Benjamin Ashwood (43 page)

The
clanging sirens continued and in the distance Ben could see bright spots of
light moving throughout the grounds.  Their possible saving grace, he thought,
was that the entire complex wasn’t lit.  It looked like individuals carrying
the lights which were easy to see coming.  As long as they could avoid them,
they should be fine.

But
as they neared the water, Ben saw they had a problem.  A bobbing light was
making it’s way towards them and from a distance, it looked like it was
tracking the outside wall as well.

“I
should have thought of that,” muttered Ben.  “Of course they’ll check along the
walls to see if we’re climbing out somewhere.”

He
glanced behind them and a thousand paces back and behind a stand of trees,
another light flickered in and out of sight.

“Can
we climb out?” whispered Amelie.

Ben
brushed a hand along the wall and said, “I thought about that before I came
in.  This wall is some sort of Mage fused stone.  It’s completely smooth.  There’s
nowhere to get a finger grip and any hooks or things like that you throw over
the top will just slide off.  We have to make it to the water, it’s the only
way out.”

“There,”
Amelie pointed to a low dark building.  “That should be deserted this time of
night and there’s something in there we can use.”

They
scurried through the high dewy grass and Ben frowned down at their feet then
looked back to the first light steadily moving closer.

“We’ve
got about two minutes until they see these tracks.”

“We
run?”

Quickly
they made it to the dark building and slipped inside the unlocked door.  It was
one long open room and half of it was entirely glass and filled with a stunning
variety of plant life.  The other half held sturdy tables covered in an array
of objects Ben didn’t understand.  There were liquid filled brightly colored
glass tubes, a profusion of massive leather bound books, strange metallic
devices and other objects he wasn’t even sure how to classify.  Some of them
bubbled and hissed strangely.

Amelie
plunged into the room and kept straight ahead, Ben quickly scrambled to follow
her.  If they made it out of here alive he was very curious to ask her what
this place was.

Halfway
through the room Amelie paused then darted to the wall to snatch two slim vials
off a rack on a shelf.  She yanked a cork stopper out of one and passed it to Ben
then opened her own vial. 

“Cheers,”
she whispered then downed the contents.

Ben
drank his as well.  It tasted like water.

“What
was that?” he asked.

“I’ll
explain later.”  She quickly turned again and rummaged through the shelves
until she found a palm sized wooden disc carved with strange symbols.  She
tucked it into her dress and nodded back to Ben.  “Let’s move.”

The
building was long but there was a walkway down the center so even in the dark
they were able to move fast.  The door at the far end came into view and Ben
saw the reflected lights on the river through the wall of glass windows.

“Almost
there,” he excitedly whispered.

“Not
quite,” called a stern voice that sent shivers down Ben’s spine.

He
and Amelie spun around and saw a plainly dressed, stern faced woman standing in
the center of the aisle they just walked down and two armed guards standing
behind her.  One was wearing the dark grey of the Coalition and the other the
emerald green of the Sanctuary.  The men contemptuously hadn’t drawn their
blades.  Without a doubt, Ben knew the woman was a Mage.

“Where
do you think you are going, Initiate Amelie?” she continued in the same firm
tone.  “You know that at this stage of training it is forbidden to leave.”

Amelie
gestured to the Coalition man, “I think you know why I am leaving.”

The
woman smiled and stepped forward, “that is a fair point.  You would have made a
good Mage.”

“Eldred…”

“That
is Mistress Eldred, girl.”

The
woman took another step forward and Amelie looked to Ben.  He placed a hand on
his sword and his body tensed.  He was willing to challenge the two guards but
he would be helpless against the Mage.

Eldred
took a final step closer and placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder.  “I am sorry
about this, I truly am.  I mean it, you would have been one of the great ones
but it is politics girl, and it’s bigger than any one of us.  We must do what
we must for the greater good.”

Amelie
looked down and to her side, “I am sorry too.”

She
glanced back at Ben and said, “you shouldn’t have come here Ben.  But even if
we wanted to, there’s no going back now.”

Ben
nodded.

Amelie
turned back to Eldred and swept her hand out over one of the sturdy tables,
snatching up a heavy glass beaker full of steaming liquid.  She maintained her
momentum and spun with the glass, raising it up and crashing it straight into
Eldred’s face.  The Mage’s head snapped back in a spray of glittering glass, white
teeth and bright red blood.  Smoke boiled off Eldred’s skin where the liquid
poured over her and she collapsed silently backwards.  Ben whipped out his
sword and leapt over Eldred’s falling body before she even hit the ground. 

The
Coalition man was the first to react, reaching for his sword, but he was too
late.  Ben plowed into him, slapping the man’s hand away from his weapon and
slashing his blade across the man’s throat.  The man dropped to his knees
clawing futilely at his ruined neck.  The Sanctuary guard stumbled backwards,
still fumbling to draw his blade and staring down at Eldred with wide eyes.

Ben
paused for a heartbeat and saw a streak of iridescent yellow light through the
glass windows arc into the sky from the direction they came.

“They
found our trail,” moaned Amelie.

Ben
grimaced, darted forward and pounded the hilt of his sword into the side of the
Sanctuary man’s head.  The man fell like a limp rag doll.  “No reason to kill
him if they’re already onto us,” Ben said with a frown.

“I
understand,” replied Amelie before they both turned and ran for the door. 

There
was no pretense at sneaking now.  It was a race to the riverbank where they
could only hope Mathias was still waiting.

The
sprint to the water took no more than one hundred heartbeats but it felt like
an eternity.  Shouts were rising throughout the compound and bright disks of
white light began to rise high above from all sides.  Ben wasn’t sure if it was
his imagination but they seemed to start floating slowly towards them.

“Don’t
get below one of those!” shouted Amelie.

Ben
didn’t even want to think of what would happen if they did.

They
flew down the pebble path he’d come in before any of the lights converged on
them and before they were seen, but yards from the riverbank his heart sank. 
Mathias and the boat were missing.

“Damn.” 
He stared out at the water.

“Are
you sure this is the right place?” asked Amelie.  “We’ve been running around a
lot, maybe you got turned around?”

He
looked back and the park and buildings were exactly like he remembered.  “This
is the place,” he answered teeming with frustration.

A
swarm or lights were in the glass building they just left and he saw them begin
to pour out the exit.  The floating discs began to converge more quickly.  They
were out of time.

“Can
you swim?” he asked out of desperation.

“How
far?” she answered while kicking off her shoes.

“The
far bank is half a league away.”

“I’ve
never swam that far before,” she paused.  “I saw the man from the Coalition. 
We killed him for sure and maybe a Mage.  What choice do we have now?”

Ben
kicked off his boots, tore his shirt off his back and looped his sword belt
over his shoulder.  He grabbed their shoes and other clothing and hurled it
into the river before they both stepped off the bank and dove into the water.

The
water was cold but the current was lazy this close to the island.  After a
furious minute to get distance from shore they settled into slow and steady
strokes.  Behind them they heard angry shouts and bright lights bloomed along
the river bank to light it up like it was day.  The clanging of the siren
finally let off and the ensuing silence was eerie.  Ben cringed and kept
swimming.

Amelie’s
strokes began to get sluggish before they were a quarter way across the channel
and Ben started to worry.  He kicked with his feet to rise out of the water,
scanning for nearby boats.  There was one narrow sailing skiff rounding the
north side of the island that might pass near them.  It had a softly flickering
lantern on the bow so he could easily track it while they swam.

Whoever
was on it, it couldn’t be worse than who they’d left.  It was a long shot,
getting spotted in these dark waters or even making it close enough to the fast
moving boat.  But they had to try something.  They weren’t going to make the
other side with how quickly Amelie was fading.

Amelie’s
strokes continued to slow, but Ben encouraged her, “I see a boat coming our
way.  Keep going the way you are and we should be able to wave them down.”

Without
looking up, a little burst of energy coursed through her and she kept
swimming.  Seconds later though her pace fell off again and her arms churned
sluggishly through the water.  Ben knew she had minutes left before she started
to sink and likely take him with her as there was no way he could pull both of
them through this current for long.

Ben
bobbed up again to get a bead on the skiff and almost got run over by a little
row boat that he hadn’t seen. 

“Ho
there!” called a muffled but familiar voice.

Mathias
reached over the side and with strong arms hauled a sodden Amelie out of the
water and rolled her into the bottom of his boat.  Ben swam over and grabbed
the side before Mathias pulled him in as well.

“Now
that is two drowned looking rats if I’ve ever seen them,” exclaimed the barkeep. 
Glee and excitement filled his voice.

Amelie
lay wheezing at the bottom of the boat, too tired to talk.  Ben reached up and
slapped a wet hand on Mathias’ arm.  “I thought we were done,” he panted.

“Ah,
I know that must have hurt when you saw I wasn’t there.  I had to move.  I
could see the guards sweeping the bank and they would have spotted me easily.”

“I
understand.  I’m just glad you stayed out here watching for us!”

They
both paused as a sharp snap split the night air.  Amelie sat up and all three
of them watched a blaze of energy arc out from the Sanctuary and soar over the
river.

“We
need to get out of here.  Now,” demanded an exhausted Amelie.

Mathias
nodded and sat down to the oars but none of them could take their eyes off the
swirling red light as it crackled and popped closer until it struck the deck of
the sailing skiff Ben saw earlier.  The red light exploded in flames and heat. 
Screams from the doomed vessel filled the night air but were quickly choked off
as the unnatural fire consumed it.

The
oars dipped into the water and the tiny row boat surged forward, cutting
through the low chop of the river.

Several
minutes passed in silence.  Mathias steadily rowed them further from the island
and they watched behind his silhouetted figure as more crackling lights arced
out from the Sanctuary and torched nearby ships.

Ben
and Amelie could only watch in shock as the brutality of the Sanctuary was
displayed in full force.

The
disks of white light drifted out aimlessly over the water but their row boat
was too small to be seen from the shore and everything larger was already
burning.  After a long and tense half bell, Mathias had gotten them far enough
away they could breathe a sigh of relief.  They moved out of the river basin
and upstream into the Venmoor River.  The Sanctuary and the island disappeared
around the bend.

“Where
to?” croaked Ben.

“The
only place that could be in more chaos than where you left,” answered Mathias
grimly.  “Lord Reinhold’s estate.”

Amelie
slumped against Ben and laid her cheek against the bare skin of his chest.  He
wrapped his arms tight around her shivering body and sat back to watch the
water glide past while Mathias rowed.

I wrote this book for myself.  It’s
the book I always hope to read when I pick up something new.  I hope it’s a
book you enjoyed reading as well.  If you did, I encourage you to leave a
friendly review and share with your friends.  Books sell by word of mouth and
I’m counting on you the readers to help spread that word.

For updates on the next volume in
the series or just to chat, please check out my Facebook page at:
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Thank
you for your interest in my book,

AC