The Enchanter of Rangel: Child of War Book 1 (3 page)

“I’m sure ye would
lad. The wagon is not far off, maybe about a couple of days at most. I am going to tell you something that may save your life one day though. You know them forms you practice along with your sword play? You may want to try getting a lighter sword, maybe one that is a bit shorter. I also recommend dual carrying another one instead of a shield.”

“I don’t know
Gowan” Xander said feeling uneasy using his given name, but decided to anyway since he figured he would soon be a soldier anyway. “That would leave me with no way to defend myself from strong attacks.”

“Lad, I saw a person once use two swords to great devastation, Erik the Red. I have faced him in battle and he cut down many of us before we knew we were in a fight. True he had those damn magical swords of his before we broke ‘
em but I don’t think that was the reason. The man moved like a damn dervish, stabbing and slicing before any knew they were cut. It was there he cut had me about to finish me off until my woman came to save me. She was too exhausted to use her magic and threw herself in front of me.” Gowan paused and his eyes started to mist.

“
Gowan you don’t have to keep telling this story I know it makes you feel bad.”

“No lad, I must. For too long I have kept to myself and young-ins.
Anytime I get to talk about the love of my life is a good time. Anyway she gave me just the opening I needed and I cut him down with all the might I could muster. I sliced the bastard in two I did. He went down fighting though, a finer opponent I have never met. It was his own men that gave him up, led him right into an ambush in exchange for gold and safe passage back home. I freed your Ma along with three or four other magic users he had captured. He was using them to test their magic against his enchantments to see which ones would hold or not. I still have hate in my heart, but I guess I can’t blame him or his kind for wanting to survive. I just wish my Vivian wasn’t one of the ones who had to go in his battle to survive. The Queen heard of my deeds and gave me a writ decreeing I could hold all property of my wife’s until the time my daughter came of age. I raised them all by myself trying to stay true to my babe. Now that they all are grown up, I asked to go back to the Army. It is not a bad life being known as a hero of the Great War.”

“You slew Erik the Red?” Xander asked suddenly in awe. “And he fought using two swords? That is madness even attempting it against a sword and shield or even against a pike. But I’ll try
it, hopefully it works better for me than it did for Erik the Red.”

“I hope so to
lad, well let me see what these lazy sots are doing. Good luck lad.” Gowan then walked towards one of the four tower surrounding the outpost no doubt in Xander’s mind to sneak up on the guard that is normally sleeping up there trying to catch a few more winks.

The next couple of days flew by for Xander and left
him conflicted after his talk with Gowan. On one hand he couldn’t wait to be out and meet new people since Riley was all he had ever known. On the other hand, he thought about his mother being left alone with no one to talk to, although Gowan did something he had never seen any other soldier do, he came by and talked to his mom about old fights and sometimes just to talk. Xander couldn’t ever picture them together but did notice his mother seemed in a lighter mood when he visited instead of hiding her sadness about Xander leaving.

One morning when Xander was going outside of the gate towards the border with Thorn he heard the unmistakable sound of the north gate opening. Xander saw a huge covered wagon driven by 8 of the most massive horses he had ever seen. When the wagon turned towards the stables he could least 15 youths all of which looked about his
age. In behind the wagon was a carriage, much nicer than the one his mother had but never used and this one seemed to shine a little, though be it because of the white paint or something different Xander could not tell.

Xander watched the carriage make its way toward his home. He followed at a distance while trying to remain somewhat concealed. The driver of the carriage
hopped down and looked at Xander as he was walking up. The driver pulled his sword and immediately charged at Xander with his sword held high.

Xander was taken by surprise seeing someone charging at him with a weapon but held his cool. His attacker attacked high and a little wide but was trying to overpower him
with the sheer number of blows he rained down upon him. Xander knew sloppy sword work when he saw it and blocked everything easily, but could not figure out why he was being attacked. While defending himself Xander saw the carriage open and out walked a woman dressed in a black robe who began pointing at him and moving her lips. Xander wasn’t sure what she was saying but knew from watching his mother a hex was sure to fly his way.  Xander hit the floor as he saw the fire ball coming, which promptly hit his opponent square in the chest. As his opponent caught fire and began to shed his heavy now on fire cloak, Xander picked himself up and charged at the spell flinger.

Xander’s opponent looked surprised she missed but hurriedly began another chant and let fly another fireball at Xander. Xander rolled out of the way and was soon upon the witch who for the first time had fear in her eyes. She readied her spell when Xander caught sight of his mother behind her with a dagger at her throat.

“Launch one more spell at my son and it will be the last thing you do witch” Xander could hear his mother say coldly. Xander had never heard his mother speak so acidly in his life but the look in her eyes said she wasn’t kidding. Xander sheathed his sword as the woman lowered her hand, Xander’s first attacker was led at sword point by the Soldiers stationed at Riley.

“Your son Maxine, I thought he was a Thornian sent here to assassinate me!” the woman said with an obvious smile on her face, letting Xander know she knew exactly who he was.

“A mistake like that could cost you your life Sharon, it might still cost you your life. You should tread carefully, the soldiers here are under my command and people die all the time out here on the border.” Maxine said as she dug the knife a little deeper into the woman Xander now knew as Sharon’s neck, drawing a little blood. Xander could see the woman turn stark white as Maxine finally lowered her weapon.

The woman instantly pulled out a
handkerchief from one of the folds of her robe and began attending her neck.

“Why are you here Sharon, I thought you would be busy sucking the teat of the high witch or Celeste herself.”

“Do not say the Queen’s name as if you are old friends, I see time out here has done little to temper your temper. What a greeting you give an old friend, you must not get any visitors with an attitude like that.” The woman said with a slight smile on her face.

“You left me to die with our enemies all around us. When you thought me dead you didn’t even honor me but instead blamed me for everything. Any love I had for you is gone and if you so much as touch my son you and that miserable excuse for a swordsman of yours will both be fertilizer by moonrise.”

“Well it couldn’t have been all bad; at least the Thornians didn’t kill their captured whores, or do they just not the ones with child?” Sharon said facing Maxine.

Sharon never saw the punch coming which felled her. Xander looked shocked as he had never seen his mother
’s temper in the 16 years he had known her. Maxine turned her back and began walking back to their home and motioned for Xander to follow her. Xander always had suspicion that his father was a Thornian but it wasn’t until this Sharon lady confirmed it that he knew he had been right all along. As he crossed the entrance into his home he came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter one way or another, his mother had shown him love all his life, his birth didn’t shame him and it shouldn’t make her ashamed either. Maxine led him into her bedroom and locked the door. Under her mattress she pulled out a small leather bound book covered in what Xander thought looked like tattoos he had seen on some of the soldiers.

“Xander I should have told you this a long time ago, but I was ashamed and couldn’t have you talking like young men are known to do.
Xander, your father is a Thornian.”

“Mom I don’t care, I
sorta always knew, it’s kinda hard not to hear all the whispers.”

“Let me tell you the whole story about that woman out there before you hear a corrupted version” Maxine began and then started trembling slightly. Xander put his arm over his mom before she continued on. “A long time ago I was a student at the
Magorium, I wasn’t the best by far but I did alright. When we started getting reports about Thorn amassing troops we were sent out in teams. My group fell under that horrible woman out there, along with her daughter and several other magic users. Normally there would be just one magic user for every 50 or so group of Soldiers but our group had a lot of capable users, but we were still students. Our group was to be a special strike team dealing massive amounts of damage where ever the fighting was fierce. We were pretty successful too, causing havoc among the enemy ranks. The problem was we became too good, we had a chip on our shoulder and it wasn’t long before the enemy figured out we needed to be taken care of.”

“We were out bathing when the attack came, catching us totally by surpris
e. Our guards were silently killed allowing our enemies to get in striking range before we knew what was happening. Sharon’s daughter, Shannon had the sense to grab the bow she always kept with her and let a couple fly, downing at least two of our attackers. She was quickly grabbed though and drug through out of the water toward the tree line. I could see the shock on Sharon’s face as Shannon was taken away and I reacted. I charged naked through the wood line launching every spell I knew. I killed at least two of them when the third released Shannon and came at me. My fire had no effect on him what so ever and before I knew it he closed the distance enough to deliver a nasty blow.”

“When I woke up I was in a tent with something covering my mouth with my
subduer standing over me. He identified himself as the leader of Thorn and that he would free the world from oppression. I learned during this time Sharon and her daughter were all that escaped of our team. It didn’t matter at that point to me though, I was still in shock after being bested by a male. Like many female witches I thought I was much better than any male but after a week or two of captivity, he grew on me. By the time he marched to the capital we were a couple, though in secret. Many in the Thornian army took advantage of our women so it was just assumed I was just a playmate like all the other captured noble women and witches.  When the war began to go against him we fled. He knew of his men and their plans to make nice with the enemy for their own safety and we talked long into the night about it. It was then I knew I was with child and told him about it. In case he didn’t live to see you he sprawled down all his notes about enchantments and put them in this book just in case you received his gift. He looked very tired afterwards, more tired than I have ever seen him, so I know the book has some sort of enchantment on it. It must have been a mighty powerful Erik left my tent and was soon ambushed, I never saw him again.”

“When we were rescued, many
weeped at their freedom, their captivity being harsher than mine. When I weeped though, it was out of loss of a great man. I was a young self-important woman before I met him, with dreams of owning my own slaves and having people grovel at my feet. He taught me it doesn’t matter what was on the outside of a person, appearance means little but their character was that mattered in that short period of time we spent together. In the coming days two things were learned, that I was far from the only woman carrying a child born from our captors and that the Queen was being second guessed by the Magorium all throughout the war once Thorn proved an able army. During the siege of the capital, Celeste in her haste decreed witches not as infallible as previously thought and ordered all witches who fell banished from the capital and on permanent assignment establishing and running outpost on the border. Sharon not wanting her or her daughter victim to that decree told lies about me and the others running headfirst in an obvious trap dooming them. No one would believe the word of a student over a teacher, and despite me not being a graduate I was banished to the border. To keep her lie secret Sharon ensured I was sent as far away from the capital as possible, here.”

“When my and the other captives babies started being born we were made to register you all like any other citizen. While most of them had healthy baby girls, a few of us had boys. I was made sure in no certain terms that you would have to perform the commitme
nt given to every male and that you had better fulfill it. Around the Queendom I was shunned, as the plaything of Erik of Red, with you being his bastard. I loved your daddy baby and you were born with love. He wanted you to have this book and so do i. I will warn you though, if you are found capable of any of his abilities you will be wanted, some to take advantage of you, some to kill you. No matter the case, know that I will be here for you. Let us go in the living area now, I can hear that wretched woman struggling to get in my house, it seems she is having trouble with Captain Gowan.”

CHAPTER

“I don’t care who you are woman, Lady Maxine runs this outpost. I don’t care how many spells you can fling, you can’t fling any with an arrow in your throat.” Said Gowan as he made himself look taller and had a crossbow leveled at Sharon.

“I will not be
speaked to this way by a man! I will have you strung up and whipped on the spot by any who do not wish to be roasted alive.” Sharon said with hatred in her eyes.