Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1)

by Saladin Siddiqui

  “Err, Master Dorian wants you to meet Aylan Bimbsor on the last day of the festival,” Jeem said while getting up from the floor and dusting his clothes.

  “Aylan Bimbsor, Eh?” Bolin frowned, “The boy who nearly destroyed my cottage? I have no business with him. Even if it’s Master Dorian’s order.”

  “I know about it and can tell you he’s not the person he was before. Master Dorian said Aylan needs your help and if you want an explanation, you can go to him anytime before the big sport.”

  “But why it is so important to meet him?”

  “Aylan will tell you,” Jeem said. “My duty was to pass the message and I’ve done it. Now I’m going to go back to my home,” he started walking towards the door.

  “Wait a moment,” Bolin ordered. Jeem felt a cold breeze going down by his spine. “You were the second boy with Aylan, weren’t you?”

  Jeem turned slowly with a fake smile on his face, “It was a long time ago, my friend. Why are you bringing them up now?”

  “Because I can’t forget what have you two did to my workshop; I had to start all over again.”

  “I thought Aylan’s father gave you compensation?”

  “Yes, he did, because he was a good man. But whatever you had done, would kill me with you, too”

  Jeem remembered Aylan and himself pulling down the whole giant cauldron filled with molten metal, spilling it across the open floor. The lava-like liquid metal started burning the wooden base and wall down, and the whole cottage fell on their head. Luckily, some spears leaned on the wall hold the part of the roof where they were and saved their lives. Bolin was sleeping upstairs at that moment. He woke up smelling the burning smell and jumped out from the window and safely landed on the straws kept on the back lane and came back to rescue them as they were screaming for help. As soon as they got free, they just ran away without giving Bolin simple thanks.

  “Thank you very much for saving our lives that day,” Jeem said. “We were utterly stupid then.”

  “No worries,” Bolin sounded a bit soft. He understood how Jeem was ashamed of their deed in the boyhood. “I’ll meet him, but I don’t know how does he look like?”

  “Don’t worry. He’ll find you there,” Jeem said. “By the way, can I ask what sort of work are you doing for the King, that broke down a strong man like you?”

  Bolin sighed and sat down big wheel that leaned on the wall. He sat head down and rubbed his hands on the wheel nervously. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it to you in the first place. What a mistake!”

  “If you’re thinking about the confidentiality of the work, then I would say they shouldn’t have let you come home until the work is done,” Jeem countered.

  “I don’t know about it, but Lord Brirar did warn me not to disclose it to anyone, or the consequence wouldn’t be very nice.”

  “Well, in that case, you better keep it to yourself. See you later Bolin, it’s been a pleasure to meet you at last,” Jeem off to the door.

  “Wait,” Bolin got up. He looked hesitated. “listen, son, I may not make it to the big sports day, but I think it’s my responsibility to warn the people beforehand.”

  Jeem turned back and stepped towards Bolin with a curious mind. Bolin looked at him and said, “The King has ordered me to make a lot of thin plated metal balls with a flap that can be locked from outside. They are going to put some kind of powder inside those balls and throw them by the catapult. As soon as the balls hit the target, they would blow up and destroy it. It’s like the stone with fire, except they are hundred times more destructive.”

  “Hmm, now I get it,” Jeem said. He wasn’t happy to know this at all. “I was wondering about the word ‘blow up.’ So far, I couldn’t imagine anything that could be possible by our knowledge. And here King Khuli had already stocked up his weapons.” He sighed.

  “How did you know about it,” Bolin asked.

  “Somehow, we got the news and know what’s going to be his very first target. I would tell you, but that might be risky for you. Ask Aylan about it when you meet him, okay?”

  “I think that would be better,” Bolin said. He looked around the room and then picked two forks and gave it to Jeem. “Not sure if I’m being watched or not, you better pretend like a customer who came for these. Now go.”

  Jeem took the forks and nodded to Bolin, then walked out of the cottage casually, stopped outside under the street torch to check the forks properly. He shook his head as if he was happy with Bolin’s work and walked towards his bakery. In the meantime, he looked around from the corner of his eyes and found the proof of Bolin’s assumption. There was indeed a man standing behind a store, looking at him. Jeem felt sorry for Bolin. After all these times, this old man is being harassed at the end of his life.

  Jeem was thinking about the defense from the King Khuli’s destructive weapon. He could throw them effortlessly from his heavily guarded castle. The unaware and trapped people in the village would die by the hit of those fireballs, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything but watching them turn into minced flesh. He hoped that Aylan had a better plan to save those poor people.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Festival was busier than the past. There were ten times more visitors, and many more traders coming to Ashaland. Mostly because of the King’s announcement about participation in the big sport being opened to the nonresidents this time. The big sport was always popular. Having understood the commercial side, the Midney Kings added new attractions to it every year and were getting the positive result. But the locals were not happy about it. The more people meant extra pressure, changing of their daily lifestyle. They become strangers during that time. However, they had to stay silent to keep their king happy.

  It was a bad time for Jeem and Laam as well. To keep everything look normal, Jeem had to keep his bakery open, which got busy from the day before the festival officially started. Also, Laam had to maintain the supply on.

  On the third day, Aylan came to the city to register his name for the big sport. All he wanted to assure Laam won the game. It was crucial to keep their plan working. When he stood in front of the registrar, an old Midney man called Ednit Aboho, who missed a heartbeat when looked straight into Aylan’s eyes, “Do I know you boy?” he asked. He was sure about seeing those eyes somewhere else.

  “I don’t know, sire,” Aylan smiled. He could read the old man’s mind. The man’s brain was searching for the familiar eyes like a storm. Aylan thought he needed to stop him thinking, “My mother was from here. Though, she had left Ashaland at her young age.”

  “What’s your name?” The man asked again.

  “Haydar Mahisor, sire. In case, if you are wondering, I’m all the way from the kingdom of Ista. I came here to study at the Master Dorian’s school. I heard about the festival and about the big sport. Thought to experience it at first hand,” Aylan kept smiling.

  “Ista? It’s a long way, indeed,” the old man said, as he wrote down Aylan’s fake name in a registry book. “Where’s your arrow, son?”

  Aylan took an arrow from the quiver. He made this, the only different arrow for the big sport, to keep his Darkhor style arrows secret from the people. The old man took the arrow and checked it. Then he wrote Aylan’s name down on it by a long nail and showed if the name was correct. As Aylan nodded, he put it in the box and said, “Tomorrow it will be kept in the jungle along with the other arrows. You will be told about your arrows’ possible location. Remember, just pick your arrow and don’t try to temper others’.”

  “Don’t worry about it, sire. I want to play this game fair and square,” Aylan nodded to the old man and walked to the main gate of the city and the village, where he’d meet Laam.

  Laam came to the place way after the noon. As soon as he saw Aylan, he rushed to him and said, “There was a big queue in front of the name registry house. At least one hundred men were waiting to register their name. I’m telling you, it’s going to be a chaotic situation tomorrow. By the way, did Cro tell about the
King’s intention with you?”

  Aylan nodded. “Don’t worry about it. They’ll get me when I let them to. First, I need to let the people know the truth about the death of those poor kids.”

  “Where did you hear about them?” Laam asked. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you don’t live with the gypsies anymore.”

  “Cro said. Apparently, it was one of the things that the villagers thought when you met him that day.”

  “Okay then, I too, eager to know the truth and hope the gypsies have nothing to do with this.” Laam stepped forward to the guards as they signed them to stop. The guards knew Laam, but Aylan was there for the first time. “He’s a visitor,” he said to the guards. “His mother was from here. She passed away a few days ago. So, he came in person to let his relatives know if you allow him to.”

  The guards spoke between them and asked, “How long would you be there?”

  “Not long,” Aylan replied. “I’ll be back by the evening.”

  “Okay, we’ll wait for your return. If you don’t show up by the evening, your friend would be in trouble,” one of the guards said.

  Laam and Aylan both nodded to the guards and proceeded to the village. Aylan knew about the condition of the village, but seeing with his own eyes made him feel even sad for the villagers. He looked around, the massive wall and guard tower surrounded from every side. He felt like he had entered in an open prison, where people lived in their own responsibilities. “This needs to be stopped,” he muttered.

  Laam looked at him and then said, “I’m taking you to the elders, who are basically the heads of the village at the moment. There’s no leader here because everyone is scared of death, as it happened to the other leaders. Tomorrow, if I win, I’ll get the eligibility to put myself forward to lead the whole community.”

  Aylan nodded. When he was taken to the unofficial council of the village that formed by ten old men, five of them were the ex-soldiers of the late king Hedar and the rest of them came from the different backgrounds. He read their thoughts to find if there’s any traitor amongst them but wasn’t any. He kissed their hands to greet and sat on a skeleton of an old rug.

  “This is Aylan Bimbsor. He came to tell you some important news,” Laam introduced him to the council.

  The result was expected. All of them jumped off from their seats and looked at Aylan angrily. “How dare you to bring a gypsy here?” one of them shouted. “Don’t you know what they did to the kids and Bukka?’’

  “Please calm down and listen to me,” Aylan requested. But the old men didn’t show any eagerness to stop cursing him. Aylan shook his head and touched the ring, “I said please calm down.” He was slowly learning how the ring works.

  All of a sudden, the room fell into silence. The old men sat down and looked at each other hesitatingly. They knew that they weren’t listening to themselves anymore.

  “I’m here to let you know the truth,” Aylan continued. He looked at surprised Laam and asked him to show the arrows that were used to kill the kids. He took one arrow out of his quiver as well and held them in his two hands next to each other. “Please take a look carefully. The one in my right hand was used to kill the kids, and the one in my left hand is the actual arrow that the gypsies use. They look almost the same, but the original gypsy arrow has the fletching made from the desert eagle’s feather, a little brown in color. And this one,” he reached out his right hand close the men, “has the fletching made from pigeon feather. Anyone with a little knowledge about arrow could say that, and you are the most knowledgeable people in the village?”

  One of the old men, called Budhil took the both arrows in his hands and examined them and shook his head to other to show his agreement with Aylan. “We’re sorry to you, son,” he said. “The situations we’re going through is breaking us emotionally. We’re losing our thinking ability, let alone giving some good advice to the youngsters.”

  Aylan slowly sat in front of Budhil and hold his two hands, “I can understand that. This is why you need to choose your successor now. I know you’re waiting for Laam’s performance in the big sport. I’m not saying he wouldn’t win it, but what if he doesn’t? Would you not consider him as your worthy successor?”

  The old men looked at each other. Aylan waited for one of them to speak out. After a long pause Budhil opened his mouth again, “Well, we do. But the majority of the villagers like his brother Amo to be their leader, as he had shown more leadership abilities recently. That’s why we’ve been waiting for Laam to show his true self to the people and make it easier for us to declare him as the next leader.”

  “Well, in that case, I will win the big sport and get their confidence in me,” Laam said. He was almost going to tell them about Amo’s change but controlled him at last moment.

  All the men nodded to Laam. “What happened to my Bukka then? Do you know anything about him?” Budhil asked again.

  Laam and Aylan exchanged a glance and shook their heads as the negative answer. “Whatever had happened to him, we’ll find out soon,” Laam said.

  “And how are you going to do that?” Damal, the long-retired leader, asked.

  “Well, here’s the main point I came to let you know today,” Aylan said. “I know that none of you present here would betray to the community. And you must know what is coming to you soon.” The old men looked frightened. Aylan held Budhil’s hands even firmly. “Please prepare yourselves for the bad news first.”

  “What is that?” Damal asked, sarcastically. “It’s been a long time since we heard something good.”

  “I know,” Aylan replied. “This is the worst. The King is going to kill all the villagers and destroy the whole village right after the festival.”

  The room fell into silence. The old men kept bouncing their blank glance to Aylan and Laam. They seemed like struggling to get the news. They were hoping badly that the news wasn’t true. None of them cared about themselves, as they were in the last stages of their lives, but the younger generations, for whom they were dreaming of a free land. They can’t just die without feeling the sweetness of freedom.

  “Where did you get the news?” one of the old men asked.

  “From an authentic source,” Aylan replied. “Now, you can guess that we don’t have enough time and must act fast to save all these lives. I do believe that he’ll win the competition and earn the trust from the others. But, I want you to listen to Laam and prepare for the tomorrow evening.”

  “What’s your function here? You’re a gypsy man, who just can stay away from all these problems. But why do you involve yourself with our matter?” Damal asked.

  “Being a human, it’s my responsibility to help the others in need, sire,” Aylan replied. “I want to help you to win back your land and let your younger generation have the free land that you had seen many years back. I’d like to see your misery end and to send a message to all the oppressors that they can’t keep doing this injustice for long. The oppressed have the ability to fight back!”

  Damal walked to Aylan and hugged him. “You have become exactly like your father and grandfather. I can see your father’s proud face for your bravery.”

  “Unfortunately, both my parents passed away a few days ago, sire,” Aylan said. “The Dainees had killed them.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Damal said, compassionately. The others echoed him as well.

  “Thank you very much,” Aylan said. “I also got the news that the Dainees are involved with the king, and they’ll be helping him to make sure his plan succeeds.”

  “And there are some Kajlas have arrived in the city in the past few days,” Laam added. “We do need to act fast.”

  “We’re with you, son,” Budhil said.

  “We’d like you to lead us to the right way,” Damal added. “But you still need to get the confidence of the villagers.”

  “I’m grateful to you all and especially to Aylan,” Laam declared. “We have a plan, and we’ll follow it first to last. Now, what I want is to infor
m as many trustable people as possible, except these,” he took out the list from his pocket.

  The old men were surprised to see the names, mostly seeing Amo’s name in it. Laam understood their reaction, “I know it’s shocking and believe me, not all of them are doing this for money or wealth, but they are forced to do so. So, keep it as a secret until tomorrow evening and wait for my signal.”

  The two friends then headed out and went to their own destinations.

  Aylan saw the kids looking eagerly from the rooftop, at the people who were coming and going to the festival. They could hear the other children in the city are having fun shouting out of joy. He felt sorry for them. Though there was dummy festival arranged by the villagers for the sake of their young ones, it was so simple and faded compared to the original one. They had been arranging this since they were forced into the open cage.

  Aylan went to Jeem’s bakery to stay for the night. He had an important task to do before the big sport started.

  ***

  In the morning Jeem woke Aylan up and asked what he wanted for the breakfast. Aylan smiled at him mysteriously, “I have an invitation for breakfast, my friend. I better hurry to be there on time,” he said as he got up from the bed. He opened his bag and took the best tunic and trousers out.

  When he got ready, Jeem looked at him and raised his brows, “Are going to meet any girl, my friend?”

  “Oh. No, no,” Aylan was by the door, he turned back and smiled to Jeem, “Those things are not for me, man. I’ll let you know later. Meanwhile, prepare yourself for the big sport.”

  Aylan walked all the way to the other side of the city. The city had grown larger since he came here last time. King’s castle and all the lords’ houses were a little far from the city. Now, everything became the part of it as the population grew. Aylan had taken a look at the map before he got out, so didn’t have difficulty to find his desired palace in the far corner of the city.