The Phoenix Read online

  THE PHOENIX

  THE CHRONICLES OF THE PHOENIX

  AND HER KNIGHTS

  BOOK I

  J.R. STONE

  Copyright © 2018 J.R. Stone. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and other entities are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are purely coincidental.

  Cover Photography by Alden Salgado de Mello

  The Phoenix / J.R. Stone – 1st edition.

  CONTENTS

  I

  The Monster

  II

  The Palace

  III

  The Healer

  IV

  The Promenade

  V

  The Wizard

  VI

  The Room

  VII

  The Horror

  VIII

  The Truth

  IX

  The Ring

  X

  The Spell

  XI

  The Hunger

  XII

  The Stone

  XIII

  The Journey

  XIV

  The Gilligans

  THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO

  I

  “Sarah! Sarah!” said Ahuva shaking her daughter. “Get up!”

  Sarah opened her eyes. The panic in her mother’s voice made her tremble. “What’s going on?”

  “You need to hide!” Ahuva pulled Sarah out of the bed. She lifted some wooden strips that covered a hole underneath the floor. “Get in and don’t say a word no matter what happens. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes,” said Sarah frightened, her mother’s face was consumed with despair. Ahuva put the wooden strips back, covering the hole and hiding Sarah.

  Sarah’s heart thudded in her chest. Her mouth was dry. It became hard to breathe. She felt every muscle in her body stiffen when she peered through the crack in the floorboard to see three men walk into the house.

  “Where’s the girl?” asked a rough male voice.

  “She’s not here,” said Ahuva calmly. There was no trace of fear in her voice. She knew she could show no signs of worry if she wanted them to believe she was telling the truth.

  “Where’s she then?” insisted the man.

  Ahuva prayed they would just go away, or else Sarah would probably do something that would force the two of them to flee once again. “Her father took her. I don’t know where they went.”

  “That means that a fine lady like you was left alone,” said the man lasciviously as he approached Ahuva.

  Ahuva felt disgusted. She knew what would happen. She could take it, but it broke her heart that Sarah would have to watch that kind of violence.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” asked the man touching the buttons on Ahuva’s dress. The other men smiled. “I’m pleased. Nothing like finding a cooperative lady willing to satisfy me," he smiled cruelly, "and my men.”

  Sarah watched the man tear Ahuva’s dress exposing her body. Sarah closed her eyes. Ahuva would be upset at her disobedience, but she could not simply stay hidden while her mother was hurt. Sarah focused on the man about to touch her mother.

  Ahuva watched the man’s eyes get red. Blood ran down his face, and he collapsed dead on the ground. Ahuva was terrified.

  Sarah watched one of the other men run to the door. He would ask for help. She couldn’t let him go.

  Ahuva heard the sound of a bone breaking as the man’s neck was twisted by an invisible enemy. “Sarah, stop!” she shouted.

  Sarah pushed the wooden strips that hid her. The third man watched everything in shock, paralyzed by fear. He had heard stories about the witch, but he had never thought she was real. He threw his sword on the ground and raised his hands, “I mean no harm,” he said.

  “Mother, are you okay?” asked Sarah worriedly.

  Having witnessed the deaths of two men by the hands of her own daughter, Ahuva was far from being all right. However, that was neither the time nor the place to talk about it, so she lied, “Yes. We must leave. Others will come looking for them.”

  The man stared at Sarah. She was younger than he thought. Twenty years old, at most. And a monster indeed.

  “Sarah, I know you can hear me,” said a male voice outside the house. “We have your entire village here about to be burned alive. I won’t hesitate to kill them, but that won’t be necessary, will it? You know you can’t kill us all at once, so I’ll offer you the opportunity to save your pathetic little village. Get out and come with me. Simple and easy. No one will get hurt. My men and I will make sure your mother and your village are always safe. No one will hurt them, not even us,” he said firmly.

  Ahuva knew Sarah would do anything to protect her mother and the village, but she could not let her daughter go with those people. Whoever they were, they were evil. And if they took Sarah, she would probably never see her daughter again.

  “I’d rather die than see you leave with them! Do you hear me?” she desperately addressed her daughter.

  “I’ll be fine, mother. They can’t hurt me.” Her mother had to believe these words. “I’ll be back. Trust me,” she said as she hugged Ahuva.

  “I’m setting Aatami on fire, Sarah!” shouted the man outside.

  Sarah ran to the door and opened it. The warm breeze of the night touched her face. The redness of the moon was a bad omen, and Sarah shuddered.

  The entire village was on their knees. Standing up, numerous soldiers scattered from her house to the village gate.

  Sarah was approached by a tall man in a black suit of armor with spikes. She could not help staring at the several scars on his face.

  Noticing that he had her full attention, he smiled. “Powerful and gorgeous. Much better than I thought.” The man looked at the corpses inside the house. “Aren’t you a bad little girl?” He gave a step toward Sarah, narrowing the distance between them.

  If she was afraid of his approximation, she did not let it show. She did not take her eyes away from his. She would not submit.

  The man smiled. “You are brave, I’ll give you that. I’m Tzeel,” he said staring at her, mesmerized by her beauty and by the strength in her eyes. “Let’s go.”

  She looked around at the villagers. Someone had sold her out. She knew that if she focused, she would be able to find the traitor.

  It did not take her more than a second to find him. Sami felt intense and acute pain in his head. He collapsed on the ground screaming.

  Tzeel got on his horse and watched Sarah. She was taking her vengeance. Fair enough, he thought. No traitor deserves to live.

  Ahuva touched her daughter’s shoulder. “Don’t,” she whispered in her ear.

  For a moment, Sami thought Sarah would kill him. But he suddenly felt the pain go away. He looked down, in shame. He had been discovered.

  Sarah walked over to him. “This isn’t over. I’ll make you wish I had killed you today,” she said coldly.

  She walked over to Tzeel. The sooner they left, the better. She feared her mother would do something silly out of despair.

  Tzeel offered his hand to her. It would be a pleasure to have her riding with him.

  “I’ll walk,” she snarled.

  “As you wish,” he said, smiling. She had a temper. He liked that.

  Ahuva watched Sarah leave with the men. She feared she would never see her daughter again. She walked over to Sami. “How could you?” she asked indignantly.

  “She’s a monster!” he said sharply.

  “Sarah has done nothing but protect you all. Since we got here, you haven’t faced drought, storms, plagues, or diseases. Thanks to you, Sami, that good fortune is about to change. Good luck t
o us all!” she said bitterly. She looked at the others. They were worried. They had good reasons to be.

  Ahuva walked back to her house. She was about to close the door when she saw Amrath, a tall young man who was a good friend of Sarah’s.

  “Let me help you with those bodies,” he said gently.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry about Sarah. She’ll find her way back,” he reassured Ahuva. He feared he would never see his friend again, but he knew she would have liked for him to comfort her mother.

  “She won’t,” said Ahuva with a sad smile. “She won’t put us at risk.”

  They had been moving for days. They had stopped a few times, but Sarah had barely slept, afraid of being attacked. No one had exchanged a word with her. Not even Tzeel, who kept a distance so that his men would not feel encouraged to approach her.

  They were near a canyon, in a place she did not know. The sun burned her skin. She turned around and saw that there were about forty men with Tzeel. Too many for her to handle.

  Tzeel trotted over to her. He could see that she was exhausted.

  “Do you want to rest?” he asked politely.

  “I want a horse,” she said coldly.

  “We have no spare horses,” he said raising his eyebrows.

  “I want a horse,” she insisted.

  Tzeel pondered for some minutes. He could teach her a lesson, but he did not wish to take any risks. “Darius, give her your horse,” he ordered, his eyes fixed on hers.

  Darius immediately dismounted. No one disobeyed Tzeel.

  Sarah saw fear in Darius’s eyes. She couldn’t decide whether he feared her or Tzeel. “Thank you,” she said as she got on the horse.

  “Can we continue?” asked Tzeel.

  “Yes,” she said, staring at him.

  Tzeel was slightly bothered by the fact that Sarah would never look away when talking to him. She looked at him right in the eye, showing no signs of fear, and that worried him a bit. He was used to being feared.

  Tzeel led the group into the canyon. Sarah and his men followed him. Sarah knew that, if she wanted to escape, that was probably the best chance she would get.

  They had reached the middle of the canyon when the ground started shaking.

  “Run!” shouted Tzeel.

  Sarah rode as fast as she could. If she were lucky, no one but her would leave the canyon alive.

  Tzeel saw Sarah pass by him. He had never heard of an earthquake in that region. There was no doubt: she was the one responsible for it.

  Tzeel looked back. Parts of the canyon were falling and smashing his men. If they were to die there, so was she. He picked up his bow and arrow and aimed at her.

  Sarah felt something pierce her back near her left shoulder. The impact threw her on the ground. Her horse kept running leaving her no other option but to stand on her feet and run.

  She could barely move her left arm. Blood ran down her back.

  Tzeel was getting closer to her. He feared he and his men would be crushed if the earthquake did not stop. He shot another arrow, hurting Sarah on her right shoulder this time. She fell down again. Her face hit the floor, cutting her lips open. The earthquake stopped.

  Tzeel got off his horse and walked over to her. Rage consumed him. He picked up his sword. He would rip her head off and show it off as a prize.

  He halted. Half his men were dead. Her powers were impressive. If he killed her, he would miss the chance of controlling those powers. He desired them for himself. There would be no lands that could not be conquered, no armies that could not be defeated, no king that could not be overthrown with such magnificent powers. He would be unstoppable.

  Moved by that thought, he lifted Sarah and put her on the back of his horse.

  “Let’s move,” he said to his men. He did not want them to be in the canyon when she woke up.

  After half an hour, Sarah woke up. She could not move. She wanted to scream at each trot of the horse. She tried to remain silent, but the pain was unbearable. She whimpered.

  Tzeel stopped the horse. “I hope you realize that you brought this on yourself,” he said coldly. He broke the arrows leaving only a small part of them out of her back. Then, trying to alleviate her pain, he pulled her to him so that part of her back would touch his arm.

  Sarah leaned forward. She didn’t want her body to touch his. “I can’t,” she murmured. She could not stand that position.

  Tzeel stopped again. “Face me.”

  “I’d rather die,” she said, making great effort to speak.

  “Okay.” He pushed her off the horse. Sarah fell on her right shoulder. She screamed in pain.

  Her misbehavior infuriated him. She would learn to obey him once and for all. “Darius, go back to her village and bring me the head of one of the children. Any child. You can choose,” he said coldly.

  “No!” she screamed in agony.

  “You’ll learn to behave, Sarah,” said Tzeel starting to trot again. “And you’d better get up and walk because if you die here, I’ll kill that whole pathetic little village of yours myself,” he said cruelly.

  Sarah stared at the dirt on the ground. She felt powerless. Hopeless. Every part of her body hurt. Breathing hurt. Her blood had turned her dress from light blue to dark red.

  She noticed that Darius was staring at her. She glanced at him. He felt bad for her, she could tell. Darius looked away, took another soldier’s horse, and headed back to her village.

  Sarah whimpered in pain as she got to her feet. If she had to walk to save the ones she cared about, she would walk. Tears ran down her face. Every step she gave inflicted more pain than the previous one. She was not sure she would make it to Tzeel’s destiny. Her hands were shaking. She touched the arrowheads on her shoulders. She wanted to remove them.

  “If you remove them now, you’ll bleed to death,” said one of Tzeel’s men. “Are you thirsty?”

  She nodded. The man gave her a canteen, but Sarah hesitated. She had to consider the possibility that the man might want to poison her.

  “It’s just water,” he said gently. Seeing that Sarah would not drink it, the man took the canteen from her hand and drank some of the liquid. “See, it’s water,” he said as he handed the canteen back to her. She drank to the last drop.

  “I’m Victor.”

  “Thank you,” she said nicely.

  “We’re almost there.” Victor started trotting again. He knew that if Tzeel saw him talking to Sarah, he would not be pleased.

  They walked for about thirty more minutes. Sarah was exhausted. Her feet were full of blisters. She was dizzy and weak.

  Tzeel stopped to look at her. Even in pain she was extremely attractive. Fair skin, but not too pale, green eyes, dark red hair, a body full of curves. One of a kind. He desired her. Later, he thought. “Give her to me,” he said to one of his men. He did not wish to kill her before taking her powers.

  A soldier approached Sarah, took her into his arms and put her on Tzeel’s lap, her head touching his shoulder. Sarah was too weak to fight back. She looked at Tzeel and saw lust in his eyes. She’d rather die than be his.

  “See the valley?” he asked, pointing forward. In the huge valley ahead, there was a city surrounded by high walls. “That’s Totkan. Your new home.”

  Sarah felt anguished. With a city that size, Tzeel probably had hundreds of soldiers. Even if she were able to destroy him, it was unlikely that she would ever escape.

  II

  Sarah saw the monumental gates open. There were a lot of people waiting for them. Tzeel was clearly revered by his people. But the people also looked at her. They were curious, and so was she.

  The city was organized. The houses were made of stone. The main street was wide, but the other streets were very narrow. The city looked like a labyrinth.

  At the top of a hill in the middle of the city, there was a huge palace. Tzeel stopped at the front door. “Can you sit?” he asked her. She nodded. Tzeel got off the horse and stretched his ha
nd to her.

  Sarah wished she did not need any help, but she could barely move. When she touched his hand, she felt a different kind of energy run through her body. Against her will, her body relaxed.

  Tzeel was contented. He held her hand firmly and smiled. She would submit to him, he knew it. He took her in his arms and carried her inside the palace.

  “What happened to her?” asked a handsome young man with vivid blue eyes and dark hair.

  “She tried to escape,” said Tzeel, reprimanding Sarah.

  “And you almost killed her?!” asked the young man incredulously.

  “I had to stop her. She’ll make it, don’t worry,” said Tzeel calmly.

  Sarah stared at the young man. He was ashamed. Her eyes begged for help.

  “Call Enoch,” said the young man to a soldier. “Take her to a room,” he said sharply to Tzeel.

  “Don’t get the wrong idea,” said Tzeel looking at her. “I’m the boss,” he added with a smile.

  He took her to an enormous room in the west wing of the palace. There was a bed, some artifacts, a tin on a table, a chair, and a gigantic window. By the size of it, Sarah could tell that Tzeel was sure she would not try to escape.

  When he laid her in bed, a tall, dark-skinned man with round black eyes rushed into the room.

  “Enoch will take care of you,” Tzeel told Sarah and left.

  Enoch sat down on a chair beside the bed. There was kindness in his eyes. He touched the arrowhead on her right shoulder and she closed her eyes in pain.

  “I’m going to pull it. It’ll hurt. Do you want a piece of cloth to bite?” he asked gently.

  “No. I intend to scream,” answered Sarah.

  She saw a smile at the corner of his lips. When he pulled the first arrow, she screamed as loud as she could.

  “That was louder than I expected,” he said.

  “Was it? Good!” she said triumphantly.

  Enoch picked up a small bottle with a black liquid in it. “This will hurt. More,” he said cautiously.

  “Is there anything that is not going to hurt?”

  “I’m afraid not,” he said apologetically as he opened the bottle and poured some of the liquid on Sarah’s wound.