Free NexLord: Dark Prophecies by Philip Blood Page A

voice.
    Dono frowned at Aerin, "Yeah, quit trying to
scare us, it's not like they can take over our minds!"
    "No, but they might mess with your
emotions.  Like the Forbidden Zones, you know the stories
about them making you feel things."
    That quieted the boys for a minute, everybody
knew about the Forbidden Zones.
    "There is nothing to those, so you feel
something, it goes away when you leave," Lor stated , but his voice did not hold true conviction.
    Darel shrugged, "It doesn't matter, and
that’s different anyway."
    Aerin nodded.  "Different, yes, but
this might even be worse… because it’s insidious, sneaking into
your mind.” Then he spoke in oratory fashion, quoting his father,
“When convictions are strong and many people believe, a weak mind
can be swayed if you’re not careful.”
    Dono looked puzzled at Aerin’s strange tone,
“Who said that?”
    “My father, he was a scholar,” Aerin stated
softly.
    Dono nodded as if his profession gave his words weight.
    Aerin added, “Let's just keep our hearts, as
well as our minds, focused when we go in there.  We don't
want to suddenly start buying into what they are selling."
       Lor smirked, "If Aerin here
starts preaching at us we just smack him upside of the head and knock some sense back into
him."
    Darel grinned, "I volunteer for the job."
    Lor looked back over the wall at the church
entrance.  "So when do we go?"
    "I can't go tomorrow, but the following day
would be all right," Darel explained, his next free day being that
far away.
    Lor's mouth twisted in mock
disgust.  "By then they'll have cleaned up
everything."
    "Oh sure, right now they've probably left a
puddle of blood for all to see in front of the altar itself," Darel
responded sarcastically.
    Lor glowered at him.  "You afraid
or something?"
    Darel looked Lor in the eye.  "No,
how about you?  If we weren't going in there with you I
doubt you'd have the nerve to enter the place."
    Lor shrugged.  "That's your
opinion."
    Aerin waved a hand between
them.  "Whoa, we're on the same team here!"
    Darel looked a little
sheepish.  "Sorry, Lor."
    Lor's lips were still pulled tight, but he
answered, "Forget it."
    Aerin looked over the wall one last time at
the church and the blood drained out of his face.  "No…"
he whispered.
    Dono noticed his face
immediately.  "What is it, Aerin?"
    "It's... him," he pointed to a rather large
man who was just nearing the far right corner of the
block.  The man was wearing a large billowing brown
cloak, though the hood was thrown down and his short-cropped
bristly hair could plainly be seen.
    The other three boys just caught a short look
at his back before he rounded the corner out of sight.
    "Who is he?" Lor asked.
    "That's the man who led the attack; he
ordered the death of my parents," Aerin whispered, anger and loss
battling within his heart.
    "Quick, we'll follow him!" Lor said,
scrambling back from the wall so he could stand without being
seen.  Dono and Darel followed, but Aerin was still a
little glassy eyed.
    "Aerin!" Lor hissed, and having gotten his
attention he said, "Don't you want to catch that bastard?"
    Aerin's eyes hardened.  "Yes!"
    "Good, then get off your hairy butt, and
FOLLOW ME!"  Lor growled and then turned to run for the
far edge of the roof headed toward the end of the block where the
man had gone.
    Aerin scrambled up and ran after the
others.
    They quickly came to a fifteen-foot gap between two buildings over a
thin street below.  Lor stopped six yards back and
grabbed Aerin and Darel's arms.  "Are you two up to this
jump?"
    The landing on the far side was a thin foot
wide ledge and then a steep slope upwards to a tall peaked
roof.
    "Do it," Aerin said. Now that he had made up
his mind he did not want to lose track of the murderer.
    Lor took a moment longer to look into Aerin's
eyes.  "Jump as if there was only a foot drop and you
were landing on something you didn't want to break, absorb the
impact by