The Immortal Fall: The Call

Sunrise

"A journey of a thousand must start with a single step"

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Looking up from the maps and papers the old, grizzled General heard… something. His heart began to beat fast; the General drew his sword and walked toward the exit of the tent. His men looked back and forth between each other, not sure what was going on. The General wanted to shake his head in misery; they had been drafted too young, they were sure to die that night.

The moment he exited the tent he saw them; tall muscled men with skeletal black wings stretching high above their heads. The wings themselves were losing feathers and skin quickly becoming nothing more than enchanted bone. They were riding towards the camp and there was no way to out run the Fallen

“We have to fight,” The General said over his shoulder towards his men, they all nodded but he could sense their fear. He could almost hear the sobbing mothers as they watched their son’s bodies arrive back at Northaven, the sisters calling for their brothers and women screaming for their lovers.

“Then what are we waiting for general? Let’s Go!” one of them, Gregory, yelled running out towards the Fallen.

In a flash of golden light the boy fell to his knees. The general shook his head in pity.

“CHARGE!” the rest of them yelled, the soldiers didn’t hear their General tell them to stop. They couldn’t hear him over their fear.

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The first one was killed by an arrow, the next by one of the horses, the rest of them by the golden fire. The General cursed the king and his decision to draft boys into the royal army… just because he was too much of a coward to use his powers.

“Come out General Stephen,” one of the beasts yelled, the voice was so familiar. The general stepped out of the doorway of the tent and into the cold moonlight. He watched the golden flame throwing fallen jump of his horse and walk towards him.

“You may kill me but that won’t faze the king!” The general spat, the Fallen Angel laughed in amazement.

“Everyone knows that the Great King Ronan cares for no one but himself Stephen. All I want is those papers in the tent there…. Now you can save me time and tell me which box the documents are in or you can die slowly and painfully. Now what will it be?” the Fallen asked while he place his black gloved hand on the General's shoulder.

“I will never tell you anything,” replied the General

“Alright then, any last requests?” asked the Fallen

“I which to see the face of my killer,” requested the General

“Fair enough,” the Fallen said, pulling down the cowl of his cloak exposing a horribly familiar face. The general screamed in horror and the Fallen pushed his dagger through the man’s heart.

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Karleighanna sat bolt upright in bed with her hand clutching at the thin material of her gown, she could still feel the knife in her heart.

CRACK!

Karleighanna yelped in pain as the wooden spoon hit her hard across the head and caused pain to blossom in her head.

“That, Miss Karleighanna was for late rising!” a woman yelled in a shrill voice, “You may be able to get away with it when you're with Darren but your bed rolls taking up work space… MOVE!”

Karleighanna grabbed her bed roll and ran from the room, even when she closed the heavy wooden door and began running through the servants passages, she could still hear Old Woman, Ariya, yelling at the other servants.

When Karleighann reached Darren’s chamber she burst through the doors and into her uncle’s arms.

“Karleighanna!” Darren exclaimed as his herbs flew into the air.

“I had another dream,” She sobbed into his shoulder; Darren sighed and kissed the top of her head gently. Karleighanna whimpered when the slight pressure touched the spot where the spoon had hit her.

“What’s wrong?” Darren murmured holding her out in front of him.

“I got up late,” Karleighanna sobbed, Darren tutted and gave her a compress to put on it.

He gave her a bowl of porridge and they ate. After the bowls had been cleared Karleighanna told Darren of her dream, he listened intently.

“What do we do?” Karleighanna asked when she had finished; Darren leaned back and put a hand through his long black hair.

“Nothing,” he said simply, “You go back to the servant’s quarters and we tell no one,”

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Karleighanna dipped the mud capped clothes back into the quickly cooling soapy water and began scrubbing them. Prince David had been hunting the day before and, due to a lose girth, had ended up on the floor. She smiled at the memory of the arrogant prince returning to Northaven, caped in mud and leaves.

Karleighanna sighed and wrung the cloth out, then shook the fabric. Steam rose from the clothing, curling up into the air like shadows. She folded it and put it into a basket ready to take up to David. Karleighanna was one of the few who had gifts; gifts were powers only the Ancient bloodlines were blessed with. She had never known her parents and had long since decided she was illegitimate. The gifted were awed and respected but powers and gifts were reserved only to the rulers of the land and their children. Her career, the apothecary, had made her take an oath to never tell anyone; till this day she had kept that oath. Karleighanna stood and sighed again, then picked up the basket and made for the stairs.

Once she got to the main floor Karleighanna tried to keep to the shadows, the knights of Northaven were planning an attack on The Fallen and the place was crawling with armed men. She swept a tapestry aside and stepped into one of the servants passages that led right onto Prince Jared’s corridor. The passages were long and had irregular intervals had turn offs; the passages had originally been made to escape The Fallen if they ever attacked the Citadel or there was an invasion. Karleighanna took a right and carefully pushed a floor-to-ceiling portrait of the king then stepped forward into the light.

Karleighanna crossed the corridor and opened the door to Prince David’s room; the Prince was at the council meeting so she didn’t have to knock. The Prince's room was finely furnished with long heavy drapes and fine oak furniture.

“It is customary to knock before entering, Karleighanna.” A bored sounding voice said from behind her, Karleighanna screamed and dropped the basket of laundry, wiping a dagger out from the belt that her apron hid. She suddenly realised exactly whose throat her dagger was pressed against and quickly dropped to one knee.

“I’m so sorry, your highness. I thought you were at the meeting,” she said quickly, her voice quaking.

“Don’t worry Karleighanna, I won’t have you executed.” He said sarcastically “These times are too hard for that,” he added offering his hand; Karleighanna gulped, took his hand and quickly shoved the dagger back into her belt. Karleighanna turned and groaned; the nicely folded clothes were crumpled on the floor with the basket upturned beside them. Karleighanna quickly set to work, shaking the dust out and folding them neatly back into the basket then she crossed the room and began putting them into David's cupboards.

“Your dress is torn and too small,” he noted, gesturing at the sleeves which hung around Karleighanna's forearms instead of her wrists and the badly mended tear along the skirt of her dress.

“It is like that for everyone, your highness,” Karleighanna told him as she noticed some torn stitching in the lining of a jacket she was hanging up. She dropped it back into the basket.

“My father is an i***t for not letting me fight,” he grumbled.

“It isn’t my place to say, but your farther is a good man, he is only trying to protect you,” Karleighanna said quietly while picking up her basket.

“My blood line is the oldest, and there for the most powerful, but my farther refuses to see that and let him and me fight, I could destroy many Fallens but I am denied the right to protect my people,” he exclaimed walking over to the window. “Come here,”

Karleighanna followed him to the window, looking over the whole of Northaven she understood what David was talking about. Even from here she could see all the homeless who slept in alleys. Trying to sell badly made charms to ward off evil spirits and Fallen and beg for scraps of food to feed their women and children. She felt uncomfortable, no one talked about their gifts; it was something everyone accepted with awkwardness like talking about a woman’s bleeding.

“Do you see what the Fallen are doing?” he asked quietly, his voice full of rage, Karleighanna wanted to answer but the pure rage in his voice had shocked her and she found herself suddenly unable to speak, “Do you!?”

“Yes,” she whimpered finally finding her voice, her hands began to shake.

“They are Angels! They should be defending us! Not trying to kill all the Ancient bloodlines!,” he shouted turning his gaze onto Karleighanna. “What do you think?”

“I don’t have an opinion,” she whimpered trying to walk away but he grabbed her arm pulling her back.

“I order you to have an opinion!” he growled. Karleighanna could feel her gift fighting against her carefully erected defences to take over.

“Please stop it, you're scaring me,” she cried a tear escaping her eye.

“Tell me!” he roared into her face, she finally let go of her defences and let the gift take over. She tried not to think about it, she just hit his chest with her hands. He flew through the air and landed on his bed. Karleighanna's hands leapt to her mouth in horror of what she had done. Normally her gifts involved warming things and being able to move small objects like books and stones, never a fully grown human. She struggled with moving mice away from her food.

“Prince David, are you alright?” Karleighanna asked while rushing over to the bed, her body had stopped shaking, her gifts steeling her nerves. The Prince groaned and sat up.

“How did you do that?” he asked, all anger in his eyes had disappeared and was replaced by sheer curiosity. “Even if you had gifts they can never be used like that,”

“What do you mean?” Karleighanna gasped, her throat was dry and her heart was beating loudly.

“Gifts don’t affect anyone directly, you can make the ground want to swallow people or plant the idea of suicide in a man’s head, but not use your own gifts to throw someone across the room!” he told her, David had moved to the edge of the bed and was watching Karleighanna carefully. Karleighanna stood there not sure of what to do.

“I’ve always been able to do that, normally only light objects like books and clothes but never a person.” She confessed, her eyes observing her feet, “I can also make things warm and flowers grow,”

“But you’re a servant!” he gasped in awe.

“I think I was an illegitimate child my lord,” Karleighanna told David, but he shook his head furiously.

“With such a powerful gift I doubt it,” Jared snorted. “Show me what you can do!”

“I have to go,” Karleighanna told him picking up the basket and walking towards the door, David leapt up and grabbed her arm.

“Please, there is so little we know about the gifts, I have to see,” David begged, his brown eyes held Karleighanna's for a long time until she sighed in defeat.

“Yes, your highness,”

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Karleighanna ran her eyes around the room, on one wall there was a book self. She held her arm out and tried to focus on the smallest book there, Karleighanna felt and shiver go down her spine and the book flew through the air towards her. She caught it in her right hand and read the cover. Understanding the Fallen.

“That’s amazing!” he said in awe, Karleighanna shrugged. There was a knock at the door, “Enter,” David called; a tall, handsome man with blond hair that covered half his face, and made him look like a solider of The Fallen walked in. Tristan.

Tristan was Prince David's groom, or he used to be. Tristan had been suspended, No money for a week had meant that he hadn’t eaten. Again. Not that he would have gotten that much food anyway, The Fallen were tightening the boundaries and that meant people were flocking to the city. There wasn’t enough food to go around.

“Prince David your farther wishes to see you,” Tristan told David.

“Didn’t I suspend you?” David said coldly.

“Yes,” Tristan “But you don’t care anymore, you have forgiven me and you are raising my pay.

“You can’t talk to your prince like that!” Karleighanna exclaimed walking in-between the two men, as soon as she stepped in Tristan’s line of sight she felt the familiar buzz of someone using their gift. She gasped; only Fallen could use compulsion.

“You're right Karleighanna no servant can...” he cut off with a gasp as he suddenly realised what Tristan had done. “Karleighanna, sound the alarm!”

Karleighanna side stepped and ran quickly but Tristan grabbed her around the waist and threw her at David, her gift started to take over again; Karleighanna took out her dagger and flung it with all her strength toward Tristan, quicker than Karleighanna could have thought possible he plucked it out of the air and flung it back at her. Mina flicked her hand to the side and watched as the dagger embed itself into the table.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here a Nephilim servant, who’d of thought,” Tristan leered; Karleighanna's hands balled into fists, unaware of the silver fire curling around her clenched hands.

“What do you mean Nephilim?” David asked standing beside Karleighanna, his sword held aloft.

“It’s your race, stupid.” Tristan glowered; his eyes flashed gold and David yelp in pain before flying backwards against the wall. Karleighanna focused on the bed and moved her hand to the right, Jared landed on it.

“Well, looks like we found our mysterious source of power,” Tristan smiled, then whipped his hands out, golden fire leap from his palms and curled around Karleighanna, everywhere they touched became deathly cold. Karleighanna suddenly didn't know what to do, all the powers she knew off where offensive.

Karleighanna screeched in pain and slapped at the flames, almost immediately she saw David leap off the bed. David’s eyes flashed blue for a moment then he began pulling the ice fire off of her wincing as the cold pain seeped into his palms.

“Oh wow, the brain dead prince can do something useful, not just look entertaining as he fly’s through the air,” Tristan smirked as he watched Karleighanna collapse onto her knees.

“Leave him alone!” Karleighanna ordered as she pushed herself off the floor. Silver flames licked at her hands, she flicked her hand sending a ball of flames shooting towards Tristan; it sent him flying. He hit the door and kept going towards the wall outside. He slammed against it and slumped to the ground. Karleighanna grabbed her dagger off the table and threw it towards The Fallen; the dagger flew faster than before propelled by a ball of silver fire and embedded its self in his heart.

“This isn't over Girl, not while David lives!” Tristan croaked before his body slumped and his head rolled. Out of nowhere a white feather drifted into his lap.

“Karleighanna are you okay... you look, really pale.” David asked, it was the last thing she heard before her eyes rolled up into her head and the world went dark.