Energy - Awakening

by MJ Schutte

  ‘They are hunting, but not animals,’ Thomas replied.

  ‘Thomas, stop it,’ Carmen said exasperated. ‘You’re imagining the worst as always.’

  They had been travelling for hours. As soon as they were sure the young people were asleep, they set off. Carmen hated leaving without saying goodbye. She wanted to wake them but Thomas stopped her.

  Thomas set a blistering pace. He knew Carmen was tired, so was he, but didn’t slow down. They needed to get away, far away, as soon as possible. Thomas had his walking stick in one hand and Brighton’s willow bow slung over his shoulder. Carmen thought it was silly but Thomas took the bow anyway.

  They came across a large clearing.

  ‘The trail continues on the other side. Stay behind me,’ Thomas said. ‘Let’s cross this open field quickly, I feel safer in the woods.’

  Carmen rolled her eyes but did as Thomas said.

  As they were just about across six people stepped out of the bushes in front of them. Thomas stopped so abruptly that Carmen bumped into him. He changed course to the right but two of the six people moved to cut them off.

  Turning around Thomas saw another six people emerging from the woods. They were surrounded.

  Thomas dropped the walking stick. The bow was instantly in his hand. He nocked an arrow and let it fly towards the nearest man in a single motion.

  Seth used his sense to scan for life.

  ‘I’d like to make sure we’re not being followed,’ he explained, knowing that Lilian and possibly Brighton would notice this.

  He smiled when he picked up Thomas and Carmen’s energy. It was on the edge of the range for his sense.

  It didn’t matter though; Thomas cannot fight off twelve Dark Ones.

  Today is the day Thomas will die Seth thought.

  ‘Someone is following us,’ Seth said.

  ‘I can’t feel anything,’ Lilian said, using her sense to scan the area.

  ‘It’s a bit too far for you,’ Seth replied. ‘Don’t worry, I know the person. Perhaps they just wanted to tell me something. You two carry on, I’ll wait here for them and catch up later,’ Seth instructed.

  Brighton and Lilian kept walking.

  Seth sat down on a rock. He could clearly feel Thomas, Carmen and a dozen Dark Ones closing in around them. He wanted to kill Thomas personally but this will have to do. Brighton is much more important.

  There was another energy present.

  Probably some sort of animal he thought.

  The arrow found the man’s shoulder. He howled in pain. Thomas nocked another arrow and aimed again. This time the arrow found its mark. The Dark One dropped, an arrow sticking out of his eye. The other Dark Ones rushed forward.

  Thomas let one more arrow fly wounding the woman closest to them in the arm. He dropped the bow and picked up the walking stick. Carmen and Thomas were standing back-to-back waiting for the onslaught.

  A black form raced out of the woods. Mischief leapt onto an assailant’s back. Big jaws closed around an exposed neck.

  With a growl, Mischief ripped halfway through the Dark One’s neck.

  Another black form raced through the line of attackers.

  Velvet leapt. She was attacking from the man’s side. He lifted his arm trying to fend off the cat. That was a mistake.

  Velvet’s jaws ripped through his exposed ribcage just under the arm. She raced forward and took up position in front of Carmen.

  Mischief ripped flesh and bone from the chest of another attacker. The man tried using his gift on the animal but it was too late. The cat had already moved on to the next target. With incredible speed, he leapt forward going for the throat. The Dark One had his arm up. Big jaws closed around the forearm.

  Jaw muscles flexed. The arm came off just below the elbow. Before the man could scream, the jaws closed around his face. With a powerful rip, his head was separated from his body.

  ‘Retreat!’ came the shout.

  The remaining seven Dark Ones ran in all directions. Mischief started to follow but Thomas shouted for him. The big cat stopped and turned around. Blood was dripping from his jaws. He slowly walked towards Thomas, Carmen and Velvet.

  Carmen sank to the ground. Her legs couldn’t hold her up anymore.

  The Dark Ones ran to the edge of the clearing where they regrouped. After a quick, heated conversation, they approached again, very slowly.

  The leader spoke.

  ‘Remember, kill those panthers first.’

  Velvet was still in front of Carmen. Mischief stood next to Thomas. A deep growl came from his throat.

  The Dark Ones charged. Velvet and Mischief leapt forward. Mischief reached the attackers first. His jaws ripped through flesh and bone again. Two more attackers went down. Velvet crashed into a woman, claws ripping at the face in front of her.

  Thomas saw someone else’s hand press into Velvet’s side.

  ‘NO!’ he shouted and charged forward.

  He was too late. The Dark One had used his talent on Velvet. She was dead before she hit the ground.

  Mischief’s jaws and nails ripped through the attackers.

  A hand found his side.

  The Dark One tried to use his talent but nothing happened. Mischief turned and ripped the man’s hand clean off. A big claw hit the side of the man’s face. His neck snapped like a twig. Thomas reached the fight. The walking stick flashed.

  Bones crushed under the thick wood. Mischief moved like black death between the Dark Ones.

  Moments later, it was all over. Thomas and Mischief stood amongst the mangled bodies of the Dark Ones.

  ‘Velvet!’ Carmen screamed.

  She rushed over and kneeled next to Velvet’s lifeless body.

  ‘Oh no, Velvet,’ Carmen sobbed.

  She looked at Thomas through her tears.

  ‘She gave her life to protect us,’ Thomas said softly.

  Seth was confused. He was so sure that Thomas could not escape again. How could twelve people fail to kill one old man? Something else much more urgent crept into his mind. He knew the animal that was close by attacked the Dark Ones, he could feel their energies colliding, but something else was also there. That something killed eight or nine of his minions. He felt their energy just flicker out.

  He could only feel Carmen and Thomas now.

  ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself,’ he muttered as his hand came up.

  He didn’t want to do it this way but he was tired of chasing Thomas.

  Mischief stood over Velvet. He was licking her head. Carmen sat with her hand on his back.

  ‘I’m so sorry Mischief. She was very brave. We will never forget her,’ Carmen said softly to the big panther.

  Thomas, who was standing behind her, suddenly just dropped to the ground.

  ‘Thomas!’ Carmen shouted.

  She just caught a glimpse of the black smoke attached to Thomas’ head before it disappeared. She knew Seth had done this.

  She waited for the energy link to slam into her head.

  It took Seth the rest of the day to catch up with Brighton and Lilian. They were resting next to a stream.

  Seth didn’t stop. He walked past and said, ‘Come.’

  He was clearly in a bad mood.

  Brighton looked at Lilian. She quickly got up and gestured for Brighton to do the same. Brighton got up and started walking with Lilian.

  ‘I wonder if he got bad news,’ he said.

  ‘No, this is the Seth I know,’ Lilian answered.

  They travelled until late into the night. Lilian knew better than to complain, Seth would just ignore her. Brighton noticed how tired she was and took her bag from her. When they finally stopped to make camp Lilian was exhausted.

  Still she said nothing. She was used to travelling with Seth.

  He always set a murderous pace.

  The next morning Seth woke them before sunrise. He barely waited for them to pack their things before he started walking. Just like the day before he walked in fron
t with the young people following a few paces behind. For most of the day Seth was quiet.

  Late in the afternoon he spoke.

  ‘Brighton, I understand you want to give up your talent to be with my daughter,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, that is the plan.’ Brighton answered. ‘Lilian says you have a way of extracting the talent from us.’

  ‘True,’ Seth replied.

  ‘And that you agreed to help us,’ Brighton pressed.

  ‘True again,’ Seth replied.

  When it was clear Seth wasn’t going to elaborate, Brighton asked, ‘Would you mind telling me how this will be done?’

  ‘Not at all, I just assumed Lilian told you already,’ Seth said.

  ‘Lily mentioned a bracelet, that’s all,’ Brighton said.

  Seth walked a little slower.

  When Brighton and Lilian were next to him, he started speaking again.

  ‘My mother, Evangeline wore a bracelet almost all her life. It’s nothing fancy, just a very simple silver bracelet with a hinge on the one side and a clasp on the other. When she died some part of her or her talent stayed behind in the bracelet. We found that putting this bracelet on someone drains their talent. This is how we will do it for you and Lilian.’

  Concerned for Lilian, Brighton asked, ‘Does it hurt?’

  ‘No, you’ll feel nothing,’ Seth replied.

  Brighton pressed on, ‘How long does it take?’

  ‘Depends on how strong your talent is. Lilian is my daughter, her talent is very strong. For her it shouldn’t be more than half a day. I’m unsure how strong your talent is.’

  ‘Not very,’ Brighton lied. ‘I can only sense people around me, nothing else.’

  Seth looked at him.

  ‘Well, then it will be faster for you,’ he said.

  ‘How do you know the talent is really gone?’ Brighton asked.

  ‘You will feel it. When you cannot sense people around you anymore, it’s gone. The same goes for Lilian,’ Seth replied.

  He casually touched Brighton’s arm.

  ‘This is a serious decision. Are you sure you want to give up the talent?’

  Brighton answered immediately, ‘Yes, I want to. I love Lily, I will always choose her.’

  Seth asked the same of Lilian.

  ‘I am certain this is what I want,’ she said, looking into Brighton’s eyes.

  Seth smiled at them both.

  ‘I can see you love each other. I will be happy to help you be together,’ he said.

  Carmen didn’t continue on to Four Mountains. Instead, she turned around and went back to the house she and Brighton called home for six years. She still could not understand why Seth killed Thomas and not her. He could have easily done it. She reasoned that if he didn’t kill her when he had the chance, he probably never would.

  Mischief stayed close by. Carmen was glad for this. Not just for the company but also for the protection the big black panther offered. They got home around mid morning.

  As they approached the house, Carmen saw that a pack of wolves found the goats. Mischief took off like a flash.

  The wolves did not retreat, they probably felt there was strength in numbers. Mischief tore into them with a vengeance. It took only moments for the wolves to turn tail and run for the woods. Four of them would never run again.

  Carmen reached the porch and sat down on one of the chairs. The last time she was this sad was when Matthew died. Thomas was gone, Brighton was gone, Velvet was gone.

  Mischief came to lie down at her feet.

  ‘Do you want to go to Brighton?’ she asked softly, stroking his back.

  At the mention of Brighton’s name, the cat’s ears perked up.

  ‘I’ll be all right now, go if you want to,’ Carmen urged him.

  She got up and went inside. She did not bother to eat something or have a bath. She went straight to bed. Carmen was dead tired. She slept until late afternoon. After making something small to eat, she went outside.

  Mischief was gone.

  Good, she thought, Brighton and Lilian will need you more than I will.

  She walked back into the house. An intense feeling of loneliness came over her. She picked up her rucksack, went outside, and took the road towards Zedonia.

  The days went by quickly. They spent at least one day in every town they passed.

  ‘Business,’ was all he said, when Brighton asked Seth about it.

  Brighton hunted while Seth was on his “business”.

  He would go off by himself and always brought back a rabbit or a fowl. Lilian gathered fruit and berries while he was gone. They covered the distance from Avarya to Zedonia in twenty days; normally it was a fourteen-day travel.

  Zedonia was a huge city. The surroundings were almost completely flat apart from a large hill, almost a mountain, in the middle of the city.

  Lilian pointed at it.

  ‘That’s the palace,’ she said.

  ‘Looks like a hill to me,’ Brighton replied.

  Lilian laughed.

  ‘The first time I saw it I also said that,’ she told him. ‘It’s enormous inside. There are caves that run everywhere under it.’

  ‘I’ve heard it’s very luxurious,’ Brighton said.

  He didn’t want to say Thomas’ name in front of Seth.

  ‘Yes it is,’ Lilian replied.

  ‘Do only the Supremes live there?’ Brighton asked.

  ‘No, a lot of their children and grandchildren live there too,’ Lilian said.

  ‘I have my own room. You can share it with me,’ she added with a sly smile.

  Seth looked around.

  ‘There are guest quarters. Young Brighton will stay there,’ he said.

  ‘But…’ Lilian started.

  ‘Until your talents have been removed; after that you may live where you please. Of course, as you are my daughter, you will always have a room in the palace,’ Seth added.

  ‘Have you thought about marriage?’ he asked.

  Brighton didn’t know how to respond to that.

  Lilian glanced at him and said with a smile, ‘Well, he hasn’t asked me yet but I’m sure he will.’

  Brighton regained his wits.

  ‘I’m waiting for the right time,’ he said mysteriously.

  Seth smiled at that.

  Brighton gawked at everything as they walked through the streets. He had never seen such a big city. Everything was new to him. There were a lot of hawkers trading all kinds of goods. Brighton noticed that the hawkers approached almost everyone in the streets except them.

  He asked Lilian about that.

  ‘Nobody will approach a Supreme. They are simply too scared,’ she replied.

  Brighton remembered the story Thomas told about the rebellion. He understood why everyone would be scared after that.

  The travellers reached the outer city at midday but it took them until late afternoon to get to the palace. There were no houses near the palace. Woods surrounded the hill for at least two hundred paces.

  ‘Nobody wants to stay this close to the Supremes,’ Lilian whispered when Brighton enquired about that.

  The two massive doors were made of wood decorated with gold everywhere. They swung open as soon as Seth approached. As they entered, Brighton looked back. It took five strong men to open each door.

  ‘How did they know we were here?’ he whispered to Lilian.

  ‘There are lookouts everywhere. These people knew we were coming since yesterday,’ she replied.

  A servant approached, head down, and offered them refreshments. She was wearing a very short black skirt. The top was little more than a black piece of material around her neck draped over her breasts.

  Seth ignored the tray of fruit and juices and said to the servant, ‘Show Master Brighton to the guest quarters.’

  Brighton looked at Lilian.

  ‘Master Brighton?’ he said, almost laughing at the sound of that.

  Before Lilian could answer another servant came up to her.
/>
  ‘May I take your bag, Miss Lilian,’ she asked, eyes cast downward.

  ‘No thank you Marian,’ Lilian answered, smiling at the young girl.

  Seth turned around.

  ‘Join us for supper,’ he said.

  It was more like an instruction than an invitation.

  ‘Yes father,’ Lilian replied quickly.

  Brighton just nodded.

  Seth walked into one of the hallways pulling the young girl with the tray along. He had a brief, quiet conversation with her then let her go.

  Brighton finally had time to look around. They were standing inside an entrance hall. There were four corridors leading away. One back to the entrance, one left, one right and one leading seemingly straight into the hill. Looking down the left and right corridors, he noticed that both of them also turned in the direction of the hill after only a few paces.

  This did not look like the inside of a cave at all. The floors and walls looked like polished granite. Tapestries and golden chandeliers adorned the walls. All the candles in the chandeliers were lit. Satin sheets covered the ceilings.

  ‘This place is amazing,’ Brighton whispered, head going from side to side.

  Thomas had some of the details wrong he thought.

  ‘I would prefer to live in your house,’ Lilian said. ‘If you were going to ask me to be your wife, that is,’ she quickly added.

  Brighton smiled.

  ‘Patience my love,’ he said smiling at her.

  ‘We’d better get cleaned up and dressed for supper,’ Lilian said.

  ‘How will we know when it’s time?’ he asked.

  ‘A servant will come get you,’ she replied.

  Brighton noticed two servants hovering close by. He approached the one who had the tray earlier. Strangely, the tray had disappeared.

  ‘Excuse me, could you please show me where the guests rooms are,’ he asked politely.

  The girl looked bewildered for a moment.

  She regained her composure and said, ‘Certainly Master Brighton, please follow me.’

  Brighton gave Lilian a hug.

  ‘Don’t go looking at other pretty girls now,’ Lilian teased.