Book One Chapter Seventeen: Ongoing Travels

Nick and his friends journey to the town of Arknan, where they learn of the ritual of Turlock. As far as they know, they have learned of the ritual before Saja. Will Saja use it for her plan?

Chapter Seventeen Ongoing travels: It was a very short walk from Alum. We got to Libel about a few minutes later. We were all fatigued so we were going to stay at the inn. We heard whispering in an alleyway near the inn's entrance.

“I do not know what you are talking about.” Said a male voice.

“Of course you do. Tell me right now!” Said another one.

“I do not know about a ritual of Turlock!” the voice said.

That sparked my attention.

“Yes you do, I know you do!” said the other voice, also male. “

Tell me! I know that you know, there is no reason to hide it!” demanded the 2^nd voice.

“I do not know what you are talking about Lexan! Leave me alone!” The first voice, Liam said.

Whoa, Lexan is here?

“What do you make of this, guys?” I asked the others.

They didn’t answer. They were frozen, listening to the conversation. I heard a scream of pain from one of the men in the alleyway. I turned back to the alleyway. I turned away just in time for Lexan to bolt past us. The one named Liam was bent over with a nasty cut on his ribs. We went over to him and helped him up.

“Liam?” I asked.

Blood was pouring out of his open wound. He uttered a groan.

“We have to get him to a doctor.” I said.

“That will not be necessary. I can tend to his wounds.” Said Fenton.

“Seal the wound before you attract any vampires.” The king told Fenton.

I laid Liam down and Fenton looked him over. He pulled a linen cloth out of his pocket.

“It is only a flesh wound, hold still.” Fenton said.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed a water bottle. He poured water from the bottle over it and cleaned Liam’s wound. It didn't look too bad, there was just a lot of blood. Fenton wrapped Liam's wound in the cloth.

“That should stop the bleeding.” He said as he finished tying it.

“Does anyone else have a profession?” I asked, looking back to my friends.

“I may not look it, but I am a distinguished marksman.” Said Carlos, stepping forward.

I looked toward Liam. He staggered upright.

“Are you a rebel?” I asked.

Liam nodded.

“Yes. I kept the ritual of Turlock away from Lexan. If he ever learned anything of it, he would tell Saja, and Saja would create Kerulen and this war would end in her favor.” Said Liam.

I wouldn’t really call it a war, although it very soon will be a full out war. The images that came to mind when Liam said that the war could end in Saja’s favor were horrific.

We continued toward the inn Once we walked through the door, I saw that the innkeeper was the same girl who had sold us the room the last time we were in Libel.

“Oh! Hello again, travelers!” The innkeeper greeted us with a smile.

“Hello again.” I said with a smile of my own.

“Wait, before you buy your rooms, I must ask you something.” The woman said in a serious tone.

“What is it?” I asked, curious.

“When you were here last time, what was going on? Why did that vampire have me at gunpoint? How did you get down from your second floor room without coming down these stairs?” Asked the woman, pointing to the stairs behind her.

I decided to explain.

“I am sorry for the confusion. You see, the vampire who held you at gunpoint is named Saja. Saja has been wanting to capture me for the last little while because she thinks I have information that she wants. The reason she held you at gunpoint is because she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. To her, you were an obstacle in the way of getting to me. You chose to hide me behind that counter. For that, I thank you, but you could have gotten yourself killed.” I explained.

“Oh, I see. Well, I am glad to see that you are still alive.” The innkeeper told me.

“Thank you.” I said to her.

“How many rooms would you like?” Asked the innkeeper, smiling.

“Eight, please.” Carlos said.

Carlos reached into his pocket and placed a few of those silvery black rectangular coins on the counter.

“That you very much! Your rooms are on the second floor. Enjoy your stay!” The innkeeper said with a smile.

We went upstairs to our rooms. I made sure to check behind the mirror of mine. Just in case. When I found nothing out of the ordinary, I went to bed that night with no dreams. I woke up and found that the others were waiting down in the lobby for me.

“In case you never get to visit Libel again, travelers. I would like to say, good luck on your travels.” The innkeeper told us.

I turned to look at her.

“Thank you very much. You have been very kind to us.” I told her.

The innkeeper smiled.

“Oh, and one more thing.” The innkeeper said.

I turned to look at her.

“If I may ask you, what is your name?” The innkeeper asked me.

“My name is Nick. What is yours?” I asked her.

“Hello, Nick. My name is Beatrice.” The innkeeper said.

“Goodbye, Beatrice. Thank you for the rooms.” I told the innkeeper with a smile.

“Any time, please come again!” The innkeeper said joyfully.

We headed out. When we got to the village gate, Liam spoke.

“I am not going to journey with you any farther.” I turned to face him, a little shocked and disappointed.

“Why not?” I asked.

Liam shook his head.

“We all have journeys to make. Mine is not yours, I am a rebel, but my duties do not lie on the field of battle. I believe we will meet again, someday. I do thank you, however, for bandaging my wounds.” Liam said.

With that he parted with no other words. I watched him walk away without looking back. I wondered what he meant by saying that his duties did not lie on the field of battle?

“Where do we go now?” I asked.

“I believe Arknan is currently under the control of the vampires.” Said the king.

“It is about thirteen kilometers away.” Said Lauren.

“We'd better get moving then.” I told them.

We started to walk. We said little. At one point we saw a vampire that was just passing by us, it didn't look like it wanted to harm us, but we stayed cautious just in case.

 

 

 

We started to run. We had covered a few kilometers, at least. Already it was getting dark. We could get to Arknan before it got too late, but we would have to run. Lauren ran ahead to scout for rogue vampires. We had about two and a half hours before dark, so we picked up our pace. Lauren got back from her scout. We had covered a few more kilometers so far, we were making good pace. It was getting pretty dark and we still had a few more kilometers to go. My hand fell to my sword, which gave me a thought.

“Each of us needs a weapon.” I finally said.

“I am good with a blade, Carlos is good with a gun and Lauren... well, she doesn't need a weapon, Fenton has no weapon, and the king and queen don't have weapons.” I said.

Fenton, the king and the queen nodded their approval.

“We will stop at a general store at Ark nan.” The king said.

I nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea." I told them.

We had covered yet more kilometers during our conversation. Only a few more kilometers to go. We needed to move faster.

 

We decreased to a walk. We were within a kilometer of the city. We could see Arknan, it looked gloomy in this light, almost forlorn. We walked up to the front gate. Arknan was fairly large, it had sparsely packed buildings, stores, a church, inns and vendors in booths could be seen near each other. The buildings here were humble, only one or two stories high. Like the other villages, there were some houses with fenced in areas behind them with crops growing there. Lots of people could be seen going about their day. We walked because we wanted to blend in. We saw a gathering in the main square. Jeez, vampires hated humans. We saw a lone girl, who looked about sixteen or seventeen battling a massive amount of opposing vampires, at least twenty of them, and she was winning! She had long, light brown hair, a slender build, but not as slender as Fenton, her face had small features, especially her nose. She wielded a bow and she had a quiver of arrows on her back. She was shooting and taking her enemies down, one by one. Upon closer examination I noticed the arrows were silver tipped. A male vampire wielding a hulking sword ran up to her.

“Today we strike a blow upon the rebels!” He yelled.

With that he brought his sword down upon the girl. I couldn’t help what I did next, she was a rebel, and we needed all the help we could get. I unsheathed my sword and ran at the vampire. I held my sword out and caught the vampire’s sword just before it hit the girl. I blocked the sword from coming at the girl just in time. The vampire was shocked, the girl even more so. I forced the attacking vampire backwards and threw him off balance. The girl regained her composure, aimed her bow and shot him in the exposed stomach.

“Thank you.” The girl gasped.

I said nothing.

I led her out of the horde of vampires, who were angry about their fallen comrades, and back to the others.

“We have to fight them.” I said.

They were already advancing upon us. They were cautious so they advanced slowly.  

“I am Serena.” The girl said.

“I’m Nick.” I replied.

I knew that this was no time for pleasantries. This was time for battle. Serena then reached her arm back behind her head to access her quiver and she grabbed six arrows from it. She loaded them all onto the one string of her bow. The vampires were in front of us in a big cluster. Serena shot six arrows and all six of them nailed a vampire because they were all so close together.

“Nice shot!” I exclaimed.

“Shots.” Serena corrected.

“Whatever.” I said, grinning and preparing for an attack.

When no attacks came, I knew that the vampires were scared. They should have been; they just watched six of their friends get killed all at once at the hand of one girl. I readied my sword and charged them. I caught them off guard and I managed to stab a female vampire right through the chest. I ripped my sword out and brought it up through a male vampire who hadn’t regained his composure. A male vampire with a sword came up behind me and was going to deliver a fatal blow from behind, but a silver tipped arrow protruded out of its neck. I’ll have to remember to thank Serena for that one.

“Down you go!” Serena shouted.

But there were still lots of vampires left, so I didn’t let my hopes for getting out un-scathed get too high.

 

Serena disappeared from sight for a few moments. Where was she going? I continued fighting, parrying sword after sword. A minute later I saw silver tipped arrows rain down. I glimpsed Serena on the rooftops, along with Carlos they helped me kill the vampires. There weren’t many vampires left, but the queen and the king jumped into the fray and began attacking the remaining vampires. When their numbers dwindled, that is when the surprise came.

I saw Luna again. She had a mask on. It wasn’t a normal mask though. It had two sides. One blue and one black. That was strange. The blue half went over her left eye and the black half went over her right. The mask covered her whole face. The mask was decorative, but why would she wear a decorative mask? I had a fleeting thought that it was meant to cover the cut that I had given her in our last fight. Excitement swirled within me. Luna was back. We would soon be fighting. It was odd how Saja sent Luna after us again so soon. Was Saja toying with us by sending Luna after us again? Was it only for her amusement? Upon seeing their daughter, the king and queen started to talk to Luna.

"Luna! Do not do this! You can still redeem yourself, it is not too late! You can come back to us!" Shouted the king.

"It is true! It is never too late to redeem your actions! You can pull yourself back to the path of light!" Yelled the queen.

Luna chuckled, like she did last time her parents asked her to rejoin us.

"Terribly sorry, mother and father, but dark is the path for me. And Saja will help me find my way under a veil of darkness, where I'll shine again someday." Luna said.

Anger boiled inside of me. I was ready to fight.

The mask that she wore definitely covered the spot where I cut her on the face in our last fight. Luna also had a black chest plate with a red outline. Probably from when I cut her on the chest. Armor of the same color and material covered her legs and arms as well. Saja increased Luna’s defenses and sent her back at us. This was going to be interesting.

“You’re here, too?” I asked Luna in annoyance.

I raised my sword, preparing to fight. She used the same sword as last time. Luna stepped close to me.

“This is going to be fun.” She said with a smug grin. She swung her sword at me but I sidestepped her. I didn’t give her a wound because it she recovered from her missed attack. I didn’t want to get hit by her poisoned sword. She swung her sword at me again and I blocked it. I stepped towards her as our blades were locked and I pushed against her sword. She was thrown off balance. I pulled my sword in and swiped at her in return, but she recovered, whirled around and slashed at me with her barbed blade, missed my neck by mere inches. The attack caught me by surprise. I hadn’t expected her to recover so quickly.

“You are lucky.” Luna said.

“Or maybe you just aren’t as good as you think you are.” I taunted.

I heard a thwip noise. Seconds later, arrows sailed through the air towards Luna, but when they hit her they deflected off harmlessly with the same array of light that happened in our last fight. What was this thing? A force field? Carlos had said that it was a shield, and that magic was used to make shields. Could Luna or Saja use magic? I heard a few gunshots. Carlos’s bullets just deflected off of Luna with an array of light. Luna laughed.

“Do you not see that my armor generates a force field?” She asked.

So it was a force field. I slashed at Luna. She wasn’t ready for me and she didn’t block me. My sword connected with her, but it deflected. Luna laughed again.

“You are not very smart, are you?” She said as she took a swipe at me.

“I’m smart enough to hold my own against you.” I said while blocking her swipe.

Luna thrust her sword at me. I jumped to the right to evade her attack. She thrust at me again. I jumped backwards.

“What is the matter, Nick? Are you scared?” She asked cockily.

She swiped at my chest. I blocked her swipe and stepped backwards to avoid her next attack. This was insane, I couldn't just sit here letting her take pot shots at me. She had to have some form of weakness. She was covered from head to toe in the black armor with the red outline that generated her force field, her face was covered by that strange mask. What was with that thing, anyway? I looked around my peripheral vision, there were no vampires around us, and so I had the entire square to maneuver about. "Surrender now!" Said Luna, punctuating the last word with a forceful thrust to my stomach, which I sidestepped away from. Luna went for a slash, I blocked it and hit her mask, it didn't bounce off, but it didn't appear to do any damage, either. There was something that wasn't right with that mask...

 

Luna forced me to back up a considerable distance. I realized that it was a waste of my energy to block her attacks because I couldn’t hit her without my sword bouncing off of her force field. I just dodged and evaded her blows. I decided to turn and run, climb a house and take the high ground. I turned around, dodging to the left in case Luna stabbed at my back, which she didn't. The houses were all pretty low, no more than seven or eight feet. I ran at the lowest one, used the windowsill as a foothold, and launched up to the roof. I heard a woman inside yelling curses at me. I turned around and readied my sword. I saw Luna standing down below where I ran from. She probably didn't want to engage me while I had the high ground. Smart.

“What’s the matter, Luna? Come on, hit me with your best shot!” I taunted.

Luna looked frustrated.

“Come down here and I will kill you!” Luna shouted.

I pretended to think for a moment.

“Sorry, that won’t happen.” I said with a laugh.

 

On the rooftop beside me, Serena was standing there, she didn't fire her arrows at Luna. It was futile. I ran through the recent memories of our fight. Her armor deflected all of our singular attacks, but what would happen if we all attacked her at once? Probably nothing, but it was worth a shot. What did we have to lose? It wasn’t like Luna was going to stop attacking us unless either Luna was dead, I was dead or if Saja stepped in again.

"Serena, Carlos! On my mark, fire!" I said. I kept it brief, because Luna was now advancing.

"One!"

Luna was on the windowsill.

"Two!"

Luna was pulling herself on to the roof! Just a little more...

"Three!" I shouted.

Luna was on her feet, Carlos and Serena both fired their projectiles at Luna, it staggered her, it wasn't a lot though, but it was enough for it to be visible.

"Again!" I shouted.

They both fired, and this time, I joined in with my sword and stabbed her chest plate.

 

"What are you doing?" Asked Luna, alarm creeping into her voice.

"King, Queen!" I yelled.

They knew the plan, but they were reluctant to fight their daughter. Hadn't they realized that it was futile to convince her to join us? The king and queen were running towards the rooftop, behind Luna.

"Again!" I shouted.

Luna was ready for my blow, but not Serena's, Carlos', and both the king and queen's as well. A small combustion occurred inside Luna's armor. She screamed out in pain, went limp and fell backwards, off of the rooftop. When she hit the ground, her mask tumbled off, revealing the scar I had given her on her face. I felt a slight pang of guilt, but I then remembered what she did to us. I jumped down with my sword, ready to finish her off. When I was halfway between the rooftop and Luna, a body collided with my own and knocked me a few feet away. I crashed to the ground. My head hit the ground and my thoughts clouded for a moment.

“What… Hit me…?” I asked, mostly to myself.

I looked up to see Saja, her black wings were sprouted once again. She had saved Luna yet again! She sends her after us, then when we are about to finish her off, she steps in! It was starting to get frustrating. My thoughts cleared. My fear of Saja pulsed inside my brain, but it was overtaken by my desire to face my fear of Saja, so I pushed my fear aside. Saja looked at me and I didn’t look away.

“Nick, don’t you know that it isn’t polite to strike a lady?” Saja asked, motioning to Luna.

I was silent for a moment. Saja’s joke wasn’t funny.

“Well, I’m going to need to teach you some respect!” Saja exclaimed.

She picked up Luna's sword from her unconscious body and ran at me. I was ready for her. She lunged at me with deadly grace and nearly cut me in half in one swipe, but I jumped out of the way. I turned back around and prepared for another attack from Saja. Saja was quick to recover from her missed swipe and she attacked me again. I brought my sword up in time to block her attack and push her backwards. That seemed to catch her by surprise.

“My, my. You are stronger than I thought.” She said as she prepared to attack me again.

Saja assumed a fencing stance and bent her knees. She lunged at me with vampire speed. I wasn’t ready for her sudden attack and she managed to stab my arm. My arm flared with the fiery pain that the poisoned sword caused. I cried out in pain. Warm blood dripped out of my wound. I saw Saja looking at the blood.

“Or perhaps you are not.” Saja said.

The pain caused by the poison subsided after few seconds and soon vanished. Saja stabbed at my shoulder again. I dodged her.

“Wow. That one really hurt.” I said sarcastically.

Saja growled in anger and swiped at me again. I jumped to the left to avoid it.

“Nice miss!” I taunted her.

Saja reeled her sword back and made three quick thrusts at me. I blocked two of them, but the third one hit me on my left forearm. It flared in fiery pain and I screamed. Saja was far better with a sword than Luna. I saw the glint of something to my left in the moonlight. It was an arrow from Serena! It was going for Saja's head! Just before the arrow hit her, I saw a grin crack her lips. She spun around, split it the arrow in two with her sword, and turned to face Serena.

“You’ll have to try a little harder than that, Serena!” Saja called over her shoulder.

The king and queen rushed to my side after Serena’s arrow was broken. Soon, Serena and Carlos were down from the rooftop, and Fenton stood with us as well, holding a dagger. Where did he get that? He must have picked it up off of the corpse of a vampire that we recently killed.

"You are outnumbered, Saja." Said Serena, flipping her brown hair out of her eyes.

Saja stood in front of the unconscious Luna.

“Why do you send Luna after us, and then take her back with you when she is about to die?” I asked Saja angrily.

“Well, it is indeed quite amusing to see you and Luna duel each other. Plus, I need a diversion. My master plan is unfolding as we speak, but it is running behind schedule because you are advancing faster than I thought you would.” Saja explained.

“Saja, don’t you dare take off again, you coward!” I yelled at her.

Saja chuckled. A wind picked up, blowing her blonde hair backwards.

“Sorry but maybe another time, Nick. Perhaps we will meet again sooner than one would think.” Saja said with a grin.

She then picked up Luna, and flew off. Serena and Carlos both fired their projectiles at Saja, one of Carlos's bullets hit her, and she crashed to the ground a few hundred feet away. I was going to run after her, but she got up and flew off again. I really hated Saja. I turned to Serena.

“Will you be journeying with us then?” She nodded.

“I will do anything to prevent that Saja from rising to power.” She said.

“You know Saja?” I asked.

“Yes. I was captured by her a few years ago, she wanted to know about some 'Chosen One’, and someone named Tigiti. She tortured me with her bites, I was forced to escape.” Serena explained.

“The same thing happened to me, she tortured me by biting me, forcing me to fall weak. It wasn’t very painful, but it felt horrible.” I replied.

“I know, it feels horrible. I was Saja’s captive for two years, I only just escaped last winter. I have the fang marks to prove it.” Serena said.

With that, Serena brushed aside her shoulder length light brown hair to reveal her neck. Her neck was covered in fang marks! There were mostly just the two dots, indicating two fangs, but there were a few marks there that showed the two fang marks, as well as marks indicating the bottom teeth, this is where Saja had bitten down on Serena’s neck extra hard.

“Oh my god!” I shouted.

“Indeed. As you may have guessed, the bites that show the fangs as well as the bottom teeth are where Saja bit down very hard, those bites were extremely painful, and some of them ache even today if I touch them too hard.” Serena explained.

I felt sorry for Serena, it was terrible that she had to go through that, I only had a few bite marks on my own neck, they felt very unpleasant, and they were still slightly painful.

“We should stop by the general store.” Fenton suggested, changing the subject.

“I think that is a good idea.” Serena said, letting her hair conceal her bite marks once again.

I nodded, and no one objected, Serena led everyone to the far end of the village. It was there that we saw a small shop. The sign read WEAPONS. I went inside.

“Got any weapons?” I asked.

The shopkeeper nodded.

“The finest in Ectoclis.” He said with a grin.

He stepped aside and let us browse his wares. The king browsed the mace section. He picked a mace of silver and a sturdy shield.

“Want defense against the vampires, eh?” asked the shopkeeper.

“Yes we are rebels.” Replied the king.

The shopkeeper chuckled.

"We need more of you rebels that is for sure." The shopkeeper said.

The queen then started to browse the axes. Like the king, she picked a silver axe. She also picked a shield that looked just like the king’s. Lauren went to the counter once we all picked our weapons on the counter.

"How much will this cost?" Asked Carlos, reaching into his pocket.

 

The shopkeeper raised his hands.

“No payment necessary. You freed our village from vampires, so it’s the least I can do to give you weapons to allow you to free other villages.” The shopkeeper said.

Carlos took his hand out of his pocket. We continued, thanking the shopkeeper for his kindness. We passed a library.

“Do you guys mind if I look around for a bit?” I asked, gesturing to the library.

Almost everyone shook their heads and I ran in. Who knows? Maybe I would find something of interest? I browsed the shelves and found books like Vampires, Past and Present, Vampire Defense, Vampire Survival Guide, and a lot of other books concerning vampires. Vampires must be a big part of life here on Ectoclis. I went up to the second floor and browsed the shelves there. I looked through poetry books, short novels, and I finally found a book that interested me a lot. It was entitled The Ritual of Turlock. Excited, I opened and started to read.

 

The ritual of Turlock is used to make creatures like the Kerulen.

 

A Kerulen is made when a vampire, one pure and one impure have the ritual of Turlock preformed on them.

 

One probably wonders where they can find a pure vampire soul. Some, although very rare exist.

 

You could also capture an angel and make it make contact with one of the impure vampires.

 

Now that you have everything you need you must lay them on a table, light them on fire, circle them five times and drive wooden stakes through their hearts.

 

 

 

I put the book down.

“So that’s how Saja will make Kerulen.” I said to myself.

I put the book away and bolted outside to the others. They were waiting in the same place as I left them.

“I learned more on the ritual of Turlock, you have to put the pure and impure vampires on a table, light them on fire, circle them 5 times and drive wooden stakes through their hearts.” I told them excitedly.

“Incredible.” Said the king in awe. We then walked out of Arknan and out onto the flat plains of Ectoclis.

***

 

Unknown Location, Ectoclis. Saja's point of view.

“Nick and the rebels will best me if we don’t do something Lexan!” screamed Saja in rage.

“We have to send Luna after them soon." exclaimed Saja.

“That will not work.” Said Lexan.

“They have already defeated Luna a few times now, we need something that will definitely work, something to kill Nick.” Lexan added.

 Saja nodded.

“You are right Lexan. I am letting my pain weigh out my pride. It would be ridiculous to send Luna after them again so soon. I must renew her shields, and her enchantments." Saja admitted.

"What do we do now?" Lexan asked.

“We wait. Good things come to those who wait." Saja explained.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think :)