Chapter 28

Treachery

The day started off like any other. The sun rose in the East, the homestead seven all did their morning runs and exercises. Still, a strange and malevolent aura hung in the crisp morning air for Telka.

All day she felt apprehensive. Her nerves were getting to her so much that she would begin jumping at any major sound. The sudden shuffle of feet from a student who was late caused her to panic. Fortunately for her, Lykan was there with a calm smile and a calmer word to help her regain her composure.

“What is it?” Lykan asked.

Feeling silly about the whole thing, Telka wanted to laugh it off, but finally, after the third time of her being disproportionately jumpy, she confided her true thoughts. Well, her true thoughts related to why she was so apprehensive at least, a girl had to keep a few things secret.

“I just feel like something big is about to happen…I know I…” Before she could get into her excuses for why such thoughts were childish, Lykan spoke up.

“I agree.”

With those two words, a mountain of anxiety was relieved from within Telka.

“You agree?”

“Yes, something is odd. A number of the locals have called out today. Thus the much lower staff members in attendance. Those that are here are ones that live on the campus proper. There appears to be new staff members here, but they all seem…” Lykan cut himself off.

While he was only speaking in High Wood Elven, a language only two people here at the university spoke, Lykan still cut himself off. He realized that he was going to go down a dark path of thought.

Looking around, Telka saw who Lykan was looking at, and her mind instantly went to the same group.

“Azani?”

Turning to her, they locked eyes for a moment, then Lykan nodded. While most of the old language had been lost, a few words needed no translation, Azani being one of those words. Since this was an adopted word to the language, it had no true translation. So anyone listening in would know that these two had been talking about the myriad of Azani staff who seemed to be filling in for the otherwise missing workers.

Even the guards on duty seemed to be apprehensive about the new staff members who were brought on to help with the sudden shortage of local workers.

Tensions were high in the capital as talks of war were breaking out amongst the populace. As such, anyone who looked like they might be part of the enemy was treated with piercing glances.

“They should stop staring,” one girl, an officer candidate, said to another as they walked down the halls.

“I agree. Their apprehension will only cause more frustration over the whole situation,” the second Mage officer replied.

Their words were spoken loud enough so that both the guards and new workers could hear. Hearing the chastising remarks, the guards who had been staring looked a little flustered. Then eventually turned away from the workers to tend to their normal duties.

The workers in question made no sign of care one way or another about the words or the piercing stares of the officers. No one, except for the leader of the group of cleaners, visibly took a sigh of relief at feeling the piercing stares off of his back.

Only once he relaxed slightly did he feel a new set of eyes on him. He looked up to see both a High Elven beauty, though one with much darker skin than was normal for these parts. Then there was a warrior who all but seemed to be brimming with a warrior’s intent. The more the head servant stared at the boy, the more his face dropped. He saw the unmistakable shape and glow of a Spirit Blade on his back but quickly dismissed the idea as a flight of fantasy. Who would ever be able to wield such a blade?

Then he took a better look at the boy, and contempt for his earlier loss of composure rung out on his face. He saw that the boy was just a human and a young one at that. Seeing this, he calmed himself, but the damage had been done. Lykan and his enhanced Awareness saw through the veil of obedience that the worker tried to exude. Soon the worker, with a silent gesture, waved all of his subordinates to move forward.

As the group walked away, they all moved in one fluid motion like a machine. Left foot, right foot, then repeat. They all walked forward at the same pace and cadence, a slow, deliberate pace that let Lykan know that they were military or at least former military.

“Come on,” Lykan said, gesturing for Telka to follow him down a side path that ran parallel with the path the group had just taken.

Telka paused for a second but then saw something in Lykan’s eyes that let him know he was serious. Nodding, Telka took first one step, then another.

“What is going on?” she asked.

Lykan, for his part, just put up one finger, a sign for silence between the two. It wasn’t often that Lykan would stop Telka from talking, so she complied, wondering just what about the guards got Lykan so upset. Was he racist? The thought did fill her mind, as she could see his body posture change the more he stared at the people who were clearly Azani, or at least of Azani descent. Such people were not uncommon in the lands of Sidhertha.

The whole action seemed odd to Telka as she had never expected Lykan to be prejudiced against the Azani. On a whole, the whole idea of not liking them as a group seemed odd to Telka. For a while, she had heard the stories of their misdeeds in the past. They were just that to her, stories. So to see Lykan, a person she thought so highly of, having open hostile thoughts against these people was a bit much. She was about to say something when the campus clock began to chime.

Dong!

Ding!

“Ahh!”

“Bastar…”

Dong!

Cries came from up ahead. The more Telka heard, the more she realized something was happening. Lykan, for his part, had already pulled his sword and began running in the hallways.

Telka was about to reprimand him as his being caught with a sword out would mean that she, too, would also be penalized. But as they rounded the corner, they had more than Lykan being caught with his sword out in the hallways.

The janitors, or people who were posing as janitors, had drawn swords and blades from the handles of the mops they had been using moments earlier to sweep the school floors.

“Azani!” Lykan bellowed as he charged forward.

While giving away his position was somewhat foolish, he wanted to save the last of the guards who were now being tackled and struck down from behind.

The warriors were skilled but predictable. Their movements were meant to work in concert with each other, one slashing while another defended. The only problem for them was they had never run into anyone with Lykan’s superior speed and strength. Lykan had spent five years practicing taking out these very same types of opponents.

Slink. Slash.

First one, then another fell to Lykan’s blade. Seeing this, the lead janitor turned to see the threat who dared to come up the side tunnel. Shock filled his gaze as he saw the very same boy who had sent shivers down his spine now charging forward and through his enemies without a second thought.

Still, Kapoon Anwarey was a shaman of renown. With this one act of triumph set at the heart of his enemies, he would bring fame and glory to his house. This attack would be but the first step in raising his house’s status from within the Azani empire.

“Lightning,” Kapoon shouted as he held out his hand and created a great torrent of energy that shot out from his hand. While he had to shoot over and past his men, his aim was so sure that he knew he could not miss.

Zzapp!

The arc was created as per usual. Then snapped and shot out wildly. He could almost feel the second he lost control of the arcing current.

His men cried out in pain as the lightning tore into and through the shoulder of one. The bolt then traveled out through the sword hand and directly into the next soldier, then the next.

Panicking, Kapoon tried to cut off the flow of electricity but found that the energy was still being pulled from him.

“What?” was Kapoon’s last word as he failed to see the arcing path of his current. So transfixed was he on stopping his flow of energy that he failed to see that the torrent of energy had gone full circle around his group of formerly six, now four men.

Zap!

White-hot pain flooded Kapoon’s mind as a bolt of energy tore through his back. He lost consciousness a short second later. Then finally, the flow of energy cut off from his body. Then the last traces of energy arced around and finally ended back where they had started, in the back of the great Kapoon Anwarey.

With that, four bodies fell to the ground.

Lykan stood there, panting. He was tired from the exertion of creating so many pivot points for the arcing current of electricity to flow through. While he still couldn’t generate the electricity, his Ability to control and manipulate the flow and direction of spells already brought into creation was unmatched.

“Whha…what?” a strained voice called out.

Hearing the voice, Lykan broke from his stupor and went to check out the source of the voice. It was a guard who had seemingly been struck down from behind.

“Telka a heal,” Lykan shouted, pulling Telka out from her staring.

She had seen violence. She had even seen Lykan kill, but the way he was ruthlessly efficient with killing still scared her on some level. The way he could so effortlessly go from normal to killing machine caused her to doubt her feelings.

“Telka! I need you to create a healing spell. We need to save them,” Lykan said, pointing to the guards, many of whom were still moving, if barely.

“I can’t,” Telka fought, seeing how deep the wounds were. She could create a healing spell, but nothing that big. It was too much for her.

“Create it. I will guide it. Now come on,” Lykan said, his voice calm and reassuring.

Taking a breath, Telka stood up straight and tried calling forth the energies she remembered during class. As soon as she had the base created, her control over the shape was taken away.

“What?” She opened her eyes to see that Lykan was waving with his hands toward the downed guards.

He’s splitting my spell? But how?

She realized it was something similar to the refracting technique he used during her rescue from captivity, but she had never seen healing magic conducted in such a similar way.

Seeing the wounds beginning to close, Lykan began the process of removing any swords that were still stuck in the wounds. Seeing this, Telka moved to go forward.

“Stop, I need you there to stand as the source for these spells. If you move, it could mess up the redirects,” Lykan said in a way that was both overly confusing and seemed to brim with Lykan’s superior intelligence. He had a way of overthinking things that made them more complex than necessary to Telka. Though in this case, his explanation did have its intended effect of getting her to stop long enough for the healing spell to be distributed evenly to all who were injured.

“Thanks, kid,” the guard said as he began to get up to his feet.

“Don’t thank me. It was all Telka,” Lykan said, pointing to the dark-skinned High Elf who still glowed with a deep green magic.

Telka saw this and realized he was likely spinning this, so he had nothing to do with this and was only a bystander while Telka did all the heavy lifting.

Standing, the guard went over to his comrades, who began stirring and getting to their feet as well.

“Well, whoever it was, thank you,” the second guard said, looking to both Lykan and Telka.

“Come on, we need to get you two to safety,” the lead guard said once all his men were up.

“No, we need to check for our friends,” Lykan said.

The lead guard was about to protest, but then he saw a look of something in the boy’s eyes. The look was pure malice and determination. Seeing the intense look in the boy’s eyes, the guard just backed up as a shiver ran down his spine. He had been around enough powerful students to know when it was best to let them get out their frustration then come back when things were calmer.

“Should we let them go?” Stevey, the second in command for the group, asked.

Before the lead guard could reply, Lykan cut in.

“This was a well-coordinated attack. Given that all the local guards were out sick today, it was likely planned for a while. You are likely not the only group who would have been targeted,” Lykan said as he made his way past the group.

Telka felt momentarily flustered as she saw Lykan darting forward without her. At first, she thought about staying, but then a quick turn and look back from Lykan, “Come on!”

He commanded, and she obeyed. It was as simple as that.

Hearing the resolve and determination in his voice, along with his self-assured nature, it was clear that he would go to hell and back if needed. Her heart fluttered once, then twice. She found herself standing by his side before she truly knew what had happened. Then they were off down the next hallway looking for the sounds of battle.

There was plenty to be found, but unfortunately, Lykan and Telka were too late to assist with any of the other efforts. In the end, the two were gathered up when they finally came to the aid of the Sword Saint and Azani shaman and were forced to form a rear-guard unit where rescued soldiers could go to seek healing and shelter.

It was a declaration of war. The full effects would be noticed for years to come.