It was here that her apprentices resided in secret, though they had revealed themselves with their childish games. Chaya walked straight to the stable first. Her Apprentices were surprised by her arrival. Usually, whenever Chaya came into the secret garden, she went to the outer house first before going anywhere else. She didn’t even greet anyone as she normally did. The apprentice Dainees could guess that the Queen Mother had found out about their adventure to the outside world, two nights ago. Two of the apprentices ran off to the main house to inform the others. Soon everyone was gathered outside the rest house, waiting and thinking what to say to Chaya. Most were looking to their senior apprentice Ava. But she was disappointed with them as well.
In the stable Chaya was walking around from corner to corner, looking for any injury or damage to the body of the Urontos. Chaya stroked some of them. The animals knew her. They welcomed her by snorting.
The Urontos were a hybrid of the dark racing horse and the Griffin. These animals were well known in the Duray as the mounts of the Dainee for centuries, their creators. When everybody else came to know the secret of the Griffin and started the lengthy process of breeding, the Dainees thought for an upgrade and after a long research they came up with the idea of this mixed breed.
The Urontos were fast, hardworking and loyal like the horse but were twice the brutal and wild nature than the Griffin. They looked like the dark horses with giant wings. Their teeth were long and very sharp and the eagle’s talons as their front feet. Instead of grass or hay, the male Urontos were fond of meat, particularly rabbit meat. The smell of blood would drive them crazy. For this reason, she kept them at a safe distance from the human. The female Urontos ate only fruit and they were not able to fly as the males did. They were kept stabled and used only for breeding purposes.
Chaya checked made sure the beasts were fed and watered before she came out of the stables. She walked to the apprentices with firm steps, looked at each and every Dainee. They were all standing with their heads down. Chaya understood that they already have realized that she knew about the incident. So, she asked them straight away, “Those who are the responsible for this foolish fun, come forth.”
Chaya surprised to see that no one has moved. Instead, they looked at Ava. Chaya turned to her and asked, “Do you have anything to say, Ava?”
Ava answered without looking up, “I beg your pardon, Queen Mother. I have tried my best to stop the apprentices, but they didn’t listen to me. The ones who did felt that they have been here for two years learning many things but never getting a chance to use what they learned. They were bored. Some of them stole five Urontos and fireballs from the King’s secret room to burn down those filthy human foods.”
“A bunch of impatient fools! Were you bored? Just being here for two years?” Chaya yelled at the apprentices. No one ever has seen the Queen Mother’s anger before. All of them froze in their places, not even daring even move their eyelashes. “Do you even have any idea what you have done? If I weren’t here, my son would kill all of you before breakfast. How dare you enter the forbidden place? Tell me, how can I trust you to do anything in the future?”
No one answered. So, Chaya continued, “We’ve been hiding here for years like rats, waiting for the right time to destroy our enemies. You idiots were almost going to ruin everything. We were lucky that the guards caught that farmer before he reaches the Dainee Hunter.” A wave of nervous fear swept through the apprentices. Stories had been told for centuries about the people who hunted the Dainees. If they had really almost brought a hunter down upon themselves then they’d only just barely avoided death. “We don’t have enough Damori powers to face the evil right now and for this reason you are here to learn about the Damori, to make yourselves stronger and fight the enemies. And I’ve said this a thousand times.”
“I have no choice but to punish you for your mistakes otherwise you will not learn. Sior, bring the whip from the stable.” She didn’t even finish her words; Sior ran to the stable and brought the shiny black whip within a moment. Chaya took the whip in her hand and raised it so that everyone could clearly see the menacing weapon. “Now reveal those who are guilty”. No one has moved this time either. They froze in place from fear.
Chaya was getting impatient. “Okay then, since you’re not willing to cooperate, everyone will be punished.” She raised the whip in threat and finally they moved. All the apprentices stepped back except five. They looked around them with terrified eyes.
Chaya looked at Ava and said, “You too come forth, Ava. You have failed your responsibilities and you’ll share in their punishment.”
Ava stepped forth and begged to Chaya to not punish her. “Please Queen mother, show some mercy to me. This is my first mistake ever. I will be stricter in my duty.” She said it with her mouth, but her eyes were pleading for mercy, not just from pain but from embarrassment as being the leader she had a favorable reputation amongst her peers. The punishment would humiliate her in front of others. Chaya ignored Ava’s plea. She whipped her first, then the others. Each of them took ten lashes, which was more than enough. At the last lash everyone else fell on the floor out of pain but Ava. She stood in her place head down. She was trying to control her anger. She didn’t want Chaya to see it now, but promised to herself to take revenge on her!
Chaya then called Sior and told to kneel before her, “From now on you, Sior is the leader of the apprentices. All the Dainees here are bound to obey your decision, and you can be as strict as you need to be to keep the control over them. Now stand up and kiss my hand.”
Sior was finding it hard to control herself. Her plan worked incredibly faster than she thought. She stood up and kissed the queen mother’s hand and then stepped aside as Chaya walked to the door. All the Dainees could feel that their best days were over.
Chapter Five
Aylan put the water back into the sack. He was amazed by the raven’s emotion. This bird was unique. “Yes, you can be my companion if you wish,” he said. “My name Aylan Bimbsor.”
Cro flapped his wings and croaked, “Cr-r-ruck, Cr-r-ruck, let’s go on an adventure Aylan!”
Aylan smiled at Cro. “I hope it’d be a real experience, my birdie friend. I am heading home now and totally dependent on this book, which was drawn a long time ago. Most of the pictures here do not match with the present condition, which is understandable. So, we have to use our imagination to stick on the right path.”
“Who drew these pictures?” Cro asked.
“I reckon it was your old friend, whom you met one hundred years ago. If I’m guessing right then, you are going to meet him again.”
“Blimey! I want to see the old timer again.” Cro flapped his wings again.
“We better start walking then. There’s an endless, deadly desert to cross.” Aylan tied the water skin to his waist, checked his other belongings to make sure everything was in its place then took Cro onto his shoulder. Before starting to walk, he looked back to the three mountains and the place where the Mystic Fountain appeared. There was a legitimate reason for not drawing it on the last page of the book. The artist did not get the chance to see the fountain, he thought.
“Can we not wait for the nightfall? It’d be cooler then?” Cro offered.
“Nah,” Aylan rejected his offer. “The nights are incredibly short here. We better use night times for resting.” Cro agreed with him.
The sun was in the middle of the sky spreading its scorching heat over the desert. “No wonder there are no animals living out here,” Aylan muttered. He felt like he had been walking on a frying pan and expected to feel thirsty and weak after a few miles into it. Instead, he had to get surprised by his newly found strength. He was indeed considering the temperature, but it was not creating any impact in his body. Like he was walking on a village road, where one could feel the heat, but the roadside trees keeping the path comfortable.
Cro was not bothered at all, he was familiar with what the miraculous water could do. He’d had to fly for a whole
day to get to the three mountains. Now he was rather enjoying the ride, which he dreamt of for a long time.
It took over two weeks to cross the desert, a long journey but far less time than going to the three mountains. In the meantime, they could take only twenty-one hours of rest. These hours were the longest time to Aylan. Every time he closed his eyes, his past would jump into the dreams: to his arrogant adolescence, the first few hard lessons after leaving his parents house, the life with the thugs, and his first proper job as a guard of a slave trader. Then to working under the stingiest man in the world as a slave and at last found by the Darkhors as half dead on the roadside, joining them and becoming one of the most merciless robbers. In his dream, Aylan thought he’d see regrets for his ruthless past over the last three years.
He thought he would see the faces of those he had wronged. Particularly the young boy who was his last victim, whose eyes kept chasing him everywhere and didn’t let him sleep peacefully for a single night. Instead, he woke up with less guilt and more confidence to make atonement, and more knowledge to distinguish between right and wrong. All this time Cro kept an eye on him and was about to ask if he was alright or not. But he noticed that Aylan was looking much better, more confident, skin gone brighter, feeling less tired, and the black marks around his eyes were faded. Cro understood it was the reaction of the blessed water.
When they reached on the top of the last sandy hill at the end of the desert, they found themselves in front of an enormous stoney place. Aylan put his hand on the eyes to see the end of the horizon. As far as he could see, there were no trees, no grass, and no sign of green, only bald yellowish mountains and valleys and the canals were long dead.
“Seems like the situation is getting trickier,” Cro said sarcastically. “Did you come this way?”
Aylan shook his head, “No. I came from the south, where I met the dying monk. He told me to walk to the east, and I will find the Three Mountains. Now we’re walking to the west.” He opened the book. “look, according to this map there should be a trail or a canal right here, which supposed to take us to the end of this place straight away, but I can’t see any sign of it.”
“Unless your trail is hiding underneath those stones,” Cro pointed slightly right from where they were standing. It did look like a closed entrance of a trail or a canal. The stones made a high and strange looking curvy wall which was leaning to the front, making it difficult to climb over.
Aylan walked close to it and looked for any gap or entrance. “There’s no way in here,” he declared. “Probably because of an earthquake or storms, these stones fell in over the time and closed the entrance. I have no choice but climb the wall to get to the other side.” Aylan took a long breath and grabbed a stone, then pulled himself to grab another one. Cro croaked and flew away to check the top of the wall and felt blessed for being a bird for the first time in his life. This human was hanging from the wall that was not even solid at all, and there was a significant risk of slipping his hands away. Cro’s little heart was beating fast to see this dangerous climbing, but his new friend didn’t look bothered at all. He was rather determined to get to the top.
Cro was about to feel relaxed as Aylan was almost closer to the top when he heard the sound of the tumbling stone. He startled and jumped forth to see what happened to Aylan. He saw Aylan was hanging with one hand and wiping his other hand on his cloth, then carefully grabbed a stone and pulled himself to the top of the wall.
He was sweating and panting, but when Cro walked to him, he smiled and said, “Huh, it was a close call. My hands were sweating, and it was a loose stone.” Then he sat on the ground and looked down to the other side of the wall. It seemed like the stairs went all the way to the bottom. “It’s not fair isn’t it?” Cro said. “One side of the wall is a life-threatening danger, and the other hand is darn easy. But to whom to complain!”
“You have a good sense of humor, my friend?” Aylan smiled. He stood up and walked down to the stairs. “It doesn‘t look like nature made the stairs. It rather seems like a gallery, where the audience can sit and enjoy the show!”
Cro stayed silent. He didn’t like the place as his friend almost died a few moments ago.
When Aylan reached to the bottom of the stairs, he opened the book to check the direction. It showed the trail where they were standing at the moment, went straight ahead with some turnings. He struggled to read the name but at last could get it. “Snake Pass. This trail is called Snake Pass,” he said to Cro.
“Let’s hope to not see any real snakes,” Cro replied.
“Fingers crossed,” Aylan walked toward the trail. It was not easy either. The trail was well wide in some places and so skinny in others, that if Aylan were a bit bigger in size, he would not be able to get through without breaking them down. And, there were some deep and dark holes on the trail. Cro couldn’t think of what would happen if Aylan fell into one of them.
At last, at the end of the day, they reached the other end of the trail. The trail was a long-dead canal. Now he was assured as he could see a dried up fountain where they were standing. It was a massive fountain with a big bowl-shaped pool underneath it. There was some remaining of the dried up moss on the wall to prove him correct. He decided to take some rest here for that night. Though he wasn’t feeling thirsty, out of old habit, he started searching for water and suddenly found an entrance of a cave. Cro croaked and flew next to him. “Don’t say you’re thinking of getting into it now,” he said to Aylan.
“Well, there’s hardly any difference between day and night in a cave, isn’t it? Perhaps, it isn’t that deep and would a good shelter for us tonight.” Aylan tried to encourage Cro.
“What if it’s a bear’s cave?”
“I don’t think so. There’s no way any living animal could live in this dead place.”
“Alright, once again you have defeated me with your logic. But I am telling you, brother, if I see any danger inside that scary cave; I will straight turn my back and fly away. And you can’t blame me for it.”
“Ha Ha. Okay, deal,” Aylan laughed. He lit up the torch he had in the bag and entered the cave. It smelled like an old and abandoned drain. The water stains and dead moss were still visible on the wall. The floor was covered with yellowish sand. Aylan pointed the floor to Cro. There were no footsteps on it, which means they were the first comers here, and it didn’t give any comfort to Cro. He was still anxious about the cave.
Aylan had no idea for how long he was walking. Cro was dozing off on his shoulder. Just as the moment he decided to return to the entrance, he heard the sound. Cro woke up and was trying to get the direction of the sound. Aylan blew the torch and walked toward noise in the dark. The sound was very confusing. It was like somebody was pulling some huge stones, but at the same time making steps with them.
Cro whispered to Aylan’s ear as they felt the breeze, signaling that they had reached the end of the cave, let’s go back, brother. This scary sound is putting pressure on my heart. It would stop beating at any time, I am telling you.”
However, Aylan was determined to see the source of the sound. He whispered back, “You can go and wait for me at the other side if you want. Just keep following the floor. This cave has no other ways, so you will not get lost.” Cro didn’t like walking by himself in the dark either. So he decided to stay with Aylan. “Don’t worry Cro, if I see any sign of danger, I will run straightway.” He peeked out carefully and kept looking with wide opened eyes. At first, Cro didn’t notice, but when Aylan didn’t answer him, he looked over his shoulder and became speechless too.
They were looking at a huge city with a lot of stone made houses and the people walking were big and made of saffron-colored stone as well. It was a moonlit night here, and the light created such a fascinating view that Aylan and Cro were amazed and walked down to the city unconsciously. They didn’t realize that Aylan had walked by the edge of the cliff and then a thin bridge-like wall. They walked through some big stairs and entered straight into
a small gathering. By the time they realized their location, they found themselves surrounded by the Stonemen, and they didn’t look happy to see them at all.
The Stonemen had the same body shape as a human except every part of them was made of stone, even their hair and beards. From head to chin there was one whole oval-shaped stone, where eyes, nose, and mouth seemed to be placed individually. From neck to bottom was a huge square shaped stone, where two smaller sized square shaped stones have adjusted which were also attached to two and two four-cylinder shaped stones. They had big palms and ten large fingers on them. The same was in the lower body as well. Two and two, four big cylinders shaped stone made thighs and legs, oval-shaped feet and ten huge toes. The only difference was in their eyes. They were rather soft and definite, and the emotions were easily visible. Aylan felt puzzled by their gaze. It seemed like the Stonemen were expecting them. So, he politely asked the Stonemen, “Have we met before?”
“Not face to face for sure, you thieves,” growled a Stoneman. His loud voice echoed on the stone made walls.
“Whoa, whoa, did you just call me a thief?” Cro felt angry. He wasn’t bothered about the size of the Stoneman. He might have stolen from the humans but never from the Stone people.
“That’s indeed a very untrue and shameful accusation sire,” Aylan defended his dignity too. He was a bit surprised to see that the Stonemen were not bothered to see a talking raven almost as if they were used to it.
“You are not only a thief but also one of the filthy slave masters. We’ve been waiting to catch you and your people for a long time. And you can’t leave without being punished,” said the first Stoneman. He was the leader of that group.
Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1) Page 4