The Charm Runner (Broken Throne Book 1)

by Jamie Davis

  Winnie had to rest at the bottom of the long flight. She lowered Cait to the ground and sat beside her. “I can’t keep going and carry Cait. Just leave us.”

  Tris shook her head, looking around. She snapped her fingers. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  Tris ran down the hallway toward the small control room they had found on their way up, then returned minutes later with the grimy technician they’d tied up and left behind.

  Tris took one of the Cait’s arms. “Winnie, this is Hal. He’s going to help us in exchange for getting him out of here. Hal, take the other arm and help me lift her.” She looked at Winnie. “If we can manage Cait, can you get yourself moving? I’m not leaving you behind.”

  Winnie nodded and started to stand, steadying herself with a hand to the wall. “Let’s go. I don’t want to stay here any longer.”

  “Me either. Let’s make our way back to Mender’s Hall. Artos will get you both to a mender.”

  Tris and Hal led the way. Winnie followed close behind as they returned to the sewers and retraced their steps to Artos. Winnie felt like she’d lost everything, even though they had technically succeeded in their mission to destroy the Harvester.

  Morgan had betrayed her, Danny was captured, all those chanters died because they were too late, and her baby was gone, murdered at the hands of Constable Victor Holmes and Director Kane.

  If victory was a nightmare, defeat must be hell.

  She shuffled along behind Tris, Hal, and Cait knowing the war had begun.

  CHAPTER 49

  “Artos Merrilyn might have been right about this girl, Winnie Durham. I did not believe that his prophecy was true. But recent events have forced me to reconsider.”

  Victor Holmes stood at attention, listening to the Director’s musings. Kane had his back to the constable, staring out his office window at the city lights sprawled before him.

  Victor waited to be addressed, even though questions and doubts waged war in his mind.

  Kane turned to Victor. His eyes narrowed as if seeing something he despised. “It is time for us to be extra careful in our approach, don’t you think, Inspector Holmes?”

  Victor blinked as the new title sunk in. “Uh, yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” He was stunned by the promotion. Another thought popped into his head. “Does this mean you have reason to believe that Miss Durham escaped?”

  Kane waved a hand. “I am almost positive she did. If she is to fulfill some prophecy, she will be difficult to kill. That makes our job harder but not impossible. I want you to understand that this promotion was not given lightly. This new responsibility will help you to increase pressure on Artos Merrilyn. This girl is part of his plan. I’m sure of it now. We must discover what she is supposed to do and stop her. Can you do that?”

  Victor nodded. “Um, sir, if I may? What about the new resolution, Resolution 86? Are you still committed to that plan for the chanters?”

  He didn’t want to say that he was appalled by the scene at the steel mill. It was one thing to handle illegal activities with an iron fist, but Victor was honest enough to admit that most chanters just wanted to live in peace, within the law. Killing them all to harvest their magic sickened Victor to his core. He hoped that things had changed, and that the Director had a new plan.

  Kane came around his desk and stood in front of Victor. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you? Perhaps I was wrong in placing my trust in you so soon.”

  “No, sir. I only asked so I would know how to direct the men under my command. Should we continue to gather chanters for detention?”

  Kane held his stare, then turned and went back to the other side of the desk. “No. I think we will pause that particular tactic. Artos will surely use his political contacts to stop the detentions in the coming weeks. Plus, the Harvester was our only prototype and it will take a significant amount of time to rebuild one like it.”

  Victor was glad to hear this. After seeing the device in action, he never wanted to think about something like that in operation again. He was glad it had been destroyed, even it that destruction had come at the hands of Winnie Durham.

  “Very well, sir. May I be excused? I need to look in on my subordinate, Cadet Bennett. She sustained some injuries during our escape. I’d like to make sure she’s alright.”

  “Yes, look in on your protégée. I’m sure she will need your comforting presence at this difficult time. You may go.”

  Victor saluted, turned, and walked out to the antechamber. The attractive secretary held the door before going in herself to see the Director.

  Morgan sat on a bench in the outer office, waiting. She was bruised and battered. Her uniform was a mess. But he was more concerned with how she was inside. She’d opposed her sister’s illegal activities, but that didn’t mean she wanted her dead. The Director thought that she had survived — that was news Morgan would want to hear.

  She stood as he approached, the evening’s atrocities haunting her eyes.

  “I have news. The Director thinks Winnie survived.”

  Morgan sighed and rushed forward to embrace him.

  “She is our adversary, so long as she allies herself with Artos Merrilyn. Director Kane believes she is being used by him to fulfill some prophecy.”

  “Are we still expected to round up and kill innocent people?”

  Victor winced, looking around to see if Morgan might have been overheard. “Careful. Don’t talk like that here.” He lowered his voice. “Project X and the Harvester were destroyed in the fire. The Director has put the new Resolution on hold.”

  Relief filled her eyes. It reflected his feelings, in conflict with the simpler worldview he’d held a few months before.

  Victor led Morgan from the Director’s offices, longing for home and their bed. So much had changed tonight and he was afraid that more change was coming.

  Tonight, he only wanted to rest and forget Winnie Durham.

  EPILOGUE

  Artos Merrilyn sat at his desk, sipping brandy, wanting to believe that his long journey might finally be nearing completion. He had become used to this modern world with its creature comforts and technology, but his soul belonged to another time, a magical age mostly forgotten. He also knew he wasn’t here by accident and had a job to do

  He had been raised to be a leader of men and women in the darkest of times. He understood sacrifice. Tonight, those sacrifices had been laid upon the shoulders of a young girl — the only way he could be sure she was the one he’d been waiting for. Now, she was resting with her friends in his apartment downstairs, recovering from her ordeal.

  Winnie’s survival was the sign that he needed.

  Artos took another sip of the brandy, remembering another tumultuous night long ago, when the world as they all knew it had been set into motion.

  ———

  Artos waited with the other squires outside the main hall.

  The gatehouse had fallen a half hour before. Judging from the booming crashes on the central keep’s huge double doors, the invaders were soon going to breach them as well.

  As the sound of fighting came closer, Artos realized that his hand was cramping from its death grip on his sword. He and the rest of the squires had been assembled as the last defense for the castle’s women and children. A pitiful last stand effort against hopeless odds, but Artos knew he and his fellow squires wouldn’t shirk their duty to protect the weak.

  No less was expected of a knight, even a junior one.

  He turned toward a noise on the circular staircase behind him. Old Merlin, the mage, ran into the room, ascending from his lair in the keep’s lower levels. Artos was surprised by his speed. A man so old shouldn’t be so swift on his feet.

  “Artos, come with me. We’ve no more time.”

  “I cannot desert my station. I have been charged with the defense of our women and children. The rebels have almost breached the central keep.”

  “There’s no time for that. All is lost here. All is lost everywhere.” Merl
in grabbed the sword from Artos and handed it to one of the other squires. Then he pulled the boy from his place in the line and dragged him towards the stairs, up to the central tower.

  The old man was also stronger than he looked. Despite his struggle, Artos was hauled up the stairs like a tiny child and not a near-man of sixteen years. Merlin pulled him up the steps, ranting. “This is all wrong, all wrong. Somehow, the prophecy has been broken. The once and future king will not be crowned. Until I can find a remedy, you must be sent somewhere safe."

  “What are you talking about? The king was killed last week when his hunting party was ambushed. You know that. There is no king. He died without an heir.”

  “There would have been, boy. Before these others decided they could change the direction of man in this world.”

  Merlin reached the top chamber. There was an intricate design on the tower floor, like some sort of star. The old man dragged Artos to its center.

  “Stand here. Don’t move.”

  Merlin ran back and barred the stout door. Artos heard the sound of clashing steel and shouts coming up from below before it closed. His friends were fighting and dying below in their final act of honor. He should be with them.

  “Listen to me, boy. There’s little time, and you must remember this before you leave.”

  “Leave? I can’t leave. Only a bird could escape this tower.”

  “Perhaps, perhaps.” The old mage gave him a sad smile. “Nevertheless, you will listen and remember. I am going to send you somewhere. Somewhere where this can be set right. There will be a new ‘once and future monarch’ crowned in this place. You must shepherd them as I was supposed to shepherd you. Our time will come. And when it does, you must help them return the magic to the Tuatha Dè Danann.”

  Merlin was distracted by boots tromping up the stairs, then pounding on the door. He waved a gnarled hand and a bright light blossomed beneath the door, followed by screams on the other side. The mage turned his attention back to Artos.

  “Remember, the new monarch must be found. They will be alone, borne of a commoner. You must help them turn the talisman that gave the magic to us. Fail and mankind is doomed. Nothing will save us from ourselves. Now, stand up straight and don’t move from that spot.”

  Artos straightened his shoulders, watching the old man mutter under his breath and wave his hands toward Artos. The air shimmered between them.

  Pounding on the door grew louder. So did Merlin’s chanting.

  A mist obscured the room and sent Merlin’s voice farther away.

  Artos saw him standing there, smiling, as the door burst open and the invaders swept him under a flurry of blades. Then the mist swallowed him whole and Artos was there no longer, traveling to a new place and time, into some unknown tomorrow.

  WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

  With magic banned and now against the law, one chanter has a spell that could change everything …

  Winnie Durham just wants is to run an honest business selling magical items at her beloved store, Charmed, so she can take care of her mother’s declining health. But when a law is passed outlawing magic, Winnie must find a new way to make a living, and fast.

  Caught between Resolution 84, her mother’s escalating medical bills, and a vow to never deal in the dark magic of the Sable trade, an opportunity comes along that is too good to refuse, and Winnie is hurled into a world that puts her at odds with everything she thought she stood for.

  CONTINUE WITH BOOK TWO IN THE BROKEN THRONE SERIES:

  Click here to get PROPHECY’S CHILD

  HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

  Magic is failing as the world collapses. The planet’s only hope is a child of prophecy promised countless centuries ago.

  While hiding out in Merlin’s sanctuary at Filby Keep, Ricky Canter discovers his family’s true legacy — he is a child of the great Merlin. Ricky’s mother teaches him to use Sable magic and speak the ancient tongue, but with the world deteriorating all around them, they must leave the safety of Merlin’s ancient lair and face an angry mob of Middlings who want nothing more than to tear them apart.

  Forced to find passage to the United Americas, Ricky’s mother sacrifices herself so that her son can go free, but Ricky’s fate lies in the hands of a strange man, and an uncertain future.

  A future that the world as we know it will one day depend upon.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jamie Davis, RN, NRP, B.A., A.S., is a nationally recognized medical educator who began educating new emergency responders as a training officer for his local EMS program. As a media producer, he has been recognized for the MedicCast Podcast (MedicCast.com/blog), a weekly program for emergency medical providers like EMTs and paramedics, and the Nursing Show, a similar program for nurses and nursing students. His programs and resources have been downloaded over 6 million times by listeners and viewers.

  Jamie lives and writes at his home in Maryland. He lives in the woods with his wife, three children, and a dog.

  Jamie’s other books include the Extreme Medical Services series, The Eldara Sister series and the upcoming Accidental Traveler series. You can check them out at http://jamiedavisbooks.com. His Broken Throne series is published by Sterling & Stone LLC.