The Destiny of Amalah

by Thandi Ryan

  The six men and Adriel travelled in the blue flame through the night sky and invisible to the human eye. They had barely made themselves comfortable when the flame that was carrying them, came to a smooth halt. Adriel opened his eyes and uttered a few words that were incomprehensible to the six and seconds later, the blue flame that had transported them, disappeared. The six looked around and saw that they were in Amalah and close to the temple of the gods.

  ‘Amalah!’ Waldon said, rather emotionally. ‘It really is Amalah,’ he continued, clearly happy to be back, even if it was only for a short while.

  Waldon looked around and saw the palace in the distance and he wondered about the people inside; he thought fondly of Ellora and the others who he had grown up with. He thought of Garrick, Häkan and his parents and he thought of all the good times he had had in Amalah. The memories came flooding back to him and they filled him with joy and happiness for a while but then, they filled him with pain when he thought of what he had done and what he had become and what he now realised, he had lost.

  Waldon had been taken by surprise at how happy he had become at being in Amalah once again. He looked around at the city; the city he had loved so much with all of his heart and then he looked at his friends and wondered how he had come to this.

  ‘You chose this,’ said Adriel, who was standing very closely behind Waldon.

  Waldon was slightly startled by Adriel’s voice and his words. He turned round to face the old man and stared down at him.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I said you chose this,’ Adriel said calmly. ‘You chose all of it; death, destruction, murder, darkness – evil. You chose it all.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So, there is no going back, but I don’t think that is what pains you. What pains you is what you think you have lost and what pains you the most, is that the princess and Kalon did not take the path you took and they – well only she now – have everything you gave up,’ Adriel finished, with a mocking tone in his voice and he watched and waited for Waldon’s reaction.

  Waldon glared down at Adriel and as his gaze bored into the old man, he placed one hand around Adriel’s neck and attempted to pick him up but all Waldon managed to do, was grab his own hand. He attempted to grab Adriel’s throat once again but the same thing happened – he only grabbed his own hand.

  Waldon uncurled his fist and straightened his palm and waived it from left to right and through Adriel’s body, as the others looked on. Adriel laughed raucously and bent over double for a while, as he held onto his belly and laughed and laughed. The five men came to Waldon’s side and watched as the image of Adriel laughed himself silly. They watched in silence as Adriel laughed and then brought himself back into an upright position to face them all.

  ‘Oh dear,’ Adriel said, still clearly amused. ‘That was the best laugh I have had in a long time. As you can see gentlemen, I am not actually with you – well not physically anyway.’

  Waldon stepped forward and closer to Adriel; he towered the old man and he bent his head down and glared menacingly at him again. ‘Luckily for you,’ Waldon snarled.

  ‘Where are you?’ Luxor asked.

  ‘I am in a dungeon in the palace of the Empress. I have been for some time.’

  ‘You should stay there for your own safety,’ Waldon said threateningly.

  ‘If you are all powerful, why do you remain in the custody of the palace?’ Why not free yourself?’ Bryce asked.

  ‘Because Salwar wishes me to remain.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Luxor said, with a mixture of sarcasm and disbelief.

  ‘The great Salwar wishes me to remain here, he has his reasons…’

  ‘It’s strange to see such gullibility in one so old,’ Luxor continued. ‘You remain because you are weak and unable to leave the palace, not because of the wishes of Salwar.’

  Adriel was quite indignant at the boy’s remarks and he let it show. ‘You, you are too young to understand anything and you know nothing about what you talk of.’

  ‘Perhaps, but I know of freedom and captivity, which one are you?’ Luxor asked.

  Luxor continued before Adriel had a chance to answer.

  ‘I know my own mind and my own will and I follow only mine,’ Luxor said, his head tilted in arrogance as he looked on Adriel. ‘Whose mind do you follow? Not your own and so, while you talk of our youth and our ignorance and powers that we do not understand, at least we are free. We follow Salwar and perhaps you, because we choose to and for no other reason. If we did not want to Adriel, we would not – regardless of the consequences and I say this to you old man – Don’t you ever forget that.’ Luxor said and when he was done, he turned on his heel in such a manner that let Adriel know that he no longer cared for whatever it was he had to say. Adriel spluttered and was about to speak when Luxor who still had his back towards Adriel spoke again.

  ‘Yes Waldon did choose. He chose this life and he chose the losses and the gains – unlike you,’ Luxor finished.

  Luxor walked on and his five friends looked over Adriel with the same cursory and dismissive manner and then joined their friend. Waldon nodded and smiled at Luxor, he knew the young man had not needed to say anything in his favour or defence but he had and Waldon saw him in a new light. The six men then looked at Adriel once more and simply smiled and walked away from him in unison.

  Adriel stood alone, angry and malevolent. “How dare the brat boy talk to him in that way,” he thought to himself: he would have killed him there and then had he not been under strict instructions to keep them alive. “Damn it,” he thought again. He wanted to think a thought but he had to suppress it, as he knew Salwar would not be pleased and that irked him even more.

  The six men stood around the temple and watched, as Adriel stood alone at the bottom of the hill. They wondered how things would turn out in the end; not just in Amalah but between themselves, Salwar and Adriel. Things between them and Adriel were not good and they knew that there was room for things to get much worse. They could not fight two wars and so they hoped that whatever happened between them, happened after the fall of Amalah.

  Adriel’s figure began to walk towards them and they watched as he made his way to them. He walked slowly and confidently and he stared at them through his piercing cold blue eyes. He was barely a foot away from them when he stopped and stared at each and every one of them in turn. He reached into his robe and pulled out a dagger that was unlike any dagger the men had ever seen before.

  The blade was made out of pure diamond and the hilt made from pure silver with rubies etched into it. The six young men could not take their eyes off the dagger that Adriel was holding, because it was the finest thing they had ever seen.

  ‘Take it,’ Adriel said to Rakan, as he outstretched his hand and offered it to him. Rakan took the dagger and looked at it closely. ‘You will need it for the ritual and when it is done, you will return it to me,’ Adriel told them. ‘When you are called to the temple, cut your left palm and let the blood fall. When all of you are in the temple, place your right hand into the centre, one hand on top of the other and then, drive the dagger through those palms. Then and only then, can you swear your allegiance to Salwar and each other and only then will you be bound by it – Salwar comes,’ he told them.

  The six men straightened up and watched as Adriel’s eyes turned black and he became motionless and silent. The black fluid that Rakan and Rufus had seen before began to spill out of Adriel’s hands and when the mass was complete, it began to take shape. It took a while for the shape to take form but when it did, the six young men who looked at him, fell to their knees and worshipped him; such was his power and his might.

  ‘Rise,’ he commanded them in a voice that was far from human.

  The six men rose to their feet as Salwar had ordered and they looked at him and he in turn looked upon them.

  ‘You have done well and you have done much my dark princes,’ Salwar said to them. ‘But before you go on, you will all swear allegiance to
me and to each other,’ he told them, in the booming voice that seemed to shake the core of the ground that they were standing on. ‘Adriel will guide you,’ Salwar said, as he made his way into the temple.

  Salwar’s form towered over the monoliths that made up the temple and he rested his elbow on one stone and looked down and into the centre of the temple and then looked on at the six young men and Adriel, before he looked up at the skies and towards the heavens. He wondered if the gods were watching him and he wondered if they were going to intervene. He smiled up at them defiantly, for he knew that he was breaking the cardinal rule of all the gods by interfering in human affairs.

  He had been doing so for some time now; mostly, through Adriel to ensure he would remain undetected but sometimes, he would do acts of his own accord and still, they remained silent and passive. He wondered how far he would have to go and how long he would have to wait, before they returned to earth.

  Adriel had instructed the six young men on what they would have to do and when he had finished, he made his way to the back of a monolith. He took out a small vial and dipped his finger into it and then daubed a strange symbol on to the stone and when he had finished he went to the next stone and daubed another symbol on to that; he went on until he had put a figure on each stone and then he was back where he had started. Adriel moved to the left so that he was standing in between the monoliths; from there, he could see the centre of the temple and Salwar and from there, he watched and remained and kept his silence as the ritual began.

  In the dead of night and under the black skies, Salwar began to chant in the language of the gods; neither Adriel nor the six young men understood what Salwar was saying but they listened avidly for it was powerful and rich and almost hypnotic. I knew what he was saying and I really wished I did not, for Salwar had taken the language of the gods and twisted it into something that was completely dark and evil and when I heard him utter those words against the gods, against nature and against humanity – I was pained. I was pained more than I thought I could be and as he continued, I felt myself being brought to my knees and willing myself not to hear what was being said.

  As Salwar continued to chant, changes began to occur; slivers of lightening began to appear in the night skies and Rakan and his friends looked to the skies with a mixture of awe and disbelief, for they knew that this was the doing of Salwar. The lightening continued and grew more frequent as Salwar went on, and as he continued, the sky began to thunder and then Salwar became silent, as the white rocks and pebbles began to glow in the middle of the temple. Salwar looked into the centre and then to the six young men. He stared at them and through them and then he turned his head back to the centre.

  Rakan and the others knew that it was now their time to begin; they looked at each other once and nodded. The six of them stood tall, all in black and covered with the black cloaks that Maddox had given to them. They wore their hoods down and the cloaks fastened around them at the neck. Rakan held the dagger that Adriel had given to him and he gripped it tightly and then made his way into the temple. He strode powerfully and meaningfully into the temple and made his way to the centre until he was standing inches away from the glowing pebbles that were laid on the ground.

  Rakan looked at his friends and then at Salwar and then he extended his right arm out until his palm was over the rocks and then he took the dagger and put it against his left palm, he sliced open his palm and let the blood spill onto the glowing rocks and pebbles and as it flowed, the pebbles glowed even brighter for an instant as Rakan’s blood was drawn into it. Rakan put his left arm back by his side, still holding the dagger and he kept his right arm out.

  Then it was the turn of Rufus, who strode to where Rakan was; he too took the dagger in his right hand and turned to face the pebbles. He outstretched his left arm until his palm was also over the glowing rocks and he too sliced his palm open with the same dagger. Rufus winced with pain and he watched with morbid curiosity as his blood spilt onto the glowing rocks and made them glow even brighter, just before his blood disappeared into the rocks where Rakan’s had gone. Rufus put his left hand by his side as Rakan had done before and then Waldon entered the temple; he did as Rakan and Rufus had done and then, he was followed by Kenaz who was followed Bryce and then Luxor.

  Once the six men were in the temple, the red symbols that Adriel had daubed onto the outside of the monoliths began to slither and make different shapes to the ones that they had been drawn in. As they changed shape, Adriel began to chant; quietly at first but as he finished each monolith his voice grew louder and more powerful and as his voice grew, the symbols became alive; they snaked around the monolith and then began to seep out of the stone and turned into red masses.

  The red masses stretched to the next stone and before long, they encircled the Henge. As the circle of red settled, it spun around and around creating a whirlwind and soon, after a few minutes; the outside of the temple was now engulfed in the powerful red whirlwind and no one – not even Adriel, could see what was going on inside. The six men were aware of Adriel and what was going on around them but they mostly ignored the whirlwind and focused on what they were doing.

  The six men placed their left palms over the other so that they were touching. Rakan had the dagger now and he looked at each and every one of his friends before he drove the dagger through each and every palm until the dagger was pointing through the last one. They all grimaced in pain but they kept their hands still and steady and they watched as their blood spilled; it trickled down the diamond dagger, which was now also glowing and spilled onto the rocks and made them glow even brighter than they had before. Salwar began to chant again and the lightening rods continued to increase, as Salwar continued to chant softly, Rakan spoke over him:

  ‘I Rakan, servant of the mighty god Salwar; swear my allegiance to you and offer my blood to you. I Rakan become brethren to you: Rufus, Luxor, Waldon, Kenaz and Bryce and I share my blood with you. My blood is your blood and my life is your life.’

  ‘I Rufus, servant of the mighty god Salwar; swear my allegiance to you and offer my blood to you. I Rufus become brethren to you: Rakan, Waldon, Kenaz, Bryce and Luxor and I share my blood with you. My blood is your blood and my life is your life,’ Rufus said, solemnly.

  Waldon, Kenaz, Bryce and Luxor followed Rakan and Rufus and when they were done, they remained in a circle, surrounding the rocks with their palms pinned together by the dagger. Salwar moved from where he had been standing and stood behind Rakan and Luxor and when he spoke they understood him.

  ‘Rakan, Rufus, Luxor, Waldon, Kenaz and Bryce; you are my princes’ of darkness,’ he said, as he placed his hand over theirs but a few feet above them. ‘My will shall be done and it shall be done through you and I will reward you all beyond that which this place on earth may offer. You are now Azari – power over death to you, princes’ of power and darkness. People will know of you and they will fear you and flee from you. You have offered your allegiances to me and given me your blood and now I take it,’ Salwar said.

  He took the dagger from their palms quickly and they let their bloodied hands fall to the side as Salwar kept his hand above them and over the rocks. Salwar kept his hand still and the rocks began to rattle and as they shook, the glow that had been present, began to ascend towards Salwar’s hand and when it reached there it entered his palm and illuminated it. The glow continued to flow upwards in a steady stream towards Salwar.

  When Salwar received the energy, it made his whole body illuminate and it seemed to empower him even more. When all of the energy from the rocks had been released and had entered Salwar’s body, he put his hand down and looked into the centre where the rocks were. They were no longer glowing anymore; now, they were a dull grey and some were cracked open and charred around the edges. Salwar looked at the six men and then up at the skies.

  ‘They have not come,’ he said to himself.

  He was slightly surprised but it mattered not to him, Salwar was going to do whatever he wanted,
until he got what he wanted and only the gods could stop him. The whirlwind around the temple began to dissipate and when it had completely disappeared, Rakan and the others looked out and saw Adriel staring back at them. Adriel held their gazes for a while and then he tuned away, slightly disinterested with them and that which was happening in the temple. The six men turned to look at Salwar and when he had eye contact he spoke.

  ‘Go now,’ he told them. ‘Adriel will take you back to the mountain top. Do not fail me,’ he warned them.

  ‘We shall not,’ Rakan promised his master.

  The six men left Salwar in the temple and went to where Adriel was. They stood surrounding him, waiting to go back to Equer. Adriel closed his eyes and began to chant quietly; so quietly that the others could barely hear. As Adriel continued to chant the blue flame that had brought him to Equer and back surrounded him. He extended his arms and the blue flame surrounded Rakan and the others and then they began their journey back to Equer.

  At first, there was silence as they travelled westwards to the mountain but Adriel soon broke it.

  ‘The cloaks you possess wield great power,’ Adriel said to them all.

  ‘Indeed they do,’ Rakan replied.

  ‘Does he who made them have power too?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Rufus.

  ‘Yes he does,’ Adriel said, agreeing with Rufus. ‘I think that he may even have more power than you,’ Adriel said, looking directly at Rakan.

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘You do not seem concerned by that,’ Adriel said.

  ‘I am not,’ said Rakan.

  ‘You should be. The one who made those cloaks, either possesses great power, or can wield it.’

  ‘He is an old man.’

  ‘A powerful old man all the same.’