Zaconis - Guardian of Magic

by MJ Schutte

  ‘Father, will the ship wait for me?’ Al’taish asked.

  ‘No. As soon as we reach Ethona I will send a daraghna back for you,’ Father answered.

  ‘A daraghna?’ Al’taish asked softly, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

  ‘Yes. Don’t worry, I will give it strict instructions that you are not to be harmed,’ Father assured the young man.

  Al’taish just nodded, not trusting his voice.

  ‘Go have some supper and find a sleeping place. Soon, you will be traveling again,’ Father smiled at him.

  Al’taish bowed his head respectfully and quickly left.

  Lilian sat on a rock staring at the ground. It felt like she was falling into the deepest, darkest pit of despair. She had no idea what to do next. The thought of accepting the loss of the man she had loved with all her heart for so many years was unbearable. She remembered how she felt when they believed Brighton was trapped in the elf forest and she was not allowed to enter. The feeling inside her now was a hundred times worse. Back then she at least had hope but now she did not even know where her husband was or how long he would stay alive. Worse than that, Brighton did not know who he or she was. The wound on her shoulder where Brighton’s arrow nicked her was a painful, constant reminder that he had tried to kill her.

  ‘Lilian, your shoulder is bleeding again,’ Angelina said softly.

  Goralt immediately came closer and had a look at the wound. He shook his head and made some gestures towards Lilian.

  ‘What did he say to you?’ Angelina asked.

  Lilian did not answer. She simply sat staring at the ground, lost in her own thoughts. Goralt gestured for Angelina to give Lilian some space. Reluctantly Angelina followed the elf to a spot some distance away from Lilian.

  After a while Angelina came closer again, sat down next to Lilian and said, ‘Goralt says someone is coming.’

  ‘Jonathan,’ Lilian whispered.

  ‘Good. Now we can ask him where he was when those soldiers attacked the Justice Hall,’ Angelina replied.

  Lilian remained silent, just staring at the ground.

  After a short wait, Jonathan, followed by six men, approached them.

  ‘Good day, Angelina, Lilian,’ he greeted. He also bowed his head at Goralt and the other elves.

  ‘Jonathan, where have you been?’ Angelina demanded.

  Jonathan frowned at the young woman’s aggressive attitude, then looked at Lilian.

  ‘What is the matter?’ he asked.

  Angelina quickly relayed the events that had brought them here and then asked again, ‘Where have you been? We could have used your help back at the Justice Hall. If you…’

  ‘Wait,’ Jonathan interrupted her.

  Angelina took an aggressive step towards him and said, ‘Jonathan, don’t…’

  ‘Angelina, just wait a moment please. I may have a solution for this problem,’ Jonathan pleaded.

  Lilian’s lifted her head slowly.

  ‘A solution?’ she whispered.

  ‘Yes, but let me first see if I understand correctly. Brighton was taken by an unknown wizard and has lost his memory. The last time you saw them, they were sailing north and you have no way of following them. Is this correct?’ Jonathan asked.

  Lilian and Angelina both nodded.

  ‘I can’t do anything about Brighton’s memory, but perhaps I can provide a way of following him,’ Jonathan declared.

  Before either of the women could say anything, Jonathan waved one of the men forward and introduced him as Gene.

  ‘Gene is a designer and builder in service of the crown. A while ago, my father tasked him with building a boat, or ship, big enough to cross oceans. The king believes that there must be other lands across the water. While Gerard took the troops to the Justice Hall, I was sent to a secret location where Gene had been working, about a day’s ride from here. Gene had been trying to build a ship but failed a number of times, until the enemy arrived. Purely by chance he stumbled across the place where their ships waited and snuck aboard to take a look. He learnt valuable lessons from having a look at the design.’

  ‘So, can he build a ship?’ Lilian asked carefully.

  ‘Ma’am, construction has already started. It should be completed in roughly twenty days,’ Gene answered.

  Slowly Lilian got up. A tiny flicker of hope rose in her heart. She did not know where the wizard was taking her husband, but if she had a way of crossing the ocean, she at least had a chance of finding him.

  ‘Where is this ship?’ she asked.

  ‘We will take you there, but the elves have to stay behind,’ Jonathan answered.

  Goralt shook his head and made some hand gestures.

  ‘Protect,’ he said as he pointed to Lilian and Angelina.

  ‘We have plenty of soldiers. Lilian and Angelina will be well protected,’ Jonathan argued.

  ‘The elves are coming with us,’ Lilian said.

  ‘I have strict orders from my father…’ Jonathan tried but Lilian cut him off.

  ‘If we are going to a strange land, I would rather have these elves behind me than a thousand soldiers. Think about it, Jonathan. We can not go to war with an unknown enemy, but perhaps a small group can slip into their land unnoticed. Besides, elves are far stronger than humans. They can help with building the ship,’ she argued.

  Jonathan took a deep breath. He did not want to defy his father, but Lilian’s argument made a lot of sense.

  ‘Fine, the elves can come,’ he finally said.

  ‘Good, now take us to the ship,’ Lilian ordered as she headed for her horse.

  Although the prince was not accustomed to getting orders from anyone but his father, he decided not to challenge Lilian.

  Imlan lay on the sails between the water barrels and listened to the ship creaking. He had arranged the barrels in such a way that it hid his sleeping place from anyone climbing down the ladder to the lower deck. As the ship gently rocked across the water, the wood was making a rhythmic, soothing sound. Imlan lifted his head to see if the large black panther was still sleeping. At first he was very concerned at being this close to such a dangerous animal, but the panther had made no threatening moves towards him. After he had found the animal, he sat at a distance for a while and watched it. The panther simply went to sleep.

  The gentle rocking and soothing ocean sounds had almost put Imlan to sleep when he heard a sound that did not quite fit. He listened carefully. Again the wood creaked in a way that seemed out of time with the other sounds. Imlan knew most of the soldiers were asleep in their quarters, so he was not expecting anyone to be close by. Slowly he peered around the water barrels but before he could actually see anyone, he knew two men were close by. It was as if he could feel their presence. The men were climbing down to the lower deck, very slowly and carefully. Imlan could not see who they were, but did notice the dim moonlight reflecting off their shiny swords. Al’taish had heard rumors that some of the soldiers were unhappy that Imlan were given an opportunity to join the Elite Corps after only a few days in the army. Most of them were also angry that Imlan did not kill the witch. Earlier, before Al’taish had to go on lookout duty, he had warned Imlan about a potential attack that night.

  Slowly Imlan reached for his knife and moved into a crouching position behind the water barrel. As the men were just about at his private sleeping spot, he stood up and said, ‘Have you lost something?’

  The men looked at each other for a moment and then charged forward. Imlan was ready. He did not try to back away, but rather launched himself forward to meet the attackers. Dodging one man’s swinging sword, he slashed at the other man’s exposed rib cage with his knife. The sharp blade cut deep into flesh and bone as Imlan passed under the man’s raised arm. Imlan spun around and drove the knife towards the man’s back, but the soldier was experienced and anticipated the move. He swayed to his right avoiding the blade and slashed down with his sword, knocking the blade from Imlan’s hand. Imlan straightened up, took a few ste
ps back. He knew it would be a mistake trying to retrieve his blade. The injured man made a hand signal to his partner to split up. Imlan knew he would have to face two attacks from different sides but did not back away. He simply stood waiting. The men charged at the same time but as the man to his left was almost in striking distance, a black form sprung from behind the barrels. Imlan turned to meet the other assailant, stepped into his attack and caught his sword arm by the wrist. He drove his fist into the man’s face with such force that the man’s neck snapped back viciously. The man crumpled to the ground, his neck broken. A muffled scream came from behind. Imlan spun around. The black panther that had been sharing his sleeping place was standing over the attacker’s still body. Carefully Imlan stepped closer. The panther sat down next to the body, white eyes fixed on Imlan. Slowly he crept forward to inspect the corpse. He did not have to look very hard to see what had happened. What used to be the back of man’s head was now simply a bloody, mangled mess. Imlan stared into the panther’s eyes.

  ‘It looks like you saved my life. Thank you,’ he whispered to the cat, feeling slightly silly for speaking to an animal.

  Imlan climbed halfway up the ladder to take a look. Everything was still quiet on the ship so he assumed that nobody had witnessed the altercation.

  ‘I should do something about these corpses,’ he muttered to himself.

  Quietly he picked up the one body and tossed it over the ship’s side. Looking around to make sure he was not seen, he dumped the second body in the same way and retrieved his knife. He used some water from one of the barrels and a piece of cloth torn from a spare sail to clean up the blood on the deck, tossing the used cloth over the side as soon as he was done.

  The panther had retreated to their shared sleeping place. Imlan joined him on the makeshift bed and said, ‘I was cleaning up the mess you made so that I can continue sleeping here.’

  In his heart he knew it was a lie. He did not want anybody to find the panther and blood on the deck would have been very suspicious.

  Imlan made himself comfortable and took out his knife. He picked up the walking stick and started carving. The cat shuffled closer to him, laid his enormous head in Imlan’s lap and promptly fell asleep.

  Lilian sat on her horse, deep in thought. She did not really notice where they were heading. Instead, she simply let the horse follow the others in front. Her mind was spinning. She could not get the recent events out of her mind. She was so sure that Brighton would remember her if she simply used an energy link on him. It was something they did often to share thoughts or communicate without anybody knowing. She could not believe that, after everything they had been through together, he could just forget her and the love they shared.

  ‘Mistress?’ Goralt said softly. He had been walking next to her horse the entire time keeping an eye on her.

  ‘Yes, Goralt,’ Lilian sighed without looking at him.

  He reached up, touched her arm briefly and then showed her his fingers.

  Lilian looked down at her arm. She hadn’t noticed the thin line of blood running down from her injured shoulder.

  Goralt made a quick gesture to another elf and then took the horse’s reigns, bringing it to a stop. The other elf jogged to the front of the procession and spoke to Jonathan, who called a halt immediately.

  ‘Sit,’ Goralt instructed as he pointed to a fallen tree.

  She dismounted and sat down wordlessly. Her mind was still on Brighton. The situation seemed utterly hopeless. Even if they could catch up to Brighton and the wizard, she had no idea what she was going to do. They could not fight the wizard’s army with only a few elves, no matter how strong and fast the elves were. The wizard was also a formidable opponent. She only barely managed to keep his attack at bay.

  ‘What is the problem?’ Angelina asked as she approached.

  Goralt gestured to Lilian’s arm and then took out some yellow leaves from a small pouch.

  ‘Lilian, why is your shoulder bleeding again?’ Angelina asked, the concern clearly evident in her voice.

  It appeared as though Lilian did not hear, so Angelina touched her arm and asked again. Still Lilian did not respond. Her thoughts were consumed with her husband, and she was in the midst of a serious downward spiral into a deep and dark pit of despair.

  Goralt gestured for Angelina to give him some space. Carefully he pulled Lilian’s shirt away from her shoulder so that he could inspect the wound.

  ‘Infected, serious,’ he said.

  Angelina leant over him to get a better look. Although the cut on Lilian’s shoulder was not deep, it had angry red and black rings around it.

  ‘Why is that happening?’ Angelina gasped.

  Goralt made a few quick hand gestures and then applied the paste to the wound.

  Angelina could not follow Goralt’s quick gestures but she thought she understood something about “won’t heal”.

  ‘Why does Goralt think the wound won’t heal?’ she asked Lilian.

  Lilian sat stone faced, not answering Angelina or taking any notice of the elf’s hands on her shoulder.

  Goralt shook his head, said, ‘Mistress, not heal,’ and made another hand gesture.

  Angelina’s forehead creased up.

  ‘Why do you think Lilian does not want to heal? Off course she wants to! A wound like that must be painful,’ she gasped.

  ‘Heal heart, then wound,’ the elf responded without looking up.

  ‘Goralt, you’re not making any sense. There is nothing wrong with…’ Angelina snapped but clamped her mouth shut. She suddenly understood what Goralt was implying.

  The elf finished and quickly made space for Angelina to sit. Just before he walked away he pointed to Angelina and said, ‘Mistress needs friend.’

  He turned and walked towards Jonathan, who had been standing a few paces away.

  ‘Mistress rest, travel later,’ he said to the prince.

  Jonathan considered the request for a few moments and then turned to Gene.

  ‘We are going to rest for a while. Take the soldiers and keep going. Get that ship finished as soon as possible.’

  Angelina gave him a grateful nod and turned to Lilian.

  ‘Lilian, we will find Brighton and bring him back,’ she said softly.

  ‘He is gone,’ Lilian whispered.

  ‘No, he is not. You have a lot of friends here to help. You are not alone,’ Angelina tried.

  Lilian shook her head as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

  ‘He…is…gone,’ she sobbed.

  ‘Listen to me carefully, Lilian. This wound on your shoulder is not healing because, in your mind, it represents the love you think you have lost. It is not lost. We will find your husband and you will have your love again,’ Angelina replied.

  ‘He does not…’ Lilian tried but could not finish the sentence.

  ‘Remember you?’ Angelina asked.

  Lilian could only nod as she cried uncontrollably.

  Angelina put her arms around Lilian.

  ‘He will remember you and the love you once had. Nothing can ever destroy that,’ she whispered.

  ‘Do you think so?’ Lilian managed through her tears.

  ‘I believe so with all my heart, and so should you otherwise you’re in deep trouble. I know Brighton gave you this wound but perhaps he did not have a choice. Perhaps there is something we don’t know yet,’ Angelina tried.

  When Lilian did not answer, Angelina continued, ‘You have to heal your heart before your body will heal. You can’t heal this wound because you believe Brighton wanted you dead, but that’s not true. Let’s go find him and he can tell us why he shot that arrow at you.’

  Slowly Lilian’s hands went up to her face. She tried to dry her tears with her palms. Angelina quickly produced a handkerchief from her pocket and held it out. Lilian gratefully took the small piece of cloth.

  ‘Come, let’s go look at this ship. Maybe we can help to get it built quicker,’ Angelina suggested.

  As she stood u
p, she looked straight into Goralt’s eyes. The elf gave her a small smile and approving nod.

  Chapter 11

  Goralt and Angelina kept a close eye on Lilian as they traveled towards the area where Gene was building the ship. They could see when Lilian’s thoughts took a dark turn. Both the elf and the younger woman tried their best to get Lilian’s mind off Brighton. The tactic mostly worked, but as they were standing looking at the half finished ship, Lilian’s mind was back on her husband. She did not listen to Gene explaining some intricacies of ship building.

  ‘Gene, how do you plan on getting the ship in the water?’ Angelina asked.

  ‘We selected this location specifically for that purpose. There are fewer rocks here than to the south, but the sand is also not as soft as further north. This enabled us to dig a hole close to the water’s edge and build the ship in the hole,’ Gene explained.

  ‘What does that help? Now you have to lift the ship out of the hole to get it to the water,’ Angelina frowned.

  ‘No, ma’am, we don’t. Have a look in front of the ship. What we did was strengthen the ground between the ocean and the hole with some wood. Once the ship is finished, we will remove the wooden logs which will cause the ground wall to collapse and the hole will flood. We will then simply sail the ship out to the ocean,’ Gene smiled.

  ‘Is the ocean deep enough here?’ Angelina pressed on.

  ‘Yes. This is the other reason we selected this location,’ Gene patiently explained.

  ‘That’s quite clever, if it is going to work,’ Angelina commented.

  She was not entirely convinced that the plan was good, but could not think of any other way to get the ship in the water so she decided to keep quiet.

  Lilian only half heard the conversation. Her mind had wandered back to Brighton and what she could possibly do to make him remember. Angelina noticed the far away look in her eyes.