The Sword Summoner: History Repeats

By Trey’s reckoning it was nearing night. The temperature had slowly been decreasing for nearly an hour now. There were no windows in the cell they were being kept in but he could tell that the sun was still out from the light filtering into the cell through the gaps in the wood from above.

The mood in the cell was sombre at best. They had not eaten or drank since sun up that morning, their weapons had been confiscated and they were going to be eaten by a tribe of cannibals. The word unlucky just did not quite cut it for the situation.

Other than the thuds from rough skinned feet above, shouts from the tribal people, groans of the wood and the sound of the sand scraping against the outer walls as the structure pushed through the dry sea, not a sound came from within the room.

A new sound echoed into the prison, shattering the uneasy quiet. The three boys looked up, startled. There, stood in-between two of the door’s battered iron bars, was Pux.

“You look like you need a bit of help,” he laughed. He leant casually against the bar, his tiny hand rested lightly upon the pommel of his sword. The weapon was slimmer in design than the usual broad and long swords popular throughout Farava. The Yuxova blade was built to stab more than to slash. The hilt and pommel were polished ivory.

“Pux, thank the Sprites you’re here. Hurry up and get us out of here,” Trey said.

“Quiet!” warned the Yuxova. “Someone is coming.”

Around the corner a door creakily opened, followed closely by heavy footsteps. Pux darted behind a bucket as a heavily built man stepped into view. The man had a menacing smile etched onto his ugly face and he was licking his lips hungrily. He tapped his crudely made mace onto his hand as he approached the boys. He stopped, pulled out a bulky key, then inserted it into a hole in the cell’s door.

He gave an evil chuckle as he shoved them out of the prison. “What a good day indeed. We will eat well for the first time in weeks,” he said with a greedy smile. His accent was strong, his mouth not quite adapting to the Faravian language.

They were led along the corridors the same way that they had been brought in. As they emerged from the dark under level, the moon greeted them, its full sphere hanging watchfully in the heavens above. Its light cast the surroundings in a mystical silver glow. It gave the gathering of cannibals a spectral appearance. There must have been at least fifty of them.

“We’re almost back to the pit,” announced the skull wearing leader. He spoke in the boys’ own language so they could hear all of the dreaded words he was about to say. “I sent a message forward and an inferno is already ablaze ready for our arrival.” The tribal people all cheered.

“Chief!” called a man from the top of a mast, interrupting the speech. “There’s a Heptalli ship on the horizon. A big one.”

“Oh, this day just keeps getting better,” the leader said with a hungry grin. “Men, the good old Pit’ll have to wait. We’re going hunting!” The surrounding tribal members cheered again, clashing their weapons together as they bayed for blood.

“Set an intercept course for their ship and use full speed. Make the men ready,” the leader ordered.

The ship in question came into view after cresting a large dune. It was smaller than the Flesh Eroder’s craft but seemed sturdier built. Its streamlined design looked far closer matched to a real sea faring vessel. It too appeared to have giant wheels to help it through the sand.

A sudden excited hustle began on deck. The boys were tied to the mast with thick rope. One man was left to guard them whose muscles were unnaturally large and his features looked as though they had been sharpened. He held in his hands a huge battle axe that looked like it had been stolen from a noble, its black steel etched in silver and gold while its deadly sharp blades curved elegantly before coming to abruptly brutal points. It looked heavy to even his substantial muscles. The brute sneered at them with anger since he was forced to guard the dinner rather than slaughter the Heptalli people.

The deck shuddered as a monstrous cannon fired at the Heptalli ship. It boomed like thunder and the crew cheered as they watched the stone sphere hurtle towards its prey. An explosion of sand indicated a miss, not by far though.

“Prepare the Death Riders,” roared a nearby man.

Several thuds reverberated through the ship’s hull. After a second, five small sand vehicles sped into view past the edge of the ship. They were thin, metal constructions with the pilot sat in the middle of them. A large lance like spike reached forwards from the front of the crafts and a triangular blade stuck out at either side for additional devastation. The pilots were no less equipped. Each held a halberd in their hands and seemed to steer the crafts with their legs.

The Heptalli ship released it’s own fighter craft in defence. The odds seemed against them. They were made from wooden plates and seemed more bulky than their enemy’s counterparts, smaller but less aerodynamic. They did have an outer ring made from metal to aid in attack but that was all. Their pilots had no visible weapons on them.

The two opposing forces rapidly reached each other and showed no signs of slowing. At the last available second the Heptalli ships zipped to the side as the enemy ships powered forwards. The ensuing battle was like a deadly dance as the Heptalli wove around the stronger opponents, their speed and manoeuvrability surprising for their size. Offensive capability had obviously been disregarded for an edge in agility. Despite the blocky design, intricate inner mechanics must have been contained within. The plates moved like fishes’ scales, allowing the crafts to flow around the dunes with the grace of dolphins at play.

“There are women and children on that ship,” stated the eagle eyed Billy.

“We have to help them or they won’t stand a chance,” Trey said through clenched teeth.

“We can’t even help ourselves, let alone a whole ship full of people against these guys,” replied Billy angrily. He looked at their guard again who was staring hungrily at them. “We won’t even be able to get past this guy, so we can forget trying the rest of the tribe onboard.”

“Maybe if I glare at him and think angry thoughts my will power will kill him,” suggested Zak.

“Good luck with that,” answered Billy sarcastically. Zak glared at the guard with a strained expression on his face as he concentrated on thinking angry thoughts. The guard stood unmoving.

Billy scoffed. “I can’t believe you actually thought that might work you idio-”

The guard dropped to the floor. Blood pooled around his body despite there being no visible wound.

“Ha! See. I’m totally amazing and you thought it was a stupid idea,” laughed Zak. Billy seemed dumbstruck, totally lost for words.

“Now we just need the ropes cutting and we can help,” Trey said into the sudden silence. “Help me try and loosen them.”

“Let me think more angry thoughts at it and then I’ll be the greatest ever,” shouted Zak in a slightly insane voice.

“Or we could just get Pux to cut them once he gets his sword from that man’s spine,” replied Trey as he tried to edge away from Zak. He was not having much luck with it.

“We could do that but I prefer my idea,” pouted Zak.

“Ah, so you noticed me did you, lad?” said Pux as he walked over the guard’s body, wiping crimson blood off of his blade on the man’s shirt. He hopped down from his head and ran over to the ropes which he tried to cut but failed. “It’ll take too long for me to cut it like this. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he scurried out of sight.

“How long do you think it will take for him to come back?”mused Billy. He looked over to Zak who was still thinking angry thoughts at the rope. He then looked at Trey, and saw nothing. Billy looked all around but could not see any trace of him.

“You can get out anytime now,” said Trey who was sat on a crate near the edge of the ship.

“What? When? How?” Billy stammered. Zak was still staring angrily at the rope, oblivious to everything else around him.

“I used the guard’s giant axe that landed near me to cut the ropes,” Trey explained. The mention of the words ‘giant axe’ had snapped Zak out of his angry thoughts and caused him to jump up and charge towards the weapon.

“You won’t even be able to lift it let alone use it, you fool,” scoffed Billy as he collected the ropes for later use.

“Dinner is escaping!” roared a passing by tribal man whose full attention had not been on the battle between the two ships. He dropped the wood he had been carrying and drew his sword with a snarl. Within five seconds about twenty warriors had assembled around the three boys and totally surrounded them.

“Damn!” Billy muttered. He wished that he had a blade in his hands, or even better, a strong bow.

The skull wearing leader stepped forwards. He held a jagged sword in his hand that even had serrated edges along its serrated edges. It was also permanently stained in dry blood from his past victims. He made a throat slitting gesture while growling. “Time to die,” he sneered.

“Sorry. I don’t feel like dying today, or anytime soon. I’ve got places to go, people to see and you’re not one of them. See ya!” Trey called as he quickly chanted some words and shot a purple bolt of lightning at the leader before sagging against the crate.

It seemed to have no effect. The leader laughed coldly. Then all the skulls he was wearing suddenly came alive, and considering he was wearing a lot, including one as a helmet and one as a groin guard, he became very worried rather quickly. They all started to chatter and bite at him as he tried to pull them off to no avail. He was being eaten alive by his own armour.

Zak rubbed his hands together and grabbed the handle of the axn by his feet. With a great amount of strain he lifted it up. “Time to have some fun!” he shouted as he began to spin around in circles with the axe extended out in front of him. Both Trey and Billy threw themselves to the deck to avoid being hit. Some of the warriors tried to defend against the blows but it was futile. Bodies flew everywhere until they got the idea to stay away from Zak.

“Come on! We need to help that Heptalli ship,” Trey called to Zak and Billy. Glancing at the battlefield below, they saw the wrecks of the fishlike sand speeders and more Flesh Eroder craft swarming across the dunes. Bigger speeders packed full of warriors were dotted among the smaller skirmishers. Heptalli cannons fired, devastating what targets they hit but few reached their mark. Soon the cannibal forces would be storming the Heptalli ship.

There was an ear-splitting whoosh as a fiery explosion engulfed half the Flesh Eroders’ main ship. Flames and smoke spiralled into the sky and began to consume the remaining sections of the vessel. Men and women screamed, turning attention from the battle to combat the blaze.

“Zak, what did you do?” asked Billy angrily.

“It wasn’t me,” replied Zak. “I’d have gone with a bigger bang.”

“Thank the Sprites it wasn’t you then. That explosion was too big. Any bigger and we’d be dead.”

“I know. Whoever did it took all the fun out of it.”

“You scare me.”

“That explosion was my doing and it’s called a distraction so use it well,” said Pux from his heroic pose over on the crate Trey had been sat on. “Your weapons are in that chest over there. We should head down to try and escape. Now get moving.”

Pux picked the crude lock on the chest using his sword and waited for the boys to equip themselves. Zak slid both his swords through his belt and opted, much to everyone’s terror, to use the battle axe. They ran through several corridors before finding a suitable, undamaged way down to the lower levels. They met very little resistance as most people were trying to extinguish the inferno.

Two club wielding Flesh Eroders turned a corner at the same time as the teens and instantly went on the attack. Zak used his new axe as a shield. The man’s club hit it causing his attacking arm to jar. Before he could recover, Zak drew a katana with his free arm and slid it between his opponent’s ribs. The second man had swung straight for Trey’s head. The teen ducked just in time then leapt back to avoid a downward stroke. Billy lunged but only nicked the man’s arm before the brute countered, knocking the weapon away. Billy moved back into a doorway and slid his knife from his belt. The man tried to attack again but the area was too narrow to effectively swing his weapon.

Seeing his chance, Billy lobbed the knife, his mother’s training paying off. It thudded blade first into his chest, dropping him like a stone. At the sight of the blood he threw up. Now that the adrenaline was fading, the realisation that he had just killed a man struck him with a wave of nausea. Zak recovered the knife for him and passed it back after wiping it clean of blood. Death seemed to hold no sway over him. His eyes were so deep that Trey could not begin to read his emotions. The boy held more secrets than his manic personality hinted at.

Trey grabbed Billy’s shoulder, snapping him back to reality. He too felt sick and suddenly very weary but more voices were coming down the corridor. He motioned for the group to move on, leaving the scene behind them. After some reassurances, Billy regained his calm although his eyes were visibly still troubled. Eventually they reached what they presumed was the hanger. Five more speeder ships were being launched as the boys stepped out through the bulky wooden door. Only one wrecked vehicle remained in the room.

The large open space was filled with strange metal gears and levers connected by wooden beams and ropes. Crude tools littered the floor while all manner of spare parts hung from the walls. The far wall had been dropped down to form a ramp that hung just above the dune tops, leaving a large gap through which a raging wind howled inside.

“Damn. I was hoping we could hijack a few of them. Looks like we’ll have to walk,” growled Pux.

“What’s wrong with this one?” asked Zak, pointing to the wrecked speeder.

“Um, it only has three wheels, lots of the structural bars are broken and that important looking thing there is held on by string,” answered Billy.

“So?”

“Maybe we could fix it,” offered Trey.

“Maybe,” said Pux. His sharp eyes scanned the scattered parts but it was obvious that he knew little of their purposes.

They shoved the vehicle over to the launch platform to make the repairs. After scouring the hanger for any materials that they thought were needed, they climbed up onto the vehicle’s metal bar structure.

Everyone except for Zak. Billy clambered into the driver’s seat with Pux while Trey checked the important looking thing held on by string. Zak quietly snuck around to the firing lever. Billy, who had a good technical mind was just saying how it could take hours to fix when the vehicle shuddered.

Billy roared, “Zak! What have you done?”

The vehicle shot off into the sand. Zak leapt on at the last second, holding onto a back bar with one hand, dragging his axe with his other. It zoomed forwards at a terrifying speed towards the Heptalli ship with so much momentum that tears streamed across the boys’ faces.

“Zak you idiot!” screamed Billy.

“Slow it down!” shouted Trey over to Billy. His voice was nearly lost to the wind.

“I don’t know how!”

“Find out!”

They were rapidly drawing near another sandspeeder and the pilot looked ready to kill them. The craft spun to intercept them. Zak somehow dragged himself onto the front of their ship where Trey was, amazingly still with his axe.

“Rock on!” howled Zak as he launched into the air. Time seemed to slow as he soared through the air with his axe held above his head. As he began his descent he smashed down with all his might. The weight of the axe alone sent the speeder plummeting into the sand. In an explosion of sand and a storm of splinters and metal, the ship shattered.

Zak pushed off the disintegrating craft as his feet hit it, narrowly missing several flying objects, and landed perfectly on the back of the speeding ship Billy was trying to drive, his axe resting on his shoulder.

“…”

Trey snapped out of his amazement and shouted “We need to slow down or we’re going to crash!”

“Too late!” laughed Zak ecstatically.

They flew straight into the Heptalli ship’s wall with a crash then cartwheeled through a second wall before gently rolling to a halt. Debris rained down like a monsoon around them. As dust started to settle the scene was one of total carnage. Mutilated bodies of what they presumed were the Heptalli were littered across the floor and a few of the Flesh Eroders corpses could be spotted within the sea of blood soaked yellow garbs.

The Flesh Eroders attack ships were imbedded in the outer wall of the Heptalli ship, the frontal spikes just touching the next wall that the boys had smashed straight through. That had taken the Flesh Eroders by surprise since they were currently looting in that room. Most had been battered by the heavy debris while others had suffered a direct hit from the ship.

One unlucky man had been skewered by the frontal spike but was still alive. He tried desperately to dislodge himself while screaming and cursing in a language the boys could not understand. None of the men were in any condition to stand and fight. Trey counted fifteen enemy bodies, most still groaning in pain.

When the boys emerged from the under levels into the open sky they saw a full scale battle consuming the entire deck. The heavily armed Flesh Eroders fought the robe wearing, scimitar wielding Heptalli. The odds were not in favour of the defenders.

“Ooh, ooh,” said Zak as he jumped excitedly from one foot to the other. “Please let me do some spells.”

“No,” was Trey’s quick answer.

“Oh come on. It is my gramp’s book so I should get to do stuff with it.”

“No,” Billy replied. “You’ll kill us.”

“He has a point, Billy. It is his granddad’s book,” Trey pointed out.

Before Billy could protest Zak took the book from Trey and flicked through the pages.

“Most will need too much energy for you to use and the ones you could cast wouldn’t help much,” reasoned Trey. The few spells that he could even use nearly always left him faint.

Zak muttered some words and Billy and Trey braced themselves for some kind of mass destruction. Nothing dramatic happened for a few seconds. Then the ground began to shake. The surrounding desert began to swirl. A shape of sand began to form in the distance, a triangle. It was heading towards the ship with a lot of speed. Suddenly the sand rushed up and to everyone’s terror a huge body followed the triangle, or fin as it was now clearly. The fin of a gigantic sand shark.

“You made an enormous shark out of sand!” Billy roared.

“No,” replied Zak. “It’s a dolphin.”

“What?”

“Never mind what it is. It’s about to hit the ship!” Trey pointed out. Zak nodded happily. “The ship we happen to be on,” Trey hinted. Zak just smiled and nodded. Trey gave up with hints. “Just get rid of it.”

Zak sighed. “Fine.” He snapped his fingers and the shark exploded, sending a wave of sand in every direction.

The fighting had stopped. Every pair of eyes was locked in amazement and terror at the sand shark. When it exploded no one reacted as a wall of sand slammed into the ship. The wave was not big enough to cause serious damage; instead it knocked everyone off their feet and onto the deck. The Heptalli warriors quickly gathered their wits and got back to their feet, brushing sand from their robes.

Trey stood up and shook a large amount of sand from his hair. Billy spat out a mouthful of sand while Zak stepped from behind his battle axe with nearly no sand on him whatsoever. Trey looked over to where all the tribal people where and noticed a person that he had not seen yet.

The figure was presumably Heptalli as it was surrounded by the yellow robed warriors. The thing that threw Trey off was that it wore a crimson garb that stood out like a rose in a thorn bush. Its head was hooded unlike the others and around its neck hung a thick golden necklace.

Slowly it lifted its arm and the sleeve slid back to reveal a slender, bronze coloured hand. The fingers lit up green, firing bolts of the same green at the Flesh Eroders, who then fell back to the floor and struggled against invisible ropes. When the figure seemed satisfied it ordered several of the men to throw the captured warriors off the ship and into the desert below using swift hand gestures.

The person then turned to the three boys and spoke. “It's lunch time.”