Dominic fought back tears as he punched a hole through a nearby tree. Scarlet crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she listened.
“And then he insults me,” Dominic said angrily as he punched another tree.
“So you try to kill him?” Scarlet scoffed. “In front of all of us? While we still have four Kingdoms to go to? I thought you were smarter than that.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Dominic shouted.
“Wait,” Scarlet said as she watched him pace.
“Wait for what exactly? For the mission to be over and then watch as my love falls into his arms and make him King?”
“No one said that,” she said, still watching him. “You really don’t understand how the world works. You’ve been in the Academy too long. Stop pacing and listen to me, boy.”
Dominic stopped and fumed, staring straight at Scarlet. Scarlet smirked and laughed within herself.
He’s just like I was. She thought.
“I understand anger more than anyone,” she said to him plainly. “It wakes me up in the morning, it gives me my second wind when I’m about to break down and just give up on my desires. I understand completely what you’re feeling, but you must also realize how destructive rage can be as well. See, anger, if it had its way, would just destroy everything in its path. And when it’s done with you, it becomes a coward. It leaves you to face the consequences while it just jumps to someone else and continues its murdering spree. Now, anger can be harnessed. It can be a fuel to your fire, but you have to know how to kindle it. You never let the fire burn too bright.”
“You’re basically telling me to forget all about him,” Dominic snapped at her. He turned to leave but Scarlet grabbed him and spun him around until he was well in her face.
“I didn’t say any of that,” she spat at him. “You want to kill him in cold blood, you go ahead. And then we’ll strike you down right after. But if you’re real smart, as smart as I always gave you credit for, you’ll wait for the right moment. You’ll bide your time. It’s the only way you’ll come out on top and still keep your head.”
“What are you saying?” Dominic said with wide eyes, suddenly becoming a little nervous. “You don’t mind if I kill him?”
“No, but what I do mind is if you do it when it’s inconvenient for the rest of us.”
“But you’re a teacher, a Sage…” Dominic looked at her carefully. “How could you say such things?”
“Simple…” she smiled. “Because I’m waiting too…”
* * * * *
James and Arimus joined the group just seconds before Scarlet and Dominic. Neither of the boys looked to one another, but it was apparent that whatever talks had been given, the problems had been resolved. James stepped forward and extended a hand out towards Dominic.
“I’m sorry,” he said the best he could. “I don’t want to destroy the group.”
“I’m sorry too,” Dominic replied, even throwing a smile at him. “I let my anger get the better of me. It’s a problem that I have to work on.”
“Me too,” James said. “And I also want to apologize to the group as a whole. As someone who barely got to join this mission in time, I have no place jeopardizing our success. I’m sorry.”
The group nodded and began walking again, continuing the mission they had set out to complete with barely a word. Kyran slowed down to walk with Arimus in the back as they progressed.
“I must also apologize, old friend,” Kyran replied. “It was unbecoming of me.”
“Why do you hate James so much?” Arimus asked.
“I don’t hate him,” Kyran said truthfully. “I just don’t like the idea of him becoming King. If Catherine simply left him as a friend, I would be completely fine with his presence.”
“Noted,” Arimus chuckled. “And for the record, James as King is a scary thought.”
“So according to your shortcut, how much longer until we reach the Langoran border?”
“Two more days’ journey, provided there’s no more hiccups.”
“What do we tell the Princess about the Langorans we keep chained up in a hole down below?”
“Nothing,” Arimus said. “And she won’t find out. There’s a reason I took this shortcut.”
“Smart.”
“I do regret keeping secrets from her.”
“It’s necessary,” Kyran explained. “In order to keep a Kingdom in order, decisions must be made that are…unpopular. Let’s take you, for example. You refuse to hear stories of my personal missions concerning Allay, in order to keep your precious conscience, when in fact, I see it in a different light.”
“How so?”
“I think that by rejecting the gory details you are not preparing yourself properly. I may not always be around. Then you’ll also have to take up matters that are unpopular.”
“I don’t care to know about them,” Arimus stated. “It keeps my mind as pure as possible.”
“At least one of us can. You know, it does give me some satisfaction at night to know that my friend can sleep while I can grasp at only a couple hours…based on the atrocities I’ve committed.”
“Would you have it any other way?”
“No,” Kyran chuckled. “As sick as it may sound, a part of me actually enjoys what I do, even in spite of the fact I do it in the name of Allay. However, I have had thoughts of dividing my load recently…provided we survive this.”
“Where is this coming from?” Arimus asked. “This is a most unusual request.”
“I want to do it for her.”
“Chloe?”
“Yes.”
“Has she requested this, or are you actually bringing this up on your own?”
“My wife has no clue as to what I do in secret.”
“Then this decision is all of your own doing?”
“Is it impossible for a man such as myself to fall in love?”
“You’ve told me once that you were…it’s just that I’ve never really considered it a possibility.”
“Then you truly think me a monster.”
“No, Kyran,” Arimus stated. “I mean no offense. It’s just that I’ve seen no outward sign of your passion for her. Even when you asked to marry her in private, the request was very formal.”
“You know I am a private man.”
“So you would like to spend more time with her? Is that the source of the problem?”
“Yes. I want to while I still can.”
“I would grant this, but we simply can’t, even after the mission. Not for years, my friend. Someone would have to be properly trained to handle your set of skills.”
“Then we will train someone.”
“After the mission.”
“Fine,” Kyran said as he began walking faster. “Excuse me if I catch up to my wife. This is the most time we’ve gotten in a while. Practically a vacation.”
“Kyran, I understand you want more time with her, but I just…hope you realize how short of hand we are. How your request cannot be approved.”
“Do not worry about it, old friend,” Kyran’s eyes lightened as he turned for a moment. “I know you understand. You must understand more than any of us.”
Arimus’ eyes fell to the ground as Kyran’s words pricked his heart. A distant memory knocking on the barriers of his mind. He stared at the ground in thought, not caring if the group got ahead of him, when he saw the line.
A thin, invisible line, stretched out from a tree on his left to a tree on his right. Kyran must have stepped over it naturally. He would have said something if he had noticed. But what was this doing in the forest, on Allayan property?
“Kyran!” he shouted out.
And then he heard an explosion…
* * * * *
James heard the shout coming from behind them, and then he heard a loud BOOM in front of him. At first he thought his ears were playing tricks with him because Catherine had been in front of him, and after the sound, the Princess was still standing. But then the adrenali
ne kicked in as he realized that the sound, whatever it was, had not been native to that of the forest.
“A trap!” Scarlet yelled from the front of the formation as they saw her running back towards them. “RUN! RUN! RUN!”
But then the sound went off again, and this time there were visuals to go along with it. As she reached Catherine who was looking for the source of the noise, the ground literally caved in like a breaking table, taking them all into its grasp. Only Kyran and Arimus were not in the vicinity.
It wasn’t a long drop as they only fell a few yards down, but it was enough to take the wind out of them. Chloe was the only one to land on her feet.
James scrambled to his and looked over to Catherine who was being guarded by Scarlet and Dominic. Achan took out his eidolon and concentrated, brightening whatever hole they had fallen into. There wasn’t much to see. Rock and dirt walls. Tree roots. No symbols or markings. No signs that any living thing had resided there. Yet they had definitely fallen into a manmade hole.
James looked up towards the top and then at Achan who smiled back. He had seen the same.
“Hardly a problem for a Sage,” Achan smirked, but as he leaped into the air, four more explosions went off simultaneously, coming from each corner of the makeshift room. The floor beneath them fell with them on top, and to their horror, continued to fall.
James unsheathed his eidolon as fast as he could and reached out with his free hand to grab Catherine’s who grabbed Scarlet’s and so on. With the chain secured, he leapt forward and slammed his eidolon into the side wall, forcing them all to dangle from each other hand in hand. Achan, who had jumped when the explosions went off, was delayed in the fall, and after seeing James’ strategy, followed suit, digging his own eidolon into the wall. The floor they had once been standing on continued to descend, as if the pit beneath it was bottomless. Soon the whistling of its fall ceased and all that remained was the darkness and random falling pebbles.
James sneezed, causing more pebbles to rain on the Sages below.
“Oh, great,” Scarlet groaned. “Please don’t do that again…Chloe, can you get us up there?”
“I don’t know how to fly,” she said as she gave off a petite sneeze of her own.
“Well, we’re not going to just hang here forever, are we?”
“I can use the stone,” Catherine suggested as a resounding “NO!” echoed throughout the chamber. James concentrated on his blade, making sure he had cut deep into the rock interface. It was deep, but not deep enough. He focused on it, wishing it would cut in just a little more, and to his surprise, he felt it lengthen.
“HEY!” James shouted out in surprise. Scarlet asked what was happening and James shushed her. “I have to concentrate.”
“Stupid kid, shushing me,” Scarlet mumbled as James focused on the blade. He willed it to not only lengthen this time, but widen as well, and within a second, the blade expanded exponentially, stretching out to the point his eidolon now resembled more of a giant spatula than a sword. James laughed as the others looked up in wonder. Chloe giggled.
“Looks like someone figured out his support ability.”
“Right on time!” Scarlet said as she flexed her muscles and threw Dominic up into the air. Dominic landed on top of the expanded eidolon gracefully and then immediately reached out for the next Sage. One by one, each of them were thrown onto James’ eidolon with James himself being last. Dominic tapped the expanded sword with his heel.
“Hey, watch it!” James shouted as Dominic stooped over to inspect it.
“Just seeing if it was durable,” he commented. “And I was wondering if I could do this.”
Dominic unleashed his eidolon with minimal effort and then pointed directly at James’. He closed his eyes, and James’ eidolon began to suddenly solidify and grow stronger beneath their feet. James figured it out instantly. Dominic’s ability to make anyone’s weapon weaker, or in this case, stronger, had come in handy.
“At least it will ensure we’re not going anywhere,” Dominic uttered as he opened his eyes.
“And now that I have a base to place my feet,” Chloe said, rubbing her palms together. “I can get up to the top.”
“How?” Achan wondered from above, but she answered as soon as he asked. She bent down slightly, and then launched like a rocket to the top, a smile plastered over her face as she passed Achan, the hole, and eventually became level with the tree line itself, soaring high into the sky.
“Show off,” Scarlet muttered. They heard some movement up top, and then suddenly Achan was magically lifted off his eidolon and taken outside the hole itself. His eidolon disappeared as its master left, and then one by one, James and the others were also lifted out of the hole by an invisible force. As soon as James felt the familiar winds pick him up by his limbs and carry him to safety, he knew that Arimus had been responsible for saving them.
With everyone outside and safe, Arimus wasn’t ready to sheath his eidolon yet. Kyran stood next to him with an ear bent outward, listening for signs of what caused the ground to cave-in. Chloe maintained her position above them in the trees, scanning the area for enemies.
“I guess it’s a good thing we were spread out,” Arimus mused when a shout was heard from above.
“Langorans!” Chloe shouted. “Fifty of them headed this way from their Kingdom border!”
“Can you identify them in any way?” Arimus shouted back. “What class they are?”
“Looks like the King’s guard!” she yelled as she let herself fall back down to the ground. She landed gracefully as Arimus used his wind to catch her in the last couple of feet.
“King’s guard,” he said thoughtfully, scratching his beard. “They wouldn’t send the King’s personal guard unless they were to escort someone to him personally.”
“Sending fifty men doesn’t sound like an escort,” Scarlet said.
“A precaution if anything else,” Arimus replied. “Still, I think we should hear them out. If the situation gets tense, we can dispatch them if need be. Either way, with that trap going off, they will know someone is headed their way. No use hiding. The Kingdom will be on alert and it will only be worse for us if we’re caught. Let’s see how this plays out.”
“Famous last words,” Scarlet chuckled as she pointed a finger at the Sages one by one. “Eidolons stay sheathed. Catherine remains anonymous. She looks as common as any of us with her face that dirty.”
“Thank you, cousin,” she replied as Arimus turned to Kyran.
“Stay in the shadows.”
“Already on it,” Kyran said as he seemed to vanish entirely. Arimus turned to face the incoming troop, narrowing the distance and gaining more audible by the second.
“Only I or Catherine will speak,” Arimus said as the sound of a stampede came closer. James narrowed his eyes and focused, and soon, he could see them. They had spread out and surrounded them, sprinting through both the tree tops and the ground below. A group of ten came from the front, coming to a hard stop as they halted only a couple feet from the group of Sages. The rest maintained their position around them, with swords or bow and arrow in hand. James noticed immediately that although their bodies trembled and twitched involuntarily at times, they were significantly smaller than the monsters he had encountered during his Infantry exam. They were still big and tall, but only a few feet above Arimus in actual height and width.
They wore bold blue colors on their pants and tank top shirts. Though it was slightly chilly outside, they wore no armor, their hide being thick enough for battle and climate. Patches of hair was strewn about the crown of their head in random places, and their eyes were inquisitive, unlike the Langorans James had met.
The definite leader of the troop actually had all of his hair still intact, and he rarely trembled. James could tell that he had a great deal of control over the energy coursing through him like blood. The Captain scanned the crowd and finally his eyes rested on Arimus.
“Are you the leader?” he asked cautiously, a
s he glanced at each of the Sages individually.
“I am,” he answered.
“Why are you headed towards Languor?”
“If I recall, these are still Allayan grounds,” Arimus said, testing the waters. The Captain smiled.
“Yes I suppose that’s true. But with your people capturing ours on a monthly basis, we figured we should join in the game ourselves.”
“What capture-“ Catherine began to ask when Chloe covered her mouth. Arimus proceeded as the Captain stared at the two.
“We would like to discuss that in private if you’re so inclined.”
“What’s wrong? Not of all your people know of the sick games you play with our people?”
“I think there’s a misunderstanding. We are not here to cause trouble. I apologize for my words earlier.”
“Not just anyone goes this deep in the forest,” the Captain commented. “Only recruits of the Academy who get lost…or…well, the last time I’ve seen an Allayan go this far, they were a Sage.”
“We’re not Sages, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“We heard a rumor your Kingdom got attacked recently. Word of eidolon use too. Know anything about that?”
“Actually, we’re villagers that have been displaced because of it. Prattlians attacked us and now we have nowhere to go. We’ve decided to try our lot in Languor. Better than starvation.”
“Prattlians aren’t strong enough to cause that kind of damage. Must have been a Quietus.”
“Saw no Quietus that night,” Arimus said firmly. “But we are so hungry. Is there a chance we might be able to ask for some hospitality?”
“Sure,” the Captain said. “I’ll spare you from your starvation. Guards!!!”
The Dark Kingdom (Sage Trilogy, Book 2) Page 9