World of Taroo

by Jimmy Eriksson

  The magical stone was on the ground and the fight became fierce between everyone. One of the assassins got cut over the stomach and started bleeding hard but tried to keep fighting. Another of the men Kemi sent out died immediately after getting a sword through his heart. The soldiers backed off when the assassins killed another soldier and then threw a knife in the chest of a soldier that killed another of Kemi’s men. The remaining two soldiers ran off towards the edge of the forest knowing they were outnumbered. Two of the assassins ran after them and another took the magic stone then helped the injured remaining man on his feet. They walked towards the edge but before they came to the edge, the injured assassin had to be seated as he was breathing slower. His steps had become all too heavy to be carried. He told him he felt cold and was losing his sight that was becoming blurry. The other assassins came back to them after the dead man drew his last breath.

  The remaining assassins held the earth stone and had laid their dead friend’s head under his cloak. The three men left fast and the two assassins that ran after the soldiers said they were unable to catch up to them as they ran towards other soldiers. With the speed they were going, they might as well have chased them all the way to the castle. The earth stone was placed in a sack but they could all see a black sludge over the magic stone. It didn’t cover it all but they knew it must be something the Redonian soldiers poured on it. They then had several hours of running until they reached the kingdom and wasted no time. They had to be careful as well even more now since the soldiers most likely would be all over them when the escaped soldiers alerted the rest.

  At the castle, Kemi had moved Jay down to the big square as he seemed to get worse by every hour. The healers told Kemi that it was possible that the arm would have to be removed. Jay didn’t want to hear about the removal of the arm and told the healers to do their best to make it better. The wise men all then tried to puzzle together the information they had gathered and they then presented it to Kemi.

  ‘Folatu,’ one of the wise men said and Kemi who thought it sounded familiar asked them to explain.

  ‘It is an island in the north that always has storms around it and humming through its rocks,’ one of the men said. Every ship that sailed to the island was sunk or was forced back. Despite this breakthrough, Kemi was yet to have her situation fixed and was running out of time. She still didn’t have any idea about how the magical stone worked and had only an island she could not travel to in front of her on a map.

  She was very annoyed and ordered them to continue to find out whatever they could. Kemi walked around and wondered what she should do to fix the situation. She suddenly heard a voice besides her saying her name but when she turned to the direction, she found no one and looked at the shadow stone that was shining. She could hear noises and asked the others if they could hear anything but they all heard nothing of what she described. She could feel the shadow stone was calling to her and she took a few steps towards it. The Alumrylite stone began to sparkle slightly and she looked at the others that were busy with everything else. She was scared but found courage and walked up to it and touched the magic stone.

  She suddenly felt strong and fearless like she was powerful. Her body felt invincible and she could almost touch the energy within. She could see a figure closing in to her and it didn’t scare her but felt welcoming as well as warm. It felt strange and there was a sense of calm coming from the shadow stone that was calling her. How could it be made for evil, she thought, if it made her feel so happy inside. She was just about to embrace the feeling when a wise man tapped her on the shoulder and told her she was needed elsewhere.

  Her hand pulled away from the Alumrylite stone but not her eyes. She shook off the feelings and stared at the magical stone. She told the wise man to bring the high priests that used the shadow stone before. The high priests arrived shortly and she asked them if they experienced anything different when they touched the shadow stone. They all said nothing happened to them and when she asked about the noises and a figure in the magic stone, they only looked at each other. One of them said perhaps she was stressed about the war and hallucinated. She said it felt real and one of the wise men told her to be wary of the power that was inside of the Alumrylite stone. He told her to remember they were using an unknown power and needed to be careful. She agreed and prepared to leave and consult with the other officers.

  The New Way of Life

  Kemi had so much in her head and it didn’t make it better that she now was so stressed. She wished something would change the course of this war as she knew they were in deep trouble then. She must find a way and show her people they could count on her for aid. She was still at the wall and had refused to head to the castle. She could not show fear and hideaway while her people fought to, perhaps, their death. She knew she needed to stay and wished for anything that would give her some help. Then something happened suddenly that made her think about other things than the war. When she was climbing the first stairs leading to her officers, a scream came from behind her, when she turned her head, she saw Jay was on his knees and holding his arm. It was swollen and the healers said it had spread to the body then. They said he might die if nothing was done fast. Their attempts to save the arm had been unsuccessful and there was only one option then.

  Kemi ordered the soldiers to cut off the arm immediately. As the soldiers held their captain down and brought out a sword to cut the arm off, a voice was heard behind him. The voice asked to hold on because there might be another answer. One of the advisors reading the books had found a chapter about the shadow stone in a few pages that must have belonged to Helmi’s book. They had fallen out and was found when searching through the tombs again. He said the shadow stone had the ability to heal his body through the dark power but he would have to let the blood run down the magic stone. The advisor was not sure but said the Alumrylite reacts to blood and gave some sort of power if it got in contact with the blood.

  Kemi wondered what she should do and asked Jay what he wanted. He thought about Nami and his unborn child who he might never see again. He would do anything to see them again and made the decision to let it happen. Without knowing what the shadow stone was capable of, they could only guess what would happen. The shadow stone was brought under the arm by two of the wise men. One of the soldiers cut the arm in several places so the blood came out from it. The Alumrylite stone began to glow as soon as the blood hit it. They all saw smoke that was generated from the blood, and how it climbed over the arm to soon cover it completely.

  Jay was still in pain but felt it being lifted after a while. The whole arm was dark and covered in the shadow mist. The darkness got in to the arm and to everyone’s shock, the flesh started to fall off. Jay felt no pain but was, of course, afraid of what he saw. He could only watch as the arm kept losing its former shape. The bone was visible, and when no more flesh could fall off, the bone turned black. It stuck together by what looked like black skin that grew over the bone. He tried to move the arm and it worked fine with no more pain. He felt great and stronger in his hand than ever before. The pain that was in the arm and in the side of his body was gone, and he felt like a young man somehow. He gripped his sword with the dark bony hand and he couldn’t feel the weight of it. Soon, the arm started to regenerate, but the flesh that was being added to him was all dark.

  The transformation stopped and the shadow stone sat silent again. Those around him looked with big eyes at what had happened. Seeing the dark arm was strange but there was also something different elsewhere. Jay’s deep blue eyes had turned to deep black eyes. Kemi had noticed this as well and asked him how he felt after what had happened. Jay responded with grabbing a melon with the dark hand and crushing it like it was paper. He said he could feel the power of the shadow stone and how strong he was. Seeing how he had reacted to the magic of the shadow stone, Kemi suddenly felt her problems ease a little. If Jay was able to be saved by its power, then perhaps there was hope for the kingdom.

  Kemi made a deci
sion and hoped it was the right one. She told the healers to bring any wounded or almost dead soldier to the magical stone. The soldiers helped to bring the wounded and she asked them if they wanted to continue the fight. All of them said they would fight on for the kingdom without hesitation. Even after seeing the new arm on their commander, they still were committed to being healed by the shadow stone. There were 53 badly wounded soldiers that got taken to the Alumrylite stone and every soldier felt the same power as Jay. There were soldiers without much life in them left and after the shadow stone had worked its magic, they were able to stand again.

  An amazing sight for people around that thought that those being treated would have died soon. The magic from the shadow stone seemed to also have a stronger power than just healing the soldiers. The magical stone seemed to regenerate body parts that had been cut off and the feeling of working body parts was happy news to the soldiers, even if some of them were only bones and with a little flesh. Every one that had a taste of the magical stones power lost their eye colour which turned black.

  The sight of so many of the soldiers with black bony body parts was scary for many but soon, the dark flesh covered all the bones up. Since their mind was still there and not seemed to have changed, they got lined up with the rest of the soldiers. Kemi told the iron smiths to make more armour that could cover the dark flesh of those newly transformed and they started immediately to do so. With only a few hours left, Kemi got more anxious about the war. She asked if the wise men knew what would happen if the earth and shadow stone were to combine. There was no record of the combination but if there was no other choice, they must try it. She looked over the land to where the forest had stopped growing. She knew someone had the earth stone but not who had it.

  The assassins had run for several hours straight and had, luckily, avoided the soldiers by going close to the mountain that still hid them. The sun was lurking behind the next mountain wall and they would be visible against the wall from then on. They looked around the corner and they spotted several soldiers on march. They figured that perhaps they might have more luck if they could get hold of a horse and rode the last way. There were horses but there were too many soldiers around and the shadow that protected them was shrinking every second. With no more time, they made a drastic decision, apart from which they had no other choice. One of the assassins suggested they should use the magic of the Alumrylite stone and lure soldiers to them as they hid in the trees.

  When the soldiers that were on horses came by, they would attack them to steal a horse. It was a risky and dangerous idea but they had nowhere to go. The forest people gave them several potions before leaving that could be used on the earth stone in case of trouble. They read the papers attached on the small bottles and found the one with rapid growth. After bringing out the stone from a bag, they felt how sticky the tar on it had made it. They quickly dug the magic stone down and poured the content over it.

  At first, nothing happened and they didn’t know what to do. One of them then took the earth stone and said he believed whatever the soldiers poured over it must be rendering the magic stone powerless. Water was brought out and they quickly tried to clean off the black tar. It was a little sticky but came off after time. With the magical stone then clean, they tried again and immediately, the earth stone began to shine. Within seconds, the trees started to grow and they hid next to the walls of the mountain while the trees grew.

  From above the kingdom walls, a soldier had noticed the mini forest grow at the mountain wall. Kemi was notified and soon stood at the wall to watch as the forest grew. ‘The earth stone must have been used by someone,’ said one of the forest people and everyone knew the assassins had made it. Some soldiers left the preparations inside the kingdom wall to look at what was going on. Kemi told the soldiers to get ready for a possible rescue attempt. The people living in the castle had kept themselves indoors all the time and saw the soldiers assemble at the back of the kingdom where the secret exit was less guarded. The exit was revealed only recently to the people who thought that it was just another building. The building was also set outside the wall but looked like just a storage house from the outside.

  The assassins saw some of the soldiers coming closer and hid in the fast growing trees. The trees spread fast and every minute, another twenty trees came up from the earth to fill up. The soldiers came to the then small forest and had their swords drawn. They knew why the trees had grown and intended to take no chance. Some of the soldiers called for more men so the assassins were short on time. As the soldiers walked inside, they looked around for anything that could be a threat. The forest grew no more and the assassins had all climbed into the trees. They moved over them high up and could jump between the trees in the thick small forest. They reached the edge of the trees, that had stopped growing since they took the magical stone out, where the trees had become smaller. They all hid in a tree and looked for a horse or another way to the kingdom.

  Their attempt to escape might have failed because no horse was close enough to safely reach to. An arrow hit next to them and there was no more time to wait. Time for carefully thought out strategies was long gone and there was only quick decisions that took place. They jumped down to the ground and rushed out towards the soldier giving alarm to others. Another arrow that almost hit them was shot again. As the soldier brought yet another arrow to his bow, in an attempt to kill at least one of them, he got a knife in the chest thrown by one of the assassins. It was not enough to kill him but he went down regardless.

  The men sent out by Kemi grabbed a horse and all three rode away quickly. They didn’t have much of a head start because as soon as they headed off, they were chased by the other soldiers in the small forest. It didn’t take long before the whole army outside the kingdom could see what was going on and also Kemi. Not once did her eyes leave the small forest and she could tell she must act quickly. She knew they would be caught if they came close to the kingdom and decided to start attacking to draw the attention towards her. Every canon and arrow machine was used and fired all at the same time to deliver damage to the soldiers below that were taken off guard by the sudden attack.

  She told the soldiers at the secret exit to storm out and they headed out immediately. Amaya was seeing the attack from the side and knew the time was urgent. He believed the three men on the horse had the earth stone because he just recently found out about the attack in the forest. He sent every soldier on the battlefield to catch them and called for the archers to get ready. The chainmail knight was closer since he, as well, had been inspecting the castle and immediately headed towards the men on the horse. The soldiers pushed out from the castle and the fight continued on the side of the castle where the soldiers were fewer.

  The assassins rode close to the mountain and had to duck from several arrows fired by the few men having a bow and not standing at the frontline. Amaya’s army was moving fast and with this speed, the assassins might lose the magical stone to the soldiers. A load from a canon on the wall went off and hit a number of enemy soldiers and created a chance for the assassins. But the chainmail knight was still heading quickly against them with others behind him. The men on the horse could see their fate might come to an end and one of them suggested that if they might be able to run close enough to the kingdom, they could throw the earth stone over to their own people.

  Amaya stood with several rows of archers from Darcolia behind him. His own Redonian archers were skilled but nowhere near as good as the Darcolian archers. As the assassins got close, Amaya calmly told the archers to aim for the men on the horse. He wanted to shoot them down before they got to the soldiers defending the kingdom. He could see how the allied army was making headway but he only smiled at them. He waited until the right moment and then gave the order for the arrows to go. Hundreds of arrows rained down over the men Kemi had sent and the situation instantly became worse for the kingdom.

  As the arrows came down, the horse got hit numerous times and died. One of the assassins d
ied instantly as the arrow penetrated the top of his head as well as leg and back while the other two got hit as well. One of them was badly hurt with an arrow in the side of his body and couldn’t move. The last assassin was hit in the knee and struggled to walk but grabbed the magic stone to continue forward. Kemi told the soldiers to push on but the soldiers had no choice but to return to the castle after many of them got killed by the organised army. They had to board the exit off to not let the soldiers through to the city.

  The man holding the magic stone got quickly surrounded by the fast soldiers. He could only stop and stare at those surrounding him. And soon enough, the chainmail knight walked up to him as he struggled to stand. The assassin pulled a knife out to defend himself but the knight cut him down in one blow that killed him. The large knight grabbed the bag out of the then dead man’s hands. They left the man that was still alive at the horse as his chance of survival was slim at best with the blood coming out fast. He died shortly after and the situation for the kingdom had gone from bad to worse.

  Kemi had ordered the attack to stop and then followed the knight with her eyes who was carrying the Alumrylite stone wrapped in the bag. Amaya looked up at the kingdom where Kemi was standing and then moved back to the big tent where he waited for his gift. He was soon given the Alumrylite stone when the knight entered into the tent. Kemi was clearly stressed and walked around on top of the wall. She told the high officers to get ready for an attack and the whole city soon found out that the magical stone was now in the enemy’s hands.