Henried and John had picked up a few stray humans along the way. They had now formed a fairly large group. There were at least 50 of them in total. They had made their way over the first peak. The sun was rapidly falling over the western horizon. They did not know the plan of the priestesses to collapse the mountain after the last ray of sun had fallen but they knew that the approaching army will have been seen and that they would collapse the mountains very soon. Tired and gasping for air, the party charged up to the top of the second peak. It took only half an hour; it would normally take three to four. Finally they could see what was lining the hills. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of priestesses formed a huge line crossing all the scalable peaks from the south to the north of the temple. The priestesses were dressed in black robes. They had no pattern whatsoever. It was a formidable sight. As the party stopped to look, Henried noticed something.
“There is a sound. Can you hear it?” He whispered to John. John shushed those around him who in turn shushed everyone else. When all was quiet, they could hear.
“They are chanting.” The King shouted. “Run.” With that, The King set off down the hill to the foot of the final peak. He had no idea how long it would take for the priestesses to finish their incantation but he knew that they would all perish if they were caught in the fall. It took little time for the party to charge down the hill. The speed they were travelling claimed a few fallers but all picked themselves up and continued their charge. As the party began their final ascent, the ground began to shake. Slowly, cracks began to form in the ground. Trees fell and any animals that had been hiding underground began to pop their heads out from their holes. The panic that the party felt spurred them on to greater speed. It was a difficult climb when walking but when running, it was deadly. The King knew that not all would make it but he didn’t have the time to be the hero. If he, or anyone else, went back; they would die. A huge crash echoed behind them. John afforded himself the luxury of a quick glance over his shoulder. He saw a huge puff of smoke rising from behind the second peak.
“I think mountain number one has fallen.” He shouted to The King.
“Just keep moving.” Henried replied.
John did not need telling twice. Nearly ten minutes later, the second mountain fell. This time the dust cloud flew over the party who were just over half way up the mountain. A dusty fog washed over them making it difficult for any to see or breathe. Still they ploughed forward. The cracks underfoot were becoming bigger and more dangerous. The party of fifty had fallen in number to forty. Suddenly another crash was heard. They all looked around, totally exhausted, to see what had happened. The dust fog grew thicker and nothing could be seen. The ground ceased to tremble and everything fell silent. Then a wind picked up from out of nowhere. It blew a gale for nearly ten minutes. King Henried and the rest of the party had to lie on the ground to avoid being blown away. Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the wind died down. They could all see now. The first two mountains and all those adjacent to them had collapsed. The mountain they had been standing on had the appearance of being cut with a large knife. It had a perfect, sheer edge; one that could not be scaled by even the most talented climber. Henried had not realised how quickly they had moved. The line of priestesses was just twenty metres above them. They pressed on until they reached the temple. There, James greeted them.
“Oh, it is a joyous sight. I never dared hope that our King would still be alive.” He said with a beaming smile.
“Your joy at my survival is touching. I would have thought that I was now hated.” The King replied.
“Hated you shall never be. You tried your best, the people know this.” James said before being interrupted by another.
“Your actions from this point forth will determine your people’s reaction to you.” The voice said. They looked around to see a tall, slender woman, all dressed in white with golden stripes on her robes. Her face could not be seen due to a golden vale covering it. She had the mantle and the demeanour of a woman of great power. She introduced herself.
“I am the High Priestess of this Temple. I welcome you in these dark times.”
“Thank you M’lady.” The King replied bowing down. This was the one woman The King had never met but respected more than any other in the world.
The High Priestess continued, “Bhryll, the God of Chaos, has yet to develop his full strength. He possessed the body of a child” – John’s head bowed – “and he is still bound by the restricted powers a child can possess. However, in a couple of years, with the aid of growth acceleration magic, Bhryll could be most powerful. That is how long you have to mount a challenge. If you fail, we will all die.”
“Will you help us?” The King questioned.
“I will do all I can. The other races have never responded well to us. It was your people alone who accepted us for what we are. I feel that our presence would hinder your cause. However, I will send one. Anna shall go with you. And I am sure that where she goes, James will follow.”
“But where should we go? The other races barely even know us so how do we enlist their help?”
“You will follow your heart. The will to succeed is a powerful force. It will drive you ever forward, even through the darkest days. You just make sure that you can march a powerful army against Bhryll before it is too late. When it is time, the priestesses shall join in the fight. We shall need time to prepare though. We will need to be at our most powerful.”
“What do we do now?” Henried enquired meekly. He had lost all strength from the journey and the trauma of the previous months.
“You shall rest for one week only. My priestesses will attend to your needs and refresh you. You will then travel into lands unknown on beasts you are not familiar with. We will provide you with camels. The other Kingdoms all ride them. Yours was the only one we knew of that didn’t.”
“I assume we will have some training on these beasts.”
“Never fear, good King. You will not need training. We shall cast a basic spell on you that will allow you to handle a camel like you have been doing so all your life.”
“Thank you.” The King said a little lost for words.
“Rest now. Relax and forget about all your worries. There will be enough time for worry later.”
Bhryll’s army had not yet reached the Sacred Hills when the first mountain collapsed. He watched on, intrigued.
“Do you really think that will stop me?” He cried aloud. “Nothing will stop me.”
Realising that there was nothing left to do at this point, Bhryll gathered his commanders around him.
“We have taken the kingdom. Now we need to consolidate our positions. I will take fifty thousand back to the city the humans called Thorvale. Here I shall build my fortress. I want each of you to divide the rest of our forces and head for the major cities. Make sure that strong garrisons are left in place before sending the rest of your troops to the local villages. Again, make sure these are suitably garrisoned. I do not want the humans that are left in this kingdom to form any sort of resistance movement. Do I make myself clear?”
The commanders agreed to this and after a number of hours sorting the different hordes into groups that could work together, Bhryll departed for Thorvale.
The challenge for Bhryll now was to make sure that he maintained control of the kingdom but more importantly, he maintained control of his armies.
The King together with John, James and Anna all took the opportunity to rest for the week as the High Priestess had instructed. Back in the heart of Thorntonvale, Conrad and Rhyll were busy hunting for survivors. They had found a couple of strays but so far they had only managed limited success. Bhryll returned to Thorvale to begin construction of his fortress. For all, it was a new beginning.
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About the Author
Graham Carmichael is a secondary school teacher, teaching ICT. He has a love of sport, Badminton, Tennis and Martial Arts in particular, and a passion for writing. Resurrection is book 1 of the Chronicles of Ch
aos trilogy. At the time this book was published, Graham had commenced work on book 2 of the series and is currently about one third of the way through. Graham has a wife, Ann, and a daughter, Holly, and without their support, this book may never have seen the light of day. Graham would like to thank everyone who has purchased this book and he hopes that you enjoyed the story.
Resurrection (Book 1: The Chronicles of Chaos) Page 33