The Woodland Tombs of Eliantar

by Gary Gaugler, Jr

Chapter 7

  A few days after Vale had told his brother and his bodyguard about Sorpa Veneficus, the suns came out once more and almost immediately all of the snow and ice that covered Eliantar began to melt. It was the day after the thaw that Vale and Ara decided it would be best to depart.

  “I think you should both travel with me by carriage,” Prode had suggested, eyeing Ara up and down. “After all, we’re both traveling to Tacia. I could use the company and it will be safer to travel in a group.”

  “For the last time, we’re going on foot, Prode,” Vale had repeated. “It’s important that we not make a spectacle of my absence from the castle. I don’t need any citizens wondering where I am and I certainly don’t want them to know the name Sorpa Veneficus until we have proven that she is responsible for all of this.”

  After Prode left, it was Forr’s turn to be a distraction. He sorely wanted to go along with Vale, and begged until finally the Prince conceded. It was after all Forr’s job to advise the Prince in all of his doings. Vale had relented out of pity more than Forr’s usefulness. He didn’t want to be cruel, but lately with the old man’s powers slipping in and out, he hated to risk being slowed down.

  And so early one morning the three travelers walked out of the castle and through Castle Village before the townspeople had risen. They had chuckled at themselves as they left, since their current dress didn’t match their titles. Ara wore a long, dirty looking poncho along with a brown scarf that covered the lower part of his face. Vale, on the other hand, wore a blue scarf that covered his lower face. His shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a ponytail and tucked under his scarf, as it was only for the wealthy to have such long hair. He wore a dark blue cloak that covered him from neck to feet. Vale and Ara had truly succeeded in looking every bit the part of paupers.

  Only Forr remained not amused with his current appearance. He prided himself on his golden robes and looked completely miserable in his tattered rags. This only served to make Ara and Vale laugh more.

  They exited together through the large city gates and looked out at the endless fields of crops and flowers that lay before them. Without a pause they continued walking towards the South.

  “We’ll probably want to head west after a while,” Ara suggested. “I’ve spent a lot of time in some of the villages outside of Tacia and there are more of them outside the northern borders rather than the southern ones. We’ll be able to eat and rest there.”

  “That’s exactly why we’re heading south for right now,” Vale insisted. “We want to avoid as many towns and people as possible. Ara, it’s deadly important that we don’t get recognized so I’d like to avoid stopping in any of the cities. And please don’t be confused about my knowledge of Eliantar’s geography. I’ve spent more time touring this country than I have living the royal life in Ivory Towers.”

  Ara dropped his head and felt a twinge of hurt. It seemed like all that he suggested to Prince Vale in the last week was either replied with a pretentious smile or a rude disagreement. It was a sharp contrast from the kind man the Prince was prior. He began to realize why he had never allowed himself to become attracted to another before, it was too much work. When Ara raised his head again, he saw that Vale was several paces ahead of him.

  “Hey! Slow down!” he called out as he jogged to catch up to Prince Vale.

  “This isn’t a vacation or a casual nature walk, Ara,” Vale snapped. “It’s very important to me that we end this quickly. We must find Sorpa and get to the bottom of this before things get worse.”

  They walked in silence for several hours through the grassy fields. As the suns raised high in the sky, Vale suggested they stop at a nearby orchard for a little break and some lunch. Forr, who had been walking a distance behind them, sat and ate away from Ara and Vale. He claimed being isolated helped tune his powers and seemed to be deep in concentration.

  Ara was thrilled to be eating, he’d become concerned that with all of Vale’s determination, he wouldn’t allow any stops for food or relaxing. As they sat and ate, Ara kept stealing glances at Vale and wondered why he was attracted to him. The young man sat eating a single pear with a look of misery on his face.

  “I should apologize for my sour spirits as of late,” Vale mumbled quietly. “I’m not usually this nasty or on edge. I realize that I haven’t been making things easy.”

  Ara looked up a bit surprised at Vale being the first to start a conversation. He didn’t know what to say since it was as though the Prince had read Ara’s mind. The look on Vale’s face was impossible to read. He looked as though he were about to break down but was determined to stay as stony as possible.

  “I don’t think you’re acting so terribly,” Ara began, thinking before he spoke. “I have to say that I don’t think this cold persona that you’ve taken on is really you at all. I suppose that’s the way you have to be if you want to be a king or queen.”

  “I don’t want to be a king,” Vale chuckled. “And my mother was never cold a day in her life. She was the kindest and wisest woman that most people could ever hope to meet. We only ever disagreed when it came to me being King one day.”

  “What do you mean? Of course you want to be a king. You can have whatever you want and respect from every Elite in the land.”

  “When you say respect, do you refer to the kind that gets arrows launched at you?”

  They both had a light chuckle, but Ara stopped immediately. He could tell this was weighing heavily on Vale.

  “When you’re born into wealth in a fantastic home you…rebel against it in a way. Most people would love to be a prince, but not I. When I was old enough, I got away whenever I could, taking trips and sleeping underneath the stars. So many times I would fall asleep pretending that I was a nomad with nowhere to go.”

  “You can’t run from responsibility, Your Highness.”

  “And what are you doing, Ara? We’ve heard so little about your past before Forr asked you to become a hunter for the castle. Are you not running yourself from responsibility?”

  Ara said nothing in response. He had ended up here on a whim and accepted a post that he didn’t particularly want. He certainly wasn’t going to be forced to have a conversation that he didn’t want to have.

  “And I take some offense that anyone would assume that I run from responsibility,” Vale went on. “It had nothing to do with responsibility or prestige. When a person becomes the King or Queen, they lose the life that is theirs. Outside the castle it’s easy for a citizen to imagine a glamorous life, but it is the life of a slave with the rest of your moments planned out for you. It is not the life that I wanted. I want to live my own life and I feel guilty that my mother and I fought so often about that.”

  A single tear rolled down Vale’s right cheek. Ara sat in complete silence. He didn’t know if he should try and comfort the Crown Prince or if he should simply mind his own business.

  “I suppose it’s just been a very stressful couple of months,” Vale continued. I just feel a little lost with Mother being dead and then being thrust into this position that I feel I am not cut out for. It’s overwhelming, that’s all.”

  They ate the rest of their lunch in silence. Neither knew what to say and the tension was obvious. When they had finished they rose and walked out of the orchard continuing south with Forr a distance behind them, rubbing his temples and muttering to himself.

  “If we go the way that I have planned,” Vale started. “We should only be traveling two and a half days. I hope you don’t mind avoiding all roads and sleeping under the stars, since we won’t be passing any towns.”

  “Not at all. I spent several nights sleeping under the stars while I was pursuing Scurus Subo and of course the ten years before that.”

  “Of course! Odd how quickly one forgets the kindness of strangers,” Vale laughed.

  “I hope you don’t still see me as a stranger, at least not after the past month, Ara said.”


  “That’s the problem with Eliantar, you know” Vale complained, ignoring Ara’s comment. “Let’s say you come into a person’s life and you give them 100 rubies, but then the next day you steal 25 rubies worth of food from their cupboards, which do you think that person will remember most about you?”

  “Well that’s easy. They’d remember me stealing,” Ara replied without a second thought.

  “That’s exactly my point. No matter all the positive things you do for another, if you do one bad thing, that will be what lives in memory. It’s really pathetic and it’s as though we have no recognition of good anymore.”

  “I think you’re making it a bit worse than it is,” encouraged Ara. “I mean there are still plenty of good people out there making the right choices.”

  Vale waved him away, “I’m just trying to say that I won’t forget that you tracked the man that tried to kill me. It was a truly selfless act and when all of this is over, you shall be rewarded.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I haven’t had the desire to possess large amounts of money at all my whole life.”

  Vale smiled and nodded. It was clear to Ara that he appreciated being with someone else who did not worship riches.

  “As I had said before I am no stranger to spending my nights under the stars. Ever since my mother died, I haven’t felt at home anywhere, so I just travel the countryside and work where I can so I have enough money to eat. I’m not interested in more money than that. I’ve grown terribly accustomed to sleeping out in fields and forests, watching the stars.”

  “How did your mother die, if you don’t mind my asking?” Vale inquired with some nervousness in his voice.

  “She caught the Iniquitous Virus,” Ara said looking down. “She never told any of her friends, just kept her distance so no one else would get sick. She hid the symptoms so one day she was fine and then she was dead. I had found a job and saved up enough money to buy a small cottage of my own just down the street from my mother. I was so excited to tell her,” he began to trail off.

  “That was when I found her. She was lying in bed, completely white and unmoving. I just couldn’t stay there any longer. I’ve been on the road ever since. She was the only one that I ever had…I never knew my father.”

  “Who does? Almost no one knows both of their parents. Procreation is just a form of slavery to keep the Elite race going.”

  “That’s not true!” Ara said in shock.

  “Yes it is. We’re homosexual by nature but of course we can’t have children naturally. Paying a poor member of the opposite sex to provide us with a child and then to disappear forever is just a way to keep those with noble blood feeling like they’ll live on forever. Our race goes on because of arrogance. The poor people make deals amongst themselves to have children only out of necessity, unless they’re unlucky enough to be heterosexual. They reach out to their neighbor to help them bring a child into the world to run their farms when they’re no longer able to while the wealthy have children to pass on their infinite wealth. It’s all about money, while those without are left to do what is necessary to survive.”

  Vale had a point. In general, children were born either as symbols of wealth or as a necessary evil to keep up the hard work that kept their aging mother or father fed. It was a cynical approach, but it was truthful.

  “My mother’s name was Jenneka. She was a beautiful, petite woman with long black hair and a magnificent spirit. She had only lived 44 years before she got…sick.”

  “Got sick with what?” Ara asked quietly.

  “She…um…” Vale choked. “Oddly enough, she also became infected with the Iniquitous Virus.

  “What?!” gasped Ara. “That’s not possible. They wiped out that out completely a few years ago. Even when my mother had it, they had a cure for those wealthy enough to afford it.”

  “It’s more obvious than ever that you’ve never been to Castle Village before,” Vale snapped. “We had a resurgence in our area recently. No one saw it coming. They had no cure ready for it.”

  The Prince dropped the heavy bag he was carrying and waved to Forr. He was apparently done walking for the day.

  “It’s nearly dark,” he grumbled not looking up. We should make camp here, while we’re completely surrounded by fields.”

  They didn’t speak as they spent the next hour unpacking their bags and kindling a small fire. When they were both done, they lied on opposite sides of the fire staring at the sky. Forr had already gone to sleep away from the fire. Being so old, the day’s journey had been hard on him. The stars had speckled the sky the moment both suns set. It was a perfectly clear night and both could see the millions of lights spread across the black sky. After what seemed like an eternity, Vale spoke.

  “I miss my mother so much. Your mother sounded lovely and you must miss her terribly.”

  Ara was glad that the ice had broken once more. He always felt so torn with the Crown Prince. Deep down he knew that Vale was a kind, sensitive man, but the walls that he had built up made it near impossible to get to him.

  “Apology accepted,” Ara whispered back. “I know it must be very hard for you, with your mother passing so recently. I remember how hard it was for me. I still don’t feel that I’ve completely accepted it and it happened ten years ago. I’m sorry that she became ill after the world assumed it was dead and gone.”

  Vale sat up and looked at Ara. I haven’t been completely honest with you Ara and I really should be.”

  Ara sat up too, looking anxiously at the Prince. “I want you to be honest as well. My job is to protect you. Please don’t keep secrets from me.”

  “My mother killed herself,” Vale began. “She had been sick for a few months but always remained very optimistic. She was sure that they would find a cure and everything would be alright. Then one day, after being in the market, I’d come home and she was gone. Forr had a sense that all was not right and ran to the throne room to advise my mother and found that the large colored glass window behind the throne had been shattered.”

  Vale began weeping and Ara sat in silence, again unsure of what to say or do to improve the situation. After a moment and a drink of water Vale continued, though still unable to look Ara in the eye.

  “I’ve never shown you the throne room or even been in there myself since then. I do all business in the Regulation Committee room. Even though they fixed the window all I can picture…”

  “I don’t understand. What happened?”

  “It seems that Mother, for some reason that only she’ll ever know, threw herself out of the window, onto the briar patch twelve stories down.”

  Ara got up from where he sat and sat next to Vale, wrapping a muscular arm around the Prince’s shoulders. Vale turned and cried into his new friend’s shoulder.

  “No one outside the castle ever heard that story before,” he continued to sob. “The official story is that she died unexpectedly and the gossip is that she succumbed to the Iniquitous Virus, but no one suspects what really happened. It’s been killing me ever since it happened. My mother was never sad a day in her life. Then for some reason she kills herself. How do you ever explain or recover from an event like that?”

  The two fell asleep just like that. Vale, with his head buried in Ara’s shoulder sobbing himself to sleep and Ara consoling the handsome young man who had finally opened up to him. As Ara’s eyes closed, all he could think of was how sad he felt for the Prince to have to carry such a burden.

  Ara shut his eyes and took a few breaths preparing for slumber when he felt a hand move from his shoulder down to his chest. His whole body tensed as the hand slowly traced light circles all along his muscular torso. His eyes shot open as he realized Vale couldn’t be doing this in his sleep.

  In the dim light from the dying fire, Ara could see Vale still lying on his shoulder staring at him with a look in his eyes that Ara had never seen the young Prince have before.

 
Slowly Vale sat up and swung his right leg over Ara. He leaned down and exhaled his hot breath into Ara’s ear, who remained unable to say or do a thing.

  “I’ve been treating you poorly,” Vale breathed still staring at his friend with a smolder. “I’m going to make up for that now as long as it’s okay with you.”

  When Ara said nothing, Vale again placed his hand on Ara’s chest and began caressing slowly downward. Ara gasped as Vale’s hand found his throbbing warmth and grasped it with determination. With a smile of lust Vale bent slowly forward, closing his eyes and preparing to place his soft lips against Ara’s.

  Ara snapped upright with a start. He looked around and felt his hopes crash to the floor as he took in the daylight. It had only been a dream he realized when he saw Vale and Forr were already up and packing both of their bags. The first sun hung in the sky warming the rough ground that Ara lay upon.

  “Are you alright?” Vale asked smiling briefly at Ara. “You look as though you were kicked in the chest just now. We need to move on. We’re already behind schedule and need to catch up.”

  With a groan of disgust Ara rose to his feet and took his bag. He tried his best to smile back at Vale and not imagine what his lips felt like or what his body would’ve looked like as his clothes were ripped from his body.

  Forr was reclusive again this morning. He was polite enough but wasn’t anxious to stay too close to the men. Ara knew without asking that no further premonitions had come to Forr, even after a full day and night of concentrating.

  A few minutes later they were walking again towards the South. Ara had noticed a slight change in Vale. Perhaps he had begun to crack through some of the thick mental barriers that the Prince had erected. In place of the short, stern demands that Prince Vale used to make, were kinder exchanges. The two were finally getting along and Ara was pleased. They had more in common than either of them originally believed.

  After a few hours, they reached the end of the fields of crops and flowers and began to cross open plains. For as far as their eyes could see was nothing but emerald green grass. It wasn’t long, however, before Ara noticed a man crossing the grasslands toward them.

  “This is not good,” Vale said. “We have worked so hard to avoid any other Elites. We should divert our path a bit. We don’t want to enter into any unnecessary conversations.”

  It was a loss. No matter how they tried to veer away, the man was continuing to come toward them.

  “Hello there,” he called and the two stopped in their tracks with Forr still a ways back.

  “Let me do the talking,” Vale whispered. “Please don’t say anything. I’ll take care of this.”

  “I’m so sorry to bother you gentlemen,” the man began. “But, I felt it would be important to warn you as one traveler to another.”

  Ara looked the man up and down. He looked utterly ridiculous. He wore billowing robes of a deep purple color and a veil that covered the lower portion of his face. He was dressed far too regally for a traveler. Perhaps he was a noble of some kind, judging by the elegant robes as well as the long, sleek, black hair that was tied back. He looked to be about forty years of age and seemed to be an attractive man, if not for the over-the-top way he presented himself.

  “Please go on,” Vale told the man, making an effort to disguise his voice.

  “I must warn you about dangers present in Quale and urge you not to go there.”

  Vale breathed a sigh of relief, “Quale is not our destination, but if I may be so bold, what is going on in Quale?”

  His eyes looked frantically around, “I’ve never before seen a place so beautiful, so filled with evil. There is dark magic there now and…something else. I know I must sound crazy, but I tell you swearing to the gods that the dead walk in Quale.”

  Ara and Vale exchanged a quick, worried glance before Vale looked back.

  “Well, sir” Vale said with a slight chuckle. “Whether we believe that or not, Quale is not our destination, but we thank you for the warning.”

  The strange man nodded his head and walked on towards the North, his plum robes flowing behind him. Ara and Vale walked for several moments without speaking. Forr remained oblivious to what had transpired. There was almost no reason to speak, for they both knew that a change of plans had occurred and where they were headed.

  “Why are we changing direction?” Forr asked.

  “There’s been a change of plans, Forr” Vale answered. “Sorpa Veneficus is in Quale.”

  “There was an odd vibe about that man,” Forr mumbled. “I sensed something…”

  But, Vale and Ara were already several paces ahead and Forr shook his head and began to follow.