The Brothers Three: Book One of The Blackwood Saga

by Layton Green

  “We need a plan,” Lance was saying from the front porch. “Blackwood! Snap out of it. He’ll kill us all if you fight like this.”

  Will took deep breaths through his nose and nodded.

  “Now I realize why he gave us two nights instead of one,” Val said. “He’ll have an easier time blending in on Halloween.”

  Lance cracked his knuckles. “We need to introduce Zedock to the Second Amendment. I know where we can gear up. With Will’s sword, the ring, the amulet, and a couple of semi-automatics, my money’s on us. Like Mala said, we’ll take him by surprise, from all sides. I think we should come back tonight, when he’s asleep—” Lance cut off and took a step back. Caleb gripped Val’s arm, and Will spun to see Zedock striding towards them, tall and proud, his left hand clutching a young woman at his side. Hair coiffed above a high-collared white shirt, he looked just as Will remembered, his handsome features alight with arrogance.

  “Oh my God,” Caleb said as the woman raised her head, “that’s Yasmina!”

  Will saw Yasmina’s eyes roll with fear. It only fueled his anger. Without another thought, he howled and ran straight at Zedock, holding the sword out in front of him. He slipped the ring on his finger as he ran, but when his form went insubstantial Zedock simply illuminated the space between them, negating the effects of the ring.

  He saw Zedock concentrate, and Will could feel the magic rushing past him, as if Will were in a wind tunnel yet somehow protected, the sword cleaving through the hurricane force of Zedock’s power.

  The others yelled behind him, pummeled by the preternatural wind. Lance shouted at him to wait. Will didn’t care. He drew closer, a grim smile on his lips. Zedock might be able to light the night sky and summon a tornado, but the sword would consume any magic directed at Will.

  Zedock couldn’t touch him.

  Will tossed the ring of invisibility back to his brothers and ran after Zedock. When Will was ten feet away, Zedock extracted the golden dog whistle from underneath his shirt and blew on it. Then he grabbed Yasmina and took to the air, flying over the pines, straight into the cemetery. Revelers gasped as Will swore and followed. They probably thought it was a magic show. Will cut through a yard, hopped the low wall, and darted into the tombstones.

  This is a magic show, all right.

  Leaping over graves and weaving around the larger tombs, Will did whatever it took to keep Zedock in sight. Two hellhounds leapt at him, but Will sliced through them with a flick of his wrists. The unnatural life left their bodies in a flash of blue-white light.

  Will neared the center of the cemetery. He was gaining ground and could feel the power of the sword humming through his wrists and singing in his bones.

  Zedock floated backwards as Will approached. Yasmina was screaming for help, beating her fists on Zedock’s chest. The mage rose ten feet, dropped Yasmina, and rose ten feet more. Will caught her just before she hit the ground, and Caleb rushed to her side, holding her as she sobbed. Val and Lance caught up with them and stood by Will, underneath the floating necromancer.

  Will craned his neck, shaking with rage, frustrated beyond words at his inability to rise in the air and end the fight.

  Zedock looked down at him, amused. “Did you really believe,” he said, “that you could defeat a wizard?”

  “You better fly straight back to your world,” Val said with a snarl, “before we destroy the portal and you no longer have the chance.”

  Zedock broke into a slow grin as his eyes flicked towards his house. Will risked a glance and saw two skeletons marching into the cemetery, carrying the portal between them.

  Zedock’s voice hardened. “I’ll take the sword from your lifeless hands and leave your world when I wish. I’ll keep your bones in a bag and have the girl as my slave.”

  Will caught a glimmer of movement to his left. He turned and saw Salomon leaning against a mausoleum a hundred feet away, smoking a curved pipe and watching the proceedings. Zedock either couldn’t see him, hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care.

  “Salomon?” Will asked, in disbelief.

  The old man didn’t respond, and Will didn’t have time to worry about it. He decided to take a risk and go for the portal, forcing Zedock’s hand. Just as Will started to move, Zedock landed atop the tallest mausoleum in sight and raised his hands. Face contorted with effort, the necromancer thrust his words into the air. “Rise!” he shouted. “RISE!”

  Dirt and stone exploded upward, a geyser of earth and shattered headstones that showered the entire cemetery. As Will and his companions covered their heads to protect against falling debris, an army of skeletons clawed out of graves and opened crypt doors, shaking off their ancient sleep and clattering to their feet. Zombies were interspersed among the skeletons, waxy flesh hanging off their bones.

  “My God,” Lance said, backing away.

  Val turned in a slow circle. “There are thousands of them.”

  The whole cemetery seemed to be moving. Will stepped over dirt and rock as the first skeleton lunged for him. Will cut through it, his sword sparking as the undead thing collapsed at Will’s feet. Lance crushed the skull of the next with his hammer, and Val used his staff to cleave through the ribcage of another. The three of them formed a ring of protection around Caleb and Yasmina.

  “Catch!” Will shouted, tossing his dagger to Caleb, hoping his prohibition against violence didn’t extend to a horde of attacking skeletons.

  The skeletons came at them in waves, rising up far faster than they could cut them down. They had no hope of defeating them all. “Do something, Salomon!” he screamed.

  There was no response, and something told Will that Salomon was there to observe rather than intervene, even if it meant their deaths. Will hated him for it.

  The circle tightened. One of the skeletons clubbed Lance with a tree branch. Two more dragged Val to the ground, until Will went berserk and destroyed all three. Another skeleton broke through, and Caleb parried its blows with his bracers.

  Will knew Zedock planned to let the skeletons kill them, then walk off with the sword. And from the look of things, he was about to succeed.

  “Follow me to the portal!” Will said. “We have to bring him to us!”

  Zedock had anticipated Val’s earlier threat, which meant he, too, thought the sword could destroy the portal. While they might not last forever against the legions of the undead, they might be able to fight their way to the portal and force Zedock to intervene.

  The problem was, while the skeletons were not skilled fighters, their numbers were overwhelming. Will waded through the morass of walking bones, using every feint and cheap trick Mala had taught him. He also had the advantage of being able to destroy each monster with a mere touch of his blade.

  The others weren’t faring as well, and Will sensed that if one of them fell, they all would.

  Somehow they managed to draw closer to the skeletons holding the portal. When they were twenty feet away, just as Will had a spark of hope, Zedock flew down and blocked the path, sweeping away skeletons with a brush of his hand.

  “You prefer to fight me instead?” he snarled. “As you wish.”

  He twirled his fingers, and a mass of bones floated off the ground and towards the companions, attacking from all sides. Will fought as best he could, using his quickness to dodge the mindless thrusts of ulnae and femurs and tibia. One of the bones caught him on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Two more battered him in the back. He almost dropped the sword, but regained his grip at the last moment and fought to his feet. Adrenalized, he managed to knock the rest of the bones from the air, but he was reaching the limits of his endurance.

  Zedock flicked his wrist, and another blast of wind tumbled everyone except Will and Val a hundred feet back. Will stood with his sword outstretched, protected from the magic. Zedock looked at Val with surprise, and Will remembered the amulet of shielding, now hanging from Val’s neck.

  “The sword isn’t all we have,” Will said.

  Z
edock spun to his right, eluding a swing of Lance’s hammer. Lance had appeared out of nowhere, and Will realized he must have slipped on the Ring of Shadows.

  “The shadows are my light, fool,” Zedock said to Lance. He flicked his hand and the hammer flew out of Lance’s hand. Flicked it again, and Lance spun and walked towards Zedock as if he were a marionette. Flicked it one more time, and Lance rose a foot off the ground with his arms straight out to his sides, hanging in midair as if crucified. Zedock drew his hands together in a sharp clap. A shard of bone flew off the ground and pierced Lance through the side of his chest, just below his heart and sticking out of his back. Lance screamed but couldn’t move.

  “A familiar motif in this world, I believe?” Zedock said.

  Will roared and sprang forward, but the necromancer sent Lance flying through the air straight at Will, dropping them both in a heap.

  Skeletons poured towards them. Will fought like a cornered rat to keep them off his fallen friend. Val, Caleb, and Yasmina regrouped behind him, pressed up against a mausoleum, fighting for their lives.

  The skeletons came at them like wasps from a kicked nest, and Will noticed a handful of skeletons climbing the tomb at their back, preparing to jump down. He knew they were about to be overwhelmed. He also knew he couldn’t fight the skeletons and Zedock at the same time. With a flurry of thrusts that left him gasping for air, legs and arms cramping from exertion, Will cleared the skeletons in a wide swath around them, buying them a few moments before the horde regrouped.

  “Enough of this foolishness,” Zedock said, though Will detected the first note of something other than arrogance he had heard from the wizard. It wasn’t fear, but neither was it his trademark arrogance. “I’ll return with my wraith and let him devour you from within.”

  At a whisk of Zedock’s hand, Yasmina flew towards the necromancer, screaming and beating her fists as she sailed through the air. Zedock caught her in his arms and flew towards the portal.

  Caleb bellowed and raced after them, the bones of the skeletons cracking and breaking as they connected with his bracers. Val stepped beside Will, helping to protect Lance’s bleeding body that lay crumpled on the ground.

  Val jabbed his staff like a lance at the tightening ring of skeletons. “Go with Caleb!”

  Will swatted through the first wave of undead, abhorring the thought of leaving Val and Lance alone. But if Yasmina was spirited away by the necromancer, Caleb would try to follow them, and Will couldn’t leave his brother and Yasmina to face Zedock alone. It was a damnable choice.

  “Go!” Val screamed.

  Will raced towards Zedock. As Yasmina struggled in his arms, the necromancer stepped through the portal and disappeared. Caleb ducked a swing from one of the skeletons and blocked two more, allowing Will to gain ground. Just before Caleb entered the portal, Will dove forward and tackled him, thrusting them both through the ring of blackness.

  -51-

  As soon as they were through the portal, Will pushed Caleb to one side and rolled the other way. Not a moment later, a cone of gray energy rushed past where they had landed, slamming into the portal.

  Will leapt to his feet and rushed at Zedock. Zedock laughed and floated backwards, Yasmina still clasped in his arms, screaming and struggling to free herself. The necromancer stayed just out of Will’s reach, the gap between them maddeningly close.

  Yet it was a gap Will had no way of closing.

  Zedock floated backwards until he was hovering inside the vertical shaft running through the center of the obelisk. The arrogance had returned to his eyes. Will stood on the ledge with his sword extended, shaking with rage and impotence.

  A few feet behind Zedock, the spiral staircase descended to the lower floors. The ledge to reach the staircase was on the side opposite Will. He knew that by the time he circled the vertical shaft, Zedock would be long gone, flying downward to animate his army of monsters. He would summon a wraith or something worse, and lounge in the middle of the wizard shaft while his creations tore Will and Caleb apart.

  This was Zedock’s world, and Will’s window of opportunity had just closed.

  “You might have the sword,” Zedock said, scorn coating his words, “but how did you plan to get close enough to strike? It takes a wizard to kill a wizard. Not a whelp with a sword he doesn’t understand, lost in a world not his own. Following me through the portal was foolish.”

  Zedock started to descend. As the rage bubbled over, Will did the only thing he could: he leapt straight at the necromancer, sword extended to cut through the magic. He knew Zedock would float just out of reach and Will would land in a heap on the stairwell, but it was better than watching from the ledge as he took Yasmina.

  As he jumped, Will saw the amused flicker in Zedock’s eyes, acknowledging the futility of Will’s attempt. Just as Will had guessed, Zedock didn’t bother engaging him, instead floating down and away while Will soared through empty air.

  When Will was halfway across the shaft, screaming his fury, Zedock dropped Yasmina in the middle of his descent and shrieked, his body doubling over in midair.

  Yasmina caught the lip of the staircase with both hands, hanging by her fingertips over the vertical shaft. Zedock plummeted like a falling stone for a few more feet before righting himself in midair, but it was too late. Will’s body slammed into his like a harpoon. They landed in a heap on the staircase, halfway to the next level. Before Zedock could fly away, Will grabbed him with one hand and thrust his sword into Zedock with the other, just above the knife sticking out of the wizard’s gut.

  The knife Will had tossed Caleb in the cemetery.

  Will ran Zedock all the way through, one hand holding him by his hair to make sure he didn’t escape. Zedock gurgled in pain and placed his hands on Will’s chest.

  At first, Will was too ecstatic with victory to realize what was happening. Then his sword dropped from numb fingers, and he fell on top of Zedock, barely able to move. It wasn’t a panic attack: it was as if something were sucking out his life force, stealing energy from his limbs. He looked down and saw Zedock’s hands glowing.

  Will tried to scream but couldn’t use his voice. He had no strength, no animus. Zedock was draining his essence and using it to heal his wound. Will’s jaw worked back and forth, his fingers twitching in a desperate attempt to escape, but he fell to his back as Zedock pulled the knife out and climbed on top of him, one hand still thrust against Will’s chest, the light in his eyes returning as it seeped out of Will’s. Zedock’s cruel grin returned, and Will knew he had made a fatal mistake by underestimating the awesome power of these wizards, had let a necromancer touch him and leech his spirit.

  Will felt the last of his life force draining away. His fingers stopped twitching, the light in the room dimmed, and he could only moan as the necromancer robbed him of his essence.

  Then Zedock gasped and arched, his hands reaching towards his back. Will’s energy seeped back in, and he gathered enough strength to pull away and reach for his sword. Face twisted in agony, Zedock tried to fly away, but Will lunged forward, bringing the blade down in a swift arc across the necromancer’s neck, the magical weapon severing his head in one clean blow.

  He looked down and saw the same knife sticking out of the back of Zedock’s headless body. Yasmina stood a few feet away, a mixture of revulsion, terror, and grim satisfaction on her face.

  Will pushed the body off the ledge and sank to his knees, so depleted he could barely think. Caleb ran down the stairs to meet them.

  “Val and Lance,” Will said, gasping to get the words out. “We have to get back.”

  He didn’t know how Zedock had drained his life force, and he had to assume that even the sword couldn’t protect against a direct touch. An important lesson he hoped never to have to apply.

  Caleb and Yasmina put their arms around Will, helping him stand. “That cemetery?” Caleb said. “Not the best choice of battleground with a necromancer.”

  Will managed a raspy chuckle as they started u
p the stairs. “Yeah, that was a bit rash.” His eyes flicked down to the knife, coated to the hilt in Zedock’s blood. “I thought you were a pacifist?”

  Caleb was quiet for a long moment as they climbed. “I made an exception. For Charlie and Marguerite.”

  Will shivered as he tore his gaze away from Zedock’s sightless eyes. He knew he had almost paid the ultimate price for underestimating his opponent, and that Zedock’s arrogance, as much as the sword, had contributed to his death. The sword was a powerful weapon, but wizards were wizards and Will was a novice fighter, just some fantasy geek with a few weeks of hurried training.

  Pretty much a Level One.

  Or maybe, he thought as he remembered the dead majitsu and the fight in the cemetery and Zedock’s severed head, just maybe, he had moved up in the world.

  His satisfaction evaporated at the thought of the price they had paid for their victory. Charlie turned into a living corpse. Marguerite catatonic, Akocha gravely injured, the deaths of Hashi and Fochik and Alexander. Mala disappearing into the void.

  Lance and Val, trapped in the cemetery amid a horde of skeletons.

  Will couldn’t even bear to think about his oldest brother’s fate. He could only pray that when Zedock fled their world, the magic animating his undead creations had been severed.

  His strength returning, Will struggled to climb faster. They had to get back.

  The three of them hobbled up the staircase. When they reached the top, a prolonged shiver coursed through Will, an electric wave of fear that left him breathless with implication.

  In a corner of the room, thrust backward and warped by Zedock’s energy blast, was the azantite frame of the portal—minus the mysterious opaque center streaked with silver light. Will could see straight through to the glass wall behind it.

  They rushed over and waved their hands through the empty air filling the azantite shell, then stepped through it to be sure. Nothing.