Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (book club suggestions TXT) 📕

another soldier. “You're making it more miserable.”
“Why? This is stupid anyway. Don't you know how good of warriors these centaurs are?”
“I know what I know and that is that they are actually pretty bad fighters.”
“All right, cut the talk—now!” roared Felgor coming up behind them. “We need to get ready for tomorrow night's siege on their castle.”
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Garnock stood at the head of the table. “Tonight we have gathered together to witness the knighting of Skylar.”
“What!?” Skylar was shocked speechless.
“Yes.” Garnock turned to Zebulon. “Zeb, the sword.”
“Yes, sire,” Zebulon said, as he solemnly pulled out a two-handed long sword like all the generals had. He turned and handed it to Garnock.
“Kneel,” ordered Garnock, and Skylar found himself kneeling in front of him. Garnock laid the flat of the sword on Skylar's helmeted head. “In the name of God, I promote you to five star general. Rise up, Sir General Skylar.”
Skylar rose, dazed. Garnock handed the sword to him. “Bear it well, General Skylar. Lead your troops into the fiercest charge with it.”
Skylar strapped it on with pride.
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The next morning Skandar came down to Garth's cell. “You ready to go?”
“You bet!” Garth grinned.
“Okay then. I have a horse waiting outside. Oh...and here's your sword.”
Garth took and with pride strapped it on.
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“Come on now! Come on! Come on! Go! Go! Go! Blow! Blow! Blow!” Mardoc was trying to get his soldiers to work faster at the battering ram. A soldier fainted from exhaustion.
Felgor groaned and collapsed beside his ax on the ground. “Let's stop please.”
“Come on, you're not wimpy, are you?” Mardoc sneered down at him.
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Nightfall found Garth and Skandar hopelessly lost.
“Don't you know the way?” Garth asked.
“Nah. That's what you're for.”
“What!? Me? I don't know this country. I just know my dad's estate.”
“Well, great, just great,” stormed Skandar. “Now what are we supposed to do?”
“Don't look at me! I don't know,” shot back Garth.
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“Okay, everybody at once...One!....Two!...Three!...uh!” The last bracing beam slid into place, as Garnock and the others stepped back to admire their handiwork.
“Not too bad. Guards, four corners. You know what to do.”
“Yes, sir!” They saluted smartly, wheeled, and galloped off to their posts.
“All right, everyone else off to bed.” The courtyard cleared.
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“Charge!” screamed Mardoc raising his sword and watching his soldiers stream past him to the castle's open door. Pretty soon, he was the only one left in the field.
“All right! Steady now...One...Two...Three...Shoot!” Arrows launched and soared out over the charging army below. Down below, soldiers screamed, flipped off their horses; horses went down, landing on their riders.
“One more! Load! Ready....Fire!”
More chaos below. By now the soldiers were charging into the castle. The sound of swords was coming up from below.
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Skylar gave a wild yell and with Tace led their troops out of the underground level to meet the army. He twirled, fought like a tornado. Hacking, slashing! Threw aside his shield, drew his two-handed sword. He batted aside his last assailant and saw Tace battling Felgor. He saw Forester come up behind Tace.
“Tace! Look out! Tace! Tace!” Tace whirled.
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“Jack, take this over to Skylar.” Jocelyn McFarland, Jack's mother, handed him a fresh baked loaf of bread.
Jack jumped over the fence and went to Skylar's front door. He knocked, nothing happened. He went around the back; he took one look, dropped the bread, and raced back home.
“Mom! Mom! Come here!”
“Why? What's wrong?”
“Skylar! That's what! He's acting weird. He's holding his fists on top of each other and he's swinging them like he's swinging a stick. Oh yeah...and he's yelling!”
“What's he yelling?”
“It's weird. He's yelling, 'Tace! Tace! No, Tace!'.”
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Oh no! Here comes more! Wait...these looked like his neighbors. And...where did the soldiers and his sword go? He stood there dazed.
“Skylar! Are you alright?”
“Who, me? Oh—yeah...just...fine.”
“Well, maybe you'd better go to bed and rest for awhile, you think?”
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Skylar lay in his bed, dazed. That adventure had been weird, fun—but weird, oh and scary!
His older neighbor came over. “Sky, are you alright? Me and my wife saw you go into the woods. When you didn't come back after an hour, we got worried and started looking. We followed your foot prints about fifteen hundred feet into the woods and then they just disappeared. Well, I got to be going. Rest easy!”
Hmm...had vanished without a trace. That sounded like...like...what happened to Skandar. He knew where Skandar was! Oh—but how to get back? His heart sank, and he fell asleep.
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“He's been like this about an hour or two now, Garnock.” Tace and Garnock stood beside the still form of Skylar with Zebulon and Atherton looking on from the other side. “He had just warned me about Forester coming up behind me and when I turned, I saw him go down.”
“We gotta move him out of the way here. Let's lift him on the count of three. One....two....three.” The four moved him inside to the comfortable bed that Garnet and Shiloh, with Gardenia's and Natelin's help, had made.
“How's he doing?” the two women asked worriedly.
“Not any better than he was,” Garnock said. “I'm starting to worry. I'd think he was dead if he didn't have any pulse.”
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“Hey, look up Skandar, a cabin. Maybe the owners will let us stay there,” Garth said.
“Maybe so, but it doesn't look like anybody's here. See? The barn's burned and the cabin's been ransacked.” Skandar pointed out.
“Well, maybe we can find some signs of who live here. Or...who used to live here.”
“We've already got the answer,” said Skandar pointing to the top of the door frame. There, carved in very fancy writing, were the words Aubin & Aura.
“Huh, don't recognize those names,” said Garth.
“Me either,” quipped Skandar. They both laughed.
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Fighting....running....Skylar tossed and turned as the nightmare took one horrible turn after another. He burned with fever as he tossed and turned all night long. The covers ended up on the floor and he screamed.
“Nooooooooo!” The scream echoed throughout the whole left wing of the castle. Garnock bolted upright alongside Garnet in bed. They met Shiloh, Gardenia, and Natelin in the hall heading towards the spare room. Aura came out of her room to join them.
Garnock threw open the door and they all stared. The covers from the bed were thrown all over the room and Skylar was on his side on the floor. His bed was strewn all over the floor having been kicked apart by his flying hooves.
Garnock got down on his knees beside Skylar and started to try to calm him down. “He's got a bad fever,” he said turning to the women in the doorway.
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“Prepare for another attack tonight,” Mardoc ordered, then turned to his generals. “What in the world were you thinking?” he asked incredulously. It just flabbergasted him at how dumb and idiotic his generals had been the night before.
“Well, when that one centaur warned the one I was fighting, he, the one I was fighting, suddenly pulled out another sword and had us beat in no time.” Felgor was amazed at how one centaur could beat him and Forester at the same time. “Then when he had us on our backs on the ground, with his swords on our necks, he said that he'd let us go if we'd order a retreat and not return that night. We didn't have any choice if we wanted to save our necks.”
“Well, couldn't you have....have....compromised or something?”
“You don't think of that kind of thing when you have a sword pressed against your neck,” Felgor defended himself.
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“I just don't know how it happened,” Garnock said amazed. “They came in with enough troops to pretty much wipe us out then, suddenly, they turned tail and evacuated in less time than it took them to come in.”
“Well, I guess that praise should go to Tace,” said Zebulon. “I saw him hold the two generals down, and when he let them up, they took off with their soldiers following.”
“Not all the praise belongs to me,” Tace said modestly. “Skylar get's some for warning me, and God gets the most praise for giving me the quick thinking and Skylar to warn me in time.”
“I think we should give Tace a medal for bravery,” spoke up Glenstorm in his quiet voice.
Everybody readily, and noisily, agreed.
“Then I guess it's settled. Zeb, do you have the medal?” Garnock asked.
“Not with me, but I can get it. Nikkelon, can you fetch it?”
“Sure thing, Zeb.” Nikkelon turned and raced off to get it.
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“Well, here we are,” said Garth. Skandar had talked him into seeing a prophet to see if there was any way that he could get back.
“Hello, boys. What can I do for you?” the old prophet asked kindly.
“Well, I was wondering if there was any way back to my world?” asked Skandar.
“When I was five—one hundred years ago—a person got 'trapped' in our world. The prophet then—I heard—said that the only way a person can get back is if someone comes, they meet, and if they both say something—I forgot what it is—at the same time they can both go back to their world never to return.”
“Fat chance of meeting someone from my world.”
“Actually, there is a better chance than you think. I've just received word by my apprentice that there is someone from your world right now looking for you.”
“Who's your apprentice?” asked Garth.
“A centaur named Glenstorm. You know him?”
“No, doesn't sound familiar.”
“He probably wouldn't as he's one of your dad's scouts and lives by himself in a cabin.”
“How do you know who I am?” asked Garth.
“You're an exact model of your dad when he was your age,” the prophet said.
“Oh.”
“How do I find this guy?” asked Skylar.
“You won't know how to find him until you find the cave of the Old Prophet,” said the prophet.
“Where's that?” inquired Garth.
“Anywhere,” replied the prophet.
“Anywhere? What do you mean by that?”
“Just what I said. It's anywhere you it's needed.”
Garth and Skandar looked at each other completely bewildered. “Well, how are we to know we've reached the cave?”
“You'll know it. Maybe not at first, but before you leave, you'll know. It's a stocked larder for the starving, an well for the thirsty, a shelter from the storm, a place of comfort. As Jesus is, so is this cave. Only if you believe will you see it.”
“Oh.” They both turned and walked out.
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“Tace, you and Zebulon are going to lead the first wave into the courtyard, with me in the lead of course. Atherton, you lead the next wave. Got that?”
“What about me?” asked Skylar, a little peeved at being left out.
“You're too weak from last night's fever, and you need your rest,” sighed Garnock for the hundredth time that day.
“No, I'm NOT!”
“Okay, fine.” Skylar waited, excited. “You can lead the women and children to safety.” Skylar's face fell. “Well, somebody's got to do it,” said Garnock, exasperated.
“I guess so.” Skylar heaved a huge sigh and plodded out of the room.
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“Now what?” groaned Skandar, flopping down on the grass. “We've searched every stinking' cave in this region, and nothing!”
“I don't know,” said Garth, flopping down beside him.
“Yeah, and now we're hot and tired and thirsty and hungry and I don't know what all.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah—and, my back hurts.”
“Stop complaining.”
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“Hey, Mardoc.” An oily voice from Mardoc's voice sounded.
“What do you want?” he snapped. “Can'tcha see I'm busy?”
“Yes, but I have something to give you,” said the hunch back old woman