Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  “FABLE? BREAKFAST! NOW!” Florelle shouted from behind the counter. She walked over to where they were sitting and said, “Breakfast will be with you in a mo’, me darlings.” She then disappeared through the door behind the counter with the still cooing Raetheon in her hand.

  Before the door had a chance to close, Fable emerged through it with another steaming cauldron and brought it over. Joshua half expected him to throw it down in front of them and storm off, but instead he gently placed it on the table.

  He brought them each a bowl and spoon and laid these out neatly on the table too. He ladled each bowl full with the steaming soup and looked at them each in turn.

  “Eat yer Twiggling broth, then,” he said, sneering at them with a scrunched-up face. “Yer’ll be wanting a good breakfast inside before yer’s head out again.” With that, he nodded and left to tend to some of the other Traders.

  “Blimey,” Andrew said picking up a spoon and staring at the cauldron of broth. “He’s in a good mood today.”

  “Good for him, at least,” Galleon retorted. “That man has less charm than a Wood-boar that died of unnatural causes.”

  “You heard what Florelle said last night,” Sarah scolded. “You’d be angry too if the only thing you knew for certain was how you were going to die.”

  Andrew and Galleon lowered their heads and tucked into the delicious Twiggling broth. Everyone had two more helpings, and the cauldron was all but empty by the time they had eaten their fill.

  “Can you tell me more about the Goat?” Joshua asked Galleon.

  “The Goat?” Sarah asked. “Who’s that?”

  “He’s pure evil,” Galleon grumbled. “He’s an all-powerful, all-magical creature who likes to torment people for the sheer fun of it. Nobody knows where He comes from or where He hides, but He’s said to have many magical powers. Within days, he wiped out my entire race.”

  Galleon peered glumly into his empty bowl. Before he could tell them anything more, Fable came back over to their table. To everyone’s amazement, he dragged a stool over from the empty table next to them and took a seat.

  “How’s yer Twiggling broth?” he asked with a gruff tone.

  “It was lovely,” Sarah replied. “Were those Twiggling roots I could taste?”

  Fable turned to frown at her. “Of course you could taste Twiggling roots,” he said, raising his voice. “What else d’yer expect to find in Twiggling broth?”

  He then looked over each shoulder before leaning in to say something. The others all leaned in too.

  “I ‘ear you are heading to the Valley of Moross,” he whispered. “Reckon you’d like to know what yer future holds,” he added in an even quieter voice, leaning in further. Checking once more over each shoulder, he pulled out from under his apron a bundle wrapped in cloth and laid on the table in front of him. They all leaned in some more and peered at it.

  “What’s that?” Joshua asked in a whisper.

  Fable unwrapped the cloth to reveal a mirror. It was about the size of a hand, oval in shape with a short, wooden handle. Strange markings circled the edge.

  “This ‘ere…is the Mirror of Prophecy,” Fable whispered.

  “The Mirror of Prophecy?” Sarah belted out, sitting up straight.

  “Shhhhhh!” Fable said waving his hand and holding a finger to his lips. One or two of the Traders on the far side of the inn glanced over before continuing with their broth. Joshua noticed the Trader with the cloak and hood again. He was still sitting in the dark corner with the same bowl of soup. Joshua wondered why he was eating so slowly. They all leaned in again.

  “I’ll let yer’s ‘av it,” Fable whispered, sliding the mirror and bundle into the centre of the table.

  “Why do you want to give it to us?” Joshua whispered back. Fable looked over his shoulders again to make sure nobody was listening.

  “Look, this thing ‘as brought me nothing but bleed’n misery. I’m pretty sure I’ll be ‘appier when it’s gone.”

  “What makes you think it won’t bring us misery too?” Andrew asked. Joshua turned to Fable and looked at him with raised brow.

  “Don’t look at it then,” Fable suggested. “Maybe you can trade it for something valuable instead?”

  The four of them all looked at each other. This seemed like a reasonable idea, Joshua thought. He didn’t think there would be any harm in this, so he reached out and took the mirror. He wrapped the cloth around it again, then tucked it into his keeper bag.

  All four of them stood up, leaving Fable sitting at the empty table. As they were making their way out, Andrew walked back over to Fable and whispered something in his ear. Fable got up, walked around to the back of the counter and dipped his hand into the jar of liquorice moss. He passed a handful of the treat to Andrew, who tucked it into his keeper bag before rejoining his friends.

  9

  Orb of Vision

  The four companions had been walking for over an hour before Galleon insisted they stop and rest at a glade. Andrew paced the length of the clearing.

  “How about some target practice? Come on. Let’s see who can reach the highest point on that Yucust over there.” He pointed to the tallest tree across glade. This one was taller than the one at Lake Morelle. Bunches of oval green leaves hung from the tree’s trunks and protruded on either side.

  “Are you sure you want to put yourself through this humiliation, Andrew?” Galleon asked. A smirk crept across his face.

  “Well, if you don’t think you’re up to the challenge,” Andrew chuckled, “feel free to bow out now. Don’t worry, Sarah, I don’t expect you to compete on our level.”

  Sarah lowered her head and peered at Andrew. A grin formed across her face and she put her hands on her hips. “OK, then, Andrew, show us all how it’s done.”

  Joshua said nothing and watched with a smile to see how this would play out.

  “Here, use these.” Sarah reached into a nearby Bramock bush and rummaged around, plucking a few of the reddest berries.

  “These are nice and hard. Here, take this one and show us just how good you are.”

  He took the hardened berry and placed it into the pouch of his slingshot.

  Pulling back the pouch until the elastic vine was as taut as it could go, he aimed and launched the berry. It flew high across the glade and hit the tree near its base.

  “Perfect.” Andrew proclaimed with a smile. “That hit the tree square on,” he went on, a smug look.

  “I thought you said the object was to get as high into the tree as possible? I’ve vomited farther than that before. Come on. Move over and let me show you how it’s done!” Galleon said, scratching his chin. He strutted over and gestured at both Andrew and Sarah to move aside.

  “Let me have that slingshot, Andrew.”

  Andrew handed it over. Sarah plucked another Bramock berry, which she passed to Galleon.

  The confident Imp stood there and took a deep breath, flexing his head side to side. He loaded the berry into the pouch, pulled it back and launched it into the air. It arced across the glade and hit the tree about half way up.

  Andrew nodded and said, “Not bad.”

  “OK, can I have a go now?” Sarah asked. Andrew and Galleon glanced at each other. They both rolled their eyes and folded their arms.

  “It’s a powerful vine, this one. I made this slingshot myself,” Andrew said, as he handed Sarah the slingshot. She studied the weapon and rubbed the stretchy vine between her fingers.

  “That’s what makes it go,” Andrew said.

  Sarah said nothing but kept feeling the vine along its length. She surveyed the flora around them. A nearby tree attracted her attention. It had several different types of vine dangling from one of its branches and she rolled all of them in turn between her fingers.

  Andrew and Galleon glanced at each other again, this time with puzzled looks on their faces. After a while, Sarah pulled one of the vines and stripped it of its outer layer. Using both hands, she stretched its white inner cor
e, folded it double and twisted it. She folded that double and twisted it again and then a third time.

  Joshua just sat there smiling and waiting to see what she was up to.

  She removed the vine from Andrew’s slingshot and tossed it over her shoulder.

  “Hey, it took me ages to break that in.” Andrew protested.

  Sarah ignored him and continued attaching the new vine. After pulling it back and forth a couple of times, she nodded and loaded a Bramock berry into the pouch.

  Walking over to the exact spot where Andrew had stood, she cleared her throat as she lined up. With a single, swift motion, she pulled the pouch back and released the berry up into the air. It soared high into the sky and went clear over the top of the Yucust and landed somewhere out of sight.

  Galleon and the two young men gawked at the tree with jaws dropped and eyebrows raised. All three of them looked at each other and then turned to stare at Sarah, who by now looked quite pleased with herself.

  She giggled, shrugged her shoulders and passed Andrew’s now improved slingshot back to him. He looked at it in disbelief.

  “Where did you learn to do that?” Galleon and Andrew both asked together. Sarah just shrugged her shoulders again and grinned.

  As she explained to Andrew and Galleon all about how vines have different elastic strengths, Joshua pulled out the Mirror of Prophecy from his keeper bag and unwrapped the cloth from around it.

  The oval-shaped mirror was enclosed in a dark brown casing with a short handle. Cryptic markings sprawled around the rim. If it was writing, it was unlike anything Joshua had seen before. He held the mirror in his hand and peered into it.

  As he looked and Sarah continued her explanation to the other two, his reflection faded and another blurry image filled the mirror. It was cloudy at first but the longer he looked, the more the image cleared, and his curiosity increased.

  He could see a girl or young woman sitting on her knees, her head bent forward as if looking at the floor. She had her hands over her face.

  As Joshua leaned forwards to look closer into the mirror, he could see she was crying. She was very upset. Seeing her in such pain was distressing. He felt powerless to help but continued to look closer to try and see who she was.

  As the image sharpened, the girl lowered her hands to her knees, then looked up into the air and screamed in anguish. Tears rolled down her face. Joshua looked at her eyes and his heart stopped as the realisation hit him. It was Sarah, and she was crying as if heart-broken. Startled, Joshua threw the mirror to the ground and sprang to his feet.

  “Are you OK?” Sarah asked. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

  The three of them stared at him.

  “I’m…I’m fine. It’s nothing. I…I just dropped the mirror, that’s all.”

  Right at that moment, there was a rustle. It came from the woods behind them and they all spun around. They couldn’t see anything, but Joshua sensed someone’s presence, perhaps spying on them.

  “Let’s get moving again,” he said. He bent down and picked up the mirror. Wrapping it in the cloth, he tucked it into his keeper bag.

  “Come on,” he said, and they all started walking across the glade, with Andrew and Galleon leading the way.

  As they walked, Joshua, without turning his head, whispered to Sarah. “I think someone’s following us.”

  Sarah nodded. She reached into her keeper bag and pulled out one of her Bramock berries. Unclipping her slingshot from her belt, she placed the hard fruit into its pouch and stretched it backwards as if aiming at the ground. Then she spun around and launched the projectile. It flew at great speed and struck the figure that was following them square in the head.

  There was a groan as the figure dropped to its knees. Joshua, Andrew and Galleon turned, and they all ran back along to path to see who it was Sarah had struck.

  Kneeling there was a dazed man dressed in a dark cloak. Joshua recognised him. It was the same man he had spotted sitting in the corner watching them this morning.

  “Who are you, and why are you following us?” Joshua shouted at him.

  Andrew had loaded his slingshot and was standing over the stranger with his weapon poised to shoot. The man roused and began rubbing his head.

  “I mean you no harm,” he groaned. He opened his eyes and peered up at the four of them standing over him. “You’ll have no need for that,” he gestured at Andrew’s slingshot. “I’m not here to hurt you. My name is Melachor. I want to trade the mirror with you.”

  Joshua held his hand out to help the stranger up. Andrew kept his slingshot trained on him as he was helped to his feet.

  “Do you normally skulk around in the forest spying on people like this?” Galleon chided.

  “I’m sorry,” Melachor replied. “I wanted to talk to you back at the inn but I didn’t think it was safe. He has eyes everywhere. I had to be sure you weren’t being followed first.”

  “Followed? By who? Whose eyes are everywhere?” Joshua demanded.

  “The Goat’s eyes, of course,” Melachor shouted, rubbing his forehead. “Look, do you mind lowering your weapon?” he asked, flinching away from Andrew and holding his arm up to his face.

  Joshua reached for Andrew’s outstretched arm and pushed it down. Andrew looked at Joshua and slowly released the tension on his slingshot.

  “The mirror!” Melachor demanded. “Where’s the mirror? Do you still have it?”

  “Why do you want the mirror so badly?” Joshua asked. “And what do you know of the Goat?”

  Melachor stared at Joshua. He heaved a deep sigh and said, “My family was taken by the Goat. I’ve been searching for the Mirror of Prophecy for the last three years but with no luck. An old man told me the mirror will help me find them. I MUST have it!”

  “Why would we give you the mirror?” Joshua asked.

  “Because I have something you need. Something very valuable that will help you on your journey.”

  “What could you possibly have that’s of value to us?” Galleon snorted.

  Melachor looked down at the Imp. “You’re an Imp?” Melachor asked. “The Goat wiped out your kind too. I know; I was there when it happened. My family were taken from me that day.”

  Galleon stared at Melachor. He was an imposing figure with a stocky build.

  “Do you know if anyone escaped?” Galleon asked. “Were there any survivors?”

  Joshua understood Galleon’s urgency. He knew how he would feel if someone had information about his father’s whereabouts.

  “Survivors?” Melachor exclaimed, raising his brow. “Few people ever survive an encounter with the Goat. He’s brutal. Nobody was spared that day, not even the women and children. Maybe a handful got away.” He shook his head, and looked at the ground, “I don’t know. I barely escaped with my own life. All I know is you should count yourself lucky to be alive, Imp.”

  “Seems convenient you escaped when so many didn’t,” Andrew scoffed.

  Melachor stared at him. “I survived because of the orb,” he said after a pause.

  “What orb?” Joshua asked.

  “Look, I don’t really know much about it,” Melachor hesitated. “All I know is that it helped me escape that day. It opened up some sort of portal or something. As I watched the Goat slaughtering people, I found a Trader that had the orb. He activated it somehow, and a vortex opened. I could see through it to the other side. It opened a tunnel through to another place. There were no people being killed on the other side, so I grabbed the orb and jumped through. My wife and children weren’t so lucky.

  Everything went dark after I entered the vortex, but when I next opened my eyes I found myself in a field outside a village near the Southern Tip. I was still clutching the orb when I came around. I don’t know how long I was unconscious. If I didn’t jump through to the other side, I would have been killed.”

  “Do you really expect us to believe that rubbish?” Andrew retorted, gripping the slingshot and tensioning the string again.<
br />
  “It’s the truth!” Melachor snapped, turning to sneer at him.

  “What makes you think this orb of yours is any more valuable than the Mirror of Prophecy?” Joshua asked.

  “I saw you looking into it earlier. You tell me,” he said, with his hand held out.

  Everyone else now turned to Joshua.

  “You looked into the mirror?” Galleon asked with widened eyes. “What did you see?”

  Joshua felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know why he had seen Sarah so upset and didn’t want to reveal this to anyone, least of all to Sarah. It would be cruel and unfair to her.

  “I…I’m not sure what I saw. It probably doesn’t mean anything anyway.” He tried not to make eye contact with Sarah but he did notice Galleon was looking at him strangely. He wondered whether the Imp suspected him.

  “Anyway, why would we have a need of your orb?” Joshua asked.

  “You’ve looked into the mirror and have seen whatever it was prepared to reveal, so it has no more value to you, now. What I’m offering you is a way to transport yourself over great distances. If you can figure out how it works, surely that’s worth more to you than a simple mirror?”

  Joshua pondered this for a moment. On the surface, Melachor had a very good point. If the Mirror of Prophecy really had served its purpose, they would indeed have no further use for it. Perhaps the orb Melachor wanted to trade really would have more value.

  He also thought about the misery the mirror had caused for Fable. Joshua was already second-guessing whether it was wise for him to have peered into the mirror. He regretted having seen that Sarah would some day experience such pain. That secret already felt like a burden.

  He also worried one of the others might peer into the mirror if they held onto it any longer. Although knowledge of the future could be a good thing, the mirror had so far proven otherwise.

  “OK, we’ll trade you the mirror for the orb.”