The Descendants Book One: The Broken Scroll (23 page)

“This is good news.  I can say nothing but that you have excelled well beyond what we expected.  This only confirms what I told Liam earlier about your skills.”  After he spoke his face became weary.  He suddenly looked very tired. 

“Are you alright?” Davin asked before he could stop himself.  Egan pulled himself upright at the question, trying to return a look of contentment.  He failed.

“I am fine.”  He changed the subject quickly.  “I believe its time to retire for the evening.  You should not linger up for too much longer either, Davin.”  He stood up and began to leave. 

Liam said, “Did you follow my advice?”  Egan stopped for a moment and looked to Liam, but then continued out of the room.

“Yes,” was all Davin said before another thought came to mind.  “I have to admit, I am a little confused.  I was made to believe that there was a lot of instruction I required from you, but you left me to figure it out by myself most of the time.”

Liam nodded.  “From what I have learned over the years, it was how the training was handled with others of your kin.  They were encouraged to discover Driocht themselves before their instructors fully took over.  Unfortunately, that rarely happened, if at all.  Few ever succeeded by themselves.  The fact that you succeeded where so many others failed makes you a very gifted learner, young Davin.”

“I find it amazing that you have never trained another Descendant.  You seem to know very well what you are doing.”

Liam chuckled to himself.  “Thank you for saying such.  You do not realize how much that actually means.”  The smile fell from his face but he remained pleasant.  “I have never had another student, no, but I have spent most of my life studying the source material.  It is a part of me, I should say.”

“Doesn’t your inability to actually use the Driocht prevent you from a more complete knowledge of its use?”

Liam shook his head.  “The theory that you have to learn is the same.  Just because I cannot connect with the dark matter does not mean I understand the process any less.  It did take me many years to understand the complexity of Driocht, but my knowledge now is as complete as any true Ancient’s would have been.” 

***

Several hours later Davin was roused from his slumber from what seemed like a loud crash.  Unsure of if it had come from his dreams or somewhere in the house, he got up to investigate. 

Stepping out of his room, he was blanketed by heavy darkness.  The house was very quiet.  It was still the middle of the night from what he gathered. He waited by his bedroom door while his eyes adjusted.  Moonlight came through a large window to his left but it wasn’t much to see by. 

When he could see well enough to not run into anything big, he strolled into the living room area.  Nothing seemed to be amiss.  He continued back through the dining room and around to the kitchen, careful to take it slow in the darkness.  Still nothing seemed out of place. 

He decided to light a candle and carry it with him.  The soft glow gave enough brightness to at least see around him a few feet.  He held it out as far as he could to increase his range of sight and stretched out with his power.  The house was still big enough to be eerie in its stillness though, no matter how well he could see. 

It took him several minutes to survey the areas and rooms surrounding the dining and living room.  He was about to head bac
k to sleep when he realized Radash’s door was wide open and he wasn’t in his room. 

Deciding to continue, even though he felt weary with sleepiness, he headed for the hallway to the gymnasium. 

As he entered the corridor and passed Liam’s office, his feet hit something hard on the ground.  He tripped and dropped the candle.  It went out.  Recovering from his fall, he tried to see what it was he had tripped over.  He felt around in the dark and realized it was a person’s body.  After grabbing the candle and lighting it again, he turned the body over.  It looked like the house attendant.  Why was he lying on the floor? 

Davin knelt down, fearing what he would see.  His stomach lurch with disgust as he hands hit the ground.  The man’s tunic was covered with blood.  He had been stabbed in the abdomen.  A small pool of blood surrounded the stab wound and Davin’s hands had dropped right into it.  Davin restrained himself from crying out and wiped the blood off with a clean section of the man’s shirt. 

The blank eyes stared up distantly and gave Davin the chills.  He bent over and closed them, unable to handle the hallow gaze. 

As he turned away from the sight, he knew one fact.  The soldiers had found them.  But where were they now?  The house was completely silent and he hadn’t heard any noises since he’d awoken, but they were here.  He knew it.  

Quickly shuffling back to his room, he grabbed his sword and pulled on his clothes.  Not concerned with his disheveled appearance, he ran back to where he left the candle.  He picked it up and ran down the fencing hall.  There was no one there either.  The wide windows all around the room let in gallons of soft moonlight.  Davin would have spent more time admiring the scene if more pressing matters weren’t at hand. 

Confused at the idea of no one around, he ran back down the hallway the opposite way, c
areful not to trip on the house attendant again.  When he reached the dining room he heard muffled talking upstairs.  He spun around on the spot.  The stairs were just to his left.  Without consciously having to think about it, his legs carried him up the creaky steps.  Fear was not an option. 

When he reached the top, he hid behind a wall outside the room and peeked around.  The sight shocked him, though he knew deep down it was plausible.  Radash and Liam sat gagged and tied to chairs facing a handful of Grand soldiers.  Davin counted quickly.  It was only six.  He could handle that
…maybe.  But where was Egan?

He didn’t have time to ponder it.  One of the soldiers spoke.  “That was quite a display you both put on the other day.  Did you actually think Governor Alanon, or our great army commander, or the King himself even, would let you get away with such an act?  You had to know it would only be a matter of time until we tracked where you lived, Scholar.” 

Davin heard responses sounding from behind the gags.  Radash and Liam sounded so helpless.  He had to free them.

“Fortunately, this boy narrowed our search down greatly, saving us many long man hours interrogating citizens and searching homes.”

  Davin knew the soldier was referring to Radash and his escapade in town.  He cursed himself for not thinking more clearly that morning in the market.  He knew the consequences.  There was no time to dwell on it though.  He accepted his foolishness. 

Without any more waiting, Davin stepped out into the open and put out his sword.  Liam and Radash looked grateful to see him.  “It seems you have met some friends of mine here,” Davin spoke casually, as if introducing guests at a party.

“Indeed, the King will be happy to have both of them at hand,” one of soldiers said, mocking Davin’s casual tone.   “A Scholar of Ancient Lore, and the Prince himself, I will be rewarded greatly for this discovery.  We will escort them to First Captain Deverell personality.”  He turned to face Davin directly.  “But first things first.” 

Davin didn’t have time to think about what had really been said.  The lead soldier drew his sword and the others followed suit.  Davin dropped back involuntarily, feeling suddenly very intimidated. 

Use all of your surroundings to your advantage. 
Davin assessed their statures, their blades, the size of the room, and what was in it, remembering his training well. 

They all charged him at once.  Davin got into a ready stance, watching them advance.  He waited until they were almost upon him.  The group raised their swords at the same time. 
Think twice, act once.  Do not attack mindlessly. 
With wide, wild swings they tried to strike him.  He rolled to the side as their swords found their mark.  A couple of swords clanged as they struck one another.  The group fell backward as the surprise of their miss caught up with them. 

Davin ran several yards over to the closest bookshelf and skirted behind it, simply trying to get out of sight.  After waiting a breath, he moved into one of the farther rows. 

“Split up, we will surround him,” Davin heard their leader say.  “It’s just one boy.”

Davin stayed still, listening.  Two of the soldiers were coming his way.  They must have realized their first mistake of trying to take him all at once. 

As they crept into the rows in front of him, he used his strength and pushed on the shelf hard.  It creaked loudly and started to lean.  Davin’s arms shook under the pressure.  It toppled, falling against the others in a chain reaction and crushing the two soldiers underneath.  They didn’t move.  There were only four now.

Improvise.
 
Keep them guessing. 
Davin continued to dive back and forth between the library’s bookshelves, trying to keep them scattered.  He heard scuffling and voices off and on.  They were trying to pinpoint his location.  He was making it difficult.  Davin listened harder with his power.  One of them was moving towards him.
He jumped out and caught the man by surprise.  Before the soldier could react, Davin quickly slit his throat.  He fell with a thump. 

The one from earlier called out again, “It seems we have underestimated you, boy.”  He sounded as if he was speaking from where Liam and Radash sat.  “I will give you one chance to surrender or they will both die.”  Davin tried to decide if he was bluffing.  There were muffled cries from the captives. 

Davin called out, buying time, “I don’t think O’Hara would like if you killed his son without permission.”

There was a long silence in which Davin heard another one of the soldiers around the shelf to his left.  He drew another deep breath and raised his sword again. 

He charged forward with an overhead strike that was blocked, but it was strong enough to make the soldier stumble.  He fell back as Davin swung again, missing the man’s neck by inches.  The momentum of Davin’s swing caused him to take a step behind his opponent.  The soldier took the opportunity to cut Davin on the calf of his leg. 

Davin cried out and bent down, grabbing him calf.  It wasn’t deep but it was bleeding freely.  Grimacing under the pain, he willed himself to keep fighting. 

The soldier smiled greedily as he leaned in to finish Davin off.  Davin rose up in a grunt of anger and pushed the soldier’s sword aside.  The man was spun around involuntarily.  Davin kicked the soldier fiercely in the back and then sent his sword through him as he hit the ground. 

Davin cried out again at the pain in his leg as it resurfaced.  He quickly tore a bit of the bottom of his pants to wrap it, but still knew he wasn’t done fighting.  Despite his injury, he kept his voice strong.  “While you wait for me to give up your men keep turning up dead.”

“Indeed.  Then it would seem that your time is up.”  Davin heard the drawing of a blade and muffled screaming from the two captives.  He sprinted around the circumference of the library, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his leg.  He pulled to a stop in from of the man blackmailing him and saw that Liam and Radash were still alive. 

He found it amazing that such high a rank as
Dous
Captain had been assigned to this mission.  But then again, they were after the heir to the throne himself. 

  The soldier had his sword at Radash’s throat when he saw Davin.  “That’s more like it.”

Davin had to think quickly.  He pulled the orb out of his pocket and lit up his finger.  The flame was larger than the last time he’d used it.  The soldier looked maddeningly at him. 

“You are one of them, one of them King O’Hara is looking for.”  He glanced at the orb.  “Give me that device.”  He advanced on Davin.

“I don’t want to.” 

“You will join the others as
my captive.  Surrender yourself.” 

Davin raised the shining orb above his head.  The
Dous
Captain’s gaze followed it.  Davin waited.

“What are you doing?” the soldier asked. 

Davin managed a cruel smile.  “Using my power, of course.” 

Dread fell over the soldier’s face.  In that moment he forgot his military bearing, reached out to the orb with desperation, and left his body unprotected.  Davin rammed his sword into the soldier. 

“As few strikes as possible,” he said softly enough that only soldier could hear him.  The soldier started to mouth the word “what”, but it never came.  Davin removed his sword and the man dropped. 

He quickly untied Liam and Radash’s binders and gags.  Their faces were white and sweating and they looked sickly. 

“You have some explaining to do, Radash,” Davin admonished.  Radash started to talk, but Liam cut him off.

“Now is not the time, friends.  We need to find Egan and leave town quickly.”

They began running toward the stairs.  As they were nearly through the threshold another high-ranking officer emerged from the top of the stairs.  He brandished his sword and jumped forward into the pale moonlight filling the room.  His sword found Liam’s neck and he held it there. 

Liam shook nervously under its tip.  “You should have surrendered.  Now he will die unless you all come with me.”