The Marenon Chronicles Collection

by Jason D. Morrow

  “How’s it going?” Coffman asked, wanting to ask him to hurry, but not wanting to make an already nervous man more nervous.

  Darren cursed under his breath as he fiddled with the device. “I’m going to have to line up the shot,” he said.

  Coffman wasn’t exactly sure what the best method for this would be. The slaves in front of him were ready to move when instructed, but he didn’t know if it would be obvious to the guards around them.

  “Today you are about to witness the beginning of the end in the war against those that have tried to destroy us for so long,” Anithistor continued. Coffman wondered if the other slaves would find his words hypocritical. Anithistor was obviously speaking to the Nestorians and Stühocs.

  “Move,” Coffman said quietly. One by one, the slaves in front of Coffman began to move to the side almost imperceptibly, giving Darren the slightest opening to fire the harpoon. He crouched to one knee, trying to line up his sight. Coffman couldn’t help but feel nervous. Darren’s fingers were visibly shaking. He glanced to his left to see Alric searching for him in the crowd. Coffman knew that his old friend’s hope must be running out. Coffman had not been able to tell him about today’s plans, but Alric knew something would be attempted.

  “Today you will witness the beginning of a new era in Marenon,” Anithistor said. He reached into his black cloak and pulled out the orange medallion, placing it in the coordinating spot on the pedestal. In a flash, the stream of lighted souls shot above the pedestal, instantly beginning to spin with the power of the medallion below it.

  Darren’s breathing became heavier and his hands were shaking more violently. He can’t take the shot, Coffman thought. He watched Darren wipe away a cold sweat.

  “And today we begin our demonstration with two Human prisoners and the Erellen prince.”

  Take the shot Darren!

  Anithistor looked down at the nervous, but defiant prisoners as the glowing sphere illuminated the room. “Today, you become my best soldiers.”

  Take the shot!

  “Today, you become Soldiers of the Dead.” Anithistor raised up an arm, using his powers to begin the process.

  Coffman looked down again to see Darren placing his head in his palm. Is he crying? Coffman reached down and threw Darren away from the weapon, and in the same motion he dropped to one knee and lined up his shot, focusing on Anithistor. Three… Two… One…

  With the pull of the trigger, the harpoon went sailing at an alarming speed through the air toward the Stühoc king just below the Sphere. At first, Coffman was sure that he had hit Anithistor squarely in the chest, but the Stühoc king was too quick, using a magical shield to deflect the shot. The harpoon instead landed in the chest of one of his guards sending him flailing to the ground.

  What happened next was complete mayhem. All of the slaves that knew of the uprising began fighting instantly, punching, kicking and trying to steal weapons from the guards closest to them. None of the soldiers had been ready for it. Nestorians and Stühocs alike sprang into motion, fighting back against the slaves. Coffman jumped from his spot, and tried to pull Darren up from the ground, but the man was a wreck. The pressure had been too much for him and he couldn’t bring himself to run away or to fight. He would be one of the first to die.

  Recognizing what was going on, Anithistor ran for cover as many guards rushed to his side to protect him.

  Coffman bolted for Alric and Nalani who had begun fighting as soon as the harpoon had landed. A Stühoc jumped in front of Coffman, swinging his sword with all of his might. Coffman jumped back from the swing, and while the creature was off balance, he tackled him to the ground. With his brute force he was able to disarm the soldier. He grabbed the sword from the ground and swung hard. The Stühoc’s head fell from its shoulders with ease.

  He turned and sprinted to his friends. By this point, Alric had already disarmed his guard and was busy unlocking the chains from Daewyn and Nalani.

  “I was beginning to think you forgot about us,” Alric yelled to him, picking up a sword from the dead guard.

  “Yeah, I just liked the slave life too much,” Coffman yelled back.

  Nalani and Daewyn had also found weapons for themselves and ran up next to Coffman.

  “We’ve got to destroy this thing,” Nalani said.

  “I’m guessing you’ve got a solution to that problem, dear?” Daewyn said.

  Nalani had no answer for him. None of them had the answer.

  Many of the slaves had been able to find a weapon or tool to defend themselves. The shift of the battle had moved toward the carriages, and Coffman led the others in that direction, thinking of Dink and his wife. The four of them came in from behind, hacking and cutting as Nestorians and Stühocs alike fought through the massive horde of slaves. Coffman could see that Dink was leading the charge to break open the carriages. He moved in the same direction, hoping he could help. Opening the carriages would allow for hundreds more fighters. Though weak and malnourished, they would be more effective if they were free from their cages.

  Dink was able to break open the back carriage. The prisoners started falling out, clamoring over each other to get out of the death trap. He grabbed Emma from the cage and held her close, being mindful of the enemy. Coffman and the others tried to get to the next carriage, but the Stühocs were already moving, knowing they would lose their precious prisoners if they left the carriages in place. The Stühocs were quick to jump on the horses to lead the caravan away from the battle. With the departure of the carriages, there came another flood of Stühocs moving in the opposite direction to confront the slaves, blocking their pursuit of the prisoners.

  Coffman yelled for everyone to charge into them. The Stühocs were expecting the slaves to be fearful and to run. Nearly a hundred unarmed slaves charged into the oncoming Stühocs, who were alarmed at the tenacity and fierceness of their fighting. Many of the slaves were impaled or killed instantly, but others were able to grab weapons and fight back. Their furious determination drove the Stühocs back and soon, the slaves were alone in the Pyramid.

  Coffman breathed a sigh of relief, bending down to catch his breath.

  “They’ll be back,” he heard Ellis yell from behind him. “They’re just reforming, making sure they all have weapons. This is our chance to get back to the slave quarters and regroup as well.”

  He called out for the slaves to follow him and many of them did. The battle was far from over, but Coffman was happy to have a chance to reorganize. He eyes focused on the spinning Sphere.

  “We’ve got to destroy it,” Coffman said, stepping toward it. Alric, Nalani and Daewyn followed close behind. Dink gave Coffman a look asking if they needed his help with the Sphere. Coffman shook his head and motioned for Dink to take his wife and follow the others.

  None of the four were sure how close they actually wanted to get to the Sphere, but they were sure that it would do nothing to them as long as there was no one to command it. They circled around the Sphere, examining it closely.

  “We don’t have a whole lot of time to just keep staring at it,” Daewyn said.

  “Shut up,” Alric told him.

  Coffman knelt down below the Sphere, studying the pedestal below it and the medallion shining from its slot.

  “What if I just got a hammer and started beating it?” Alric suggested.

  “It’s made of a very strong metal,” Coffman answered. “I don’t think it would work.”

  Alric shrugged. “I was talking about the Erellen.”

  Daewyn sent Alric a sharp look, which Alric returned with a smile. Nalani interrupted them.

  “We can’t just stand here looking at it,” she said.

  Alric and Nalani had thought they had been so close to stealing the medallion before. Yet, this whole time it was the feeding power to the giant weapon the Stühocs planned to use to win the war.

  “Do we just grab it?” Daewyn asked.

  Coffman shook his head. “We have no idea what will happen if we touch i
t. It could turn us into one of those soldiers. Or it could just kill instantly.”

  “Well, there’s just one way to find out,” Daewyn said. “Step aside, I’ll take it.”

  “No!” Nalani said. “If you take it, you’ll want to claim it for the Erellens. The Dunarians have worked tirelessly to collect these stupid medallions. This is the only reason I’m here at all. Let me do it.”

  No one spoke a word. She was right. This was her plan, her mission. She had been given this mission months before and she stood ready to fulfill her duty. She stepped close to the Sphere, reaching her arm out slowly. She didn’t want to die, but she knew it was a risk that had to be taken. Her fingers stretched out, reaching for the orange-jeweled piece of metal when a hand gripped her wrist, stopping her from touching the medallion. It was Alric.

  “Let me do it,” he said. “I’m not on your council. I don’t even know why I’m here, but let me do it. If it kills me, get out of here. Figure out a different way to get it. If it doesn’t, it’s yours anyway.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe in what we were doing,” Nalani said.

  “I didn’t,” Alric said. “Then I watched you as we stood next to each other, waiting to die. I don’t often see such bravery. I haven’t done many noble things in my life. Let me do this.”

  She pulled her arm back, leaving her hand in his. He stared deeply into her eyes and squeezed her hand tightly. After a moment, he turned his eyes to the medallion and sighed deeply.

  “Step back,” he told the others. He reached his arm out, closing his eyes tightly when he came close to it. Finally his fingers touched the hot metal and gripped it securely. He had expected to feel some sort of electric shock or to be sucked up into the Sphere, but nothing happened. He pulled his arm away with the medallion in his hand. He quickly looked down at the jewel then to the others when the ground began to shake. The Sphere spun faster with each passing second. Before any of them knew what was happening, it floated toward them, hovering above their heads. Alric tried to yell for the others to run, but no sound would come.

  Finally, the Sphere turned back into a stream, flowing as a thin line straight into the medallion. A gush of wind seemingly caused by the energy whipped around each of them with deafening ferocity. Alric held the medallion outward, hoping the stream wouldn’t flow into him. It looked as though the medallion was sucking the stream of light into itself. Finally, the Sphere vanished and the light was gone.

  A stunned silence fell over the four of them at what they had just witnessed. Had it worked? They knew the weapon wasn’t destroyed, but at least its source of power was gone. Coffman wondered to himself if all of the souls had been released or if they were now contained within that single medallion. Their silence didn’t last for long. The sound of the coming army of Stühocs and Nestorians grew louder in the distance. They had regrouped and were ready to take vengeance. Coffman told the others to move to the slave quarters where they would make their final stand.

  All of them were happy to have disabled the weapon and gotten the medallion, but it would not matter if their enemies overran them. Their last stand was imminent.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Freeing Lorcan from the prison had been rather easy for Kaden, thanks to King Jiaros and his new rules for the prison guards. Kaden felt guilty about leaving Silas and Inga behind, but they had their own mission. The Dunarians could not risk losing almost all of their council. He had to make Julian listen to reason.

  They dismounted their sarians after flying into Farlaweer. Kaden knew they were quickly running out of time. The four council members were scheduled to die within the hour. Julian had obviously leaked the news to the public about the execution because the city was in a scramble as people hurried to make it to the main square. Most were curious as to why Dunarian Council members were about to be executed. The anti-Dunarians were excited to see it, while Dunarian supporters were angry. All of them showed up to watch, however. And Kaden came to stop it.

  Lorcan followed him through the streets without question. The man had saved his life from an almost certain death, and because of that, he would help him save the Dunarian Council. The plan was simple. Kaden would go to the castle and confront Julian, who would be viewing the execution from a balcony. He would beg him to stop if he had to.

  Lorcan’s job was to try and stop the execution by force if it came down to it. If that happened, both of them would likely be captured. Kaden made sure to tell Lorcan that there was the possibility that they would be facing the same fate as the other council members.

  “You can opt out if you want to,” he had told the Erellen.

  Lorcan just shrugged. “I was supposed to die anyway,” he had said. “At least this way they won’t cut off my ears.”

  Kaden couldn’t help but smile at the Erellen. They had journeyed together for only a short time. Maybe it was a commitment to the cause, or maybe Lorcan felt like he owed Kaden, but his sense of devotion toward the Dunarians seemed very strong. Kaden knew he could count on Lorcan. He knew he had to count on Lorcan.

  The noon sun shined brightly as they rushed through the city streets to the castle square. When they arrived, the crowd was so thick that Kaden feared he wouldn’t even be able to make it up to Julian. When they finally elbowed their way to the middle of the square, they could see the four council members standing side-by-side with a noose around each of their necks. Kaden motioned Lorcan to stand ready near the stage, and Lorcan patted the sword underneath his cloak to assure Kaden they wouldn’t be killed without a fight.

  Kaden moved through the crowd, pushing through people as much as he could. When he finally reached the door of the castle, he was met by a group of guards. He recognized the captain of the Royal Guard instantly.

  “Robin,” Kaden said, giving him a slight nod.

  “The king was wondering if you would come,” he answered, looking troubled. “To tell you the truth, I was hoping you would.”

  “You don’t agree with Julian on this either?”

  “I’m not allowed to comment on how I feel about the king’s decisions,” Robin said. “But if I were not captain of the Royal Guard I would tell you that I think it’s absolute madness what the king is doing today. I’ve never seen someone so determined to remain angry. He doesn’t listen to any of his advisors. He just keeps saying that he wants his enemies dead and that he can’t trust any of them.”

  “How much time do I have?” Kaden asked.

  “Only a few minutes,” Robin answered. “Come. I’ll take you to him.”

  They rushed up the stairs and through a couple of hallways until they reached a large room. It was almost empty except for one chair. In it sat Julian staring through the open doorway that led to the balcony where he would view the execution. Kaden gave Robin a slight nod, and stepped forward into the room, thankful that he had not missed the opportunity to save the Dunarians. Kaden had trained Julian. They had their share of arguments in the past, but nothing as serious as this. Julian would listen to him. He had to listen to him.

  Without turning, Julian called out to Kaden.

  “I suppose you are here to ask me to spare their lives,” Julian said.

  “No,” Kaden answered quickly. “I’m here to ask you to reconsider your hastiness. At least let the courts decide.”

  “The courts would only find the same proof I have found,” he told Kaden. “Memory orbs have been used as evidence to put men to death on many occasions.” He held the orb in his hands, still staring out the doorway. “I have seen it.” He stood, finally looking in Kaden’s direction. He pointed out toward the execution area. “I’ve seen each of those people in a meeting discussing how they would destroy us!”

  “The memory orb is false,” Kaden said.

  “It can’t be false, Kaden. You want it to be. I want it to be. But you and I both know that it is impossible.”

  “Not if the owner was possessed by the Stühocs!” Kaden shouted.

  Julian looked at him with da
rk eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that Ward Holden was possessed. Whatever memories you saw were illusions created but the Stühocs. He truly remembered meeting with those four out there, but he was deceived somehow.”

  “How could the Stühocs do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Kaden said, frustrated. “All I know is that you should investigate more before killing them!”

  “No!” Julian yelled. “Our enemies have deceived us long enough! This is just another one of their games. They want you to stop me! They want us to be confused and unable to trust each other. No longer! This is the time to show them that we are not their puppets, and that we are going to stand together against them!” Julian moved to step around Kaden.

  “Don’t go onto that balcony,” Kaden warned.

  “You’ve been a good friend and teacher, Kaden. Don’t stand in my way.” Julian walked to the balcony, ready to give the order.

  “Julian, stop!” Kaden yelled, drawing his sword.

  Julian froze in place at the sound of the ringing metal. “You’d pull a sword on me?”

  “To protect the innocent, yes.”

  “Guards!” Julian yelled. In an instant, Robin and two more guards appeared in the room. Kaden turned on his heels, pointing his sword at the guards, ready for a fight.

  “I will kill you,” Kaden said as he faced Robin.

  “You would kill innocents to save a bunch of traitors?” Julian asked.

  “You are a fool, Julian. An absolute fool.”

  Julian shook his head, angrily. “Arrest him.”

  The guards moved in as Kaden began to swing his sword in an attempt to ward them off. Julian stepped out onto the balcony to command the execution of the four council members, and ignored the sounds of struggle behind him. Kaden was torn between defending himself and trying to stop Julian from giving the order. It was too much for the desperate man, and two of the guards were able to pin him down.