The old woman was on her knees by the child, frantically trying to stop the bleeding. Tom stepped into the clearing, breathing quite heavily in his frustration and anger, forgetting that he didn’t need to breathe. The sound must have alerted the soldier. He turned, and his mouth fell open. Fear lighting his face.
Tom said nothing; he simply advanced into the clearing. The woman looked up, scared, but too concerned with her grandchild. The whip was still in the soldier’s lax hand. He simply stared in terror at the nightmare that approached him.
Suddenly he seemed to realize what might happen to him if this creature got its hands on him. Fear for his immortal soul provided the impetus. He brought up his whip. Quickly, and without thought, he brought it down. Down upon Tom’s chest.
Tom didn’t even notice, he was too wound up on hurting the man in front of him. The soldier however did. His whip didn’t even touch the demon, it simply seemed to pass right through him. Hastily, he dropped the whip and drew his sword. He waved it a few times in front of himself and then brought it around in an arc to slice through the demon.
The sword did register on Tom’s mind, mainly since the soldier had waved it right in front of his face. As the sword came around, Tom stuck out his hand to block the slice. The broadsword struck his palm, and clanged loudly as it broke. The sword simply stopped on his hand and broke in two. The soldier winced in pain, as his arm and shoulder were severely jarred.
Wasting no more time, Tom struck out as he had been taught, palm upward, fingers extended, in a strike intended for the diaphragm. As usual Tom forgot his strength, and his five inch long finger nails. His hand slid right into the man’s stomach, his finger nails came out the other side. Blood went everywhere. Gushers streamed from the man, squirting Tom and the ground around him. The man would have screamed, but his chest cavity was punctured and all he could do was make a wheezing noise as he expired like a popped balloon.
Surprised and not knowing what to do with the corpse, Tom simply lifted his hand with the man on it, and flung the soldier over his shoulder, into the forest. Shocked by his own action, Tom stared at his bloody hand, his right hand; the left one which had blocked the sword wasn’t even scratched. The soldier’s blood ran down his forearm and dripped off his elbow. He simply stared.
Slowly he looked up, he saw the old woman looking on in horror and fright. Simply staring at him, wondering what the demon would destroy next. Scared and frightened by his own action and ashamed of the reaction he had caused, Tom launched himself into the air, and flew away as fast as he could.
Chapter 20
The bird sang sweetly in the meadow; clouds passed through the spring sky, seeming to dance with the wind. Trees swayed gently with the breeze. Everywhere she looked there was peace.
Until the bird went off key. She glanced over at the bird in the tree beside her. It had suddenly opened its beak wide and was pouring out an ungodly wailing noise. It was extremely unpleasant, and the more she listened the more she hated it. Violently she shook her head, trying to clear it of the horrendous screeching.
As she shook her head she seemed to rise through layers and layers of reality. The forest disappeared around her; slowly in its place was her darkened room. Suddenly she realized she was shaking her head back and forth and she stopped. The screeching didn’t.
What the hell? Jenn thought. She jumped from bed with a start as she realized what it was. Attack. Those were the warning horns of an attack. They meant an enemy was attacking. Exador! but he wasn’t supposed to arrive till evening. She swung open the shutters on her window and looked out. Torches were appearing in the courtyard below as servants quickly lighted the way, and soldiers hurried to the walls. She couldn’t see beyond the walls because her room wasn’t high enough, but she thought she could detect extra light beyond the walls, like the fires an army might light as they prepared for siege. She couldn’t tell if there was more noise than the people in the courtyard could make, which one would expect if there were an army outside ones gates, because of the blaring horns.
She glanced at the sky; from the position of the stars she judged it to be shortly before dawn. She had no time to waste; if there was an attack, then she had her job to do. She must gather all of the youngest students and get them down to the hospital area, where they could help the doctors and healers tending the wounded by running small errands for water and bandages. Quickly she slipped into her robe and sandals. She didn’t have time to check her hair.
She opened her door and hurried down the hall to the stairs that would take her to the youngest students. As she passed their rooms, she saw the other senior students getting around and hurrying off on their assigned missions. Quickly she came to the top of the stairway and ran down it.
She exited on the younger students’ level and hurried to their study room. Unlike the older student levels, the youngest students’ level was arranged around a common study/play room. All the rooms adjoined the common room. Already, even as she arrived, the children were coming out of their rooms. The girl who served as nanny to the children was busily trying to get them dressed. All of them appeared bewildered and frightened. None of them had ever been involved in anything like this before, and as any child facing the unknown, they were afraid. All of them that was, except one, Jenn noticed that Rupert had a curiously determined look on his face. As if something he had been waiting a long time for, was about to occur. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to wonder about it now; she, and they, had work to do.
Jehenna heard the word “Shit,” in her left ear, and then she noticed the horns blaring in both. She sat up quickly, even as she did, Lenamare was already up and throwing a robe over his naked body. He walked to a nearby window and threw open the shutters. It revealed the courtyard beginning to rouse to the horns’ incessant wailing. She was about to say something, but then noticed the look of concentration on Lenamare’s face.
“Damn, the son of a bitch must have marched his troops all night.”
“He’s here?” Jehenna asked, she could hear the horns, just not believe them.
“Bastard. I want you to get those wards up now. We haven’t got time to spare.” Lenamare looked over the edge of the window, the courtyard was eight floors down, and then he’d have to cross it and climb to the top of the gate house. There wasn’t time; Exador might launch an immediate attack. Turning to Jehenna, he said, “Set those wards and join me as soon as you can.”
With that, he spread his arms outward, and chanted a short phrase. As he completed the phrase, he raised his arms above him, keeping his arms rigid, and touched his hands together above his head. As his hands touched he shouted some word Jehenna couldn’t catch, but which she knew by heart. Purplish light spread out from his center, engulfing his entire being. Reddish beams lanced outward from the center of where his chest would have been, and then the light dimmed. Even before all of the light could fade, she could see he was gone, even as she knew where he would be. In her mind’s eye, she could see him appearing in the same manner on top of the gatehouse, impressing his soldiers; and notifying the enemy of his position.
She stood up, and dressed herself. There wasn’t much time. How Exador had gotten here so fast was a mystery, it wasn’t like him to march his soldiers to death, just so they could go exhausted into battle. Besides, what was the hurry; it wasn’t as if Lenamare and her were going anywhere. As she finished dressing, she left the room and walked down the stairs to see to the pentacles. She felt hurried, but she knew that one of her position could never let her inferiors see her flustered or in a hurry.