The Children of Calm

by Smith, J Michael

  The others sat silently, waiting for Altan’s revelation.

  “I do not understand how it can even be possible,” he finally said, “but the Empress Keona is in actuality Fornrihgula himself. There can be no denying.”

  There it is, Rylek thought. The missing piece that ties everything together.

  The other three exchanged confused looks. “I thought you said the great hulking mass of a thing in the temple was Fornrihgula,” Tresten said.

  “I did, and it is,” Altan said. “It would be better if I said that Keona as we saw her is actually a woman and Fornrihgula, two entities fused together in one body. Somehow, either all or part of his essence has been merged with what I assume is an oddly mutated Aesid. I do not understand how she is Aesid but looks to be Aenosh. However, knowing their history with experimentation on bodies, maybe they found a way to alter their genes back to how they were originally designed…”

  “Might she actually be an Aenosh?” Tresten asked.

  “I cannot say for certain,” Altan said, “but I find it extremely difficult to believe the Aesid would allow an Aenosh to rule over them.”

  “Wait a minute,” Lana said. “Before you lose me in your explanation of everything, I want to clear something up. What you are saying is you previously knew Keona not because of her, but because you recognized Fornrihgula in her, right?”

  “That is correct.”

  “So you and Fornrihgula know each other?” she asked.

  “Yes, you might say we have somewhat of a history.”

  “But I thought you said he’s been sealed away for millennia,” Selenor said, catching on to where Lana was leading. “How can you possibly know him?”

  Altan smiled. “I told you once that I am far older than I appear.”

  “But Aenosh can’t live that long, can they?” Lana asked, looking to Tresten for confirmation.

  “No way,” he said.

  “He never said he was Aenosh,” Rylek said. The others looked at him.

  All of this has been planned out, he wanted to say aloud. He was gathering the courage to do so. From Caenar’s desire for us to take our Finding together at the Sea, to Altan bringing us to Khragzul. Every step we’ve taken these last several days has been planned behind our backs and we’ve had no choice.

  “He never said he was Aenosh,” he said, anger building in him, “because he himself is an Aedaar.”

  Images of the Oathbinder and of Selenor flashed before his eyes, but he did not care. Everything has been lies to manipulate us, he thought to himself. All to play out their little game and make a power play. I’m through with it!

  Lana laughed. “Rylek, all the blows to your head must be affecting your brain. You can look at him and see he’s not an Aedaar. He doesn’t look like Fornrihgula, he looks just like us!”

  Rylek ignored her and locked eyes with Altan. “Not only are you an Aedaar, but I can guess your true name, too. Am I right, Balthantos?”

  The Oathbinder was now so pressed into his mind that an instant headache formed. His flesh grew hot, then cold, and hot again. He could feel his hands begin to shake. But he believed he had finally seen the truth for what it was. Besides, he was now convinced the Oathbinder was a prop to ensure his silence.

  I know they used it so they could enforce their own will and plans on us, he mused. They trapped me using my own fear of losing Selenor and manipulated my emotions. So whenever I’m reminded of our discussions from that cursed night, my conscience lays into me and keeps me from betraying our talk. That’s all it is, because there is no way they would allow the lives of the ones we love so dearly to be jeopardized by a slip of the tongue. And Altan is in on it too, because of the prophecies. How can I ever forgive my father? Well, I’m tired of playing willing pawn – I want answers! Confidence and wrath burned keenly within his heart.

  The others kept looking back and forth between him and Altan. But Altan smiled. “Yes, you are correct. I am an Aedaar, but Balthantos is no more my true name than Altan is. How did you know for certain that it was me?”

  But at that moment Selenor inexplicably began to make loud gasping noises. Rylek looked at her and saw she was uncontrollably suffocating. Her face turned red and then deep purple, then she fell from her stool and began writhing in pain on the floor. Her eyes went wide with fear and tears streamed down her temples into her hair. No words could escape her throat, no sound other than the frantic craze of vainly gasping for air.

  The others jumped off their stools in a panic, encircling her. Out of the corner of his eye Rylek could see Altan run away from them, but he did not watch to see where he went. He did not care.

  “What’s going on?” Lana screamed hysterically. “For the love of Mira, do something!”

  Rylek went pale and his heart stopped. Helplessly he watched the girl he loved more than anything else be punished for his foolishness. He fell at her side, one hand holding hers and the other brushing her hair. His vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. Everything else in the world was dead to him. It was only she and he, alone in that forsaken space of creation.

  “No, no!” he said. “No, I can’t! Selenor, I…”

  Blood now ran from her nostrils and ears, and her bloodshot eyes began to leak more blood from her tear ducts. Her skin was so dark it was nearly black. It would not be long before she was dead.

  “I love you, Selenor! Please forgive me, please forgive me!”

  He wept uncontrollably as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. At the touch of his lips it suddenly went limp and her body stopped writhing.

  Selenor was gone. From beginning to end it took less than thirty seconds.

  Rylek had gambled and lost. The Oathbinder was real and had bound him to his oath.

  Chapter Fifteen:

  The Touch of the Ancient

  Rylek pulled Selenor’s lifeless body tightly to his chest, embracing her back and cradling her head.

  This isn’t happening - this can’t be happening! he repeated like a mantra to himself, as though the words could reverse time. I can still save her, I will save her!

  He held her there in his own timeless universe for what felt like an eternity of hell, washing her hair and face with his tears. Nothing else mattered, for all was lost.

  Suddenly he was firmly but gently thrust aside and her body was wrested from him. “NO!” he screamed. “Let her be in peace!”

  He looked up from his blackened private world and saw her body being held in the arms of a massive winged creature that radiated so much light Rylek had to shield his eyes. She was no bigger to the creature than a doll, but the creature caressed her gently. Then a strong but warm voice radiated from it in wordless tones, and it seemed to Rylek that it was singing. As he squinted, a beam of light even brighter than the creature itself came from its head and entered Selenor’s chest. Her entire body began to glow with the light until it radiated out of her fingertips and hair, which was now softly swaying in the air as though she were submerged in water. Then, in an impossible moment that would forever cause him to tear up when he thought of it, she raised her arms.

  She’s alive! She’s alive!

  The creature gently placed her feet down and there was a tremendous flash of light so intense that Rylek buried his face in his arms. When he was able to open his eyes again, he found he was still in Altan’s cottage. Selenor stood before him, restored to her previous self, and Altan was standing behind her.

  She looked around in confusion. “That was odd - I feel like I just had a nightmare…” she started but never got to finish. Lana ran to her and nearly knocked her down with her embrace, while Tresten stumbled as though in a fog towards her. Rylek initially jumped to take her in his arms, but joy fled as guilt and shame flooded into his heart, and his feet froze in place. Shyly he looked on as the other three were locked in arms and tears. But then from the corner of his eye, he saw Altan slip silently out the door.

  ***

  He watched for several long minutes as the o
thers rejoiced in the turn of events. The longer they celebrated the worse he felt, and unconsciously he began to back away from them, as though to sever his negative aura from the air. They did not appear to notice he was not with them, which only fueled his shame and self-pity. Soon he found himself standing by the door, and wondered if he could leave without the others knowing.

  “What exactly happened?” Selenor finally asked. “All I can remember is all of us sitting around the table. Then I suddenly couldn’t breathe. It was like my lungs just stopped working. Then all went black and I felt cold and tingly, and then warm and feather-light…I’m not sure how to explain it, but it was similar to almost falling asleep. Then everything grew light and I felt something warm and inviting surround me, and a voice said to me ‘Not yet, dear child, not yet.’ Then I found myself back here with all of you.”

  “Well, what really happened was this,” Tresten said in his matter-of-fact tone. “You fell off your stool and gasped like something was blocking your trachea, and your skin turned dark. Your body was flailing all over the place. We surrounded you – though Altan wasn’t with us. I’m not sure where he went – and Rylek held you. Where did he go, anyway?” He looked around and found Rylek slinking by the door. “What are you doing over there?”

  Selenor looked at Rylek and her eyes danced. He cast his eyes to the floor and hung his head.

  “We didn’t know what to do,” Lana said. “It was the most helpless feeling in the world.”

  “Then you went limp,” Tresten continued. “We all thought you had died. But then Altan came rushing in from nowhere and took you from Rylek’s arms and said the words you heard. And here you are!”

  “Altan looked just as he always has to you all?” Rylek brought himself to ask.

  Lana and Tresten exchanged glances. “Yeah,” she said. “Why? Do you think you saw something else?”

  “It’s nothing, nevermind,” Rylek said. He looked out the window to see if he could find Altan, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  Tresten followed his gaze. “Yeah, where did he go?” he asked. “He should be in here celebrating with us.”

  They left the cottage and walked down to the stream. There they found him, submerged under the waterfall with his eyes closed.

  “What is he doing?” Lana asked. “Isn’t it kind of chilly to do that?”

  Rylek looked over his shoulder and saw the sun as it was beginning to set. It shone brilliantly on the water, and he swore Altan’s skin glowed ever so slightly in its light.

  “I think he’s resting,” Rylek said. “Let’s let him have some quiet for awhile. I have a feeling he wants to be alone.” He motioned towards the cottage. “Let’s get you all something to eat. I’m sure you’re starving.”

  They agreed this was a good plan. As they were walking, Rylek looked back to see Altan’s arms raised above his head, and a broad smile spread across his face.

  ***

  Rylek could not bring himself to eat anything. He picked at his food while the others satisfied themselves with pahrish and the other things they had packed.

  “You haven’t taken a bite. Aren’t you feeling well?” Lana asked.

  “I’m just not very hungry right now,” he said softly.

  “There’s a first,” Tresten said. “The boy with a bottomless stomach has no desire to put anything in it.”

  Rylek did not respond and it gave the room an uncomfortable feeling. The other three exchanged silent glances.

  “What’s going on, Rylek?” Lana asked.

  “Why are you being so moody lately?” Tresten said. “I wish you would stop trying to be like me.”

  Rylek’s eyes were fixed upon a spot in the wood of the table. He imagined it to be an unblinking eye piercing into his soul, exposing his foolish arrogance and reckless actions.

  “I think I’m going to go outside for awhile,” he finally said. Altan had still not come back inside, and he desperately wanted to talk to him in private.

  “Well, don’t be gone for too long,” Selenor said with sad eyes.

  Rylek’s heart weighed a ton as he left the cottage and walked down to the waterfall. Sure enough, Altan was still there, submerged under the water in complete bliss. The sun was now hidden behind the canyon walls, and the sky was turning shades of red and yellow and everything in between. He decided to sit by the streamside with some heather and wait for Altan to notice him.

  It did not take long. “Oathbinders are peculiar things, are they not?” he asked.

  Rylek was stunned. “I…I’m not sure what you mean,” he stumbled out.

  Altan walked out from under the falls and approached him. Rylek had noticed previously while they were returning to the cottage that he had looked tired. Now he understood how exhausted he must have been, for Altan looked to be a new man. He sat down next to him by the streamside.

  “It’s okay, Rylek,” he said. “I know all about it. Indeed, it was not difficult to discern from simply observing your actions and reactions, and naturally everything that just happened with Selenor.”

  “Will talking with you break my oath?”

  “Sadly, yes,” Altan said. “And I certainly do not want to go through that ordeal again. But I can talk openly with you, and as long as you do not reply to anything I say, nothing more will happen to her.”

  “You’ll forgive me if I’m a little hesitant to believe you at the moment,” Rylek said. “Selenor almost died because of my arrogance. It’s not exactly something I can just brush off like it never happened.” His head sank down into his chest.

  “That is good, because I will not always be around to save her,” Altan said. “But I must correct your thinking: she in fact did die. Her soul had fallen asleep. However, since it had just happened, I was able to awaken her soul before it entered its phase of permanent deep slumber, from which only The One could have woken her. If I had waited mere seconds longer I would have been too late.”

  “Then why did you leave if you knew she was dying?”

  “I knew I did not have it within me to help her at that moment,” Altan said. “Going without the light of the sun for the majority of the day drained me, and the water of the stream magnifies the sunlight’s potency. I stood here beneath the waterfall for as long as I dared before returning, praying it was enough to restore her.”

  “But you did all of that in so little time…”

  “This old body can move very quickly when it needs to,” Altan said smiling.

  “So why did you do it?” Rylek asked, looking up into his eyes. “What do you gain by bringing her back?”

  Altan studied him for a few seconds. “I’m not sure you would believe me if I told you,” he finally said. “It might make you a little uncomfortable.”

  “These last few days have been filled with everything but comfort,” Rylek said. “Try me.”

  A long sigh escaped Altan’s lips. He looked up and away from Rylek. “I do not exactly know everything you were told, but I can certainly guess Caenar was leading the discussion. And I can assume what the theme of that talk was. And because you have correctly guessed my Aedaaric name, I will also presume you know of my prophesies.”

  Rylek answered with silence.

  “Ah yes, let me guess,” Altan said. “Did it go something like this?

  “In those days she shall strive with great labor pains;

  Under the full light of Nevarra and Pelanna shall come forth brothers:

  One of the Dawn, one of the Twilight…”

  Rylek remained silent.

  Altan shook his head. “I do not understand why they would tell you this - not at this stage, anyway. I cannot bear to think the pressure they have placed upon you. I am so sorry, Rylek.”

  Rylek merely shrugged.

  “I know more of your destiny than they do,” Altan said. “And though that specific prophecy does not really touch on it, the fates of the four of you are woven so tightly together that there is nothing any of you can do to alter what has been foreseen.
”

  “So is it true about…?” Rylek started to ask but held his tongue. “I mean, about everyone? And how does Celek figure into all of this?”

  Altan studied him again. “It is unfortunate they have divulged so much information to you. How you have managed to keep these things hidden from your friends is a testament to your resolution of character. The weight of the turmoil you carry must be tremendous.”

  “I make do.”

  “You never cease to amaze me,” Altan said, shaking his head. “I want you to know that I have been, and always shall be on your side. I will do all within my powers to aid you however you need me.”

  A sudden thought struck Rylek. “Since Selenor already technically died, are you sure the Oathbinder will still hold me to my oath?”

  “She is alive again, is she not?”

  Rylek hung his head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I thought I knew, I thought I…” He drifted off. “I know nothing,” he said softly.

  “You’re a wiser man for realizing that now at this stage of your life,” Altan said. “You now see far clearer than you did just minutes ago. Nothing worthwhile has truly been lost.”

  Rylek stared off into space. Despite Altan’s words, he felt the crushing weight of shame settle on his shoulders again, and naturally he began to disconnect from the conversation. He wanted to be alone, though he did not want to offend Altan, so he sat silently for a few minutes.

  Altan did not seem to take the hint. Together they sat side by side in the grass as the sky grew darker and the first stars appeared. The air was cool and refreshingly light, and Rylek felt soothed as he inhaled it deeply into his lungs. Over the course of the past few weeks his world had been completely destroyed and replaced by a far darker and hideous thing that held too many venomous secrets. He was tired of hearing about fates and destinies and wanted to live life on his own: a quiet peaceful life far from the worries and stresses of politics and vengeance.