The Forsaken Blade (The Bizarre Blades Book 5) Read online

  The Forsaken Blade

  The Bizarre Blades Book 5

  Stevie Collier

  Contents

  Stay Informed

  1. The Last Voyage

  2. An Ace up the Sleeve

  3. Eyes in the Dark

  4. The Quiet One

  5. The Scourging Ladle Returns

  6. An Eye For An Eye

  7. Shark Bait

  8. Champion Overboard

  9. It Came from Beneath the Sea

  10. Kraken the Whip

  11. What’s Kraken?

  12. Land Ho!

  13. Cottonmouth Desert

  14. The Love Hut

  15. The Lonely Forge Worker

  16. Jaw Dropping

  17. Galeanus’ Sky Lift

  18. A Snake’s Worst Nightmare

  19. The Prey, The Predator, and the Passenger

  20. The Fall of the Sky Lift

  21. The Healing Pond… of Doom?

  22. The Siren… fish thingy… with breasts…

  23. A Whole New World

  24. The Queen

  25. Creature

  26. Best Plan Ever…

  27. Siren Bait

  28. You’re Worm Food

  29. There’s Always a Bigger Fish… er… Worm…

  30. Induced Vomiting

  31. Raptors

  32. Up a Volcano without a Blade

  33. All Hail Wackadoodle

  34. Impeachment of a Gnome

  35. The Aid of Flavor

  36. Urine Trouble

  37. Wacking the Noodle

  38. All’s Well that Ends Well

  39. The Geo Blade

  40. Celestials

  41. Oblivion

  42. The City of Celestials

  43. Brutality

  44. A Friend’s Betrayal

  45. A Shadowy Sacrifice

  46. From Gold to Stone

  47. The Chaos Blade

  48. The Forsaken Blade

  49. Farewell

  50. Magical Beings Unite!

  Epilogue (Gnome Sweet Gnome)

  This series was a risk

  YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE

  While you wait

  About the Author

  Get a Free Book by visiting Stevie Collier’s website. You can email me at [email protected] or find me on Amazon, and Instagram. I also created a special Facebook group called “Collier’s Conquerors” specifically for readers, where I show new cover art, do giveaways, and run contests. Please check it out and join whenever you get the chance!

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  1

  The Last Voyage

  The ground tremored terribly, forcing the adventurers to drop flat on their stomachs lest they fall off the cliff. Finn’s head landed over the edge and he gasped as the waves had already grown so tumultuous that they now licked only a few feet from his face. To fall into the water would certainly mean death by drowning.

  A small pause in quakes had everyone cautiously moving up on their hands and knees until the shaking of the ground started all over again, but this time with much more ferocity. Finn widened his arms and legs as much as possible, digging his fingers into the dirt to keep him from sliding off. Suddenly, a long crack formed underneath his torso, and before he knew it, almost half the cliff they all lay upon tumbled to the water below.

  The weight of Jigsaw on Finn’s back had him sliding forward. He cried out just as a hand grabbed the back of his armored gorget around his neck, keeping him from falling face first into the turbulent ocean.

  “Move back!” shouted Jade, his voice strained from the effort. “I’m slipping!”

  Finn lifted himself using his lower back muscles until he dropped back onto his ass, breathing heavily.

  “Thanks,” he said between breaths, moving backwards on all fours.

  Jade nodded, eyeing the mess before him anxiously. “Everyone move back as far as possible!”

  Another wave of convulsions and even more of the cliff fell off in large chunks. Water splashed over them in such volume that Finn had to wait before taking in a breath. Saltwater burned his eyes and he could feel the beginnings of panic settle in. He blinked the fire from his eyes and caught sight of Nani falling over the edge just in time to grab him by the tail.

  “Oh no!” Finn shouted as he lost his grip on Nani, his tail wet and slippery.

  All three Champions dove for the archer, but it was too late. Finn shouted out Nani’s name as he watched his snake friend drop over the edge and dip into the harsh waters.

  “Don’t do it, Finn!” Jade yelled.

  “Finn, stop!” screamed Ariel.

  Both of the Champions tried to grab at Finn, but it was too late. Finn dove for Nani, both hands stretched out before him as he tried his best to grip the archer’s tunic. Water slapped his face and saltwater made its way between his lips. He felt something in his hands and grabbed at it. He forced himself to open his eyes and found that he now held on to Nani’s bow, but the Kaahebian was nowhere to be seen. He put the bow over his shoulder and frantically kept searching.

  “Deeper…” came Jigsaw’s voice. “Deeper.”

  Finn forced the ocean from his mouth and thought about going back up for another breath of air, but there was no time. He pulled Jigsaw from its baldric and pointed the vent away from his face. The Blade came to life in an instant, sucking water through its ventilation cross guard, and off Finn went, deeper and deeper into the trench.

  Water rushed into his stinging eyes and Jigsaw was quick to pull its helm over his face, minimizing the eyeholes, which helped tremendously.

  “Give… control… give… me… Give… control…”

  “It’s yours!” Finn told Jigsaw with his mind. “Do it! Find Nani!”

  The Blade’s movement through the water accelerated and darkness was quick to follow as Finn moved deeper into the ocean. His ears popped and his head felt like it might explode at any moment. A few more seconds and he thought his eyes might shoot out from his skull, but Jigsaw was on top of things. The small eye holes closed shut and Finn now resided in complete blackness, the pain in his ears and head disappearing instantly.

  He could hear the rushing of water pushing against his enclosed armor and felt slightly more confident now that he couldn’t see a thing. However, a few seconds later and the all-too familiar feeling of his lungs yelling at him to breathe became clear. He could hear his heartbeat now, which thumped at an alarming rate. Silver had made sure to train the young Champion’s lungs to keep themselves satiated for quite some time, but being in a panicked state put much strain on them. Just a few more seconds, and he knew he’d pass out.

  A large body smacked into him, and Finn, on instinct, clung on to what he hoped to be the archer’s torso with his legs. Jigsaw’s vents reversed the water it pulled, and all of a sudden, Finn felt himself moving upward. Mentally, he begged his Bizarre Blade for it to let him breathe—whether it was water or air, he didn’t care—he just needed to inhale! It felt as though his lungs were shrinking and falling to the bottom of his stomach. A fog rolled into his mind and he bit hard down on his lip hoping, no, praying that the Blade would remove the helmet from his head.

  Just when he thought he would die, the molten armor pulled itself from his face and Finn’s body took over, forcing him to suck in whatever was available. In this case, he breathed in not
only air but also a little bit of water, which caused him to cough. He was so focused on relieving his lungs that his eyesight hadn’t even started working yet. He felt arms come under him and off he was pulled into the air.

  “Ariel has you, Finn! Hold on!”

  Finn looked up to see the half-fairy gritting her teeth with strained veins poking out on her forehead as she lifted him and Nani back to the cliff. She dropped them harder than expected and Finn fell flat on his stomach, losing whatever air he did have. He felt poundings on his back and upchucked a surprising amount of liquid from his lungs.

  “Is… Nani okay?”

  No answer came and Finn opened his eyes to see Wackadoodle pushing on the snake’s chest.

  “He’s not breathing!” the gnome shouted. “He’s not breathing!”

  “Do one of your wizard tricks!” exclaimed Ariel, hovering over Nani with both hands to her mouth.

  “I don’t have enough time! Our friend has been underwater for far too long!”

  Jade stood from Finn’s side and walked over to Nani casually. “Stand back, gnome.”

  Wackadoodle’s foggy blue eyes looked up in Jade’s general direction. He stood slowly and stepped back.

  “Jade, what are you doing?” asked Ariel.

  “I’m not sure,” he answered. “A suggestion from my Blade. I’m not sure it will work, but…” Jade extended his hand, bending down towards it and blowing a breath over his palm. Smoke drifted from his lips, down his arms, and over his fingertips, and into Nani’s mouth. He repeated this process a few times before the smoke disappeared into a wispy trail in the air.

  Then, they waited.

  The tremors of the land and the crashing of waves all disappeared around them as they focused on their friend. Seconds passed like hours, and Finn, despite having almost drowned himself, held his breath. He prayed with all his might that Nani would lift himself up from the grave with those emotionless black beady eyes, asking them what they were all looking at.

  Nani’s mouth opened suddenly and smoke began to waft out from his throat. Dark clouds formed and an artificial rain poured down onto their pathetic excuse for a cliff. This happened for a while, shocking all of them with just how much ocean the Kaahebian had swallowed.

  The archer’s chest heaved upward and he took his first raspy breath, which did not sound healthy at all. His tongue flickered from his mouth as he tried spitting out the remaining saltwater. He fell back to his side, still very weak from his encounter with the Gore Beast, who had sucked up much of his life’s blood.

  “He needs another concoction,” said Ariel, putting the Kaahebian’s head on her lap. “He won’t last much longer.”

  “We need another miracle,” said Jade, walking back to Finn and sitting himself.

  Another much needed pause came between the quakes, and the adventurers rested in silence for quite some time, each preparing for another wave of convulsions. They’d already lost so much of their cliff and there was no way to go left or right as the remains of Snag Slope had all but marooned them.

  “We’re gonna need to move to higher land,” said Finn. “The water is no longer rising… but we are sinking.”

  “How can you tell?” asked Jade.

  “Just look over at the other side of the island.” Finn pointed across the water-filled trench. “It’s not just our side of the island that is taking on water. Look, see that? Water has already begun to seep into the forest over there.”

  “Damn, you’re right,” said Jade. “Ariel, can you—”

  “She’s on it,” said Ariel, extending her black fairy wings, which flapped a large amount of wind into their faces. “Ariel is afraid she can only do it one at a time, though. She will start with Nani and take him to the top of the remains of Snag Slope. She should be able to take the Professor as well. She will be back for both of you.”

  With a few strong and quick swings of her wings, Ariel jumped into the air, holding Nani with one arm, and gripped the hand of Wackadoodle with the other. Finn watched them rise to the sky, feeling the wind from her on his face for quite some time until she disappeared on top of the debris.

  “We can try calling on your brother using the Mark of Tracking,” suggested Finn.

  “You and I both know we won’t have enough time until we’re swimming with the fish.”

  Finn had Jigsaw remove the armor from his forearm, revealing the Mark given to him from Ace all that time ago. “What other choice do we have?”

  Jade began lifting the sleeve from his forearm. “Sure. Whatever. Just do it already.”

  Finn grabbed Jigsaw, held it in front of him, and prepared for its flames to lick his arm but… Jade was probably right. There just wasn’t enough time for Ace to reach them. Not only that, but the chances of the pirate captain even heeding their call was a fat chance, as he’d already done enough for them.

  “I hope you’re ready to swim,” said Jade, shaking his head. He moved out his own arm and readied himself for the painful flame that was to come.

  2

  An Ace up the Sleeve

  Finn could hear the wings of an approaching Ariel. He held his breath and pointed Jigsaw’s vent at the black Mark of Tracking that Ace had burnt into the side of his forearm long ago.

  “Here goes nothing,” he said.

  Finn was just about to give the command for his Blade to set his forearm alight, when the Mark of Tracking erupted into flames without him having to. He gazed down at the fire, dumbfounded as to what was going on. He looked at Jade, who also looked down at his forearm with the same confusion. Quickly, however, both Champions beat their burning arms on the sides of their bodies to put it out.

  “What’s going on?” asked Jade.

  “I was just about to ask you the same thing,” said Finn. “Did you set your Mark on fire?”

  “Does it look like I have any way of doing that? I’m soaking wet, Finn. Come on, use your head.”

  “LOOK!” shouted Ariel, touching down beside them. “Sails! Ariel sees sails!”

  Finn’s head shot up and he looked to where Ariel pointed but could see nothing. Still, the smell of burning skin brought up so many questions. If he hadn’t burned the Mark and Jade hadn’t either… then that only meant...

  “Ace!” Jade cried out with both hands cupped over his mouth. “Over here!”

  Finn followed Jade’s eyes just in time to see what both Champions were freaking out about. Just above the horizon, he could barely make out the shape of a ship heading their way. Instantly, he worried that they may be looking at the Wicca, Hawk Flurry’s galleon, but then again, Jade wouldn’t make such a dumb mistake.

  Another series of quakes began to stir up beneath them at an even worse magnitude then before. Large cracks started to form all around them and it quickly became apparent that the island they now sat on would soon be sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Already water began to push itself through these new fissures, wetting Finn’s backside and forcing him on his feet.

  “Dear God,” groaned Jade, looking straight ahead.

  Finn observed as the island on the other side of the trench shook something terrible. He could hear the screams of not only hundreds of animals, but that of people as well. Suddenly, he watched as the cannibals from the village poured from the trees and to the edge of their sinking island. They panicked, running into one another and many of them tripping and falling into the raging water. One of the cannibals, however, spotted Ariel, and he quickly began screaming to the others. Soon all the cannibals hopped up and down with joy as they watched Ariel flap her gigantic fairy wings.

  “She will come and save us!” Finn figured they yelled to one another.

  “She is our savior! She will keep us from drowning!” he imagined another shouting.

  “Ariel has to save them! She has to figure out a—”

  “Ariel, just cut that crap right now,” snapped Jade, “You know damn well you can’t do anything. You doing so will only get you harmed and we need you if we’re to fix
this whole world-ending business.”

  “But she has to try!” argued Ariel, her wings lifting her from the ground. “She has to! Ariel just can’t watch her people die…”

  “Ariel,” said Finn, grabbing on to her hand softly. “There is nothing you can do. Jade isn’t right often, but he is now. If you get hurt, then that only significantly reduces our chances of helping millions.”

  “But… but… but...”

  The movement of Ariel’s wings slowed and her feet dropped back to the ground. She rested her head on Finn’s and watched as the realization that they would not be saved became apparent to the cannibals. Ariel turned herself away and grabbed on to Jade’s wrist without saying anything. Quickly, she jumped into the air with him in tow to take him to higher ground.

  Finn turned his attention back to the cannibals and watched as they began to do something strange. One by one, they lined up in single file, the first of them standing only inches from the edge of their island. More and more cracks formed on their side of the island, one even starting between the legs of the cannibals and splitting their feet by a few inches. Finn had an idea of what they prepared themselves to do but couldn’t believe a human being could perform such a thing.