“What about Kalerum, the one who last summer supposedly stole the amulet from the council in Greymir?”
“Yes that was a terrible day and I see you still haven’t managed to find him. But he’s a fanatic, claims he is Redmond!” Andrei said sipping his wine and glancing at the others in the tent with interest.
“After Redmond died there were rumours that many years before he had a son to a whore in Kylos.”
“Rumours, born out of fear.” Aria said.
Delaius mused, “At first I thought the same, but with the increase in banshees beyond Nanantharim, I began to wonder.”
“Then he could in fact possess the amulets, yes, yes. But no-one knows where they are, they haven’t been seen since the death of the guardians. Even if this Kalerum were who you claim him to be, many treasure hunters have tried to find the two others and all have failed.” Andrei said matter-of-factly.
“He’s right” Aria agreed.
“He’s been ransacking villages all across Nanantharim, killing without mercy and torturing those of high standing in the name of Redmond. It was believed that Elysia hid the amulets on one of the other two worlds. This is widely thought. The banshees began seeping through into the other worlds a month after the amulet was taken from Greymir and their numbers have been increasing.” Delaius pressed.
“I understand what you’re saying but I’m not sure the council will put it down to Kalerum. However, maybe it’s not the amulets he searches for, might it not be that Kalerum wants to find the other guardian.”
“Meaning Jack?” Andrei intervened.
“Yes, he would have been around two years old when he was hidden, but it’s true, if he is the child then he will have the blood to use them.” Ruffalo said.
“Ruffalo may be right, it could be that Kalerum believes Jack has the amulet or he knows where it is. This may work to your advantage with the council; many times you’ve come to the council talking of the increase in Banshees in their world…” Aria interjected.
“Yes, and every time they have thrown it aside because of what happened with Elysia, I don’t need you to remind me of that Aria, what I need is for you to broaden your minds, something is happening and the council are too blind to see it. Perhaps I am wrong about Kalerum and he is just a madman but the truth remains that something big is happening and we are all blind to it, we need answers and we need them fast.”
“If Kalerum is Redmond’s son, and he already has an amulet, he needs to be stopped before he finds the others because if what we fear is true then you can be sure we’ll have a repeat of the rebellions. Now if Jack is who we think he is then he may be the only one able to stop Kalerum.”
“Even if the boy is Elysia’s child, you cannot put this kind of pressure on him Delaius” Aria said.
“I don’t intend to, regardless of who he is I will be taking him back tomorrow, he can carry on his old life but this is something that we need to know, and I don’t need to tell you that it must stay between us. If the boy is the bastard then at least we have a weapon if Kalerum carries the blood.” They all nodded at Delaius’ comments and he continued.
“It is too much of a coincidence that Jack turns up now. It is destiny; it is the work of the gods. Darkness is coming back and we need to be prepared for when it does.”
“You know you will have to tell the council about Jack and his friends being here; make up a story it doesn’t matter, but word will get out and questions will be asked.” Aria warned him.
“There have been many lost wanderers who have entered Nanantharim by accident before; perhaps it will not be an unusual thing to hear that these did?” Ruffalo said.
“Very well. We will do our best to support you on the council with whatever you bring forth about Kalerum. Whether he is the son of Redmond or not, he has to be found. Almost a year has passed since he stole that amulet from under the noses of the council and it is far too long a time for him to have gone unpunished.” Andrei said finishing his mug of wine and standing up.
“Thank you my friend. Enjoy the rest of your evening.” Delaius said as Andrei nodded his goodbyes and headed out.
Ruffalo, Delaius and Aria chatted for some time about other incidents which had involved Kalerum and the banshees and discussed their plans for approaching the council before Ruffalo got up and headed outside to smoke his pipe.
As Ruffalo walked outside Delaius’ glance fell on the unused mug and his face suddenly fell into a sadness which Aria saw immediately. She leaned over and placed a hand on his.
“There was nothing you could have done Delaius. You lost just as much as he did that day.”
“Did I? He was like a brother to me; I thought he just needed time but…”
“Delaius don’t do this to yourself, it is not fair. There was nothing you could have done. Now come on, we have more pressing matters to attend to and you’ve not brought Jack here for the sights.”
“Your right” he said slowly regaining control of his emotions. “How long do you need?”
“An hour will be fine.” She told him before he slowly got up smiled and nodded his farewell and headed off into the loud buzz of the festival outside, accompanied by Ruffalo who had decided to spend the rest of the night with Delaius sharing what little information they had heard about the man they were tasked to find, and so they walked through the crowds of people, conversing lightly, smiling every now and then as they passed familiar faces.
chapter twelve
Gredaqui Wine
Jack and the group had wandered around the tents and stalls, weaving through the crowds of people until they headed downhill towards four widely separated open tents with stages on. Each occupied a substantial area with large crowds gathered in front of the stages. Behind them, the slope carried on down to a beach bordering a lake.
Jack and the group walked down the hill to the growing sound of musicians on fiddles, drums and acoustic guitars, playing what sounded a lot like Celtic jigs and reels. The music was coming from the nearest tent. They had entered the music area and crowds were enjoying all different kinds of folk, country and harmonious music.
A group of children sat outside a wooden shop which had skinned rabbits, squirrels and other small animals, which Jack did not recognise, hanging from the ceiling. The smell of cooking meat filled their nostrils and they slowed as they passed to take it in.
Hobbins offered to buy them something to eat but Jack declined and so he waited whilst the others took Hobbins up on the offer. The truth was he’d lost his appetite and his scars were aching. He’d enjoyed it at the festival but Delaius had said he had taken them there to heal his scars but he’d disappeared when they arrived and he’d not seen him for hours. On top of this he couldn’t get the thought of the moment he and Lily had kissed. He knew she felt something and had told him she needed time but he couldn’t help himself, he wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to enjoy every moment of this crazy experience with her but ever since that kiss she’d been distant with him and he hated it.
While the four ate, Jack’s attention fell on a group of children who were deep in childish conversation at one of the tables outside the shop.
“I ‘eard that when they was first made they was one and that they was a key or somit, made as a lock to keep evil imprisoned is how mother says it. she said it ‘ad great power and that a great wizard made it after a piece of magic went wrong and instead of making what he was s’posed to, he made this creature of pure evil.”
“Yeh I ‘eard that, and that he couldn’t control it or defeat it, I can’t remember, but he put it in a prison and used that amulet to keep it there”
“Grandma Sim says it unlocks a plague.”
“No you’re both wrong” a girl insisted, sure of herself. And now Jack was intrigued and he listened closely to the children bickering.
“It was created by a god so it was.”
“No it wasn’t”
“Yeh too it was. It was created by a god who was good, but there was another go
d who was his twin brother and ‘e was evil and the good god wanted to bring life, but his brother only brought death. ‘E knew his brother was evil but being he was good see, e couldn’t kill him, but e couldn’t make life with him there and so e tricked him and locked him away for eternity in a prison.”
The other children were listening just as intently as Jack was now as the girl, now aware that she’d captured her audience, raised the tones of her voice to scare them with her story, all the while Jack listened admiring the little girl’s character.
“but that’s not all of it, see, then ‘e made it so that if any of the guardians fell the amulets could be passed on to their descendants, so long as they carried the same blood.”
“It was a test see, for us. So if someone unlocked the prison then the bad god would be free. God wouldn’t protect us after that ‘cos we’d of betrayed him so he’d let the bad god kill us” The girl was saying “and then…” she continued but at that moment Hobbins, along with the rest of the group returned, filling their mouths with burgers and bread and Jack’s attention was now on them.
Aaron however didn’t have a burger and although Jack was interested to hear the rest of the story he turned his attention to the two large steins that Aaron was carrying. He held one out to Jack who took it with intrigue in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Drink it”
Jack took a swig and immediately spat it out over the floor causing the crowd of people hurrying about to step out of the way, looking at him in disgust as they walked past.
Lily and Frankie were laughing.
“What the hell is that, it’s disgusting.”
“It’s what they class as wine apparently. You’ll get used to it though and the guy says one mugs enough to get you legless. So here’s to tonight” he smiled and banged Jacks stein with his own before taking a swig. Jack thought about it and drank some of his own, cringing with each sip.
“Save some for me” Lily smiled.
“Absolutely” Jack said as they walked off towards the nearest stage.
Crowds of happy people were standing in front of it or sitting on the grass and singing along with the band who were on the stage playing a number of different instruments; the fiddle, a piano, and drums grouped together at the back, and an accordion and an array of acoustic guitars across the front of the stage.
The band had just started playing and Jack couldn’t help but realise, there were no speakers, and none of the instruments were plugged in, yet as soon as they started the sound rang through the entire field so, no matter how far away you were, you could hear it, it was incredible. The music sounded like up tempo folk music and Aaron along with Jack, Lily and Frankie, all lit up with excitement and shock.
“Is this who I think it is?” Aaron said to Jack unable to keep himself from smiling.
“I think it is” Jack said just as happy.
“Mumford!” they both screamed and jumped up in excitement as the band started playing one of their hit songs, ‘I will wait’.
The band was famous in Britain but what they were doing in Nanantharim Jack had no idea. Hobbins seemed to like the band as well and was nodding his head to the music.
“These are one of my favourite acts. They just get it.” Hobbins said to them.
“How did you get them here?”
“Oh that’s easy, they don’t even get paid. They love it here and so they do it for free so they can come. They come back here every year.”
Jack, Lily, Aaron and Frankie looked at each other opened mouthed before shouting their excitement and jumping around to the music. It was the best Jack had felt since the moment with Lily in the woods near Delaius’ house.
They danced, jumped around and shared their drinks; which smelt like rotten fruit and tasted just as bad, but they were having so much fun they didn’t care.
As the gig went on, Aaron was drinking his drink a lot quicker than Jack and he was becoming drunk, singing and dancing to the music, screaming the words with passion and twizzling Frankie around as he sang it to her. She wasn’t at all happy with him but she was having fun and so she allowed him his moment.
When Lily saw that Hobbins was deep in conversation with someone in the crowd, she decided to make an escape and pulled Jack by the arm to follow her, he happily obliged.
“Come on” she said taking him out of the crowd and down a path which led towards the beach.
“Where are we going?” Jack asked happily.
“It’s too crowded there, I like space and it’s nice to just relax without that Hobbins breathing down our necks.”
“Yeh true, like a ninja my arse” Jack said.
Lily laughed “Ah he’s sweet though. Hey and we can still hear the music.”
They walked over the sandy beach until Lily decided to take her shoes off and paddle in the shallow water that broke in tiny wavelets on the sand.
“It’s beautiful.” she said as the cold water swept across her ankles. Jack joined her and they both looked out over the dark lake to see the sky beyond brightly lit by the stars. They looked at each other and smiled, and in that moment they felt truly happy.
Moments later Jack felt something slippery and long over his toes and foot, he shouted in horror and ran out of the water lifting his feet up high as he went, Lily followed unsure as to what caused it and she wanted to be on the safe side so she stepped out of the water.
“What’s wrong” she said as Jack span on the spot trying to shake something from him.
“Uh” he said coming to a stop and looking at her “there was…something on my foot”
Lily burst into laughter at Jack scared expression.
“It’s not funny”
“It will have been a fish you big girl” she laughed and picked up her shoes.
Jack realised that she might have a point but he didn’t want to admit it
“It was big, too big to be a fish, it could have been anything, we’re not even on Earth, I don’t think, and they have all kinds of weird stuff here.” He exaggerated, picking up his shoes and walking back up to the slope to where she was now sitting laughing as she put her shoes back on.
“It was a fish and you know it.”
“I think it bit me” he said lifting his foot up to look.
“Here let me see.”
She pulled him down by the top of his trousers and, as his bum hit the grass, she lifted his leg up and examined his foot.
“Hey, careful!”
“There’s nothing there you big wimp” she said throwing his foot back down.
He gave her a defeated look and they both smiled at each other once more.
As the minutes passed and they both sat there looking out into the bright night sky, Jack finished putting his shoes on and moved closer to Lily.
“How are you?” he asked.
She smiled “it’s been nice these past two days, well apart from the banshee,” she said raising her eyebrows.
“This place is amazing, and those wizards and those, what did he call them Fenverau, they were brilliant. And what about these people, talk about the Middle Ages, did you see those guards when we walked in, isn’t that how the romans used to dress” she laughed “and was that chain mail?”
“Yeh, I think so” Jack laughed.
“It’s so crazy that we’re in a different world and all we had to do to get here was walk through that gateway.”
“I’m glad you’re here though Jack.” she said before he could speak. “I mean, really I am, I can’t believe it myself. I’ve been trying so hard to shake my feelings for you but the more I try the stronger they get. And I like it; you make me happy with all your weird faces you pull without even realising it, your personality, and your kindness” she said looking into his eyes.
As Jack listened to her he thought his heart was going to explode it was beating so fast, he couldn’t believe it. It must be a dream, how could any of this have happened to him, nothing could have made him feel better to hear her say
those words to him.
“So you know how I feel then.” He said placing a hand on her cheek.
“It must have been difficult for you” she said moving closer to him.
“Very” he said as their lips slowly met and they kissed like two lovers intent on taking delicate care of one another.
Jack felt a tear trickle onto his cheek and he slowly pulled back and rested his forehead on hers.
“Are you crying?” he asked gently.
“I’m just so happy” she told him as they smiled at each other.
He rubbed the remnants of her tears from her cheek. “I don’t want this to end” she told him.
“Neither do I, I don’t think I could cope. I’ve thought about you constantly since I met you. Your beautiful bright blue eyes stare at me every time I close my eyes. Honestly, it got to a point where I thought I was crazy because I was thinking about you so much.”
“Well, it is a little weird.”
“Shut up...”
“Hey you should be happy, I gave up dancing tonight to be here with you”
“Oh well, we can’t have that, come on pretty lady, dance with me” he said jumping up and holding out his hand and listening to the music being played behind them.
She laughed and then took his hand “I do like this song” she said as he pulled her up.
It was perfect for the moment, a slow romantic song. Jack wrapped his arms around her and placed his hands on her lower back, the lake and starlit sky shining out into the distance as the music drifted over them. It was perfect; they stood dancing slowly together, both secretly smiling with happiness without the other knowing.
Their moment of bliss was shattered as Frankie, propping up a drunken Aaron in her arms, came walking towards them.
“I…lo…I…love you Frank, I love…you…love…you know” he was mumbling.
Lily and Jack quickly stepped back from each other. But Frankie didn’t care, she was too occupied with Aaron and she could quiz Lily later.
The Amulets (An 'Amulets of Andarrin' tale) Page 10