One more snap of the prince’s fingers and the sky above them filled with clouds. Lightning sparked in his eyes. The man’s flames were extinguished and in a silent awe-filled whisper he asked, “Who are you?”
Aelir did not answer, and with a mere wave of his hand summoned a bolt powerful beyond any nature could conjure. It struck the man burning him alive. “I am no lording, my name is Aeli-,” he attempted to say it, but his words were interrupted by a cry. The scream echoed in his head, it was terrible, worse than any other. Was someone else dying?
He looked behind his back and saw the woman from before, Dari’s mother, running towards them.
Without as much as a look, she passed him and knelt by his feet. Only then, Aelir came to realize Dari was gone, dead on the ground, right beside his feet. His expensive, beautiful shoes were right in the pool of the boy’s blood.
The sky cleared as Aelir’s arms dropped down beside his body. Unable to leave, he listened to the woman’s cries, to her begging some strange unnatural power to bring her beloved son back from the dead.
Verdant Night
“It’s been three fucking hours since she left Rin,” whispered Oren in a sorrowful tone. Seeing the old merchant’s expression, he raised his voice, “It doesn’t take three hours to put water in buckets and get it back, be sensible.”
The old man sighed and looked at him with an amused look in his eyes. “Boy, life will teach you not to worry. She’ll be back soon enough.”
“I thought better of you,” Oren snapped. Not allowing Rin a rebuttal, with urgency in his steps, he walked off and headed to the campfire in the center where he saw two men sitting and talking, Nika was one of them, and the imperial commander was the other. With weight in his steps, he reached them.
Before he could let out anything more than a prolonged cry, the two scarred looked at him. “What do you want?” Nika asked bluntly.
“I must talk to you,” Oren replied. “It’s urgent.”
Nika eyed him a nodded. “Speak then.”
“Efri, the girl that traveled with Rin and me, she left to get water with two other men. It’s been three hours since, at least.”
“Was she accompanied by one of my men?” the imperial commander interjected. “The woods can be dangerous.”
Oren nodded. “One of them went with them.” The roaring fire’s warmth reached him just then. If only he could share it with her. “We must search for them. They could be in danger!” he pleaded.
Nika shrugged. “Nothing could have happened. From my experience, the area is quite safe, just fairy tales, no more.” He laughed. “Maybe she is enjoying their company more than you suspect.”
“Stop this nonsense!” a shout came from behind Oren. He turned to see Rin almost sprinting towards them. “I told you to leave it!”
“I’ll do no such thing!” Oren spat his words seeing the old man angry. “Efri could be dead, and you don’t even care.”
Nika laughed again, and Oren’s blood boiled, hearing the high pitched laughs of that stunted man. “Just tell him,” Nika uttered.
“Tell me what?” Oren looked to Rin, whose expression fell while retaining the smirking smile.
“I’m sorry, Oren,” Rin spoke with newly found pretended softness, “I’m the last to want to break your heart like this, but you seem to want to know. Efri, before they went off, admitted why she went with them. She fancied Iri, I believe, and to have some privacy, they set out for the lake. Maybe the soldier joined in too.”
Hearing those words spoke so plainly, Oren wanted to run a blade through Rin’s neck. Not just for what he suggested that happened, but for lying so blatantly. Oren was sure of it; after all, Efri didn’t speak with him before alone before they left. “Liar,” he whispered under his breath.
“What did you say?” snapped Rin shouting loudly. He made a step forward to tower over Oren even further.
“You are a liar,” he repeated out loud. “I know not why you do this, but Efri is not like that.” He turned to the commander. “Please, I beg you, help me. They are lying, Efri is not that kind of a woman. She’d never do this.”
The commander shrugged. “How do you know this girl?” He stood up, his golden armor clanking. “Were you two close?”
“I’ve known her since Beria fell,” Oren said, his voice jumping up a tone. “She’s like family.”
With a tired sigh, the commander looked at Rin and Nika. “Take it neither of you knew her for longer?” His question was met with two shaking heads. He turned back to Oren and said, “I will send out a search party this instant. Trust me, nothing will happen to your friend.”
“Commander,” Nika almost shouted his protests, to the grizzly old man’s dismay. “She’s a girl of teen years. Even then, one of your soldiers accompanied her.”
“You are quite right. Very well, I will give them ‘till daybreak,” he said. “If by then they are not back, this delay will last for far longer.” Hearing his decision Oren threw his arms in the air. There was no point in arguing. With a look of disgust, he turned their backs on them. “I’m leaving!” he shouted. “If you won’t, then I’ll search for her.”
Behind him, he could hear Nika’s high-pitched screams and Rin’s cursing. Now he wished only pain and suffering for those terrible lying men.
Determined to set out into the darkness save his almost life-long friend Oren made a single stop. Hatred brew within him for the two men. It made his stomach turn to remember that he thought of Rin as a friend.
After making his way around the sleeping camp, he climbed onto Rin’s carriage, and from one of the crates, he pulled his trusty old sword. Feeling the cold handle, knowing he may have to use it soon made him queasy. Yet then he heard the sound of footsteps. Quickly he hid behind one of the large crates stored there.
The sound stopped, but soon another was heard from the opposite direction. “Where is he?” a voice asked. There was no question; it belonged to Rin.
“Ran off,” answered no other than Nika himself. “You were to keep an eye on him.”
Rin growled and argued, “Your men were supposed to take both of them, not just the girl!”
As Nika was about to continue the increasingly loud argument, a third person came to them, their steps calm and composed.
Both men both fell silent. “Unacceptable.” The voice belonged to a woman, one Oren’s not heard before. “Leave the boy. If he runs into them all the better.”
“Understood!” Rin and Nika said almost in unison, like trained soldiers.
The woman sighed. “Go back and make sure the imp doesn’t send out a party. Delay him as long as possible.” As they were both about to leave, the woman asked Rin to stay.
“Yes my lady?” he asked in a tone so unlike him.
“Is it safe?”
Rin chuckled. “Of course. I made sure of that before this theatre began.”
She praised him and send him away, ordering him like a common footsoldier.
He rushed off without question, Oren was almost certain he saluted before then. The woman lingered near the carriage. She coughed and whispered, in a far higher and more relaxed tone of voice, “Morons. Bloody morons.” Then she left. Oren tried to hear where but he wasn’t able to say for certain.
When she was gone Oren’s attention returned to the sword resting in his hand. Still, one more blade remained in the crate, Efri’s own. He remembered as if it were yesterday. They both made a heavy sack of coins in the second week of their little business venture. So many people came and asked them to transcribe letters.
Together they went bought the swords at a shop just near theirs. Yet now a doubt lingered on Oren’s mind whether Efri would have any need for it; after all, she could be gone for good. So, just to put his mind at ease, he grabbed her sword also. It was far cleaner, just like all of her things were; she was all into cleanliness.
He made a step forward, the two swords in hand. Then a plank of wood came loose, and his foot was lodged in the bottom of the c
arriage. He tried to wrestle it out as quietly as imaginable, but then he noticed something - a small wooden box.
Without much deliberation, he grabbed the box and fixed the loose plank. Before stashing it in his raggedy old vest, he looked at it up close. Symbols like he’s never seen before decorated the lid, painted in beautiful forest green. While he wondered just what was inside, he resisted the urge and hid it safely in one of his vest’s many pockets.
Footsteps reached his ears once again just before he was about to jump out. This time he was too slow to hide. Expecting either Rin or Nika, he prepared for the worst, letting go of Efri’s sword and grabbing the hilt of his own. But then, a smiling rascally face popped in. “Riki!” he almost shouted. “What are you doing here?” he said in a silent whisper.
“I saw you sneaking around and wanted to know what you’re up to,” Riki replied with a gleeful smile. “For someone who is Rin’s friend, you try far too much not to be seen. Can’t say you were successful.”
Oren wanted to argue, but it wasn’t the time nor the place. Swiftly he attached his sword to his waist and rushed out of the carriage, grabbing Riki’s hand and dragging further away from the cart.
When they reached the taller grass, further away from the camp, Oren allowed Riki to speak.
“What are you doing?” she shouted in a whisper. “And what’s with the swords? Are we going into battle with imperials or something?” She giggled.
With a troubled sigh, he replied, “I’ve no time to explain. Go back to the camp and say not a word of me.” His voice’s tone was firm, Riki was younger than he and not someone he wished to accompany him.
“No way, you gotta tell me,” Riki argued, her voice growing louder. “I’ve not seen Efri since we got here, and you’ve been skulking around for hours.”
“Then do not be so overly concerned with me. Play with the horses or something.” Oren snapped back at her. “Anyway, why don’t you mind your own business?”
Riki grinned. “First, I don’t want to play with the horses. I’m not six. Also, there’s no reason to watch you, everyone my side of the camp noticed that something was wrong with you. They’re still chattering about it. Now tell me what happened?”
Defeated, Oren told her of Efri going to get water with the two men - Iri and Maki, and how she’s not returned since. He made sure to Rin’s betrayal, Nika’s lies, but omitted the strange woman who scolded them just a moment earlier.
Playing with a stem of grass, that she pulled from the ground, Riki listened to Oren not once interrupting him.
“In the end, none of this matters at all,” he said, finishing. “Efri’s missing, and I am going to find her,” he explained. “Now go back, go to your family they must be worried sick about you.”
“If Efri’s gone, I want to help too!” she proclaimed proudly, puffing her chest. “So give me that sword,” she said and grabbed Efri’s blade from him. “Let’s go!”
While Riki rushed forth into the darkness, Oren stayed crouched in the grass. Only when she realized as much she yielded and returned. “What’s wrong?”
“I may not return before the caravan leaves. I may never return,” he said with a newfound stoicism. Hearing his fears out loud has helped him feel more at ease. He knew not what awaited him but whatever the case he was putting his life at risk. “Efri is like a sister to me. I must do this alone,” he attempted to argue further. “Please return to your family.”
Riki turned her head away from him and looked at the caravan. “I don’t want to,” she said, her smile fading away. “I was told what’s ought to happen when we reach Istra. I’m to serve a lesser lord.” She shook her head. “I refuse to be an insignificant little worm under someone else’s command.”
Their eyes met. “This isn’t the way to achieve that. Risking your life for nothing will get you no glory.”
“It’s not glory I want,” she looked at him, confused, “It’s life. At least a little slice of it! I want to go and see the world on my own terms. I’ve not felt anything but spite for a long time. I wanted to,” she paused and took a deep breath, “escape. I want freedom.” Her voice fell and a couple of tears came running down her cheeks. “Take me with you, or I’ll scream and alert them.”
Oren looked at Riki. Was it even her anymore? He has not known her for longer than a couple of weeks, but since they first not once, he saw her as anything but a defenseless little girl, but she was a woman, a strong woman. He decided to ignore her threat, pretended it’s no happened, and together they walked into the darkness.
Through the tall grass, through the mud, under the moon’s light, they followed the tracks of Maki and Iri’s cart. The camp, far behind their backs, seemed calm and quiet. Nobody noticed she was also gone, or if they did little, it was of no concern.
Finally, when they were far enough and could stand upright without being seen, Oren looked to Riki, who playfully skipped beside him. “Ever used a sword?” he asked.
“Of course I did,” she replied, a smile coming across her soft, childlike face. “I bet I’m a better fighter than you are.”
Oren chuckled and said, “Fat chance of that!” Riki laughed too. Their laugh ended with a worrisome sigh. He looked at Riki, and for a beautiful moment when the moon’s blue light was just right, the whole world slowed down. “Why run away now? Do not tell me there was naught chance before.”
“There were far too many,” she said, her smile turning sour. “Of confidence, there was a lack.” Not slowing down she looked to the moon. “Have you not ever wondered how Sesteria looks? The city, I mean.”
“Can’t say I did,” Oren replied truthfully, his mind not often wandered to the Empire’s capital.
Riki let our a breath of air, and a puff of smoke appeared before her mouth. “They say its towers can be seen from miles away and during a sunny day they shine as bright as the sun. I’ve heard a merchant say that the palace is like a city of its own. The courtyards of gold and red, the soldiers protecting the innocent.”
“Protecting the innocent,” he scuffed and stopped dead in his tracks. “Do not think they care for the innocent. I saw them, those heroes of the people slitting throats of children. They are a rotten disease.”
“You were there?” Riki asked surprise. “I didn’t know.”
Oren nodded. “I lived in an orphanage, not far from Efri’s parent’s house. We heard the news - our military was defeated, and Vikar Ka Ner was on his way to the city. Gates were opened for him by the Alifreis, those damn traitors, and those with a brain ran as fast as they could.
“As he and his legions walked into the city. It was a slaughter. No one was safe, not even the rich. If you ask me a soldier that accepts a command to murder an innocent child deserves a fate greater than the pain he inflicted.” As he finished speaking, he saw Riki avert her gaze and look to the ground, to her feet.
The joyous skipping stopped, and silence ensued. She looked sad, bothered by what Oren just said. In a way, she was still a child, after all.
Not for long, the silence lasted as a whisper as thin as the wind reached his ear.
“Anything the matter?” asked Riki quietly with a worried look.
“No,” replied Oren refusing to listen to the whisper’s call. Yet when he decided to continue, he found himself unable to move his legs. His hands were shaking so cold the highest peak of Beria was warmer.
The voice came again, but this time it was more of an echoing scream than a gentle whisper.
“Over there!” shouted Riki and pointed towards the camp. “Riders.”
Oren wanted to scream, to run, and escape, but a different urge grew. The wooden box, the one he did not open. Grabbing, it was almost pleasant. Riki wasn’t even able to ask him what the box was before he pulled on the little lever, and it opened.
From within came a blinding green light. Riki fell to the ground under the weight of its power, but Oren stood taking it all in. The source was a bright verdant gem. His eyes burned, but little he cared, and
as the light washed over him, the voice speaking in a tongue Oren never heard before.
Moments later, the light began to dim and concentrate within the gem. “You can look now,” he said as the light was all but gone.
Riki shouted her question. “By the merciful gods, where did you get that from?”
Oren did not reply. He touched the small green gem, and through him, he felt a most foreign of sensations run wild. “Magic,” he whispered in bliss. “Old magic.”
“We have to run,” Riki urged him. “They’re close.”
So they hasten their pace, the lake not far before them. Yet as they were almost there Oren’s legs began to falter, and he fell to the ground, weak and tired.
“Oren!”
“Go,” he whispered. “Find Efri.” Feeling his muscles stretching beyond their upmost limits, he screamed out in pain.
“I’m not letting you die! You daft moron,” she said and drew Efri’s sword. “If they come, I’ll have Nika’s head,” she said with an amused chuckle.
Oren’s mind was hazy, and his grasp on reality was crumbling, and all he heard was that voice.
But then, in the back of it, there was a different sound, one he was not meant to hear - the galloping of horses. They were there. He jumped up, the voice leaving his head and before stopped three riders, Norick, and two others, all men large with strong muscles.
“What does Nika want with a gem of imperial magic?” bluntly asked Oren.
“You pretend to know of what you speak,” said Norick. “Yet you are a foolish child. Give me the box.”
Oren refused, he’d not listen to another word from their mouth.
“It saddens me to have I shall have to take it from your cold hands then,” said Norick, and the riders dismounted their horses. Oren drew his sword, and so did they.
Only barely was quick enough to parry Norick’s surprise attack. The man was strong, and his strikes were precise. Parry after a parry, the swords played a deadly tune. Sweat ran down Norick’s old face, but not once he would relent or command the two others to help him; on the contrary, he ordered them to stay back.
Tear of Light Page 3