A.N: Sorry it took so long.
Chapter 1
The Bazaar was crowded, as usual, with people seeking to lighten their purses. The barely visible stands of fruit, material, and other trinkets were a mix of bright colours that stood out from the neutral browns and grays of the street. The sound of customers and merchants haggling the prices of goods drowned the noise of the highway above. And the variety of smells filled the air and ticked the nose.
The cloaked figure of Damas walked through the Bazaar with ease. Despite his broad shoulders, Damas didn't bump into or push the preoccupied people; his movements were unusually graceful for such a large man. The man following him, however, did not possess such grace and he struggled to keep up with the former king.
Kielyn near worshiped the man in front of him. It was an honor to be chosen to walk with Damas through the streets of Haven, but he looked like a fish out of water next to the powerful man as they moved through the mass of people. Ever since he was a young child, Kielyn loved the heroic tales of Damas the Warrior King and his many battles against the evil swarms of metalheads. He knew now that the stories were exaggerated, but looking at the powerful man in front of him, Kielyn could imagine Damas fighting large beasts in the desert and rescuing maidens in distress.
His calf and thigh muscles ached with exhaustion as the hour passed by. Damas didn't show any signs of tiring and kept his pace. Kielyn was beginning to wonder if Damas was lost, but surely the Great Warrior King would be able to find his way through his city. The burning sensation in Kielyn's legs was spreading through his body like a wildfire and beads of sweat appeared on his brow. Damas obviously sensed the young man's fatigue and went toward the fountain in the center of the square. Taking a seat on the stone ledge, Damas gestured Kielyn to join him. Children playing around the fountain stopped and looked at the two men who sat in the middle of their play area and decided to play another game, one that included who could get the closest to the cloaked figures. Damas didn't seem to care about the youngsters' game and relaxed on the ledge.
Kielyn was strong for 17 years old. His body wasn't heavily built but well toned and the baby fat of his youth was long gone from his lean form. Only a year into manhood, his body was sun kissed, as all soldiers' bodies were, and his hands were callused from manual labour. His face, still youthful, was set and expressionless as his sharp blue eyes scanned the crowd for a threat. It was unsettling to be sitting in the middle of a crowd with a wanted man. He saw everyone as a potential threat, as he had been trained to do. He cast a threatening glare at the young children as they edged closer to Damas. They froze and retreated along the ledge giggling.
"Ease up young Kielyn. If the guards come they will make their presence known, and we will face them head on," said Damas seeing the youth's tension.
"Yes Sire."
"You can call me Damas, no more titles, I didn't even like them when I was King. I am no more than an outlaw veteran, who is more than capable of killing these Krimson scum," said Damas with no malice in his words. He didn't blame the guards for his exile from the throne; he knew they were only following orders. Just a bunch of yakows following the wolf.
Kielyn smiled, Damas's demeanor helped him relax despite the situation. A breeze picked up and the wind dried the sweat upon Kielyn's brow, chilling him. It was a nice day, even though the smog clouds hung over the city like vultures over a dieing animal. Since the Baron had secured the throne for over a month, weapons factories had picked up production, polluting the air. The Baron had also hired new guards who bore his colour; Kielyn had heard that the guards also had to tattoo themselves to prove their loyalty. Many of Damas's guards, who didn't pledge allegiance to the Baron, were cast out of the city or killed. Kielyn had been lucky. He had signed up for the guard two month's prior to the Baron's takeover and had only just escaped the Baron's Krimson Guards. Most of his comrades, who he had attended training school with, were killed. Some of Damas's most loyal Blue Guards, that had escaped the Baron, formed an underground operation to combat the Baron. Many of the Blue Guards who had also escaped persecution from the Baron joined this force as Kielyn had.
Damas caught a glimpse of red from the crowd. He relaxed his body and his mind. One of the first lessons he learned was to not overly concentrate on the situation, this way he would react to events better. His mind wandered into the past back before he had became king. His father had hired Gorm, a skilled soldier to instruct the young prince in the ways of combat. During one of their many sword duels Gorm had struck Damas hard on the wrist with his stick.
"Stop! What are you doing young master? Had this been with real swords, I would have cut off your hand," Gorm spat at Damas.
"Your speed is unequalled, everyone knows this, I cannot keep up with your moves," replied the frustrated youth while rubbing at the red spot on his wrist.
"Speed has nothing to do with it," Gorm told him, and seeing the disbelief in the boy's eyes, he said, "you have not learned to trust your inner-selves."
"My inner-selves?"
"Yes. People have many different people inside them in which they use to function in different situations. For example, you act differently around your father than you do around me, do you not?"
"Yes."
"When you are in combat you need to trust yourself to react with the right Damas; weither that be the Dama's who will fight or back away. It is what gives you speed of hand, allowing you to react faster to your opponent and allowing you to judge their moves. Do you understand now?"
"Yes I do, but how can I accomplish this skill?"
"Let your mind wonder, devoid of all emotion, and try not to concentrate on what you should do, rather just do," said Gorm positioning himself in the attack position once more to continue with Damas's training.
Damas hurled himself sideways as a red shot sizzled by. He looked around the crowd again and saw that the Krimson Guards were surrounding them. People were hurrying away from the sudden outburst of violence hoping not to be caught up in the fire. Damas swiftly drew his gun from under his cloak. He didn't want to fire just yet, there were to many innocents in between him and the guards, and had no desire to accidentally shoot one. The Guards opened more rounds on him, not caring if they hit a citizen. Damas leapt into the fountain, seeking cover from the ledge, and closely following was Kielyn.
"So much for a break," he joked, then his eyes widened as he saw the two young children still on the ledge. Damas turned and saw the children also. He got up, ignoring his exposure to the guards, and ran towards the children. Grabbing them he pulled them down into the water. Their eyes were wide with fear and one of them pleaded for his mommy. Damas told them to stay down, and made his way over to Kielyn.
"Are you good with that weapon boy?" he asked him pointing to Kielyn's gun.
"I can hold my own," said Kielyn honestly.
"Were going to have to make it quick and precise," Damas said and Kielyn nodded his agreement. Damas counted down from three using his fingers and both men raised their guns over the ledge and shot the first KG they saw. Within the second they were back down behind the ledge.
"I counted fifteen and shot one down," reported Kielyn.
"I also shot one, thirteen more to go."
Damas and Kielyn repeated their quick fire from different directions and at different periods to keep the guards guessing and to keep them from advancing on their position. The two children in the fountain with them whimpered each time the two men ducked under a volley of fire. By now the crowd had fled the square seeking a safer place to shop. Damas was just about to fire again when a woman's voice cried out for someone. One of the children yelled back and fled the safety of the fountain ledge to seek out his mother. Damas swore under his breath and went out over the ledge; he would be lucky to get to the boy faster than the guards' fiery red shots did.
Kielyn saw the move and covered Damas with a volley of shots at the guards. The remaining KG, which Kielyn counted at five, had been distracted by the sudden movement out of the fountain that they didn't have time to dodge Kielyn's volley and three went down. Kielyn rose up out of the fountain and shot the other two with haste; back up was probably on the way and Kielyn didn't want to wait around for them to arrive. Damas kept low to the ground sheltering the struggling child under his body. Seeing the danger was gone he stood up and let the boy go to his mother. The other boy also ran towards the frantic mother and was held in her embrace.
Kielyn walked over to Damas and stopped beside him. The young man's talent with the gun impressed Damas as well as how Kielyn had handled himself in the heat of the moment. There was much courage in the boy and Damas knew he had picked the right man for the job. Damas looked at Kielyn, and for a moment their eyes locked in silent understanding. They took of knowing that to linger would mean death.
Damas took Kielyn through the winding streets of the bazaar until he stopped at a large brown tent in the corner of another square. Kielyn's nose twitched at the strong perfumes emanating from it and for a moment he thought he might be sick. The nausea passed and he followed Damas into the tent. An old seer was at the opposite end of the tent sitting cross-legged with what appeared to be a large bowl on her head. The room was filled with jars of powders, potions, and other such things. Damas took a step towards the old woman and bowed. The old seer made a number of hand gestures in which a colourful residue was left behind and lingered floating in the air for a second. Kielyn jumped at the sudden sound to his right.
"Awwk. Onin says it is good to see you are well Lord Damas, oh and you too Master Kielyn," said a strange looking creature that looked like a cross between a parrot and a monkey. It continued talking when Onin waved her hands, "Onin also says that she must confirm your greatest fear Warrior King."
Damas looked downcast, his posture slouched and his eyes looked down at his feet. He dreaded the words Pecker was about to say.
"Onin says that you will not find your son here; he is lost to you."
"Do you know who?"
"No, but she does know why and she says that it will break your heart to hear it. As with most of the Mar line, your son has the great ability to channel eco and it is for this quality that he was taken. Onin says that he will live a happy and adventurous childhood and will grow up to be a champion worthy of the name Mar. But he will suffer greatly in this city and he will not remember you…"
Damas left the tent and headed back to the underground hoping that he could take out his frustration on any who oppose him. Kielyn walked silently behind him, not knowing what to say or if he should say anything at all. He knew that Damas loved his son dearly and that this news cast a large hole in his soul. Not a word was said the whole trip.
"He will not remember you King Damas of Spargas, but you will unknowingly find him and he will make you proud."