The Champions by Jeremy Laszlo Read Free Book Online

their lives short. With the many blessings his master had given
him, Borrik was a force to be reckoned with. Like death himself, Borrik was
both hideous and handsome, a creature born of warlords’ nightmares.
    *****
    Seth watched as a flaming contingent of battle mages marched
onto the field of battle, led by a singular mage who herself was ablaze. Seth
had never seen such a display among Valdadore’s mages. He was impressed.
Watching their effect upon the battle Seth worked with them to even the odds.
Over and over he located and snuffed out the life of an enemy magician. Each
time he consumed and locked away the immense amount of power released. Seth
needed time to speak with his brother, and now his father too. They all needed
to realize that this battle was for nothing.
    No sooner had Seth had the thought, as afternoon strayed
into evening, than the enemy troops began to fall back and regroup. Seth
ordered his men, through Jonas, to hold. It appeared the attackers would relent
for the night. Such a thing was both good and bad. It was good that Valdadore
could get some reprieve, regroup, and properly defend themselves. But it was
bad in that the enemy lines stretched all the way to the horizon. They had
fought but a small portion of the invading army this day and had lost over a
thousand troops, including well over half of Seth’s champions. By daybreak
tomorrow they would be facing a force at least three times as large.
    This day, fighting as they fell back, they had lost ground
at a slow, even pace, but then they had held the enemy for the last several
hours. They had given up only a few miles. Seth watched as his brother and
fellow knights extracted themselves from the slowly melting battlefield. James
walked beside his son, the king, a hand on his shoulder. Behind them another
familiar face appeared as Jack came into sight. Oddly, right behind Jack was
another Jack. Then the second Jack began to blur and, with a flash, vanished
altogether. Seth began to walk towards the impromptu reunion himself, keeping a
wary eye on the enemy. Borrik winged down from above and, touching his bracer,
he gritted his teeth as his wings and second pair of arms began to melt away,
crawling beneath his skin once more.
    Sara came skipping out of the melting spires of ice like a
girl through a field of daisies. Though her demeanor hinted at playful glee,
her wicked red eyes showed a different story entirely. Sara had been a great
asset in battle. She had single-handedly killed hundreds of soldiers, and a
pair of mages as well. Seth could not resist but to smile at the woman he loved
as she pranced towards him looking like the fool come to the funeral. At least
she had taken the time to clean the blood from her face somehow.
    Now, for the first time his father and his wife would meet,
and though it was an important event in anyone’s life, Seth thought the
introduction was more or less just a formality as there were more important
things to discuss at present. The decisions made in the next moments would
change the course of the battle, perhaps the course of the human race. Seth
needed to know what his role would be in the days to come.
    Approaching the King of Valdadore, the death mage with his
vampire wife and werewolf second-in-command came to stand before those whose
lives relied upon them.
    “Well Garret, we survived again,” Seth said sarcastically.
“Dad, so glad you could make it; it seems we have some catching up to do,” he
added with a sarcastic smirk.
    “Yes, we do Seth,” James replied, matching his tone. He was
glad that in light of the current situation both of his sons were still the
young men who had left home so many months before. Minus, of course, the
blessings by gods, marriages, mutated human servants and such.
    “You must be Sara,” James said and reached out to shake the
woman’s hand.
    “Careful Dad, she bites,” Seth said trying not to laugh.
Borrik too choked back a laugh. Garret simply shook his