The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1

The Legend Of Kairu:

The Tower Of The Watchful Eye

Tim McFarlane

Mirador Publishing

First
Published by Mirador Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 by Tim McFarlane

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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All
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reviews.

First
edition: 2013

Any
reference to real names and places are purely fictional and are
constructs of the author. Any offence the references produce is
unintentional and in no way reflect the reality of any locations
involved.

A copy
of this work is available though the British Library.

IBSN : 978-1-909220-22-5

Prologue

“
The troops march on your command, Master Holcombe,” a soldier
in full chainmail said.

I surveyed the
battlefield. The castle lay quiet, we have snuck up unheard and
darkness would continue to serve us well. I don’t recall ever
seeing this castle before but one thing stuck in my mind.

Rescue
her.

“
What is your name, soldier?” I asked.

“
Captain Smith, sir,” he replied with pride.

“
Where are the other masters, Captain Smith?” I
asked.

He looked
confused. “What other masters?”

“
The other masters of the Order,” I responded equally
confused.

“
We were told it that it would just be you leading the troops,
sir,” Captain Smith replied.

“
Very well,” I said thinking it was strange that the Order of
Magic would only send one Master for a mission. I haven’t been with
the order for very long, but I knew that the Masters only respond
to catastrophic situations.

“
You don’t remember volunteering for this mission, sir?”
Captain Smith asked reading my mind. “You felt that returning the
King’s daughter was important for the Balendar Kingdom. You told
the King himself you would personally lead the troops.”

Everything was
sounding familiar, but something didn’t feel right.

“
Yes,” I said rubbing my chin. “We must hurry then. Have your
men ready to follow me. I will cast an Illusion spell over the
guards to give us cover. We’ll strike from within the castle
itself.”

“
Brilliant plan, Master Holcombe,” Captain Smith said with a
smile.

He left to
address the small group of troops behind me as I started to walk
slowly towards the castle. The rustling of the grass behind me
indicated that the troops were following slowly behind me. I
reached out with my mind and searched for mental activity within
the castle.

As we drew
closer, I started to make out the hum of mental activity. It was
quiet at first but slowly grew louder with each step and I could
identify individual minds. As soon as a mind was in focus, I cast
my Illusion spell on it. From now on, whenever they would look out
in our direction, they would see nothing but open field. One by
one, the castle guards fell under my spell.

When I was
confident that we were covered, I openly sprinted towards the
castle. The clank of the chainmail behind me was noisy but thanks
to the spell wouldn’t give away our position.

At the front
gate, I searched for the mind of the gate master and influenced him
with Mind Control. The gate slid open slowly and my troops and I
walked through the front door into the courtyard.

I chuckled to
myself softly at the child’s play that was this mission, but a
small part of me was impressed by the amount of power I had at my
disposal. It was a weird and almost unnatural feeling to be
impressed by my own magic. I shook it off and motioned for Captain
Smith to spread out his troops so I could drop the Illusion spell.
I scanned the courtyard and found the guards’ barracks. I smirked
as a little plan formed in my head.

I released my
hold on the guards’ minds and held out both of my hands towards the
barracks. Focusing my energy into my hands, they grew warm as a
massive Fireball launched from them. The Fireball singed the ground
under it causing a burning trail as it drew closer to the barracks.
A cry of alarm rang out as the ball struck the barracks causing the
stone building to explode.

“
Intruder!” a booming voice shouted from the upper walls of
the castle.

“
Now’s our time,” Captain Smith called to his men.

Battle erupted
everywhere in the courtyard as steel swords met shields and the
cries of men dying filled the once quiet night. I scanned the upper
wall and found an archer aiming towards the fight. I reached out my
hand and felt my hand grow cold as the power travelled to it. An
Ice Bolt, a chunk of ice as sharp as an arrow, flew from my fingers
straight into the archer’s heart.

“
Good shot, sir,” Captain Smith said as he ran over to me with
his shield raised. “We’ll take care of the fighting here. Lord
Rollins should be in the grand hall. They may have barred the
door.”

“
Leave it to me,” I said.

“
Be careful, sir, reports say he may have a Rogue Mage in his
ranks,” Captain Smith warned.

“
Thank you, Captain Smith,” I said as I turned towards the
door to the keep.

Captain Smith
shouted a war cry as he rejoined the battle and I reached out and
felt the presence of three guards barricading the door. I held out
my hands and launched another exploding Fire Ball. It hit the door
and blew it off its hinges. The cries of the guards burning added
to the soundtrack of the night.

I walked
calmly through the doorway into the room behind it. The hall was
large and open with high arching ceilings and rows of benches in
front of a throne. Grand assemblies and addresses were held here,
but now it has been reduced to a battlefield because of one man’s
greed for power. The man himself, Lord Rollins, stood at the end of
the hall near his throne with a tall man in a robe beside him.

I started to
sprint towards him and he called out to his remaining guards.
Without breaking stride, I sent them each an Ice Bolt which
penetrated their hearts and dropped them to the floor.

My fingers
tingled and my heart pounded as I stretched out my hand and
launched an Ice Bolt at Lord Rollins. The robed man raised his
staff and a barrier blocked the ice from finding its mark. I
stopped short and raised my hands ready to defend myself against
whatever the robed man would do as a counter.

“
Kill him,” Lord Rollins ordered the robed man.

“
With pleasure,” he replied with a sneer. This man was clearly
the Rogue Mage Captain Smith had warned me about. The rules of the
Order were clear: he needed to be Silenced or killed. Seeing the
crazed smile on his face, the latter was an easy choice.

He raised his
staff and the tip glowed red with Fire. I concentrated a small
amount of energy in my hand and waited. When he pointed his staff
at me, I launched the simple spell: Dispel Magic. The Mage quickly
dodged and the Dispel hit the wall. The room started to waver and
fade in and out a bit.

I looked
around confused as the world struggled to remain in focus. Weird
memories started to work their way back into my mind but
disappeared as the world returned to normal. I sensed the Fire Ball
and jumped out of the way too late. The Fire spread quickly across
my robe and I threw it off me and stood with only a pair of
trousers and shoes to cover my skin. The Mage pointed his staff at
me again and I cast another simple little spell.

My skin
hardened as darkened scales replaced my flesh. In a matter of
seconds my whole body except my head and face were covered in
scales giving me the appearance of a Demon. The Mage hesitated with
a shock expression on his face but caught himself and launched a
stream of Fire at me with his staff. I held up my scaled hand and
the Fire washed over me. There was only a slightly warm feeling as
the scales protected me from the harmful effects of the spell.

The Fire
stopped and I charged some power into a hand a launched a Pulse, a
blast of magic through the Spirit Plain, at the Mage. He clumsily
threw up a shield that was too weak and the force of the Pulse
caused him to stagger back.

I reached out
with my mind, grabbed his staff and ripped it from his hand. The
staff flew across the room towards me and I caught it with a scaled
hand before shooting a stream of Ice at him. He tried to throw up
another shield but was quickly frozen solid. I gripped the staff
with both hands, swung it in a 360 degree arc and smashed it into
his frozen form, shattering him into a thousand pieces. I pointed
the staff at Lord Rollins, my scales slowly transforming back into
human flesh.

“
Who are you?” he asked astonished.

“
Master Andrew Holcombe of the Order of Magic,” I answered.
“You are coming with me to face judgment for the kidnap of the
King’s daughter.”

The sound of
footsteps caught my attention and when I craned my head to look. I
smiled as Captain Smith and his men approached. “Captain Smith,
take this man into custody,” I ordered.

“
Yes, sir,” he answered.

He and a
couple of the soldiers approached Lord Rollins and Captain Smith
removed a key on a chain from around the Lord’s neck. “What do you
want to bet she’s in the master bedroom?” Captain Smith said as he
tossed the key to me.

“
Get him out of here before I kill him myself,” I said
disgustedly after catching the key.

The master
bedroom was at the top of the keep. With Captain Smith’s victory in
the courtyard, there were no troops left to defend the keep and I
was able to walk through the entire area unopposed. With the key, I
unlocked the door and found a young woman, roughly my age, sitting
on the bed with her back to me. Her long, chestnut hair in a
braided ponytail leading down the pale creamy skin of her back and
when she turned to face me, she had the brightest blue eyes I had
ever seen.

She was truly
a vision to behold.

She rose from
the bed and turned her body to face me. Her dress was ruffled and
torn and the look on her face was one of pure fear.

“
It is okay,” I said as I entered the room more so she could
see me. “I am Master Andrew Holcombe of the Order of Magic. You’ll
have to forgive my ghastly appearance, my lady. My robes were
destroyed during the fight.”

Her expression
softened and she smiled a bright smile. “I’m sure I look no
better.”

“
Nonsense,” I scoffed, “you are absolutely
beautiful.”

A small blush
rose to her face. “Thank you.”

She approached
me and placed her hands on my chest. “And I mean, thank you.”

“
We really should get you back to the King.” I smirked as I
pulled her in closer.

“
My uncle can wait,” she breathed as she brought her lips up
to kiss me.

“
Your uncle?” I asked leaning away.

“
Yes,” she said confused.

“
I was told you were the King’s daughter,” I continued
suspicious.

“
Oh,” she said with an awkward chuckle, “well he thinks of me
as his daughter. So I’m sure he would have referred to me as
such.”

I released her
and stared at her.

“
Now, please,” she said getting closer. “I want to reward my
hero.”

“
Something’s not right,” I said as I pushed past
her.

“
But this is what you want!” she said pleadingly.

I walked past
a mirror and stopped. Something in the reflection caught my
attention. I walked back and stared at the person in the mirror. He
was tall, muscular with long flowing black hair and a face that
would make all the girls swoon. The most important feature was the
fact that it wasn’t me.

At least not
how I remember me.