Chapter Eighteen
El Elyon’s Way
Coughing, Ayaya sat up, suddenly conscious of her surroundings. She stared around the empty temple in surprise. Feeling at her throat she realized it had been restored to wholeness even as her spirit sang forth of joy from within.
Her eyes fell on the only other occupant of the empty temple. The form of the warrior, who had come to bear witness to her and had fought for her, lay upon the floor.
Hurriedly she moved over to him, fearful that he had died in the fight for her return to the land of the living. Instantly she relaxed as she saw his back rise on an indrawn breath. She shook him as revelation came to her as to what to do next.
Blinking, I looked up into Ayaya’s eyes. She smiled tearfully before fiercely hugging me. Drawing back she said, “Thank you for your faithfulness!”
I smiled at the joy that seemed to radiate out of her in waves. It was like looking at a completely different person.
Sudden seriousness came to her eyes and her hand came to rest upon my shoulder, “We do not have much time! Armies of darkness held over to this day are even now marching forth on all of Ayenathurim. My people, the Yesathurim, and the other people of this world are all in grave danger. Those of the Yesathurim who believe, even as you, are now of one spiritual blood. We are hated the world over for this and we will be destroyed by both those of our own family and those of darkness. The time that was foretold is upon us and we are two witnesses of this. Go to the remnant of your people who believe and take them to the East. They must forsake all their possessions in order to flee what is coming against which no armed resistance will be able to hold out.”
“What of you?” I asked.
“I will take those who will believe the truth of the new covenant from these lands and go to the fortress in the Holy Mountains. There, I will urge my people to forsake the defense of the city; a city never intended to stand in the first place as the Kingdom of El Elyon is not made with the bricks of man nor is it a place that can be overcome.”
“They will not listen to you. They didn’t listen to Kuri.”
She nodded, as her eyes were suddenly cloaked in sadness, “I know, but I still must try. Perhaps some will listen. If only one will listen it is a victory. I will join you in the East and together our peoples of the new covenant will be one, for we are unified by the spirit of El Elyon to be the first fruits of the Kingdom.”
I rose to my feet with the responsibility of all she had said heavy upon me. I turned to her, “My wife and child are to the south! Surely I’m not to leave them there?”
Ayaya’s hands framed my face, “Your family will join you on the way. Go to Philanthia and sound the cry. Take those who listen and retreat through the kingdoms gathering all who will follow. I will see you in the East in two weeks’ time.”
Ayaya turned then and left. I heard her begin addressing the people of the town that had gathered outside the temple. I sensed that my work here was done and I exited out the side entrance and made my way unnoticed to the camp outside the town.
There was nobody there as it seemed everyone had gathered at the temple to hear Ayaya speak. Some part of me still hadn’t caught up with the reality of everything that had happened in the past little while. I may never come to grips with it. It was enough to know that I had fulfilled my role set in motion what seemed like so many lifetimes ago by Kuri.
Mounting Phalon I took off to the south. I desperately wanted to go to my wife’s side in Crona, but I’d only gotten this far in life by being faithful and my orders were to go to Philanthia. I hadn’t been there since I’d left four years ago.
The King who had once favored me highly favored me no longer. I could be riding to my death, but I had faith that it would be otherwise.
*****
On the third day of the journey south my stallion’s hooves resounded loudly off the cobblestones of Philanthia’s capital city. Everywhere I looked I beheld a general malaise of discontent on the faces of the people.
The rumors were true then. Philanthia, once greatest of the seven kingdoms had now fallen out of its former favor with El Elyon. Still, there must be some within the city and surrounding countryside who would listen.
Surprise shown clearly on the faces of many at the sight of me alone once more within the city. I headed straight for the King’s court. Gates and doors were opened before me without hesitation and I soon found myself walking the marble floors of the judgment hall.
A hush fell over the typical hubbub of the court officials as my presence was announced. The hush remained for only a moment before whispered conversations broke out everywhere with a wide host of speculations being put forward.
My hopes sank though as I took in the judgment seat. I had expected to make my case with the king, but he was not present. Instead, his daughter resided over the court in regal fashion. While still pretty, I could not dissuade myself from the feeling that she appeared much colder than I had remembered.
Reaching the steps to the throne I knelt down in respect and said, “My Princess, I have urgent news the King must hear!”
“The King, my father, is indisposed and has been so for quite some time. I rule in his stead. Pray, tell your traitorous remarks to me instead.”
The hall had gone deathly silent at her words. Reigning in the urge to mount the stairs to give the royal brat the spanking of her life I managed to say instead, “The time of the end of the world, that was foretold in the Holy Scrolls left to us by the prophets of old, is upon us. Princess, this kingdom, indeed all of the kingdoms, are about to be overrun by darkness. Those who would place their trust in El Elyon must evacuate at once before it is too late!”
“Evacuate the kingdom! Are you insane? Tell me Benaiah, once friend of my father, where would you have us go? Where, in all this world, is a land with the beauty or majestic quality of our own?”
Patiently, as if dealing with a child, I said, “To the East, just as the Holy Scrolls have told us since time memorable as to where our redemption would come from. In specific, I speak of no land to be found on Ayenathurim, but rather of Shamayim.”
The Princess snorted indignantly and tossed a hand upwards in a disregarding fashion, “You speak in riddles. I don’t know what I once saw in you and here you are now as one gone mad, decrying the peace and prosperity that we have managed to acquire for ourselves. Such men as you are dangerous and your foolish ideas even more so! The last time you left you took with you almost half of my father’s knights and now you come back to ask for the entire kingdom! Does your arrogance know no bounds? Apparently not, but I for one have had enough of your impudence! Throw him in the dungeons and see that his stay is a most uncomfortable one!”
I made no move to protest against the guards who, somewhat hesitantly at first, moved forward to disarm me. They pushed me from the room that had gone wild in the wake of the Princess’s actions.
The Princess’s cold stare followed me from the room and I could not help but notice the resemblance to a viper that she now possessed about herself.
The guards were not all rough in their treatment of me as they hustled me onward. Reaching the dungeons, I was shown to a dank and quite filthy cell as per the Princess’s instructions.
The bars clanged shut behind me. Turning, I called out to the one guard that I recognized as one of those who had trained under my command, “Falarin, I need a favor.”
“Sir I…… I.……”
I waved my hand dismissively and gestured him closer to the bars, “I’m not going to ask you to break me free of this place. All I want is for you to have my horse ready for me on the eastern side of the fortress’s wall.” I pointed off towards the solid stone wall to my right in indication of the East.
His eyes came back from where I had pointed and I could see I had completely befuddled him. “Just do as I say Falarin.”
“Yes sir,” he said dazedly.
As he had begun to turn away, I spoke idly, “Falarin, your name is a unique one, an old and seldom used one for sure. Have you ever wondered at its significance and why your mother chose it?”
Falarin’s back had gone completely rigid and his tension was a palpable emotion clouding the air of the dungeon. He remained still, with his back to me.
“Yes, as I was saying, it’s a very unique name. The meaning of which I believe has slipped from most people’s consciousness. I believe it means, ‘son of the king,’ does it not?”
Falarin had turned fully to me now and with a tight expression he asked, “How did you find out?”
“I studied the old scroll archives quite a lot in my spare time while I was here, Falarin, and in the process I picked up a lot of knowledge. Besides knowing the meaning of your name, it wasn’t hard at all to see the resemblances that exist. Falarin, now is a very dangerous time and the Princess, out of past upsets and perhaps simply a cold heart, is sentencing everyone within the kingdom to certain death. Your secret is even less of a secret than you think it is. Why do you think you were placed under my tutelage among the rank-and-file of the first sons of royal houses? The time has come for you to become a leader.”
“I’m nothing but the bastard son of a king and a servant girl!” Falarin said with bitterness.
Gesturing wildly to myself I said, “Look at me Falarin. I can claim to even less birth status than you and yet El Elyon has favored me beyond measure. The same road lies before you now as it did for me. The only question is, do you have the nerve and greater sense of faithfulness to your God to take it?”
He stared at me indecisively to which I said, “Make sure my horse is there.”
I stepped back from the bars and headed toward the eastern wall of the dungeon cell in obedience to the prompting that I had received. Urtholan appeared before me with a grin and extended his hand to me. Without hesitation I took his hand as he led me onward, straight through the stone wall.
I blinked, but kept walking, as I passed through solid matter and empty space. So much of my life these days had gone beyond the ordinary and into the realm of the supernatural.
Urtholan was not content to simply lead me free of the dungeon of the castle, but instead he led me up through the floors to come right up into the center of the judgment hall. He was gone from view, but I remained.
I winced in response to the startled, deafening shrieks on the part of horrified courtiers and headed toward the double doors, completely ignoring the wildly screaming Princess at my back. No one was listening to her anyway.
Reaching the double doors I turned back and said, “I’m leaving now and all those who wish to come are welcome, but it means you must leave behind your former lives in this place and embrace your new, faith filled one.”
I turned back to the doors even as a guard stepped forward towards me. With a flourish he presented me with my sword, “Your sword, Sir.”
“Thanks!” I said and went out the door even as he and a few others followed behind.
Reaching the lower steps, I came upon Phalon being held steady by an astonished Falarin. His hand shook slightly as he handed the reins to me.
I pointed to a promontory point along the eastern horizon, far from the confines of the city, “I’m going to make camp there for three days during which time I expect you to lead what few, or perhaps many, of your people who are still awake to the signs of the times and meet me there. Send riders to the Kingdoms of Lancandia, Perganel, and Sartorry to witness to them of both my words and the miracle performed here today in the sight of everyone.”
“I will do it!” Falarin affirmed and with a pounding slap to his back I moved past him and mounted Phalon and began my second exodus from the city that already ran hot with the news of all that had transpired. Sadly, it was a contingent of far fewer souls than years before that I finally led free of the city.
The city as a whole was still too content with the way things had always been for them to notice that nothing was the way it had ever used to be.
*****
Susori pressed back into the dark shadows of the doorway of a closed down shop. On the hill behind her the Palace was in flames and the last of the men her brother had spared to see her free of the city were no more.
One hand held her daughter to her even as her other arm held her newborn son. Her lips were all that moved as she prayed that both children remained silent. Even now she could hear the heavy breathing of the Gargon out in the alleyway as it ventured closer to where they hid.
The city all around her was in utter chaos as it was torn down by an army of darkness too unimaginable to comprehend. There were Gargons, lion men and many other twisted forms of man and nature, all of fallen Malachim design. Susori doubted that there would be a sole survivor left within the city by morning.
Just then the baby within her arms stirred and cried out loudly in fear at the sounds of a woman shrieking for mercy somewhere else in the fire and darkness of the city. The Gargon’s breath huffed out and Susori knew the game of hide and seek was over.
Handing her son to her shaking daughter, Susori stepped out into the street even as the Gargon drew to a stop not 20 feet away. It towered over her by at least another 8 feet, but she’d had enough!
Raising a hand she pointed at the beast, “I’ve hid far longer than I already should have and now I won’t any longer! I step out now in the faith I should have proclaimed earlier! I warn you now, if you take one more action to harm my family then you are in violation of my protection by the Most High!”
She stood there defiantly, a diminutive figure before the monster of half giant and half bull that had a spirit that knew only the reaches of evil and was capable of nothing less. With a roar it drew back in one hand a huge battle ax, but that’s as far as it got. Warriors, wreathed in fiery robes with blades of pure fire, suddenly appeared and hacked down the beast where it stood.
Shaken, but renewed with resolve, Susori turned and reclaimed her son from her daughter. Turning, she went in the way indicated by one of the Malachim’s upraised sword of fire.
They were Warriors beyond compare and she found herself in as great a fear of them as that of the enemy running rampant within the city. Rounding a corner, a group of lion men raised their bloody heads from feasting only to then growl and launch at her protectors.
Susori could only be amazed at their impudence. The flaming swords swished and the mightiest of the enemy were no more.
Fires were everywhere. It was to the point that the heat and flying embers given off by them should have put her and her children into flames, but it was as if a protecting veil had been drawn over them.
Susori found herself sobbing at the plight of her people and she asked the Malachim in general around her, “Can you not help them too? Do you not care?”
Instead of the censure she half expected to receive for her impudence, she received looks of commiseration from them all. Instantly she felt that she was in error for thinking that what was transpiring around her was any fault of those shepherding her through the fires and the depravities of the enemy.
“I’m sorry! I just want this bloodletting to be over! I just want there to be no more killing!”
“Our Master wishes the same, but as it is written within the words of El Elyon all must be fulfilled. The end of the world is not a time of tranquility and peace, but rather of war and despair. Despair for life to be over and a daily war to stay alive. To those who believe though, a way has been made out of the wrath of the judgment that has been held in store for this day. You are not alone, but a remnant of your people who believe in the new covenant remain,” one of the Malachim said.
Somehow Susori and her children suddenly found themselves transported from the fiery streets running full with blood into a gentler country setting. Refugees from Crona streamed all around her, fleeing to the East.
A Malachim lifted her and Lavaya onto the back of an oxcart. The Malachim no longer glowed with fire as beings ready for war, but appeared as normal men. The one who had lifted them into the cart addressed her once more, “What has been foretold will come to be and everything promised of the Father will by no means fail.”
Susori nodded tiredly. Unable to hold herself up any longer, she lay back to nurse her son and fell asleep under the watchful protection of those sent to protect her. Lavaya, meanwhile, stood watch over her mother and stared with fascination at the men who no longer glowed with fire.
*****
I stood with my back to the flames of the campfire. There was sound out in the night. Was it another band of Kingdomer refugees or a force of Philanthian Knights intent on what many within the kingdom were beginning to call a popular rebellion.
So far we had not been attacked, but I did not put it beyond the realm of possibilities. In the morning we would be leaving. I’d said three days, but the response had been such that I had stayed two extra days on the promontory point that I had indicated to Falarin.
People began to make their way into the firelight to be greeted by those already gathered there. The strangers in the night were Cronians!
I ran out into the darkness calling, “Susori!”
I heard a baby crying and somehow I knew. Susori came out of the darkness then with tears streaming down her beautiful face.
I rushed to her even as she held our child out to me, “Your son, my love!”
I hugged them close with one arm as my other hand pressed against my daughter’s back where she stood encircling my one leg tightly with both of her arms.
I was crying. I was happy. I was overwhelmed. I never wanted to be without them again!
Pulling my face from Susori’s neck, I looked down into the face of a boy regarding me studiously, “A son.”
“Yes!” she said, pressing my son into my arms. The world was falling apart all around me and yet my world had never been more complete than it was now.
Susori leaned against me tiredly and slowly, as not to dislodge my still attached daughter, I moved back towards the fire. Tomorrow we would leave for Thyana, but that was far away right now.
I laid down by the fire with Susori beside me, our son between us and my daughter on top of me. We were together again. I whispered praises to El Elyon for much of the night as I held my family close, not caring for a moment about all the other things that had been put under my care.
*****
The caravan of people I led numbered about five thousand. They represented a smattering of individuals from all walks and positions of society, but that said, the majority of them were of the poorer classes. It would seem that they had an easier time giving up their meager riches than those long attached to greater wealth.
We had entered Thyana a day ago. Four days before, I had sent riders to alert the people of this kingdom of the need to flee. By afternoon we would be at the border of the Nicationer Nation of Faquanna.
I expected there would be no trouble from them, but the Kingdom of Poretani on its eastern border was likely to be a different matter as they had been in outright war with the Kingdom of Ephanum for over a year. Our choice of such a dangerous of route couldn’t be helped. There was no other way to reach Ephanum and Smirnaz.
Thinking of Smirnaz I wondered if my people would leave their lands at my command and trudge off trustingly into the desert sands of the Wastelands to the mythical Forests of Darkor? I could only hope so.
My personal army that had fought for me these past few years would. They would follow me anywhere. How I wished I had them with me now!
I would wait for the Thyanians for one day at the border before I headed for Ephanum.
The next day I was blown away as over four times our current number came to us from the lowlands of Thyana. It would seem my reputation lived on here as few would talk of anything else. In fact I heard Thyanians, speaking to other Kingdomers around the fires at night, say that I first got my notoriety as a warrior within Thyana and that I was sort of a national hero to them.
I would lay no claim to that, but at least the notoriety had helped motivate many of them to come. I was glad for that.
The Thyanians confirmed that five days previously a large party of Yesathurim had slipped across their borders enroute for the Sarran frontier and no doubt the Holy Mountains beyond. I prayed for Ayaya’s success and that it would be greater than my own to date.
I wished that more kingdoms would choose to embrace the future as so many of the Thyanians were. And yet almost nine out of ten Thyanians remained within Thyana. So many world wide gave so little credence to the prophetic warning of the Holy Scrolls.
*****
The Faquanna border the next day
I stared across the invisible line in the grass into the foreign country's realm. I had no army to repel an attack as most of those following me were of the simpler folk and a large part of them were women, children and older men. For the hundredth time I debated over the wisdom of going this way.
It was a much longer journey to go north along the shore of Lake Orlone in order to reach Ephanum, but surely it would have been safer. I could not be sure of that though. A rider had brought news that the invasion of Philanthia had already begun, but worse than that was the news that the Kingdomer nations of Sartorry and of Lancandia had already made a deal for peace, in which they had agreed to forsake the Kingdomer faith and willfully burn all their copies of the Holy Scrolls in exchange for not being invaded by the armies of darkness that had, it seemed, come from underground almost everywhere.
It was hard to believe Kingdomer Nations could stoop so low as to deny their faith, but it was the way of it. The Kingdom of Sartorry had always been more liberal than the other kingdoms when it came to matters of religion and morality. With Sartorry given over and both Perganel and Philanthia already engaged on multiple fronts, the way north was a risky one at best.
I had only a few more days to line up with the timetable that Ayaya had given me. If I had more time it would have been a tempting option to take several days to build rafts and sail across Lake Orlone and avoid confrontation altogether, but I had rejected it as too many of the people would be lost in the tempestuous waters of the lake and I had no time to build the rafts anyway.
I glanced away from the border as a shout rang out. Another rider bearing ill news, no doubt.
The rider brought his foam flecked mount to a stop before me. His face echoed the horror of the words his voice hadn’t even given birth to yet, “Philanthia has fallen!”
The others around me gasped in horror, but I couldn’t say I was all that surprised. They had been great in number, but poorly led. I hadn’t thought they would last for long after hearing how Crona was overcome in a night.
“How long do we have before enemy advance troops are here?”
The man shrugged in exhaustion, “Maybe a day, perhaps a little more. They move so fast! It’s inhuman!”
I nodded and was about to speak when he said, “That isn’t all. The Kingdom of Sartorry has signed a peace agreement and she has been joined by Lancandia.”
That I knew, but I wasn’t prepared for what he said next.
“Even now Lancandia, per the request of her new dark overlords, sends a force to intercept us here! I heard this straight from a Lancandian believer several miles back trying to catch up with your group.”
A Kingdomer Nation coming to hunt down her own flesh and blood. The world had gone mad!
The unthinkable had happened and I was suddenly without choices anymore, “Give the order for all wagons to proceed over the border. No one stops until we reach Ephanum!”
Those around me stared at me aghast before one said, “It will take at least two days! How can we ask so much of the animals to go without rest?”
“We can and we will or else I fear we won’t reach Ephanum at all.”
Shouts of my order rang out as well as word of the loss of Philanthia and the heavy laden carts started forward quickly into the terrain of the unknown borderlands.
*****
I rode beside the cart that Susori was in. I stared ahead, waiting for the inevitable to occur. The border of Poretani was just ahead and my scouts had reported a massing of troops there. I had close to thirty thousand people in this caravan, but only about seven hundred had any fighting experience. It was a problem that I attacked relentlessly in my mind as I rode.
No matter how I figured it, I couldn’t see a way through what was waiting ahead across the border, barring the miraculous.
“Dear, if those worry lines are etched any deeper I fear they may become permanent.”
My eyes found Susori and I smiled tightly. The sight of my son held in her arms though brought all my fears back into sharp focus.
My headache began to pound in earnest. What was I going to do? What could be done?
“I think you’re approaching the future in the wrong manner, my husband.”
I looked to Susori, eager for any wisdom she could impart to me, “You’re right. What should I be doing?”
Her gaze turned reflective as she looked off toward the horizon behind us, “When I was running for my life in the city, I was choked with the fear I felt for our children. It didn’t matter that the night before I was told by one of the Malachim that my future and that of my children was secure. That was all forgotten in my moment of panic. All I could think of was the Gargon down the street from us. It occupied all parameters of my mind until I couldn’t think of anything else. The baby cried out and I knew it was all over in that moment except…… except for the truth of El Elyon’s hold over the realities of my existence. I told you what I did next and what happened.”
I nodded in remembrance of her amazing story.
Her eyes came back to mine, “In a way I’d say the situation facing us at the moment bears some resemblance to my experience in the city wouldn’t you say my love?”
I stared at her for a long moment as her words sank in. Leaning forward out of the saddle I kissed her.
Drawing back from her I felt peace come into me and I said, “You are an amazing woman.”
Her smile turned teasing, “I’m so glad you noticed.”
Smiling at her, I straightened in the saddle and rode Phalon forward. Reaching the forward point of the caravan I came alongside of Falarin. I gestured to his lance and he obligingly handed it over to me.
Reaching back to my saddlebag I pulled free a silken banner. The banner wasn’t in commemoration of any one Kingdomer Nation, but rather it was a universal symbol of the Kingdomer faith being itself in the shape of an unrolled scroll with silver etched words set against a blue background.
Falarin watched me curiously as I fixed the banner to the end of the lance. Banner in place I held the point of the lance aloft and the banner took flight in the breeze.
“Falarin, you’re in command until I return. Keep the caravan moving at its present rate and whatever you do don’t stop for any reason.”
“Where are you going to be?” Falarin asked in alarm.
“Claiming promises.” With that said, Phalon launched forward with little urging. We soon left the caravan behind and within the half-hour they were completely out of sight.
I rode onward. Cresting a rise I stopped as I took in the army of Poretani arrayed in formation below awaiting the caravan. There was a flurry of activity as they noticed me on the valley rim.
I heard harsh commands issued and the force of roughly ten thousand soldiers began to march forward. I stayed where I was on the valley’s rim with banner held high.
The movement of the army was abruptly arrested to a standstill as I watched several forward scouts return to report their findings. Minutes went by and then in the relative silence of the morning a sound broke forth from the enemy host that gained in strength as the news spread throughout the ranks.
They were laughing. Laughing at the prospect of but one man arrayed against them. Their first mistake was in standing in the way of El Elyon’s purposed plan. Their second mistake was in believing that I was alone.
I was never truly alone in life. A fact of which I often forg