Rick agrees but before he can respond, Setah fades into vision beside him. The larger being pushes him hard into the car. He bounces violently off the side door and back into Setah’s grip. He yells out as the being tosses him sideways through the air to crash into a nearby-parked car. He drops his weapon and flashlight as he falls to the pavement. He looks back to his attacker and doesn’t see Setah as Jeff walks around the car with his protector Rel.
“You ok?” Jeff says. He holds his weapon down as he shines the flashlight on Rick. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” Rick says. He reaches for the gun then he stands. He sees the flashlight several feet away.
“Rick! Look out!”
Rick turns around and sees the attacker Notav fade into vision several feet away. He steps back and raises his weapon. Sevol fades into vision to stand beside Rick as Jeff and Rel step up. The four of them stare at Notav.
“You cannot have him,” Sevol says.
“One is all we desire,” Notav says.
The tall shadowy images of Setah and Notav appear directly behind Jeff. They reach out and grab the human before the protectors can stop them. With ease, they toss the smaller being backwards through the air.
Rel strikes Setah to the side then he turns to his Vaun as Jeff slams onto the roof of the car and rolls off to the other side, out of vision.
“Aaaaagh!” Rick yells as he aims his weapon and fires at Notav.
The images of Rel and Setah fade into the darkness. They appear on the other side of the car in front of the Vaun lying on the pavement. Jeff rolls over on his back and looks up. He sees both Setah and Rel standing above him locked in battle.
On the other side of the car, Rick and Sevol step closer to Notav on the ground in front of them. Rick aims the weapon and fires. He focuses only on killing the Molawner that has hunted his family for generations. He fires, blasting the shadowy image again and again across the pavement until Notav lies back first on the curb.
Jeff sees the gun a few feet away from him on the other side of the fighting Rel and Setah. Rel is stronger than Setah but not as quick. Setah strikes his arms up then pushes him in the chest knocking him backwards off balance. Setah turns and strikes the standing Jeff in the head, then he turns to engage the charging Rel. Jeff yells out in pain as his back strikes the side door of the car. He falls forward to his hands and knees.
On the other side of the car, Rick and Sevol stand over the fallen Notav. “I may not be able to kill you in your world but here,” Rick states. His tone reflects years of anger as he aims his weapon. “Your connection to my world is no more.” He pulls the trigger.
Jeff cannot see them, but he hears the blast from the shotgun. He doesn’t know what it means. He doesn’t know that Rick killed Notav. He just sees his protector Rel tossed backwards into the car behind him. He is helpless as the Molawner that has been hunting him since he was eight years old reaches down and grabs his arm.
Rick stares at the fallen Notav as he fades from vision. He hears his friend yell, which causes him to turn around. “Jeff!” He starts to the back of the car and runs around the vehicle with Sevol following. “Jeff!”
The Molawner Setah runs fast down the dark road dragging the smaller human by the arm. The protector Rel chases after them but he cannot catch them in time.
“Jeff!” Rick yells as he charges helplessly down the street after his friend. He yells to Sevol. “Help him!”
“Cannot reach.”
Rick runs as fast as he can, but within seconds, the image of his friend and the Molawners fade from vision. He slows his run to a stop as he yells out, “No!” He turns to Sevol. “We have to go after him!”
“We cannot,” Sevol says.
“No!” Rick yells. “No! No!”
CHAPTER 20
In the back yard, the protectors Drawk and Hydron do nothing. They stand on the patio looking down as their Vaun James walks with Ekabar toward the darkness.
The Allumn Ocyrul slams Rachel and her protector Teelah into the sidewall of the house as they attempt to reach James. The Allumn turns to see Stewart stand then start around the house. He does not want the human to reach his friend.
“James!” Stewart yells as he rounds the corner of the house, “Stop!”
Julie hesitates as she aims the flashlight and the weapon at the vanishing Ocyrul. She sees Rachel and the protector starting to stand.
“James!” Stewart yells, as he watches his friend and Ekabar fade from vision into the darkness of the night. “No!” He turns back to the patio as Hydron and Drawk are fading from vision. “Take me with you!”
Julie runs to stop beside her son as the protectors disappear. She scans to the back yard and sees no sign of James. “Where is he?”
“He’s gone. He went without us!”
“No,” Rachel says in a defeated tone. Her protector Teelah stands beside her.
“He should have waited!” Stewart complains in anger. “He should have waited!” He turns to Teelah and walks to stop several feet away from the tall shadowy image. “Take us there!”
“Cannot.”
“Take us there!” Stewart demands. He doesn’t want to hear anything else. “You have to!”
“I am not connected to his world,” Teelah says.
“I don’t care!” Stewart says.
“She cannot Stewart,” the Professor says as he walks around the corner of the house. He speaks with sadness in his tone. “She cannot no matter how many times you ask her. Teelah is not attached to the same world.” He walks past the Vaun to the young Stewart.
“What world is she from?” Stewart says as he wipes his tearing eyes. “Can we go there?”
The large shadowy image of Ocyrul fades into vision standing behind Rachel and her protector. He reaches out and grabs Teelah and Rachel by the back of their necks. “She is from my world!”
Julie turns as fast as she can, aiming the weapon, but she is too slow.
Ocyrul steps back several feet. He is more powerful than the Molawners and Fearlings. He can exit the world without distance from the humans. He lifts Rachel up in front of him so the human cannot fire her weapon without striking her friend.
Rachel stares at her friends and speaks two words, “My father.” Her voice fades with her as they disappear into the darkness of the night.
“Rachel!” Julie cries.
“They are both gone,” Professor says.
“Can we help them?” Stewart asks. He walks past his crying mom to the older man and speaks with panic and sadness. “Can we help them?”
“I do not know.”
CHAPTER 21
In Ciren, far below in the city of Typol, within the protection of the safe area, Rob talks to Tom. Grandma stands several feet away listening.
“You were taken by the Screamers and then traded to Shanawl?” Rob asks. He doesn’t understand. “Why did they do that?”
“This world is different,” Grandma says. She walks around the two men and stops. She takes a breath then sits down on the smooth black floor. “They trade for almost everything and they do not care who they are trading with as long as they get value for their goods.”
Tom has not been with Shanawl as long as Grandma has. He still wears the clothes he was taken in. He nods with a smile. “Yeah like when do Rob and I get a cool cloak and one of those weapons?”
“What is that weapon you used?” Rob asks.
“Blaster,” Grandma says.
“Blaster…?” Rob asks. He shakes his head at the name, “Nothing cool, just a blaster?”
An area of mist appears on the floor and the cloaked Kynar rises up a few feet away from the humans. “Yes, a Blaster. And they are a common trade just outside the city.”
“I want one,” Tom says.
“Soon we will leave the city and we will get you properly armed and clothed,” Kynar says. “Maybe we will arm you with a weapon of similarity but more powerful. Maybe we will do that.”
“Are we supposed to
wait here, and for how long?” Tom asks. He stops and takes a deep breath to focus. He looks away from Kynar and turns to Rob. He speaks in a sad tone. “Stewart…James. Tell me about them.” Tom has never met his son Stewart or Rob’s son James. He was taken before the kids were born.
“You should see them,” Rob smiles, “they are just like us.”
“His mom…?” Tom asks. “How’s Julie?”
“She’s tough,” Rob says. He thinks about Ann and about what he plans on doing. Shanawl and Kynar have told them that they will try to go after her, but right now, they have to stay within the city. He is trying everything he can to stay calm. Talking to Tom is helping.
“She got a man?”
“No,” Rob says.
“That is what you two choose to talk about?” Grandma asks as she approaches from behind. “Stick men in a world where they can die at any second and they still maintain their foolish pride.”
Rob half smiles but he keeps thinking about what they said earlier, about his son. “Where is Shanawl?”
As if on command, Shanawl rises up from the floor to stand several feet behind them. She speaks with command in her tone. “He is nearing.”
“James?” Rob asks.
“No,” Kynar interrupts his Vaun. “Another.”
“What?” Rob asks, “Who?”
“It is his war.” Shanawl says. “He is the one who hunts us for our power.”
“He is who we flee from,” Kynar says. He watches his Vaun turn to face him.
“Can you defeat him?” Rob asks.
“No.”
“Your son,” Shanawl says. She knows that she has the humans’ attention. “He travels here now.”
“We have to help him,” Rob says. His tone shows his desperation and determination. “Kynar we have to help him.”
“We shall go,” Shanawl says nodding to Grandma.
“I’m going too,” Rob says.
“Me too,” Tom says.
“No,” Grandma says. “We are staying here.” She speaks to them in a tone they are familiar with, a tone that tells them that they do not have a choice. “You two have no weapons and it will be harder for them to protect us all. We stay here with Kynar. That is what we need to do. Shanawl will get your son.”
CHAPTER 22
James fades through the black air and is standing in the middle of a large circular room. The ceiling is thirty feet high and has small red crystals scattered throughout that project the light that allows vision. He holds his shotgun tight as he stares around the room.
Drawk and Hydron stand several feet behind the human. Their hooded cloaks hide their identity from his vision. They can sense that they have no time to stand there.
“We have to leave, James.” Hydron demands.
Loud screaming roars erupt from around the room as several entrances fade through the walls. They have nowhere to go. The Screamers charge from all angles rushing towards them fast.
“Holy…” James says as he raises his shotgun not sure where to aim. “What? What do we do?”
“Prepare,” Drawk says. He and Hydron simultaneously reach back and draw their weapons. They position James between them as they ready for the charging Screamers.
“There’s too many of them!” James yells.
“Yes,” Drawk says.
“Ready,” Hydron says.
“Aaaaagh!” James yells. He fires, the attack blasts two Screamers to the ground and James turns firing again.
Hydron steps forward and stabs his weapon in and out of a Screamer, and then he spins around stabbing another.
Drawk knocks a Screamers’ arms up then stabs the weapon in and out then Drawk turns to engage another.
A thin mist appears on the ceiling above the fight. A second later, Shanawl lowers down to land beside James. She fires her blaster exploding into the attacking Screamers, knocking multiple Screamers to the floor.
A Screamer reaches James and grabs him from the back. Before the Screamer can finish his attack, Shanawl blasts him sideways a few feet away.
CHAPTER 23
In the safe area, Rob and Tom pace anxiously as they wait for Shanawl. Grandma stands beside Kynar while both are scanning the area.
“He has armies of armies under his power,” Kynar says. “Their numbers are immeasurable and no world will be able to defend against them.” He stops and stares up.
At the top of the dome shaped room, a loud low pitch roar erupts. A second later a thin blue pillar of light shines down.
“He’s here,” Kynar says. His tone is calm as he stares up to the light. “You have to hide.”
“Where…?” Rob asks.
“Below,” Kynar says. The floor mists, allowing the four of them to lower down and land in a small circular room. The outer walls are white. The floor and ceiling are the smooth black surface of the city.
“What’s going on?” Rob asks. He looks to Grandma for answers like he used to before she was taken.
Grandma looks to the cloaked Kynar. She speaks with determination. “Will he find us?”
“Yes,” Kynar says.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tom says. He scans the walls and sees no sign of an exit. “Make one of those doors appear or something.”
“There is nowhere we can hide,” Kynar says. He turns to Rob and stares at his Vaun. “There is only one way for survival.”
“What?” Rob asks.
“Trade,” Kynar says.
“Trade what?
“…myself for your free travel out of the city,” Kynar says.
“He will take you for your power Kynar,” Grandma says. “Then he will kill you.”
“I will give him reason not to end me,” Kynar says.
“What?” Rob says. He steps forward as Kynar rises straight up into the forming mist on the ceiling. “Don’t!”
Tom steps back as Kynar vanishes from vision. He looks to Grandma and Rob a few feet away. “What do we do?”
“Simple,” Grandma says. She smiles at her words as she says them. “We wait."
CHAPTER 24
Drawk stabs his weapon forward ending a Screamer, and then he turns and strikes another in the back before it attacks James. James turns and fires his last shot as the Screamer starts to stand. “Aaaaagh!” James swings the shotgun striking a Screamer in the back as it attacks Hydron.
Shanawl is much stronger and faster than the Screamers. She ends multiple Screamers with ease as she stabs her weapon and blasts others to the floor. She raises one arm and the floor beneath them turns to mist.
James, Drawk, Hydron, and Shanawl lower down into the mist along with multiple Screamers. They rise up in the middle of a long rectangular room. The smooth gray ceiling is twenty feet above them. James steps back as the three beings engage and quickly end the remaining Screamers.
In several sections along the wall, entrances fade open, and the Screamer Layvon enters with several larger Screamers behind him. Across the room several more appear.
“Can we beat them?” James asks.
“You are like your father,” Shanawl responds. Her tone shows no fear of the situation.
“Can we?”
“No,” Shanawl says. She raises her hand and aims her blaster at Layvon.
“Wait!” Layvon orders as he stops walking. The Screamers behind him obey. He speaks to the Allumns protecting the human. “Trade the Vaun and you shall live.”
“No!” Drawk roars.
“Leave!” Hydron says.
James stands in silence as he looks back to the Screamers slowly approaching from behind.
“Trade him for your ability to live,” Layvon says. He steps forward and speaks with cold calculation. “Decide!”
A thin blue mist appears beside Shanawl and the Allumn Ekabar fades into vision. His cloak hides his identity as he looks back to James between Hydron and Drawk. “Still being brave are you?”
“Now we can defeat them,” Shanawl says.
CHAPTER 25
In the safe
area, Kynar stands by himself talking to the hooded Being that the Allumns fear.
“Allow their freedom through the city and I am yours,” Kynar says. “I will serve you.”
Fearlings Three (The Fearlings Series Book 3) Page 6