The Tower Of The Watchful Eye: The Legend Of Kairu Book 1 (39 page)

“
Quite easily,” he answered. “When the Evenawks claimed both
the Mine and the Valley I knew there had to be an outside force
helping them. The Evenawks aren’t that clever so I sent Mage
Spencer...you know, the red haired gentleman, to wait to see if
anyone gets dropped off to act as the ‘Inside Man’ for their attack
here. I am assuming they are going to attack, right? In the
morning?” I didn’t respond. “That’s what I thought. So, Mage
Spencer went and picked you up.” With his little explanation
complete he smiled, proud of himself. “Those Evenawks are so
predictable. The good news is that you’re going to have a front row
ticket to their destruction. The bad news is...you won’t be able to
understand it. Goodbye Keeper.”

He raised his
hand and the Binds glowed green. My mind grew heavy as all the
energy started to flow out of me.

Focus, Andy,
we can beat this, my brain said.

My mind
started to feel lighter as a wave of happiness washed over.

So much
happiness.

Where is all
this happiness coming from?

Andy, My brain
said firmly.

My butt hurt
as I landed on it. Why did it do that?

ANDY! My brain
screamed.

Chapter 33

The walls are
brightly decorated with smiling animals watching over me. The
animals make me feel safe. Safe is good. Safe means I don’t have to
go outside.

Short
bookcases line the wall so they don’t block the animals from
watching over me. All the books I could ever want filled the
bookcases.

I could spend
forever here.

The door
opened up and a pretty brown-haired lady walked into the room. She
looked like she was in a hurry but seemed happy when she saw
me.

“
Here you are,” she said. “I’ve searched your entire mind
looking for you.”

“
Of course I’m here,” I replied. “This is the safest place for
me.”

“
No, it’s not,” she said walking over to me. “You have to wake
up. Morning is coming quickly and the Evenawks will be
killed.”

I looked at
here confused. She wasn’t making any sense. Perhaps she was talking
about a book.

“
What book is that? I would like to read it,” I
said.

“
Yeah, we don’t have time for this,” she said.

My face
started hurting after she hit it with her hand. I stumbled back and
landed on my butt causing more hurt.

“
Why did the pretty lady hurt me?” I asked as tears welled up
in my eyes.

“
Huh, usually that would’ve worked,” she said. “The Binds
really have a hold on your mind.”

She still
wasn’t making sense but I didn’t want to ask her what she meant.
She would hit me again and I don’t want to be hit. I climbed to my
feet and started to back away.

“
I think... you should go,” I said softly.

She walked
over to me quickly and grabbed me. “This is serious. You need to
wake up.”

She started
shaking me and everything went all blurry as my head started
pounding.

“
Stop that,” I said as she stopped. “You’re hurting
me.”

She looked at
me as if she was sad. “I know, honey. I don’t want to but you need
to leave this place. You have to wake up.”

“
It’s not safe out there,” I said.

“
It’s safer than in here,” she said.

“
How so?” I asked.

“
Because I’m in here and I’m going to keep hurting you until
you wake up,” she said as she shook me.

“
Stop!” I exclaimed.

“
Wake up!” she responded.

My face hurt
again as she hit it.

***

I jolted awake
and grabbed my face. It didn’t hurt but the strange glowing gloves
made me confused. The room too was different. Not safe and happy
like before. Dark and different. Different wasn’t good.

Ok, here’s
what you need to do, my brain said.

“
Where did the pretty lady go?” I asked.

Focus Andy! My
brain exclaimed.

“
Who’s Andy?” I asked.

You are, it
answered.

“
Oh,” I said softly.

Now focus, I
want you to look at the shiny gloves, it continued.

I looked at
the gloves. They are so strange with glowing lights. It was like
they are a part of my skin but a different colour.

I want you to
now focus power into your hands, my brain said.

“
How can I do that?” I asked.

Think about it
really hard. Focus on your hands, it said.

I focused and
thought about my hands. They started to get a little tingly.

“
It tingles,” I said.

Good, make it
more tingly, my brain said. I will make sure it is the right
spell.

I don’t know
what a spell is but if my brain wanted me to focus on my hands then
I was going to. Brains are supposed to be smart.

Yes, yes we
are. Now keep making your hands tingle, it replied.

I continued to
focus on making my hands tingly. It took a couple of tries but I
could feel it growing getting more and more tingly. It was also
starting to get really itchy and I couldn’t scratch it because of
the gloves.

“
It’s itchy make it stop,” I whined.

Almost there,
honey, my brain said.

Blue lines
started to race down my arms and disappear under the gloves. I
panicked at the thought that I would be turning into some sort of
blue fuzzy creature.

Ok, push out
the fuzzy feeling into the gloves, my brain said. Push out with all
your strength.

I pushed and
the fuzzy feeling stopped making my hands itchy. The gloves started
to shake erratically before exploding, revealing my blue glowing
hands. The fog of my mind slowly started to lift as I sat stunned
at what happened.

What’s your
name? A voice in my head said.

I searched my
memory for a second. “Andy. Andy Holcombe.”

Good. Who am
I? She asked.

“
Cathy,” I responded.

Good. Now,
WHAT am I? She asked.

“
The annoying Demon who I failed to remove from my head,” I
responded playfully.

Cathy laughed.
I would have
preferred ‘my personal saviour’ but it’s good that you have your
mind back.

“
Thanks for that,” I said looking at the broken Binds. “What
happened?”

Demons aren’t affected by the Binds of
Silence
, she explained.
I was able to find you in your mind and help you
cast a spell to break the Binds hold on you. It seems our combined
power was a little too much and we destroyed them.

“
That explains the glowing hands then,” I said holding them
up.

We’re still joined because we need to break
out
, Cathy said.
With our combined power we can destroy the bars and stone of
the prison.

I held up both
of my hands towards the bars and forced power out. A Pulse exploded
from my hands knocking me back a step. It hit the bars causing them
AND the stone that held them in place to explode. I was free. The
blue faded until it disappeared and I felt the drain the Binds had
caused me.

Whoa, I’m a little dizzy now,
Cathy
said.
You can take it from here. Be ready
and let’s take out Desroche
.

Sure enough a
couple of Evenawks in guard's clothing appeared to check out the
destroyed wall. When they saw me they immediately readied their
spear and started to advance.

“
Easy now, I’m with the rebellion. I’m here to help,” I said
to them.

My words fell
on deaf ears as they continued their advance. The look in their
eyes suggested that their minds weren’t their own anymore. They
were nothing but cruel puppets for the Mages.

Reaching out
with both arms, I launched an Ice Bolt at each of them. The Bolts
hit them in their chests and they dropped to the ground, hopefully
free from their mental prison. I staggered from the release of
energy and shook my head. I needed a little more time before using
that much power again.

I left the
prison cell and headed for the nearest window. It was still dark
out but the light was just starting to show on the horizon. Dawn
approached quickly. I looked down to check my surroundings. They
seemed to have brought me right to the government’s main building.
I couldn’t have asked for a better stroke of luck. In Desroche’s
arrogance and belief that the Binds of Silence would keep me
docile, he has put me in the same building as him.

‘
The good news is that you will have a front row
ticket’,
Cathy quoted.
The bad news is that he didn’t expect me to be part of the
equation.

You are still
the best mistake I have ever made.

Just know that you owe me huge and I will collect one
day,
she said.

Deal.

I broke away
from the window and headed to a staircase at the end of the prison
hallway. The only way to go was down and I needed to be careful not
to be seen. My Illusion spell would be enough on the brainwashed
Evenawks but any Mages that I come up to would be a different
story.

Desroche could have all the Mages closer to the gate
preparing for the battle,
Cathy
suggested.

With the fire
towers is it really necessary?

Someone has to power those,
Cathy
said.

True
enough.

I stopped and
stretched out with my mind. There was plenty of energy but I was
looking for the most powerful source. The main guard unit looked to
be composed of the brainwashed Evenawks; their minds were clouded
but still emitted a small amount of energy. A couple Mage minds
could be felt in the distance, a couple of levels below me.
Finally, I found the largest source of energy on the level below
the prison. This had to be Desroche.

He was in a
room with other familiar energy sources. I studied them and happily
recognized it as the Staff from the Forge of Kings and the Demon’s
Bane flower. Desroche was going through my possessions by himself
in preparation of the battle.

I was troubled
by the thought that I couldn’t feel an energy source that could be
Mage Spencer. He would have to be close by but aside from the
Evenawks I couldn’t feel anything. He had apparently stalked me
through the forest when I landed so it’s possible he has a special
talent for hiding from Mages. I was stuck looking for him the old
fashion way.

He would be around his master,
Cathy
said.
Slaves like him always stick close
to their master.

That’s even
more dangerous. I can’t take on two of them at the same time.

We’ll figure it out when we get there
, Cathy said.

I continued
down the stairs but had to walk past the floor Desroche was on to
the nearest door. I would have to find my way back up but a quick
search with my mind revealed a small amount of brainwashed Evenawk
minds.

I opened up
the door a crack and peek through. I was on the lowest floor main
entrance; Desroche would be two floors above me. A couple of the
Evenawk guards stood watch from opposite sides of the room. I
stretched out with my mind and planted the Illusion spell in both
of them.

I opened the
door more and slipped into the room, making sure the door closed
softly behind me. The Evenawk guard stood no farther then a metre
away from me but didn’t react to my presence. He continued to look
across the room bored. I walked out into the middle of the room and
stood between them. Both were looking in my direction but couldn’t
see me. I started to dance.

What are you doing?
Cathy
asked.

I’ve always
wanted to try this.

Wonderful, start moving,
Cathy
replied.

I walked away
down the corridor that led from the main hall to a lounge like
room. It was hard to know exactly what this room was used for. My
knowledge of Evenawk housing is limited.

It could be a dining room,
Cathy
suggested.

Where’s the
kitchen then?

They probably don’t have kitchens,
Cathy answered.

Soft voices
from the other side of the room drew my attention. As they grew
louder, I could tell that they weren't the voices of Evenawks. I
slowly backed into the hallway and looked for a hiding place.
Seeing a small door, I quickly opened the door and entered the dark
room.

I pressed my
ear to the door and listened as the two voices drew louder. They
hurried past the door and the voices grew quieter until they
disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the dark
room. I couldn’t make out what it was but found a lamp and lit it
with a small Fire Ball. A bathroom/infirmary slowly revealed itself
in the light.

Now I’m really
confused.

I think It’s safe to assume that after the Mages took over
the made some minor changes to the Evenawks house to make it more
suitable for them,
Cathy
explained
. Assume nothing is what it
appears.

Fair deal.

I turned
around and grabbed the door knob.

Wait,
Cathy said
. Check for Red Jacket Honey. Maybe you could rub it onto
something and wrap it around Desroche’s or Spencer’s head. It would
buy you sometime.