Bastial Sentinels (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 5)
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Contents
Map
Order of Series
Chapter 1: Jek
Chapter 2: Jek
Chapter 3: Jek
Chapter 4: Cleve
Chapter 5: Cleve
Chapter 6: Cleve
Chapter 7: Cleve
Chapter 8: Cleve
Chapter 9: Jek
Chapter 10: Jek
Chapter 11: Jek
Chapter 12: Jek
Chapter 13: Jek
Chapter 14: Jek
Chapter 15: Jek
Chapter 16: Jek
Chapter 17: Jek
Chapter 18: Jek
Chapter 19: Jek
Chapter 20: Jek
Chapter 21: Jek
Chapter 22: Cleve
Chapter 23: Cleve
Chapter 24: Cleve
Chapter 25: Cleve
Chapter 26: Cleve
Chapter 27: Cleve
Chapter 28: Cleve
Chapter 29: Jek
Chapter 30: Jek
Chapter 31: Cleve
Chapter 32: Jek
Chapter 33: Jek
Chapter 34: Jek
Chapter 35: Cleve
Chapter 36: Jek
Chapter 37: Jek
Chapter 38: Jek
Chapter 39: Jek
Chapter 40: Jek
Chapter 41: Jek
Chapter 42: Jek
Chapter 43: Cleve
Chapter 44: Cleve
Chapter 45: Cleve
Chapter 46: Jek
Chapter 47: Cleve
Chapter 48: Cleve
New Releases
From the Author
Copyright
THE RHYTHM OF RIVALRY SERIES
Book 1: Bastial Energy
Book 1.5: The Sartious Mage
Book 2: Bastial Steel
Book 3: Bastial Explosion
Book 4: Bastial Frenzy
Book 5: Bastial Sentinels
Chapter 1:
JEK
Outside the door to the throne room, Jek could feel himself losing hope when King Danvell Takary’s screams stopped abruptly.
No! Just a little longer! I’m almost there!
A guard had come to help Jek break down the door. Together, they kicked with all their strength.
The moment it flung open and Jek saw dead bodies covering the floor, he raced in with his wand ready.
“Get help,” he commanded the guard.
A woman in her middle years was pulling a sword out of the King’s chest. He was covered in blood.
So was she. It dripped from her hair and chin. The chains that bound her wrists and ankles obviously had failed to stop the slaughter.
She sighed at Jek. “I’d hoped not to kill anyone so young.” She spoke with regret, which was at odds with the carnage that surrounded her. But then her eyes hardened and she trudged forward, lifting her palm.
Reflexively, Jek snapped his wand. A protective Sartious shell curved in front of him, just translucent enough for him to see the hazy silhouette of the king-killer advancing on him.
Shaking her head, she dropped her arm. “You can’t keep that up for long.”
She was right. Even worse, he couldn’t cast a fireball without dissolving the shell. Micah Vail had taught him that compact Sartious Energy would stop psyche, but Jek didn’t know what to do next.
His instincts held the answer. As always, he listened.
“Stop!” the woman yelled as Jek backed out of the room, still protected by the Sartious shell. Panic coursed through him when he saw the door was broken off its hinges. He wouldn’t be able to trap her inside as he’d intended. Continuing through the doorway, he turned down the hall and let his arm rest. The heavy green energy floating before him shattered into dust.
He could hear the king-killer’s chains clanking as she pursued him. The wall between them shielded him from her psyche, but the closer she came to the open doorway, the more at risk he was. Jek knew enough about psyche to realize that, at least.
With his mind fogged with fear, he turned and ran. “Micah!” he screamed. “Micahhhhh!”
Where were all the guards? There were a thousand stationed in and around the palace, many of them mages, even more of them archers. This one woman should’ve been killed the moment she took one step toward the King.
Jek knew the palace had been swept for Elves, so how had this assassin slipped through those defenses? He had to assume that the woman was a powerful psychic working with Fatholl. If so, she’d killed Danvell Takary so the Elven leader could control the palace, possibly even Goldram. But could she really hope to capture the entire palace on her own? No, there had to be others with her.
“Lisanda!” Jek shouted next, the hallways eerily empty. “Bastial hell. Where is everyone?”
Screams echoed off the white walls. Banners and paintings shook with the sounds of battle. He ran faster.
He came around a corner to find two Elves finishing off the last standing guard. One of the intruders held out his palm to paralyze the man with pain while the other thrust his sword through the guard’s armor-covered chest. The lifeless body was tossed carelessly onto a bloody pile. The Elves ignored the servants, who fled for their lives, and locked their murderous stares on Jek.
“Micah!” Jek screamed again, ducking around the corner just as the Elven psychics lifted their palms in his direction.
Need to get to Lisanda. He ran back the way he came, nearly slipping on the smooth floor in his haste. He knew a safe path to Lisanda’s quarters. It was through the window of a room he’d just passed. Perhaps “safe” wasn’t the right word, as it would be quite a drop. Safer than running through a gauntlet of murderous psychic Elves, he corrected himself.
The door to the room was locked. He pounded on it as he shouted, “It’s Jek Trayden! Open this door immediately!”
The moment he heard the lock, he threw the door open. It slammed into someone, sending her stumbling backward. She screamed in pain and grabbed her face.
“Sorry, Gerace,” Jek muttered when he saw who it was. He quickly shut the door and relocked it.
“What’s happening out there?” the servant girl asked, pale from fright.
“I’m still not sure.” He started toward the window. “Stay here.”
“What are you doing?”
“I need to get to Lisanda and the others.” He peered out the window. Bastial hell, he thought. It was even higher than he’d remembered.
“You’ll break your legs if you jump.”
The moment he opened the window, screams from outside flooded the room. It made his need to hurry more urgent. Instinct told him to leap now and figure out the rest while he was in the air. As he maneuvered his legs over the windowsill, small hands grasped his shoulders.
“Jek, stop!” Gerace pleaded.
“Let go,” he said. “I need to focus.”
He was about to drop into an alley, which curved around the palace and eventually led to stairs and the main courtyard. He took a breath and drew in all the Sartious Energy he could. Unable to contain it for longer than the span of a heartbeat, he slid off the sill and flicked his wand beneath his feet.
All the energy came together as he plummeted to the ground, creating a small platform too narrow to land on with his flailing feet. So his plan changed midair; he pulled up his legs and struck the floating brick with his ass. It broke the moment he slammed into it, but at least it had slowed his fall.
Somehow, he landed on his feet, but the force was too much for him to stay there. He rolled along the dirt path until he finally stopped, flat on his back. Looking up, he saw Gerace leaning ou
t of the window, watching him wide-eyed.
“Are you hurt?” she hollered to him.
“No.” He got to his feet. “Close the window and stay quiet.”
She nodded and obeyed.
Jek hurried down the dirt path. He couldn’t see into any of the rooms he passed, as each occupant had drawn the curtains. Lisanda’s room was no different.
He tapped on the window. “It’s Jek.”
Lisanda flung the curtain aside and unlatched the window. She practically pulled Jek into her room before snapping the window shut.
“What’s happening?” the Princess asked, frantic. “Guards brought me in here, and now they’re outside the door. Did the Elf my father found somehow escape?”
“She killed him,” Jek said, his tone oddly devoid of emotion. “I need to get your family out of here.”
Lisanda was frozen, her mouth agape.
“Where are the rest of them?” Jek asked.
“Dead?” Her breathing quickened. She put her hand on her chest and fell into a chair, dazed.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to stay here.”
Lisanda didn’t seem to hear him. He took her hand. “We have to get you and your family out of here.”
“I don’t understand.” She finally looked at him. “One woman killed my father? What about all his guards?”
“She’s one of many powerful psychics who’ve infiltrated the palace. I don’t know whether they were here already in hiding or whether they forced their way in just now. Even worse, I don’t know how to fight them. We have to round up your family and leave before they kill us, too. Please tell me you know where Raymess is.”
“What about Jessend?”
“We’ll get her on the way to your brother.”
“Are you certain about all of this?” She stepped toward the door, seeming to forget he was holding her hand. He let go before she jerked his arm. “I haven’t heard anything out there.”
“I’m sure. Your family isn’t safe anywhere in the palace.” Jek took her hand again, this time squeezing it hard. “Let’s go.”
She squeezed back, ready to follow him.
Jek opened the door. Two guards turned. Their brows creased; surely they wondered how Jek had gotten inside.
“The palace is under attack,” he informed them. “Help me get the Takarys out.”
“Who’s attacking?” one man asked.
“Psychic Elves.”
He heard himself, and for a moment, Jek was worried they wouldn’t believe him, that perhaps they’d think it was a bad joke. Luckily, they each drew their weapon.
The four of them rushed to Jessend’s room next door, where Jek explained what he knew to the two guards there as Lisanda went inside to bring out her twin sister. Soon they were ready to move.
“Wait.” Jessend pulled on Jek’s shirt. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“We’re being attacked. I’m taking your family out of the palace.”
“Why isn’t my father with you, then?” she asked. “Weren’t you on the second floor with him?”
Lisanda began to cry as she reached out to her sister. “He’s dead, Jessend. Now they’re coming for the rest of us.”
“What? How?” Jessend’s face reflected her confusion…with grief slowly setting in.
“Psychic Elves,” Jek answered. “He was killed by the woman who was being detained.”
“Are you sure it was her? She looked harmless.” Jessend spoke through her tears.
“I saw her standing over his body,” Jek said, shuddering at the memory. “We need archers and mages to kill the psychics from a safe distance. Do you have any arrows in your room?”
“Just bows.”
“Damn. We need to get Raymess. Where is he?”
“The main courtyard,” Lisanda answered, wiping her eyes and calming her weeps with a deep breath. “But we must fetch Micah and Mother first. It’s easier than coming back for them from the courtyard. Then we can get Raymess and leave.”
“Not without Silvie,” Jessend insisted.
Jek looked at her incredulously. “But I thought you two hated each other now.”
She slapped him. The shock alone made him stumble.
“That doesn’t mean I can let her die!” Jessend retorted.
“I’m sorry,” Jek said. “If she’s at the stables, that’s on our way out, and we could use horses anyway. Where are Micah and Vala?”
Muffled screams seeped through the walls.
“Second floor dining quarters,” Jessend said, ignoring the shrieks.
“Which one?” Jek asked as they started down the hall. Two of the guards flanked him while the other two dropped back to guard the group from behind.
“East,” Jessend answered. “The far one.”
“Damn.”
When they reached the end of the hall, Jek peered around the corner. A battle was raging in the next corridor, guards of Goldram falling to Elves. Other escape routes were available, but it would take his group longer to get where they were going, and there was no time to spare.
“Follow me.” Jek rushed forward, pulling in Bastial Energy. Coming closer to the Elves, he saw they both wielded swords but wore no armor. Their long hair flipped over their backs as they spun toward Jek and started to extend their hands.
Just as the crippling pain began to surge through him, he released the energy in a fireball. It struck one Elf in the chest and knocked him into the second one, sending them both sprawling.
Creating a Sartious shell, Jek and the guards sprinted toward their fallen enemies. One of the Elves was dead, but the other struggled to his knees and pushed out both hands with a grunt. It did nothing, and it was too late for him to grab his sword, for the two guards had closed in and run their weapons through his chest, splintering Jek’s Sartious shield.
As they hurried on, screams echoed around the palace, and the smell of death was heavy in the air. Lisanda grabbed his hand as he held his wand at the ready with his other. Jek thought he heard the shuffling of feet from around the corner. He created another Sartious shell in front of his group as the two guards beside him gripped their swords tightly.
An Elf jumped out and grunted as his palm shot forward. In a blink, his aggression was replaced by shock when he saw Jek’s shield of heavy green energy. He turned to flee, but one guard was quick enough to stab him before he got too far. The other guard pounced and finished him off. Somewhere behind Jek, he heard shouting. He listened closely.
“Please, don’t hurt me!” a woman yelled.
“Cooperate and you’ll live,” an accented voice replied.
Jek didn’t stay to hear the rest. Except for a fallen palace guard, the hallway ahead of them was empty. “Almost to the stairs,” Jek reassured his group.
“We’ve been lucky so far,” Jessend said. “We need bowmen and mages.”
“Why hasn’t the rest of our army come to help?” Lisanda asked.
“They might be on their way.” Jek tried to stay positive even though he didn’t believe it himself. It was unlikely that word of the attack had spread quickly enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Soon they reached the stairs, where they found more fallen guards with twisted limbs and lifeless stares. Jek expected Lisanda to whimper as she stepped over them, but she made no sound. Her face, usually soft and expressive, was as hard as stone. Her eyes were dark with unyielding determination.
“Fatholl must be responsible for this,” she said when they’d climbed the stairs.
A shriek echoed off the walls.
“Quiet!” Jek heard an accented voice demand, “and you won’t be harmed.”
“Elvish accent,” Lisanda said. “It seems like they’re only killing guards.”
“And our family,” Jessend added, gritting her teeth.
After a few more hallways, they came to the main hall of the second floor. Still more bodies littered the corridor, only one Elf among at least ten of King Danvell’s men. They’re Raymess’ men
now, Jek realized with a chill.
As they neared the dining quarters, Jek heard evidence of another battle. Lisanda gasped and covered her mouth. “Are we too late?”
The door was closed. It was the only entrance and exit. The two guards at the rear had come around to join Jek and the other two at the front. One kicked open the door as Jek thrust out his wand to create a Sartious shell as wide as he could manage.
Through the translucent emerald green, they saw men and women fighting and falling. Chairs were tumbling, and tables were being flipped. Jek strained his eyes to search for pointed ears, long hair, a hand extended, anything to indicate who was his enemy, but it was impossible to tell. So he let the Sartious Energy break into dust.
The gruesome scene unfolded as the cloud of energy thinned. Elves and Humans were engaged in a frenzy of swords and psyche. Micah Vail stood in the center, using his own powers of psyche to disable an Elf, allowing a Takary guard to cut off the Elf’s head. But then Micah fell to his knees when another Elf pointed his palm.
“Kill him!” the Elf screamed. “He’s a psychic.”
Jek was pulling in energy so he could shoot a fireball at the one disabling Micah, but then another attacker rushed over with his sword, ready to strike. Jek shot him before he could reach the King’s adviser.
Sudden pain made Jek collapse, and the wand fell weakly from his hand. He could do nothing but scream as he tried to reach for it.
Then the pain stopped. Gasping for breath, Jek snatched his wand from the ground and gingerly got to his feet, trying to gather his strength. The Elf who’d pained him now had an arrow sticking out of his torso. He was stumbling backward when another arrow impaled him, and he fell. Jek turned to find Jessend with a bow in her hand, loading another arrow. He took another quick glance to locate Lisanda, who was standing in the doorway calling her sister’s name. “Jessend, Jessend get back here!”
Turning back to the room, Jek saw Vala Takary just as she shrieked. She was pressed against the corner, two guards on their knees in front of her, pained from psyche. An Elf rushed toward them. Jek couldn’t risk shooting the enemy. If he missed, his fireball could kill the Queen.
The guards who came in with Jek had joined the brawl in the center of the room. They and Micah were too busy to help Vala, giving Jek no choice. He aimed, steadied his hand, and fired. The fireball slammed into a chair, careened upward, and thudded against the wall. Still, it startled the Elf as clumps of fire rained down. His focus was lost for a blink, just long enough for one guard to rise and open the Elf’s stomach with his sword.