Hunted Sorcery (Jon Oklar Book 2) by B.T. Narro (chapter books to read to 5 year olds .txt) 📕

There was shouting all around me, but the phrase “smoke charges” was the most clear from everyone’s panicked voices. I tripped over the archer before I found him. I had to lean very close to see him as he gasped for breath.

“What’s broken?” I asked, but he couldn’t seem to speak as he grabbed my arm.

There was no arrow in him as I’d first expected. Instead an arrow lay beside him with a pouch producing all this smoke. The enemy archer must’ve placed this pouch over the end of the arrow and struck this man with his shot.

“My ribs,” he finally wheezed out.

I put my hands around the sides of his chest. It looked as if he tried to scream in agony but couldn’t make the sound.

It took a lot out of me to heal his damaged body, but I was done quickly. I stood and pulled him up with me. I needed to get out of the smoke so I could see what the hell was happening as more shouting rang out all around me.

I picked a direction and ran, but I couldn’t seem to escape the smoke. I soon figured out why when something soft struck me in the back. I turned and looked at the ground to see another pouch, more of the gray smoke pouring out. We were being bombarded with these damn things I’d never heard of.

I stomped on it until the smoke was barely puttering out of it, but it didn’t seem to help overall as I still couldn’t see two feet ahead of me. Suddenly, I realized where I needed to be.

“The drawbridge!”

I had a good sense of where it was. I started to run in that direction, but I collided with someone who I didn’t recognize. Not knowing if they were friend or foe, I pushed them to the side and kept going. All around me I heard coughing, but that changed to screams as steel began to sing.

A woman was yelling my name. “Jon! Jon!” It sounded like Eden.

I hesitated for a moment as I was unsure if I should go back for her.

“Damn it,” I muttered as I turned and ran toward her voice.

I ran headfirst into the legs of someone, which made no sense to me until I realized there was a dark mage suspending this person in the air. Their body slammed down just in front of me. I pulled out my sword and charged the sorcerer dressed in black robes, his hand extended at my injured comrade.

Dteria clenched my waist and hoisted me up, but I threw my hand and hit the dark mage with a blast of dvinia. He tumbled backward into the smoke, his spell coming to an end.

“Eden!” I yelled.

“Here!”

I found her. Calvin seemed to be guarding her, both of their backs against the wall of what seemed to be the apartments, though it was difficult to tell.

“These are cursed enchantments,” Eden told me. “You can break them with ordia.”

“How?”

“Just use ordia and try to stop the smoke when you find one.”

I was so angry I almost swore at her. That’s why she’d brought me away from the drawbridge? How the hell was I supposed to find these pouches let alone use a spell that took more time to cast than Heal?

“There’s no point in trying that. I need to get to the drawbridge. Calvin, get her into the great hall if you can.”

“Aye, Jon. Go.”

I dashed through the fighting, wishing I knew how many dark mages had come over the wall. A needle pricked my heart as I realized that Cason was probably here among them.

Something huge struck me from the side. Suddenly I was on the ground with a man on top of me. I threw him off and grabbed him by his shirt, but I recognized him as one of the Freemen. He glared into my eyes for a moment before he must’ve recognized me as well. Then we parted quickly, and soon I was rushing toward where I guessed the portcullis to be.

I found it after a few moments of searching through the chaos, still with no idea who was winning this fight. The portcullis was closed, thankfully. None of the dark mages had managed to open it. Normally I could see through the bars to tell if the drawbridge was closed, but there was still too much smoke. So long as the portcullis remained closed, however, an enemy army could not enter the courtyard and would not get into the keep.

I prepared myself to defend the portcullis, my back to the crank. It helped to know that only the strongest of men could use the device to lift the gate, and it took a great amount of time and effort. I should be able to prevent any of these dark mages from getting it all the way up, even if one of them was a stronger sorcerer than I was.

My breaths were heavy as I waited. My throat was burning. I coughed a few times, but I tried to keep my eyes open.

Pearson rushed into view with alarm in his eyes. “Good, they haven’t gotten through,” he said with some relief. “I’ll help you guard it.”

“Thank you.”

I was a little surprised he had come. I had figured he and the other fire mage would flee from danger, not run toward it. He stood beside me, our backs to the crank on the wall.

It wasn’t a moment later when, what felt like a long plank of wood, struck me along my entire back and legs. It scooped me up with incredible speed, throwing me high into the air and far, far away from the portcullis. I went so high that I emerged out of the smoke and was blessed with a view of the entire courtyard, gray waves of the smoke roiling below.

I didn’t have time to be confused. I was going to be hurt very badly when I landed. I had to make sure I came