by R. J. Batla
“This is all most disturbing,” Ames said, “but I fear it’s only the beginning. Your orders still stand, carry on, and God bless. Talco out.” I wondered why they weren’t using code names.
Royn asked, “Josey, how’s Marlin? Do you need anything?”
The purple around her hands dimmed as she slumped back. “I’m not sure. The spike pierced his lungs, and he’s got a cut in his leg that I’m afraid has hit an artery. I’ve done all I can; we’ll have to wait until morning.”
“All right, everyone get some rest now. The old man is on watch duty. Blast if I know how he’s still functioning, but he is. That’s an order.”
I assumed everyone fell asleep as quickly as I did.
We had to bury Marlin the next day. Josey couldn’t heal the wound. This death was harder – I had more time to think about it, more time to dwell on the sacrifice he made, that he’d put it all on the line and came up on death.
For me.
I was the cause. I should have stopped it. I should have defeated the dragon before and saved Arp. I should have deflected the spikes away to save Marlin, I should have –
“It’s not your fault, Jay,” Leona said, putting her hand on my back. “You saved as many as you could. Including me.”
“Not all,” I mumbled.
Despite what they had done, we buried General Sterling and his dragon a fair piece from the old man’s house. It required a massive hole to do it, but we got it done. The general might have been horribly misguided, but at one point, he had been a Ranger, a general, and above all, a human, so I insisted we at least give him this last respect.
Around noon, we gathered at the spot we’d picked to bury Marlin and erected a memorial for Arp. It was close to the lake near the old man’s house, with his blessing and a statement that he would be “honored.” Fitting for a Water Senturian.
Gathering around the newly formed stone mound, courtesy of Anton and Troup, the carved words along the top were:
Marlin Ralls & Arp Bardwell
Solid as Ice, Strong as a River, Heart of Gold
Celeste stepped up, tears filling her eyes, as she pulled water from the lake with a wave of her hand, forming it into a ball. She began speaking, chanting, shaking a little water off the ball as she went. “The river of life keeps rolling, rolling, the river of life moves on.
“The brave and the strong keep going, going, long after they’re gone.
“Cycle of life, cycle of life, cycle from Heaven above.
“We honor you, the fallen, fallen, with the cycle of endless love.”
As she finished, she whispered, “Everfreeze,” cementing the last of the water into the shape of a waterfall and an iceberg, placing it on the head of the mound. Troup and Anton worked a little more, providing a stand and backdrop for the new monument.
After our prayers were said, we all slowly walked away, our thoughts our own. The old man came up beside me. “Thanks again for slaying that creature, Jayton.”
“No problem,” I mumbled, the somber mood still upon me, tears in my eyes.
“Listen, I think you all need a couple more days here, then Hercules will be well enough to fly you to the Bowl.”
“Thank you, that is very…” I sniffed. “Very nice of you.”
“You’re welcome. There is something else I can do for you,” he said, placing his hand on my now depleted bracelet. With a murmured word I didn’t understand, I felt an energy transfer begin. And kept going. And kept going. I swear I heard a slight “ding,” and I could tell the bracelet was now full.
“Thanks, old man. How did you…”
But he had already patted me on the back and walked off.
Chapter 59
Now, I’d surfed on the back of an explosion.
I’d floated several feet off the ground.
I’d even jumped off a cliff.
But that wasn’t flying.
Riding on the back of a chimera – that was flying!
I wasn’t sure how the chimera, er…Hercules managed to carry all of us, but he did it with ease, the old man sitting right behind his head to give him directions as needed. His wings beat a steady cadence, scorching through the air at a breakneck speed, wind whipping through our hair and clothes, the smell of rain and freshness and laundry and clean all mixing together.
“This is amazing!” Anton said, the wind blowing his hair back. “Katy, is this how it is when you run?”
“Almost,” Katy said. “Just slower…and less high…”
Anton was thoroughly enjoying himself, and his energy was contagious, bringing all of us out of doldrums to smile. Mostly anyway. Glancing at Troup, his face wavered between excitement and terror.
“Troup, you OK?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, like he was out of breath. “For Dwarves, not being connected to the earth is a bit…strange. But at the same time, flying is…exciting. I can’t decide how to feel.”
Huh. Interesting. I kinda knew about that. Instinctively I rubbed my left wrist at the now-half wing tattoo. The fight with the general had cost me. It had almost cost me my life and the life of my friends, but thank the Lord I was able to prevent that. Problem was, now I could feel the Morsenube growing stronger and more powerful by the day, the temptation to draw on it, to use the power, to rule the –
Yet, now I knew I was ready for the tournament. Fighting at that level, with lives on the line, had steeled my mind. I didn’t want to kill unnecessarily, but I would not hesitate if needed. I could tell the squad was ready as well. The loss of our friends had set everyone’s determination in stone. We would see this through. We would win.
Leona grabbed my shoulder, smiling. “Jay, isn’t this amazing?”
I returned the smile. “You’d better believe it!”
We flew for a few hours, with Hercules never tiring, never missing a beat, until finally the Bowl came into view. It looked like a giant took a huge ice cream scoop and scrapped out a chunk of land right out of the middle of one of the massive mesas that dotted the area, then put buildings all over it. The chimera flattened his wings and settled into a glide, angling down to the rim, where he would drop us off and head back to the old man’s house.
Even from this height, one feature dominated the Bowl: an incredibly large dome of stone right in the middle of the depression.
“That’s the arena,” Leona said. “I’ve seen pictures of it, though never from this high. They don’t do it justice. That thing is massive!”
I gulped.
She put a hand on my shoulder again, reassuring me. “You’ll win Jay, I know it.” I lifted my eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. “OK, I don’t know it, know it, but I have confidence in you. I…you’ll do great.”
I gave her a quick hug. “Thanks, Leona. I hope you’re right.” I left my hand on her shoulder, and she didn’t move away as we watched the city grow larger and larger, lights twinkling on with the fading sun, the chimera losing more and more altitude, coming in for a landing on the rim of the city. I caught Royn giving me an odd look, then Celeste as well.
What?
With a huge backward pulse of his massive wings, we landed with a thud, Hercules sitting patiently until all of us had disembarked before he rose and shook his whole body, his fur/feathers – I really had a hard time deciding what it was – standing on end. He pranced around like a dog that just performed a particularly difficult trick and was waiting for a treat. The old man promptly produced an entire ham from somewhere and tossed it to the beast, who growled hungrily and started gnawing on the slab of meat.
The sun was going down in earnest now, painting the sky in reds, oranges, and blues. A light but cool February breeze blew across the top of the valley. Even this far south it got a little cold. Looking away from the Bowl, it was an incredible sight – the mesas dotting the plains like great tabletops at some huge restaurant, with no chairs and no one big enough to sit at them.
The old man laughed, turned, and shook our hands. “Farewell friends, thank
you for your companionship. Should you ever need me, light this.” He handed Royn a simple-looking white candle. “Then mine will light as well, guiding me to you. You can only use it once, so do so wisely. Jay?” I turned, and as he jumped on his chimera. “Good luck!”
He flew off into the sunset. Just like in all the good stories. Except this one wasn’t over. And I was the one supposed to be riding off on the white horse – er, chimera.
We turned, the old volcanic scoop out of the land now enveloped in shadow. Thousands of buildings dotted the curved interior to the Bowl, lights ablaze as its citizens settled into their nightly routines. From here, our hair and clothes blowing in the wind, we couldn’t pick out the details of the town other than the buildings that were closest to us, but we knew there were thousands of homes and apartments, hotels, bars, houses of ill-repute, casinos, you name it.
And it all revolved around that big dome right in the center. You could almost hear the crowd from here, even though nothing was happening yet.
That’s when the reality of it sunk in: we’d made it.
We’d made the deadline.
I’d fight for the fate of the world.
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About R.J. Batla
R.J. Batla is the author of FIRE EYES AWAKENED and AGAINST THE BEAST, with future books well underway. DEATH CLOUD, Book 2 in the Senturians of Terraunum series, as well as several novellas in the Origins of Terraunum series.
Christian, Husband, Father, and Author, R.J. Batla enjoys everything outdoors and takes as much time as he can with his family. If he could move to the country and just write he would. If you find a way to do that, please let him know.
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Email: [email protected]
Thank you so much for reading Fire Eyes Awakened!
Table of Contents
Dedication
FREE GIFT
Map of Terraunum
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Other Books by R.J. Batla
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About R.J. Batla