by BJ Hanlon
“Behind some boxwoods…”
“The iris section,” Arianne whispered. “It’s surrounded by a wall of shaped shrubs.”
Placisus nodded. “I’m moving it.”
Tense moments went past as he slowly and methodically pushed up the grate and moved it a half an inch at a time. It scraped and groaned far too loud for Edin’s taste, but no one appeared to investigate.
When it was gone, Placisus disappeared followed by the rest. Edin went last. First in, last out. Wasn’t that from accounting?
The smell was much better, heavenly compared to where they’d been. The flowers were overwhelming, birds tweeted, crickets chirped, and small fireflies glowed in the air.
“Pharont is probably in his chambers at this time but he’s bound to be guarded. Now we wait.”
The little war council had devised an attack strategy, they slipped most of their defenders toward the southern side of the isle and take the docks. That attack would begin at five, just before sunup.
Now they waited, only a small crack of moonlight still shown in the garden. They hid behind a row of trimmed ornamental bushes.
Arianne crouched next to him, she turned her head as if to speak, but didn’t.
Edin didn’t acknowledge her. He didn’t need the distraction and didn’t know what to say.
It was still dark when they heard the pealing bells going off somewhere in the distance. The ‘we’re being attacked bells.’
After a few more minutes, they darted over manicured grass, through small gravel pathways to the looming castle.
Placisus led them to a small door near the northern side of the tower between the mountain and the castle. He checked the door and yanked it open.
They burst in, shocking a couple of cooks who were half asleep until that moment. The guards quickly tied them up and then pushed through to a dark corridor. This was the first time he was actually in the main part of the castle. The dungeons and that store room weren’t exactly fit for a prophesized hero. He mused. Then shook it out.
That was a dumb thought, he scolded himself as they cruised through the servant’s halls.
The bare and dusty halls were built into the palace as a way for the servants to be unseen as they did their duties. Guards used them too sometimes as they were faster. A person could pop out from hidden doors.
They climbed thin stairwells and long corridors but somehow, they saw no other humans. It was eerily quiet.
Edin was covered in sweat and his legs burned as they reached the closest exit to Pharont’s chambers. A small door between two guest rooms a few yards to the right of the FAE’s room.
Placisus tested the door. He pressed it slowly and it creaked open.
He looked toward Edin, in the dim light it was hard to read his face. Edin felt his heart thumping and he wanted a few moments of rest but they didn’t have it. Soon, they’d be face-to-face with the Premier.
The young soldier went out first and Edin felt dread. His hair stood on end and he tasted the electrical feeling rising.
It was too late. Edin felt a surge of energy. Then
a yellow arc caught the soldier in the chest and he flew backward out of sight.
Edin felt a surge of energy, a kick of something that propelled him.
Placisus and the other soldier leapt out where he’d just been.
Edin followed. He summoned an ethereal wall before them and a moment later, the room was awash with bolts of electricity, flying arrows, and whipping black stones. Smoke began to cloud the room, a ball of fire hit the wall and burst but Edin felt no heat. He kept moving forward, pushing.
The wan stones were trying to take effect, they struck the wall noiselessly and clattered to the ground. Edin kicked one forward toward the unseen attackers.
He was flanked by the two soldiers. They had their swords and shields out but were looking at him warily.
He tried to summon water, if it covered them, he thought they wouldn’t dare use lightning, but he felt as if someone was fighting him for control. Gales of wind pressed at him from both sides, fireballs flew and dissipated.
“Behind…” Arianne’s voice.
“We’re surrounded,” Placisus called.
Edin didn’t turn, he couldn’t. “Help her,” Edin said. They were already about ten yards from the hidden entrance.
The magi attacks slowed and then stopped. Edin saw he was standing over a wan stone and had pressed Pharont and his men back. His talent was weak and hard to keep up, he glanced through the white haze and saw them gaping at him. About ten broson men, with Pharont at the rear.
“Kill him!” he shouted.
He had little time and energy. Edin let loose the culrian and instantly felt nude. Edin drew his sword and attacked.
There was an instant clashing of blades as four Brosons tried a simultaneous assault. Edin stepped over one at his ankle and threw the foot into another. He was off balance and just barely was able to parry a third strike. The fourth missed by a finger.
His chest beat harder and time slowed. Edin watched as the men’s faces changed. He used that moment of shock to slam a fist into a man’s face then pushed him into two of his comrades. Edin took the third by the sword arm and twisted him around trying to toss him into the other defenders.
The man’s feet lifted off the ground and for a moment, Edin felt a lessening of the wan stone’s suppression. He raised his arm and let loose as strong a wind as he could from his open palm.
It caught the man in the chest throwing him at Pharont. The large man was now retreating behind his men with a slow and wobbly gate.
The projectile-man slammed into four brosons and Edin dove into the melee. He kicked out to the inner side of the knee and noticed it was Worian, the man whose foot he broke. Edin caught more with elbows, knees, and fists. He hit a few others with the hilt of his blade, and headbutted one on the bridge of the nose.
He was tiring far too quickly, he needed to slow or he’d burn out. Edin leapt backward away from the fight and took a deep breath.
The world sped up to normality and a group of broson men and Pharont were staring at him. Edin took a moment to breathe.
“Behind,” Arianne called and Edin dropped. An arm clutching a blade flashed over his head for a moment, then suddenly, he and an attacker, were flying hard and fast toward the gaggle of brosons.
Some of the men ducked but Pharont was too slow.
Edin landed on the man’s enormous belly and bounced off of him. Another cry from beneath him. He was sitting on a broson’s chest. Worian’s.
A moment later, he saw a broson with a quarterstaff about to strike him.
Edin shifted and the quarterstaff glanced off his shoulder and cracked Worian’s chest.
He felt the rumbling cry reverberate through his body. Edin kicked at the attacker’s leg, catching it at the knee and hearing a snap as the man dropped. Edin caught the quarterstaff and yanked it from the grip.
Rolling to the other side he saw one man staring at him with widened eyes.
Edin recognized him as one who’d escorted him to the jail weeks ago.
Without a word, he turned and fled.
Edin turned back to the fight.
Pharont was trying to get to his feet, though it was difficult for him to roll over.
Edin put the point of his blade in front of the Adam’s apple. It took Pharont a long moment to recognize what was happening, his looked shifted quickly between, fear, anger, something else, then back to fear.
“Stop, or I will execute him,” Edin yelled down the hall where Arianne and Placisus were still fighting. The other soldier was gone, possibly in the pile of bodies.
Everyone stopped, they glanced over and after a moment, lowered their weapons. There were four more brosons still standing, at least five were down on their side. Arianne’s bow was gone and she held her quarterstaff, Placisus grinned, though he looked to be in pain.
“Tell them to drop their weapons and go into that door,” Edin said l
oud enough for all to hear.
“Drop… the weapons…” Pharont’s shaky voice called out. His words were sporadic like a drunk woodpecker. “Go into the closet…”
The remaining dropped their weapons and walked toward an open door. Their metal covered greaves clanking the floor.
Edin looked around, near his feet and spread out in a sunflower like pattern, men groaned and sobbed but they did not get back up. There was blood, yes, bones poking out and limbs turned to angles they shouldn’t be… but he didn’t kill anyone. A smile came over his face.
“On your six,” Placisus called.
Edin twisted his legs and dropped. He thrust his blade up as Berka had done once in the forest what was at least a lifetime ago. It caught the attacker in the gut.
The guy was huge, a monster even. He grabbed the blade of the weapon as blood started pouring from his mouth.
With his other hand he reached for Edin’s neck. With his legs tangled, and his blade caught, he couldn’t move fast enough. The man’s meaty hand wrapped around his throat like a normal person would a fishing pole and started to squeeze.
Edin swung the quarterstaff into his head and tried pushing the blade further in. It did nothing. Despite the wound, the man was still stronger than Edin.
Edin let go and began to see black dots around his vision. He groped behind him, looking for anything, but all he felt was flesh and blood.
A burst of wind blasted into Edin and he lifted from the ground and into the giant man. A sloshing and gurgling came from outside his vision and a few moments of silence before the huge paw finally released.
Edin felt like he had spikes in his head for a moment as he tried to get his equilibrium back. He was a foot off the ground, lying on the giant. The black dots began to fade and his breathing normalized. He still somehow had his hand on his blade and pulled it out.
The huge broson was trying to breathe, but there was something metal stuck in his throat. He pulled his blade from the man’s chest and turned to see Arianne with a small metal shard hovering above her hand.
Some of the other brosons were trying to get up but due to broken limbs and other injuries. They were struggling. It was then that Edin noticed the alarm bells pealing throughout the castle and he knew they had little time.
He bent down and grabbed Pharont’s large arm and with the encouragement of his blade, he helped the man to his feet. Edin shoved a wan stone into a loose pocket on the Premier and hoped he wouldn’t notice.
Edin had never stood next to the man, and only saw him standing on the makeshift stage at Belo’s party. He noticed that his body shape was more ball like than squash, maybe an eggplant.
“Come on…” Edin said through gritted teeth as they filed into Pharont’s chambers.
It was a wide room, large and of an odd shape, not quite a hexagon but very near it. Great windows pierced the sunrise and to the south and east.
They were high up, a hundred yards or more.
Pharont ambled over and sat on his bed. Placisus tied his arms to a post like a beast tied to the stake before the slaughter.
They then began the task of looking for any secret entrances. Placisus had been in here before, though he didn’t know any entrances and after their cursory glance, they couldn’t find any.
Edin had a feeling there was at least one around.
He was about to take a seat, just to get off his feet for a moment, when he heard pounding on the door. A metal bar lock had been set and the strikes rang with metal.
“Father, open… it’s me…” Casitas said.
Edin pulled himself near the door and glanced at Arianne sitting on a plush purple chair and Placisus leaning against a bookshelf and holding his arm. Edin felt like he’d just run a thousand leagues and could sleep for weeks.
“Tell him you are in a meeting of grave importance,” Edin said softly. “If he enters, I’ll kill him and the rest…” Edin lowered his blade to Pharont’s jugular. “Then you last.”
“You are him… the Ecta…” Pharont paused then turned his head calling out to his son. His voice was that of a man still in command despite the circumstances.
A moment later, Casitas agreed to wait in the hall.
Edin felt that Casitas was lying. He found a tall back chair with a large Ơ on fuzzy green velvet. Edin shoved it under the handle as an extra brace.
Edin moved before Pharont and watched his eyes, but the man gave nothing away. He sighed, sheathed his blade and moved toward the bed.
They didn’t have much time and the only route for escape was a southern window. There was a trellis a few yards below with stairs that descended toward the southeast gardens.
“I would like to be honest with each other,” Edin said, it was the only way he knew to start this type of conversation. “You have treated me poorly since I came to the island… yes.”
Pharont just stared.
“I understand this has something to do with my father, but you see, I am not him.”
Pharont nodded. “Rihkar was a fool…”
“I met him maybe twice, you may be right but I doubt it. If you knew my mother, she suffered no fools.”
“What are you doing? Placisus said. “This is no time for get-to-know-yous.”
Pharont looked away toward the open glass window, a conversation wasn’t exactly the plan.
“What is this, a coup? Do you think that suddenly everyone will listen to this child? He’s not even from here.”
“It’s not a coup…” Edin said. “We need each other. The dematians are rising.”
Pharont turned his head and looked toward Placisus then Arianne. “You’re lying… they’re not real, fairy tales like actual fairies.”
“I’ve fought them, the elves call them cousins…”
“There are no elves anymore.”
“You have been stuck on this island for far too long.”
“Wait, what is this about elves…” Placisus said.
“Long story,” sighed Arianne.
“They’re coming, as are the Por Fen, Resholt, and Dunbilston… somehow, it is happening at once. It feels as if there’s a greater force at work…”
“What?” Placisus said. “They’re on their way now? Please tell me you’re having a laugh.”
“Lies,” Pharont said, “we’re planning on…” He paused as if just remembering something. “Let me out of here.”
“Can’t do that, not yet. We need to put our differences aside. Become friendly as it were.”
“The Ecta Mastrino wants to be friends with a man who tried to have him executed…”
“I’m not the Ecta Mastrino,” Edin shouted.
“Where is the Shimmer stone?” Arianne said.
Pharont ignored Edin and looked to Arianne. “It was intended to be a gift for you. For your wedding.”
“That doesn’t matter, what do you know?” Edin said. Was this why Arianne was here?
“It does matter boy!” Pharont said. “It matters much if you believe well… in your legend.” He shot a wary eye at Edin. “It’s in a book, The Zoriat Chronicles.”
“Placisus can you grab it,” Arianne said.
“We should be leaving…”
“Grab it…” Edin said. Something about how both Arianne and Pharont spoke about the stone made Edin think it may be important. “Grab it…” Edin said.
There was a bang on the door. The chair slid an inch with a wrenching holler.
This was getting out of sorts. He needed Pharont to agree, needed him to listen to reason.
“Do you know the Inquisitor de Demar? Diophin Grey?”
Bang. The chair rattled.
Pharont nodded.
Edin was quick, his words spewing out in flashes. “He summons me with a yellow stone, the callto stone, like the mage relay but I don’t have to be there.”
“They’ve rediscovered it? The summoning was thought to have been lost for hundreds of generations…”
“He said they know about the isle… T
hey know about the mists? That we’re unprotected and they’re going to attack.”
“I can’t find it…” Placisus said.
Pharont shot a quick glance over at his bookshelf. He opened his mouth.
“Here it is.”
Edin recognized the look, one of shock, of understanding and of regret. “Wait…”
Placisus grabbed the book and slowly pulled it out. A moment later, half of the bookshelf rumbled in and Placisus was hit with a ball of water and stumbled back.
“Casitas, stop…” Pharont yelled.
With his sword pulled, Casitas leapt into the room about to gut Placisus.
Edin tried to summon the culrian, but he was too weak. He was only able to summon a single bright ball. An orb bright enough in the early light to blind them.
“Stop,” Pharont screamed.
Edin saw again, the world with a single white spot in the center like he’d just stared at the sun. He leapt away from the Premier and toward Casitas. He caught the downward slash that was too quick for the former guard captain. At least four more men were in the room now and he could feel the talent.
A window smashed open and the howl of air began to rush in. It was cold and damp.
Edin closed his eyes to pull the water from the air. He felt the resistance of someone else trying to control it as well. Edin was weak and someone had more power than he did.
Wind ripped past him, it turned and crashed into the guards. All but Casitas, who suddenly had a water shield around him, like the culrian.
“Come on…” Arianne yelled, she and Placisus were at the edge of the window. One of the guards had made it to the door and was unjamming the chair. Next he’d open the bar.
Edin turned as a pair of black stones was flung his way. He snatched one out of the sky. In a complete turn he switched it to his right hand and flung it at the man opening the door.
The guard moved and the door opened with a flourish. Another man appeared. He growled for just a moment… then took the stone in the face. He fell back into comrades.
“Cease this fighting…” Pharont yelled, his thick fingers unable to pick the knots.
“We’ll talk soon,” Edin said. He ran to the edge of the window where his companions had disappeared. Edin leapt, as he was about to hit the thin beam of the trellis, a soft wind buoyed his fall. A moment later he set his foot down, dropped between wooden slats and landed on the stone walk.