The Contention Read Online Free Page B

approaching as the last of the plans were laid in preparation to defend Valdadore. All who had spent the night awaiting orders in the chamber adjacent to the king’s study had been dismissed and told to carry out their missions with all haste. The only people who remained in that high chamber of the king’s palace were the king himself and his closest, most trusted allies. Though each of them was exhausted, both mentally and physically, Seth knew that more needed to be said before he and Sara could retire from the chamber as well. So much had changed since the battle with the black horde, Seth felt that Garret, of all people, would not only understand but also need the truth in order to realistically put to use his brother’s abilities. So after many thoughts on how to begin his tale, pausing briefly to allow Linaya to yawn, an action then repeated by everyone in the room, Seth sighed loudly and began to speak.
    “There are a few things you should know, brother, in reference to myself and Sara, that not only relate to our current circumstances, but also to how we will be behaving for the unforeseeable future,” Seth began, and watched as Garret’s eyebrows lifted showing both his attention and curiosity. “Sara and I have undergone changes that greatly affect our ability to aid you. Though I was affected less than she, the most I can tell you about myself at this time is that I will be greatly hindered during daytime hours.”
    “What do you mean, ‘hindered’?” Garret asked, his face scrunching up in thought.
    “My eyes can no longer withstand the sun. In direct sunlight I am completely blind, though in indirect light I can see fine,” Seth answered, letting his brother guide the conversation from this point forward.
    “This happened because of that final blast in the battle with the black horde?” Garret enquired.
    “It did not happen so much in the blast, but as a result of what Sara and I had to endure following the blast. The entire tale I shall relate to you at a future date when there are not so many pressing things to attend to. But know this: I am more powerful now than I was then, only I must shield my face from the sun,” Seth proclaimed with a smirk.
    “What of you, Sara? Has the same befallen you?” Garret asked, allowing Sara to tell her own portion of the tale.
    “I wish it were so, Garret,” Sara began, her face becoming awash with pain briefly as she recalled her most recent foray into the light. “I am afraid that my condition is much worse than that of my husband.”
    “How so?” Garret asked.
    “No portion of my flesh can be exposed to the sun under any circumstances,” she explained slowly. “If direct sunlight falls upon my skin, within an instant it burns away, then my muscles and vessels below that, finally even my bones.”
    Linaya gasped audibly.
    “But Sara, how then do you intend to fight?” Garret asked perplexed, though continued without an answer. “You made it quite obvious you do not plan to sit this battle out, but if you cannot withstand the very sun that lights the skies, in what capacity do you intend to help?”
    Without so much as an instant of hesitation, in the fraction of a blink of an eye, Sara lifted her body using the arms of her chair and slid her legs beneath her. Without pausing to think, working on the instincts of her new body alone, Sara sprang with all her might. The chair crashed against the wall behind her as her lithe body, still fully armored, sailed like an arrow across the chamber over Garret’s head. As she flew, Sara twisted in the air, and as she made contact with the opposite wall, she used her legs to slow her impact. For a fraction of a moment it appeared as though she knelt upon the wall, defying gravity completely. Garret barely caught a glimpse of this action as he swiveled in his immense chair, but watched still as Sara, pulling a sword from the wall that had been hung there as decoration, sprang again effortlessly up into the