by Ray Torrens
Then her arms were tight around his waist, and he was holding her back. He buried his head in her hair and breathed deeply. There was still chaos around them. People tended to her father, mourned the two that had died in the fight, and the village that had been destroyed.
For at least a moment, though, Mack was completely calm with Kaarina in his arms.
It had to be over quickly though. They still had things to do.
“Wait,” Kaarina said when they’d pulled away from each other. “Where’s Vekku?”
They took a quick look around the village, but he couldn’t see the gruk. “He must have run off in the fighting,” Mack said. “I can see why. I wasn’t too optimistic about our chances either, if I’m being honest. You really made me realize that I needed to step up and be a hero.”
She smiled at that, but then sighed. “I hope he wasn’t hurt. He must be so scared.” Even with all that had happened, she still had the heart to worry about a helpless little creature’s safety.
“Yeah, me too.” He rubbed the small of her back.
Then her father stirred, and she was immediately on her knees by his side again, clutching his hand as his eyes flickered open. “Dad?”
“Kaarina.”
“You’re okay!”
They shared a hug, and Raita held her with surprising strength considering what he’d just been through. “Of course, I’m okay. I have a powerful daughter to look after me.”
She gave him a watery smile.
“I’m glad you’re getting to live your dream,” he said, squeezing her hand. “This isn’t a world that I can keep you sheltered from anymore. I hope you stay safe, and I hope you make a difference here.”
She threw her arms around him in another tight hug.
Mack was starting to get antsy. Now he had time to think, things weren’t completely adding up. Why had the lord left his beast there with just a few soldiers, who had abandoned the creature as it was dying instead of helping it? Where were the bandits they’d been expecting?
“I think we need to get back to the temple,” he said to Kaarina. “And pretty quickly. Things aren’t right.”
“You think the villagers are still in danger?” she asked.
“No, but I think there’s something else going on. Where are the bandits? They should have been here. This feels like a distraction.”
She clambered to her feet. “A distraction for what?”
“I have no idea. But I want to find out. Are you okay to leave?”
“Of course, I am. I’ll go wherever you need me to.”
“Then we should get out of here.” He wanted to stay and help the villagers to salvage what they could of Avalu, but he’d learned that trusting his instincts was a good idea since being on Hauta, and his instincts were screaming at him right now.
Raita was on his feet too, though he needed to lean on a fellow villager for support. He stared Mack down and then bowed his head slightly. “I know you’ll look after my daughter, and hopefully the planet,” he said. “And I apologize for acting out of line.”
Mack wasn’t sure what to say for a moment, but eventually lowered his head in the same respectful gesture and resisted the urge to stick his hand out to be shook. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe,” he promised, and meant it. “The planet too.”
“We should go,” she urged, tugging on his hand.
They all said their goodbyes once more, and then they were on their way again, moving at a jog on the path back to the temple. With all their injuries healed, they made better time than when they’d been coming.
Mack frowned when they reached the edge of the abandoned village. “I should be able to see it,” he said, knowing in the back of his mind what had happened but unable to accept it just yet. “I should be able to see it right there.”
Kaarina took his hand and held it tightly. “Oh, Mack…”
“No.” He carried on, picking up speed until he was almost sprinting. He didn’t care about running into bandits, but ran straight along the main path all the way up to where the temple should have been.
When he got close enough he could see the rubble. This wasn’t like the village—it was obvious that the destruction had just happened. The collapsed stone was still covered in dust from having collapsed. There was still fresh pain and interior elements jutting out, mixed with the crushed external parts.
He clambered over the destroyed wall and looked around, but couldn’t see a living soul in the surrounding village.
“The Lord did it,” Kaarina stated the obvious. “He came here with his tech and destroyed the temple.”
“Jakke,” Mack said, clambering over the rubble to find what had been the main room of the temple where Jakke had normally materialized. “Jakke you can’t have gone.”
A flickering hologram, barely visible, appeared before him. “My power is limited. Listen to me carefully. You can’t be the protector of a temple that no longer exists, but you are Eniten. You can still cleanse this land and return it to the balanced planet it should be. Travel to other temples and learn their skills. If they have been destroyed already as I suspect might have happened in past years, you must find the surviving protectors and ask them to help you learn. You must cultivate heroism. Become powerful, restore the balance. I know you will make me proud”
The hologram had already been violently flicking, and it had disappeared completely even before Jakke’s voice stopped.
Mack spent the next half an hour searching through everything to find some way of bringing him back. He found the backpack he’d left mostly undamaged. Kaarina helped, but she had obviously already realized that it was over.
When she tried to explain to him that it had obviously been a goodbye message, he snapped at her that it couldn’t be goodbye. There was still too much that he had to learn from Jakke. He had accepted this mission to become a protector and restore balance to Hauta but that was so vague. Jakke was the only one who really understood what that meant. He was supposed to guide Mack through the process.
And now he was gone.
And it was all Mack’s fault.
He’d been the one who insisted on fighting bandits and saving villages instead of bolstering the strength of the temple and now it was all gone. The village had been destroyed anyway, and he’d gotten people killed there because they fought the sonni. And while he’d been there, the Lord had come and destroyed the one thing that would have been able to guide him through his quest.
Jakke was the whole reason he was there in the first place. He’d searched the galaxy for decades, and within three days of Mack being on Hauta, the temple and its founding protector had been destroyed.
Tears stung in his eyes as the burden of what he was responsible for hit him full strength.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
Kaarina’s head snapped up from where she was combing through rubble. “What?” she snapped.
He was taken aback by the irritation in her voice. “This is all my fault.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“How can you say—”
“This is the Lord’s fault. It’s all the Lord’s fault. It’s always the Lord’s fault. He played us all. You’re new. You can’t have been expected to understand that all this would happen. I’ve been living under his thumb my entire life and I didn’t expect it either. Even our village elders didn’t see this coming.”
“But I’m supposed to be better than that. This is what I was born to do, you heard everything he said. And I failed at my one task, keeping my mentor alive so that he could teach me how to accomplish all these other tasks that he had in mind for me.”
Kaarina grasped his hands in hers and ran her thumbs over his knuckles. “He just told you how to accomplish all these other tasks he had in mind for you. You go to the next temple and learn from a new master.”
“And what happens when I get that temple destroyed too?”
“Stop feeling so sorry for yourself.”
Mac
k recoiled from her, but she held him firm.
“I mean it,” she scolded. “You couldn’t have known this was going to happen, and it isn’t your fault. People here are bastards. They’ll always get the upper hand at some point. What matters is that you fight back. You’re the underdog, even if you’re this chosen one. These guys have been ruling Hauta for decades now and you’ve only just gotten started. And you’re one man. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself.”
Mack opened his mouth and Kaarina squeezed his hands again.
“Yeah,” he admitted finally. “You’re right. It’s just… I thought I’d have more time with him. He was supposed to be the one who guided me through this whole thing. I feel like I’ve been left high and dry and I’m worried.”
“Well I have every faith in you.” She kissed each cheek.
He grinned at her. “And that’s all the reassurance I need.”
Chapter Sixteen
They ended up back in the village so that they could do their best to help pick up the pieces and figure out what they were going to do next.
Mack knew he should have been helping with the rubble, but he instead spent a little while examining the map that Jakke had given him in an attempt to figure out where he should be heading next. The locations of other protector temples were marked on the map in various neighboring regions, but there was no indication as to which one would be best to venture toward. Besides that, it was likely they had been destroyed long ago.
The protector orders seemingly had fallen and as far as everyone here was concerned, there were none left, but Jakke had said there were still masters out there somewhere who would be able to teach him. He doubted they were curled up in the temples waiting for the same thing that had just happened to happen to them. They would be in hiding somewhere.
Kaarina rested a hand on his shoulder. “You look vexed.”
“I just wish I could carry on with my training. Jakke would have been able to tell me exactly where to go.”
“There are plenty of people around here who have things they could teach you,” one of the warriors from the village, Eelis, said. “If it’s training that you’re after—not that you look like you need it when you fight—then I’m sure someone can help you.”
“I don’t know if it’ll be the right kind of training,” Mack admitted. “I’m looking for something more special.”
“I don’t know what you’re all about, but I know you have something to do with the temple if you’re hauling that map about. Maybe you can get something out of Jari, the crazy old bastard. He’s always said that he can train someone who has the right stuff, but whenever any of us have gone to see him, we haven’t got anywhere with him. He’s a hermit whose lost his mind if you ask me, but worth a shot, maybe.” Eelis shrugged his shoulder and then went to continue helping with the salvaging of items from burned out houses.
“It’s worth a try,” Mack said. “I should be as powerful as possible if I’m going to take down the Lord.”
“You want to do what? Mack, bandits and even a sonni are one thing—but taking on a Lord will open up a whole world of danger.”
“That danger is already coming to find us,” Mack insisted. “I thought you of all people would be with me on this. I’m going to find that hermit and see if he can teach me something special to use against this fucking Lord. You stay here and help your people.”
She scowled at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. I’m not.”
“We’re not splitting up again.”
“It’s not about splitting up, it just makes sense. We can each do what we’re needed for. I’m only going to talk to the guy and see if I can train with him.”
“I’ve already lost Vekku.” Her voice cracked a little, and he realized how upset she was about the gruk disappearing. “I’m not going to lose you too. Just let me come with you.”
“Kaarina, I’m just going to take a trip to try and improve my martial powers. I’ll take rations and my tent. What could I possibly encounter on the road that would best a sonni?”
Her father shouted at her to come and help him look through the rubble of their house and blacksmithing shop now the fires had been dowsed, and she dithered. “Fine,” she said, glaring at him. “If you’re going to start dishing out orders like that—fine. But whatever is going on with you and your isolation thing, I hope you get over it fast. I’m not going to keep waiting around for you to come back from whatever you’re doing. We’re a team.”
She stalked off and left Mack staring after her. He wasn’t expecting her to let him go so easily. Maybe he should take charge like that more often with her.
He didn’t wait long before going to find Eelis and getting directions for the old hermit he was searching after.
Journeying to the hermit’s hut took longer than expected, but the trip was uneventful, even boring. The hardest thing about it was wishing that he had Kaarina by his side at night. That first night he’d spent with her in her bedroom had been the one and only time they’d had the chance to be intimate together since all this began. He was starting to get the itch in a big way. Walking was just too boring to distract him, and he also found himself wishing that he had something more exciting to do, like fighting monsters.
Two days later, he finally came to the place on the map where Eelis the villager had said the hermit named Jari lived. It was a small shed-like building made of wood and built into the side of a cliff face. It looked more like a cave with a door on the front than a real house. Actually, the place seemed just right for a hermit.
Mack curled his hand into a fist and then knocked on the wooden door. He couldn’t hear anything from inside. He waited … and waited, then knocked again.
“What?” someone shouted almost thirty seconds later as Mack was about to give up and try the door without having been answered. But now the door opened and there stood a short man in such a large cloak that it enshrouded all shape from his body. This guy was a protector? Unlikely.
“Uh, hi. I’m Mack. I was hoping I could learn from you.”
The short man seemed to grow an extra foot as he stood up with sudden intrigue painted all over his face. “Learn from me, hey?”
“I heard from people in Avalu that you have things to teach people, if they have the right stuff. I think … maybe I have the right stuff?”
Jari looked Mack up and down with an increasingly curled lip. Then, he broke into a grin. “Hmm. It’s hard to tell at a glance. However, it gets boring out here. Come in and give it a go then.”
Mack hesitated before striding into the cave. It was bare inside, just a small cot in the corner and a table and chair. The table had on it a wooden cup with liquid inside, and a wooden plate covered in barbecued meat. A small fireplace smoldered with a dented and scraped griddle raised over it on top of four stones. “So, you want to learn from me?” he asked, taking a seat on the chair and looking up. “And what is it that you think you can learn from me?”
“I have no idea.”
“So, you have no idea who I am?”
“I was hoping that you were, well, a protector.”
Jari’s interest piqued at that, the graying hairs of his eyebrows shooting up beneath his wrinkled forehead. “And who told you about protectors? Hmm, I suppose it might take one to know one, hey?”
“How did you know that—"
“Shh.” Jari waved his had in dismissal of the incomplete question. You’ll come to understand in time. Experience teaches you to see these things.”
“Why are you giving me the third degree if you can tell I’m a protector? And why did you say it was hard to tell at a glance when you clearly did just that?
Jari smiled widely and shook his head like he was thinking a hilarious joke to himself. “Young man, did you ever think that there might be a reason I live as a hermit?”
“Uh, is it because you’re an asshole? I mean, no disrespect intended … sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry when you are correct, m
y lad,” chuckled Jari as he stood up.
“Tell me, what order have you come from?”
“Wuxoha”
“Ahh, I used to be good friends with the man who founded that temple many years ago. Well, he was dead at the time, but I—”
“You were friends with the hologram of Jakke?” Mack felt himself grow excited, before the memory of the dying temple founder filled him with sadness. Uh, do you know about what happened to Jakke?”
“No, but perhaps you will sit down for a meal and something to drink while you fill me in on the details of just what you’re doing here.
Chapter Seventeen
After they ate and Mack had finished telling Jari everything that had happened since his arrival on Hauta, the old hermit sat back in his chair and let out a big sigh. “I am deeply sorry for the loss of your temple guardian, and so soon after the initiation of your training.”
“Thank you,” was all Mack could manage as a reply without letting himself become too emotional. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor by the table, on top of a rough cushion that had been provided for him.
“Rest assured, I intend to do what I can to help. Namely, teaching you what I know. Come with me.” Jari stood up and beckoned for Mack to follow.
He expected to be led back outside the cave, but instead Jari walked further into the cave and shoved a hefty stone out of the way to reveal a secret back tunnel. “We can’t practice outside. There is too much risk of me being seen by someone.” He lit a piece of cloth wrapped around a large piece of wood and carried it with him to light the way.
Instead they followed a path along the cave until they reached a large empty cavern with plenty of space for whatever it was that Jari wanted to show him. Jari lit some torches around the edge of the cavern and more of it was lit up. It was completely barren except a few rock formations hanging from the ceiling.
“Show me what you’ve learned so far,” he barked.
Mack did as he was told, the careful scrutiny of Jari putting him slightly on edge about his form and stance.