Defiant Guardians Anthology

by Jacob Peppers

  The boy hesitated, the same black energy thrumming around his clenched fist. He turned another confused look to D’Jenn, then glanced back to Aram and Kira. The spearman blocking his way flinched at his glance.

  “Tell them to move!” Raven glanced around the gathered men-at-arms. “Tell them to leave!”

  D’Jenn shook his head, keeping an eye on the guardsmen. “I don’t command them. They want to kill me, too, remember?”

  Raven glanced again to Kira, who was crying over her father’s inert form. “But—”

  “Listen, kid.” D’Jenn held his hands up and took a slow step in Raven’s direction. “I know you can hear my magic singing in the ether. You know what I am, don’t you?”

  “You’re like me.” Raven’s eyes darted between D’Jenn and Kira. “I thought so, but—”

  “But no one’s ever taught you anything.” Something black and sorrowful twisted in D’Jenn’s stomach as he said the words. “You’re just a kid. You’re frightened. Everyone’s trying to hurt you—I understand.”

  Raven’s eyes blazed. “Do you?”

  “I do, kid.” D’Jenn kept his magic steady, lest Raven get spooked at the sound of his Kai. “How did it happen for you? When did you know you had Eindor’s Blessing?”

  “Blessing?” Raven snorted, an angry sneer crossing his face. “Blessing?! This hasn’t been a blessing for me. It’s been a curse! They killed my father, right in front of me! And now….and now—”

  “Now your uncle,” D’Jenn said. “Look at him, kid. Get a good, long look at him.”

  “I—” Raven glanced again to Aram. “I don’t understand.”

  “That’s what lashing out with your power will bring you, kid.” D’Jenn felt guilty for throwing Aram’s death in Raven’s face, but the guilt faded when he recalled Merrick hanging in the oak tree. “Death and more death.”

  “I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Raven clenched his teeth and glared at D’Jenn. “None of this!”

  “I know.” D’Jenn took a deep breath and calmed the anger in his chest. “I can help you, kid, but you have to listen to me.”

  Kira’s wailing took on a deep, sorrowful tone, and Raven glanced back in her direction.

  “Raven!” D’Jenn glared at one of the guardsmen who stepped toward the boy, and the spearman backed away. “Look at me, kid! I told you—you have to listen!”

  Raven set his jaw, but the dark cloud of energy still hovered around his fist. “Alright.”

  “You and I have to leave this place now.”

  “But—”

  “There’s nothing to protest, Raven!” D’Jenn shot his eyes at another guard who moved forward. The men were growing antsy. “If you stay here, you die!”

  Raven glared at him. “If I leave, they’ll kill Kira. They already killed my uncle.”

  The ether hummed with a menacing tone as Raven spoke the words. D’Jenn’s arms itched like fire, responding to the boy’s magic. His anger came to D’Jenn’s Kai like thunder before a gathering storm.

  If he doesn’t calm his emotions, he’ll lose control.

  “Raven, listen!” D’Jenn resisted the urge to ready an offensive spell. “You can’t control so much at one time! You don’t know how to—”

  A thwack sounded from one of the crossbowmen and a bolt sank into Raven’s shoulder. He let out a pained cry, voice cracking, and cowered from the line of sight. D’Jenn turned an angry glare on the men-at-arms just in time to see the rest of the archers lining up a shot. With a sweeping gesture and a sharp effort of will, D’Jenn shattered the crossbows in the hands of their wielders. The weapons snapped and made twanging noises as the tension in their strings released. The bowmen stumbled away, crying out in surprise.

  Raven yanked the bolt from his arm and stepped toward the Sheriff’s men.

  “Raven, no!” D’Jenn held out a hand, but the boy lashed out before D’Jenn could stop him.

  Fire blossomed from Raven’s outstretched fists and rushed toward the guardsmen. The Sheriff’s men turned to flee, but three of them weren’t quick enough. The flames leapt onto their backs and caught their clothing, spreading over their bodies like liquid. Screams of pain filled the air.

  D’Jenn shaped his magic into a needle-sharp point, readying a Splinter to pierce Raven’s magic. Shattering the form of a spell had random side-effects, sometimes disastrous ones, but it was the only way to defeat magic once it was shaped. Raven was blind with the ecstasy of using his Kai, unaware of his own vulnerability.

  Readying himself for the blow-back, D’Jenn Splintered Raven’s power.

  The flames disappeared with a flurry of air, though the bowmen kept burning. Raven was blown from his feet in a flash of light, landing a small distance away. Black, cloudy energy boiled forth from the ground where he’d been standing, rushing across the street.

  One of the smoky tendrils licked the courtyard wall of the chapel, the stones crumbling, giving way to its touch. Another flowed onto one of the wooden buildings on the other side, leaking into the boards with a noise like sizzling meat. The corruption spread up part of the wall and onto the roof, where the thatch curled into heated embers and fell to dust. With a shudder, the wall of the building gave way, the roof crashing down.

  Kira screamed again, and D’Jenn turned to find her scrambling away from another tendril of black energy. The cloudy substance rolled over the dirt and consumed Aram’s body. It spread over his skin the same way it had the wood, and Aram’s flesh melted into a bubbling black ooze.

  “Father!” Kira got to her feet and skipped backward, staying out of the black substance. “Father!”

  “Keep going!” D’Jenn waved a frantic gesture at Kira, urging her to run. “Find Jeravin and go!”

  “Kira!” Raven grunted as he tried to rise, holding one hand to his bleeding shoulder. “Kira, listen—”

  D’Jenn whispered a thin stream of magic from the ether and knocked Raven’s arm out from under him. He went down with another pained cry, giving D’Jenn a baleful glare. Kira hesitated, but at another frantic gesture from D’Jenn, she turned and ran. Raven looked in her direction, opened his mouth, but the words died as he watched her go. With the guardsmen having fled from Raven’s fire, the street was empty of everything but dust and dead bodies. Kira’s footsteps faded, and the cloudy energy from Raven’s Splintering faded with them.

  “What did you do to me?” Raven clenched his teeth as he rose. “What was that?”

  D’Jenn kept his magic ready. “It’s called a Splinter.”

  “It felt like being slapped with a block of ice.” Raven examined the hand over the wound in his shoulder and winced at the blood. “My whole body is still tingling, like when your leg goes to sleep.”

  “That’s what happens when the power you’ve gathered is unbound.” D’Jenn took a cautious step forward. “Magic is volatile that way, kid. It can summon fire, it can call down lightning, but without direction, it’s deadly to everyone.”

  “Deadly?”

  D’Jenn gestured at the collapsed building. “Think there was anyone in there?”

  “I…I don’t know.” Raven glanced at the rubble, his face going pale. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “No.” D’Jenn sighed. “But you did summon fire. What did you mean to do with the flames?”

  Raven looked at the three crossbowmen, who still burned in the street. “To kill them. To make them hurt.”

  “What about Merrick?”

  Raven gave him a sharp look. “You’re him, aren’t you? The partner.”

  “Aye, kid, I’m him.” D’Jenn took another step toward Raven, keeping his voice steady. “Why did you kill him, kid? Just…why? That’s the one thing I don’t understand. You killed Rulon to help Kira, right?”

  Raven nodded. “He was going to kill her! I didn’t mean to kill him, I just got so angry, and I was desperate, and—”

  “And your magic got away from you.”

  Raven nodded again.

  “Hellyanne t
old me what happened on the road. How her brother caught the two of you kissing.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt them!” Raven shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. “Her brother was hitting me, yelling at me. Everyone was screaming. I didn’t know what to do!”

  D’Jenn sighed and gave the boy a sad smile, taking another step forward. “It can happen like that sometimes, kid, especially when you don’t know what you’re doing. You take a deep breath, pull in the magic, and then—”

  “It has to come out.” Raven’s face relaxed and he let out a shuddering breath. “It’s like…like a hive of bees in my chest, all fighting to get loose. I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. I figured out a few things, but mostly I just…just push somewhere inside and—”

  “Things happen.”

  Raven nodded and stifled a sob. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “In a perfect world, kid, you’d have been noticed by a Lesmiran Scout and taken to the Mage Tower.” D’Jenn got close enough to touch Raven, but he kept his body relaxed. “They’d have taught you to harness your power. It’s your emotions, kid.”

  “My emotions?” Raven blinked at him.

  Poor kid.

  “Aye, magic works to make your intentions a reality. It requires focus from the conscious mind to shape those intentions, and focus requires clarity. An unfocused mind yields unfocused magic.” D’Jenn gestured at the destruction around them. “I think you know the result of unfocused magic.”

  Raven looked at his feet. “I’m sorry.”

  “Doesn’t matter much to the dead, kid.” D’Jenn sighed and placed a hand on Raven’s shoulder. It felt bony and slight under his palm. Raven flinched under his touch, like a deer ready to bolt. “Speaking of the dead—answer my question, kid. Why did you kill Merrick?”

  Raven stiffened. “I…well—”

  “He was trying to help you.”

  “Help me?” Raven jerked out of D’Jenn’s grasp and took a step back. “Who’s going to help me?! How? Your friend—he said he wanted to help, but he didn’t!”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He tried to attack me!” Raven took another step backward. “He summoned his power—I felt it! He tried to use it on me and I just…just—”

  “I saw what you did to him, kid.”

  Raven stopped backing away and glared through lowered brows. “He tried to use his power on me!”

  “Do you know who sent him? Why he was chasing you in the first place?”

  Raven scoffed. “Probably hired by the people back home! The same ones who hanged my father!”

  “No.” D’Jenn shook his head and tried to step forward again, but Raven shuffled back from him. “It was your sister who sent him.”

  “Lies!”

  “He told me her name, Raven.” D’Jenn took another step forward. “Sara, wasn’t it?”

  Raven stiffened.

  “Aye—Sara. Merrick set her and the rest of the kids up on a farm in Lesmira.”

  “No!”

  “That was his mission, Raven—to track down kids like you and try to help them.”

  “He wasn’t trying to help me!” Raven took another step back and clenched his fists. “He mentioned you, you know. During the…during. He mentioned you.”

  During what, kid? Did you torture him, too?

  “Did he?”

  Raven nodded. “He said all kinds of things. He said you were from the Conclave. That you were going to find me and kill me for what I’ve done. He said you would come for him, but you never did.”

  A moment of deep guilt twisted in D’Jenn’s stomach, followed by the rising heat of anger in his chest. He closed his eyes for a moment to silence the thoughts in his head—visions of Merrick writhing in that tree. With a deep breath, D’Jenn smoothed his emotions.

  “I’m here today, kid.” D’Jenn stared into Raven’s eyes. “Now’s the time to decide—are you going to come with me to Lesmira, as Merrick would have wanted, or is there going to be more violence?”

  Raven stared back at him. “Come with you to Lesmira? To the Court your friend mentioned?”

  D’Jenn nodded.

  “To face some Arbiter who knows nothing about me?” Raven gestured to the chaos around them. “You want me to offer myself to the mercy of some…some—”

  “It’s the only way, kid.” D’Jenn shook his head. “If the Mage Tower can’t deal with you, they’ll appeal to the Conclave to fix the problem. A Death Coin will be issued for you, and Warlocks will follow you all your days.”

  “Until what?”

  “Until you’re dead, Raven.” D’Jenn glanced around the street as scattered townspeople peeked from the edges of buildings or crept to the far sides of the street. “You’ve turned your power against innocents. Killed people with magic. This only ends two ways—dead or alive. You decide.”

  “Is that why you’re really here?” Raven clenched his jaw and took another step back. “You’re from the Conclave, right? You’re here to kill me?”

  “I’m here to stop you.”

  A tense moment stretched between the two of them. D’Jenn’s Kai sang in his ears, ready to lash out and strike Raven down. Raven glanced around, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

  He’s lost a lot of blood from that wound in his shoulder. Maybe if I keep talking—

  Raven’s Kai roared through the ether as he raised his hands, a scream of pure anger escaping his lips. D’Jenn dove to the side, summoning a magical shield from the air. Another noise like bending metal sounded from where D’Jenn had been standing, and a flash of white-hot energy sliced into the dirt.

  D’Jenn rolled over his shoulder and came to his feet. Raven’s Kai sang again—an angry, sorrowful melody—and rubble lifted from the collapsed building. It hurtled into D’Jenn’s shield, landing with a powerful clatter of splintering wood. D’Jenn felt a drain on his magic as the shield counteracted the force of the blow.

  Gods, the kid is powerful!

  Just as D’Jenn had the thought, his shield quivered under the pressure of Raven’s magic. Raven screamed in rage, and his Kai sang another malicious tone. D’Jenn’s shield was hit with a vicious blow from an unseen fist, which put cracks in the surface of his defenses. The air in front of D’Jenn was distorted by another blow as Raven attacked again, this time nearly crippling D’Jenn’s shield.

  He’s lashing out, beating on my shield with his Kai like an angry child.

  D’Jenn split his consciousness with a quick effort of will and readied another thread of magic. He committed most of his power to the shield, keeping Raven from breaking through. The boy continued to pound on D’Jenn’s defenses, trying to batter his way through with the strength of his magic.

  D’Jenn never had much respect for strength.

  Raven screamed again and thrust his hand forward. A cloud of sparkling motes shot from his palm, each one uttering a whine as they flew. The particles landed on D’Jenn’s invisible shield and slithered across the surface, falling into the cracks Raven made. The motes wiggled, fizzed, and expanded, forcing D’Jenn’s shield to burst into a thousand pieces.

  The burning points of light cut into D’Jenn’s clothing and burned his skin as the shield exploded. He cursed and banished the motes with an angry gesture. His nose filled with the smell of his own burnt hair.

  “Neat trick, kid, but you don’t know the first thing about magic.”

  D’Jenn licked out with the second thread of magic he’d prepared, a simple movement of the air, and flicked the dirt under Raven’s feet. A handful of dust leapt from the ground and into Raven’s eyes, causing him to sputter and stumble away.

  “You can’t use magic if you can’t concentrate.”

  Another whisper of magic, and D’Jenn hooked Raven’s ankle with his power, taking him from his feet. The boy cried out as he landed on his wounded shoulder, leaving a patch of bloody mud in the street. He tried to scramble away, but D’Jenn grabbed his ankle with the same thread of power and pulled him a
cross the dirt. Raven slid on his back, a fearful yelp escaping his lips, and slammed hard into the courtyard wall. He coughed at the impact, making pained noises as he clutched his ribs.

  “You can scream all you want, summon all the strength of your Kai and burn everything you see.” Raven tried to rise, but D’Jenn sent him sprawling back to the dirt with a magical poke in the eye. “But magic requires focus. It requires discipline!”

  Raven screamed again, rising from the ground with one hand extended. D’Jenn was ready for him this time, and he slammed a Splinter into Raven’s power. The gathered magic burst forth from the spell and rushed into the stones of the courtyard wall, causing another section to shake itself to rubble. Dust filled the air as the noise from the stones subsided.

  When the dust cleared, Raven was struggling to stand. He had one hand beneath him, the other clenched to his shoulder. He made hissing, painful noises as he tried to breathe.

  D’Jenn stomped over to the boy, trying to control his anger. Raven blinked up at him and tried again to rise, but D’Jenn kicked the boy in the chest. Raven went to his back, grunting with pain.

  “There’s more to magic than flame and destruction.” D’Jenn crouched to his knees, putting his weight on Raven’s chest. The boy flailed at him, punched and kicked and snarled, but D’Jenn was much larger. “This isn’t happening because you don’t know how to use your power, Raven.”

  Raven screamed and grabbed at D’Jenn’s face, but D’Jenn slapped his hands aside.

  “It’s happening because you don’t know why, and that’s something you can’t teach.”

  Raven’s eyes widened as he saw the expression on D’Jenn’s face. He made a last effort to escape, a wordless, pitiful scream erupting from his chest. D’Jenn made the slightest of efforts with his Kai, summoning a tiny flame inside Raven’s skull. The boy jerked, his legs going stiff, and his body went limp. His eyes stared in different directions, his slack expression somehow obscene on his young face.

  D’Jenn moved from atop Raven’s body and sat against the remains of the courtyard wall. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back, taking deep breaths. The street was too silent in the wake of the fight.