A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

over' Garin replied as he turned as quick as a flash and shot down the stairs towards where Harvey's stand was situated.

As the day wore on the children in the stands were treated to a spectacle like nothing they had ever seen before, there was of course the competitors practicing for the upcoming games, each displaying their own level of strength and magic to the watching crowds who were cheering for their favourite, plus the King had laid on a little treat to finish off the evening, a small show that had been put together by some of the younger members of the school which explained the history of the Tri-Yearly-Night-Games to anyone who didn't know much about it. As fireworks filled the Arena, buzzing around like small fireflies as they shot off, a few of the boy's from ‘Arrowhead’ had seen enough and decided to sneak out,

'Come on boys, let's go down to the hideout..' said one boy who was known as Cahlid, the leader of his small group of friend's, 'I'm not staying here to be even more bored than I already am!!' he moaned as they descended the steps towards the exit, but there were a couple of guards standing between them and the Arena exit,

'What do we do now Cahlid?' said another of the boy's as they stood around pretending not to be up to much,

'Hmmm...Just leave it to me, but be ready to run when you get my signal' laughed Cahlid as he walked away from the group,

'What's the signal??' shouted another of the boy's, but Cahlid had already disappeared 'Well that's just great!!' he continued 'how can we run if we don't know what's going on'. Just as he finished his sentence a huge commotion was taking place just over the other side of the Arena walkway, what sounded like a load of shouting quickly turned into a small fight between a couple of the children who were surrounded by a big group of children all trying to get a look at what was going on, then the guards rushed over to where it was all kicking off just as Cahlid came running back towards the exit and pushed at the doors,

'Come on you lot let's get out of here!!' he shouted as the Arena doors swung open just enough for them all to squeeze through as the doors then slammed shut behind them with a BANG.

'What did you do in there?' the smallest boy asked, Pip was his nickname due to his size more than anything, Cahlid laughed as he told them what had gone on.

'Well I saw Drace from ‘Field Bloom’ talking to Jamar, one of his old friends from ‘Fury Chasm’, and you know how much Elrin from ‘Rainfall’ doesn't like Drace talking to him as there was something bad that happened between them a while back. Well as Drace and Elrin are supposed to be good friend's I accidentally whispered to him that we had seen Drace and Jamar spending rather a lot of time together in the food hall, laughing and joking away just like old times which strangely seemed to anger him a lot, don't know why. So then Drace was confronted by his friend who was shouting all sorts of things in his face which then escalated into the fight, causing those stupid guards to run over to sort it out, meaning we could escape this boring place' as he led the boy's away from the Arena doors and around the side of it 'Now come on let's get out of here I can't stand this place'. As he led the group over to the corner of the darkest part of the castle wall Cahlid moved back a large wooden box and pile of rags which revealed a hole in the side of the castle wall just big enough for them to squeeze through, well almost all of them as the last boy to try and get through managed to get himself wedged in the hole,

'OWWW…' he wailed 'I'm stuck!!, can you help me please, I'm caught on my robes!!' the more he struggled the more he became stuck and the more noise he was making,

'Shhhh..' said Cahlid as he raised his finger to his lips 'Do you want us to get caught??',

'Well I don't fancy staying stuck in here so can you please get me out!!' said the boy as Cahlid told the others to help him out of the hole,

'Grab his arms and drag him out please boy's, I don't want to stay here a minute longer, that new boy has got me wound up too' he snarled as he could hear the roaring from inside the Arena from the gathered crowds 'I can't wait for this place to fall!!' and with that the boy's heaved and tugged at their friend who was still stuck in the hole in the wall until finally they pulled him free with a ‘pop’ causing them to lose their balance and slide down the hill on the side of the castle straight into the woods below. Cahlid just stood there shaking his head as he watched them disappear through the bushes that lined the start of the woods,

'Idiots…' he sighed heavily 'total idiots, not a single brain cell amongst them', as Cahlid followed a different path down from the side of the castle he seemed deep in thought and was talking out loud as if talking to someone beside him,

'There must be a way to get my own back on this place...there must be something I can do to make people fear me...I will get my revenge, I promise you that. DO YOU HEAR ME!!! I WILL MAKE YOU ALL KNEEL BEFORE ME!!' he shouted up at the castle with a rage burning inside him that he had never felt before. He stood there for a few seconds before laughing to himself, a cackling laugh so evil it would terrify anyone. Then as he reached the start of the woods he couldn't see any of his friend's waiting for him,

'Err guys??' he said quietly 'where are you?, I can't see you anywhere, stop hiding or I'll have you!!', Then a crackling sound came from directly on front of his followed by a breeze that whipped around him like an excited child,

'Wh...who are you??' he stood completely still, frozen to the spot as a figure appeared in front of him floating above the ground, it's hood pulled right over its face,

'Ahhhh Cahlid…' the figure spoke in a ghostly tone as he just stood there unable to move 'I've been waiting for you boys...the Master will see you now!!' Skaff had seeked out these children on his master’s explicit orders and the next part of his plan was beginning to take shape. Cahlid was in some sort of trance as he disappeared off into the woods following behind the figure, then as if by magic they vanished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty-Three

Understanding The Change

 

Back at the castle Daniel and Tobias were talking about the practice session that had been put on for them earlier, Daniel's attitude seemed to have changed towards the games themselves,

'Wow Toby' he said smiling as they made their way down the flight of wooden stairs towards the bottom 'I must admit that was quite a show, I actually can't wait for the games to begin now!!',

'Please stop calling me Toby, my name is Tobias, and finally I'm glad you can see what I can see, I love these games so much' he smiled as he knew Daniel was now beginning to feel part of this large community all three of them had found themselves in, 'Come on Daniel, we need to get to the King's Chamber remember, I can't wait to find out what room we've been put into this time' Tobias was literally skipping along as excited as he had ever felt because he knew that the room they were going to be allocated would define their future.

'So what do you mean ‘room’?' he asked 'I've already got a room here with my sister and Harvey, I don't want another one' replied Daniel who was looking slightly confused by what Tobias was telling him,

'Well Daniel I'm guessing you have been staying in the guest rooms here at the castle, am I right?' Tobias said as they followed the huge crowd of children towards the far end of the castle,

'We've been staying in ‘a’ room together, but I didn't know it was for guests, I thought that was going to be our room for however long we are here' he replied as more and more excited children pushed their way past the two boys and through the huge door at the end of the corridor which slammed shut behind the last group of children. As Daniel and Tobias were still talking about what was going on Harvey had sneaked up behind Daniel and was readying himself to pounce, he crouched down slightly behind him just as they reached the King's Chamber door and threw his arms out to spook Daniel,

'BOO!!!' Harvey said as he leapt onto his friend causing them to fall through the door and end up in a crumpled heap on the floor of the Kings Chamber,

'Harv...you idiot!!, you scare me half to dea…' Daniel stopped when he noticed that everyone in the room was now staring at the three of them lying face down on the carpet, Tobias was trying to push himself off of the floor but was struggling to move with Harvey landing right on top of him 'Get off me you great lump!!' he shouted as he wriggled free and stood up, dusting himself down as he sighed heavily to himself.

'Ahhhh boy's…' came a familiar voice from the other end of the room, as the room full of children parted and they were met with the sight of King Casborn standing high up on a platform looking down over everyone before him, 'please stand up and join your classes please, we have been waiting for all children to enter so we can begin'

'Begin what?, what's going on here gra….grand...leader' Daniel said as he nearly gave away who the King actually was to him,

'All will be revealed boy's' smiled the King as he turned back towards the rest of the children, cleared his throat and thrust out his hands

'Welcome children…' the King began 'as you all know this new school year has finally started with a great amount of expectation being placed upon quite a number of you, as you may or may not know we have had a record number of new starters to the school this time around which gives us a lot more hope for the future safety of this wonderful place we live in….', the King kept talking about the values they were going to be learning as Daniel kept looking around the room where he spotted his sister standing midway down the rows of children looking slightly confused just as Daniel felt too, she saw him looking at her and smiled to him but Daniel could tell she wasn't her usual confident self for some reason,

'Are you ok?' mouthed Daniel to her but Lillie couldn't make out what he was saying so she lifted her hands up as if to say ‘I don't understand’ 'are you ok??' Daniel said a little louder causing Tobias to nudge him in the ribs and ‘shushing’ him at the same time but Daniel was still looking at his sister who had turned away now, her eyes fixed somewhere else as the sound of footsteps clumped across the wooden floor in the direction of Daniel and Tobias,

'Lillie….' he said 'Lillie!!!' he called once again as the footsteps suddenly stopped and a shadow loomed over him like a dark cloud over the land, the King stood there arms folded as Daniel turned back to be met by his grandfather looking down at him,

'You boy…' the King said in his deep bellowy tone which was normally enough to