Chapter 8: The Flight from Marntz
​
Cy and Jepp worked feverishly to load a small hand cart that had survived the explosion at Jepp’s store. April and the supplies they would need in their flight from the Obsidian Order had to be moved quickly, so the short trip had been made to retrieve it.
The two men had nearly finished their task when Cara spoke, “Someone’s coming.”
She had been standing at the front door, watching up and down the empty street that was lit only by Wellid’s amber crescent. Cy and Jepp turned to look in the direction she pointed. A dozen robed figures were moving toward them; the weapons they carried glinted in the pale moonlight.
“Jepp,” said Cy, “you and Cara get inside, now.”
Both his friends were moving before he finished speaking. They knew Cy, and they knew there could be no other option but to fight. As much as Cy detested violence, as much as he would have preferred to find some peaceful resolution, both of them recognized the weary resignation in his voice. The Obsidian Order would stop at nothing to get the Runestone, and Cy would do everything in his power to stop them.
“We know you have the Runestone,” said one of the robed men when they stopped a few paces from where Cy stood wearily facing them and dreading what he knew must happen next. The speaker was no lowly henchman. Of that, Cy was certain. His confidence marked the man as an adept, and he possessed an adept’s knowledge of the Runestone. That would make him a worthy adversary for Cy. The others would just be in the way, though, and Cy planned to use that fact to his advantage.
Every initiate in the Order was trained in the use of runic power. The planet’s very substance radiated it like a red-hot stove, and to tap into that stream of energy was to become very powerful. Only an adept such as the one facing him could defend against Cy’s ability to harness the energy of the Runestone, but that defense required intense concentration. The adept’s focus would be strained by the interaction with his own men’s bumbling use of the planet’s latent energy. To survive, Cy would have to rely on a flaw in the adept’s defense, a thing not yet shown to exist.
A signal to from the adept set his men in motion, circling to the left and right of Cy. These men were well trained, Cy could tell from their calculated movements. The odds against him seemed to increase by the minute, but Cy’s knowledge of the energy contained within the Runestone allowed him to see the adept’s mistake at the moment it was made. Cy's image wavered for an instant, then a blinding streak of energy shot up from the ground in many places at once. Huge tongues of electricity leaped and crackled and sizzled, filling the air with a loud buzzing and a thunderous clap of displaced air knocked down the adept and his men. Cy’s movements became an eccentric blur as one after another the men of the Order died in the onslaught.
Silence once again pervaded the night. The mangled forms of the adept and his men lay on the street, and Cy was nowhere to be seen. Peering from behind the now opened door of his house, Jepp saw the carnage Cy had wrought, and he shuddered slightly as he spoke in a low tone to Cara,”The strain on Cy is going to be tremendous. We have to be prepared to leave when he returns.”
Cara replied courageously, “I’ll be ready.”
Jepp and Cara continued to make preparations to leave. The small house had been their home for many years, and they didn’t cherish the thought of leaving it. Both knew the days ahead would hold much danger, but their friend needed help, and nothing would stop them from doing all they could to help him. For the moment, all they could do is wait for Cy to return.
Hours later a small noise at the door drew their attention. Jepp moved cautiously to open it, and Cy half-crawled, half-fell through. The constant strain of the past few hours showed plainly on Cy’s face. Blood was spattered across his clothes, and a wild look in his eyes betrayed the pain in his head. Jepp helped him to stand and cross the room to a chair where he collapsed. Cara’s potion had sustained him this far, but it was obvious the exertions he had gone through had drained him. It was all he could do to keep his eyes open, but Cy knew he couldn’t give in to the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm him.
Pain twisted Cy’s face into a grimace. “We have to go,” he said. “The Order won’t quit until it has the Runestone, and I can’t let that happen.”
“But Cy,” Cara started to protest, “you can’t go anywhere like this. You’re at the edge of collapse. You need to rest.”
“I can’t stop now, Cara. I must go on, for your sake and Jepp’s and April’s.” was Cy’s bitter reply. “Our futures depend on it and maybe the future of the entire world.”
Cara looked at Jepp and said, “He won’t make it unless I give him more of the potion, but I’m afraid of what it might do to him. Still, it’s the only thing I know of that might give him a chance.”
“Do it,” Jepp said tersely and went to get water for Cara.
Cara retrieved the vial she had used earlier so she could make more of the potion. She mixed it, using a little less of the powder than she would have under other circumstances. She knew how potent it was, and she didn’t want to risk giving Cy too much of it. The potion’s effect, while strengthening Cy, would put a tremendous strain on his body. Too much might kill him. The alternative would be for them to wait for Cy to recover naturally, but the Obsidian Order wouldn’t let that happen. Cara put the glass to Cy’s lips and held it as he drank. Then she told him to lie down and let the potion take effect.
Jepp and Cara went back outside. By the light of two moons, they loaded a last few items on to the cart. Neither of them spoke as they worked. Inside Cy rested, as Cara had insisted, and April slept on in her unconscious trance. The night wore on, and soon the horizon lightened with a flush of crimson as dawn approached. Both of them watched with growing apprehension. All they could do is hope that the preparations they made would be enough to see them through the coming days.