The Stühocs were caught off guard and the first three were dead on the ground before they even knew what happened. Julian sliced through the neck of another. The last one began to run away, but Julian closed his eyes and sent a blast of fire from his palm through the back of the vile creature’s head. When they were all down, Julian lowered himself to Daniel’s side. The injured man clung to what little life he had left and grabbed Julian’s arm firmly.
“You’re not the king I thought you were,” he said barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Julian answered back. “You must know that your death will save us.”
Daniel’s eyes darted back and forth. “Martha!” He tried to yell, but she would never hear him.
“I will tell her of your bravery,” Julian said.
Daniel looked up at Julian in his final moment. “You are not good,” he said. “You are just like the men that sent me to prison without a reason.”
Julian tried to protest. He tried to shake his head and tell Daniel that he was wrong, that he was very different, but he could say no such thing. Daniel had breathed his last breath and died.
The battle still carried on in Homestead, but the sounds of screams and fighting felt a million miles away. Julian was only inches from the truth. He looked in every direction to see if anyone was watching. As he expected, there was no one. He walked around to the other side of Daniel and pulled him by the arms to an even more secluded spot behind an old barn about a hundred feet away.
I let him die. Julian couldn’t shake the thoughts from his head. I stood there and watched as the Stühocs slaughtered him. I let him die!
A heavy weight formed in his chest as he stared down at the lifeless body. Who had he become? He had done the same thing to his brother. He let him die, all for the sake of saving lives. How many more lives would have to be destroyed until Julian was satisfied with the rest of Marenon’s safety? What bothered him the most was that Daniel knew Julian had been watching. He knew what kind of person Julian was, and he had declared it in his last breath. It was the first time that Julian had ever heard words of accusation directed at him. Julian had never thought that his own actions were of an evil nature; he had always been able to justify them.
He slipped his dagger out of its sheath and bent next to Daniel’s body. Taking a deep breath he slid his knife into the man’s chest under the sternum and ribcage and tugged. This is where the memory orb was kept. The knife had penetrated through the scar that had been left, proof that someone had been there before. This was something Julian had never done. He didn’t know how hard to pull. He didn’t know the best way to cut out a man’s heart. With a sharp jerk, the chest gave a little and he knew he had what he wanted. He didn’t want to pull it out completely. He wasn’t barbaric. He reached his hand inside the newly produced hole and felt around with his fingers until he touched something that felt completely out of place.
The bloody sphere was no bigger than a small rock, and when Julian held it in front of his eyes, he could see that everything had been true. The key he had taken from Ward Holden had led him to the proof he needed so desperately. It would tell him if the Dunarian Council had been working with the Stühocs.
It was said that a memory orb could not be false. No one could fabricate the memories that it recorded. When used, it would take every memory that a person had ever had and retain it all within the orb. Whatever Julian was about to see was the truth, whether he liked what he would see or not.
Blood dripped from his fingers as he gripped the orb. It was time to see. He couldn’t wait any longer. The battle waged on, but the town could defend itself. They weren’t the reason he had come in the first place. When he had learned of the orb’s location, he had all but given up. Now fate had brought him to the truth and he wanted it.
He sat with his back against the barn and the dead body lying next to him. He didn’t have time to care about Daniel anymore. The man had done Marenon a great service. Because of him, the lives of thousands could possibly be saved. He looked back down at the orb, not knowing exactly what to do. He closed his eyes and gripped it firmly in his fist. Then he felt it.
A tingling sensation came over him in waves. It was as though he were being transported into a different dimension, yet he could sense that he was still sitting next to a dead body against the barn. What he saw, however, was completely different. He was in Ward Holden’s memory.
Chapter Thirteen
The door leading underground was covered with dirt and scratch marks from the shovel, but it opened inward easily enough. The group of four slowly stepped through with Silas leading, Inga and Kaden right behind, and Lorcan following in the back. They found a narrow corridor leading to a black nothingness. Silas wrapped his dark cloak around him and brought the hood up to fight off the cold that devoured them in the corridor. Inga held out her hand and instantly a white light shot out from it. The orb stalled then floated above the group, giving them enough light to see where they were going. They were in a dirt tunnel, and whoever dug it out had not taken the time to reinforce it, it seemed.
Silas turned his head to Inga. “I’ve seen you cause a cave-in. Can you prevent one?”
She shrugged. “If it came to it. I guess we’ll have to see.”
“Let’s hope we don’t,” Kaden said, urging them forward.
They walked for several long minutes. Silas’ staff had not changed into any sort of weapon, so they were not in any immediate danger as far as he could tell. He wondered what could be there. What would the Gatekeeper have left here that was so important? Surely the Gatekeeper himself would not be staying in this hole.
As they kept walking, they began to see the path more clearly, as though there was another source of light ahead of them. The staff again provided the perfect warning system. It instantly turned into a war hammer, letting him know that a fight was just up ahead. The staff had never turned into this weapon before. Seeing the warning sign, Inga immediately extinguished the light, and the four of them crouched in the darkness. They could see only a little as the light from the distance provided some blue illumination on the path. They could see that the path widened up ahead into what looked to be some sort of large cavern.
“What do you see?” Lorcan whispered from the back.
Silas wished he could see something, but all he had to go on was the staff. “Nothing.”
“Let’s keep moving, just be cautious,” Kaden urged.
Silas moved his legs slowly, fearing any sort of noise would tip off the threat that loomed ahead of them. In his mind he tried to think of which enemies could be taken down by a hammer, but there were too many possibilities. It could be anything from armed men to giant rats for all he knew.
With every step they moved closer to the wide opening. The blue light, seemingly with no source, became brighter. When they came to the opening, they saw that it was actually the ledge of a much deeper cavern with a stone stairway leading down. They were able to hunker low behind a rock and peer over it. What they saw would have made most people turn back. On the ground floor below them, marching in a unified motion, were ten stone statues. They walked like men, but they were at least ten feet in height, and their weapons were massive. They were carved to look like kings. Most of them had long stone beards and wore variations of crowns on their heads. Every bit of them was stone, so that explained why the staff turned into a hammer. Silas was meant to break his enemy to pieces. Still, he wasn’t sure how the four of them would be able to take on ten enchanted statues.
He looked past the statues and saw another wooden door on the other side of the ground floor. That was where they needed to be and their enemy was directly in their path. Silas conveyed this information to the others. Kaden swore under his breath.
“Lorcan and I aren’t going to be much help with these,” he said holding up a sword.
“Silas can’t go in there by himself,” Lorcan said. “He’ll be smashed to pieces.”
“Thanks f
or the confidence,” Silas said, though he knew the Erellen was right.
“I can go in,” Inga offered. “If you two can provide distraction, Silas and I should be able to take them.”
Silas was glad to hear that Inga believed in their abilities, but he wasn’t so sure. Those statues were big.
“Inga, what about shadow?” Silas asked, remembering what she did in the city only a few hours before.
“What are you talking about?” Kaden said.
“Shadow,” Silas said. “Inga has the ability to make us disappear for a short time.”
“I don’t know if I can do it for the whole group,” she said.
“But maybe one at a time, just until we can get to the door,” Silas answered.
Inga scratched her head thoughtfully, then shrugged. “I can try, but I don’t know if the statues can sense magic. Disappearing is great when used against normal people, but these are magical beings. They might not see at all, only sense that you are there. If that’s the case then there’s no point.”
“We have to try,” Silas countered. “I’m willing to go first. If it doesn’t work, then come help me in the fight. It’s what we have to do anyway.”
“This is crazy,” Lorcan said. “We don’t even know what’s behind that door.”
“If Jessup said it was important for us to be here then I believe him,” Kaden said. “The Gatekeeper is either here or has left a clue of some sort. We must find out what is here.” He turned to Inga. “I think it’s best if you try.”
“You sure you want to do this?” Inga asked Silas.
Silas thought for a brief moment then nodded. “There’s nothing else to do, other than fight them head on. I would at least like to try.”
Inga nodded and closed her eyes.
“Just be ready to come in and fight,” he said to the others.
“We’ll be ready and waiting,” Kaden assured him.
In that moment, Silas felt the familiar sensation of cool air falling all around him. Lifting his hand, he could see that he was invisible. Nothing could be seen of him, not his staff, skin or his black hooded cloak. He took a deep breath, war hammer in hand, and moved down the steps to walk among the enchanted statues. With each step he remained aware that the statues could attack at any moment. He held the hammer like a baseball bat, ready to swing at the slightest movement of hostility, though he wasn’t sure how effective his attack would be against such challenging opponents.
As he stepped among the stone giants, he became convinced that they did rely on their sight and other senses to detect an intruder. Silas then assumed that he could also not make any sort of noise or they would be tipped off. This caused him to move slowly, though he knew Inga’s time with this magic was limited.
The statues marched on the stony ground in a circular motion as loud thuds accompanied each uniform step. Silas moved between the first line of statues, safely in the middle of all of them. He then only had to go past one more line of them, and then he would be at the door. As he moved through the middle of them, his foot caught the pointed edge of a small pebble on the ground. In any normal situation this would not have been a problem, but one of the statues reared its giant head in the direction of the foreign noise and stopped marching. Fear gripped Silas into a frozen state; he did not dare to move, knowing if he did, the statues would come down on him in seconds.
Each of the statues stopped marching at the sight of the one alarmed stone figure. The first one took a step out of formation, looking for the source of the noise. It gripped its stone sword tightly, making no sound, but watching intently. Silas looked behind him and he could see the alarmed faces of his comrades. Inga remained focused on not letting Silas reappear, but he could sense that she was trying with all of her might not to be distracted.
Now that the statues had stopped moving, Silas knew he could not make his way to the door with the sound of his heavy footsteps, but he was also running out of time with his invisibility. Unless the statues began to march soon, there would be no getting out without fighting, and Silas was only the first one to cross. This still had to be done with Lorcan, Kaden then Inga. Silas wasn’t sure Inga would have the power to do such a thing. And until this moment, he hadn’t thought about the fact that the statues would more than likely see the door opening at the other end of the corridor and would still try to attack. There were holes in the plan, but none of it mattered if the statues didn’t start marching again.
The one that had come close to him to investigate began to move once again. The others did the same, only this time they weren’t marching in a circular formation. They were searching for the source of the noise, moving through the cavern freely without pattern. Silas found himself moving around carefully as he tried to avoid contact with the stone giants, all while trying to remain silent. Every step had to be taken lightly. Once or twice he thought he might have made too much noise, but it was covered by the loud stomps of the stone kings. After maneuvering through several of the statues, Silas finally made it to the door.
A brass nob stuck out from the side, and Silas grabbed it with his free hand and tried to turn it. The knob didn’t budge. Locked!
What good was getting through the statues if the door was locked? There wasn’t a way of getting through without…
Then he saw it. Clipped to a stone belt of one of the statues was a metal key. He looked up at Kaden and Lorcan, wishing he could convey a message to them, letting them know that he was going to try and fight the statues alone. Inga had to keep him invisible just a few minutes longer. He knew that this would be the only way to get that key and that the others could not get involved.
As invisible as the air around him, he held the war hammer with a firm grip in both hands. He closed his eyes, focusing all of his strength into his swing. When the nearest statue came a foot closer, he pulled the hammer back and swung with all of his might into its leg. The leg crumbled under the smashing weight of the hammer causing the statue to fall to the ground in a dusty heap. The sight of a fallen statue alarmed the others instantly, and they all began to move to the center of the cavern. Silas stepped silently behind another statue and attacked another leg, only this time his swing was not quite as strong and only took out a small chunk of the leg. The statue turned to meet its foe, but saw nothing. With what seemed to be frustration, the statue swung mightily at the air in front of it. The stone sword would have cut Silas in half, but it missed him by several feet. He moved in closer after the second swing and attacked the same leg, causing it to crumble underneath its bearer. The statue was resilient and continued to flail from the ground, but Silas moved to its side and chopped downward like an ax, crushing its midsection into pieces.
Eight left.
He was glad to see that the others were staying behind, knowing that if they were seen, the statues would destroy them. The other eight statues were frantic now, searching for their invisible enemy, but Silas was too fast, jumping from side to side, taking mighty swings with his war hammer. One-by-one the statues fell to their invisible enemy. Once or twice, a few swings came too close to Silas, nearly taking him out. There were only two left when he became so exhausted from swinging the heavy hammer that he had to rest. The statues swung from side to side as if they were swatting a fly. Silas stood at a safe distance, watching the foolish-looking statues, and for a brief moment he smiled. He placed a hand on his knee and looked down at his feet. He was dirty from all of the crumpled rock and dust. Then the thought struck him.
Why can I see my feet?
His held jolted up to see the two statues coming right for him. Inga’s concentration must have broken.
“Inga!” he yelled, knowing that it would not help her to continue the magic. Kaden and Lorcan were down with him now, throwing rocks at one of the statues to get its attention. The distraction worked, leaving Silas only one statue to deal with, but one opponent was formidable enough.
The statue swung low and Silas instinctively dropped to the ground. It swung back again
, this time slamming the end of its stone sword against the wall, shattering its weapon into pieces. With the broken remains, it reached upward for momentum to smash the hilt into Silas, but he rolled out of the way in the last second. The statue wasn’t finished, however. It brought its large foot up to stomp the life out of Silas. He rolled one more time, knowing that he could not continue this game.
He jumped to his feet, dipping low to avoid the statue’s flailing arms. With two steps he was able to maneuver behind the statue and slam his war hammer into the back of the leg, behind the knee. A large chunk crumbled from the leg, but the statue was oblivious. It stomped with its other leg then once again with the one Silas had ruptured. With the second stomp, it fell to the ground, arms still swinging in every direction. Silas was able to stop one of the arms with his hammer, but he was caught by the second swing, which sent him sailing to the opposite wall.
The hammer fell from his hands and instantly turned back into the staff. The pain through his chest where the statue’s arm had landed had knocked the wind out of him, and it was everything Silas could do to grab hold of a breath. The statue couldn’t walk, but it was able to crawl using its one good arm and leg. It made its way slowly toward Silas determined to destroy him with what little life it had left. Silas was still trying to catch a breath and the others were still preoccupied with the other statue.
That’s when he saw Inga emerge from her hiding place behind the rock. She staggered down the steps, clearly exhausted from the magic, and closed her eyes once again, becoming transfixed in concentration. Silas knew she had lost much of her strength by keeping him invisible for so long. A burst of energy exploded from her hands, throwing the statue that Kaden and Lorcan had been fighting against the wall. Its arms broke off from the impact, but it still stood. She let out another burst, finally finishing the enchanted stone.
The Marenon Chronicles Collection Page 42