by B. T. Narro
I landed and spun as I swung hard, taking his head clean off.
Calvin was just getting up by the time I finished taking out the four of them.
“Whoa.” His eyes wide, he shot me a lopsided smile.
The victory was small and short-lived. I noticed a group of swordsmen rushing Kataleya and our archers. Our archers shot into the swordsmen, taking down one but failing to stop the five others. Kataleya put her whole body into her spell as she thrust out her hands. A stream of water shot into the body of another swordsman about to reach her. He toppled backward and bumped into another charging enemy, sending him off gait.
I charged at them from behind. My first target was a man about to reach an ally archer who held his dagger up nervously, lacking all confidence. I buried my sword into the enemy’s neck as I slammed the heel of my boot into the hip of another, sending him soaring into a third swordsman. The other two were still recovering from Kataleya’s disruption of water, their eyes now on me. I charged at them, but then I noticed a dteria mage just to my side.
I stopped short and crouched down, but the force was still too much. It spun me over and rolled my body across the leafy dirt. With the world sideways, it was difficult to figure out how I would block the two swordsmen I assumed were rushing me. I rolled backward and could only hope to get my sword up overhead, flinching as I expected to be struck, but all I felt was a surge of heat as I was blinded by a flash of fire in front of my eyes.
Soon the flames moved away from me, and I could see the two men darting off to avoid the stream of fire. Remi suddenly appeared at my side. The small fire mage with wild hair aimed her palms and shot out another spout of fire at the other swordsmen between us and Kataleya. Many ran to escape it, but one tried dropping to the ground. Remi shifted the fire to cover that man, burning him as he screamed. He managed to get up and run a safe distance away, his armor smoking and smoldering.
Remi collapsed to her hands and knees, her hair damp with sweat. I pulled her up. “You have to pace yourself,” I said. It was the same reason I hadn’t cast too many spells.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Michael’s panting voice said from behind me. “You didn’t just run all the way here from the castle.” He was sweating profusely.
There was a brief reprieve as the line of enemies ahead cautiously approached us, many of them muttering to each other. To our side, the battle still raged. I noticed Leon out of the corner of my eye slicing his sword down the chest of a robed mage.
The men flinched as an arrow came from behind me and struck one enemy swordsman in his chest. He fell to his knees as he made a pained groan, his comrades looking at him in horror before they glared at Aliana coming up to my side.
She started to load another arrow. “Watch out!” she pointed to the side. I hadn’t seen the two mages and a single swordsman coming behind us. All of us flew through the air together as a huge force of dteria struck. It spun me too quickly to figure out where the ground was. I hit hard on my back and side, barely managing to hold onto my sword without impaling myself.
I looked up to see men charging us, my allies on the ground. The two mages were coming from the other side. I recognized Scarlett as one of them.
They blasted us again as we were trying to get up, scattering us from each other like a passing whirlwind. I wished I could help Aliana and the others, but I had to fend for myself as I barely managed to get my blade up and stop a swordsman from cutting me in half while I was on the ground.
He went for an immediate follow-up attack. I jumped back as I got up, narrowly avoiding his blade, and now I was ready for his third strike.
I blocked it and instantly changed the momentum, quickly disarming him using the same technique I had against Reuben by hooking my blade between his hands when he was trying to stop my overhead stab.
I was already looking for Aliana and the others as I was impaling him. Aliana was scampering away from a swordsman about to pounce on top of her with his weapon high. I put as much strength as I had into Expel, but he wasn’t close enough for the spell to do much besides cause him to stumble. It gave me enough time to get there just as he regained his footing.
He turned and tried to take my head off with a wild swing. I ducked under it easily and drove my blade up through his body.
There were two other swordsmen nearby with their sights on me, and now I was in a bad position. I could feel stray gusts of dteria whipping my hair as Scarlett and the other powerful mage tossed my friends away from each other. I wanted to help, but both of the swordsmen rushed me, Aliana behind them as she ran for her fallen bow.
I dodged one attack as I blocked another, spinning around the man I blocked and pushing him into his comrade. As they stumbled together, I cut open the shoulder of one.
The other backed away as the injured man tried to attack me again, but I blocked him and made quick work of him. The other seemed nervous now as he faced me. I moved in and swiftly got past his defenses, stabbing him through the chest.
Aliana had retrieved her bow as she watched me. She seemed safe for now. Michael and Remi, however, were clearly in trouble.
Michael tried to engage with a swordsman, but one of the powerful mages kept blasting him down with dteria. He was forced to continuously get to his feet and jump back to narrowly avoid being impaled.
Meanwhile, Scarlett had Remi pinned on her back. Remi tried to shoot fire up through the clear blanket of energy, but it just blackened the dark energy and escaped out down Remi’s legs. She stopped as she screamed. Hopefully the fire was too short-lived to have injured her severely.
Scarlett let the spell go. I didn’t know if it was my imagination, or if it was a combination of her red hair, green eyes, and the fire around us, but I swear I saw her eyes smoldering. I was almost sure she was about to burn Remi alive.
“No!” I shouted as I tried to blast her with dvinia.
She tensed and pulled in her shoulders. My spell did nothing. I ran to get there as fast as I could, but I wasn’t going to make it.
Suddenly an arrow crossed right in front of me and nearly took off my nose. It impaled Scarlett in her chest. She gasped as she stumbled back, her eyes wide. She looked past me at Aliana, who loaded another arrow just in case. Scarlett collapsed and sprawled on the ground.
I sprinted to catch up to Michael, who was in a bad spot. He was held against a tree, pushed higher up the trunk as the dark mage in front of him lifted his arm up.
Michael flailed in hopes of freeing himself, but it was no use. The swordsman was approaching with his blade up, but Michael shot a stream of wind down at both of them.
The swordsman stumbled back and reflexively turned his head away as the dteria mage fell over. Michael landed just in front of them, but there wasn’t time for him to attack. He had to get his sword up, blocking a powerful swing from the swordsman. Michael’s weapon was knocked away. I arrived and drove the point of my sword through the back of the enemy swordsman.
He fell into the tree, knocked his head, and was out cold. The dteria mage tried to spin and strike me with his spell, but I dropped flat to the ground as I’d seen Leon do and felt it whoosh over me.
Michael yelled out as he buried his sword into the shoulder of the mage from behind. I watched the man’s face change from one of sure victory to shock and horror as he fell just in front of me.
Michael put an end to him by the time I was up. We turned to face the rest of our enemies, Remi and Aliana just in front of us. Leon fought confidently in the heart of the battle, our ally swordsmen flanking him.
Then I saw it, and my heart lifted. Charging into our enemies from behind was Jennava and at least fifty other troops.
There was a great cacophony of screams, steel, and death.
It wasn’t a moment later that the battle seemed to be over, the enemies retreating to the west. But that’s when I noticed Eslenda for the first time, a wave of fire taller than any man washing out from her and enveloping all the enemies.
Man
y tried to flee the other way, but my allies were there to intercept most of them. They didn’t try to fight, only escape. It was easy to cut all of them down except for one mage who made it past us.
I chased after him. He was quick at first, but it was clear he was a lot more fatigued than I was as he huffed for breath.
I caught up quickly. He wasn’t a large man, so I dropped my blade and pounced on his back. He screamed as I pinned him down and pulled his arm to bend it behind his back. I put my knee on his other arm.
“Don’t move,” I said. “You will live if you don’t fight.”
He squirmed like a trapped animal, but he couldn’t get me off his back. He twisted the fingers of the hand I had under control, pointing them up at me. I felt a small whiff of dteria that I easily resisted.
He squirmed some more, but soon he had no fight left and finally gave up as he panted.
I looked behind to see Michael, Aliana and Remi coming toward me.
“Got yourself a prisoner,” Michael congratulated me.
“All of you will have to take him back without me.”
I saw concerned looks on each of their faces. Kataleya came over to join us, the allied archers staying back to confer with the rest of our allies. Leon was speaking with Jennava and the others, out of earshot.
“Jon,” Michael lectured, “you’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
“I am. I’m going to stay in the forest.” I still hoped Eslenda would take me in, but I would fend for myself even if not.
“And do what?” Michael asked incredulously.
“Train and fight in my own way.”
My peers looked at each other.
I told the prisoner, “These people are going to take you back to the castle for questioning. If you try to fight, you will be killed. Will you cooperate?”
“Yes.”
I got off of him, but he was too tired to get up without help. Calvin and a few others were coming over.
“Good fight, Jon,” Calvin said. “Want me to take him off your hands?”
“Please,” I said.
Calvin and two other swordsmen took the prisoner off to the larger group.
“Are you sure you want to stay here?” Michael asked sadly.
“I don’t want to, but it’s the only way to make sure I’m not hung.”
Aliana stepped in front of me. “Jon, please reconsider. I really don’t think the king will hang you.”
I agreed the chance was low, but that didn’t matter. There was still a chance I would die if I went back.
“This is my life we’re talking about,” I explained. “I can’t risk throwing it away because of one man’s decision, even if the chance is small.”
She wore a frown, but I could see in her eyes that she understood.
“You can’t really be leaving,” Kataleya said.
“I wish I had a better option.”
A long silence passed. I would miss my friends, but I had to leave soon before one of the king’s soldiers might try to apprehend me.
“How about this,” Michael said. “If he’s going to hang you, he has to hang all of us.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You know what I mean. We won’t let him do it unless he’s prepared to kill all of us. We tell him this when we get back.”
“Well put, Michael,” Aliana agreed. “He’ll have to hang all of us. We’ll all tell him.”
“I’m in,” Kataleya said.
“Me, too,” Remi added.
“I’m sure Eden and Charlie and Reuben…well, I can’t say I’m sure about Reuben,” Michael said. “But six of us should be enough. We’ll walk back together and tell the king he has to hang us, too, if he wants to hang you, because we’re not going to let him execute you for this.” He lightened his tone. “Now a punishment short of dismemberment, I’m sure we can all agree that you can handle that alone, right everyone?”
A few of them chuckled as I thought for a little while.
With them standing with me, it most definitely would be enough to convince the king not to order the rope around my neck. They might not actually choose to die for me if all of us were wrong, but it wouldn’t come to that with their support.
The king would be pissed, and my punishment perhaps even more severe because of this collective insubordination, but it would guarantee that I would live. We had won, after all. Now if we hadn’t, or if something had gone terribly wrong, I surely would never show my face to him or his guardsmen again.
“All right,” I concluded. “Let’s go back.”
“Yes,” Michael said with a shake of his fist as the three others beamed at me.
I looked over at Leon and Jennava hugging in between many bodies. Eslenda seemed to be gone.
No one was celebrating. The scene was gruesome.
“Look at what they made us do,” Michael said solemnly.
There was a long silence.
“Well, mostly Jon,” Michael said in his usual jesting tone. “Hell man, I can’t believe some of the stuff I saw you do.”
“Yeah, you were incredible,” Aliana said.
“You were all great as well. I think Leon has actually done a decent job after all.”
“Come on, you idiots!” Leon yelled at us, not privy to our conversation. “We have to get out of this forest before we push our luck too far.”
I was pleased to see that Jennava and her men were returning with us. It looked as if our enemies had just gotten a little weaker and our army a little stronger.
Aliana grinned at me as we walked beside each other. “I’m glad you’re coming back.”
“I’m glad, too, that is until I find out what my punishment is.”
“It can’t be that severe,” she said. “We found them and we won. I don’t think any of our forces were even killed.”
She was right, I noticed as I looked back. There were a few walking injured, but it was as decisive a victory as could be.
“I don’t know, Ali,” Michael said. “You didn’t see how pissed off the king was when he found out what Jon had done.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
We had a few prisoners with us. I expected at least one of them to divulge something useful later. Spirits were high on our way back, except for mine. I couldn’t bring myself to smile until I knew what the king was going to do with me. It did help, however, to hear my peers telling Leon about some of the things they’d seen me do during the fight. Even Calvin, the sellsword, spoke highly of me.
“I ain’t never seen a man fight like you do, Jon. You never needed more than one strike. What did you say you did before you were recruited?” he asked.
Leon answered for me. “His father trained him. Have you heard of Gage Oklar?”
“Of course I have. That explains a lot.”
“I didn’t know my father was that well-known.”
“Most people in Tryn have heard of him,” Leon said.
“Did you know my father?” I asked him.
“I did.” Leon’s gaze drifted away from me. “Many years ago, he gave me some good advice that I should’ve followed.”
Jennava was walking beside Leon with us near the front. “So you finally admit it?” she asked him.
“I just did, all right?”
“I never thought I’d hear you say the words.”
“I’ve changed a lot since we last spoke, Jenna, even if it doesn’t look like it.”
She nodded seriously.
“How did you know my father?” I asked Leon.
All of my peers were nearby, and Leon seemed to be very aware of this as he glanced around at us. “The king told me not to speak of it, but I think he’s going to be busy with Jon for a little while.”
A needle fell down my spine. It wouldn’t be long now before I had to face Nykal.
“I suppose now’s as good a time as any to admit what really happened,” Leon continued. “Let me just start by saying that I was a hotheaded sorcerer.”
&nb
sp; “Were?” Michael asked sarcastically. He seemed surprised at everyone staring at him. “I don’t know why I speak sometimes. Please continue.”
Leon glared at him a moment before looking ahead and seemingly losing himself to the memory. “I didn’t know as much about the magical arts as I do now. I was rich, though. That was nice. Some of the things I could buy…but that was twenty years ago,” he muttered to himself. “A lot has changed. One night I was listening to a beautiful singer. It might’ve been the plentiful ale or it could’ve been the ordia casted through her song. Whatever it was, I vaguely remember her leading me down an alley at night. I was jumped by three dark mages.”
There was life in his green eyes again as he glanced around. “It was a different time back then. Dteria was not common. I barely knew how to fight against it. They beat me bloody and forced me to take them to my house, where they stole all the coin I’d accrued.”
“How did you get so rich?” Michael asked.
“Helping people, mostly with water spells. There were not a lot of sorcerers in Tryn back then. Jenna and I were quite well-known.” There was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at her. She nodded back.
“Anyway, I was livid. The three dark mages didn’t even bother hiding their faces when they attacked me. They thought they were invincible. I wanted to teach them a lesson, but I knew the right thing to do. I went to the guards first to see if they could help me find my coin. Because even if I could kill them, which I couldn’t, it would do me no good if I didn’t recover what I’d lost. That’s when I met Jon’s father, Gage. I’d heard of him before. He was a good man,” Leon told me.
I already knew that, of course, but it was still nice to hear.
“Gage had a different opinion about dteria than the lord of Tryn at the time,” Leon continued. “I wasn’t the only victim of dark mages’ aggression. He thought more needed to be done than just arresting them after catching them commit a crime. But Gage didn’t have the lord’s permission to do what I wanted to do to them, even if he hinted that he wanted the same.”