Land of Shadows (The Legend of the Gate Keeper Book 1) (22 page)

Jacob wore the same shocked expression.

Jade turned her head and pulled her hood low to hide her smile. She understood the warrior’s feelings completely.

Chapter 14

Addel slowly hobbled through the tower, weighed down by a heavy heart. She had made many mistakes in her life, and wondered if now they were all coming back to haunt her. She had been summoning the puppeteers for days, and was exhausted. A flashing light show could be seen beneath the door of Dragot’s forbidden chamber as she passed by. No doubt he was attempting to contact Krytoes once again as the final preparations were being made. She longed to be anywhere else but here. She just didn’t want to be part of this anymore.

There was a time long ago when she no longer fit in normal society. Born with special abilities that needed to be kept a secret, her life had been anything but ordinary. Addel had been exposed to a world where anyone who could do extraordinary things with the aid of natural forces was simply known as a witch. Black powers could only be explained as sources of evil. However, her innate abilities were only part of the problem, as she was born quite hunched and deformed as well. A broken body seemed a strange irony, given her substantial mental gifts.

In the harsh world of Tarmerria, such a child was rarely ever kept alive. However, Addel had been a rare exception due to her parents, who could not go through with it. But although her parents kept her locked away and hidden for obvious reasons, they were far from kind. They needed only the smallest of reasons to beat her incessantly. Addel knew it was because they had been robbed of having a child they could show to the world, a child that could be productive and someday contribute to the town, as all must eventually. Whenever they whipped her, she never held a grudge. She knew her very existence had robbed her family of ever having normal lives. Perhaps it would have been better had she been discarded at birth.

The day her hometown of Ackles was raided, she was forced to flee as the raiders set each and every home ablaze. Her parents had been among the many who had lost their lives that day, trying to defend the town.

She remembered getting several miles outside of the town before collapsing. When she awoke, Dragot’s grotesque face stared down at her, like a lion eyes a wounded rabbit. Of course he’d had nothing to do with the raid, but it made his agenda easier when the stupid humans attacked one another, which seemed to be the case so often. He was an opportunist and was able to sense Addel’s abilities. Between that and her obvious physical disabilities, he was sure she had nowhere to go. He offered to take her in as long as she served his cause. What choice did she have? No town would have taken her in given her deformity. If she proved her usefulness using her innate powers, she would have been hung for dabbling in black magic. She had had little choice but to go with Dragot.

At the time, it almost seemed like a good idea. She was bitter at humanity for rejecting her. It seemed this would enable her to take revenge on the society that turned its back on her. But that was many years ago, and her bitterness had long since subsided. It seemed all this had gone too far now.

She hobbled back to her dingy room and flopped into her chair, placing her head in her hands. What was she going to do? There was no place for her to go. What would be asked of her next? She didn’t want to think about it.

Addel had never felt this alone in her life.

The door flung open and Dragot barged into the room. His wicked grin was very telling. “Why do you look so sad, Addel?” he said in his usual mocking tone. “I have news that will cheer you up.” His grin widened even further as she looked away. “I have received a gift from the dark lord himself, one that will allow for the final piece to fall into place.” He tilted his head sideways as he stared at her with those cold, yellow eyes.

She felt so defeated. Addel knew how very weak she must appear right now, but she just didn’t care.

“I think you had better follow me,” the half-demon hissed, then turned to leave the room.

With a sigh, the witch struggled to rise from her chair and followed him out. Her head was bent so low that she could only watch her own toes as she dragged behind, not really even thinking about where he was taking her.

When they arrived at the chamber where he kept all the caged humans, she looked up for the first time since leaving her room. The harrowing scene around her turned her blood cold. Not only were the human puppets out of their cells, roaming around mindlessly, but some were armed with crude weapons as well. Those white eyes and open mouths continuously oozing foam sent shivers down her spine.

Suddenly, a large clawed hand grabbed her by the hair, snapping her head back. Addel screamed as Dragot pinned her high up against the stone wall with her feet dangling off the ground.

He put his face right next to hers. His eyes burned with intensity...with
madness
. “I need a gateway that will transport my pets to the front wall of Taron,” he hissed, his nose nearly touching hers.

“B-B-But I can’t,” she stuttered as she tried to turn her head away. “I-I don’t have the strength to make a gate that size or to hold it that long.” The side of her head pressed hard against the wall as she tried desperately to get some space between her and the creature. She could feel his hot, foul breath against her cheek, pulsing in short steamy bursts.

Dragot’s smile widened. His yellow eyes danced with amusement, relishing in the woman’s squirming.

“I’m perfectly aware of your ‘
limitations,
’ witch!” he growled in a low rumble. “This is why you are going to accept the dark lord’s gift: A temporary bump in power that will allow you to accomplish what I demand!” He backed off just a bit, but still kept a firm hold on her. Suddenly, his eyes turned a solid light blue. He muttered something under his breath.

Globes of blue light descended down his arms and through Addel like waves in the ocean. Each pulse sent white-hot pain surging through her body. The agony was so great, it became paralyzing; she couldn’t even scream. Addel convulsed helplessly as wave after wave jolted through her, each one pushing her threshold of pain to a new limit. The slim part of her that still held to a thread of conscious thought wondered if she would go insane from the pain—pain a human body was never built to accept.

Dragot grinned as the jolts continued to pulse through his arms. “This might hurt a bit,” he whispered. She never would have heard him anyway.

* * *

The air remained hot and humid long after the sunlight no longer peeked in and out between the treetops. But even well into the evening hours, a time which should have brought the singing of nocturnal beasts and insects, still not a sound could be heard. The companions made no fire, as the harsh lessons of the last time they had done so were still fresh in memory. There was an odd, scattered light throughout the forest, a dull gleam that seemed to come from nowhere yet everywhere all at once, so a fire for light was not going to be necessary anyway.

They sat close to one another as they forced down a simple meal of jerky, nuts and raisins. The bags were full of dry rations that would keep for a very long time, if not exactly provide a hot meal. Skins filled with warm water washed down the banquet.

Morcel rambled on and on of his time in the games. It was a funny thing, really. This brute of a man, who had taken so many lives throughout his own time, had a rather likeable personality. For one thing, he had no bloodlust whatsoever. This seemed odd, given his profession. Killing was business for him—no more, no less. Taking life was just the byproduct of the job he had been hired for. It was never personal, which allowed him to keep his mind untarnished, and to a lesser extent to keep his innocence.

The man was witty and quick with a joke or a jab at Jacob about whether or not he used his spiky hair as a weapon. He spoke with great sadness of the Dronin warrior whom he had met the first day he was forced to compete in the games. His mind had been in a dark place those first few days. However, the warrior Dokani had given him hope. The man sought no fame or glory. Dokani only wanted to get back to his family, to hold his wife and kids once more. He fought like a lion that day, side by side with Mocel as waves of alcatrosses swarmed the arena like bees. Dokani fell that fateful day. Morcel received a few new scars to add to the old, but he knew he too would have fallen that day had he not met Dokani.

The others listened intently as the warrior spun his tales of both near misses and outright victory. All the while, the only purpose to the carnage was to find some way to survive, just to do it all over again. His eyes stared off into the trees as he relived every moment.

Jade, however, sat several feet away. She leaned against a tree, keeping to herself. She seemed even more distracted than usual, fiddling with the ring Berkeni had thrown to her. Berkeni had said something about being able to find them as long as she wore it. It was a rather plain-looking ring that seemed to have no real value. The shiny silver ring was thick, like one a man might wear, and had no jewels of any kind embedded. Where some kind of stone or jewel should have been, sat a flat, silver surface with a shallow carving of a roaring lion. She slipped it on as her thoughts drifted to when she saw Berkeni last. He had served as a host for Ben to communicate with her one last time. Up until now, she had carried blame and guilt in her heart for his demise—the father she never had, the father she would love for the rest of her life. Their final encounter provided the closure she needed.

There was a slight rustling of leaves off in the distance. Jade’s eyes shot in that direction. She clearly was not the only one who heard it. In a flash, the men were on their feet with weapons in hand, each of them scanning the immediate area for any movement in the brush. Even though they saw nothing, given the total silence up until now, there was no reason to take this lightly.

“Get the bags, let’s go,” said Morcel as he grabbed a bag with one hand while firmly gripping his axe with the other. Everyone began to scramble around quickly. The bags were still mostly packed and there was no fire to put out, so they were up and moving in under a minute.

As they marched along at a brisk pace, the sounds of breaking twigs and rustling leaves could be heard on both sides of the path. “Faster, but don’t run,” mumbled Morcel as he picked up the already brisk pace even more.

Low growls echoed from both sides of the path now. It was clear that the pack of whatever followed them was keeping pace right along with them. They finally got a look at one of their pursuers as the giant cat stepped out onto the path, cutting them off from going any further.

The great cat had the head of a lion, but a large forked tongue hanging from its open mouth seemed to be a thicker version of a snake’s. The tongue snapped around like a whip as the beast growled. Two rows of tiny horns flowed down the length of its spine. Its body was covered with short black fur and was far smaller than the large head would indicate, but razor-sharp teeth and claws promised it was plenty dangerous enough despite its average size. As it growled in a slow, bubbling rumble, tiny slits that seemed almost like gills quivered from its neck as they exposed themselves with the vibration.

Seeing as there was no place to retreat, the four companions placed their backs against one another to form a defensive stance. Because the low growls could be heard coming from everywhere as they echoed off the trees, it was impossible to determine the cats’ numbers.

Yellow eyes materialized in pairs, peeking through the brush. The subtle sounds of crunching ground and dry leaves continued to move around them, proving the cats were circling before deciding when to strike.

“Well, this is a fine mess you kids dragged me into,” said Morcel as he gripped his axe. His eyes probed the brush, trying to get a lead on where the strike would most likely come from. “I could have been drinking mead in a tavern with two girls on my lap.”

“Focus, Morcel!” snapped Jacob as he held his staff out straight in a defensive stance. “This doesn’t help anything right now.”

“You said you owed me.
You,
Jade!” Morcel yelled, shifting his axe from one hand to another, trying to keep in line with the eyes that seemed to constantly shift positions in the brush.

“What?” exclaimed Jade as she kept shifting the position of her daggers from point up to point down and back again. “You can’t be serious. Maybe we’ll talk about this another time?”

“Get ready, you bloody fool,” said Eric, trying to focus on getting his mind right for the inevitable confrontation, but having trouble concentrating with Morcel acting crazy like this. “We need you right now. Don’t fall apart on us.”
This is not like him at all. He is no coward. What is he thinking about
?

“You said you owed me. Well, I’m calling it in right now. You have to do what I say. On your honor!” the warrior bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Time seemed to stand still as the warrior slowly stepped out of the circle and turned to face the other three. His face shone with serenity as he looked each one in the eye for several seconds. His eyes fell on Jade last, whose face was filled with pure horror and confusion. Morcel gave her a slight smile followed by a wink. He felt nothing but peace in his heart. His death would have meaning. “I’m calling it in, Jade,” he said in an utterly calm whisper. “Protect Eric. You must succeed where I have failed.”

With a thunderous cry that shook the leaves from the trees, the warrior whirled around just as one of the cats leaped from the brush. His axe buried deep into the beast’s skull. Morcel pulled it free just in time to catch another across the throat, nearly decapitating it. Dark blood pumped out like thin tar as he ran through the brush screaming wildly, “I’m right here, you dogs! Come and meet your end!” He ran through the brush at a blistering pace as thorns and sharp branches cut deeply across his face, calling out taunts as loud as he could.