Book of Seth: Exodus: A Fallen Chronicles Book

by Dan O'Brien

  The planedge glanced off his spine and his final words were nothing more than a panicked shriek.

  I stood over them, my blade dripping with blood, the trail pooling on the floor.

  Ryan stood at the entrance. His face was turned away from the carnage. He leaned against the door frame.

  Leane crawled closer and gripped my leg.

  I looked down wildly and she jumped back, fear in her eyes.

  “Seth,” she whispered.

  “They were going to hurt you.”

  “You didn’t have to kill them. You could have…”

  “They have taken everything from me and I would not let them have you.”

  She stared at me. “They wouldn’t have hurt me too badly.”

  “They should not have hurt you at all.”

  I watched the blood pool beneath the guards. There was only the thought: they had taken my family, my life, and my home.

  I had killed three men who had only days before been under my protection.

  “Seth, we need to go. Others are going to come looking for these guys; and when they do, they will not be too happy.”

  “Yes, you are right.” Turning to Leane, I continued. “Are you ready to go?”

  She stared at the dead bodies, unresponsive.

  “Leane?” queried Ryan, stepping forward and snapping his fingers.

  I grabbed her shoulders lightly. “Leane.”

  She looked back at me. “I packed everything the moment you left. Then, the soldiers came and started asking questions.”

  “I know. I’m sorry they came for you. Do you have everything you need?”

  “Yes.” She picked up her pack. Her father’s blade was strapped across the top of it. She pulled the folds of a mask across her face, hiding her features from me. I placed my hand over her arm and she allowed me to guide her out the door.

  I replaced my planedge into the sheath hidden beneath my wraps. I wanted no more killing today. As we stepped through the doorway, I felt something at our side, a presence. The barrel of the weapon struck me along the side of my head, the blow knocking me to my knees. For a moment, I thought unconsciousness was going to claim me; but, I wearily looked up, my head bobbing wildly. I tried to steady myself, but the pain was intense. The world seemed to swim around me, as if I were no longer upon it as much as I was dangling above or below it. I could see something rush to my side and then another shadow pull that figure away.

  Voices hovered around my head, but I couldn’t focus.

  “What?” My words felt heavy in my mouth.

  The blurred edges of my sight focused slightly and I could make out Ryan and Leane. Their faces were tense and their mouths moved. The words came to me delayed, as if they were a step ahead of the sound.

  “What in the hell is the meaning of this?” screamed Ryan, his arms restrained by someone.

  Leane stood alongside me, her leg touching the side of my head. I reached up, grasping for her, but I felt my hand knocked away.

  “Your brother has killed three soldiers. He is a danger to all of us,” roared back a voice that I knew well.

  I could not place it. It was haughty and self-centered; the inflection was high and the tone almost shrill.

  “Tresnre, we’re leaving. We intend on leaving and never coming back. Let us go,” pleaded Leane, her voice the only that I could accurately discern.

  “Banishment is no longer the intention of the Council. He is to be sentenced to death,” replied Tresnre, a hint of satisfaction evident in his voice.

  Ryan leapt forward, but the arms that restrained him were doing a fine job.

  “Death, that’s impossible,” whispered Leane.

  “The merciless, unwarranted deaths of the soldiers have sealed his fate,” replied Tresnre, motioning for someone behind me to lift me.

  I watched the ground get farther away and then realized that I was on my feet.

  My strength and awareness slowly returned to me; a few minutes and I would be almost ready to move again.

  “Unwarranted? They were attacking Leane, hunting us. I would hardly call those peaceful negotiations,” spat Ryan angrily.

  I could see him clearly now: his jaw set in determination, a fire in his eyes as he struggled against the men who restrained him.

  Leane stood beside me.

  The blade sat upon the pack at her side, the dark sheath beckoning for me to wield it.

  “Tresnre,” I mumbled.

  He turned to me. His cruel features were a perpetual scowl. “What do you want?”

  “You want to kill me. You want my head? Take it. Fight me like a warrior of the tundra. Don’t hide behind these soldiers. Draw one of their weapons like a man.” I struggled with my words.

  I faltered against Leane for a moment.

  “How trite. Seth, you wish to battle me?” he replied with a laugh.

  “Are you afraid to lift a sword, Tresnre? Afraid to dirty your hands as you have others do?” I stood on my own feet now.

  “Afraid of you? Don’t be ridiculous. You are nothing more than a mindless oaf, an agent of the will of the Council.” He motioned with a wave of his hand for the soldiers to step back. His brilliant robes concealed his hands after he did so.

  I smirked as best I could and held my hands out, palms facing up and spread wide.

  “I have no weapon. Draw a blade. Kill me in cold blood. Show us the coward that you are.” I was moving forward, slowly at first. Then, as I felt sure upon my feet once more, I increased the pace. “Come on!”

  He lunged forward. The folds of his robes parted. A sharp flash of a blade emerged from within. Although my reactions were slow, I was able to dodge to the side. The point tore a slice from my wraps. I reached down and rubbed the flap that had been cut away between my thumb and forefinger. I tore it from the wrap, the grayer fabrics beneath filling the gap. “So close, yet not a killing blow.”

  He growled and thrust forward again; this time, I slid forward into his attack. His arms passed around me without incident and his eyes grew wide when he saw what had happened. I grasped his attacking arm and spun it around his back easily. His face contorted into a painful grimace as I did so. I twisted his wrist, the blade falling to the ground uselessly.

  I rolled beneath his arm and carried his useless arm with me.

  I had flipped him onto his back, his body landing with a heavy sound.

  “It seems the mindless oaf has bested you,” I replied with a cruel smile.

  Reaching to the ground, I grasped the thin blade and flipped it gingerly in my hands. I launched it against the far wall, the blade wavering as it stuck into the stone there. I turned back to Ryan and Leane. Their guards were momentarily distracted by the violent exchange. Ryan and Leane turned around as if on cue and slammed their respective mass of bone, be it elbow or fist, into their captor’s face, knocking them to the ground in a heap.

  “Excellent. Now can we go?” quipped my brother as he moved past me.

  “This is it then? Never to return again?” queried Leane as she pulled her pack across her shoulders. Her diminutive body struggled to square it evenly. I moved beside her and lifted the pack, evening it out for her. “Thank you, Seth.”

  “You are welcome,” I replied with a sigh.

  She turned away and followed Ryan into the tunnels.

  I watched Ryan and Leane disappear around the corner. As I did so, I saw Higald approach, his strong figure flanked by two disciplinary soldiers. Their stern looks dissolved into confusion when they saw Tresnre unconscious upon the ground, as well as the other soldiers. “Seth.” His words were laced with uncertainty. He stopped a short distance away from me. A wooden cylinder was held in his hands like a warding staff.

  “All we wanted was to go. I knew I was no longer wanted; yet, you threatened the ones I cared about.”

  He turned his attention to Tresnre. “Is he….”

  “No, he is unconscious. I have spilled enough blood today.”

  “You have killed?” h
e queried, his eyes wider than I had ever known.

  “Yes, the ones that threatened Leane’s life because she would not tell them where I was.”

  “I see.”

  “This is goodbye, Higald. The Fallen is coming to an end and you shall witness the destruction of what our fathers fought so hard for. I hope that you and your Council find solace in the damage you have done.”

  I turned away, wiping my hands against one another. As I did, I erased the memories of my home.

  Higald did not try to stop me; instead, he stood as he always had. He was a statue against the tides of change that threatened the Fallen. He lowered his head as I disappeared around the corner.

  I joined the others.

  Our journey would be a new beginning for the human race.