Clicking back that iron hammer, his heart fluttered at the merciful dream of long-lost serenity. He closed his eyes. Everything was at peace during those few seconds of knowing that it would soon be at an end. How simple it was. He need only place his finger on the trigger and squeeze. He imagined there being a loud snap…and, suddenly, darkness. A dreamless sleep. Complete emptiness. No more pain. No more worry. The sheer thoughts of it relaxed him to a quiet smile, until he was interrupted by something perching itself over his head, where it deemed it amusing to plant some of its nasty little droppings. This, as you can imagine, ruined everything.
With a sigh to say, “Can I not just have it my way, for once,” William glimpsed up to see a tiny brown sparrow perched on the end of a rather outlandish dagger. It was, I suppose, so dim out earlier that he’d failed to spot it. But now that dawn was on its way, everything was a little clearer. As of the faintest whisper filling the cruellest of caverns, a twinge of curiosity peeped through his murky mind, pressing him to investigate it.
It turned out that the dagger was impaled to a half-tattered, unravelled scroll. Signed with an emblem, it read:
“To whomever should discover this message,
The citizens of this village have been claimed as slaves, and their town, burnt to nothing. This is to declare the uprising of the Arts of the Hidden-world. Should anybody attempt to oppose us in any way, a price will have to be paid. Namely, heads will be taken.
Our Order, along with these slaves, have since been beckoned by the Shards of this hidden realm. And, upon our return, we will have endured the full teachings of an ancient, and very powerful sorcery, and we shall claim the rest of this country as our own, county by county, until we have it all, and other lands thereafter.
Make matters easiest for all our sakes and flee while you still can. The world will pay for what it has done.
Allegiance Forever!”
William read over the parchment carefully, making sure not to misinterpret it, and when he noticed the marking near the bottom, his eyes flew open. It wasn’t all that difficult to decode it, once he knew how. He came up with the letters S and G, knowing of only one title to support such initials, whereas the mentioning of Orders also gave him the fair clue. How they found use of this particular code was beyond him.
“The Shadow’s Guild!” he gasped, dropping the revolver by his foot. “But those were just stories! Weren’t they?”
Needless to say, after his adventure, anything seemed possible, and anything truly could happen.
“Th-They’re alive? My mother. She’s alive?!” he exclaimed.
He read back over the parchment a couple more times to make sure he had everything right. Lythiann had to have been involved somehow, but he couldn’t just trust a hunch and return there, only to find out they’d been taken someplace else, leaving him stuck there. Unlikely, yes. For how many magical realms could there be? But he needed surer evidence, and that’s when one sentence stood out from the others…
“‘Beckoned by the Shards,’ it says. ‘The Shards?” he deliberated, and it hit him.
“The Krimmín stone!” he deduced aloud, frightening the sparrow off. “It’s still active. I knew it wasn’t broken. I just knew it! That’s what lured them to Lythiann! It was so powerful that it summoned the Guild, like it did with those monsters from the Elderland. Sounds like they were expecting it, too. Preparing for it even. I need to get back there. I need to get back to Lythiann!”
Racking his brains, our brave young William paced that square with newfound energy, pulling his hair out, trying to recall just how to return. Much had taken place since his last chat with Thedius that it put this rather vital detail right back to the far reaches of his already cluttered mind. Meanwhile, the sparrow returned to his perch. Nature was beginning to awaken. William knew what he had to do now.
Wasting no more time, he stowed the guns back in his pack, and then rushed to the top of the big, green hill, where the horizon’s bronze glow was spreading in from the east, thereby bringing life into yet another new day. He stared back down at those grim ashes of destruction. What he called ‘home,’ this once beautiful countryside, was what had nurtured him into the person he had become, and he wasn’t ready to let this go unpunished.
Stronger feelings ensued.
What began as both joy and relief disintegrated into hatred by a flock of those same vengeful wraiths from before. Stell had but one to contend with, after Goidoy. William was in for a legion.
In reminiscence of Thedius’ meeting, he recited, “Only by the dawning of the new light shall I find my path back to legend.”
Once he declaimed those words, the flaming depths of his soul blazed with the sound of the Banádh’s beating drums. Just for his ears did they beat. As if evoked by their rhythm, the westerly winds he so fondly knew blew the scent of fresh heather in from the shore. When it did, as with times before, it brought his chin to a rise and his eyes to a close. Turning around, he encountered the brightest of all sunrises coming through the trees of the Elder Grove. ‘Twas the most wondrous and most unique of all. The power of it made his breath heave cold, and his fists tighten with a deep longing for revenge. Looking back, he saw his own shadow lengthening before this new light, portraying the silhouette of a warrior much older than he, clad all in ancient attire.
This battler of worlds rose up his hand and pointed out the magical gateway of the west. William’s eyes followed it to where the green grass of his world frosted over into the snowy terrain of another. However, this nightly land was different to the one he remembered. What was once of leas and glens, woodlands and deserts, was now of a congested city maze of a Victorian age, whose tall and twisted rooftops, whitened with snow, blocked all view of whatever scarce grasslands may have laid beyond. Hulking machines coasted through the air with seemingly drone regularity, picking people up and dropping them elsewhere to go about their busy lives. Those streets were lit up in ways, the likes of which William had never seen before. Industry and congestion held sway. All but a far-off crown of an oak in guise was hindered, and a remote citadel long thereafter.
What passed as hours on Ballycongraggon clearly meant years on Lythiann, and so much had changed.
He would, of course, follow this warrior for now, as means of doing what he needed to get done. Otherwise he toiled to forgive him these hardships which had befallen him. Be it a life of glory or not, William had never asked for it, and what right had this man—hero or otherwise—to just whisk him away whenever he felt like it. Particularly when William had finally come to terms with having his old life back. It angered him.
Stepping foot over the enchanted border of this strange, new world, he suddenly felt himself growing past his young age, into a man of his late twenties, in but a matter of seconds. His Lythiann age had begun.
Thus it was that this hero, this heart of pure integrity, would set out on yet another journey. Only this time it would be empowered by the laws, justices, and punishments of his own making. Nobody would stand in his way.
The drums continued to beat, and the voices sang in his mind.
“Ooba-ra ni-ígh fui-sanná, uí dra-obaís kun tsuí. Hlu-sumaí trín thraíl-baran, dort mar-gorbá ur zhaoír. Bri-já, ur-at, gorfín, kwán, ur bán ismó ooba-ra aoith-insmará.”
(A hero like no other,
who came to evil’s slay,
and never sought the tribute,
for his distinguished day.
And always he will be,
a saviour to thy heart.
Never losing hope,
our light within the dark…)
To be continued…
Note to the Reader
Big thanks to you for buying this copy of The Other of One - Book Two. I hope you enjoyed it.
I would be really grateful to you, the reader, if you could rate this eBook on your site of purchase, or the equivalent. Maybe even write a sentence or two. It doesn’t have to be long. Reviews may seem unimportant to some readers, but to m
e, they play an absolutely critical role in me becoming the author that I’ve always aspired to be.
Book Three is currently in the works, so if you wish to continue alongside William on his journey, be sure to pick up your copy.
If you would like to find me online, you can do so by going to any of these sites (please ‘add’, ‘share’, ‘suggest’, ‘follow’ and ‘like’, when you get there):
www.brianburke.biz
www.twitter.com/theotherofone
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(Facebook is the one I use most.)
All the best,
Brian.
The Other of One: Book Two Page 71