Covenant of the Reborn

by T. E. Joshua

  “Wait, Falsha,” Sean said, suspicious. “Something is not right with that girl.”

  “What do you mean? She’s just an Anglo and their problem to handle.”

  I turned around to escort Natalie through the back door, but Lyonell came back to me and said, “Little brother, I almost forgot to tell you …” But then something happened. He stopped his words and saw something on Natalie. I followed his gaze to her eyes—one green and the other blue. He had noticed beforehand, but this time he took a second look and pondered in shock. Lyonell turned to one side and stared off into space. I waited for him to say something, but nothing came from his mouth. I could hear Sean and Falsha discussing their suspicions of Natalie. He kept referring to her and saying that something was wrong.

  “Lyonell, are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m just thinking.” He paused while continuing to stare off into the distance of the field.

  “My dear, what did you say your name was again?” This time his voice tone was more serious and evil.

  Without thinking, she responded, “Natalie … Natalie Schultz.” Damn! I felt his dema slightly rise.

  “Schultz?” Lyonell questioned. He raised one eyebrow as I grabbed Natalie’s hand from behind her and squeezed it tight. He began to grin.

  “I thought that name sounded familiar,” Lyonell said and widened his grin. His hideous smile gave his confirmation away. He knew who she was. He chuckled a bit. It was a laugh of destruction and corruption.

  “What is so funny?” I asked, reaching for my lighter.

  “You are little brother. You surprise me,” Lyonell then turned his body toward Natalie and me. He raised his monstrous voice and said, “Who would have thought that a Reborn killer would protect the one who he was supposed to kill! As a matter of fact, I think we can just finish the job right … now!”

  Without thinking, I reached for Lyonell’s sword underneath his black trench coat and put the acute side of the blade to his throat. The others quickly noticed my actions and jumped in front of the Wolf clan to keep them from attacking me and defending Lyonell. The atmosphere quickly changed from visitation to a death bout. I didn’t have a choice from this point on; I had to protect Natalie.

  “What are you doing, Bodaway?” Lyonell asked in fear, the edge of the blade pressed into the skin at his throat.

  “I suggest you and your cohorts leave at once before I cut your throat open and spill your precious blood on the ground,” I said in anger while James rushed over to us. James got behind Lyonell and grabbed his body from behind to hold him down on his knees.

  “Don’t move,” James whispered to Lyonell, using the element of water to freeze his arms into his trench coat, making it harder for Lyonell to budge.

  I added with more aggression, “Don’t think for second that I won’t kill my own big brother and superior.”

  “Well, I would hope not, since you’re an elite class warrior like me,” Lyonell replied, rattling his teeth. He wasn’t worried about us taking his life, and that alone concerned me.

  “You’re a fool if you think you can protect the Awakened Reborn from me, Bodaway,” Lyonell hissed. His eyes flared with rage as they rapidly changed to a reddish color. Smoked steamed from his jacket, I sensed him unleashing 30 percent of his dema.

  “It doesn’t matter, Lyonell. You and your clan can’t kill all of us,” I uttered. The others stood there, waiting for the right time to strike. Liyah, Alope, and Aaron guarded us from any surprise attacks from the Wolf clan.

  “Now isn’t the time to play!” Lyonell spat vehemently.

  Lyonell quickly stood up and scooted his feet backward. Suddenly, he threw James to the side like a rag doll while I held my stance. James lay on the ground while I held the acute end of the sword toward him. He brushed the ice off of his trench coat.

  James yelled in agony as he rolled around on the wooden floor.

  “You see, I could have released myself from Eis anytime,” Lyonell paraded.

  “Leave! Now!” I yelled to him.

  “Perhaps you’re right, Bodaway. I don’t want Natalie to see me kill you. I doubt she can handle the sight of me ripping your head off,” Lyonell sneered.

  “Just go,” I said in a calmer voice.

  Lyonell agreed. He seductively turned to Natalie and said in a creepy, chuckling voice, “I’ll see you when your protector isn’t around.” He blew a kiss to Natalie in spite of me. “I believe I’ll take my sword back,” he ordered.

  He could have easily taken the sword from me, so I tossed it to him. He caught it and smiled. He could have attacked me, but he didn’t.

  “Let’s go!” Lyonell shouted out to the Wolf clan.

  Sean glared at me while he held his arm around my sister; they walked out of sight. Bors and Lyonell left as well. The Wolf clan walked out into the tall grass of the field and vanished into the Blackfalls woods. My clan stood there as if they were statues, keeping their wall of protection just in case one of them turned around and tried to rush us.

  James finally recovered from his fall and hurried over to me.

  “Tristan, if they come back, I don’t think we can stop them from killing Natalie,” James said fearfully.

  “We have to try.”

  16

  Lyonell Lakota

  PRIDE, WHICH WAS THE ONE word I knew to describe Lyonell. He craved Reborn blood, the joy of killing. The fact that I had protected a Reborn, an Awakened Reborn at that, boiled his blood even more. I felt his dema rise as they vanished into the woods. He had suppressed his lust to attack me in front of her. I figured he would want her to watch once he got his hands on me, to hear her begging him to stop.

  “They are too strong, especially Lyonell,” Liyah voiced.

  “I’ll handle my brother. The rest of you guard Natalie,” I ordered.

  Alope turned toward me, looking shocked. Aaron snickered. He shook his head no and said, “No, I’m not getting killed for betraying the Covenant. Let’s hand her over to them and let them finish her off if you can’t or let one of us do the job. Either way, she has to die today.”

  I grabbed his collar and slammed him into the wooden floor. “No one, not even you, is hurting her. Not this time.”

  “Like the hell I won’t!”

  “Try me, Nodin. I won’t let you,” I snarled, breathing down his face.

  James stood above Aaron. He kneeled down and grabbed my shoulder to let me know that he agreed with me. “Aaron, don’t bother. This situation has changed. Even if we hand Natalie over to them, they will still fight us for protecting her and report us back to the Naiche clan and the Tribal Council.”

  I let go of Aaron. He stood and said in disbelief, “No, they won’t.”

  “Tristan and James are right. The Wolf clan will hold no honor with us. They see it as act of rebellion, and knowing Lyonell’s reputation, he will enjoy killing us,” Liyah said. Somehow, she always understood everything.

  “Lyonell won’t—”

  “Think about it,” James interrupted. “Lyonell has always been known to kill his hunts. He’s obsessed with the thrill. He won’t stop until Natalie is dead.”

  There was a short pause.

  I would protect her. The others seemed to be on board with me, except Aaron and Alope.

  “If we have to fight them, where does that leave Natalie?” Alope asked the group.

  “She’s with us now. I won’t let her die.”

  Natalie stepped forward and said, “The Spirit will protect me. I don’t need your help.”

  I turned toward her, leaned in, and said, “The Wolf clan isn’t to be taken lightly. You will need me.”

  Natalie stared back, her face free of emotion. “Don’t do this. Don’t get killed because of me. Your friends want me dead; there’s no denying that. Now these nomadic warriors are after me. God has my back.”

  “Great, she can defend herself. Let’s go back home,” Aaron insisted. “Our business is finished here if she isn’t beheaded, and our lea
der, Tristan, the number nine, has a thing for this Awakened Reborn. What’s the sense in being here when they come for her?”

  Liyah wrapped her arms around Aaron and uttered, “Calm down. Everything will be okay.”

  “I—don’t—want—to—fight—them,” he urged. “Lyonell is the number eight warrior. Fighting anyone in the single digits is suicide.”

  “And I’m the ninth. I’m in the single digits. If anyone has a chance at beating him then it will be me,” I said, hoping he would calm down. He was scared, fearful of dying today. All of us were scared. I didn’t blame him. The element of light was the most dangerous one out of us all. He could control of our dark energy waves and turn our abilities against us.

  “So now what?” he asked. He scratched his head, hoping I had a sure plan. I had nothing—nothing but the hope of a boy trying to protect his friend. Natalie leaned against me, holding onto my waist. Envy crossed Alope’s face again. Her teeth clenched their grip as she gawked at Natalie.

  “We have to get her out of town,” I said.

  “And go where?” Aaron asked.

  “We need to get away from here, preferably south of Blackfalls. I’ll draw their attention toward me. Stall. Meanwhile, get Natalie away from here.”

  “Can you trust us?” James asked. It was question that needed to be answered. For the moment, I had to trust them not to harm her.

  “Can I?”

  “You can trust me,” Liyah said with confidence, “even though I don’t necessarily agree with what you’ve done. She’ll be safe.”

  I turned to Alope and asked, “What about you?” She froze, her lower lip folded under as if she was sad. She lowered her head in dismay. “Alope, I need to know.”

  “I don’t know. I’m confused. But if it’s for you, you can trust me,” she uttered relentlessly.

  “This is crazy,” Aaron mentioned.

  “I thought we discussed this, Aaron.”

  “You can’t trust me, Tristan. I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know if I can do this. It goes against everything we have worked toward. Now there she is in front of us … I’m just … I don’t know.”

  “You will obey my orders, cousin. Natalie is a friend.”

  He sort of shook his head. Resting his hands on his hips, he responded, “Whatever, Tristan, whatever you want. But remember, if anyone dies, then their blood on is your hands. They’re going to blame you and no one else.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “What about of me?” James asked. I trusted James with my life. No matter what the odds or the circumstances; he would always have my back. To be fair, I didn’t need to ask him. When we were in the barn, he had said he was with me till the bitter end, and he hadn’t failed me yet.

  “What do you think?”

  “Considering what I was about to do to Natalie a few hours ago, it would be smart to say no. But we are family, more than friends. I don’t quite understand your position. But I will obey your orders with my life,” James said firmly.

  “Thanks, my friend.” We hugged. He sobbed a bit. His sincerity eased my former concerns. He wasn’t going to harm Natalie. The decision to behead her was dead. As of now, we were rebels against the Covenant. They would follow me, even if they disagreed or didn’t understand the path that I had laid before them. We were family. Even in the grimmest situations, we had each other’s back.

  Natalie stepped forward. “I know you guys wanted me dead …”

  “…only because we were assigned to, not because we knew you,” Liyah said.

  “Thanks, but the Spirit warned me of Tristan’s coming. You called me an Awakened Reborn. Whatever that name means is nothing to me. Those warriors won’t harm me as long as I have the power of the Reborn Spirit.”

  “You can fight them?” Liyah asked.

  “I can to a certain degree. I don’t call upon dark powers like you do, or at will. My power comes whenever it is necessary.”

  “It’s about to become necessary,” James said harshly. “These warriors are more dangerous than we are. Two of them have elements. We have three of the five, but they’re more prone to kill.”

  “I’m not worried,” Natalie said defensively.

  “You’re going to be worried and frightened,” Alope warned.

  “That’s enough,” I yelled. “We aren’t going to make this better by tagging on negative emotions.”

  “Tristan’s right. If Natalie is too live, we have to leave town,” James said.

  “I’ll follow Lyonell. I can sense his dema close by. They’re probably waiting on us to make a move. Get her out of here.”

  James hopped over the wooden railing of the back porch and marched to the front of the house. Liyah held onto Aaron’s hand as they followed James’s lead. Alope shook her head. She walked down the steps and uttered, “I don’t believe this.”

  “Everything will be fine,” I muttered to Natalie. I gave her a hug and smelt the scent of sweets and spices, the smell of the Spirit. “Go with James.”

  “But Tristan, I can handle myself. I don’t know if I can trust them. They tried to kill me earlier,” Natalie said fearfully.

  “They won’t harm you. I trust James. I trust Liyah. Aaron and Alope aren’t gung-ho about the idea, but they will listen to me. You’ll be safe with them,” I assured her.

  We walked to the front of the house. I grabbed Liyah’s hand and whispered, “Watch Alope. She’s envious of Natalie around me.”

  “Got it,” she replied quietly.

  Then James unlocked the garage door. He walked into the clutter of junk and grabbed a deer-skin handle from a black sheath. Immediately, I recognized the twin blades as his own, the twin swords with the mark of Lucian, the black dove.

  “If Lyonell can control our dark energy, we’ll have to fight him with weaponry and our elements,” James said boldly. He even unzipped a duffle bag and tossed Aaron his weapon, a sword smaller than the swords of Naiche. It had been Uncle Eis’s weapon when he was a young warrior. “I almost forgot about these weapons.”

  “Father kept them hidden from us. He told me last night that we would need them today—who would have thought? Besides, brother, we are going to need them against Lyonell. Don’t try to use energy waves; he’ll be expecting it,” James warned as I tightened the strap from the sheath across my body.

  “We’ll get Natalie out of town,” James assured me.

  “I’ll meet up with you guys later. Take care of her for me.”

  “Of course, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  As the clan hopped into James’s truck, I grabbed Alope’s hand and said, “Alope, you’ll always be my best and my first. You know that. Don’t worry about anything. Natalie needs our help.”

  “I know, Tristan. Don’t get yourself killed … for someone who you were supposed to kill.” Then she got into James’s truck.

  Natalie walked over to me and we hugged. Her scent flowed through my nostrils. Now the scent wasn’t disturbing to my demon energy; I had somewhat gotten used to it.

  “I’ll be along soon,” I uttered softly.

  “I’ll pray for you and for them,” Natalie said, referring to my clan.

  “Please do. There is a chance we won’t make it through this alive.”

  We heard the sound of a horn. We looked over and saw Aaron honking from the passenger seat.

  “Go. I’ll handle my brother.”

  Then they left. Natalie looked at me before the truck disappeared behind the black trees. Even though she claimed she would have access to her Awakened abilities when Lyonell decided to attack, there was an expression of fear. I could only hope that her god wouldn’t allow her to die so young.

  Alope mouthed something. I read her lips as she said, “I still love you.”

  Soon I was alone, standing in front of my Uncle’s house with my sword of fire and a small glimpse of hope. I knew what I had to do. I sensed the Wolf clan on the move, trailing through the Blackfalls woods while Lyonell remained behind.
>
  I walked through the fields. I could smell the blood that drenched his trench coat as I tracked him down. I sought to commune with him and seek out a peace between us, an understanding between siblings.

  Lyonell waited on me near a canyon ridge behind a large tree. I saw my brother standing with a little girl next to him. This wasn’t good.

  “Bodaway,” he hissed to me in my mind. We could communicate with each other telepathically. It was an ability shared among all single digit warriors.

  I drew near to him. He held his stand and had his hand over the child’s shoulders. She looked five or six years old and was quietly sobbing.

  I moved in quickly and appeared in front of him as fast as I could. He could easily detect my dema. He grinned at me with his hideous smile. Tension built up between us as he glared into my soul. He said the first words. “Decided to seek me out?”

  I didn’t respond. I couldn’t stand to look at him, much less talk back. I didn’t care if he was my older brother. I had to stop him, even if I had to kill him. He was clever, so I had to keep my guard up. I revealed my new lighter for easy access to spark a flame in case I needed a quick defense. He quickly noticed my movement and hardened his hand around the little girl’s neck, threatening to squeeze if I made any sudden movements.

  Suddenly, I lit a flame from the black lighter and kept it hidden from Lyonell’s sight.

  “Easy!” Lyonell hissed. “Wouldn’t want this little girl to enter the gates of heaven so soon, now, would we?”

  “Leave her out of this.”

  “Nah, I think she wants to stay,” he responded and snickered.

  “Where did you find her?”

  “You know me, little brother. I just picked one up on the way here for a little insurance. This one was getting off of a Blackfalls public school bus. Just like insects to humans and Reborns to the Covenant, they’re below us.”

  “You’ve become a sick man, Lyonell,” I snarled.

  He grinned again. “Well, you do what you have to do to get what you want. Isn’t that what you’ve lived by?” Lyonell asked. “Let me ask you something, Bodaway. What were you really doing with that Awakened Reborn?”