The Crooked Knight (The Path of Zaan Book 2)

by C. K. Rieke

  There, Lily and Tilda stood in front of one another on the sand of the beach. The cool gusts of wind off the Rion Sea blew in, and Lily shivered briefly but shook it off. “What do you know of the Azulūz?” Tilda asked.

  “I saw Gildur use it, and Zaan showed me something yesterday. That’s about it, I guess,” Lily responded.

  “Zaan showed you something? What did he show you?” Tilda asked.

  Lily’s cheeks flushed. “He moved a flower into my hand.”

  Tilda stood there silently a moment. “Zaan’s and Gildur’s Azulūz were closely related. What you and I are going to be working on is finding what yours is, and developing it.”

  “First, we are going to initiate you into the Order of the Azulūz. Repeat after me . . . ”

  “I, Lily Furling, vow to wield the righteous Azulūz of the Great God Ojiin for good,” Tilda said, and Lily repeated.

  “I, Lily, vow to uphold the most honored traditions of the Order of the Azulūz and to not let in the dark light of the evil darkness below,” Tilda said. Lily repeated this vow.

  “Finally, I, Lily, vow to become a member of the Order of the Azulūz and not only protect the Order, but to wield the Azulūz for the greater good of awakening the Great Gods to protect us from the evil below,” Tilda said, and Lily repeated.

  “Halen Ojiin. Welcome to the Order, Lily Furling the Wolf,” Tilda said.

  “The wolf?” she asked.

  “Yes, you are the first wolf of the Order since Headmaster Palanzal,” Tilda said.

  “I have been wondering, how is everyone so sure that I have the Azulūz? Zaan told me it just about knocked him out when he received it. I’m fairly sure nothing like that happened to me,” Lily said.

  “The mysteries of the Azulūz are many, and the ways it travels between vessels differs greatly. You may not have even noticed when it came to you. Yes, I heard it was almost overwhelming when it was given to Zaan,” Tilda said.

  “So, how do we know I have it?”

  “Sadly, most of the time when we find someone who has it, it’s because Armoz the Devil King is after one of us. That is how we found you.”

  “That’s sad,” Lily said. “How does he find them first?”

  “He’s a god, the only living god. Who knows how he finds us? But we do know that a circle of blue torches, like the ones that line the walls of the city, protect us from his sight.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Lily said.

  “But, we are here to find out what you have been blessed with,” Tilda said.

  “So what’s first?”

  “We are going to wear you down, so your mind will be in a place that is easier to . . . manage. You are going to be doing some climbing. Are you prepared and ready?” Tilda asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Lily responded.

  Tilda put her hand on Lily’s back as they began to walk towards the mountains in the distance. “Lily, I will be your teacher through this training, but do me a favor . . .”

  “Yes, anything.”

  “Don’t call me ma’am.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  DULL swords clashed back and forth, loudly clacking and echoing within the walls of the third tower of Barrier Cliff. “Come now, you need to move your feet Zaan. Like this,” Major Gylem said, as he made slow, low motions with his feet.

  Zaan began to move his feet from side to side, but the forceful blows of Gar’s sword pushed him backwards. He put his sword up defensively, because the blows came in swifter than Zaan could keep up with. A blow hit him dully on the arm. “Damn. Watch it.”

  “What are you going to do about it?” Gar said with a grin.

  “I thought you were supposed to be training with a dagger,” Zaan said. I’ve been spending so much time with Zelestiana that I haven't been able to spend as much time with the Major as Gar. It's beginning to show. I will be extremely annoyed losing to him.

  “I am, but right now I’m beating your ass with a sword.”

  “Boys, calm down. You may be sparring, but you need to focus. Alright, Zaan, get back up. Again, move your feet. Gar, you need to keep up your defenses more while attacking. Zaan could have gone in at any point and hit you in your hip,” the Major said.

  Zaan raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, keep your defenses up.”

  They began to slash and hack at each other. The blows were intentional and focused at first, and then began to get lazy and labored as time went on. Eventually, Zaan laid a blow on Gar that almost knocked both of them over.

  “Stop. Stop.” The Major put his head in his hand. “You two look like two drunken sailors on a swaying ship. Focus, be more intentional. Be patient”

  “I’m sorry. I think we are just getting tired,” Zaan said, breathing heavily.

  “You think your enemy cares when you are tired? You think you can take a break in battle? That’s when your enemy will take advantage. You can’t always rely on your Azulūz, Zaan. And Gar here, this is what he has to solely rely on.” The Major held out his weathered, giant gnarled hands. “These, these are what we have to rely on. And this.” He pointed at his heart. “Again.”

  Gar held up his practice sword quickly and began to shuffle his feet. Zaan sighed, lifted his sword, and began deflecting away Gar’s hits. Within a couple of minutes, Gar hit Zaan in the leg, and it was so painful Zaan dropped to a knee.

  “You okay?” Gar asked.

  “Yeah. I’m fine,” Zaan said as he stood back up, he was growing frustrated. Losing to his friend made him want to double his training. He didn’t know the next time he’d be in a real fight, and losing wasn’t an option then.

  “I’m still the champion,” Gar said, and perked his chest out.

  The Major laughed. “Okay champ, let’s see what you got.” A look of fear came over Gar. The Major walked over and beckoned for Zaan’s sword, which he gladly handed over with a smirk at Gar. “You first.”

  Gar took a long lunge forward followed by an arching sweep meant to hit the arm of the Major. Before Gar knew what happened, the Major had his arm firmly caught between his chest and strong arm. Gar couldn’t move. The Major put a slight amount of stress on the arm, and Gar yelled out, “I yield! I yield!”

  In the corner of the room, Zaan smiled, yet also tried to figure out how such a wide man like the Major could move faster than a man in his early twenties. The Major released Gar, who stepped back and held his arm.

  “What did you get from that?” the Major asked Gar.

  “Not to ever mess with you,” Gar responded, making circles with his shoulder.

  “The lesson there is that a weapon is just that, a weapon. You need to think of your whole body as one big weapon. The faster you run, the more dangerous you are. The quicker you think, the more dangerous you are. You aren’t really dangerous because you have a sword, you’re dangerous when you don’t need a sword.”

  “I understand. Is it Zaan’s turn to learn a lesson?” Gar asked.

  The Major held out a sword to Zaan. “Ready?”

  “Actually, I’ve got to run and meet Zelestiana,” Zaan said.

  The Major grumbled something, then said, “Very well. Gar and I will continue.”

  Gar gave a look to Zaan at that moment of burning resentment. Zaan had never seen before from a friend.

  “I’m sure you got him this time,” Zaan said to Gar, as he walked out onto the streets of the city.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  AS his lungs filled to capacity with the crisp sea air from the Rion, Zaan sprinted to his meeting with Zelestiana. He didn’t need to run, and wasn’t afraid of being tardy. His body had grown back to its normal condition after he’d lost all that weight back in the Black Cave from starvation. It felt good to run as fast as he could with little holding him back.

  This was not a normal training session Zelestiana had requested with him today, as normally they were almost always held at sunrise. It was already well past midday now. He ran up the black stone
stairs three at a time and angled his body around the curves of the winding staircases, keeping momentum on his side.

  He quickly approached the courtyard in the northwest within the city walls. He saw Zelestiana standing, waiting for him. Yet, he noticed another figure seated next to her. He ran up to them quickly and saw the kind face of Elindrill with Zelestiana, who wasn’t wearing her normal attire of black straps of leather and gold plate. She wore soft linens, lightly draped across her strong shoulders and her hair was down, which almost reached her lower back. This was quite a shock to Zaan, who assumed his teacher was a born and built warrior through and through.

  “Hello Zaan,” Elindrill said as she stood, wearing long, golden silk robes that covered her torso and legs, but left coffee colored arms glistening in the sunlight.

  “Elindrill. How are you?” Zaan asked with a bow.

  “I’m fine, thank you.”

  Zelestiana picked a piece of hair off Zaan’s shirt. “I invited Elindrill here today to join us in our session.” Zaan nodded in affirmation.

  “I brought her here to share her knowledge and experience with you.” He was excited by that, as he knew she was well respected in the community for her knowledge of things real and things mystical.

  “Zaan, what you have done with your Azulūz, and what you are yet to do with it may be what defines you in this life. You have to be sure the things you choose to do are for good and are done wisely,” Elindrill said, as she crossed her legs under her dress. Zaan nodded.

  “Although I know it is not an easy question to answer . . .” Elindrill asked, “What do you want out of this life?”

  “Hmm.” Zaan thought. “That is a tough question to answer.” Zelestiana gazed at Zaan, appearing to be quite curious of the answer herself. He didn’t really know what to say to be honest. He contemplated either saying what he wanted at that time in his life, or what he expected Elindrill may be expecting to hear: a certain answer of grandeur? He decided to go down the middle of the road.

  “I want to be like Gildur,” Zaan said. Elindrill and Zelestiana both appeared to be caught off guard by that. He almost expected Zelestiana’s mouth to drop open, but she gave him no such response.

  “Go on,” Elindrill said.

  “I want to have friends all over the world, own my own shop. I’d like to be respected like he was, and be a great warrior of the Azulūz. I want to help people, and make my family proud.”

  “That is quite a nice sentiment, Zaan,” Elindrill said. “In fact, with hard work, I can see you attaining those qualities. But aside from hard work, there is one important necessity for one who would carry all of those attributes. A necessity that I will attempt to teach you. Can you guess what that is?”

  He stood there for a moment, and kicked around a rock at his feet. “Loyalty?”

  “Wisdom,” Elindrill said, “and mind you this is not easily taught.” She ran her fingers over a lilac planted to her right. “You see when something has tiny roots, it is easily plucked from the dirt, and quickly changes.” She slowly plucked it from the soft dirt and laid it on the stone next to her. Then she touched a shrub to her left. “Yet, when something has strong roots, it is much more difficult to change, because it is so firm.” She tugged lightly at the shrub, which didn’t budge. “The trick, Zaan, is to catch something in the middle ground between too weak and too strong, so it can be ‘re-potted’ so to speak. Do you follow?”

  “I think so,” Zaan said. “You can’t teach wisdom to someone weak, and you can’t teach it to someone stubborn.”

  “Precisely.” She gave an approving finger wave to Zaan. “Where do you think that you stand in this example?”

  “I certainly hope in the middle.”

  “That is why we are here now. We believe the same. Are you ready to begin?” Elindrill asked.

  “Yes,” Zaan said, and stood at attention with this back straightened and his shoulders square. A faint blue glint was visible in his eyes.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “BEFORE we begin, I will warn you,” Elindrill said warily, “this lesson is going to be quite challenging. You will see things that you cannot un-see. Are you sure you want to begin?” Things I can’t un-see? That was slightly troubling, and he worried about the lesson, but he needed to be at his strongest for the next battle, and he didn’t know when that was going to come.

  Since their meeting in the courtyard, they had traveled out into the lush green forest. The walk was silent, and there was a tenseness coming from Zelestiana, which Zaan had noticed but didn’t mention. They finally arrived at a clearing in the woods that was dense on all sides with heavy foliage. In the center of the clearing was a long circle of white stones. Around those stones sat tall torches.

  “Then we will begin.” Elindrill lowered her head and whispered softly, while Zaan looked over at one of the torches that crackled, and a slight blue spark appeared. She whispered a faint word and the torch caught bright-blue flame. Her head rose, and she peered at each torch independently, and each caught fire. They were soon surrounded by the circle of blue flame.

  Zelestiana came back to the side of Elindrill. Zelestiana began a faint chant as an aura of blue surrounded her body, and the sky began to turn black. Zaan took a step back. The sky became so dark that the trees were no longer visible, and quickly, all that could be seen were the blue torches and the white circle of stones: Zaan was at the center.

  A slight whisper began to hang in the air with an even fainter echo. The voice sounded familiar, however, Zaan’s head began to feel cloudy. Beads of sweat dropped from his forehead. He wiped them off with his sleeve, and tried to shake off the wariness. The whisper got louder, loud enough that he finally could make out the word, “Son.”

  “Son,” was repeated a few more times, and then Zaan turned to his back to see his father, Janos, standing there with Ingrette, his mother, by his side. Without hesitation, Zaan ran as fast as he could over and embraced his mother, tears running down his cheeks.

  “Mother, what are you doing here? How’d you come all the way up from Fur-lol?”

  “We are here to support you, son,” she said with a wide smile. Her kind eyes warmed Zaan’s heart.

  Zaan went over and hugged Janos. “Father.”

  “Hi, son,” he said, as he stood tall and strong.

  There they stood for a few moments, all smiling at each other, but not speaking.

  “I don’t understand. What you are doing here?” Zaan asked. He was beginning to feel like there was something unnatural about what he was seeing and thinking. His parents only stood there and smiled, not speaking or moving. “Mom? Dad?” Zaan asked and took a slow step back.

  His mother and father began to fade to light wisps of smoke, and two figures appeared in their places. Zaan drew out his slaver’s sword. He looked around and the dark tree line had turned to black stone walls littered with ash. “No,” he said.

  Before him appeared the bald guard and the quiet guard from the Black Cave. “There ain’t no such thing as witchcraft, idiot . . .”

  “Then what was that light o’er there then?” The two bickered at each other. From the door on the left, the red-haired guard entered. Zaan’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. His face was weathered and wretched.

  “What happened last night?” The red-haired guard demanded. “And if you say witchcraft, you’ll be working a pickax yerselves.”

  “We don’t know, boss. But we was thinkin’ we know who knows,” the bald guard replied. “It was that boy the girl pointed out.”

  The red-haired guard gave a grunt, then they all left the room together. Zaan’s heart was racing. As soon as they left the room, they entered back in, dragging Zaan by the arms. He was black from soot and as thin as a skeleton. Blood rushed up into Zaan’s head and arms, and he gripped his sword tighter. The guards began to fight and yell, and there stood Zaan, quietly in the corner. The two guards had fallen, but the red-haired guard still stood. Thin-a
nd-tortured Zaan went up behind him with the other guard’s sword. Just before Zaan was at the back of the red-guard, the guard spun and stuck his sword into Zaan’s chest.

  The slave, Zaan, dropped to both knees and fell to a side. The red-haired guard took the red stone and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Zaan looked into his own dead eyes as he lay on the ground, motionless. Light wisps of smoke blew away the room until Zaan lay there in the dark. Slowly, the body of Zaan was replaced by that of a girl. His tall body was replaced by a shorter one, and his black hair was replaced by that of golden curls. The body of Lily.

  Zaan struggled to look. His eyes choked up with tears of sadness and anger at the sight of Lily, dead. He saw an emerging figure looming above her, its body massive and terrifying. As the gusts of smoke twirled around his body, the marred face of Reizenthrōgz appeared, towering over her motionless body.

  Gathering his composure and wiping the tears from his eyes, Zaan began to run at Reizenthrōgz, who stood there with his giant arms and hands out. He sprinted as fast as he could at the Great Northern Ogre, but he soon realized he was making no headway. Zaan was running in place, not able to close any of the distance between him and the ogre.

  “Ha, ha, ha . . .” Reizenthrōgz laughed in his deep, monstrous voice. He laughed on as Zaan ran harder, struggling to gain any distance.

  Zaan yelled, but his voice was silent. He ran and screamed, helplessly in the dark.

  By the body of Lily, and the feet of Reizenthrōgz, more bodies began to appear. Gildur appeared, and then the headless body of Xersha. Zaan stopped running. Then more bodies, Wollen . . . and then Astor. Zaan fell to his knees and hung his head. He mouthed the words “make it stop,” Zelestiana appeared, standing motionless as a giant snake of black and red crawled past her. Then the great figure of Gogenanth lay on his side, his eyes wide open. Lastly, one figure appeared in front. “No,” he whispered. “No more.” He tried to close his eyes, but he couldn’t. Tilda lay on her back, motionless, dead. Above her, stood Angela Dragus the Righteous in her long red dress, long silver hair flowing behind her. She laid a stone-cold stare at Zaan, Reizenthrōgz laughing lowly above her.