The Path Of Destiny Read Online Free Page B

thought she controlled the situation,
I guess. I still say she was cute enough under all that mud and water. She just
has to learn her place in life. I mean there is an order to things, right? Us
nobles, the merchants, then the outsiders.”
    “I am not a pig,” mimicked one of the boys in a high girl’s
voice. “My name is Christine.”
    Darius, a few yards away with his back to the young nobles,
turned around so fast that everything blurred in front of him. Some residual
effects of his manifestation of power still clung to him. He felt a new anger
build, which he hadn’t felt before. It was the power reacting to the other
boys’ conversation. “What did she look like?” asked Darius with new interest.
    “Before or after she was covered in mud?” the leader laughed
with the others.
    Darius, with hardly a step, appeared suddenly in front of
the braggart. He stood at least twenty pounds heavier and three inches taller
than the younger noble. “Before!”
    “Well . . . she . . . ” stumbled the leader of the group as
he backed away, “she was tall for a girl, sixteen or seventeen years old,
blonde hair.”
    “And the other kid?” quizzed Darius. He sensed his newfound
power surging within him. The force needed a release. He tried to keep the rage
under control. He was not used to these types of feelings. Anger emerged and
his eyes blazed bright.
    “Uh . . . A few years younger than the girl. Jain, I think
it was. He was . . .”
    Before anyone knew what happened, the leader of the boys
crashed to the ground with a thud. “Ouch . . .Hey . . .”
    Events happened so fast that no one really noticed Darius
hadn’t used his fist. His anger rose beyond control and he thought about
knocking the other boys down, and with a quick motion of his hand, the next
thing he knew another boy was on the ground. He wanted to hit him again, but he
maintained control over the power, just barely. He struggled to maintain an
outward calm that he did not feel.
    Thoughts of Christine being pushed around by these boys was
hardly more than Darius could handle. Christine Anderssn was one of the nicest
and sweetest girls he knew. Her parents, Stefen and Caroline, and her siblings,
Jain and Emily, accepted Darius’s presence with Christine quite well. Stefen
was a very educated farmer who raised cattle and grain. He taught his children
many things, including how to read and write. Increased tensions had risen
recently between the farmers and the city people, but Christine’s family seemed
to always keep a positive attitude and to do their best.
    Two of the other boys in the group jumped at Darius. Kelln,
still trying to figure out what had happened, jumped in between them.
    “Don’t!” he said as he tried to stop them. They pushed him
aside but the delay gave Darius time to pull the sword out from behind his
back. He held the blade by the hilt with both hands over his head. It glowed
again.
    Everyone else seemed to freeze in time. Mouths hung open.
Fear spread across the leader's face as he looked up from the ground, wiping
the red blood off his nose. The other boy sat up slowly. None of them held any
weapons at all, and they recognized that the sword could slice all of them
within a few moments.
    Kelln was the only one to move. He moved over to Darius and
grabbed his arm. Darius first tried to pull the hand away, but soon he seemed
to focus on Kelln and he blinked his eyes, wiping the misty rain from them.
    The other boys took off running.
    “Not a good way to keep a secret,” mumbled Kelln.
    Darius pushed Kelln away and took off running. How could he
have let himself lose control like that? He was normally so calm. It must be
his new power. It fed on his emotions. Darius was afraid of what the power
would turn him in to. At first he had felt a profound sense of his destiny to
help others and secure the Realm. But the anger was new. He needed to learn to
balance it with a purpose.
    His thoughts turned to Christine. He hoped she was