The Last War (Book #9 of the Sage Saga) (11 page)

They walked past the wide open gates in awe. Paragon was open for all of the world to invade, and there was not a single guard on the wall. James sighed heavily as they left Paragon’s borders and proceeded across the bridge. James couldn’t help but look down into the abyss below and wonder what was there, but he was too afraid to find out. It appeared to be a one-way trip.

“It’s a long walk from here to the south of Terra,” Catherine said, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. “Do you want to run?”

“We should probably conserve our energy, but then again, it might be good to get there as soon as possible.”

“That’s what I was—” Catherine stopped talking as she saw someone running toward them in the distance. The silhouette was wobbling and swaying side to side as it stumbled forward, its long, wavy hair bouncing back and forth above the head. James prepared for battle, but Catherine put a hand to his chest to calm him.

“It’s Scarlet!” she shouted, and the scarlet-haired Sage was further illuminated under the forest canopy and black skies. Though Catherine was excited to see her, her face immediately fell as she saw the wear and tear that had been inflicted upon her cousin. She ran forward to greet her and Scarlet tripped over her own feet, falling unexpectedly into Catherine’s arms.

“Scarlet, what happened to you!” she shouted as she examined her body. “You’re cut all over, and you’re bleeding. Why wouldn’t you heal your wounds?”

“Don’t have the strength,” she gasped. “Have to keep running. No energy.”

“What are you running away from?”

“Don’t know anymore,” she said. “But they want to take me. First Delilah, now them.”

“Delilah?”

“I was,” Scarlet stopped to catch a little of her breath, “taken by Cimmerians, Delilah, and now someone else. I don’t know. I’m so freaking tired. The Delilah have Daisy, Marie and Talia. Tyuin’s working with them, and betrayed…man, this hurts,” Scarlet stopped to rub the back of her neck.

“Are they still imprisoned?” Catherine asked.

“Not sure. I had to escape on my own. They had us fight the Cimmerians for them. Bunch of savages.”

“So if it’s not the Delilah or Cimmerians who are chasing you, who is it?”

“Wait long enough and we’ll all find out. You can talk for me. I’m too tired to go on any further.”

“Rest,” James said. “We’ll handle th—”

Catherine looked back at James to see why he stopped talking, and she found him fainting. He landed face first on the dewed grass and behind him was a tall man in impressively large armor. It took a second for her to realize that he had knocked James out in one blow.

Catherine opened her mouth to speak, but then she felt someone chop the back of her neck with their hand. Her body went limp and she dropped Scarlet as she fell. The last words she heard before everything went black were from Scarlet.

“Why didn’t you knock me out first? I need my beauty sleep.”

*              *              *

“Do you think they’re a threat though? That’s what I’m asking.”

“No,” a man said in a thick accent. “You saw how easy it was to subdue them.”

“That was when their guard was down,” the man replied in the same accent.

“You worry too much.”

“Huh?” James said as he slowly opened his eyes. “Where am I?”

“He’s awake,” a young man with long violet hair replied. He was thin but toned in muscle. He had an angular smooth face and big blue eyes. The man at his side had short red hair and bulging muscles. He sported a long beehive beard and beady green eyes. If it wasn’t for the headache, James would’ve laughed at the spectacle.

“I see him, Violet,” the red-haired man replied.

“Now why you gotta go saying my name for? That’s not professional…RED!”

“Why are you yelling out the names of random colors? I can do that too, you know. BLUE!”

“No, it’s not random. That’s your name and you know it!”

“Blue?”

“No, silly, Red.”

“Silly red? That’s not a color, friend.”

“Not that. Red. Red is a color.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve been to school. Why? Did you just learn about that?”

“Wait…now I’m confused.”

“Well, no wonder! With all your wordplay and mental jumping jacks, it’s a surprise you can still speak. Anyways,” the red-haired man turned to James. “My name is Red.” Violet threw his hands in the air in surrender.

“Where is…” James looked to his left and saw Scarlet sleeping soundly in a chair, bound from collarbone to toes like a mummy. He looked to his right and saw that Catherine was in the same predicament. He didn’t need to look down to know why he couldn’t move.

“Your friends are safe, as you can see,” Red said. “And the restraints aren’t even that bad. You could break free at a moment’s notice.”

“Don’t give him any ideas, fella,” Violet said. “That’s not professional.”

“AYE! I’m tired of you telling me what is or is not professional. Let the professional determine what’s proper. You’re barely out of diapers.”

“I’m thirty four.”

“That’s a wee baby these days. There are people that live centuries, you know.”

“Well, it would do you some good to listen for a change. You’re so thick headed that your pores can’t even breathe.”

“What are you yapping about now?”

“Um,” James said. “Where am I?” His environment was actually quite cozy. A fireplace was crackling by Catherine’s side with a pot of beans and meat bubbling inside a cauldron. The floor was swept recently and there was a carpet made out of a fluffy animal’s fur. The small cabin they were in didn’t have any pictures or ornaments, but the logs were neatly stacked and cut, and the fire was casting warm, dim shadows across the walls, setting the ambience. The two men in front of him also didn’t seem too threatening.

“You’re in our home,” Red said. “Okay, that’s not true. It’s kind of like a base.”

“Why are you telling them that?” Violet yelled.

“The boss said I could.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“That’s because you’re just a kid,” Red sighed, rolling his eyes. Catherine stirred awake and James nodded at her. They were fine…for now.

“What I was saying,” Red replied, keeping one eye on Catherine, “is that it’s a base. There’s a base underneath with some tunnels that are used like the Langorans used to. The Sorcerers can see a lot, but not too good when it comes to the underground.”

“You’re at war with them?” James asked.

“Who isn’t,” Red laughed. “Especially with the Night of Souls in effect.”

“I’ve heard that phrase mentioned before, but I didn’t see anything happen.”

“Oh, it’s a whole celebration for those bastards,” Red said. “They spend some time scaring folks and revealing themselves in places they’re not wanted, and then they start the cleansing. It’ll start whenever they so choose, and we have to stop them before then.”

“The Ancient Knights?”

“No, I mean we. Us. All of us.”

“But are you Knights?”

“That we are,” Violet said proudly, sticking his chest out.

“Hush, boy,” Red reprimanded him while tapping his friend’s chest. “Nobody wants to see that.”

“But we are.”

“Doesn’t matter when the world dies.”

“Why didn’t you kill us?” Scarlet asked, suddenly awakening. Catherine shushed her and Red started laughing.

“No point in killing our future teammates, now is it?”

“If you want to work with us,” James said, “why knock us out?”

“Because of this one,” Violet said, pointing at Scarlet. “She’s tried to take our heads off twice now, and I gotta say that I’m quite fond of mine.”

“Could use a couple inches off the top,” Red muttered.

“Why would you work with us?” Catherine asked. “What do we have to offer you?”

“First of all,” Red replied. “We caught word that you might have heard about our little plan concerning the machine. That’s not good. We can’t have word getting out before the darn thing is completed. The Sorcerers will find it for sure. So, we want to keep those in the know close.”

“Also, we know about this one,” Violet said, pointing at James.

“You just like to point, don’t you?” Red mumbled.

“What about me?” James asked.

“How you defeated a number of our former comrades in battle using that absorption technique of yours. You may have taken those we don’t care much about so far, but that could change. We were content to leave you in the cabin with those children, but once you started journeying through Paragon, we knew we had to act.”

“So we’re only here so you can babysit?” Scarlet scoffed.

“No,” Red said. “That’s why they’re here. YOU’RE here because you can’t stop killing anyone that tries to talk to you, and you happen to know these two. We were hoping to use you to lure them out, which you did…just not in the way we intended.”

“But weren’t you already watching us?” Catherine asked. “Why lure us out?”

“We had to have a sudden change of plans,” Violet said. “Many of our men were called out  to protect the machine. The Sorcerers are on the move.”

“What do they want?” James groaned, stretching his neck. It was uncomfortable sitting there in one spot for so long.

“What do you think? Same thing as everyone. Absolute power. The machine will grant that to them in spades.”

“They know about it then?”

“We haven’t gotten confirmation, but the way they’ve been scurrying around lately, I would bet on it. Either way, we can’t take the chance, and time is short. We could really use your help in securing the tech.”

“And what do the Ancient Knights plan on doing with the machine?” James asked. This was the question of all questions, though he wasn’t sure if he would get a straight answer.

“Use it,” Red said with a nod.

“But how? In what way? Who goes back?”

“There’s a list,” Violet replied. “Of people qualified to go back in time, but it’s not final as we’re not even sure if they’ll all survive or not. But anyways, whoever is chosen, they’re going to go back to the beginning, before the stones of power and when the Sorcerers aren’t so powerful. They’re not as invincible as you might think. They are just people that have had time slowed down for them significantly. Think about the Knights that have lived in Paragon for centuries. They’re not powerful because of some special talent. It’s because of their age and experience. If we can catch the Sorcerers in their infancy, even they won’t stand a chance.”

“Do you know when that time period is?”

“No, but we can conjecture.”

“And say the Sorcerers are defeated. What happens then?”

“Hopefully, it will make everything better. Better than being completely destroyed or made into slaves.”

“What about whoever went through time? Are they stuck?”

“Don’t know. But I would expect it’s a one way trip.”

“Where’s the machine now?”

“In Cimmerian. It’s hidden and divided into two parts so if one section is taken, they don’t have the complete thing.”

“So…where do we go from here?”

“We would love your help,” Red said. “If you’re willing.”

“It’s what we came here for,” Catherine said to James.

“We’ll join you,” James said. “But we want to be treated as equals. I don’t want anyone looking down on us because we might be weaker in strength.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it. We know that all of the Ancient Knights have their own specialties to bring to the table. We’re all about respect.”

“Thank you,” James said. “Now, uh, could we be freed?”

“Certainly,” Violet said, reaching down and ripping their restraints from off of them with his bare hands.

“Manipulating time is all we’ve got,” Red said as the three Sages stretched out. “We’ve confirmed that the Sorcerers have their own ways of standing
outside of time.
It’s one of the reasons they’re so powerful.”

“Is it a machine?” Catherine asked.

“I don’t think so,” Red said. “Can’t confirm anything without capturing a Sorcerer for ourselves.”

“So what’s the plan now?”

“Distraction,” Violet said. “The Knights need more time to do research and once they’ve procured enough information, they’ll need to put the two halves of the machine together. That takes a lot of time, so we’re to keep the Sorcerers and anyone else in our way busy.”

“There’s a battle going on right now twenty miles south from here,” Red said with a nod. “The Knights are observing for now, but we’ll have to intervene soon. We suspect a Sorcerer is involved.”

“So in other words, there’s a massacre,” Catherine said in disapproval. “Is that what I’m hearing.”

“Listen close,” Violet said. “We have to be strategic in what we do or don’t do. Our mission is the only way everyone survives, and if the machine ends up working, it doesn’t matter who dies, they’ll be back.”