by Mussie Haile
But the seven warriors stumbled back, looking at Sinto, angry and horrified.
“It’s all your fault, Sinto, how could you let us walk into a trap like this?” shouted Tabeli.
“Blaming doesn’t help now. Concentrate, Tabeli!” Sinto replied.
“Don’t you tell me what to do. One of us will die and it’s your fault. Your love for her makes you blind!” Tabeli looked angry.
Eldana overheard the conversation. Sinto glared at her, Tabeli followed his gaze and met Eldana’s. He spat on the ground.
Hermon was close to the fight now. His body kept growing, in a single leap, he had crossed over to the clearing.
Siem readied her bow and spoke the words of her tribes, words from long ago when life was still full of magical creatures. The arrow glowed, and the runes appeared on the wood. As she let go, the arrow burned through the air, leaving a trail of fire behind it.
The warriors braced themselves. Sinto’s eyes widened as Siem chanted with a smile.
“I call upon the power beneath. Come to me, souls of the night, insatiable in the dark, bind your magic to my demon arrows. Come to me, visit the living one last time…bring harm to whom you touch. Let my foes taste my power. I am Siem, Daughter of the first hour!”
Sinto saw the arrows racing through the forest air and called out. “Demon arrows! Protect yourself!”
But the arrows flew faster and faster. Before hitting the first warrior, the runes on the arrow illuminated strongly. The warrior managed to block the blow with his sword at the last second, but the impact was violent. With a gasp, Sinto cast a protective spell to support his warrior, but the effect was still intense as everyone was thrown backwards through the mud. The warrior laid on the ground, shaken, but still alive.
“Through the runes, the souls of the ancient spirits come into the arrows,” Tabeli said slowly. He was talking to himself as if he were both in awe and shock, while helping the fallen warrior to his feet.
“A wizard usually says that a field of war like this one is a jackpot for demon arrows. The soil contains the souls of thousands of people; it helps to awaken the power of the arrow. We’ve fallen into a trap!” Tabeli shook his head furiously, glaring at Sinto. Two others fought doggedly against Hermon; only their speed allowed them to avoid the deadly attacks of the Berserker. In his magical state, one could not easily kill a Berserker; their injuries healed too quickly. Every blow just bounced off his powerful body. The only thing they could do was avoid his attacks. While everyone was still distracted by Hermon, Eldana took her chance and ran towards the forest. She tried to get away, but she was weakened from the fight. Suddenly, three of the warriors jumped to block her way to the woods and quickly launched their attack on her.
Siem turned to see Eldana stumbling under the furious attacks of the warriors. She readied two more arrows and fired them at the warriors around Eldana. The attacks were still fierce but expected. Eldana parried the sword thrusts as much as she could while she casted another spell. The mark on her coat and her eyes glowed with an eldritch light, as a wave of fire welled from the earth and raced towards the warriors from behind. It was sudden, but the warriors were skilled and cautious. All of them jumped aside, but one. The warrior burned and scream in horror. His comrades rushed to help him but had to fight off the arrows at the same time. Eldana took the opportunity and fled towards the forest. Before she reached the edge, Sinto suddenly appeared before her. His strikes were harder than the others, much harder, but she parried them with her own blade, feeling each blow she blocked make her weaker.
“Enough! It does not have to end like this. Stop this, Eldana!” said Sinto as he pulled back. Eldana stood in front of him in a fighting stance, breathing heavy as she watched him.
“Let me find another way. I’ve already found it; you just have to give me time, that’s all,” she panted.
Sinto was annoyed by her try to change his mind. “Silence! We have laws, and we have kept them for a thousand years. You won’t change anything,” he growled, enraged.
Sinto swung his sword at Eldana, but she dodged it, bending low. At that moment, Hermon leapt to her side, grabbed her and jumped over Sinto only to run towards the edge of the forest.
“I could have done this alone!” Eldana struggled against her captor. She had hoped that there was a hint of understanding in Sinto. After all, he was a father figure to her. Hermon should not have interrupted that moment she thought could have been a turning point.
“That’s not the gratitude I expected. You have been surrounded by enemies and weakened, my magical state is only staying for so long and Siem’s demon arrows losing the element of surprise and Sinto just swung his sword at you,” Hermon tried explaining her what seemed to him as pure logic, but he could see the anger in her eyes. He kept quiet and just jumped further.
He arrived at the edge of the forest and grabbed Siem, who shot off another arrow. Quickly and with full force, he jumped into the woods, high and deep enough that none of the warriors could follow them, Siem’s invisibility spell did the rest. They were gone. Disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
All the warriors relaxed, and some dropped their weapons after seeing the three disappeared into the woods. The fight took a toll on the warriors. They all gathered around Sinto, waiting for instructions. He spoke softly when everyone arrived.
“I’m sorry, my brothers. It seems we’re not just dealing with the Eldana that we know any more. She’s got help, renegades protecting her. Together, they are stronger and faster... but we have more experience and training!” Sinto looked over at a younger warrior who came limping towards them. He tried to give them confidence with his words.
“We haven’t been in combat for a long time, and none of us expected such violence. We must prepare ourselves better in the future.”
Tabeli walked beside him, visibly shaken by what he had just seen. “As much as I value you as our leader, my brother, she means a lot to you and we may have to go much harder than we’ve ever had to. Can you handle that?” Tabeli looked desperately at Sinto with the warmth of a good friend and placed his hand on his shoulder. Sinto looked away from Tabeli and paused for a few seconds.
“ I can handle it. No one is above the law,” said Sinto, his eyes wandering over the forest.
Tabeli gazed at him and nodded. Behind them glowed the forest clearing in the pre-dawn moonlight, scorched earth and holes everywhere from the fight. It was all so different from the calm it had been moments ago. But no one was concerned. All they thought of were the three who had escaped them. For them, the battle was not over; it had only just begun.
CHAPTER TWO
The Town of Kleas
It was midnight when the three companions made it to the small town with the name of Kleas. It was surrounded by a stone wall and protected by a large moat. Rich towns in Toas usually had at least one mage guard per tower. Here there was only one old guard who floated just above the entrance for the entire City.
Confused by this weird instance, Siem tried to explain it to herself. “What’s the point of that? The mage guards usually float in circles to protect the entire city, what if we choose to access from behind? Also, why is there just one? He is never able to guard the entire city alone.” Siem was truly perplexed; she probably knew best about the guardians amongst the three.
“Well, maybe he’s bored, I mean he can’t spend his life floating around in circles, can he?” Hermon laughed about his own revelation.
“Chosen by the Dakar, these are dead magicians who did not want to die immediately and would rather protect others for another century. There is a huge waiting list to become a guardian magician, and in our circles that’s a great honor, so stop blabbering about it being stupid, Hermon!” Siem said in annoyance to her companion, who was now back in the normal confines of his body. It did not seem like he had just gone berserk not long ago.
“Well, now th
e lady seems to know what she’s saying.”
Siem made a little lightning bolt appear in her hand. “Keep it up,” she said, looking at him threateningly.
Siem and Hermon kept arguing about the mage guardian’s logic and why Hermon choose being annoying; Eldana stayed seated on the ground under a tree and did not look up or follow their conversation. Siem noticed the silence after a while and walked towards her, serious again.
“What is it?”
Eldana looked up, tired. “They wanted to kill me.”
Siem looked irritated, and Hermon approached with a stern look on his face. All the goofiness had vanished from his expression.
“Of course, they want to kill you. They believe in the prophecy,” Hermon reminded her.
“Yes, but without ritual. Don’t you understand?” Eldana’s voice broke. “They wanted to kill me without the ritual. That means that I would not enter the light and save the world, but would be trapped between the two worlds, forever!” She could not hold back her tears.
Hermon and Siem looked concerned and stood by her side. There was no awkwardness or secrets between the three of them. After a while, Siem broke the silence.
“Night is coming soon and we are not safe yet. We have to go inside the town and hide.”
Siem had always been the one to keep everyone else in check. She knew that her friend was upset, but there were more pressing concerns. Eldana and Hermon nodded and moved without exchanging another word about this topic.
“What shall we do about the mage guardian?” Hermon asked. “These guys are always stronger than you think.” His gaze wandered to Siem, although there was no official leader of their group, it was always her who had to make a decision.
“I’ll distract it, and you take Eldana into the city.” She looked at Hermon and said nothing more. He moved towards Eldana and grabbed her by the arm. She was weak. The fight and the loss of home had depleted her. That made her vulnerable, whether she cared to admit it or not. They walked together towards the gate, with Siem remaining a little further away. She casted a cloaking spell with the soft murmurs of her voice.
Thus cloaked, Eldana and Hermon then strolled ahead. Nobody but Siem could see them. Hermon sometimes nervously looked to the top to see if the guard was making any unusual moves. Nothing happened. He was not sure what to expect but no cloak was perfect and it could break any time. As if on command, a short lightning bolt crashed right in front of Hermon and Eldana. They both immediately prepared for a fight.
Siem cursed from a distance but quickly got hold of herself.
The mage guardian uttered a few short words and tilted his head down.
“Who dares to deceive Benok the Great, guardian of the town of Kleas, with simple cloaking spells?”
The guardian mage hung in the air, his black robe flowing with the wind. His hair was snow-white and flowing along with his robe. He mumbled magical verses that hall through the air and light rings appeared around the city that seemed to be there all along. From where Siem was, she could only imagine what would had happened when Eldana and Hermon touched them.
She had misunderstood the situation. There was only one mage guardian at the gate, not because this place was poor but because he was as strong as ten mage guardians put together. Hermon turned around and cursed in the direction of Siem. She ran towards them faster than she had ever run, knowing what could happen next. A mage guardian knew no mercy, his only mission was to protect the town.
Siem screamed to draw attention to herself, but the mage was just focused on Eldana and Hermon. Hermon was already changing into a Berserker; but Eldana was still tired from the previous fight and therefore moved slowly. The more of the power of magic moved through the body of one, the more the person is affected. Eldana’s physical body and mind were severely weakened. Siem flashed through all possible spells in her mind as she ran. One of them was called Tawoub - the earthquake to swallow them from the earth and a shroud of earth to protect them from the mage’s attacks.
Siem was about to cast the spell, the symbol on her coat glowed and magic flowed through her, at the same time the ground below Eldana and Hermon mirrored drift sand. The guardian mage seemed to sense the plans of Siem, and suddenly moved his attention towards her.
“Good, focus on me!” Siem mumbled to herself, abandoning Tawoub and instead pulled one of her demon arrows out of her quiver while running. She was ready to shoot in seconds. As she mumbled the words that would channel the souls of her ancestors into the arrow, with the arrow aimed at the mage, she was only able to shoot at the guardian, he floated to the right and let the arrow drop into the lightning surrounding the town where it just vanished. The mage’s attack followed immediately. A volley of lightning circles came towards her after he raised his hand just slightly. But Siem had learned to deal with strikes like this in the past and was relieved that she knew what to do. She did a roll, jumped into the air and floated at the same height as the guardian mage. She uttered just one word.
“Midri!” A wave of sand gathered from the ground and spun around in the air, circling, and forming a wall. The energy circles crashed against the wall of sand and disbursed into the air… but the shock of the airwave pulled her lightly out the air. The power was immense for what was just a little flick of the hand. Siem knew this was not a fight she would win. But that was not the goal; she had to protect Eldana and Hermon.
Siem steadied herself and was about to shoot the arrow just as the mage raised his hand once again. But at that moment, Eldana lifted her hand to the mage instead. He saw the movement and looked down at Eldana.
“I am a traveller seeking shelter. My powers are fading, and I have been betrayed by my dearest. The magician that you are fighting wanted to smuggle me into your beautiful town to sleep and have good rest before we travel on. We can pay, and we are ready to give the shelter of our choice double of what they are asking for!” Eldana said in a soft tone.
The guard stopped his attacks. Where the eyes of a human should have been, two opaque, emotionless pebbles stared back at her. A couple of seconds passed. Siem floated back to earth. Hermon just held his breath. They did not understand what was happening. Hermon was slowly returning back to his normal self, sensing that the danger no longer existed.
The stare felt endless, but it must have been only a few minutes. Then the gate opened and the light surrounding the town disappeared, without another word from the mage. It was a long wooden gate that made the earth tremor a little as it moved. The guard raised his head again and stared straight ahead. Eldana also seemed to wake up from her trance and said, “Thank you, guard,” before walking forward. Hermon looked puzzled but followed without another word.
Siem was still confused. She did not understand why the mage had so suddenly stopped attacking her. The demon arrow was still on the bow. She put it back and walked slowly towards the gate. As Siem passed the guard, she heard a soft, gentle voice from far away.
“You have a lot to learn my child, you will have to protect Eldana to death, and your powers must become stronger than the strongest magician ever. This will be your destiny.”
She paused and looked up, but the guard did not pay any attention to her. She knew it came from him. They were both children of the Middle Kingdom; only he had fallen in the battle of the first hour. It was a battle between magicians and old elves who thought themselves gods. “Why me?” she whispered, more to herself than to him, then went on without waiting for an answer.
Once inside, she met with Eldana and Hermon again. Siem wanted to ask so many questions. How did Eldana know how to deal with a mage guard? Hermon beat her to it in a rather unconventional way.
“Wow, Eldana, what was that?” He still looked red from his exertion. Hermon was stronger than many Berserkers, who would have taken longer to regain their strength, but he walked along with his friends, albeit slowly. “How do you do that, just ask a mage guard if yo
u can get in? Just like that?” Eldana looked at him and smiled impishly.
“You have to be friendly sometimes,” she said sweetly.
“Yes,” he agreed, “but it’s still very crazy.”
Eldana laughed but did not go into further explanation. They looked around at the streets of Kleas, which turned out to be much broader than either of them had thought; almost a city! Only then did they become aware of its beauty. In fact, the walls of Kleas did no justice to the wonders they saw inside. The streets were full of energy and flying creatures from all over the world with incredible powers. It was full of magic. There were shops filled with magically enhanced toys and gadgets. Along the streets were blue, green, red, and purple flowers; the delicate scents filled the air. The houses were rounded with curved domes and painted with bright colors. Even the sky was a different shade of beautiful light blue inside this place. From the outside, Kleas had looked old and boring; therefore, not many people were drawn to it. Perhaps it was a spell, crafted to make it look that way. The people of Kleas believed in peace. They also believed that envy was the reason for conflict, hence the reason they went through pain to hide the beauty of their city.
“If you use such a powerful hiding spell to keep all this beauty hidden, you need very powerful magic,” Siem observed. Eldana and Hermon nodded reverently. It was like a different world. The buildings all looked new. Even the water barrels were clean. Trees stood by the sides of the roads, waving their branches, animated with more life and sentience than any regular forest tree. They wandered for half an hour through the town in a state of awe.
But after a while of wondering and marvelling, it was time to find a place to stay. They eventually found a charming tavern that looked inviting.
On entering, a bell rang at the door, and a shimmer of dust fell on the three. They felt positive energy all around. “A positivity spell,” said Siem, and three laughed in pure delight.