Nend Ardhon Chronicles - Complete

Chapter 33 – Assassination attempt – part 1

After School, Byia was all alone in front of the gate with Rodhy, waiting for Guyi, who went to get Lodon and Nayima.

She was happily throwing a rock into the open waters above when suddenly she felt a faint current coming from the main street in front of her and sensed something dangerous coming in her direction. Instinctively, she mumbled her defensive Spell, ‘balla uisge’, and a big wall made of compressed water surrounded her, and what seemed to be an endless wave of sharp metal daggers were struck against it.

Byia ordered Rodhy to follow the small and dark transport that was being pulled by a group of five Rodhocetus from where those daggers came, but they were so fast that Rodhy returned to his owner after almost thirty minutes without his prey. Byia hugged the growling Rodhocetus, who was so annoyed for not being able to catch that strange transport. “Don’t worry, I am okay, see? A cowardly attack like that can never hit me because I am used to sudden attacks. My brother and Guyi are always trying to hit me during training.”

Guyi finally arrived with Lodon, Nayima, and her two friends, and his smile disappeared when he saw the serious look on Byia. “What’s the matter? You look way too serious.”

“Someone just tried to kill me with those daggers over there. See if you can find something. I need to warn my brother and my mother.”

While Guyi swam to get the daggers, Byia sent a Mental message to her brother, “…||… Paullu, are you okay? Someone inside a strange, dark transport just tried to kill me in front of my School’s Gate! …||…”

Paullu answered immediately, making Drezara and his classmates who were with him in the Library wonder why he suddenly froze, “…||… I am at the Library with Drezara, studying! What happened? I will be right there! … ||…”

“…||… No need. Guyi and the others arrived. I am going to call mother and see if she is safe. Stay there and don’t worry, but be careful when you come home, okay? This attack was weird. I felt a sudden current, and a bunch of metal daggers were coming against me that I easily stopped with my Water Wall, but the transport from where those daggers came escaped! …||…”

“…||… Go straight home and tell me as soon as you arrive there! Tell me if mother is fine, okay? …||…”

Byia confirmed she would tell him, and Paullu frowned, trying to find out why his little sister was attacked just like that. Drezara held his left paw and asked, worried, “What happened? You look…”

“Yeah… Someone tried to kill my sister in front of her School, but luckily, she was not harmed! Damn, I knew I should have gone to get her! Staying here to study was a bad idea!”

Drezara bit her lower lip and asked, making Sozi Shield and her friends stare at her, surprised, “Are you stupid, or what? Byia is not a helpless little female!”

Paullu nodded and made a slight smile. “I know… Yeah, you are right; the ones who tried to kill her were the lucky ones. If she caught them, they would be screaming for help right now.”

Sozi Shield asked, completely dumbfounded, “But… it’s your little sister. Why were you so worried only moments ago, and now you are so calm, looking at your book again?”

“Well… it’s because I trained my sister a lot after my father’s disappearance. I was just surprised, but she was never in danger. She is an amazing fighter, and in one Tide or two, she will surpass me by far. She always says that I am too kind, and I guess she is right because if I were the one being attacked and I managed to catch my attacker, I would restrain him and call the Peacekeepers. If she caught her attacker, she would slice him, piece by piece. She is way more violent than me. I guess she is more like my grandmother, Isi Holl.”

Sozi Shield opened her mouth wide and said, “No way… Your grandmother is Isi Holl, the famous Guild Master, the one that is considered being the most powerful Adventurer that exists?”

Drezara confirmed with a big smile, “Yes, and she is amazing! We had dinner with her, and she told us about some of her adventures! I was trembling with anticipation of meeting her, fearing what she might think of me, but she was very friendly! It was also funny hearing her tease his mother so much! Oh, your mother! Paullu, is your mother alright?”

Paullu was frowning, hearing his sister reassuring him that Teera was okay, and he nodded. “Yes, my mother is safe, but she said she has a situation at her Clinic with a patient, and she is going to come home late. She also called for me, saying something about a tricky diagnostic that she wants me to have a look at to see if I can learn something from it. It seems there was also a huge accident in the City, caused by a dark transport that escaped after the accident, and there are a lot of injured people flooding her Clinic and the Hospital nearby. I am sorry, but we must postpone this study session to another day. I must go see my mother.”

While Drezara and Paullu were putting their books inside their bags, Sozi Shield asked, with the other four females quickly nodding their heads, “Paullu, can… we go as well? We are also studying to become Healers, and maybe we can help. If the accident was so serious, maybe the Healers could use some help. Or maybe we can just give them food or support…”

Paullu stopped to think for a while, and he sent a Mental message to his mother. He then made a slight smile. “My mother says thanks and that all help is needed. She won’t even mind teaching you or answering a few questions when there is a tough case; it will serve as training. But we must hurry; the situation is serious.”

They all rushed to grab their School books and followed Paullu at their maximum speed, with Sozi and her four friends making a huge effort to accompany the insane speed of Drezara and Paullu.

While Paullu was swimming to join his mother at the Clinic, Byia was swimming to her home at full speed with Nayima and Lodon. Guyi was at the back, swimming next to Rodhy, right after Nayima’s friends.

As soon as Byia opened the back gate to her house and they all entered, she activated the special Shield Dome her father created which she was in charge of maintaining by infusing some of her Magic every week.

Nayima looked up, surprised by the bright yellow glow of the Dome that was surrounding Byia’s house and back garden, and asked, “Why do you have a Shield? No one has one like this! It seems like the Shield Dome that is activated to protect the City from the Tides, but the color is different!”

Byia shrugged. “My father made it many Tides ago. I just changed it a bit to make it even stronger. This Shield is nothing like the one that surrounds the City; it’s way more powerful than that. The City is protected from the Tides, but this Shield can protect us even if the entire World explodes. My father told me that he tested one like this on one of his voyages when a small Planet on which he was doing the cartography was hit by a meteorite and was completely vaporized. Everything inside my father’s Shield Dome was safe, and he returned with his ship and a few animals that were also inside the Shield with him.”

Nayima stuttered with her eyes wide open, “No way… that can’t possibly be true…”

Byia frowned and asked the two dumbfounded females near Nayima, “Is she always like this? Everything is a lie to her?”

One of the females slowly nodded. “Yeah… She doubts everything and everyone… But you must also agree; it’s unbelievable! You have a Shield Dome around your entire house that is stronger than the one that protects this City? How is that possible?”

“Yeah, my grandmother taught my father, and he changed the Spell to create one even more powerful. I changed the Spell as well and made it stronger. You know it was one of my ancestors who created the device that makes the Shield Dome that protects the Cities, right? I can make this Shield only with my Magic, but Guyi helped me change my father’s device to make this extremely powerful Shield Dome. It was tricky, but after so many trials and errors, we managed it. Guyi even evolved some of his extremely rare Skills in the process!”

Nayima stared at Guyi, completely amazed, while he was looking at the daggers that almost hit Byia. Nayima saw him gathering Magic on his paws, and after a couple of seconds, he raised his head and said, “I don’t know who made these daggers, but they are just normal daggers without any kind of mark on them, and I can’t sense a Skill that was used to make them. They can be bought anywhere, making it impossible to find out who made them or who threw them. I am sorry, Byia. I can’t help you with this. Maybe it’s better if we decide what to do with Lodon, Nayima, and her friends. Your mother told us to come home as fast as we could because the City was a mess, but what do we do with them? They stay here, or do they go home? It’s safe for them to go home, considering what happened to you only moments ago?”

“I guess it’s safe for them. I was the one being targeted, but it would probably be safer if they stayed with us considering the state of the City. They could take forever to arrive at their homes. Guyi, be a dear and take them inside so that they can contact their families while I feed my animals. While we were coming here, my mother contacted me and said she was going to sleep in the Clinic with my brother, Drezara, and some of my brother’s classmates who arrived at the Clinic with him to help. I guess Nayima’s friends can sleep in my mother’s room because it’s bigger and I can make an extra bed in there, and Lodon can sleep in my brother’s room. You have an extra room. Do you think your parents won’t mind if Nayima sleeps in there tonight?”

Guyi nodded, making Nayima feel her face turn bright red. “I am sure they will like it. You know how much they like to have visits, and a pretty yellow female like Nayima will make them go nuts! It would be better if you prepare your stomach, Nayima, because my mother will feed you so much food that you will faint! I will tell her to prepare food for everyone, and we can all eat in your dining room. Remember the last time our families ate together, Byia? We could barely manage to go to bed with our stomachs so full!”

“Yeah, tell her that we can all help her if she wants to cook here.”

Guyi signaled for the others to follow him inside, while Byia rushed to feed her farm animals with Rodhy’s help.

When she was already putting the fresh vegetables in Rodhy’s bowl, she got a Mental message from her mother: “…||… Byia, look at the news! The City is in an absurd state! I told the Peacekeepers about your attack, and they said it was the same dark transport that caused a big accident in the City while trying to escape. A few witnesses saw Rodhy almost catching that transport, but it escaped when Rodhy was stopped by a big transport that turned over. It seems Rodhy stopped pursuing them to help the ones inside the transport, and he saved a bunch of injured Water-Dragons and a couple of Nayga that were visiting the City. Your Rodhocetus was amazing, Byia, and the Peacekeepers are going to talk to you tomorrow about your attack and thank Rodhy. …||…”

“…||… Really? Well, I must be doing something right if Rodhy turned out to be a hero! Guyi is going to tell his mother to prepare food for us and our friends because we were with some classmates, and they came with me to our house. Two of them are going to sleep in your room and Lodon in Paullu’s room. It’s okay, right? If the City is in such a mess, it will take forever for them to get to their homes! They are inside, calling their families to warn them…||…”

“…||… Good idea. Take care. I must go because I have a lot of patients arriving. It seems it was not only a transport full of passengers. That dark transport also hit a bunch of people! …||…”

Byia smiled at Rodhy and rubbed his head. “My mother told me that you saved a bunch of Water-Dragons and a couple of Nayga from a transport that turned over! You are a hero, Rodhy! Well done!”

Byia hugged the tail-waving Rodhocetus and swam home, leaving him with his food.

In the dining room, Nayima was disconnecting the call with her parents, and Byia changed the screen to the News Channel. They all watched in horror all the accidents that were caused by that elusive transport and the confusion that was well spread in the City with the Peacekeepers Force doing their best to calm the people and the Healing Units rushing to take care of the wounded.

A few moments later, Guyi returned, and he was carrying a huge bag full of food, with his mother and father carrying more bags. Nayima nervously glanced at Guyi’s parents, while Byia swam to meet them. “Miss Enasha, sorry for all this trouble!”

Enasha Mohryi hugged Byia, followed by Guyi’s father, Tivogno Mohryi, who asked her after punching Byia’s head, “Guyi told us about what happened to you, dumbass! You let your attacker escape? Stupid! I didn’t have all that trouble training you for you to do such stupidity!”.

“Ouch!... Hey, I stopped the daggers that were aimed at me, and even if they went through, they would never get past my Shield that immediately activates in case something fast is going to hit me. You know that! Even my Rodhocetus couldn’t catch the dark transport that attacked me. They caused an accident, and he stopped pursuing them to help the injured!”

Tivogno Mohryi stopped in mid-way with another punch and tilted his head. “So, that young Rodhocetus of yours is some sort of hero… That’s nice to hear, but that doesn’t excuse you for your slow reaction! Your father never let an assassin escape, and he was always being targeted! I told you more than once that you should wait one more Tide before going to School! I knew you were going to become lazy! Do you have any idea how we both felt, Enasha and I, when Guyi told us you were almost killed? Dumbass, be more careful from now on!”