The Plague Blade (The Bizarre Blades Book 3) Read online

  The Plague Blade

  The Bizarre Blades Book 3

  Stevie Collier

  Contents

  Stay Informed!

  1. The Apocalypse Begins

  2. Infection

  3. Nani?

  4. The Unlikely Archer

  5. Retreat

  6. An Unwelcome Junction

  7. The Smudge on the Window

  8. The Hero We Don’t Deserve

  9. Journey to the Land of the Fairies

  10. The Poor Damned Fools

  11. The Girl With Pink Hair

  12. Hex Hunters

  13. Who’s That Champion!? It’s…

  14. Silver’s Little Secret

  15. Time Magic

  16. Day One

  17. Body, Mind, then Blade

  18. The Two Legendary Blades

  19. Freak Show

  20. Ex-Hex Training

  21. The Revenge of Jade

  22. The Fallen Tree

  23. Wackawho?

  24. Butt Dust and Gnome Homes

  25. Snot a Good Idea

  26. Finn the Daredevil

  27. The Wall of Poofaria

  28. A Fairy Bad Idea

  29. Fairies and Humans Unite

  30. Me Hoy Minoy

  31. Let the Game Begin

  32. The Ludicrystal

  33. The Stone Brothers

  34. A Champion’s Sacrifice

  35. Oh Gnome You Didn’t

  36. William Albert Kurt Dickens

  37. Void

  Thank you!

  Stay Informed!

  About the Author

  Stay Informed!

  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 Apocalypse Begins

  The three Champions stood on the blustery frozen hill in complete silence as they stared off at the destroyed world beneath them. The rotten land extended as far as the eye could see, the gaseous polluted air rising in front of the face of the sun, wavering as it did so. The wind brought with it the smell of death and despair, reminding Finn of the stench of the dark alleys of Sumetai where drug abusers went to wither away and die.

  Who knew a Bizarre Blade held such destructive capabilities? What could Ariel be feeling right now? Was her father really the owner of a Blade that could cause such horrible destruction? No, Finn couldn’t’t believe it. Ariel simply didn’t know what she was talking about or wasn’t remembering things correctly. Surely she couldn’t be blood kin to such a monster. Finn had seen and met some vile people, but no one who he thought would have the capability to destroy an entire ecosystem of life and greenery. He couldn’t think of a worse sin than what now lay before his eyes.

  Finn reached out and held Ariel’s hand, and Jade did the same on the opposite side of her. As soon as she grasped their hands, the girl’s strength finally gave way and she fell to her knees. The other two Champions did not help her up but knelt beside her as she cried with her face pushed into the snow, her shoulders heaving up and down with her sobs. Ariel had always had a strange relation to the world around her, especially with animals and vegetation. She was a free spirit and connected better with things that didn’t speak. Now, not only was the entire jungle of Koosahmoorah destroyed, along with countless animals, but this horrible act had been completed by none other than her own flesh and blood…

  “My King,” said the head scout, breaking the silence. “What should we do?”

  The king didn’t say anything right away, but did close his jaw—which until that point, had hung open. Finn felt sympathy for him as he hadn’t been king for more than a few days, and already the lives of his people were held in jeopardy. Finn could relate to this—his circumstances with Jigsaw had been quite similar. As soon as he’d bound with the Bizarre Blade it seemed that the world began to crash down all around him, new dangerous responsibilities sprouting up into his life by the hour. It was because of this that he already felt a strong fidelity to his new king. There was something honorable about Tarek that made Finn feel as though he could follow the man to the brinks of death.

  “I’m calling for a complete evacuation of Sumetai. Whatever this is… this plague… I can’t take the chance that it is spreading. If this devastation is heading towards my city then I want every single soul at the gates ready to leave no later than tomorrow’s sunrise. I want you, as well as every soldier and guard, knocking on doors and helping everyone to pack themselves and their necessities. Leave no willing soul behind, is that understood?”

  “Yes, Your Highness,” said the scout, bowing his head. “I’ll have my men sweep through the homes of the highborns and make our way to the worker districts and—”

  The king spat on the ground loudly. “You will do no such thing. As soon as you enter the city, make a wide sweep of the land and go from house to house as quickly as possible. Destroy the thought of our ridiculous caste system from your mind.”

  “But, Your Highness, I don’t think—”

  “You have your orders, now go!” The head scout stood there stunned for a moment, and that’s when Finn realized that the man had blond hair making him a Highborn. “Or, would you prefer I have you replaced?” asked the king.

  The scout awakened with these words in a mess of anxious apologies. “No sir! Right away, Your Highness!”

  The scout ran down the hill behind them, already shouting orders to the cryolopho riders and their carnivorous companions. A few seconds later, Finn could hear the loud stomps of the riders taking off back towards Sumetai without a question. Finn still couldn’t get over the fact that the cryolopho riders even existed. He’d heard of them ever since he was a child, but who knew that they were not only real but even more amazing than the stories made them out to be, even if they were a little awkward to talk to? Finn guessed that’s what happened when you spent every waking moment with a dinosaur rather than actual people.

  Finn heard the cry of Obsidian gliding down from above. A few seconds later, the black-feathered, blue-eyed microraptor landed in front of him, stretching its wings as wide as it could while giving a big yawn. The raptor stared up at Finn, who used his free hand to pet the dinosaur’s soft, shiny feathers covering the nape of his neck. Obsidian cawed at him, but then turned to Ariel when it realized that the girl had tears coming from her eyes. Obsidian tilted its head curiously and hopped towards her, chirping as it did so. Ariel lifted her head, her cheeks bright red from crying. From where Finn knelt, he could see a small smile grow on her puffy face as she moved her hand from Jade’s and reached out to the raptor.

  Obsidian didn’t pull its head back as Finn had guessed that the raptor would do, but instead the curious creature dropped its head for the girl to pet it. A few more pets and the raptor hopped into the girl’s lap, clicking its beak and trying to nuzzle himself in Ariel’s soft clothing.

  “Hi, Obsidian,” Ariel said with a sniffle.

  The king approached from the side and cleared his throat. “I know you must be hurting, Lady Ariel, but as king, I must know exactly what is going on here. Please, tell
me everything you know about the Blade that holds such destructive power.”

  The head scout, having given his orders to the cryolopho riders, strode back up the hill. In his hand he held a collapsed telescope that he put to one eye while squinting the other. Using his free hand, the scout extended the telescope and scanned the horizon. Ariel stood up and was just about to reply to the king when the scout muttered, “Oh may the Creator show mercy on us this day…”

  “What is it?” demanded the king. “What do you see?” Both eyes of the scout opened while he handed the king the telescope without saying a word. King Tarek Hailstorm the Tenth quickly put the scope to his eye, and it didn’t take him long to spot what the scout had seen. “This can’t be…” He dropped the telescope, shook his head, then replaced the optical back to his eye. “How is this possible?”

  “What is it?” asked Finn. “What do you see?”

  It was Jade that answered before the king, smoke wafting up from his eyes as he used the Phantom Blade’s powers to improve his sight. He stood up and took a few more steps closer to the edge of the hill. “Those are… Koosahmoorarians! A whole army of them! No…there are civilians, too! It looks like the entire city of Kimidori is running right towards us!”

  The king squinted his left eye harder and, after a few seconds, he nodded his head. “You’re right! And their faces looked panicked! But why?

  “They’re running from something,” said Ariel as Finn helped her up, her eyeballs swollen to the size of cannonballs and as shiny and creepy as those of a gigantic dragonfly. Her Flutter Blade also gave her the ability to see long distances. “Something is chasing them.” She turned to the king, “We have to help them!”

  The king dropped the telescope and bit his bottom lip. Ariel reduced her eyes to their normal size and stared up at the king, his forehead wet with sweat despite the cold. He took in a deep breath before turning back to his head scout. “Are there any more riders?”

  “Just one, Your Highness, the one that will take you and your Champions back to Sumetai.”

  “Good,” said the king nodding. “Have the rider make for Sumetai as fast as possible with orders to send a quarter of our army to our location here. If they can’t manage a quarter, then have them send what they can while preparing the rest. I also want as many archers on our walls as possible.”

  “Have them use fire,” suggested Jade, his hands resting on his waist. “Something tells me that whatever we’re about to fight might have a weakness to it.”

  The scout looked at Jade then back at the king. “But, Your Highness, I can’t just have you left out here in the middle of the woods! Shouldn’t you head back to Sumetai with the rider?”

  Tarek shook his head while turning back to the wastelands. He grabbed onto the hilt of his greatsword and pulled it from its sheath in a powerful show of strength. “I will stand by the Champions and help them to preserve as many refugees as we can until we can get them back to Sumetai.”

  “But, but, but, Your Highness! You can’t really expect to house so many!”

  “What is this? The second or third time you’ve questioned my judgement?” asked the king. “One more time and you’ll be hanging over Rotten Road, understand me?”

  The scout gulped, nodding his head so fast that his blond locks slapped his face. “Yes, my King!” He tripped over himself trying to run down the hill, and rolled the rest of the way down.

  Finn could now see a large number of people growing at the horizon. A few minutes later and he could make out the movements of trotting edmontosauruses, as well as the pumping legs of people running. The scout did not return up the hill, and Finn guessed that he went with the rider to carry the orders as a sly way of getting out of battle.

  Without saying anything, the three Champions and the king walked carefully down the hill to meet the massive number of refugees that now stampeded in their direction. Obsidian remained at the top of the cliff, chirping out its confusion at the humans making their way towards the chaos. The sound of the Koosahmoorarians had been subtle at first, but grew louder and louder with each passing second.

  Finn watched as Jade lifted his hand slowly to the hilt of his Phantom Blade. His hand grabbed the black silk wrap that covered the grip in a cross pattern. He unsheathed the Phantom in one swift movement, making a satisfying swoosh sound. His feet disappeared into dark grey smoke so that he was no longer walking but floating down the rest of the hill.

  Ariel lifted the soft cotton tunic over her head, revealing nothing but a tightly-knotted white sash that covered her breasts and half her stomach. Finn watched in amazement as two large translucent wings ripped out from her skin and flapped heavily, sending a powerful blast of wind into his face. Two smaller wings appeared at the small of her back but looked too weak to really do anything. For the first time ever, Finn saw two antennae sprout from the top of her head and bend forward, and he wondered what use they might have.

  The number of people at the bottom of the hill kept growing and growing, and Finn wondered just how many people had survived whatever had taken place. He could now hear their screams and the heavy trotting noises of different dinosaurs as they carried the richer people toward them. Finn took this as his sign to gear up.

  Finn gripped Jigsaw’s soft leathery grip and pulled it out from its baldric, his shoulders thanking him for relieving them of the Blade’s weight. Pointing the golden Bizarre out in front him, he subconsciously commanded that he be armored. Molten gold poured from the Blade’s vents and covered Finn with its magical warmness, running down his arm, across his back, and down his other arm. From there, the gold swam down his body and both legs while at the same time crawling up his neck. He let the gold dry around his chin, but kept the helmet off for now.

  “You three are making me look bad,” said the king, and all three of them turned to see him wearing a determined smile. “It’s been a while since I’ve last fought so don’t show me up too much, okay?”

  “Just try and keep up,” said Jade, turning forward. Then, after a few seconds, he added, “My King.”

  Tarek didn’t seem to be offended by Jade’s rudeness, but almost happy that he’d been treated like a normal human for once. Finn turned to Ariel just as they made it to the end of the hill and she gave him a weak grin. Finn wanted to say something to her to make her feel better, but what could he say? If her words were true and her father had used his Blade to devastate this entire kingdom then he couldn’t imagine the guilt she might be feeling now.

  Finn’s gold hardened boots sloshed in the snow as they made it to the bottom of the hill. He looked down to see that already the snow had begun to melt as they traveled closer to the dead zone. Not only that, but trees became more scarce the further they walked. The ground beneath them began to shake from the people that now ran towards them, and Finn wondered how they might keep from getting trampled—but already Jade was thinking ahead.

  The Phantom Blade Champion summoned a thick shadow that formed a sort of cloudy yet translucent shield out in front of them, large enough to guard them all. The party huddled together as they walked onward, the screams of the oncoming refugees echoing loudly through the plains, the dark orange ground now dried and cracked. Finn couldn’t help the fear that sparked within him which surprised him, because he thought he’d seen everything there was to be afraid of. But no, he felt much anxiety as he stared up at the sky that had now taken on a grey and depressed look.

  The quakes grew stronger and a few seconds later the party was passed by plump-bodied edmontosauruses, their thick, pillar-like legs pounding the ground loudly as they maneuvered out of the way of the Champions and the king. Many edmontosauruses held scared soldiers, while others carried families. Fathers sat at the front, holding the reins tightly with their children holding onto them from behind, while wives sat at the very back making sure none of them fell off. The privileged riders, busy with trying to get away, didn’t even look down to see the four people coated in shadow.

  Far behind th
e galloping edmontosauruses came the frantic public, the parents holding the small children while the bigger ones ran by their father and mother’s side. Finn noticed that the elderly were almost non-existent, with a few exceptions of the ones riding the dinosaurs. Finn even spotted a few young men carrying their grandmothers or grandfathers on their shoulders.

  Chaos swallowed the four warriors as they kept pressing forward. At that time, Finn had figured that the shadow simply kept people from running into them…until a man bumped into it and ricocheted a few feet away. He was lucky enough to be back on his feet and running before getting trampled by his own people.

  As the crowd of rushing people grew denser, Jade’s shield of smoke became more important, for without it they would surely have been trampled long ago. Finn could see sweat trickling down the Champion’s neck as he concentrated on keeping the shield up.

  “Lady Ariel!” cried King Tarek. “Please, tell the rest of us what we’re up against!”

  Ariel turned to him, a frown on her face and fear in her eyes. Her antennas twitched anxiously as she cried out, “Ariel isn’t sure of the exact nature of her father’s Blade, only that he calls it the Plague Blade!”

  So, that’s the name of this Blade. How fitting, Finn thought. Gripping his Blade tighter, Finn shouted, “I guess we’re about to find out!” He watched as more and more people slammed against the smoky wall. He felt bad for them but they had no choice, they had to press on.