The Destiny of Amalah (104 page)

‘Goodbye my friend,’ Garrick said before he removed his hand and rose to his feet. He walked around Häkan and stood by Callan. ‘Get up,’ he told her. Callan continued to look at Häkan and Garrick spoke once again. ‘Get up Callan Knight, get up,’ he ordered her. ‘Do not let Häkan’s death or anyone else’s death have been in vain.’

Callan turned from Häkan and looked up at Garrick to see him looking at her. She slowly got to her feet and she steadied herself and continued to look at Garrick as she found her balance.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Death, it’s…’

‘I know,’ Garrick said. ‘One so young should not see this much death and no one should see it like this,’ Garrick said, understanding exactly how she was feeling, for when he was a young man he had seen the same and felt the same. ‘I will fight by your side Callan Knight,’ Garrick said to her.

Callan nodded and she turned away from Häkan and took Garrick to where Imogen and the others were. She showed Garrick Waldon and Kenaz, who were now magically bound and Garrick made a sound that was like a high-pitched bird. He made the same tune again and before long, a horse with a wooden cart attached to it, drove through the trees and was at their side.

Garrick ordered the guard to put the two bound men on the cart and they carried out his orders by dragging them on the carts, using nets and rope. When Waldon and Kenaz were secured onto the cart, Garrick gave the horsemen their orders and they rode away at breakneck speed.

Three of the Azari had remained in the forest and they had decided to head east and join Cador and his army. Waldon, Kenaz and Rakan had stayed in the forest, while Luxor, Rufus and Bryce, had headed east to join forces with Cador. In the forest only Rakan remained free but in the east; all three men remained free and they intended to wreak havoc in Amalah before destroying it.

In the east; Amara, Michael, Zach and Thaddeus did not wait for Cador and his men to attack them; they went on the offensive immediately. The sorcerers and anyone with magical abilities were in front of the Islanders and the guard and they marched forward in their robes. When they were close enough they threw a volley of magical fire and energy balls that tripled in size and when they landed; devastated the middle of the front two rows of soldiers.

The sorcerers did not wait for a reaction; they used more of their magic against the army. They bound them, blinded them, confused them and used what spells they could and as they continued, they marched forward with the soldiers behind them. When the sorcerers had done what they wanted to do, they retreated backwards and the guard and islanders stepped forward.

The sorcerers had done a good job and when the guard and islanders stepped forward, they felt they had a fighting chance: they were still outnumbered by at least four to one but with the sorcerers on their side, they could see that it wasn’t all hopeless.

The dark army were taken by surprise at the savage attack that had been inflicted upon them by such a small number, but they recovered quite quickly and they too, were now running forward to engage the fighters on the other side. They only had one aim and that was to crush, kill and destroy anything and anyone, that was not a part of them. The guard, the islanders and the dark army, clashed on the hills of Amalah and as they fought, the sorcerers, Amara and Thaddeus parted into two groups. One side parted to the left and another to the right, as Amara’s army took up their positions, they encircled the whole of Cador’s army and began placing stones down on to the ground, pouring liquid down into previously dug out but hidden holes in the ground.

Rufus and Bryce were aware of what was going on and they each took a side. Bryce did not reach far and when he was alone, he encountered thirty of the guard and was captured in the same way as Kenaz had been, by powerful nets and before he could use any magic to free himself; Thaddeus was upon him and pouring the same liquid upon him, as Hassan and Imogen had used on Waldon and Kenaz. Thaddeus then began the incantation and when he was done; Bryce, like Waldon and Kenaz was bound and powerless to do anything to stop it.

Rufus reached the other side and he was met by Amara and Michael; Rufus wore his hood up and only Amara could see who it was.

‘Rufus, have you come to try and stop us?’ she asked him.

‘Not try,’ he said dryly, as he hurled an energy ball at Michael.

Amara stuck out her hand so that it was in the path of the energy ball and in the way of Michael.

‘
Return!
’ she said powerfully and on her command, the energy ball reversed and flew back to Rufus. Rufus stepped to the side and dodged the ball even though there was no need. Amara turned and looked at Michael. ‘Leave us,’ she said to him.

‘Amara...’

‘Michael, leave us,’ she said again. ‘You cannot help me now and there is much for you to do,’ she said to him.

‘Very well,’ he said to her reluctantly.

He glared at Rufus and then looked at Amara for a few seconds, before he turned and left her to fight him.

‘You were right to send him away,’ Rufus said in a sly tone.

‘There is no point in you both dying by my hand.’

‘No one else is dying by your hand Rufus.’

‘Stop me.’

‘
Ice!
’ Amara said, as she stuck out her hand and pointed it at Rufus.

As she said the word, Rufus’s feet were stuck to the ground and ice began to form around them and freeze his legs together; the ice grew quickly and crept up his legs and was now at his thighs freezing him and his cloak still.

Rufus looked down and pointed his hands to his frozen legs and fireballs shot out of them. The fireballs melted the ice but the ice kept coming, Rufus looked down at the ice again and then it came to him, he pointed his hands downwards and froze the ice and when he did, the creeping ice stopped growing. He looked down at it and visualised it in his head and commanded it to shatter: which it did instantly.

Rufus retaliated by throwing a volley of energy balls, which Amara dodged or deflected and then he uttered a spell in Latin and the ground beneath Amara began to drag her in and down. Amara wobbled around and tried to gain her balance as the ground began swallowing her and Rufus looked on and laughed as the earth took her.

Amara knew she could not fight the earth and so she closed her eyes and racked her brains and then the thought come to her. She closed her eyes again and then she disappeared from sight before reappearing behind Rufus and tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around to see her staring at him.

‘You aren’t the only one who can teleport,’ she told him and then she looked down at the ground and smiled.

Rufus looked down too and saw that the earth was now swallowing him and he gave Amara an extremely hateful look, before the ground consumed him. Rufus could not teleport, nor could he freeze the whole earth, which made him struggle against the soil as it swallowed him greedily. Rufus watched as the ground took him, it pulled him in inch by inch and in no time at all, he was up to his neck in soil. He closed his eyes and covered his mouth and nose with his one remaining free hand before the earth swallowed him whole.

Amara looked on as Rufus disappeared beneath the soil; she stayed for a few seconds ensuring that he had really gone and then she was satisfied that he had. She walked away and went to join the other sorcerers who were working away at the sides. She had only just reached them when the ground began to rumble: Amara turned around and she knew immediately that the cause of the rumbling was Rufus.

She ran back to the spot where he had been and just as she was about to reach it Rufus shot out from the ground and into the air. He somersaulted in mid-air and as he descended under control he sent down bolts of energy and fire to Amara and everyone who was around her ran and took cover but Amara stayed where she was, ready to face Rufus once again. Rufus landed on his feet and Amara did not wait a second longer, she went on the offensive immediately and she stuck out her hands and began to chant.

‘With this power that I hold
Bind him for a time untold.’

As Amara said the spell repeatedly, a yellow stream of energy left her hands and began to encapsulate Rufus, Rufus tried to escape the binding yellow energy that Amara had placed upon him, but he could not, He tried to freeze the energy but it did not work, he tried burning it, dousing it in water and ice but the energy still remained and Rufus – with all of his power – could do nothing to escape it. Amara looked on at Rufus for a while before she spoke:

‘The bind I have upon you is not as powerful as the one on your other brothers. This bind will fade soon but when it does, it will be far too late for you to do anything.’ She told him before she walked away from him.

At the time Amara had taken on Rufus, Zach had clashed with Luxor. The two of them immediately went on the offensive and launched fire and energy and unleashed powerful spells upon each other.

‘You’re no match for me,’ Luxor told Zach.

‘Only because you wear a cloak,’ Zach replied. ‘Had we been on fair terms it is you who would have been no match for me.’

Luxor laughed arrogantly flinging his head backwards to let his laughter out.

‘Very well,’ Luxor said in a humorous tone. ‘I shall pull the cloak back, behind my shoulders. That means I am no longer invincible,’ Luxor said in the same amused and arrogant tone. ‘You are still going to die though.’

‘We’ll see,’ Zach said, as he flung a powerful energy ball at Luxor.

Luxor levitated into the air and the ball missed him by far, while he was in the air, he sent down a volley of small energy balls that hit Zach in different parts of his body; they were nowhere near as powerful as the energy ball that Zach had sent to Luxor but they were still quite painful on contact and Zach yelped with pain. The pain was enough to distract Zach and as it distracted him, Luxor reached into his cloak and pulled out a small vial. He opened the vial and tipped the contents out into the air. The powder from the vial became a black cloud of dust and Luxor looked at it and concentrated.

‘Become, become life, become many and become more.
Become!’ he boomed.

As Luxor finished his spell, the black cloud began to buzz and hum and then it began to thicken into mass and as changed, the humming grew louder. Within seconds, the black cloud of dust had become a swarm of wasps and on Luxor’s command; they flew forward and went to attack Zach. Zach scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could and when he put some distance between himself and the deadly swarm he turned to face them and held out his hands.

‘
Shield!
’ He said and as the bees came in to attack him they were stopped by a force field that Zach had created.

‘
Incinerate!
’ He commanded and as he shouted the wasps began to incinerate en masse and returned to being a pile of black dust once again. Luxor was inches away from Zach now and before Zach could do anything, Luxor landed a backhander across Zach’s left side sending him sprawling backwards and then he raised his leg and landed a side kick square into Zach’s chest sending him flying and on to the floor. Zach was in shock for violence had been completely unexpected and he looked up at Luxor and glanced for what he considered to be a foul move.

‘I know more than magic,’ Luxor said, smirking at Zach as he approached him.

‘
Roots of the earth take him
,’ Zach commanded, and on his utterance, the earth and its roots began to take hold of Luxor. Luxor looked down and laughed.

He pointed his hands downwards at the ground and then spoke: ‘
Scorch and scorch deep
,’ he commanded and the roots and ground beneath him began to burn with intense heat and die.

Luxor jumped free of the scorching earth and by the time he cleared it, Zach was on his feet, ready to fight again. Zach faced Luxor and thoughts ran through his mind as he watched him. He knew Luxor was evil and would resort to foul play and he knew he would have to steer clear of Luxor’s fists and feet, for Zach was no warrior and so he vowed to keep a safe distance from him.

Zach hurled fire and energy at Luxor and the two began again; they used powerful magic’s as they attacked each other and defended themselves and as they fought, they would jump, levitate and summersault all over the place; attacking and deflecting live magic and spells. Neither one of them was relenting and they each punished the others bodies, whenever they hit their target.

The fight did not look as though it were going to end but they were interrupted by a loud and powerful humming noise and as the noise grew louder, the ground began to shake and vibrate; both Luxor and Zach were distracted by the noise but they carried on fighting regardless of the growing noise grew and constant vibration.

As the vibration grew, Michael – who had been in the thick of the fight, gave his men the order to retreat and when they heard the order, the guard and the islanders began to retreat from where they had come. Luxor wondered why the guard were retreating and then he looked at Zach, who was now smiling at him.

‘It’s over,’ Zach said.

‘It’s never over,’ Luxor replied.

Zach hurled as many energy balls at Luxor as he could but rather than continue to fight, he began to retreat backwards; Luxor followed as Zach continued to retreat and the fight was now on the run. As the two men continued, Luxor saw a red beam on the ground and then he watched, as it rose and rose to at least thirty feet high, creating a pink transparent barrier.