Dawn of Man (Thanos Book 1) (29 page)

Ahnon let out a laugh. “Oh, empty threats. I like that,” he said.

“You will see how empty it is, Ahnon,” another calm voice said.

“You must be Abtec, the brother I haven’t met. I can’t wait to introduce myself,” Ahnon said, slowly seeing them in his mind.

“When we meet, you will be the one begging, Ahnon,” Abtec told him.

“Ask your brothers how their first meeting went,” Ahnon laughed.

“You gutless pig! You mutilated me—my face!” Ryetan screamed.

Still laughing, Ahnon said, “Ryetan, it was a gift to show you what happens to those who move against my sire. I really thought you would like it.” Kenna and Jedek just stared at Ahnon, only hearing his side of the conversation. Then Kenna looked past Ahnon and saw a black form drop out of the sky over the rider trying to get away. Rider and the black form hit the ground, but the horse never stopped. The massive, black form stood up over the body and opened two enormous wings then jumped into the air and flew up. Kenna watched as the gigantic bird flew a lazy circle over them.

“I will take years to kill you!” Ryetan screamed in Ahnon’s mind.

“Well, at least I won’t be bored,” Ahnon said, smiling finally, seeing the scared face of Ryetan clearly. “How is Ental?” Ahnon asked.

Ental’s face filled his mind, and Ahnon had to make an effort to not jump back. His hair was gone, and his entire head was scarred from the burn. “Know this, Ahnon. I will kill Ryetan to have you!” he bellowed.

“Ew, sibling rivalry. Got to love it,” Ahnon chuckled. “How did you like the extra part of that dragon ball, Ental? The burn can’t be healed.”

“I will infuse you to keep you alive for millennia, Ahnon!” he screamed.

Ahnon laughed at him. “I must say this has been fun, and I hope the Gratu fleet continues burning your towns, but I have to run. You know, drop off the sire and come for you three, and tell the Overlord I will stop by,” Ahnon said, and the three froze with fearful expressions in his mind. “That’s right; I know he’s in the dark mountains and always have, but I was going to let him live. Now, I have no choice except to kill him slowly. But I want to tell you something just from me,” Ahnon said, throwing the amulet down. “Valde Poena!” he screamed, and a flowing stream of black shot out of his hands, hitting the amulet. Jedek and Kenna could feel the cold pain from the spell emanating from the black stream.

Kenna and Jedek couldn’t hear the conversation, but they clearly heard three screams coming from the amulet. “Magius!” Ahnon screamed, and the black stream started to glow, giving off a cold heat they felt in their very souls. The three screams increased as Ahnon called for more pain. Not able to handle all the magic Ahnon was using, the amulet suddenly exploded with a dull crack, sending all three through the air, crashing down on their backs.

Feeling lightheaded, Kenna pulled herself up on her elbows, shaking her head. “Don’t ever piss off Ahnon. That’s the lesson for today,” she said as the stars left her vision. Struggling to her feet, she saw Jedek stand and wobble over to Ahnon. They reached him at the same time, and Kenna wiped the blood off Ahnon’s nose and ears. “Ahnon, if you drained yourself again, I’m going to show you how a girl gets vexed,” she told him.

“It’s from the explosion!” Jedek yelled beside her.

“What?” she asked.

Jedek saw her mouth move. “I can’t hear you!” he yelled.

“Well, I can hear you!” Kenna screamed.

“Because I’m yelling!” Jedek bellowed. Kenna held up her fingers, showing Jedek the blood from Ahnon. Jedek reached over and wiped the blood draining from her nose and showed her. “It’s from the explosion!” Jedek yelled.

Ahnon’s eyes fluttered open, and the kids leaned over him. They slowly came into focus making Ahnon grin. “Hey, guys,” he said and couldn’t hear his voice. Reaching down, he pulled out a packet, laid it on his chest, and grabbed both of them. “Audite northmanni,” he spoke, and the cotton left his ears. Looking at the kids, he watched them shake their heads.

“That’s a good spell,” Jedek said, grinning.

“I like it,” Ahnon said. “Think I got their attention?” he asked.

Kenna leaned down, kissing his forehead. “Ahnon, I think everyone in the three kingdoms knows you now.” Ahnon grimaced as he pulled his surcoat open, and she looked down and saw a throwing knife sticking out of his gut. “Ahnon!” she screamed.

Ahnon grimaced. “Kenna, I don’t have another packet to restore hearing, so easy on the ears,” Ahnon said, looking down at the knife. “The gully rat who tried to hit me with the melting ball threw this at the same time, and I could only block one. I’ve been stabbed before, so I chose to block the green ball,” Ahnon said.

Jedek looked at the knife, and guilt washed over him. “Is it poisoned, Ahnon?” he asked.

“Of course it is,” Ahnon said, making the guilt drown Jedek.

“How do you know?” Kenna asked.

Ahnon shook his head. “I can taste it,” he said, and fright filled her face. “Oh, relax. It’s only dexmal. It’s a good poison, but I’ve been immune since the academy. One of my instructors wanted us immune to as many poisons as possible,” Ahnon said then looked at Jedek. Tears streamed down the boy’s face.

“Jedek!” Ahnon snapped, and Jedek looked up at him. “This was my choice; remember, we are family,” Ahnon said and grinned. Jedek wiped his face as Ahnon grabbed his arm. “You will have to close it though,” Ahnon said.

Shocked, Jedek stuttered, “Ahnon, I’ve never done it for real.”

“Here’s your chance. Get ready. I want Kenna to pull it out, and you must seal it fast because it poked a hole in something important inside.” Jedek nodded as Kenna pulled the shirt away from the handle. “I just washed this too,” Ahnon said, and Kenna cut her eyes to him. “Sorry,” Ahnon said.

Jedek held his hand over Ahnon as Kenna yanked the knife out, and blood poured out of the wound. “Vigoratus isa somes,” Jedek spoke slowly, opening his hand, letting streams of white threads of light drift out of it. Ahnon jumped when the threads touched him, and he gritted his teeth as fire filled his belly.

Kenna watched the blood stop and the wound close from the inside out, leaving an ugly scar on Ahnon’s abdomen. “You need to work on that, Jedek. That scar is atrocious,” she said.

“Hey, I did my best, and it was my first time,” he said.

Ahnon chuckled. “It’s fine, Jedek. Your first healing spell always leaves a scar. It’s only meant to save a life, not keep the body pretty. Besides, in a few months, I won’t be able to find it with all my scars,” Ahnon said, grimacing.

“That’s not funny,” Kenna said with a scowl.

“Kenna, once again, I’m sorry,” Ahnon said, getting to his feet. “Get ready to leave.”

“Ahnon, you can’t ride after that,” Jedek said, and Kenna thanked Jedek, on the inside, because she didn’t have to say it.

“Guys, they know right where we are, and I mean down to the spot. They have tons of kytensa in the area. I’m not in the mood to play anymore,” Ahnon told them.

She looked over to the spot of the explosion, seeing a small crater. She shook her head. “Thank the Gods,” Kenna mumbled as Ahnon stepped away from them and looked up at the sky.

“I told you to wait till I found a place to start training them. What are you doing here?” Ahnon asked. They followed his gaze to see the huge bird Kenna saw earlier high above them. “I don’t care if you were bored. You could’ve been hurt!” Ahnon shouted. “Don’t you talk to me like that!”

“Kenna, we are missing out on the other side of the conversation again,” Jedek said, and Kenna grabbed her amulet, and Jedek did the same.

“You get to go and hunt and have fun. I can too,” they heard.

“I really don’t want you getting hurt,” Ahnon said with apprehension.

“I’ve killed dragons, wyven, orcs, trolls, and hundreds of other creatures. You really think some puny human can hurt me?”

Letting out a long breath and dropping his shoulders, Ahnon asked, “Will you please come down?”

“Can I meet the ones you like so much?”

Ahnon smiled. “Yes you may.”

“Can I stay?”

Ahnon let out a sigh. “Okay, but you have to listen. You didn’t hurt anything taking that man off his horse, did you?” Ahnon asked as the large bird spiraled down.

“I’m not a hatchling!” the voice snapped.

The two dropped their hands off their amulets, mesmerized by the huge bird coming toward them, and it only seemed to get bigger the lower it got. Flaring its wings, dust filled the air as it settled down in front of Ahnon. Kenna’s and Jedek’s mouth fell open. A solid, black raptor taller than Ahnon was standing in front of them. Its wings stretched over forty paces, and it slowly pulled them in, tucking them to his body. With its wings tucked, the raptor lowered his stance till he was eye to eye with Ahnon.

“Talon,” Ahnon said, wrapping his arms around the ahus̆-roc, “I don’t like you doing that. You could get hurt.” He leaned back, looking Talon over. “You sure you’re okay?” Ahnon asked, still rubbing his hand over Talon’s massive body.

“You-are-embarrassing-me,” Talon said, rotating his head clockwise with each word and finished with his head almost upside down, keeping eye contact with Ahnon.

Ahnon put both hands on the huge beak. “Aw, come on. Daddy’s worried about his baby boy.”

“I don’t like the hatchling talk. I’m over a hundred now,” Talon said as he turned his head upright.

“You’re still my baby,” Ahnon said, smoothing the feathers on Talon’s head.

Talon leaned his head forward, looking into Ahnon’s eyes. “Sometimes, when you do this, I wish I never came out of the egg.” Talon rotated his head almost upside down again but still looked in Ahnon’s eyes.

“But Daddy hatched that baby’s egg, and look at how big and strong he is,” Ahnon said, dropping his shoulder and going under the upside-down head, wrapping his arms around Talon.

Watching the interaction and knowing what Talon was saying since it was very similar to griffon, Kenna and Jedek were way beyond shock and closing in on catatonic very fast, watching Ahnon treat the giant raptor like a baby. Talon rotated his head back upright and looked at them. “Does he do this to you as well?” Talon asked.

“Yeah, kind of,” Kenna said, a little jealous.

Talon closed his eyes and lowered his head. “There are groups like this one spread out across the valley, Ahnon,” Talon said.

Ahnon jumped back. “Let’s go. You keep watch and tell us if anything is close, but I will take care of it,” Ahnon said, and Talon huffed. Talon squatted then jumped up, opening his wings. His first wing stroke knocked both Kenna and Jedek flat with the blast of air. Ahnon helped them up, smiling. “That’s my baby boy.”

“I heard that!” Talon screeched.

The kids ran up the hill as Ahnon ran over, grabbing five of the kytensa’s horses and followed them up. When he reached the top, Ahnon found the horses in chaos, and Kenna was calming them down. When the horses saw Ahnon and the five horses behind him caked in sweat, they stopped thrashing around.

The three put their hunter garb back on and guided the horses down the knoll. Turning east, they headed up into the Iron Mountains and hopefully sanctuary.

Chapter 22

Running the horses hard, Ahnon led them into the mountains and continued through the night, stopping the next afternoon beside a small valley meadow with a small stream running through it. Unpacking the horses, they set up camp, and the kids gathered firewood then collapsed. Talon stayed overhead, watching for movement but did stop to eat a deer.

As he prepared supper, Ahnon looked over at the kids. “How are you two holding up?” he asked.

Kenna looked up at him with a weary face. “I never knew your bottom could hurt so much.”

“I’m okay as long as we don’t have to move for a few hours,” Jedek mumbled, fighting sleep. He wanted food. “You think they’ll follow us?” he asked.

“Even if they do, the odds of them finding us are slim. This mountain range is huge. Many times the size of Gratu,” Ahnon said.

“Ahnon, Thanos is huge, but they still found us,” Jedek said.

Ahnon shook his head. “Not really. We let them find us, and they were waiting at the one area we had to cross: the northern road. Jedek, there are whole valleys in this range that have never seen a human.”

“So we can relax?” Jedek asked hopefully.

Shaking his head, Ahnon looked up. “No, there are other things here we have to watch out for.” Jedek groaned, getting really tired of the wild.

“Ahnon, back at the fight, I saw one of the kytensa just melt,” Kenna said.

“Yeah, that’s the one who got me. He rushed his spell, and it got him,” Ahnon said looking at his bloody shirt. “As you can see negtro leather doesn’t stop knives and swords.”

Kenna shook her head. “I like stupid enemies,” she admitted.

Ahnon chuckled. “Kenna, it has nothing to do with stupid. A third of all wizards die by their own hands from a spell they cast.”

Shock hit Kenna hard. “You said if I keep my mind sharp and under control, I would be safe.”

“Yes, but in battle, your heart is racing, and your mind is going many directions at once. That’s when you don’t form the correct funnel in your mind for the magic, and the magic unleashes on you. Complacency does the same thing; you don’t respect it and just half-heartedly throw a spell, and the same thing happens.”

Jedek sat up. “Kenna, at Gratu, I saw half a dozen wizards die by their own hand.”

Kenna sat and thought about what they said then looked at Ahnon. “I understand.”

Putting the pot over the fire, Ahnon said, “Please do tell then.”

“Well, that’s why you do magic so much: to get the image chiseled in your mind. The side effect is you always see how dangerous it is,” she said, shocking Ahnon.

“I never thought about it like that,” he admitted, making her smile.

“Ahnon,” Jedek said, “where are we headed?”

Ahnon sat down between them. “We are going to look for a little valley in the southern range of the Iron Mountains. I’m guessing close to where Elvendom, Rancor, and Fantshu meet. The elves mostly stay up north, but more importantly, the winters there aren’t that harsh.”

“I hate winter. The rains are terrible,” Jedek moaned.

“Not here, Jedek. It snows in feet.”

Kenna let out a squeal of delight. “Oh, this is going to be great,” she declared.

Ahnon crawled over to the fire and stirred the pot. “I will remember you said that,” Ahnon said.

“How long do you think it will take us to get there?” Jedek asked.

Ahnon thought a minute then replied, “Around the end of summer.”

The two froze. “Ahnon, summer just started,” Kenna reminded him.

“Yes, I know, but I figure fifty days, sixty at the most.”

Jedek closed his eyes, adding up numbers, then looked at Ahnon, “With the way we have been moving on horseback, I put us there at most forty days,” he said.

“Jedek, we don’t need to move that fast, and we will have to stop and forage for food along the way. Food is rather important.”

“Are there any towns there?” Jedek asked.

“No,” Ahnon said. “There are small hamlets on the border of Elvendom with a few towns close by. Now, there might be some trading post around, but other than that, just wilderness. The major elven cities are to the north.”

“Humans need to spread out,” Jedek said, lying down.

“Jedek, we had to go out of our way to find one small village. I’ve been trying to get it through to both of you; humans stay close together for protection,” Ahnon said. “You know, if we just head straight south, we wouldn’t see but maybe one human settlement between here and the southern sea. That’s over fifteen hundred leagues.”

“That just means there aren’t many humans,” Kenna stated.

“Kenna, Gratu has over fifty million people, and it’s the smallest of the five kingdoms. Nazar has over ten times that.”

Jedek shot up. “What?!” he screamed.

“There are humans here, quite a lot, but they stay close together, and Thanos is very, very large,” Ahnon stressed as he held the bowls out.

Kenna took her bowl. “Okay, so what’s your point?” she asked.

Proud that Kenna could see he was getting at something, Ahnon smiled. “You will learn to live by your own means and not expecting or needing to buy what you require.”

They both nodded at that as Minos came trotting in and flopped down, panting. They all looked down at him. Jedek looked around at them then back to Minos. “Minos what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Big chicken wouldn’t share,” he said, not even raising his head.

“Minos, don’t ever call him that when he’s close, or he’ll eat you,” Ahnon warned, looking up at the sky, making sure Talon wasn’t near.

“Just wanted a bite,” Minos whined. Kenna and Jedek both jumped up and fixed Minos some food as Talon swooped in, landing behind Ahnon.

“Yes,” Talon said, looking at Ahnon.

“You didn’t let him have a bite?” Ahnon asked.

Talon hoped over to Ahnon. “It was my deer,” Talon said, leaning over Ahnon’s head.

“The whole deer?” Ahnon asked.

“It wasn’t that big, and the stupid dog scared away more game than I thought was possible for any animal,” Talon said. “He chased a three horn calf, making its mother distraught. I had to make them leave after they chased him into a hole.”

“Minos, I told you not to chase the three horns,” Ahnon barked.

“Fun chasing three horn. They cry loud,” Minos said, lifting his head up, seeing food coming. When Kenna and Jedek laid out some food, Minos suddenly wasn’t so tired or distraught, jumping up and diving in the bowl.

Ahnon just shook his head as Kenna came over to Talon. “Hello, Talon. I have not introduced myself. I’m Kenna,” she said, curtseying.

Talon inclined his head. “Yes, Kenna, I know who you are, and unlike the griffons, I don’t like the etiquette. Especially with friends.”

Kenna smiled, holding out her hand, “May I?” she asked.

“Yes, you may touch me.” Kenna reached out, petting Talon, and moved closer, feeling the different feathers on his body from the rock-hard feathers on his wings to the soft feathers on his chest then looked down. His talons, like his feathers, were coal black and well over a foot long. The middle talon was curved up more than the others and wasn’t touching the ground.

“Kenna, don’t touch that talon. That’s the one he injects venom with,” Ahnon said. Kenna looked up at Talon, and he nodded as Kenna ran her hand down his legs then each talon. “Thank you for listening to me, Kenna,” Ahnon mumbled, shaking his head.

Talon leaned over thrilling. “Don’t listen to him; he is much too protective now.”

“Talon, I heard that,” Ahnon said, lying back on his saddle.

“I’ve told you that to your face many times,” Talon said as Kenna stood, rubbing Talon’s feathers.

Ahnon yawned. “Yeah, I know, but you are still young and act foolishly.”

“Coming from you, that means nothing,” Talon said, squatting down and fluffing his feathers. It took Kenna all of ten more minutes to wrap him around her little finger as she curled up under one of Talon’s wings, drifting off to sleep.

They traveled hard for over a month, stopping every fifth day to forage with Talon keeping watch overhead, guiding them along the easiest routes. They avoided trouble, and Ahnon kept teaching the two. Kenna was almost caught up to Jedek in spells with her sharp memory, but Jedek could do more before getting tired. Minos grew like a weed and was the size of a pony but still moved like a puppy, much to Ahnon’s and Talon’s disappointment. 

It was mid-day, and Ahnon found Talon perched on top of a large bolder in a clearing, waiting on them. “Did my big man find something good?” Ahnon called out, moving over to Talon.

Talon closed his eyes. “I love you, but one day, I’m going to bite you,” he said.

Ahnon reached over on his saddle, holding up a rabbit he shot with his bow. “Look what Daddy has for his big man,” Ahnon called out in a singsong voice.

Talon opened his eyes. “It won’t be today though,” he said as Ahnon tossed the rabbit through the air. Talon caught it in his beak and threw his head back, swallowing it whole.

“You tired?” Ahnon asked.

“Hardly. A pack of hippogriffs were flying by. It looked like a pack of bachelors, so I just landed,” Talon said. “I’m not in the mood to listen to you today about me fighting.”

Ahnon looked up in the sky and grabbed his bow. “They mess with you, and we eat hippogriff!” Ahnon shouted.

Closing his eyes and lowering his head, Talon muttered, “That’s what I mean.”

“Hippogriffs? Where?” Kenna shouted, looking up.

“To the east. They should be overhead soon,” Talon said, looking up at Kenna. Kenna rode her horse over to Talon, looking up in the sky. “There,” Talon said, looking off to the east. They saw five creatures high in the sky. They could tell they were black but saw little detail.

After they passed over, Kenna sighed. “I wish I could’ve seen them up close,” she pouted.

“Would you like me to go and catch one?” Talon asked, stretching out his wings.

“NO!” Ahnon shouted, making Talon sigh.

Kenna reached over, patting Talon. “He really loves you a lot,” she whispered.

“I know, and I love him too,” Talon said, spreading his wings. “But one day, I’m going to bite him.” He jumped in the air, flapping his giant wings, sending out a cloud of dust and leaves.

When Talon left, Kenna moved over to Ahnon. “Ahnon, you have to quit treating him like a little kid,” she told him.

“Kenna, I’ve raised him from the egg.”

“You stole him from his momma!” Kenna shouted.

Ahnon shook his head. “No, his mother was killed by a group of hunters, and they tracked the nest down.”

“Why did the hunters kill his mother?”

“Money.”

“Are ahus̆-roc that dangerous?” she asked.

“Kenna, you can see how dangerous they can be, but there is another reason some hunters track them that I’m not in the mood to talk about,” Ahnon said in a tone that let her know to drop it.

Jedek slid off his saddle and moved to one of the pack mules to get some food. “What are you doing?” Kenna asked.

“Seems like a good spot to take a break,” Jedek said, eating. She and Ahnon nodded in agreement and got off their horses to join him. “Ahnon, can I ask you a question that’s not about Talon?” Jedek said.

“Yes, Jedek.”

“Who was Neeji?” he asked, shocking Ahnon. “You really like him, and I know he’s from the academy.”

Ahnon smiled. “Saw a lot in my mind, didn’t you?” Ahnon asked, and Jedek blushed. “Neeji was one of my instructors.”

Kenna dropped down on her butt. “Ahnon, come on and tell us the story,” she begged.

Letting out a sigh, Ahnon sat, folding his legs. “My first two years at the academy were my worst. I didn’t really want to be there, so I didn’t try and had to go to the whipping post every night. Secretly, I wanted to be kicked out but little did I know that I couldn’t be kicked out. After I was allowed to view the seeing stone, I tried as hard as I could to be the best. Master Kota saw the improvement and started talking to me and in a few months was tutoring me privately. It was almost a year later when I called him Neeji. It means father-teacher. Since he didn’t mind, that’s what I always called him. That man knew sword fighting like no other and was a fair wizard.”

Jedek smiled. “So you didn’t go to the whipping post anymore after that, did you?” he asked.

Ahnon chuckled. “What gives you that idea?”

Shock replaced the smile. “You had a master who liked you,” Jedek pointed out.

“Jedek, remember me telling you about trying magic without components?” Ahnon asked, and Jedek nodded. “Neeji was the one holding the whip.”

Jedek’s mouth fell open, and his food fell out. “Wh—” was all he managed.

“Jedek, bhari training is dangerous, and the whipping post lets you know you made a mistake.”

Cringing, “Are we going to get whipped?” Kenna piped in with a small voice.

“No, you will have other punishments, Kenna,” Ahnon said, filling her with relief.