Convocation: The Battle Unseen Part One

By David Schipp

A bloody contest called – Dark, invisible creatures – Unraveling mystery – New alliances and betrayals – Friends lost and found – Hope and despair
The Storm Awakens series continues with Convocation...
The Contest has been called to determine the fate of a nation. Emily believes that there is much more at stake – perhaps the fate of the world. With her allies dwindling, she must continue to investigate her father’s involvement in her enemy’s affairs and how they invariably tangle with the Contest and the horrible creatures of her nightmares.
Sammy’s chains are nothing compared to the realization that he unwittingly gave the enemy what it has always desired. Bringing him to this dungeon had always been its purpose, having him show Jasham the truth had always been its desire. Now Jasham has seen the true face of his master and it has sent him mad and allowed it to possess him utterly. As the enemy moves to complete its plan, Sammy remains, powerless to stop it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Schipp
• Release date: Mar 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9780987224972

David Schipp

David J Schipp lives on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. He is an emergency nurse, musician and software designer. Currently he is completing his fourth work of fiction, is writing a non-fictional work relating to music recording and completing an application that allows for the remote controlling of music software.

Book preview

Convocation

(or The Battle Unseen Part One)

By David J. Schipp

Copyright 2014 David J.Schipp

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Also by the author:

When the Storm Awakens

The Lightning Finish

The Servant of the Black Horde

To contact the author and view updates and maps, visit the facebook page When the Storm Awakens.

A bloody contest called – Dark, invisible creatures – Unraveling mystery – New alliances and betrayals – Friends lost and found – Hope and despair

The Storm Awakens series continues with Convocation…

The Contest has been called to determine the fate of a nation. Emily believes that there is much more at stake – perhaps the fate of the world. With her allies dwindling, she must continue to investigate her father’s involvement in her enemy’s affairs and how they invariably tangle with the Contest and the horrible creatures of her nightmares.

Sammy’s chains are nothing compared to the realization that he unwittingly gave the enemy what it has always desired. Bringing him to this dungeon had always been its purpose, having him show Jasham the truth had always been its desire. Now Jasham has seen the true face of his master and it has sent him mad and allowed it to possess him utterly. As the enemy moves to complete its plan, Sammy remains, powerless to stop it.

What has gone before…

When the Storm Awakens

Jim Fletcher had no idea how he got there, lying injured and alone in the dark with dire mysteries around him. But he is not as alone as he had feared. He finds three others – Lewis, Sammy and Emily - all on the brink of death and desperate, all searching for answers and escape – all fighting for survival. The four learn that they are inside a deserted underground military base – the Installation.

Daniel is the last of the Watchers. His father is dying before his eyes, begging for one last journey with his son. Across a dry and desolate plain, a days walk, are the Stairs, the place of the Sleepers, and the tower that stands over it as a silent sentinel. They were to wait for the Sleepers to emerge like their forefathers had done – but this is a trip like no other. Daniel’s father does not survive the journey and when the young man carries his father’s body to the place of Watching, he finds the four waiting.

The Sleepers have awoken.

Daniel brings them back to his village but their presence is not received well by all. They run headlong into the landlord – Delvore - a man bent on forcing them from the town. With each meeting they are pushed inexorably toward disaster and murder. They receive help from many in the village – Joanna (Daniel’s mother), Boyes and his wife Amelia, and the elder Laydon. In the process of gathering supplies from the Installation they stumble upon another of their kind – Mitchell, a young soldier.

Someone is watching them. The law-keeper, a judge named Tobias, seems to have an agenda all his own and his machinations mean trouble for the four. He is prepared to kill to achieve his goals. Using a spy, Ryan, and making a deal with the dying landlord, Tobias arranges the murder of one of their friends – Thom - and blames the four. All seems lost and death is near when Jim speaks a word that changes the situation entirely.

Separated from the others, Mitchell and Joanna travel to the Installation and hide. Four soldiers awaken soon after and Mitchell helps them.

There is a presence that is following them, guiding them, and speaking beyond the grave. The four do not understand it, or know what it wants, but for now it seems that it is on their side.

They journey across a mountain, over a lake and into the hands of bandits. There is a desperate battle that leads to Daniel taking a near mortal wound for another of the judges, Avolio. He has been manipulated into voting with Tobias though he knew it was unjust. Now, with the young man’s life in the balance and with the debt of life hanging over his head, Avolio desperately tries to help them. They journey onwards to a sea that should not exist and there Daniel is saved by a foreign doctor, one of the people from the north, one of the Villers.

Daniel is visited twice by the ghost of his lost love, Marianna, who inspires him to save Avolio. She gives him a charm – a Flame – that signifies a secret and outlawed society.

Warships sit in a harbour to the south of the capital, far more than allowed, and some become concerned that there is treachery afoot – that the Villers have other things in mind than renewing old treaties.

The king is unaware and those that advise him are either ignorant or misleading. So, while waiting for his appeal, Jim calls out to the king, warning him of the danger of the Villers and in the process alerting the monarch to their plight.

Meeting the king finally, Sammy gives him a book that he had found in the Installation – but the king does not understand it’s importance.

When the Viller ambassador arrives in order to re-iterate the treaty he is unaware of developments in the south. The king becomes disquieted, but the treaty must be signed at any cost.

Avolio, on returning to the city challenges a rival to his wife’s attentions. In a drunken rage he kills the man – a fellow Judge and leader of an outlawed faction, the Flame. Avolio, now a broken man, seeks help from Tobias and Ryan. He learns soon after that the murder had been planned and sanctioned by the Chief Justice and that he was to be the scape-goat of the judiciary. He also learns that there is a coup being planned by two factions of the government, and that invasion is indeed the plan of the Villers – to be aided by traitors. Against these odds the king cannot hope to prevail.

Jim and his friends, allied with the Royal Guards – led by the captain, Beverad and his lieutenants Vincent, Kash and Tye – are warned by Avolio but are unable to stop what is inevitable or warn the king. They formulate a bold and secretive plan to gather the monarch and his family and escape the city. They have in mind the Stairs as their destination - for the king has a key to the secrets of the Installation and the redemption of the Sleepers that still remain in the cold, dark underground.

The signing of the treaty is irrevocably destroyed by the assassination of the ambassador and war is quickly declared - showing all the means by which invasion could be assured. Lewis is named the murderer after the machinations of Tobias and the ambassador’s assistant, Zizza, bear fruit - and he is killed in front of his friends by Vincent. It is a ploy however, to gain time - he is not dead but ferried north by ship - a decoy for the benefit of their enemies.

In the preparations of their plans, Jim learns that the Villers are after more than just the kingdom. They need the key that the king possesses as surely as Jim needs it. It becomes clear their goal is the Installation as well and what is behind the door that the key would open.

Visited by Laydon, Mitchell and Joanna learn that Watchers has been taken over by Delvore’s son, Carl. On his return the elder is captured and Mitchell and his men travel to the village to liberate Laydon and Carl’s sister, Victoria (who had previously been involved with Lewis and thereby was allied to the four). Mitchell and Victoria are betrayed and he is captured along with Laydon.

The warning bells ring over the city - the Viller warships arrive and the conspirators make their move, advancing on the palace with treason on their minds.

Emily is accidentally poisoned – taking a deadly brew instead of Jim – and is saved only by Ryan’s timely intervention. It is clear that she cannot travel but Jim will not allow her to be left behind. She is administered the antidote by Kara – Amelia’s sister).

The Villers do not attain their prize - it has vanished inexplicably out from under their noses. After two bloody and desperate battles, Jim and his friends flee the city in three different directions with the Villers sure to be bearing after them like a juggernaut.

The Lightning Finish

Jim Fletcher, Vincent and Avolio, heading firstly north and then east, are pursued by the Viller general, Kestava. They are caught sometime later but it is trap. Kestava, his Lieutenant and some of the local soldiers are caught. One of the general’s men is revealed to be a guardsman, placed specifically to learn from the Viller officer, and also that Vincent himself was known to the general in the same arrangement some time in the past.

Sammy, Beverad, Boyes, Amelia and the king and his family head east and then south by river, where Sammy experiences a miraculous healing by the hand of Amelia. Arriving finally at the upper-lake town, they find the mountain pass has been washed away by the recent heavy rainfall. Returning to the town, the Villers, led by General Ducat, arrive to capture them. Amelia provides a second healing: the afflicted princess is returned to normal.

Emily and Kara are captured by the Villers and Emily’s grey band is extracted – the process burning her badly. Kyra is examined by a Viller Guide, Varhia, who introduces a spiritual infection that changes her. Emily develops a life-threatening infection and Kara coldly wishes to amputate the affected limb, only to be stopped by the Viller Prince, Tusajan, who is feeling guilty about his involvement in her torture. Emily is visited by Daniel’s dead love – Marianna - and given the strength to survive.

Lewis, shipwrecked on the northern coast, is taken by two guardsmen, Kash and Nepas, further north to Khobar. There they reside with an ex-guardsman/merchant, Stir. Lewis is trained with the sword, skills that are put to the test when the house is attacked by Villers. The Viller fleet has been chasing them from the city, finally catching them at Khobar, but one Viller is interested in Lewis’s band: the councillor Vrythoff.

Tobias returns to the palace after the invasion. He is found to be a Viller, an advisor to the king: Jasham. With Ryan’s help, he travels south to attempt to reach the Installation before Jim and the others.

Matthew Fletcher awakes in the Installation a slave long before his father Jim’s awakening. He quickly makes an important friend, but that friendship places him in danger from a group of slaves bent on escape.

Beverad leads his people into a risky venture to escape the town, one that almost leads to disaster. Only the timely arrival of Jim and Vincent changes the balance of the battle. Ducat and Zizza escape, but Jim finds Emily’s band and fears the worst. The mountain pass is repaired and the party travel over to Watchers. Princess Kyra exposes her relationship to Beverad and that Jim had spoken to her prior to her healing.

Mitchell, in trying to rescue Laydon, is captured by Carl along with Victoria. His men, learning what had happened, liberate the township and a siege ensures around the Delvore estate. Jim and the king return and force Carl to give up his position. Plans are made to move the population over to the Installation. Jim and others travel over to make preparations, but discover something is amiss.

Emily begins along the road of recovery, finding that her anger of Tusajan has waned after he gives her assistance. The king calls for her, but the prince refuses, until a dream has him change his mind. Kara is taken north by Varhia and then to Viller by sea.

Lewis and the guardsmen are taken alive, but are saved by Vrythoff. Taken to the northern port, they await news of what the Viller wants with them.

Matthew is forced into breaking into the Installation in order to steal a truck for their escape. In the process the commander of the Installation is killed and another steps in to take his place – one that will help and hinder them.

The population of Watchers is transported to the Installation and preparations are made to defend the base. Jim sets about restoring the computer systems and then, with the help of the gold band of the king, waking people to help him. The first of the newcomer soldiers are recovered. Jim also wakes Sammy’s family but is driven mad by the discovery of his own family missing. In his aimless wanderings he discovers what the Villers are after: weapons of immense and terrible power.

Matthew Fletcher discovers that his father, Jim, developed the computer systems of the Installation and that he can break into them. Using this knowledge he allows the slaves to escape, leaving only himself and his friend to face the new commander.

Kestava and his men are held in the Installation but escape. It becomes clear that they had help and suspicion is laid upon the guardsman that had been with Kestava. Princess Kyra also cannot be found and the king refuses to help in the extraction of the weapons that Jim had located. Beverad, too, abandons his post to search for her.

The Villers arrive and lay siege to the Installation. The first assaults are repelled easily, but it soon becomes clear that the enemy has modern weapons as well. When the use of the same weapons as Jim has found are employed, the situation looks dire. Halting only to give the defenders the opportunity to surrender the king, the enemy looks to win the battle.

Beverad finds the princess in the company of Jasham, Ryan, Kestava and a man that has been clearly extracted from below. Messarah, Kestava’s guardsman, turns on Beverad and allows them to escape, catching them at the top of the stairwell. The exit for Jasham is blocked. Ryan halts Beverad’s advance by cutting Kyra’s throat and throwing her into his arms. There is an explosion above and Jasham and his men escape.

Sammy, understanding now that Jim is the one that he had to give his book to, does so. Jim believes then that he is the one to stop the Villers. He enters the battle as the defenders are hard pressed.

Mitchell convinces the king to extract the powerful weapons, but just in time. The Villers are forced back but the battle is once again halted as Jim and the Viller king face each other on the hill. A storm is gathering from the south. Lighting is flashing in the sky.

Emily, Tusajan and his assistant Splaine, travel south and arrive at the battlefield. She sees Jim and the king begin the fight. This was part of the dream that Tusajan had that inspired him to bring her there.

The slaves of the Installation are chased down and killed. Only one remained alive and escaped: Cready, their leader.

Jim fights the king, but is outclassed. The king delivers a mortal wound but discovers that Jim is not the king. As he is about to pull free his sword and deliver the final stroke the Viller king and Jim are struck by lightning.

The Viller army are decimated by lightning from the storm. Only Zizza and the Viller crown-prince, Vaikutu escape, but only after discarding their swords. Beverad holds the princess’s life in his hands. He gets help but she looks to have lost a considerable amount of blood and will die. Sammy’s wife, Neha, a surgeon, tries to save her life. Lewis is taken to Viller by Vrythoff – along with Kash and Nepas. Emily reaches Jim’s side moments before his breathes his last. Jim takes hold of Emily’s Flame – previously owned by Kara – and dies.

The Servant of the Black Horde

Daniel’s dead love, Marianna, finds herself in the Watchers lake, drowning. She returns to her village to find it empty and strange. Something is happening at the other side of the plain and she investigates. A group of fleeing black creatures almost run her down but she is saved by a crazed man. He takes her to the Stairs – the Installation - and the tower and there learns that he is named Jim and he knows her family. They are soon joined by Daniel’s father, Samuel, and the judge Spelg, who she had known from the city. Jim is clearly insane and insists that Samuel has something to give him, some information. It soon becomes clear that they are all dead – resurrected into a strange form of purgatory.

Jasham’s history is revealed – from his humble beginnings and awakening of power after finding the Book – to his time in Watchers as a friend of Tobias the judge.

One year after the Viller invasion, Avolio, Victoria and Vincent are at Khobar – a northern city - searching for Lewis, Kara and the guardsmen. They receive the information that he been searching for: that all four had been taken to Viller. Vincent also learns that Stir had lied to him and that the merchant had been involved in Lewis and the guardsmen’s abduction.

Emily learns from Mitchell that a man was taken from the Installation during the battle and that man could have been her father. Tusajan, her new husband, gets a visitor from Viller: a massager and assassin, Nazia, who informs him that he must contest the throne of Viller as the law dictates. He initially does not tell Emily but soon relents. Nazia, it appears, is known quite well by Splaine.

Daniel travels to the city from Watchers to tell Boyes – now Prime Minister – that the Company is causing economic trouble for the region. Boyes sends Daniel back to Watchers with a message. One of the newcomer soldiers travels with him with a message of his own for the Installation. On the journey they are attacked and the soldier is wounded. Daniel discovers the importance of the soldier’s message.

Matthew Fletcher, many years after the events of the break out, is in the capitol, Mharum, working for an ex-commander of the Installation as a councillor in the government. He has a son, James, that works in the palace, and who has been visited by one of Matthew’s old acquaintances: Cready.

Beverad, abandoning his post after deducing that the princess would not survive her wound, pursues the murderer to the sea. Joined by Byrne (an employee of Avolio) and a newcomer soldier, the three travel north by ship. They discover a mystery in another ship run aground.

Lewis, having travelled to Viller with Vrythoff, finds himself bodyguard to the Viller’s niece. Returning after visiting a Viller councillor, they find Vrythoff’s house ablaze. Lewis discovers that the girl is a princess and goes into the fire, returning soon after announcing that Kash, Nepas and the princess had perished in the house.

Jim, Marianna, Samuel and Spelg return to Watchers and Jim leaves them, heading to the farm. There he speaks to Samuel before he died – encouraging him to make the journey to the Installation with Daniel. On returning to the town, he finds that black creatures have captured Marianna and the two men. His sword proves a potent weapon against the creatures. After rescuing them, he leads them back to the Installation and there they meet Jim, freshly woken from the sleepers. Samuel is sent to give his message. Jim realises then what they have been sent to do.

Stir tries to have Avolio and Vincent killed but is thwarted. Genty (another employee of Avolio) kills the man on Victoria’s orders. The group then send word to the capitol detailing what they had learnt.

The Company Chairman has plans that involve rebellion and revolution by halting food and supplies from reaching Mharum. Boyes, Mitchell and the king prepare for the worst, sending the royal family from the city. The king remains.

James Fletcher is recruited into a rebellion and gives the rebels access to the palace. There he is to capture a young princess but something has gone wrong. When the plan changes to murder he has a hard decision to make.

Daniel manages to help the soldier to a nearby town, and there kills men that were chasing them. Daniel takes the mission onward to Watchers, leaving the soldier behind in the care of a healer – Ciara - one that knows more than she is telling.

Emily dreams a very much alive Jim, fighting dark creatures. She is told that she must go to Viller and she, in turn, tells Jim and those with him that the man taken from the sleepers was her father.

Alexander, Emily’s father, is taken to the coast and then north by sea. Jasham tells them all that he has power and will give them a share. They all, including Alexander, agree to help him. Heading north they are about to be attacked by a pirate vessel and Jasham reveals his power.

Emily and Sammy, along with many others, travel north to Khobar with the plan to go to Viller – each with a separate mission. Whilst sailing to the Alliance lands they discover a stow-away: Kyra. She had not died as Beverad had believed. Splaine and Nazia’s past are revealed and have many complications. Nazia agrees to take on Victoria as a pupil. Once in the Alliance lands they travel inland to the Viller territories. They are attacked by the Alliance, but are saved only by the presence of Sammy and his grey band.

The Viller king is distressed to hear of his sister’s death, but it is clear that he was the one to order it. Zizza is called to the morgue and finds the body of the assassin he sent to do the dark deed. The body was not recovered burnt in Vrythoff’s house, but stabbed in an alley near the docks.

James saves the princess, and, along with a palace guard named Pinello, get her safely to Matthew’s house. There Matthew, clearly angry, sends his son and wife, Pinello and the princess away while he deals with the rebels. At his employer’s house he discovers who was responsible. Matthew is dragged into the rebellion, forcing the council to be disbanded. With the king and his family dead, the rebels take control of the city.

Jim and the others are forced to flee once again from the dark creatures, now called the Black Horde, after Samuel speaks briefly to the image of Emily on the hill. They discover the events of Jasham’s escape from the Installation, see Kyra’s wounding, observe the man taken from below and witness the moment when Jasham calls the top of the stairwell to be pulled away – it was caused by the Horde. Jim decides that someone must hear of it.

Beverad and Byrne track down Jasham to a house full of books, owned by the man. It had been recently vacated. They learn something of their enemy and uncover more mysteries.

Kestava and Jasham arrive at the Viller capitol. The general returns to his estate to find that his nephew had run it down. Forced initially to hide his identity, the recklessness of the young man inspires Kestava to take a more direct approach. Ryan, on his way to give instructions to the general, sees an old friend.

Vrythoff, spiralling into a depression after the death of his niece, becomes ineffective, and Lewis tells him the truth: that the fire took no lives. Kash, Nepas and the princess had escaped, but the assassin – who had started the fire – was closing into to finish them. Lewis attacked the man and the fight raged down to the docks where Lewis was the victor.

James, his mother and Pinello escape to the mountains, and there, in a secluded valley, hide from the rebellion. After many years James marries the princess and Pinello raises an army. The queen-in-hiding returns to the city and visits an old ally: Matthew Fletcher.

At Watchers, Jim sends Samuel to the farm where he helps Laydon find Joanna. Returning to the others, Samuel is angry at Jim and strikes him. They are separated – Jim and Samuel to the city and Marianna and Spelg into the wilderness. Jim talks to Kyra and then Sammy’s wife. Marianna talks to Daniel and gets herself stabbed in his dream – the act inspiring him to save Avolio.

Kestava and Messarah travel to the Island of the Guides to find something that Jasham desires. Kestava is found out but his secret is kept. Messarah witnesses the rites of the Guides.

Beverad and Byrne arrive at the Viller capitol and begin to search for Jasham and Ryan. Locating them, they wait to make their move.

Varhia, having brought Kyra to the Island, discovers that she is more powerful than he imagined and there is a dark prophesy around her. The other guides sense this too.

Emily and Sammy arrive at the Viller capitol and attend a ball in honour of their arrival. Zizza tells Nazia some bad news. The contest is called and Tusajan learns of his sister’s death. Tusajan talks to Vrythoff in order to form an alliance.

Matthew, James and Pinello speak to the warlord who controls the city - that it is about to be taken from him. The warlord plans his defence.

Daniel arrives at the Installation and gives his message to the soldiers there. Plans are made to march upon the city and save Mitchell and the king.

Ryan goes to Tusajan’s house and begins his mission. Beverad and Byrne, who are following Ryan, lose him in the crowd. Kestava and Messarah return to the Island to retrieve someone - finding the guides all slain save one: a woman. They take her to Jasham. Emily and Tusajan return from the ball and find their friends missing and the house-staff all dead. Tusajan calls to Vrythoff for help.

Jim and the others are found again by the Horde, drawn in by the presence of a dreaming Emily. They tell her what they know and she tells them of her father. Jim fights the Horde and receives many wounds, but manages to kill them all except one: their captain. Chasing the creature from the palace, he follows it into a house where he meets someone dear to him from the past.

Sammy and the others wake in a dungeon under Kestava’s estate house. They are visited by Ryan, who explains how they got there; Kyra, who taunts Avolio; and finally Jasham himself, who asks about Sammy’s book. On learning that it is still at Mharum, Jasham thinks that he has won. Sammy starts to quote his book and Jasham hits him and they both receive the gift of sight.

Byrne is attacked from behind in the street whilst searching for the missing members of his party.

Jasham flees the house as the gift is horrifying. The truth of it reveals the lies that his book has been telling him. Returning to his house to confront the power with that truth, he is overwhelmed and becomes its servant utterly.

Part Seven: Convocation

Chapter One

The steel-grey, silent and still sea mirrored the sky. The air was still and this was why his people preferred the small colour of their camp, surrounded by the bubble that held back this unfinished construct.

The border was far behind him – the camp now but a memory. His colleges, his countrymen, were no help to him here, at the southern border of the Land of Light. Here hope was a shining beacon around such darkness. His people were not needed here, at least only when necessary, and thus were stationed at the border. There they kept the darkness back, protected light and hope. But here, they only came when the darkness strayed northward, as it had now. He could almost smell it: the rot, the putrid stink of decay.

He dropped into the township, on the outskirts, and hunted the intruder - walking the deserted, silent streets alone. He caught its scent down by the water as still as glass. It was near and it was working – he could almost hear its words of doubt, or self-recrimination. He knew its name then, he knew its power.

He checked his dented and tarnished armor, examined his sword, and prepared himself to wield it. And then, with a deep breath of stagnant air, he stepped out of the grey and into the sunlight.

He was there then, almost into the real world where men and women lived and died, breathing their air and soaking in their sun. It was intoxicating and addictive, and he could not linger long. It was not the place for such as he - for he inhabited the other world where such things were a dream and a trap.

Shapes came in and out of focus now, people moved around him, through him, unknowing of his presence. He could not pay them heed - he had only one purpose here.

Gab had trusted him with this task and he could not fail, he dared not. Another miss-step and he would be taken from the border and he could not bear that.

Striding now down the road filled with people, carts and animals, he approached the docks – slowing only when they came into sight.

Boats lined the docks, their sails all furled away, their desk full of crates and barrels and business. The wharf was all activity too – men and goods seemed to be in constant motion, on and off carts and ships.

He waited now, watching the scene carefully, sniffing the air for his target. There it was, moving off the dock and stepping onto dry land – protected land. They did not come here, they knew the consequences – and perhaps that was why there was but one of them. Perhaps it hoped to sneak in and spread its poison undetected. But it had been detected and Hez has been sent to deal with it.

Still he waited. It made little sense to simply challenge it quickly without knowing its purpose. Once that had been determined then he would send it back to the dark lands, send it southward.

It was not alone. They never were. It was walking behind another, its arm around them, whispering in their ear. He could hear its words now, those soul destroying words of doubt. Hez was sure who it was now.

That other was a human. He was larger than the others and dark-skinned like the natives of the Land of Light, but different in other ways. This did not concern Hez – no, what interested him was the fact that the creature had chanced to come here to speak to this man. He had some importance, it was clear, but this was beyond Hez’s ken. He had not been briefed on this.

He considered his options. He could not strike upon the creature so close to the human – both would be cleaved by his sword. The human would be destroyed with all surety but the creature would live on, sent southward, its pride alone suffering a wound. Hez’s only chance for a satisfactory outcome was to draw the creature away, but it would not be easily fooled or distracted.

Hez skirted the pair, ensuring that he was not seen, and prepared to challenge it, hoping that it would break from its victim for but a moment.

Then he heard it. There was a tremendous shout, a flurry of angry words – or curses. Hez turned. Something – someone - moved with great speed. He saw a flash of red that matched the heat of the words, arching through the air with such ferocity that he felt himself step backwards.

That redness sliced through the creature and the man without hindrance. Behind it the creature slid apart, falling and landing twice upon the cobble-stones of the street. There it began to liquefy, turning into a steaming, stinking puddle of black. Its head was last, its expression holding the same as that which had formed on Hez’s face. The man continued, untouched by the redness, unaffected by the state of the creature behind him.

It had only been a heart-beat or two and it was over. The creature was gone, the man had continued on his way and now the redness was fading, becoming silver shining in the sun. The silver was marred with black, by the blood of the creature, but even that was fading, boiling away from the perfection of the blade.

The silver, he could see now, was the steel of a sword.

And the sword was held by a man.

Hez had little time to take him in for he had turned his gaze in Hez’s direction. Moments later he was walking over, his sword out and ready. Hez was not prepared for this: a weapon that was proof against the creature – one of the Fallen – capable of banishing the beast back to the pit from whence it came. He had no idea what the sword would do to him.

Gab had to know of this and if he was dead then who would tell this tale.

He turned and threw himself into the air, towards the camp and the border and his commander.

The man behind him was shouting, calling something, but Hez was too far away to catch his words or their meaning.

***

They say that at the end of your life it passes before like a procession of failures and triumphs. This was not the case for Erika. Perhaps it was that she did not believe that she was truely dead. Perhaps it was because she believed that she had one last task to preform.

Her life had changed abuptly. It had been torn from her without reason. One moment she was with her family - her husband - her boys - and the next she was thrust into a nightmare.

In a matter of moments everything that she had come to know was gone - replaced by confusion and toil. And she was alone.

Hope had been hard to hang onto in the years that she was a slave. She had all but relinquished her faith for there was no place for it in the world to which she was thrust. More than that, she was angry that she has been abandoned - no, she was furious! She had believed that she would be held by the one that she trusted right until the end of time, but in the cold, hard world of the labour camps and the slave lines she had found that to be a false hope. Three years after being woken cold, sick and alone she had given into dispair. She stopped hoping, she stopped loving, stopped believing in the things that she could not see - things that could save her.

She watched as the people of her time were used, were exploited. They were slaves to a new world that cared little for what the past had to offer. Only their strong backs were needed - and her people were worked into the grave.

One night she called up into the sky to someone that she had trusted and yet had abandoned her. Her anger had not abated, and with venom and spite she called:

If you are there... if you care... if you give a damn about us, then send us someone. Send us a man that can set us free...

She found herself in the house of a Company man, a good man that looked after his slaves well. It was better then the lines but by then the years had not been kind. Two summers into her stay in the man’s house she became a liability.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. She was doing some menial task, something befitting her health - scrubbing floors - when he walked by. She looked up momentariliy and their eyes met. He kept walking, his face showing recognition. Later, when he came from her master’s study and passed her again (she made sure she was there when that happened) he took a second - and longer - look.

Then she knew she was right.

He was older than she rembered him, but then so was she - but he was not any where near her age now. He had been woken after her - at least twenty years later. His presence gave her hope, for if he was here then...

It appeared that the recogition was mutual, for he had stopped and was looking down at her with tears in his eyes.

Erika? he asked.

Her savior had come in the form of her husband’s friend - Major Adam Lefevre. He bought her, took her out of her master’s house and gave her freedom.

This should have been enough to give her joy but there was more: Matthew, her son, had also been found. Lefevre had saved him as he did her. There was still no sign of Jimmy or John and Lefevre had told her not to hope to see them again. She argued differently, for hadn’t two faces from the past found her.

Matthew married a newcomer called Alana and they soon had a child, a boy, named after her husband: James Fletcher. As James grew in size, Matthew grew in influence. Soon he and Lefevre were heavilly involved in the government and it seemed that her prayers had been finally answered.

Could she dare? Could she ask for just one more thing?

Years dragged on and it seemed that nothing was going to change. The people of this new country were never going to give up their free workforce and the men that supplied the slaves continued to send them out year after year. Matthew was a driven man. He tirelessly worked for the freedom of their people - all to no avail. Change would never come - at least not in her lifetime.

Now she was well into her sixties - older than any newcomer had lived - frail and bedridden. Her time was almost at an end and she had not had an answer to the prayer that she needed most answered.

She was now just as afraid of a ‘yes’ as she was for a ‘no’. Certainly ‘not yet’ was all she had been given up till then. If Jim came to her would he be still young or as old as she was now? Was she foolish to hope, even now, on the impossible? Jim may have already lived, or he may be still yet to come. Either way it was too late and she needed to accept it.

There were voices - hushed but no less angry, no less urgent. Matthew was talking to James. She heard his name several times. Something was amiss - the hour told that. Then there were more adding to the spirited discussion in the main room of the house.

Their residence was in the poorer part of the city. Matthew could have afforded better - he was doing well despite his station - but his decission to stay near the slave pens was understandable. He felt the same way as she did. The house had only a few rooms. She was in the one in the back, behind the kitchen. She could hear them all talking from the common room.

The argument went on for some time and she could hear another voice now - a man’s voice - unexpectedly accented.

She wanted to get up and see what was amiss but she could not. The power to walk had long since departed from her and she no longer had the strength to even stand.

She found her eyes growing heavy again when the voices died down and she drifted off to sleep.

She did not wake up again in that mortal life.

She was somewhat surprised when she woke up young and without the infermities that had so dogged her this last ten years. She knew immediately what had happened. Her time had come.

But, as she quickly realized, she had not moved on - she had not departed this world for the next. It was this alone that told her that she still had work to do.

She waited and waited and nothing came to her. She did not understand but she knew that whatever it was that she had to do would come to her. What it was she did not expect.

She could not have known that the walls were not solid. She could not have known that she could have walked right throught them. But she could have because someone did it, right in front of her.

That someone had skin like midnight that sucked all of the light and heat from the air. It smelt like rotting meat and exuded an air of utter evil. She recoiled, backing up against the chair that she had risen from, finding herself seated again.

The creature offered a sly smile and looked back to where it entered. She could not move - the fear that she felt from the being was overwealmimg. Yet it did not move to attack her - it had something else on its mind.

Then, as quickly as it came, it stepped through the wall and vanished leaving her alone again.

But was she alone?

Someone else had come through the wall where the creature had emerged. He was in his mid forties, greying slighy, tall and muscular. He held in his hand a red, hot sword, almost on fire, angry. She knew him. She knew him well. He was the answer to her last prayer.

He did not see her at first. His attention was clearly upon the creature that had moved out of the room and he went to follow. That was until she spoke - more a gasp of utter surprise than real words...

Jim?

He stopped mid-step and turned to her. His eyes had still not recognized her. He did not expect to see her just as she had not expected him.

She spoke again - louder, more confident. It was because the creature had gone and she knew that Jim Fletcher would never allow her to come to harm.

Jimmy...

This was how she knew she was dead. It was all too perfect.

Jim was draped over the lower half of her body, his head resting upon her belly. They were both naked on the bed in her room. The sheets were rough, scratchy against her skin. The wall was hard and cold, solid now.

The room was never this colourful. The claybrick walls were vivid blue - not the incipid pale shade she remembered. The shelves had jars and boxes of reds and yellows. Maybe her eyes had failed to see them as they were. Maybe she wasn’t alive then. Maybe she was now - really alive. It cirtainly felt it.

Jim was moaning contentedly as he traced his lips upwards. She ran her fingers gently down his back over the scars that marred his skin. They were new - perhaps a month old - white and irregular.

You know, Jim said, looking up with a wide and wicked grin, if I wasn’t already dead, I’d say that I’d died and gone to heaven.

They had wasted little time. Jim took only seconds to search for the creature - he called it the ‘Horde-Captain’ - and once satisfied, returned to her.

They said nothing - choosing instead to let their souls speak through their bodies. It was only after that the questions came.

I think I’m going to stay here forever, he added.

She had to agree it was a tempting thought - even if it were possible. If only we could, she replied with a smile.

He sat up sharply, looking into her eyes. The scar above his eye was red and angry like it was in flames. He opened his mouth to speak but almost immediately closed it again.

You know we can’t, she continued, losing the smile, just like I know it. We’ve been given something special, Jimmy, but it can’t last. We both have things that we have to do.

What if I don’t want to? he said sharply. What if I think I’ve done enough? I’ve earned this. I’ve believed. I’ve fought. Hell, I’ve sacrificed myself for this cause.

He pulled himself up and rolled onto his back, resting his head upon the wall. She placed her head on his chest. His heart was strong and slow.

I’m just tired, he continued, the softness returning, not physically because I am dead, but I’m just tired of it all. Now you’re here and... It’s just not fair.

Don’t talk to me about fair, she said quietly.

Okay, point taken. But seriously, can’t we just...

She sighed. Hide from our responsibilities? I don’t think we could - even if we wanted to. You believe now, Jimmy, and there’s no going back now. You’re part of things just as I am. People are counting on you.

He grunted sourly in agreement. Well, there’s one good thing about being dead…

And what’s that?

Time doesn’t work the same here as it does in the real world. That means that we could spend a year in this bed and it wouldn’t mean a thing back there.

You want to spend a year in bed? she asked him archly.

We have a lot of lost time to make up. Speaking of being here... Shouldn’t I have wings or something?

Wings...? She chuckled.

Well... I’m on heaven’s team now, right? I’m killing devils or demons or whatever they are. Doesn’t that make me a...

He waved his hand suggestively and she laughed at him.

You think you’re an angel? It doesn’t work that way.

Are you sure? – ‘Cos right now I feel positively angelic.

What about before? she asked him playfully and he grinned back at her in that way that made her heart leap. When he looked like that she knew what was coming next.

What will you do now? she asked, quickly changing the subject.

Were getting down to buisness, are we? Oh well, I suppose it had to come sooner or later. He looked up to the roof in thought. I don’t know really. I suppose I’ll go looking for the others eventually. After that... We’ve done what we set out to do, and that was to tell Emily about the guy Tobias took out. I’m pretty sure we delivered all the messeges. What about you?

I think this was what I had to do… she suggested, …to talk to you. I think now I’ve got to move on.

You sure? he asked regretfully. I’ve just got used to your company and now you have to go. I’m not sure I like this idea.

She shook her head. I don’t think it’s up to either of us. I’ve done what I had to do. I brought up our boys to do the right thing - and I helped Matthew...

She stopped. She hadn’t told him.

Good, I’m sure he needed it, Jim said. Mind you he had Lefevre and that pretty girl with him.

She gasped. You know?

Ah, yeah, Jim admitted sheepishly. I saw him in a... in a vision. He must have done well because later on there’s a king named James Fletcher - and I assume...

His son - our grandson.

She could barely believe how far the young man would go. He seemed aimless and Matthew was dispairing. King!

And, well, the king that I knew was related to me, Jim added. Us Fletchers had taken over. Did you find Johnny?

She shook her head.

He was gone when I went looking for him, he said finally.

There was something on her mind - something bothering her. There were connections forming between all the players in this story that were too complex for her to fathom. Everything was joined together in a web of events.

That being the case, then this meeting was important. And, therefore, this meeting had significance in all other events that had, and were, to come.

There’s more for you to do, Jimmy, she told him. I don’t know what it is, but it’s out there. You say that you believe now - well, this is what you have to believe: that whatever it is, you have been selected - you have been picked - because you are the man to deal with it.

She looked up at him, willing with all the power in her eyes for him to understand. Whatever belief he had it was new, but these were old and deep matters. But then, perhaps he did not have to fully understand. Perhaps he just needed to obey.

He raised an eyebrow at her. You’re starting to sound like Sammy now, he said, almost accusingly.

Then he’s wiser than you give him credit for. I’ll have to go soon - I don’t want to, but it’s not up to me - and then you’ll be back to where you started. You can stay here until the end of time but I get the felling that until you do what you have to do you’ll never leave.

Jim laughed. Now you’re just talking in circles. Alright, he conceded, I get the point.

Whatever this Horde is up to, it is connected with Tobias and the man he took, she suggested. "That is,