The Chronicles of Articia; Children of the Dead. K.D. Enos

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СКАЧАТЬ suppose this young man is sweet on the eyes to the young women in the hall, Alec thought, but he knew his sister rarely saw the world quite the same as any normal girl. Not only did she know how to use weapons, but she also dabbled in musical performance, not to mention the use of scholarly magic, something very few people could achieve. It put quite a twist on her character, making it difficult for her to relate to the other young women of Articia. No, she would have no interest in most of the boys here this evening. Somehow, this young noble was different. There was something about him.

      "He seems all right to me, Ava. Not self-absorbed at least, Handsome, if you like pretty boys." The last part was just more of Alec's teasing, and she knew it, but did not rise to the bait. Instead, she made a curious noise and turned to the door.

      "What is it, Ava?" Alec asked, concerned.

      Looking up at him, she responded, "A messenger is about to come through that door, but I'm not sure what he's going to say."

      She occasionally had these visions; he remembered overhearing a conversation between Brendan, the royal mage and Ava's tutor, and his father about his sister's ability to foresee things. They said that it was common for powerful practitioners of the magical arts. The fact that she could do it still made him uneasy.

      They danced right into the next ballad as he waited in uneasy suspense. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the door flew open and outside in the courtyard a messenger dismounted his horse and ran through the door. After bowing to the king and delivering a roll of parchment, the messenger left as quickly as he had arrived. King Henry read the message quietly and then looked around the room.

      The king seemed troubled as he addressed the guests. "I'm afraid I must postpone the rest of this lovely evening to deal with a matter that has come to my attention and that I must not ignore, so I must bid you all goodnight." The queen took the king by the arm as he turned for the door. "I hope you enjoyed the celebration and especially the collard greens."

      Alec immediately looked up to his father. "Collard greens" was the prearranged code word for possible danger. Alec had always thought it was strange that before each public event, they would discuss a set of codes for different situations. Alec and his siblings were always amused that the word chosen was something that the royal children truly disliked, like collard greens or religious studies. He had not believed that they would ever use the code words.

      Ava gave him a worried look and noticed that Dominic and Tristan were already moving toward the large tapestry along the back wall of the hall as the king and the queen left the chamber by the main doors. Alec and Ava did not wait for additional confirmation and walked casually towards the tapestry. Behind, it hid a door to the back corridor. When they entered, Dominic and Tristan were waiting with swords drawn. Dom looked to Alec and Ava and said, "We are not alone; I saw movement down the hall." His eldest brother was pointing to a bend in the passage that led to the family quarters.

      Ava sighed, and without breaking stride, she reached under the folds of her dress and drew a hidden dagger. It had always been the tradition of the royal family to carry their weapons to any formal occasion. Henry's children had never heard of a need to use them before tonight. The four siblings continued down the hall cautiously with Dominic leading and Tristan providing a rear guard. It was not long before shadows started to close in on them.

      "Dark magic," Dominic shouted, "Ava . . . !"

      Before he could complete his sentence, a wave of power emitted from Ava's palm as her gray eyes progressed quickly to a light brown. This happened every time Ava was gathering her power. Alec braced himself for the explosion of magic that those light brown eyes indicated. Like the wave of a powerful hand, the force of Ava's magic felled the foreign men in the hallway and the sounds of their grunts and metal banging into walls filled the air. Alec drew his sword, Shadow Fang, and moved up beside Ava to wait for what was coming down the hall.

      "Alec, cover the rear!" Tristan shouted as he moved past Alec to stand next to Dominic. With Shadow Fang in his raised arm, Alec stepped behind Ava and scanned the darkness behind his position.

      "Ava, a little light please," Dominic requested. Ava made a motion with her hand and flames of light flew out in front of them; she turned and repeated it behind.

      "How did they get behind us?" Ava shouted as she saw the threat past Alec. He watched as two armed men approached them cautiously from behind. Tristan smiled at his brother Dominic as the stunned men in front of them stood back up and collected their senses.

      Dominic needed no prodding as they moved in quickly to engage the intruders before they could recover their weapons from the ground. Tristan was approaching his first target when he called out, "Tartarus inferi" and his sword glowed in a blue flame as he struck at the first man. Dominic moved in on a second. Alec waited for the two men who were behind them to engage before he struck, while Ava took the opportunity to pull a second dagger from a fold in her cloak.

      Believing that he faced an inexperienced youth, the first attacker made a fatal mistake; as he raised his sword to strike, Alec drove in fast with Shadow Fang and his sword bit deep into the unfortunate warrior's flesh. The battle was on!

      Ava saw her brother take down a man to her right, and immediately more men jumped out of the shadows. She tensed as she heard Tristan strike and kill another man-of-arms with his sword Silver Bane. Dom had already sunk his royal sword Ghost Touch into many a foe. He pressed forward to engage another. How she wished to have the familiar handle of her sword, Last Kiss! Despite the fact that women were not allowed to train in the martial arts. Well she trained harder than most men train, and wished that she could defy tradition and had worn her sword as her brothers did. Without Last Kiss, she had to make do with her daggers and her magic.

      Ava's training became a significant advantage for her in this skirmish with the first enemy she encountered. The ferociousness of her attack surprised the thug, who was not expecting a woman to be skilled in battle. Ava gripped her daggers and twirled quickly around her attacker, sinking one dagger into the stomach of that unfortunate soul. Blood now soaked his shirt as the man-at-arms started falling backwards.

      Ava had to parry the thrust of another warrior because she tarried too long trying to retrieve her first dagger from the body of the unfortunate opponent. She grabbed the dying man's sword from his weakened hand and swung it under her arm to stop the progress of a man approaching from behind her. Her gown severely restricted her freedom of movement, a gown now covered with the blood of her unknown assailants.

      They fought their way down the hall, "There are a lot of them!" Dominic called as he led them all into Ava and Aleczander's chambers. Tristan closed and locked the door and stood by while Alec and Dominic searched the room.

      The sounds of the palace guard fighting the men-of-arms filled the hallways. After what seemed like an eternity, the noise subsided. The four children of Henry waited in the room for the all-clear signal so they could reunite with their mother and father. Dominic stood guard at the door while Tristan stood at the window that was open to the yard.

      Dom heard the call of the captain of the guard at the door, who relayed the prearranged code. Dominic looked back at his siblings and nodded before he opened the door. Many men lay wounded or dead in the upper atrium as the guard addressed him.

      "Sire, is all well with you, your brothers, and your sister?" the captain inquired.

      "Yes, captain, we fared well. Is the enemy still in the castle?" Dominic asked as he stepped out the door into the atrium.

      "Yes, but we have driven them to the concourse. Your father has joined the fight and sent me to see to you, your brothers, and sister," he replied.

      "Tristan, СКАЧАТЬ