Everything was left in pristine tranquillity, but it was soon interrupted by the rush of horse hooves stamping the grass as the horses galloped ever so gracefully through the fields. There were three of them. Three men rode them, all wearing bronze armour and dark cowls and cloaks that swayed in the wind. Swords hung by their sides.
A city could be seen in the far distance, growing larger and larger by the passing of every second. A giant castle stood within the walls and two watch towers stood sideways of the great main gates, guarding the bridge that spread across an abyss.
They picked up speed as they advanced on the city.
Terrowin felt lost, somehow lonely as he wandered the forest. He approached a calm river. There were a few big rocks stacked upon one another, adding to the decoration of the picturesque scenery.
Terrowin’s hand brushed against the plants and tree bark as he passed them by. He looked into the waters and saw his reflection. His reflection wasn’t stable because of the rippling at the waters as they moved down the stream.
There was a loud groaning as the set of massive gates slowly opened for the three men to enter the city. Their horses hurried down the streets and toward that one specific house. The sound of the horses’ hooves trampling the streets echoed all throughout the large city. The men made their way pass many people wandering the city. They stormed through the streets on horseback, some mothers and fathers having to grab their children to pull out of the way and others trying to save themselves by leaping out of the way, the rest left standing cursing up a storm. The three men made an immediate stop in front of a gigantic mansion. They yanked at the reigns, their horses neighing frightfully at the sudden stop.
Rowan jumped off and ran up the outside stairs, bursting inside as the others followed him from behind.
“Spread out and search the house!” Rowan bellowed frantically.
“Search the whole house! See to it that you find my son!”
The men followed his dire orders and spread out, searching the entire house, calling his name.
Terrowin saw as the light touch of the summer wind rustled through the leaves around them. He stood still and nonchalantly stared out in front of him. The wind tugged at his hair.
Nothing could fill the void.
Rowan fell to his knees in front of the gigantic set of stairs in the middle of the entrance hall leading upstairs. He fell to the red carpeted floor. His downhearted gaze dropped to the ground. He sighed miserably and closed his eyes.
“Find my son. Do whatever you can. Just bring him back to me...”
Thomason and Cassius exchanged glances and nodded. Together they went outside and mounted their horses. Once again, they headed for the gates and dashed into the big open world, set on one task and one task only.
Terrowin noticed a familiar figure sitting on a big nearby rock on the other side of the small and graceful brook. He looked at Terrowin. He smiled dearly. It was Travis, a face Terrowin didn’t think he would ever see again.
“T-Travis?” Terrowin stuttered, tilting his head at what looked like only an apparition of his past memories. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Even though Travis was a few years older than him, there were still very close resemblances between them.
“Brother, don’t fret. I need to speak with you.”
Terrowin tried to collect himself and took a deep breath.
“Anything. What happened to you? How can you be here when you’re dead?”
Travis stood.
“I’m not really here, my brother, and my death does not matter. The point is – you have to let go.”
“What?” Suddenly, Travis was on Terrowin’s side of the stream. Travis slowly approached him as he spoke.
“What happened has happened for a reason. Things ensue for all sorts of reasons, most are unexplainable, but you have to understand. I will always be there for you, but you have to let me go – move on. Do not live your life in sorrow just because you have lost me. Rejoice! Rather celebrate than mourn. It’s all I ask of you. I also have to move on from this world, but I cannot since you won’t let me. You’re the one holding me back. You’re the one keeping me in the Realm of the Void.”
“But-”
“Just remember, I will always be in here.” Travis reached out and touched Terrowin on his chest, his heart. Things started to fade away around him. Travis was still met with a grim smile, saddened himself to leave his brother.
“Wait! Don’t leave me! Come back!”
But it was already too late and Travis faded away alongside his environs.
CHAPTER 14
ONLY REALITY
TERROWIN
“TIME TO WAKE UP, IDIOT!” Carlaylin teased as she walked pass me from who knows where. She poked me with her foot for good measure.
My eyes flew open and I shot upright, noticing that I was still on my uncomfortable homemade linen bed. My breath came in quick gasps. She startled me quite the bit.
I felt the involuntary tremble at my hands.
What…?
“Terrowin?” she asked, concerned. “Jeez, you look even paler than yesterday.”
Either it was the dream or… the curse. I swallowed. I knew that I had to tell her about it sooner or later, but I didn’t feel ready. I decided to leave it at that for now.
I noted a brand new sword neatly tucked away in its scabbard hanging from Carlaylin’s belt.
I mean, it’s not new. It looked quite used in fact, but I had no clue to where she got it… It most certainly wasn’t there when we started our journey. I was keen on sking where she had found it, but decided to leave it for another time. I was still trying to figure out what just happened. My dream had my head spinning.
“The farmer wants to meet us inside. Terrowin, are you okay?” Carlaylin asked, proudly resting the palm of her hand on the hilt of her sword. She looked different somehow, almost like new life had crept into her overnight.
“I’m fine. Go on without me. I’ll be there in a sec.”
She didn’t argue and nodded. She disappeared around the corner, but quickly hurried back to peer at me from the corner. She probably thought she went unnoticed, but I did see her, only I didn’t care. I was too… downcast.
I sighed miserably and sat rested my head in the palm of my hand.
Seeing Travis again only made it harder for me to let go. It almost felt impossible to do so.
Turns out that the farmer only called us in for breakfast. The lovely smell of freshly baked eggs, bacon and toast wafted through the still, warm air.
We had already taken a seat.
I noticed both Carlaylin and I to be playing with our food with a fork, not exactly hungry.
I couldn’t come to bring myself thus far as to eat. I sighed, my head filled with unwanted thoughts of my father and my brother.
After a while Carlaylin also let go of a sighed. Jurgend sat at the end of the rectangular shaped table, staring at us both. His English bulldog sat next to him, moisturising the floor with his drool. Seeing us so down started to rub off on Jurgend and soon the feeling caught up with him as well.
“I can see that yawl didn’t have a good night.”
We raised our heads.
“Okay, let’s start with the girl. How was last night?” I focused my gaze on her.
It looked as though she didn’t sleep at all. Purple rings had formed beneath her eyes and she almost looked just as pale as me, ready to pass out and take a nap in her breakfast plate. She yawned.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Jurgend left her be for the time being and focused on me.
“What about you, boy?” I shook my head to give him his answer.
“Well, someone has to tell.”
He sat back into his chair and crossed his arms, waiting for a response.
“Did you even sleep last night?” I asked Carlaylin.
“Well… I… um… At least a tiny bit.”
“Whe
n I woke, and stop me if it’s just my imagination, but I noticed you coming from the direction of the forest. Where were you?”
“Can everybody just stop asking me all these questions?!” she snapped.
“Sorry,” Jurgend and I apologized in unison.
“Sorry ‘bout that, I just have a lot on my mind.”
She calmed and recollected herself, turning her gaze back to the plate to play with her food. “I just couldn’t sleep and decided to take a stroll through the forest.”
I frowned.
“After I told you so many times before that you shouldn’t be in the forest at night?”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t blame me. I followed a blue wisp and came back.”
“And what’s the part you’re not telling us?” Jurgend asked purposely
“I told you everything.” It was clear that she wasn’t being strictly honest.
“Right… I can tell when something’s off. What happened? I mean, the wisp had to lead you somewhere, eh?”
She shot me a look that said: Stop asking!
At least she gave in to surrender.
“I just found a shrine in the middle of the forest and drank from it. Thereafter I just had a hard time finding my way back. That’s all.”
“You what?! You drank from a-”
Before I could finish, Carlaylin gave me a kick under the table just warn me to rather shut up. I winced, but kept silent. Not after a livid glare, of course. I comforted Jurgend with a painful smile to show that all was well.
Still, some nerve she has to drink from a sacred shrine.
I played along and acted like I believed her and knew it wasn’t all, but I’d ask her later. Some things are just better kept between the two of us.
“Your turn.” I found Jurgen looking at me. Something told me I didn’t have much of a choice. I tried to summarize my dream, leaving out any necessary detail where I saw fit.
I could see that the two didn’t exactly know how to respond.
Jurgen gave a low whistle.
“That’s something ya don’t hear every day.”
I nodded, pushed my chair out and stood, suddenly feeling a rush pulsing through my veins. It urged me to go and get the whole quest on with.
“I know. But, I think it’s about time we get going. We can’t stay here for too long. Things to do, people to see, others to avoid. Thank you for everything, Jurgend. You have been most kind and of great help.”
I gestured a bow with my head and left, out the kitchen door and to the outside to go and gather all of our things. We didn’t carry much. We were light travellers.
Carlaylin smiled nervously at Jurgend as I left.
I was already long in the forest, continuing the exertion when Carlaylin came running toward me from behind. She started to slow down the soon as she finally reached me and kept at my pace. She was breathless. I tossed her satchel to her. Even though I caught her by surprise, she managed to catch it.
“Wow. That came out of nowhere,” she said, referring to my sudden leave.
“What took you so long?” I asked. I kept my eyes fixated on the path up ahead.
“What? I quickly gave that poor farmer a proper farewell. Plus, you left without me. I bloody had to find you first!” She equipped the satchel to her person.
“Hey. Sorry about your brother.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Out the corner of my eye, I caught another sight of her sword. I pressed my lips into a thin line and too the chance to quickly grab it from her belt. I was fine holding a blade in my hands. It was wielding it in a battle that got to me.
“Damn it, Terrowin! Give it back!” She demanded furiously, trying to grab at it, but I kept it away from her reach. Ignoring her, I studied the hilt of the sword. It read: Cassius. My expression turned solemn.
“Where did you get this?” I asked urgently and showed her the hilt of the sword.
“I… uh…”
“What did you do?” I gasped. My mind started probing on the worst of occasions and found some pretty bad ones. I couldn’t help but assume that she did something extremely terrible. Did she kill him for this sword? Did she kidnap him? Tie him to a tree? Stole from him?
Carlaylin grabbed the sword from my hands and slid it back into its scabbard.
“He gave it to me.”
“What? How? Where did you find him?”
“Well, actually he found me.”
My eyebrow slanted. I absolutely had no idea how to respond.
“Look, I can see that you’re confused, but I’ll explain everything to you on the way to Suntaria. I promise.”
I agreed to that and knew that this was going to be a long road to our next destination. Might as well get something to keep me busy with. And by that, I mean Carlaylin talking the time by without an emergency off switch.
CHAPTER 15
JUST ANOTHER PEACEFUL DAY…
CARLAYLIN
IT’S BEEN A LONG DAY and it wasn’t about to end soon. We already gained quite the distance, but nevertheless, we still had a long way ahead of us before we would even lay our eyes on Santaria.
At least we were nearing the Water Village, but I still wasn’t quite sure whether we would make a stop there or not.
I guessed the village to have gotten its name from the fact that it resided right next to the riverbanks of the Shivering River. I was quite curious to see how it looked like though.
Anyway, I was pretty sure that we had enough resources to keep us going until we reached our target.
We had been travelling for hours on end.
Terrowin slowed down to a stop, letting go of a breath as he wearily leaned against a tree trunk.
I kept on walking, realising he wasn’t by my side anymore and turned on my heel.
“Terrowin?”
Terrowin brought his fingers to his forehead, trying to keep his vision. I stepped closer, my stomach doing a well-planned summersault.
“Are you all right? It’s the poison acting up again, isn’t it?”
He looked as though he might faint, and I didn’t exactly see a chance to carry him all the way to Suntaria just like I did to Murray’s tower.
“It’s not the poison. I’m fine,” he said, almost dismissive, rubbing his temple with his index and middle finger.
“I just… I think we need to take a break for a bit.”
I pursed my lips.
“I didn’t know you were that unfit,” I joked, but he didn’t exactly take it as a fragment of humour. Instead, I received a not-too-happy glare. I flipped my hands in submission, backing away, showing him I didn’t mean any further possible offenses.
Terrowin sank down to sit on an old tree stump. He sat with his arms resting on his upperlegs.
“Seriously, though. You okay? Don’t play the fool and deny it.”
Terrowin raised his gaze to meet mine.
“I’m fine,” he said bitterly.
I wasn’t in the mood for an argument or any extra effort to wriggle it out of him. I honestly wasn’t.
“Fine then…”
I sat down on the soft grassnear him. At last I decided to lie down on my back, taking a deep breath as I spied the forest top and the bits of sky peering through the subdivisions between the trees’ branches and rich green leaves. A single bird fluttered from one tree to another. I smiled, but it was a smile that didn’t last long.
I started playing with my fingers, listening as the breeze played with the rustling leaves.
Sunlight lanced down from above, broke through the treetops. Spears of light dappled on the forest floor and shone on my upturned face. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was quickly stopped.
“Not a word,” Terrowin sighed, his eyes closed as he rested his head in the palms of his hands. He knew very well that I couldn’t exactly fight the urge to stay quiet.
I nodded and at least tried.
There was a rustle in
the bushes nearby that startled me and turned me on full alert. I rapidly shot upright and looked in the direction the noise came from.
I narrowed my eyes, thinking, Rabbit’s back.
I wasn’t about to go running around like some headless chicken again… Though I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. An eerie feeling crept and harboured itself deep inside me. I gulped. I hoped, of all else, it to only be one sinister cottontail…
It felt like we were being stalked, something just waiting to strike its prey. I had no idea to why, but it actually felt as though it almost wanted me to notice it.
Something was completely off...
I knew that I had little choice at the matter but to warn Terrowin. Sure, he’d probably bark at me again, but eh, at least we’d still be alive then.
But on the other hand, I really didn’t want to disturb him. He was honestly distraught. Besides, I saw what he could do with fire. I wouldn’t want to be the next barbeque on his list.
I struggled to keep my words in. I tried to draw his attention. He responded with a long loud sigh and miserably opened his eyes.
“Yes, what is it?”
Thank goodness the idiot finally got some sense into his head and reacted.
“Um… You might want to sit up straight, turn your head about forty-five degrees to your right and maybe plan on running.”
“What are you talking about?”
His eyes followed my directions.
“Thanks for the disturbance. There’s nothing there.”
“There’s something there, I’m telling you!”
“Yeah, right.”
I found my feet and approached the dense foliage, searching for a sign of… well… anything that would prove that I wasn’t crazy, because, to be honest, I was starting to believe my madness myself.
All I found was a bunch of twigs, leaves and whatever else you find hidden within shrubberies.
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