AFTERMATH (Descendants Saga)

by James Somers

  “Or what?” Michael added.

  “Perhaps we should tell the king,” Donner wondered.

  Michael noticed something just off the bow ahead in the storm. “What is that?” he cried. “Hard to port!”

  But it was too late.

  What Michael had seen was an approaching mirror image of their vessel. Donner had thrown the helm to port, but the other ship had come right along with them. There was nothing they could do to avoid it.

  The S.S. Blackstone smashed into an immovable object, driving the bow of the ship up and back. The deck boards bent, splintered and gave way with sickening cracks. Every loose item and person on board was thrown forward by the Blackstone’s pent up inertia.

  The crew members, waiting half sick below deck, were tossed around the berthing area like rag dolls. Bone and flesh slammed into metal bunk frames, support posts and walls. Where inertia had thrown them forward, the sea attempted to throw them back again.

  Donner and Michael had been thrown forward also. Michael had hit the wall below the bridge window. Donner had been hurled through the glass. He had landed out on deck as incomprehensible forces buckled the superstructure, resulting in a shattered, twisting wreckage that ground together and swallowed him up like some raging sea monster. Water flooded in over the top to wash him down.

  What Michael had noticed just before the crash had not been another ship coming at them. Rather, it had been a reflection of the Blackstone coming back to them from an impenetrable force field established by the angel, Black, and the cherubim. In fact, the lightning storm boiling in the sky all around them was a direct result of their power unleashed upon the physical plane here.

  Ireland had been surrounded by an energy field. The storm also ringed the island in the fields wake, churning up the sea in the process. Anyone attempting to leave would be prevented—met with equally opposing force.

  This force had now destroyed the S.S. Blackstone and killed most of its crew. Donner had been ground to pieces amongst the twisting wreckage of wood and steel. The Blackstone’s human crew had faired little better. Below deck, a dozen men lay dead or dying with severe head trauma and multiple broken bones. The ship itself was now sinking beneath the waves.

  Water flooded the lower decks first, drowning the few crew members that had not perished immediately there. Michael, woke to sea water lapping at his face, gurgling inside the bridge as trapped air escaped every nook and cranny. He shook himself and called for his brother. None answered. There was blood in the water around him. A gash somewhere on the left side of his head dripped red down the side of his face onto his jacket.

  He could see now the shimmering energy barrier that had destroyed his ship. However, Michael still had no idea how it had gotten there, or who might have produced it. With his brother and his crew apparently dead, all he could think of was to escape. Others must know what had happened—that this energy field was here.

  Michael shook his head to clear his blurred vision. He found enough strength to teleport. His destination was the palace at Rockunder. Someone had to tell the Shade King.

  Trapped

  Brody was there when the Leprechaun fisherman was brought soaking wet into the palace in order to stand before Brian Shade. They had been enjoying a fine dinner while discussing tactics and strategy for dealing with the looming threat on its way from England. Redclaw and Laish were also in attendance this evening, sitting with Brody, the Shade King and his Royal Advisor, Connic, at a round table that was just big enough for them all.

  Two guards escorted the man inside the chamber and waited with him as he stood before the king and his guests.

  “What is this?” Brian asked. “Jon, who is this man?”

  “My lord, this is Michael Blackstone,” Jon said. “He owns a fleet of fishing vessels.”

  “Yes, yes,” the king said. “But why is he dripping on my floor?” Brian stood, approaching the Leprechaun fisherman. “Good grief, man, you look in terrible shape.”

  “My ship was destroyed only moments ago, Your Majesty,” Michael attempted to explain. “My brother and our entire crew were killed.”

  Brody watched the exchange. “How was your ship destroyed?” he asked.

  Michael glanced at the king’s guests seated at the table but made sure to only address his lord directly. “A barrier of energy, like a wall or dome, destroyed the ship when we ran into it,” Michael answered. “An unnatural storm is also present in the North Channel. We had a terrible time. Then this wall was suddenly in our path. I believe the storm and the wall are connected somehow, but I can’t imagine who or what could generate that kind of power.”

  Brody and Laish shared a grim look.

  Redclaw grunted. “The same things that could devastate the entire spiritual plane, if you ask me.”

  “The cherubim,” Laish muttered somberly.

  “But why?” Brody asked. “Why would they create a barrier?”

  “If it surrounds the entire island, they could be trying to keep us from escaping,” Redclaw said. “When you lay siege to a city, those inside starve until they’re ready to surrender to the army waiting outside of the walls.”

  “But we have enough resources to live well indefinitely,” the king said.

  “Then Black could be attempting to keep us inside, so that we can’t escape the army he’s sending from Britain,” Brody surmised.

  “Let them come,” the king said. “No human army can defeat my men.”

  Brody’s gaze narrowed. “And Black has to know that already.”

  Redclaw glanced at Laish still sitting in his chair. The old elf wizard rubbed his chin, staring out into space. “What are you thinking, old man?” Redclaw asked.

  Laish looked up at the troll warrior. “What if the army he’s sending isn’t human after all?”

  “What else could they be?” Shade asked. “Most Descendants on the spiritual plane came here with you, right?”

  “The vampire population is in Russia, for the most part,” Cole said, walking into the room.

  Brody smiled at the boy. “He’s right. Besides, I doubt they would join any army that Gladstone was putting together.”

  “There are other Descendant populations in the human world, but none so numerous or powerful that they could hope to defeat those in Ireland,” Redclaw said. “We have nearly all of the Lycan population, trolls, elves, and the Leprechauns, of course.”

  “Exactly,” the king said. “We must be at least thirty thousand strong here. What could Gladstone possibly send against us?”

  Brody considered the puzzle before them. “That’s a question we had better answer before the time comes to fight.”

  Redclaw stood. “Then we had better get to work figuring out how to get a team off of this island to find out what’s coming.”

  Instead of accompanying the others to investigate the barrier Black had created to keep us trapped in Ireland, I had gone to find my best friend, Sadie. She was with her mother in Highmore at the castle where we lived. When I arrived, her mother was speaking to group of Lycan elders about matters between the Leprechauns and our group of Descendants. The king and Sadie’s father had made peace, and Brian Shade had granted Highmore’s citizens free access to the Leprechaun city of Rockunder.

  Despite the loss of their beloved city of Tidus, Sophia still acted as a queen to her citizens. The Lycans were a proud people and they intended to go on, not disintegrate into a loose rabble of beings with no culture and no place to call home. Already, the elders and their queen talked of a way to rebuild, of reclaiming the spiritual plane somehow so that Tidus might live again.

  The very thought seemed doomed to failure, though. How could the Descendants possibly return to the spiritual realm? Thanks to my foolishness, the cherubim had been released. Black had tricked me, and I had been only too eager to fall into his trap, doing the dirty work for him in the Underworld.

  My grandfather had blamed Brody for what had happened—at least, he had at first. And, certainly, the d
ragon would not have been destroyed and the cherubim freed apart from the use of the twin swords, Malak-esh, in the hands of Brody and Sadie. But I knew the real reason. Brody had only come to the Underworld to save Sadie and me. Without me running off with his daughter to have my revenge, Brody would never have been there in the first place.

  Queen Sophia was dressed elegantly today in a silk gown with lace embroidery, as she usually was when out in public before her people. She had an image to uphold, for the sake of her Lycans if nothing else. She also insisted that Sadie do the same.

  As the daughter of the Lycan Queen, she wore a simpler version of her mother’s attire. I often teased Sadie for this inconvenience. She was somewhat of a tomboy, thanks to my influence, and that of her father. Her mother was a bit critical of how Brody taught her to fight, at least in front of others. I was sure that she was secretly relieved that her daughter could handle herself well, if need be. After all, the queen was no slouch in a battle, from the stories I had heard.

  Sadie had spotted me looking into the wide room where her mother stood addressing the ministers of her cabinet. She scrunched her nose at me, annoyed that I was free to go about while she remained stuck in another boring meeting. I waved to her, urging her to come with me. There was news to tell from the palace, but I certainly wasn’t going to interrupt the queen during her meeting.

  I withdrew my head around the corner of the open doorway as the queen glanced back in my direction. She might have seen her daughter looking this way and wondered what had distracted her. She went back to speaking a moment later, so I guess she hadn’t seen me here.

  Sadie poked me from behind. I turned to find her standing there, only her clothing had been changed from an elegant young lady’s dress to breeches and a shirt and jacket like she preferred. “Your mother will notice,” I whispered.

  Sadie grinned at me. “She knew you were here,” she said. “When she looked back at me, she winked.”

  “Oh, well, okay then,” I puzzled. “As long as she’s not mad at me for taking you away.”

  “Are you kidding?” Sadie asked. “I’ve been sitting there for an hour, listening to them drone on about this and that. Honestly, I don’t know that I would ever want to be a queen, if it’s going to be so boring.”

  We stepped away from the door. “Hold my hand,” I said, offering my right to her.

  She grinned. “As long as your not getting fresh with me, Cole,” she said.

  I wrinkled my nose at the thought. “Fresh with my friend? What are you even talking about?”

  Sadie rolled her eyes and took my hand.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure what had gotten into her over the past few months. She was acting more like one of the older girls every day. Frankly, it disturbed me. What was happening to my best friend?

  “Why do I have to hold your hand to teleport?” she asked.

  “Because we’re going to do it like the Leprechauns do,” I explained. “I’ve been working it out, but I can’t bring someone with me apart from holding on to them.”

  I closed my eyes and imagined our destination in the city of the Leprechauns. The location was underground, but now that I had traveled back and forth, I knew its location in relation to the village. Still, it wasn’t as though we were going to teleport into solid rock or anything like that. Teleporting requires an open destination, like sending water down a pipe. If the way is blocked by something else occupying the space, you just can’t go.

  I felt that I had our destination in mind. Normally, Sadie might have interrupted in order to annoy me, but she must have been excited to try this new method as much as I was. Instead of sending us forward to Rockunder, I pulled our destination to us. I heard Sadie gasp. When I opened my eyes, the city lay all around us.

  Brody stood upon the deck of the S.S. Shamrock, another fishing vessel owned by Michael Blackstone. Though he had lost his brother only ten hours ago in the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland, he had consented to taking our group, including the Shade King, on this journey to see the barrier he had reported.

  Dusk was already upon them as they left Galway heading west into the Atlantic. Passing the Aran Islands they had come face to face with the storm Michael had spoken of from his fateful voyage with his brother. Redclaw and Laish stood at the bow with Brody as the choppy sea grew tumultuous before them.

  Lightning flashed among the dark clouds above as strikes came down steadily to the sea, warning away anyone foolish enough to sail into such weather. Brian Shade appeared at Brody’s shoulder. He had been on the bridge with Michael Blackstone a second ago.

  “Blackstone says this is the same thing he and his brother saw before their ship was destroyed,” Brian said.

  Brody turned to the Leprechaun King, nodding. “I wonder if we should venture out further to find out more about this shield.”

  “We could get closer and see if we can penetrate it somehow,” Laish offered.

  Redclaw huffed beside him. “We could also get everyone onboard killed in the process. Look at it!” he shouted over the din of the storm. “Do you really think either of you has the kind of power it would take to breach that monstrosity?”

  Brody and Laish glanced at one another. Redclaw was obviously being realistic. If this had been generated by Black with the help of the cherubim—and who else could it have been—then they had no hope of overpowering the spell at work here.

  “At least, we’ve answered the question of its perimeter,” Shade said. “Clearly, this barrier and the accompanying storm extends all the way around Ireland.”

  “And I’ve been pushing out beyond the storm for a destination to teleport, since we spotted the clouds,” Brody offered. “I can’t find a way through.”

  “Same here,” Laish added. “He’s blocked us in.”

  “Well, I’m sure, he and Gladstone will have no problem bringing their army through when the time comes,” Redclaw said.

  “So we can’t even get a team out to see what we’re up against?” Brian asked. “Surely there must be some way of bypassing this—perhaps through the spiritual plane?”

  “Except, the cherubim have destroyed it,” Redclaw said. “Anyone going back would be facing the very ones whose power created this barrier.”

  “Besides,” Brody added, “I don’t know of any direct connections open between our kingdoms in the spiritual realm and the mortal world.”

  “Then we’ve no way to know what’s coming,” Shade said.

  Brody nodded, feeling sullen as the wind and rain battered him. “We’ll just have to be ready for anything.”

  Acquainted

  I had successfully transported us into the city of Rockunder using the same method Connic had when he escorted our group earlier. It was less dramatic, a smoother transition, certainly. I had quite enjoyed it.

  “Very nice,” Sadie said. “You’ll have to show me how to do that.”

  I bowed playfully, and she laughed.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “It will be nice when all of Highmore comes to see it. They might never want to go back to the town.”

  I was smiling with her, looking again in wonder at the sights in this magnificent city, when I remembered why I had brought her here. “Everyone is in danger,” I reported.

  “You mean the British army that’s coming?” she asked.

  “There’s more to it than that now,” I answered. “Apparently, a barrier of energy has been constructed to keep us from escaping Ireland when Gladstone brings his army.”

  “Are we afraid of humans now?” Sadie asked.

  “Your father seems to think that Black has something other than humans to send against us…something we might actually run from.”

  “Oh.”

  “Your father and the king went with Redclaw and Laish to investigate,” I said. “We need a way to get to London and see what we’re up against. Near as I can tell, teleporting is out. I even tried the Leprechaun method, but I was completely blocked beyond the islan
d.”

  “There has to be some way, even if we don’t see it yet,” Sadie surmised.

  We had been walking through the streets of Rockunder on the opposite wall of the cavern from where Connic had brought us before. The Palace stood not far away, the golden jewel of the city. Another training center waited ahead. I had been leading us here purposely.

  Sadie noticed our destination as gunshots rang out. We had passed through the invisible barrier that kept the din of the quads away from the rest of the city. Essentially, these cacophonous war zones in Rockunder had been silenced long ago by spell casters.

  “Why are we at the quads?” she asked.

  “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  I spotted Adolf easily. I had been following his scent for the past ten minutes. Just another vampire attribute inherited from my mother. If Sadie had known who we were looking for then she, as a Lycan, could have easily done as well tracking our prey.

  Adolf had been lifting free weights in one of the exercise pods. I noticed him setting down a set of bar bells that each weighed one hundred pounds. No wonder his strikes felt like lead pipes. I had surmised, by his ability to fly in human form, that he could be a sprite. However, sprites were not known to be so strong. And Adolf was still very young. Questions for another day.

  We approached him. Sadie seemed unsure. “Who is he?” she asked.

  “He’s the one Liam challenged a week ago.”

  Sadie’s eyes widened with surprise. “The healers just finished binding him up yesterday.”

  Adolf was suddenly there before us. “Hi, Cole,” he said, never taking his eyes off of Sadie.

  “Adolf, this is my best friend, Sadie. She is the daughter of Brody and Sophia of the Lycans.”

  He took her hand, bowing at the waist. “I am honored, Princess Sadie,” he said.

  Sadie smiled. “A pleasure to meet you, Adolf. Cole tells me it was you that put the Leprechaun prince in his place the other day.”

  Adolf straightened. “I suppose I shouldn’t have been so hard on him,” he admitted. “You must think me a monster, Princess.”