by Mussie Haile
Quickly, Lord Taboon spoke, stealing the yet-to-be spoken words from Sinto’s open mouth. He had sniffed out the game Sinto was playing and was pressed to get back on top. Already, Henok was beginning to lean away from him.
“We do not need to bother about risking the lives of the kingdom’s soldiers, my king.” He said.
Henok looked up at him.
“Are you proposing that we apprehend her using the same sources you used in your previous attempt?” he asked.
“That is exactly what I am proposing, my king,” Lord Taboon said. “They were effective. Of course not in her apprehension. But if they had not gotten close enough to stick the tracker into her, we would not have this cord of hope that we have been graciously offered.”
Henok cleared his throat and placed his fingers on his cheek as he went into thought.
“My king,” Sinto called, “If I may.”
“Go on,” Henok said.
“Orcs are not a trustworthy force that one can work out a deal with. They are bound, just like the elves, by duty, love to themselves, and only to themselves. To put this succinctly, their words cannot be trusted as standard. If Eldana or any of her cohorts offer them a better deal than Lord Taboon offers them, whatever that is,” Sinto flashed Lord Taboon a glance, and continued, ‘they will be on you in the next moment, swords slashing at your throat.”
“Hmm…” Henok said, musing. “Sinto does have a valid point. Right, Lord Taboon?”
“Yes. He most absolutely does.” Lord Taboon replied with just the slightest sour note in his voice. “However, I have to give my king the assurance that these orcs will keep to the agreement we have.”
Henok nodded.
“I do not know what the incentive in your agreement with the orcs is, and I do not care to know. However, you must answer a question, and answer this truthfully.”
“Anything, my king,” Lord Taboon said, bowing courteously.
“What Sinto said about the nature of the orcs, their tendency to renege on an agreement if the job offers them a better deal than the employer, is that true?”
Lord Taboon was uncomfortably silent for a moment.
Good strike, Sinto, he thought. Very excellent strike.
Sino’s insides palpitated with exciting energy. Finally, he had succeeded in making Lord Taboon fall short of the king’s accolade. He laughed raucously inside him. It was all he could do to keep himself from laughing out loud.
“Lord Taboon?” Henok asked. “Is there a problem?”
Lord Taboon startled as if he had just come out of a trance.
“No, my king,” Lord Taboon replied. “There is none. Absolutely none.”
“Then why can you not answer my question?”
“Yes, my king.”
“Well then, which is it? Can the orcs be trusted?”
“I mean, yes, my king. What Sinto said about the orcs’ frail, and distrustful allegiance to their employers is true.”
“Hmmm,” Henok said and pressed his lips into a hard line. “We cannot risk using them. This is of the utmost importance. What do you suggest we do?” Henok gazed at Sinto.
Yes! Sinto thought in a flush of pride. “I suggest, my king, that you send a squad or two of the warriors of the kingdom. The elite among them. Those you can trust to do what is needful, and to return with the girl, safe, and alive to finalise the ritual.”
All of a sudden, a tinkling sound grew out of the silence. Lord Taboon cast his gaze upwards, to the source of the sound, and noticed that the palace chandelier was trembling. Henok turned to the sound of scraping beside him and found his crown jittering on its marbled armrest. He looked up to where Sinto and Lord Taboon stared, and they exchanged confused glares.
Within two heartbeats, they felt the vibration in the ground. It started like little tickling movements, and then began to grow, and increase, becoming violent, until the ground itself heaved and jumped. Sinto and Lord Taboon were flung to the ground, while Henok steadied himself, by gripping the armrests of his throne till his knuckles turned white. Veins bulged out of his neck, he clamped his teeth together till they were bared; all from the effort.
“Earthquake!” Sinto yelled.
The doors of the palace flew open, as the palace guards ran in, skipping skilfully, the cracks that were spreading through the ground.
All Lord Taboon heard was a metallic chink from above, and he rolled out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by the chandelier. There was a loud crash as the chandelier burst into a million particles of glass.
“Get the King to safety!” Sinto roared immediately.
The guards had barely scaled the pedestal to where the king sat on his throne when everywhere quietened abruptly. It was almost like it had been snuffed out, in one moment.
Henok’s eyes were wide with horror. “It has come. The end of days is finally upon us.” The King was saying. “Sinto, by my order, you have the elite warriors of the Middle Kingdom. Capture the girl and return her. I do not need to remind you how crucial this is.”
Sinto nodded, as Henok faced Lord Taboon.
“You know what to do.” He told him.
Lord Taboon smiled and nodded.
“Of course, my king.” He said.
As Henok left the throne room accompanied by the palace guards, the enormity of the potential the quake held, brought his mind into the full glare of what he had to do. Not even his wrongfully developed affection for Eldana was going to stop him this time. Not sacrificing Eldana, meant, without a doubt, that the world would end. And that was something he could not stand for. Never.
“Nice game,” Lord Taboon said when the king had been successfully escorted to safety.
They were just outside the palace doors, at the platform before the stairs that was now riddled with cracks.
“I had no idea we were playing a game,” Sinto said, giving Lord Taboon an innocent look.
Lord Taboon laughed, looked at Sinto like he was weighing him up, then laughed again. Sinto simply smiled and stared into the distance.
“True, true.” He said finally. “There was no game at all. I am finally glad that you were able to see beyond your affections for the girl.”
Sinto grunted and said, “I told you duty always comes first for me.”
“Until now, I always doubted you when you said that,” Lord Taboon said.
“Do you not think that there is a reason why I have remained the master teacher of the being of Balance and Chaos throughout time?”
Lord Taboon nodded his understanding. “I guess I was too bothered on seeing you take immediate action, I did not view things retrospectively.”
“Well, while we stand there trying to get along, Eldana is speeding towards the unknown.” Sinto pointed out.
“You do know that we have to work together for this to end quickly, right? Things have grown too contumacious for one person to handle.”
“I thought that was what the whole point of this minute get-to-know-each-other was about?”
Lord Taboon laughed, “Well, off I go to go do my thing as the king mandated.”
Sinto nodded his assent.
“I guess we will meet soon, then,” Lord Taboon said.
“Soon.” Sinto agreed, and leaped off the stairs, landing on a crouch at the very end. The runes on his robe were beginning to glow.
Time to save the world, Sinto thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Consequences
The sea raged. Its waves rising in hilly turbulence. The ship was tossed about like a fallen branch, each wave protruding from the water like an appendage, and striking it with another waiting wave. The sky was carpeted with clouds of intense density. Thunder roared treacherously. Lightning crackled, splitting the air.
The turbulence had swept Eldana and her friends off their feet, leaving them clinging to
the ship’s starboard and port, to prevent from them being thrown overboard.
“I cannot control it!” Siem shouted through the din. “It is too strong.”
The storm had come upon them like a thief. One moment, their day was going well. And then the next moment the sun, and the sky above was swallowed mercilessly by thick, ominous black clouds. Sooner than they had time to think about going closer to land, the sea began to broil under the command of the savage wind. Eldana had tried to dispel the storm, by defusing the concentration of the clouds. She strained against the strength of the storm until her strength waned. Mikko tried, as did Siem. But the storm was too strong. So far the journey had been smooth sailing up to this point, with the serenity of the sea laid out before them. It was frightening and shocking to the whole crew to see how something so peaceful and calm could turn into a raging, murderous storm the very next.
“Who is doing this?” Hermon cried.
“I do not know,” Mikko replied. “But this is no magician’s work. No one can be this strong.”
The boat lurched violently to the side as a wave knocked against it. Just then, another wave rose from underneath the boat taking her high into the air. For a few instants, the hands of the people on board were the only body parts in contact with the ship as they scrabbled for railings and ropes. The rest of their bodies floated in the air, as the ship hurtled towards the surface of the sea. The impact of the crash knocked their bodies hard, back down against the deck violently.
Hermon’s hands slipped off the starboard, and he began to slide across the deck. Quickly, Eldana reached out with one hand and manipulated the air to form an immobile cocoon around Hermon.
Hermon’s motion stopped abruptly. Very gently, Eldana pulled herself across the floor while she winced in pain. Holding herself with one hand amidst the ship’s tossing was beginning to hurt her muscles.
As Hermon neared the starboard, he reached out with both hands and grabbed the ledge. Eldana, whose fingers were beginning to slip, quickly put her now free hand back and sighed.
“Bring it on!!” D’rmas roared. There was a maniacal smile on his face like he wanted to face death and was not afraid to wrestle with it.
Eldana shut her eyes. And thought that she could hear voices in the wind. She strained her hearing, trying to pierce through the wind’s howl and the sea’s splashing.
She heard them again. This time clearer. There were two of them, speaking calmly. But Eldana could tell that the composure of calmness was just a charade. She could feel the riotous rage crackling under the voices, like a huge pit of rattlesnakes rattling at once.
“Girl.” One of the voices called. “Open your eyes. Look at what you have done.”
“Yes.” Another voice said this one was soft, and lighter, belonging to a woman. “Look at what you have done!”
Eldana did not need an introduction, whether formal or informal, to bring to her knowledge the identity of the voices in the wind.
“Camin! Lowus!” she yelled into the storm.
Her friends flashed a concerned look at her but said nothing.
“So impetuous.” Lowus scolded. “Look what that did to you. You fled your responsibility, without thinking. And for what? Your selfishness. You could not think of the consequences. Now, it stares back at you!”
Eldana was the only one who could hear them. It was the first time this was happening to her, and with it came the consciousness of a practice that had lasted thousands of years. She had the memory of all the girls that had been sacrificed, and she intended to end it. They could find her if they wanted, but she had to be sacrificed as a show of all creations’ subservience to their rule. Eldana did not buy into that.
“If you are not here to save, then I think you should be on your merry way back to the depth of the skies. I have the fate of the world to rectify,” Eldana cried out into the face of the storm.
There was a chuckle, low like the grumble of thunder.
“You think you are trying to save the world?” Camin asked.
“Yes,” Eldana answered defiantly. “What have you both done for this world, other than take the lives of innocent girls for your power craze? I am trying to do what both of you have never done!”
“You think you are saving the world? By running away from the one sacrifice you can make with your power to save it? What good has that done you so far? Or the world, most importantly?”
“I am doing something,” Eldana growled.
“And yet the people you are trying to save are dying in large numbers. What better way is there to define selfishness and stupidity?” The spirit of the god-thing chided and jeered at her.
“You do not even know that what you are embarking on will work,” Lowus said.
“I know it will,” Eldana replied. “And my friends know it too.”
“Your friends will die, just as you will, foolish girl,” Camin said.
Almost as suddenly as it came, Eldana began to feel the wind lessen. The presence of Camin and Lowus disappeared with it. The sea that had only moments before churned, like there was a huge cauldron of fire underneath it, gyrated with gentle ripples. The ship rocked slowly with the ripples.
Siem, let her hand fall from the ledge of the starboard and sighed with relief. Relief, at the moment, was an emotion that all of them shared without question. The sea settled, and the ship was intact – a condition that owed to the spell of protection that the elves had cast upon it – as well as its ability to chart its own course. Then it moved, gathering speed as it sailed. Siem crawled to where Eldana sat, as soon as she had collected herself.
“Hey, how are you doing?” she asked.
Eldana looked up at her.
“Fine.” She replied. “You?”
“I have seen worse,” Siem said.
Eldana gave her an inquisitive stare. “Are you sure about that?”
Siem chuckled. “No.”
Still staring at Eldana, she asked: “What was that about?”
“What?” Eldana asked.
“You were talking to someone during the storm. I was scared. I had thought that you had been struck with madness, and wanted to rush to your side, to restrain you if it came to it. But if I had let my hands off the ship, I would have gone overboard.”
Siem’s hands were on her friend’s shoulder as she looked Eldana over.
“I am grateful you did not,” Eldana said. “Or I would have lost a friend to those arrogant gods.”
Siem’s eyes widened.
“You mean, they talk to you?” she asked. “Camin and Lowus?”
“Yes,” Eldana said, nodding for emphasis.
“Who did you talk to?”
Eldana and Siem turned to find Mikko standing above them in the company of Hermon, and D’rmas.
“Please, Mikko”, Siem pleaded, “I am not sure that now is the time.”
“It is okay,” Eldana said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “They should know. Their lives are on the line just as yours and mine are.”
Eldana looked up at them all with a deep sigh before relating what she had heard. “During the storm, I was visited by the gods.” She said.
Mikko’s mouth parted.
“The gods?” D’rmas questioned. “You mean…”
“Camin and Lowus, yes,” Eldana said.
“This is serious, Eldana.” Hermon said. “Very serious.”
“Yeah,” Eldana said. “You do not get to be meat for the gods and escape their throats too easily.”
D’rmas sighed.
“And I should say this. To all of you. Irrespective of how long we have known each other.” Eldana looked intently at Hermon and Siem while saying this. “Camin and Lowus said that if I continued on this path, I would die, and so will the rest of you” she looked intently at Siem, and Hermon, “and you have both become like, parts of my own
body, that I cannot lose. I have known you, D’rmas and Mikko, since the Middle Kingdom a few months ago, and you have stuck to this mission even to your peril. But now, I must say that I cannot have any of your blood on my hands.”
“What are you saying, Eldana?” Hermon asked.
“I am saying,” Eldana said letting her eyes go from one to the other, “that I have to do this alone. I cannot let any of you die for my sake. I am getting to the close of all of this. I can feel it deep in my bones.”
The sound of Siem’s laughter followed as soon as Eldana was done with her address. The sound of the laughter grew and grew until it became a guffaw. Siem heaved spasmodically, and placed a hand to her stomach, to soothe it from aching.
Eldana watched helplessly, and so did the rest of them. Although Hermon and Mikko did have the suspicion of amusement on their faces. Finally, after it had looked like she would never stop, Siem sighed audibly and looked at Eldana.
“How much of a fool can you be?” she asked her.
Eldana stared.
Siem turned to face the others. “D’rmas.” She called. “Were you forced to come along with us?”
“Certainly not.” He replied. “I came along at the promise of payment when my contract was complete. Even though I knew that this looked like a fool’s cause and that I would likely not be getting any payment from it at all!”
At the mention of his not getting any payment, Hermon perked up.
“I cannot renege on my word, D’rmas.” He said, earnestness and confidence creeping on to his face. “I am a berserker of the royal five. You will get your payment.”
Mikko was so flushed with amusement, he could barely withhold his chuckle.
“Oh, serious and mighty, a man of his inexorable word. What D’rmas, our good friend here is trying to say is that he does not need a contract. He works with us now, as a friend. Do I reflect your thoughts, D’rmas?” Mikko looked at the Free Warrior.
D’rmas grunted in affirmation and nodded.