The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (33 page)

As Donkor swung his
cleaver at one, Cathy used her incredible speed to rush the other.
Both were capable of handling the situation, but I would get an
earful if I didn’t at least help. I summoned some power and
launched an Ice Bolt towards Cathy’s target. The Mage saw it coming
and dodged but it was enough for Cathy to get the upper hand and
defeat the Mage.

Donkor’s attack was
equally as quick, only more ferocious. The big man intimidated the
Mage with every move as the Mage struggled to keep up. I looked for
an attack but couldn’t without hitting Donkor. I watched in awe as
Donkor skilfully defeated the Mage.

“
Alright, to the
camp,” Cathy said.

I shook my head. “Stay here. There are
still too many Evenawks and not enough warriors.”

“
I can’t let my men
die,” Donkor said, taking off towards the fight.

Cathy looked at me silently. “Your
strength is best suited here. We can’t let the Evenawks gain the
upper hand again. I can handle whatever is at that camp,” I
said.

She smirked. “You look terrible.”

I laughed. “I can only imagine.”

“
Stay safe,” she
said.

“
You too,” I
replied.

She hurried back to
the main battle and I headed for the camp. Outside the trees, the
breeze was cool and relaxing. The scales on my hands returned to
skin as I wiped some of the blood, dirt and sweat off my face. I
tried not to think of the blood as someone else’s. It was less
stomach churning to just see it as my own.

A lone figure stood at the camp. As I
approached, she crossed her arms and studied me. “Even under all
that blood I can still make you out. The Master has a large bounty
out for your head.”

“
If it’s under 10,000
gold, you are being underpaid,” I responded.

“
The real question I
want to know is why?” she asked. “Why help them? You’ve seen how
they’ve treated Mages since the Tower’s destruction. Are they
really worth saving?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I
haven’t met them all. I’m still going to make sure I get that
chance though.”

“
There’s no talking
you out of it?” she asked.

“
Not if you want to
collect that bounty,” I said playfully. Her hands burst into flames
and my hands returned to scales. “Ladies first.”

The fire raged
towards me and I dropped to the ground to cover my head. The fire
blasted past me and I moved my hands to see her rush towards me. I
stood up and launched an Ice Bolt at her. She easily deflected it,
raising both hands and launching eight mini Pulses in quick
succession. Individually they were nothing, but as each hit I lost
my footing and was dropped onto my back.

She leapt into the air and from her
palm, a long magical blade emerged. I rolled out of the way as her
and the blade landed where I used to be. Ice formed around my hand
and struck her face as she turned to look at me. I jumped to my
feet and covered my other arm with Ice as well.

She rose to her feet, blood running
down her cheek from where the Ice cut her. “I’m sorry, should I not
be taking it easy on you?” I asked playfully.

She ripped the magic blade off her palm
and grew a new one. With a blade in each hand, she charged. I stood
my ground and defended her attacks with practiced skill, launching
into my own counterattacks. My goal was to shatter one of her
blades and overpower her. After dodging her jab, I swung hard at
her hand, connecting and forcing her to drop the blade. It turned
to dust as it hit the ground.

She swung out with
her other blade and I jumped back. With her now free hand, she sent
a couple of Pulses at me, making me stagger, and rushed forward to
grab me by the throat. With scary strength, she lifted me off the
ground and readied her blade.

“
It’s almost a shame
to kill you,” she said, breathing heavily. “This was a good work
out.”

I chuckled. “Can I just say one more
thing?”

She smiled as the power built up in my
chest. “Of course,” she answered.

I opened my mouth and launched the
Sonic Scream, a high pitch magical scream that damages the person’s
brain. The Mage’s face changed to horror as she dropped me and the
blade to cover her ears. I stopped the spell, summoned power into
both hands and launched a Fireball, covering her in flames from
head to toe.

“
Never give your
opponent the chance to fight back,” I said to her, watching her
turn to ash.

Chapter
29

“
Of course you start
saying all the cool lines when I’m not inside your head,” Cathy
said, behind me.

I smirked and watched the ashes blow
away in the breeze before turning around to face her. “Sometimes
you just say what feels right. How’s it going in the forest?”

“
The Evenawks are in
full retreat,” she answered, holding up the Nao staff. “I figured
it was time to use this.”

I took the staff. “If the brainwashed
weren’t screwed now, they will be in a second.”

The staff stood out of the ground on
top of its weird runic symbol. It was bigger than the one we found
outside of Szwen. I guessed it was more powerful so the spell’s
reach could penetrate the Nesqian forest. They wouldn’t be able to
simply chop down the trees and keep the natives at bay, like the
Naos.

Aiming my staff at the other staff, my
magic flowed through it and the yellow light connected. The red
rune turned yellow and the staff did its little dance before a
bright white light flashed from the ground and the staff snapped in
half.

I placed the flowery staff in the back
holster of my armour and turned to Cathy. “And with that, we have
the Nesqian’s help.”

“
Good work, Mr.
Kairu,” Cathy said.

“
Why thank you, Lady
Middleton,” I said with a bow. We both laughed and noticed Donkor
standing close to us. I turned to him. “How do you keep doing
that?”

“
You aren’t paying
too much attention to the world around you,” Donkor
answered.

“
Fair enough,” I
said. “How’d it go in the forest?”

“
Done,” Donkor
replied. “The birds became really freaked out after that white
flash from your direction. Whatever ones we couldn’t catch flew off
to the north. I figured that means we won this battle.”

I chuckled. “Yeah,
it’s over. The camp is ours. How are the casualties?”

“
Ten dead, two
seriously injured, four with minor injuries,” Donkor said bluntly.
“Figure we should stay the night here and give people a chance to
heal, pay our respects to the dead.”

I nodded. “Know a nearby stream I can
wash up? I’ll examine the injured.”

“
Yeah, just this
way,” Donkor replied, and then turned to Cathy. “Can you help my
men bring the wounded here?”

“
Yes, but be quick,”
she said. “The men are in for a rough night if I have to heal
them.”

“
I’ll run as fast as
I can,” I said playfully.

*****

The stream wasn’t too far away so I was
back in the camp quickly and helping the warriors. One of the
seriously injured had a leg that looked bad. I wasn’t a doctor but
even I knew that in any other circumstance, the leg would need to
be amputated. With the help of magic, I repaired the leg and given
enough time to heal naturally, the warrior should continue to walk,
run and be merry like a normal person.

Sadly, the other seriously injured
warrior wasn’t going to make it. He had lost too much blood on the
battlefield and the most I could do for him was make him
comfortable so he could pass away in peace. It was the best I could
do and the warrior thanked me for my effort before falling
asleep.

The other injured were easily treated
and after I was done I left, exhausted, to hide out in the female
Mage’s tent. I believed her to be the leader of this camp and was
proven right by the large number of documents in her possession. I
sat down and began studying them, hoping to understand the enemy a
little better.

Each Mage we had faced wore the same
red-brown robes and it couldn’t be a coincidence. In the old Tower,
the robes signified which school you belonged to. If the stray
Mages were reorganising under Desroche under the pretence of
freedom of magic, then we were in trouble. Magic-Non Magic
relations would take another hit. Somewhere in these documents had
to be some information to help me understand it better and with any
hope, stop it before it got worse.

The documents were
nothing more than instructions on how to set up the machine and
messages between Desroche and Carla, the female Mage. Aside from
what looked like a steamy love affair, the letters didn’t help me
in any way. I was still at square one with the Mage group
thing.

Like at the other camp, I burned the
documents with the instructions. It was one less set of
instructions I needed to worry about falling into the wrong hands.
That technology can forever be forgotten and no one would be upset
by it. Even if they were, screw them.

“
Ah, here you are,”
Donkor said, squeezing his way through the tent flap. “The
celebration is going to be started soon. I want to make sure you
don’t miss it.”

“
Celebration?” I
asked, swinging my seat around so I could face Donkor.

“
The victory
celebration,” Donkor said, like I should know. When I looked blank
he continued. “We won a huge battle. It’s time to drink and eat and
honour the dead with a celebration of life. We’ve already raided
the supplies here. Not much, but enough to make a big stew. And
more wine than you would think. Do all Mages drink
heavily?”

“
We’re usually
against it,” I said. “Messes with the magical
abilities.”

“
No wonder we won so
easily,” he smiled.

I laughed. “I think we got to them
before they started drinking. We lost some good men today.”

“
They fought bravely
against horrible odds and laughed in the face of death,” Donkor
said. “If I ever die, I want it to be that way. No greater death
for a warrior.”

“
Well I hope you
don’t plan on dying anytime soon, my friend,” I said.

Donkor chuckled. “Dying is for old men.
We’re too young for that. We have so much more adventure to have
first.”

“
Like our big battle
at Ghanlar?” I asked.

“
More than that,”
Donkor answered. “Ghanlar is but a single chapter in our life. No
matter what they throw at us, we will march forward and set things
right.”

I smiled. “I wish I was that
confident.”

“
What changed?”
Donkor asked, sitting down on the nearby bed. “You almost seemed
fearless when we first met. What’s different now?”

“
Nothing I suppose,”
I shrugged. “Just...growing up, I guess.”

“
What are you,
eighty?” Donkor joked.

I laughed. “That’s not what I
meant.”

“
I know what you
meant,” Donkor smirked. “Your lady. The young Lady Middleton has
caught your eye.”

“
What?” I
asked.

“
Don’t play foolish
with me,” Donkor said. “I may be simple, but I’m not dumb. I’ve
seen the way you two are together. Andy, my friend, you are in
love.” I looked past him, lost in my thoughts and he laughed.
“Don’t tell me you’ve not noticed this or even suspected
it.”

I shrugged,
completely lost. “You forget that I grew up without parents or even
friends in an isolated Tower. How am I supposed to know what love
is or what it feels like?”

“
Because you don’t
need to be told, you just kind of feel it,” Donkor said. “It’s
difficult to describe but here’s a little test I can give you.
Answer yes or no to these questions.”

“
We don’t...” I
started.

Donkor raised a hand. “Humour me. Do
you think about her when she is not around?”

“
Yes, but...” I
started.

“
Yes or no only,”
Donkor interrupted. “When you are with her, are you the happiest
you can be?”

“
Yes,” I
answered.

“
If she were to leave
and you knew you would never get to see her again, would you be
sad?” Donkor asked.

“
Yes,” I
answered.

“
If I were to leave
this building to attack her, would you stop me?” Donkor
asked.

“
I don’t think I
would be needed,” I said. “She would put you down quicker than I
could react.”

“
Answer the question,
yes or no,” Donkor pushed.

“
Why?” I
asked.

“
Because you are
humouring me,” he said.

“
So a chicken and a
duck walk into a pub...” I started humourlessly.

“
Respect the
process,” he smiled.

I sighed. “Yes, I would stop you.”

“
And if words
couldn’t stop me and it became a kill me to save her scenario,” he
started. “Would you kill me?”

I remained silent.

“
I won’t be mad with
your answer, Andy,” Donkor smiled. “Would you?”

“
Yes,” I answered.
“If you went crazy and started killing people with no reason, I
would stop you.”

Donkor continued to smile and crossed
his arms. “Based on how you answered everything, what do you
think?”