The Legacy of Gaea Volume I: The Underworld

by S L Gassick

  Aslo started laughing nervously. “That’s impossible! Well it wasn’t my key! I sleep with them around me waist. Only I can copy them as well so I’d know who would have one. They have to be done right you see, can’t just take them to the local key cutter or grafter!”

  This wasn’t adding up. Aslo could not be this stupid to let this go had he committed the crime. Was he maybe toying with him? Perhaps he was cleverer than he lets on? Milius took a deep sigh and decided he would talk to Theus at a later date about this.

  “Thanks Aslo, you’ve helped a lot. See you soon.” Milius stood up and went to walk out the door; he could feel Aslo breathing heavily, in fear most likely. Milius guessed that perhaps the trouble he could be in had suddenly started dawning on him and stood in silence. Milius felt a pang of pity for the caretaker and the tension in the air was that only of stifled crying. Milius paused a moment, wondering whether to say something. Instead he left the room.

  As Milius walked away from Aslo, he tried to put together the pieces in his mind. Something didn’t add up and it was frustrating him. He did not like it when there was something he could not accomplish and he wanted to impress Theus more than anything. He decided to see Cyrene in the hope that she would be able to give him a missing piece of the puzzle, something he perhaps wasn’t seeing.

  Just as Milius began to head towards her classroom, his name was shouted from behind him. Milius turned to see the man with the eye-patch walking up the corridor, the light glinting off the metal attached to his body. The same man who had watched Nayakax fight in the courtyard.

  “Colum, what can I do for you?” Milius asked politely. Colum was renowned for his field experience within the Knights of Gaea but yet had an air of mystery about him. He was never seen socially and seemed to only care solely about his work, never talking of women, hobbies or anything that did not involve killing.

  There were also many rumours about the man, some told of his horribly scarred body that he covers up, some of his merciless blood lust when he fights and some that his kyu was more powerful than any other Knight in the Valhalla. None of which Milius cared for, as he had fought alongside the man before and found him to be a mean, selfish, patronising and uptight person, albeit a tough warrior. In spite of this, Milius greeted him with a smile and handshake.

  “Any news of this mole?” Colum asked.

  “I have some leads, yes.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Well…” Milius sighed and looked into Colum’s eyes. He realised there was no way he could get around this. He told Colum all he had found out in one go, Colum listening intently to what he was saying and nodding frequently. He did not speak until Milius had finished.

  “Well it is clear what you must do! I take it that is where you are going?”

  “What do you mean?” Milius asked.

  “It is the Titan retard, Aslo. It is he who has stolen the Kalad. It seems as if he even steals the food from the children at night by the sounds of it! We must arrest him straight away.” Colum turned to walk off.

  “No… wait! Wait, Colum!” Milius stopped him and pulled him back round, much to Colum’s disgust. “We don’t know for sure. I believe Aslo is innocent or at least has been duped in some way. He would not do such a thing.”

  “Either way, he must be holding out on some vital information. I will get it out of him, leave this to me Milius.”

  “But I can …”

  “Leave this… to me.” Colum stared deep into Milius’s eyes, warning him off. Milius nodded and let Colum go. He sighed watching the large man walk off with purpose and started thinking of what he could do to help Aslo. First thing was to get Cyrene to assist him, he felt he could trust her.

  He walked a little further and looked into the window at the door of her bright white, clean classroom and saw her there, full of colour, rifling through papers. She looked beautiful in the light of the sun, strands of hair flowing meekly in front of her face and her foot tapping against the chair leg ever so tenderly. Milius took a breath and went inside.

  “By Gaea!” Cyrene jumped and clutched her heart as she immediately tried to calm herself down realising it was Milius. “Don’t creep up on me like that! What is it?”

  “It’s Aslo, Colum is going to arrest him on information I told him about the mole. But I believe the poor caretaker is innocent.”

  “That Colum! He’s such a jobsworth!” Cyrene sighed, “How would Aslo be mixed up in all of this? He doesn’t even have time to meet anyone of the Dark Clans even if he wanted to. He knows of no life outside the Valhalla!”

  “That’s what I thought. I was wondering if you’d help me. It is too much to do this and organise a plan of attack at the same time. I need someone I can trust and, well, we’ve been friends for so long, I thought …”

  “But it sounds as if you’ve already got help.”

  “Colum? He does not have the brains to see a set-up. He only thinks by the rulebook. Nothing more.”

  “Well, seeing as you asked so nicely then I will.”

  “Thank you Cyrene,” he smiled. She smiled back. She knew he didn’t really need her help, but she didn’t want to admit that to herself just yet.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “I am bored, bored, bored,” Shui sighed as he made his dark purple kyu jump eagerly between his fingertips as if it were a waterdance in a fountain.

  He looked up from his desk within the cold dungeon chamber and stared at his new Delay. Delay’s head had rolled onto its side and just stared back at his master. His breathing sounded painful and one of his eyes kept rolling seemingly loose in his skull.

  “Tell me Delay,” Shui began, “do you hate me for what I did to you?”

  Delay quivered slightly. His breathing started to have a slight rasp to it and he wondered whether his Master was trying to trick him. In any case, Delay thought back to what Master could mean, but his brain started to hurt the further back he tried to remember.

  He started to remember a past life when he was a young Knight of Gaea from a distant Valhalla, the name of which eluded him. Then he recalled the first time he saw his Master. It was through a window. Why was he spying on him? He thought harder and remembered the feeling of excitement and adrenaline. That was it. He had been sent to kill Shui.

  Only now could he just about remember the night. It [DG22]was dark and musty. There was a surprising lack of people around until he realised there was some kind of festivity occurring within the Dark Clans. The guards were drunk and merry. Having easily penetrated the enemy wall without alerting anyone, he had killed the guard stationed at the left of Shui’s manor by twisting the man’s neck. Slowly, he had crept up[DG23] to a window with a light on and when he looked in, he saw a bunch of decapitated bodies huddled in one of the corners. It looked like a messy pile of bloody clothes until he could make out faces and limbs. Then from behind a sofa that was facing the door opposite, a head was thrown. As it lay still in front of the window, the young Knight saw a pale, horrid example of what used to be a face. Twisted and gruesome, it’s final moments not without pain. He ducked [DG24]and bent over retching, but quickly gained control over himself. As he slowly rose and looked back up, Shui was staring right at him from the window, smiling. It was then that he was grabbed from behind and fell unconscious.

  “Delay?” Shui asked again, “did you not hear me?” Shui made his kyu stop dancing.

  “Forgive me, Sir. Why would I hate you?” Delay replied.

  “For what I did. Keeping you alive hundreds of years to torture you, break you, make you mine. Are there no people you miss?” Shui asked spitefully.

  “If I did, it would be useless Sir for they would be dead,” Delay answered monotonously.

  “Ah! Quite right. Well I guess it would not be me you’d be angry at, for I was your enemy and you should have expected it from me somewhat. But not your superiors.” Shui took a sip of water as he toyed with his servant.

  “Sorry, Sir. I do not understand.”

  �
�Ah! Sorry. I usually wait years until I break this news to my Delays but I’m so bored and yet so excited about the war that I feel like a giddy child! Every now and then, when I feel like I might need a new Delay, or just to have a few on standby, I am able to get certain people in charge to send me young Knights such as you.”

  Delay’s head rocked back in shock. He had to move it to its side and steady it again before he could carry on. “You had dealings with my superiors? At the Valhalla? They knew what would happen to me?”

  “Not all of them. Just one. I forget who yours was it was so long ago. You all look the same anyway. Scabs, scars and wounds don’t differ so much. And yes it wasn’t a whole group of them! Anyone else would have sent you on good faith. Well, do you hate me?”

  Delay paused. He was nothing but a shadow of his former self, a tortured beast humiliated and unrecognisable as what once was a human. Something that had been broken that would see slavery as a godsend from the torturous hell they were used to.

  “No Sir. I do not hate you,” he answered.

  “Good, good. Now go get me another glass of water! I’ll be talking with the Queen soon.”

  Delay walked out of the room and down the hallway. But with every step, something bubbled beneath him that he hadn’t felt for hundreds of years. And it scared him.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Hemero felt like he was wandering in a desert being led by sheer thirst. He felt the heat beating down on him, the noises of things that didn’t really exist banging in his ears. Instead it was the tall, thin man who had saved him called Lirilius. The stranger had dark, pockmarked skin and must have been no more than forty. His hair was long and black and he had a strange tattoo covering his right eye; it looked like someone had spilt ink there and it had run to his cheek.

  As Lirilius took him around the village, Hemero realised he had spent a long time sitting in shock, as there was now a calm over the village and the sun was beginning to rise. The man holding his hand was talking to him, but he was not listening. Instead, the faces of misery, grief and despair etched on every villager’s face filled his mind, they imprinted themselves within him. After some time walking, Hemero saw Phin run out of a nearby house and hug him.

  “Hemy! You made it! Where were you?”

  “I was…” Hemy found that he could not finish the sentence, Phin immediately saw something was wrong and decided to break the awkward silence. “Naya is in the square, he is being celebrated as a hero. He saved nineteen people last night!”

  Hemero took a deep sigh and hung his head as he followed Phin to the square.

  “So, you know this hero [DG25]everyone is talking about?” Lirilius asked.

  “Yes, sir.” Hemero answered.

  The man nodded his head. As they were walking, Phin thought he’d better fill Hemero in on what Nayakax did.

  “… and then he jumped over two houses and landed in a nearby field with both of the old women!” Phin smiled and waited for a reaction.

  Hemero turned with an icy glare that made all three of them stop in their tracks. “And what did you do Phin?” Hemero asked, thrusting his finger into Phin’s chest hard enough to leave a bruise. “Why haven’t you said how you helped? Did you sit in the corner crying for your mummy or your brother to help you? Did you just run and hide and wait until we did everything? Did you watch someone die Phin, knowing there was nothing you could do, because you didn’t do anything?!”

  Phin just stood there staring back at Hemero. His face growing paler as Hemero’s eyes stared straight at him.

  “That’s enough, young man,” Lirilius piped in, pulling them apart.

  They all walked together towards the main square where already cheering and loud singing could be heard from the local villagers. The buildings were left in tatters and there was a strong smell of smoke still hanging in the air and, worse, death.

  In the middle of the square, atop a large bearded man’s shoulders, sat Nayakax with a hint of a smile drawn on his face as everybody praised him and tried to shake his hand. Hundreds had gathered that were still able to walk, most covered in soot and with blood over their cheap, tattered clothes. The other three stood outside the crowd watching the commotion.

  Lirilius turned to an old man stooped over beside him and asked what was going on.

  “A young hero,” replied the old man, “he has come from the local Valhalla to save us from the Undead. People are saying he might be Gaea reincarnate!”

  “Nonsense,” Lirilius suddenly snapped back, “Gaea would have nothing to do with the Dark Clans, it’s as clear as day he is one of them.”

  Hemero suddenly kept completely still. How did Lirilius know Nayakax might be from the Dark Clans? Was it that obvious? Does he already know for sure?

  “The… Dark Clans?” The old man suddenly started trembling over the words tumbling out of his mouth.

  “I am certain, old man. Just look at him. I can see a member of the Dark Clans from anywhere… having once been part of them myself, you know.”

  Lirilius took Phin and Hemero in each hand and led them to the middle of the square. The old man was left still second guessing whether his hearing had finally gone.

  As they approached the square, Nayakax got down and walked up to the others. Hemero was visibly angry but Phin had a big grin on his face. Naya looked up to see who they were standing with and felt a shudder as he suddenly caught Lirilius’s gaze. Phin went to speak, but Nayakax interrupted him.

  “Who is this stranger?” he asked coldly. So much so, the other villagers suddenly fell in silence as they looked on.

  “I am Lirilius. Former Knight of Gaea, Son of… Lithius,” the last word spoken as if it had a sour taste on his tongue.

  “Lithius? Then we are kindred.”

  “Perhaps. I wondered whether you might think that. Though I have no tie to your family.”

  “Or I yours, Sir. But my father tells me that Lithius was our saviour, he is the one who brought us together.”

  “Your father is a liar, young man.”

  Nayakax took a step forward but Lirilius put his hands up [DG26]and said quietly. “I do not mean to offend you, young man. But do not believe everything your parents tell you, you must make your own judgements. I am aware of your father and who he is, and I can also imagine he told you never to speak Lithius’s name outside the household. Maybe you should honour this.”

  Nayakax backed down. “That’s true. How do you know of this?”

  Lirilius leaned into Nayakax and whispered, “we will talk. But not now.”

  The boy nodded in agreement and suddenly addressed everyone watching them as the crowd had began to murmur and were wondering what was happening.

  “I apologise for my behaviour. We had a little misunderstanding!” he boomed across the crowd. He looked in Hemero’s direction merely to gloat. Nayakax hated talking in front of large crowds but was adoring the spotlight, or at least pretending to, just to wind Hemero up. “For those who do not know, this is Lirilius. He is the real hero, having given up his knighthood to help everyone here!”

  Lirilius shot him a fierce look. Nayakax only then realised Lirilius would now have known they’d been spying on him. It also didn’t help the confidential nature of their mission. There were some mutterings. “This is why I don’t do things like this!” Nayakax thought as he prepared to cover his tracks. “To venture the roads wherever it may lead him and help those whose paths he does cross! The… Wandering Hero!”

  Nayakax turned to Lirilius with an apologetic face and then bowed to the villagers who cheered him, some clearly still confused with what just happened.

  “Do what urgent work we can now,” the bearded man who had carried Nayakax spoke out in a loud booming voice, “for tonight we feast in celebration of our friends from across the hills!” The crowd cheered as everyone smiled. Apart from Hemero who remained completely silent. He did not move save to stare at Nayakax.

  “Where is Rose?” Nayakax turned round and asked.

&n
bsp; “Why? Missing her?” Hemero sneered. Nayakax ignored the comment and turned to Phin.

  “She’s inside the medical housing here, she’s helping the injured.”

  They all walked to what looked like a village meeting room and it seemed to be the largest place that hadn’t been burnt down. Half of the outer wall had, however, collapsed revealing the horrors of what lay inside.

  Men and women were running to and from make-shift beds bringing water and trying to ease the agony of the wounded. On first appearance, there didn’t seem like there was any structure to what was going on, but yet there was definitely an air of organised chaos.

  At the far end of the hall, where most of the people and noise was coming from, the others could see Rose looking tired and drawn, her kyu a mere dim glow rather than the burning white light they had seen before.

  They walked up to her and Hemero took her by the hand, “you have to stop, Rose,” he insisted, “you look like you’re about to faint.” Then suddenly, as if awaiting permission, she collapsed into him.

  The crowds started to panic slightly and Phin once again took control as Lirilius picked up the young girl and carried her outside to sit her down somewhere calm.

  Rose opened her eyes slightly to see Lirilius looking at her, searching her face as if there might be an apparent wound that could be healed. “Naya…” she murmured and closed her eyes once more. Hemero and Nayakax looked at each other briefly before they noticed Lirilius had stood up and started walking away.

  “Where are you going?” Hemero shouted after him.

  “To find her a bed, she will rest for the remainder of the day, like the rest of us.”

  The two boys stood silently over Rose for a few minutes.

  “What happened to you, Hemy?” Nayakax asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what did you do last night? Rose helped out, even Phin who hates getting into bother put in his bit, yet you seemed to disappear. What happened?”