Sytravious: The Lost Warlock Of Moruz (The Oathbreaker Book 1) (9 page)

Upon hearing this comment, she let out a deranged cackle.  “Do you believe that I would just forget what happened in Moruz?  Fheng will be disappointed to know another pathetic attempt to kill me has failed.”  

Her eyes were illuminated, a sight that made the young man flee.  Jamison yanked his arm free from Chuggers’ hold, and ran.  She watched as the man darted between trees, running for his life.  Chuggers used the unexpected distraction to his advantage and lunged at her with a dagger, managing to slash her clothing before she used magic to fling the blade from his fist.

She tackled him, and the two began to scuffle on the ground.  Chuggers managed to fight his way to his bag, and then reached into it.  He produced a round glass bottle filled with a swirling red vapor.  Recognizing it, she jumped behind a tree when he threw it at her.  It smashed hard into the ground, shattering the glass and releasing a deafening explosion of smoke and magic.

Nyxseous leapt through the fog and landed on top of Chuggers.  She caught both his wrists in the struggle and managed to pin him to the ground.  She lit up her hands with black flames and concentrated her glowing stare on him.  His eyes widened in fear and he let out a blood-curdling cry.  She took pleasure in watching his body writhe under her. She glowered down at him, listening to his screams die down until his head flopped to the side and his last breath seeped from his lips, as a puff of smoke
.
 
She spit in the dead man’s face. 

“Pitiful.” 

Nysight was finishing his final bout, when she began her search for Jamison.  Nyxseous found him only a short distance ahead and noticed her son was rushing towards him.  Her face twisted up in fury.  “Stop him!  Sytravious, kill him now!”  She charged towards them, screaming, “What are you doing?  Kill him you fool!” 

Sytravious had successfully blocked Jamison’s path, but instead of attacking him, he stood motionless.  Rage boiled inside of her, she could not believe what she was witnessing.  Both men were panting in an effort to catch their breath when she ran up to them.

“KILL HIM!” 

Her son flinched, looked at her, then back to Jamison.  His eyes closed for a moment, before his hand ignited with a black aura of light, quickly pulsating up his arm and taking on the shape of a powerful flame. The magic emitted potent heat and the sudden warmth against her face brought immediate satisfaction to Nyxeous.  The trickling sound of urine on the man’s boot, showed her Jamison was terribly petrified.  Her son took a step closer to his foe and whispered, “I am sorry.” 

Chapter 7

Fugitives Of Moruz

T
he entire city was in a panic as the enormous oak gates at the southern entrance of Havencrest were pulled shut.  The sound of the explosion had created a disturbance, which all the city guards flocked to.  In addition, every district was swarming with guardians and knights of the elite guard who were searching for the missing priestess. 

On their way out of the forest, Sytravious and his family had been careful to avoid contact with anyone.  It would only be a matter of time before the dead bodies were discovered.  With General Kenshiro in charge, it was inevitable that numerous military units would be dispatched as a security protocol.  The increased safety measures meant they had to make an extra effort to go unseen when they climbed the south wall of the city.  Sytravious managed to stay on the heels of his parents as the wall drew nearer. 

              “Go!  Go!  Go!”  Nyxseous said, trying to keep her voice down. 

              They leapt onto the stone wall and scaled it in a short amount of time.  On the way down, he noticed there were very few citizens walking around.  Everyone must have hid in his or her homes or shops in fear.  His boots planted into the ground as he jumped from the wall in a hurry.  They skulked through the quiet alleyways.  Horses trotted up and down the streets.  Without a doubt, it was the elite guard in search of anything suspicious.  The walk home went smoothly, and they had managed to avoid any unwanted attention from the search units. 

              On the way back to the Dew Drop Inn, Sytravious repeated today’s turn of events in his head.  He thought of how things had gone so horribly wrong.  One moment he was saying goodbye to Raiven, and the next, his mother was directing him to murder a stranger.  He did not even know what was going on, but he was being told to execute someone.

He followed his parents through the back door of the bar and down the stairs to the basement.  The second he stepped into the room, Nyxseous shut the door behind him.  She started to whisper the familiar words in the spell that told him that she was setting up a sound barrier.  Sytravious pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.  Nothing he could do would stop the insanity that was about to occur.

He opened his eyes when he felt his mother’s presence in front of him.  Her face was inches from his, and her usual beauty was warped into an expression of pure disgust.

“You let him get away!  How stupid are you?  Is my own son that weak, that pitiful, that he cannot kill the enemy?  Have I taught you nothing?” she screamed into his face.

He looked into her fiery eyes, then to his stone-faced stepfather.  Nysight did not have to say anything for Sytravious to know he was disappointed in him.  He lowered his head and listened as his mother’s rant continued. 

“You are just as useless as you were eight years ago.  Nothing has changed.  Nothing.  Not even with all the lessons, fighting, spells, and practice.  You are still the same feeble child you have always been.  You are weak and useless.  What is the point of mastering the arts of fighting with weapons and family magic if you cannot even bring yourself to use either in the direst of times?”

Her words were hard to hear, but he remained silent.

“Do you remember that day we put you to the test?”

It was a rhetorical question, because there was no way he could have forgotten that horrendous day.  While his mother retold her own account of what had transpired, in his own mind, Sytravious relived what had happened.  As much as he tried to ignore the memory, it lived in the depths of his mind.

That day, his parents had lured a man into fighting him by betting him five-hundred gold pieces that he could not beat their child in a matchup.  Feeling he was a guaranteed to win, the traveler accepted the challenge.  Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Sytravious was scared and did not understand why he had to kill a man who had done nothing to him.  He was petrified and looked at Nyxseous and Nysight with pleading eyes. 

“I cannot do it.”

“He is your target, now strike.”  His stepfather stood behind him, encouraging the execution.

“Now that is a poor excuse for a son you got there,” the stranger said.

Afraid he would bring shame upon his family, he began to fight.  He was armed with a spear and was quick to display his speed and skill.

“Kill him!  Show no mercy!” his mother cried out. 

In the time it took him to stretch his arm back to throw the spear, he thought, “Why?  What has this man done to deserve death?” 

Then the spear flew from his hand, gliding through the air before plunging straight into the stranger’s heart.  Sytravious watched in dismay as the life left the man’s eyes.  His body collapsed to the floor and blood poured out, forming a thick red puddle beneath the corpse.  That image had haunted him night after night, for months on end.

When the nightmares stopped, he believed he had been able to put the incident behind him, but his mother insisted on bringing it back up.  How could she even compare it to what happened today?  The black flames had blazed around his fists, but all Sytravious could think of is Raiven’s proximity to what was going on.  He did not want to risk her stumbling upon him killing someone.  There was no explanation worthy enough to risk being caught by the priestess, but he could not tell his mother that.

              In the midst of his moral debate, the man sensed the hesitation and barreled past Sytravious.  The trio watched as the stranger ran away, unable to chase him down with soldiers closing in on them.  Now, because of his overwhelming feelings for Raiven, he had to endure a brutal verbal assault from his mother. 

              Nyxseous slapped him in the face.  She caught him off guard.  His attention was drawn back to what she was saying.  “Never question my orders, just obey.  That is what I have instilled in you, but you have failed me.  You have no idea what you have done to us, you imbecile!  You do not even care that---”

Nysight interjected, “Now wait, he did not know what was going on.”

Sytravious glanced at his stepfather and appreciated his attempt at defending him against his mother’s lunacy.  Nysight had always strived to bring logic and sense to any situation that Nyxseous would blow out of proportion, something that was a mistake every time.

“Just stop with the excuses.  You know they recognized me.  The man with the scarred head used to guard Fheng’s chambers.  I remember him from many years ago,” she explained, before directing her anger back at Sytravious, “But now that I know I can count on my son to shut down mid-attack, like a mindless moron, I can be sure that information of our whereabouts will reach Moruz.”

None of what she was saying made any sense to him, and therefore, he did not understand why she was reacting like a maniac.  “Relax mother, we will track him down and do away with him.  Whoever he was will not matter then.”

“Relax?” she whispered as if she had become unhinged.  “You want me to
relax
?”

All of a sudden, she sprang at him, and all he felt was blow after blow to his face and body.  He tried to push her off him, but her strength was greater than her thin frame would lead one to believe.  Before he knew it, he could taste the metallic flavor of blood on his lips. 

Nysight yelled, “That is enough!” 

He felt his stepfather’s large frame push between the two of them.  Sytravious took a few steps back.  He watched Nysight stand steadfast.  His mother’s repetitive punches had no effect on his stepfather.  The mayhem continued until Nyxseous paused to catch her breath.

Unsure of what to expect next, Sytravious kept an eye on her.  She breathed hard through her nose, her cheeks were crimson, and her hair was a matted mess.  She poked her finger into Nysight’s chest and warned, “Stay out of this.  He needs to learn from his mistakes.  Otherwise, he will never be better.  Now get out of my way or you will go down with him.”

“He can only understand the magnitude of this misstep to a certain extent.  You are not taking into account the most important part; he does not know the details of our past.  How can you expect him to understand the gravity of the situation without knowing the whole story?”

Sytravious’ interest grew the more his parents’ openly spoke in his presence, and questions began to crowd his mind.  What details should he know about their past?  Who were the men they had killed?  Who was the man they wanted him to kill?

“Get out of the way!  I will not ask you again,” she said.

              “It is okay Nysight, I can deal with it,” Sytravious spoke from behind his stepfather. 

              “No, she needs to calm down and explain to you what is going on.”

              “You think I need to explain?  The explanation should not even matter.  When I say to kill a man, my own son should not question the intent behind it, and if you are going to defend his stupidity, then you are just as useless to me as he is.”

              With a wave of her hand, Nysight was hurled across the room, into the wall.  Sytravious could not believe what he was seeing, his mother had never been this furious before.  Sure, she often had fits of rage, which she took out on him, but never Nysight.  He rushed over and knelt down next to his stepfather, who was sprawled out on the floor.  He knew regardless of his physical strength, Nysight was no match for his mother’s magic.  As his stepfather gasped, trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of him, Sytravious apologized.

He heard the burst of a flame behind him and groaned.  It was time to end this foolishness.  Seeing no other option, he stood up and ignited black fire in his palms.  Animosity towards his mother fueled the flames that flourished and consumed his entire forearms. 

              “What are you going to do?  You will not stop the enemy, but you are going to stop your own mother?  Do not make me laugh!  I can destroy the both of you without even trying.”

              “I understand you are mad, but Nysight will not suffer the consequences for my faults.  You are going to deal with me.”

              When he faced her, she wasted no time opening her fists to shoot two black fireballs that merged into a single attack midair.  He caught the flame in his hands and let his own power pour into the fire.  The sphere grew in a matter of seconds, before he hurled it back at Nyxseous with all the energy he could muster.  She dropped down, hitting the floor with a thump.  The flame zoomed over her and crashed into the wall.  When she lifted her head, Sytravious could still see she was still in a state of shock.

              He grabbed Nysight’s sword and raced towards her before she could make another move.  He held the tip of the blade under her chin while she crept up onto her knees.

              “You would use the black flame, with deadly intent, against
me
?  I am your son!  Am I nothing but a casualty in your sick and twisted plans?  Why should I allow you to survive, mother?  So I can live each day wondering when you will kill me?  Plus, this is my chance to show you I can kill without hesitation, right?”

              She was gaping at him while she struggled to find the words to reply.  “I…I…I am just---” She began to sob, tears flowing down her face.  “Everything I do is to make you stronger in the face of the enemy.  It is all because I love you, my son.”

              He was stunned.  Never before having seen his mother cry.  This emotional breakdown was entirely out of character for her. 

              “Sytravious, I knew my flame would not kill you, you are much too powerful to be bested by that.  I am only trying to prepare you for your uncertain future.  ”

              He did not know what to make of her explanation, but he was tired of hearing about his uncertain future.  It was time to get the answers he deserved.  “Why do you always refer to my future as
uncertain
?  You always act as if you have been preparing me for something big, but you have never told me why.  I demand to know what is going on.  All you have told me is the fact that we are fugitives of Moruz, but I do not understand why it is a serious issue.  Many people have defected from Moruz to come to Valcrest when Lord Fheng took over.”

              While his mother continued to weep, Nysight appeared next to Sytravious and took the sword from his hand.  “Take a seat son, we will explain.” 

              He sat on his bed and watched his stepfather help Nyxseous off the floor.

              “You both would have been doing those men a favor by killing each other.  It is what our enemies would want.”

              “What enemies?”

              Nysight heaved a sigh and looked at Nyxseous.  She sat on the bed with a blank stare on her face while she responded.  “When we lived in Moruz, Nysight and I served under Lord Byronicus of the Fifth Legion.  Nysight was a soldier and I was a witch.  While we were there, the leader of the First Legion, Lord Fheng, seized control of Moruz.  He ordered the execution of all those loyal to Byronicus, which is why we fled here.”