Forever Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 3) (45 page)

In the end, he was able to take them all down.  Five of the eight were dead.  Three crawled away severely injured, but not fatally wounded.  Conner thought about ending their lives quickly, as they were still a threat.  But he could not stomach doing such a thing in front of Elissa.

“You are weak,” Tarcious said as the battle ended.  He too had noticed that Conner had let three of them live.

“My mercy makes me strong,” Conner said.  His chest heaved from his exertion, but he was not tired at all.  The thrill of the battle was flowing through his veins, keeping him fully invigorated.

“I killed you once, but this time, I will ensure that it is permanent!” Tarcious said.  He lifted a hand and a small ball of fire appeared in his palm.

Conner did not know exactly what to expect from the Taran emperor, but Glaerion had insisted that it did not matter.  According to the elf., no matter what Tarcious cast at him, it would not harm him.  He flinched anyway, as the fireball streaked from Tarcious’ hands and struck him on the chest.

Elissa screamed from across the room.

He thought that the fireball would still hurt, or knock him down.  But the force of the spell simply dissipated around him.  He felt nothing.  The only other time he had been exposed to magic was in the Tara City dungeon when the emperor had lost his temper and threw a fireball in close quarters.  But it had not been the force of the spell that had knocked him out.  It had been the explosive force of the door.  Two more fireballs struck him as he walked forward, swords in hand.

Tarcious stood dumbfounded.  He looked from Conner to the elf, and then over at Elissa. 

The queen had dropped to her knees, thinking that Conner was going to be burned alive, but when the fireball had no effect on him, she cried tears of joy.

“I guess I won’t have to hide the Ark from you,” Conner said.  “I can just kill you now.”

Tarcious, his eye still on Elissa, quickly lifted a hand and thrust it at her.  The fireball streaked towards her chest.  She jumped back, holding her hands up, thinking she was surely going to be struck by fire.  But the fireball never reached her and exploded right in front of her face.  She did not even feel any heat from the fire.  It didn’t dissipate like it did when it struck Conner, but it exploded like it had struck something.  Arpwin, who was still standing close to her, was struck by remnants of the fire and jumped back in pain.

Glaerion stepped into the room, his eyes focusing on Elissa and keeping the protective shield up.  It was an easy spell that didn’t take much energy so he could keep it going for some time before he would have to rest.  But he had to concentrate to keep it up.

Conner moved towards Tarcious, swords ready to strike, but Toknon stepped in his way.

“I can’t let you do this,” Toknon said.

“You’re going to defend a killer?  Do you not understand what he is intending to do?  The Ark that he wants would give him the power to conquer the entire world on his own.  And not just conquer, but enslave.”

“I have no choice, Conner.  If I want to save my kingdom, he needs to live.  If he dies, then the centurions will not only march all through Karmon, but will also march through Thell as well.  He is their emperor and they will seek revenge on all of us.  If we just let him go, then we will be left in peace.”

Tarcious smiled behind Toknon and said, “Of course.”

“He killed Master Goshin in cold blood,” Conner said.  “I will never forget that.”

Conner swung his sword and Toknon easily parried it.  Anger built up inside of him with each sword blow that didn’t land.  He moved as quickly as he could, but Toknon always had his longsword ready to parry.  Without a reach advantage, Conner could not easily get past Toknon’s sword.  But he also moved so swiftly, he never gave the Thellian much of a chance to press any sort of counter-attack.  Coupled with his anger, the confusion of Toknon’s swordplay threw him off balance.  He didn’t fight like knights or squires, or even centurions.  It was a more graceful style similar to what Master Goshin had taught him, but instead of thin and light swords, Toknon swung a heavy and sharp longsword.  His frustration caused him to not be able to focus, so he simply tried to overpower and out-quick Toknon, which made him even more exasperated as the fight raged on.

After one more furious attack, Toknon retreated backwards and Conner did not press forward.  Instead, he lowered the tips of his swords to the ground to catch his breath.  Toknon was good, but not that good.  It was just that he fought in a way that confused him.  In time, though, he would surely figure him out and then it would be over quickly.

Tarcious lifted his hands and thrust them at Conner.  This time, blue lighting streaked from his hands and struck Conner directly in the chest.  Conner flinched, still expecting to feel something, but he felt nothing other than the odd tickling at the base of his neck.  Tarcious backed away towards the door, confused that his magic was not hurting Conner.  With the elf being able to cast spells, and Conner not being affected by magic, there was no point in staying around anymore.  He had an entire army to back him up and it was time to bring them in.

Glaerion stayed some distance away, keeping up the protective shield around Elissa.  He expected that Tarcious would try and attack him with a spell, then he would have that split second to shift the shield to himself.  He wanted to pull his dagger and kill the wizard.  Every ounce of his being was telling him that is what he needed to do, but he also knew he could not expose Elissa to attack, either.  He grumbled to himself at how much he hated humans.

Conner ran forward towards Toknon, swords twirling in his hands. 

The Thellian retreated, chest heaving.  He knew that he was lucky to still be alive.  Conner’s ability far exceeded his.  There was no chance that he would survive another onslaught.  He dropped his sword and ran, pushing through the large oak doors and to the outside.

A rush of cold, winter air washed over them all.

Conner stopped, letting Toknon go.  Part of him wanted to chase after him, but he would not leave Elissa.  He turned to Tarcious.  “You are all alone, now.  You cannot hurt me.  I am Hurai!”

Tarcious shook his head.  “Impossible!  I don’t understand.”  He looked back at the door.  It was too far to run for it.  Conner would surely catch him before he was able to escape.

“The blood of the chosen people of the Creator protects him from your evil,” Glaerion said, walking forward.  “It is time for you to die.”

“You first!”  Tarcious quickly cast a fireball at Glaerion, but the elf was expecting his action.  The fireball exploded harmlessly around him, caught by the spell that Glaerion quickly cast.

“Elves were born and bred to kill human wizards!” the elf growled.  He drew his dagger.

Conner started towards Tarcious, his swords ready to strike.

“If you kill me, you will never find the Ark!” Tarcious desperately called out.  For the first time in his life, he felt controlled by the events around him rather than being the one in control.  He did not like the feeling. 

“But, Conner has this Ark,” Elissa said.  She turned to Arpwin.  “Isn’t that what you said?  It was Conner that took it from you and he is now the guardian, right?”

“Yes,” Arpwin replied.  “Conner and the other left with it with the promise to take it far away and hide it.”

Conner relaxed for a moment and looked over at Hargon, who was still standing in the corner of the room bound and gagged.  Tarcious stayed in the center of the chamber, his eyes glancing around, clearly trying to figure out an avenue of escape.  Walking around the Taran emperor, Conner went to Hargon to cut his binds.

“You will tell us where the Ark is!” Conner shouted towards Tarcious.  He pulled the gag out of Hargon’s mouth.

Hargon whispered, “He does not have it.”

Conner, with his eyes still on Tarcious, whispered back, “Where is it?”

“I was ambushed on the river and a centurion captured me and brought me to their camp.  Along the way I dropped it.”

“What?  It’s in the forest?”

“Better than in his hands!”

“The Ark has been used,” Tarcious said.  “That I can tell you.  It is not lost and it has been found.  But whoever it is that is using it will not be able to control it like I could.  Who knows what will happen when they release its power.  In my hands, the power of the Ark would only be used to add order to this world.”

“You lie and deceive as your master does,” Glaerion said.  “Your only plan is to conquer the world and rule over it.”

“The people of earth need a strong leader, one who can bring them out of this dark age and into an age of enlightenment!”

Glaerion spat.  “And you think you’re the one to do it?  With the Ark in the hands of the Deceiver, you would be but his slave.  He may have granted you some power, but you, like all of us, would still be his slave.”

A sly smile spread across Tarcious’ lips.  “Who said anything about giving the Ark to the Adversary?”

“You would betray him?” Glaerion laughed.  “All that you have is from him, and you would betray him?  That I do not believe.”

Tarcious spread his hands wide.  “It is not for me to convince you, but it is the truth.  I know the power of the Adversary and know what his plans are.  Giving him the Ark would be the last thing that I would do, for if he gained a foothold in this world, he would turn it into his own dominion.  You think I would be a bad ruler?  You can’t even imagine what life would be like if he ruled the world.”

Elissa leaned to Arpwin and asked, “Who is this Adversary that he is talking about?”

“You know of the Deceiver, right?  The being that is counter to the Creator?  The Adversary is the name that his followers call him.  Deceiver is the name that the Creator has given to him.  His followers believe that the Adversary is an equal being who has been wronged in being punished for crimes he did not commit.  For eternity he has been struggling to regain the realm that was taken from him.”

“Oh,” Elissa said.  “They are real?”

Arpwin smiled.  “Yes, of course they are real.  The battles they fight are ones that we cannot see, yet they are the battles that can change the direction of our eternity.”

“You are delusional,” Glaerion said to Tarcious.  “The Deceiver uses you and you don’t even know it.”

“The power of the
Adversary
in our world is limited,” Tarcious said.  “It is only through me that he can gain access to this world, and I am going to refuse him.  I will take the Ark, and I will keep it and use it for my own ends.  I make no apologies for that, but I know better than to allow the Adversary access to this realm.  But if you kill me, then there will be none with the power to control it.  We must find the Ark together and keep it safe.”

Glaerion burst out a laugh.  “Together?  You want us to work together to find the Ark?  No, I will kill you and go looking for the Ark myself.”

He leapt forward, dagger ready to strike.

Tarcious had not been expecting the sudden attack, so he did not have time to prepare a proper defense.  But his instincts took over and he quickly muttered a spell to be able to cast small fireballs at the elf.  Glaerion dodged two of the three fireballs, but he took one across the left shoulder.  The force of the strike twisted him enough that his dagger strike was off target.  Instead of plunging directly into the emperor’s chest, the dagger sliced through the upper arm.

Without any weapon to defend himself, Tarcious tried to back away so that he had enough room to cast another spell.  But Glaerion had quickly recovered from the fireball strikes and lunged forward, the dagger heading once again right for the emperor’s chest.  It missed the heart, but struck something hard and sunk in deep.  Glaerion tried to pull the dagger back out, but it was stuck in whatever Tarcious had under his robes.

Fighting for his life, Tarcious closed his fists and started striking the elf across the face.  But Glaerion was too quick to be caught with a direct blow.  With one hand still on the handle of the dagger, he twisted and tried to free the dagger, but it was immovable.  There was a large object under Tarcious’ robe, and the dagger seemed to be permanently embedded in it.

Finally, risking a direct strike, Glaerion put one hand on the object to hold it firm and pulled hard on the dagger.  An elbow struck him across the face, and then a right cross struck him across the jaw.  His knees buckled and he fell backwards, stunned.  But the dagger was free and back in his hands.

With the gracefulness inherent in the elven race, Glaerion sprang to his feet and leapt right at Tarcious, aiming for his heart.  Tarcious, having knocked Glaerion to the ground, moved forward to try and finish the fight with his fists.  He had not expected the move and was too slow to block the death blow.  The dagger plunged into Tarcious’ chest, slicing through his heart, killing him.

Glaerion stood over the dead body, straddling it.  The blood from his dagger dripped onto Tarcious’ robe.

Conner walked over to the elf and sheathed his swords.  He looked at the wound on his shoulder.  His tunic had burned away, exposing skin that was blackened.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Glaerion said.

“Do you feel better, now?  Killing the wizard?”

“No,” Glaerion said with somber face.  “I thought I would, but there did not seem to be the peace that I was looking for.”