The Battle of Ebulon (8 page)

Baynard’s voice, the
utter truth of his words, seeped deep into Kae’s awareness. The
calm tone Baynard used convinced him of the wisdom.

The effect was gone as
soon as Baynard finished speaking.

Entan cleared his throat.
“Yes, Father, I agree. Far be it for me to question the decisions
of priests.”

Kae rounded on Baynard as
soon as Entan turned away. “How did you do that? Convince him so
easily?”

Kae was sure Baynard had
used the Life Force to do so, yet how, he did not know.

“
I told you I
can use the Life Force in ways you never heard of. Now pay
attention, Kae, the enemy is almost upon us.”

The rumbling thunder grew
closer, drowning out all other noise. On the horizon the terrible
catapults were growing larger.

Only the steel purpose of
bringing death emanated from the Protectors around Kae.

Each man’s separated self
stood beside them. Kae knew that every arrow loosed would fly true
because of the clarity with which their separated selves saw. His
own separated self, a being of pure red flame now, stood among the
advancing Orcs, choosing a target for Kae’s first arrow.

If only I
could unleash its fire, burn them all before they reach the
walls.

Baynard’s separated self
suddenly appeared in the sky above the advancing Orcs. It was no
longer a copy of the priest, but more like a sheet of his essence.
Kae knew it was Baynard, yet not by looking at it.

Can I do such
a thing?

Tendrils broke off
Baynard’s separated self, shooting down at the Orcs, as sunlight
shoots down through new spring storm clouds.

Kae’s own separated self
felt Baynard’s attack. The tendrils of Baynard’s Life Force were
fear and confusion, madness and hatred for their fellows. Some Orcs
were worse affected by it than others. These took axe and sword to
their neighbors. One of the catapults was cut down, followed by
another.

Baynard leaned forward
and grasped Kae’s arm. “Your separated self has no bounds, spread
thin enough it could cover the world, yet still remain
whole.”

Baynard’s separated self
was prying into Kae’s thoughts, but the shield of fog Kae raised to
hide his inner mind prevented the priest from gaining entrance.
“Cover the world? How?”

Baynard furrowed his
forehead then grinned. “Like…like melted butter covers bread, to
use words you might better understand. Help me rise now. I am
recovered enough to fight again.”

Kae wasn’t sure Baynard
was right, but helped him up regardless.

“
And the fear
and hatred you made them feel, how do you do that?”

Baynard released his arm,
apology in his eyes. “You block me too hard and I don’t have the
strength to put knowledge directly into your mind. Once Orcs breach
the walls, you will be able to use your skills with weapons. Likely
that will do more good against these creatures.”

The catapults had ground
to a halt. The whistling of a large object rent the air, followed
by a terrible crash as the first of the stones hit the
walls.

More creaking followed as
the Orcs adjusted the catapults now that range was
ascertained.

Arrows flew from the
ground up. Some reached the top of the wall.

To Kae’s right, a large
boulder crashed into a group of the wall’s defenders, Protectors
among them.

Kae’s heart raced in his
chest. Protector arrows were no match for the stones.

Baynard’s separated self
was again a sheet over the Orcs. But the fear and hatred it rained
down this time was weak, as high summer showers are
weak.

An arrow whistled by Kae,
lodged itself in Baynard’s side.

The sheet of his friend’s
Life Force vanished from the sky. Baynard’s blood bubbled from
behind his fingers as he clutched the wound. His eyes were wide as
he looked up at Kae.

Take him from
the wall. Find a healer.
A priest must not
die here.
Entan ordered on the
air.

Kae needed no
urging.

“
I’m fine,
really, I don’t think I’m grievously wounded. I can yet fight,”
Baynard protested.

They left a trail of
blood as Kae carried Baynard down to the courtyard. Three
Protectors lay dead at the foot of the stairs, mowed down by the
Orcs’ rocks. Ryon lay dead among them, half of his head
gone.

Kae’s separated self
burned, flames rising higher, fed by rage over these useless
deaths. Protectors were trained to fight with sword and staffs, not
die from stones flung by vile creatures in strange
lands.

Kae clutched Baynard’s
arm. “Tell me how to use my Life Force against the Orcs. I can end
this!”

His separated self
already stood among the Orcs. Only a thin linen sheet enclosed its
raging flames. Flames hot enough to melt flesh. Kae could release
the fire, let flame cover the Orcs. Torch them all until only ashes
remained. If only Baynard taught him how.

Baynard’s blood fell to
the ground in fat drops, pooled there. If he was not healed soon,
he might never be. His eyes were already rolling into the back of
his head.

Tell
me!
Kae yelled directly into the priest’s
mind, demanding he agree.

“
Just let it
cover the skies, then unleash it. You dictate its shape. It must
always do your bidding. If you tell it to plant all the fear in the
world into the hearts of those it can reach, that is what it will
do. Because it must do what you want it to do…”

I can make it
cover the world with flames!

Kae looked at Ryon again
to fuel his own anger, make the flames rise higher, burn
hotter.

He gave all of his
attention to his separated self.

Like melted
butter over bread…

But his separated self
would not expand, would not leave its human shape.

Kae tried harder, pushed
and pulled.

Imagined his separated
self turning into a river, a sea.

Nothing.

It wouldn’t even
fly.

But he had to end this
battle. Had to find a healer for Baynard. Had to bring him
home.

Had to return home and be
near Issa.

All the sadness at the
thought of Issa, his forbidden love, turned to red-hot
ire.

If it won’t
stretch, it might explode!

Kae fed the flames
burning inside his separated self with all the rage he could
muster. He let the memories come. Bandits killing his mother and
father. Dead Ann with blue flowers in her hair, beaten to death by
her husband for laying with a Protector. Issa laughing on the
cliffs holding Kae’s hand, as they leaned into the strong gusts of
wind. Entan telling him he must never see Issa again. The priests
don’t allow love; Protectors must do as priests command.

Kae’s separated self
exploded in a red sunset. A sunset of fire and death.

Orcs shrieked and
screamed as flames engulfed them. Those nearest turned to ash in
seconds. Flames danced on the ones farther out. The catapults broke
as their arms were swallowed by the fire.

Kae’s separated self was
the fire, burning all in its path as it covered the land to the
south, east, west and north. It had no beginning, no end. Yet still
remained a part of him. His essence made fire.

The Protectors and
steel-clad warriors atop the wall beat their arms against invisible
flames.

Yet Kae could not control
the burning.

“
Leave the
wall!” His proper body yelled to the men and women atop the
battlements. “Leave or be burned alive!”

They obeyed, scrambled
into the courtyard.

All the Orcs, all the
thousands upon thousands of them were shrieking, dying or
dead.

Kae’s separated self was
unyielding flame consuming the world.

He did not know how to
call it back.

He imagined it taking the
shape of his copy.

It wouldn’t.

He called it back into
his chest.

It didn’t
come.

The river, cold, deep and
green flowed through his mind when he called it. Flowed over the
flames of his raging separated self. Evaporated in clouds of steam
as it doused its flames.

The sandy bottom showed
before Kae’s separated self was contained again. A man again. His
copy.

All the Orcs lay
smoldering beneath the walls. Their bodies covered the ground all
the way back to the ridge, and as far as sight could reach on all
sides.

Shouts of joy at a battle
won broke the silence. First one or two, then enough to fill the
courtyard.

Kae’s separated self
wavered and waned, turned translucent, its strength spent. Kae no
longer saw through its eyes, no longer saw the thousand dead
Orcs.

Baynard was sitting up
next to Kae, a bandage covering his wound. Beside him, a man in
brown robes was repacking bandages and ointments into a leather
bag.

Baynard looked into Kae’s
eyes. “I saw what you did! Truly, you have more skill than
me.”

Ryon lay in a puddle of
congealing blood to Kae’s left.

The healer followed Kae’s
gaze and whispered. “Him, I can do nothing about.”

The scarred Protector
grasped Kae’s arms. “It was you who caused the burning? You killed
all those creatures? Amazing!”

Other Protectors slapped
Kae on the back, congratulated him on the victory.

Captain Entan pulled Kae
away from them. “Was it you? Did you cause the burning?”

Kae nodded, didn’t have
the strength left to speak.

“
The Head
Priest must never know of this, Kae. You must deny it. He will
never let you live, if he knows you possess such
strength!”

Entan’s separated self
was cowering beside the man. Kae looked away from it, didn’t want
to see the Captain’s weakness. Entan was holding the shirt of his
uniform, his hands shaking. “Promise me, Kae! You must deny
this.”

Kae pried Entan’s arms
away. “I am as I am, Captain. A Protector.”

Return now!
All Protectors are needed back at the Palace.
The Head Priest’s voice filled Kae’s mind.

The walls of Ebulon
opened into the underground hall of the Priest’s Palace.

Entan cleared his throat,
turned away from Kae and ordered them to leave.

Kae tried to lift Ryon’s
lifeless body to carry him home for burial. He didn’t have the
strength. The fire took it all. Another Protector pushed him aside
and picked Ryon up.

“
You will need
rest to recover after what you did with your Life Force,” Baynard
explained as they walked through the opening.

A row of priests waited
inside the underground hall of the palace. One of them grasped
Kae’s arm, and suddenly the man was in his mind. Seeing the battle,
the Orcs and the flames, plucking it all from Kae’s mind as though
weeding a garden. Kae tried to fight the man’s touch, prevent him
from taking his memories. Yet he barely had the strength to
stand.

Ebulon, the Orcs, Ryon’s
head a bloody mess, rotting cooked meat, his separated self
exploding in burning death…all disappeared from Kae’s mind, as
smoke escapes through an open window.

This Entry Point features
a character or characters from:

 
Anniversary of the Veil Series
by Vanna Smythe

Protector (Anniversary of
the Veil, Book 1) 

Decision Maker
(Anniversary of the Veil, Book 2)

The upcoming
Book 3 will be released in Summer, 2013.

Website:
 
www.vannasmythe.com

Goodreads: 
http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/5771610.Vanna_Smythe

Twitter:
 
http://twitter.com/#!/Vanna_Smythe

Facebook:
 
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Entry Point 4
- by Neil Shooter

1.

As he stepped through the
shimmering vortex, the elation, the purpose, the emotion that had
called him suddenly faded away, leaving him confused, and
disoriented. And cold.

"Ebulon! Ebulon!" the
voice inside his head had seemed to say, but what was Ebulon? Was
it this place? This wintry city?

The crowded square was
bustling with angry men and women, and he recognized nationalities
from all over the Kinnon, and some from beyond. Snow swirled
intermittently around them all.

It didn't make any sense.
A few minutes ago, he had seemed so sure about everything. There
had been a fire burning inside him, his heart throbbing with desire
to save, to protect, and he had gone out into the night, until he
found the thing that was pulling him, the vortex, shining and
dancing with magical light in the dark alley. It was as though he
had been drunk on the finest Aristian white one moment, and then
suffering the blasted hangover from it the next. Someone stumbled
into him, and his arms went up reflexively.