The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

  "Why weren't you with Louisa and Baloric? Louisa spoke about you has if she hadn't seen you in a long time. As if…on that day under Marker City, you had been killed."

  "We have disagreed," Walden said, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Over the years, we disagreed about many things. Eventually, they grew to hate me over our disagreements and sent me away. They no longer wanted me and so it does not surprise me that they would tell you I was dead."

  "What did you disagree about?"

  "They all said you were dead, but I was steadfast. I knew you were alive, somewhere."

  Jameson felt slightly at ease and recalled Walden's philosophy of death when they had stood at the graveyard in Miner Town. "You said that once," Jameson said. "I remember."

  They were now close enough to reach out and touch. Walden placed his hand on his sword handle and then said in a very quiet voice, "You don't have a weapon."

  "No," Jameson said, shaking his head.

  "That can be dangerous."

  Then, suddenly, Walden's eyes went wide and his body went rigid. Jameson's mind immediately flashed back to his memory of Walden stabbed in the chest that day, and when he looked down, he saw an arrow had pierced Walden's body.

  "Walden—" Jameson stuttered as he reached out to support him, but only watched as Walden's hand reached back for his sword and pulled it out of the sheath. The blade hardly missed Jameson's head as he nearly fell over backwards to avoid it and, once he regained his balance, he realized that Walden was smiling in a wicked sort of way despite the arrow protruding from him, with his sword pointed directly at Jameson.

  Jameson was unable to react intelligently as he merely watched Walden raise his arm to lower his sword, but another arrow shot right into Walden's wrist, knocking the sword out of his hand. Now, with two arrows through him, Walden began to advance towards Jameson, a wild yet distant glint in his eyes.

  Walden was abruptly enveloped in light as a third arrow went through his chest close to where the first one was. He began to lose his form as Jameson looked on in horror, becoming a faint outline of the man he was and soon transforming into a shapeless Walden-sized mass. It collapsed under itself and slid backwards into the water, disappearing into the pond.

  At first, Jameson remained motionless, but as his eyes followed the faint glow drift out into the water, he caught sight of something across the small pond; a man with a bow.

  The archer—Jameson could not dwell on what had just happened because he had a person to pursue. He took off running along the water's edge, trying to leap over rocks and dodge around trees as he ran to catch up with whoever had just rescued him from the creature wearing Walden's form. He felt foolish for being deceived by a false image, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he tried to get to the real rescuer.

  When he reached the place he saw the archer, obviously the person was no longer standing there. Jameson quickly assessed the area around the spot and tore off in the direction which his mind managed to convince him to go. He followed the sign of disturbance in the trees and plants, hoping someone else had come before him and he wasn't running in a totally random direction.

  Just when he was starting to lose confidence in his decision, he saw a human form dodge behind a tree out of his peripheral vision. He tore after it, now able to see an individual in front of him twenty strides away, fifteen strides away, ten strides away. He was gaining on whoever was attempting to outrun him, and he could hear the labored breath of the man as he tried to change directions in an attempt to lose him. Jameson didn't dare call out to him out of fear of being distracted for even a second, so he kept focused on just catching him.

  He reached out his arm and grabbed the shirt collar of the runner, at least knocking him off balance, which was enough for Jameson to grasp and keep him in place. He unintentionally knocked the man to the ground and, as they fell, Jameson lost his grip, and when he regained his composure and looked up, he was staring into the point of an arrow drawn into the bow of the archer.

  "Don't move," breathed the archer as he tried to steady himself while keeping the string of his bow drawn.

  Jameson focused his eyes past the arrow and so he could see the archer's face: he was a young man with fearful confidence in his dark eyes and rough skin that looked weathered and dry. As a whole, the man presented a sense of exhaustion, not just from the recent chase, but from the difficult life in the Forest. However, all the while, Jameson knew there was something eerily familiar about the man and, the longer they silently remained locked on each other, daring the other to move, the more Jameson started to realize that the man recognized something about him too.

  The archer was still breathing heavily, but he relaxed his arm slightly, lowering his arrow to point it at the ground. Jameson calmed, not having realized how tense he was, as he could finally look the man face to face without any obstruction.

  "Jim," the archer said, sounding astounded.

  "Luke," Jameson offered somewhat reflexively. He didn't recognize his old best friend until after he had spoken his name, but it came so naturally that it seemed like the only logical way to follow.

  Jameson did not feel any hesitation in the way he felt it when he saw Walden only moments earlier. He knew right away that Luke was real and his childhood friend knew it as well, immediately dropping his bow and reaching out for him. Jameson sat up and hugged Luke enthusiastically, and for the first time he felt he could really believe ten years had passed. The amount he missed Luke could have only been a result of a decade apart and, even if Jameson couldn't remember all the time in between his last goodbye, he could certainly feel it.

  "I knew you looked familiar," Luke said, pulling Jameson away to get a look at him, then punched him in the arm, surprisingly hard, though did not stop smiling. "What were you chasing me for?"

  Jameson rubbed the spot where he had been punched and couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't know what else to do!"

  "Where have you been?" Luke demanded, pulling Jameson into another hug.

  When he finally let go, they both stood up and Jameson confessed that he couldn't recall where he had been for the lat ten years. He recounted an extremely abbreviated version of what he could remember, telling Luke about the stones and his meeting with the princess and his trip to all the other nations. He summarized his adventure in only a few sentences, wanting to cover as much ground as quickly as possible, though Luke looked amazed and seemed to want to hear more.

  "First," Jameson said. "Were you following me? That was you who shot the arrow before, wasn't it?"

  "I heard the struggle…a woman shouting," Luke explained. "When I came, the only thing I saw was a bunch of people in trouble and shot the Forces to destroy it. I didn't think much of it. Not a lot of people come into the Forest, but when the do, they usually end up in trouble."

  Jameson nodded in remembrance of the arrow coming from seemingly nowhere and the archer disappearing moments later. "Just now…" he continued. "Before I ran after you… what was that thing?"

  Luke looked grave in response. "This new brand of creature," he said. "It's really weak but it has the ability to see memories and shift into different forms to find your weakness. It takes a certain eye to recognize them, so I knew right away. I'm sorry if I scared you."

  "I'm glad you destroyed it," Jameson said. "That thing took the form of someone I admire very much. I guess most of me knew it wasn't him, but I wanted it to be him so badly that I was willing to go along with it, no matter how crazy it was."

  "Well, deductive reasoning was never exactly one of your greatest skills," Luke said with a grin.

  Jameson only agreed to save face and then helped Luke pick up the arrows which had scattered when he had been tackled. "When did you learn to shoot like that, anyway?" Jameson questioned as they started to walk, heading in the direction back towards the Rayran Village.

  "Well, while you've apparently been sleeping for ten years, I've been working hard and training," Luke said. "You have to be able to defen
d yourself if you want to hope to keep any sort of life in the Forest anymore."

  "But the tips of your arrows shone. The first one that hit that plant… and then the third arrow that hit the one earlier. What is that? Is it some kind of power?"

  "Power?" Luke repeated skeptically. "No, not like that at all. There are certain places in the Forest which are protected by barriers so the Forces cannot enter. Those places are shrinking and changing all the time, but I found if I forged the arrowheads with stones from in those places, it's especially effective against them. I guess the stones possess the power."

  Jameson thought of Luke's last sentence in his own context, touching the necklace with the six stones, all of which were supposed to have some kind of power as well, but had thus far proven to be utterly useless. This excepted, of course, the incident Louisa and Cyrus mentioned before Luke had intervened in which Jameson was supposedly emitting a glow, though Jameson was not certain if it was the stones or something else all together.

  "The Forest has changed a lot," Jameson said once the reached the pond and began to trek around it.

  "It changes all the time," Luke replied. "In general, it's not someplace people want to be."

  "So why are you still here?" Jameson said.

  Luke paused a moment as if he was not even sure of the answer. "I guess it's like you said," he tried. "I could never leave the Forest. After we all had to evacuate, it was torturous to live in Market City, then in Miner Town, or any place that wasn't the Forest. It's difficult, and I am by no stretch of the imagination a warrior, but I can't imagine myself anyplace else. And, especially after my parents died…"

  He trailed off and Jameson put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I never came back," he said.

  "It's all right. You're back now and we have to catch up on a lot."

  "I'm not here to stay." Jameson regretted it the moment he said it; it was something he knew he would eventually have to tell Luke, but hadn't exactly meant to just blurt out in such a frank manner.

  Still, Luke didn't seem phased. "I know," he said. "You've got something to do, don't you? Is it about those stones?"

  "I'm not sure," Jameson admitted. "I have to get to the Shrine. We spent all day looking for it but just kept ending up back at the village. Do you know where the Shrine is?"

  "I can take you to it," Luke offered. "Will you let me take you to it?"

  "What? Of course!"

  "You know you can't get inside, though, right?"

  "So I've heard. But I've got this feeling and I can't leave until it's settled. I just need to get there and see it for myself."

  "I know what you mean. I've been trying to get through that barrier for years. I know if something is done, then the Forces will go away and people will be able to come back to the Forest. Then, maybe I could get a good night's sleep."

  "Come on. I'll take you back to meet Louisa and Cyrus."

  19. A Downstairs, Maybe

  Chapter 19

  When the two returned to the village, they discovered both Louisa and Cyrus awake and searching the area frightfully. Upon Jameson's return, Louisa yelled at him angrily before finally giving him an opportunity to explain where he had been and who he had met. He chose to leave out his encounter with the Forces disguised as Walden because Louisa would undoubtedly blame him for that too, and made it simply sound as though his first discovery had been Luke.

  Louisa and Luke did remember each other a little bit, but it had been a long time since either of them had seen the other. Louisa appeared skeptical that Luke could guide them to the Shrine, though it was more likely that she had been hoping Jameson would abandon his desire to reach the Shrine after a day of wandering around aimlessly.

  "I don't think it's safe for you to go off on your own, Jameson," Cyrus commented as Luke began to lead the way down a path they had taken before. "If something happened to you, we'd be back at the beginning."

  "I hadn't realized we made any progress," Louisa muttered.

  "I don't have a weapon," Jameson noted.

  "Can you use a sword?" Luke asked. "I have a short sword. It's poorly made, but I only made it for a last resort."

  He reached into his jacket and removed a small sheath which was only about the length of Jameson's forearm. Jameson took it gratefully and removed it from the sheath to get a sense for it.

  "It's light," he commented.

  "It's small," Luke reminded him.

  "It's better than nothing," Louisa said, crossing her arms.

  Jameson put it back in his sheath and attached it to his belt. "It'll be fine," he told Luke who nodded, satisfied. "I'm not sure if I'll know exactly what to do if we encounter any of the Forces."

  "I made it with a stone from inside the repelling barriers," Luke added. "So, while it's not exactly the strongest weapon in the world, it should deal some considerable damage as long as you hit the right spot."

  "We'll see what happens," Jameson said good-naturedly.

  "With any luck, you won't even need it," Cyrus said.

  Luke led the way down old beaten paths that hadn't been treaded on for many years. Jameson could have sworn they went down those ways the day before, but Luke insisted that he knew which way he was going.

  Sure enough, minutes barely passed before Luke began to slow down. He gestured for the others to wait where they were, and then took a few cautious steps forward, extending his arm in front of him. Louisa watched curiously, but inched behind Cyrus just in case, as Jameson eagerly awaited any indication of the barrier.

  Finally, Luke stopped. He leaned over slightly and his fingertips seemed to produce a green shimmer from which he immediately retracted, holding his hand.

  "Was that it?" Jameson asked, coming forward.

  "Jameson," Louisa said sternly, grabbing his arm.

  "That's it," Luke said, shaking his hand. "It goes all the way around the Shrine which is just through those trees. Careful not to bump it unless you want a nasty shock."

  Jameson pulled away from Louisa and strode right for where Luke was standing. He stared at his good friend and then faced where he had gotten a glimpse of the barrier. After a few tense seconds, he raised his hand.

  "Stop it!" Louisa ordered.

  "What are you doing?" Luke demanded, knocking Jameson's hand down. "It won't kill you, but you could seriously hurt yourself."

  "Trust me," Jameson said, and then looked back at Louisa and Cyrus. "All of you. I know what I'm doing."

  "How can you say you know what you're doing?" said Louisa.

  "All right, maybe I don't know what I'm doing," Jameson admitted. "But I can feel it. Don't worry."

  "Don't worry!" Louisa repeated in a mocking tone. "All right then! I'll stand here and not worry. But when you lose an arm, I'm not going to feel bad for you."

  "That's a little harsh, Louisa," Cyrus observed.

  "He deserves it," Louisa said.

  "It's a deal," Jameson offered. When he faced the barrier again, Luke was still standing by him, looking uneasy. "What's wrong?"

  "I don't know," Luke said. "I've seen people get pretty hurt touching this thing. I guess I'm just not too thrilled about seeing it happen to you too."

  "Don't worry," Jameson said very slowly. "It's going to be fine. I can feel it in me." He put a hand on his chest and took a deep breath.

  Luke took a few cautious steps backwards and nodded as Jameson extended his arm towards the invisible barrier again. Louisa groaned softly and Cyrus hushed her. For the first time, Jameson was beginning to get a little hesitant as his fingertips shook slightly in anticipation for whatever was about to happen.

  There was a surge from the ground which went up into the barrier, causing it to glisten a deep green and then wave into a vivid green, and this happened as soon as Jameson touched it. At first, he merely put his palm against the barrier and, when he did not feel any pain, he began to push. The barrier continued to shimmer and wave into varying shades of green and, all at once, Jameson's palm went right through.


  Louisa gasped out loud as Jameson almost fell forward, now standing straddled in between the barrier, the green light waving over him.

  "Is there any pain?" Luke asked, astounding.

  "I don't feel a thing," Jameson answered, stepping back through and holding his hands out for the others. "Come on. Everyone hold onto me. We'll get through okay."

  Without a word, Luke grabbed onto Jameson and looked pumped to try it.

  "Are you sure?" Louisa asked frantically.

  "You still need more convincing?" Cyrus questioned as he immediately got up and took Jameson by the shoulder.

  "Wait, I'm coming too!" Louisa exclaimed as she ran over and took Jameson's hand.