Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 (3 page)

He mustn’t do that.

Darius quickly used the magic to search nearby worlds for the one he came for.

There!

It was unmistakably the spark of a great one, a true sorcerer. What had been Darius quickly threw out his will to snag the spark and then hurl it at Keverin in one motion. The vision faded, and Darius began to fade with it.

It’s so beautiful here…

Welcome home Darius. Come, come meet thy God.

I’m coming…

* * *

Julia Morton danced across the mat in precise moves designed to train her body to remember. She was wearing her ballet shoes and leotard, but the dance she was performing wasn’t for a ballet. It was a routine based on ballet for the women’s floor exercise in gymnastics.

“You’re too tense!” Jill called over the music. “The movements should flow one to another, not lurch like some kind of zombie!”

The sweating dancer held her position with one leg extended behind her. Hearing the criticism she faltered, then wavering, she tried to regain her poise but it was no good. She had lost her concentration. Julia lowered her leg to the mat and tried to force the pain from her cramping muscles. Six months left to prepare before joining the rest of her team. She wasn’t ready and knew it. The games, no longer a far off and eagerly anticipated event, loomed ahead of her like a rain cloud on the horizon—an ominous and inevitable climax to her life thus far.

What will I do after? Is there an after?

Julia was pushing herself to exhaustion each day, but something seemed missing from her work. She was just going through the motions and not improving. Worry and anxiety over the floor exercise had long since replaced the excitement and anticipation she used to feel when thinking about the games. The ballet was Jill’s attempt to instill some grace into her movements, but the task seemed impossible. She was at home on the asymmetric bars or balance beam, even her vault was good, but the floor exercise was a nightmare of cramping muscles and shaky legs as she strained for, but never attained, the perfection she so desperately needed. Improvement in her other events came easily by comparison, but the floor routine left her gasping with nothing to show for the effort she expended. She was spending all her time making her body perform unnatural, painful, and intricate movements all in the hopes of forcing an improvement.

I spent too much time on weights!

It was a familiar thought. She had wasted six years of training before she learned that strength, though necessary, wasn’t the only thing a gymnast needed. When first starting out she had spent, and wasted she now felt, too much time strengthening her body. Jill disagreed saying no training was entirely wasted, but Julia blamed her strength for her inability to attain her goal. She was far too heavily muscled to perform intricate movements accurately.

“Give me a minute and I’ll go again,” Julia gasped.

“No,” her coach said.

“But I need more practise! You said yourself I look like a zombie lurching around the mat.”

“I said no, Julia,” Jill said testily. “You’re pushing too hard as it is. The way you’re kneading that thigh tells me it’s time to quit for the day.” Jill knelt and started vigorously massaging the cramping thigh muscles.

“But Jill, I need this. You know why I need this!” Julia said looking down at her coach working on her legs. “You’re always telling me about the Three D Method: Determination, Discipline, and Dynamics. Well, I’m determined to get this right.”

Jill replied without looking up. “You have more than enough determination and discipline. What you lack is common sense. If you continue to push it, you’ll lose everything through one type of injury or another.” She stopped the massage. “There. How’s it feel now?”

Julia flexed her legs ignoring the twinges as the muscles bunched. “It’s great. Better than great—it’s perfect. I can go another hour—honest!”

If I can just smooth out the transitions, I’ll be halfway there.

“—listening to me?” Jill was saying.

“What? I’m sorry I didn’t catch what you said.”

“Exactly! You’re not
listening
to me. Keep on as you are and you’ll be out with an injury.” Jill moved toward the door. “I’m going home for the night.”

“Oh come on! Just watch me for another twenty minutes,” Julia said as Jill opened the door to leave. “All right
ten
minutes!”

“I’ve said all I’m going to say on this. Go home. I’ll see you tomorrow, and don’t forget to lock up,” Jill said over her shoulder and then left.

Damn!

Julia pulled a towel out of her bag lying against the wall. Jill was right about her common sense, but it didn’t change how she felt. Gymnastics was her entire life now. Without it she had nothing. Robby had someone else and wouldn’t even talk to her. Mum and Dad...

Don’t think about it!

Julia tried not to, but it was no good. Even as a child she had enjoyed sports. She had wanted to be bigger and stronger than everyone else, and her mother encouraged her. She joined the local gym and worked out every evening. On weekends she worked non-stop. Julia never did grow very tall, but she made up for her five foot frame with muscle and attitude. She had lost friends because of her preoccupation with gymnastics, but that didn’t seem to matter. The only people that
did
were her parents and Robby. It wasn’t bloody mindedness on her part when she dropped out of college to work in the gym full time. Gymnastics was important—it was! It was more important to her now than it had ever been in her life. Robby just hadn’t understood her. He was studious, Robby was. Some would say boring, but never to his face. Julia really did love him, or she thought she did... or had, but she loved her gymnastics more. He couldn’t accept second place in her heart, and he knew he would never be first, so they had split up. Robby had someone else already, and she had what she wanted—her gymnastics. So what if the house was empty? So what if she was lonely? She could handle it. She didn’t have time for relationships any longer. She didn’t need anybody but Jill.

She didn’t need
anything
—really.

Julia knew that some people found her strange or too out spoken, but if they couldn’t handle that, it was their loss. Even her father hadn’t understood why she wanted to be a gymnast. He used to say that she was becoming too mannish, and didn’t look like a girl her age should look. Her mother had understood what drove her though... Julia sniffed and buried her face in the towel. The tears came as they always did when she remembered her parents. They had both wanted the best for her. Her mother had pushed her in the direction she already wanted to go, but her father was more down to Earth. His vision of her success was a high paid job and marriage. Now that her parents were gone, she had only Jill to help her. The death of her parents was a strong reason to push her self. If she didn’t do it, who would?

Drying her eyes, Julia looked around the gym at the familiar sights of beam and bars. She needed the distraction. Her eyes swept back to the beam.
No
. She didn’t feel like working on the beam. The asymmetric bars were her favourite of all her disciplines. She always felt as if she were flying when she was up there. Time seemed to slow giving her plenty of time for the next catch or twist. She was at her best while flying.

Just ten minutes won’t hurt.

Julia rummaged in her bag for her palm protectors. It was awkward to put them on without help, but she managed to do it finally, before walking over to the chalk. With an irritated sigh, she realised she was still wearing her ballet shoes. She untied and removed them, and then thoroughly chalked her hands before walking over to her start position.

Taking a deep breath, she sprinted and launched herself perfectly from the springboard. Time slowed as she flew easily over the lower bar to catch the higher. She moved into a handstand, held it for three seconds, and then allowed herself to fall into a full giant. Swinging around for the second time, she performed a back-straddle release to catch the lower bar.

Julia lost herself in the movement.

Time sped by as pirouettes and hand changes blurred into giants and saltos. She held her position in a handstand on the higher bar, and then allowed herself to fall into two giants. At the perfect moment, she released to perform a double-back salto dismount. She sailed through the air twisting and turning, but then something went wrong. She lurched sideways and lost the correct posture.

Oh shit, this is going to hurt!

Julia’s dismount turned into a crashing sprawling fall.

* * *

3 ~ New World

Keverin watched the faintly glowing wall as it grew. It was tall enough to reach the ceiling, and a strange noise hummed in time with a faint increase in glow. This was truly magic, the kind ordinary people could see. The ward hesitated as it encountered a slight step in the ceiling. The brightness increased as if the ward were snagged, pressure built until it cleared the obstruction. The magical wall dimmed and stopped growing after forming a circular wall about twenty yards across with Darius at its centre.

Thruuum—thrum, Thruuum—thrum
, the shield pulsed.

To one side of the hall Keverin’s mages stood in attentive silence. Not a murmur came from them, but Gideon’s prayers were clearly audible even though he spoke quietly. Darius stood unmoving within the ward staring at something only he could see. He looked peaceful enough.

“Forgive us I pray,” Gideon was saying. “We, your children, beg your understanding. Do not take this man. He strives for our salvation. Lend him your strength in his task and do not smite him for his temerity…”

Keverin added his own prayers to those of the priest. “Please don’t take my friend.”

“...as we believe in you and life everlasting. He is a good man, a just man...” Gideon stumbled to halt.

Slowly the wizard began to glow.

“
Please!
” Gideon cried. “I beg you to strengthen your chosen! With his power, which is your power, he strives to protect us as you protect this Earth. Lend him your might…”

Keverin glanced at the other mages and found them concerned enough for it to show on their faces. He dismounted the dais and went to talk to them, but before he reached halfway, the most terrible screaming began.

“
AEiiiiiiiiii!
” Darius screamed without a breath.

Keverin ran to the ward and looked in. Darius was writhing in torment as if a demon were eating him alive. The glow was becoming intolerably bright as if a fire burned inside him.

Keverin wheeled upon the nearest blue robe. “Stop this right now Renard. Do you hear me? Stop it now curse you!”

Renard gaped at him. “I cannot lord. It... the ward... it’s stronger than... I’ve never
seen
such power unleashed!”

Keverin spun back in torment at what his friend was going through. He shielded his watering eyes. “Darius! Give it up man! Do you hear me?”

“Lord, he has gone too far. He cannot hear you,” Renard said sadly.

The screaming went on, and on, and on. Keverin tried to shut it out, but it felt like it was inside his head. He blocked his ears shaking his head violently from side to side.

No, NO, NOOOO!

Keverin smashed a fist into the ward in frustration. The wall of light flashed in reaction and left his hand red and stinging. The pain was nothing to what Darius was going through. Before anyone could stop him, Keverin punched at the wall again. Right fist, left fist, right fist, until his hands bled freely. Someone grabbed him from behind, then another. Suddenly robed men were mobbing him from every side. Roaring he threw them off. Using both fists together as a club, he smashed them into the wall.

The ward flashed blue fire.

“
AEiii!
” Screaming in agony Keverin fell to his knees.

Sobbing in pain, he held his hands up before his disbelieving eyes. They were burned black from the discharge. The mages rushed him a second time and he fought to free himself from their weight.

“Guards!” Keverin bellowed still struggling beneath the combined weight of the mages. Glaring around he snarled, “I’ll have you all executed for this!”

Six armed and armoured men rushed into the great hall. Seeing their lord in peril they drew swords and charged. Mathius saw the danger and gestured toward the guardsmen. A flickering blue ward sprang up before them and the guardsmen ran headlong into it. The ward crackled ominously and the men jumped back more wary than hurt. Mathius gestured again and the guardsmen froze as if turned to stone. Seeing no help from his men, Keverin struggled even harder.

Darius’ screaming abruptly ceased.

The grunting of straining men was the only sound in the hall. Gideon had quit his prayers and was staring at Darius in sick horror. Keverin stopped struggling and peered between robed bodies at the ward. There was a groan of dismay from all present when they saw what it contained. There was an old man standing where Darius should be. His jaw was locked open on a terrible but silent scream and his eyes stared blindly at a horror only Darius knew. The glow was fading now as it finished its terrible work. The last of Darius’ hair fell out as Keverin watched and his straight posture crumpled. Darius fell to his knees and then onto his side. The terrible light seemed to drain out of him. It flickered fitfully then winked out. The ward continued to pulse and hum but at a much slower rate now.

Keverin shoved at Renard and Wregan. “Let me up.”

This time they obeyed.

Keverin moved to the ward and leaned into it hoping to push it out of the way. It was no good. “Arghh...” He pushed harder crying out at the pain in his burned and bloody hands. The ward brightened as it opposed his strength with its own, but it replied with less energy than before. It was not enough to injure him.

Keverin looked back at Renard with hope that he might take down the ward, but he shook his head. It was hopeless. He turned back and found the wreck of a man was smiling. Smiling? What could he possibly... Keverin gaped as a hole opened in the air. Lightning crackled as it crawled over the floor then began climbing the walls of the ward. It quested for an opening like a vine reaching for the sun. Without warning the ward collapsed and Keverin stumbled toward the gate. He barely had time to stop himself from pitching head first into it when he was flattened to the floor by the newcomer. He threw the man off, scrambled to his feet, and ran to Darius.