by Marc Watson
“You'll have no need of tha’, Aryu. This man will be no threat t’ ya as he is.”
“I'll be the judge of that. You just do what you do, but forgive me if I stay as I am.”
“Suit yourself.”
Moments later, Esgona’s dark eyes opened.
With Nixon doting over him as he roused, Esgona slowly came around, groaning as he did so. Nixon never left his side as the minutes ticked by as they always do.
“Do you have to hover over him like that? I'm sure you've done all you could.”
“Aye, I must. Until he's well enough t’ carry on his own, he is my charge. I saved 'im; I must make sure he isn't led to an even worse fate because of my actions.”
“A worse fate? If he’s been through all you say he has, plus the loss of our home, his fate is about as poor as one can make it.”
“No, Aryu, it can get much worse. All the times I've battled the Adragons, more often than not they 'ad a story similar to 'is. The past ne'er justifies the future, but far too few realize tha'. I must try my best t' help 'im see 'is strength in comin' this far, not 'is weakness in wha' was lost along the way. A lesson you'd do well to remember, because like it or not I intend t' do the same for you.”
“My course is already set, thank you. I'd just as soon finish your quest of self-discovery and be on my way.”
Esgona sputtered as he began to sit up, spitting to his side once he'd rolled over. He sat there for a moment in the bright grove facing neither of them as he appeared to be sifting through the haze in his head. He sat up, instantly coming face to face with Nixon, who knelt watching carefully like he was ready to pounce if Esgona went out again. The act of it all from Nixon sickened Aryu to no end, but he owed his own life to this man and was bound to his wishes by a promise.
“Hello sir,” he said softly, careful not to startle him as someone the size and power of Nixon would be very apt to do. “Don't get up. You've been out cold fer almost a full day and I'll wager you'll need a momen’ t’ regain yer strength.”
Esgona blinked quickly, not believing his eyes. At least Esgona’s first vision of him would be in broad daylight, unlike Aryu’s dark meeting. Esgona shifted away sharply, wincing as he did so.
“Easy, easy. You've got more than a few nasty bumps and I fear a rather fierce knock on the head.” Esgona moved gingerly, appraising the man-beast in front of him. Nixon continued. “My name is Nixon of the Great Fire and Ash. I brought ya 'ere t’ escape.”
You're welcome, thought Aryu.
“Where am I?” A croak more than a voice. “What happened?”
Nixon was clearly hesitant to speak, as reluctant to discuss the subject as Aryu was. “A lot, sir. A lot. Perhaps ya should lie down.”
Esgona shook him off, his natural defiance returning. “Tell me.” A whisper this time, as the memories continued to flood in. “What of the village? My mother?”
No hesitation from Nixon, who was eager to get it over with quickly. “Lost, Esgona. Lost t’ the machines and their devices.” It was all that needed to be said.
The wind kicked up, taking Nixon’s eyes away for a moment to scan the south horizon for who knew what. The wind subsided and he looked back. Esgona had his head up again and was looking at Nixon with eyes of steel: dark and cold, even with one as cloudy and blind as it was. The visage of whom or what Nixon was didn’t register any unease on Esgona’s face.
“I knew that they were liars. I warned my mother not to believe them and leave the village. I saw what they could do. I'm proof of It, but still, she did. Gods damn her and her foolish hopes.”
Aryu was instantly taken aback by the comment. It was certainly not what he'd expected from him, and the venom with which he said it was unmistakable. What had this boy been through? Was it the machines that crippled him?
Silence as Nixon thought this over, and then with a sudden sharp clap of his hands to bring himself back around, he continued. “Well, tha matter at hand, then.” Nixon rose to his full height, taking in the situation anew while pushing his frustrations to the back as he set his mental course to continue with the plan. “Do either of ya know where we are? Per'aps how far from the nearest town?”
Esgona looked around for the first time, not realizing that there was anyone else around. When his eyes met Aryu’s across the grove, he neither shouted nor charged in a fit of rage. He simply stared, as if seeing him for the first time. Aryu, unsure how to react, held his ground. He was still exhausted from flying but ready for a fight.
After what seemed to Aryu to be an eternity, Esgona rose to his feet effortlessly, seemingly unaffected by whatever fatigue and pain he was feeling. His eyes locked on Aryu’s. With his new hobble, he made his way slowly across the grove, the wind intensifying as he did so, tossing around his curly hair.
“Say it and be done, Esgona. I have no time for this. It was my home too.”
Esgona looked at him. No blinking. No movement. Two weary people in a standoff of wills. The wind began getting faster, blowing small leaves and dirt everywhere, rustling the leathery material of Aryu’s wings.
“You…” began Esgona, eyes intensifying at the sound of his own voice. “You.” The last word a whisper in the new silence. “You do not get the right to call Tan Torna Qu-ay home anymore.” The chilling certainty with which he spoke was unquestionable. Even Aryu didn't know what to make of it. The level of emotion behind these quiet words was enough for Aryu to momentarily believe it was true, but he had no idea why.
The silence deafening, Aryu responded the first and only way he could think of. He simply turned away and let the world spin as it would. Aryu looked out beyond the grove to the waiting road. He could feel Esgona stare into him, but he let it pass.
Nixon, seeing the moment for what it was, only looked on. What had he been through, and what did it have to do with Aryu? Nixon knew of Aryu’s quest, knew he'd not been home in a year. What little Aryu had told him led him to believe they had a childhood rivalry, but nothing more. Why must every new moment bring more unanswerable questions? They were starting to grate on Nixon’s nerves.
He let the moment pass, admiring Aryu’s strength and intelligence in not confronting Esgona. Aryu saw the situation for what it was and chose wisely to step away and not antagonize him. A lesser man would not have. Proof positive that he was more of the man he said he was than Nixon had originally believed.
“What is your plan with us, Nixon of the Great Fire and Ash?” Esgona asked, turning from Aryu and meeting Nixon’s eyes.
Nixon was cautious. “Well sir, if we can find a town nearby, I'll leave ya to yer own devices. Ya should know tha' it was only by luck, should ya see it good or bad, tha’ ye were saved at all. Ya were there and ya couldn't put up much of a fight.” Esgona looked back over his shoulder at Aryu, finding the statement either amusing or insulting. “I saved ya because tha' is my charge and tha' is my way. Aryu and I 'ave business far from 'ere and I 'ave no intention of draggin’ ya along.”
“Ha. Luck.” Esgona looked back to Aryu. “Anywhere you have to go with this 'man' is certainly in for the bad kind. It seems to follow him lately.”
“Look Esgona,” Aryu could stay silent no longer, “I don't know what you think I'm guilty of, but I haven't been back home for more than a year. I walked into this situation just a few days ago. I didn't know about any of it until then, so don't go blaming me for your problems. I've lost just as much as you have.”
He raised the sword again, waiting for the fight, but once it was at eye level, Esgona instantly turned away. “Put that thing away. I'd rather look at your face than the images in my head that thing gives off. You claim to be innocent, but you carry what looks like a very powerful weapon of the Embracers.”
Both Nixon and Aryu were once again speechless. Nixon stepped forward first. “'Ow do ya know its power?”
No answer from Esgona, only blank silence. Aryu lowered the sword and Esgona relaxed. Remembering what Nixon had said about the ancient blade and its ability to
bombard someone’s mind with its history in images, but only if you were wise enough to see it, he wondered again what Esgona had been through in the last year.
“You two really don't know, do you?” he said at last. He looked at Nixon.
Nixon shook his head. “I'mma man out of place and time, Esgona. When it comes t’ information, I am currently lackin'.”
“That figures,” Esgona spat with contempt at both of them.
“Listen and listen well,” Nixon shot with sudden impatience and fiery eyes that began to burn into them both. “I am sorry fer both of yer losses, but right now there is a very powerful army on the way north with terrifyin' weapons in their possession, and I will not sit by anymore while you two mope about what ya canna’ change. Now, t’ go back to my original point, are we close to yer town, Aryu??”
Aryu looked to the far west. “Yes. Do you see that large peak?” Nixon looked; Esgona stared at nothing, not willing to listen to anything Aryu had to say.
“I do. Wha’ of it?” Nixon knew that mountain very well.
“Near it, in the foothills to the south. That’s where it is. A town with a bar that had forbidden machines in them to pour drinks.”
Nixon knew the place right away. The bar with the old man and his story. A man he was sworn never to meet with again. “I know of it. Lights on the spouts. An ol’ fat bartender named Ollie.”
Ollie! That was his name. “That's the one. It can't be much farther away. Maybe a few hours if you can carry Esgona?”
No motion at the mention of his name. Esgona was as far away from these two as his mind could take him.
“Perhaps, but ya should know I canna’ return t’ tha’ town any time soon. I made a promise to tha’ end, and I canna’ break it.” Aryu looked at him, confused, but Nixon wasn't up for another story right now. “It's the truth. Deal with it. I canna’ go there. I can get ya close, if that's alright with ya, Esgona?”
A soft shrug. No more.
“A yes it is.” Nixon looked hard and intensely at Aryu. “I'll have t' leave yer company while ya go into the town, but ya know wha' will happen if ya run?”
Aryu nodded, making no mistake in his actions. “You don't have to worry about me. I'll be back as soon as possible to stop you from killing me.” Levity, but seriousness as well. Nixon saw it and thought it to be the truth. “If I'm right, that would be where Johan should be by now, if he’s still fine and going north like we planned.”
Esgona snapped out of it, brought about by something suddenly. “Who… who did you say?”
Aryu looked exasperated. “Johan. We went together if you recall. I left him behind to make it back home faster. I agreed to go with Nixon if we could meet up with him first. I need to be sure he’s alright.” He left out the part about wanting to leave Esgona with Johan. One unfriendly face was enough for now.
“Johan is… is alive?”
Aryu looked at him, gauging his seriousness. Reading plenty, he answered. “Of course. We went into it together; we were supposed to come home together. He likely doesn’t have a clue what's been going on. I'm sure he knows about Tan Torna Qu-ay by now, but not that I'm alive, or you.”
Esgona looked honestly shocked and confused. “They said he was dead.”
“Who did? Who's dead?” Aryu felt like he was talking to Nixon all over again, only hearing disjointed thoughts that offered him nothing.
“Johan. They said he had died, that you killed him.”
Aryu couldn't believe what he was hearing. “I killed him? Ridiculous! I've saved his life a dozen times by now, and he mine. Why would I kill the man I call my brother?”
“That's what they said. Right after they arrived, the Herald and its companions. They said you killed him then returned to the south before disappearing into the north once more. It was why they came to us looking for you.”
“Return to the south? Esgona, I've never been south in my life! We went north, the Great Range and beyond. Why would I go to them at all?”
“Because one like you leads them, Aryu. Someone with wings, and they said you worked with them.”
The Shi Kaze dropped from his hand effortlessly. All the power it possessed couldn't keep it from being released in the wake of such an emotional onslaught.
“Esgona, they just destroyed my home, killed my family, were ready to take me away, knocking me out cold in the process, and you think I work with them?”
“That's what they said.” Esgona looked lost, a common state for this trio.
The one most accustomed to this feeling interjected at last as the two young ones pondered what they've been told. “Are either of ya really surprised tha’ they would use trickery and deception t’ meet their ends? They lied to the villagers t’ more easily obtain their goal; they lied to ya both about tha destruction of yer town. 'Ow much easier was it t' agree to 'and over Aryu upon 'is return if ya were to believe tha' he was the one who 'ad killed his friend and joined 'em?”
“It wasn't so simple, Nixon. They had proof. Moving images of him that appeared to show him holding that sword barking orders to masses of machines. It was unmistakably him.”
Nixon thought about that, realizing the man had never seen a video recording in his life. He'd likely never even heard of one. This culture’s avoidance of technology was apparent from the moment he arrived in this land. He described to them both how ancient races had the abilities to not only record and document images, both static and moving, but to also change and manipulate these images to show anything they wanted. The process of creating one that showed what Esgona was referring to would be relatively simple for an army with such advanced technology.
Esgona remained unwavering. “Alright then, Nixon. That's all well and good, but please explain why I saw one like him there, in the south, with my own eyes?”
Nixon and Aryu looked at him unbelievingly. He said it not with arrogance, but with something closer to embarrassment, possibly shame.
A twinge of realization hit Aryu. “Esgona, why were you in the south?” No answer. Aryu pressed on. “Esgona, we have a hard time believing you unless we have a damn good reason to.”
“I was there,” he said quietly. “I was there when the ships appeared on the horizon. I was there when the attacks started and the Army of the Old made landfall. I watched them march through the towns and villages, killing and burning indiscriminately. Some they captured and asked questions. If they said something they took interest in, they took them away. The others they killed.”
“'Ow do ya know this?” Nixon asked, interested in the story, but aware that time was quickly wasting.
“Because I said something they were interested in. I had been away from Tan Torna Qu-ay for some time, but when the machines attacked, they collected a random selection of people and began asking them the same three questions: ‘Where are you from? Do you know anyone with a mutation, and if so, what is it? Have you seen anyone with Embracer weapons?’ I learned later they were looking for something like that sword. Hogope didn’t answer fast enough. He was killed before he finished pissing himself in fear. Fortunately, once I was asked the first two questions while imprisoned, they were satisfied enough with my answers. They released me, giving me over to the Herald and his small entourage. That was when I saw the one like you, telling the armies where to go and what to do from a platform high above, wings and all. I promise you, I'll never forget that."
He paused, hesitant to tell the next part of his tale. Nixon coughed, urging him on. Esgona continued, pain on his face. “They took me away and then brought me back home, following my directions along the way. After we landed for a short rest I told them I needed to get my bearings. I attempted to escape, only to be shot in the leg and tortured for my insubordination as they called it. Although they healed my wounds with amazing efficiency, they were certain to maintain the scars and limp it left me with. I didn't try to escape again.”
He told them of his subsequent return home and the meetings with his mother, who refused to give
Aryu up. “Even after the evidence and my word of mouth about your true nature.” Aryu held his tongue. Esgona was just getting fired up again. Better to just let him. “My mother was a fool. It got her killed.”
“I know tha’ once they 'ad Aryu they would 'ave done the same to yer home anyway. They've shown no 'istory of keepin' their side of any bargains.”
Nixon was getting ready to leave for the village to the west, the other two following, when Aryu spoke only to Esgona.
“Whether you believe me or not, I can tell you for certain that I've never been south, I've never seen the army, and I am absolutely not associated with the one in charge of it. Although, for the life of me, I have no idea why I need to justify and explain myself to a coward.”
Esgona turned to him with a look of rage in his good eye but was instantly subdued by the Shi Kaze, which was back in his face. “How dare you! What right do you have! I have seen Hell itself trying to save everyone. Would you have died for us all? It seems like such an easy answer when you're on the outside looking in!”
Aryu smirked, an action that infuriated Esgona even more, causing him to hobble closer, just beyond the reach of the ancient sword. “I never questioned your motives in that regard, Esgona.” Esgona looked at him, full of immeasurable hate. “In that situation, I would have done the same thing. I call you a coward, boy, because that is what you are and why you were south in the first place.” Esgona’s fury died with astonishing suddenness, his face changing from red to white before their eyes. “Do you deny it?” Aryu asked. Esgona could only look away, growing paler by the second. Eventually, ever so slightly, he shook his head. “I thought not. Don't you dare claim sympathy for an action you had no right to be involved with in the first place.”
Pressed for time, Nixon wanted to wrap this up quickly, though he was curious what was being spoken of. He expressed his need for expedience to them both but asked for an explanation anyway.
“Esgona left on his quest like Johan and me, but instead of going north as we are decreed to, I'm willing to bet he doubled back and went south instead, far enough away from Tan Torna Qu-ay that he didn't worry about a local recognizing him. While Johan and I were slogging away in the depths of the Great Range and beyond fighting bandits and Dragon Stalkers, this coward was likely lounging on a beach letting time pass by. Does that sound about right?”