The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (47 page)

“
So even if I had said yes to you taking control, it wouldn’t
have worked,” I stated.

Yes
, she answered.

“
How about we don’t combine powers like that again then,” I
suggested. “It sounds too risky.”

Agreed
, she replied.
Let’s just stay away from fighting forest
guardians.

I chuckled. “I
am quite okay with that. Tell me more about this Sonic Scream
though. I have never heard of it.”

With good
reason, it isn’t something that a lot of Mages can do, Cathy
answered.

“
If it sapped the energy out of both of us, I can’t imagine if
I tried it alone,” I said.

We were both pretty drained from the fight to begin
with,
Cathy replied
. And you would never use it for as long as we did. It is for
temporarily stunning people. Long term exposure...well...you saw.
It gets quite messy in the brain area.

I grimaced.
“Could I learn to use it in short bursts then?”

Of course,
Cathy said.
I recommend practice though so you don’t drain
yourself too much.

We walked the
rest of the way discussing more spells and rituals we could explore
once we get back to the archives. The feeling of coming home was
comforting, even if it was the Tower. Whatever I have to do next
won’t matter because I’ll have the chance to get a hot meal and a
soft bed. The food in my pack didn’t last very long.

That’s an understatement,
Cathy
said
. Next animal we find, you should kill
it and eat it raw.

How did that
end up sounding delicious?!

The Tower was
within range and loomed over the land with an eerie aura about it.
Was it always like this or has being outside the Tower and seeing
its true evil affected my perspective? Either way, the happiness of
coming home was replaced with dread.

Something bad
was going to happen.

“
Are we ready for this?” I asked.

We better be
, Cathy said.
There’s no turning back.

I put my foot
forward and started towards the Tower.

Chapter 40

Our fears were
confirmed as soon as we entered the Tower. Bodies lay in the
hallway unmoving; some still burning, none of them older then
fourteen cycles. As I approached them I heard more screams coming
from upstairs. I needed to get to the Keeper fast and figure out
what was happening.

I bolted
towards the stairs and climbed two at a time to the second floor.
The stairs to the third floor were barricaded with a powerful
magical barrier so I was going to have to go through the Apprentice
Quarters. As soon as I left the stairs, I was greeted by a group of
Apprentices led by my old bully, Greg.

He smirked as
he recognized me and his group circled around me. I first instinct
was to try and run away from them but after everything I had been
through and the importance of my mission, I was fed up with his
attitude.

“
Well, well, well. Look who returns,” Greg sneered as he stood
in front of me to block my path. “How are you doing,
Lizard?”

“
Get lost, Greg, I need to get to the top,” I said trying to
push past him.

He grabbed me
and threw me backwards so he could stay in front of me. “Why would
you want to go there? The entire Tower is at war with itself.”

“
Then help me get to the top so I can end this,” I
replied.

He laughed.
“Why would I want it to end? This is a chance to rid ourselves of
the old Masters and rules. We can finally form the groups that WE
want.”

“
And do what?” I asked.

“
Whatever we want,” Greg answered to the approving chorus of
his little ‘gang’. “In the new world our power will rule. No one
can stand against us.”

“
You are delusional,” I said trying to push past him
again.

He grabbed me
by the throat and lifted me off the ground. “It is you that is
delusional. I don’t know why I bother wasting my breath talking to
you.” His eyes started to glow white. “You’re a waste of
magic.”

I covered my
body in scales and focused on a new spell Cathy taught me. The
power rumbled in my stomach and I opened my mouth wide as a stream
of fire erupted out. It covered Greg and he dropped me. I stopped
the fire, covered my hand in Ice and punched Greg in the face. He
flew back and landed on the ground unmoving. I grabbed my staff and
pointed it and the middle of the group.

“
I suggest you get out of my way,” I said to them.

Their eyes
started to glow white and I didn’t waste any time. Forcing power
through the staff, a stream of lightning shot out and destroyed the
closest Mage’s shield, jumping to each Mage in turn. I continued
the lightning until it had visited each Mage. I stopped the spell
and they all fell to the ground twitching, their eyes no longer
glowing.

“
What is going on here?” I asked aloud.

Something a long time in the making, no doubt,
Cathy answered.
Someone
is trying to create a new order to rule over the land. The tensions
finally exploded into a war.

“
You don’t need to say ‘someone’,” I said. “This has to be the
work of Master Pryce.”

Perhaps
... Cathy said.

I waited for
her to continue but my mind remained silent. I headed for the
staircase at the opposite side of the Tower. Groups of Apprentices
were fighting one another and I avoided their attention by tricking
them with an Illusion spell. I had a feeling trickery was going to
be the best way to get through the Tower.

I climbed the
stairs as fast as I could go, passing the floor with the
classrooms. The entrance to the Mages' Quarters held another
barrier and I was going to have to run through to the other side.
Teacher Jarvis was fighting a group of possessed Apprentices with
her vines. I ducked into an empty classroom and looked for a way
past her.

Make your own way,
Cathy
said
. The Tower is at war, nobody is going
to mind a little property damage.

Good
point.

I crossed the
classroom with my Staff pointed at the wall. I sent out a massive
Pulse that blasted a hole in the wall. I climbed through it to the
other classroom where an Elemental Mage was fighting an Apprentice.
She turned her attention towards me and threw a Fire Ball my way. I
swatted it away with my scaled hand and launched an Ice Bolt with
the staff. The Ice pierced through the Mage’s defences and she
dropped to the ground. I pointed the Staff at the Apprentice and he
ran out of the room and into the vines of Teacher Jarvis.

I ran to the
far wall of the classroom and blasted another hole in the wall. I
climbed into the empty classroom and headed for the door to the
hallway. The coast was clear and I bolted for the stairs, climbing
them two at a time again.

At the top of
the stairs was a group of five Spirit Mages. I only recognized one,
and pointed my staff towards her. She raised her hands
defensively.

“
I’ve already dealt with Greg, Vanessa, I have no problems
dealing with you too,” I said.

“
Put the staff down, Keeper, we will not attack you,” a tall
guy beside her said.

I lowered the
staff. “I’m shocked. That hasn’t been the mentality lately. What
happened?”

“
We’re not sure,” Vanessa said. “After we heard about the
Evenawks, the Masters went crazy.”

“
The School broke up into groups,” the tall guy continued,
“waiting for the Masters to settle down. Then, the possessed Mages
attacked.”

“
They struck quickly, from within each School,” Vanessa added
trying to hold it together. “Long time friends and colleagues, all
of a sudden trying to kill you. And the white eyes.”

The tall guy
put his arm around her shoulder. “We’re still here.” He turned back
to me. “It’s like someone had been planning this, waiting for the
Tower to fall into disarray.”

“
Master Pryce,” I answered. “Is Keeper Anderson still
alive?”

“
I don’t know,” the tall guy answered. “No one has dared to go
up there.”

“
I need to,” I replied. “Keeper Anderson and I were working on
some-thing to prevent this. Perhaps he has a solution. Can you get
me up there?”

“
Vanessa and I will take you up,” the tall guy said before
turning to the three others. “Stay here and watch the stairs.” The
group nodded and the guy turned back to me. “I’m Hector by the
way.”

“
Andy,” I said reaching out my scaled hand.

He shook it
without hesitation. “The one that can cover his whole body in
Harden Skin? No wonder you’re still alive.”

“
This helps too,” I said motioning to the staff. “Let’s
go.”

They led me
across the Tower to the stairs and we climbed up a couple of floors
before being stopped by another barrier.

“
There is one of these every two floors,” Hector
explained.

We cut into
the floor and were greeted by a group of Nature Mages, led by Todd,
and whole lot of vines. Hector and Vanessa immediately started to
launch Pulses and minor Fire spells at the vines. Being Spirit
Mages, they were out of their element in this fight but if they
could keep the vines off of me, we would be okay.

I aimed the
staff at Todd and dodged an incoming vine. I pushed power through
the staff, aimed at Todd again and launched a lightning bolt at
him. It struck him in the chest and jumped to two other Mages while
the last two dove out of the way.

Vanessa
screamed and I turned to see she was being pulled up by her feet as
another vine grabbed her arm. I reached out with my arm and
launched a Fire Ball that destroyed the vine at her feet. She cut
the one holding her arm and dropped to the ground. Quickly, she
stood up and threw the vine chunk at the Mage. The Mage screamed as
it fell harmlessly to the ground and I took the chance to shoot an
Ice Bolt at him. He dropped to the ground and I launched an Ice
Bolt at the remaining Mage.

“
Made the vine look like a snake?” I asked Vanessa as the last
Mage dropped to the ground.

“
Yup,” she smiled.

“
Good to see you learnt something from all your attacks on
me,” I said.

“
Too bad I didn’t learn to stop messing with you,” she said
sadly. “I know I’ve been a bitch to you and...”

I reached my
hand to stop her. “We can do all the apologies once we’ve sorted
this mess out.”

She nodded and
I motioned for Hector to continue. He led us across the floor to
the staircase. Some groups of Mages fought with one another and if
we could stick to small fights at the staircases, we would make it
to the top without worrying about fatigue.

Up two more
flights of stairs, we were greeted by four Demonology Mages. They
immediately covered the hands with scales and I let out a stream of
fire from the staff and swept over them. Their hands weren’t enough
to protect them from the full blast of the fire and they screamed
and dropped to the ground trying to put the fire out. We ran past
them launching Pulses at the other Mages that entered the hallway
to check out the noise.

We arrived at
the staircase and climbed quickly to our next challenge. To our
surprise there wasn’t another barrier until just before the
Master’s floors. We crossed the Tower to the other staircase
carefully, looking for any sign of trouble.

A small group
of three Mages stood protecting the staircase to the Masters. Their
eyes glowed white and when they saw us, the leader let out a shrill
scream. Not wasting anytime, I launched a lightning bolt at the
leader. He showed no sign of defending himself as the lightning
struck him in the chest and jumped to the other two. They dropped
to the ground as another shrill scream broke through the Tower
behind us.

We turned
around and watched Mages emerge from the rooms and from the
hallways. They slowly marched on our position as we backed up to
the staircase. I aimed the staff and forced a lot of power through
it. A lightning bolt shot out and struck a Mage, jumping to four
others, and they dropped to the ground. The others continued to
march slowly towards us.

“
We’ll hold them here,” Hector said. “Get up and check on the
Keeper.”

“
We can take them,” I replied.

“
If he has a plan to fix all this then you shouldn’t be
wasting time fighting them,” Hector explained. “We can hold them.
The Master’s chambers are just up the stairs if we need to fall
back.”

I aimed my
staff at a group and launched a massive Pulse. The group of
possessed Mages were thrown back and knocked over more of them.

Hector is right,
Cathy
said
. We have a more important job to do.
Leave them.

“
Go!” Hector shouted as he a trail of fire towards the
Mages.

I ran up the
stairs as fast as I could and hoping for a second wind. I heard a
scream and a Mage flew past me and bounced off the wall hard. Upon
closer inspection, I discovered it was Master Baker. His eyes were
lifeless and I looked into the direction he came from. Master Gerth
was fighting a group of possessed Mages and was struggling against
them. I continued up the stairs hoping another Master would come
and help him but after what the Mages did to Baker, it was a long
shot.