Power Awakens

Tem had secreted himself in the shadow of a supply shed, and Jaac had climbed up onto the roof. As they had been taught they slowed their breathing and waited for the enemy.

As he waited Jaac was certain he could almost see Tem, even though he was dressed all in black and he was in the darkest corner in the whole yard. Again, Jaac just ignored this feeling, obviously he couldn’t see Tem, but sometimes he seemed to be able to imagine he could see him. With that thought he saw Tem move into the ready stance, or was it his imagination.

He waited. Time slowed, a million thoughts went through his head, did he hear a sound? Jaac went into the Striking Snake stance. Tem, hidden in the deepest darkest corner of the yard glanced to where Jaac waited. Sometimes he was sure Jaac could see him, like now he would stare right at the spot where he was hidden no matter how dark it was, he knew it couldn’t be true, but it sure felt like it sometimes.

Tem heard a faint noise, he loved playing like this, he knew that only too soon he would have to stop the games, after naming day he would be sent to work as an apprentice. He knew he would miss these times the boys spent together, besides he always won, at just under six foot, Tem was developing a stringy musculature that gave him strength and speed. Jaac was often a close second, but Tem usually won most of the physical games. Jaac was a couple of inches shorter than Tem but what he lost in height he made up for in bulk, he was still young but already Jaac was as broad as a full grown man.

Another noise, Tem caught a glimpse of Ainy. Ainy was slightly shorter than Jaac but he didn’t have anything like the breadth of shoulder. He was of average proportions and so seemed small. Tem saw Mort a couple of strides behind Ainy, Mort was huge, he was already six and a half foot tall, but he was also wide as an ox. Tem often thought Mort was quite slow both physically and sometimes mentally. Jaac was always the one with the brains, and Mort was always the last to catch on.

Ainy and Mort slowly advanced into the yard, unfortunately they were not very stealthy. Only last week when Tem and Jaac took a turn to attack they had caught Ainy and Mort in poor defensive positions and had easily beaten them in minutes. Ainy and Mort moved into the shadows and Tem lost sight of them, however, he could feel them advancing on his position and knew they hadn’t seen him. He readied for the attack.

Jaac could clearly see Mort and Ainy, they moved into a shadowy patch but he could still see them and he thought he saw Tem ready to strike. As they closed Jaac made his move, simultaneously, Tem moved to attack the pair from the side. Jaac dropped silently down and as he did so he brought his Dai Katana to strike down on Mort’s head. He cracked Mort on the skull and heard him yelp, a second later he heard a grunt and ouch from Ainy, obviously Tem had attacked and struck Ainy at the same time as he hit Mort. Tem and Jaac danced away laughing. “You two are rubbish,” shouted Tem, “we saw you from miles away.”

Mort turned around and punched Ainy in the arm, “Told you we should have come in the back way” he said in a low drawling voice. “It’s not me its you, you clumsy oaf” replied Ainy, “Your always getting caught, why did I end up with you as my partner”

“We’ve got them arguing” laughed Tem as he turned to Jaac, “we’ll easily beat them again, they’ll never act as a team, come on its our turn to attack, lets show these two how to do it”

Jaac and Tem started to walk back down the Study Yard track. Just as they passed one of the deeper shadows Jaac felt something tug at his consciousness, he stopped and turned to the shadow. Did he see something there, he tried to concentrate and focus, he could see a persom hidden deep in tha shadow he was sure of it, and they were staring straight at him. Suddenly frightened reflexes taking control, Jaac grabbed Tem’s arm and shouted, “Danger, get out of here, run!”

Tem turned around as Jaac started to sprint away. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, what was Jaac up to? Suddenly a black blur sped past Tem straight for Jaac, Tem was too shocked to move, what was that thing.

The black shape was rapidly gaining on Jaac, a Silver Star shape appeared in its hand, and too fast for Tem to shout a warning the black shape flung the star straight at Jaac’s back. As the warning shout emerged from Tem’s throat, Jaac seemed to drop from sight and the star seemed to deflect off Jaac’s shoulder and thudded loudly into a nearby tree. The black shape slowed down and coalesced into a man. Tem gasped with shock, A Necro Warrior, one of the most deadly humans in the Nexus Worlds, Tem had only seen pictures of them. Only a seasoned Profent level martial artist was given the Necro Warrior tattoo on neck and arms, and this was a deep black symbol of their God Elvan. It was said most Necro Warrior also practiced Majee, but as there were few people who had even met a Necro Warrior and lived to tell the tale most took this as hearsay. One thing that was consistently said about them, that they were the best assassins money could buy.

The Necro Warrior slowly advanced on Jaac as he lay on the ground, even though he knew the boy was injured from his Surraken and didn’t carry a weapon, he was still wary by nature. To reach the level of Profent was a very difficult journey, few men made it. The Necro Warrior drew his Dai Katana, he let his senses focus on Jaac and also back towards Tem, and he took no chances when he was on a contract, especially one directly from his Master.

As he advanced on Jaac he raised his sword to the ready position and pressed his senses further out around Jaac’s sprawled out form. He was just starting the killing thrust when he sensed the sword coming at him from his right side. As quick as a Rezzner, a small carnivorous rat like creature, he swung his trailing right leg to the left, dropped his knees slightly and parried the oncoming blow. Eddick was stunned, he had known for a certainty that his sword was going to slice threw the Necro’s neck, he was absolutely amazed that his sword stroke had been parried. Eddick had followed the Necro into Bowltown earlier that day. He had kept well back to avoid notice, as he was well aware of the abilities of a Necro. His only hope lay in surprise, now that was gone, Eddick was certain that for the second time in as many weeks that he was going to die.

Eddick readied himself for the Necro’s attack, he knew from the stance and balance and the nonchalant way his surprise sword thrust had been turned away, that this was indeed a seasoned Profent level warrior. Eddick knew he had no chance against this level of opponent as he was still carrying an injury, but he was still determined to make a good account of himself, he had to give Jaac time to get away.

The Necro Warrior turned his gaze on Eddick, he knew the precise location of all four boys and specifically this new warrior. He had judged their relative proficiencies and relative energy levels and he knew that one on one, or all four together he could beat them. He had made one mistake this night, when he had put too much focus on one individual, he wasn’t going to do the same again. His spread his awareness equally across all five humans. He could feel the lanky one slowly advancing, he could feel the short one and the fat one hesitate in their approach, and he could feel the intensity in the warrior as he gripped his sword, this one was dangerous and he would have to be quickly eliminated.

The Necro Warrior readied himself for the confrontation and in the instant between realisation and action, he made his final mistake of the evening. Somehow, and he didn’t have time to work out why, the main target had managed to mask his intent. The Necro’s awareness just had time to recognise the targets movement when his wooden Dai Katana broke the shin bone on his leading leg, as he instinctively reacted to the pain and momentum of Jaac’s incredibly strong attack, Eddick’s sword ripped though his neck and the Necro died. Jaac, bleeding profusely from his right shoulder, glanced one last time at his uncle, slowly lowered himself back onto the ground where he had originally fallen, and promptly fainted.