I, Corinthius (The Vasterium Saga)

by Shae Christi

  "I did you a favour. They were evil."

  "And you're not? We men are of little consequence in the grand scheme of your magical life," shouted Corinthius hitting his chest with his hands to reiterate his point. "Why are you deliberating over mine? What makes me so special to you?"

  Belovaya screamed out like a wounded animal no longer able to hold back her raw, deluging emotions.

  "Because you are different. You are not like the others. Their arrogance is something I abhor about human nature. Their predatory natures with their intention to conquer and rule disgusts me. They are not my equal. That is why I take enormous pleasure in eradicating them from the face of the earth. But you..."

  Corinthius stood and met her at eye level.

  "You are so different to many that have walked before you. Had the world been bestowed to you, Corinthius, you would have change it all for the better. If all men were like you, I wouldn't be the woman you see before you right now."

  Corinthius looked at her gently and felt her impenetrable sadness. The Dark Queen of the North was an image that frightened him and many other children in his youth. Belovaya was known to be so incredibly powerful she was meant to be feared. He had even heard tales of men who had been turned in to rats and pigs for displeasing her and they were the lucky ones who escaped with their life, lowly as it was.

  Yet, here she was, Belovaya, the Dark Queen and ultimate ruler of the Underworld and wanderer of Vasterium exposing her real feelings. She must have felt like a raw, exposed nerve unto the elements.

  A loud explosion suddenly ricocheted through the distant trees and a deep orange and crimson light bled in to the sky to the South of them. The trees were on fire close to the Berring dells. Belovaya looked annoyed by the turn of events.

  "It appears they are looking for me. Again."

  "Who?," asked Corinthius alarmed at the raging sight in the early morning light.

  "The King's army. They will destroy everything in their path looking for me. They think once they find me I am easy to kill. They never do learn."

  “With you and the army involved Vasterium is not going to have any natural world left at this rate,” said Corinthius concerned as he listened to the distant roar of men and horses obliterating everything in their path.

  Belovaya looked at Corinthius.

  "Wait here, Corinthius. Please."

  She immediately exploded out of existence under a supernatural sapphire coloured mist and the remains of what was once Belovaya was blown away in the morning breeze.

  But, Corinthius didn't wait around. He ran until his feet couldn't carry him any longer. When he came to a stream he had purchased such a raging thirst inside him he thought it was enough to drink the waters dry. After harvesting just enough woodland mushrooms and berries he fell asleep instantly by the water's edge.

  Chapter 7

  After an hour or two of broken sleep Corinthius wandered the landscape thinking how his life would be from here on in. How things between him and Belovaya would resolve themselves. He was concerned his alarming appearance would scare the animals away and was afraid humans would consider him a hunting trophy. He imagined grisly thoughts of himself roasting on a spit before the humans devoured his remains.

  He came to a dirt path beside a row of ash saplings and saw the path lead up to a rocky face thickly bearded in moss and decided to wander up there and stand on its pinnacle. Just as he started his journey a trumpet blast was heard coming from up near its rocky peak. Corinthius stepped back in to the trees to hide his strange appearance.

  Then a large stag burst in to view at the top of the rocky path. A group of men on horses thundered after it and Corinthius saw they were carrying crossbows and aimed them at the terrified animal. It ran desperately for cover and sprinted past the row of ash saplings and towards the dense shelter of forest. Corinthius followed behind unseen by the men in to the trees on a similar path. He quickly noticed he was running parallel in the direction of the stag. He knew it was Elkuri by his sheer size.

  Then after a few moments it immediately went quiet and Corinthius stopped running. He could no longer hear or see the stag but only the distant excited chatter of the men and their horses running in behind after their reward.

  Corinthius ran towards a glade and it was there that he saw him. He was lying in the half light gasping for air and in between his beastly snorts came frightened whimpers of pain. Corinthius could see Elkuri was tangled up in rope netting and exhausted. He hid back and stood in the shadows when he heard the steeds thunder up to the edge of the glade.

  One man alighted his horse and ran towards the exhausted stag. The other men scampered in after him. The man that lead the hunting party grinned satisfactorily when he came upon Elkuri's felled body.

  "Go on, Maki, put the poor bugger out of its misery. I'm starving. I want to get this prize hunk of muscle up on the spit and get a belly full before we head out tomorrow morning."

  He looked over to Maki, a young thin, blond haired boy of about fifteen years of age, who looked a bit startled to have been asked to do the honourable deed.

  "Come on, son. We ain't got all bleedin' day. Pull the damn bolt, now. You can see where his heart is beating. Just aim right in the centre of it and it'll be over and done with."

  Maki aimed his crossbow in the direction of Elkuri's exposed chest where his heart beat so hard and fast it almost burst out of his chest cavity. The air fell silent and just as Maki was about to pull his trigger a branch snapped to the left of the hunting party and they all swung round with their crossbows at the ready.

  Corinthius stepped out of the shadows and the sight of him with his enormous antlers and height caused the men to shiver in fear and take a few steps back.

  "By the light of....What the hell is that?," gasped one of the men, his dark brown eyes wide with terror.

  Corinthius moved extremely slowly so as not to make them antsy and make them accidentally pull their triggers. He held up both his hands his palms facing towards them.

  “You can't have this one, boys,” he said motioning his fine crowned head in the direction of Elkuri.

  The leader began to get cocky and strutted up towards Corinthius standing just a few feet away from him. Corinthius could see in the man was showing bravado for the sake of his men but beneath his confident attitude he was as nervous as Corinthius was.

  “No, sorry, Lord of the Stags. We earned this hunt. It's ours.”

  The leader hooked his thumbs behind his belt and turned smugly to his men and laughed. He then addressed Corinthius again.

  “That there yer dad, is it? Had a bit of how's yer father with the dairy maid, did he?”

  The other men laughed but Corinthius knew it was nerves. He stood and stared at the leader and didn't say a word. This made the leader uncomfortable not knowing how to read the strange creature before him.

  “Look, we've got a long journey in the morning that will take us a couple of days. So, we need some decent meat to sustain us. So, go on, off yer go."

  Corinthius looked over them all solemnly and two of the men began to get twitchy.

  “What yer gonna do about it anyway if we do take him? Man has hunted down stag and boar long before you and I were born, I no doubt imagine.”

  Corinthius didn't say a word. The man turned back to his men and gave a sly smirk. He then began to wave his crossbow in Corinthius direction.

  “Look, sod off will yer. If yer just gonna stand there and....”

  Corinthius snatched the crossbow out of his hands and the axe from his belt with a supernatural speed that left the leader speechless. Corinthius then looked over to the men who were nervously aiming their bows in his direction before staring sternly back at the leader.

  “I swear, I will put this bolt through your eye if you don't tell your men to lower their bows,” boomed Corinthius angrily.

  The leader pondered for a second then turned to his men and told them to do as they were told and they gingerly lowered their bows to the
forest floor.

  “Now, I said you can't have this one and I meant it," continued Corinthius. "I'm the guardian of this forest and I don't like it when men come in and take things without asking. Its impolite and very bad manners. Even more galling about it all is you seem to enjoy doing it which is thoroughly immoral. If you don't leave I will have to inform my mistress, Belovaya. I'm sure she will deal with this situation effectively.”

  A cold wave of fear went through the men when they heard The Dark Destroyer's name.

  “So, either get back on your horses and leave. Or wait for Belovaya to deal with you all. You have a choice here. It might not be the one you like, but still, it's a choice.”

  The hunt leader acknowledged what Corinthius said and ordered his men to get out of the forest. They left as quickly as they could and galloped like rolling thunder out towards the northern mountains.

  Corinthius sighed with deep relief and noticed his heart was beating fast and his hands were shaking. He hadn't realised how frightened he was of them until after they had departed. He threw the crossbow on to the floor and went to Elkuri's aid. Elkuri had been watching the entire event unfold from the opposite side of the glade. Corinthius could see the stag was bleeding from his shoulder.

  “It's going to be alright, Elkuri. I promise,” whispered Corinthius as he used the leader's axe to cut the ropes from his antlers and away from his ankles where it had entangled.

  Elkuri laid there calmly and allowed Corinthius to tend to him. Corinthius searched for a particular plant in which he split open the stem and a white cream oozed out on to his fingers. He rubbed it in to Elkuri's wound to stop any infection spreading.

  “I am so sorry this has happened to you. To be the subject of their vile abuse. I understand now why you are so angry about them all,” Corinthius shook his head ashamed as he rubbed more of the antiseptic plant cream in to the King stag's shoulder.

  “If there was anything I could do to stop it all, I would. You have a right to roam freely.”

  Elkuri sat up and watched the strange man with the antlers and remained perplexed. It was only when Corinthius finished cleaning the stag's wound that he locked eyes with him. Elkuri was astonished to recognise the big honey coloured eyes to be that of the little stag he had bullied and ostracised out of his herd. Shame immediately agonised him and Elkuri tilted his head and he made a sorrowful noise. Corinthius understood Elkuri instantly.

  "It is okay, Elkuri. I don't hold grudges. I forgive you."

  Elkuri stood and was too ashamed to even look at Corinthius who had shown him nothing but kindness.

  He walked on with a limp and Corinthius followed gently behind. They came to the edge of the forest which looked on to a sweeping field of wild flowers and Elkuri turned round and took on the proud air of the stag king of the wood and he addressed Corinthius with serious eyes. Elkuri then bowed his head showing his absolute respect. Corinthius did the same.

  Then Elkuri turned and ran and quickly disappeared out of sight.

  Corinthius stood for a while at the edge of the wild meadow and watched the birds in their aerial displays. Large murmurations of birds flexed and swayed in the azure sky like silk fabric in the wind. A pair of grey rabbits scurried off through a copse of hazel and hawthorn bushes.

  Corinthius realised he was still holding on to the hunt leader's axe. He removed the axe from its pig skin cover and he turned the handle over in his hand feeling the grain of the wood. He touched the pummelled, grinded and sharpened iron that had become its blade and sniffed the metallic aroma along with the rustic tones of its oak handle. Once again he remembered his life as a woodcutter and became deeply saddened for the life he had lost. He hated the fact he couldn't go back home because there was no home for him to go to. Belovaya had destroyed everything. Now, he had to get used to being a half man, half beast of the wood roaming aimlessly. Corinthius put the axe back in to its pigskin leather cover and threw the strap over his shoulder and continued on his way.

  He wandered the trail and throughout that time he pondered on the idea of accepting who he had now become. A half man half woodland creature. He was so absorbed with his thoughts he didn't notice he had walked right in to the sight of a woman collecting berries from the hedgerows. Corinthius stopped dead in his tracks. It was Adalheid. She stood to her feet in awe at the image before her. Corinthius ran to hide in the shadows.

  "Please, don't hide from me," said Adalheid softly so as not to frighten the creature.

  At first Corinthius wanted to run up to her and sweep her up in his arms and say how much he had missed her and their friendship and how much she meant the world to him. But, nothing came out of his mouth.

  Corinthius slowly stepped back out from under the shadow of the elm trees and stood before her. Adalheid put down her basket and walked up to him looking him over and seemed to be impressed by what she saw. She walked around him and then stood in front of him admiring his antlers.

  "Can you speak?," she asked.

  "I can," he said in a deep resonant voice.

  Adalheid smiled at how warm the timbre of his voice was.

  “So, what is your name?," asked Adalheid. "You do have a name, don't you?"

  Corinthius cracked a big warm grin and it caused Adalheid to react with the same.

  "You know my name, Adalheid."

  She was caught off guard.

  "You know my name? How? I've never met you?"

  "You told me the first time I met you," replied Corinthius.

  Adalheid looked at him with an air of suspicion. But, there was also a glint in her eye that she actually liked playing this game.

  "How mysterious you are. Did you tell me your name?"

  "I couldn't speak at the time."

  Adalheid frowned. She knew she had never met him because she would certainly have remembered such a meeting.

  "Well, if I don't know your name I would definitely recognise your face. And I don't."

  Again Corinthius smiled and he strolled over to her basket to check out what else she had harvested.

  "You know my name, Adalheid, because you named me," he said as he plucked out a handful of strawberries to eat.

  Adalheid was a little annoyed at his liberty in taking her food as he popped two strawberries in to his mouth and chewed them devouring their taste and smiling.

  "Only, I had four legs then, not two."

  "Oh, my stars. Hazalia?," she said astounded at his transformation. She ran up to him and stood up on her tip toes to touch his antlers and he tilted his head so she could reach before they both burst in to a puddle of giggles.

  "So, what is your real name and where have you been all this time?," she asked her head buzzing with questions like the bees of curiosity.

  "It's Corinthius," he replied.

  Adalheid looked mightily impressed.

  "Corinthius," she said slowly as if feeling each syllable on her tongue gave his identity more weight.

  "Yes, you suit that name far better. You look elegant and strong."

  Adalheid quickly set down her food for them both to share and she asked him a barrage of questions of which he was only too willing to answer. It finally felt good to be back in her company and talk with someone about the strangest things he had gone through in the past few months.

  Adalheid had been through a terrible time too. Her father had passed away which was why she had been absent from the forest. She searched for him for days but could not find him and accepted that he must have moved on, which by a strange turn of events, was true.

  Adalheid said the thing she admired the most in Corinthius was his ability to be positive and look at the best things even after being turned into a magical creature of the woodlands. It would send any other mortal man insane.

  Corinthius said in recent days he began to feel he was much closer to the forest than he ever had before. Even more so than when he lived his simple life as a woodcutter in his little cottage or when he had succumbed to his life as a completed stag. He
felt more a piece of Vasterium than ever before.

  In the following weeks Adalheid spent more time with Corinthius in the forest. They continued where they left off and she taught him how to use her bow and arrow. There was no other man in the land who could beat her at archery, she said. Her feelings for him were less of the loving friend of a woodland creature.

  Adalheid was falling in love.

  One day they shared a kiss under the spring afternoon sun in an apple orchard.

  Adalheid had plans for Corinthius. She was going to teach him the art of archery properly and give him his own bow and a quiver of arrows. Corinthius may have been a dandy in swinging an axe but could he fire an arrow on its true course? she asked him. Corinthius was only too willing to allow Adalheid to teach him.

  In return he would teach her about the constellations and how the moon affected the tides and the seedlings in the earth. They planned to meet the following day by the very willow tree where they had first met.

  Chapter 8

  That evening Corinthius roamed the meadows and valleys of Vasterium for a while before returning back to the oak where Adalheid had earlier departed from him. He rested in its large ancient branches and sat and watched the sun go down and the full moon rise. The air felt like a comfortable warm blanket on his skin. And from the best view in the forest he watched all the little lights popping in and out of view from the faerie realms down below on the forest floor and from the edges of the wild meadow. He gently fell in to a reverie with thoughts of his beautiful Adalheid and daydreamed about their future. He knew in his heart he loved her deeply. He soon fell in to a sweet slumber as the moon rose to its highest point in the night sky.

  But, his sweet dreaming turned dark and dangerous. His nightmare revealed to him a dark, ancient tree and its roots were exposed pulsating with blood and black thick liquid deep inside them. Then some of the long branches coiled and snarled themselves around Corinthius so tightly he could barely breathe and they began to lower him in to the mouth of a sinister looking cave. Corinthius tried to scream but nothing came out. Then he felt the ice cold energy, like a creeping frost smothering the roots of his nerves. In his half-dream, half-terror he looked up in to the crown of the oak tree looming over him and he could see its branches like sharp, crooked fingers against the back drop of the full moon.