The Keeper of the Sword

by James Tierney

  “Also, we grind them up and make a tea from them. We call the drink Shelltea," Brendan said. "I brought a few bottles for a celebration when we find the Sword of Zierns.”

  When they finally reached the edge of the forest,

  Mij declared, “We camp here among the flowers for the night. Brendan. Go now into the forest and get some firewood. We will need to keep a fire going to ward off the Chise and any other evil that might be out there. The Zaboom forest holds many things we do not know of yet."

  “Why?” Seamus asked.

  “We Acks dare not wander into the forest. People believe it is cursed,” Mij explained.

  “So why are we going to go in there?” Seamus questioned.

  “To find Brudie, of course.” Mij smiled at him.

  “So we camp in the open for all to see us in the night?” Seamus asked smugly.

  “Did you not hear a word I said?" Mij protested. "The Chise hate the smell of the flowers.”

  “Oh, sorry. I see,” Seamus apologized.

  Just then Brendan ran out of the forest screaming, "Help! Help !”

  About thirty yards behind him was a pack of what looked like baboons screaming "Za! Za!" and throwing coconuts at Brendan.

  "BOOM!" An explosion lit up the field near the forest.

  Seamus and Mij turned and ran as fast as they could away from the onslaught. Brendan quickly caught up with them. As they ran, a black cloud loomed, moving toward them from the opposite direction.

  "Wait!" Seamus screamed. "That is no cloud.”

  Brendan loudly yelled a warning, “Chise! Dive into the flowers on your back and make ready your swords.”

  As the Chise came closer, Seamus could see about fifty of them flying right at them. “Prepare to fight to the death !” Mij shouted.

  But they flew right over them and started to sweep up the monkey leavings and eat them. It was a horrible nightmare of monkeys screaming "ZA ZA," then bombs exploding all over.

  “This is a great battle like no one has ever seen before," said Mij. "It seems like the Chise are keeping the monkeys away from us. But why?”

  In the end, the Chise stood alone. Two lay dead on the field from wounds they had received from the explosions. Then they burst into flames and were gone. One of the Chise came forward and stared at Seamus. He looked at him closely, examined him, smelled him, and looked deeply into his eyes. Then the Chise said, “You are no Ack.”

  “No I am a human. A New York human to be exact. Thank you for saving us,” said Seamus.

  “Are you sure we saved you?” said one Chise.

  “Why, yes." Seamus said. "It is as if I have known you all my life. When you looked into my eyes just now, I knew at that moment that you are kind and are here to help us.”

  “Yes. It is true. We are here to help you."

  "Are you the one they call the Keeper of the Sword?” asked another voice.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Wonderful," the voice said, and a dragon stood up and opened its wings. On its chest was an armor plate made of gold with a Z on it.

  “I am Jennifer, the Queen of the Chise. We have been waiting for you for a very long time, Sword Keeper.”

  “But you are evil. You eat children,” Mij accused.

  “No, we have tried to keep the Acks away from the Zaboom monkeys by swooping over their heads,” said Jennifer.

  “You entrance men and kill women,”stated Brendan.

  “No. We have been looking for the Keeper of the Sword. You see, we look inside of them to see if one of them is the Keeper. This seems to entrance them. We have never killed Acks yet in a trance state. Sometimes a Zaboom monkey may run out to kill one while in this vulnerable state. We kill the monkey, then eat it. They are tasty little things. The entranced Ack may have mistaken that for us killing an Ack. These are all myths brought on by the fear of the unknown and the stories Ack men tell.”

  Brendan said, “Yep, this can happen. Many of my tales have gotten enhanced while we sit back and drink our Shelltea.”

  “You are a beautiful dragon, Jennifer,” Seamus remarked.

  “Yes, this is why I have been chosen to be your guardian. I wear the Z on my chest for Zierns. It is an old debt that we owe to the Acks. Now do you understand why we do the things we do?”

  “Yes," said Mij.

  “Thanks again for saving our lives,” said Brendan and Mij.

  “Now," said Jennifer, "we must return to the chasms to attend to our wounded, but before we go, here is a horn. Blow it any time, and I will be at your side in minutes.”

  Seamus accepted the horn in two hands and watched as the Chise flew away over the hills from where they had come. He then studied the horn. It was made of gold in the shape of a dragon’s head and had diamonds for eyes. The mouthpiece where one would blow on it was of jade. “This would be worth a fortune in my land,” he said as he hung it on the belt at his side.

  Brendan laughed. “Any land. Yes, any land."

  With the Zaboom monkeys defeated and the Chise gone, Seamus, Mij and Brendan set up camp far away from the forest. They took turns staying awake to watch for Zaboom monkeys, not knowing if they would return to finish what they had started.

  Zaboom Forest

  The Training of Seamus

  Seamus, Mij and Brendan set out the next morning pressing forward into the unexplored Zaboom Forest.

  As they moved more deeply into the dark and quiet forest, Mij brought up a question. “With the closeness of the trees and the wide wing span of the Chise, how will they be able to fly down here to help us?”

  “Good point," Brendan said. "We must get moving before the Zaboom monkeys regroup. It is dark in here, and the sunlight barely gets through the trees. Night will fall on us fast.”

  “Seamus, it is a good time to teach you the ways of our people and our battle techniques with a sword and shield,” Mij stated.

  As they walked, Mij and Brendan showed Seamus some easy, yet effective, sword moves and reasoning behind each move and counter-move. He picked them up fast, and for two days they walked through the forest teaching Seamus. They walked during the day, and when they found a cave they set up defenses and stayed in it for the night, never letting their guard down. They heard monkeys following them in the distance. They became louder and more numerous sounding as the trio advanced more deeply into the forest.

  Mij told Brendan, “They will be attacking soon. They are waiting for more reinforcements from other packs of monkeys.”

  Just before dawn of the next day, Mij was on guard duty and slowly put his hand over Seamus's mouth and woke him. He did the same to Brendan.

  “It is almost light. I have been watching movement in the trees all night. We must get ready to fight. This is as good an area as any,” Mij said quietly.

  They placed spears in the ground around them in strategic areas in case they needed them. Mij took out a bottle of Shelltea and a rag soaked in it and set off into the forest, stuffing the rag into the bottle as he left.

  Brendan said, “He is going to set their explosives on fire so they don’t have as much to throw at us.”

  “Good thinking, but don’t you think they will see him?” asked Seamus

  “No, Mij has the way of the elders. He can walk without being heard or seen by anyone,” explained Brendan.

  In the distance, Seamus heard explosions and screams from the monkeys. A few minutes later, Mij appeared, running from the woods yelling,“They are right behind me. Prepare yourselves for Battle!"

  And they yelled out loudly, "For the life of the Zierns." Seamus blew his horn.

  "Za . . . Za . . . Boom." The explosions started, but they saw no monkeys yet. They just heard the bombs going off all around them.

  When they saw shadows fly overhead, they saw the Chise dropping boulders down on the monkeys from above the trees. Brendan hit them back to them like a baseball player, using his sword as a bat. Mij turned to Brendan and Seamus and said, “It was written of a great battle today. Do not fe
ar.”

  Seamus, who was now perspiring and becoming tired, said, “Did the book say anything else?”

  “Yes, you will die. Umm. Just kidding. You'll live to fight another day.”

  Then the monkeys came in swarms, screaming, swinging around knives about a foot long.

  “Wait for it!" Brendan screamed. "Wait . . . Wait. . . Now!“

  Mij lit up a puddle of Shelltea that he had poured into a trench before he left. The monkeys screamed and ran in flames into the forest. As the flames burned off on the ground, more monkeys came at them. Brendan swung his sword so fast he dropped ten at one swing. Mij used his bow and dropped them as fast as Brendan. Seamus used the spear, stabbing and swinging as hard as he could until it broke. He then picked up his sword and shield and fought on.

  They lost sight of each other as the battle raged on and the monkeys piled up around them.. The Chise dropped boulders and then started shooting fire out of their mouths. This made all the bombs the monkeys carried explode. Such carnage.

  As they retreated toward the base of the cliff where the cave was, they could once again see each other. Mij and Brendan were covered in blood while still using spears, rocks, shields and swords to keep themselves from being slaughtered.

  “It is a good day to die!” Brendan shouted.

  “Not if I can help it,” Mij yelled.

  Just then a monkey came from behind Mij and sank his knife into his side between the armor. Seamus ran and cut down the monkey, shielding Mij from the others.

  When all seemed lost, a rainbow of lights flew through the pack of monkeys, who dropped as the light touched them. Soon the only ones still standing were Brendan and Seamus. They looked at each other, perplexed, and said, “What was that?”

  “It was the fairies," came Jennifer's voice from above. "They, too, have a stake in this quest. We will go now to the villages of the Zaboom monkeys and bomb and burn some more to keep them from coming back.”

  “Thanks!” the heroes cheered in relief. Then they fell to the ground in exhaustion.

  Later, Brendan awoke from a sleep and jumped up swinging his sword. He looked around for Seamus and Mij. He found Mij next to Seamus, who pulled his shield over them.

  “No!” screamed Brendan .

  Then Seamus jumped up screaming “What!” In his confusion, he swung his sword at Brendan, which Brendan blocked with ease. Once Seamus woke up enough to recognize Brendan, they both turned to Mij.

  Seamus picked Mij up and carried him to the cave.

  “He’s still alive.”

  No words could have sounded better. Brendan then stood guard outside the cave a little bit down the hill.

  Healing of Mij Begins

  Now relieved, Seamus started to clean up Mij’s wounds with a bottle of Shelltea and some clean rags. He then poured a little on Mij's lips for him to drink.

  “That’s good Shelltea Brendan makes,” Mij said in a weak voice.

  Brendan overheard them and ran up, grabbed the bottle from Seamus and shouted happily, ”Save some for the celebration when we find the sword.”

  Mij struggled to speak “We will not have time . . . for celebrating . . . come that day . . . for it has been written . . . that when the Sword of Zierns is grasped in Seamus’ hand . . . all the Land of Ack will fall into darkness. The walls of Isnack will have been . . . sealed permanently . . . until the coming of the Zierns. El Ehcim will have fallen. The fairies will be fighting for their lives. Brendan . . . unless a miracle happens . . . we are on a suicide quest.” After the exertion of talking so much, Mij collapsed again into a deep sleep.

  “He still alive?' Brendan asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Did he just say a suicide quest? I have been in many battles with Mij, and not one time did he feel this way. We will make it home. I feel it. I know it,” Brendan stated boldly.

  They dressed their own small cuts and bruises. Seamus took the first watch. The next few days they remained in the cave while Mij recovered.

  Staying always on their guard, they observed the Chise flying above them circling, watching constantly. Brendan and Seamus practiced with the swords, the ax and shield. Brendan showed him his techniques of fighting, which he called Brudie Fu, named after Brudie the Bold's great grandfather who perfected this fighting style.

  “This is a lot like Kung Fu," Seamus told Brendan. "We have this in our land, too.”

  Mij looked on from the mouth of the cave, smiling as they practiced.

  “You are a natural!” yelled Mij to Seamus. On the third day, Brendan and Seamus woke to a wonderful smell. Mij was up and had made them all breakfast.

  “We must move today,” stated Mij.

  After breakfast, they packed up and moved out. As they climbed the now steep hills, the trees thinned out and were smaller in size.

  “We are leaving the forest and now heading into the Mazzel Mountains,” Mij explained. Just as the words left his lips, a giant snake slithered from behind a boulder.

  “It’s an Adder!” Mij screamed.

  Brendan got hit by its tail and was thrown about twenty feet against a large boulder. He was knocked out cold.

  Mij was too weak to fight. He gasped, “It is up to you Seamus. Destroy the snake.”

  It took a strike at Seamus, but he blocked the giant serpent with his shield. He dove for the spear that Brendan had dropped. As the snaked rose up twenty feet in the air ready to strike, Seamus squatted down. He then took his spear and jammed the end into the ground with the spear head pointing straight at the snake's mouth. The Adder came down engulfing Seamus, the fangs just missing him. The spear plunged into the roof of the snake's mouth, killing it instantly. All Mij could see was a snake with its mouth open stuck to the ground by its fangs.

  He came out from behind a boulder, walked over to the snake, and whispered, “Seamus are you in there?”

  A voice bellowed from beneath the snake, “Yes!Now help me out of here.”

  Brendan was now slowly awakening and stumbled toward Mij and the Adder.

  “What has happened?” he questioned.

  “Among us we have an Adder Slayer, that’s what happened. Now help me lift this snake's head off of Seamus,” Mij said.

  “So this is an Adder?" Seamus murmured as he shook off the slime and blood from his clothes. "Not so tough, huh?”

  “Many Acks have been killed by this snake. We should be rejoicing that we live to tell the tale of Seamus the Adder-slayer,” Mij said.

  Brendan walked up to the Adder and said, “Looks like dinner to me.” He then began cutting it up for food. Mij grabbed his knife and pulled at the fangs.

  “The poison in these fangs and the poison glands will come in handy later on our trip," Mij explained, " . . . if I can just get them free." Frustrated, he finally gave up. "We can get them later.”

  Brendan found a small cave nearby and set up a tarp to cover the entrance. He built a small fire inside and strung the meat up between a few spears to smoke it for the trip. It came in handy that they had been attacked by this adder. Now they now had more food for the rest of the trip over the mountains.

  “I think Seamus is getting sick of berries, nuts and roots,” Brendan said. He and Mij laughed.

  They all helped to set up camp. Mij cooked some of his famous snake stew. It had roots, wild cabbage and lots of spices. They ate very well that night.

  While they drank some Shelltea, they toasted Seamus, the Adder Slayer. Mij took the first watch as the others fell into a well-deserved deep sleep.

  Halfway through the night, Seamus relieved Mij from his watch. They both sat on top of a big rock and looked out over the Land of Ack.

  “I was almost killed three times already, but I can't imagine what Thomas may be going through. This land can hit me with all that it's got, but I will find my son.” Seamus turned his head so Mij could not see the tears in his eyes.

  Mij patted him on his back and said, “It is written that when a loved one is lost, look up at the crystal stars and
imagine them being one, always shedding light on your darkest nights, leading you on your way home.

  Brudie The Bold

  They awoke the next morning to a cold and windy day. They ate the last of the adder stew and packed up to move on. Having to climb up the mountains into the higher ranges, they had to dress more warmly. The snow was beginning to fall. Seamus thought, "How odd this land is. It even has snow."

  The heroes first had to make their way through a small crevasse in the mountain. They wound their way through it and saw the opening at the end. “What is that?” asked Seamus.

  At the end of the crevasse stood a man two times the width of Seamus and a foot taller. He carried a shield and a large battle ax, with a long sword across his back. He wore full armor and had a blond beard that came half way down his chest. His eyes were a bright and very light blue, almost white.

  He spoke in a deep baritone. “Who dares to trespass on the Mountains of Mazzel?”

  Brendan stepped forward, sword drawn, ready to deal with this giant.

  Mij stepped forward, pushed Brendan's sword down and bumped him out of the way. Looking up at the large man, he said, "And you, sir, must be Brudie the Bold, the strongest Ack that has ever lived and will ever live.”

  “Yes," the giant said, "I am he.”

  “Think back ten years ago. You met me in a small pub and I told you that a time would come when your skills would be needed. And that time, is now,” Mij asserted boldly.

  “Yes!" roared Brudie. "I knew it! I saw the fires in the distance and heard the sound of explosions, and I just knew it. I have been training all my life for this time of glory. So are you the Sword Keeper,” he said, looking at Brendan.

  “No,” denied Brendan as he pointed toward Seamus

  “You don’t look like a Sword keeper. A little small, don’t you think, Mij?” Brudie said.