The Enchanter of Rangel: Child of War Book 1 (23 page)

             
“If you run you will find yourself in the arena before nightfall. I am tired of trying to stroke your ego. You will learn your place or I will have it beaten into you. Guards! Guards!” Aubrey screamed.

             
“Yes my lady” said Hawk as he peeked into the room.

             
“My fiancé is not feeling well. Ensure he stays in his rooms and is not bothered. The wedding must be getting to him.” Said Aubrey as she walked towards the door.

             
Xander heard the door slam and he was in a rage. Xander looked around his room and could not see anything he could roughly enchant to get him out of this predicament so he settled down and talked to his father.

             
“Dad I need your help” Xander started as he explained his situation to his father.

             
“Well that is a tight spot son, the only way I can see you getting a chance you bail is for you to be exactly who she wants you to be. You will stay locked up if she thinks you are sulking but you have to ask yourself, if you run and Maxine ends up being safe, then what?”

             
“It’s a chance I am willing to take” said Xander as he closed his book. Xander figured he could break down a wall or two maybe, but he didn't like his chances against a heavily armored enchanted opponents. Xander thought about this as he drifted asleep, the day’s news taking a toll on him.

             
Xander was waken by a sharp knock on the door. Answering it, he could see Hawk standing there with a shield and a gauntlet.

             
“We need your skills again boy, those items you made us came in handy, made the job a hell of a lot easier.”

             
“I am not enchanting anything anymore, go away and leave me in piece” said Xander as he went to shut the door.

             
Hawk stopped the door from closing and began to speak again. “The Queen herself told me to have you doing this, and the Princess said you will do it. Now what do you want me to tell them? It won’t be good for you boy whatever the outcome.”

             
“Tell the Princess I said to come make me do it” Xander said as he shut the door.

             
Xander hurried to put on some clothing and wash his face before Aubrey would burst through his door. Looking satisfied at what he saw in the mirror, Xander went down stairs and waited. A little while later, his door opened and in walked Aubrey, along with four palace guardsmen.

             
“You dare defy me?!?” screamed Aubrey as she went to grab him by the collar. Pulling him to a standing position she started screaming in his face. “Who do you think you are to defy my wishes? Are you trying to embarrass me in front of mother like I can’t keep my own man in check?”

             
“I thought I was your beloved or has something changed?” asked Xander calmly.

             
“What in the hell does that have to do with anything?” said Aubrey her tone still loud.

             
“Then I don’t think it’s too much to ask for my betrothed to have breakfast with me before demanding I enchant something” said Xander still calmly.

             
“All you want is to have breakfast with me?” asked Aubrey confused.

             
“That was it, but since that seemed too much to ask of one who wants my hand, I can eat alone and enchant whatever it was Hawk brought me” said Xander trying to lay on a guilt trip.

             
“No, it’s no trouble at all” said Aubrey.

             
“Great, I would like to eat in here if you don’t mind. Hawk and the others can join us unless you insist they do not” Xander said gently removing her hand from his collar.

             
“I don’t suppose that is too much to ask” said Aubrey as she calmed down.

             
Xander ate breakfast and over the next couple of days saw Aubrey almost every hour, even letting her watch him and telling her all he knew about enchanting. Soon the wedding was two days away as nobles from all over started to visit the castle. Xander went out of his room and mingled, still unsure how to escape until help came from an unlikely source as he was walking back from seeing Aubrey in the throne room.

             
“It looks like you have done alright for yourself” said Patrick as Xander walked by. “Went from a slave to the Royal Consort, a position I’m not sure you deserve.”

             
Xander looked around the hall and found it deserted except for himself and Patrick, then he began to speak. “It is a position I wish I could escape Patrick.”

             
“Escape” asked Patrick not sure if he heard the boy right.

             
“My mother is probably dead right now, killed by Thornians as I am here, unable to leave while guardsmen watch my every move.”

             
Patrick thought to himself. Aubrey would have been his if not for the boy enchanter and now he wishes to flee? If he could get rid of him without spilling a drop of blood, then Aubrey would be all his. “There are ways out of this place, ways so secret the guard doesn’t even post a watch for fear their presence would give it away.”

             
“Are you sure?” asked Xander his hopes up high. “How would I reach it? What if they start shooting at me, I don’t even have my armor.”

             
“I know where your armor is kept and can have somebody bring it to you if you wished it” said Patrick smiling.

             
“Why are you helping me?” Xander asked suddenly suspicious.

             
“I just want to be helpful; I will come for you at night. I will have a horse waiting for you, just be ready” Patrick said as he walked away.

             
Xander packed his book along with his sword and dagger. Looking into the mirror, Xander decided to crop his hair real close, from a distance they could not tell if he was a child of war or not. The night seemed to drag on when Xander heard his door opening.

             
“Hurry up boy, they will wake in a couple of hours” said Patrick as he peeked into the door.

             
“Wow what happened to them?” asked Xander.

             
“Sleeping potion, the whole guard has been dosed with it in their food. Normally they don’t all eat together except at feasts, like the one they had today when a member has finished commitment. Enough chatter, let’s get that armor and go.”

             
Xander retrieved his armor and went the secret route Patrick told him about. Patrick wasn’t sure every guardsmen was down so he told Xander to keep a low profile. Xander left the city without incident and was riding hard when he had an idea. His horse would need to rest soon, while the guard could keep changing theirs out at every town getting fresh horses. While in the saddle Xander carved the word for endurance, and let his ether flow into it.

             
Xander could feel his horse perk up immediately and he himself felt better as he rode through till darkness set again, letting his horse feed and get some sleep, hoping he put enough distance between him and the pursuers he knew would be coming.

             
Xander woke and continued to ride, each day blending into the next. On his sixth day he finally reached familiar ground. It had been a little over seven months since he had been anywhere near Riley, but he longed for home. Xander rode even harder as he could make out Riley in the distance with streams of men running away from her. Xander rode until he reached one of the fleeing men.

             
“Why do you flee?” asked Xander. “Are we not under attack?”

             
“The Thornians are too much for us, we were ambushed from within, our ranks slaughtered. Let them have those damn witches I say, I’m saving my own hide. I’m tired of fighting in women’s wars anyhow. Run lad while you still can” was all he said as he ran towards where Xander came from.

             
Xander spurred his horse on as he saw something he would never forget as long as he drew breath. On a pike outside of Riley, facing the Queendom of Rangel, was his mother’s head, her features twisted in agony alongside the mighty Gowan. Xander jumped off his horse and screamed as his world went red.

             
Xander drew both of his swords and chopped through the now closed gates of Riley, once inside he started his slaughter of every living thing he could find. Men were cut in two, sometimes three or four pieces as he went on his rampage. He could hear men cry out as he ran them through, preferring to go with a stomach wound to give all officers a slow and agonizing death. Xander continued his slaughter going into every building he could find, slaying men in the colors of Rangel as well as Thornians, not sure of who sold out his mother. Xander could feel arrows bouncing off his armor leaving dents but not piercing as he continued his dance of death. The Thornians were in the middle of celebrating and most had dropped their armor when Xander entered his mother’s home, where he decapitated everyone he saw.

             
Xander left his mother’s home and was still killing when he could see the Palace Guard enter Riley just as the last man fled.

Chapter

             
Frowley stepped around the many dead men he saw lying in the outpost in both countries colors and could see a fair amount of blood covering Xander. “Well boy it looks like you have had quite a bit of a workout. But as you know we are here to bring you in.”

             
“Her head is the one you saw when you rode in” said Xander looking towards Thorn.

             
“Whose head? What are you talking about boy?” asked Frowley.

             
“My mother head was posted on her own door as some sort of twisted decoration. I am going to kill all responsible for this” Xander said as he wiped his blade on a nearby corpse.

             
“Well it looks like you got a bit of payback today, but it ends now. You are coming back with us” said Max as he drew his blade.

             
“All of you together may take me, but I promised some of you will not make it and only my dead body will you be allowed to take back to Aubrey. You can leave and say you never found me, only this damn armor”

             
“Only the armor? What are you saying exactly boy?” asked Liano.

             
“That my life is meaningless now except for my revenge. None of you will stand in my way, I am ready to die here today. Are you of the same mind?” asked Xander.

             
“Take off the armor boy, that’s all we found here. Only dead men know the truth and we are not looking to become one of them.” Frowley said.

             
Xander took off his armor and walked towards Thorn unharmed by the guard.

Chapter

             
“Well what happened then? They just let you walk away?” asked Zellon.

             
“It was likely they had no choice” the witch started speaking. “When faced with a superior foe, like all men they cowered instead of fought.

             
“I knew the part about you dropping the armor enchanter” spoke a Palace Guardsman. “I was there when you walked away, what happened after that?”

             
“I pretended to be Thornian and fled into their outpost which I had no idea existed, I just followed the footprints. I was welcomed with open arms when I waited until night and left no one alive. After that I made my way to the great Norrayan Forest, where I have lived a number of places until you found me at last.”

             
“You give them too much credit enchanter, the Witches of Rangel found you. We brokered a deal with a high ranking elf who sold you out in return for our help making him into what Patrick is, of course the fool was tricked with a truth serum and he sang like a nightingale.” The witch chuckled to herself as if reliving some fond memory. “We brought the knowledge to the Queen and assured her we would get you, now here you are.”

             
“If this man is Death’s Hand and I believe he is, he let us capture him and I am under no illusions of anything else. I will not be on the other side of his wrath. Mr. Death’s Hand sir I am just bringing you in like I was told. I do not want anything to do with angering you or the High Witch” said Zellon.

             
“So you are Elizabeth’s personal guard force now are you? I thought your earlier tale about being killed by the Queen sounded brutal, even for her” said Xander.

             
“That was what we were supposed to tell any who stopped us, now all I want to do is get your ass to the arena and off of our hands” said Durgard.

             
“Well the arena is but three days away, I will be off your hands soon.”