Energy - Awakening

by MJ Schutte

  ‘Get everyone into the woods and hide. Don’t try to fight these men, they look well armed,’ Lilian replied looking at the corpse again.

  His bow was lying next to him. A very long knife in a sheath and two short spears were strapped to his belt.

  She turned around and hurried back to the house.

  ‘Bring the twins, we’re going to Brac’s house,’ she said to Adri.

  She called Brac over, told him what had happened and asked him to accompany them to his house.

  ‘I will stay in the woods close by in case the men find the trail to my house, that way I can warn you,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll use my sense constantly so I’ll know if they are coming towards us. Rather stay with us please,’ Lilian replied.

  She knew Brac couldn’t go up against that many men alone, she wanted him out of harms way.

  They quickly gathered some things and set off towards Brac’s little cottage.

  Brighton picked up a sword. He held it to the commander’s throat.

  ‘Run back to your King and tell him I’m coming for him,’ he growled at the man.

  The commander turned and started running but tripped over a corpse. He got up and carefully stepped through the corpses that littered the road. All of the soldiers had neat round holes where their hearts used to be.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Brighton asked John.

  ‘Nothing that won’t heal quickly,’ John replied through broken teeth and bleeding lips.

  Brighton helped him up. He started healing John’s wounds.

  ‘That’s fine, thank you,’ John said as he pulled away slightly.

  He was not comfortable at all with this.

  ‘I can heal all of it, just let me know,’ Brighton offered.

  ‘Let’s get going,’ John said trying to change the subject.

  ‘Can you run?’ Brighton asked.

  ‘Yes,’ John replied and set off at a fast jog towards Four Mountains to prove it.

  Brighton smiled and jogged after him.

  When he caught up he asked, ‘Didn’t you want to say goodbye to your lady friend?’

  ‘No, that witch is the one that betrayed us,’ John spat.

  It was obvious that the girl told the soldiers she knew someone close to Brighton and that’s why they tortured John to find out where he was.

  After jogging for a while John slowed and said to Brighton, ‘I’m struggling to see. Would you mind healing just my eyes?’

  Brighton smiled and put his hand over John’s eyes. He let more healing energy than was necessary flow into the young man.

  ‘Is that better?’ he asked as he removed his hand.

  ‘Yes, thank you,’ John replied and started jogging again.

  They jogged in silence until John slowed down.

  ‘Sorry, I’m getting tired,’ he said.

  They came to a halt and Brighton said, ‘I could give you energy to run longer and faster. I once made it from Avarya to Brasten and back in three days.’

  John looked at him to see if he was serious.

  ‘Three days?’ he gasped.

  ‘Yes and on the return trip I had Brac and two other men with me. We all ran hard for a day and a half without stopping. You and I could do the same,’ Brighton replied.

  John shook his head.

  ‘Sorry Brighton, I’m not comfortable with this magic of yours. I would rather not do that,’ he said.

  Brighton understood.

  He would never force anyone to accept energy from him.

  ‘Magic doesn’t exist. What I’m doing is simply manipulating energy,’ he explained.

  John shook his head.

  ‘Still sounds like magic to me. I couldn’t see much but the way those soldiers died was certainly not natural,’ he argued.

  Brighton nodded and said, ‘You understand I’m going to run as fast as I can.’

  ‘Go ahead, I’ll follow and join up with you there,’ John said.

  Chapter 24

  FOR FIVE DAYS Brighton ran non-stop.

  As he reached the farm, he slowed to a walk. The crops were all trampled, the animals slaughtered and their house was burnt down.

  He used his sense. There were people hiding in the woods. He recognized all of them as farm workers. When he sensed Lilian, the twins, Adri and Brac he sighed with relief.

  He smiled when he felt Mischief’s energy.

  They were all at Brac’s cottage.

  ‘Clever,’ he mumbled as he started jogging.

  He felt Lilian using her sense. He knew she already felt it when he used his so she knew he was coming.

  Halfway to Brac’s cottage she came running. She flew into his arms and hugged him as if she would never let him go.

  ‘I’m here now, don’t be afraid,’ he said gently.

  She stepped back and looked at him with a frown. He was short of breath and drenched in sweat.

  ‘Why are you so tired? Did you not take energy from the surroundings?’ she asked.

  ‘I did for the first four days. Today I ran using only my own energy,’ he explained.

  Lilian was still confused.

  ‘Were you worried about the amount of energy you took? Did it take you close to the limit again?’ she asked, concern clearly evident in her eyes.

  ‘No, but I didn’t want to push too far. I had no idea what was going on here, if anything, so I wanted to make sure my body could handle large amounts of energy if need be once I got here,’ he answered.

  Lilian relaxed a little.

  ‘So, what did happen here? I see the farm is destroyed,’ Brighton asked as they started walking hand in hand towards Brac’s cottage.

  ‘Scores of heavily armed men came here. Little Maria tried to warn me but their forward scout shot her in the back. I killed him for it,’ Lilian replied.

  ‘What were they wearing?’ Brighton asked.

  Lilian didn’t understand why that was important but answered anyway.

  ‘The one I killed wore brown pants and a red shirt. I didn’t actually see the rest, I tracked them with my sense,’ she recalled.

  ‘The Royal Peacekeepers,’ Brighton mumbled.

  ‘The what?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘The Royal Peacekeepers. It’s Graham’s army. Or King Graham as he calls himself now,’ Brighton said with disgust in his voice.

  Lilian already knew the answer to her next question but asked anyway.

  ‘And what is the purpose of this army?’

  ‘To hunt us. We are the last of the talented people,’ Brighton said flatly.

  Just after the twins were born, Brighton realized that he did not sense the talent in either of them.

  He reasoned that since his talent was counteractive to Lilian’s it must have had a permanent effect in their children, leaving them with no form of the talent at all.

  ‘Bri, there was more than a hundred men here. How many do you think Graham has?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘Well over five thousand. Do you remember the Justice Squads and the prison camp they were sent to? It has been turned into a training camp. Graham planned it from the start. I can’t believe I was so blind!’ Brighton replied softly.

  But I will not make the same mistake twice, he thought.

  Lilian stopped and turned to face him.

  ‘Wait, how do you know all of this?’ she asked suspiciously.

  ‘I killed a squad just outside Avarya. Everyone except the commander. I got some answers from him before I sent him running to his king,’ Brighton answered.

  ‘Why did you let the man go? He is going to report to Graham where he saw you! You should have killed all five of them,’ Lilian berated him.

  She assumed Brighton was referring to one of the old Justice Squads. He didn’t correct her.

  ‘I know, but Avarya is far to the east. The squad that came here didn’t see you, did they?’ he replied.

  ‘No, we came to hide here long before they reached the farm,’ she assured him.

  ‘Good, that gives us
a bit of time. Graham’s army will search the forest around Avarya first. It will take a long time before they get here again,’ Brighton replied.

  ‘And that’s why you let the commander go,’ Lilian said in understanding.

  They reached the cottage. Everyone was standing outside waiting for them. Adri had Thomas in her arms and Brac was carrying Clarissa. The old hunter would never admit it but he loved playing with the babies. He often fed them sweet berries when he thought nobody was looking. Of course both Adri and Lilian knew but they didn’t say anything.

  ‘Did you run into trouble?’ Brac asked casually.

  He knew Brighton was only due back in seven or eight days. The fact that he was here could mean only one thing.

  ‘Just a little but I took care of it. It seems like there were problems here too,’ Brighton answered.

  ‘Just a little,’ Brac echoed Brighton’s words.

  A knowing look passed between the men. Both knew the trouble was far from little.

  Lilian took Clarissa from Brac. It was time to feed the babies so the women went inside the small cottage.

  Brighton led Brac into the woods a little and spoke in a soft voice.

  ‘Did you get a look at the men that came here?’ he asked.

  ‘No, Lilian didn’t want me to go close. She used her sense to track them. They went straight to town,’ Brac answered.

  Brighton knew that the soldiers probably destroyed the town looking for them. Sadness washed over him.

  ‘I will fix this,’ he said mostly to himself.

  ‘What are you planning?’ Brac asked.

  He knew the look on Brighton’s face.

  ‘The first priority is to get the women and children to safety. Let’s concentrate on that for now,’ Brighton answered.

  ‘Where would they be safe? Graham’s troops are looking everywhere, even in this remote part of the world. There is nowhere we could hide for long. Sooner or later they will find us,’ Brac sighed.

  Brighton pointed to the west.

  ‘We will cross that mountain,’ he said flatly.

  Brac’s eyes went wide.

  ‘That’s impossible. Nobody has ever crossed the western boundary. Besides, beyond it is only darkness,’ he gasped.

  Brighton shook his head.

  ‘I think it looks the same on the other side of the mountain as it does here. If I’m correct there will also be people there,’ Brighton answered.

  Brac looked at Brighton closely to see if the younger man was serious.

  ‘I think all that energy you take from the forest has melted your brain,’ he finally said.

  Brighton didn’t take notice.

  ‘Think about it. Why does this town exist? You think people came here to get away from the Dark Ones and that’s a good theory but I don’t think it’s the whole story. If I lived three thousand years ago and wanted to get away from the worst evil in the world I wouldn’t stop here, I would keep going. I would have liked to have a seemingly impassable mountain between me and the evil I’m running from. My theory is that some people felt this place was far enough and settled here while others kept going,’ Brighton explained.

  Brac wasn’t convinced.

  ‘If there are people why haven’t you sensed them?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s too far. From here, it’s more than half a day’s travel to the foot of the mountain. After that it’s at least another day to get to the top and who knows how far you have to go to reach the other side,’ he explained.

  ‘Here is something else to think about. Have you ever wondered why there are roads between the towns and cities?’ he asked the older man.

  ‘That’s a really odd question. Roads are there so that we can travel on them,’ Brac replied with a frown.

  ‘Yes, I know that, but why are the roads so wide? Everybody walks, there should only be narrow trails. Someone built the roads like that for a purpose,’ Brighton continued.

  Brac thought for a while and said, ‘I’ve never thought of it that way. It seems the roads were built for something larger to travel on.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Brighton exclaimed.

  ‘But what could be large enough to need a road that wide to travel on?’ Brac asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Brighton admitted.

  ‘Even if I’m wrong and there is nobody on the other side it doesn’t matter. I’ve had enough of people and their greed. If we could go live where there is nobody else around, it would suit me just fine,’ he said.

  ‘I support that my friend,’ Brac agreed.

  The men walked back to the cottage. Lilian was still trying to feed Clarissa but the little girl was being difficult. She was simply not interested in the boiled vegetables. Adri had the same problem with Thomas. Without asking, Brac took Clarissa from Lilian. He produced a red berry from his pocket and held it in front of her. Clarissa immediately grabbed the berry with her tiny hand and attempted to shove it in her mouth. Most of it squashed against her cheek leaving red juice dripping down her face. Brac pulled another berry from his pocket and helped her get it in her mouth. Thomas saw this and held his arms out to Brac making little whimpering noises. Brac gave him a small red berry. Thomas had more success with shoving it into his mouth. Brac sat down next to Adri and kept feeding the twins the red berries.

  ‘No wonder they won’t eat their food,’ Lilian complained.

  She didn’t really mind all that much. She knew Brac loved the children with all his heart and this was his way of showing it.

  Brighton didn’t sit down. He knew convincing the women to cross the western boundary was going to be difficult.

  Before he could speak Lilian said, ‘I think we should leave. Our presence is putting everybody here in danger. I just don’t know where we should go.’

  ‘But I do,’ Brighton said.

  ‘Where? I can’t think of any place that will be safe for us,’ Lilian said.

  Brighton took a deep breath and said, ‘Across the western boundary.’

  Adri’s head snapped up.

  ‘What? Have you lost your mind?’ she exclaimed.

  ‘That’s what I said,’ Brac mumbled.

  More clearly he said to the women, ‘Just listen to Brighton, I support him.’

  Adri looked at him sideways.

  ‘So you’ve also gone mad?’ she asked.

  Brac chuckled. He thought this was the reaction they were going to get.

  Lilian surprised them both.

  ‘I think it’s a good idea, assuming we make it to the other side,’ she said.

  Brighton nodded.

  ‘I believe we can. If I have to blast a hole straight through that mountain that is also fine by me, but we cannot stay here any longer,’ he said.

  Graham’s anger reached boiling point. He pulled out his sword and stepped closer to the man kneeling in front of him.

  ‘It’s simple. You take a sword and run him through,’ he screamed as he waved his blade in the air.

  He pointed his sword at the kneeling man and thrust it forward. The sharp blade easily entered the man’s chest and pierced his heart.

  ‘See. Nothing to it,’ he screamed at the ten squad commanders behind the kneeling man.

  He pulled his sword free and tossed it to a girl behind him.

  ‘Clean that,’ he instructed.

  The girl tried to catch the sword but only managed to cut her hands on the sharp edge. She dropped the sword with a little cry. Graham turned around slowly.

  ‘What did I say about dropping my sword?’ he asked the young girl.

  ‘I’m sorry King Graham,’ the girl stuttered as she picked up the sword with her bleeding hands.

  Graham stepped closer. He slapped the girl hard on her right cheek. She barely managed to keep her balance as her hand shot up to her face.

  ‘One more time and you will be very sorry,’ Graham threatened.

  The girl took a deep bow and then rushed off to get the sword cleaned up.

  ‘Where was I?’ Graham
asked as he turned back.

  ‘Oh yes, I was explaining how easy it is to kill that boy,’ he answered his own question.

  Graham and his entourage were on their way to Avarya. News had reached them that Brighton had been seen there on a number of occasions. Graham was tired of getting news that was fourteen days or more old so he decided to go to Avarya in person. The commander of the squad Brighton killed met the royal party less than a day’s travel outside the city. Graham was in the process of giving ten new squad commanders their orders when the man ran up to the camp.

  Pointing to the dead commander Graham said, ‘This monkey wanted to gain my favour by arresting Brighton and bringing him to me. Is that what I ordered?’

  ‘No King Graham,’ the ten commanders answered.

  ‘What are my orders?’ Graham asked.

  ‘To kill Brighton and the witch,’ the ten voices came as one.

  ‘And do you understand these orders?’ Graham asked sarcastically.

  ‘Yes King Graham,’ the answer came immediately.

  ‘Then go do it!’ Graham screamed.

  The ten commanders scrambled to get out of Graham’s sight.

  Graham walked back to his chair. A young woman, Ashley, occupied the chair next to his.

  ‘Why do you want Brighton dead so badly?’ she gingerly asked.

  Graham sighed.

  ‘You’re not very clever, are you?’ Graham sneered at her.

  Ashley dropped her eyes and softly said, ‘No, I’m sorry.’

  Graham grabbed her by the chin and yanked her head up.

  ‘Well, at least you’re pretty,’ he said in a softer tone.

  Ashley nodded and tried to force a smile.

  Graham sat down and started talking slowly, ‘I’ll explain it one more time. Brighton is the only man who can challenge me. As long as he lives I will always be the second most powerful man alive.’

  Ashley frowned.

  ‘But you are not talented. How can you be the second most powerful man?’ she asked.

  Graham rolled his eyes and said, ‘I am king. I command an army of more than five thousand men. With these new squads added the count is now well over six thousand. Does that not sound powerful to you?’

  Although Ashley didn’t think this made Graham powerful she still nodded.