The Trials (The Elite Series) (14 page)

They had stepped back onto the Abelardus’ extensive property. They were about a mile from the castle itself near the road that led to the highway. The sun was long gone, but the moon was bright and its rays shone down on the castle. The castle that once stood tall and proud was now reduced to a pile of stone and smoke and ash permeated the air, carrying with it the smell of death.

“The Council!
Vercin was here! We’re too late!” Connor ran with his father still over his shoulder and Katie in his wake.

The walls were caved in and only half remained intact. The outside wall looked as though it had been struck down with a battering ram. Connor ran across the
blood-soaked courtyard littered with bodies, some of whom he recognized, others he didn’t, but all were dead.

Elites
were spread out on the ground in awkward angles. The orange and red flames of fire were visible as they approached and heat emitted from the entrance of the castle like a furnace. “Take my father somewhere safe,” Connor told Katie as he placed him gently on the ground.

“Why
? Where are you going?”

“There might be someone still alive inside. I have to go in.”

“Connor, don’t. You don’t know if you’ll make it out.”

“I have to
, Katie, I’ll be right back, I promise.”

Katie nodded. “Okay
. Hurry back and be careful.”

“I will, I promise.” Connor dropped the axe on the red grass and shielded his face with his arms as he entered the castle
’s double doors. The heat was fierce and made the air in the castle hard to breathe. Sparks and embers swirled in the air. Everything was on fire. The only things resisting the fire’s warm embrace were the rock walls.

Much like the scene
outside, bodies and the signs of battle were everywhere. The castle guards lay on what remained of the carpet like rice thrown at a wedding. “Hello?” He tried to yell over the sound of the crackling flames. “Is anyone here? Hello?”

There was no answer
. All that remained was flame and the smell of charred flesh. Connor was about to turn and leave when he remembered his first dream and conversation with Vercin. In the dream, the Council lay dead in their large meeting hall. Connor headed there now, hoping against hope that he was wrong. Tapestries burst into flame on either side of him as he ran towards the large conference hall. Fixtures and suits of armor that lined the walls had fallen or became twisted and warped by the flame’s-unforgiving embrace.

He reached the room
. Its doors were wide open and covered in blood. What he feared the most had become reality. Every member of the Council was there; Adolpho, Raban, Arden, Tien, and Thema were all there lying lifeless on the stone floor.

Connor ran to each of them
, tears in his eyes. They were all gone. Vercin had exacted his revenge on the Council and had not spared a single soul. “Connor? Connor, you’re back.”

Connor turned to a dark corner of the room
. Morrigan was lying under a large wooden case, half concealed by a torn tapestry. “Morrigan? Are you okay? What happened?”

Blood
ran from Morrigan’s left temple, her left arm and the rest of her body were pinned under the case. “I’m okay, I think. He left me alive.”

“Shhhhh… I’m going to get you out of here
. Hold on.”

Connor grabbed the bookcase that pinned his mentor and threw it to the side like it was a
child’s toy. Carefully, he knelt and picked up Morrigan’s slim frame in his arms. “Hold on. Just hold on… you’re going to be fine.”

Connor ran through the castle
to the entrance, carrying the woman that had watched over him his entire life, the woman who had believed in him from the beginning of his journey as an Elite and a Judge. Tiny whispers of doubt and fear poked at him, opening the idea that Morrigan’s wounds were fatal, that he would lose her just like he had lost everyone else.

H
e hadn’t found Laren or Lu among the dead.
Were they dead? Taken? Something worse?
Connor shook his head. The doors to the entrance were in sight now. The flames were worse and he held Morrigan close to his chest as the flames licked around him, seeking an opening to burn his precious cargo. He gritted his teeth as he felt the sharp sting of the flames burn his legs and arms.

None of that mattered
, he could handle the pain. What he couldn’t handle was life without the people he loved.

He burst
out of the castle at a sprint, timber and the castle’s wooden support crumbling behind him.

The air outside felt glorious as a cool wind ushered away the heat and offered a relief.

“Connor, over here!” he heard Katie yell. She had taken his father a safe distance from the burning castle to a grassy patch off the courtyard that was free from blood.

Connor ran and gently placed Morrigan next to a
n unconscious Caderyn.

Connor’s expression must have betrayed him
, because Morrigan gave him a faint smile and said, “Connor, you can stop looking at me like that. I’m not going to die.”

Connor released an audible sigh he didn’t know he was holding. “What happened?”

“Vercin happened. He came swiftly with what followers he’s already managed to call to his ranks. Had it just been them, we could have held them off, but Vercin’s power has grown. No one was able to stand against him, not even the Council and my brother.”

Morrigan’s voice trembled
, but only for a brief second before she cleared her throat. “He let me live to give you a message. He said to tell you that it’s not too late to join him.”

Connor sat back on his knees. “And everyone else? Laren, Lu, Miyanda?”

“Lupus and Miyanda were not at the castle when the fighting took place. They had taken the dragon to a forested area that the Abelardus family owns. They probably still don’t know about the attack. And Larentia—” Morrigan’s voice faltered as she chose her words carefully. “I’m not sure Larentia is alive, Connor. The last time I saw her, she was being carried away by a group of Vercin’s men.”

Connor’s eyes went wide as he was faced with one of two possibilities, either Laren was taken as a hostage or she
was taken to be killed. Either way, he had to get her back. He could feel the anger building inside him as he searched the courtyard grounds, looking for his axe.

“Connor,” Morrigan said, “y
ou will do no good to anyone by chasing off after her now.”

“What do you want me to do
, sit around and wait? Sit and wait while Vercin becomes more and more powerful? Julie, Katie’s mother, killed Zuna, and she’s freed all the Elites in the Karnag prison. They have an army now, and what do we have?” Connor asked as he opened his arms, taking in the scene around them. “A burned castle and the four of us.”

“It’s not just the four of us,” Morrigan reminded him as a shout and running feet met his ears.

Lu, Miyanda, and the dragon came running at a full sprint. “What happened?” Lu shouted, confused and angry. “What happened?”

Connor’s head fell
, eyes pointed to the ground. “Vercin attacked and he killed—he killed everyone, Lu. He carried away Laren.”

Lu fell to his knees in front of the
castle, shaking, stunned by the scene in front of him, numbed by the realization his father was dead and his sister taken.

“And my grandmother?” Miyanda asked.

Connor shook his head.

“That’s why she didn’t want us to come,” Miyanda said to Morrigan
, her voice cracking. “She knew she was going to her death.”

The group stood silent, even the dragon
, who was happy to see Connor at first, now sat quiet, feeling the tension in the air.

“So he’s won,
” Katie said quietly. “Vercin’s beaten us.”

“Not whil
e we still have a Judge, he hasn’t,” Morrigan said as she rose to her feet.

“Two Judges.” Everyone looked over to Cad
eryn. His eyes were open and Katie helped him struggle to his feet. “I can teach you how to embrace the power that flows through you, Connor. Not just simply control it, but to really be one with that part of yourself. Together we will make Vercin wish he had never escaped his prison.”

“My people will answer your call if you ask
,” Miyanda chimed in, tears still running freely down her face. “My mother will come with our warriors.”

“I may know an
island or two of fighters that would come if you asked them,” Lu said, rage in his green eyes and taking deep breaths in a weak effort to control his emotions.

“Then we stand together, and make sure that those who have die
d tonight have not died in vain,” Morrigan said.

Connor could feel the anger inside
him burning hotter than the flames inside the castle. He would use this. He would use the anger. Use the raw emotion that boiled inside of him to be the Judge he was meant to be. With the help of his friends, his family, he promised himself he would rise stronger than ever before and do what he was meant to, what Morrigan’s prophecy said he was born to. He would save his race and the world from Vercin and a second dark age.

“We need to go after them now
—if Laren is alive, if there is even the slightest chance,” Lu said, rage clear on his face.

“Lupus,” Morrigan said, “y
ou know as well as I do we have no chance right now to take on Vercin and his army, especially if he has freed the inmates of Karnag. The best thing we can do now is bury our dead and prepare for the coming days.”

“But my sister—
”

“
Your sister will still be alive. Vercin obviously wants her that way or else he would have just killed her like the others.”

“Morrigan’s right
, Lu,” Connor said, placing a hand on the large man’s quivering shoulder. “You know I want to go after her, too, but we can’t now. Not like this. Vercin will pay for what he did. I promise you.”

Lu hung his head and turned away from the group to hide his tears. Miyanda went to him and placed a comforting arm around his huge shoulders.

“The human race, Morrigan? Will they know of the attack?” Caderyn asked.

“No
. The Abelardus estate is on hundreds of acres of land, and even if someone could see the smoke, Adolpho had me put a shrouding spell on the castle grounds hundreds of years ago. The spell would conceal the castle from prying human eyes.”

Cad
eryn nodded, stretching his stiff arms and back. “Well, Connor, it looks like we have work to do. What do we tackle first?”

Con
nor looked at his father closer. Caderyn was still a mess from his years in Karnag; filthy, starved, and barely standing, yet his father was offering his help and even asking him what he wanted done.

“I—
I don’t know.”

“Connor
, you are the Judge now. People will be looking to you for guidance and answers. We’ll be here to support and counsel you, but the final word should come from you from now on.”

Connor nodded
at his father and then Morrigan and Katie. “Morrigan is right. We need to bury the dead and find a new place to call home. We can’t wage a war on Vercin from a courtyard.”

Inspired by his father’s strength
, Connor put his back into digging. Lu had recovered from his wave of grief and offered to get the digging tools from a shed that had survived the attack. Lu helped Connor dig while the rest of their crew combed the courtyard and surrounding areas for bodies. The entire time, the castle burned. They were powerless to do anything about the flames besides let them run their course, and with the majority of the castle made from stone, they knew it wouldn’t take long.

Connor and Lu grunted
, digging hole after hole beside the burning castle, channeling their anger at the hard-packed dirt with grunts and moans. They didn’t say a word to each other, they didn’t have to. They were both feeling and thinking the same thing.

Katie, Morrigan, Cad
eryn, and Miyanda separated the bodies. The ones they knew they placed in the graves. Those of their enemies, they threw in a pile on the opposite side of the castle. The bodies they put in the graves were all familiar to Connor. They were Elites he had seen in the castle during his time there; stoic guards, busy servants, and spectating guests all wore the same looks now, looks of fear and death.

“Memorize their faces
, Connor,” his father said as he laid yet another body in a grave. “There may come a time when our enemies ask for mercy. Look now and remember these faces so you can tell our enemies exactly how much mercy they deserve.”

“The others? The ones who attacked us, we aren’t going to bury them?”
Connor asked his father as he threw another wave of dirt behind him.

“
They don’t deserve graves. We will let them burn together, and hopefully their souls are doing the same in another realm.”