Vane’s spirit crackled louder and his spirit throbbed around Leo and Gorath. The two of them writhed in pain as Vane’s spirit fused between the two of them.
“This boy is an innocent. You will not corrupt him to your ends,” cried Saturnus. Though Vane was in ascendance, his rage and frustration fed into the Quintessence Totem, its power throbbing in the summer solstice.
Leo watched helplessly as Saturnus shrank back, the vehemence of the dark forces whittling away at his spirit and strength.
In a flicker he was the boy. Leo’s twin. A moment later the grandmother who raised him. Beads of sweat were appearing on his forehead and Leo could see the strain and pain behind his eyes. Saturnus retaliated once more, but unlike Vane’s passion that had festered and smouldered over the years, Saturnus had taken a path of peace and solitude. He became satiated in purpose and faith. There was not the hunger to fight.
Perhaps, despite his youthful appearance, his bones, his being was that of an old man. The aches and pains of his life suddenly weighing down on him, the desire to rest, to close his eyes, to sleep.
Leo could see it and could not do anything about it. Saturnus aged and weakened, his eyes softened, his wrinkles deepened, his bones bent and stiffened. A millennium of years caught up with him in a matter of seconds. His skin thinned and mottled, his hair whitened, his eyes dulled and sunk back into his head. His back hunched, his hands withered and curled into arthritic knots. For a second their eyes met. Leo could see the fear in Saturnus’s eyes, and then suddenly Saturnus relaxed as an inner peace swept thought him.
Leo could see a wave of contentment and serenity wash over the old druid. His face fell, he bent to one knee, and then with the last remaining reserves he lifted his head, smiled at Leo and nodded. A moment passed between them, beyond a physical connection, something deeper, a blending of souls. The druid who had lived long and existed through generations laid down his head. His limbs withered and turned to dust and with his last breath his incantation fell silent.
*
Logar was strong, but despite his training, Shomari overpowered him slowly. He was a monster of a man. His blows were like a hammer raining down on Logar until he was only able to defend himself. He fought to regain some purchase and drive forward, but it was no good. With one final blow Beast Slayer spun from Logar’s grasp and clattered to the ground, out of reach. Shomari advanced on Logar for the final kill, then without warning a horse burst from the undergrowth and Raisa, sword in hand, galloped upon Shomari.
She swung her blade at his head, but he just managed to duck beneath its arc. He grabbed hold of the saddle, pulling the stallion and Raisa to the ground.
The charger fell on top of her, trapping her underneath its body. Shomari cackled, “Well I get to make two orphans, orphans all over again in one day.” He raised his sword to swipe it down on Raisa, when suddenly Beast Slayer plunged into his chest. He stared at the blade and looked up at Logar who had found his feet. He spat blood from his mouth.
“You can’t kill me Terramian,” and grabbed Logar’s forearm and forced Beast Slayer towards him, deeper into his body.
At the same time he plunged his blade into Logar. Logar winced, staggered and both men dropped to their knees.
“You are wrong, for today you die. You die at the hand of one you once orphaned. An orphan who has the satisfaction of avenging his parents, and now I can put their memories to rest.”
Logar kicked Shomari to one side and pulled the horse from on top of Raisa.
“Help me to that tree,” he said. They staggered to an old oak where he turned and rested.
“I’m sorry,” he smiled at her, “I don’t think there is anything to be done.”
Raisa held her brother’s hand.
“I was joyous to learn that I had a sister, and I am proud of you. For what you have accomplished and what you stand for. Promise me you will stand only for good and fight tyranny. Support Aron, he is a man worthy of your service. Help the Janshai find their way back to a path both of hope but also of conciliation. Promise me that, and I will die happier than I could ever had imagined.”
Tears flowed down Raisa’s cheeks, “I promise.”
“Now go, today is the day when the fight really begins. I will stand next to our parents in the afterlife and we will watch over you.”
Logar pulled her towards him, kissed her head, and pushed her aside. “Back into the woods!”
He sat still waiting for the end to come.
*
Vane roared with euphoria, the power around him intensified. A vortex swirling around him. The combatants in the clearing had to brace themselves against the scorching force emanating from the altar. Holding their arms in front of their faces, their bodies leaning into the blast, they turned their backs to avoid searing heat.
Then it happened, a blow of energy; soldiers were knocked off their feet, horses staggered sideways.
The wave burst from the clearing, it rushed through the trees bending all but the sturdiest; grasses were laid flat; waters surged up upon the land; birds sent reeling in the sky.
Gulden felt the force of the wave on his face; the boat carrying the Queen was hit by the wind and heeled to the side, throwing some of its crew overboard; from the battlements of Ampheus the invisible wave buffeted the countryside and forests to the east and then bounced off the battlements. Dorf grimaced; People panicked never having felt anything like this before; Parents dived on top of their children to protect them from the curse.
One man stood above it all, his arms outstretched, soaking up the power that he had unleashed on the Four Realms. He had ascended to a higher level, reached omnipotence. Now the whole world was his for the taking, no one would be able to stand in his way. This was his dominion.
“Celestina has been sacked, Ampheus is next. It will not be able to withstand my new powers, nothing will.”
The reign of Gamura had begun.
Aron rallied what was left of his men around him. He shook his head.
“We are being overwhelmed, we need to retreat else we will all perish.”
Aland and Ailin stood either side of him.
“What about the King and Logar?”
“It is no use, I saw them both fall, we don’t have a choice.” Sweat, blood and dirt was streaked across his face. It was the agony of losing a father and mentor that his men saw in his face. It was also the face of a young man. A young man who had been raised to lead men but who perhaps had already seen too much in his life.
But he was wise beyond his years and was able to think beyond ‘flight or fight’. A man who knew the battle was lost and that they should live to fight another day. The remaining knights backed into the woods fighting a rear-guard against the Janshai, hoping to regroup with any cavalry that may have survived the initial Janshai ambush.
*
Leo felt impotent, there was nothing he could do, and the sense of futility built up inside him. He fought it; tried to find some hidden meaning buried within him perhaps. He knew this feeling of powerlessness but this time he was going to do something. He channelled his energies, a force began to emanate from his very core, and it pulsed through his body, a warm throbbing strength. It fed into the Staff of Talisien, which in turn echoed the energy back to Leo.
Vane stood in front of him, looking quizzically into Leo’s eyes.
He could not touch Leo or reach out to him. The world had paused around Leo, the fighting slowed in motion around them.
Leo had stepped into an alternate ephemeral plane to the Ancient World. Between the two and yet in the two as well, like standing across a line with a foot either side. One moment he stepped around the altar at Dryw Henge. The next elsewhere and nowhere.
As Dryw Henge materialised again he could see Vane’s capabilities had been amplified and the battle had turned. Vane had waved his hand and Amphean knights were thrown ag
ainst trees, beaten and crumbled. He could see the alarm in Prince Aron’s and the others’ faces.
They had no choice and backed into the trees, retreated. Bodies lay strewn across the ground. King Armanar, Daylon and Fayette remained in the circle. The King dying, the Princess bruised, a Janshai standing over her ready to strike.
He could also feel the pull of Vane. The urge to join with him in body and spirit. To dwell here any longer would undermine any resistance he may have within him. He had to get away from Vane’s power and influence. Only then would he be free. But he could not pull himself away.
Leo understood there was little to be done; he could only control the power he had awoken momentarily. It was fleeting at best; he did not know how it had arisen and what may cause it to disappear.
This was not a power to defeat Vane but an ability to open a door, if only ajar. It was though an opportunity to escape and leave it to those remaining to continue the struggle! A struggle where Vane was in the ascendency.
Leo was wracked with indecision. Then without warning the Princess lifted herself up and onto her feet and threw herself at Leo knocking him to the ground and any connection between him and Vane was suddenly lost.
As he tumbled he made his decision, as the vision of Dryw Henge shimmered around him. He took the hand of Fayette lifting her into his plane.
She gawped at him in surprise and he smiled and let her go again, she spun away and headed to the tree line.
The King’s face was etched in pain, perhaps not long for this world. Yet Leo knew he could give him a chance. He walked to the King and grasped him on the shoulder using the power of the Staff of Talisien to heal his wounds.
“Go. Live to fight another day.”
Leo let go of the King and took hold of Daylon, supporting him under his arms and helping him to his feet. They scrambled to the edge of the stone circle following the path the Princess had taken. Once they were beyond it, the world blinked and the other plane he’d briefly inhabited disappeared. Leo and Daylon were once again in the Ancient World and were thrown in the midst of battle once more. Vane roared, “Kill them!”
“Fetch that boy and the staff. I want that staff.” Leo and Daylon rushed to the edge of the clearing as a couple of arrows fizzed overhead.
They passed a Janshai who slashed down on Aksel and sheared through his breastplate. Aksel grunted and the Janshai bellowed in satisfaction. He stepped aside and came after Leo and Daylon.
They zigzagged through the woods, jinking left and right. Leo would grab onto the trees to help him turn. The ground was slippery underfoot and Leo had to jump over fallen tree trunks and run through small shrubs that slowed him down.
He could hear the Janshai closing in on him and turned, only to lose his balance as he came to a deep slope overlooking a copse. His ankle twisted underneath him and he fell, tumbling down the sides of the slope and coming to rest at the bottom. He got up on his knees and tried to pull himself up.
His ankle struggled to take his weight and he cried out with pain. Leo used the staff as a crutch but he could not move fast and the Janshai entered the copse behind him, smiling maniacally as he bore down on his prey.
Leo raised the staff, but the Janshai slapped it away with the blade of his sword. Leo scrambled on his back with his hands and feet. He backed up to a tree and sat there as the Janshai approached.
The Janshai raised his sword, but then Daylon rushed from the side and distracted him with a cry. The Janshai turned away from Leo and slashed down on Daylon knocking him off his feet.
Razor Phantom scattered out of reach and the Janshai thrust his sword into Daylon’s midriff. He pulled out his blade and advanced on Leo once again. As he was about to strike a blade cut through him from behind and Leo saw the tip dripping in blood.
The Janshai crumpled to the ground and Aksel stood panting behind him.
Leo rolled over to Daylon, his breathing was difficult and he was gasping for air. Leo lifted him up, “You saved my life!”
He smiled, “I seemed to have picked up a slight flesh wound though.”
Leo winced and tried to staunch the flow of blood from Daylon’s stomach.
“Razor Phantom,” wheezed Daylon and reached for it. Aksel stepped towards it, picked it up and placed it in his grasp.
“It was the proudest day of my life when the King presented me with this blade. It has been an honour to serve him, and now to die for him.” Daylon smiled weakly. He reached into his tunic and removed a scrap of material with his bloody hand and thrust it into Leo’s chest.
“You’ll need this,” he gasped, and then his body shuddered, his breathing grew faint and he fell limp in Leo’s arms.
Aksel pulled Leo by the collar. “We should go, the Janshai will be hunting through these woods in no time.”
*
Vane stood at the altar and surveyed the clearing. Bodies lay strewn on the ground. Knights and Janshai alike. He threw back his hood so he could take it all in. His new energy and power coursed through his veins. He needed, wanted the boy to make his transformation complete. He stepped from the stone circle and walked towards the bodies scattered on the ground. He saw Logar slumped, still alive but failing from his wounds.
“The Four Realms are lost. You have failed Terramian!”
“Don’t be too sure,” gasped Logar. “This fight is not over yet. There is always hope.”
“Hope?” laughed Vane. “I saw hope, it was cowering from the battle, curled up like a terrified child. Hope. There is no hope.”
Vane raised his arm and clenched his fist. The grip closed like a vice on Logar’s throat; he clawed at his neck but could not breathe. Vane watched the Captain of the Guard struggle to break the grip on his neck, but it was no use. Vane turned and walked away as the knight breathed his last breath.
Vane addressed the men that stood around him. “Finally, the time of Gamura has come. There is no one in this world that can stand in my way.
“We will bring a reign of terror on the other realms. The children of Terramis, Windstrom and Aquamura will grow up in a world filled with fear and without hope. All about them will suffer stillness and darkness. We will cast sway over this land and plot how to open ourselves to the realities of other worlds. We will transfer ourselves between the Four Realms and other planes, not limited to this earth. Gamura will be all powerful, all conquering.”
*
Leo and Aksel ran through the woods to the west. Four Janshai horsemen came riding from the left and Aksel pulled Leo down and under a thicket. There they lay, faces pressed to the forest mulch as the riders galloped past.
“This is not going to be easy. I sense the Janshai have the upper hand and men to spare, these woods are a trap.”
He shook his head and cursed, “If we were with the others I would feel differently. But we are on our own with no idea how the others are faring. I think we go back, go east, behind Vane’s lines. It’s natural to run west, but that’s what the Janshai will be expecting. If we go east we may survive this day and then we can then figure out how to meet up with everyone else after that.”
The two of them got to their feet. They turned and ran crouching to the east. Aksel helped support Leo. They ran from the sounds of battle that still raged in the distance.
*
Aron, Aland, Ailin, Sumnar and a handful of knights headed back through the woods the way from which they had come. Aland and Ailin would turn and fire off arrows as they were running to keep the Janshai at bay.
They made ground but could still hear the clashes of fighting in the distance. Also the snarling of the wolves that had set upon the Janshai. They turned and came across a slight path and heard horses’ hooves bearing down on them.
They crouched ready to ambush the enemy when Wild Wind, Far Ranger and Proud Wanderer leapt round the corner, whinnied as they pulled and drew to a halt in front of the
m.
“Well you three are a sight for sore eyes,” said the Prince. They mounted their horses and the Prince spoke to his men who remained on foot, “We will re-engage the Janshai. Head to the west, we’ll meet up where we last made camp.”
With that they leapt forward and headed back towards the sounds of battle. Most of the knights and Janshai were on their feet engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The horses rode through the melee, the knights carving the Janshai down as they galloped past.
The Prince shouted to his men, “To me, to me!” and they broke off the engagement. “Head back the way we came, regroup at our last camp. We’ll hold them for a while.”
They stood their ground, man and beast. Buying time for the remainder of their men to make some distance on the Janshai.
“Let’s see if we can round up some horses and head back to the camp ourselves,” said the Prince. And they turned and headed west themselves.
The survivors arrived in dribs and drabs. Perhaps twenty-five or thirty men, wounded and exhausted alike. The Janshai appeared to have broken off their chase, but those most able maintained a scouting perimeter in case they renewed their attack.
A handful of Janshai, knights and clan rested on trees or washed themselves of the blood on their hands and faces in the nearby stream.
Sumnar and Sister Hulda did their best to patch up those with injuries. For the few with more serious wounds, the next twenty-four hours were critical.
Aron sat around a fire with Aland, Ailin, Raisa and Maruq. Their heads were bowed. “The King, Saturnus, Logar, Daylon, Aksel, the Princess and Leo. They are grave losses indeed.”
“Fear the worst but hope for the best,” said Maruq.
“We did not see them all fall. Though the King and Logar suffered mortal blows.”
“It would make you king now,” said Aland tentatively.
The Prince nodded numbly.
“I know it’s a lot to ask but everyone will now look to you for leadership.”
The Prince sighed, “What is clear is that as we feared, Gorath or Vane as he now calls himself has grown much stronger. That will also embolden his forces. I do not see what can now stand in his way. Even Ampheus will surely fall against such powers. The people will be subjugated and will now need to survive in a world overcome by evil. At best we must form some sort of resistance until perhaps we can find a renewed hope.”
Dryw Henge Page 17