The Destiny of Amalah

by Thandi Ryan

  ‘What?’ Rakan snapped.

  ‘Well, well, young Rakan,’ Adriel began in his icy tone. ‘As grand as your plan was young man, it failed, and failed miserably.’

  ‘What happened?’ Rakan asked as he sat up.

  ‘Rufus, Waldon, Luxor, Kenaz and Li Ang.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Bryce, his name is Li Ang, anyway; they are all captured along with your entire army.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Yes – they are. If they are not dead they are in captivity.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Magic! That which was used to transport you to Lansten’s school of sorcery was used to capture your army. Only the barrier is stronger and impenetrable from the inside. You may enter but you may not leave and once inside, no magic will avail you.’

  ‘What will they do?’

  ‘I do not know; they are captured with no means of escape.’

  ‘No. I mean the people of Amalah; they cannot maintain them in that magical prison forever, they simply cannot.’

  ‘You have a point,’ Adriel said, nodding his head slowly. ‘But what will you do?’

  ‘I do not know,’ Rakan replied.

  ‘Well you had better,’ Adriel said as his tone suddenly became threatening. ‘You had better know for your own sake and the sake of your fledgling brethren. You defied me and Salwar and took things into your own hands and if you do not rectify matters, the blood boiling incident in Equer will be regarded as a pleasantry.’

  Rakan rose to his feet and glared at the old man. ‘I care not for your tone Adriel,’ Rakan said defiantly. ‘The six of us brought the world to its knees and yours and Salwar’s role was minuscule. If the two of you want this world so badly then I suggest you take it by yourselves. Or, you help more than you have been doing and as for the blood boiling incident – well, Adriel you should hope and pray that Salwar kills me when he is done, for whatever I suffer, you will suffer threefold – I swear it.’

  ‘Don’t you threaten me boy,’ Adriel said, as his temper rose.

  ‘You of all people Adriel should know that I never make threats.’

  Adriel was now seething and he was about to attack Rakan when he heard Salwar’s beckoning voice.

  ‘Stop,’ Salwar bellowed. ‘Both of you stop,’ he commanded again. Adriel and Rakan fell to their knees and paid their respect to Salwar.

  ‘Get up,’ he ordered them.

  The two men rose to their feet and looked at Salwar and glared at each other whenever they could steal a glance of each other.

  ‘Rakan, I see that you have failed,’ Salwar began.

  ‘It is not over yet,’ Rakan said.

  ‘You are wrong, the force that holds them cannot be penetrated by human magic from the inside, nor can it be opened from the outside.’

  ‘Then you help us,’ Rakan said. ‘We as humans have done all we can do and if you wish to take this any further, then you and Adriel will have to help,’ Rakan insisted, as he raised his voice.

  ‘You do not want to incur the wrath of the gods,’ Salwar warned.

  ‘Do you?’ Rakan asked. ‘I am but a mere mortal and I know I defy them and their works – and I do so openly, but I ask you mighty Salwar, a god in your own right – will you not risk incurring their wrath also?’

  Salwar looked at Rakan, he was unsure of whether to toss him down into a pit of fire or to throw him into the magical prison that was holding his friends captive. As Salwar contemplated Rakan’s words, he decided to do neither.

  ‘You will have my help,’ Salwar said. ‘Twice I will help you Rakan and if you fail me after that then you and your five brethren will also suffer the same fate and there will be no room for anymore words.’

  ‘I understand,’ said Rakan calmly.

  ‘Adriel – the cloak,’ Salwar said.

  Adriel held onto the cloak that Rakan was wearing and he closed his eyes. He began to chant a powerful and deep incantation and when it was complete; he opened his eyes and smiled a short smile at Rakan. Rakan looked on him expressionlessly and Adriel moved his eyes downwards to the floor. He looked up again at Rakan for a few seconds and nodded downwards motioning for Rakan to look too. Rakan looked down and saw another cloak at his feet and he looked at Adriel and Salwar.

  ‘The cloak possesses the same power as the one you wear,’ Adriel said simply.

  ‘Now I will help you,’ Salwar said.

  Salwar stepped forward and touched Rakan on the forehead very gently and as he made contact, Rakan began to feel strange.

  ‘I restore all your power and energy,’ Salwar said. ‘And I increase it by as much as you can handle.’

  ‘Thank you mighty Salwar.’

  ‘Don’t thank me – finish what you have started,’ he growled. ‘Now we go.’

  ‘Where?’ Rakan asked.

  ‘To the temple,’ Salwar said.

  Salwar, Rakan and Adriel teleported to the temple of the gods and when they arrived, it was the dead of night and there was no one in the vicinity who could see them.

  ‘Shield!’ Adriel commanded and the three beings became invisible to the human eye.

  ‘I thought you were in a dungeon in the palace,’ Rakan said to Adriel.

  ‘I have just released him from his prison, for he is needed in physical form here,’ said Salwar.

  ‘Why are we here?’ Rakan asked, looking around the temple.

  ‘So I can help you for the second and final time,’ Salwar replied.

  ‘How?’

  ‘’In there,’ Salwar said. ‘Is where the gods write many answers to the universe. They come and they go and they write it all down. It is not visible to the human eye, nor understandable – yet. On one of the monoliths, the god Zarab wrote an answer to time and space and now, I am going to take that answer.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To give to you.’

  ‘Why don’t you use it?’ Rakan asked.

  ‘Because I know that once I remove the Rock of Zarab, the gods will know and they will return to the temple to stop me.’

  ‘But I cannot yield it,’ Rakan said.

  ‘Not yet,’ Salwar replied. ‘But one day you will and when you can, you can change time, in this world and other worlds.’

  ‘There are other worlds?’ Rakan said in shock and surprise.

  ‘Yes, there are other worlds, but only one temple.’

  ‘Take the rock and do with it what you will, but be careful for the gods may be upon you.’

  Salwar looked at Rakan and then at Adriel and commanded them to remain on the outside of the temple. He entered the temple and stood much taller than the monoliths and once inside, he began to bellow out his incantation that only Rakan and Adriel could hear. Salwar placed one of his giant palms on the top of one stone and placed his other hand on the opposite stone. As he continued to work, the giant monoliths began to illuminate and glow brilliant white and a powerful surge of energy then began to circulate and the stones began to vibrate and then he began to speak in an old and dead language:

  ‘Reveal.

  Reveal the words of the gods, to me, a god who is worthy

  Show to me the writings of old, show to me the works of all gods.

  I command you, reveal yourself to me, great monolith.’

  As Salwar was chanting, the writings of the gods began to appear on the monoliths and when he had finished; their full works and their words to that day were revealed to Salwar. Salwar was only interested in Zarab’s works and he hurriedly read through the writing on the wall. As he was reading the walls, he was aware of lightening striking in the sky and he knew that the gods above were aware of his presence and he knew that they were coming for him. He read even faster and when he finally came to Zarab’s writings, he smiled to himself.

  He found the section that gave the answer to time and grinned broadly. He took one hand away from the top of the monolith and it glowed a fantastic white and he inserted his hand into the monolith just above the beginning of Zarab’s answer. H
e moved his hand horizontally across to the right, then down, across, up and across again; until he was back where he had started. As Salwar had moved his hand, he had burned through the rock easily and now, he was pulling out the slab and as he removed it the lightening grew more ferocious and the strikes more numerous. Salwar gave one last pull and then in a perfect rectangular slab, the Rock of Zarab came out of the temple of the gods and into Salwar’s hands. Salwar took the rock and stepped out of the temple and quickly gave it to Rakan.

  ‘Go now!’ he commanded them. ‘Unless you wish to incur their wrath,’ he said, looking and pointing up to the sky at the ever increasing lightening.

  Adriel and Rakan looked up at the lightening sky, turned on their heel and fled and Salwar returned to the monolith and as he returned, three of the gods had already appeared. Salwar turned to leave the temple but they had entombed themselves and him, into the temple; Salwar tried to get some distance between himself and the gods but more of them had appeared by now. Out of curiosity, Rakan had turned back and walked towards the temple again and Adriel shouted at him.

  ‘Rakan, what are you doing?’ Adriel shouted.

  ‘I am seeing what becomes of Salwar,’ Rakan replied.

  ‘We must leave – now!’ Adriel commanded.

  ‘You go where you like Adriel,’ Rakan said.

  ‘I command you,’ Adriel screamed.

  ‘You command no one,’ Rakan said with contempt. ‘Your god now faces the other gods and I am sure he is bound to lose, so that leaves just the two of us Adriel – how powerful do you think you are? More importantly – do you think you are powerfully enough to go up against me?’ Rakan asked. ‘Now that I have cloak?’

  ‘Yes,’ Adriel spat. ‘Exussum!’ he yelled and on his utterance fierce flames shot form his hands and shot towards Rakan.

  ‘Contego!’ Rakan shouted back and raised his hand and the flames stopped short of it.

  ‘You are going to have to do much better than that,’ Rakan said with complete contempt.

  ‘Don’t worry, I will…’ Adriel began.

  ‘Gelo,’ Rakan shouted before Adriel finished his sentence, and with his utterance, Adriel froze on the spot and Rakan looked on in approval.

  ‘Convello!’ Rakan commanded in a powerful voice and as said the word, the frozen Adriel shattered into a thousand pieces and scattered along the ground, and then he was no more.

  Rakan looked on, satisfied with his achievement and then he turned to the temple of the gods and listened to what they were saying. Some of what they were saying was beyond his comprehension but most of it was in English and Latin, which he understood perfectly. Rakan heard the rumbling and chaos from the temple but he could not see inside, for the gods had blocked all humans from their sight. The rumbling in the cave continued and the ground beneath him shook, but after a while, all became still and quiet and then a masculine voice spoke.

  ‘Salwar; once a god who lived among us, cast out from the heavens in shame. You defy us and defile the earth that we made a sacred place for humans. What say you?’ the god asked.

  ‘I say nothing to you – to any of you.’

  ‘Regardless,’ said the god but then he was interrupted.

  ‘Where is my rock?’ Zarab asked.

  ‘I know not,’ Salwar replied. ‘I simply removed it, concealed it from your sight and gave it to a human,’ Salwar said indignantly.

  ‘You gave the rock to a human?’ another god bellowed.

  ‘Indeed I did,’ Salwar answered as a smile now crossed his lips. ‘Will you interfere?’

  ‘No,’ replied one.

  ‘No,’ replied them all.

  The gods talked amongst themselves in panicked and hushed tones and they sometimes turned to stare at Salwar, who was now bound in the centre of the temple.

  ‘That was beyond unforgivable,’ a female god said. ‘Do you know what you have done?’ she asked him.

  ‘I know,’ he replied smugly.

  The god who had begun talking to Salwar began again: ‘We are all agreed Salwar, that what you have done is unforgivable, not to mention irreparable. You know we cannot and will not intervene in human affairs. Long ago we cast you out of the heavens, we cast you out in the hope that perhaps one day, with the passing of millennia’s you would redeem yourself – you have not. You are not fit to be called a god but alas, you were made as one and yet, you behave worse than any human. You have become more bitter and arrogant as each moment passes and you are hell bent on destroying that which we created.’

  ‘You can no longer be allowed to do so,’ the female god interjected.

  ‘No you cannot,’ continued the masculine god. ‘From this day on and for all eternity, we cast you out of earth realm and we cast you out of any realm where humans dwell.’

  ‘No!’ Salwar screamed.

  ‘Yes – it will be so. Wherever humans dwell you may not enter. Now we cast you down to the depths of wherever it is that you have made a home for yourself.’

  Salwar began to roar with objection and as he screamed, the ground beneath him fell away and gave birth to a black abyss. Salwar hovered above the space but the other gods used their powers together and forced him down into it. As soon as a screaming Salwar entered the abyss, it took hold of him and dragged him further and further down for miles on end until he was out of their sight and when they were satisfied he was gone; the gods sealed the ground and began to talk among themselves.

  Rakan had heard all that went on and when he knew that Salwar was no longer the focus of their attention, he turned and ran, for he did not want to stand before them. Rakan ran as fast as he could for about two miles with the Rock of Zarab firmly in his grasp and when he felt safe within the woodlands he stopped. It did not take him long to gather his breath and when he recovered, he teleported himself back to the cave where he had awoken in Adriel’s care and sat down. He gathered his thoughts and he thought of Adriel being destroyed and then Salwar being banished and then he remembered the god’s words.

  ‘We cast you out of any realm where humans dwell.’

  As Rakan remembered those words, a smile appeared on his face and it grew wider and wider, and then it turned onto a laugh as it dawned on Rakan that he was now truly free of Salwar, and he would be for as long as he lived – they all would be, he thought to himself.

  Rakan Stood up and paced around the cave and thought to himself. He thought and thought until the beginnings of a plan formulated in his mind and he continued to pace, until the plan was fully formulated in his mind.

  When Rakan was happy, he covered the Rock of Zarab in a black silk sack and placed it on the ground; he began to speak in the deep and powerful voice he used whenever he was using magic.

  ‘Soil of the earth, earth that lives,

  I command you, house this Rock, until another comes and calls on it.

  Take forth the Rock of Zarab.

  Take forth now.’

  As Rakan finished, the ground began to rumble and the earth under the Rock of Zarab began to crumble. Rakan bent down and placed a piece of quartz inside of the black silk sack and closed his eyes and spoke powerfully:

  ‘See the quartz, see the Rock.’

  The quartz rock began to glow from inside the sack and they both began to sink into the ground, Rakan remained on one knee until the rock and the glowing quartz disappeared from sight. He took out a square piece of leather and his oils and he began to draw a map of where he was. He drew in the caves and the surrounding trees and took steps, which he counted from the Rocks location, to the edge of the cave and to the nearest trees on the east and west side. When the map was complete, it was sparse but accurate and it held no identifications as to its location.

  As he stood up the ground began to return to normal and by the time he returned to the makeshift bed as the ground looked as though it had never been disturbed. Rakan looked at the spot approvingly and then lay down on the bed to catch a few hours sleep before the new day arrived. He rested his head on the cushio
n and as he thought of his new found freedom, he smiled to himself and drifted off into a deep sleep with thoughts of his plans for everyone in Amalah.

  ***

  When the new day arrived in Amalah Amara and Michael awoke in each others arms. They kissed and made love and then rose to face the new day together.

  The first matters of the day which played on everyone’s mind was the disappearance of Adriel and what to do with the prisoners; as such, Amara and Michael met with Ellora, Garrick and the remaining council. Those also in attendance were the three warriors: John, Callan and Hemi. The three sorcerers: Zach, Imogen and Hassan and the three seers: Dale and Yakira of the council and Joaquin. When the meeting began they all welcomed the Empress back warmly and then got down to business immediately.

  ‘Garrick informs me that Adriel has escaped from his prison,’ Amara told everyone in the room.

  There were gasps of collective shock and many of the heads shook in disappointment that the war they had fought, had not brought matters to an end. All eyes remained on Garrick and Amara and it was Garrick who spoke next.

  ‘I have guards scouring the nations as we speak, if Adriel is going to make a move, I am sure he will make it in Amalah and with Rakan by his side, as the two of them have been in league with each other for the longest time.’

  ‘I do not think that Rakan works with Adriel any longer,’ said Dale. In fact I do not think that Adriel is of this world any more,’ she told the others.

  ‘You mean he is dead?’ Callan asked.

  ‘I would say so but I cannot be completely sure,’ said Dale. ‘However I would say that Adriel is dead, or that death is very soon going to be upon him.’

  The council relaxed a little more but they still looked to Amara and to Garrick, to decide what would happen next.

  ‘We cannot rest until we have confirmation of Adriel’s death or he is back in custody,’ Garrick said. ‘I will therefore keep the guard on search until this matter is resolved.’