by S.A. Waters
“No,” Eon contradicted. It helped to have someone who knows something about Pegasus to help me out. “Though you can fly, the speed of a Pegasus is much greater than your fastest. Traveling by Pegasus is more efficient.”
“Does that answer your question?” I smirked at Kody. He nodded, smirking back. “So to get into the border, we will have Dakota and Eon in front, because Dakota is the strongest and I trust Eon to lead us there properly. On my left will be Kody and to my right will be Drew. James and Danny will be in the back. Star, you’ll be in the front as well. Understood?”
“Yes,” The voices in the room replied, muffled by each others’.
At around 1:30 pm, everyone was ready to go. My army on the ground had left two hours ago. We had said our goodbyes, and cherished those final moments with them in case something happened. Now my team in the sky was outside, and Eon commanded us to call our Pegasus.
“Shadow!” I called at a louder than normal tone. As if I was calling a dog. “Infinity!” The others called their Pegasus over as well, and with one sweep across the sky, all eight Pegasus landed in front of their owners. Pegasus are much bigger than one would expect; twice the size of the average full grown horse; so seeing all eight line up in front of us was like looking up to a giant with wings. I had to extend my arm to almost its full length just to reach the tip of his muzzle.
One by one we mounted our Pegasus, who already had saddles and bridles ready to go. Then we all assumed our planned positions, with me in the center, Kody on my left; Drew on my right; Eon, Star, Dakota in front; and James and Danny the Dalmatian in the back. The birds made one circle around us, except for the owl who left with the group on foot. With Eon’s roar of a signal, we were off into the sky for a battle of a lifetime.
After twenty minutes of flying, we were all able to easily spot the border to Pact. I was expecting dark clouds and thunder, but the scenery was the same, just with a gigantic wall.
The border was just as Eli had described; guards in every direction. I could just barely see the top of the wall, and we were flying really high already. “Pull up!” I ordered, so maybe the endless amount of guards wouldn’t spot us when we went over.
“Stay very tight now!” Eli demanded. “Close in as much as you can! It’s okay if the Pegasus wings over lap! If we fall in together, I can get us over the border with hardly any trouble. Do you all understand?”
“Yes!” We all shouted back at him. The eight of us were getting higher and higher above the wall. Soon we were almost two hundred feet above the border.
“Close in tighter!” Eli screamed again. I didn’t know how this would help get us over into Pact safely, but I trusted he knew what he was doing. After all, isn’t that what guardians are for?
“Eli!” Star yelled at him. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s our only chance!” Star seemed very tense about this plan of the compact formation. I didn’t see anything wrong with it, except that I was starting to get hit in the face with a Pegasus wing. But because she started to worry, so did I. It was now obvious Eli had done this before, or at least something like it, but how? I made a mental note to ask him later. Now was not the time to ask questions regarding one’s past.
Everybody got as tight as they could, and I ordered Shadow to stop flapping and just streamline over the wall. The others seemed to follow our lead, as they began to fold in their wings as well. The friction resistance made us closer, and we went much faster. We all knew it wouldn’t last long, but we all hoped it would last long enough.
I closed my eyes, and tightly clutched onto Shadow’s black mane. I then opened my eyes at the sound of a loud, ear piercing whinny. “Dawn!” I heard Star scream from the front. Dawn? I assumed that was the name of her Pegasus. I looked below and saw Star and her Pegasus fall to the ground. She had been hit!
“Star!” I shouted to her in a very distressed tone. “Everybody down! We have to help her!”
“No!” Eli snapped. “It’s a distraction! Don’t do it!” But it was too late. I was already leading the group down to help Star. “Faster, Faster!” I commanded Shadow until he was at his full speed. We were able to catch Star about fifty feet from the ground, however we were only able to barely break the fall of her Pegasus. All of us landed on the ground. I turned around only to see the Pact border behind us. We had made it over.
I helped up Star from the ground. “You shouldn’t have come down for me,” She said.
“How could I just leave you?”
“Because, now we are in Pact. And due to our vulnerability, the Pacts are on their way.”
“Positions everyone!” Eli ordered loudly. “They are coming! He is coming!” As Eli and Star had predicted, I could see six Pacts walk towards us. Amongst them I saw Darius, Austin, and Timothy. According to Eli’s observance, one of them was Alpha Maximus. I stood in front; Dakota and Kody right behind me. I could hear her begin to silently hyperventilate, so I turned back and gave her a reassuring glance. James and Drew were on the edge of our scattered formation. Eli landed on my shoulder, and Star was brushing against me, ready to fight. By that time I had just realized that I was defenseless. No sword, dagger, weapon of any kind. Not smart.
The Pacts were now a few yards in front of us. “Wait,” Eli instructed. As they approached closer, I began to tense up. The six Pacts finally stopped, and one stepped forward.
“I love this little set up you have going on here!” He exclaimed, almost laughing. “So defenseless and weak. It’s honestly adorable. Who designed this formation? Was it you, Eli? This is what we teach my soldiers not to do when fighting the greatest Lybrian of all time.”
“You mean Carter-Adrian Nicholas Breese?” Eli snarled.
“You have a great sense of humor, Eli. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m being so rude. I am Alpha Maximus.” Just that name gave me chills when he said it. I started to tremble, but Star nudged me to stop and show no fear.
Alpha Maximus was nothing as I had pictured. Yes, he was tall, which I had predicted. Six foot three I assumed. However, his skin was olive, and his hair was artificially blonde and spiky, the roots being dark brown. His voice had a slight British accent it seemed. He wore a nice suit that you would see at a wedding. His eyes were a piercing, icy blue that stared into your soul.
“I already know you’ve met Darius, Austin, and Timothy. The other two are Moires and Bach. Bach was the one who shot the tiger’s Pegasus. Good shot by the way.” Bach nodded in thankfulness to his master. “So, son. Why have you decided to return? Bringing your only hope to destroy me here to die?”
“Son?” I questioned, my voice steadier than I expected. Who does this guy think he is? Calling my guardian his son?
“Ah, you must be the Carter boy! What a pleasure it is to meet my uncle’s descendant! And Eli! How could you not have told your own boy the truth!
“Eli, what is he talking about?”
“Well, you see, boy, Eli over here was born a Pact as my son. He refused my offer to help me take over the rest of Lybria and decided to run away from this wonderful home of his and become a bloody Mystian! Have you noticed odd changes with him that don’t happen to normal Mystics? Why do you think you successfully got over the border? Have you ever seen his eyes turn red in frustration?” I thought back to when I had first arrived in Lybria. Eli had got furious with me and his eyes became blood shot red. That’s why he was so knowledgeable about Pact! He wanted us close together so he could disguise himself and us as Pacts for that brief second in time. Why didn’t he tell me?
“What a fool you were, Eli, to desert this power for a lesser land! You could have been great!” Alpha started again.
“I believed in a greater cause! Not an oppressive tyranny you call justice!”
“Eli,” I whispered loudly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was for your own good,” Eli explained. “I didn’t want you to worry. I needed you to focus.”
; “So now that we have that cleared up,” Alpha interrupted. “I have a busy life, so I kind of need to kill you soon. Well, just the boy - the rest of you can go about your lives in peace. So you can hand him over now.”
“Over my dead body!” Dakota snapped.
“Attitude I see. So I can tell this is going to be a blood bath and I don’t feel like getting my hands dirty just yet. So, boys. Please clear the floor.” That signaled Alpha’s five guards to rush and attack us. Darius and Austin grabbed me and pulled me to the floor. I was strong, but there wasn’t a way that I could undo the painful grip they had me in. I didn’t really know how the others were doing. Finally, I grabbed Austin by his hair, slamming it against the ground. I now had the strength to get up, as I did while jabbing Darius in the face with my elbow. I was free.
Austin got up but was limping, and I pushed him down again, putting my foot in his face. An abrupt force then pulled me back, and I hit the ground, finding myself looking straight up at Darius. He had a sword in his hand, and attempted to slash my face with it-but I deflected the blade with my arm. Darius pulled his sword away from me, and we wrestled for the higher ground. Kicking and punching quickly but carefully; every move I made was with purpose, for I knew it could be my last. I screamed in agony as I tried to kick him off of me.
“Carter!” James yelled as I struggled to get up. I lifted my neck up to see James, but I wish I hadn’t. He became furious and used his super speed to run towards Alpha, lunging when he got close. With Alpha’s ultra senses he whirled around, took out a knife, and simply sliced James’s head clean off. Hitting his mark.
“No!” I screamed, almost crying. “James!”
“Let the boy and the others go,” Alpha sighed. Everyone stopped fighting, the Pacts retreating to their masters. “They won’t be leaving anytime soon. Make sure the guards know only to let the Pegasus out, but not back in. We can do our business later. Right now, I leave them with a warning.” Then he turned back to talk to me. My mouth was dripping with blood. “Do you hear me, Carter and the sad army you hold? Let the death of your friend be a warning to you. I also am going to leave you with a choice. Join me, or suffer torture, and a slow, painful death. I’ll let you think about it. I will return in three days time expecting your answer. When you’re finished grieving over this pathetic boy, do you mind disposing of his body before it contaminates the soil? I would hate for this great farmland to go to waste. Come, men. Three days, Carter and friends. Three days.” And with that, Darius and Austin let go of me, immediately resulting of leaping back onto my feet for revenge. But the Pacts were nowhere in sight.
Drew, Dakota, Kody, and I sprinted over to James’s corpse. Drew went and collected his head, which was a few feet away from his body. What have I done? I looked at Drew, who fell on his knees and wept, screaming his best friend’s name. Dakota leaned and cried in my shoulder, and not even I could hold back the tears, as there was no point. Kody took the head from Drew’s now bloodied hands, and lined it up with the body. He examined the neck.
“Yeah,” He choked. “His mark is cut clean in half. This is the end of James Schlepi.”
“No!” Drew wailed. “He’s not dead! He’ll come back I swear!” Seeing the headless corpse of one of my best friends was hard, but seeing Drew in denial was even harder. “Heal him Kody!” Another shout from Drew.
“I’m sorry,” Kody cried. “There’s nothing I can do.” A blue jay flew over and perched on my hand. James’s guardian.
“Have the Pegasus take him home,” He said solemnly. “I will accompany him as well, for I don’t see a choice. I can hide behind a Pegasus so they won’t see me. I’m sorry.” We all strapped James to the back of his Pegasus. We all said a few words in his memory, and watched as all the Pegasus, the guardian, and a great man flew over the border. Alpha Maximus was going to pay for what he did tonight. Now more than ever I wanted revenge. For James, his guardians, Drew, all of us in the Code of Law. And nothing was going to stop me.
That night somehow everyone easily found sleep in the little spot we were in (for we couldn’t leave), except me. Being hunted down is scary. Especially when you know that you are alone, with secret eyes spying on you. I finally fell asleep, knowing I was not alone. That never again, will I, Carter-Adrian Nicholas Breese, be alone.
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Thank you for reading my first published work, "Infinity: Code of Law!" If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave me a review at your favorite retail. There are more works soon to come!
-S.A. Waters
Acknowledgements
Without the help of everyone who has positively influenced my life, this book would have never become a reality, and for them I am truly grateful. The following people I would specifically like to thank.
Angela Yu and Emily Zheng, thanks for encouraging me to finish and getting me past my writer’s blocks. You guys were always some of my biggest supporters, and I appreciate the honest feedback and helping edit. Without the two of you this book would have never been finished.
Ms. Janet Pooley, my old English teacher. You edited part of this novel and pushed my writing abilities, resulting in you being one of the best teachers I ever had. Thank you for assigning that vignette, for without it my short story, “Vengeance,” would have never lead to the inspiration for “Infinity.” It’s amazing what a picture of a menu can do.
A huge thank you for my father and grandmother, my two biggest fans. Thanks for editing “Infinity” and giving me the motivation to finish. You guys made this book so much better.
To my two good friends, Ethan Harbour and Kate Fruehling for helping me with the cover. Thanks for making the last step of this book possible. Your help was extremely appreciated.
And lastly I would like to thank the “Ride On” facility for allowing me to shoot the cover of my book there.
“Thank you” are only two words that express my gratitude, tough it cannot be expressed enough.