The Two Hands
“Remember your training and work as a team,” Killjoy told them as she tightened one of Thomas’s armor straps. “You must work together.”
“We will be watching from here,” the Doctor said. “I’ll be right beside the Minister, just in case.”
Thomas checked out his grandfather’s team. The Azure Guard had prepared very well for the contest. One of the elves that usually accompanied Morgan had been replaced by a rhino faun. As massive as Henri was, the faun snorted and kicked the ground at the grotesque. Henri just flexed his muscles at the taunting, a loud grating of granite against granite coming from his hands.
The other faun in the team was the mountain lion Morgan had stopped from attacking Thomas in Ormagra. Thomas had been at their mercy then, alone in the fake Oracle sign Tasha had set for them. The faun had been ready to pounce over him, but Gramps had stopped him. Thomas suppressed a shudder as the faun snarled at him. He looked even more determined today to attack him.
“Hello there, precious! Ready to dance?” Tony said to Morgan’s female human Mage. She had her red hair tied in a ponytail, and a blue stripe was painted under her clear, blue eyes. A flicker of fire lit at her fingertips.
“Oh, she’s a hot one.” Tony blew her a kiss, then placed a red toothpick on his mouth.
“What are you doing?” Thomas whispered. Baiting the enemy seemed like a bad idea.
“Checking out what she can do,” Tony whispered back. “You have something for fire don’t you?” he then whispered to Elise.
“Of course I do,” Elise snapped, but no Magic appeared on her fingers—she wouldn’t make the mistake of showing any Magic to her counterpart.
“The first one to the reach the sign and decipher it wins,” Hoormel Kian said. “Easy.”
“Any more rules?” Tony asked.
“Just one,” Morgan said as he drew his sword from the scabbard. It was a magnificent weapon, and Thomas could sense Magic coming from it. He had to look away as the sun reflected of the blade. “There will be no blood drawn today,” Morgan said.
“Cypher!” the Elven warrior said.
Even Hoormel Kian seemed taken by surprise by Morgan’s statement. The Minister was clearly set for an all-out melee, maybe even a victory where Thomas was killed. The Minister’s brow furrowed, but kept quiet.
“It’s my only condition, Joran,” Morgan told the elf grounding his sword. “One drop and I forfeit. Do you agree, Tom?”
“Another proof that our Cypher is as honorable as he is wise!” Hoormel Kian yelled, stretching his arms wide and taking advantage of the situation. “The Lord Protector has chosen well this time.” The fauns murmured appreciatively at his comment.
Nodding in agreement, Thomas grounded his sword and dropped his dart gun. He even threw away the nunchakus he carried in a belt pouch. He glanced at Killjoy, and she gave him an encouraging nod.
The elf, Joran, turned away, and after talking with the mountain lion faun, he took both his swords and grounded them. Thomas’s team did the same. Tony taking longer than the rest as he pulled small, concealed combat blades from his boots and belt buckle.
“Can I talk with you, Tom?” Morgan stepped toward the ledge overlooking the waterfalls and Thomas followed. They stared down at the massive water. “I didn’t know this was going to happen, Tom. We came to pick up the sign and arrived just a couple of minutes before you. Do you believe me?”
Thomas kept quiet; he didn’t know what to believe anymore. He hoped Gramps hadn’t planned this battle, but at the same time he was coming to realize that things between them were changing rapidly.
“Tom?” Morgan asked when he kept quiet a little too long.
“Can’t we just quit, Gramps?” Thomas asked full of hope. “Both of us, at the same time. We go back to Carlsbad and forget all this signs and Magic and just start over?”
Morgan smiled. “I can’t,” he said, “because I believe in what I’m doing. Could you quit, Tom? After all you’ve learned?”
“No,” Thomas said softly. “I guess I couldn’t.”
“Good,” Morgan said. “There’s never been a quitter in the family. Your parents would be proud.”
Thomas paused and felt his heart wrench. “They’re alive,” he managed to stutter. “At least one of them is…”
“It’s been way more than a year, Tom,” Morgan said. “If they were alive, we would know by now.”
“Remember the visions in Ormagra?” Thomas said. “When I…touched you?”
“When you kicked me, you mean?” Morgan smiled. “Of course, it was a hell of a kick.”
“I mean the images, Gramps. What we saw when I touched you.”
Morgan furrowed his brow, as if he was trying to remember. “I remember something…” he finally said. “More like a feeling.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. Those were memories! We connect to them when we touch!”
“What? Come on, Tom…that can’t be true.”
“It’s true, Gramps!” Thomas yelled. “Let me show you.” He extended his hand toward his grandfather and all hell broke loose.
“Protect the Cypher!” Morgan’s Elven guard yelled, and their Mage drew a line of fire in between the Thomas and his grandfather. The mountain lion jumped toward Morgan and pulled him away.
“Thomas, stop!” Elise pulled on him as he tried to reach through the flames.
“Memories, Gramps! They’re alive!” His grandfather nodded at him from the other side of the flames as the faun led him down the mountain toward the lagoon at the bottom.
“Are you crazy?” Elise conjured up a wall of ice that extinguished the flames.
“I need to show him!” Thomas yelled.
“We need to move!” Tony grabbed Thomas as the rhino faun broke through the ice wall. The faun roared and got ready to charge, but Henri landed in front of him.
“This one’s mine,” Henri said, crunching his knuckles. The rhino snorted and attacked him with a punch that Henri deflected with a hand.
“You’re going to fall, half breed,” the rhino yelled, spitting at Henri as they locked in a contest of strength.
“Won’t we all?” Henri said, while he twisted his leg and threw the rhino hard on the ground.
“Move out,” Bolswaithe ordered, “they’re getting away.”
They moved down the side of the hill through trees and foliage. Tony swiped away branches as they ran. The branches whiplashed against Thomas’s body, and he lifted an arm to protect his face.
“Whatever happens we need to get that sign,” Bolswaithe said. “Don’t get separated. We’ll take them as a team.”
“Incoming!” Tony yelled as the mountain lion charged through the foliage. He was feral, running on all four, roaring as he jumped toward Thomas.
Thomas crouched and Bolswaithe deflected the attack. The robot and mountain lion fell through the foliage, locked in hand to hand and tumbling down the hill.
“Keep moving!” Tony pushed Thomas.
Elise led the way.
At the bottom of the hill there was a lagoon formed by the Falls. The Indian government had set up a crocodile-breeding center at the lagoon. As the animals fled into the water, a couple of crocodile fauns stood up from the shore to watch the battle.
“What now?” Thomas asked. Gramps and the elf were running through the side of the lagoon toward the cascades.
The air around them changed—it shimmered and became hot. The red-haired Mage was heating up the air where they stood—not enough to kill them, but enough to make them suffocate and potentially pass out.
“Keep going!” Elise yelled. A blast of wind came from her hands as she aimed it at the red-haired Mage, throwing her balance off.
Tony and Thomas kept running; the sounds of Henri’s battle with the rhino above them reached them blow after blow.
“I’ll take the elf!” Tony yelled as they reached the side of the cascades and the first ledge. On the other side, the Elven guard had the sam
e idea and he smiled as he jumped on the ledge waiting for Tony. “Get to the sign!” Tony yelled.
Tony then jumped over the ledge and took off his helmet. “I know you,” Tony said to the elf. The water splashed all around them. “I saw you and your friends in Brooklyn once. We kicked your butt.”
Joran moved blazingly fast; he round-kicked Tony in the stomach, and Tony fell on one knee, trying to catch his breath.
“It wasn't me, human.” The Elven guard approached him with a confident smirk, but Tony twirled back and swept the elf’s leg, who fell flat on the ledge. Tony punched him in the face, a solid hit to the jaw, but the elf jumped back to his feet massaging his jaw.
“Well,” Tony said, taking a combat stance. “You all look the same to me.”
Joran smiled and got ready to attack.
Thomas kept climbing up the wet stones He looked down as he climbed; Elise was fighting magic with magic with the red-haired Mage—a fireball was countered with a cone of frost. She then created a gust of wind, so fast that it was visible as a scythe, which the Azure Guard Mage blocked by a shield of red energy. She countered with a stream of superheated sand that was turned to glass by Elise's blue shield.
Thomas’s slipped on a rock. He watched as Tony countered a quick succession of hits with his arms, like a boxer in a title match, then replied with a straight kick to Joran’s chest. That was a move he had practiced many times under Killjoy's watchful gaze.
Thomas stood up and continued to climb. As he reached the base of the cascades, Bolswaithe appeared from the bushes still wrestling with the mountain lion in combat. The faun was faster than Bolswaithe, but the robot could take an extreme amount of punishment, and each blow he landed sent the faun reeling in pain.
Thomas reached the top of the ledge, and then pulled himself up, just one ledge away from the sign.
But Morgan was ahead of him, already halfway there, and Thomas pressed on. He took a glance at the top of the hill on the other side. Maybe Henri could give him a hand, but the grotesque was still exchanging blows with the rhino. Each strike echoed above the sound of the cascading water and reverberated on the lagoon. The rhino was giving Henri the fight of his life.
Most of the other fauns were looking at Henri and the rhino fight right beside them, but the Doctor and Killjoy’s attention was centered on Hoormel Kian, who stood with his arms crossed and his gaze locked on Morgan’s movements.
With all his team in combat, Thomas was alone, but he finally caught up to his grandfather. Morgan was halfway up, but his side of the ledge was more difficult to climb, and Thomas was sure he could still beat him.
“Now, Nardir!” the elf fighting Tony yelled, and Thomas saw the mountain lion leave his combat with Bolswaithe and run toward the cascades.
Thomas realized that the mountain lion faun was going to try and stop him and that Bolswaithe wouldn't be able to catch up to him. He caught glimpses of Nadir bounding from ledge to ledge with all the grace and agility of a feline.
Thomas pressed on.
On the other side, Morgan pressed on too.
A flash of light, and then a wave of heat struck him as Elise and the red-haired Mage locked in all-out combat. Water evaporated where streams of energy struck it.
A hand grabbed his leg and pulled.
Nardir, the mountain lion, had finally caught up with him.
Thomas’s body smacked hard on the ledge, and the mountain lion jumped down in front of him. Thomas quickly caught his breath and stood, ready to counter an attack.
“What is it, boy?” Nardir growled. “Don’t you know how to fight?”
Thomas waited for the faun to approach him, and then he kicked him in the chest followed with a combination to the face.
His strikes hit home, and Nardir reeled back with a growl.
Thomas needed to finish the fight quickly to catch up with Grandpa, so he attacked, but this time Nardir evaded. The faun was fast—he deflected Thomas’s kick with a paw and then kicked Thomas's knee. Then the mountain lion followed with a couple of punches to the face, and Thomas fell back and let out a desperate round kick that Nardir jumped.
Nardir head-butted Thomas squarely on the forehead. Thomas’s helmet took the brunt of the attack, but it still dazed him. Nardir took advantage with three consecutive punches to the stomach and brought a knee to Thomas’s chest.
Thomas doubled over, the armor barely stopping the force of the attack. He fell backward on the ledge, the water running over his face.
Nardir pulled him up, tore his helmet away, and pressed his neck against the rock with his paw. The mountain lion’s whiskers scratched Thomas’s face as Nardir leaned closer.
“I am Nardir of the Regeba Clan, human,” he said. “You’re alive only because of your grandfather, but listen to me and remember.” Thomas felt the warm breath of the mountain lion close to his neck. “When we have the Book of Concord, I will kill you while your grandfather watches.” Thomas felt a single claw touching his cheek. “And then he too will die by my hand.” Thomas felt the claw running slowly through his cheek, tearing his skin.
He screamed in pain.
“Nardir!” Morgan yelled from the ledge above them. “Let him go!”
“Remember human…” Nardir said as he let go. Thomas fell on the ledge, the blood from his wound staining the water.
“Apologies, Cypher,” Nardir said, kneeling to Morgan. “It was unintentional, merely a scratch in the heat of battle.”
Bolswaithe ran toward Thomas and picked him up. “Was this unintentional?” he yelled as he placed a hand on Thomas's wound to stop the bleeding. The gash almost went through his cheek to the inside of his mouth.
“This battle is over!” Morgan yelled. “We forfeit the sign.”
Tony and the Elven guard stopped fighting. Elise had already defeated the red-haired Mage, and Henri punched the rhino one more time; the faun fell forward, completely knocked out.
“Is he all right, Bolswaithe?” Morgan asked.
Thomas hadn't lost consciousness, but he was almost knocked out.
Bolswaithe didn't answer.
Aftermath
Henri had flown Thomas from the ledge over to the lookout point where Killjoy and a stork faun had applied a bandage to his wound.
The Clan leaders were talking among themselves with Hoormel Kian at the center of a large group.
“We'll take care of his wound in the Mansion,” Killjoy said. “This will hold for now.”
The side of his face throbbed with pain, and his ribs felt as if they were on fire. Maybe Nardir had cracked one or two.
“I have to wait to fully use my cane’s healing power,” the Doctor said as he hovered his cane over Thomas’s body. A faint, white light bathed his stomach and chest, and the pain subsided a little.
Thomas looked over and saw Nardir yelling at his grandfather on the other side of the vantage point. “We had won already!” he growled. “It was an accident, Cypher.”
“There are no accidents with you!” Morgan shouted. “Doctor Franco, we shall not interfere with you for fifteen days while Thomas recovers,” he said without taking his eyes from Nardir.
“Cypher!” Nardir growled.
“Thirty days!” Morgan yelled.
“Are you crazy?” Nardir roared, but before Morgan could say anything more, the Elven Guard, Joran, slapped Nardir across the face.
“Silence!” Joran yelled. “It will be you who suffers an accident the next time you disobey. Do you understand, Nardir?”
Nardir growled, but fell on one knee. “Yes, Joran.” He then looked toward Thomas. “My apologies, young Cypher,” he said acidly.
“We go now! Sivana, open a portal!” Joran yelled as the red-haired Mage stood up. She threw an angry look at Elise, who returned it with a smirk. Sivana looked around for a second, trying to find a place to anchor her magic and then conjured up a shimmering blue portal in a wide tree trunk. It was the first time Thomas saw a transportation portal up close; it looked like a shimme
ring membrane hovering above the tree trunk.
“Cypher,” Joran said, extending a hand, and Morgan approached their side of the overlook.
“I'm sorry, Tom,” Gramps said. “Please keep him safe, Doctor, Miss Khanna.”
“We'll do our best, Morgan,” Killjoy said.
“You just keep that animal away from him,” Doctor Franco said, looking at Nardir. “And Morgan,” he whispered, “you be careful, please.”
Morgan nodded. “I'll do my best too, Doctor. Goodbye, Tom.” He turned toward Joran and the blue-colored portal.
“Gramps,” Thomas managed to say. “What we felt in Ormagra were memories.”
“Cypher! Time to leave!” Joran pressed on.
Morgan nodded at Thomas, and pulled his sword from the ground. Gleaming as if it was just polished, Thomas read an inscription running along the blade: I am Gram, sister of Durandal and Joyeuse, and forged of the same steel and temper.
Neither Joyeuse or Gram were names familiar to Thomas, but the name Durandal struck a chord in his memory. It was the name of a powerful Magical sword. He couldn’t remember if he had heard it or read about it, but if Gramp’s sword was its sister, as it claimed on the blade, it only meant that Gram was also a sword of legend.
“Morgan!” Doctor Franco yelled before Morgan could enter the portal. “We will always keep an open door for you.”
Morgan looked back with a smile, and then passed through the portal followed by Nardir and Joran. They left the rhino faun behind—he was knocked out and snoring loudly.
“Goodbye, Vanna!” Tony yelled at the red-haired Mage who was the last to leave. “See you soon.” He threw her a kiss, which Sivana returned with a sneer before going through the portal and closing it behind her.
Thomas let out a grunt as the portal closed, more of disappointment than of pain. Gramps had gone; he had seen him in pain and beaten, yet he still had chosen to go with the Azure Guards instead of staying with him. He snorted as he felt his eyes beginning to swell.
“Here,” Bolswaithe said, extending a white handkerchief to him. Thomas took it without saying a word and wiped his eyes with it.
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