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

by Saladin Siddiqui

  “This is Aylan Bimbsor, son of the filthy gypsy leader Bimb Halehsor, who is famous for his brutal actions, being with the merciless clan, Darkhor,”

  The word, Darkhor worked like lightning. The crowd stepped back immediately and gave Aylan a frightened look. All of them have heard about Aylan’s brutality, and now they had witnessed him for the first time. “Kill him,” shouted one man. “Yes! Hang him!” Rest of the crowd chanted in support of him. “Kill the filthy creature, now.”

  “Quiet!” King Khuli raised his right hand and the crowd fell in silence. “I will punish him, but in my own way. Commander Magoora, take this man to the dungeon. Tomorrow morning I’ll decide his fate.” The king walked down from the stage, gave a small but an ugly glance to Aylan and continued walking to his royal carriage.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The villagers welcomed their new hero, Laam Yaadsor at the main gate. They cheered and screamed Laam’s name. To the villagers, his win was actually a victory over the Midneys. And it happened after a long time. The last villager or Ashalandian participated in the big sports was three decades ago, which two of the generations didn’t even know that it was invented by their own great grandfathers.

  From the children to the elderlies, everyone had gathered in front of the council house. Many people had voluntarily distributed foods and drinks. Some had started singing and dancing. The grandmothers sat aside with surrounded by the kids, telling the stories of their glorious past, mixed with fairy tales. For the first time in decades, the villagers had something legitimate to celebrate.

  Jeem and Laam were in the council house with the councilors, waiting for the right time. Some of the faithful volunteers were keeping their eyes on the traitors. Damal will announce Laam as their new leader. Also, this short ceremony is the signal of their next. For that reason, Damal was more excited than the others. He’d stood up and walk back and forth in regular interval. It’s been a long time since he addressed something like this. Budhil stood up and put his hand on Damal’s shoulder.

  Damal turned to Budhil and said, “I think I’m going to ruin everything. I’ve never felt this nervous before.”

  “We can understand that,” Budhil tried to comfort his old friend. “But people would expect it from you and so will the guards. Also, you know that you’ll not ruin anything.”

  “Thanks,” Damal said in a dry voice. He tried to smile, but it looked dry, too.

  After a few moments, Gatik entered the house with the child, whose face was covered with a hood. Gatik nodded to everyone, “Hello gentlemen, I’m Gatik, Aylan’s friend. My little friend and I are at your service.”

  Everybody stood up to greet Gatik. When they looked at the child, he removed his hood and gave a glance to all. Everyone lost their voice for a moment. His eyes were known to all. The child was none other but the son of Lord Eko Darsor, the man who Ashalandians hated the most and was nothing but a traitor to them.

  “What is he doing here,” Damal shouted. “He’s going to bring us trouble. Get him out!”

  “Well, he’s here to help me. I mean help you people. And he’s not going to stay for long. As soon as his part is done, he’d be headed to his house.”

  The councilors looked at each other. They still didn’t get how this child would help them. Before they burst into an argument, Laam shouted, “MY RESPECTED COUNCILORS! This boy, Daha Ekosor is here because Aylan told him to. He’d help us escape from here. I’m not expecting any question from you now. Soon you’ll see it.” The councilors nodded to him and tried to calm down.

  At that moment Shaibal, the leader of the volunteers entered the house. He nodded to the councilors and said, “All the traitors are under arrest, except for…” he hesitated to say the rest. He gave a quick glance to Laam and then lowered his eyes to the floor, “Except for Amo Yaadsor. He’s standing on the stage, waiting for his brother and denying to leave the place.”

  “Leave him to me,” Laam stepped ahead to Shaibal. “Just make sure he doesn’t leave that place.”

  Most of the councilors didn’t like this idea. They made the noise of dissatisfaction. Budhil stepped by Laam and said, “I’d like to make a comment here, gentlemen. You know that I lost my son Bukka a few days ago, and it’s hard to assume that one of these spies was responsible for this. But I can tell you that Amo Yaadsor wasn’t and isn’t responsible for any sort of harm that happened to us. He was made to spy on his brother, not to keep an eye on him, but make it hard for Laam to eligible for this important position. And you know who’d want it. So that, I’d like to suggest you leave Amo Yaadsor and forgive and forget what he was forced to do and focus what good he had done for us, along with his brother.” He paused and gave a glance to everyone. The councilors were convinced by his explanation and nodded their heads in agreement. Budhil nodded back to them and then opened the window to see the positions of the stars in the sky. “I think it is time now. Let’s go outside.” Then he walked to the door, and others had followed him.

  Just before stepping outside, Laam grabbed Jeem’s shoulder and turned to him, “Tell me that you knew about Aylan was going to get arrested?”

  Jeem smiled. “You seem to care a lot about him now?”

  “Yes, this guy had done more than enough for me, and I want to know if it was a part of the plan and what am I doing at this stage.”

  Jeem quickly looked outside and lowered his voice, “It is a part of his plan, and he’s going to handle the rest. I’ll explain you later how he managed to do it. Right now, we’ll stick to ours. But I think he chose that particular time to get arrested to distract people from you so that you can leave the place without any trouble.”

  Laam sighed. Many people have seen Aylan helping him to swim through the river. They’d raise the question about his winning, even though Lesra cheated to win the game. Aylan showed up just in time to give him a safe escape. “Okay then. Let’s stick to our part.”

  As they stepped outside, Jeem walked to Gatik and Daha. They were standing in a shadow, leaving some safe distance from the crowd. Laam walked straight to the stage. His brother Amo stepped ahead and hugged. He seemed to be very proud of his brother’s success, though he couldn’t hide his sorrow from his eyes. Laam knew the reason; he just smiled at his brother and then stood by Budhil and listened to Damal’s speech.

  “… and yes, I am feeling very proud to have the honor to declare our new leader, Laam Yaadsor.” The crowd cheered and shouted Laam’s name. Once they silenced, Damal continued, “Now I would like our new leader to come to the stage and address his people.”

  Laam nodded to Damal and walked to the stage. Amo patted on his shoulder to show how proud he was feeling for him. Laam smiled at his brother and got on the stage. Once again, the crowd started shouting his name, LAAM! LAAM!

  The stage was a pile of wood, in the yard of the council house. The house was on top of a small hill, which was surrounded by the village market. The shops were built by four poles in four corners and roof made of canvas cloth, a perfect example of their poverty. On this particular occasion, all the shops were removed to make space for the people. Five thousand villagers, all of them gathered here to hear something hopeful from their newly appointed leader.

  Just before Laam started his speech, Jeem quickly put the ring on his finger and wished for Laam’s speech wouldn’t be heard by the guards. Within a moment a whirl of wind started knocking the walls. The trees started moving and making noises. Laam’s speech got faded out, mixing with the outside noises. The guards were already tired of long duties, throughout the day. Also, they knew that there were some spies in the village, who’d listen and inform them if there is threat to the king. They took their attention away from the village to concentrate on taking rest.

  “My dear brothers and sisters of Ashaland,” Laam addressed his fellow villagers. “I am feeling honored to see your love and respect for me. I may have won the competition, but you were my real inspiration behind it.” The crowd cheered. “I know we have hard tim
es and it feels like for eternity. The last generation, who had taken the breath in a free land, is leaving us one by one. We have no choice but to live and die within this open prison.” He paused to see people’s reaction. They have already realized which way his speech was going to turn and looked nervous. Some people murmured, and some have kept looking to the wall, assuming the guards could hear him and would come down to shut down the ceremony, anytime. “I understand that you’re not expecting trouble from the guards and I can guarantee you if you don’t make the nervous face they won’t suspect anything. Because right now they can’t hear anything that I’m saying.” These words worked like a tonic. The villagers tried to look as normal as possible.

  Laam continued, “My friends and I have the plan to escape from this dungeon tonight, and that would only be possible if you trust us and listen to me without making any fuss. Besides, the councilors have given their permission.” Laam turned to the councilors, and they nodded to people to assure that Laam was telling the truth. “Before you ask, why on Duray all of a sudden we have to leave our homes, then prepare for the news. The King has the plan to destroy our village and kill us all within next three-four days and give this place to the Kajlas.” People murmured and looked to each with frightening eyes. They indeed had seen the ship full of Kajlas had arrived in the past few days. And it’s started making sense to them.

  “Now, here’s what we are going to do. We will transport magically from here to a nearby safe place.” Laam raised his voice.” From where we will prepare ourselves to fight back and reclaim our homeland. We will fight for our freedom. We will fight for our new generations to grow up like they deserve to!”

  These words worked very well. The people felt like they got inflamed in their body. They raised their voice and threw their hands in the hair. “Yes, we will fight for freedom!” “Enough is enough.” “We are with you Laam. Lead us to our victory!”

  Laam waited till they got quiet. “Now, as for preparation, please get close to your loved ones. You have a few moments to do that.”

  The villagers looked at him with disbelief and then looked at the councilors.

  “What are you talking about? How could we leave without any preparation?” one man shouted, angrily.

  “Yes, we can’t just leave our belongings here. We’d have nothing left then?” one woman said.

  Laam looked at her. “What actually we have here, my sister? The valuable things we have are our lives. And as for preparation, we all are wearing warm clothes that would help us survive in this cold weather.”

  The villagers still were not convinced. They do realize the danger of living here, but at the same time, they didn’t want to leave their comfort zone for an unknown destination. “What if I decide to stay?”

  Laam scoffed. “You’ll die sooner.” He gave a long glance to the villagers. “Obviously, we will not force you to go with us. But get that, if we go and fight for our homeland, at least we’ll die with dignity, rather than dying here like trapped rats. It’s your choice, my people. And as we don’t have enough time to keep arguing, I’m giving you a few more moments to make your mind up. If you want to go, then do as I said.”

  This short speech worked well. Within a moment the villagers got close to their loved ones. The councilors and Jeem quickly walked around to assure that everyone is within a close range. Laam stayed with his brother Amo, who looked rather relieved than before. When the councilors returned to their previous positions, Jeem said, “Now everybody, please close your eyes. I warn you, please don’t keep your eyes open. Parents, make sure your kids have closed their eyes properly.” Jeem gave the villagers a few moments to get ready. “And off we go!”

  Gatik raised his hands and instructed Daha to follow him. They were connected mind to mind. All of a sudden, a few whirl of wind started around them. The dust and debris flew into the air and covered the villagers. They could feel the wind and get hit by the dust and realized the reason why Jeem warned them to keep their eyes closed.

  The small whirls quickly joined to each other and started creating one giant whirl of the wind, which began uprooting the remaining shops and all the poles and canvas clothes that were kept aside to make rooms for the villagers in the marketplace.

  On top of the wall, the guards were spending idle times, not paying any attention to the village. They heard the sound wind but didn’t bother as the wind was blowing outside the wall for a while. As soon as the giant whirl of the wind started turning out all the torches, they had a feeling that something was wrong in the village. The guards turned to see what was happening and they skipped their heartbeats. They could see the scarily massive whirl of the wind in the remaining light of torches.

  The surprised guards saw the silent thunders struck the whirl for at least five times, creating a silent explosion of light. The guards covered their eyes to protect them from the light explosion, and when they removed their hands, there was not a single villager left in the entire village.

  ***

  Aylan was blindfolded before they took him all the way down to the dungeon, where he would wait until the morning for his trial by the king. The guards made him walk through the maze-like corridors and stairs to make him confused about the way out. But Aylan wasn’t bothered about it, as he knew that he’d be taken back to the castle in the morning. He rather spent his time thinking about the possible location of the Cricles. He had promised his Stone friends that he’d return them as soon as possible.

  As he was thinking about the Cricles, leaning back on the cold wall in the cell, the door got wide opened. A guard, whose face was covered with a bandana, entered the cell with a plate of food in his hand. Looking at him, Aylan thought he knew that person from before. As if the guard heard his thought, he sat on his knees next to Aylan and removed the bandana. It was the registrar, Ednit Aboho. He looked at Aylan with disquiet as if he was expecting to bruise and blood in his face. When he saw nothing and Aylan looked okay, Ednit exhaled of relief and said, “Get up, son. I’m going to take you out from here.”

  Aylan looked at Ednit and read his mind to the exact reason why he was trying to help him, but still asked him for not to make him surprised. “Why’d you help me?”

  Ednit smiled at him. “You lied about your name, but your eyes couldn’t. You’re Aylin’s son. Her father, Dar was my best friend. He did a lot for me, and this is the first time I’ve got a chance to do something back for his family,” he paused to take a breath. He seemed really excited about his opportunity to do a return favor for his friend. “I was the head jailer here for years. I know which way to escape without having any problem.”

  “I appreciate your noble intention Ednit,” Aylan said, softly. “But I have some things in the castle and can’t leave without them. I guess it’d be in the Queen’s Tower.”

  Ednit shook his head out of disbelief, “Are you crazy? The whole castle is heavily guarded. You wouldn’t get any chance to get the Queen’s Tower unless you attack them with an army, which you don’t have right now.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. But I’m worried about you now. The King would definitely know that you came here to rescue his enemy and would come after you. You better leave Ashaland as soon as you get out from this dungeon.”

  “I have a different opinion about that.”

  “I know they trust you, and the whole situation is going to change soon. They will behave like an injured beast, and if they find out that you came here to see me for no apparent reason, they will throw you and your family in the crocodile pond. Now, please do as I said, and I’ll let you know if everything is under control and you can return to your home.”

  Ednit was confused about what Aylan was referring to by the words ‘changed situation,’ but he had something in the voice that made him decide to listen to Aylan. He shook his head and said, “Thanks for the warning, son. Take care of yourself.” Then he put the bandana up and walked to the door, but turned around after a few steps. “A friend of mine was a builder who w
orked in the castle a long time ago. He said, the number of his colleagues went missing soon after they finished working and all of them had one thing in common, they worked somewhere in between the Queen’s bedroom and the tower. I think this information would help you.” As soon as he finished talking, Ednit turned to the door and disappeared into the dark.

  Aylan sighed. He thought he had no family apart from his uncle. Little did he know, he was completely wrong.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The villagers remained eyes closed. All they were feeling was the flying dust and debris. Just before they got annoyed and was going to open their eyes, Jeem announced, “You can open your eyes now.” The people opened their eyes and found themselves in an entirely different place. The younger people were amazed by the magical transport and then seeing the massive gate-tower. They gathered in front of the huge iron gate, which still had the old Ashalandian symbol of the mountains, what their elders showed them.

  But the elders got angry realizing that where they were moved. “Why did you bring us here?” an old man shouted, angrily. “I thought we were moving somewhere safe, but no. We are just a breath away from the king,” pointing to the gate-tower of Ashaland.

  “Yes. And we are here for a reason,” Laam said, firmly. “We will get prepared from right this place and fight with the king Khuli to get our homeland back.” He paused to take a look at the confused and frightened people. “I’m not going to force anyone. If you don’t want to join the fight, you’re free to go, because you have spent your whole life in that dungeon. I don’t want to risk your life anymore.”

  Jeem thought the majority of the villagers would leave, as it was the easier option. But the people who hadn’t seen outside world for ages, who had no idea where to go or what to do, shouldn’t leave like this.