Broken [Raakshyan Series Book 3]

Chapter 24

“What?” Seretha gasped. “No… That… that’s impossible!” She turned her head and looked at Aathy’s family. Every single one of them had wide eyes… but seconds later, Aathy’s mother burst into tears and fell to her knees.

      We had all returned to Seretha’s house to have our meeting and figure out what we were going to do next.

      But what we had to do before that was tell Aathy’s family what had happened.

      “She’s not dead!” I said, trying to reassure her. “I’ll find her. I promise!”

      I turned to Chirpy and Serpethion to help me out, but they were both looking down at the ground, sadly.

      “The King of Warriors…” Chirpy started.

      Master Odysson narrowed his eyes.

      “He’s…”

      “He’s not dead.” I finished. “He’s gone too… but not dead.”

      Master Odysson sighed and I could see on his face that he thought I was in denial.

      I was about to argue with him but he spoke first.

      “You said her body just vanished?”

      I nodded.

      He looked down at the floor. “And Aarvind?”

      “I don’t know… we didn’t find his body.”

      “But Keroshan has the mark of the King of Warriors.” Serpethion said.

      Master Odysson’s head shot up as he looked at me. Suddenly, his eyes changed. He looked… as if he felt unbelievable sorry for me. “Keroshan… that means… you father…”

      “He’s not dead.” I said, raising my voice. “And this time, we really can’t waste any time!”

     Master Odysson stood up. “Keroshan is right.” He said. “This isn’t just about us now. All of Raakshya is involved.”

      I felt a little relieved.

      “Keroshan… if you’re the new King of Warriors that means you need to pick up your game and lead an army.”

      And now I wasn’t. “What?”

      “You’re not a child. Not anymore.” He said. “Your job is to lead our warriors and you will do just that.”

      “But-”

      “We need all the help we can need.” Master Odysson said. “Your father was the only one who could be a match for Darius… and if he’s gone… we’re going to need that army.”

      “But they just attacked Chirpy, Serpethion and I! How can we trust them?”

      “We’ll just have to.” Master Odysson said.

      “I’ve got him!” We all heard.

      When we turned around, our hearts lifted at the sight of Aryan, who had been spending most of his days in the North with some of his distant relatives.

      “Where is he?” Chirpy asked him.

      “The Prof didn’t want to be carried. So he’s just catching up. He’ll be here in a minute.”

      Seretha smiled at him. “It’s been quite some time, Aryan.”

      He nodded at her. “When Chirpy came and asked for help… I knew I had to come…”