by MJ Schutte
Al’taish looked up as he ran. The full moon provided ample light for him to see, but also for his pursuers. Even if the moon was not out, hiding would have been difficult since the mob caught up with him in a large open field. Far in the distance Al’taish could see the outline of some buildings which he believed was the outskirts of Zedonia. Although he was a strong, fit young man, his muscles were still protesting from the long swim a few days ago. Al’taish knew he would not be able to outrun the mob, but fighting them did not seem like a good idea either. Using his talent on them would also not work since there were too many of them.
He was still trying to work out what the best solution would be when suddenly something snapped his ankles together. Al’taish instinctively raised his arms to break his fall. The bones in his left arm snapped like twigs under his own weight as he fell onto a large rock.
‘I got him!’ someone shouted.
Al’taish quickly sat up and looked at his ankles. A piece of rope with two balls at each end and a small stick in the middle was wrapped around his legs. He quickly freed himself from the rope and got up, holding the small stick in his right hand. He clenched his jaw against the pain in his broken left arm and waited for the assault. In the gloomy light he could not see exactly how many men were rushing towards him, but he knew it was at least ten or more.
A young man, probably the one who tripped Al’taish with his little rope and ball trick, was at the head of the pack, at least forty or fifty paces ahead of the others. Al’taish waited until the young man was almost on top of him before he swung his right arm up and letting go of the little stick in his hand. The young man ducked the flying balls easily, put his head down and tackled Al’taish at full speed. The two went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Al’taish heard rather than felt his ribs breaking. Having the wind knocked out of him that hard and hitting the ground with his broken arm first was almost more than he could take. His vision swam as he fought hard against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm his mind. Al’taish knew his only chance at survival was using his talent on the young man but he simply could not gather his thoughts and concentration.
The man pinned him down, putting one knee on his chest and the other on his right arm and announced, ‘My father is going to kill you!’
Al’taish tried snapping his left wrist back to expose his hidden blade, but the attempt to use his broken arm only served to make his mind spin even more.
The young man turned his head around and shouted something but suddenly went quiet and fell forward onto Al’taish’s chest. For the briefest of moments Al’taish wondered what had just happened, but then he remembered the others. He struggled to get out from under the dead weight, hoping he still had time to get up.
He scrambled to his feet, snapped his right wrist back and took up a crouching position.
The men were not running towards him anymore as he expected. Instead, most of them were flat on the ground. Slowly they got up, gathering their weapons.
‘Leave,’ a female voice came from behind Al’taish.
One man jumped to his feet and raised his sword, but before he had taken two steps he simply dropped to the ground, the sword tumbling from his lifeless hand.
‘Leave or I will kill all of you,’ the voice said.
Recognition tugged deep in the back of Al’taish’s mind, but the pain prevented him from forming a coherent thought.
The father of the young woman who had started all the trouble for Al’taish said, ‘What can one woman do against us?’
‘If you take even a single step towards me, you will die,’ the voice threatened.
The man decided to see if the woman could make good on her threat and came forward. His lifeless body dropped to the ground after only a few steps.
The rest of the men whispered urgently to each other.
Words like “demon” and “witch” reached Al’taish’s ears. He dared not look behind him yet, not until the threat in front of him was gone. The small voice in the back of his head screamed again that the person behind him was familiar, but he ignored it for the moment and simply concentrated on staying conscious. The pain in his arm was almost too much to bear and he was certain that at least three of his ribs were broken.
Slowly the men retreated, keeping an eye on Al’taish and the woman behind him. Al’taish watched them carefully, fearful of a surprise attack.
A hand softly touched his shoulder as the woman behind him said, ‘Last time I saw you, you were in much better shape, young man,’
Al’taish attempted to rise, but as the relief of having escaped with his life coupled with the pain of his damaged body washed over him, his world went black.
Al’taish struggled to open his eyes.
‘Welcome back,’ a soothing voice drifted into his mind.
Al’taish tried to sit up but gentle hands kept him down.
‘Don’t move. Your injuries are serious,’ the woman said.
Al’taish blinked a few times. He turned his head a little to see who was with him.
‘Hello, Tabitha,’ he whispered.
Tabitha took his hand.
‘You should lie still and rest. You have a broken arm and two broken ribs,’ she said.
Al’taish smiled through the pain as he said, ‘I thought it was three.’
He closed his eyes again but the bliss that sleep offered and his curiosity over what happened battled in his mind.
Curiosity won so he opened his eyes again.
‘Where am I?’ he asked.
‘At my house in Zedonia,’ Tabitha answered.
Al’taish took a quick look around. He was in a smallish room furnished only with a table, a wash basin, a bed and the chair Tabitha was sitting on. There was a single, small window, but the curtain was drawn. The only light came from a sliver of sunlight that crept past the curtain.
He felt rather than saw the splints that held his broken left arm in place.
‘What happened out in the field?’ he asked.
‘You were attacked by a mob of angry men. I asked them to leave you alone and they did,’ Tabitha answered nonchalantly.
Al’taish lifted an eyebrow at the old woman.
‘Well, maybe I did more than just ask, but it’s not really important now. You should rest,’ she said.
Memories of the event flooded back.
‘A man pinned me down but then suddenly just dropped dead. How did that happen?’ Al’taish asked.
Tabitha, ignoring the question, got up and walked to the door.
‘Would you like lemon juice and something to eat?’ she asked without turning around.
Al’taish did not answer. He was far more interested in the way Tabitha was walking. She seemed to be moving a lot easier than the last time he saw her, like she was somehow less old.
Something else vaguely familiar also tugged in Al’taish’s mind, but he could not place it.
‘Well? Are you hungry?’ Tabitha asked as she looked back at him.
‘Yes, I am, but could you open the curtain before you go, please?’ Al’taish replied.
Tabitha walked to the small window and drew the curtain to one side. Bright sunlight flooded the room. Keeping her back towards Al’taish, Tabitha quickly left.
A short while later she returned holding a plate and a mug.
‘Some fresh bread, goat stew and lemon juice. I diluted the lemon juice slightly,’ Tabitha said.
Al’taish sat up, his body protesting, and took the plate from her.
‘Thank you, Robyn,’ he said.
The old woman sat down on the chair, a pensive look on her face.
‘I have not heard that name in many years. How did you know?’ she sighed.
‘You have a small imperfection on your right cheek, just below the eye. The only other time I’ve seen such a mark on someone is in the drawings of Robyn in Fenton. Although you look a lot older than in the drawings, once I looked for the resemblance it was hard not to see it,’ Al’taish answered.
He immediately realized that calling someone old was terribly rude, so he stammered, ‘I’m sorry, I did not mean old…’
‘That is quite all right, young man,’ Robyn laughed as she involuntarily touched the birth mark under her eye.
‘Obviously I have a lot of questions about this, but first I would like to know exactly what happened last night in the field,’ Al’taish said.
‘You were attacked and I helped you,’ Robyn replied with a shrug.
‘How? Those men did not suddenly die of old age and how come the rest all ended up on the ground? Did they just fall over their own feet while chasing me?’ Al’taish pressed, a little irritated with Robyn’s blasé attitude.
Robyn stared straight into Al’taish’s eyes, but the young man did not flinch. He stared back almost as if he was challenging her.
‘I suppose I owe you the truth, but it might just bring more questions than answers,’ she finally said as she dropped her gaze.
‘Apparently I’m not going anywhere for a while so we have lots of time to talk,’ Al’taish said.
‘I felt you coming toward Zedonia with my sense. It is part of the talent, or magic, I inherited from my parents. I also sensed the mob behind you and knew you were in trouble so I went out there. I used my magic to kill the man who tackled you and erected an energy wall between you and the others. That is how they all ended up on the ground. I also used my magic to drain the life from the other two,’ Robyn answered, keeping a close eye Al’taish’s reaction.
‘Why did you help me?’ the young man asked slowly, his mind racing.
‘Because it is not your time to die. You have an important role to play in the upcoming events,’ Robyn answered.
‘Upcoming events?’ Al’taish frowned.
‘I can’t tell you much about the future simply because I don’t know, but if I tell you about the past, you might understand a little of what is going on,’ Robyn answered.
While Al’taish ate his food, Robyn told him who she really was and who her brothers and sisters, the Supremes, were. She explained how they ruled old Mendin through fear and intimidation for thousands of years.
She also told him about the time when Lady Jaclyn came with an army to make war against the Old Mendin. It was in that war Robyn died but was sent back by a spirit to wait for someone.
‘Wait for someone?’ Al’taish asked.
‘I was sent back to wait for you,’ she replied.
‘Me? Why?’ Al’taish gasped.
‘I was told that the man who knows my true identity was the man I’m supposed to help. I took a chance in helping you last night, but when you called me Robyn, I knew I did the right thing. You have an important part to play if this world is going to survive. I do not know what you are supposed to do, only that I was to help you in your time of dire need. It would seem that time was last night,’ she replied.
Al’taish shook his head and said, ‘I don’t understand any of this. Who sent you back? How did they know I was going to be attacked and possibly killed last night?’
Robyn got a pained expression on her face as she said, ‘I am not supposed to tell you anything. I am the only one on this earth who knows these things and had been warned not to share it.’
‘Share what? Robyn, you’re not making sense,’ Al’taish frowned.
Robyn got up, walked to the window and stood staring out for a while before she spoke again.
‘I will tell you what I know, but please remember it is very little. Most of what I’m about to say is speculation and guess work. The spirits also do not have all the answers and cannot always see everything,’ she said.
Al’taish nodded his understanding and Robyn continued.
‘The spirit world is not a physical world like ours, but rather a magical place made up of pure energy. The energy needed to sustain the spirit world has to come from somewhere. The human race and the world we live in was created to provide energy for the spirit world to exist. A very…’
‘So the spirits steal our energy?’ Al’taish interrupted.
‘Basically yes, but remember we were created for this purpose. There is more than enough energy in this world to sustain us and the spirits. Now, where was I?’ Robyn frowned.
She thought about it for a moment and then said, ‘Oh yes, now I remember. A very long time ago there was a terrible war in the spirit world. I do not know why, I simply know that it happened. Our world had nothing to do with this war, the people here blissfully unaware of what was going on. When it seemed that this war would never end and nobody was getting the upper hand, the leader of one of the armies, Zaco, brought the fight to our world. He threatened to create monsters that would destroy this world if Conis, the leader of the other army, did not surrender. Conis ignored this threat and Zaco went ahead with his plan. Rather than lose the war, he decided it would be better to destroy our world and thereby destroying the spirit world too. Of course spirits can’t really create monsters, so Zaco gave my parents the talent for stealing energy, believing that it would make them power hungry and evil. He theorized that such people would destroy the world. Conis saw what Zaco had done and he, in turn, did something similar. He gave a single man the ability to give, take and manipulate energy believing it would counteract Zaco’s actions. Because the magic he gave to the human was much stronger than what Zaco had given my parents, Conis was only able to give it to one person and not two, like Zaco had done. Both spirits forgot something very important though: Humans can choose who they want to be. My parents did not become evil and nor did I. Their plans had failed but through their actions a chain of events were put in pace that could never be undone. Magic was brought into the world and it could never be taken away,’ Robyn explained.
‘Zaco and Conis. Zaconis,’ Al’taish whispered.
Robyn turned away from the window with a frown on her face.
‘It disturbs me that you already know the name Zaconis. Let me tell you where it came from and then you can tell me where you have heard it. There is a spirit called Dina who has the ability to see the future. When…’
Al’taish interrupted,’ See the future? Nobody can see the future!’
‘Mostly that is true, but Dina does get visions of the future. She does not see details, but rather a sort of glimpse of the most probable results of certain events. But, as I was saying, when she saw what Zaco and Conis had done, she had a vision of the world ending and with it the spirit world. She convinced some of the others that something had to be done and together they destroyed both spirits. It sounds terrible, but they had no other choice. Back then spirits had a law that they were not allowed to influence humans at all, but the two warlords broke that law, thereby putting their world and ours at terrible risk. If it wasn’t for Dina, everything would have been destroyed a long time ago. Dina thought that simply eliminating Zaco and Conis would solve the problem and the future she saw would not come to pass, but she was wrong. She had another vision of the world ending. The spirits decided that it was permissible to subtly influence the humans in order to save us and them and that a guardian of all magic should be appointed. The title for this guardian was Zaconis, a combination of the two names that almost destroyed everything. This was done so that all the spirits would never forget what the two warlords had done. Dina was appointed as Zaconis, Guardian of Magic. According to Dina, if the people who had received magical gifts from Zaco and Conis were to be kept apart, the world would be safe. My parents were kept in this part of the world and led to believe that there was nothing else. Although I crossed the western mountain and then came back, my parents never wanted to believe that there was anything there. Only after I Dina had explained their influence on my parent’s lives did I understand this. My siblings, having been taught by my parents, also believed this and thought they were the rulers of the entire world. This is the reason they never tried to expand their empire and why this part of the world was so primitive until a few hundred years ago. The person who received the gift from Conis was kept
in a land far across the ocean and things were good for a while. However, he took a wife and she bore him two sons. Both these boys were restless and somehow made their way across the ocean to this part of the world. One of the sons, Erostagnos, lived with the elves for a while and then settled down in a swamp near Avarya. I think he was Lady Jaclyn’s father, but I am not certain. Dina never saw him in her visions so the spirits left him alone. Although I don’t know what the other brother, Mathew, had done, I do know that the spirits were very worried about him. He eventually went back to where he belonged but not before a young woman fell pregnant by him. The spirits argued about the unborn child for a long time. Some said he should not be allowed to live while others argued that killing a human was overstepping the boundaries of subtle influences. The argument was worthless since spirits can’t kill humans. Eventually nothing was done about him but before his birth, his mother was struck by a terrible illness and it looked as though mother and child would die. This pleased some of the spirits but the magic was strong in the child and he survived for eight days as a new born baby in the wild until a woman named Clarissa found him. She took him and raised him as her own in a remote mountain village called Clareton. She named the boy Brighton. He grew up with Lilian, my niece, and the two of them fell in love. The magic was dormant in both of them until they reached their teenage years. Brighton was destined to discover his magic much later, only after he reached maturity, and use it to end Seth’s hold on this part of the world. However, a cruel twist of fate changed all of this in a single day. Lilian was abducted away by her father, Seth, after he had murdered Brighton’s adoptive mother. Brighton, blinded by grief and anger, decided to go after Seth immediately. Dina’s visions of the future changed dramatically. If Brighton had caught up with Seth and Lilian, Seth would have killed Brighton. Seth would also have realized, having felt the magic in Brighton, that there was other, stronger magic in the world. He would have gone in search of this and the monster Zaco intended would have been unleashed upon the world. Seth would have become unstoppable. Dina convinced the other spirits that Brighton had to survive and, although not all the spirits agreed, they took action. A group of young men was sent to delay Brighton. He got involved in a fight and was forced to stay in Clareton until nightfall before he could go after Seth and Lilian. This small event changed a lot of things. Brighton never caught up with Seth and Lilian and ended up staying in Avarya for six years, believing that Lilian was dead. They found each other again and together they destroyed the Supremes. If it wasn’t for Carmen and Mischief, Brighton and Lilian would never have succeeded in ending my brother’s hold on this part of the world,’