Blood Oath (Book 2 of Alfireán age)

Trapped like Rats

Anxiety flooded every part of Drake's body. The creature that called himself Lord Dy'Ixion had rendered both Alf and Rex inert.

Drake cut his sound warp and pushed his back solidly against the wall he hid behind. He had to think of something, and quick.

In milliseconds, he ran through a thousand different scenarios, but not a single one of them could possibly work. Years of training, strategy, and experience, and there wasn't a single thing he could do! If the blood oath had killed Alf it'd be one thing, but he had knocked him unconscious, and at the same time, secured the Stone of Kay inside the earthen cocoon. Which meant Vackzilian would soon have both of them. He would torture Alf to find out about Drake's existence, and then, using Travers Wake, he'd teleport a whole army at once to surround and capture him. And while Drake could now become completely invisible, he didn't have the energy to remain so forever, which in turn meant there would be no way for him to outmaneuver Vackzilian's limitless resources.

He stared blankly at the destruction around him, despair welling up in him. For the first time in his life, Drake had no viable options.

He closed his eyes; no, that wasn't quite true.

Taking a deep, wavering breath, he slid to his knees. "God, you know I've never believed in you, and to be honest, I'm not sure I do now, but Alf does. Please, if you are real, please help us now!"

"NOO!" a blood curdling scream of animalistic rage rang out, followed seconds later by another unintelligible scream of pure hatred.

Drakovian sprang to his feet and spun around the corner.

There, several-hundred feet in front of him, a multi-layered golden shield surrounded the blood oath, closing him in. Streams of black indigo lightning poured off the blood oath, hissing and popping against the shield as the first layer completely entrapped him. More unintelligible screams erupted from Dy'Ixion, and the lighting tripled in mass. As the dark magic blasted into the barrier, slowly but surely, the shield thinned to the breaking point.

Just as paper-thin cracks began to split the golden surface, a well-built, white-haired man dashed up, slammed his palms against the barrier, and grunted. The second layer of the golden shield slammed shut, securing Dy'Ixion inside; then the glorious sphere flared and solidified, becoming completely opaque.

The older man dropped to his knees, gulping down air as perspiration poured from his brow. Blue streams of energy crackled down his right hand and fed into the shield.

Catching his breath, the man looked around. His head swung from right to left until his eyes latched on to Rex. "Tairexy you better wake up, or heaven so help me, I'm going to fan your hinny!" the white-haired man hollered.

Rex didn't stir.

He hung his head and gulped down air again then shouted, "Gerhard said there were three of you that came out here. I only see two. Is the third one still here?"

Drake released his invisibility spell and stepped out. "Yes, I'm here."

The man's bearded and well-weathered face lit up with surprise. "Drakovy, I haven't seen you since you were knee-high to a grasshopper. Your father told me you were now his spy m-." The man stopped himself and coughed as his eyes flickered to the blood oath now slightly visible through the golden shield. "I never thought I'd see you here," he finished.

Drakovian stopped dead in his tracks. "Do I know you?"

The older gentleman frowned at him. "Of course you do. I'm your mother's brother, God rest her soul." The golden shield flashed as the blood oath inside it delivered a heavy blow, and the man's muscles tightened as he rocked forward. "Alas, we don't have time for reminiscing right now," he said glancing at the ever-thinning shield. "I need you to grab the smelling salts out of my pocket and go wake up my son over there. I would, but I can't take my hands off of this, or this freak here will escape. He's a rather feisty one, he is. I've never had this much trouble closing a reversed shield around someone before."