by T M Caruana
The sight of the fear and the tears in her eyes made him despair. The spear had pierced her body and there was no way to pull it out of her the same way as it had entered, and still keep her body intact. He fell down on his knees, next to her and caressed her pale face. Hunter had noticed the situation and leaving his current opponent, leapt over to their aid. The assistance came too late. An axe met Net’s spine before the killer retracted it indifferently, continuing on his way to attack his next victim.
“Damn it!” Hunter growled as he felled the axman in his turn, taking revenge for his king’s life.
Tarus felt as much anger over the loss and it gave him the impetus to use his energy to throw a fireball against Milo. It was strong enough to disarm him and gave Tarus time to force his sword straight into the Admiral’s heart. He glanced at where the boy had been standing and saw he was still alive, with fireballs flowing from his tiny little hands against their enemies.
Using his ability to vanish, the boy disappeared and reappeared behind another bunch of soldiers who were so close that his sword could penetrate one of the men’s lower back and then he disappeared again. Hunter’s grief seemed to be infectious and Tarus watched the boy attack even more aggressively than before. He jumped and parried with ease as if he were floating through the air and, seemed able to fend off the blows as well as any one of the adult warriors. A spear approached through the air against the boy’s back and Tarus raised his hand to warn, but realised it would be futile. The battle would take its victims even if it was only a small boy. The boy turned quickly and looked into Tarus’s eyes and smiled gratefully.
With the help of his good hearing, gained from his tiger senses, Tarus registered a soldier attacking from behind and turned around to defend himself. When he turned back to the boy, he was producing a force field around himself with the attacking spear lay still on the ground beside him. Who was this boy who had so much energy to throw fireballs one after another? The skilful use of physics reminded him of nothing else he had previously seen. Was he a mix of two worlds? It was as if he had seen the attacking spear through Tarus’s eyes and entered into a defensive force field seconds before the spear was about to hit him. The he saw that it was Leo who had come to the boy’s rescue. Tarus saw them exchanging smiles as if they were familiar with each other. Leo’s protection of the boy enabled Tarus to safely drop them from his sight to continue with his own attack on the men from his own world.
The warriors were coming less frequently now, and he almost had to look to find one. Nomnat was long gone. The coward had taken retreat and was probably already safely back behind the fort walls on Bomi. The battle was over. Pixi had won the battle, but lost many of its men, women, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and their king. It was a cruel reality, but to Tarus, the most important of all was Susy. He also wanted to leave the grounds because it stank of blood and images of slaughtered bodies were pressing themselves into his memory. The sun was high and must have been burning against everyone else’s skin, which didn’t make the situation any more endurable. However, he felt he couldn’t yet abandon the battlefield.
“Men and women of Pixi and everyone else who has helped us to victory, please know my immense gratitude for your courage. We have won!” Hunter’s voice rang out, a voice rasping from grief for his king and good friend. “We will also thank those who have died with an honourable burial.”
He looked down at Net’s body fallen over Simona’s. “From earth you have come and to earth you shall return,” he whispered to himself to remind himself.
Hunter noticed Tarus’s brows creased in worry as they had all started to make their way closer to the castle. “Don’t worry, Nina is probably there to look over her, she will survive. You know how strong and stubborn she is.”
There was probably no one that Hunter’s reassuring voice could fail to calm. They had thought the danger was over and had allowed themselves to lower their guard. They had all failed to notice a soldier who sat up to hurl a sword through the air as a last attempt at wounding his opponents. The sword hurled, whilst rotating, towards an unobservant Myra who had taken a detour around the castle square to look for survivors. Hunter saw the sword too late and rushed forward as he heard a young boy’s loud cries. “Myra. No!”
Hunter was at her side before the boy, but it was too late. The sword had already hit Myra on her shoulder and she was losing a lot of blood.
“Uncle, move!” the boy pleaded gently, pulling out the sword and putting his hands over the wound.
Hunter moved, but it was more out of shock than any controlled choreography. He looked at the boy who had the same characteristics and facial features as his wife. He could easily distinguish the little potato nose, the blue-violet eyes, the rose-pink lips and the dimples. In his silence he tried to pick out words that could form a question.
“Are you Susy’s son?” was the only thing Hunter could say in a low whisper, whilst it appeared that the boy was trying to heal Myra.
The blonde boy, who seemed very wise and experienced for his age, looked up from his bloody hands at Hunter as if looking at a dear family member who he had never previously met. The boy’s head sank down to rest on his own hands again that was placed over Myra’s wound, and his whole body was shaking from the energies he used in healing her.
Eventually he answered. “No,” he voice low and he was shaking his head slightly. “Susy’s son was my father.”
Hunter fell from sitting on his heels to the ground with a dropped chin and large eyes.
“What…what…was?” was the only thing he stammered as he looked questioningly at Leo who had gently lifted Myra’s torso onto his lap.
Both the boy and Leo avoided eye contact with Hunter as they fought for Myra’s survival.
“Phew,” sighed the boy with a relieved breath. “She will survive,” he stated and from his bright voice it was evident that he hadn’t passed puberty.
Leo gently put back her body on the ground and kissed her on the forehead. “Well, then we have to return to the castle to organise the next trip.”
Hunter thought it was strange that Leo had risen as if his sister’s life was decided, as if the boy’s words with certainty could be trusted. Leo seemed to trust the boy without doubt or without being surprised at his identity, as if they had known each other a long time.
Hunter sat still as a question mark, with his finger still in the air, pointing towards the boy. What would this mean? Could we be certain that the boy could predict that Myra was safe, though he was so young? Age wouldn’t play a large role in this case, in the case where he viewed a soul who was a descendant of Susy’s only son.
Tarus, who never uttered a word unnecessarily, moaned, which attracted the attention of the others. He crouched down with one knee on the ground a short distance away. Hunter stood up and brushed off his knees even though he didn’t understand why. It wasn’t as if he would make them clean from all the dirt and bloodstains. He circled round to the others and quickly counted the survivors. Samuel, Harriett, Tailja, Luke, Kora, Gabriel and, of course, Myra, Leo and the boy. Hunter knew it would take a while to count the others, but at least half of the people seemed to have survived. Plus a unicorn, more like a cowboy horse now with red blood patches on its white body. He remembered that Nina would now be the only one left of the Royal Family and therefore needed to take her place on the throne. Knowing his wife, she wouldn’t like it; she hated everything that had to do with politics, which meant that he would have to take over as leader.
With a gesture of his open hand, he urged everyone to follow him.
Horror and fear ripped through him as he saw the body that Tarus had noted earlier, having made a deep sigh.
“Damn, damn, damn…no…Nina, Nina wake up, open up your eyes and look at me!” he screamed and fell, chest first, over her body.
Hunter’s tears dripped down onto her cheeks and made his vision blurry. With his knuckles he repeatedly tried to remove them to clear his vision.
/> “Nina! Nina!” he shouted even louder and shook her, which made her pale bluish face loll from one shoulder to the other.
He flooded her with kisses on her stiff lips, but without receiving any response.
“Hey, boy! Can you come and heal her?” he cried, throwing caution to the winds as to who the boy really was.
It wouldn’t have mattered who the boy was, farm boy or the most powerful man in the Universe; his Universe was meaningless if Nina died.
“Hunter…” A warm hand rested over his shoulder. “She’s gone,” said Tarus gently.
Hunter’s tear-filled eyes wouldn’t dry and he still had his body covering her with his cheek against her cheek.
“Can you pull the sword out from her body?” he murmured without looking up.
Tarus’s steady hand had no problem bringing out the sword from her soft waist before he threw it on the ground in front of Hunter. “It’s Nomnat’s sword,” Tarus pointed out and kicked it a little closer to him.
To tell who had murdered his wife could lead to hateful thoughts, but Tarus had decided to inform Hunter, just as he would have wanted to know if someone had murdered Susy. The boy had taken his position on his knees next to Nina’s body and placed his hands over the wound to check that there was nothing more they could do. Astonishingly, the body started glowing before it died down again.
“What? She glowed, she lives?” Hunter asked, raising his head from Nina’s body in the hopeful expectation that everything would be fine.
The glow dimmed gradually until it went out completely.
“What?” he cried impatiently at the boy who was sitting only inches away from him.
The boy hesitated. Hunter was impatience, but the boy purposely seemed to hesitate over his answer. It appeared he wanted to help, but when he looked at Nina’s body, resurrection seemed impossible. She had already long since bled out.
“What?” he asked again, now even more harshly than before.
“Your child stayed alive to hear your voice one last time,” the boy replied quietly and with a sadness that didn’t seem appropriate for such a young boy.
“What? Nina was pregnant? Why had she withheld this from me?” Hunter questioned and turned his face to the sky and screamed in dismay.
“Would you have let your pregnant wife participate in the battle if you had known?” Leo asked; a question they all knew the answer to.
“Leo, were you aware that she was pregnant?” Hunter asked angrily.
Leo looked at the boy who looked back at him. Hunter knew immediately what they were thinking; of course, the boy could see the future. They had known how it would end. They had known that he would lose his wife and his child. Why had they allowed this to happen? Hunter was angry. He was more furious than he had ever been before.
“Go ahead and leave me alone,” he muttered again so unclearly that Tarus had difficulty in piecing together the words.
“I will obey this time, but don’t do anything stupid, Hunter. Think of your son, Nick,” Tarus advised.
Being considerate to others other than Susy was uncomfortable for Tarus and Hunter must have thought he had made a good attempt because he paused his breathing for a few seconds. It was true he had Nick to bear in mind.
Tarus saw that the boy looked sad, and wondered if he should say something to comfort him. But the boy was walking closer to Leo and Gabriel than himself and he seemed to already know him and Myra, who was still weak and was being carried in Leo’s arms on their way back. That should be enough to free him from responsibility.
It was difficult for Tarus to accept that a descendant of Susy’s was still alive, a descendant of Noah. Jealousy resumed its place in his heart with the same strength as when the boy had uttered his first word. Hunter was his uncle by marriage, but what connection did Leo and Myra have with him? Should he ask, or was it better to be ignorant? Would it make any difference now that Leo had told him what would happen in the near future? Leo hadn’t wanted to use the ashes of the fire-rose for Michael because he would need them for the spell. He had been told where the future was heading and needed each grain. Tarus was able to see that Leo’s predictions were proven correct by the greyish colours and the dead vegetation. The worlds had been left too long without new energy whilst Susy had been captured on Teli and they were now dying. Leo had also had an idea about the only way to restore the worlds to their former glory. It was an unthinkable solution that Tarus would never allow.
“You were very skilled down there today. What’s your name, boy?” he coughed up reluctantly in the end.
If the boy really was who he claimed he was, their friendship was a must if he wanted to continue his relationship with Susy.
“I thank you most humbly. My name is Hakon,” the boy spoke without arrogance or superiority.
Crap. He even had to be so damn polite. It would almost have been easier if he had been able to hate the boy.
“He’s an excellent shooter, even if fencing is his strength,” said Gabriel proudly as if it were his doing.
And, by the way, how did Gabriel know the boy’s skills anyway? He hadn’t used the bow and arrow today.
“Better than his mother, I would say. He always hits his target, though it’s unfair to say because he already knows when he won’t and then it’s unnecessary for him to even fire the arrow.”
Gabriel couldn’t stop bragging about the boy, making Tarus’s jealousy difficult to live with.
“Who is his mother?” he asked unwillingly as he really didn’t want to know.
“The Oracle’s daughter.”
The response was immediate and it sounded like Tarus was going to have to hear the whole story if it wasn’t for Leo clearing his throat.
“Now then, enough is enough,” murmured Leo, but his eyes were looking hard into Gabriel’s, who quickly fell silent and looked down at Hakon, who had a dream-like absent look in his eyes.
Tarus tried to remind himself about the history of the Oracle’s daughter. And if the saviour was the father, the child had been created through the Pixi way and not as they are created on Teli. Was that why the Oracle had always been bitter toward Susy? Susy’s son was the reason that Mia, as she was called, had disappeared to Teli and had died there.
Tarus realised why the boy looked sad. It was the memory of his mother. Perhaps it was even both parents, for both were dead. But it had been a while since their demise, so who had taken care of the boy? He wasn’t big enough to take care of himself. One thing fell into place in the conundrum – how Leo could be so sure of everything he explained about the future in their previous conversations. It had always been a fact that no permitted magic, or none other than Susy and the Oracle, could tell the future. This must mean that the Oracle and Susy were the boy’s grandmothers. There would be no limit to what this boy could do.
After having tucked in an exhausted Myra into a bed in a castle room, Leo sat down on one of the low steps outside the castle and was shortly joined by Michael, who had been released by Tarus from Susy’s bedside.
“Are you wounded?” asked Michael.
It astounded Leo how Michael could be capable of caring for him with his broken heart. Especially, caring for him, who had been blamed for Katrona’s death.
Leo wanted to complain about the loss of all the men and women in the battle. It wasn’t his men and the massacre wasn’t his fault, but as always, he was quick to take the blame. That was his role as the evil descendant of Merlin, a role that would always shadow him despite the good deeds he performed.
“Myra is going to survive and Hakon is safe so that is something to be happy about,” he said as a distraction from the other losses.
There was so much he wanted to explain to Michael, but hadn’t previously been able to. He couldn’t reveal the whole truth. It was never good to tinker with knowledge of the future, which was the reason that that particular magic was one of the forbidden spells. Where could he start and how much could he reveal? No, it was best to just say what c
oncerned Michael, something that could possibly ease his sorrows a little. After having told Michael about who the boy was and from whom he was descended came the hard part, which would make him recall his brutal sadness – that Leo had chosen not to cure.
“After both of Hakon’s parents died, he didn’t want to meet Susy because he said that it would initiate horrific consequences and, because he can see the future, no one wanted to argue with his decision. Gabriel, who had watched over him on Teli, chose Myra and I to look after the boy and hide him from Eutychia. We had the greatest chances of defending him, with our knowledge and the advantage that no one other than the three of us knew of his existence.”
Michael nodded and listened without seeming to see the end point of Leo’s story.
“We had to wait until Hakon was old enough to master his powers so that he could defend himself. When Susy was kidnapped, I had to join the Order and travel to Teli to find her. It was difficult leaving him.”
Now Leo paused, hoping that he wouldn’t have to explain more, and that Michael would understand what he meant. His guilt burned as hot in his soul as the sun on his forehead. But they were both silent. Leo was trying to avoid any further conversation that would upset Michael and which may even make him attack, and Michael because he was mindlessly listening to Leo’s story.
“When I returned to Vati after years on Teli, I had to return to the hiding place to see that Hakon was safe and to tell him that we were back unharmed,” Leo whispered with another worried glance over at Michael.
Michael’s body stiffened and Leo thought he could discern a slight understanding from his body language. He was sitting with his head in his hands looking as if he was dreaming away in another world. Leo thought that he was probably recalling the memories of the time they were locked up in Eutychia’s dungeon, the day he lost his love, which had seemed to be Leo’s fault more than Eutychia’s.
“So that was where you were instead of guarding us,” he commented acceptingly, but not forgivingly.