by Andrew Wood
Zack emerged from the small doorway and out on to the flat roof, quickly assessing the scene before him. The fear he felt soon turned to shear dread as watched the strange flying beast carry a limp Maxim off into the sky above him. "Maxim..." he cried out, feeling a pain he had never felt before. Kurtis turned to see Zack, and launched a small energy bolt his direction.
Zack had his eyes skyward as he felt a horrendous burning sensation smash into his left shoulder. At first, he was not sure what had happened, and the adrenalin pumping through his veins kept him on his feet, in time to see Kurtis launching a second attack. Mikel arrived just in time to catch Zack's falling body. "They've got Max...," he managed to say as Mikel lowered him carefully to the floor.
Shadow, realising his initial target was out of reach, turned swiftly and launched himself towards Kurtis. The young man may have been well built and stronger than most his age, but he stood little chance against a dire wolf. The beast thumped into him, just as he was preparing to launch another bolt of energy. Kurtis was forced down, and Shadow instinctively went straight for the throat. Mikel watched on, and although at that moment in time he would have wanted nothing more than for Kurtis to have his throat ripped apart, some small part of him thought it was better not to.
Mikel sent the order to Shadow, and the beast released just a little. Enough to keep his victim incapacitated, but not enough so that his jaws crushed through the windpipe. Mikel heard the voices and footsteps of others following up behind him, as he looked up to see the flying creature, now little more than a speck in the distant sky.
"They got Max..." he heard Zack say again, in a hoarse voice.
"I know Zack...We will get him back...I promise you that," he heard himself saying.
Surprisingly it was Darion who was first to join them on the rooftop of the keep. He may have been the oldest, but he could move surprisingly quickly when he felt the need. He was quickly followed by Ramon and Danton, and several more behind them.
"They have Maxim," Mikel said looking up to Ramon, whilst still holding Zack's head in his arms. The group was clearly shocked by his words, as he pointed to the speck in the sky.
"Get your dog off the traitor...I'll sort him out..." Darion snapped, walking over toward Kurtis, still pinned down by Shadow.
"Darion...Do Not..." Ramon shouted in a voice so loud it almost made Mikel jump. The old man was clearly thinking of disregarding the warning, but eventually submitted.
Danton crouched down and picked Zack up in his arms, "I'll get him to a healer," he said turning and heading back down through the narrow doorway leading off the roof.
"Bind his hands," Ramon asked one of the soldiers who had followed them up, "And bring him to my study."
"We have to go now..." Mikel shouted out. "We have to get Maxim back," he added feeling the emotion starting to get the better of him. He felt his eyes welling, "Why aren't we getting ready to follow?" he asked again feeling the first of the warm tears roll down his cold cheek. Darion placed a hand on his shoulder, "We'll get him back lad...Don't you worry about that."
Danton carried the wounded Zack down the narrow steps leading off the keep roof, and into the corridor. There was already a small crowd gathering as word was clearly spreading of something big happening. He steadied himself as his arms were already aching from holding the young man. Zack was certainly heavier than he looked, though he took a deep breath and manoeuvred his way through the onlookers.
He could hear the whispers of those in the corridor, with many straining to get a look at whom he was carrying.
Danton suddenly heard a cry, "Zack..." and he turned to see the familiar face of Melia trying to push her way towards him.
"What's happened?" she asked looking quickly from Danton to the injured Zack in his arms.
Melia may not have been the best healer in Pitford, but she was the first to hand, and Danton decided it best to get Zack treated now, before any complications set in.
"Clear a space," he bellowed at those trying to crowd around. He then gently lowered Zack to the corridor floor, although he continued to support the young man's head. "What...who did this?" Melia asked looking at the wound. Her eyes met Danton's and she could see he did not want to answer, and she left it at that.
"Can you heal him?" Danton asked.
Melia nodded the affirmative, although this was without doubt the most serious injury she had been asked to heal to date. This however, was a young man for whom she cared deeply, and she knew there was no room for error now. Without further ado, Melia slowly pulled open her patient's tunic and shirt. She ran her hand over Zack's warm chest almost wishing she were doing so under different circumstances.
Quickly coming to her senses, she looked at the area of damage to the flesh on Zack's shoulder area. There was severe burning around the impact, and a small place, were the impact had penetrated the skin and flesh. Trying her best to clear her mind from the distractions around her she focused on what she needed to do. She was quickly aware, that had the impact been a little further right and down, whatever had struck Zack could well have killed him. As it was, the strike had missed any vital organs, which was just as well for Melia, as she was still learning about how to heal them.
"Take your time Melia...I have faith in you," she heard Danton say. She glanced up at the man who had bought her to Pitford, and gave a small smile. In her mind, she could see the injury to Zack; fortunately, it was not life threatening, although left untreated for any length of time may have been so. She first cooled the area around the wound, before willing the flesh to slowly knit back together.
Danton watched on as he could see the skin around the injury lose its redness and return to a more normal colour. Zack groaned in his arms and his eyes flickered open, "They have Max...," he uttered.
Danton knew then, that the physical injury to Zack might have been treated, but there was still a deep emotional one that would not heal anytime soon.
"Who...?" Melia asked suddenly feeling a panic takeover from her previous calmness.
Danton grimaced; with so many people around, he could not say. "Let us get Zack to his room, I'll explain then," he finally replied, realising Melia wanted an answer. Satisfied the injury to Zack had been reasonably dealt with, Danton took a deep breath and picked the young royal up once more into his arms.
"Get out of the way," he bellowed in a tone of anger Melia had never seen from the man before. She knew whatever had happened must have been very serious. She remained silent as she followed Danton down the corridor, and although a few followed several yards behind her, hoping to find out what was going on, she, like Danton, ignored them.
Once inside the boy's room, she quickly shut the door, and waited for Danton to place Zack down on his bed. The young royal flitted in and out of consciousness, as usually happened when a major healing had been undertaken. After an hour or two of rest, Zack would be back up on his feet, left with little more than a scar and the memory of what had happened.
Danton turned to Melia, "Max has been taken..."
"Who by? What happened to Zack?" she interrupted, before realising what she had done.
"Sorry...I'm shocked I guess," she added.
Danton did not know much. Other than Zack had been injured by Kurtis, who for reasons as yet unknown seem to have instigated the kidnapping. He explained to Melia that Maxim had been carried off on some kind of flying creature.
"Where they have taken him, I do not know...Can I leave you here with Zack? I need to find Ramon and find out what's gone on," he asked.
Melia nodded, "Of course...Are we not going after Maxim though?" she asked feeling she should be doing something.
"We don't know where to look...At least not yet...But do not worry, we will find out and when we do, we will bring him home, even if it means trekking halfway across the world," he said in a defiant tone.
After Danton had warned her not to let anyone other than friends or Masters into the room, he left her alone with Zack. She sat down on the s
ide of his bed and picked up his hand before encapsulating it in her own. She looked at the young man before her, who was now asleep. In the relatively short time they had known each other she had become very fond him. They had been through so much already, and she felt a strange feeling, and realised it was a kind of pain, although not hers. From holding Zack's hand she realised it was coming from him, and thought she must have missed something. She breathed slowly trying to see if she could heal it, only to find no physical injury. It was then she realised it was not that kind of pain; this was something quite different. She looked closely at Zack's face, so peaceful she thought, yet inside that young mind was a wound even the greatest healers in the world could not heal.
Chapter 10.
Shonna willed the Aclat lower, until the beast landed, hitting the ground a little heavier than usual with a short trot, before coming to a standstill. She had escaped and crossed the river into Bosaria, and slung over the creature in front of her was the young man she had just kidnapped. Knowing that in the cold temperatures her prisoner would likely freeze to death before she got him to Gorius, she thought it best to wrap him in blankets and furs.
Shonna was not strong enough to lift the young man up and down by herself, so had to try to insulate him in situ. Her Aclat remained perfectly still for her, whilst she put as many layers around him as she could manage. It was then she noticed the colour of her prisoner's hair. "My...where did they get you from?" she uttered to herself. Shonna knew there were few people in this part of the world with such a feature, and that those with it came from a land far away. "How by the gods did you end up in this part of the world?" she added, again asking a question to which nobody was going to answer.
Shonna looked back the direction she had travelled, and thankfully for her, as she had expected there was nobody in pursuit of her. Although she was fully aware, that if the magicians at Pitford were as powerful as she believed, she needed to get airborne again quickly, just in case a teleporter had been sent to follow her. She doubted her enemy had anything like an Aclat to follow her in the skies, and so as long as she was up there and off the ground, she would be safe. Without waiting to find out if her theory might or might not be true, Shonna willed her Aclat forward and upwards. Within another hour or two, she hoped to be sitting beside a warm fireplace with a hot drink in hand, safe in the knowledge she had delivered the greatest of prizes to her king.
As she flew through the cold wintery air, she looked down at the unconscious young man wrapped up in the bundle of furs. Knowing the youngster must have been born of, or even originated from a land so far away, puzzled her. At the back of her mind, she was certain she knew the name of the land such people existed, but for the life of her, she could not remember. Shonna shook her head, annoyed at her inability to recall the information she knew; she decided when she got back she would browse through her books to refresh her memory. All she could remember was the place was half a world away, and the people rarely made it to these lands. The main point she did recall was that the people who lived there, embraced magic as a gift, not treat it as a blight on society.
In Pitford, Melia remained at Zack’s bedside, as the young man stirred once or twice but continued sleeping. In the hour or so that she had been alone with him, she had ran through her mind all the times she had dropped subtle hints to her liking him. True she thought that she also liked Maxim, although for whatever reason she was unsure. Either Zack was so immaturely naive that he did not notice when a female was trying to flirt, or he was just not interested. In fact, now that she had time to think clearly on the matter, the only person Zack showed an interest in was Maxim. A peculiar thought entered her mind; Was Zack attracted to Maxim in a way she did not understand. Whether that attraction was mutual or not she did not know. Maxim had been so devoid of any care and attention throughout his young life that he probably took every bit he could get.
The pain she could sense within Zack must be from Maxim being taken. Her diagnosis of cause was not necessarily correct, it could well be from the trauma of the event. Something inside her however told her she was right. Zack was torn apart inside at the loss of his friend, and when he awoke, he likely be very distraught. She decided that whenever that was, she would be there for him, she was after all, still a good friend, even though she now understood it would likely never be anything more than that, but there was always hope that it might just be.
Her tenuous diagnosing was interrupted by the door opening behind her. She was about to tell whoever it was to clear off, when she noticed Shadow trotting into the room. Mikel inevitably followed in after him, looking very upset. Melia stood and looked at him, and knew he was also upset about what had happened. Although she had told herself there was no longer any attraction towards Mikel, she held out her arms, and the young man duly accepted the offer.
“They’ve taken Maxim,” he said trying hard not to sob.
“I know,” she replied softly.
“I tried…but I couldn’t stop them.”
“It’s ok Mikel,” she added, feeling his pain much more than she thought possible. She thought she might start crying herself, and took a deep breath as her own eyes welled up.
Ramon had acted quickly in seeking out Katria, knowing that if there was anybody who could keep track on Maxim’s kidnapper, it would be her. Her ability to connect with birds would hopefully prove beneficial in this instance. Nobody would think seeing a bird in the sky as unusual. In Ramon’s study, the voices of those within the room shouted and argued amongst themselves. It was clear those before him were angry at what had taken place, none more so than Darion. The elderly magician was getting very angry with one or two others, who had voiced the opinion that losing Maxim was probably a blessing in disguise. Ramon listened to them for a little while longer before slamming the palms of his hands hard on the surface of his desk. The resulting noise had the desired effect of quieting the room.
Ramon stood from his seat, and walked slowly amongst those senior members of society in his study.
“Arguing is not going to solve anything. For what it is worth I also believe we must get the boy back, as Darion and Danton do…”
“See, bloody told you…stupid…,” Darion snapped at one of the men who had been arguing with him.
Ramon quickly clapped his hands together before he lost control of the situation. To his credit, Darion did stop talking and let him continue.
“We must try and interrogate Kurtis…I am certain he is acting under the influence of another. I have known him for years, and although he can be a bit of a hothead, I am certain he would not do this kind of thing willingly.”
Kurtis had been one of the first pupils at Pitford, and had never shown any signs that he would be a traitor. Darion however still wanted to hand the young man out to dry.
“Whatever…the fact remains he tried to kill a member of the royal family, and kidnap the young ginger lad,” he snapped.
Danton chuckled to himself. “Darion do I detect a hint of concern for their welfare?” he asked.
The old man just scoffed at the remark, before crossing his arms and leaning defiantly against the far wall.
Ramon knew he needed to convince Darion that Kurtis was not really to blame. He was certain if given half a chance the old magician would kill the youngster for what he had done. One positive from the situation was it was clear, as Danton had pointed out, that Darion did indeed care for the youngsters he had been teaching. This was good, as he knew if there was to be a rescue attempt for Maxim, it would probably have to be centred around Darion.
Realising nothing was going to be decided there and then Ramon called an end to the emergency meeting. He asked that the others return to their usual duties, and that the situation be explained to the younger residents of Pitford.
“We tell everyone the truth,” he told them. “One of their own has been taken, and another injured. We need them to realise things are going to get a little more serious. Dark days are coming, and we need to make
sure they are ready for what we have been training them for.” Pleased with his little speech he asked them to go; all that was except Danton and Darion.
When it was just the three left in the room, Ramon knew he first needed to placate Darion, before letting him loose on Kurtis.
“Promise me Darion that you will not take revenge on Kurtis, I need you to help me get the truth,” he asked.
It was clear Darion was not keen on making such a promise, but he eventually nodded his agreement.
“Very well. We need to find out who Kurtis is working for, and hopefully that will give us an idea of who wants Maxim so badly.”
Ramon led Danton and Darion into the small room leading off the study. Sat in a chair in the centre was Kurtis, his hands bound behind his back. Ramon had four soldiers keeping guard whilst he had been talking, but now felt they were no longer needed. After waiting for them to leave, he lowered his gaze to look at Kurtis’ face. He needed to find out as much as he could, even if that meant causing distress to the youngster before him.
He first tried asking outright who he was, and what he was doing here. “You know who I am Ramon,” came the reply. The answer may not have been the one Ramon wanted but it did at least tell him one thing. Kurtis was still aware of who he was.
“Who told you to take Maxim?” Danton added to the conversation.
“I don’t know…I just knew I had to do it…I had to watch for a strange creature in the sky, when I saw that I had to get Maxim,” he answered truthfully.