Sentari: ICE

by Trevor Booth

  Light snow began to float down from the sky. The chanting grew louder, to the point that it was almost deafening. Then the earth shook as Denius landed on the ground. The chanting fell silent. Kyest walked to the front gate. He leant down and peered out through a small crack in the wood. Denius waited amongst his army, intently watching the gate, suddenly the shield that surrounded the city retracted in a few hundred meters, the power was failing. Denius smiled, he raised his head and let out roar. He looked down at the gate and opened his mouth. A jet stream of freezing cold air came flying out of his mouth and slammed into the gate.

  Kyest was knocked back as the gate instantly turned to ice. Kyest ran back to his people. “Prepare yourselves. They won’t be long,” said Kyest, as Denius continued to pummel the gate with a forceful stream of freezing air.

  Kyest’s men waited up high atop two buildings that stood either side of the main entrance. Kyest looked up to them and nodded. The two men ran to giant barrels that had been set up on the edge of the building. Inside each barrel were hundreds of litres of boiling hot tar. The men each grabbed a nearby torch and lit the tar on fire. As they did, the main gate shattered.

  A huge roar went up, as hundreds of hybrids came storming into the city. The men on the building top pushed the barrels, sending the tar flying over the edge of the wall. The tar fell down like a waterfall of fire, landing directly on top of the hybrids. They screamed out in agony as their skin melted. They all dropped to the ground and rolled around in searing pain. The victory was short lived. Hundreds more hybrids came running through the gates. They trampled on top of their fallen brothers and headed straight for the city centre.

  Denius roared out with delight, then came bursting through the gates, shattering the stone walls with his gargantuan size. He landed on the burning corpses and walked through the hot tar like it wasn’t even there. He almost smiled as he did, his feet crushing the bones of the hybrids bellow, be they dead or alive.

  He walked slowly towards Kyest, his eyes lighting up. He roared loudly and the hybrids stopped in their tracks. He wanted to destroy these people personally. He stepped past the hybrids. Kyest reached for a small device in his pocket, no bigger than a rock. He waved his hand over the device and a small hologram of the city appeared in front of him. It was a live representation of what was happening in the city. It even had the hybrids and Denius indicated on it. Kyest waved his hand over the spire, then clenched his fist. As he did, the shield that surrounded the city contracted and collapsed smaller and smaller until it was small enough to surround only Kyest and his people.

  Denius looked on with disgust. He had seen Intari technology and he hated it passionately. He walked up to the very edge of the shield and lowered his giant head, level with the eyes of the people. They tried to reel back in fear, but they could not go back any further.

  “Do not be afraid. He cannot break the shield,” said Kyest.

  Denius snorted. “I may not be able to break your shield,” said Denius, “but I can break your city,” continued Denius.

  Denius leapt into the air and started blasting giant chunks of ice towards the buildings. The windows shattered and the walls cracked, as the ice slammed into it. But the buildings did not fall down. They were strong, built to endure.

  Denius disappeared higher into the sky; he flew high above the cliffs and into the Yen-Gyle Forest above.

  He flapped his giant wings hard so that he could float just above the tops of the trees. He took a deep breath, then blew out an icy cold stream. The stream blasted into the trees below and instantly the trees shook. The ice permeated throughout the entire tree. It rippled through them like a disease infecting a host. The mighty trees standing nearly one hundred meters tall, froze from top to bottom, turning into giant towers of ice.

  Denius reached down with his giant claw-like feet and pulled on one tree. He strained with all his might until the tree’s enormous roots gave way. He pulled the giant tree into the air, then flew directly over the top of Yen-Dori city. He released the tree and flew back to the forest. The tree fell down at a terrifying pace and smashed directly into one of the buildings. It hit with such a force that the building was almost levelled instantly. Kyest watched on with utter terror in his eyes.

  ***

  Lorain sat down next to the ever-humming machinery that filled the generator room. There were lights and control switches everywhere, but neither Lorain nor Christian had any idea how to run it.

  Christian guarded the door with a very serious look on his face. “What are you doing?” asked Lorain.

  “I’m guarding the door,” replied Christian sharply.

  Lorain rolled her eyes. “Will you just sit down? If they come barging through that door, the first thing that’s going to happen is the door’s going to knock you out,” said Lorain.

  Christian reluctantly agreed with Lorain and sat down uncomfortably close to her.

  Dust fell down from the roof as the ground shook from the bombardment of ice trees above. “We’re not going to survive this, are we?” said Christian nervously.

  “Probably not,” replied Lorain.

  “I don’t understand. The dragons have known about this place for years. Why attack now?” asked Christian.

  “I’ll tell you why. Those strangers that were here the other night; they’re after them. This is all their fault,” said Lorain angrily.

  “So why don’t we just tell them where they are and hope they leave us be?” asked Christian.

  “Tell that to my father,” said Lorain, right before an ice tree slammed through the roof, smashing into the floor below. The roof cracked and began to fall down. Christian jumped on top of Lorain, shielding her from the falling debris.

  ***

  Denius looked down from the sky, admiring the devastation he had created below. The city was rubble. Once-towering buildings were lying in pieces, strewn across the ground. The spire still stood, but the shield was becoming weak. Denius flew down and landed directly in front of the terrified citizens of Yen-Dori.

  The army of hybrids circled around the shield, blocking any escape. Denius stepped forward and stared Kyest directly in the eye. “I’ll make this easy on you. Tell me where the boy is and I’ll let you live,” said Denius.

  “Do not listen to him. He cannot be trusted,” said Kyest.

  “My word is not good enough for you? I am offended,” said Denius rather sarcastically. Suddenly, the shield began to flicker and shrink.

  “Care to rethink my offer? It will expire very shortly,” said Denius, with a rather large smile. Then the spire slowly began to fall. It slammed into the ground with a giant thud and, with it, the shield disappeared. “Too late,” said Denius, who wrapped his wings around Kyest and pulled him close as the hybrids ran towards the terrified villagers.

  The hybrids were merciless. They used their razor-sharp fingers to slice open the people. They could kill them instantly but, cruelly, they sliced their legs and arms so they could not run away. But they did not die either. They were left to bleed out on the ground in writhing agony. Kyest looked on helplessly as the people he loved were slaughtered.

  The sickening screams of pain fell silent as the last of the people passed on. Denius loosened his grip on Kyest, allowing him to step away. Tears ran down Kyest’s face as he looked down at his people. “Now, tell me where they are and you may live,” said Denius.

  “There’s nothing more you can do, my daughter is safe, and that’s all that matters,” said Kyest.

  “Bring them,” said Denius. Two blood-soaked hybrids dragged Lorain out of the rubble, kicking and screaming.

  “Not as safe as you had believed,” said Denius. The evil creature walked over to Lorain. “Tell me where the boy is and I will let your father live,” said Denius.

  “Don’t tell him sweetheart. You cannot trust him,” said Kyest.

  Lorain contemplated the offer momentarily; she could not understand her father’s reluctance to give them up.

  “They
have taken the path of Yen-Dori and are heading to the Yen-Gyle,” said Lorain nervously.

  “Thank you, my dear,” said Denius as he blasted Kyest with freezing air. Kyest was instantly frozen to the core. Denius swung his tail and smashed Kyest into a million pieces.

  “No!” screamed Lorain as she fell to the ground. “You promised,” said Lorain. “Just be grateful I made it a quick death,” said Denius.

  Out of the rubble, Christian emerged. “Run Lorain,” said Christian, as he ran as fast as he could and stabbed Denius in the side with a large, rusty piece of metal. Denius spun around angrily. He ripped the metal out of his flesh with his teeth. The metal broke as he did and stayed lodged in his side. He grabbed Christian with his front legs and lifted him up to eye level. Christian wriggled and squirmed, doing his best to free himself, but Denius’s grip was too strong.

  “Let her go, you evil monster,” said Christian desperately.

  “Such passion,” said Denius. He opened his mouth and a fine mist of ice came out. The mist slowly wrapped itself around Christian. The ice connected with his skin and spread across him. Christian could not move. The ice was the coldest thing he had ever felt. It quickly spread across his entire body, entombing him in a thin layer of ice.

  Denius put him down on the ground. “In two weeks you will feel like a totally new man,” said Denius. Christian’s eyes darted around in the ice. He was fully conscious, but he could not move anything other than his eyes.

  A hybrid walked up behind Lorain and grabbed her by the neck. He walked her over in front of Christian and then violently stabbed her in the side of the rib cage. She collapsed to the ground in pain and cradled her wound, as blood flowed out slowly.

  Denius flew away, as his hybrids dispersed from the city. Christian watched on helplessly, frozen in place as the woman he loved died in front of his eyes.

  “Evil is a choice.”

  Chapter 13

  The Last of Seven

  The old stone paths that weaved their way through the Yen-Gyle Forest had become overgrown with moss and weeds. Sky and Oonuk walked ahead, setting a cracking pace. Julius walked closely behind them, listening intently to anything that Oonuk had to say. They had been walking for three days and Te’oma was starting to wonder if Oonuk knew where he was going. Little had been said since they left the hut, aside from idle chit-chat. They were each contemplating their reasons for being there. Sky had refused to talk to Te’oma. She preferred to bury her head in the sand like nothing had ever happened.

  Ariana had never been this far into the jungle before; her father would tell her stories about the dangers that lay in the middle of the Yen-Gyle -not that there weren’t any dangers lurking around the edges either. The air was still quite cold, but the jungle had become thicker the farther they walked.

  The tops of the trees had slowly started to form a canopy over the forest, blocking out the view from above. Something was warming the ground from below. That, combined with the canopy, was causing the jungle to thrive in otherwise frigid conditions.

  “I know I’ve already said this, but I’m really glad you’re with me here,” said Te’oma. Ariana smiled back, clearly distracted.

  “Where did you get the money from?” asked Julius, as he hurried to catch up with Sky and Oonuk. Oonuk did not respond. He just continued to walk as fast as he could.

  “You said you’d answer any of our questions,” said Julius, as he stopped and put his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Oonuk and Sky walked away, ignoring Julius. Te’oma and Ariana walked around Julius. “Come on, old man,” said Te’oma.

  The thick forest started to clear. Something in the distance grabbed Oonuk’s attention. He quickened his pace in anticipation. He broke out into a run and darted through the trees at a rapid pace. The trees had completely cleared out and Oonuk stopped just shy of a giant stone archway. The rest of the group caught up to Oonuk and looked out at the ancient Temple of Ardeya. The temple was now just stone rubble lying on the jungle floor. The archway still stood as a testament to the once-mighty structure that had been there.

  The archway was decorated in Intari script, but the dialect was so old that even Julius had trouble understanding it. The rocks were still lined with pure gold, almost as if no one had been here since the day it was abandoned. As they walked under the archway, the scale of the temple came into view. The rubble stretched out for at least two hundred metres in all directions.

  At the middle of Ardeya was the oldest tree in all of Sentari. The tree was more than twenty thousand years old. It was at least thirty metres around. It was so big that no other trees had been able to grow around the Temple of Ardeya. Its roots soaked up every ounce of water in the area. The tree created an opening in the canopy, which let the rain fall through. The rain hit the millions of leaves on the way down and broke into tiny droplets. By the time they reached the bottom, the droplets turned into a mist.

  Surrounding the base of the tree was a large stone platform. But unlike the other platforms in Sentari, this platform was much bigger and, instead of having a pole at its centre, it had the tree.

  Oonuk threw his little sack to the ground and climbed the base of the tree. He may have been old and weary but he could climb a tree like a teenager.

  “We will make camp here tonight. Wait while I check the area,” said Oonuk, before he disappeared into the tree above. Sky instantly started assembling her and Oonuk’s camp. She was very fast and very precise. Te’oma opened his mouth but before he could speak, Sky said, “Don’t talk to me. I don’t know you and I don’t want to talk to you.”

  Gobsmacked, Te’oma walked away from Sky with a heavy heart.

  “Hey!” yelled Ariana. “You’d be lucky to have a brother half as great as Te’oma. How about you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking how this affects him too,” said Ariana, with great passion. Sky walked away in a huff, ignoring Ariana. She had prided herself on being unique; a fact no longer true.

  Oonuk broke through the leaves at the top of the tree and poked his head out. The tree sat so high above the Yen-Gyle Jungle that Oonuk could see for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. From up there, it was plain to see that the world was covered in cold and snow and that the only relatively warm place was this jungle, and the reason for that warmth lived in the lone mountain that was now in view of Oonuk.

  A bare mountain without a single shrub, tree or bush on it stood in the middle of the jungle. No clouds floated near it, no animals walked on it. It stood there unremarkable and not overly tall compared to the gigantic mountains that filled Sentari. Oonuk smiled, which was not a pretty sight on his tired, old, leathery face. “We are here,” he said quietly, as he descended from the tree.

  Te’oma, Julius and Ariana sat around a small fire that Julius had lit on top of the platform. Sky sat at the edge of the platform, facing away from the three.

  Oonuk picked up his sack and pulled out a very thin rug. It was quite big and the material was so well woven that it was almost like a stretchy plastic. He climbed up and cleverly tied the rug between the branches of the tree, stretching it out enough so that, not only did it stop the mist from falling on them, but it also funnelled the water down the tarp.

  Oonuk placed a cup at the bottom of the tarp to catch the water. The cup slowly began to fill. Oonuk sat down near the fireside. “We are going to need to save every last drop of water. Where you are going, water does not flow,” said Oonuk.

  Sky looked with disapproving eyes at Oonuk sitting with the others. “Come join us, Sky,” said Oonuk, with a soft, yet authoritative voice. After years of doing as she was told by Oonuk, she instinctively went to him, before she had realised what she was doing.

  Oonuk ran his hand over the fire. It suddenly grew smaller and faded away until only the charred remains of the wood glowed brightly. “We must rest soon. You have as long as the light remains to ask any questions you desire,” said Oonuk.

  They remained silent. They all had so many ques
tions yet, right now, they could not speak. Te’oma was first to break the silence. “Did you know my parents?” asked Te’oma.

  “I did. Their passion for you two was the strongest I have ever seen,” said Oonuk. Sky appeared uncomfortable. She went to speak, but was cut off by Ariana. “Why did the dragon save me and not the rest of my family?” asked Ariana.

  Oonuk got up from the platform and picked up the cup and an animal-skin sack, which he slowly poured the collected water into. “Just as water flows, so, too, does life – it is fluid. We all ride the river of life, pulled by its currents. As mighty as he is, the dragon is no different to us. We are all part of the same river,” said Oonuk.

  Silence returned. The embers from the fire grew weaker. Oonuk looked at Sky, anticipating her question, but it did not come.

  “Where did you get the money you used in Yen-Dori?” asked Julius.

  Oonuk turned to Julius curiously. “That is a very interesting question and I would ask: why you would want to know that?”

  “It’s impolite to answer a question with a question,” said Julius.

  “That it is,” said Oonuk. “Those coins were passed down to me from my ancestors. Used only on the rarest of occasions, it is said that they are accepted through all the lands of Sentari,” said Oonuk.

  “Your ancestors?” queried Julius.

  “Yes. My forefathers came from a faction within an ancient race. It is said that this race was once very powerful and that they split themselves among many different places around the world. My ancestors became the Sigamante we know today,” said Oonuk.

  “Are any of the others left?” asked Julius.

  “The Sigamante are the last,” said Oonuk.

  The last light from the embers flickered delicately in the wind. Sky looked intently at Oonuk through the darkness. “Did you take me from my parents?” asked Sky. At that moment, the light from the embers went out and Oonuk did not reply.