The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One'

by D. J. Ridgway

  ‘Da, I was born to do this…, you know I was.’ Gideon said as Thaddrick who had been about to speak closed his mouth and listened. Jed looked at his son as if for the first time, suddenly seeing the man he had become and for a long while, no one spoke.

  ‘Yeah lad, I suppose I do,’ Gideon’s father answered as he shook his head sadly in resignation, ‘an’ yer’d be no son o’ mine iffen yer shirked yer responsibilities,’ he said, adding, ‘I be mighty proud o’ yer Gid, always ‘ave been,’ he sat down once more and stared hard at the food before him.

  ‘I couldn’t ‘ave ‘ad a better Da…’ Gideon said warmly and deliberately, as he smiled at his father and his father smiled slowly in return, for once Thaddrick did not correct his speech.

  ‘Blue, can yer tell the lad about the Bleak,’ Jed said, still smiling sadly at his son.

  ‘Well,’ Thaddrick began. ‘To understand the Bleak, you must know how it was created,’ he said as the two young men began to help themselves from the food piled on the table. Varan and Sonal sat silently, knowing only legends from their childhood, they were eager to understand the truth.

  ‘Long after our arrival…,’ Thaddrick continued and as before the hall began to fill with people, all as enthusiastic to listen to Thaddrick’s stories as the group around the table. ‘It was noticed that the site of the gateway was becoming barren and the lake seemed to be changing too. We had already moved our little camp away from the lake and the site of our arrival to the high flat ground under the lee of the mountain range that surrounded the valley. It offered more shelter from the winter storms, the lake did tend to thrash around when the wind caught it as I recall,’ he paused, remembering the tall waves and the soaking tents on the occasion of the colonies first winter. ‘We had found a large cave in the side of the mountain that served as a council chamber and our best stone masons spent months carving it into a replica of a similar chamber at home so it seemed sensible to move closer to it.’

  Varan paled as Thaddrick spoke but remained quiet as the older man continued.

  ‘Anyway, the site of the gateway was becoming barren and everything seemed to be dying slowly, even the grass seemed to turn brown and wither and the trees seemed to just, give up. It was as if something had sucked all the life from the area.’ Rhoàld shot a look to Varan who remained rigidly composed and avoided looking at anyone.

  ‘The child with dead eyes,’ he said looking at Varan, ‘the child with dead eyes sucking the life out of the land, killing everything, like a disease…’ Rhoàld added, as Varan turned at last to Rhoàld and on to Gideon.

  ‘It was a message my friend, for the one, a message to bring help and hope,’ he finished, his eyes remaining on Gideon’s face as he spoke.

  ‘What message?’ Lemba asked, feeling somewhat bewildered.

  ‘Show them Varan…,’ demanded Rhoàld, ‘they need to see it too,’ he said, as Thaddrick interrupted.

  ‘I can show them Rhoàld,’ he said, it was my message originally. Puzzled expressions passed around the small band at the table but the words and questions remained unasked once more as suddenly in their minds they could see a small child sitting on lush green grass against the bole of a large tree. It was summer and the full dance of nature, glorified in the sunlight was evident. The wind blew ensuring the weaving of the branches making the leaves twist and turn to the harmonious music of the physical world. A deep wide silver river flowed fast and furiously beside the child and fish swam and played, darting around the water as they leapt to catch the flies that stopped by to lay eggs under the surface. The child lifted a hand to caress the tree and where the child’s hand touched the bark it began to darken and shrink, it was dying. The patch of now lifeless bark began to spread like a disease. The tree’s very branches rustled and shook, screaming in protest as the life was drawn away from it and sucked into the child, slowly, so slowly the tree stopped fighting for its life and began to succumb. The full green leaves began to turn yellow and then brown finally dropping off the branches and falling all around the small child still touching the trees wide bole. The child looked up toward the silent watchers, the deep dead eyes holding no life; he just continued to stare as if nothing was happening. The tree dried up and finally died leaving withered lifeless branches reaching into the sky like pleading hands asking for help that never came. The ground around the trees roots slowly began to change colour, from the lush green grass it had been it turned slowly to yellow then brown, as it too seemed to be drying up, dying. Still the wind blew only now, it pushed dead brown leaves and tumbleweeds of dried grasses. The river slowly turned brown then grey, the once silver fish floated belly up their scales dry and peeling…

  Rhoàld held his head in his hands as once more he saw the vision Varan had sent him, very slightly changed but essentially the same one. ‘Yes, that’s it,’ he sobbed.

  ‘That’s horrible,’ cried Lemba as she held her hand to her throat, as if forcing the lump that had been growing there to empty of tears.

  ‘Yes my dear, it is, and it is exactly what happened, is still happening inside the barrier that holds the Bleak, the child you saw represents the void that holds no life.

  ‘We discovered by some quirk of fate that the gateway from home had been left partially open, just a tiny bit but enough to cause the life of this planet to be slowly sucked out and into the void, life, a grain of sand at a time just leaking away. I, along with our greatest mages got to work at once trying to complete the closing spell but whatever we tried was ineffective, the gateway remained open and piece by tiny piece our beautiful valley was dying. We could not stop the death and some of our younger people even began to fall ill as the air grew thin and the waters turned foul. A few families chose to leave the protection of the valley; these families expanded over the years and grew, mingling with the planets original inhabitants. Which we believe, is why some of the peoples of the planet became, em…, special and others did not.’ Thaddrick smiled at Mayan, ‘no offense meant my dear,’ he said.

  ‘None taken,’ mumbled Mayan quietly in return and Thaddrick continued.

  ‘As the valley continued to die, we decided to split up once more. I did mention this earlier,’ he said looking at Jed who nodded his agreement. ‘A valley, similar in every way to our original home was located, this valley in fact.’ Thaddrick stopped and gestured around him before reaching forward and taking the jug of small beer that sat in front of Varan, poured himself a drink. ‘All the families were volunteers, the spell we created contained an element of time which meant that the people sent here would not age as normal people do, this would mean they would stay as true to Arotian values and traditions as possible and remain free from the threat of any hostile indigenous peoples. Remember, this was a very long time ago,’ he said sagely, as Gideon’s father snorted loudly at the mention of hostile peoples. ‘We spent a long time in the preparation of the spell and imbued the very soil with magic and health to ensure both our own and the lands survival.’

  ‘So that’s why our forest is so diff’rent then...!’ Young Jed exclaimed; he had followed a recruiter’s wagon across the whole of Derova, since his eighteenth birthday and he had seen forests and woods in plenty but never in all his time travelling had he come across a forest that had had the same feel as the forest of his home. He smiled, thinking that he had always believed that was the reason it felt special, because the Green Home Forest, was home.

  ‘Shhhh!,’ smiled Lemba, encouraging Jed to remain silent whilst Thaddrick continued as if uninterrupted, Mayan also nudged her brother, irritated by the interruption in the story.

  ‘The spell was to last only until the gateway was closed and we could call the people home, my nephew, Dèvin, Théoden’s son and your ancestor,’ he added, looking directly at the elder twins and Gideon pointedly before continuing again. ‘Dèvin, now a man took his family and a few of his friends and made a camp outside the boundaries we had set for our colony within the mountain range. There they stayed whist we worked together t
o create a spell that would build a wall of protection around the valley, the wall would hold the life outside of the valley safe and protected from the void. The spell was very complicated and intricate for it had to last and be strong enough to hold back the void should we fail to close the gateway and it took weeks to prepare. I argued with my nephew who felt that he, as the son of Théoden, First Mage of Schools, should be the one to be the sacrifice, the balance. We knew the spell would need a sacrifice to the void as the magic was to be so strong and we could not allow any more life to be taken from the planet itself, the spell needed balance and I intended to be that balance. So, to give my headstrong nephew something to do and to get him out of harm’s way more than anything else really, I sent him to take a last check on the site of the gateway.’ Thaddrick halted in his story; he picked up his glass once more and stared for a moment deep into the depths.

  Roidan, as ever at difficult moments for Thaddrick, moved to stand behind her husband lending him her love and support, she gently squeezed his shoulders as Gideon spoke.

  ‘What is it Thaddrick, what ‘ap… happened?’ He asked, unconsciously correcting his speech and suddenly feeling dread. Sacrifice, he thought, am I to die then, is this how I close these doorways into the void? Thaddrick began again, his eyes staying for the moment deep in the now empty glass.

  ‘The wall was created, a magnificent seemingly solid barrier, a wall that would withstand years of the void trying to wear it down. Within the spell we added a warning to all those who would try to breech the barrier, a warning of what would happen if the wall failed, hope would die along with the freedom to love and laugh, all life would eventually be extinguished.’ He turned to Varan as he spoke.

  ‘The source of your message Varan, I can only assume you breeched the wall at some point.’ Varan nodded unhappily and said nothing, leaving the silence to answer for him. Thaddrick smiled and continued. ‘Something happened though, as the spell was completing, not enough to stop the barrier but well, something came through from the void as the spell finalised.’

  ‘What happened?’ Gideon asked again, his voice low and trembling.

  ‘To answer your question Gideon I must ask you to imagine the void,’ Thaddrick looked up and into the deep blue eyes so like his own. ‘The void is a timeless, deep dark place, full of evil. The dark, so dense that even the sun’s brilliance would not penetrate more than a few feet, so silent that even a stray thought offered by something passing through would reverberate like the noise from a beaten drum and be heard for miles. Imagine then, years of life flowing through a small hole, directly from life and into the void, free life and light, full of hope and joy, with the sounds and smells of every living thing pouring like a stream, a river of life flowing into the realm of darkness, a sunbeam through the winter clouds on a dark day. Such was the open doorway, a banner held high, floating through the dark recesses of the void inviting all the lost and dead souls, teased with what they could not have, though yearned for so desperately.’

  Thaddrick poured himself another drink, the frothy beer stained his beard and he wiped it away carefully. The listeners, from each small child and their parents who remembered the events to the listeners around the table, all attention held, devoted to every syllable that fell from Thaddrick’s lips.

  ‘A being followed the trail of life in the darkness as it wound its way across the void; it followed it revelling in the life and promise it could feel ahead. Eventually it found the doorway still partially open and being of no substance thicker than the wind that blows through the clouds on a sunny day, through it crept. Dèvin was at the site of the gateway and open to the source of magic, open to the root and as such, vulnerable.’ Thaddrick’s voice had changed, from the strong voice of the confident orator to the whispered thoughts of an old man repeating his memories and sins aloud.

  Still the hall remained silent, every soul in the room quiet and pensive, waiting; just waiting for the now, sad old man to speak again, when he finally did speak again, his voice was strong once more, the teacher instructing his errant pupils.

  ‘Whenever magic is undertaken,’ he said, light housing his glance around the room, ‘be it a spell as magnificent as the spell used to create the barrier or a spell to heal a cut finger, the user must touch the root, the outskirts of the void. In order for the balance to be maintained, a… an offering, you could call it,’ he said, musing over the phrase. ‘Balance you see,’ he explained, ‘you take and you give,’ he smiled at his explanation and continued. ‘An offering to the void is necessary. In this case, Dèvin, my nephew was open to the void and extremely vulnerable, he’d been instructed to do no more than gather information as to the precise state of the gateway, but always impulsive, he attempted to close it alone and by himself, when for years stronger mages than he had tried. I told him to return with the information… return to the place where we had decided the flexible quality of the walls structure would begin. It had to be flexible you understand…’ Thaddrick again began to look lost, almost pleading as he continued. ‘Flexible because we knew the void would continue to pull the life from the planet and the death would expand, if we could not stop it, we needed to slow it down.’ Thaddrick closed his eyes once more pain evident in their depths.

  ‘Go on Thaddrick,’ encouraged Gideon’s father, as he touched his friend’s hand, he was distressed at the sight of the old man in such obvious pain. In Thaddrick’s eyes, Jed could see the wolf Blue and the pain it had suffered on his behalf after it had pulled him from the burning building. For the first time Jed really and truly believed the old man was his beloved wolf, the lip service he had paid to the old man previously shamed him and he felt the tears of empathy sting his eyes.

  ‘Go on Blue boy,’ Jed said again, love flowing along his words and Blue smiled sadly back at him.

  ‘Somehow, the evil soul crept over my nephew and entered him, vulnerable and alone it became him. We did not realise it had taken him over at first; using Dèvin’s memories it came after us, we, who were trying to build the barrier. Our plans were mostly complete, the inhabitants divided, half left to maintain the barrier and the others already sent here to await the one; the spell had already begun when what we took to be Dèvin joined us and entered the spell making process alongside us. I felt the change in him but in my arrogance, I thought it was because I would not allow him to die in my place. I watched him unbelievingly as I realised the magic he was using was wrong, I called to him across the ether and told him the spell was wrong that he had mixed his words badly, I shouted that what he was doing would open the gateway directly into the void. The spell was too complicated for me to overturn but in vain I tried to stop him, we battled in the ether, each trying to stop the other, I had thought my nephew was just angry but I saw he was now no longer my nephew and I finally realised what must have happened. I believed he was dead and in his place was a creature, an evil soul direct from the void. In its fury as I tried to stop it from reversing our spell and opening the gateway fully it tried to kill me using magic. I could feel the heart inside my body stutter and slow and my throat close as I fought for breath, I could feel my blood slow and still, it was winning and I was dying. For a moment its power faltered, I believe now it was my nephew trying to stop the evil from within. As I fell to my knees, my peers noticed our battle and joined with me, slowly turning the tide in my favour, suddenly I heard my nephew loudly exclaim across the ether.

  ‘I am sorry uncle Thad,’ he called and he died, trapping himself, his own soul, deep within his body, possibly for all time, he had willed his own death, stopped his own heart, unable to expel the evil from his body and mind, he used his inherent magic to will his own death. He knew you see that only the sudden death of the host could hold the evil inside his body, he had sacrificed himself after all.’

  Thaddrick’s face was now wet with tears as he remembered the man he had promised to care for, he looked up and saw Gideon sitting across the table, so like the nephew he had lost so many years ago.
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  ‘I think I knew from the moment I watched your father bring you into the world that you would be the one Gideon,’ he said.

  ‘What did yer do with yer nephew’s body Blue?’ Jed asked, his hand resting once more comfortingly on his friend’s arm. Thaddrick tore his eyes from Gideon’s silent form and looked around at the assembled company once more.

  ‘With the half completed barrier spell stable for the moment and still surrounding the valley, we took Dèvin’s body to the site of our first home. We still had a crystal, one of a few remaining, still powerful spell crystals brought from our home world and with much care and preparation, we placed the body of my nephew along with the crystal on an alter in the stone chamber on the mountain. We conducted a spell of summoning using the crystal and a little living blood, the spell called the soul of my nephew and the soul of the being that had entered him into the stone itself. As the spell took hold, my nephew’s body began to dry and whither, eventually crumbling to a pile of ash and dust leaving nothing of the man my brother’s son had once been. The evil soul that had taken a hold of Dèvin had separated from his body and fused securely into the crystal that had rested on his chest. Long ago, our people had banned this type of magic, blood magic but we had had no other choice, my nephew had done the only thing he could have done; he had used magic against himself, something that is also forbidden, he had willed himself to die holding the evil inside him. Trusting that we, the remainder of his family would battle to save his soul and allow him to begin his own journey… Could we have done less?’

  With tears of pain and remembrance, Thaddrick saw the spell happening again before his eyes and he watched once more as the beautiful Dakar crystal turned from the powerful, dazzlingly bright, clean and translucent stone that shone with life, to a dull matt black, with purple’s and blues swirling here and there as the evil within fought to escape.