The Oracle Sphere

by Travis Pond

  Just then, out of nowhere, Ailish appeared on the other side of Braon startling them both. Ailish bent over and whispered, “There’s six men. They have their horses tied up about a hundred yards to the east of us. They’re coming on foot slowly. Two from the road, two from behind and one from each side.”

  Braon whispered, “What? How do you know that?”

  “Later,” she said. “The two men behind us are guarding the horses and preventing our escape into the forest. One is a young kid, maybe nine or ten. The other one is an old man with a heavy limp.”

  Again, both Tureis and Braon were surprised at her information. Wondering if she had any other information for them, Braon asked, “What about the others?”

  “The leaders are the ones in the road,” she said. “The other two on the sides are large thugs. No brains, but huge arms if you know what I mean.”

  Braon thought about this for a minute. “Ailish, go tell Eammon to take the two in the forest and secure the horses. Seth and I will take the two in the street. You and Tureis each take one coming from the sides. We’ll get them before they know we’re coming. The surprise will be theirs.”

  Silently, Ailish vanished as she made her way to Eammon and Seth. Soon all of them were up and moving quietly toward their targets. For a very large man, Eammon can be very quiet when needed. After Ailish told him the plan, he used a combination of rolls and crawling to make his way to the trees. Once inside the trees, he looked back, nodded his head at Braon and was gone.

  Seth arose and moved over to Braon. Together they planned their surprise attack for the two men in the road. After getting Seth, Ailish vanished as silently as she had arrived. Tureis looked around and realized he was the only one still in the clearing. He made his way to the edge of the clearing and took a position behind a large tree, and waited.

  Ailish moved through the forest as quietly as a snake stalking its next meal. She stopped and listened to the large man moving through the forest. His attempts to be quiet were not working, as he lumbered around trees and over fallen logs. Compared to Ailish and her stealth, he sounded like a herd of deer being chased by a wolf through a forest of dry fallen leaves in October.

  As the man approached, Ailish climbed a large pine tree and positioned herself on a thick branch about ten feet off the ground. She stayed close to the tree trunk to better blend into the shadows. Quietly she waited, sure his path would take him this way as he approached the camp.

  It didn’t take long before the large man appeared twenty feet from her making his way around trees. The man carried a large sword at his side, but it wasn’t the sword that bothered Ailish. Her concern was the longbow he carried with an arrow already positioned to shoot. If he saw her in her perch, he could likely hit her before she knew the arrow was coming. She would have to be quiet and strike first; it may be the only chance she would get.

  Slowly, the man moved closer to her tree. Silently, Ailish loaded a bolt into the crossbow and took aim. She didn’t want to kill the large man, but she also didn’t want him to fire back. She needed to disarm him. She removed two more bolts and held them in her hand, to speed the reloading between shots. She would have to be fast and accurate.

  Ailish took a deep breath to calm her nerves and carefully took aim. As she focused her shot, she felt the Matya come alive inside her. As the warmth filled her, she was able to relax and calm her breathing as she prepared to fire. As she focussed on her target, she slowly increased the pressure on the trigger until the crossbow fired. The bolt flew through the air with a silent whoosh. The man screamed as the bolt found its mark, deep in the muscle of his shoulder. He made an attempt to raise the bow and shoot, but he howled in pain as he raised his arm and the arrow fell from the bow to the ground. Before he could figure out where the bolt had come from, two more bolts buried themselves into his leg.

  He fell to the ground, moaning loudly. Even before she could climb down from the tree, the moaning had stopped and the man lay unconscious. Ailish approached him cautiously to assess his wounds. Very little blood was present and the man was breathing. Leaving the man, Ailish made her way back to the camp to get some help moving him.

  Hearing a scream in the forest accompanied by a low moan, Tureis took one last look around. It was time to find the man in the forest heading towards him. Tureis removed the dagger from his bag and the sphere from his pocket. Focusing on the sphere, he saw a small message written on its face. Next to the message appeared an arrow. That was strange, he’d never seen this before. What was it telling him? Was it telling him to go the way the arrow pointed or that the large man in the forest was coming from that direction?

  Unsure of how to proceed, Tureis closed his eyes and listened. From behind him he heard a kid scream and a loud grunt from what was likely the old man with the limp. Then some fighting and shouting from the road. All the others had found their targets, it was time for Tureis to move, but which way to go?

  He looked at his sphere again and the arrow was now pointing in the opposite direction, further into the forest. Tureis decided to follow the arrow even though he didn’t know what the message meant.

  Tureis moved slowly in the direction of the arrow. He moved around trees and bushes, careful not to step on any branches or make any noise. Soon he heard the sound of deep breathing very close to him. With the denseness of the trees he was walking through, he and the large man could only be several feet apart and not know it, as the trees were hiding them both.

  Right in front of Tureis, a large man carrying a mace stepped out from behind a tree and began moving in the darkness toward the clearing. Tureis didn’t think the man could see him, as he was moving at an angle slightly away from him. What could he do? This man was very large and he had a mace. Then he had an idea. He didn’t know how he could make it work, but he had to trust his feelings; that and he had no other ideas. Quietly, he made his way through the forest in the same direction as the man. After getting ahead of him, Tureis positioned himself behind a tree, and waited.

  Closer and closer the man came. Tureis focused inward and felt his Matya increase, and with it the confidence in his idea also increased. This had to work! He held the sphere in his left hand, his right hand was empty. As he waited he closed his eyes and concentrated on what he was about to do. He took some deep breaths to calm his nerves, silently hoping this would work. If it didn’t work the man would likely crush him.

  The man was close enough now that Tureis could almost feel his breath. In one brisk move, Tureis turned, raised the sphere and opened his left hand. The sphere emitted a brilliant flash of pure white light, as bright as the sun, just inches from the man’s eyes, stunning him. Caught completely by surprise, the man screamed and staggered backwards raising the mace in defense.

  As the man staggered backwards, Tureis raised his right hand palm out. Tureis pushed his hand forward causing the man to move slowly backwards into the forest. As the man regained his sense of the situation he struggled against being pushed. Tureis then closed his right hand and raised it as high as he could. As his hand raised, the mans feet left the ground and he became suspended as if by an invisible string. Once the man realized his feet were not touching the ground he struggled even more. Tureis closed his eyes and immediately connected with the man’s thoughts and sensed a great deal of fear. Tureis suggested to the man that he relax and then he took away the fear. As he did this the man became very calm and began rubbing his eyes. Tureis slowly lowered his clenched fist and gently laid the man on the forest floor. The man was now fast asleep and began snoring as soon as Tureis released the hold on his mind. When Tureis was satisfied that the man was fast asleep, he bent over and picked up the mace and walked back to the clearing.

  Seth and Ailish were sitting by the fire while Braon was standing over four unconscious people with their hands and feet bound. A large man with two crossbow bolts in his leg and one in his shoulder wa
s laying on the ground in pain, his wrists and hands also bound in front of him.

  At the edge of the clearing stood Eammon with six beautiful horses. He was stroking the neck of a large bay mare and feeding her half an apple while eating the other half himself.

  Ailish ran up to Tureis and asked, “You alright?”

  “Yeah. I’m okay,” replied Tureis.

  “Where’s the guy that attacked you?” she asked.

  Tureis and Ailish walked back to the large man. He was still laying in the same place, fast asleep and snoring. Seth joined them and together they dragged the man into the clearing. They bound his hands and legs together without even causing the man to stir.

  After securing all the attackers, Braon stood up and surveyed the area. “Everyone alright?” he asked.

  They all nodded as they looked at each other. “Hey Braon. Look at this,” said Eammon. “What do you think this means?”

  They all walked over to the horses to see what Eammon was talking about. He’d removed one of the saddles and placed it on the ground and was holding a saddle blanket with the colors of Galaera. He motioned for everyone to look at the saddle. The saddle was fine leather and the stirrups were made of metal encased in leather. The saddle horn was smooth black leather with a silver cap. On the left side near the rear of the saddle behind the seat was the symbol of the King of Zummot. Sitting on the ground next to the saddle were six pair of saddle bags.

  “What do you make of that?” asked Eammon. “Also, there are three more saddles that look the same. The other two saddles don’t have the mark of Zummot but they are also really high quality riding saddles.”

  Braon stood after examining the saddle and turned to look at the attackers. “The saddle blankets suggest these men are from Galeara,” he said. “But the saddles suggest that at least the horses are from Zummot. Which is it?”

  “Not only that, but these saddles have the mark of the King of Zummot. The saddles and maybe the horses are from the King’s personal guard,” said Eammon.

  “But all the saddle blankets appear to be from Galaera,” said Seth.

  “Maybe when they wake up they’ll tell us where they’re from and why they wanted to rob us,” Eammon said with a small chuckle.

  Looking at each of them, Braon said, “I don’t intend to be here when they wake up. They’ll be out for a while. I say we take the horses and anything else of value and be on our way.” Braon scanned the camp again and asked, “Where’s Ailish?”

  They all looked around until Seth said, “That’s weird. She was just here.”

  “Wherever she went, I’m sure she’ll be back soon,” said Braon. “Let’s get packed up and get out of here.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Tureis, “You said we should take the horses and valuables. We’re not thieves. Why would we do that?”

  Eammon began to laugh. “What’s so funny?” asked Tureis.

  “There’s a rule for travelers in these kingdoms,” said Eammon. “The three kings agreed that if any groups or individuals are attacked by thieves or whoever while traveling, and they survive the attack they are allowed the spoils of war.”

  Tureis looked confused. Seth patted him on the shoulder and said, “Basically what it means is that if you’re attacked and win, you get to take whatever you want as payback for the attack.”

  Braon interrupted, “And since they were attacking us, for what reason we don’t know, we can take their horses and whatever we want. They knew this when they attacked. If they’d won they would’ve taken all we had and quite possibly killed us too.”

  Tureis nodded his understanding and picked up one of the saddle bags laying at his feet. “Now you’re getting it,” Eammon said with a chuckle.

  Most of what was in the saddle bags was useless. They did find, however, several bags of gold coins, a few small weapons and some other items of interest. The rest of the things they dumped on the ground at the feet of the sleeping group.

  They quickly packed up their bags and the saddle bags and tied them to the horses. They saddled up the horses and prepared to leave. “Ok,” said Seth. “I’m starting to get a little concerned about Ailish. She still isn’t here.”

  At that exact moment Ailish entered the clearing holding a bag of something and smiling. “Where have you been?” Seth asked.

  “I went back to their camp,” said Ailish. “I was trying to figure out who they were and why they wanted to attack us.” Ailish set the bag she was carrying on the ground and opened it up. “Look what I found.” She reached into the bag and removed six large black and gold cloaks bearing the mark of the King of Zummot.

  Chapter 17

  - Arrow -

  Braon took one of the long black cloaks and opened it up. “These are battle cloaks for the King’s Guard in Zummot,” said Braon, examining the cloaks again, making sure they did indeed bear the mark of the King’s Guard of Zummot.

  “Are you ok?” asked Ailish. “You look as if finding out they were from Zummot troubles you. What’s the problem?”

  Braon raised his head and replied, “Oh...yeah… no...uh…. I’m just surprised that the Guard of Zummot would be in some kind of disguise. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “If the cloaks and the horses are really theirs, then they are from Zummot,” said Seth. “They’re guards of King Hamish.”

  “And they’re trying to disguise themselves as traders from Galaera,” finished Braon.

  “So we know who they are, but why did they attack us?” Tureis asked.

  Ailish chuckled softly. This caused Eammon to laugh as well, although it was clear he didn’t know why they were laughing. “I was waiting for you to put the pieces together,” said Ailish. “It was almost too hard waiting to tell you the rest.”

  “Tell us what?” asked Braon.

  Ailish reached into her pocket and removed a rolled up piece of parchment. It had been rolled up and tied with a string, but originally it held a wax seal. Ailish removed the string and placed the two ends of the wax seal back together. Some of the wax was missing, but enough of it remained to clearly tell in bore the mark of Zummot.

  A collective gasp escaped everyone’s mouth upon seeing the wax seal. Ailish unrolled the parchment and began to read, “...The Crown Prince of Thaven is no longer in the kingdom. He’s been banished and is seeking the Oracle. Find the Crown Prince before he reaches the Oracle and bring him to me. You will be rewarded handsomely.”

  Ailish looked up as she rolled up the parchment. “There’s more written about where he’s thought to be traveling and how many others are with him,” said Ailish. “The bottom of the letter bears the seal of King Hamish.”

  The color completely drained from Seth’s face. His mouth was open and he was breathing hard. He sat down on the ground and put his head in his hands. “Crown prince? I’m the crown prince. Why does King Hamish want me? It doesn’t make sense,” mumbled Seth.

  Braon interrupted the mumbling and said, “That’s a great question, but we really need to get out of here before they wake up. We can talk more on the road.”

  Everyone got up and finished preparing the horses. The mood had noticeably changed from excited and full of energy to solemn and concerned. Within several minutes they were on the road toward Kerr, only this time on horseback. The sun was just beginning to rise on what was sure to be a memorable day.

  They rode until mid day when they stopped to eat and rest the horses. As they ate they continued discussing the letter. “What I want to know is why me?” asked Seth.

  “Why indeed,” said Eammon.

  “Why did you say that?” asked Seth. “What’s on your mind?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” said Eammon. “Braon said you and Tureis liked to galavant all over the kingdom causing trouble. Maybe you upset the good King Hamish.”<
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  That caused Seth to pause and ponder for a moment. He looked at Tureis as if reliving past exploits. “I can’t think of anything we could’ve done to upset the not-so-good King Hamish,” said Seth, the last words spoken sharply.

  Ailish looked at Tureis, “You’ve been quiet this whole time,” she said. “What do you think about the letter?”

  Tureis didn’t answer immediately, but let the question hang there for a moment. “I really want to know how King Hamish knew all that information about us,” he said as he paused and let the statement sink in. “Are we being followed? Were there spies in each of the cities along our journey? How did he know where we were, who was with us, where we are going and that we’d been banished from Thaven? That letter contained everything about us except what we had for dinner last night.”

  “The letter specifically talks about them wanting Seth,” said Braon. “I agree with Seth that the real question is why him?” He paused and looked at each member of the group before he continued, “I think if we find that answer, we’ll likely figure out the other questions as well.”

  They finished their meal, mounted their horses and continued on their journey. They’d been riding for some time when Seth abruptly stopped. In front of them was a large rock formation that began on the side of the road and continued into the forest as far as the eye could see.

  Seth dismounted his horse and stood off the side of the road, staring at the rocks. Braon and Ailish rode up beside Seth, dismounting their horses as well. They stood next to Seth following his gaze and looking at the rock formation. After a minute Ailish asked, “What is it Seth? What are you looking at?”

  Seth didn’t respond, he just continued staring at the rock formation, occasionally following the rocks into the forest. Tureis followed Seth’s gaze into the forest, then returned his gaze back to the large rock formation just off the road. This time when Tureis looked at the rocks he stood there stunned. Then, just like Seth, his eyes followed the rock formation into the forest and back again.