Arielle came back, and started to explain immediately about the strange race with four arms, and the sprites and dryad they had faced.
Arielle concluded, “But they left yesterday, the council isn’t sure where.”
She sighed, “That has to be the aliens, maybe one of the ships made it down, or they abandoned ship. I don’t know where they went either, but I bet they plan to come back, and much better prepared to face you now that they know about magic and the balance.”
Bria grunted, “How can you be sure?”
She shrugged, “It is just speculation, but something will happen in that location, it makes more sense for it to be related, than something completely different.”
John nodded, “I agree, coincidence is possible, but all things being equal…”
Kurien nodded, “Regardless, we should probably start back.”
Katie looked up, she could still hear the rain against the canopy, she wasn’t looking forward to more, but he was right.
As they packed up the camp, Arielle told them about the soldiers that passed yesterday, that they would surely come across them. Katie explained what soldiers were, and that they worked for the governing body of the country, which made her have to explain what a republic was. By the time she got through that long explanation, they were packed up and ready go.
They went out into the rain, it was dreary, but at least the thunder and lightning, and the heart of the storm, was far to the north.
Chapter 18 – Sean
Cassie scowled said insistently, “I’m going.”
Sean studied her for a moment, not really thrilled with the idea. He’d asked her to stay back because he was worried about her, but he knew she had the right to face her tormentor. Nathaniel needed to die, possibly painfully, and Cassie was determined to be a part of it.
They were ready to move, they had thirty-five of the zombies, plus Cynthia, Cassie, and himself.
He nodded, “I understand, but I want you to stay in the back with us, let the zombies take the brunt of the work. They are easily replaced and hard to destroy.”
Cassie’s scowl faded when she got her way, and she nodded reluctantly in agreement, “I promise,” and kissed his cheek.
They set off west toward town, he knew this had to be done, but that didn’t mean he liked the idea. He could still direct his zombies from a distance, and he’d left thirty-seven back at the school for defense, but he hoped nothing happened while he was gone regardless. It shouldn’t take long, maybe a couple of hours at a walk each way. Nathaniel wasn’t that far away, he was holed up in one of the large mansions, or at least had been a day ago, when they were attacked.
They encountered a few people on their way there, but all of them ran at the sight of them. No one wanted to risk the unknown with a group of thirty-eight people, so he couldn’t really blame them.
Cassie took his hand as they entered one of the nicer neighborhoods, and he squeezed her hand. She was obviously nervous, but her determination to be there and help was greater. Cynthia took his arm, she wasn’t nervous at all, and simply wanted to be near him. Her loving smile when he looked over at her brightened his grim demeanor and lightened his heart, despite what they were planning to do.
When they arrived at the estate, the gates were locked with a simple chain and padlock, he could also sense two life forces beyond the gate standing guard. He could have his zombies rip the gate down, they were strong and many, but he thought a little stealth wouldn’t hurt, and reached out with his power.
He ripped the first life force out fast and hard, the man only had a couple of moments to gasp.
He heard the other man say, “Gene? You okay?”
Even as Gene collapsed to the ground, he reached out and did the same to guard number two before he realized it was an attack and screamed a warning, and ripped his life force out as well. After, he raised them and he felt a little high on the power. He wondered if he’d ever get used to the rush, the feeling of invincibility when he was filled with life.
He also wondered at the changes in him. He hadn’t noticed, but Cynthia told him this morning he looked… younger. When he examined himself in the mirror, he looked more like he was thirty, instead of thirty-five. It was subtle, but the small lines that had grown around his eyes were missing, and the few gray hairs that had grown in were gone.
It was as if taking the life of others… regressed his.
Gene, and Tony, he got the name from their memories, walked out from their concealed position, and unlocked the gate. Now they were forty strong for the attack, seventy-five zombies now, including the ones back at the school and Cynthia.
The driveway was long, and he didn’t start feeling life forces until they were halfway down it. There were two men outside the door, who ran inside as soon as they were in sight. So much for surprise. When they went another twenty feet, he got another surprise and stopped.
He said warningly, “Cassie, Nathaniel is like you, his life force I mean. I think he might be a sorcerer, no matter what he calls himself.”
Cassie’s face hardened, and Cynthia looked thoughtful as she said, “We’ll be careful.”
They continued, and when they were forty feet away, his zombies rushed the house, and he reached out from there and tried to pull Nathaniel’s life force. He couldn’t, something was blocking him. They followed the zombies in through the destroyed front door, he’d already taken six of the life forces, and stopped for now.
He wasn’t sure what would happen if he pulled too much life and tried to hold it all, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way. They fought their way into a large ballroom with double doors. When the three of them walked in there was a general melee. He looked right at Nathaniel, and tried to take his life force again. There was a blue nimbus coruscating around his body, and it sparked blocking him when he tried. Two of his zombies had been dismembered, but he quickly raised six more from Nathaniel’s followers that lay dead on the floor.
Nathaniel screamed, “Stop!” and even he felt the explosive wave of strong magic break over them all.
He froze, he couldn’t move, he could barely think. Even his zombies were quiescent, and started to lose to the armored nut cases. Nathaniel smiled coldly at him. The man was in his fifties, and had graying hair, although he looked to be in good shape. He carried a sword that glowed white and stepped forward.
“Your evil magic cannot stand against the light of god’s grace!” he declared in a booming voice.
He… couldn’t even talk. He really wanted to call him a crazy bastard, but it just wasn’t going to happen.
Cassie said in a strained voice, “Freedom,” and the bonds holding him fell away.
His zombies immediately started to kick ass again.
Nathaniel screamed in rage, and raced at him with the glowing sword, he was fast, very fast for an old man. He tried to grab his life force again, and couldn’t penetrate Nathaniel’s shield, he should have run, or dodged, but his power had become his go to move, it had never failed him so badly before.
As she had before, Cynthia stepped in front of him to protect him, and with a fiercely fast strike disarmed Nathaniel with her weapon, by impacting the man’s inner forearm. Then she kicked him in the chest and there was a flash of blue light as the shield reacted to her direct contact. Cynthia collapsed to the ground, as Nathaniel flew twenty feet away and landed on his back.
He was relieved, for a very brief moment, until he realized he could no longer feel Cynthia. She was lying on the floor, with empty glassy eyes staring up at him. He sent life force her way, maybe Nathaniel’s shield had simply cut their connection, but he quickly discovered the empty spot he could connect with… was gone.
His heart squeezed in his chest painfully. Cynthia was… gone.
Nathaniel stood up with an angry growl.
Rage built, Sean’s love was gone.
Nathaniel’s white sword rose from the ground and shot across the room to his hand. He saw a stream of white fire leav
e Cassie’s hand, and slam into Nathaniel’s shield, which simply absorbed it.
His rage, and grief, exploded.
There were over twenty men left fighting his zombies desperately. He reached out… to all of them. He’d never tried more than one at a time, but then he’d never been in an insane rage before, he felt like his heart had been torn out.
He ripped and pulled, and as his body absorbed all that life energy he felt like he might explode with it, like his heart may burst, but he didn’t hold it. He used all that life as fuel and sent his power out not like a probe, but like a battering ram straight at Nathaniel.
Nathaniel started to rush him again, but his shield flashed to a blindingly bright blue. It held for two seconds, and then popped.
Sean growled like a wounded animal, beyond words as his power, fueled by the life force of twenty others, encased Nathaniel’s life force. He didn’t take it, he didn’t pull it, he crushed it, ground it, tore it, ripped it, and tortured it with a dark malice that bordered on insane.
Cynthia was gone, he would never see her smile, feel her touch, or kiss her precious lips again. His rage burnt his heart to ash.
Nathaniel dropped his sword as he fell to the floor, screaming and writhing in horrific pain.
All he could think was it wasn’t enough, could never be enough and squeezed his enemy’s life force harder.
He screamed in rage as Nathaniel’s memories streamed in his head. The man had done many horrible things, had been controlling all these others, brainwashing them with his power. Killing innocent people with his godlike delusions. But all of that paled in comparison to his horror when he felt the joy Nathaniel had felt, when the light had left Cynthia’s eyes. He growled like an animal, and tore at Nathaniel’s life force, he tore it to shreds.
Nathaniel’s screams of torturous pain were music to his ears, and he felt oddly empty when they stopped, and Nathaniel’s body was finally still.
He felt empty, except for the dull anger he felt that Nathaniel was now beyond his reach, he couldn’t hurt him anymore.
He raised all the dead as an afterthought, the ones he could which were most. Just not… Cynthia, and a few others that had been decapitated. His love was dead. Gone, and his mind quailed from it, shut down his emotions. She had been his world.
He turned to Cassie, who looked at him not with disgust, but with utter sadness and tears in her eyes, and ordered in a cold voice devoid of emotion, “Burn it,” and walked out the front door. He’d left Nathaniel’s cooling corpse on the ground, there was no way he was raising that asshole.
He heard the fire crackle and smelled the smoke, but didn’t look back. He waited for Cassie to join him and then walked away without a word. He now had a hundred and eight zombies including what was back at the school, but he didn’t really care about that, all that mattered was the one he had lost.
Cassie took his hand, but didn’t try to talk to him, or comfort him. He would have felt grateful for that, except he couldn’t feel anything at all.
He was empty, because Cynthia was gone…
Chapter 19 – Kurien
Kurien rode in the front with John on point. He could hear the voices of the four ladies following behind as they chatted about many things that bored him to death. The new bearer of the mantle of balance was not what he had expected at all. He’d grown up with stories about the serious and staid Merlin, who never let his voice rise, and every word spoken was wisdom.
Katie… smiled and joked constantly, was irreverent, and was gossiping with Arielle and Bria like they were still children playing games. In short, nothing like he’d expected, at all. Still, she was young, in elf years she’d still be a preadolescent, and she’d only been aware of magic for less than two weeks.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like her, because he did. She had a pleasant voice, a ready friendly smile, and had obviously extended the hand of friendship to all three of them. She wasn’t hard to look at either, her looks were a bit strange and exotic, her face heart shaped, small delicate ears, full lips, and warm hazel eyes that sparkled when she laughed. She was beautiful, in her own alien way.
No, it wasn’t that he didn’t like her, or thought she should be different, it was just that she was a source of continual surprise as she failed to meet his expectations. He needed to reconcile his preconceptions, it was his failing, not hers, but he was finding that more difficult to do than he’d have thought. That young laughing woman back there was responsible for the very world, it was hard for him to merge those two realities in his mind.
His hawk spotted the large gathering of humans on the road ahead, maybe two miles up.
He turned to John, “Those soldiers we told you about, are coming up in a couple of miles.”
John grunted, “We should be okay. The last group we ran into let us though without too much trouble.”
He shook his head, “Perhaps, but you didn’t have two elves and a dragon along at the time.”
John nodded slowly, “I could see where that might be a problem, if the groups commanding officer is paranoid, we may be stopped.”
“Paranoid?”
John blew out a breath, “Some would jump to the conclusion your race was a possible threat, and try to find out where you were, and how many. I don’t believe most would, but humans are capable of… bad things.”
He frowned and nodded, “None of us are all of a mind. There were some elves and dragons who would rather have stayed and made war on humans than to choose a voluntary separation.”
“Let’s hold up a minute, and let the ladies weigh in.”
He nodded and pulled up on the reigns, and waited for Nim, Katie, Bria, and Arielle to catch up. Once they caught the ladies up on what was going on they chimed in.
Nim urged, “Perhaps you could circle around in the trees, while the three of us talk to the soldiers at the roadblock. We shouldn’t have a problem, but I could see where the three of you could cause fear, which might make them do something stupid.”
Arielle frowned, “Why don’t we all just sneak around? Kurien and I can cloak the sounds, can’t Katie cloak us from sight?”
Bria looked dubious, “Sneaking around might be less of a risk, but only if we aren’t caught. Sneaking could make things much worse. Some humans do have magic after all, not all of them but…”
Katie nodded, “It could go either way, we might end up having to run for it either way we try. Most of the government is gone with the cities, apparently the governor of Oklahoma lived and has deployed troops, but we don’t know what happened elsewhere. I don’t think they have any specific orders in regards to magic yet, or we’d have been stopped at the last checkpoint.”
Kurien sighed, “Elves and dragons need to eventually make contact with people like your governor, but right now we don’t have time to be held or questioned. Let’s split up, and we’ll meet you on the other side. Based on the people we met, it could go either way, and it seems a bad time to make a gamble.”
No one objected, so he, Arielle, and Bria moved off the road to the north. It wasn’t wooded this time, just a flat field, so he led them for a little over a mile before turning to the west. It felt a little too easy though, and he wondered why they would set up a… check point Katie called it, in an area so easy to travel around. He connected with the Eagle, and there were no patrols that he could see. His worries never came to light, and they cut back to the road after passing it by at least three miles.
Then they waited, and waited some more. After an hour he started to feel uncomfortable about how long they were taking, and the three of them shared a quick lunch. After two hours he started to truly worry, something had happened.
Arielle interrupted his musing, “What do you suppose is happening?”
He shook his head, “I have no idea, according to the eagle the men are just standing around, things are calm. Other than that I can’t get any details.”
Bria was about to speak, when Katie appeared in front of him. He opened his mouth in
shock, but she just smiled.
Katie said, “I’m not really here, this is a communication spell. It’s the first time they left me alone, and of course without tech I can be sure the room isn’t bugged.”
He frowned, why would bugs in the room matter?
She continued, “The captain here has been questioning us, once he determined we weren’t raiders, he seems to think it’s too dangerous for the three of us to be travelling alone. I’ve been trying to explain the importance of things and if worse comes to worse, we’ll escape tonight, but the strangest thing is two of the men glowed for me. They felt… like they were connected to the issue with the balance. Have you ever heard anything like that?”
He started to shake his head, but stopped, “There are stories that Merlin could sense who he needed to deal with problems of the balance when he couldn’t handle it on his own. Maybe you need them for something?”
She frowned and shook her head, “How the hell am I supposed to do that? I just got a lecture about how I was a foolish girl for travelling with only two other people in a time like this, humans of this time have no idea what the balance is, much less know or respect who the bearer is and…” she cut off her rant, took a deep breath, and said in a more even tone, “I got the same impression, but I’d hoped I was wrong. Go ahead and set up camp, if I can’t make any headway we’ll have to escape and get moving, hopefully we can figure out a way without them if it comes to that.”
He nodded, “Contact me if you need help?”
She sighed and nodded, and then disappeared.
He looked up and Bria and Arielle were looking at him strangely.
Arielle asked, “Who were you talking to?”
He sighed, and filled them in on what was going on. He begrudged the time they would lose, but he didn’t have a choice but to trust Katie and that they could make up the time. They set up a light camp, the rain seemed to have passed for the foreseeable future, and they wanted to be ready to move quickly. Just in case Katie was forced to escape and they needed to make a run for it. The last thing he wanted to do was have to fight these humans who were in authority, and going after the dregs of their society.
Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 Page 13