“My sword! Immediately! Give me a sword!” he yelled like wild, while the saliva from his mouth surged in my direction.
I crawled back and leaned on a tree as the captain got closer with his sword in hand, putting it into the air to charge it with power. As if madness itself had possessed him, he ran at me, but before he reached me, he fell to the ground and was asleep again. The chase through the forest had cost him so much that he had hardly been able to stay awake. The sword from his hand fell just short of my right leg, and as the looks of the other men met me, I hastily cut my bonds with the blade and ran away. Their shouts followed me, but they soon abandoned pursuing me to look after their captain. It was not long until they would find me again, but I prayed to the gods that I could reach my friends before then.
Chapter 20: The Hatred of the Pirates
I hid myself behind the trees, avoided any look back, and breathed slowly and controlled. The men who chased me were no trained warriors, also no scouts or knights, they were simple men, and still I feared them immensely. Because even the simplest of men, can kill you with a sword.
Because of my fear I had forgotten to take the sword, which I had used to cut my bonds, and now I was alone without any weapon. Every few minutes I heard the shouts of the pirates who tried to locate my position, but I did everything to ignore them. I climbed a tree, not up to the crown, but high enough to allow a general overview of my surroundings. In the darkness of the night it would be difficult for me to make out the pirates fast enough, but I also didn’t want to run away any longer. My plan was to spend the night on the tree and to find my friends on the next day.
What I however didn’t expect was that the forest began to disappear. Tree after tree sank into the soil and soon revealed my hiding place. I found myself in a clearing that was so big that it seemed like a giant plain. Only on the distant horizon could I still recognize individual trees that were quickly descending into the ground. The pirates, who were just as stunned as me, were standing only few meters away from me.
The biggest and strongest of them carried the captain on his back, and all of them came running into my direction. The ground began to change, and gradually opened itself to a gorge, which divided the plain evenly. One of the men tried to jump over to my side, but he fell down into the dark and disappeared. The moon was shining brightly in the sky and every single beam of light that he reflected began circling him faster and faster until he was transformed into the sun. However the sky was still dark, as if it was night and the rays of the sun only concentrated on the bottom of the gorge. It filled it with light and soon all of the plains were drenched in white light until my eyes could no longer sufficiently recognize the pirates.
As the light disappeared, I stood inside a house and it smelled of fresh cooked soup. The window was wide open and I could see the man, who I had already seen multiple times outside, in the garden. For the first time I could see his face that had many scars and appeared very old, although the man himself was young. He waved at me through the window and then worked on his small vegetable field. So I looked around and asked myself if this man was the reason for the magic on this island. Everything that happened here was not real, and slowly I began to doubt that we had ever even visited the island. Perhaps I was still trapped in the whirlpool.
“Who are you? Please come in!” I cried to the man, but he did not move an inch.
I saw the fireplace and the cooking pot and I heard the loud bubbling of the contents inside. Many things were lying around on the ground and it seemed as if he wasn’t the only person who lived in this house. The man entered, but he said nothing. He opened the pot and stirred its contents slowly but steadily, while looking at me from time to time with nothing but a smile on his face. With his right hand he signalled to me that I should get a bowl for him, and so he filled it with soup for the both us. We sat down and I tried to speak with the man, but he did not listen and ate with relish. The soup had no taste at all, and eating it didn’t fill me up in any way. I felt as if none of this even happened and it was as though all of this was just a dream.
“How do I get home?” I asked the man, and finally he seemed to respond.
He put away the bowl and got up to get a book. On it I saw just one number - the number one. It was the symbol of the treasure we searched. He took the book and threw it into the fire of the cooking place and took his soup bowl back to hand. He saw how the book went down into the flames and my attempts to get it out failed, because it seemed to not exist. He smiled while it completely burned away and the flames changed their colour every second. Red to blue, yellow to green until the flames suddenly grew and grew. They devoured the cooking pot and while I jumped up with fear and tried to get away, the man remained seated and ate his soup.
The fire was soon filling up the whole place, and only a small space in the corner was left for me. I stood there and watched the man, who waved at me again, and as soon as he had finished his meal he just stood up and left the burning house. As the door closed with a loud bang, I opened my eyes and found myself again on the tree that I had climbed.
It was only a dream, but the cry which escaped me, as I awoke, was not, and I was sure, that it had alerted the pirates. Just a few moments later they found me and took me back into custody. The captain was to my luck still not awake, but this time we set up our camp in the dark forest, which is why I feared that the paranoia of the old man could soon degenerate into violence. Too long had I messed with him and his sole motive to stay alive was seeing my death by the hand of Lucia who he thought had died when we wrecked the ship. He wanted to ensure that I receive my punishment before his own arrived and took his life. The first two days were normal, whereby the forgetful of the three was now my security guard. They put only little trust in him after he almost blew the group, but I savoured every second in which I could confuse him. Unfortunately they never let us alone longer than an hour at a time as they now took turns from the hunting and the guarding of me.
“We should release the captain from his suffering. This is a death that has no honour. He rots away while lying down in a bed; a real warrior should die by the sword. Don’t you think that he has suffered enough? He was lucky to survive our landing, but now his fate seems to have finally caught up with him,” I said, while one of the men gave me a little bit of water to drink.
Most people would die of a condition like that of the captain because they would suffer from starvation while they slowly slept away. But his followers trusted him too much, they thought, that he could help them leave this island.
“You should keep your mouth shut; otherwise we will shut it for you. The captain will wake up again then you will get the death that you deserve.”
Weeks passed and again and again the captain woke up from his sleep, only to sink away into it a few hours later. Heavy rain and dark clouds covered the island and hid away the light of the sun for the whole day. Still I had heard nothing from the others, until finally one of the men found a temple.
“It’s a huge building, situated in the middle of the mountain. I even saw some people and they danced around a big fire, like savages. Perhaps we should monitor them,” said the scout, while another man began to draw a map of the area.
Only the largest and the most stupid of them had no interest in the news, and cried out only when the captain awoke again.
“We will destroy them. They must have the treasure. My time is running out and if we don’t attack now, then I will die,” said the captain, who had heard the report of the scout.
“But if they are too many? How do you want to kill them all?” I asked haunted by hunger and thirst and rubbed my wrists on the harsh rope they bound me with.
The captain went up using all the energy he had left, and was soon supported by the biggest man: “They will burn in their beds. We will burn them all.”
Chapter 21: The Temple of the Titans
We had a plan, three men, and self-drawn map on which I myself couldn’t make out anything at all.
Our camp had been moved closer to the temple, which I still had not seen, but I could at least guess where it was, based on the location of the gigantic mountain in front of us. I was sure that the others had to be there and I hoped that I wouldn’t die with the pirates when the plan ultimately failed. The feverish dreams of the captain, his constantly growing paranoia and his hatred against me had driven him so far into insanity that he stopped thinking all together. The attack on this temple, without preparation or tools, was now his last attempt. I saw it in his eyes, the baring of his teeth, even when he tried to walk a few meters, while the big man supported him. I had liberated him from the normal world, but thus his will was broken. He had stopped being a pirate even before that day, but now he realized it himself. Back then it was a decision, but today it was the hard reality which he tried to fight.
The man who once was feared and known as a terror, honoured by those of his kind, fell now victim to simple wounds, and was forgotten, even before his last breath was taken. Not only his legacy was important to him it was much more the way with which he’d die. No vessel under his feet, no familiar sky over him and not even a trusting crew; they were just a bunch of men that had served him as a replacement. Perhaps this last path to the temple of the titans was symbolic for him, and maybe it was his way of leaving the world. He himself believed that we could win, but even if he wanted to see all of these people burn, so I knew nothing about his actual plan until the dawn of the fateful night.
“As our scout reported they pray all day at a large fire. We will use it to bring them closer to their gods. You both need to act quickly and unseen. The big one and I will follow as soon as possible. Take the prisoner with you. He will survive or act as a protective shield. We must succeed at any price,” he said and tried to swallow, which became more and more difficult for him.
His every action pointed to the fact that he would not survive this night, even if we’d be successful. The treasure that he sought was not there, because there was no knowledge of the world that was enough for him. His condition was beyond any rescue and I wanted to tell him so, but I also knew that it had made no difference. He had to try it, and in some ways it was human.
The two men trailed me behind them and I finally saw the valley that had been hidden by all the trees and shrubs, which had held me prisoner for so many weeks now. It was not a simple small village we saw here, also not just ten to twenty people, it had to have been hundreds, if not thousands. My first thought was how all these people could survive if Aton truly had spoken the truth. But maybe it was only after the arrival of the Sun King, that these people began to live on this island. Their houses were made of solid stone and their streets looked like the work of a true master. In the city there was no night, because the fire from pots and pans and torches lit the alleys and paths like the sun. No possibility to hide, and no reasonable chance of success. Even the men understood now that this way knew only one direction. We were closing in on the large fire, which had been built directly in front of the temple. Here they prayed to their gods and the flames danced wildly, uncontrolled and almost alive.
“And now? You just want to kill all of them? And then what? To burn down a city of this size is impossible. And even if you succeed, how do you put out the fire at the end? It won’t stop at the city, it will catch the trees, the whole forest and after that, do you think it will spare you?” I said and tried to talk some sense into these brutes, but all my attempts remained pointless.
They took some torches and tied me up near the fire which felt like it slowly melted my skin. I had difficulty seeing everything, as they had thought of taking away my glasses before we went into the city. Given their stupidity I had to admit that they knew how to die. Nothing that happened in this night was necessary, but at the end when I heard cries from afar, I realized that it was necessary, namely for me. After a few minutes already they brought the men back to my location bound and beaten.
I heard a song and drums and in the shadows many people danced around the fire. Soon there were hundreds of them, so many that it made me forget why we were here.
“What are you doing in our town? You desecrated our temple, stole the holy fire, and dared to lay hands on our people? The titans protect us and we, as their children, protect them. No one will leave this city alive,” shouted one of the men and his words spoke even louder than the loudest drummer.
The fire fought in the sky, and my view was getting worse. They cut off my bonds and threw me before the feet of the two men from our crew. They were forced to kneel and keep their heads down until the judgment had been executed.
“You, the creature of the white night, who is without view and without intention, what leads you through the twilight? Do you want to serve the titans, or do you want to burn through their angry fire?” asked me the man whose face I could hardly see.
“My name is Jacob; I am here at the behest of Jasper Lawrence. These men do not have to die. They did not come alone to this island. Their leader, the man who caught me, hides at the top in the forest. Let us forget this dispute and let us worship the titans in a different way,” I said and hoped for the man to let go of his anger.
He took a torch in his hand and gave it to me. His face was distorted, but I believed that it was a mask that he wore. Without any doubt however, there was only one way for me. They began to bring us large pots and they started to sing another song. The drums got slower and louder, while they opened the heavy lid of the pots. Just when the stone plates, which sealed the containers, had fallen to the ground, they stopped the song and drums at the same time.
“Thamyris, father of our people, son of the titans, bringer of light and god among people, today we bring a sacrifice. These men decided to defy the titans. Their deeds, before the eyes of our lord, cannot go unpunished.
By the songs of our fathers, the rhymes and poems of our children, and the music of our gods we condemn them to death. Their fate will be realised by the ambassador of the sky, the servant of the Lawrence. He is the man, who showed us the world and revealed the way and the words that we sing,” the man said and handed me a knife.
It was a short sword of unmanageable size; its blade was sharper than I had ever seen. The drums began to play slowly again, and the vocals sound returned, while several women lifted up the large pots and emptied their contents on the men. I recognized the fluid immediately, because I already drunk from it. There was no doubt that the colour and consistency as well as the gut-wrenching smell were the same. But what was it that they were now asking from me?
“Bathed and anointed in the blood of our enemies, you are facing the titans. Carry out the judgment, servant of the bringer of words!” the man screamed and the flames struck high into the sky.
The drums were ever faster, and I gathered all my courage. Even if I already had killed a lot of people, I now for the first time held the executioner’s blade. It was a different feeling as if the life in me tried to resist the temptation. Nausea and doubt overtook me, but in the end I did the only possible thing.
I decapitated the men, one after the other, and tried not to faint as the heads rolled before my feet and the blood mixed with the black liquid. It formed something that I had seen before and now I knew what it was, this red shimmer. Only a few moments later the mixture ignited and the flames of the large fire devoured the two men. I jumped back and let the knife fall to the ground. Dragon tears had been shed on this day, but what was it that created them? What was it that I drank?
Chapter 22: The Born Again
I spent the night in a house, close to the square in front of the temple, but I could not sleep. The mad captain still roamed through the forests, and now I was not even sure if he was the greatest hazard on this island. The man that forced me to kill these crew members was called Tybalt, and he was the leader of a cult, who called themselves the 'born-again'. He told me that since the death of the titans on this island, his people live to guard the ancient knowledge against the dragons. I had never heard that a drag
on was the enemy of this island’s people, and I had even more difficulties imagining that dragons could actually exist. Things like dragon tears, dragon scales or the dragon’s breath were just names, based on stories, which never really happened. But as with all that I once doubted, I thought about these things now. The black substance I drank mingled with the blood of humans to become dragon tears, and not even Tybalt could tell me more about it other than it being used in an old ritual.
He and his people have learned with time to accept these things and it was more than understandable, because they didn’t know the outside world. None of them had ever left this island. Their ancestor, Thamyris was a relative of Tybalt, which he told me about proudly. I had difficulties imagining that most if not all people on this island had to be relatives of one another after such a long time, but I didn’t want to tell him that and destroy his illusion or end up like the two men who were decapitated and burned on the square. Therefore I stayed friendly, followed the motto 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Tybalt was a sophisticated man for his environment, but his age was difficult to assess. They knew no calendar, not even real hours. But this island was also no ordinary place. He told me that people disappeared into a different world while sleeping, and the next morning they would tell stories about things that had never happened. These dreams, so real, as if they were truly happening were what I had already experienced myself, and I was worried that these people who had spent their entire life here knew nothing about it except that it happened.
Ultimus Thesaurus: The last Treasure (Era of Change Book 1) Page 11