Soulguard

by Christopher Woods

  Chapter 8

  Trent, Mattie, and I sat with our backs against the wall at the barn where most of the martial training I’d had over the years had been done. None of us knew what was happening in the house. The Senator had gone in to meet with the Soulguards over an hour ago and we had gone outside to leave them to it.

  “I’ve never seen so much blood in my life,” Trent said softly.

  “I know. It was awful,” Mattie returned, “I’ve trained for this most of my life, but it doesn’t really prepare you for that.”

  I was silent, remembering a bloodbath I had witnessed through Kharl's memories. Seeing my mother’s death had probably prepared me much more than the other two. The blood hadn’t bothered me as much as the needless death of several people who had run from Mattie and me straight into the hands of Demons.

  “Do you think they’ll let me join the Soulguard?” He asked.

  “I’m sure they will,” she answered and looked at me, “You’re being awful quiet, what’s wrong?”

  “Mages are gonna try and block me from the Source,” I said, “The Demons are searching for me and if I’m blocked, I’m dead meat. I’ll have to fight them and I’m not trained to be a Mage. And the worst part is, I shouldn’t have to fight people, we’re meant to fight Demons.”

  “So how tough are these Mages?” Trent asked.

  “You saw what I did. I’m a Mage, just not trained. They’ll be trained and probably stronger than me.”

  “Is there any way you can raise a shield faster than the one you did in the gym?” Mattie asked.

  “Maybe,” I answered thoughtfully, “Let me concentrate a minute.”

  I looked at my privacy shield. What if I make it with much thicker tendrils and put some sort of power adjustment? I thought. My on/off switch is a small sliding surface that will cut off the power to the shield, so what if I make it more like a portal that dilates open and closed so I can regulate the power?

  Once I established the portal I enlarged the tendrils to the privacy shield. I set the portal to a trickle to keep the privacy screen active.

  “I think I might have it, Mattie, try to hit me,” I said as I stood up.

  She swung so fast I almost didn’t catch it, but managed to open the portal and her fist hit about a foot from my body. I still flew backwards into the barn wall.

  “I forgot to anchor it,” I said as I picked myself up, “but I think it’ll work. Thanks, Mattie, I hadn’t even thought about it before.”

  “She just knocked you into a wall and you call it a success? I swear it just gets weirder and weirder around you.”

  I gave him the Kharl look again and he said, “Stop looking at me like that, man, it’s disturbing.”

  Mattie laughed and shook her head, “So what else can you do already? I heard it takes Mages months to create shields like you do in minutes.”

  “I can see the Soul streams and the Souls as well. Kharl says I’m the only person he’s ever heard of that can do that. That’s not common knowledge and I would appreciate it if it stayed between us.”

  They both nodded and I saw, in their auras, that neither lied about it.

  “And I can read the emotions in other people’s auras. Also I can always tell if someone is lying or not.” I didn’t tell of several of my other skills like the ability to see memories.

  “The reason I can create shields so well, is that I can see them. The Guard gets so much done while working in the dark, it’s impressive.”

  Our conversation was interrupted when the house door opened and everyone made their way outside. They all headed our direction and I knew I was about to get my butt kicked again. Sparring sessions were always painful, but I usually didn’t make the same mistake twice. It just seemed that Kharl and Kyra always had some new trick to use on me.

  “You ready?” Kyra asked as she walked past me.

  I winced and she chuckled. I followed her and Kharl into the barn. Everyone else followed us inside and found places to sit, well back from the center area we had marked off in the floor.

  “Practice wands,” Kyra stated. I walked across the open area and picked up four practice swords. They were made of bamboo wood and were roughly the size of Kyra’s short swords. One of the tests with wooden swords is to keep from breaking them with our enhanced strength. This is true when wielding real blades as well. If you break your blade, you’re in a fist fight with a demon.

  Not all Soulguards can make the blades from pure Soulfire like Kharl had done at the school. Most of them needed a weapon to pour the Soulfire into. Of course, when the blade is imbued with Soulfire, it is much stronger than a regular blade.

  I handed Kyra two of the wands and kept two for myself. We faced off about twenty feet apart.

  “3...2...” Kharl’s voice rumbled, “...1...”

  The world slowed down as Kharl's voice continued, “Go.”

  We met in the middle of the practice area, swords ready. Then the Dance began.

  Kyra calls it the Dance of Blades and she is a master of it. As our blades met, she was surprised.

  “You’re faster,” She smiled and sped up. “Let’s see how fast.”

  I felt the hit on my left and sped up as well. She was moving faster than I’d ever seen her go, except when battling the Demons at Morndel. I was amazed, I was moving just as fast as she was. I still couldn’t seem to connect, though.

  We continued until Kharl’s voice boomed, “Halt!”

  I was sore in a dozen places and sweating profusely. Kyra had worked up a sweat as well.

  “A lot faster,” she commented. I hadn’t even got in one hit. Of course, I never get in a hit on Ky.

  “That’s where experience tells the tale, son.” she said, as if reading my mind, “You are as fast as I am but I’ve learned a few tricks over the years. You’ll be better than me when you’ve got the experience to match your power.”

  I doubt that, I thought. I looked around at the other Guards and both of them were smiling.

  “I’m going to have so much fun with him,” the weapon master said happily.

  “My turn,” Kharl said.

  Sometimes I think the two of them enjoy this kind of abuse too much. I looked toward Trent and his dad. They both looked a bit dazed.

  “Just wait till you start training,” I said and nodded at Trent.

  We faced off just as Ky and I had, twenty feet apart, facing each other. There were no swords now. Kharl is my unarmed combat trainer.

  “3...2...1...Go!”

  We charged one another and I figured I would use my extra speed to my advantage. I jumped over his head and felt a vice close on my left leg.

  Oh crap, this is gonna hurt, I thought as he threw me across the room to slam into “The Mat”.

  “The Mat” is the place I end up every time I try something stupid while fighting Kharl. I think there is a permanent face print in the two feet thick padding on the reinforced back wall of the barn. Maybe several.

  “I told you, Quit jumping around like a damn grasshopper! Your power is in the earth, stay connected to it.”

  I picked myself up from the floor in front of “The Mat”, with a stupid grin on my face. Kharl was waiting, so I planted my feet and charged. There isn’t a lot of finesse in Kharl’s style of fighting, but there isn’t a lot of finesse in a train either. When he hits you, it feels like you were hit by a big train.

  I found that my strength and durability was also affected by the larger Soulstream, I was holding my own with Kharl. But like Ky, he had worlds of experience and he used some of it to put me on the floor several times.

  “Halt!” Ky shouted.

  I was sore in places I didn’t even know I had. It never fails, if I start to think too highly of myself, a spar with either of them can set me straight right quick.

  Tien stood up and approached. “You’re good enough at fighting to face any Mage I know, but the shield is the most important thing when facing Mages. How are your shields?”

  I open
ed the portal and anchored to the ground.

  “Try it,” I stated and stood still as Kharl swung at me. His fist hit a foot from me but I didn’t fly into a wall this time. I didn’t budge.

  Kharl smiled and began to pound on my shield with a vengeance. Jack stood up and joined him, as well as Ky and Tien. Four Elite Soulguards couldn’t pierce my shields.

  “That will do,” Tien stated.

  Chapter 9

  It was a couple of days later before the Mages arrived. Trent and his dad had gone back home after it was agreed that the Senator would tell the right people about what really happened and start the right rumors to keep as much of it a secret as he could.

  Trent would start Soulguard training in several months, when he turned eighteen.

  Jack Riordan and Mattie had gone home as well. She would start her official training in a few months as well. Jack offered to stay and help if the Mages became difficult.

  “If things go bad, this doesn’t need to fall on the Guard,” was Kharl’s answer.

  Tien had gone back to the Academy for much the same reason.

  I was nervous as I watched a stretch limo pull up the drive. I watched Kharl’s aura as two men and a woman exited the car. Relief flowed across his aura as he saw the second man, and he smiled.

  “Don’t worry, Son, the second guy is Gregor Kherkov,” Kharl said, “He’s one of the good guys.”

  Gregor was a dark haired man of medium height. He was stocky and seemed quite fit. The other man was tall and skinny with dirty blonde hair. He had one of those huge noses that brought visions of Ichabod Crane from the headless horseman cartoon to mind.

  The woman was tall and gorgeous. She was blonde and very well built. Her looks would generally have me stuttering and making a fool of myself except I saw her Soul and it wasn’t pretty at all.

  I looked at their Soulstreams. A typical Guard has a stream about three inches in diameter. Kharl and Kyra had streams of about five inches. I think they must grow with age and use.

  The first two Mages’ streams were a bit bigger than Kharl’s, maybe eight or ten inches. They didn’t have the intricate knot of a guard but it still looped in and out of their bodies several times.

  The third Mage, Gregor, had a stream of at least sixteen or eighteen inches, larger than my own, and I could see the power rolling in his aura. He looked at me as he entered the room and his eyes widened in surprise. Then he saw Kharl.

  “Kharl,” He smiled and offered his hand. Kharl shook it with a smile

  “Hi Greg.”

  “Be still my beating heart, is that Kyra?” Gregor laughed, “As beautiful as ever, I see.”

  He looked at me with a penetrating gaze. His eyes widened and I saw realization flash across his aura, along with a flash of memory about a man who looked a great deal like me.

  He chuckled, “This explains a great deal.”

  He turned to his companions, “Let me introduce you to Regina Worthington and Allen Denton. Regina, Allen, these are the infamous Kharl Jaegher and Kyra Nightwing, former Soulguard Elites.”

  I saw recognition in both Mages at the names.

  “So this must be the boy we are here to block,” Regina Worthington said as she turned to me.

  Gregor snorted, “You are aware of my particular gifts?”

  “Yes,” she answered, her eyes narrowing in anger.

  I could see the anger and hate in her aura, arrogance rolled across it as well.

  “He’s an untrained child, and you’re the second most powerful Mage in the United States, so what’s the problem?”

  Gregor turned to me, “I would like for you to do me a favor, Young Man. We don’t ask Mages to do this but would you be kind enough to lower your privacy shield for a moment?”

  “The last time I did, I was attacked by a bunch of Demons and close to a hundred people died,” I answered.

  “Hold on a second, I’ll put up a shield around us,” Gregor returned. I watched as he pushed a shield out from his body. It was much faster than how I weaved one from my stream, “I think that should do it.”

  I looked to Kharl and caught his small nod. So I closed the portal switch.

  Both Mages stepped back and Regina actually gasped her face pale as a sheet.

  I opened the portal to a trickle again, raising my shield.

  “That will never be asked of you again, Young Man. We set a lot of store in our privacy, but that just cut through about an hour of argument,” He turned to the other two mages, “If you want to try to block that, you can. I think the solution is obvious, someone with this much power needs training. We need to enter him into the Academy, now.”

  “It seems, we have no choice,” Allen Denton agreed.

  Regina nodded. I could see the emotions rolling within her. Jealousy, arrogance, hate, and underlying it all, fear.

  Why would they fear me? I’m just a kid. Somehow I knew I would never get to be a kid again. When I left this place I would have to leave a man, or I wouldn’t survive where I was going.

  “Bring him to the Academy,” Regina ordered Kharl with an imperious tone, “He starts in one week.”

  She turned and exited the house without even a glance in my direction. Allen followed, but I saw a fearful glance at me from the man.

  As Gregor walked toward the door, he stopped in front of me. “Come see me when you are enrolled...” He looked at me questioningly.

  “Colin.”

  “Colin Rourke,” he finished. “I have a feeling things are going to be interesting around the Academy now. Your father upset things greatly when he attended. And he wasn’t ‘corrupted’ by the infamous Kharl Jaegher and Kyra Nightwing.”

  He nodded to me and turned to Kharl and Kyra. “It’ll be nice to get you two back in action as well.”

  I saw genuine happiness and excitement in his aura.

  He laughed loudly, “We're living in interesting times, my friends. Interesting times, indeed.”

  Section 2

  Mage

  Chapter 10

  The Mage Academy is located on the top of a mountain range in Montana. It’s very close to Glacier National Park and completely hidden from view. When the plane landed at the small airstrip, near a ramshackle hanger, I was skeptical. But I was to find that most of the complex is underground, cut into the mountain range itself.

  Kharl had needed to stay behind until later. He needed to turn his contracting company over to Giles Meldon, one of his head foremen. He had been planning this for some time because my eighteenth birthday was approaching. He really hadn’t expected to do it quite this soon though and there was a bunch of paperwork involved.

  Kyra had been able to quit her job much easier and she had come with me.

  “Are you ready for this?” she asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” I felt like I was infiltrating an enemy stronghold.

  “There are some good Mages, son, like Gregor,” she said in a soft voice, “Most of them are just scared of the Archmage. I’m sure you’ll see why soon enough. Just try not to make waves and you’ll do fine.”

  “I just want to learn how to control this power in me. I’m not here to make enemies,” I chuckled, “I should be pretty good at blending in by now anyway.”

  She smiled, “Just remember, never drop your privacy shield. There are few Mages with the power you have and it would cause more trouble than good, I think. There aren’t many Mages and they are a jealous lot.”

  “Hopefully I can come to the Guard barracks some. If for no other reason than to have you and dad kick my butt around a sparring ring.”

  “I think we could oblige you. Although, if you’re feeling like getting a good lesson in humble, you should try to spar with Tien. He puts all the Guards in their place, even the Elites.”

  We entered the hangar and walked across a large space for the plane to be parked. On the other side sat a Soulguard, reading a book.

  I saw the title and laughed, it was my favorite author. The sci
fi series was about an alien invasion, and with the help of good aliens humans got to choose some of the weapons to fight them. They’d approached Sci fi writers to decide what to use and my favorite was the guys in the powered armor. It was a great series.

  The Guard put his book down and looked questioningly at us.

  “New arrival for Mage training,” Kyra informed.

  He looked at me, “You must be Colin Jaegher. I know Kharl and if you’re half the man he is, you’ll be the best of that lot.”

  The name was a bit of a surprise, but as we entered the door behind the guard, Kyra whispered, “We thought it best, with all the tension, not to bring up Kel right now.”

  “It’s fine with me, you and Kharl are my parents,” I answered, “I’m proud to carry either of your names.”

  “There’ll be some tension from being a Soulguard’s son, but I think it will be easier than being Kelvin Demonkiller’s son. They almost deify that name in the Academy.”

  She looked at me seriously, “Don’t take me wrong. He was my friend and we all loved him, but what he did is still remembered to this day and it’s made the Mages much more cautious than they should be. He proved that they’re mortal and it scared some of them.”

  I understood why it scared them. My father had killed nearly five thousand demons in that nest, working his way to the top of the clan. He’d finished with a group of Wraiths and all of their Soldier protectors at one time.

  I actually understand what he did, now that I had fought Demons myself and it amazes me what he must have been capable of. According to Kharl and Kyra both, they feel more power from me than they’d ever felt from him. It scares the crap out of me.

  The hallway we entered led to an elevator, where Kyra punched the button for the first floor below us.

  “That’s where you get off and go in for orientation. I go to the bottom, where the exits to the outside, lower down the mountain, lead to the Guard barracks,” she said, “I love you son, and be careful.”