Leviathan's King (The Search for the Brights Book 3)

by Aaron Thomas

  Sahera tiptoed around the bar to see the girl clutching her knees to her chest, she opened her mouth to beg, but nothing escaped.

  Sahera shushed her, “Come, girl, I mean you no harm.” Sahera held out an empty hand and waited for the reluctant girl to stand.

  The small brown-headed girl clutched a cleaning rag as if it was a shield between Sahera and her. Leading the girl by the hand, she stepped over the bodies still breathing on the floor until she came to the man who had harassed the girl.

  “You should not worry my child, he cannot harm you now,” Sahera said, pulling a knife out of her belt.

  “I have used a poison to incapacitate him. He can still hear, see, and feel, but he cannot move. Take the knife and get your justice,” Sahera said to the girl.

  The girl shook her head no as she stood trembling over the man.

  “If you do not take this moment to kill him, his face will forever torment you. Stand up for yourself child and show him you are not afraid,” Sahera urged the girl.

  Still, the wench shook her head and denied taking her revenge.

  “Why will you not kill this man?” Sahera asked.

  The girl let out a small whimper, “He’s my father.”

  Sahera stood and pulled the knife away from the girl, “Leave. Go home and gather your things and leave. Your father will not live through the night.”

  The girl backed into a chair before turning to run out in terror. Sahera pulled back the raven feather lined hood from her face and looked down at the man.

  “You will be last,” She said turning his head to the side so he could watch her work.

  The first man she stood over Sahera knew she would have to make killing fast to not chicken out. His eyes watered, not from poison but from the internal struggle to beg for his life. She placed a narrow dagger to the man’s chest and slipped the blade into his heart. Shortly after she felt the control that she had over his body and the darkness that slipped into her. Yes, she knew the next would be easy.

  Sahera moved about the room breathing in what was the soul she just consumed. Like a good wine, she felt it warm her body. She slit one man’s neck so the blood would drain to the floor. Another poked with a second poison which set his body into violent tremors. She carried on with the harvesting of souls, snapping the neck of a third and suffocating a fourth.

  Each one she killed in a different way so that not one man’s injuries were the same. When she had finished, Sahera turned the girl's father towards her soulless slave still sitting in the corner.

  She made him watch as all the injuries from the men on the floor transferred to the husk in the corner. All of the recently killed men healed and her soulless assumed the damage. There would be no recovering the body of the one soulless, but now she had many. Sahara's new minions grabbed the only living man in the building and dragged him by his feet into the street. On her way out she picked a lantern from the wall and broke it on the floor causing the oil to spill out and flames to consume the bar.

  In the street, she straddled the man starting to recover from his poison. She watched as his finger began to twitch as he desperately tried to move. His eyes flickered between her and his reanimated friends now standing emotionless over him. She waited until his hands began to move the slightest amount. He tried to swallow, but Sahera clutched his neck in her hand. Sahera squeezed until she felt the cartilage crack in her grasp. The man’s lips turned blue, and still, he struggled to lift his limbs from the ground. Feebly, he raked his fingers along her arm before he stopped moving. Slowly, the man’s eyes faded while still locked with her’s. Yes, she thought, He is begging for death. She claimed yet another of the soulless.

  The girl’s father stood after her group of soulless all skipped a breath. His body reborn under her control she stood looking at her new group of soldiers. Sixteen men stood around her, but she knew which one she would torture most, “I am going to call you Kevin.”

  Even though she knew the man was already stripped of his soul and mind, she wanted to see his body suffer for the things that he had done.

  **********

  Ray scratched his red beard and readied himself to train Kilen in things besides just using a sword. The boy had done just as the Elders had predicted he would since leaving Idleton. Ray wished he would have known then that he would be assigned to teach him the ways of being a king. He could have gotten a head start in the idle moments they roomed together.

  Ray had slept under the belly of the giant dragon statue just outside of Levithan. It had been a while since he’d seen one of the creatures, but its likeness was an exact match. The sun fell on the stone replica, and he knew it was time to leave.

  He mounted his roan and picked up the flag bearing the symbol of the Elder Wizards. Each element represented equally in a circle, flapping in the wind on the flags white background. He was nervous about approaching Leviathan. It had been almost ten years since he had been outside of Idleton and away from the Elders. Kilen was as close as he had come to the outside, at least he was on his way to help the boy.

  Ray’s heavily armored body clanked as he rode forward at a trot. There was no way to keep the armor silent on the massive horse's body, so he didn’t try. He knew once he arrived he would need to make a show of the Elder Wizards blessing. He thought he might as well let them know he was coming by the sound of his armor.

  The towers and arches of Leviathan called to him. He had longed for the day when he would be allowed to come home, and that day was finally here. He hoped that his presence in the city would not be a cause for conflict since he was the last man to sit on the throne. The choice to return so soon had not been his but orders from the Elders.

  As Ray neared one of three bridges into the city, he saw a group of around twenty Earth Realm soldiers. They were laying about with armor strewn here and there. They must have heard him coming because they scrambled to put on their armor and pick up their weapons. He heard one of them shout with relief that it was not their commander.

  Ray kept his distance trying to let the soldiers calm themselves before he crossed the final distance. Some watched him and pulled their weapons out as if waiting for him to attack. If he wanted to attack them, he would have done it when they were not prepared. He held his flag steady and watched as one of the soldiers was put on horseback and sent galloping away towards the Earth Realm camp.

  The small force finally formed ranks across the bridge with two archers in the back and soldiers with pikes and swords in front. If these were trained wielders he was going to have a hard time if it came down to a fight. He hoped the situation would not turn that grim. He was so close to his city, yet with them blocking his way it seemed leagues away.

  “State your name and business,” one of the soldiers cried out.

  “My name is my own, and my business is to represent the Elders Wizards to the new king,” Ray said, standing his ground.

  The man looked nervous, looking back and forth between the others on the bridge.

  Ray had always found it easier to deal with nervous men if you were standing on their own level. Quietly, he strapped the flag to the pommel and stepped down. For a moment his back was turned to the group of men, and they advanced, closing half the distance to him.

  In one motion Ray turned, pulled his sword free, and used his magic to cause a wave of the earth roll towards the men. Most of the men landed on their faces and the ones that didn’t skidded to a stop. Ray pointed his sword at the face of the nearest. The man looked as though he would soil himself at any moment. The group of soldiers stood and helped each other to their feet as Ray waited.

  “What are your orders here?” Ray asked.

  No one answered. The soldier that had spoken earlier was still wiping the blood from his nose finally took the sword he had dropped from another man, and stepped forward.

  “Surely your commander has given you more orders than to stand on a bridge and harass travelers,” Ray said sarcastically.

  The soldier in c
harge finally spoke, “There is no admittance into Leviathan. Anyone seeking entry needs to take it up with our Captain.”

  Ray had traveled a long way to Leviathan and waited an even longer time to be able to return just to be turned away. He knew the laws and knew that no captain of the Earth Realm had authority to block Leviathan’s gates.

  “I will speak with this Captain, where is he?” Ray asked, getting frustrated.

  “He’s in our camp,” the soldier said pointing behind Ray. “There.”

  “Is he not welcome inside Leviathan?” Ray asked, looking towards the camp. The large roan stood firm in his spot as the Elder’s flag flapped in the wind. It was the only sound that Ray heard other than their voices and the rhythmic clasp of water on the bridge.

  “Sir, Leviathan is under siege,” The soldier said.

  Ray took a moment to gather the right words before speaking, “Putting Leviathan under siege is a violation of Elder Wizard’s Law. As ambassador to the Elder Wizards, I order you leave, and no harm will come to you and your men.”

  Some of the men looked nervously at one another and took preparations to fight. Ray knew there were no wielders in their ranks.

  “Sir, we can’t do that. You need to speak with our captain so we can have orders to move,” The soldier said with a shaky voice.

  Ray exhaled loudly to show his frustration, “I am not waiting around for one of you to fetch your commander. You had better decide right now whether or not it would be better to stand in my way or disobey orders. Either way, in a few moments I will walk over that bridge.”

  “Our commander gave orders for anyone that disobeyed him, Sir; We will have to fight you,” The commander said in a wavering voice.

  “Suit yourself,” Ray said not waiting for the men to start killing each other for abandoning their post.

  He walked slowly with his sword pointing at the ground. The archers released arrows that were shattered by a gust of wind. The ground trembled as he walked, giving the swordsmen an unsteady footing. A couple archers that had the sense to retreat to the stable bridge pulled the second arrow but found their hands soon frozen to their bow strings. A second blast of wind sent the swordsmen sprawling around him.

  Ray shook his head in disappointment. He wondered why Kilen allowed these men to keep the citizens of the realm from entering the city. He looked down on the heavily-armored men struggling to the right themselves and held out a single hand. Roots snapped out of the ground on his command, binding the soldier’s limbs to the earth.

  Finally, the commander revealed himself as a wielder by letting a blast of fire burst out of his hand. Ray rolled to the side and watch the flames land on the beach. Ray commanded water to not only extinguish the flames but douse the commander with water that left him choking for breath.

  A third blast of wind sent the remaining archers over the bridge's edge and into the cool waters of Lake Leviathan. “Commander, I will issue this warning: you know I could kill every last one of you right now, but I haven’t. Go to your captain and tell him he has one day to clear his soldiers out of the area and back into the Heathmos pass. If he fails to comply with these orders I will kill twenty men a day until he has no more men to stand here,” Ray said with his back to the struggling men.

  Ray gave a whistle to which his large roan responded. It walked the path amongst the men his rider had made until it could nudge him with his nose. Ray took the reins and walked across the bridge listening as the men slowly freed themselves.

  He did not look back but used water vision to watch as the commander sent riders out to relay his message. He smiled and hoped that it would not come to killing.

  Listening to the reverberating sound of his horse's shoes on the ice-like stones of the bridge, he breathed deeply. The lake air reminded him of home, and he was glad to already be doing something to liberate it.

  Looking at the walls, he saw that no one was manning them. There should have been men spaced out along the battlements, but he saw not a soul. He heard no shouts or noises from the inside of the castle, only the sound of his horse and the waves.

  The large crystal like gate stood in his way as the only hindrance left before him. With a gauntleted fist, he pounded three times on the massive gate. Only when he shouted did he hear any reaction from inside. Even then it took a few moments before he saw a face look down to the bridge from atop the walls.

  “Uhm, state your business,” an elderly man called down nervously.

  The man was far too old to be manning the walls. No wonder there was no one in the battlements, they were too decrepit to stand all day.

  “My name is Ray, I am here on behalf of the Elder Wizards to welcome the new king of Leviathan. Would you open the gates?” Ray asked as if it was a command more than a question.

  Chapter 8 - Long Live the King

  Waterfowl flew by the windows calling out to each other as Ria and Twilix sat in the antechamber to the library. Every so often a crate of books would be walked into the library and placed on the shelves. Since Kilen’s leaving the slow work of simply maintaining the castle seemed mundane to Twlix. She rubbed her eyes trying to keep them straight enough to see the writings in front of her.

  Turning the last page, Twilix sighed and slowly closed her book. She put it softly on the pile of books that had been read. She stood and stretched from another long sitting in the wizard-grown chairs. Her foot touched a cup at her feet. She had nearly forgotten the tea that Ria had made.

  The last couple days Twilix had a hard time keeping any food down. Ria’s peppermint tea remedy had helped calm her stomach enough that the vegetable soup she was served stayed in its place. Pleased with the tea, she picked up the cup and finished the cold contents. Everyone said she needed to rest because of the illness. Twilix suggested it was her separation from her husband and hoped that Kilen hadn’t fallen ill as well.

  Kilen had only been gone for a few days, but with each time Twilix met up with him, she felt closer. She also felt the separation more. Her body shuddered as she thought of losing him during her old age.

  Trying to get rid of the feeling, Twilix strode through the door into the library. Books lay all over with no rhyme or reason behind their order. She knew as Ria dove into the books they would find their way to specific sections of the library. Before that could happen, they need to get shelves made. Twilix squatted down and started fumbling through books. Any that she had read she put into one stack, another for books that may have accounts or knowledge of soul wizards. The third stack was anything that was left over.Twilix gave a small laugh at the thought that Ria may have been separating the same books in a different manner.

  She reached down and picked up a book from the stack giving a history battles fought in the Heathmos Pass. She wondered if there might be tactics used to fight the Dark Army contained in its passages. Books on history were not her favorite type, so she tucked it under her arm for Ria. Picking up a book titled, “Aura’s and Detriments,” she smiled. She knew the use of Aura’s was forbidden by wizards and wondered if the book contained the knowledge of a soul wizard’s aura.

  Already flipping through the book, she walked out of the library to see Ria was still sitting where she had left her. If it weren't the constant movement of the woman’s fingers on the page, she would look like a statue. Twilix placed the history book on top of a small stack next to Ria. The earth wizard’s eyes went to the book and then back to the page she was on.

  Twilix sat in a fine chair and flipped through the book, skimming the chapter titles. The first few chapters were accounts of wizards missing auras to manipulate someone to do their bidding. The next chapter was how the Elder Wizards banned the use of auras and their arguments behind the issue.

  Twilix skipped to the middle and finally found a description of a soul wizard. The symbol of a smoking skull-headed the chapter, but she soon found it was speculation more than fact. Twilix’s concentration was broken when Ria cleared her throat.

  “Auras? You have a
desire to learn more about them?” Ria asked.

  Twilix hadn’t even noticed the woman staring at her, but that was the way Ria was. One moment oblivious to the world, the next moment you were the rabbit in her eagle eye.

  “I was hoping that I might find out a little bit more about a soul wizard’s aura. Auras are often paired with detriments so why wouldn’t a soul wizards be?” Twilix asked.

  Ria closed her book and tapped the cover, “That’s an interesting thought. I have read a bit about a soul wizard’s detriment, although I cannot remember where. They most often acted out of desperation and depression. I would suppose their aura would be able to push that feeling upon others just as a water wizard would push passivity onto someone or a fire wizard passion and anger.”

  Twilix nodded, understanding that it was forbidden for her to push her passive detriment onto someone else for her own means. The Elder Wizards argued that pushing your emotions through auras kept the victim from using free will. If you had no free will then any action you took was the fault of the wizard. The concept would ruin politics, business, and even relationships, so it was forbidden to be performed on another human.

  Twilix closed her book, “What about a spirit wizard?”

  Ria sat up, “A spirit wizard? What makes you interested in the rumor of spirit wizards?”

  “It is a name I have heard a few times since being around Kilen. He has asked me to research its accounts so that we may be prepared for anything,” Twilix said.

  Ria reached a hand out for the book that Twilix was holding. She handed it to the frail looking wizard and waited for the next question. Ria flipped through the pages and finally came to the back of the book. “This book has nothing on spirit wizards, but in looking at its pages, it reminds me of something. As a young wizard, it was explained to me that every element has its polar opposite, not just in magic but in detriment and aura. If we assumed that a soul wizard had an opposite to provide balance, it might be a spirit wizard. A type of wizard we know even less about.”