Now that they had the basics settled they could move on to other things that were important. There were some things that AJ wanted to take care of just to cover any possibilities. He rose to his feet, feeling slightly on edge without quite knowing why. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled a little. To soothe himself, he moved to stand by the window and stare at the sunny sky. He felt Brian’s worry and tried to send back reassurance.
After a moment AJ shook his head to clear his thoughts. When he turned to face his friends again his customary smile was in place. “Sorry, everyone. I was just woolgathering a little. There’s things I know need to be done and other things I’m sure I’m missing. But, let me turn to simple mortal affairs first. There are a few things I need you guys to do for me.”
“Anything.” Sofia chimed in. She knew that when he said ‘you guys’ it applied to her and Marzio, the only two staying behind. “We owe you much, yes? We will do these things for you.”
AJ favored her with a soft smile. No matter what, this little waif of a woman would always be special to him. “Grazie.” He said softly. “What I ask isn’t onerous. You’ve both already promised that you’d care for the islands and the people there. We’ve already discussed before what it is they need. But I have other things, things that, if I can’t come back, don’t need to just be left alone.”
Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a piece of paper that he handed to Marzio. “That’s the information to all my bank accounts. They’re all labeled with the names and none of them have ever seen my face. It shouldn’t be hard for you to obtain an ID with my name and your picture for each one. Just add them to your aliases. I want you guys to have that money. No point in letting it just sit around doing nothing but collecting more interest. There’s quite a bit there.”
The couple looked up at him and thanked him gratefully in Italian. AJ just gave them a soft smile. “If everything goes right then all the magical beings on this earth will be gone. You two will be the only two immortals left if we cannot come home. I want you to think long and hard before you ever decide if you want to make another like you. But I want you to wait at least a century before you make that decision so that it isn’t one made in grief or loss. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” They whispered together.
“Good. Also, it would mean a great deal to me if you’d keep an eye on Kevin and Nick if we somehow get them back over. It would ease them to speak with you two once in a while.”
When his friends agreed, AJ turned toward Richard and Geoff, looking them over. “If you two are coming I’m going to make the best use of you. Geoff, you built up a good companionship with the sea folk, correct?”
Geoff nodded. “I did. They like me and they respect me.”
“Good. That’ll make that easier. When we arrive in Nellador, it’s imperative that we remain as low to the ground as possible. I know that they know we’re coming, they have to know by now, but that doesn’t mean that we need to announce ourselves to them. So I’m going to split us off into groups. There’re others that are still there, that chose to stay when everything went down. I want you and the sea folk to head to their domain and try to see what the situation is like. Remember what war was like. This is spying and it’ll take a delicate touch. Infiltrate the area, observe, but do not attack. I will want a full report before we decide what to do.”
“Understood.” The tone to Geoff’s voice was almost like a soldier.
AJ didn’t really notice it. He was already turning his attention to Richard. “From my understand there’ll be some humans, maybe, but plenty of other races there. The ones from our world will know basic fighting, though they haven’t had to seriously fight until the war with Roth. I want to make you my General, Rich. We’ll need to organize our troops, figure out who knows what, see to training some of the others. It’s not going to be easy. But I’m sure you’ll have fun pounding on innocent folks.”
That little dig had Richard grinning at him. He gave a cocky salute in response.
That took care of that. AJ tapped a finger to his chin, trying to figure out what would come next. His brain was working on organizing itself. ‘Song of my heart, I will keep you with me. There is much you and I will have to do. With the aid of Tripha and Alfeera, I think. Scouting missions. Gathering troops to bring them to us. Plotting and planning and all of that.’
“Gee, sounds like fun.” Brian said out loud, a wry look on his face.
AJ couldn’t help but laugh. “Isn’t it, though? You’ll have even more fun. At times that I’m busy, you’ll have to act as liaison for me to certain races.”
“Oh, come on, Alex! Why me?” Brian whined playfully.
Though AJ’s face was serious and stern, he knew that Brian could feel his humor in the bond. “Because everyone respects you. Because you are baka and this is your duty. But most of all, because I said so.” He tried to sound as tough as possible, but he could tell it wasn’t working. All of his friends were grinning at him. Well, all of them except for Donnelly.
Donnelly was looking at AJ with what looked like annoyance, mixed in with pride. “You even order your boyfriend around? You going to order me around too without a single please or a thank you? I know you’ve got this high title and all, I know the stories of the trulion, but I’m not your slave. My family may be fated to serve you but that doesn’t mean I have to put up with being treated like a servant, I warn you now, Alyck.”
The entire room fell silent. All eyes had turned to Donnelly and each gaze was full of shock. It was Sofia who expressed her anger and shock first. “How dare you speak to him that way?” She asked in a low hiss. In an instant the sweet little woman turned furious and deadly. “Who do you think you are to question him or make demands?” The rest of her tirade was in Italian, thankfully for Donnelly. If he knew what she was saying to him he would have been surprised and most likely furious. She wasn’t exactly saying things that fit her ladylike image.
AJ held a hand up. “Questo è sufficiente, Sofia.” He said, the words obviously a command. He sent a quick mental warning to Brian as well, having seen his partner’s hand drop down convulsively to where his sword usually hung. Instantly Sofia fell silent, though her face remained furious. Brian simply sat frozen, his eyes dark.
Only when he was sure that no one else would speak up did AJ start to talk. “I have tolerated your temper thus far, Donnelly. Do not push your boundaries too far or I will not hold them all back again. Push them far enough and I will deal with you myself. That, you would not like, trust me.” If there was one thing that he had no time for it was a little mortal’s temper tantrums. Didn’t this man understand anything? He was fated to help but so far AJ hadn’t seen anything in him that was going to help.
He was a good person inside, that was obvious, but he had pride aplenty and a temper that reminded AJ of how he had been in his first millennium. Still, tolerance only went so far. “Each and every one of my friends here knows that they have the right to say no and that I would honor that. Yes, I tell them these things. No, I do not ask. I command, that is true. But as I am the leader of our army, the entire army, I have that right. No commander gets anywhere if he asks his soldiers to do everything. That shows indecision and potential incompetence. It’s expected that I step up. Not only that, but this is what needs to be done and I need to know that my people will do it. I will do whatever is necessary, step on any toes and piss off any person I want so long as it works toward one goal. Saving us all. If you don’t like it, leave now.”
AJ raised a hand, gesturing furiously to the door. “If you cannot accept commands as they come, if you intend to fight me every step of the way, then leave. You are a liability that I cannot trust if this is how you’ll be. But if you stay, you will listen. When I give an order, you will follow it. Because if we’re on the battlefield and you fight me and it’s a matter of life or death, I will kill you before I let you destroy everything I am doing. Do I make myself clear?”
Before Donnelly could say a word, Marzio was shooting to his feet and AJ was spinning toward the window. Something had triggered his internal alarms. A minute later the others stood, looking off to the window. They could all feel it now. Even Donnelly. Something was coming. Whatever it was, it possessed magic.
AJ turned to his friends, ready to prepare for whatever was coming or to run, but then the feeling of this being came closer, allowing AJ to better read it. His entire being shut down for one single breath. Then, though only a second had passed, everything inside of AJ changed. That power that sat dormant in him, the power he’d called on when he’d laid waste to Roth’s troops and healed Brian, surged through his veins.
Beside him he felt that same recognition followed by a power burst inside of Brian. His heart song had gathered all his magic to him, it was burning inside him. But AJ had tapped the power of the trulion.
This being was the one that had taken Kevin and Nick and left trace magic at Kevin’s house. It was the same sense of magic that AJ had found at the Littrell’s. This was the bastard who had done all of this to them. He would not run away from this man.
Light and agile, the couple raced up the stairs to the roof. They moved as a unit, as if they were one. On the way there, each snagged their weapon from their pile of things. By the time they reached the roof, swords were drawn.
AJ quickly flung his hands into the air, calling up the clouds that were still sitting high in the air. He drew them down, thickened them, creating a shield around them with these clouds. What was done up here would not be able to be seen through those clouds. They surrounded the roof. Just in time, because as soon as his hands dropped, this magical being burst onto the rooftop.
It was unlike anything AJ had ever seen before. This thing looked like it had once been a man. A normal human male. But something had been done to it to change it to what it was now. The face was sharper, more gaunt, with high, prominent cheekbones. Its mouth was a little wider, most likely to make room for the sharp, almost canine teeth that AJ could see. The eyes were wide, the irises red.
The rest of the body looked as if it had been stretched; arms and legs were longer than they should be. But there was muscle over it all. At the end of each finger, instead of a fingernail there were almost these talon like projections. AJ saw that at each knee and elbow were spikes poking out. When the creature shifted, more spikes were visible along his spine.
Whatever this thing was, man or beast or creation, it tilted its head back and let out a deep, rolling laugh. “I come seeking you and you race to meet me. It’s perfect!” The voice was low and dark. At a different time it might have sent a shiver down AJ’s spine. Now, he stared furiously at it. Vaguely he felt the others gathering behind him, weapons and magic at the ready. All his attention was focused on this beast.
“You made a mistake coming here tonight.” AJ told him coldly. A scimitar in each hand, he held them in a fighting stance before him. “You will not live to leave this rooftop.”
Again that rolling laugh. “You have no idea what you face, little man. I will kill you for my Master and bring back your head to stick on a pike before his home!”
“For the deaths you caused and the kidnapping you were a part of; for the evil that you serve, I, as trulion, sentence you to death.” Making his pronouncement, AJ embraced his magic, his birthright, and stepped forward.
The creature stepped forward as well, his hands held out to the sides as if they too held swords. “This ought to be fun.” It hissed at him only seconds before flashing forward. AJ’s scimitars came up, blocking the attack in the nick of time. This creature moved quickly! It had all the speed of an elf. But AJ had so much more on his side.
As he brought his blades up, the metal flashing as he twirled them, Brian came up beside him. They opened their bond wide, meshing their consciousness until they were one person in two bodies. When the creature darted forward again, Brian parried the blow while AJ flashed around him, slicing at its arm and leg.
It gave a satisfying hiss as it pulled back. Blood, black as night, dripped from the cuts. All signs of laughter vanished from its face. All seriousness now, it launched toward them with renewed vigor, using those talons and it’s spikes as weapons as it jumped in and slashed this way and that.
One talon caught Brian’s arm, the pain flashing through both him and AJ before being pushed down. They had no time for pain. When a spike caught AJ’s leg, each man stumbled but again they pushed it down. Three blades flashed in the air; Brian’s one to AJ’s two. They worked together like a dance, swirling this way and that, scoring cuts of their own.
Suddenly the creature jumped backward, landing nimbly on its feet. It held its hands out to either side and AJ felt the gathering of magic in that gesture. He knew that he couldn’t let this thing send its magic at them; they didn’t know what it could do. He took a deep breath and let his magic fill him stronger than ever before.
Heat filled AJ from head to toe. Magic pulsed so strong that his skin started to glow; the rings in his eyes were bright. It was as it had been on the battlefield before. The magic of the trulion was in him. With ease he cast a shield just in time to repel what the creature sent at him. Then he readied weaves of his own. One to bind, which he flung out quickly, wrapping it around the being. Another to do something he had never before thought to do, had not even known he could do. But trulion magic knew this weave. The magic of all trulions before was inside him. What they had known, he now knew as this part of him was joined with the rest.
He flung this weave forward and, with it, delved into this creatures mind. Memories assaulted him, images that flashed from one to the next. AJ saw how this creature had been born, how their kind had originally been made into this new race. The zzur. He saw so much, so many things that turned his stomach. But he gathered each bit of information, ripping it from its mind.
A child, born as Rza, raised with hatred and pain. Raised to serve the Master as they all did. Growing up fighting, killing for pleasure. Coming to this world. Kidnapping Kevin and Nick; killing Brian’s parents. The pleasure that he got from doing this. The others that were coming, coming, sent to hunt him down and stop him. That was their goal in this strange world. Stop AJ before he could travel to Nellador.
When AJ pulled back from Rza’s mind, he knew all he needed to. He had gleaned every last bit of information from his mind.
“Let this message go back to your Master.” The trulion said softly. “I know he sits in the back of your mind, watching this moment. I felt him there. There is much that I hold him accountable for. Know, oh Evil one, that I am coming. Nothing you do can stop that. I am coming for you and it will be I who ends you.”
Quick as can be, AJ darted forward, swinging the sword of the trulion and taking Rza’s head from his body. It hit the ground with a sickening thud, followed closely by the rest of the body.
AJ straightened his spine and turned to look at his friends. They all watched him, their eyes steady, their backs straight. Donnelly looked like he’d suffered a great shock here, but even he was frozen. None moved before AJ’s gaze.
“Time is wasting. We have no more time to waste ourselves. Prepare your things. We leave within the hour.”
Then, the war would truly start.