The Lighter That Shone Like A Star (Story of The South) (23 page)

Everyone was panicking. Max had barely seen his friends since they had been reunited at long last. The castle’s security was increased tenfold, every entrance guarded by a man or woman wearing strong, steel armour, equipped with swords, bows and arrows, axes, shields… whatever weaponry existed within the sturdy walls.

Everybody was waiting for Eimaj.

Max was preparing his people, with Luc translating his orders into Naegean. He had not realised before that so few people within the castle had mastered the language of The South. His commands were straightforward. Nobody was to leave or enter the castle walls. They were defending, until attacking became the only option.

His army, he quickly learned, was small. As well as the guards stationed at each entrance, there were three dozen men on large, black horses and some thirty soldiers armed with swords and shields.

Eimaj’s army would be much bigger; there was no doubt in anyone’s mind. But Eimaj only wanted Max and Freddie. A full-on war was avoidable, for now.

When Max was certain that the castle was as secure as could be, he went to speak to his friends.

“You all have to stay down in that room. You’ll be safest there,” he ordered.

“Don’t be so ridiculous,” said Freddie. “If you’re fighting then so are we.”

“You can’t! We have an army and you’re just as much of a target as I am!”

“I’m Terexian. I can fight,” replied Freddie, simply.

“Me too,” said Sofia.

“No way, not you.
You are staying here.”

“Max, for crying out loud,
listen to us!” Freddie shouted.

“Luc,” Max pleaded. “Help me out will you.”

Luc sighed, running his hand through his fringe. “Clemari, I’m afraid I must agree with your friends,” he said. Max’s face screamed traitor. “Eimaj is powerful; her magic is beyond you. But she is only one person. You have Freddie and Sofia with Terexian magic – magic that has long been thought dead. Together you are a challenge; that is undeniable.”

Max growled, infuriated that nobody would listen to him. Perhaps he had grown too accustomed to people obeying his orders without question.

“Fine,” he resigned.

“Then I’m helping too,” Russell piped up.

“What?” Max asked him, his face sheet-white.

“I have a bracelet. I can become invisible, and so can anybody who I touch.”

Luc smiled, “Excellent. Another warrior.”

“Well it’s just useless me adding my opinion, isn’t it?” Max grunted, feeling completely betrayed by all those that stood before him.

“I’d say so mate,” said Jimmie. It was the first time he had spoken. “I’m sorry, but I really will be of no use. Unless I can use a guitar as a weapon.”

“You could always sing, that would scare them away,” joked Freddie, earning himself a vulgar gesture from the musician.

Max paced the room, angry with his friends for not wanting to hide out and protect themselves. Sofia intertwined her fingers with her boyfriend’s.

“Hey, Maxxie.”

“Hey,” he smiled.

“We can do this. And besides, it’s all very good protecting ourselves, but then who would protect you?” She pushed her weight onto her toes and kissed Max delicately on the cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Luc approached Max. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Clemari, but we need to get organised.”

“Ahem, right you are, Luc,” Max blushed. He had momentarily forgotten the pandemonium around him. “Right guys, Freddie and Sofia will come with me. Russell, your invisibility will be best used as a defensive strategy. You stay here with Lornea, and Jimmie. I will lock you in, but Anne-Alicia has seen this room. If you hear footsteps, hide yourselves. No matter who enters this room, even if it’s me, do not reveal yourselves until you are certain that you’re safe. Okay?”

They all nodded in agreement and Max left the room, Luc, Sofia, and Freddie by his side.

***

The moon brightly shone, unaware of the troubles brewing below.
Hours had passed and nothing had happened. But Eimaj would not wait. Everything she had wanted was here in this castle. She would come.

Luc, Freddie, Sofia and Max were standing side by side atop the castle wall. To their left, the forest shivered in the cold night’s icy breath. To their right stood the rest of Naegis, ignorant of the problems that faced their New Clemari.

All was still. Nobody spoke and nobody moved, until finally a dim glow appeared in the distance. Slowly, it shone brighter and edged nearer. Max squinted through the darkness but could make out only blurred figures in the shadows.

Eimaj drew closer and closer, until eventually Max could see the woman that Anne-Alicia had so accurately described, her pure-white hair reflecting the eerie moonlight, sitting atop a beautiful white horse. An army fell shortly behind her, but Max could not see his old friend.

“Finally,” said Eimaj, her frosty voice cutting through the impalpable tension in the air. “I meet the New Clemari. Max Myers.”

Max looked down upon his enemy, shivering. “Eimaj,” he acknowledged.

“Now, now. What to do. Are you a king or a coward?”

“I am no coward,” he boomed.

“No, you are a fool.” A ripple of laughter filtered through her army.

“And you are an old lady,” Max retorted.

“Ah, that I am, that I am.”

Silence.

“Luc, how’s your father?” she taunted. Max could feel Luc go rigid beside him, unsure if it was through fear of being addressed or simply anger. He did not reply. “Touched a nerve, have I? Oops!”

“Joz was a great man,” Max spoke out. “And the best leader Naegis could have had.”

“No, Max Myers, you are the best leader Naegis could ask for. It’s just such a pity that Joz found you first. We could have done great things together, you and I. So young, such a mouldable mind. Oh well. I was too late. Too busy hunting for Freddie when it was you I needed all along.”

“You won’t kill me,” Max shouted.

“Kill you? Why would I want to kill you?” Eimaj mocked innocence, playing some sort of game that Max could not fathom.

“Well then what do you want?” he asked, all confidence slipping briefly from his voice.

“I want to use you, Max. But what a treat you have given me. Two Naegeans and two Terexians. There’s a lot I could do with you four. Oh
so
much,” Eimaj shuddered in delight at the very thought, which was by far the most frightening thing she had done yet.

“But I am only Naegean by blood, not by magic,” said Luc, although there was question in his voice.

“Of course you are, Luc. That’s what your parents told you, and they
never
lied.”

“You’re the liar!” shouted Sofia.

“Oh, the pretty face has a voice, too!” she squealed.

“We’ll win, you know,” spat Freddie.

“No, Freddie. You won’t. But it will be fun to see you try.”

Everything happened so quickly that Max had no time to think.

A jet of purple sparks shot towards them. Max instinctively went to deflect it just as he had practised with Joz in the forest, but he did not need to; the sparks fell short of the wall. Eimaj screamed in fury.

Sofia ignited a ball of fire between her hands and propelled it towards Eimaj, but the white-haired woman clicked her fingers flippantly, extinguishing the burning sphere.

While she was briefly distracted, water gushed from Sofia’s fingertips but with a flick of her wrist, Eimaj stopped the attack and the water glided over her army.

Eimaj’s eyes glowed a violent, magnificent shade of purple. She rose slowly from her horse and into the air, floating just feet away from the four on the wall. Max’s army watched in terror. The archers on the walls began to shoot countless arrows at Eimaj, but they seemed to bounce off her. There was a crazed look in her eyes as she looked directly at Max.

You’ll never win, Max Myers
, her shrill voice filled his head.

Stop it,
he shot back.

I’m going to kill all your friends, and then I’m going to tear you apart.

STOP IT.

Who shall I murder first?
Maybe Sofia, the pretty one. Or Luc, your little puppy dog. Or maybe Freddie, with such fire in his heart.

“STOP IT!” Screamed Max, resisting Eimaj and refusing to let his mind
be penetrated by her manipulative control. His chest burned with anger and fury at the thought of his friends being harmed by such a violent, evil woman.

As if in slow-motion, his feet left the wall, his hair flashing the same pure white as Eimaj’s long, curly locks. His entire body glowed purple, the magic of Naegis coming alive within him.

Max had lost control over his physical self and over his magic. Everything he had learned with Luc and Joz left him. He was pure emotion. Love for those he could not lose. Anger over Anne-Alicia’s betrayal. Fear of being at war. Sadness for his parents, whose situation remained a mystery. It all exploded within him. He threw his arms aside and screamed.

Eimaj deflected angry red flames. She evaporated a jet of freezing water. She dodged sparks of white and streams of purple. She ducked and weaved out of the way of each of Max’s attacks.

Finally, Max fell heavily to his knees. He heard laughter; a shrill, hysterical laughter.

“Anne-Alicia!” she screeched. “Prove your loyalty.”

Max glanced up, crouched on the floor, to see his old friend drifting at Eimaj’s side. He did not have time to question how or why, as she smirked and flicked her right wrist.

He did not see
exactly what she had done, but there was no mistaking the dull thud of a falling body beside him.

“Poor little puppy,” Eimaj sang.

No.

He clenched his fist and flew his fingers apart. Eimaj hurtled backwards, as though she had been lassoed around her waist. In her moment of distraction, Freddie shot a fireball, hitting her right leg.

“Nooo!” Eimaj screamed, her voice echoing through the darkness. Anne-Alicia quickly sank back to the ground, her job done and not wishing to be in the line of fire.

Max looked to his right. Sofia had been replaced by a tornado – no, a whirlpool. Spinning faster and faster, Sofia sped towards Eimaj and sucked her into a whirling water web. Suddenly, she released her and Eimaj was flung backwards into her army.

“I don’t need your help!” she screeched at the soldiers coming to her aid. She shot upwards and towards the wall.

But Freddie met her mid-air, covered completely in flames, and sent her shooting in a different direction, before re-joining his friends on the wall. Max smiled at Sofia and Freddie, but they were looking horror-struck at the floor behind him.

There lay Luc, sprawled on his back.

“NO!” Max cried, his high-pitched scream piercing the sky.

Eimaj laughed. Louder and louder it grew. “He’s
dead
, Max Myers. And I think… hmm…
Sofia
will be next,” she threatened.

She edged nearer once more, damaged but far from defeated. In one hand, purple electricity sparked. In the other, black smoke danced.

“You have a lot to learn, Max Myers.” Eimaj raised her arms, ready to unleash her terrible magic.

A whooshing noise came from behind the four on the wall, Eimaj’s face flooding with panic or anger or fear.

“No, Eimaj. It is not too late,” roared Jill. “You have killed my son and you will pay. That is my promise to you.”

And Eimaj, thrown by Jill’s sudden presence, was hit four times.

Sofia fired sharp daggers of ice. Freddie whipped red-hot ropes of flame. Two bolts of deep blue electric burst from Max’s eyes. And while she attempted to swerve and dodge and duck, Jill darted towards the struggling woman, fists clenched, and punched her square in the jaw.

The army below had turned and begun to flee. Eimaj tumbled down towards the ground, stopping just inches from the ground. Somebody had caught the unconscious woman.
Anne-Alicia
.

Eimaj’s glowing hair disappeared suddenly, leaving only darkness below.

Max turned and dropped to his knees beside Luc’s broken body, suddenly feeling the emotion of which he had been so unaware during the final fight.

“Luc,” he sobbed. “Don’t do this. I need you. Don’t die.”

Luc’s eyes fluttered open, his chest struggling to breathe.

“M… M… Max?”

“I’m here, Luc. You stay awake, okay? I’m not leaving you,” he promised. He turned his head and shouted for Dorot, but she was already sprinting towards them.

Max looked the small lady in the eyes before pleading, “Please, please don’t let him die.”

“Max,” said Luc again, before falling into an endless sleep.