David Bishop and the Legend of the Orb by T.C. Crawford (tools of titans ebook .txt) 📕

Almost in answer to their newly realized fears, the air rang with a terrifying howl in the distance not far behind them. It was answered by a series of howls as the beasts quickly sniffed the scent of intruders in the high grass around them.

Their cries seemed to echo off the mountains in the distance and came rebounding from every direction. They knew their luck had run out.

The companions quickly abandoned their effort to sneak past the enemy and jumped to their feet, springing through the shoulder high grass as fast as they could towards the foothills of the mountains.

David could hear the beasts trampling through the dry grass behind them in the distance. He could feel their thundering paws pounding through the soil like a stampeding herd of buffalo. His heart was racing, and his breath was short, but he knew he had to keep running.

He looked to his left and saw that Orin had jumped on Rex’s back so he didn’t fall behind, and much to David’s amazement, Rex was still moving ahead of him despite the extra baggage. He doubled up his efforts to keep up.

The foothills were quickly coming into view up ahead, but so were the sounds of the beasts to their right and their left, crashing through the grass beside them. They were moving in on them quickly from the sides, while some started angling ahead as if to cut them off just short of their escape. David’s desperation grew to a wild fear for his life, they had to do something.

He could hear the growling beasts closing in from every direction but could see that they were almost to the hills where they could better fight them off and hopefully escape.

In a flash, three of the beasts suddenly appeared in the brush on each side, their snarling faces and yellow eyes intently focused on their prey while keeping pace with them as they dashed for their lives.

One of the beasts to the right leapt out towards Rex, apparently viewing him as the easier target with Orin on his back, but Rex quickly grabbed a throwing axe off his hip and swung it with all his might toward the beast, impaling it’s head mid-air and knocking it to the ground. It crumpled under its own weight and fell behind in a heap, plowing through the grass as it slid to a stop, dead.

Another beast from the left decided to attack, jumping out in front of David, attempting to cut off his escape. David swung his sword at the beast’s legs, tripping him up and slicing deeply into its flesh, but that only seemed to enrage him, and he quickly caught back up with the others in full pursuit.

Enraged, the beasts all jumped into a concerted attack to try and overwhelm the group with sheer force and numbers.

David screamed and instinctively lunged forward towards the edge of the grass. He landed on his back with his hands up in an effort to protect himself.

Blinding white light pierced the air around them and covered them all with a blast of such intensity that they flew backwards out of the grassy field and onto the rocky hills behind them.

Stunned and temporarily blinded from the light, the companions staggered to their feet and began scrambling for their weapons which had been knocked from their hands. They knew they had little time before the beasts were back on them and they would be in for the fight of their lives.

As their eyes began to adjust, they each blinked, struggling to open their eyes while wondering why the attack hadn’t yet begun. David imagined the beasts were circling around them, preparing to pounce and, panic stricken, he began wildly swinging his weapon around, hoping to get a hold of any of the beasts now certainly closing in around them.

As the world returned to his vision, he finally let himself relax…there wasn’t a single beast in sight. David, Rex, and Orin slowly began to walk up the hill they had been thrown over, creeping back towards the grass in search of the threat that they feared still lingered close by.

Rex was the first to reach the top.

“David…you’ve got to see this” he said.

David slowly walked over to his side to see what his friend had meant. He reached the top of the hill and before him was a wide clearing in the field that had previously been covered in thick, high grass.

Instead, what stood before him was an expanse of blackened earth that cleared a perfect circle in the field. Scattered around in the clearing lay dozens of still burning carcasses…not a single beast remained alive.

“What happened?” whispered David.

“It must have been the orb” said Orin, awestruck. “It must have responded to your need in an intense act of self-preservation.”

“You saved us, lad” said Rex, putting his hand gently on David’s shoulders. “Those beasts had us outnumbered…we would’ve had a real problem fighting them off.”

David sat down and put his head in his hands. He couldn’t believe that he had done this, but the orb had somehow saved his life and the life of his friends.

He felt a wave nausea pass through him. The power that he possessed terrified him. He now knew what was at stake if he didn’t learn to control the orb. He could have killed his friends along with those beasts. Fortunately, they had been ahead of him or they would have been caught in the blast and would have been left as nothing more than charred remains.

“Don’t worry, David, we will work on getting control over your powers with time and practice.” said Orin, guessing what David was thinking, “But you must be patient and not be so hard on yourself. You did a good thing, my boy, and you should be proud.” He smiled, patting David on the back.

“Aye, real proud” agreed Rex. “Come on, kid.” he said, helping David up. “We’ve got to get going before any