Forever Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 3) (46 page)

Elissa stood still, unsure what to do.  Tarcious was dead, but there was still a Taran army in her city.  The general that had been leading the army was nowhere to be seen.  At some point in the chaos, he had run off.  Her eyes looked around the chamber at the dead bodies, then they fell upon Conner.

He looked back at her from the across the room and smiled.  “I’m alive,” he said.

She smiled back.

He strode to her and brought her into a hug.  She smelled of blood and sweat, but it was the best scent ever.  With her ear next to his mouth, he whispered, “I want to kiss you.”

She whispered in his hear, “I want you to.”

The double doors from the outside burst open.  Toknon, sword drawn, shouted. “There they are!  They killed the emperor!”

Behind them, a courtyard full of centurions rushed forward.  Conner stepped forward to meet them.  Several in the front ranks dropped to their knees, aimed their crossbows and fired.

The crossbow bolts struck an invisible wall halfway across the room, exploding into small shards.  The rest of the centurions charged, but they too ran into the invisible wall bouncing back onto the floor.

“I am weakening,” Glaerion said, holding his hands out in front of him.  Sweat was dripping from his forehead as he struggled to maintain the invisible wall.  “I cannot hold it much longer.”

Conner took Elissa by the hand and began pulling her towards the back of the room.  Lord Martin, Lord Kirwal, and Aprwin followed them.  Hargon walked up to Glaerion and put his hand on the elf.  Instantly, the elf straightened and a surprised look crossed his face.  He gave a slight nod of thanks and he returned his focus to the centurions who had begun to beat their swords upon the invisible wall.

“My chambers,” Elissa said.  “We must get to my chambers and then we can escape!”

A thunderous thumping sound from overhead filled their ears.  It was followed immediately by a loud screech.  The entire room froze, eyes looking up at the ceiling.

A bright light exploded outside from the courtyard and flames spread across the ground.  Even though the ground of the courtyard was only packed dirt, it was on fire.  And then the ceiling crashed in.

Glaerion lost his concentration and the invisible wall fell, but it did not matter.  The ceiling and the crossbeams that held it up came crashing down upon the centurions, crushing nearly all of them under the weight of timbers and stone.  Conner and his group were far enough away that the ceiling had not fallen upon them, but the entire building was starting to fall apart.

Two giant legs appeared through the ceiling.  Then a glimmering body appeared, filling the hole that had been made.  The body of the beast was covered with thick scales that changed colors in the light of the chamber’s torches.   As it descended, its long neck and head appeared.  Wings, pumping slowly, kept it from falling too fast.  But once it neared the ground, it stretched its feet to touch the ground.  Once on the ground, the wings folded upon its back and then its smaller front legs reached for the ground.  As it settled in place, the dragon turned its head to look from the surviving centurions to Conner and his group, wondering which group provided the greater threat.  Its large eyes focused directly on Conner and its long tongue came out of its mouth and licked its lips.

Conner was sure it was looking directly at him and he was also sure that it smiled.  His heart pounded hard in his head and his arms shook in fear, but he took a step forward with his swords raised.

“The beast does not cast magic from its mouth,” Glaerion said.  “You will not be protected from its fire.”

“What do we?” Conner stuttered.  “How do we kill it?”

“We cannot,” Glaerion said.

The dragon’ head lifted up, and then back.  With its mouth opened wide, they could see the fire coming out of it.  Glaerion thrust his hands out, his voice screaming out the words of the spell.  The fire struck his invisible wall and rushed back upon the dragon.  The hot flames of the dragon’s breath started the walls of the chamber on fire and finished off any centurion who had still been alive.  The dragon thrust its head forward, screaming in anger.

Glaerion fell to his knees.  Again, Hargon put his hands on him to try and return strength to him.  But, the elf felt nothing.  Hargon looked up at Conner and shook his head.

The dragon stepped forward until his head was stopped by the invisible shield.  But then it continued to push forward, its legs driving it forward.  The invisible wall was still there, for they could see the top of its head flatten.  But then, the dragon started to move forward.  Inch by inch it moved towards them.

Glaerion turned and yelled, “Run!”

Conner and Elissa grabbed Arpwin.  Hargon helped Lord Kirwal.  Lord Martin had already run down the hallway towards the queen’s chambers.

“How long can you hold him?” Conner asked as he backed his way out of the room.

“Not long!” Glaerion shouted back.  “Run!”

As quickly as they could, they ran down the hall and continued running until they reached Elissa’s chambers.  Behind them, they could hear the crashing of the dragon as it forced its way through the castle corridors, casting aside stone with ease.

Lord Martin pushed the chamber’s door shut tight.  His plump, round face was sweating and tears streaked down his cheeks.

“A door will not hold that beast,” Lord Kirwal said.  To Conner, he said, “Can we kill it?”

“I don’t even know what it is,” Conner said. 

Elissa ran to the fireplace to open the door to the secret tunnel.  “This is how we get out.”

Lord Martin was the first one through the door.  No one else moved.

“You next, Lord Kirwal,” Conner said.

He shook his head.  “I will be last.”

“You are hurt,” Conner said.  “And Lord Martin will need help.  There is a wall to climb.”

Lord Kirwal grabbed an unlit oil lamp from the wall and lit it.  “I would guess this would be helpful.”  He then slipped through the doorway.

“You next,” Conner said to Arpwin.

He shook his head and said, “My end is here.  I will only slow you down.  I will draw the beast down another corridor away from here.”

“No!” Elissa said firmly.  “You will come with us!”

Aprwin shuffled over to Elissa and placed a hand on her face.  “I am growing older by the minute.  My time as guardian of the Ark gave me more than my lifetime of living.  It is way past my time.  I will only be a hindrance if I come with, and I can be some help if I go.”

Conner took Elissa’s hand and pulled her away.  “You next, Elissa.”

She let herself be led to the tunnel’s door.  Once there, she disappeared into the darkness.  Conner was about to go through himself when the door to the chamber burst open.  Glaerion ran through and slammed the door shut behind him.  He raced right for the secret tunnel.

“Now!” Glaerion shouted as he ran past Conner.

The crashing of stone could be heard just behind him.  Conner followed Glaerion towards the tunnel door, but the elf hesitated and looked at Arpwin.  Conner shook his head.  The elf shrugged his shoulders and ducked through the doorway.  Conner gave Arpwin one last look before he entered the tunnel, closing the door behind him.

***

They huddled at the iron grate at the end of the tunnel, looking down the alley to the city.  Most of the city appeared to be on fire.  The thunderous flapping of wings was heard overhead, clearly indicating that there was more than one dragon.  Every few minutes they would hear the screech coming from one of the beasts following by an explosion of fire.

“Our city,” Lord Martin whispered.

“My people!” Elissa said, barely able to contain herself from sobbing.

Glaerion let out a long sigh, muttering once more about stupid humans.  “These beasts will not stop at the city.  They will continue on to the next city, and the next kingdom.  That fool Toknon thought he could save his kingdom by sacrificing yours, well, his kingdom will be next.”

One of the large stone ogres came running by.  It glanced down the alleyway briefly before continuing on to another nearby building.

“We are trapped,” Elissa said, her voice shaking with despair.  “We will die here.”

Conner put an arm around her shoulder.  “I found a way to survive being shot by crossbow bolts.  I died, but I made it back to be here to you.  We will survive this.”

He leaned down to her and pressed his lips firmly against hers.  She did not resist.  He smiled.  “Well, I have been waiting for that for a long time.”

Elissa giggled, though her eyes were filled with tears.

Glaerion made another comment about stupid humans.

A large crashing of stone came from the castle behind them.  The tunnel was starting to collapse so they had no choice but to run out into the alley before being crushed.

Huddled together, they moved against the wall of the building on the other side of the alley.  The darkness of the night kept them hidden from prying eyes.  But they all knew that soon one of the dragons or one of the stone ogres would find them.

“We have to keep moving,” Conner said.

“We should stay here,” Lord Martin said.  “We are well hidden here in the darkness.”

Lord Kirwal shook his head at the man.  “You really are a coward, aren’t you?  Conner is right.  Our only chance is to keep on the move and avoid any of the creatures.  They seem content with destroying the city, so we might be able to avoid them.  And I think we can safely assume that our Taran friends won’t bother us on the way out of the city.”

They started to get up to move, but a shadowed figure appeared in the alley.  With the city burning behind him, his face and body were hidden by the darkness.  The figure turned to look down the alley and starting walking toward them.

Conner and his group stayed far down the alley and did not move.  Conner kept his swords in his hands and Glaerion had his dagger ready.

“Marik!” Conner shouted, when the man’s face became clear.

The soot-blackened face of the knight ranger had a wide smile.  His face clearly showed weariness, but his eyes sparkled with joy.  “I cannot believe you are alive.  I saw the beast crash right down onto the castle.  I thought for sure everyone inside would be dead.”

“Is it safe out there?” Conner asked.

“I snuck my way through the city.  The big stone ogres are easy to avoid.  They are just smashing up the city.  The dragons, though...”  He shook his head, still astonished that he actually was seeing dragons flying through the sky.  “There are three of them circling around the city.  They are setting the city on fire and attacking anything that moves.  If we stay to the shadows and are careful, we might be able to make it to the gate.”

“What about the centurions?” Lord Kirwal asked.

Marik let out a sigh.  “They are not a problem, but there are other things out there.  Ugly creatures with long arms and sharp teeth.  They are running around attacking anything they see.  There are not a lot of them, but they attack in packs.  The centurions that haven’t been burned up by the dragons are retreating out of the city.  They are more concerned about their own lives now.”

“What about the people of my city,” Elissa said.

Marik slowly shook his head.  “I’m sorry, my queen.  There will not be many survivors.”

Elissa covered her mouth trying not let out a sob.  Her eyes could no longer hold back her tears.

“If we move along the wall and stay in the darkness, we might be able to avoid being seen,” Conner said.

“Yes,” Marik said in agreement.  “If we stay out of sight of the dragons, we should be okay.  The stone ogres don’t attack unless they see you and they can’t see very well in the dark.  Trust me, I figured that one out on my own.  Those other small creatures are no match for a good sword, unless they attack you in a pack.  But they seem to be attacking the centurions, so if we stay away from them, we should be okay.”

Conner gave a nod and looked around at the others.  No one had anything else do add.

“We’ll pair up and stay far enough apart to be able to hide, but close enough to help each other out if need be.”

“I’m with Conner,” Elissa said.

Marik laughed.  “Of course.  I’ll take Lord Kirwal.  Lord Martin and Hargon will go with the pointy-eared one.”

Glaerion let out a grunt of dissatisfaction.

“Problem?” Marik asked.

The elf shook his head.  “I hate all humans, so I guess it doesn’t matter which smelly ones I end up with.”

Marik ignored the comment and continued, “We move quickly from one spot to the next and then we hide until we are sure it is safe to the move to the next spot.  I will lead, Conner next, and the three of you last.  Now don’t get lost!”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The morning sun rose behind them as they stood at the edge of the forest.  With the new day brought the ability to see more clearly into the city, to see the ultimate destruction.  The castle was a pile of rubble.  Buildings were flattened.  Anything that could be burning was burning, sending black smoke high up into the sky, drifting eastward over their heads.  The ground in front of the city seemed to be moving, but it was the small, ugly creatures that were hunting down any survivors.  Side-by-side, Karmons and Tarans fought for survival, no longer caring that they had just clashed in a bloody battle against one another.  They now faced a mutual enemy that did not discriminate against which nation they were from.  Anything human was targeted and attacked.

The dragons circled above the city, gliding from one end to the other.  Fire exploded from their long snouts, continuing to add destruction to a city that was already devastated.  The stone ogres, having no more buildings to smash, were back at the city walls, smashing the great barrier that had saved the city from invasion for so many generations.

“What do we do?” Elissa asked, her voice shaking from fear and the emotion of seeing the death of so many of her people.  She did not think anything of the kingdom itself.  It did not occur to her that the demise of her kingdom was imminent.  What mattered to her was that so many of the people that she loved and cared for were now dead.

The forest fell silent again, as no one had an answer for her.  Occasionally a scream from the city made it up to them.  Other than that, they heard little else but the wind blowing through the trees.  Each of them felt a deep sense of despair.  They saw invincible dragons, nearly unbeatable stone ogres, and innumerable small creatures of death rampaging inside and outside the city.  There was no chance that any of them could defeat the beasts they saw before them.

After some time of awkward silence, Conner asked, “Where did they come from?”

“The Ark of Life contains the power of the universe,” Glaerion said softly, afraid to make too much noise.  He too, looked out upon the city, unable to look away from the destruction.  “In the hands of a righteous man, it can be a tool for good.  A tool to bring goodness and peace to the world.  In the hands of evil, it will bring death and destruction.  Those are ancient creatures of the Deceiver.  They came from a time before time, when the world was young and the races of human and elves were but a mere thought in the minds of the Creator.  A great war was fought for this realm between the armies of the Creator and the armies of the Deceiver.  The Creator was victorious and afterwards he brought forth mankind and elven-kind to populate the world to please him, to build a world of peace and prosperity.  Those beasts of the Deceiver were cast away to another realm from which they could never escape, except through the Ark of Life.”  Glaerion turned to Conner and said, “The Deceiver has come to this realm and he has brought with him his army.”

“So we have failed, then?” Conner asked.  “The Deceiver has the Ark?”

Failure in the elf’s voice was apparent.  “It appears so.  He cannot enter this realm but through the help of someone that is already here.  Someone used the Ark to bring the Deceiver to our world.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Elissa asked.

“He is called the Deceiver for a reason,” Glaerion replied.  “Remember that, if you ever come across him.  He will trick and twist your will to his.  He will make you believe that what you are doing is the only right thing to do.  He preys on the weak-willed, the emotional, the angry.  His words will be what you want to hear, and you will listen and then you will obey.  Not because you don’t have a choice, but because his reasoning seems so sound.  Whoever brought him to this world could be anybody, but it is somebody who did not need a very big push to turn to evil.”

“What about the Creator?” Conner asked.  “Will he not bring his army to help us?”

Glaerion let out a long sigh, slowly shaking his head.  “I do not know, but historically, the Creator has let his people, his believers, take control of their own destiny and fight their own battles.  He will give weapons to fight the war, but he will not bring his army to stand side-by-side with us.”

“Master Goshin had always told me that the Creator would protect us in our greatest need.  Isn’t that now?  Shouldn’t he be coming to our world to help us defeat the Deceiver?”

“You are asking the wrong person,” Glaerion said.  “I am no priest.  And there are few enough of them around that you would be hard-pressed to find one that would be able to answer your question.”

Marik stepped up to them and said, “Daylight is coming.  We must go into the forest to hide.”

“Hide?” Lord Martin called out.  “We will all die out here in the cold!”

He had a cloak wrapped tightly around his body, but his teeth were chattering.

Glaerion glared at him.  “You have plenty of fat to keep you warm.”

“It is not just the cold,” Lord Martin snapped back.  “Are we just going to find a hole in the ground somewhere here in the forest and hide?  And then what?  Wait for them to come and find us and kill us?  Our city was destroyed!  Do you understand what just happened?  We are all going to die!  Why don’t we just march right back there and let them finish the job and save ourselves the pain and agony of waiting it out.  We have nothing to live for anymore!”

His words echoed through the trees and slowly died out to silence.  No one responded, as they were all thinking the same thing.  Each looked at the others, unsure what to say.  Despair had set in.

It was Elissa who spoke next.  “I have something to live for!  I fell in love with a young boy who became a great man.”  She stepped closer to Conner and took his hand.  “I could not look past myself and let myself fall in love with him, even though I knew I loved him more than anything in the world.  I have him to live for.”

Marik cleared his throat and said.  “I may be the last living knight of the kingdom, but forever will I be a Karmon Knight.  Whether Karmon exists or not, that is who I am.  And my queen stands before me.  That is all I need to live for.  To defend her.”

“I am not a knight,” Conner said.  “But I am here to defend the queen and her kingdom, too.”

Elissa smiled up at him behind tears.  “Of course you are here, you are my Champion.”

“And forever I will be your Champion,” Conner replied, looking down into her eyes.

“The kingdom still exists,” Lord Kirwal said.  “Tyre will be under attack soon, and I must be there for them, to help them defend against these beasts.  Whether they are beatable or not, I do not care.  I must be there for the people of Karmon.  For them, I have much to live for.”

Lord Martin remained silent, his head down, unable to look at his companions.

“And you, Hargon?” Conner asked.  “What do you have to live for?”

Hargon had been standing away from the others, wondering if it would be possible for him to slip away unnoticed.  Although he had never ordered one centurion to fight, he still felt guilty by association.  With his head down, looking at the ground, he said, “Nothing.  I have nothing to live for.  It was my army that attacked your city, that started all of this.”

“But it was not you,” Elissa said.  “It was your brother.  And didn’t you help Conner by saving his life?”

“Yes you did,” Conner said.  “And Tarcious isn’t even your brother!”

Hargon’s head snapped up.  “What?”

“Glaerion told me.  He said you couldn’t be blood brothers with him because you can’t use magic.”

“But I can!  I healed you, brought you back from the dead.  I’ve done it since I was a child!”

“Conner is right,” Glaerion said.  “The blood of mages passes down from father to son, or mother to daughter.  The blood line of the emperor of Taran has the ability to cast spells, which your brother clearly has the capabilities to do.  But your power is not magic.  It is a skill given to you by the Creator himself.  You may have the same mother, but you surely have a different father.”

“This makes no sense.  I was the oldest.  My earliest memories are with my father and mother.”

“What matters is that it was not you who attacked South Karmon,” Conner said.  “You cannot blame yourself for what Tarcious did, or who he was.  But you can help us fight back and figure out a way to defeat these creatures.  You were born and raised to be an emperor.  Now it’s time to act like one.”

“I was born and raised in opulence and luxury,” Hargon countered.  “I had servants to do my every bidding and teams of advisors to tell me what to do.  I offer nothing.”

“You offer a much needed skill.  There will be more bloodshed in the coming days and weeks.  The ability to heal the injured, or even the dead, is what you can offer.  We will need your help.  That is what you can live for.”

Emotion was overwhelming Hargon and he knew that if he tried to speak, that emotion would express itself in tears and possibly sobbing.  He bit his lip and took a deep breath to help keep himself in check. 

Elissa looked over at Glaerion, who was staring at his boots, and asked, “What about you, Glaerion?  What do you have to live for?”

The elf looked around, seeing that everyone was looking at him.  Any other time, he would have gotten angry, but not this time.  He was feeling something he hadn’t felt in thousands of years.  His words came out soft and slowly, in a tone of voice unlike any of them had heard before.  There was no anger or bitterness, only sadness.

“For five thousand years,” he said.  “I have hated humans for the wars that they brought to my people.  But being here, being among you, I have realized that I had forgotten that humans can be good.  Are good.  Humans may be stupid, emotional beings, but they are not all bad.”  He turned to Conner and Elissa, and his voice cracked.  “And I see the two of you, loving one another the way you do, and I realize that I have something to live for that I have missed for many, many years.  I have a wife that I must live for.  I love her.  I have tried not to, tried to hide my emotions because it was emotion that brought the worst out of humans.  But maybe I was wrong.  Maybe I need to find that love again.”

A tear fell down his cheek and he laughed.  “I have not cried in five thousand years, since we left in our ships for exile.  I will live for my wife, until I see her again.  I only hope that when she looks upon me, she looks like you, Elissa, look upon Conner.”

Conner stepped forward and put a hand on Glaerion’s shoulder and smiled.

Glaerion looked at the hand and said, with a smile, “I cannot believe I am letting a human touch me.”

Conner turned back to the others, and looked at each one in turn.  “We all have something to live for and something to fight for.  Not just our own lives, but the lives of every man, and every elf on the earth.  I don’t know what to do or how to fight back.  The world as we know it may come to an end.  If those creatures of the Deceiver can level our city in one night, then can we not believe that they could lay waste to an entire kingdom in just a few days?” 

He looked at Glaerion and asked him, “You know about the Deceiver.  What can we do to fight him?  To return his creatures back to where they came from?”

Glaerion shook his head.  “That I do not know.  There are others of my kind, including our ruler, King Illichian, who have lived much longer than me, are wiser than me, and may know the answer to that.  I must return to him and tell him all that has transpired.  But…”  He let his words trail off.

“But what?”

“I am not alone in my feelings towards humans.  There is not an elf alive that would have good feelings towards humans and many of them hold hatred towards your kind as I have.  They would be happy to see your cities and your kingdoms crumble.  But they must know that this threat is not just towards you, but towards the entire world.  One of you should come with me, back to my people, and meet with the elders of the council and King Illichian.  If they see you face to face, they will not see you as the monsters of our memory, but as people just like us.”

“I will go,” Lord Martin said.  “I am the most qualified to be the delegation for us, for humanity.”

Glaerion’s demeanor quickly reverted to that of disdain.  “You would be my last choice.”  He looked at Conner and said, “It must be the Hurai.  The elves would at least listen to one of the chosen people of the Creator.”

“Hurai?” Marik asked.  “But Master Goshin is dead, is he not?”

“Yes,” Conner replied.  “But he was not the only Hurai around here.  I have Hurai blood in me.  I didn’t even know about it until Glaerion told me.”

“How can you know?”

“Magic does not affect me,” Conner replied.  “You were not there, but in the castle Tarcious threw balls of fire at me and they did not affect me.”

“I thought that was Glaerion!” Elissa exclaimed.  “You can’t be hurt by those creatures?”

“By wizards casting spells,” Glaerion clarified.  “The dragons and the small goblin creatures that are destroying your city were called forth by the power of the Ark, but they are not magic themselves.  Conner is not immune to them.  But to any spell cast by a wizard, he is immune.”

“I will go,” Conner said.

“I will, too!” Elissa cried out.

Glaerion shook his head.  “This trip is but for myself and Conner.”

Elissa put her hands on her hips and glared at Glaerion.  “I am not letting him out of my sight for the rest of my life.  Where he goes, I go.”