“Idiot, they use magic ... haven’t you thought about it?” Viktor said.
The three exchanged glances and laughed.
“You should avoid concealing priority issues in the shadow of these trifles,” Dandelion suggested quietly, accompanying them to Sinus.
The librarian was sorry for the news of their departure.
“Well met,” said Sinus.
“Elder, we would like your permission to leave the monastery: I will escort Gabriel and Selene to Lezhen, and then I would like to resume my training from where I left off,” said Viktor.
“Finally you have adopted the way of the chosen one. This is good news. You can leave the monastery as you please, but some things have changed that will slow down your training. The dimensional prison that keeps Zergh isolated in darkness is beginning to crack, the creatures of darkness are returning to haunt the lands of this world, just as what happened in Beleth. Dematerializing to reach the most remote corners of Mirthya will no longer be possible: freeing all that mana for a similar spell will summon the dark forces that are awakening and looking for you, Viktor. You would be an easy prey and your position will be known to anyone who can perceive the quick travel spell.”
“So I suppose nobody can help me this time.”
“When Jef used dematerialization to bring you here, your position was perceived by many mountain goblins: Galaeth told me they were starting to move abnormally along the paths of the Jerrall mountain range. From now on, we will only move by land, unless it is an extremely urgent case.”
“What should I do now?”
“At the moment the only safe places are the Den of the Star and this monastery, but the way to get to the Members of the Star is too long and dangerous. For this reason, you will meet halfway with an ally that will teach you what you need to know to travel alone and survive. When you are able to come out unscathed from a fight, the next goal will be revealed to you.”
“Where exactly should I go to?” continued Viktor, knowing that Galaeth and Sinus had already established a training plan for him and that their terms would be ineluctable.
“Beyond Beleth, a few days’ walk from here, you will arrive near a village on the shore of a lake. You must go there and wait at the inn.”
“A village on the shore of a lake ...” Viktor thought aloud.
“Placym: this is the name,” declared the Elder.
Sinus gave the chosen one a pendant consisting of a golden chain that held an oval and purple stone with etched facets.
“It is one of the relics we have here at the monastery; our ancestors called it the pendant of Artemisia. It represents a reserve of energy: when you need it, just think of drawing energy from the gem of the pendant and you will feel your strength invigorate. When you use it, the gem loses its colour and it will take a long time to restore the energy inside: the greater the colour intensity of the stone, the greater is its power inside. The reserve that has been given to you represents energy collected over centuries. Don’t waste it.”
Viktor gladly accepted the gift, flattered by the elf’s unexpected support.
Dandelion accompanied the boys to the gates of the monastery-fortress, where Vilsius was waiting.
At the end of the farewells, the young men received a bag with provisions for the return to Lezhen.
“The stars of the firmament shine also in the darkest night, and the morning sun radiates your minds, that you may have the strength to never give in to the harassment of darkness and always find the right way,” Dandelion said, while the big door of the monastery was closing, leaving the three youngsters immersed in the mist of the highest peak of Jerrall.
They walked along the path. The more they moved away from the monastery, the more the sense of loss increased. Viktor, moreover, had never travelled on that path.
The group was forced to handle their strength as best as possible when it came to coping with the storm that raged along the peaks of Jerrall.
In order not to get lost, the youngsters were repeatedly forced to take each other’s hands.
At the beginning of the steep slope, the three had to stop to rest their exhausted legs.
“I have a great idea in mind ... can I keep it to myself for good luck?” asked Selene, certain of the answer.
“You wouldn’t have said this if you didn’t want to tell us about it.”
She smiled. “I will come with you to Lezhen. We will explain everything to Trust and your father and then I will follow you,” she decided.
“And you call it a great idea?”
“I’m offering you company on the trip, if I were you I’d have jumped up and down.”
“The problem isn’t you, but the reason for my departure. I will have to undergo training, I will have to prepare myself to complete the task that was given to me: I don’t know if it’s a good idea to bring people I care about.”
“I have nothing interesting to do in Lezhen, I can help you. I understand that the matter is serious and that’s why I won’t let you go alone.”
“It’s my problem, I won’t involve anyone else.”
This time Selene looked him in his eyes and her face became solemnly serious. “Respect my choice, as I respected yours.”
“Your choice isn’t a necessary one.”
“Not for you.”
“The people of Lezhen need your white magic.”
“Oh come on ... I’ve never healed anything incurable that a little rest couldn’t do. People will understand when they know why you left, and I’m sure they will not judge my decision to follow you.”
Gabriel had witnessed the whole conversation without opening his mouth. “The sun is shining high in the sky: if we move, I won’t have to hunt for dinner and we can spend the nights in our beds,” he said, stopping to tie his boot.
When his brother began to walk down the path, it took Viktor a while to look away from Selene, and he remained deep in thought even as they both walked back to Lezhen.
Agreeing with Selene would have been a further problem, though he thought it would be nice to be with her.
Continuing in this way would only have caused him to get crushed by his own fears, and he could not afford it. Not now that he had decided not to give up and fight for his cause.
The danger of slipping managed to make him forget his vortex of thoughts and fears for a while.
“Be careful,” Gabriel muttered.
Viktor looked at Selene’s face and realized that she too was deep in her thoughts.
The group continued the journey for what became hours, but all the time no one uttered a word.
That silence accompanied the bright colours of the sunset, which wrapped the trees at the foot of the mountain in a bronze colour; the air began to grow cooler and fill with the frills of the crickets. When the mountain road ended, the grass carpet grew thicker and thicker.
“Night-time is coming fast, we should hurry,” announced Gabriel to his companions, and saw them pick it up a notch.
They left the clearing behind and went into the vegetation. The trees seemed to have a lot more leaves than when Gabriel had been there the first time. Soft, vermilion lights surrounded the forest.
Viktor jumped and put his hand over Siride’s hilt when he had mistaken a large root of an old oak tree with a snake, irradiated by the colour of the sunset.
A slight gust of wind raised some leaves from the ground.
A ray of sun centred the face of the chosen one, who was forced to put a hand to his eyes before getting used to the brightness.
The trees had begun to be more distant from one another and the leaves no longer formed a perfect roof.
Opposite the group, there were large ploughed fields flooded with the dark red light of the sun.
Viktor immediately recognized the pile of pebbles stacked one over another of the stone wall around the farm.
HOMECOMING
L ezhen was impregnated with the smell of ivy and moss, of grass and upcoming spring.
Breathing such fresh, clean air, which they were used to, was for the youngsters the tangible proof that they were really there, at home, in the place they grew up in.
They descended the hill on the edge of the forest and followed a dirt path that skirted the cultivated fields.
The tall spikes towered above the youngsters, and just their sight reminded Viktor of the evening when, trying to escape from Selene, he had crossed the cornfield to his father’s cart.
Gabriel glanced at the farm the moment they went around the farmhouse: no noise, except the neighing of a horse.
When the group left the village fields behind to reach the town, Gabriel had to rearrange his bow and quiver, which was beginning to get on his nerves.
He was bothered by the constant rubbing of the string of the bow slung over his shoulder, which continued to rub against his chest with every movement he made.
Finally, the boys reached the centre of the village.
The noise of the crystalline water flowing from the stream was covered only by some cries of welcome from some passers-by attempting to buy the last things before nightfall.
Viktor, Gabriel and Selene affectionately greeted the villagers, but without giving many explanations and details about their absence.
The fear of not being believed was great.
They went quickly to the boys’ house.
“Seeing it is like going back to your own hiding place after a long hunting period in unknown lands,” commented Gabriel.
When they opened the front door, they found First intent on fumbling with utensils on the kitchen table.
The door of the house closed with a creak and at that moment the owner of the house saw them.
His eyes grew damp and sparkled with joy, he plunged toward his children, hugging both of them with his brawny arms.
The three hugged each other even tighter.
They remained embraced, not talking, for a time that seemed too short for the boys.
First smiled as Viktor looked up at Gabriel, then he noticed Selene. He approached, smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I want to know everything that happened!” he said hoarsely.
“We are tired and hungry. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, when the sun is high in the sky ... and Trust is with us,” Selene replied.
First drank some water, cleared his throat and went back to his eldest son. “Trust? Do you want to tell him everything too?”
“Trust is a family friend and he was with me when I was taken away in Beleth ...”
First was clearly intrigued by what had happened and shuddered by the desire to know the reality of the facts.
“I agree with you,” he concluded.
Seeing his father’s apprehension, Viktor and Gabriel decided to go to wash up and put away the few things that were in the saddlebags and then have dinner.
Even Selene took leave for the same reasons and returned shortly thereafter to stay for dinner at the insistence of First and the boys.
He carefully placed Xemnath’s diary in the last drawer of his bedside table, certain that no one would stick his nose in his things.
As soon as Gabriel was ready, the four sat at the table. “Will I find Trust in the forge at the usual time?” Viktor asked his father, breaking off a piece of bread and bringing it to his mouth.
“Yes, he has now returned to his habits, in fact, even if he didn’t want to, he had to.”
Viktor noticed irony in his father’s words, and asked him the reason for that statement.
First took a terracotta carafe from the table and poured some mead. “Since you won the Great Talents, he gets orders from everywhere. Furthermore, there has been a notable increase in visitors and the inn is nearly always packed with people.”
Viktor was stunned, but it was impossible for him to conceal his joy: with the affluence of all those people, in addition to Trust’s fame, the economy of Lezhen would profit too.
“It’s amazing how winning a contest can bring so many welcome developments,” the young man noted.
“The evidence of how a spark can cause a fire,” said First.
“It’s been a while since I was at the inn,” Gabriel noted.
“They reopened it immediately after the renovation work, a few days after you and Selene left.”
When the last morsel of meat and mead residues were consumed, Selene was the first to say goodbye to go to rest, followed soon after by Gabriel and First.
Viktor offered to accompany his friend home, but she refused, telling him not to worry, then they said goodbye.
The boy, though tired, didn’t feel sleepy and so decided to stay a little longer in the kitchen by the candlelight.
He walked slowly back and forth in the room, thinking about the next day, but something caught his attention. He took the sheet of paper from a wooden shelf and studied it carefully: the edges were slightly worn out, but the characters were clearly legible.
Viktor frowned for a moment before putting the letter where he had found it: it was a message from the Elders about his actual condition.
He smiled thinking of how the monastery had orchestrated everything to the fullest, and then decided to go to bed. He blew out the candle on the table and went to his room, bathed in moonlight.
He changed quickly and slipped under the covers, his mind intent on traveling in his memories. He looked at the ceiling, thoughtful but at the same time euphoric at the idea of greeting Trust the next day.
The vision began to cloud and he felt his eyelids getting as heavy as boulders. He left the perception of reality behind and slipped into that cradle of dreams so longed for, in the abyss of peace and tranquillity.
******
The world was still in the arms of the night when Trust awoke from his heavy sleep.
He had less hours than he needed to devote himself to a gratifying sleep. Every day the same as the next.
He shook the blankets off, rinsed his face and got dressed. He headed for the back of the house, in the forge that had been home to him for most of the day. He reached the worktable and extracted some steel bars from an iron box that he put on an anvil beside a large, fireless oven.
While he was trying to light the furnace, the good times flashed through his mind when Viktor, his apprentice, helped him with his job.
With so much work to do, he missed the boy even more.
When the blazing, crimson flames had irradiated the oven, a noise was heard from the blacksmith’s house.
He wasn’t impressed.
He went to the entrance of the house and listened, but he didn’t hear anything strange.
When he returned to his post, three deaf blows against the front door broke the silence.
“Who goes there?” he shouted.
“I am amazed at your inability to recognize me, Trust. You have forgotten that I always knock three times at this time in the morning.”
A smile rippled through the blacksmith’s face, who opened the door wide and hugged the newcomer.
Viktor hugged him, laughing.
He felt the stubby hands of the blacksmith squeezing his back like jaws and, for a moment, he thought he wanted to break it.
“An unusual time for visits!”
“Not for me ... this is the time I come here every morning!”
“You used to come!” the other pointed out. “So? What happened in Beleth? Are you okay?” Trust asked, bringing him inside the house.
“This afternoon I’ll tell you everything at my house. I want you to be there, I haven’t talked to my father yet,” Viktor informed him.
“You haven’t told him anything yet? Curiosity and expectation will be devouring your father. And not just him. A drop of Brandy?” offered the blacksmith.
“Old habits never die, apparently ...”
“A drop in the morning keeps you lively for a while, especially at work,” Trust tried to explain.
Viktor, however, refused the offer, recalling how it ended up the last time.
“Gab
riel and Selene? How are they? I heard that ...”
“They’re fine, everything went well. Fortunately,” interrupted Viktor, trying not to lead him into a speech he would rather postpone.
“You can’t imagine how Selene was after seeing you leave with those people. You’re very important to her, it’s obvious.”
“What’s obvious?” the boy asked.
“It is obvious that her feelings go beyond friendship. You can no longer hide your relationship now!”
“But what ...!” the young man snapped. “Selene grew up with me, it’s normal to worry! There is no relationship to hide, believe me, Trust. I know her all too well ...” he added, trying to make the sudden embarrassment diminish.
“You could spend your life looking in the mirror and die realizing that you have never known yourself enough. You don’t know that she feels nothing for you.”
“For her I’m like a brother.”
“Did she ever say so?”
The blacksmith’s question made the conversation stop.
Viktor stood staring at the fireplace in front of the sofa, then the dialogue resumed, focusing on the new assignments Trust got, who didn’t hide how much he missed the boy.
When the blacksmith decided to get back to work, Viktor considered it appropriate to go home.
“I didn’t want to bother you about Selene, I was joking. I didn’t think you’d get upset or…I don’t know…” Trust said, accompanying him to the front door
“It’s okay, don’t worry. We both know you’re prying, aren’t you?”
Trust smiled and opened the front door with renewed vigour.
The fresh air immediately made the two men’s skin crawl and the fire in the fireplace stirred.
Viktor was already outside the house, entering the darkness of the dying night, when Trust attracted his attention.
“Avoid short speeches, this afternoon. Tell us what you think you should, without sparing words,” he shouted.
“I will do my best,” Viktor said, as he watched the door of the house close again.
The moon had hidden behind the tops of the trees and the sky began to fade with the upcoming dawn.
A moment before returning home, Viktor dedicated his attention to Selene’s house, observing it perplexed and looking for a light from the windows. Something that made him realize she was awake: he didn’t want to go home, and if she’d been up at that hour, he would go and keep her company.
Viktor Page 17