us. I smiled at the weird face Fawna had when she looked at me.

“
What’s wrong with
his eyes?” she asked Cathy.

“
Can’t handle his
berries,” Cathy answered.

“
What’s happening to
my eyes?” I asked in a panic.

“
Nothing, sweetie,
drink your water,” Cathy said.

“
Right,” I said,
bringing the flask to my mouth.

“
We are coming up to
the camp,” Huntress Fawna said. “We will set up around here. Any
closer and it starts to hurt the head. You will need to draw them
in.”

“
Don’t worry,” I
said, handing Cathy the flask. “I got this.”

“
Oh no you don’t,”
Cathy said, resting a hand on my shoulder.

“
Relax,” I smiled.
“I’ve got an idea. Everyone be ready.”

Cathy studied my face
before releasing me. “Okay, let’s go.”

“
No, you need to stay
here,” I said. “It will only work if I go.”

“
I’m at least
following you to the edge of the forest,” Cathy said.

“
Okay,” I said
happily.

I led Cathy to the
edge of the forest and told her to wait. The camp was set up a
hundred metres away and I boldly stepped out of the forest towards
it. Cathy looked worried, but didn’t follow me. I think curiosity
played a factor in letting me do this. She was going to love
it.

The camp was a few shoddy, wooden
shelters. By the look of the edge of the forest, it was easy to see
where they had gotten the wood. The Evenawks were in for some
trouble when they fell for the trap.

I continued walking
closer to the camp. Groups of Evenawks and some Humans became
visible, but they didn’t register that I was there. I called out to
the camp and waited. When all eyes were on me, I held out my arms
and started swaying my hips. It wasn’t long before the rhythm took
me and I broke out into a full dance.

Chapter
22

Humming along, the
dance had become mesmerising; or at least I hoped it did. For all I
knew I could have just been flailing my arms around like a mad man.
Either way, the pure act of dancing had taken me. I hoped Cathy
could see it; I’d hate for her to miss out on this beautiful
scene.

I twirled into a bow
to end the dance number and looked up at the camp. The Evenawks
were standing motionless, too shocked by the sheer awesome-ness of
what they had seen to react. I waited a couple of seconds to see if
they would start chasing me, but they just continued to stare.
Frustrated, I gathered some power and launched a Fireball at the
nearest building.

The Evenawks shrieked loudly and
finally started running towards me. I turned and ran back to the
forest, giggling excitedly. The shrill squawks of the Evenawks were
growing louder as some took to the air to launch arrows at me. I
made sound effects for the arrows as they whizzed by.

I broke through the trees and Cathy was
immediately beside me running. “What the Void was that?” she
asked.

“
A Fireball,” I
smiled.

“
You know what I
meant!” Cathy exclaimed. “You said you would dance with
me!”

“
Next time,” I called
out.

“
I’m keeping score,
mister,” she replied.

I laughed and we ran
past the area where the Huntresses were gathered. Cathy grabbed me
by the shoulder and stopped me. Part of me wanted to keep running
because the wind felt so amazing, but we had a job to do. Cathy
dragged me to a fallen log and we hid behind it.

The spark of magic filled the air as
the Naos charged their spell. As the Evenawks entered range, they
were cast into the Nao’s Illusion. One by one the Evenawks slowed
down and stared slack jawed at something only they could see. The
archers in the air came to a stop, and slowly landed next to their
brothers.

The Nao moved closer
and singled out individual Evenawks. Each Huntress grabbed their
Evenawk and sunk their teeth into the Evenawks’ necks. The Naos’
black eyes swirled with white as the Evenawks twitched and started
turning grey. When the soul had been fully sucked out of the
Evenawk’s body, each Huntress moved onto the next. The Evenawks
stood and waited their turn, so enthralled by the Naos’ Illusion to
realise their fate.

I let out a high pitch, feminine scream
and Cathy covered my mouth and pulled me close to her. “You need to
calm down,” she said to me. “No more berries for you...ever.”

I nodded.

“
We can sneak around
this and head for the camp,” Cathy suggested, removing her hand
from my mouth.

I nodded again.
“OKay.”

“
Follow me,” she
said.

She grabbed me by the arm and led me
around the ‘battle’. I kept my eyes looking away but could still
hear the sound of the Nao feasting on the Evenawks. I needed
something to distract me from the sounds.

“
Lalalalala,” I sung
quietly, bouncing my head side to side.

Cathy mumbled
something as we emerged from the forest. The camp had to have been
cleared of the Evenawks, but I vaguely recalled seeing a few Humans
within. Either the Evenawks had taken some prisoners or Desroche
had recruited some Mage help.

I stopped my singing
and pulled on Cathy’s arm to get her attention. “There might be
some Mages in there. I think I saw some Humans when I first started
dancing.”

Cathy stopped and turned around to look
at me. “Are you sure?”

I shrugged.

She let go of my hand and adjusted the
shield on her arm for comfort. “It would make sense. If Desroche is
setting up something magical, Mages would be needed to help.”

I nodded.

“
Not talking
anymore?” Cathy smiled.

“
I’m too worried I’ll
say something stupid right now,” I answered.

“
You’re way past that
point,” Cathy said, turning back to the camp. “Come on.”

The fuzzy feeling
from the berries was starting to lift and I shook my head to try
and clear it. Cathy was already half way to the camp and I raced
after her to keep up. I needed to maintain focus if I was about to
head into battle with Mages. Any urges to frolic in the field would
have to wait until after this battle was finished.

We entered the camp
and I could feel a strong magical energy pulling me towards the
centre. The nature of the energy felt like Desroche’s machine in
Scert’chak, but there was something else to it. I focused on the
source and felt the telltale sign of a barrier around it. It was a
feeble attempt to protect the machine from my magic but I had to
applaud their effort.

There were only three Mages in the
centre of the camp. They wore robes of a brownish red colour that
closely resembled dried blood. I had never seen robes of that
colour before. Where they must have found a colour-blind tailor to
put them together was beyond me.

The Three turned
their attention towards us. The barrier glowed purple around what
looked like a thin tree sticking out of the ground. Not quite the
machine I had envisioned, but there had to be more to the
story.

The Mages lined up and I quickly
covered my body in scales. They raised their hands in unison and a
wave of fire raced towards us. I covered my exposed head with my
scaled hands, created a barrier around the staff on my back and
Cathy dropped to a crouch with the shield covering her body.

The wave of heat washed over me and I
waited for it to be over. I turned to Cathy to see that her shield
was glowing pale blue and fully protecting her from the flames.

She looked up at me and smiled. “It
actually worked! The shield must have been forged in the Forge of
Kings. I barely had to enchant it.” The fire continued to rush past
us and my body was starting to get warmer as the Harden Skin spell
weakened. “When will they tire themselves out so we can start
fighting?”