Chapter thirteen:death threats and improvement TALON "Talon is the future commander for Trellion, our country." Mark explained. "Wolf is the future commander for Yedasriam. They wanted to see if Talon was all that was said about him." "All and more." Talon said in an unsuccessful attempt to lighten the mood. "If you were as good as they said, then they would kill you, Talon." Mark told him. "They won't get the chance!" proclaimed Rora, "We will protect him!" "Or we could just start losing battles." Talon said. "Yeah, that's a good idea!" Mark exclaimed. "We will just keep doing what we did last time, there's no way they will keep losing." Talon concluded. "Well I should probably get back to my dorm." Mark groaned. "See ya." Mark got up and walked out of the door. The room was silent. No one wanted to get up, the bad news seemed to weigh them down, moving seemed impossible. Luke yawned. "We should get some sleep." Talon suggested, "We're going to need all of our strength to lose tomorow!" They dragged themselves to their beds and climbed in. Sleep found Talon immediately, and his last thought before he fell into oblivion was; why me? In the morning, all of them were tired, and, quite frankly they were not looking forward to anything today. Everything was normal except for tactical strategies, in which Talon began to get answers right again. "You are improving Talon! If you win this next battle I may report your progress to the king." Talon gasped, and then zoned out. It took five minutes to get him out of his trance. "Are you ok Talon?" asks Rora, concered. "I'm fine." He grumbled. "Well if your fine you'd better get to lunch, and good luck with your battle." Rora's eyes were full of questions, and in the hall she began to ask them. "What happened?" she started with. "I got another memory back, the king killed my parents." "Why!" Luke exclaims. "I don't remember." Talon hung his head. "Are we going to win this next battle or not?" Shorlorn says. "We'll win it, and all of the next ones, despite the risk." Talon says confidently. Talon stares down at his worn leather boots. Theese were the oringinals, not a copy, and they always seemed to fit better. Then more memories began flashing at him. He closed his eyes and absorbed the information. He was walking through the woods, staring at his boots like he had been. He walked with such grace that he didn't disturb a single leaf on the ground. Then he turned around and stabbed the man who had been folowing him. What he didn't realize was that he had a partner, an ally. She sprung out of the bush and drew her blade. She was dressed in all black, like the other man. Talon realized now that these were Shadow's men. The woman was not as good as Talon and ended up dying. He walked away from the two bodies feeling uneasy, he didn't like being folowed. "Talon!" Rora shouted. "What?" he asked annoyed. "You zoned out again." Luke informed him. "I got another memory back." he explained, and then told them about Shadow's first, but not last attempt to bring him here. "They are coming back more rapidly now." Rora observed. "The spell might be unraveling." "All we can do now is wait, and win this next battle." Shorlorn says calmly. "What if Talon zones out in a battle?" Rora pointed out. "Thats a risk we'll have to take." Talon bravely stated.
Post on the feedback thread please! I will, but I'm kinda preoccupied with the poetry wars, check it out even if you aren't interested in poetry!
Long chapter for your happiness! Sry about the long wait, writers block is infuriating! Chapter fourteen: a magical prodigy RORA On the way to lunch, after Talon zoned out, everyone was very quiet. They entered the noisy lunch room and sat down at their usual spot in the center. Symphoney came over and joined them. "Hey guys!" she said and flipped her multi-colored hair out of her face. "Hi Symphoney." Shorlorn said with smile. The rest of lunch was quiet, no one really said much when Symphoney came over. She and Shorlorn whispered to each other and giggled. Lunch was almost over and people were getting up for battles. Rora waited for Shorlorn at the door of the dining room. He leaned in for a kiss, but Symphoney pulled back. She said something, but Rora couldn't hear it. Then Shorlorn said: "I know you!" in a shocked tone. Then the conversation got quiet again. Shorlorn walked over to Rora with a shocked look on his face. "Later." he said in response to her questioning look. Rora wasn't to concerned about Shorlorn, she was preoccupied with their next battle. What crazy yet surprisingly smart idea was he going to come up with this time? You could never tell with Talon, and that was one of the reasons she liked him. "What took you so long?" asked Talon when they entered the lookout. "I'm not sure, but Shorlorn was talking to Symphoney, and something happened." Rora responded. "He said he'll tell us later." "Ok, whatever." Talon muttered. "Got a plan?" asked Luke. "Yes," Talon looked nervously over at the enemy, "I'll tell you on the field." Surprisingly, icefire won today, they beat both chaos and dragon fire. They came up boasting and joyful. Talon led the way on to the field, Rora close behind him. "Ok, heres what we'll do; Rora will fly up into the air and try and distract the enemy while Luke and Shorlorn and I will sneak up behind them. Now, if all goes well they'll realize that Rora's a distraction and begin fighting us three. At that point-" "I'll use magic to defeat them!" Rora finished for him. "Yes, thats exactly what you'll do." Talon said laughing. They heard the bell and set off. Rora muttered the spell once under her breath and took off flying. She was so filled in the pure joy of it, she almost missed the arrow as it flys past her face. "Leave her, she's a decoy, a distraction." Wolf grunted. So far so good, Rora thought. Talon, Luke, and Shorlorn were fighting now, and Rora got in place to perform her favorite attack spell. "Four." she whispered. She aimed four fingers; one at each opponent and felt the magic rush to do her bidding. There was a blinding flash, and when Rora blinked the spots out of her eyes, she saw that the spell had the intended effect; all of the enemies team lay on the ground. No one talked on the way to dinner, but Rora got a lot of awed looks. Magic like that was tricky and difficult, yet Rora had easily managed it. People were beginning to see the full extent of her magical abilities. Before anyone could sit down at the rebellion's table, Shorlorn scooted it apart from the big group in the middle. Pory looked at them in surprise. Rora sat down and looked at Shorlorn expectantly, but before he could begin his tale, Symphoney pulled a chair over to their table. Rora noticed that Wolf watched her and Shorlorn very closely. When he noticed that Rora was watching him, he glared at her through narrow eyes. Rora quickly looked back to her food. She speared a pea on the end of her fork and popped it into her mouth. Bored with the silence, Rora drew upon her magic, checking on the mind block in everyones brain. She didn't mean to check Matthias's mind, she was just drifting. She felt Matthias's subconscious begin to struggle with her magic. She just strengthened her grip on his mind. She went deeper, he was now aware that she was searching his mind. She entered his realm of thoughts, now she realized that he had no block. She heard him think: you are a skilled Mage Rora, more so than many adults, but not more so than me! He began to struggle. Rora felt her throat tighten up as she held her ground. She slowed her breathing and concentrated. She pushed even further into his mind, she began to feel his emotions. He was shocked that she had gotten so far. That much was obvious, but there was also a deep sense of anger, and he used that anger to fuel his magic. He pushed her magic away, Rora pushed it back, soon even she was getting a bit angry. "Rora?" Luke asked. Rora retreated from Matthias's mind, and reluctantly said: "What?" "Are you ok?" He said concerned. "I'm fine, why?" "Your hands..." It was Talon this time. Rora looked at her hands, they were ablaze with magic sparks. She concentrated on calming down. The sparks diminished. "I'm fine." Rora insisted once more. But she wasn't as sure as she sounded, she was up late wondering what she could have done to Matthias if she had actually tried.
It's almost over... Chapter sixteen: the final battle part one LUKE They were settling down for bed when Shorlorn told us. We were surprised, but not overly so, it made perfect sense. "Guys," Shorlorn began, "I knew Symphoney before I got my memories blocked, I got one memory back." "That makes sense, that's why your such good friends!" Rora exclaimed. At that moment they heard a sharp rap at the door. Talon walked over and opened it. Mark entered saying: "I'm supposed to be spying on guys, but since I'm on Trellion's side, I thought I'd just pop in and tell them I didn't hear anything worth reporting." Then we sat and talked for a while, but a little bit too long. They heard another knock on the door. Talon opened the door again. It was Symphoney. "Have you seen Mark, he came pa-" she stopped and stared at Mark. "Traitor!" she shrieked. She leaped onto Mark's back, drawing her knife. Rora rushed over and placed two fingers on her temples, just barely touching. Symphoney fell down, unconscious. "How did you do that?" asked Talon. "Simple sleep spell, we learned it a while ago." Rora stated. "Now let's remove that mind block shall we?" She said to no one inparticular. Once again she gently laid her fingers on Symphoney's forehead and closed her eyes. Only seconds later she reopened them and said: "I removed her block." Talon shook Symphoney's shoulder. "What happened?" she muttered, then: "Oh my god! Shorlorn, do you remember?" "No everything, but a little bit." he admitted. "Can I tell you?" she asked. Luke could tell Shorlorn was thinking about what Shadow said, when they were up on the mountain: "... We take them away for good reasons..." "No, I'm afraid not." he said at last. "Oh." she said dejectedly. "So, were you kidnapped from Trellion as well?" Talon asked. "Yes." she answered, and then she asked, "Did you get your memories back too?" "A few, like Shorlorn. But Mark told me about Trellion." "Oh right... Sorry about that Mark." Symphoney said shyly. "It's ok, I wasn't hurt." Mark said, accepting her apology. Again we had talked too long. This time, no one knocked, the door was knocked down with a powerful spell, blinding us for several seconds. When he could see again, Luke saw a face in front of his. "Boo." Matthias said. And then Wolf drew his sword, pointing it at Talon's head.
Chapter seventeen: the final battle part two SHORLORN We spent a whole tactical strategies hour on what to do if a sword is at your throat and your blade is in it's sheath, Shorlorn thought. He must remember that, he must! He was always the tactical strategies expert, Talon will remember that. All of Shorlorn's instincts told him to act. But he knew that Talon could handle himself. Sure enough Talon awkwardly kicked Wolf in the shin, (it was hard to do when sitting down) and drew his sword. It was an all out battle. It was six to two, but Matthias kept freezing us, so we couldn't move. It was irritating. The only one he wouldn't freeze was Talon, but Wolf seemed to be dealing with him fine. Shorlorn charged towards Matthias, but he just scampered backwards and froze him again. The only time they were able to move was when Rora did the unfreeze spell, but it took a while. Luke managed to hit Matthias in the forearm, and while he healed himself, Mark got Wolf in the shoulder. "Do your job!" Wolf screamed at Matthias, as he ripped the arrow out. He put a hand on it and let a little magic out, but he was no healer, and Talon began to over power him. But no matter how hard he tried, Shorlorn found himself helpless. He could do nothing to help his team. This angered him. Shorlorn looked over to Symphoney, who also found herself helpless. This comforted him a little bit, but not much. His feeling of helplessness only increased when Luke got another shot at Matthias. He grunted in frustration. Is there anything I can do? He asked himself. Shadow! He remembered. He yelled the next time he was unfrozen, hoping to get Shadow's attention that way. Symphoney caught on and yelled with him. IN THE TACTICAL STRATEGIES ROOM: "Do you hear that?" asks Shadow. "What?" Dian says. "Shhh... There it is again!" Shadow exclaimed. "I suppose we should go check it out." Dian mutters. BACK AT THE BATTLE: Shorlorn and Symphoney screamed their hearts out, but still, no one came to help them. Talon was struggling against Wolf, even though he was wounded. It seemed as if they would loose this battle after all. Then, Wolf backed up and dropped his sword. He picked up his dagger, and lifted it. His motive was clear as he lifted that dagger. Kill Talon, or be killed. He threw the dagger at Talon. Rora's magic strengthened with her rage and she shattered Matthias's spell. Shorlorn ran twords Talon, before Matthias could freeze him again, the others were frozen again though. He leaped in front of the dagger. He felt the blinding pain, and knew he wouldn't get out alive.
Chapter nineteen: Capture TALON Shorlorn took the blow and probably saved my life- taking his own in the process. Talon realized. He knelt by Shorlorn. Rora was hard at work healing him, Symphoney was using what little magic she had to help, Luke and Mark were both crying. Yet all Talon could seem to do was sit there. And stare at him. "Trellion needs you Talon." Shorlorn croaked. "Don't let me die in vain, make me proud." "Your not going to die!" Symphoney called, on the edge of hysteria. Talon heard footsteps. He looked up and saw Shadow and Dian sprinting towards us. Talon through it ironic that as they speeded towards them, Shorlorns life was speeding away. "The dagger is poisoned!" Rora shouted in despair. "I cant heal it, only dull the pain." At that moment two things happened. Shadow and Dian finally reached them, and Shorlorn closed his eyes; for the last time. "No! You can't leave me! You can't leave me here!" shouted Symphoney, as she continued to try and heal him. "It's no use Symphoney!" Rora cried, "He's gone." That was when the tears came for Talon, that was when it hit him. He died for me, Talon thought, he saved me, and now he's gone. He looked to Shadow, even he was crying. Then he looked to Wolf and Matthias, despite the distraction, they had not left yet. They were conversing in low voices to Talon's left. Talon picked up his sword that he dropped when Shorlorn got hit, and slowly but determinedly walked over to them. "Matthias, time to go, now!" Wolf commanded. Matthias said a transporting spell quietly. This particular one could transfer multiple people, but you must say their names at the end of the spell. Talon recognized this spell, and expected him to say "Matthias, Wolf." but he said: "Matthias, Wolf, Rora." Talon dropped his sword and ran to Rora. She was already partly transported to Yedasriam, but she reached out with a partially substantial hand to him. Talon grasped her hand firmly, but it was too late, the spell was complete, and she had disappeared. Talon stared at his hand. In it was the ring Rora had worn. Talon hadn't paid attention to it much, but now he gazed upon it. It was a thick silver band with a rose carved on it. The rose went all the way around the ring until the end of it touched the flower. The rose seemed to grow out of both ends of the stem. It was truly a work of art. Talon grasped all that was left of Rora, and went into his room, sat on his bunk and cried. He cried for the loss of two great friends. He cried for the responsibility he had, the weight of it was enough for a normal kid his age to break. He knew that now. He also knew everything that had been blocked from him. All of his memories. He swore that he would avenge Shorlorn's death, and rescue Rora, if it wasn't to late. He had to save her, he just had to. I won't fail this time, he thought.