“It was the nature of the Tepish to instill fear,” said Oligar, “even those who work alone. What better way to make one believe there are more than to say you are outranked?”
“But the Tepish do not kidnap their victims,” Zechariah countered. “They leave them to be rejected by their families, so something is going on to make them depart from their traditional actions.”
“I am not convinced,” Vyrna said flatly. “What proof do you possess other than this boy, who could have been changed in any of a dozen ways?”
Zechariah chuckled under his breath. David thought he heard Zechariah mutter, “Always the cynic.”
“I have this,” Zechariah said, raising his voice again. David caught Vladimir closing his eyes with a stifled sigh as Zechariah opened the small nilrof satchel at his side. He carefully pulled the smashed nilrof out of its satchel and held it aloft before the council.
“This is what remains of the very nilrof used by the Tepish to change David as well as another man from Hauginstown into Fempiror. It was unfortunately destroyed when I saved David, but why would a lone Fempiror possess such a thing?”
Zechariah turned and displayed the nilrof to the crowd behind them. “The Tepish are returning. They were taking David to be part of an unwilling army, and when they are ready, they will attack and lay waste to everything.”
The crowd reacted again, but more intensely. Zechariah was getting to them, and when David looked back at the men sitting at the head of the room, he could tell they were reacting as well. Karian still sat calmly and only stared at Zechariah, amused. Ghitish was not so silent.
“Zechariah, you are getting out of order,” Ghitish declared.
“My apologies, Council Head,” Zechariah responded, “but this is serious.”
“You claimed this urgency twenty-five years ago,” Karian said while retaining his unusual calm, which was quite different from his demeanor earlier, “when you led our waning army to a desolate zone and found no evidence of Tepish or even recent departure. This nilrof is a useless relic. If I’m not mistaken, the nilrof that led us out there to begin with is still in the possession of a former Rastem leader. You would assert that if someone happened across this item in his possession, we should try him as a Tepish as well.”
“Not at all!” Zechariah said, taken aback.
“And yet, you place much weight upon this find, because you do not know the history of its owner,” Karian continued.
“I saw him change David,” Zechariah insisted.
“One Fempiror does not make an army, and you’ve already indicated that he was dealt with under the code,” Karian said. “We hold your further Tepish claims as unfounded.”
“What proof do you require?” Zechariah asked angrily. “You will accept nothing short of invasion as proof. Then, you will call it isolated, sit quietly in your comfortable seats, and be slaughtered.”
“Zechariah, that is enough!” Karian said, losing his stoic expression. “Be silent!”
“I will not be silent!” Zechariah replied. “I will not stand by and watch you allow my people to be destroyed from within.”
Vladimir leaned for forward and pleaded with Zechariah. “Zechariah, please...”
“No!” Zechariah yelled.
Vladimir sat back quickly in his chair and shook his head.
“This council no longer governs in the best interest of the people,” Zechariah continued. “Your leadership is worthless because you do not lead. You have forgotten whom you serve. You are all lambs awaiting your slaughter.”
Karian stood up. Clearly, this was what they had prepared for. “We cannot allow you to stir the people with this non-existent Tepish threat,” he said. “You are under arrest. Seize him!”
The four guards in the room moved suddenly and quickly. David had forgotten they were there as they had been standing so still and silent throughout this ordeal. They drew their swords as they closed in on Zechariah.
Zechariah replaced the smashed nilrof into its satchel and moved to a defensive position. He drew his sword and gestured for David to get behind him. “Do exactly as I say. No questions,” he said quietly.
David nodded, fearful of what appeared to be happening. He was not about to question Zechariah at this point. He had no idea what Zechariah had in mind, or how they were going to get out of this mess. He could only hope Zechariah actually had a plan.
Zechariah moved with unreal speed, and the clang of swords striking together rang through his ears. He watched as Zechariah only blocked the strikes of the two guards closest to them. The other two were right behind them and quickly moving around to flank Zechariah on either side. It was a four to one battle, and he doubted even Zechariah could hold off all four of them for long. David did what he could to stay behind Zechariah and not become a victim himself. The warriors backed them towards the wall of the room, and soon they would be trapped.
Suddenly, Zechariah turned and leaped out the window, shattering the glass and landing softly on the ground outside. David followed suit behind him. The cool, night air was a refreshing change to the stifling atmosphere of the council hall. A quick look around revealed them to be in an alley between the Body Hall and the building next door. Another door on the side of the Body Hall led into the lower level, but he felt that if they were coming after Zechariah, this door would prove to be an outlet for more of those guards. The main road was only yards away in one direction. Behind them was another, lesser-traveled road.
Zechariah took a few steps towards the lesser traveled road, but four guards entered the alley from that direction. Zechariah turned to the main road and saw four more guards entering the alley from there as well. Adding to the chaos were the four guards leaping out the window from the council room into the alley, and the door from the lower level was also opening.
They were trapped.
Then Zechariah looked up. “Hold onto my neck,” he said with some urgency.
David looked at him incredulously. “What?” he asked.
“I don’t have time to explain,” Zechariah said quickly, “Just hang on and keep your feet off the ground. You’ll be strong enough to hold yourself on.”
David nodded. “I understand,” he said, but in reality, he did not understand. Zechariah had told him without question, so David complied. He jumped onto Zechariah’s back, wrapped his arms around Zechariah’s neck, and curled his legs off the ground. Despite the fact that he was now holding his entire weight, he barely noticed.
Without a word, Zechariah leaped upwards an impossible distance onto the wall of the Council Body Hall. David could not fathom a logical reason for this. The wall was brick but there was no handhold or anything else that would allow Zechariah to use a leap to the side of the structure, no matter how high up he was able to jump.
But Zechariah only paused for a fraction of a second on that part of the wall before he leaped to the wall of the building on the other side of the alley, landing several feet higher on the wall of the building next to the Council Body Hall, which was more of a typical wood and stone construction. Zechariah had planned his course carefully up the wall to land in between the windows of the two buildings as he went up.
Zechariah paused for the same fraction of a second before leaping again to the wall of the hall, several feet higher again. This back and forth leaping continued up the entire height of the walls, but when David looked down, he saw that some of the guards were following them up the wall in the same fashion. He also saw other vehicles at ground level that were levitating above the ground at about the height of the Levi-Cart but were only wide enough for a single person to ride. These must be the Chasers described by Tiberius.
Before he knew it, they had leaped the entire three-story height of the building and landed on the roof of the building next door to Council Body Hall.
Zechariah turned his head to David. “Get down,” he said. “I’ll protect you. Just stay behind me.”
David complied and hid behind Zechariah just as the f
irst guard appeared over the edge of the roof and rushed Zechariah. Their swords clashed briefly. The guard was spirited but clearly inexperienced as Zechariah beat his parry easily and ran him through. Two others followed immediately behind him, and Zechariah blocked and parried their blows, somehow managing to fend off both attacks simultaneously.
The guards appeared to be fighting their own battles without working together to throw Zechariah off at all. He blocked blow after blow, not attempting to gain any ground with them until he had worked himself to where one was behind the other. At that moment, he easily felled the one closest to him. The second one rushed in immediately, but he failed to consider Zechariah’s skill, and his body hit the ground before he could raise his sword. As he fell, Zechariah grabbed the second guard’s sword and held it ready in his left hand. The guard’s long, straight sword looked rough and even ugly in comparison to the sleek, thin curve of Zechariah’s handcrafted weapon.
Before they could even move, three other guards had replaced their fallen comrades, and now with a sword in each hand, Zechariah was battling all three of them at once. As with the previous pair, they were not a coordinated group, and Zechariah was easily able to defend himself, despite the uneven odds. He moved in close to the first one, made a quick block, and kicked him off the roof.
As he blocked a blow from the second one, he repositioned himself and blocked a blow from the third. The second made another attempt and Zechariah quickly twisted his sword, throwing the second one’s sword clean off the roof as a blow from the third was blocked. With the sword of the third occupied for a second, Zechariah ran him through before he could draw back for another blow. The second guard had backed off, being without a sword.
Zechariah sheathed his sword turned to David. “Let’s go,” he said quickly.
Zechariah sprinted off again, twisting the extra sword in his left hand to point downward as he ran. David ran behind him, staying to Zechariah’s right to avoid his extra sword. Several more guards leaped over the edge of the building and gave chase.
Zechariah leaped from rooftop to rooftop, quickly moving through the town. David worried that he would be unable to keep up, but he was able to follow Zechariah perfectly. Every leap was more than sufficient to clear the distance between the rooftops, and Zechariah never faltered for a moment. For a man of over four hundred years, he was remarkably agile, and David was able to stay with him.
Suddenly, Zechariah leaped to a lower roof and then skipped off the roofs entirely to the ground, where he landed with a soft thud. David landed behind him but rolled to a stop. Hardly pausing, Zechariah ran to where he had parked his Levi-Cart nearby. He must have intended to reach his Levi-Cart from the roofs so he didn’t have to deal with the people below slowing him down, or more likely, the Chasers catching up to him. David jumped to his feet, realizing how winded he was from the pace, but he caught up to Zechariah.
Zechariah stopped next to the Cart and dropped the extra sword in the back of the Cart. David suddenly realized he had lost his hat at some point during the sprint. He glanced behind them to see if he could spot his hat, but it was nowhere in sight. He had no time to wonder where he had lost it, however, as the Tepish were coming.
They both jumped into the Cart. Zechariah started it up, and in no time at all, David saw why Zechariah had ultimately parked the Cart where he had before the meeting began.
Directly ahead of his Levi-Cart was a long alley that led straight out of town into the fields they had crossed earlier. Zechariah threw a switch, pushed forward on the controls, and the Cart blasted out of Erim. David looked behind them, and four Chasers had turned down the alley and quickly gained on them.
The Levi-Cart hit the open fields, and Zechariah pushed the levers forward as far as they would go. The landscape rushed by at a blinding speed.
Once their eyes adjusted outside the bright lights of Erim, the light of the moon helped to illuminate their path more than sufficiently. David glanced back and saw that the Chasers were gaining on them.
“Listen. I need you to maintain a straight course unless there is an absolute need to change directions,” Zechariah said.
David looked at him, surprised. “You want me to do what?”
“They’re going to be on us in a very short time, and I need to get rid of them. You need to control the Levi-Cart.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You’ve seen me do it, right?” Zechariah asked.
David was panicked. Of course, he had seen the simple controls of the Cart, but it was one thing to see it and another entirely to do it.
“David,” Zechariah said curtly. “You can do this.”
David nodded.
Zechariah climbed out of his seat and into the back of the Cart. The controls stayed in their forward position. David looked forward. The fields were clear for some distance, but there appeared to be a forest that would soon run parallel to their course.
With a deep breath, he climbed into Zechariah’s seat and held the controls. He pulled back slightly and felt the Cart slow just a little under the reduction of propulsion power. He pushed the controls forward again and felt the Cart speed back up as the power was reapplied. He breathed heavily and looked back to Zechariah, who was eyeing him with a slight smile.
“Forgive me for not giving you a lesson sooner,” Zechariah said. “I didn’t think you’d need to drive after only three days.”
David shrugged. “As long as I just need to go straight, I can do it,” he said more for himself than for Zechariah.
Zechariah nodded. “Just stay the course,” he said. “They’re almost upon us.”
Zechariah stood in the rear of the Levi-Cart and looked at the field behind them. The Chasers continued to gain on them. Zechariah slipped his foot through one of the straps attached to the rear bed of the Cart. He leaned down and tightened the strap. He picked up the sword he had taken from the Fempiror guard on the roof in his left hand and drew his own sword with his right.
Two of the Chaser Fempiror drew their swords and held them horizontally level with Zechariah’s neck. Zechariah held his swords vertically in front of him and placed a leg back to brace himself for the inevitable impact.
The Chasers reached them and their swords clashed against Zechariah’s defense. The Levi-Cart shuddered under the force of the hit. David flinched while holding the controls and the Cart swerved slightly. Zechariah appeared to be unmoved by the strike and only moved under the Levi-Cart’s instability. The Chasers spun out of control, each going opposite directions, but their riders soon regained control and circled around to approach the Cart again.
The other two Chasers attempted to seize the moment of the Levi-Cart’s slowing and separated, each to one side of the Cart. They were moving in quickly in an apparent attempt to pin the Cart between them.
Zechariah leaned forward to David. “Speed up when I tell you to,” he said.
David nodded and glanced to each side. The Chasers were closing fast. David's hands rested gently on the controls waiting for Zechariah’s signal.
“Now!” Zechariah said. David pressed the control levers forward as far as they would go. The Levi-Cart shot forward in an instant. The riders quickly righted their Chasers, but they were unable to control their momentum and collided just behind the Cart.
One of the riders hit the ground as the rigs crashed together, but the other rider used his own momentum to leap from his falling Chaser onto the back of the speeding Levi-Cart.
Zechariah struck instantly, but the rider blocked the blow with a wrist gauntlet before clutching both of Zechariah’s hands, preventing a second blow. The two stood at a stalemate on the back of Cart, with neither able to deliver a punch without the other stopping it. Zechariah brought his knee up into the rider’s gut, and then punched him in the face when he faltered, but the rider maintained his grip on Zechariah and did not fall.
Zechariah glanced behind the rider to see the other Chasers approaching them swiftly from behind. They held out t
heir swords at neck level again, with no regard for their fellow rider. Apparently, Zechariah was dangerous enough that if they could take him out, killing one of their own was of no consequence.
Zechariah only held the rider at bay, stopping his various kick attempts with leg blocks of his own while he awaited the inevitable strike.
The other Chasers rushed upon them, and Zechariah ducked at the last moment. His opponent never saw it coming, and a head dropped into the seat next to David. David jumped involuntarily and then grimaced at the blank eyes staring at him. Zechariah sheathed his sword, removed the scabbard of the dead rider, and discarded the rider’s body and head over the side of the fast-moving Cart.
In front of them, the other Chasers wheeled around and charged them from the front. Zechariah sheathed the extra sword and leaned down to David again.
“Head to the forest,” he said, pointing to the large grove of trees that David had seen earlier.
David shook his head. “Are you crazy?” he asked rhetorically.
Zechariah looked forward. The pair of Chasers was on the verge of ramming them.
“No time to argue,” he said, placing his hands on top of David’s and quickly steering the Cart directly towards the trees. The Chasers missed them by inches and spun round to follow.
“We’ll smash against a tree at this speed in the dark,” David panicked.
“You’re a Fempiror,” Zechariah said reassuringly. “Relax and use your reflexes. They’re faster than you think.”
David took a deep breath. This was another time where he could not argue, and there was no time to consider anything. Zechariah had made this decision for him, and with the edge of the forest looming, there was no turning back.
As they flew into the trees, David quickly learned that the slightest move to the control levers could make a big difference in speed and direction. He also found that keeping up with the speed of the Cart as it whipped through the trees was not as difficult as he had imagined. Zechariah had thrust something upon him that he could handle, and unless Zechariah had forced him to handle it, he would not have believed it.
The Awakening (The Fempiror Chronicles Book 1) Page 14