Chapter 7: Ironic Conspiracy

Chapter 7: Ironic Conspiracy

A Chapter by Sairek Ceareste
"

Struggling to breathe, to gasp for air into his lungs. He felt the pressure on his throat, the ground sliding under his back. He held onto the staff as if it was the only thing that mattered.

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Previous Version
This is a previous version of Chapter 7: Ironic Conspiracy.






“Unhh…”


 

Sairek groaned out as he felt himself being dragged over a rocky portion of the road. He had struggled to get out of the hold many times now. But the beatings he had taken in the stomach and sides had made even his strongest struggles nothing but shuffles and groans.

 

 

“Shut yer bloody trap, brat!” He heard a voice yell out; sounding like the guard.

 

 

*BASH!!*

 

 

“Agh…!” Sairek let out in response to the pain of feeling a blow go to the back of his head. His consciousness swayed viciously for a moment, threatening to collapse on him, but being determined, he managed to adjust it and recover it. He wasn’t sure what hit him. If he wasn’t on his back and being dragged by his cape, he was positive even in this state, he could have done something… But the constant blows he was taking now and then was clouding his intelligent young mind. That, and the being dragged part was distracting him from the burning discomfort.

 

He tried to calm himself as much as he possibly could so he could think as clearly as possible. He needed to formulate a plan, and quick. Judging from how long he had been dragged, he’d imagine it was no more then fourty minutes before he was in the village again.

 

His eyes opened partly as he examined his staff which he barely gripped with one hand as he was dragged away. Making as many calculations as he could without moving too much; he didn't want to give out signs he was thinking of a plan, not giving signs he was in any state to retaliate.

 

There were only two spells he could use where his staff didn’t glow out of the magical powers used. One was his wind spell, although, he couldn’t see how this would help him. The reason it didn’t glow was because, in reality, the spell itself was too weak to actually emit a glow. It was a strong wind in one area for a period of time. He could only see that being an annoyance. The other spell however, his earth shifting one… That one didn’t glow either. Moving and shifting the earth was actually a simple task; it was being able to actually take shunks out, lifting it up into the air, and how quickly one could do it was what made the spell powerful. All of Sairek's spells were "flexible" spells. They didn't depend on the power of the magical incantations; rather they depended on the power of the user.

 

Sairek soon had the plan formed in his head. Quietly gathering as much Ethereal in the air as he could, he soon muttered as loud as he dared “Ethirul…” And the earth in front of the one dragging him soon dropped down by at least a foot. This caused the man to nearly fall and stumble, and the fall lightly twisted his ankle.

 

 

“What the hell--?” He heard the voice say, before he felt himself tugged harshly... but as he skidded across the ground, he no longer felt any pressure behind him pulling him by the cape; he knew his plan had worked. He had finally been released. He groaned out in pain, his body stiff from the beatings it had been forced to endure as he fought to stand on his feet, needing to use his staff to do so.

 

 

He quickly opened his emerald eyes. Pants inhaled and exhaled out of his lips. There were indeed only two of them, the guy he saw on the ground who his spell had tripped looked like a guy in a butler suit almost. He had blonde hair that went down to his shoulders. The hair was very fine and comed to be as straight as possible. The face Sairek couldn’t observe, for it was kissing the dirt at the moment. The only other man there was the one holding Nayleen, who had quieted down quite a bit during the time he was being dragged which must have been at least over 15 minutes.

 

 

“You bloody b*****d!” The soldier yelled out.

 

 

“Don’t stand there you fool!” The man dressed in the suit ordered. “He can hardly stand, kick him to the ground!”


 

Sairek watched as the man charged at him, while holding Nayleen. The boy’s eye’s sharpened. As the man got closer, Sairek lifted up his staff and pointed it just a few feet ahead of the man’s feet. Once again, chanting the magical words “Ethirul!” Although out loudly then just a mere mutter, a few rocky chunks rose from the ground. The soldier’s feet stubbed into them, making him begin to lose balance in his charge. Sairek, despite the pain in his body, endured it away, as he charged forwards, and ducked against the ground as he skidded against itl. He was using his sliding to gain extra momentum for the swing he threw with his staff. It ended up smashing against the man’s legs, causing him to lose any minimal balance he had before. The man began to fall forwards, releasing Nayleen in instinct to catch himself. She quickly slipped out of the hold as the soldier crashed into the ground, unable to catch himself for he was weighted by his own armor.

 

Sairek soon came up, yanking the helmet off the soldier by grabbing onto the top crest which was a symbol of the country. “Balinzer!” Sairek soon shouted in chant, as the staff glowed orange with the flame on it’s gnarled head. The soldier’s eyes widened as Sairek swung the staff with both hands to the left across the soldier's face. The staff felt more then just a piece of wood slamming into his cheek. It felt like a molten rock on fire had shot into him. The soldier roared out in pain. Sairek reared the staff back, striking him again on the other side of his head. This was as much as the soldier could take before being knocked out cold.

 

 

“Don’t underestimate me…” Sairek merely growled. Although regretting the words seconds later as he stumbled and collapsed on one knee, only managing to hold himself up from falling over completely because of his staff supporting him. His body was absolutely weak from over exerting himself from the lack of sleep and the brutal beatings.

 

 

He managed to turn around to look at the man in the suit who, of all things, began to dust himself off. “So you are smart…” The male muttered. Sairek finally able to see his face saw that it was quite skinny, not young, but a little below middle aged, Sairek assumed mid or late thirties. He also had bright blue eyes that seemed to piece into him.

 

 

Sairek pushed himself up once again on his feet to the best of his ability, but the fact he was putting all of his weight on his staff showed how vulnerable he was.

 

 

“Being intelligent does you nothing though when you aren’t even in shape to take a few blows, boy…” The male said, as he soon pulled out a sword. It was a rapier. That was good in a way, because it would be hard for such a weapon to do too much damage to his staff. It was bad however, because even though Sairek practiced blocking with the staff a few times, he was particularly bad at evading or blocking stabbing attacks.

 

 

Sairek however didn’t retort back. He merely panted trying to recover his body and regain stamina. The man continued to gloat. “What’s wrong boy? You look a little tired! I didn’t think a couple kicks here and there would have been enough to make you hardly able to stand! You look like you’re about to fall over and eat the dirt!”

 

 

Sairek couldn’t resist the urge to counterattack verbally. “Really…? Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that not even 3 minutes ago you were the one who just ate the dirt!”

 

 

The man opened his mouth to speak, before growling. “Oh, trust me, I will make sure I drag you back to the castle, face down this time!”

 

 

Sairek watched as the man soon ran at him, rapier brandished. He had to lose the support for his body as he lifted the staff up. He never remembered it feeling so heavy. Even with two hands, he struggled to keep up with the attacks the man swung at him. The man swung the rapier around swiftly, trying swing and stabs, trying to get around the child’s blocking. Sairek knew he was in quite a bit of trouble. He only had to miss one block and he was dead. That was nearly happening with every attack that he defended.

 


After just managing to successfully block a series of attacks, Sairek was too slow to react to something that he was beginning to hate this man for; kicking. Sairek stumbled a bit as he took a foot to the face. The man soon went down, and Sairek felt his legs give under him as the man tripped him by sweeping his legs out from under him. Sairek felt the world tip up as he faced towards the sky before he let a weak grunt of pain and exhaustion from landing down onto his back. He didn’t have any time to react to anything before he felt the man’s foot slam on his chest, nearly winding him once again. The rapier was flashed and shoved towards his throat. His head had to crane back or else the weapon would impale him. Sairek clenched his teeth in anger. This man played absolutely dirty, that was for sure.

 

 

“You’re smart, but when it comes to combat, you sure suck, boy.” The man let out with a smirk.

 

 

Sairek would have made a clever retort, except that he was afraid that moving his jaw may draw blood from the weapon that was pointing at his throat. Instead of thinking up retorts, he tried to think of any possible way out of this. But none came to mind, due to the adrenalin rushing through his head... as well as panic and terror. He didn’t believe he could cast any spells because simply muttering the magical words would cause the man to thrust the weapon through his throat.

 


To his relief however, he heard the man yell out, the weight of the man off of his chest, and the weapon withdrew away from him. Sairek gasped a breath of air as he craned his head up to see what was happening. To his relief, he saw that Nayleen had tackled the man to the ground, and holding a dagger to the man’s throat as she caught him off guard enough, she had him pinned in a threatening position.

 

 

“Well well,” Nayleen let out grinning. “Looks like the tables have turned. You may be good in combat. But when it comes to actual strategy, you’re nothing but stupid.” She retorted for Sairek, who couldn’t help but let out a little grin, as he slowly pushed himself up. He was really struggling now to stand up on two feet, even with the help of his staff.

 

 

“What the hell is with this?” The man let out. “His highness never told me that two kids would be this vicious!” He peeped out.



Sairek tilted his head a little bit. “My father?... Did you not say already that he was imprisoned?” Sairek paused for a moment. “Wait… The soldier said my father was in jail… but at the same time he ordered my return…” Sairek pondered for a moment. He was sure the soldier said that, however at the time he was too busy arguing to even notice.


 

Sairek looked at the man seeing him slowly smirk.

 

 

“Ah, master, you figured it out.”

 

 

“…What?” Sairek spoke out confused.

 

 

Sairek’s ears soon caught the sound of one person clapping from behind him. He turned his head around, and soon spun around as he let out a gasp. He couldn’t believe it, his father was clapping at him with 2 soldiers standing at his side.

 

 

“F-Father!?” Sairek let out in disbelief.

 

 

“Alright, I’m confused. What’s going on here?” Nayleen let out, not releasing the man as of yet however.

 

 

“Father??” Sairek repeated again as his father approached him.

 

 

“I apologize, Sairek.” His father said. “I needed to see if you was being serious, or if you was simply going to your death unprepared. I needed to test you even though I was strongly against the idea of having my soldiers attack my own son.”

 

 

You did this?” Sairek asked for confirmation, receiving it as his father nodded to answer. Sairek looked stunned as his father continued explaining.



“Sairek, I couldn’t just let you go without the knowledge that you were unable to handle yourself. Besides, you know I love you. I couldn’t see you leave for so long without saying goodbye. Your mother would be very angry with me if I let that happen.”

 

 

Sairek felt strangely overwhelmed with emotion. Despite how weak he felt though, he dropped his staff onto the floor, and ran over to his father, soon embracing him in a tight hug. He took comfort feeling his father’s arms wrap around him.

 

 

“Will you be returning to the castle to properly prepare?” Sairek’s father asked, although confused when Sairek didn’t respond. “Sairek?” His father asked again. Lightly pulling the boy away, noticing he was rather limp.

 

 

He had fallen asleep in his father’s arms.






© 2011 Sairek Ceareste


Author's Note

Sairek Ceareste
Summer's over, and this one has finally been proof read and checked properly. I redid a bit of the descriptions, but it wasn't much other then making some sentences more understandable.



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Added on June 20, 2011
Last Updated on September 21, 2011
Tags: The Ethereal Elixer Fantasy Adve