The Skull Warrior by Yajat Sharma (popular books to read txt) 📕

They all got off and started walking tactically. The village streets were deserted. It was still too early for anyone to be up. Just as they were exiting the village, Matt saw posters on the walls with a few photographs and text written on them. They walked close to the posters, and the Scavenger started reading aloud. “By order of the great Lord of the Dark World, the Skull Warrior, these dangerous criminals are wanted alive or dead. A bounty is offered to anyone who gives information about them or arrests or kills them.”

On the posters were pictures of No One, the Scavenger, Lynx and the children.

Lynx smiled. “Congratulations. We are most-wanted fugitives now.”

They were all exhausted when they reached Lynx’s cave.

Lynx was visibly disturbed and roared, “They took my blueprints!”

“What blueprints?” James was curious.

Lynx was much too angry to answer. “The Mudrazers! The Sandpots! The Barbarians! The Stupid Horclathzs! The Brainless Brains! They took away my Oculus.”

“What’s he saying?” Archer asked the Scavenger. “What is Oculus?”

The Scavenger sighed. “While I was searching for the four of you on Earth, I used to return to the Dark World from time to time. On one such occasion, I bumped into Lynx and told him about the guns the people on Earth had. Lynx got a desire to build one. But there is very little iron or steel in the Dark World. So Lynx created Oculus with different materials. Oculus means Destroyer in one of the Dark World’s languages. He explained it to me in great detail. It seems they took his Oculus too.”

“How does it work?” James asked eagerly. “Tell quick!”

The Scavenger couldn’t help but smile at James’s excitement. “It is shaped exactly like a gun – a pistol having muzzles and barrels. But there aren’t any cartridges or bullets, just round-shaped multi-coloured things about the size of half a grape. Lynx calls them Cules. I don’t know how the Cules are made, but the process includes the use of magic. These Cules are delicate and explode as soon as they hit anything with force. An Oculus can store up to fifty Cules.”

The Scavenger continued, “Cules can dissolve a person’s armour in two or maybe three shots. Their explosions can be lethal. But there is a drawback. You have to wait for about ten seconds before the Oculus is ready to fire again. And that time delay could be disadvantageous for the shooter. But Lynx had found a solution. He had made a blueprint of a new Oculus, with a long and narrow barrel. But then, Grim’s men came and captured him.”

“Bummer,” James said.

“Exactly,” the Scavenger agreed. “That’s why Lynx is so agitated. By using the blueprints, Grim could have made highly advanced Oculuses by now, and this will help the Skull Warrior immensely.”

James understood, but he couldn’t help notice how the Scavenger twitched slightly as the word ‘Oculus’ left his mouth. James’s brain connected the dots quickly.

“You don’t like Oculuses,” James said, already realizing the reason why.

“Obviously,” the Scavenger said. “I am a warrior. I don’t like these new devices. I get that they’re useful, but I still think they can’t be trusted. I prefer traditional weapons like swords and spears.”

Lynx had calmed down by then and broke into the conversation, “The enemy would have created new Oculuses by now. The final war will now be very challenging. We need to get the Trident soon.”

Lynx looked at the Scavenger’s face and groaned. “Uh-oh. From your facial expressions, I can make out that you seem to have different plans.”

The Scavenger nodded firmly. “Correct. I plan to go to Arcane’s burial site to check whether Arcane’s coffin has his bones or not.”

Lynx shook his head and groaned. “I knew this would happen.” He muttered, “Hellfire knew your psychology well and has been successful in creating doubt in your mind.”

“Don’t fall for Hellfire’s lies. Going all the way to verify your doubt will be such a colossal waste of time.” Lynx made a half-hearted attempt to convince the Scavenger. But he knew that the Scavenger would have his way.

Daniel butted in, “Wait, all of you. I have loads of doubts in my mind, and I have got to get them cleared.”

Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to say something further.

“First of all, why did Hellfire bad-mouth Arcane?” Daniel asked.

The other children too looked at Lynx. This was a doubt that had plagued everyone since they had arrived from Hellfire’s lair.

Lynx said confidently. “It was a test.”

“Say what?” the Scavenger asked.

“It was a test of faith,” Lynx said. “The final test. He wanted to test our trust and faith in Arcane. He knew that time was crucial for us, so if we go to check, we lose precious time. But if we get on with our task, it shows our faith that Arcane can never be evil.”

“Another thing,” Archer said. “The Skull Warrior has a huge amount of power. Why didn’t he just come and… you know… just possess Hellfire to simply hand over the Bolt to him?”

Lynx sniggered. “Oh, come on. You have got to be kidding me. Isn’t it obvious? Hellfire is a guardian, and his sole purpose is to guard the Bolt. If anyone could have come and possessed him, the Bolt would have been in the hands of even a novice sorcerer. Obviously, it’s not that easy. No matter how powerful the Skull Warrior is, Hellfire would just disappear deep into his lair. Hellfire is after all a supporter of Arcane. Even if the Skull Warrior wished to fight Hellfire to get the Bolt, like us, Hellfire would never give the Bolt to such an evil person like the Skull Warrior.” Lynx took a deep breath.

James chuckled, “And I think that the Skull Warrior must have better things to do.”

Lynx nodded. He was glancing at a grim looking Scavenger.

“I know what you have in mind,” Lynx said. “You will still go to check Arcane’s burial site.” Lynx looked frustrated to the point