PROLOGUE
i
Nursing Home
CHAPTER 1
i
Disputed Territory
i
Cah Bel
|
|
Eastern Exterior Wall of Cah Bel
The
wind stirred. It
whipped leaves and dust into little swirls between the fallen, moss
covered pillars.
Lenesco
walked through the swirling wind waving the golden rod slowly before him
allowing it to do the tracking. The rod, the same that Mr. Hoo Nun
held, hummed and glowed with its wings extending towards the
ground. As he passed the rod over the stone floor in one
particular spot, the hum from the rod resonated and the inner light
wavered. He crouched down on one knee to verify and the rod glowed
intensely.
“This
is the place,” he said confidently.
He looked up at his commander.
“The enemy will come here.”
His
commander, a lean, muscular man named Consus came up and looked over his
shoulder. His face showed the weathering of many harsh winters,
while his Asian eyes gleamed with the hard, stern look of numerous
battles fought and won. He looked slightly older than Lenesco,
older but in better shape. Both men appeared to be in their early
twenties. Consus drew his heavy scimitar out of its scabbard.
“The enemy, a Firesmyth pretender, comes in a POD.”
|
|
Lenesco
had never seen a real Firesmyth. None in his generation had.
He also didn't know what a POD looked like. He had never seen one.
Neither did he know how the rod worked. Few did. On both
accounts, he didn't care. He just followed orders, and the orders
he was now following told him to track, capture, and acquire. He
was good at following orders. That's what made him and the five
other Shadow Knights such valuable tools: quick strike and no
questions asked. They usually succeeded.
He
wore a loose fitting, dark uniform without symbol or badge from head to
foot. It helped conceal his movements and allowed him to respond
quickly. The only device on his uniform beside the broadsword
strapped to his side was a gold band around his left arm just above his
elbow. When activated,
this band acted with opposite effect of the rod. It repelled
chronomic waves, making him invisible to the POD and its occupant and
since all the Shadow Knights wore the same band, the occupant of the POD
would think he was alone.
Lenesco snapped back
the two wings on the rod so that they lay flush and extinguished the
light. He glanced toward his commander and nodded. With a
swift and practiced hand signal, Consus motioned to the others several
paces behind him. Without a word,
they activated the gold bands and dispersed, hiding among the fallen
ruins to wait for their victim.
*
*
Next
page
|