Soulguard (9 page)

Chapter 19

              “Not much is still known about the man who created the Soulguard around eight hundred years ago,” Nora Kestril said, “He was born around 1200 AD maybe a little later. He was a Knight in one of the Crusades until he came back from the wars to find his home ravaged by Demons. There had been some witnesses and Greyson Kent had started his own Crusade to find a way to battle these monsters.”

              “It’s not very clear how he learned to do the things he did, but he discovered how to knot his Soulstream and he trained anyone he deemed worthy to join his cause. He called them the Soulguard and they began the fight to save Humanity from these Demons. It’s not clear what skills he possessed, but they called him a Soullord. Maybe it was from being the man in charge or he may have been something other than a Mage.”

              “Over the years the Guard has grown to a multi-continental organization. We have a central base on each continent, except Antarctica. There are two in Asia due to the size of the continent and the population there.”

              “We are not subject to the rule of any government because our Mandate is to fight Demons, not other Humans. We don’t participate in Humanity’s wars amongst themselves. When a person joins the Guard, they swear the oath to the Guard. It is an oath that is enforced by every Mage and Guard. If a Guard or Mage uses their power against Humanity, they are permanently tied from the Source and exiled from the Guard.”

              “If their crime is particularly severe, the penalty can be death by severing them completely from the Source. It is a horrible way to die. The body withers away and dries up into something resembling a mummy from Egypt. I’ve only seen this once and it was enough.”

***

              “Come on, you know you want to,” I heard voices ahead of me, near the showers. I was supposed to meet Paige and go to dinner at the Mess hall together.

              “I’ve seen you going into that Guard scum’s room. Maybe you should try a
real
Mage out for a change.”

              “Not likely, you prick.” I heard Paige’s voice and the rage almost surfaced.

              I’ve carried a rage inside of me for years. Very seldom does it surface, I keep it locked away because it scares me to know I can feel something so primal and revel in it. I had touched it at Morndel when the Demons had attacked but I never let it out completely.

              It was surging dangerously close to the surface as I strode around the corner.

              “Let go!!” Paige exclaimed, jerking her arm from his grasp.

              “I’ll show you...” He began as he dropped his privacy shield to let her feel his Power.

              Her Soulstream is about six inches in diameter and his is around ten. The power difference is more than that sounds. He’s actually about three times as powerful as Paige and he intended to intimidate her with it.

              My stream is actually fifteen inches in diameter, I’d actually broken down and measured it one day, which means I’m probably about three times as powerful as he is. I did probably the dumbest single thing I’ve ever done in my life. If I’d known all the repercussions from this one act, I might have done things different. But I didn’t.

              Paige saw me an instant before I reached Gavin Price. I grasped his shoulder and spun him around. He turned with a snarl, then a sneer as he recognized me. I let him get a good look and dropped my screen.

              “Never touch her again,” I said softly, my eyes crackling with the Soulfire my rage was sparking.

              His aura flooded with shock at what he could sense and then with terror as he realized exactly what I could do to him. He turned in terror and fled down the hallway.

              “Oh my God,” Paige murmured.

              She wrapped her arms around me and some of the intensity of the moment eased and I pushed my rage back down inside.

              “Oh Colin,” she shook her head, “You shouldn’t have done that. He will never forgive you, now. There’s nothing but trouble for anyone who makes an enemy of the Archmage. And if you’re the enemy of his son, you’re his enemy.”

              “I couldn’t let it go, I’m sorry,” I returned, the rage subsiding.

              “You don’t need to apologize to me,” she laughed softly, “But there will be trouble for you after standing up for me. He couldn’t do anything more than intimidate me, or, Archmage’s son or not, he would face the penalty for abuse of power. Possibly stronger charges.”

              “Sometimes I just can’t abide things,” I said, “and the bastard’s arrogance and attitude have been grating at me for months. I’ll face the repercussions when I have to. Now I think we were supposed to have dinner together. I think I’ve had enough of arrogant Mages, shall we eat in the Guard Mess?”

              “That would be nice, if they don’t mind the company of a couple of Mages,” she returned and locked her arm in mine as we walked down the hallway toward the elevators.

Chapter 20

              Paige put her fork on her plate as she finished her dinner. She, Darrel, and I met in the Guard’s Mess hall every Tuesday and the Guards were used to us by now. Darrel didn’t really understand why I always wanted to eat there but he got along with the Guards much better than he used to.

              “So, I found something interesting in the archives about Greyson Kent. One of the manuscripts mentioned that the way he chose his Soulguards was to look into their Souls. If they were deemed worthy, he recruited them. Maybe that’s part of being a Soullord,” she paused to take a breath.

              I held my hand out to Darrel.

              “Man, I hate you,” he said and handed me twenty dollars.

              “What was that about?” Paige asked.

              “He bet me you wouldn’t stop to take a breath for thirty seconds after you finished eating and started talking,” Darrel pointed at me, “I figured maybe ten seconds, but thirty?”

              She glared at me then at Darrel, and back at me as the seconds counted down, “Piss off, the both of ya”

              “Aagh!” I handed him back his twenty and he beamed.

              “He also bet you’d not wait more than five seconds to give some rude remark, I chose fifteen,” He said snidely.

              Her mouth dropped open and she turned to the Guard on her left, “Do you believe this?”

              The Guard hid a smile, “I was shooting for fifteen on both bets.”

              She turned back to us, “Hmmph, guess who’s sleeping alone tonight? Care to bet on that?”

              She stood up and with her head held high, carried her plate to the counter and walked out, not even glancing our way.

              The Guards around our end of the room burst into laughter and I jumped up, “Wait a minute, Baby, you know I was kidding.”

              As I left the room I heard the Guards’ laughter all the way down the hall.

***

              It had been two days since the incident with Gavin and I’d only seen him once. Hate and fear had rolled across his aura at the sight of me. I was sitting in the Guard Mess hall when Allen Denton walked in and approached me.

              “You’ve been summoned to the Archmage’s office,” He said with some satisfaction. He’d said it loud enough for the few Guards present to hear it. I guess I was about to be an example.

              Rage boiled inside me, under the surface as I stood and followed Denton out the door. I felt dread as I followed the man to the elevator and quietly rode up to the upper level where the senior Mages all had offices.

              He showed me to the door and said with an arrogant sneer, “He’s expecting you.”

              I opened the door and walked into a very opulent office. The desk was of some beautiful wood and it was huge. The Archmage sat in a chair behind it with power rolling around in his aura.

              “You are new to the Academy, Colin,” He looked at me with dead eyes, “But even you should know better than to threaten my son.”

              “He threatened my girlfriend,” I returned evenly.

              “Did he?” surprise flowed across his aura.

              “Neglected to tell you the entire story, I see,” I returned.

              The Archmage sighed, “Be that as it may, no one threatens my son, and especially not some jumped up Guard. I don’t think you really understand who I am.”

              He dropped his screen and I could feel the waves of power rolling off of him. I’d never felt anything so terrifying in all my life but the rage was beginning to surface.

              “So basically you’re saying that what your son wants, he gets.”

              He looked at me with those dead eyes and gave a small nod.

              “That’s fine with me,” I answered, “He can have anything he wants.”

              My eyes were smoldering and I was seeing him through heat waves, “Except what’s mine.”

              “I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your son, and I’ve never said one thing out of turn to the man. But because the lady decided to be with me, he feels he must try to take her.”

              “I’m not here to compete with him or you or anyone else. I’m here to learn to kill Demons. Who’s in charge of this place? You or the spoiled brat causing problems?”

              I dropped my screen also and faced the Archmage squarely. My rage speaking now, “I know you’re strong, but I wonder how much of that you can handle without flaming out. I know for a fact I can use every ounce of what I have and if that’s the way you want it, bring on the fire! You’ll know I was here.”

              I had no idea if I could actually back my words, but my rage was in charge of this one. I turned my back to the most powerful Mage in the world, who was fuming, and walked out of his office without another word.

Chapter 21

              I entered the dome with the two swords gifted to me by my mother. Rage still boiled in me so I went to the end where the shielded dummies stood and drew them. My anger seethed as I began the Dance. Fury fueled by the sheer absurdity of the situation.

              Had I really just threatened the Archmage? What the Hell is wrong with me? Where does all this rage come from?

              I danced the blades faster and faster Pulling the Source as I sped up more and more. My swords began to glow with the Soulfire coursing through my body. Faster and faster I spun until finally with a scream of pure fury, all of the power pouring into me surged down my blade and screamed across the space between me and the targets in a razor sharp arc.

              It destroyed three shielded dummies before weakening enough to be absorbed by the Dome shield. Power fluctuated all across the shield as it dissipated.

              I stood dead still in shock staring at the splintered dummies as the shields began taking their shape once more.

              A voice rumbled from behind me, “Damn, Son.”

              I turned to see Kharl standing with five other Guards who were staring at me in awe.

              “Your meeting with the Archmage went that bad?” he asked.

              “You could say it went bad, but it would be an understatement,” I returned sadly.

              “Tell me.”

***

              “You did what?!” Kyra looked at me like I was an idiot. Which I probably am, by the way.

              I’d followed Kharl back to the Guard barracks out in the front of the mountain the Academy is carved into. We were sitting in the quarters shared by Kharl and Kyra. The subterfuge that we were using about my parentage meant that they were a “couple”.

              I don’t think it bothered them at all, having spent the last eighteen years together.

              She stared at me like I was a strange experiment that might have to be destroyed.

              “I know,” I shook my head, “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

              “I said don’t make waves not Hey why don’t you threaten to rip the Archmage’s son a new one and while you’re at it, tell the Archmage, the most powerful Mage in the
world,
to piss off. Friggin Rourkes, they’re all the same,” she began pacing around the room, her hand to her forehead, “Jump right in the deep end, no clue how to swim, just jump right in!”

              Kharl was looking at me like I had never really seen before. With the respect of one man looking at his equal. Not that Kharl would look down on anyone, but I was that crazy kid he was raising. Now he looked at me with more respect than I’d ever seen him give anyone but the Elites and Gregor.

              “Oh, calm down,” He rumbled, “He said what everyone else wants to say and doesn’t have the nerve to. The truth, something we’ve always been advocates for.”

              “But you’ve made a powerful enemy in the Archmage. One day, the repercussions will be felt. He’s a hater, son, and he’s got patience. The son doesn’t have patience, he’s the one to worry about for now.”

              He sighed, “Well, on a lighter note, some friends of yours will be here next week to start training. Maybe they’ll be able to curb your enthusiasm to take on the Mage Academy, single handed.”

              “You’ve seen Trent, you big ox, he’ll probably ask to roast hotdogs in the fires as the Academy burns to the ground,” Kyra snorted, “and while everyone’s not looking the girl will probably stab someone.”

              “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, they’ll curb his enthusiasm. I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s less severe than what this one’s already done.”

              “You’ve got a point,” Kyra returned. “I could just beat the shit out of Gregor, ‘interesting times’, he said.”