Sword and Crown I - Beginning

Chapter 16 - Dark Souls

Eaglor was walking upstream. He calculated that Galoren and the others were at the Fariadorim shore about now. He smiled and remembered his early life as a young elf of thirty, vibrant and reckless and always being reprimanded by Galoren. But that was eighty years ago before he was assigned to the council. He had changed since then. Eaglor was wiser, sterner, more powerful and a greater baker than before. Now he has undertaken one of the most important missions of his century. This was far away from his old, humble bakery in Edoron. The world’s fate hung at their shoulders. He would not fail as he did before.

The clouds grew thicker and darker. He looked up at the sky and regretted his decision to put a barrier around Goldensson disallowing entry of foreign objects into it. His owls would be no use as the messages he would tie to them would not penetrate the shield. Another failure on his part. He drew up his hood and watched as the droplets go down. Soon the deluge was at its full and the rain was pouring hard. All his pointed ears heard were the splashing of the rain and the sound of the air whirring behind him.

He twirled around to see a black arrow shoot past him. Immediately he drew his slender sword and faced the enemy. Instead, he saw a ray of dark energy going straight for the ground he was standing. ‘Quick…’ was Eaglor’s last thought when the ground below him exploded, sending him flying. As he flew through the air, a cloaked figure appeared beside him with his pale sword ready to strike. Eaglor then twirled midair and said, “Irilea feria terada!”. A cloak of fire enveloped Eaglor, causing the assailant to back away. Eaglor righted himself and landed on his feet, dissipating the flames around him. The fires sizzled as the rain hit it. Eaglor grimaced, “They knew that my feria would be weak when it is raining.”

 Suddenly the air around him moved. Eaglor gasped as a cloaked figure was already behind him, “So fast…” said Eaglor as he ducked, barely missing the singing blade. Eaglor swung up, down but the assailant parried. Eaglor recognized the cloak.

Riders!

Eaglor stabbed then swung horizontally, aiming to catch the rider by surprise. The rider ducked and stabbed while Eaglor was still swinging, knowing that Eaglor would be too late to draw back his sword to parry. Eaglor was almost caught with the blade. He sidestepped a second before the sword stabbed. With a flick of his wrist, Eaglor swung his blade down to behead the rider. Eaglor was sure that he got the rider. He blinked but was surprised that the rider was still alive and even blocked Eaglor’s sword. Eaglor was astonished at the rider’s speed considering that his attacks all took less than a second to perform. The riders had changed. Then the sound of the rain behind him was interrupted by another sound: the sound of another singing blade. Eaglor twirled downward to avoided the sword and he struck at the second rider’s feet. The rider jumped while the first rider attacked. Eaglor parried and sliced downward. The rider locked his sword with Eaglor’s while the second rider slashed downward midair.

“Damn”, cursed Eaglor as the distance between his head and the blade lessened. Eaglor had five seconds before the rider’s blade connects with his flesh. Eaglor had released his right hand from his sword, leaving his left hand holding his locked sword. He said, “Irilea feria!’ and his right hand was coated by fire. Two seconds, he punched the rider locking his sword with his ablaze hand, sending the first rider flying off. The rain put out the fire from his hand and Eaglor swung his sword upward to block the rider’s blade. The rider’s blade was only two feet from him. ‘Will I make it?” was his last thought before his mind was filled with the image of the sharp edge of the sword.

Eaglor blinked, clearing away the image of the blade. His mind was immediately bombarded with thoughts for the few milliseconds that his eyelids were closed. Questions like ‘Am I going to make it?’, ‘Will Galoren succeed?’ Eaglor brushed away the thoughts and opened his eyes.