The Elf King (18 page)

“
Child, I need you. I must
tell you more of the times to come.” The Seer’s tone became more
aggressive, less comforting. Her eyes fixed into a darkened glare.
“I need you to listen and understand what I have to tell
you.”

Kandish nodded. She wiped
her tears on her sleeve. “I am ready.”

“
We need
to get out of this city,” the old woman said.
“
T
akers
are everywhere. It is not safe
anymore for us Seers. And there are so few of us left. Times are
changing. A dark war is coming.
Takers
will overrun the land and the
few that will stand against them, will not succeed. Another
approach is necessary for the sake of life as we know
it.”

Kandish was stunned. “Well,
I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’ve got friends
waiting for us. We’re going to help you escape.”

“
No.”

The Seer moved in close and
began to speak of the things to come in the next few days.
Kandish’s eyes held a look of worry that never went away. For
several long minutes the Seer talked, and when she was finished,
she made Kandish nod that she understood. After doing so, the old
woman smiled.

“
You will do well, child.
We must leave now.”

Kandish took the woman’s
hand and led her away, working out of the building the same way she
had come in. As they exited the building, she paused at the street,
looking all around for anyone. But the night was silent.

“
Child, as we walk, let me
tell you how you are going to kill me.”

Together, they walked
away.

Chapter 11

“
Q
enn?” Tane screamed, coming
awake suddenly, his pulse racing from the nightmare he had been
trapped in for the past hour. He sat upright alone, his brother
nowhere in sight. He panicked. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes
frantically.

“
Qenn? Where are
you?”

“
Sh!” Qenn came rushing in,
his eyes wide and his narrow face flush with the same panic.
“Someone’s coming.”

Tane was already scrambling
to his feet as Qenn pointed to a window on the far side of the
room. Together they raced to it, Tane clearing his head of his
dream, wondering how long he’d been asleep, noticing that Kandish
was missing as well.

“
Down the street. Look.”
Qenn pointed, careful not to be overheard.

Tane saw the dark figure
moving along the sidewalk directly for them. Its movements
suggested that it was powerful. Tall, black cloak drawn tight,
hooded.
Taker.
Tane backed away from the window. He looked around the
building, but quickly realized that there was no place to hide. But
it didn’t matter.
Takers
would find them no matter how invisible they
could be.

“
It’s one of
them.”

Qenn gasped, staring out
the window. His senses were sharp now, more alert as the new the
danger approached. As he watched the dark figure, a growing alarm
began screaming at him that he was in danger. It was the same alarm
that had alerted him of the figure long before he saw it coming.
But the alarm was something else now. “Something’s wrong. We have
to leave.”

“
There’s only—” The door
burst open, stopping Tane in mid-sentence.

Beneath the faceless cowls,
red eyes burned in the darkness. Inhumane sounds released with
their breathing, chilling the warm night air. As one they came,
marching towards the two brothers with clawed hands extending,
fingers ready to rip into flesh and bone itself. There was no place
to hide this time; the fight would last only minutes.

Immediately red fire burst
from their hands, searing into the wood behind the brothers as they
jumped aside. As they scrambled to their feet, they were forced to
jump for cover again as red fire smashed into the floor where they
stood. There were too many to fight; too many to sneak past or
escape from. The brothers scrambled around the room as
Takers
continued their
attack.

“
We need
to get out of here!” Qenn yelled, running towards the far wall with
Tane, looking for an exit, finding none. The
Takers
had spread apart,
leaving little chance for escape past them. Red fire continued to
shoot, the brothers running out of room, the demons closing in
fast.

Then Qenn went down. The
floor beneath him exploded in a red burst, sending the elf
sprawling face-first into the floor. He landed on his arm, knocking
the wind out of him, and began gasping for air. A bit stunned, he
thought he could hear his brother yelling at him, but the fall left
him dizzy enough that he couldn’t tell what it was that he was
hearing. By the time he began to stand, Tane was pulling him off
the floor and to his feet.

“
Qenn! Get up! Let’s
go!”

Takers
circled them, trapping them amidst the fire, moving in for
the kill. The brothers stood back-to-back, readying themselves. But
weaponless, they had no surviving chance. The shrieks around them
rose to ear-piercing heights. Clawed hands began to glow red as the
demons called their magic forth.

Then a white light fell
down around Qenn and Tane. In the split second that it took for
them to wonder where it came from, the three
Takers
already figured it out. Red
fire immediately shot forth to devour the white light as their
shrieks of delight turned into screams of rage. But their magic
could not penetrate the light. And as they turned from it to its
source, to destroy the one standing against them, they were met
with magic themselves.

Shadox stood in the entry,
long arms extended towards the
Takers
, white fire spewing from his
fingers. The shield he cast over Tane and Qenn would last; he
didn’t expect the battle to be long. Bathed in his own shield, he
stood against the onslaught, firing his magic into the foremost
attacker until it disintegrated before him, its ashes raining down
amongst its kin. The remaining charged, their hatred shooting in
red bolts of fire, their control giving way to their
rage.

But it was all in vain.
Shadox took what they had to offer, sending them his own dose, of
which they could not stand. One at a time he poured his white fire
into them until they exploded. Once he was finished, and nothing
remained but ashes showering down, he relaxed and withdrew his
shields. He walked over to the frightened brothers and extended his
hand.

“
Ellantri brothers, I have
come for you.”

Tane reached out and shook
his hand, surprised to find that it was not hot. “You saved our
lives.”

“
How do you know us?” Qenn
asked, shaking his hand as well, finding the other’s grip to be
like iron.

Shadox drew back his hood,
his face sweaty, his eyes menacing. “I have been looking for you
for some time now. It appears I have found you at the right
time.”

The two brothers stared at
him for a few moments and said nothing. They studied his features,
never before seeing someone so big, so powerful; they had only
heard of sorcerers.

“
Please, sit. We have much
to discuss.” Shadox motioned for them to join him as he sat on the
floor with his legs crossed. The brothers sat in front of him in
the same fashion.

“
Who are you?” Qenn asked
immediately, knowing he could not sit comfortably until he knew.
“How did you know we were in here? How long have you been following
us?”

“
My name is Shadox. I am a
sorcerer, a protector, and a friend.”

“
Friend?” Qenn asked. “We
don’t know you.”

Shadox smiled. “Of course.
But I knew Tane’s father. Doing so makes us allies as well. Which
is how I knew to find you in Meadow. I arrived there shortly after
you had fled and would have met up with you in the Shyl, but more
of the demons were following you as well. After I disposed of them,
I simply tracked you to here.”

Tane and Qenn looked away
from Shadox to each other, the same questions mirrored back to
them, the same astonishment twinkling in their eyes. “How did you
know my father?” Tane asked quickly.

“
I was a friend of his
until his death. And even now, through you.” Shadox stared at their
faces, so full of doubt. “I knew of your mother and that she bore
two sons. And I know of the things that hunt you.”

“
Us? What are you talking
about?” Tane asked as he shifted his posture. His face was
frowning, his eyes curious and cautious. They still knew nothing of
this sorcerer and Tane didn’t like the fact that Shadox knew of
them.

“
They are on a mission to
see you dead, Tane. They see you as a threat, and so they seek to
destroy you. I am on a mission to save you, so you can save us all
in return.”

Shadox paused, watching the
brothers share a look of disbelief. But he had not the time to
waste in wondering any further. Time was vital now. And too much of
it had already been wasted. “What I came here for was help. I need
you both to play a large role in the war that is
coming.”

“
What war?” asked Qenn,
eyebrows raised.

“
Elves and Men?” Tane asked
doubtfully.

“
The war
to end all wars, Tane.
Takers
are coming. The magic
creating them is poisoning the land. It will destroy all living
things.”

“
I don’t understand why you
think we—” Tane began, but Shadox cut him short.

“
Watch.”

With his hands moving in
circular motions, Shadox began to spin a web of magic in the air
before them. Visions began to appear, images of them both fighting
legions of
Takers
. Many men surrounded Tane as he fought with a broadsword,
burning in a crimson color.
Takers
came at him from every angle. Elves fought
alongside, their magic burning into the night. Then it changed to
someplace desolate. Qenn was walking with a great pain, carrying
Kandish as a great darkness tried to consume him. The images
flashed again and the world as they knew it was black and charred.
Smoking bodies littered the ground for as far as they could
see.

Tane and Qenn watched in
horror as
Takers
stormed through cities unchecked. The world as they knew it
had ended.

Shadox stopped moving his
hands, bringing them back to his lap. His eyes were intense. The
brothers were worried, and they would protest, Tane especially, but
in the end they would do what was necessary. He saw it in their
eyes, read it in their body language as they turned to each other
and whispered for a few seconds, then turn back to him with
uncertainty.

“
What you
saw was what will come to pass if we do not stop the
Takers
. That is your
future. Mankind will be annihilated. There will be no survivors.
There will be nothing.”

Tane sighed. “Even if that
is true, what help are we? We fled the monsters back in Meadow, and
still they find us. Still they come, and we have nothing to destroy
them. We have no magic. We have no weapons even.”

Qenn nodded to his side.
“We cannot help ourselves. How could we help you?”

“
We can help each other it
seems.” Shadox smiled. “First, let me tell you what we are up
against.”

Shadox went right into the
Dark Elves and the birth of the
Mrenx
Ku
to the creation of the
Takers
and why they were
created. He painted a dark picture of the end of the world if
the
Mrenx Ku
is
not defeated. He told them of a secret magic that must be found and
carried into the dark spirit, while the other Races fight
against
Takers
.

When he was finished, he
stared at the wide-eyed brothers before him. They would be ready,
he thought. They had to be.

“
What do you know about my
father?” Tane asked immediately.