by Dean Jones
Seth felt the anger build inside his gut and the warmth of it made its way through his veins to every part of his body; he gritted his teeth and stared back at the creatures with a fierce intensity and let out a low growl.
“Listen to the boy! He’s growling like a wild boar…oh, he’s a precious one. Don’t you want a brother or sister Seth?” there was a cackle of laughter as the two shapes turned to face each other then moved apart and out of Seth’s eye line.
Seth’s anger was now fully established, and he had the image of his mother being cornered by these two entities of the night.
“We can taste your anger, child, that’s good, we like the flavour” another laugh and the hooded figures moved closer.
“Who are you?” Seth spoke with a booming voice, which filled the air around them. The creatures stilled, and he could feel their curiosity. He decided he was tired of this so turned his head in the direction where one of the shapes had moved.
As his head turned he came nose to nose with one of the creatures and now he could smell its rancid breath, but his anger was such he didn’t flinch at the sight nor baulk at the smell.
“I’ll ask you one more time, creature, who are you!” The shrouded figure moved back slightly, and Seth knew from his training with his father that this was a good sign.
“Keep your nerve,” his father had taught. “Even when you feel you are in a losing position son, never let your opponent know you have conceded the fight before it’s been fought, once you master this you will have an edge even in the most worrisome situations. You will know you have gained the advantage when your opponent takes a small step backwards, then you’ll have him and can strike in the knowledge his heart and courage have been broken under your will!”
“But what if he doesn’t take a step back Father, what then?” Garrett had considered this question for less time than it takes for a bee’s wing to beat.
“He will Seth because no man will be able to match your resolve and courage even Thunor himself would find you a worthy opponent!”
And here he was with creatures of the darkness and one had felt his will and taken a step back. Buoyed by this small victory Seth began to have faith in his ability to intimidate whatever these creatures were.
“Who is this who stands before us?” The creatures had gathered themselves, although Seth could feel they were unnerved by his confidence.
“I am Seth son of Garrett and I command you to name yourselves!” The authority in his voice was unmistakable and he felt the creature's curiosity as they moved side by side to face him.
“He commands us?” The creatures moved apart and began to circle Seth. He struggled to keep his attention on either of them, so he fixed his eyes forward capturing the movement in his peripheral vision.
“This is the young soul she promised us. But he is not as weak as she was” Seth’s ears perked at this and he once again tried to focus on one of the moving figures, without success. Dizzy, he called out.
“Who are you talking of?” Again, his voice boomed with a confidence and tone which demanded answers.
“What is this?” The voice hissed.
“We do not bow to humans; we taste the souls of those who enter our domain. We will enjoy watching you struggle, child!”
Seth caught his breath at the revelation and he considered the words and his situation surely these creatures were not who Mae had intended him to see this night he thought.
His mind raced at the possibilities, but he knew he could not allow these things to have their way and resolved to fight them with everything he had.
The creatures must have noticed this change in attitude, as they stopped and were again side by side in front of him.
“You speak of my mother and father like you have the right to do so, you infer you will feed on my soul and yet I am here, and you have not moved towards me?” The figures turned their hooded heads towards each other then back to Seth.
“We accept your challenge, human” The intent was clear, and the creatures advanced towards him. Seth concentrated hard and focused only on the things in front of him looking for something, he didn’t know what, to help in this battle.
Suddenly the creatures split up and Seth’s eyes widened as he was sure he saw something. “I see you fear a head-on confrontation; do I strike terror into your black hearts?” He was stalling but wanted the creatures in front of him, so he could observe them. His bluff worked, and they appeared again before him and this time he was certain of what he saw.
He concentrated on the wisps of light which he could see trailing the creatures and reached out to see what they were. He was rewarded with the familiar sound of Frigg’s energy, the sound all things created by the gods made. Instinctively, he opened his mind to grab the thin lines which trailed the figures in front of him. Once he had them a wave of understanding hit him.
“I know what you are, you are daemons and you are mine to control!” he bellowed.
The creatures screamed and rushed towards him, but Seth closed his fists and tugged the energy strands he held in his hand. The daemons stopped and turned to look at each other and then back to Seth. Panic filled their auras and they began to retreat. Seth was now so focused on the matter in front of him that his subconscious mind was in full control and he felt strong and powerful. Slowly he began reeling them in towards him.
“I have your energy and it is now mine to do with as I will,” his voice told these things this was a fact they ought to accept. The creatures tried to flee but Seth held them tight and continued to bring them towards him.
The creatures, in one final effort, turned from retreat into attack.
Seth watched calmly as the daemons rushed towards him with arms raised from their cloaks. He felt the push from the energy they hurled at him, but he gave it no attention and merely focused on his own energies. In his mind’s eye he saw a shield and he sent the image in a wave of energy which visibly struck the advancing entities. They stumbled backwards and clearly were dazed. Recovering their wits, they slowly built up their energy for another attack.
Seth could feel their pooled strength but somehow, deep inside himself, he knew it was pitiful in comparison to his.
“ENOUGH!” He bellowed, and the ferocity of his words halted the creatures where they stood. Their heads dropped, and he felt the acceptance of their defeat.
“I command you again, name yourselves!” Seth glared at them and, defeated, they raised their arms and slowly removed their hoods.
Seth was surprised to see standing before him two beautiful young girls with hair as black as the night sky and deep black pools for eyes. Their small features were crisp, and their smooth skin was flawless to Seth’s eyes.
“We are Mara.” Both girls bowed their heads to Seth. “Please do not destroy us,” they asked in unison.
Seth was taken aback by this revelation, he had, of course, heard of the Mara but considered them a story to keep children in their beds at night. But here he was with the two of them cowering in front of him.
“You are the bringers of bad dreams?” Both nodded their heads in acknowledgement.
“I do not intend to destroy you, but I will not allow you to threaten my family and you will not speak of them in that way again!”
The girls looked at each other and then back to Seth, “we are sorry, we will not disrespect you or your family again…Master” they added the last word and lowered themselves to the ground at Seth’s feet.
Seth looked at the daemons at his feet and felt pity for the creatures, after all, they were only defending themselves from an intruder to their home. “Master?” he asked.
Both looked up and nodded “you have defeated us and spared our lives, we owe you a great debt.” They rose to their feet and stood. “We feel your strength Master and know you to be honourable and kind-hearted. We will serve you for as long as you walk the earth.”
Seth thought for a second, there could be worse things I suppose. He decided to accept their offer.
“T
hank you, Mara. I look forward to a long relationship, but I must return to my friends as they will be concerned. I have been with you for much longer than they expected and have much to tell them.”
“You need to be wary of those who support you, Master, we do not want to speak out of turn, but you should heed our words,” the Mara warned.
“And you are wise Mara and I welcome your advice” Seth wasn’t sure this was entirely an appropriate response, but he was not in the mood to play word games as he was feeling tired from the battle he had just been part of.
The two daemons looked at each other and smiled. Seth had heard all the stories about the Mara being evil creatures of the night, who sat on the chests of children putting demonic thoughts into their sleeping minds, but their smiles filled Seth’s heart with joy and hope. “You will always be welcome to our advice and guidance Master Seth, we will always be here in the edge of night willing to give you tidings and warning of times ahead, but we feel you have lingered a little too long in the darkness.”
With that, they returned their hoods and bowed low before him before turning and heading out of the circle into the night air from whence they came.
Seth felt himself relax and the adrenaline which coursed through his body slowly ebbed away and he began to come out of his trance and became aware of the clearing around him and of Mae and Ardeth who were still sat at his feet looking up at him.
As he came back to his waking mind he heard the trees song had changed and they were no longer warning him to leave but were welcoming him back.
Mae took a long deep breath and it seemed to Seth she had probably been holding her breath for the entire time he was with the Mara.
Ardeth looked exhausted and her eyes showed deep black circles around them as though she hadn’t slept in days.
They both rose to their feet with more than a couple of groans and stretched themselves as though waking from a long dream. Mae rubbed her knees and arched her back letting out a long and satisfied sigh.
“So, Seth you have returned to the circle and the trees are hailing your arrival, so I presume you had a successful journey?” Mae looked intently into Seth’s eyes and gave him the look he knew meant she expected a full and detailed account of what had happened.
Seth nodded suddenly aware of how tired he was and could feel the urge to yawn building inside his chest. He took a deep breath and let the yawn take hold allowing himself a long stretch of his own as he tossed his head back and opened his eyes to the night.
“Wha…. what’s happened!” Seth’s eyes were wide now and staring up into a blue cloudless morning sky!
Mae chuckled to herself, gave Seth a pat on the back and turned to leave the clearing.
“Were you not paying attention when I told you of time?” Mae Asked.
Seth nodded and looked to Ardeth who was wearing a confused and rather patronising smile as far as Seth was concerned. She looked away from him when he met her gaze, and could he see something else in her face…disappointment perhaps. Did she expect him to fail at this lesson?
“I heard what you said about time dancing like the wind, but I have only been with the Mara for a short time, it cannot be daylight already?”
Mae stopped, “you were with the Mara! Seth are you sure?” Ardeth moved passed Seth and continued, with her head down, to the path which led out of the clearing.
“The Mara were not who you came here to meet child…” Mae’s concerned eyes looked deep into Seth’s and she reached up and took his face in her hands.
“What do you remember Seth, what did they put into your mind?” Mae kept hold of his face a little too long for his comfort and Seth pulled his head back to release her hold.
“What do you mean?” Seth asked.
Seth thought hard about what had happened to him trying to work out how he had been in trance so long without it feeling more than moments. He stood opposite Mae still slightly confused and very tired.
“They didn’t put anything in my mind, they tried to scare me, and it failed nothing else” Seth explained.
Mae turned and shook her head slightly with a confused look on her face.
“So, what was the purpose of this lesson Mae? You said I had something important to learn today which could not wait.” Seth asked.
Mae looked at Seth and burst into laughter, she laughed so hard she had to stop walking, Seth reached out towards her as he had fears of her falling off the path and into the trees as she laughed so hard.
After a moment of hysterics, Mae calmed herself and took a deep breath.
“Oh, my little Seth, the lesson is clear, and its purpose has been fully realised and perfected!”
“I did not intend your first encounter to be with such powerful energies as the Mara, but they appear to have taken pity on you and let you leave their realm unharmed” Mae gave another little chuckle to herself and set off after Ardeth.
“You see Seth, the purpose of the lesson was to learn to reach the spirit realm…talking with ones of the power of the Mara was next week’s lesson” she clearly found this far too amusing to contain and started giggling and laughing again.
Seth felt himself catching the giggles from Mae and struggled to hold them in after all this was serious as he didn’t know what he had learned or if he had learned anything at all, but the relief of coming out of his battle allowed him to snigger to himself, although he wasn’t sure why.
“Was the lesson not for me Mae, was this something for Ardeth to discover, something to do with protection?” Seth knew the answer before Mae had begun to speak but he was hopeful he may not have missed something and Ardeth was the one being taught.
Mae composed herself and straightened her hair and robes before setting off back along the path towards the village.
“The lesson was for you to realise there are two very important things in this world which you were unaware of. Now you are clear in your mind about their existence!” Mae’s stern teaching voice had returned and Seth automatically focused hard on each word knowing there was truth and knowledge in them.
“Are you talking about the Mara?”
Mae turned slightly and looked out of the corner of her eye at Seth.
“The Mara are part of one of the things your mind is clear on now.”
Seth thought hard for the next few minutes whilst they walked out of the woods and made their way back to Seth’s house. The journey was a lot quicker than it was the previous day when they were heading to the clearing Seth had noticed.
Suddenly the thought appeared in his mind and he blurted it out towards Mae.
“Time can be controlled and there are creatures who live in the energy around us!” Seth’s mouth dropped open with the sudden realisation of what he had experienced.
They stopped outside his house and Mae turned to face him, she looked hard into Seth’s eyes and he felt she was searching his very soul making sure each part of him was still here looking back at her.
“Time cannot be controlled Seth, this is a false lesson. Time can be manipulated and will bend to your desire just like the wind, but you must show it reverence and accept that sooner or later it will stop listening to your wants and requests and carry on flowing like the great river sweeping you away with it. For a moment, you were stood to the side of time and it continued on its way without you so when you stepped back into the river the night had gone.”
Mae gave him one last smile, took Ardeth’s arm and headed down the hill into the village.
One Fateful Day
People milled around the streets below as Marcy watched and waited for her husband to return, she was finding it difficult to comprehend what had happened especially the fact that Seth had been taken. She had been angry with him at first, how dare he leave us! She had thought but she soon calmed down and was now just worried that those men who took him might be doing things to him that she didn’t really want to think about.
There had been so much running over the years, ever since the first stories a
ppeared in the newspapers about those three boys. She would never have believed that an event in her life would come to determine how she lived so many years later. She had seen that day what her husband could do and when she remembered the scene they had ran from the previous day she couldn’t help but think back to when she first discovered why Seth is so special.
***
Marcy had been seeing Seth for over three years and had been planning a trip to the cinema when she had suggested they head off for a day trip, as she knew somewhere special he would like to see. They packed his car and set off for Haytor Rocks in Dartmoor, she was excited to show him the amazing views from the summit and to enjoy a romantic picnic.
When they arrived, they parked their car by the visitor’s centre and set out on the short walk up the hill towards the collection of magnificent granite monoliths. As they strolled she regaled him with the history and how steps had been carved into the Tor by the Victorians to make the summit more accessible for visitors.
She looked to her side and saw Seth watching her intently with a smile on his face.
“What is it? Am I boring you?” she asked. “I’m sorry but I get so excited when I come to these ancient places, I just tend to ramble on.”
Seth shook his head “no, I was enjoying listening. It is a truly wondrous place. I can remember coming here many years ago, with a friend,” he paused thinking back. “But it has changed significantly since then…” he drifted off.
“Significantly?” she asked, “how old are you?” she gave him a nudge with her elbow and laughed and what was clearly a joke.
“Let’s sit away from the rocks so we can talk a little without being disturbed or overlooked” Seth suggested as he pointed away from the gathered crowd. A tinge of excitement filled her at the thought of this private outdoor picnic they were going to enjoy, and she watched as Seth strode ahead of her with the basket held lightly in his grip as he navigated down the hill to find a more secluded location. She did like to watch him from behind and loved the confidence of his walk.
She picked her way down the hillside to catch up with Seth as he was crouched under a tree beside an old wall. The wall provided shelter from the wind that was whipping across the moor.
