Legacy of the Necromancer [Legacy, BK1 - Completed]

Chapter 3:2

I followed Poe through the door. The heat hit me immediately. I strained to see the tops of the trees that stood like giants around me. I was in a jungle, but where?

Poe was perched on a bush not far to my left. His dark feathers standing out like a thorn against its bright flowers.

"There you are!"

I whipped around to see a girl, tiny and delicate, stepping out of the undergrowth with a spear. She wore a wrap of bright orange, like a monk's almost. But even though the color was vibrant, her expression of suppressed fear and urgency was what really startled me.

"You're talking to me?" I asked her looking around.

She nodded. "Come, my people need you." She motioned for me to follow her, and even took my hand when I hesitated, dragging me forward. "Come, Come!"

I followed her as she ran barefoot through the jungle, barely able to keep up with her. Poe glided over us, never too far from my sight. We came around a large root of the tree on a hill, and I saw in the low valley that lay ahead, a village of huts with thatched roofs.

The girl ran towards it, dodging hollows and tree roots like she'd been running on this land since the day she was born. I panted behind her, already drenched in sweat from my layers of winter clothing. "Hey, wait up!"

"Hurry!" she yelled, but she did slow her pace a fraction.

I stumbled into the village, but there wasn't another soul in sight. I caught up with the girl in an open space surrounded by the little mud hut buildings, only to find her facing a creature twice her size. I froze in my tracks, even though every instinct was telling me to turn around and run away from it. The creature looked like a dog, or maybe it had been one at some point. Its double tail whipped back and forth in anger as it growled at us.

Poe screeched overhead, diving at it from the air as the girl tried to attack with her spear. The beast snarled at her, dodging away.

My feet felt rooted to the ground as I scanned the forest around us, looking for anything or anyone that might be able to help us. I was out of luck. What was I supposed to do? I'd never seen a creature like this, I'd hadn't even read about anything like it in all my studies of the craft. I shook my head, and fought to keep my breathing even. I wasn't prepared for this.

Poe screamed again, this time flying towards me. The girl and beast circled, looking for weakness in each other. Her attention shifted to me for a fraction of a second, and the beast lunged for her, taking her to the ground.

"No!" I ran towards them, not even sure what I was going to do when I got there. I tackled the beast, drawing its attention from the girl. It snapped its very large teeth at me, closing its jaw around my arm. My heavy jacket offered little protection from the razor like canines. I struggled with it, screaming in pain as I felt each tooth sink into my skin.

"Versay Kalum Jah!" I don't know what prompted me to yell it. The words were as foreign as the creature that was attacking me. But the phrase had formed in my mind and the Talent that Avery and Poe both said I had, caught and held fast to the words.

The sensation was like nothing I'd ever felt before. The feeling of warmth flowing from the depths of my heart, burning my veins as it spilled down my arm and out of my outstretched hand.

The beast flew off me as if it had been knock back with the blast of a grenade. All I could do was stare at my wounded arm through the shredded remains of my coat.

That had been nothing like what Liam had described his Talent to feel like. He'd always told me the Stanwood power was cold. The type of power that breathed a fresh life into the dead. Nothing about our work was 'hot'.

A growl echoed out through the clearing, and brought my head up to see that the beast was standing. I forced myself to my feet and faced it. The pendent Poe had given me burned in my hand to an almost painful degree.

Poe landed on my shoulder and this time, I could feel him. I don't mean the feeling of his talons on my shoulder, but his essence, his magic. Where what I had felt my Talent to be warm like the heat of an oven, his was what I imagined stepping into hell might be like. The intensity of it radiated against my skin, adding to the humidity that already pressed against me.

The beast charged us, rushing towards us with a speed that wasn't natural. Poe flew off as words formed in my mind once again. "Eklam sou vesital. Shetal losse felit." Talent burned along my skin and I watched as it flowed out of my hand and blossom over the beast, encasing it in a hard glass looking prism mid-stride.

I fell to my knees, any strength I had gone. All the reading and studying about Talent I'd done growing up hadn't prepared me for actually using it. Poe landed next to me and began tapping at the metal pendant in my hand. He looked up at me with expectant eyes.

"What?" I gasped, still out of breath.

He snatched the necklace from me and flew over to the beast, landing carefully a foot or so away. Poe walked carefully over the uneven ground until he could reach out with the pendent and touch the glassy prism encasing the beast. The glass shattered in a whirlwind of shards that swirled tornado-like into the center stone of the pendent.

Poe stood still until it was over, the pendent firmly clasped in his beak, then he flew back to me, returning the necklace to my hand.

I gripped at the trunk of a nearby tree, using it to pull myself up inch by inch until I was standing on my own feet. I could see the girl's body, partially covered by blood splattered foliage. I mustard up the last of my strength and went to her, hoping that I wasn't too late. Praying that she was just unconscious.

I was wrong. My feet slid out from under me. I'd hesitated, and she'd died. It was my fault she was dead. I glanced around at the empty huts of the village. How was I supposed to tell her family, her parents, that I'd let her die? That I'd failed to keep her safe. How was I supposed to tell my family I'd failed my test?

Sitting there in the heat, I watched over her as the sun dipped low into the horizon, and the only way I could tell was by the color and the angle at which it filtered through the trees. Even Poe left me after a while. All I could do was stare at her.

"Hasim?"

The word was jarring after only hearing the sounds of the jungle for so long. I looked up into the face of the old man who stood near me. He wore a robe similar to that of the girl's, only difference being that it was edged in red.

"I'm sorry," I said in a rush. "I'm so sorry. I didn't - I couldn't save her."

He glanced over at the girl with heavy, tear-rimmed eyes. "We can not always save everyone, Hasim."

"But if I'd only known!" I yelled, stumbling to my feet. "I could have saved her, if I'd just-"

He held up his hands, trying to steady me. "Easy, you are unwell..."

Black flooded my vision, and I felt myself fall, but I don't remember hitting the earth.

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Thanks for reading! Y'all mean so much to me, and I really appreciate very vote and comment you leave! The next part will be published next Monday, 1/11/16. <3 J.D.