Chapter Two
Slaughter in the Forest
The musky woodsy smell of the targano tree bark behind my back filled my nostrils with its aromatic essence. I pulled in air slowly and deeply preparing my body for the sudden and chaotic paced moments ahead of me.
The branch I stood on was thick and the arrows that I would need were already lightly staked to it near my feet close to the trunk of the tree. In my hands rested a powerful composite bow that I made myself.
The sounds of a few solitary woodland creatures could be heard, but the usual cacophony of forest sounds was muted much more than usual for this southern realm of the Attorgron forest during the late morning hours. The reason for the departure from the norm could be heard in the stamp of feet and the jingle of harnesses.
The sound of an army on the move.
In this case it was a large raiding party of Zoarinian troops, which were headed deeper into the forest in search of the Attorgrons. As the revival brought about by the dispensation of the words of the Creator in its entirety to the peoples of my world had developed and grown a surprisingly positive result had been the wholesale change of heart that had taken place within the peoples of the Attorgron forest.
They forsook their wicked ways and accepted the salvation of their Savior over their lives and became a new people.
Even cannibals and pagan priests had recanted of their evil ways and had been washed clean by grace as they had felt the Creator’s mercy extended even to them.
All Scripture was true and in the verse that stated that “God is not a respecter of persons” could not have been better illustrated by the transformation of the Attorgron peoples.
Their new religious step of faith had not come without consequences though. Enmity had formed between the Attorgrons and their free living neighbors the Zoarinians. The Zoarinians chose not to embrace the faith in the Creator. Growing alarm over the likely alliance of the Attorgrons with the Valley Landers in joint force against them they had acted swiftly to destroy their neighbors.
They had destroyed the city of Santarus. Literally burning it to the ground and slaughtering its entire population. The Attorgrons had responded and fought back halting the advance of the Zoarinian forces further into their forest world.
In the bitter fighting that had ensued it became clear that the Zoarinians did not have the military forces to overwhelm the entrenched Attorgrons so they reverted to the tactic of raiding and pillaging. A tactic that they hoped that in the future would weaken the Attorgrons and bring them to their knees.
My father would not let our new friends fight and die alone however. He marshaled the Valley Lands and the Southern Settlements and fought fire with fire.
The entire northern Zoarinian border was a site of constant conflict, which tied up the bulk of the Zoarinian forces, as they feared the breach through by any of my father’s men and the resulting destruction of more of their proud cities.
The same tactic that they had used against the Attorgrons my father’s men and allies used against them. Zoarinian towns burned and crops were not harvested. It was the Zoarinians who were slowly being weakened and brought to their knees.
My father had sent several contingents of our best warriors to aid the Attorgrons in their efforts to repel the vicious raids of our common enemy. He had placed me in charge of the Attorgron resistance, while Larc commanded the northern action.
It had been a brutal six months since I had last seen my homeland, but I yearned to see it again with passion. My sense of duty held me firmly to my post though.
The raids were growing fewer and I hoped that soon they would quit altogether. The Zoarinians were losing far too many troops for their raiding tactic to be an effective one anymore. And if the Creator was with us, today would be no different.
The Attorgrons were masters of disguise and they had taught me and my men everything of their skill. I knew my men and our allies were all around me, but spotting them was an endeavor.
The enemy party grew closer and soon they were passing beneath us. They moved quietly for fear of alerting us to their presence in the forest. Of the last three raids only one raiding party had returned home and it had been down below half its original number and strength.
The size of this party was considerably larger than in the past. If we destroyed them they may not send another and then it would be the Attorgrons turn to raid their weakened neighbors and repay them for their brutality.
My best estimate of the enemy force moving quietly below us put it at two thousand men with perhaps four hundred horsemen. I had three hundred of my own men and seven hundred Attorgron allies. Better than 2 to 1 odds against us.
Nothing new about those odds. I saw my target and slowly I rose up my arm holding my bow and drew back the arrow it held already strung.
For all viewable purposes my actions appeared as if a branch of the tree was being ruffled by a strong breeze so complete was the disguise of green and brown paints and the twigs and leaves adhered to my body. As I moved the whole canopy of the surrounding forest rippled, as if caught by the same sudden unpredicted breeze.
I sighted down the arrow and let my breath out slowly as I took aim and with the release of my fingers on the end of the arrow shaft I unleashed a fierce unseen hell upon the helpless troops beneath us. Before the garishly dressed field commander had fallen to the ground from off his horse by my well aimed arrow a thousand more arrows had found their mark.
Screams of pain and shouts of war rang out from beneath us. Steadily I yanked each arrow free from where I had staked them and after methodically taking aim I let them on their course of death.
It was a bloodbath beneath the canopy of the forest. We had worked hard to set up this ambush leaving misinformation for the enemies’ informants. We had made an all-night march through the forest; one scouts life had been lost giving the enemy misinformation instead of the truth as he was tortured to death. This was payback for what happened to him and others like him.
No quarter had been given by the enemy in this war and none was being given back in return. A few scattered survivors managed to escape the scene fleeing back the way they had come. We let them go intentionally so that the bad news would reach their peers.
The forest floor beneath us was strewn with the bodies of the enemy. No doubt some of them were still alive playing dead hoping to survive till nightfall, when they too could escape or at least try to.
The Attorgrons had too much pent-up hatred though to allow that leniency. They came down out of the trees and began to systematically make sure that everyone was dead and at the same time they collected weapons and loot.
I had no stomach for such actions so gathering my bow and remaining arrows I lithely jumped down onto lower limbs until I reached the ground. My actions were echoed by my men and together we made our way through the scene of death towards our horses that were tied up roughly a mile away.
I hoped today’s victory would send a clear message to the Zoarinian commanders that it was time to end their faulty strategy of war and focus instead on preparing their border for the raids that were soon to come from the Attorgrons onto their soil.
It gave me no pleasure to kill men from concealment. I would rather face them in open battle than kill stealthily from ambush. There was no honor in this kind of warfare, just killing.
The silent walk to the horses helped clear my mind some. When we reached the horses the man on duty signaled me. Approaching him I saw he held a letter.
“This was delivered by a scout not over an hour ago for you Sir!”
Taking the letter I recognized my father’s seal and I tore open the letter not sure if I would find good or bad news, perhaps even both. “Dear son from your reports I gather that the need for you and your men aiding our allies is no longer a necessary one and I have already said as much to the Attorgron leadership. Upon receipt of this letter I wish for you and your men to come home as I have a more pressing need of your service on a mission that concerns your brother and perhaps the fate of an entire people. Do not delay in coming to me!”
The fate of an entire people?
What did that mean?
A mission involving Gavin?
“What is it Sir?” Asked Zartanin one of my closest men.
I folded the letter up and looked at him, “We’re leaving for home. Right now!”
The men didn’t question me, but moved to their mounts and within moments the clearing was empty. We headed north along narrow forest paths shown to us by our allies.
What was happening at home I did not know, but I instinctively felt a big change was coming. We rode for days until we reached the foot of the mountains and then we walked pulling are exhausted mounts up behind us. We reached the secret pass high up in the mountains the fourth day of walking and then mounting up we rode down the other side.
It was late in the night when our column of riders rode up the stone streets of the Ta’arny. Riders broke off one by one from the column to go to surprised loved ones that they hadn’t seen in six months. Over half our number was gone from the ranks by the time I neared the big gates of Thunder Ridge that stood wide open with torches ablaze as sentries stood guard.
My father was always well-informed and it didn’t surprise me that he was expecting us to arrive this night. The rest of our number peeled off as we made our way through the castle until I and Relentless were alone as we made our way up the last few steep stone clad streets to reach the Great Hall.
Relentless puffed hot clouds of steam into the cold night air, as I brought him to a halt at the base of the stairs. More torches decorated the night with their fiery glow as I dismounted and handed the reins to an attendant and started for the stairs. Looking up I saw my mother standing wrapped tightly in a fur coat.
I had to smile at the welcome sight of her. Mother was one of the very best parts of coming home because she helped make home what it was to me, which was a haven I felt secure in.
Krista watched her son approach up the hill on the massive black stallion that he loved. The two were a pair in reserve and barely leashed civility at other times.
As the stallion stopped and her son dismounted with the grace of his father’s quick effortless movements she marveled not for the first time as she saw her son begin to approach her, had the Creator really so blessed her that she could claim the virtuous and powerful young man coming up towards her as the offspring of her womb?
As he looked up and gave her a rare smile which she returned, yes He had! She felt a thrill coursed through her as she watched him come up toward her. He had the commanding presence and masterful bearing of his father with a heart to match.
What was the Creator going to do with this young man? Time would tell. His big arms closed around her in a tight embrace that swept her off of her feet. The cherished embrace of her son and the sound of his steady heartbeat beneath her ear that was so similar to the love of her life caused tears to press out of her eyes as she thanked the Creator over and over in her heart for her son’s safe return from war.
She felt the arms of her mate close around her and her son and for a moment she felt true happiness. She savored every second of it, because such moments in life can be so fleeting and far in between.
After a long moment in the embrace of my parents I reluctantly stepped back, but still holding onto my mother I looked at my father and said, “I need a woman like this to come home to father.”
Father laughed and pulled mother out of my arms and into his. “You have to get your own boy! This one’s taken!”
We both laughed at mother’s rosy complexion.
“It’s so good to see you son! A might earlier than I expected, but all the better. I don’t think I could’ve managed to return so swiftly as you did !”
“It’s good to see you father and I’m sure that if the tables were turned and you were in my place you would of been here in time for dinner instead of like me, who is going to have to starve until breakfast.”
“No son of mine is going to starve on my watch! You run along with your father and I will see to the food!” Mother said as she hurried off.
Father looked at me for a long moment and then said “Humility is one of your greatest strengths son. It was nice what you said, but I doubt it would be true if put to the test. I would’ve probably been in time for breakfast and no sooner.”
“Lying does not become you father.” I said with a quirky smile.
For a moment he appeared shocked, but then he laughed and throwing an arm around my shoulders we started off walking towards his study, “You know me too well son!”
I sat in the chair across my father and listened to the entire story. Excitement bubbled up in me at the thought of exploring an unknown continent on our very own world. A new and strange place to discover.
Stop!
My place was here! Or was it?
“How does Gavin’s vision concern me?”
Father stared at me steadily and then responded, “Your brother is an extremely capable individual with good common sense, except when it comes to two things. Sharing the Holy Scriptures to the lost and somewhat more speculatively on my part, the realm of love between a man and a woman. He may well be successful in saving the souls of a tribe of cannibals that he sits down beside to discuss their dinner plans and share the good news with, but he might also try the same with a group that has alliances to the dark side that do not wish for change. Your brother’s faith and desire to share the Creator’s word are powerful, but he lets himself get into situations sometimes that are best to have been avoided. You know what I’m saying is true.”
I could not deny the truth of my father’s words. I myself over the recent years had saved Gavin’s backside several times from situations that his overzealousness had gotten him into.
While on the other hand I had seen that same overzealousness be the key in some amazing occurrences of God’s miraculous plan.
“I’m not trying to limit Gavin’s faith or what the Creator wants to do with him or his willingness to serve, but rather I want to see him protected while in service to God so that he can be as effective as he can possibly be!”
“That’s where I come in I guess?”
“Yes.”
I looked back up at him, “If I leave and he leaves who will be here for you in case it should go wrong for us and we can’t return?”
Father looked thoughtful as he got up out of his chair and came around his desk to sit on the front of it, “All this.”
He gestured to everything around him, “Is going to be your older brothers someday.”
I made as if to speak, but he held up a hand stopping me. “I have faith that one day I don’t know how or even when, but I believe your brother will return to us. And not only return, but return a better man than when he left. A man worthy of all this legacy just as you already are. Going on this mission to protect your brother is only one of the reasons why I want you to go. I saw the way your eyes lit up when I told you about this new land. I want you to go to this land with the purpose of not only sharing the words of the Creator, but also to carve out your own destiny there. Start a new legacy. When our grand sire Tadias Ta’lont came here there was nothing before he started it. With his own hands he laid the foundation of this fortress and by the principles he lived by and the grace of the Creator here we too are living out the dream that he started so long ago. You can do that to Zevin! Go to this new land and be the man I’ve taught you to be. Seize whatever opportunity you find there and above all else be faithful and humble before your Creator as He will never fail you. Create a new legacy with new traditions just like the man whose blood still courses through your veins did. Find the girl that’s like your mother and cherish and care for her all your days, even as the Son of the Creator cherishes and cares for our souls and daily needs and desires. Have dominion over your world. May you have victory in war and joy in the peace that follows. May you never think more highly of yourself than you should and may the Creator bless you with all His loving mercies. May the Creator multiply and secure the borders of your people and may your house last until the stars fall from the skies and we’re all called home to our everlasting abode with our Creator. This is my wish and blessing as a father for you Zevin and all those who follow after you.”
Tears ran down my face at both his words over me, which I felt the power of wash over me like a warm wave of promise, and the realization that this place which I had called home for so long was no longer.
I stood shakily to my feet feeling as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders, when in reality it was the burden of my own life. My father’s arms closed around me and I felt mine encircle him.
“I’ll do my best to make you proud father!”
Father drew back until he was just holding my shoulders. “You’ve already made me more proud than words could ever express! I know the future seems scary and uncertain to you right now, but have not one doubt that you with the Creator’s help can accomplish everything I’ve set out before you!”
Feeling weak kneed I asked, “Where do I even start?”
“One step at a time Zevin and a lot of prayer will see you through to the completed goal. A couple more things Zevin and I’ll let you go get some food and rest.”
I looked at him expectantly to see what else he had to say.
“I want you to focus on having fun!”
I blinked.
Fun?
I looked at him incredulously.
“Your too serious Zevin you need to relax a little more and enjoy what’s happening around you more often. Finding the right girl will help that, but there’s no reason not to start the ball rolling a little earlier. Okay?”
I nodded not really sure of how I was going to do that, but I’d take a stab at it.
“What else?” I asked uncertain of what I would hear next.
“Promise me that you will come back to visit your mother and I as often as possible. You may need to drag Gavin along occasionally as well as he’s not big on that kind of stuff typically.”
“You have my word on it.” I said softly and then after a brief hug I left and walked down the familiar halls that already felt alien to me somehow.
I paused by an open window to breathe in some of the refreshing night air before I reached my tower room. I was about to turn away from the window when I heard a metallic clanging noise the traveled clearly on the night air.
I forsook the warm food and rest my body was coveting and left the hall and went back out into the night and down towards the lower castle buildings. As I drew closer to the blacksmith shop evidence of sound in the night grew more apparent.
I slipped inside noiselessly, but Gavin picked his head up right away and spotted me. Dropping his hammer and whatever he had been working on he came straight for me and enfolded me in a bear hug. It has been an evening of hugging it seemed, but all of them had been welcome ones.
Gavin’s sweat soaked shirt and the smells of cast metal were like a home all of their own to me. It was nice to be with my partner in my mother’s womb again. Gavin always had a reassuring effect on me, except for maybe tonight.
Drawing back from me I noticed that Gavin looked like he’d been having a rough time of it lately as well. Gavin drew back a little and rested against the table looking at me expectantly. I took in his weary looking eyes and I couldn’t resist.
“So I hear you’ve been dreaming about girls a lot lately.”
Gavin’s face flushed red and he picked up a hammer beside him and made one menacing step forward for me.
I held my hands up and shouted, “Correction I was wrong! My statement was inexact, you’ve been dreaming about a girl.”
I ducked and kept moving as he threw the hammer. It clanged off the wall behind me, but not before I had a table between me and Gavin.
“Well what’s it going to be? Are you going or not?” Gavin fumed out loudly as his big hands gripped the table’s edge.
“Yes.” I said and let his big relieved sigh pass for a moment before I added with a dead serious face, “But you’re not going to like the job relations I’m afraid.” I said shaking my head softly.
Sudden concern creased his face into worry lines “Why? What do you mean?”
“Well for the duration of this quest it would be best if you thought of yourself as my slave and I your loving and benevolent master.”
I ducked Gavin’s wide swing, but what I hadn’t been expecting was his sudden snatch of my shirt front with his other hand. His swing had been a setup!
He pulled me up and over the table.
As I was drug over the top of the table I held my hands above my face and said, “Don’t hit me! It’s all fathers’ fault!”
There was a pause, “How is it father’s fault?”
“He told me to work at my sense of humor.” I said peaking through my fingers up at Gavin.
“I wasn’t aware that you had a sense of humor!”
“See! That’s why I need to work on it.”
Gavin gave a spurt of laughter and said, “You’re going to need a lot of help!”
“I made you laugh didn’t I?”
Gavin just shook his head and helped me up. “So when do we leave Gavin?”
“That’s for you to say, but I would like it if we could leave soon.”
I patted him on the back realizing the heavy toll these constant repeated visions each night were having on him, “We’ll talk about it tomorrow after we both get some rest.”
He nodded and I turned to go with the thought of food and a soft bed calling out my name.
“Zevin before you go I have something I want to give you. I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but you weren’t here so happy belated birthday brother.”
He directed me to a long thin wooden box sitting out on a table. I walked towards it with eagerness. I knew it was a sword. I had begged Gavin for years for a special custom-made sword by him. My hands trembled slightly as I took the lid off the box.
I forgot about everything else in that moment my sole focus on the incredibility of what lay before me.
Thickly I muttered, “Gavin..... Gavin.... How?”
Gavin came up beside me and put a big hand on my back and said, “You said you wanted something special didn’t you?”
Before me lay a dream come true. I had fought with coveting my father’s sword for years knowing that it would never be mine, but now here lay a sword like his but different and yet the same.
It lay on the velvet liner of the box in resplendent repose. The double-edged blade was a bluish gray and it did not shine brightly as a newly shined blade would.
“Father helped me out a lot when I told him several years ago what I wanted to do. I asked him if he knew of a stronger metal than what’s commonly available. He talked with a woman called Abby and she gave him this bluish metal. Hardest stuff I’ve ever worked with let me tell you! The sword is a little shorter than I had wanted it to be because there wasn’t much of the metal to work with. Apparently it is extremely rare and father said it has unique properties to it, but he didn’t go into saying anymore about it.”
“Did you read the words of the Creator into it?”
“I did, from front to back. Several times actually.”
“Does it work like father’s does?”
“Don’t know haven’t tried it. Wanted you to be the first.”
The blade ended in an ornate engraved handle and cross guards that featured thin inlays of silver. The most domineering aspect of the handle was the pommel stone. It was a huge multi faceted ruby looking crystal.
Gavin must have seen me looking at it, “Father supplied that too.”
A long moment passed.
Gavin burst out, “Well aren’t you going to pick it up?”
“I’m scared to.” I replied softly.
Gavin looked thoughtful and then said, “Zevin the sword isn’t magic, by itself it’s just metal and crystals. It’s the bearer of it that unlocks the unique qualities of the sword. The quality of the individual is what matters and your all quality, except for your sense of humor that is.”
A brief smile flickered across my lips and I remembered something my father had said, “Start your own legacy.”
This sword certainly was a weapon to create a legacy with. I reached out for the handle praying that the Creator would help me be worthy of this gift and never misuse it.
The moment my fingers touched the handle I felt the cold metal grow warm and stranger than that was the pulse of energy that radiated up my arm from where I gripped the sword. I lifted the sword up into the air and watched as tiny bright blue lines traced all along the blade until a scrollwork of unbelievable intricacy was blazed along the entire sword length.
Gavin swallowed, “I didn’t design the blade to have those patterns!”
The blue line designs began to pulse of a brighter color flare and I felt tendrils close around my hand. Looking at my hand I watched as silver tendrils of liquid metal fused around my hand and up my arm.
The silver turned blue and I felt a shock of power radiate throughout me and then it seemed to travel back into the sword. The pommel stone lit up brilliantly, and showered the room with rays of red reflected light and then the sword went dark.
Had I broken it?
The silver tendrils were no longer about my hand, but the way my hand felt around the handle made me never want to let go of it. The pommel stone crystal pulsed red and then the silver framework of the handle flashed brilliantly followed by the entire blade which glowed a cool blue while jetting lines of cobalt blue shot up and down the blade in constant geometric scroll like patterns that dazzled the eyes.
I looked at Gavin and he at me and we both grinned and said at the same time, “Cool!”
“Best gift ever brother, thank you so much!” I said with all my heart.
“Don’t thank me I’m just glad to have been used to create this... this.”
Gavin through his hands up at a lack for what to say. “Masterpiece!” I finished for him as I cut the sword through the air leaving a shimmering light trail of silver and blue.
“Nice!” Said father from the doorway.
We both looked over at him and he got a big smile on his face as he said to his 22-year-old sons, “It’s time to put the toys down and go to bed. Its way past your bedtime.”