‘No! You’re lying! You gave the stone, mum and dad are safe!’
‘I’m so sorry Twello, those men lied to you! They took your parents’ lives shortly after you left! Trust me, there is nothing you or I could have done. Do you hear me? Nothing. It’s not your fault. Those men were evil but I took their lives in return.’
Shazar held the boy gently by his thin shoulders. He knew Twello would feel guilty, blaming himself for not speeding up and returning with the stone. It might haunt him for the rest of his life, so Shazar had to keep repeating it, in the hope that he wouldn’t.
Twello became uncontrollable and kicked and punched the man in his stomach and chest, but Shazar felt like iron to Twello so that he hurt his hands and started to cry heartbreakingly.
Ashanna woke at the sound and stared questioningly at Shazar. He sighed and briefly explained. She said nothing but walked over to the boy who by now was hitting a tree. She gently laid an arm around his shoulder and knelt down before him taking him in her arms. Feeling the warmth and softness of her body; missing his mother, he wept loudly until he could weep no more. Ashanna wept with him in silence, both for him and his loss and for herself and the injustice of it all. The boy crawled into her lap like a baby and wept himself to sleep. Ashanna held him and stared into nothingness, stroking his hair. Shazar had watched them out of concern, keeping an eye and ear on the surrounding woods. The animals were silent as the night moved into day, most had been scared off by the noise.
Chapter 14 Teardrops
‘Why do men kill?’ Twello asked Ashanna with red rimmed eyes, when he had woken up.
‘Because they can,’ she replied with wise knowing eyes.
The stone lit up bright green while she spoke; the same colour as her eyes. She spoke the truth.
Ashanna held the Truthstone in her hands as if weighing it. It felt so familiar and yet so strange.
So much suffering over such a small rock.
She had communicated with it almost daily; the gem being her only friend but now it would not answer her question: how to get rid of her disturbing memories. The stone was too close to her and could not help her except by responding in a vague reply.
“Time will heal your wounds and time will fade the memories”, it had replied. Time, of course, she could have said so herself. When she was old and senile perhaps. By that time she might have half-forgotten these terrible months, but for now? What could she do to block the horrible memories? What could she do to forget?
“Love is the answer. The child needs a mother. The woman the child, and the nomad will bring salvation”, she got in reply which made her frown.
Later that morning over breakfast Twello was quiet. He had mentioned he had no family or friends that he could live with. He and his parents had just moved to a village not far away from the Tower but he had never liked it there, nor did his parents. His father had a carpenter’s job which brought in enough for the family to live on, so they had stayed. But now that they were gone, it was just him.
Alone, like me. Orphaned, Shazar thought. And Ashanna. Shazar stared at her, feeling sorry for them both. Trying to distract them he said, ‘You must be a wise woman to have all the answers to those burning questions that we all have.’
Shazar disturbed her and brought her out of thoughts. She looked up holding a dry piece of bread in her hands; she forgot she had been eating. They had eaten a simple breakfast of old bread and berries. Ashanna noticed Shazar hardly ate anything.
She saw him now in full daylight and she tried not to stare at him all the time. He was beautiful in every way; smooth bronze skinned without so much as a hint of stubble on his chin or above his mouth, which was strange, as she had not seen him shave. He was gracious in every movement. His body was slim and muscled, his facial features delicate with high cheekbones, arched dark brows and a kind mouth. His manners were genteel and patient and he was softly spoken. She had never known that a man could be all this. She had only known the rough farmers and fishermen from Karashne who came to her temple in search of answers and more recently of course, her kidnappers. Whilst in her temple she led a solitary life in order to avoid distractions from her work. She had seen boys over time change into tall hairy overweight men. Just like the brutes that had captured her. She looked away. Shazar was a man too. Although she should have been wiser than to think all men evil. But at this moment all she wanted was to be was alone, away from everyone.
‘I’m not,’ she said at last. Shazar looked at her as if he’d forgotten what he had said to her but then he remembered.
‘But you must have asked the stone a thousand questions and know the answers?’
‘I have,’ she responded coolly.
‘And?’
‘None are to be shared. You are not a priestess!’
Disappointed, he rubbed his chin.
‘Wise is the one who acknowledges that there is always more to learn…through experience,’ she spoke.
‘Very true, but you must have gained a lot by now from the people who came to you, through their experiences and the answers the stone gave you?’
‘I wish I hadn’t.’
He frowned at that.
‘If I could wish for anything it would be total… ignorance,’ Ashanna said with pursed lips. ‘It would be so much easier. If I look into the eyes of a small child or a simpleton I feel… envy.’
Shazar nodded gravely, understanding this too well.
‘Things do make more sense now, even pain and suffering. I know the true reason for that now,’ she spoke. ‘I know the truth.’
‘Violence has a reason?’
She bit her lip, trying not to answer, thinking hurt too much. She had never known she would experience such violence herself, for she had never wanted to know her own future like so many of her patrons had.
‘Not really, no. People are both good and bad. Both sides are represented in each of us. There are situations that bring out the best or the worst in us. It’s up to us which we choose to be and we have to accept the consequences of our actions. One can only appreciate goodness or happiness by understanding both sides. By experiencing the dark side, once in a while, or sometimes for an entire lifetime. It can’t be day all the time, night is also required. Balance keeps the world alive and also us. People don’t always see it that way. They get bitter or angry with their fate not understanding that we can change our own fate. It takes strength and courage to be good, to do good in darker times. But those who do survive can become enlightened and teach others,’ she chewed her lip and Shazar saw the pain in her eyes and felt it.
‘You see, people are not punished for their deeds, but by their deeds. They punish themselves by the life they live now or in the next. To know that is a great comfort to me.’
She had said her last statement through gritted teeth, remembering the brutes in the tower and their actions.
‘They get what they deserve hmm?’ Shazar asked.
‘I don’t care if you believe it or not, I know!’ she said with a pursed mouth looking away.
‘No, on the contrary. Besides, the Truthstone told you and you are a Truthteller; that’s proof enough for me. It’s just that you are different from any person I’ve ever met, Ashanna. More advanced and much wiser,’ he said kindly, smiling with surprised eyes at her.
She would have blushed out of embarrassment normally but she was still too battered and in shock for his flattery to affect her. In order to survive she needed to let go mentally and be somewhere else, anywhere but in her body. She still felt that she wasn’t really there, still floating and light headed, although she started to notice things around her. It felt very much as if she still witnessed it from the outside, looking in. She tore her eyes away from his reluctantly and remembered what the stone had answered, “The nomad will bring salvation”. Would that be Shazar?
‘I was more concerned from the victim’s point of view,’ Shazar said. ‘What about them, Ashanna? Like you, what did they do to deserve pain and suffer
ing? Bad karma as they say in the Eastland?’ And why you? He really wanted to add, for he really wanted to understand fully.
Ashanna just stared at him, unable to answer, too distracted by his features, by him being there; her mind felt blank. She shook her head. He understood her silence and nodded kindly, not wanting to pry any more than he had already.
She felt the stone warm in her hands. Her lifelong friend and her foe. She hadn’t been able to lead a happy life with it; she was good and had done only good but now she had come to know evil. She had no need for the Truthstone anymore really, but to live without it would be such an uncertain life. But it had to be done and she knew it. It was time for her to start living. She couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. And in an instance she threw it forcefully away. It landed in some bushes a little way from where they sat.
‘They’ll never find it!’ she exclaimed with triumph.
Shazar had followed her throw with his quick eyes. He still needed it but didn’t like to mention it to her. He needed to keep his secret to himself for now. There was no need to involve her and cause her more trouble.
Ashanna stood, looking at the boy who slept again. Twello got feverish and he mumbled and wept in his sleep.
‘Take good care of him,’ she said, needing to get away. The boy’s cries upset her too much. In a way the child and his hurt were the very image of her own tormented soul. Thinking that the child in her had died a long time ago when she first started to receive answers from the stone, she now knew it wasn’t so; the child in her had just been asleep. When the brutes took her away and tormented her daily they had torn away the controlled wise priestess who understood the reason why. What was left was a wounded child, weeping inside her, without parents who could comfort her.
‘What?’ Shazar replied in shock.
‘Thank you for saving my life,’ she said with modesty, although she wasn’t sure if she was happy about it or not.
‘But where are you going?’ he asked with concern painted on his face.
‘I’ll head southwest. I have an aunt living there.’
‘Can you not return to your temple?’
‘I’m not welcome anymore or able to do my work there. I am no longer pure you see. Those are the rules, even though none of it was through my own choice.’
Shazar silently cursed the people from Karashne for their cold hearts. He touched his headband which covered most of his ears; his black almost crimson hair fell loosely over it.
‘And you can’t live in the village either?’
‘How can you even ask that?’
The shame and the looks of sympathy from the villagers would be too much for her to bear. Her face showed this.
‘Your aunt it is then. But what about the boy, would he be welcome there too?’
‘He is your responsibility, you found him!’
‘But I don’t know anything about children! You’re a woman and I…I’m a nomad.’
She raised her brows at that comment, forgetting what the stone had advised her before.
‘You’ll do fine.’ She turned away and got up to leave.
The boy woke up and started crying when he saw her leaving and ran after her. He hugged her tightly around her waist and she froze at the touch. She hadn’t expected him to attach to her so quickly.
Shazar smiled smugly.
~~~
‘It looks like we’re stuck with each other for a little while longer.’ Ashanna spoke kindly to the boy, ruffling his brown hair.
‘He sure needs someone right now. I am glad you have found each other.’ Shazar commented, glad not to be burdened with the child himself. There was no way he could have cared for someone that young whilst continuing with his search, living a rough life in the wilderness.
He packed up his things quickly and nodded at the boy, apologising in his mind.
‘Goodbye, stay close to her. She will protect you from now on.’
Twello stared at him disappointedly because Shazar would leave him but he understood, for a wizard would have many more important things to do than to look after a boy.
‘Take these.’ Shazar walked over and handed Ashanna a small package.
‘What’s this?’
‘It’s an ointment of healing herbs for your bruises. I applied it earlier when you were unconscious. It needs repeating tonight. They’ll heal sooner that way. Do take some rest soon though, you’re not fully recovered yet.’
Silently she took it from him, trying to avoid his eyes with the orange and yellow flecks in the green of his irises like shafts of sunlight. They seemed to shift in colour and the green sometimes seemed darker, almost green-brown. Was that possible? Would that make him a wizard, like the boy had mentioned earlier? How else could he have rescued her from all those men? She was too tired to think about all that now.
She stood so close to him now that suddenly she could feel the presence of the gem nearby… Shocked she stepped back only to see it shining green from within his rucksack, she could see it glow through the fabric, as if it was calling out to her, however… she couldn’t hear its subtle voice.
‘You took it again!’
Shazar stared at her questioningly but she grabbed his rucksack from his back and upon opening it tore the stone out of his bag and showed it to him. He closed his eyes in shame. He thought she wouldn’t notice. How wrong he had been.
‘I need it, I told you,’ he almost whispered.
‘Why? I told you it won’t work without me!’
‘I saw it glow once in my hands!’ Twello interrupted.
‘What?’ both Shazar and Ashanna echoed loudly.
The boy crimsoned and felt smaller than he was.
‘When?’ Ashanna asked him kindly, calming him with her voice.
‘In the tower when a man wanted to kill me, just before Shazar came to rescue me.’
‘In your hands you said?’ she asked him.
Twello nodded.
Shazar was glad that she was too occupied with the boy to worry about why he would have taken it.
‘It only shines when the stone picks out a new priestess or in answer to me,’ she said confused, her eyes filling with tears. ‘I was too far away at that moment and had none of the physical contact required,’ she glanced at Shazar. ‘You and the boy were there.’ She now looked at them both, deciding which of them had the gift. But surely it had to be the boy as Shazar wasn’t a virgin or was he?
‘There is only one way to find out,’ she said and placed the stone in Twello’s hands. After a few breaths in time it started to shimmer. They were all speechless.
‘Im…pppossible!’ Ashanna stuttered after a moment, staring at the boy and the stone. Twello’s face was unreadable.
‘Only women are chosen as Priestess of the Truthstone. Unless you’re a girl?’
Ashanna looked Twello up and down, whose eyes narrowed in anger.
‘I’m not!’
‘Perhaps it was time for a change,’ Shazar said.
She turned with confused eyes to him.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter anyway,’ she sighed. ‘for we’re going and so is the stone.’ And in one movement she took it from him. The stone stopped glowing immediately. Disappointed and hurt she tried to hide her tears. A boy, what was the stone thinking! She wanted to throw the gem away again, and this time she would choose a roaring river. It would take hours, or even days to find it, Shazar thought, perhaps never, if it reached the sea. He was quicker this time and grabbed her wrist hard enough so that she dropped it to the floor.
‘Let go of me!’
Ashanna hit his shoulder hard and when she found out he wasn’t defending himself she hit him again and again. It felt good to release her anger and pain onto someone else.
Exhausted she finally stopped, realised the goodness in this man and started crying. Shazar gave Twello an apple and ordered him to go and sit underneath a tree by the river.
‘This will only take a moment. It will be alright, you’ll see,’ he cal
mly mouthed to the boy, so Ashanna wouldn’t hear.
~~~
Shazar let the woman cry and when she wept softer he put his arms around her. At first she fought him again, trying to escape his gentle but firm grip, then he spoke to her softly as a father would to a child. She started trembling and understood that he meant no harm.
‘There now. Just cry, Ashanna, let it all out. You’re not alone anymore.’ She held on to his arms and cried on his shoulder, wetting his black woollen tunic.
‘It’s over. No one will hurt you ever again.’
‘How do you know?’ she sobbed, childlike.
Because I will see to it.
Shazar wished he could promise her that but he had his search. He was weary of it, now more than ever. The nomad in him fought his constant desire to settle down somewhere with a woman like her. But no, that could never be. She was human.
‘Listen, where I come from we have a saying,’ he began in his low gentle voice. ‘that the World Sea is the gathering of the tears of the Moon and the Sun. When Bhan sprang forth from the Sun, the Moon couldn’t stop crying, because it meant that from now on the Moon and the Sun would be separated for all time, whereas before they had been one…’
Ashanna had stopped crying and she listened.
‘The Moon and the Sun missed each other so greatly that they chased one another day and night forever only catching the mere reflection of each other. But they could never reunite again. The ash and fire that their separation left on the lonely planet, their child, upset them so much that their tears sprang forth. That was the birth of rain. In those early days it rained for days on end, forming a rich salty sea, spreading more and more until the whole world was covered by sea. This intrigued the Sun and Moon greatly, however separated they were they would watch the reflection of the sunrise and sunset in the great sea and the reflection of the moon and stars. They stopped crying, for all that they saw was too beautiful to be sad about. They also noticed that the Sun was warming the sea so that life started on their child Bhan. Algae, seaweed, sea stars, fish. The moon gave the small beings a soul. More complex they became and more diverse and richer in shape and numbers. Scented flowers and dragonflies so delicate and the colours of it all! Witnessing this, the lovers praised this fact and smiled down upon the lower beings, their grandchildren. No longer were they sad and no longer did they cry from sorrow. The Sun and the Moon had accepted their fate and rejoiced in the life they brought to the world below. After some time the World Sea dried up slowly and land emerged so that the creatures could inhabit it making the world even more diverse. For years and years it went well, but then natural disasters started happening. Over time there were ice-ages, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and the Moon and Sun saw the creatures struggle with the fierce laws of nature. Sometimes they interfered, settling things, trying to save their favourites. However soon they understood, for the Sun and the Moon needed to learn as well, that these minor creatures were only a part of the greater universe. Moreover the sun always shines behind the clouds and will rise again after a dark night. Good things always came after a disaster, so they learned to just let it happen,’ he paused a moment taking a deep breath.
The Comyenti Series Book Bundle, Volume 1 and 2 (Epic Romantic Supernatural Fantasy) Page 13