Forest & Kingdom Balance

by Robert Reed Paul Thomas

  The crimson light flashed countless times that day, but the young man conquered his fear and put his physical pain aside. When the last of the raiders had been killed or driven off, he began to realize what the day had cost him. From brother, to uncle, to father, he went from corpse to corpse as he learned how deep pain could feel. Time passed as he knelt beside his father’s lifeless body. Fires burned all around him as he sat, only partially aware of the screams of pain and loss that filled the air.

  Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind, “Momma!” He screamed and leaped to his feet. As he approached his home a sense of hope arose within him, the small farmhouse had not been set ablaze! Bursting through the door, he felt his hope die as hideous a death as any other that day. Lying where they had been raped and murdered, were his mother and sisters.

  Over the decades and centuries that followed, the man who was that young boy traveled across the land, he created kingdoms from scattered villages and introduced King’s Law. He taught the people how to defend themselves and throughout his travels he mercilessly pursued any group who preyed on the weak and helpless. He chose to be known only as the Red Knight.

  For centuries he was revered and welcomed in every village, castle, and kingdom for the great works he had achieved. Unfortunately human nature is not always a blissful thing. Once peace was the norm and the threat of raiders nothing but a memory, the lure of power began to draw those who would covet it for its own sake. Selfish kings and lords took the gifts that the Red Knight had brought, the training and structure for defense, and used them to war with each other for no other reasons than greed and avarice. Betrayal after betrayal hardened the Red Knight’s heart.

  Over time the Red Knight took on the roll of king maker and supreme sovereign. He came to believe that weakness allowed the unworthy to prosper and to respect strength above all else. So he pitted kingdom against kingdom at his choosing to weed out the weak. For thousands of years, this has been our world.

  “Hold on.” Dionara looked at the empty glass in her hand, “I may be a bit tipsy from all the wine, but I don’t believe I’m drunk enough to have momentarily forgotten about an immortal who rules the world.”

  “That’s because you Dionara, and your subjects, are the only people who are not taught of the Red Knight from birth. Far too many know of his manipulations first hand, at the thrust of a sword.” John sat up and looked into Dionara’s eyes, his expression relayed the seriousness and concern that his words held. “This is the gift your kingdom receives.”

  “Assuming this ‘Red Knight’ even exists,” she countered.

  “He does.” John’s tone did not waver.

  Dionara considered his words, “To my knowledge he has never bothered us here, what does this have to do with me? I though you were going to tell me of our founding?” Dionara waited for an answer.

  John retrieved a second wine decanter from a basket beside the tree and handed it to her. “You may want a refill for this next part.” He noted.

  The Mindow

  Over time the Red Knight became restless for new lands, he commissioned ships of exploration to sail the vast sea. One people, the Mindow, who respected peace, art, craftsmanship and fellowship, saw the Red Knight’s decree as an opportunity to escape his oppression. They designed and crafted great ships to withstand the heaviest seas. Even so, many years passed and no ships returned.

  The Mindow did not give up hope and a fleet of eleven ships set out once more. They were led by Paladin, a craftsman, seaman, leader, and a man of great faith loved by all who knew him. After many months at sea and the loss of four ships, land was sighted. They landed at what is now Kingsport on the coastline to our west and established a new kingdom. Now king of the new lands, Paladin sent ships back to their home with an invitation for all that wished to join him to set sail.

  Being a man of deep faith, Paladin gave thanks to Spirit, the Prime Creator, for guiding them. He felt the number of ships that completed the journey was no accident. Seven ships for the seven levels of human experience that lead from the physical to enlightenment. He built his citadel crowning the highest hill in Kingsport and surrounded it with six tiers of gardens. The seven levels were dedicated to the seven levels of attainment.

  Eventually other explorers found our shores and set up kingdoms to the north and south between coast and mountain. Once established, each kingdom began to explore into the mountains. From Paladin’s first explorations to all the peoples that followed, each found that venturing into the mountain range would be greeted by fear, dread and mishap. The range came to be known as the Warded Mountains, for protected they were.

  The Mindow were your ancestors Dionara, their coastal kingdom flourished for a thousand years. Art, peace, and faith were their hallmarks. The Mindow kings strengthened their realm, and from that position of strength, they sought only peace and trade with their neighbors. Due to the vast distance, the Red Knight chose not to travel to the new lands and only send occasional decrees, until the reign of King Palinar.

  The Red Knight had become increasing frustrated by the lack of expansion inland and decided that consolidation of the coastal peoples would lead to greater progress. He ordered King Palinar as leader of the strongest kingdom, to conquer the other realms and create a single kingdom on the coast.

  This was against every tenant of Palinar’s beliefs, so he decided that since the Red Knight’s influence was minimal in the new lands, he could ignore the decree. He judged incorrectly.

  On a sunny spring day much like this one, the lookouts at Kingsport harbor bore news to Palinar. Warships approached baring the flame on crimson flag of the Red Knight.

  A fleet had crossed the sea led by the Red Knight himself, they were joined by ships of the northern and southern kingdoms who were more than willing to divvy up the Mindow’s land and wealth among themselves. The Mindow fought bravely, but to no avail.

  Palinar was gravely wounded repelling the third assault on the harbor. He was taken to a house of healing south of the capital where he regained consciousness two days later. By then the battle had long been lost. Bands of invaders had flooded the kingdom to round up the Mindow and loot as they went. When just such a band arrived at the house of healing where Palinar had been taken, his fellow wounded as well as their caregivers fought fiercely to allow Palinar time to escape.

  Two of Palinar’s captains, both themselves wounded, took him east toward the mountains. For weeks the three traveled farther and farther inland. During the journey both captains succumbed to their wounds. Palinar, lost and alone, felt his life slipping away. Starving, exhausted, and injured, he stumbled onto a beautiful glade with a pond fed by a waterfall where he rested and prepared for the end of his mortal journey. The glade he found was Angel Falls.

  “Wait, what happened to the Mindow?” Dionara questioned, then leaned forward thinking she’d spotted the flaw in his tale. “And besides I thought that no one could enter the mountains or they’d get gobbled up by an evil ghoul or something.”

  John’s response was a deep, robust laughter, “I don’t know about an evil ghoul, but to put it in terms you can identify with, normally they would have been sat on by a very annoyed frog! But you’re getting ahead of me, don’t interrupt your storyteller.”

  Then John’s expression turned solemn once again. “As far as the Mindow, their fate was much more dire. The Red Knight declared them non-people, not protected by King’s Law. They had no rights and could be taken at any time as slaves, or simply used, abused or even killed with no recourse or consequence.”

  While Dionara absorbed that sobering thought, John returned his focus to Palinar’s plight. “Whether through fate, luck, or happenstance, Palinar had stumbled onto the one place most protected throughout the mountain range, the entrance to the Caretaker’s home. To understand the Forest, or why your Kingdom even exists, you must first understand who your friend Froggy really is.”

  The Caretaker

  The Caretaker is an immortal being whose f
lame is independent of any physical form. He is an observer who has roamed the world since the dawn of time. He studies life by taking the forms around him and has experienced every aspect of the natural balance; the seasons, the rain that falls to nourish the forests, and the fire that gives birth to new growth. He has felt the seed and the fertile earth that gave it life. He was the doe giving birth to the fawn and the cougar that hunted. Above all he seeks balance and knowledge, and is always in search of a deeper understanding,

  Over time he perceived a new predator, one that was intelligent and self-aware yet preyed upon its own kind. Disturbed, he took the form of these beings hoping to understand them. Over millennium he watched the flame of life grow within them, eventually achieving the complexity of sentience. Seeing the vast destruction they could cause, he came to believe that they were not of his understanding, they were not balance. This predator called himself, “man.”

  The Caretaker kept an eye toward humanity as he continued his search for knowledge. Many ages passed until the Caretaker was once again faced with an even greater disruption to balance, the Red Knight. The Caretaker looked into the Red Knight’s immortal flame and perceived his true warrior’s spirit. Unlike the white flame of mankind, the Red Knight’s flame burned with the bright crimson of heart’s blood. The Caretaker knew that the Red Knight’s hunger for battle would never be sated, and that he would lead mankind to greater and greater conflict.

  The Caretaker then cloaked his own emerald green flame and withdrew. He came to a mountain range on an uninhabited continent and created a sanctuary hidden from mankind’s world where balance could be preserved.

  The Caretaker found peace and balance in his sanctuary, this sanctuary, and time passed. He was aware of the first ships to land on his shores, but was content not to interfere as long as they did not threaten to disrupt the balance he maintained. He merely kept watch and dissuaded any attempt to explore the mountain range. Those who heeded the gentler warnings, a general feeling of fear at proceeding, were no worse for their experience. Those who ignored the warnings were less fortunate.

  Here in the Forest, away from outside influences, the Caretaker chose to maintain his human form. Partially to understand us, and partially because of the range of physical and emotional experience that being human offers. So it was that when he sensed the Red Knight’s armada approach, he knew that death would follow and felt the very human emotion of revulsion at the physical carnage that was about to take place. He turned his thoughts away.

  When he opened his senses to humanity’s world once more, the first thing he perceived was the flame of a single human life at the very entrance to his home. The life was ebbing, barely a flicker, but the Caretaker could sense what incredible purity and strength it must once have had.

  Unexpected emotions stirred within him, he experienced loneliness and felt a desire for company. Curiosity too played its part, he desired to learn of the man who’s flame, even near death, could be so powerful and pure.

  He brought Palinar into his sanctuary and then spread his awareness out into the world to learn from healers how to care for him. It was a close thing. Palinar was near death. Fortunately for us all, the Caretaker could draw upon the experiences and knowledge of the world’s greatest healers and Palinar survived.

  As Palinar convalesced, he and the Caretaker would talk endlessly of art, life, balance, war, and even the nature of being human. They grew to be very close friends. One of their favorite topics was the Red Knight and humanity’s seeming need to inflict pain and death merely for its own sake. Palinar convinced the Caretaker that while the darker side exists in all humanity, there were those who felt that the baser instincts could be used as an opportunity to strive for self improvement, people like himself who looked at their harmful side, accepted it, and chose to follow a path of love, peace, and service to the greater good.

  By convincing the Caretaker of the truth that he lived by, Palinar made the life that your Kingdom and we of the Forest enjoy today. Palinar persuaded the Caretaker to extend his protection to an area around Angel Falls where people could live in peace, away from the turmoil of the Red Knight’s world.

  Guided by Palinar, the Caretaker extended his awareness to search the surviving Mindow for the brightest, purest flames of humanity. Several thousand of the Mindow were chosen. The Caretaker placed in their minds a feeling of destiny and a determination to escape into the mountains. Over time each of the chosen found that perhaps an absent minded guard had left shackles unlocked, or that sentries dozed off at just right time. Slave hunters were often sent to track the escapees only to be forcefully reminded that they had entered the Warded Mountains.

  Each group made their way to Angel Falls and were met by Palinar and the Caretaker. There they were told of the Caretaker’s offer and asked to build a new kingdom here in the mountains. The Caretaker also viewed this as an opportunity to gain a greater knowledge of humanity and so worked side by side with the Mindow to build their new home.

  After a few years the Kingdom took shape, the Caretaker was an excellent teacher of how to work with the land to create a stable balance with nature. Once the village was complete, the fields sown, and the royal castle well underway; the Caretaker then returned to his personal sanctuary. However, it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was not content to live alone, so he asked some of the people he had come to know and admire while working among them to join him in the Forest.

  John paused to assess Dionara’s reaction. She looked into his eyes and began to speak, then stopped and turned her head in thought. John could feel the emotions swirl within her as she tried to incorporate his words into the life she had known.

  Dionara’s thoughts settled as she decided to challenge John’s version of history, “Your tale was fascinating and other than my mother being born here, nothing you’ve said actually contradicts anything I know to be true. Even so, I’m not sure I know what to believe.”

  “I can request that one of your councilors join us here if you feel that may help.” John expected her to be skeptical. “In times past a family member would come to visit, unfortunately you are the only royal we have at the moment.” He shrugged.

  “Please don’t!” Dionara shook her head, “The best thing about my trip with Froggy today was getting away from them.” One thought spurred another. “Speaking of frogs that turn into people and people that turn into horses, that doesn’t quite fit with your story by the way.” Dionara’s triumphant expression revealed her desire to find some steady ground, any steady ground.

  “Well, being born in the sanctuary of a powerful immortal being does tend to have its advantages.” John’s smile had the effect he had hoped and he was rewarded with sound of her laughter. “You have your mother’s gift.”

  “Thank you, and please do not change the subject.” Dionara’s long friendship with Froggy had taught her to stay on point. “You tell me that we all came from the coast, yet I don’t remember seeing any of my subjects changing into animals.”

  John understood her doubt, “It's true that our ancestors were drawn from the same group, but over the generations the Forest itself, combined with the Caretaker’s teaching, has strengthened the flame of life for those of us born here.” John sat up to face Dionara squarely. “Please understand Dionara that we are the same, both Forest and Kingdom. We Forest Dwellers are born, live our lives, and die as all humans do, in the natural cycle of life.”

  Dionara still looked doubtful so John leaned forward and took her hand. “Living here merely allowed our flame, that which makes us uniquely human, to grow a bit stronger. When the Caretaker invited his friends to live with him, he did not foresee the effect the Forest would have on the generations to come. Most, but not all people born here learn to take the physical shape of the life around them, it helps us to learn of life and balance.”

  “Then you aren’t just born with the ability?” Dionara still struggled to comprehend.

  “No.” John smiled. Then began
to laugh. “Please Dionara, if I may, allow me to share the thought I had when I heard your question.”

  “All right.” Dionara was a cautious but willing to try.

  John opened his mind to hers. Suddenly Dionara’s thoughts were filled with the visual of a small Forest farmhouse, she saw an exasperated mother desperately chasing four little toddlers around the yard. She could hear the children’s laughter as they constantly popped back and forth from their human form to a puppy, a kitten, or a butterfly, anything to evade capture for their dreaded bath! The mother then stopped and with her fists on her hips, she seemed to look directly at Dionara. She then shook her head, smiled, and returned to chasing the children.

  John and Dionara both found themselves laughing along with the children. “Is that what you thought?” John asked. “Well, luckily for all the mothers of toddlers in the Forest, that’s not the case. As young adults we have the opportunity to learn the skill.” John scratched his chin as if considering the thought, “Although, if we were born with the ability, it certainly would liven the place up quite a bit.” He mused playfully.

  “How did you do that? Share your thoughts with me I mean.” Dionara’s question mixed with laughter.

  “Now that ability is one that a person is born with, but very seldom.” John was relieved to see Dionara relax a bit. “At most, one or two children a generation are born with the gift to sense another’s thoughts and project their own. Right now there are two, Catherine and I, but there have been times when there were none. The Caretaker trains the gifted child as early as possible to control the gift, and above all else, to be polite and considerate in its use.”

  John’s playful smile returned, “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that the training starts as early as possible to cut down on all the random thoughts that get send out. From what I’ve heard, it’s likely that just about every person in the Forest was aware of my feeding schedule as an infant. I’m afraid I was responsible for quite an outbreak of sleep depravation.”