The New Age Saga Box Set Page 16

  Willow had tears she was trying to fight back as he wrestled with his own bout of despair. “And what of this one?” he managed, after clearing his throat.

  “Those were just three examples, my young prince. Three upon millions, each changed by the choices of those involved. The variety and infinite outcomes become impossible to predict which is the right choice until it actually happens. But I assure you, this is the one with the greatest chance of success,” Merlin told him with a smile. “Your father and brother are alerted to a threat in their midst. They are not distracted by your safety and together will plan for the oncoming assault on the castle. You are both with me, as planned, and we are finally able to begin,” Merlin declared.

  “Why does that matter? Are we not here solely because you swore to protect us? What purpose do we serve except to slow you down?” he asked in turn.

  Merlin chuckled, “you still don’t understand, do you? What happened today was engineered to get the two of you free of the castle and the dangers presented. Not because of your influence on the others, but because you are both essential to the success of our mission. I’ve seen it. I will fail if you are not by my side.”

  “Why?” his fiancé inquired, but it was too late. There was a fire blazing just ahead and he knew they were about to join with the others.

  Surprisingly, the mage halted their approach, his hand tightening on the reins in frustration. “I don’t know,” Merlin admitted as if defeated. “I can see certain things, but others remain shrouded. Part of it is the work of that witch. But other things—they remain on the edge of my vision, elusive, not fully formed. I don’t completely understand the roles the both of you play in what is to come. I can’t tell you that we’re on the right path or that in the end we will succeed. I may see the future, but like you, I have to take it as it comes. How about we put aside the doubt, the endless questions, and try to learn to trust each other? Because only together will we all get the answers we seek and the ending we desire the most.” Then the mage started for the fire and their new companions waiting for them there.

  He enfolded Willow’s hand in his own and after a quick squeeze, followed after.

  Chapter 7

  Glowing Embers

  I

  The fire had been built just past the tideline and there was a chilled breeze coming off the lake’s surface. He pulled his cloak closer and felt the exhaustion of the day’s events start to seep into his every step. He needed to sit down and rest as soon as he was able. As they approached, he took a measured look of those he’d be traveling with. It wasn’t a group he’d readily form himself, but he had to trust that each of them was there for a reason. That made him feel alienated from them; for he had no given purpose or reason beyond that of being a protectee.

  “Surprised he’s not here yet,” Merlin commented as he sat next to Jared. Did that man ever say anything straight or did he always leave questions hanging off every remark he made?

  “Who’s that?” Willow asked, as she hovered just outside the group, not sure where they fit in or what role they’d play.

  “Guid day! Aam reit haur ye slick dobber! An aw ye ken,” bellowed a gruff voice from the direction of their tied horses. A dwarf marched into view, the firelight barely illuminating his round figure. He was leading four pack horses to where the others had been tied and he vanished from sight as fast as he’d appeared.

  Merlin snorted, “didn’t see you there. My bad.”

  “Your what?” He didn’t understand half the things the mage said and didn’t think it was just from being from another region; but from another time. They were speaking the same language in different ways and he seemed to be the only one confused.

  The mage rolled his eyes, “you are just going to have to put up with not getting it. I can’t take a time out every time you get confused. We’d get nothing done and still be sitting here when the hordes invaded. Do you want me to invite them to join us instead? You two get in here and sit down. They don’t bite,” he quipped. The older man turned to look at Reyna, who was busy polishing her black armor. “Well, she might.”

  “Piss off, you bloody wanker,” the black knight retorted, and her brother snickered. Kylee was staring daggers at the woman and he suddenly realized something was wrong. What had they missed?

  Merlin coughed, motioning once more for them to sit. “I think it’s time we all caught up to what’s happened today. Token, you’d better have brought some ale, we might need it.”

  “An’ whit makes ye think onie ay it’s fur ye lot? Heh. Fa diz aw th’ wark aroond haur?” demanded the gruff voice from the shadows.

  That drew a chuckle from Kylee.

  Merlin coughed and made a motion for Jared to begin.

  Kind of a pointless thing to do, isn’t it? That got him a glare and he tried to shut up. Wait, I didn’t say that out loud. Crap, the mage is reading my mind again. Would he ever get used to that? “I think I agree with Reyna, piss off,” he told the mage, drawing a brief smile from the black knight.

  Ignoring the back and forth, an exhausted Jared began walking through what had transpired since they’d parted company. As he did, Willow left his side to go sit by Kylee. The elf was shaking her head, but his fiancé was being insistent. The blind boy’s words echoed in his brain about crows and blood as he watched in fascination as Willow began healing the ranger’s wounds. Of course she’d think of that; it was the kind of person she was. What did that say about him?

  “Sae, whit did Ah miss?” Token interrupted as he entered the circle and plopped down next to Kore. The pairing was so odd that he almost broke into laughter.

  He hadn’t gotten over the idea that he was traveling with an orc. Yet once again, it came down to trusting the mage, didn’t it?

  The dwarf was round across the middle and his limbs were thick. He had a long brown beard and beady hazel eyes. His unkept hair was longer, sticking out from beneath the brim of the ragged leather hat squashed on his head. He wore leather armor but was busily unfastening that between gulps of liquor from a large flask attached to his wrist. “By th' way, thaur ur tois elves it thaur skulkin' abit in th' mirk,” Token burped. “They hink they're bein' sneaky, but they dornt min' ay deid kimmers loch lae ay th' jobby aroond haur.”

  He’d almost forgotten about the two Guardians. As if summoned, they stepped into the moonlight and hovered at the edge of their gathering, next to the horses. He motioned for them to come closer, but they either didn’t see, or were ignoring him. Great, he was back to being ignored, just like at home.

  “What the hell are they doing here?” Reyna sneered. “Here to protect the whelp?”

  “Reyna,” Jared sighed disapprovingly; like she’d listen. The smirk she displayed in response confirmed his suspicions.

  “I’ve agreed to allow them to accompany us as a favor to the King of Lancaster. You don’t like it, you’re free to take it up with him. No? Okay then, let’s get back to the business at hand,” Merlin interjected, then began telling the others what had befallen them since leaving the forest that afternoon.

  Willow had finally finished healing the ranger, who despite the cool demeanor, looked less pained and more relaxed. Soft words were spoken, then his fiancé got up and came around the fire to sit at his side. She almost fell off the log and he reached out to draw her close. The use of magic had taken its toll and he felt her head lay heavily upon his right shoulder.

  Meanwhile, the dwarf had finished with his armor and had gotten up to grab a large cauldron from one of the horses. Bringing a pack with him, he propped himself in front of the fire and began working on dinner. He hadn’t realized he was hungry; there had been way too much going on. They had packed provisions, but he didn’t know how long they’d be gone, and he was sure it wasn’t going to last very long. It hadn’t occurred to him that Merlin might have prepared for that. The mage glanced his way and smiled, then continued describing the assassination attempt.

  He tuned it out; he already knew this part.


  Kore sat silently watching the fire. He was further back than the others and made no attempt to remove his soiled armor. His green skin glistened with the humidity sliding off the lake and his large brow signified the behemoth was lost in thought. “Kore no like stares,” the orc growled, red eyes turning to glare at him.

  His heart leapt into his chest and everyone went silent.

  “Now Kore, these two have never seen an orc before. They are going to stare. When they get used to you, they’ll stop,” Merlin comforted the large warrior.

  The orc rose suddenly, and everyone tensed. “Kore get wood,” the warrior huffed, still glaring at him. Then he turned, stomped his way towards the forest and disappeared from sight.

  “We hae wuid!” Token hollered, but the orc was already gone.

  “Let him go,” Merlin informed the telepath, who must have been trying to tell Kore mentally. “He knows what he must and don’t care about the rest. Such a simple soul. He has no questions, no arguments, just his quest.” He took a large whiff of the air and turned to the dwarf in front of the fire. “Token, we had beans last night, do we not have anything else in those bags of yours?”

  Token’s belly rose as the round man chuckled, “och, aye we dae laddie. Whit better way tae break in th’ new recruits than a nicht wi’ Kore efter beans, eh?

  “Disgusting,” Reyna spat and made the dwarf laugh even harder. He happened to glance at the ranger and saw Kylee chuckling at the black knight’s response. They were quite the group all right.

  As Merlin finished talking, Kore walked back into the campsite and threw a very large log onto the ground next to the fire. Then he walked over to Token, grabbed the dwarf by the back of his shirt, and hauled him onto the log.

  “Whit th’ heel is up wi’ ye?” Token yelped, almost falling off. His short legs were stretched as wide as possible as he tried to avoid the billowing flames before him. “Gie me doon, ye gigantic oaf! Mair than beans ur cookin’ haur!” The dwarf’s hands had gone to cup his crotch and Tristan couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Kore!” Merlin yelled, showing anger for the first time since they’d met.

  The orc chuckled, “dwarf make Kore get stares. Now Kore sit, dwarf same tall,” he spoke in his broken English, then turned to glare at Tristan once more. “Stare at funny short dwarf,” he commanded, then resumed his earlier seat by the fire.

  “Mah nuts ur cookin’! Someain gie me doon, please?” Token wailed, the flames getting closer to the large block of fuel waiting to be consumed.

  Kylee was laying back unable to hold back her laughter, and Jared was too thin to even try. He considered it briefly, but he doubted he’d even get a leg up, the man was too thick. Swearing, Reyna got to her feet and he had an epiphany, she really was a woman! She had a somewhat curvy body under that black armor she wore. He got hit in the shoulder and he turned to look at his fiancé.

  The questioning look got him punched again. “Jaw closed,” she told him, her thin eyebrows drawing together and finger in the air.

  Reyna had succeeded at lifting the dwarf off the stump and was in the process of putting the struggling man down when her left foot got caught on Jared’s staff, propelling her backwards. She fell flat on her back, the very large dwarf on top of her. His bearded face was buried in Reyna’s chest, arms pin wheeling as if he was drowning and trying to find the surface.

  In rage, the black knight threw Token off with strength uncommon in a woman her size. She looked muscular, sure, but not strong enough to throw a three-hundred-pound butter ball. Reyna’s hand went in search of her sword and the mage had to stand between them to keep her away. Token was huddled, his hand on his crotch, trying to stay out of Reyna’s sight. The black knight was on one knee, patiently waiting for her chance to strike.

  “Enough!” Merlin thundered, slamming the butt of his staff against the ground, white fire erupting from the crystal fixed to the top. “You are here to help fight and bring down the Phoenix, not act like a bunch of school children at recess! We are on a quest to find an object that’s been missing for three-thousand years and get it to a king who has no idea what to do with it! All in the hopes that it might be used to defeat the Phoenix after we fight off all her armies and storm her castle! Does that sound like playtime to you? There’s a chance that not everyone will be there if we pull this off and while I don’t mind a little horse play to relieve stress, sticking a sword in the gut of a friend, doing the work for the Phoenix, will not be tolerated!”

  Reyna had gotten to her feet and faced the sneering mage, Jared rising to stand by her side. She shrugged off his hands when he tried to pull her away, not giving ground. He thought she was going to speak further, but after a moment, she turned to face her brother instead. The conversation was unheard, but the result was obvious as she turned around and sat on a stump next to her armor. Sheathing her sword, she turned from the glowering mage and went back to polishing her gear.

  Jared sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and then went to join her.

  “Token, your beans are burning,” the mage commented indifferently as he returned to where he had previously been sitting.

  The dwarf leapt to his feet, gave the large stump he had been perched on a push, and sent it rolling a few feet towards the grinning orc. Then he went about trying to salvage what there was of dinner. “Sae much fur havin’ yungins,” he grumbled under his breath and Willow snickered.

  “Tell me why I should remain with you wizard, or despite my brother, you will find me miles away come sun up,” the black knight spoke, her voice hardened. A grimace crossed Jared’s face at her words.

  “If I’m to tell you why we’re here, I’m going to have to start at the beginning,” Merlin informed her, eyeing the others as smiles slipped away and laughter dried up. “If we’re all done horsing around, maybe we can get down to business then, yes? Good. So, let us begin—.”

  II

  “If you are to understand what I’m about to tell you, then you need to forget everything you think you know. History is written by the victors. Which means, it’s hardly, if ever, accurate. There are two sides to every conflict, and those tales are rarely heard, as the victors in any given situation tend to turn themselves into the heroes. No one cares or is left alive to speak for the supposed villains. So, set aside your preconceptions and listen to all I have to say before you judge,” Merlin told them as Token began spooning his chili concoction into bowls.

  “First, let me tell you about your narrator,” the mage offered with a grim smile.

  Willow rested her head-on Tristan’s shoulder as the flames flickered across Merlin’s face. Though the older man appeared to be in his thirties, it was apparent he was a hell of a lot older than that. If that were true for one person, why not others? How many more immortals walked the Earth hiding amongst the crowds?

  Merlin freed a bone from his pocket and started gnawing on it absently. “I was born in the year seventy-four seventy-nine, the current year is forty-four thirty-five,” the man told them.

  How was that possible? Were they following a madman? It makes no sense.

  Merlin chuckled, “that’s right, I haven’t been born yet.”

  “How?” Willow asked, sounding exhausted.

  The mage waved off the question, “please be patient a little longer and I’ll explain.” He paused to take a breath while considering where to start, then continued, “my father was the incubus Damon. An incubus is a demon that takes human form to have sex with mortals, and in this particular case, he chose to appear to a very young princess named Katherine. He whispered his words of seduction and she had no choice but to fall madly in love with him. Out of wedlock, she took him to her bed. That choice set in a motion a chain of events that would soon end her way of life, something I can be my father left out when he bedded her.

  “Not long after their union, my mother found that she was with child. Her parents were outraged and sent her into exile. Alone and afraid, my mother wandered the forest; lost, starving, and close to
death. She was found passed out, barely clinging to life, by a widowed midwife who rushed her back to her cottage.”

  “Eight months later, I was born, but it was a birth unlike any in the history of Man. Although my mother tried her best to hold onto me, I disappeared from her arms, never to be seen by her again. I was brought into the underworld and thrust screaming into my father’s arms. For reasons of his own, he weaved a spell and cursed his own son; a curse that forces me to live backwards through time. Time is an endless flowing river and I’m a rock, helplessly watching the tide go by. Oh, I can change the flow of the river from time to time, but it generally goes where it would; indifferent to my presence,” Merlin explained.

  “This does not mean that I always know what’s going to happen. I can see the endless possibilities that the future might bring, as I have lived through them all, but as the rock, I can never truly be in one of them. While I may guide you to your destiny, I will not know the outcome with any certainty until it actually happens. It comes down to free will and choice. Emotion drives the river and directs its path.”

  “However, I do possess memories of my future, my to be. The flow of time affects my memories even though my biology ages in reverse. That’s how I come to know what has transpired, what links me to those long-lost ages. You cannot change where the river goes until it reaches you; the past is the past, my future set. Needless to say, unlike those of any other being upon this Earth, my own future is bereft of any surprises.”

  “I can tell you about the great battles of Greece, the Roman Empire, the Royal Navy, and the United States of America; dynasties come and gone. I could tell you about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and while it has bearing, it’s a story best suited for another time. Someone else will need to hear it and I’d really only like to tell that tale once.”

  At the mention of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, he felt a hint of recognition, something tugging in the back of his brain. He had heard that name before, but where? Ye sey well, but ye ar called so false and full of felony that no man may believe you, a familiar voice spoke within his mind, giving him a stir. It sounded formal and old, and he barely understood it even though it had a ring of his own tone mixed in. Arthur! that inner voice screamed, making him wince. What is going on?