Thesila Prophecy - The Journey Home

by Robert Rumble

  “The power of the magic was too enticing, and many mages were put to death. Many spirits return to the afterlife and the mages stopped using the spell as many destroyed any reference to the spell. Slowly its knowledge has disappeared from the world. A few ancient elves know the ritual but have not performed it for many Elvin generations. The Tenskie family has been searching for Dalistra to break the curse, and if Magdalenia learns of Dalistra, she would stop at nothing to destroy the bow before the bow destroys her.”

  “Take me back, it is my blood oath to wipe out Mikolas’s bloodline,” she vehemently tells Mashaun.

  “No, there is a time and place for everything,” he tells her, much to her chagrin.

  Mashaun keeps receiving affirmative tones from Dalistra as he listens to the story. He realizes that he understands Sivish without Dalistra but wonders why he is telling him so much information, at least the part she knows. Nevertheless, he is telling him the truth, so what does he want in return? He wonders how much of his story he should tell Sivish. Dalistra tells him to stick to the story.

  Sivish continues, “While humans may have learned the spell, they were not as careful with the device to hold the spirit. Spirits placed into weapons, armor, devices and even clothing remain there until loses its ability to hold the spirit. However, humans do not make things that last. Many of the spirit items eventually wore out or were destroyed without any thought given to the spirits within, trapping them between this world and the next. Without the proper ritual, they are trapped and unable to continue on their journey.

  I know the ritual if Dalistra would like to be free.”

  That catches Mashaun by surprise, and Sivish realizes it. Mashaun tells him the complete true story and catches Sivish off guard when he tells him that he is from another world. Sivish grins before telling Mashaun that it explains his lack of understanding of the world. Sivish asks about the others, and Mashaun tells him about Mai, Berg, Abigail, Kazimir, and the twins, complete with the freeing of the twins.

  Sivish grins when he hears how Mashaun is able to turn the tables on Magdalenia but is also worried that she can be a powerful enemy and that she will take her vengeance on the city folks. Mashaun asks Dalistra about being freed; after a while, she tells him no. Sivish is right about vengeance and that she wants to see Magdalenia and the rest of that bloodline fall first; only then would she allow Sivish to release her. Over the next few days, the two of them spend the afternoons talking about a variety of subjects, including local politics, the weather, elves, and so much more.

  ***===***

  Katrina pulls Wilmer into the interrogation room and sets up the cubes. They found several of the night watchmen, and several of her henchman killed the same night Mashaun disappeared. Pierced by arrows with the same fletching they showed Mashaun in court. Even though he denied knowing that fletching, there seems to be fervor to finding him. I don’t think he did it, but there is a reward of one red for his capture, by Magdalenia. One red will have every bounty hunter looking for him. I will let him know, and he thanks her.

  They leave the gatehouse and Wilmer takes them straight to Pavvo’s manor on one of the innermost islands, where everyone greets them. The next few days, Wilmer and Berg go into the city to pick up a few items at a time so as not to draw attention to them. Pavvo also has a few guards help with the list. They get warm clothes, food, and few other items, but they never get more than a few items at any one store. The town’s folks seem a bit jittery, and when Wilmer asks about it, they brush it off. It doesn’t take long for Wilmer to notice a couple of peasants taking an interest in them, and when they move in their direction, the peasants disappear into the crowd, only to reappear later. Wilmer hears whispers that some of Magdalenia’s people are turning up dead and that they are actively searching for the bow that glowed red at the gate a few days ago.

  Axtel teaches Abigail how to play her harp and he is impressed to find that she is a fast study. She also spends time writing short stories about their travels and put them to music. She asks Axtel not to tell anyone, she wants to surprise them.

  During the evening, Berg asks Kazimir about his plans. Hoping that he would stay with the group, but his disappointment shows when Kazimir tells him that he has accepted employment with Pavvo. He wishes him the best before changing the topic. The twins have begun their testing, and it looks good that one or both could have some level of magic within them, but still, more testing to see how much magic they can channel. Kazimir spends his days patrolling the grounds and watching the gate when he is not practicing. Since he is the newest member of the Pavvo house guards, he usually gets the jobs that no one else wants and is on the receiving end of the jokes. Most of the time, he is a good sport about it.

  Every day, he meets with the guard captain on the practice field for his lessons. He teaches Kazimir about the different styles of armed and unarmed combat, and Kazimir teaches unarmed combat.

  Eventually, Kazimir specializes in one style of fighting, the large sword, and shield. He likes the extra protection of the shield, and with his size and strength, he uses a bastard-like sword, one-handed. Abigail stays in the manor, enjoying warm baths and talking with Toni, who helps her make short skirts and dresses for the two of them, much to the displeasure of Pavvo, but not the guards. Abigail is surprised at all the help Toni gives on the songs. Especially after finding out she lost her hearing about ten years back.

  ***===***

  After a week, Wilmer, Berg, and Abigail arrive late in the evening with a wagon full of supplies—everything they need and more, rucksacks, bedrolls, some food, and warm clothes for the group. The wagon has far more than they could possibly carry. Mashaun doesn’t ask about the extra supplies, figuring that it’s for the Inn. Wilmer apologizes for taking so long, but Magdalenia’s people were always watching. He doesn’t see any of them on the road, but it wouldn’t take much to find out which direction he has gone. He suggests that if they leave in the morning, it would keep Magdalenia guessing for a little while, and even if she does figure out where they are, she won’t follow them into the mountains. Mashaun looks at him a little puzzled but likes the last part. For the most part, Dalistra has been silent, something that Mashaun enjoys while at the same time finds unsettling.

  CHAPTER 11

  http://www.thesilaprophecy.com/cities/

  Myelikkan

  That night, Mashaun has a long talk with Dalistra and her blood oath. He promises to help her deal with Magdalenia down the road. He wants to make sure there is not a problem with him choosing the time and place for her to seek her revenge. She assures him that is not a problem for now. The next morning is cold as the four head downstairs for breakfast.

  Wilmer and the teamster are waiting. Wilmer tells them to hurry, with a sense of urgency in his voice, and they look at him, puzzled. He tells them that Magdalenia has figured out where they are and they need to hit the road now. He explains that the rest of the stuff is for Llewellyn and that he is going to travel with them if they don’t mind. They look at each other and quickly agree. He knows the way, and another sword arm is always good. They meet up with Mai and Abigail eating some fruit at the wagon, telling them the news, and like the rest, they are glad to have him along.

  There is the shift from autumn to winter as some of the trees stand bear with multicolored leaves covering the road, which quickly turns into a wide path. Soon the winter snows will block the pass, and the people in the west can rest as the snows prevent the denizens of the eastern forest from crossing. The leaves make a crunching sound as they travel up the road, taking the time to enjoy the picturesque scenery as they walk next to the wagon. When night approaches, they find a small clearing off to the side of the road where they make camp for the night, each pair taking turns standing guard. The days get progressively colder as the group follows the road climbing into the mountains, at times wondering why they chose to travel this time of the year, but knowing that they really didn’t have a choice. Rounding one of the bends in the road,
Mashaun sees several men on horseback quickly coming up the road behind them and tells Wilmer.

  Putting the girls on the wagon, Wilmer and Mashaun hide in the trees and wait for the six horsemen wearing Magdalenia’s crest to come into range. They fire their arrows, Mashaun misses, and four of the horses charge him and Wilmer while two others speed up the road after the wagon. They charge, closing ground with lightning speed. Wilmer drops two of them before they can get close to the forest. Mashaun fires a second shot, and it misses. Flinging Dalistra aside, he yells at Wilmer to get to the wagon and draws his two swords just as they are on top of them. Realizing the wagon has no fighters, Wilmer charges through the forest, hoping to catch the wagon on one of the switchbacks. Mashaun quickly takes one of the horses with a low sword slice, throwing the man to the ground, and just as quick, he is up with his sword. He can hear Dalistra say no in a panicked voice, “This is not what I had planned. Wilmer was supposed to stay here.” The other man gets off his horse, and the two of them approach Mashaun. These are seasoned swordsmen, and Mashaun knows it. He starts on the defensive and keeps his back to a tree, hoping not to get struck by a sword. After one gets through his defense and nicks his arm, he decides that the best defense is a good offense, as Dalistra shouts, “NO!” Waiting for one to charge, Mashaun spins around. Taking another cut to his arm as he the plunges his other sword into his opponent’s abdomen. Swinging around, Mashaun faces the other one as his other opponent takes advantage of the situation, landing a blow on Mashaun’s shoulder, forcing him to drop a sword. His opponent’s evil grin is enough to scare the most hardened fighters as he lunges toward Mashaun, who clumsily sidesteps the attack.

  The two circle, waiting for the other to make a move, when his opponent drops with an arrow in his back, as Mashaun collapses. The next thing he remembers is being on the wagon with his arm in a sling and Mai watching over him.

  “Good, you’re awake, so I can kill you with that stupid move,” Mai says in a huff. He can hear Dalistra agreeing with her.

  Too tired to argue, he just looks at her with a smile and fades out. The next day, Mashaun thanks Wilmer for shooting the other one but is curious how he got back so fast. Wilmer and Mai look at him, puzzled, telling him that he had killed the two long before they returned to him. Mashaun just shakes his head, saying no, drifting back to sleep.

  It doesn’t take long for him to get tired of riding the wagon and walks along the side for part of the time. Mai tells him that he is a lousy patient and needs to stay on the wagon, but Mashaun won’t hear of it.

  “If you ever do that again, I will tie you to a rock and throw you in the river, do you understand?” Mashaun tersely tells Dalistra.

  “It wasn’t—” she starts to say, but he cuts her off.

  “Yes, it was. I can tell when you are helping and when you are not, and you were deliberately missing, just like Mikolas,” he says sternly.

  “OK, but don’t you want to know why?” she responds awkwardly.

  “I don’t care why, you do that again, and you will slowly rot away at the bottom of a lake where no one will ever find you, ever. Do you understand?” “Yes, but I didn’t mean for you to get hurt—,” she starts to say.

  “That doesn’t matter, I will not keep you if I can’t trust you, are we clear?” he shouts back.

  She doesn’t have to say a word, but Mashaun is sure she won’t let him down again.

  The road gets narrower as it winds its way through the valleys and into the higher passes, and they wonder if they have missed the side road, but Wilmer just keeps going, and they follow. After a couple of weeks or so on the road, they come to a narrow path heading off the road. It is not much more than an opening through the trees. Around noon several days later, the path disappears in a meadow.

  A thick group of trees and brambles that climb about fifteen feet up the trees blocks the other side. When Wilmer reaches the edge of the brambles, they open up, revealing a path. They follow close behind Wilmer as the hedge opens in front and closes behind them, blocking any retreat. Soon the brambles open up into a clearing where houses grown like trees line the edge. The village is a huge round open space surrounded by the thick bramble wall with scores of buildings scattered around the clearing.

  Smoke rises from different buildings, and the smell of freshly cooked pastries fills the air. An elderly gentleman without any weapons approaches the group closing the distance with spring in his step. His gray hair hangs to his shoulders framing his weathered face with a welltrimmed matching beard. His forest-green tunic has a blue circle with a green triangle on the top half connected to the center at the bottom of the circle by a brown pole and two blue eyes, one on each side of the triangle. The old man greets Wilmer and the teamster like old friends that haven’t seen each other for a long time before they take the wagon to a large circular stone building in the center of the compound.

  Wilmer introduces Llewellyn, the lord of Myelikkan. After introductions around, Llewellyn asks Mashaun if he would like the village healer to have a look at his shoulder. Mashaun thanks him but tells Llewellyn that he’s fine. Llewellyn nods and asks them to follow his men as two men-at-arms lead the four to a single-story building looking more like a large tree trunk than a house. It has a couple of windows on each side of a door, which looks out onto the center of Myelikkan. It doesn’t look like much, but it is warm and dry with three rooms. The main room has a fireplace with some chairs; the other two rooms have two beds each, appearing grown from wood. From their window, they can see a two story circular cut-stone building that dominates the center of the open area.

  After dropping off the wagon at the circular building, Wilmer returns to take the four on a stroll around the village. The people they met are friendly, and several offer the group pastries and other foods, which are delicious. They stop by the healer, who insists on looking at the wound. The stitching and bandaging impress him. He is even more impressed when Mai tells him that it’s her work. Before they leave, he tells Wilmer that he would like her to work with him.

  Wilmer nods as they walk out the door. The two-story circular building doesn’t have any windows and is a stark contrast from the other buildings made of wood. That evening, the four of them enjoy sleeping on a bed—a hard bed, but a bed nonetheless. With a crackling fire that never needs more wood and is always the same height, they feel safe and secure in their new surroundings, and they don’t set up any watches.

  The next morning, a rap on the door awakens them. A young couple introduces themselves as Aellan and Aioles. They tell the group to follow as they take a tour around the village in the morning before their meeting with Llewellyn. They lead the group to a small plot of land outside the village but inside the wall. Aellan explains that they are responsible for any food they want to eat, growing it on the plot in front of them. Mashaun looks at the barren ground and asks what they are to do until the plants are ready to harvest. Aellan tells them that there will be plenty of fruits and vegetables in the morning. Just make sure they pick it daily. Berg looks at the village wall and figures that it should run right behind the house where they are standing, but there is the garden.

  They spend the rest of the morning touring the compound, stopping at what looks like a feed store, where Aioles speaks to the owner, who gives him a pouch. She tells the group that she will plant the garden for them and leaves. Aellan continues the tour, showing them the bathhouse with heated baths, the butcher, grocers, bakers, chandlers, weapon masters of all types, and the practice fields while explaining the rules of Myelikkan. Everybody is assigned a job that best suits them and as long as they work, they can stay. Anyone who can swing a sword or use a bow takes turns on guard duty and patrol. The tour ends around noon at the center building with Wilmer waiting at the door.

  From the main door, a walkway extends to the equilateral triangle. The top of the triangle is at the far end of the garden with the closest edge dividing the garden in half. Between each side of the triangle and the circle’s edge is t
wo bushes of red flowers lined on the short side like eyebrows. Around the triangle and the walkway are various short flowers and ponds of clear water. They enter an elegant room with a long table covered with a wide variety of food, surrounded by high back chairs. Wilmer motions for everybody to have a seat shortly Llewellyn enters the room, taking the chair at the end of the table.

  During the meal, Llewellyn explains that he is responsible for the area because of his close relationship with the elves to the north. He keeps watch for any incursions from the westward side of the mountains and tries to stop them if possible. He tells them the purpose of the tour is to show what Myelikkan can offer. Then he adds that they are free to leave at any time. He asks if they are willing to do their share of the work, and in exchange, they can stay and train. They look at each other and nod in agreement.

  The group spends time in the garden that produces a wide variety of food. Most look likes familiar, but some are strange looking, but taste good nonetheless. Along one edge of the garden is a line of fruit trees. The opposite edge has some wheat-like stalks, and corn stalks line the back edge. At first, the two pick all the food only to find that what they picked regrows, and they end up taking the extra to the farmers’ market, where people trade different foods. The innkeeper doesn’t have a garden and does his shopping for the inn every morning at the farmers’ market. They soon learn to pick only what they need for the day. Every day someone takes wheat and corn to the mill in the morning, and by afternoon, they can pick up some bread at the bakery. The Inns receive any leftovers every afternoon.

  The Emertree Inn is the most popular place in Myelikkan and is the second-largest building, second only to the stone building in the middle. The inn grown like the houses but is two stories tall instead of one. Inside, everything is gown, from the table and chair to the stairs leading to the second floor. Along one wall is a raised platform area where they have entertainment, when available. The other wall has a kitchen area where they serve a variety of drinks, with a room in the back for the preparation of food, like soups, salads, and sandwiches. The inn does not serve any meat, to the delight of many of its customers. Anyone who desires meat dishes goes to the Orion Inn, attached to the butcher shop.