Maeve's words about the Kik were still echoing in Seth's ears when a bloodcurdling scream shattered the peaceful atmosphere of the Niut village. Seth felt the blood freeze in his veins. He jumped up and rushed to the door. The sight that met his eyes made him shudder.
The clearing, just a moment ago a place of peace and harmony, had been transformed into a battlefield. Kik warriors, with their characteristic black hoods and blackened faces, mercilessly slaughtered the defenceless Niut. Their swords flashed in the sun as they stormed through the huts, shouting wildly. The peaceful babbling of the stream was drowned out by the clash of weapons and the screams of the dying.
'They've found us!' shouted Eldric, his face white as a canvas with fear.
Maeve reacted with lightning speed. She was on her feet in a single bound. 'Lyra, get the boys to safety!' she ordered in a voice that brooked no argument. 'I'll warn the others!'
Lyra didn't hesitate for a second. She grabbed Seth and Eldric by the hands and dragged them out of the hut. Outside, chaos raged. Niut warriors, men and women, were desperately trying to defend themselves against the superior force of the Kik. But their peaceful nature had not prepared them for such a battle. They were hopelessly inferior to the Kik, who had been accustomed to the art of war from an early age.
Lyra pulled the boys behind a hut that stood somewhat apart. 'Run!' she whispered to them. 'Through the forest as fast as you can! Hide and don't wait for me!'
Seth and Eldric hesitated. They couldn't just abandon the Niut! But Lyra urged them on. 'It's too dangerous! There's nothing you can do! Save yourselves!'
With one last look at the gruesome spectacle unfolding before their eyes, Seth and Eldric took flight. They ran blindly into the forest for all they were worth. Branches whipped into their faces, thorns tore through their clothes, but they paid no heed. The thought of the blood-covered Niut, the screams of the dying, drove them inexorably onwards.
Suddenly Eldric stumbled and fell to the ground with a cry of pain. 'Seth!' he screamed. 'Help me!'
Seth whirled round. Eldric was lying on the ground, his foot pinned under a thick tree trunk. Seth could feel the panic choking his throat. The Kik were hot on their heels! He could hear the cracking of branches, the rustling of their footsteps in the undergrowth.
He knelt down next to Eldric and tried with all his might to lift the tree trunk. But it was too heavy. Despair spread through him. They would die here, murdered by the Kik, just like the Niut.
In this moment of extreme need, he felt that tingling in his hands again, that warm tingle that spread through his whole body like wildfire. He looked at his palms. They were glowing, brighter than ever before, in an intense, bluish light.
Instinctively, he placed his hands on the tree trunk. The energy flowed out of him, penetrating the wood. The tree trunk began to glow, to crackle, and then dissolved into dust before his eyes.
Eldric stared at it open-mouthed. 'How... how did you do that?'
Seth shrugged his shoulders. 'I don't know,' he whispered. 'It just happened.'
They didn't have time to comprehend what had happened. The Kik were almost with them. Seth helped Eldric to his feet and they ran on, deeper and deeper into the dense forest.
But this time Seth was no longer driven by fear alone. There was something else, a feeling of power, of control. He felt that he could use this newly awakened energy to defend himself, to protect himself and Eldric.
He didn't know where this power came from, what it meant. But he knew that he needed it to survive.