Book II - Exodus (Chapter 7)

As he threw his leg over the horsa and hopped off, Erich had the oddest feeling. It was paranoia, but coupled with the incredible wrongness of the environment, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Someone was watching him; no. Quite a few someones were watching him. And yet the kingdom’s streets stood deserted, wind whistling through the empty alleys and sending dust and dead plants over the cobblestones Erich stood on. Something bad happened here. Something really horrible. He’d forgotten about his position; forgotten about his desire to leave Meil. What he really wanted at this moment was information. And to know what sort of people had their eyes on him. He walked out into the middle of the empty road, looking about himself with puzzled wonder.

Carts and merchant stands stood empty, one of them containing fruit that was now rotting. Doors to some houses swung open on their hinges while others were boarded up. He scanned the top row of the buildings, looking for eyes that might be peeking from attic windows or rooftops. He saw none.

Either everyone had been ordered to leave, or they were all dead. Not dead, surely. Where would they hide the bodies? Who would have done such a thing? He eyed the castle. Whatever had gone on here, someone in that direction would still be alive; unless the king had been killed or had vacated as well.

Caution was something he had forgotten, and he began his march toward the castle. Someone there would know, would tell him, and he’d be able to…what? Deal with it. He startled himself with the thought. He’d find the people responsible, and he’d take care of them. Because you really don’t think everyone has left, do you? Too many things left as they were, besides, you know, don’t you? Erich clenched his teeth. It didn’t matter how, but he knew. Everyone was dead.

Someone had killed them all, and Erich shuddered in rage and confusion. Why? Kill a cityful of people, and for what? Innocent people, Darks and those whose ancestors were a part of the original fertilization. No. He knew he’d touched on something there. Darks. Someone wanted all the Darks dead. How that fit into this he didn’t know, but it did. He’d find out soon enough.

If someone gets in your way? He’d take care of them. His power would get him there, he’d avenge the deathof every righteous person who’d died here and had been carefully taken away, the streets cleaned to make it seem like everyone had fled. It was wrong; no one had the right to murder thousands of people, no one had the power

(except for you erich magician’s boy you have the power)

to do it. He stiffened at once, and froze, realizing the truth of it now. They have a Dark. One like me, who kills. He’s killed everyone. Erich didn’t understand who would be in charge of a thing like that, or how it fit, but it was the only thing that made sense. There was no other way the people that had lived here could have been wiped. No other way. They have a killing Dark, like you, and he’s much stronger. Killing ten thousand people like that, slaughtering them with his power, he’d have to be stronger or the backlash would kill him outright. You have no chance here, Erich. Your talent is nothing more than a magician’s fancy compared to his.

He saw the seven knights on horseback bleed out into the streets from its edges, saw them ride toward him. In his mind, he saw the killing Dark commanding them, ordering them to kill Erich, a challenger to his throne. He was dead, no matter how he played it here. So he’d make an ending of it. A grand ending.

The knights pulled up, bringing their horses to a stop in front of Erich. The boy did not move, and set his face hard. He looked the horsamaster who had pulled himself to the front in the eyes, and found his hard look reflected back at him.

“What’s your business here, Dark?” The knight said the last word as if he’d been aiming it at a spitoon.

“Does it matter? You’re going to kill me anyway.

“I had to ask. Orders is orders, and any Dark boy we see we gotta ask."

Erich smiled grimly.

“Been hearing rumors, have you? About a Dark boy?” The knight didn’t answer. They know about me. Erich didn’t know if he was surprised or not. By now he’d figured out his ability was rare, or else he would have seen it being used somewhere else. He was unique, or somewhat so.

“You want to know why I’m here, do you?”

The knight leaned in, eyeing him with sharp, piercing eyes.

“Spit it out, boy. Once I hear what I hear you’ll be mine. Think I’ll split you open end to end, make a day of it.” Erich shrugged and the knight looked a little disappointed. He had no fear, not now. He wouldn’t let this man or any other kill him without a fight.

“I came here to have a rest on my journey, but then I see someone’s gone and killed everyone in the city. Only a few people can do that. I’m one of them. So I decided I’m going to do my duty and kill the one’s killed all the people.”

The knight, atop his mount, looked genuinely confused. That’s when the girl appeared. From behind him, Erich heard a shout.

“Horsa boy! Get out –”

He wheeled about, and stood looking at a girl who had rounded the corner of a large stone building to see him talking with the knights from the kingdom’s center. She was frozen, maybe two dozen steps away.

“Khazal, get her.” It was the knight in charge, speaking to one in the back. Before he could think, the one called Khazal was galloping toward the girl.

“Move, girl, and I’ll kill you where you stand.” She didn’t move, and the big knight took a mighty handful of the black hair on her head and was off, dragging her along the ground. She screamed, and Erich’s moment of shock wore off. She was going to die unless he did something.

He felt within him a torrent of the hot electric power, and this time it didn’t just contain itself to his gut. It spun throughout his body, crackled from his fingertips and got behind his eyes in a fuzzy sort of rage. He screamed, aiming at the man on the horsa.

“LET HER GO!” A wave of the hot electricity shot from the place between his eyes and the man dragging the girl did. He was thrown high and hard against the large stone building from behind which the girl had emerged. The force was enough to flatten the man against the stone, crushing his body. When the body of Khazal at last landed on the ground, his helmet was in ruins, as if a blacksmith had warmed it and had then taken ten huge swings at it with his largest hammer. His head was still inside.

But Erich saw none of this. He turned to the knights who had ridden out to face him here, in the middle of the street. They were scrambling, pulling their swords from their hips, eyes wide in fear. The leader’s mouth was opening and closing stupidly, and he shook his head in unbelief as Erich made eye contact with him.

“I warned you! And you ignored me!”

One of the knights had his sword free, and his face opened up in an expression of shocked triumph. He was going to be able to kill the boy!

A moment later, as the power that rode the Dark boy was released in a giant wave aimed at them, the knight with the sword was reeling through the air, even though he felt the horsa between his legs. His last thought as the boy’s hot power fried his brain was that it wasn’t supposed to be like this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end, he was going to kill the boy…

They were all in the air now, all of them tumbling away from Erich as the place at the top of his nose played conduit for the power that escaped him. No, it wasn’t escaping; he was forcing it at them. And it filled him with an insane pleasure, cancelling out his rage almost immediately, making him weaker, and eventually dropping him to the ground as the last of it poured out. The knights were dead; he’d killed them all.

A tinge of regret rose up into the blanket of satisfaction, and flowered into a question Erich quickly suppressed. What am I? Some sort of monster?

The girl; he had to see if she was all right. He pushed himself up onto his elbows and then to his knees. With some effort he regained his footing and began to walk. It had started already, he felt that. His legs were rubbery, and he had to concentrate hard for them to move in the direction he wanted. I really killed myself over it this time; I’ll be asleep for a week. It seemed to take an age for him to walk to the girl, and when he did his mind escaped him. He stared at her, this bloody mess he’d seen minutes before standing up, shouting for him to get out of the road. She was pretty, he saw that. Her face was angelic, cheeks full and her lips small and pouty. Her skin was darker too. She was a Dark. Like him. Never mind that, is she alive? Erich puzzled over this for far too long, as he seemed to be losing control of his conscious mind. He did however notice by and by that she was breathing, just barely, and this got him onto a different train of thought. What to do. Stay here? No, they’d have more men after him and he was helpless now. Had to leave. Get out and hide somewhere. Take the girl with him.

It was all incredibly for difficult to him, thinking these thoughts. All he wanted to do was rest, lay his head down on the cobblestones and let his mind drift away, into the sleep he yearned for. He shook off the temptation and wandered over to his horsa. It sensed his trouble and began walking back with him, and Erich leaned on its flank. He had to get the girl up on the horsa, then manage to put himself up there as well. He forgot, momentarily, what he was doing and why, and he stood motionless for several moments staring at the girl on the ground. Eventually he remembered, and though consciousness was excruciating, he managed to hoist the girl (oh how light she is, how pretty and light) up onto the horsa’s back. The horsa didn’t fuss, and Erich knew that all he had to do now was get on as well. It was difficult, but after three tries he managed to force his rubbery limbs to do what he told them to do. He kicked the horsa’s side half-heartedly, and laid his head on the horsa’s mane, arms dangling to the sides.

“Let’s go, friend.”

The horsa understood. It travelled well into the night, to the East, with the two unconscious figures on its back.