Road To Shandara (Book One of The Safanarion Order) (8 page)

“Tye, you say is making the journey…ahhh the youngest son. How clever of you Mactar.”

“I’m glad you think so. He has the power to extract the keys to Shandara from Reymius’s heir.”

Tarimus appeared to have been on the verge of saying something further when Tye entered the chamber with ten of his men, all dressed in black adorned with a silver dragon emblem on their chest. These were hard men. All of them battle tested and highly trained, but they were no Elitesman, with one exception. Darven, he was cast out of the Elite order and has been Mactar’s man ever since. Darven would be his eyes and ears on this journey.

Mactar turned back to face Tarimus who now wore a sardonic smile. Disgusted with Tarimus’s taunting he gathered his will in crushing force and brought it to bear encompassing his essence. He was a hairs breath from severing his feeble line forever and Tarimus looked on waiting to be released, even hungered for it, but Mactar still needed him and Tarimus knew it.

Mactar turned to address Tye and his men. “The crossroads of fate have brought us here and each of you have a chance to achieve a glorious remnant of the ages long passed. As Tye has no doubt told you the heir of Shandara of the house Alenzar’seth has been discovered on another plane. Reymius escaped the destruction of Shandara to a world quite different than ours, but its people are no different than you or I. In order for us to obtain the keys we must capture Reymius’s heir either in body or the essence of his soul. My lord prince, you know of what I speak. Let us begin. May Ferasdiam give her blessing to your journey. ” He almost stumbled on the last words after all Ferasdiam was not his god, but the fools who stood before him. He harbored no faith in anything but himself. Mysteries were meant to be solved and could not be explained away by folklore. He smiled inwardly to himself and began the nights work.

C
HAPTER
11

AMIDST THE ASHES

THE IMAGES PLAYED through Aaron’s mind as he frantically weaved through cars, blowing stop signs and lights together.

What would you do if you knew that those you loved were in danger? And the all consuming madness that will ensue when you learn that no matter what happens, you will never get there in time to stop it
.

Never get there in time! The words were branded in fire in his mind. His family was in danger. All his thoughts were fixed on getting home that he never once thought about what he would actually do when he got there. Would he see the horrifying visions that Tarimus has shown him? Could he even stop it? Clinging to a fleeting hope he pressed on.

The tires of his Jeep CJ7 screeched around the corner of his street and to his surprise all was quiet and dark. Eerily normal, the flickering street lights betrayed nothing. He gunned the accelerator and skidded to a stop in front of his house. The medallion became like ice against his skin. Aaron grabbed the roll bar pulling himself up and stood there for a moment scanning the area searching. A flicker of movement betrayed itself on one side of the house and another on the other side. Aaron drew the Falcons from their sheath and jumped down from his Jeep. The front bay windows shattered and his father tumbled onto the front lawn. His face was bloody and his left arm hung limp at his side as he struggled to rise.

“Dad,” Aaron cried charging towards him.

His father looked up at his call, “Aaron. Behind you!” his father shouted.

Aaron dove to his left feeling the hiss of a blade on the air swipe where he had been and was back on his feet instantly. A man in black came rushing toward him, his sword blaring down. Aaron crossed his blades up together and stopped his opponent’s momentum through sheer strength. Charging forward he pulled the Falcons in opposite directions sending a glancing blow into his assailant’s face. The man in black cried out in pain and Aaron kicked him aside.

He turned and saw another man in black standing behind his father. A gold cape hung loosely around his shoulders and a sword hung casually in his right hand. Four more men in black with a silver dragon emblem on their chest fanned out to either side with blades drawn.

“Take him!” The leader ordered.

Aaron froze in horror as his father scrambled around and wrapped his arm around the leader’s neck. The leader struggled for a few seconds, then reversed his blade and plunged it into his father who fell in deep sigh.

Aaron jerked inward watching the blade sink in as if it were sinking into himself and his heart turned to ice. He screamed out to his father while charging forward. The first black clad figure rushed him with his sword out and Aaron never slowed. He lashed out with one blade knocking it aside, then with the second blade smoothly sliced through his opponent’s sword arm. The guttural scream was cut short as Aaron’s Falcons took him through the throat. Aaron never took his eyes from the leader and the inferno of rage within him grew mightily.

Aaron cut through the remaining three men as if they were leaves writhing through the wind. All went down lifeless bathed in red and the bladesong burned in his mind.

“Well met Reymius’s heir,” said Tye.

Aaron snuck a quick glance at his father lying on the ground and was relieved to see his chest slowly rise and fall. He wondered where his mother was. As if an answer to his unspoken question, sounds of a struggle came from inside his house. Aaron called out to his mother while edging his way forward. The leader brought his sword up and moved with leopard like grace poised to spring.

“I am Tye, Prince of Safanar. I am here to collect what your family has kept hidden for far too long. I can take it in life, but I prefer your death instead.” Then he lunged with his sword.

Aaron unleashed the bladesong into the night. Each probing attack by Tye was driven back in an ever-flowing motion of song and steel. He brushed aside the gnawing questions and brought the attack to his opponent. Tye was good and adapted well to whatever Aaron threw at him. Neither held the upper hand. Aaron felt the power of the bladesong coalescing into him and he began to hear the whisperings of countless voices. Urges from within began guiding his hands and he struggled to maintain control. Panic set in and he tried to quiet his mind in a failed attempt to quell all that sought to distract him. Struggling and fighting two battles at once quickly exhausted him leaving him vulnerable to attack.

Tye pressed his advantage driving Aaron back. Unable to block them out, Aaron opened himself up to the voices within, beginning to seek them out, merging the urges into his own fighting style. The medallion grew warm against his skin and the crystals within the hilts of his swords began to glow. Tye faltered and was driven back. His sword knocked from his hands as Aaron swept him off his feet.

“Not so quick boy. Put down your swords,” a voice ordered behind him.

Aaron maneuvered to see where the voice had come from and kept Tye in his field of vision.

Mother!

***

Carlowen Jace stood with a dagger to her throat and an arm pinned behind her back in the locked grip of her assailant. She would not allow her son to sacrifice himself for her. It was for a mother to sacrifice for the child not the other way around. She had to act quickly. Her gift to Safanar would be her beloved son. He will survive this and journey there. That is his destiny. Like a bright shining star he will drive the shadows from Shandara her long lost home.

Carlowen tightened up as Aaron began to lower his swords not seeing the dark figure rise up behind him. Then with stunning force drove her elbow back breaking the locked grip that held her. Zeus snarling from the shadows charged tearing at the man. She turned swiftly twisting the hand that held the dagger and kicked out with her foot driving the man stumbling into the bushes. She turned, poised to throw the dagger at her son’s attacker, when a door of light sprang into being behind them.

“Down!” she cried and without a moment’s hesitation Aaron dove to the ground.

***

Something whirled passed him and Aaron bounced back up seeing his mother standing there, but it was a few moments before his mind allowed him register that there was a dagger protruding from her chest.

He started towards her and turned to Tye who had a dagger lodged in his throat with a shocked look in his eyes, as he sank to the ground. Without a second glance Aaron ran toward his mother catching her as she fell. Anguish swelling his throat so that no words would come forth. He knelt before another family member who was dying in his arms. His mother looked up and smiled faintly struggling to say something so Aaron leaned in to hear her.

“
Be…Strong
,” she said at last in a half whisper then laid still and breathed no more.

Aaron knelt there holding his mother’s lifeless form silently rocking back and forth. Like a tempest gathering its strength to strike out at whomever was left, Aaron slowly stood. The blackness that entered his heart yearned to do unspeakable things. He wanted blood.

The remaining members of the men in black gathered around Tye. Two of them hoisted Tye’s body up and a savage roar came from the door of light. The men hesitated and one turned to face Aaron. His face was bloodied from the tiny scrapes that covered his face. He called out and the rest of them turned to meet Aaron.

“Out of the way you fools," a voice order from beyond the door of light. Then a ball of fiery blue came hurling towards Aaron. He brought up the Falcons and the crystals in the blades flared in a brilliant white light and shielded him. The fiery ball ricocheted from the shield and tore into his house leaving a gaping hole. The men in black stumbled through the door of light, which was rapidly becoming smaller. Growling, Aaron pulled the dagger from his mother’s chest and hurled it through the closing door to the sounds of screams and then all was silent.

A small explosion came from within the house and Aaron could see the flames spread hungrily. Aaron carried his mothers body away from the burning house. He came up to his father who lay staring at the house through the eyes of a broken man. Aaron felt his strength slip away seeing his father like that, but when his father saw him the broken man disappeared, replaced with the unwavering force that was his father. He wasn’t a broken man, but one who would be facing a journey that will visit the doorsteps of all men who dare to live, and those who will die before their time.

He tore off part of his shirt, rolled it up and pressed it firmly on the wound in his Father’s chest. “I have to move you," Aaron said lifting his father as much as he could then dragging him away from the burning house.

“Your mother?” He asked.

Aaron shook his head, tears streaming down his face. “I failed, I couldn’t protect any of you," Aaron said bitterly.

“No,” his father coughed. “You had no control over this son. You weren’t meant to stop this.”

“But Dad, I…”
Should have done something
, he finished to himself.

“No,” his father said firmly. “We don’t have much time. I don’t know what will happen next. No one does. It’s clear to me that the path before you is different than what I had in mind. But remember that you always have a choice. There are no perfect solutions, not in life son.” His father sighed closing his eyes.

Aaron had no words for the life that was burning away all around him. Everything he had ever known was being stripped from him.

“Aaron,” his father called out weakly. “Protect your sister.”

 
His father’s grip hardened in his hand for an instant before slipping limply away. He knelt, there shoulders slumped, stuck somewhere between shock and disbelief.

Get up.

Aaron slowly rose to his feet and brought his mother to rest beside his father. Seeing them lay there so still and peaceful, he wanted to believe that they were still breathing, but their bloody tattered remains were an image that burned into his mind and would remain so for the rest of his life.

He sat there watching the fireman diligently try to put the fire out, but to no avail. The fire would not go out despite all their efforts leaving them to shake their heads in confusion. Aaron spent most of the night recounting the events to a policeman, withholding a few facts that would have begged questions that he couldn’t answer. When his sister Tara arrived he numbingly held her while she wept as he recounted the tale once again for her.

Against the advice of concerned policemen, fireman, and medics, Aaron stayed in front of his house all night watching the fire raze his home. At some point Zeus came up and sat next to him. Eventually the firemen surrendered their efforts to put out the flames, but remained vigilant in preventing the fire from spreading to the other houses.

No matter how much he mulled things over, and despite his father’s last words, he couldn’t help feeling responsible for his parents death and the danger that now threatened his sister. The danger she was in so they could get to him. He was the key to something, but what? There was no one else he could seek answers from.

 
Aaron decided that he owed Tara the truth to understand why their parents were murdered. Though they shared the same father, Carlowen was not her mother, but she was the only mother that Tara had ever known. Tara silently watched the flames next to him and in hushed tones he told her everything.

“I have to leave, if I don’t…”Aaron’s voice trailed off.

“Where will you go?” Asked Tara.

“To find the men responsible,” Aaron said in a hard tone his hand itching to hold the Falcons again, but his swords were safely concealed for the moment. “I don’t care how long it takes or how far I have to go. I will make them pay.”

“Aaron, you don’t,” Tara began, but stopped as some people walked by.

“You’re not responsible for the whole world Aaron.” Tara retorted then took a deep steadying breath. “A rash act can lead to a lifetime of regret. Grandpa taught me that. You should listen to him.” Tara urged before going to meet the policeman.

Yes, but not to act right now will put you in more danger than you know and I wont lose another family member to this.
Aaron sat there the remainder of the night mulling things over in his head. He had to meet Tarimus where there was no escape for either of them. Looking back on events that brought him here he knew that it could be no other way. As dawn approached, the unquenchable fire that claimed his house completely and inexplicably went out in the span of a passing breath. Zeus let out a low growl and the firemen began muttering to each other.