The Attack of Ganhai Mountain by Jason Richard (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

to follow metal, not the will of a human. He spoke the incantation, but nothing happened. The lightning didn't follow his sword. Hurvun's will was too strong.
Leevan felt a burning in his chest and let out a cry of pain! He couldn't go on like this, and he also couldn't help but feel that he was going to die.
With one last effort he did the only thing he could think of. He had no idea if it would work, but it was all he had. Gathering up all his willpower he raised his sword and threw it will all his might!
Straight at Hurvun.

Chapter Thirty Two
No Turning Back.

Leevan's sword flew through the air and it Hurvun in the face! On the wrong side. The blunt side. The hilt. Even so, it was enough to make Hurvun stumble back, but when he did the lightning from his eye didn't stop. It kept blasting, and it destroyed the roof of the room!
The stone roof partially collapsed, sending boulders falling right on top of Leevan! He jumped out of the way as one smashed to the ground where he had once stood! He groaned in pain as he landed. The heat from his armor was too much. It was even just starting to turn red, and he felt like he was being cooked alive inside of it.
But he couldn't let that stop him.
Hurvun was recovering. Leevan stood and made a dash for his sword that lay to the ground. He scooped it up and made a swipe to attack Hurvun, who grabbed Leevan's wrist and readied his eye for a lightning blast. Leevan grabbed his chin and forced his face upward, making the lightning blast the ceiling!
Hurvun grabbed his other arm and they grappled like this. Leevan with his sword in one hand and Hurvun's neck on the other, and Hurvun trying to pull away both hands, with the lightning from his cyclops eye blasting the roof!
The ceiling would break soon.
When he saw the boulders falling Leevan moved quickly. He kicked Hurvun in leg, causing the cyclops to stumble, and jumped out of the way. Leevan landed, looked and saw Hurvun about to blast him with lightning!
Only to be crushed by a boulder from the ceiling! SMASH! Dust kicked up. Leevan watched nervously as the dust cleared. All that could be seen of Hurvun was his hand twitching. It twitched for a few moments and then stopped moving altogether, falling limp.
It was over.
Leevan had won.
He lay down right where he had landed. It was quiet in the room, so much so that he could hear the sounds of battle going on outside. He still felt like he had been cooked alive inside that armor, but that would pass.
They had won the day, and the war. That was all that mattered.

Chapter Thirty Three
Reconciliation. Sort of.

Leevan panted as he lay there in his armor. He still felt like he had been cooked alive inside of it, but he felt too weak to take any of it off, even the helmet. It was getting cooler though, without Hurvun blasting lighting at it. Through his visor Leevan could see the remains of the ceiling. More pieces of stone had fallen off than he thought. He was surprised he hadn't been crushed like Hurvun.
It wasn't long before he realized he wasn't the only one panting. Someone else next to him was breathing heavily, as if pained.
"Maelin?" said Leevan.
"I'm here," he wheezed. "That was an impressive display."
His voice sounded like that of an old man, and after Hurvun's spell hit him Leevan supposed that he was. He couldn't see Maelin, so he figured Maelin was still wearing his invisibility spell. Leevan felt sorry for him...a feeling he never thought he would have for Maelin of all people.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"No," said Maelin. "You outdid me...again...and I was useless against Hurvun."
"That's not true. You got him to destroy his own spell."
"Only to be hit with my own. He and the cyclopses wouldn't have gotten that spell if it wasn't for me. I messed up."
Leevan could hardly believe he was doing this, but he kept at it. "True, but you made up for it."
"I doubt anyone else will see it that way...least of all my father." He said that last part with much sadness.
Leevan gave this considerable thought. He knew Maelin's father never respected him, no matter how hard he tried, while Leevan's own father loved him as he tried his best. Leevan knew what to say.
"My father never expected me to be the best of all," he said. "Just the best I could be. I think I know why it helped me win the day."
"Oh?" said Maelin.
"If I tried to be the best, I would be fighting for myself, more than for the cause. If you notice, it was when you fought for yourself that the cause was almost lost, and when you fought for the cause that it was won again. We had a job to do, people to protect, and it was when we put them first that you did our best."
Leevan didn't hear anything for a moment, but then Maelin said, "I never thought about it that way."
"If your father sees this old age as a failure," said Leevan. "Just tell him it's a battle scar. A big, wrinkly, grey haired, smelly battle scare.
Silence.
"I do not smell," said Maelin.
"Then what is my nose picking up?"
"You're own flesh in that oven of yours. You smell like you've been cooked alive."
"Well, I feel like it too."
Silence. They lay still for a few more moments. The sounds of battle outside had long since ceased.
"Can you move?" asked Leevan.
"Barely," he said.
"Same here. I think we'll have to help each other out."
"Fine. But we're not friends."
"Fine."
Leevan stood with some difficulty. He saw Maelin take off his invisibility spell, and he really did look old, balding head and all. They each held on to the other and made their way out of that room., slowly, with a little stumbling.

The army was waiting for them outside the castle. They walked out onto the drawbridge, still supporting each other's weight, and received cheers! Leevan grinned underneath his helmet. General Hevman stepped up cheering with the rest. Leevan and Maelin stopped. When the cheering stopped, General Hevman spoke.
"Well done Leevan," he said. "Well done!"
"Thank you sir," said Leevan, who saw Kemra and Jaxia in the crowd. They had been cheering him as well. Kemra was radiant, and even Jaxia looked the opposite of scary...though she glared a couple of times at Maelin. Apparently she hadn't forgotten
Normir was also in the crowd, smiling. Leevan wondered if Hurvun had told the truth. That his spell would...in a year...
Normir
"Yes," said the general. "Well, done. However, Maelin, your actions nearly doomed us."
Maelin looked downcast, "I know sir."
Leevan couldn't believe he was about to say this. "He helped us in the end sir. He tricked Hurvun into destroying the spell."
"I know," said the general. "Your actions, in the end, were noble. And, given your current condition, I think the worse punishment we can give you is early retirement."
Maelin looked resigned to his fate. "Hurvun did say this version of the spell was permanent."
"Very well. And now, to celebrate the hero, Leevan!"
More cheers sounded. Leevan smiled, and helped Maelin walk further. He was still feeling warm, so he started taking his armor off. The moment he got the helmet off
The cheering stopped.
Leevan looked around. Everyone was looking at him strangely, worried, even Maelin. He wondered what was wrong, pulled his sword from his sheath, and looked at his reflection. He understood their worry. The lightning, though deflected by his armor, had heated him up. He looked sunburned.
He was bright red.
He looked astonished for a few moments, and then said, "I look like a tomato."
A few seconds passed in silence, and then everyone burst out laughing! Maelin cackled louder than everyone, and even Leevan joined in. He looked at his reflection again. He really did look like a tomato.

Chapter Thirty Four
Finale

The capital of the Ciniceros Empire, Linicai, was made of stone houses with brick roads leading to them. Most people in the city wore togas or robes, and those people were gathered around to watch the procession of soldiers that marched through the city. They watched and cheered the brave heroes who had brought about the fall of Hurvun.
Leevan and Normir were in a Chariot driven by general Hevman himself. They all waved at the admiring crowd, but Leevan was a little nervous. He hadn't managed to see his father before this procession. Maelin had, and apparently his father bought the battle scar story about Maelin's sudden old age.
Behind them, walking through the crowd, he spotted Maelin's father beaming at his son. Maelin, still looking like an old man, blushed as he marched with the others. Leevan was happy for him, a weird feeling, but he had to ask himself
Where was his own father?
As in answer he spied his father in the crowd, cheering louder than anyone else and clapping for him. He was older than Leevan remembered, but Leevan didn't care. The man smiled at his son, and Leevan smiled back. Out of all the cheering faces, this was the one Leevan cared about the most.

Atop a high hill near the city, surrounded by soldiers and the same crowd from the procession, Leevan, Normir, and the general accepted their medals. The crowd cheered once again. Leevan was proud of this honor, but looked at his friend Normir, the cyclops. He knew Hurvun's words would come back to haunt them.
Normir smiled at him, and Leevan knew he should be enjoying this day, but it wouldn't be easy. The magicians at the palace couldn't have good news about Normir's condition.
Still, he would try to enjoy his medal as best he could.
After the emperor, a tall, large man in a silk robe and golden crown shaped like a circle of leaves, placed the medals around their necks, he said, "Thank you, noble heroes. You have done us a great service." Then he clapped, and everyone around them clapped. Leevan and the others smiled. He spied his father clapping for him, and he spied Kemra and Jaxia. Kemra was radiant as always, and even Jaxia was beaming. If this had been his first time seeing her, he never would have known she was scary. He looked about at the great crowd. Everyone was cheering for them.
Yes, this was a day to enjoy.

In the hospital of the palace, the stone walls were bare and almost foreboding. In the various wooden framed hospital beds Normir was being examined by an older magician. He had his hands over the cyclops and his eyes closed. The old man, dressed in a red robe, shook his head and turned to a worried Leevan.
"I'm afraid it's true," said the magician.