Darkness Rising: Disciples of the Horned One Volume One (Soul Force Saga Book 1) (11 page)

D
amien walked
down the familiar black-and-silver hallway towards the dining room. A pair of first-year girls saw him and crossed to the other side of the hall, their eyes wide. He sighed.

Two months had passed since the demon incident and word had spread that he’d killed it on his own. The reactions to the news varied from fear to awe, with fear being by far the most common.

Having the people you saw every day regard you as a monster made life awkward to say the least. Even worse, none of the more experienced sorcerers would take him on as an apprentice. He asked everyone he saw and to a person they found some excuse to deny his request.

Well, he couldn’t do anything about it, so he trained on his own and hoped for the best. The truth was Damien didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his new skills. He had power enough to serve almost anywhere, but he hated the idea of being stuck in a fort somewhere, waiting for trouble to find him. Joining the inquisitors appealed to him. Wandering the kingdom, rooting out corruption, generally helping the people who didn’t have connections among the rich and powerful. Damien couldn’t imagine a more satisfying use for his power.

He pushed through the dining hall doors and the room fell silent as every gaze focused on him. Damien wanted to shout boo, just to see if they’d flinch. Eli was sitting at the end of one of the benches and waved to him. Damien collected his meal, mystery meat and potatoes covered in gravy, the same as usual, and went to join his friend. The three students seated at Eli’s bench made themselves scarce when Damien arrived.

“Maybe I should just eat in my room.”

“Don’t pay any attention to them. Have you heard anything more about the cult?”

Damien sat down. “No one has said anything to me. You’d think since I was the one who discovered them they’d keep me in the loop.”

“I’m sure if there’s any fighting to be done you’ll be the first to hear. What’ve you been doing to keep busy?”

“Practicing on my own. Ann recommended a book on shaping. I’m going to check it out after lunch.”

“What’s it about?”

“Shaping materials other than wood and stone. She says working with more complicated materials will help me learn to better control my power.”

Eli shook his head and smiled. “I can barely manage stone and you’re already looking for more complex materials to work with. I’m jealous.”

“Don’t be. At least no one’s terrified of you.” Damien hated the bitterness in his voice. He’d thought Sorcery would be different than The Citadel, and it had been. For three wonderful years he was just another student, stronger than average, sure, but nothing extraordinary.

Now, thanks to the demon incident, he found himself alone most of the time, the other students too uncomfortable to want to be near him. Even Amanda and Jaden treated him like a snake that might bite them if they did something wrong. Only Eli still acted the same as before. They finished their meal in silence, Damien’s bitter comment having spoiled the mood.

Damien got up to return his plate and Eli grabbed his arm. “You’re joining us tonight for Jaden’s after-testing party, right? We’ll either congratulate or commiserate depending on whether he passes or not.”

“You sure you want me to come? I know I make the others nervous.”

“Don’t worry about it. They need to get used to the new reality. It’s one thing to know you’re strong and another to learn you can kill a demon by yourself.”

“It doesn’t seem to bother you.”

Eli offered a rueful grin. “Remember, I saw your unshielded soul force the day you arrived. I’ve had over three years to accept the fact that you terrify me. Give the others some time. They’ll come around.”

Damien laughed. “All right, everyone’s meeting in our room, right?”

“Yeah, and Jaden’s dad is fixing the food. See you tonight.”

Damien nodded, returned his plate to the counter, and went to the library to fetch the book Ann recommended. His quarters were on the eighth floor. As he walked down the silent hall he shook his head. The reason they assigned him this room was because all the other sorcerers living there were out in the field. He essentially had the whole floor to himself. Well, to hell with them, he’d enjoy the peace and quiet.

The apartments they provided for full sorcerers weren’t much of an improvement on what they gave the students. Same bed, same minimal furniture; the only difference was no roommate and if he wanted to pay for it he could decorate however he wanted. His twenty gold royals a month stipend would buy some nice furniture, but Damien preferred to save his coin. You never knew when the government might decide sorcerers needed a pay cut.

He kicked his shoes off and plunked down on the narrow, lumpy bed. Perhaps he’d splurge on a nice featherbed at least. The book he’d retrieved from the library had a black leather cover and measured at least two inches thick; not exactly light reading.

He opened to the table of contents and scanned down the list of chapters. Shaping organics, crystals, living animals and plants. He stopped when he reached the last entry: forging weapons without heat. Damien had read about swords created by a sorcerer using only soul force. Lizzy was soul-forged and her blade was the purest steel in existence.

Troubles forgotten, Damien flipped to the back of the book and started reading. Jen’s name day was coming in a few months. What would be a better gift than a soul-forged long sword?

E
li sipped
cider and wondered when Damien would arrive. Amanda had walked in fifteen minutes ago wearing a typically gaudy orange-and-red dress. She pounced on the plate of little sandwiches Jaden’s dad had prepared for them the moment she spotted it. He didn’t bother scolding her. Amanda did what she wanted regardless of what anyone said. He’d begged a couple of extra chairs from one of the masters so no one would have to sit on a bed.

They’d decided to have the little party in his room because the masters hadn’t assigned him a new roommate yet. In fact he didn’t expect to get a new roommate this year as they only had three first years and they were all girls. That suited Eli fine as he was an only child and enjoyed being alone. Not that Damien had been a bad roommate, even though he got up every morning at five.

“Is he coming?” Amanda had a half-eaten almond butter sandwich in her left hand and an untouched ham sandwich in her right.

Eli didn’t need to ask who she meant. “Damien said he’d be here. I didn’t tell him a specific time so we’ll just have to wait and see when he shows up. Try not to act so nervous when he gets here.”

“I can’t help it! No one should be that powerful. It’s not natural. The fact that he’s also good with a sword makes it worse. Damien could kill you so many different ways it’s terrifying.”

“Don’t say things like that. He’s our friend…he’s my friend anyway. John’s not afraid of him, that should tell you something.”

“I guess.”

The door swung open and a stiff, sweat-soaked Jaden stood in the doorway, his round face glistening. Eli was starting to ask if the test was that bad when Damien appeared behind him. If Amanda was nervous around Damien then Jaden was flat-out terrified. Eli couldn’t figure out why since Damien had done nothing remotely aggressive toward either of them. If anything, he stood up for them when Sig picked on them. Maybe to them it was like living next to a volcano; you never knew when it might erupt and when it did you couldn’t do a thing about it.

Eli set his cup down and shook both boys’ hands. “I wasn’t sure if you’d make it, Damien.”

Damien smiled. “I got to reading. I wish the tower had windows so I could tell what time it is. I met Jaden on my way downstairs. Tell them the good news.”

Jaden opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He cleared his throat. “I passed.”

Eli grinned and clapped him on the back. “That’s great. Apparently everyone’s going to pass on their first try except me.”

“Don’t jinx me.” Amanda came over with the tray of sandwiches and offered one to Damien. “They’re pretty good.”

“Thank you.” Damien took a ham sandwich. Eli handed him a mug of cider and he nodded, his mouth too full to speak. When he swallowed he said, “Which disciplines did you choose?”

Jaden sat in an empty chair and sipped cider. “Detection, shaping, healing, and attack.”

Damien raised an eyebrow and Eli knew how he felt. He figured the last skill the shy young sorcerer would choose would be attack. Eli would have guessed shielding.

Seeing their surprise Jaden offered a weak smile. “Master Zora recommended I do attack over shielding or conjuring since it requires less sustained power.” He glanced at Damien. “What book were you reading?”

Damien finished his sandwich and sat across from Jaden. “Advanced shaping. There’s a chapter on soul-forging weapons. Since I have nothing better to do I thought I’d make a sword for my sister’s name day gift.”

Jaden smiled and the tension seemed to melt out of him. “That’s nice. I should shape something for my mom. Her name day is next month.”

The next hour passed with no tension and lots of laughs. Damien yawned and asked, “Do you have a master lined up?”

Jaden nodded. “I volunteered to do a one-year posting on Lookout Island. The master there knows how to shape a viewer powerful enough to let you see a hundred miles away. I want to learn that conjuring. Besides, nothing ever happens out there. That’s the sort of job for me.”

Damien grinned and everyone stood. They all shook hands and somehow Amanda made off with the leftovers. How did she eat so much and still remain so tiny? When the others had gone he and Damien stood by the door.

“Thanks for this,” Damien said. “I think they’re a little more comfortable with me now. When I met Jaden on the stairs I was afraid he might have a heart attack before we got here.”

Eli smiled, glad he could ease a little of his friend’s worry. “It was fun. I think when you mentioned your sister it reminded everyone that you’re just a regular guy who has a huge soul force. Good luck with her sword.”

Damien started down the hall, his step lighter than Eli had seen it since before the demon. He threw a wave over his shoulder and Eli thought Damien would be okay after all.

D
amien flew
towards the Crimson Caldera. After the get-together he felt better than he had in a while and he’d slept like the dead. He woke up rested and eager to get started on his project. He’d left the tower at first light hoping to make the long journey in one day. Noon had come and gone an hour ago along with any chance of getting home before nightfall. Below him the mountains of the Crescent Range sped by.

Situated in the northeast corner of the kingdom, the Crimson Caldera took its name from the red-scaled drakes that nested on the lip of the pit. In the bottom magma bubbled, providing the heat necessary to hatch the great winged lizards’ eggs. What drew Damien to the inhospitable place was a report in the library that said a meteorite had struck the caldera a decade ago and no one had gone to collect it for fear of the drakes.

Meteoric iron was the purest in the kingdom and he wanted to get enough to make Jen’s sword. A shimmer of heat rose from the pit and Damien angled toward it. Though it was still August, this far north it was already getting chilly. It felt like they’d have a bad winter this year. He was eager to slice off a chunk of iron and head back.

Along the rim of the pit sat half a dozen stone nests formed from boulders as big as Damien was tall. Three of the nests held mature female fire drakes, their dull red scales, small head crests, and forty-foot length separating them from their brighter, smaller mates. Damien wrapped himself in invisibility. If the females were sitting on their nests they must have eggs and he certainly didn’t want to anger a nesting drake.

He flew over the pit. Down in the bubbling magma, bobbing like a cork on a pond, floated the meteorite. It was twice as big as his head and glowed cherry red. Damien conjured a thin disk of energy, set it to spinning, and launched it toward the chunk of iron.

It hit with a wicked shriek and started cutting into the metal. On their nests the drakes screamed and arched their necks toward the sky. Guess they don’t like the noise. He didn’t blame them, the blade squeaked worse than nails on slate.

A bright red shape hurtled down out of the sky, missing Damien by a couple feet. The male drake rushed toward the cutting blade, intent on killing whatever was bothering his mate. Its wings snapped open a five feet from the magma and it lashed out with a talon.

The black claw hit Damien’s disk and got sliced off. The drake shrieked and swooped around for another pass.

Stupid beast, it couldn’t hurt his blade. It could only cut up its talons. Damien poured more power into the blade, hoping to get the metal he needed before the drake finished wheeling around for another pass.

The increased speed of the blade’s rotation made the screeching even louder, prompting the drakes to scream at greater volume. Damien conjured ear covers before he went deaf. The male finished its turn and once again dove at the blade, this time with its fanged mouth leading.

Not good.

The beast was about to lose its bottom jaw. He didn’t want to hurt the drake; he just wanted to get the iron.

Damien wrapped the drake in soul force and sent it plunging into the magma. It flopped around, annoyed but unharmed by the intense heat.

His blade finished cutting and the small chunk of iron slipped into the magma. Silence fell in the caldera, much to his relief. He formed a bubble of soul force around the small chunk and lifted it out of the magma. On a whim he grabbed the sliced-off talon as well. It might make a nice pommel for the sword.

Damien flew off with his prize and when he was a safe distance away released the male drake. The creature roared, trumpeting its victory over the now-vanished blade.