Energy - Awakening

by MJ Schutte

  ‘I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. You’ve already returned to the living once, I cannot send you back again.’

  Brighton clenched his jaw.

  ‘Evangeline, I need to go back,’ he said as calmly as possible.

  ‘I’m sorry Brighton, I will not help you,’ Evangeline replied.

  ‘Evangeline, don’t do this please. I helped you and Robert be together again. Does that not count for something?’ he said trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

  ‘We thank you for that but it does not get you any favours with me,’ she answered calmly.

  Brighton tried again, ‘I have to get Lilian, Brac, Adri and the children to safety before…’

  He suddenly stopped. Nobody knew what he was planning and perhaps it was better that way.

  ‘Before what, Brighton?’ Evangeline prodded.

  ‘Uh…before Graham’s army finds them,’ Brighton finished.

  ‘Brac and Lilian can make the journey without you, and Adri is with me already,’ Evangeline argued.

  She looked at the young man closely.

  ‘You were going to say something else; I can see it on your face. Tell the truth!’ she scolded.

  Brighton thought for a moment. He suddenly didn’t see the harm in telling Evangeline his plan.

  What was she going to do about it anyway?

  ‘As soon as I get the others to safety I will go back and remove Graham from his position,’ Brighton answered honestly.

  What he didn’t tell her was that he planned on simply killing Graham and taking over as king.

  ‘Why?’ Evangeline asked.

  ‘To fix my mistake,’ Brighton sighed.

  ‘And what would that be?’ Evangeline asked.

  ‘I’m the one that defeated the Supremes and put the People’s Council into place. They were greedy and power hungry and I could have stopped it but I didn’t. I gave them another chance and now Graham has made himself king. He has to be stopped and...’ Brighton’s voice trailed off.

  ‘You think it is your duty,’ Evangeline finished for him.

  ‘Yes, I caused all of this and I have to fix it,’ Brighton said.

  ‘No you don’t. It’s not your fault people are what they are,’ Evangeline said gently.

  When Brighton did not say anything she continued, ‘Remember, nobody is born evil. If you try really hard you can see the good in anybody.’

  Brighton looked into her eyes.

  ‘Why are you telling me this? You said I can’t go back again,’ he said despondently.

  Very softly Evangeline whispered to Robert, ‘Wait for it. Just a few more moments.’

  Brighton’s eyes suddenly went wide.

  ‘There it is,’ Evangeline whispered to her husband.

  ‘Wait, you didn’t send me back last time, I went by myself,’ Brighton told Evangeline.

  She didn’t argue the point, instead she said, ‘Brighton, if you are not careful your power will destroy you.’

  ‘It won’t, I am in control,’ Brighton replied.

  Evangeline didn’t answer. She just stood with a worried look on her face as Brighton’s spirit started fading away.

  ‘You were right, he is very clever,’ Robert remarked.

  Just as Brighton’s spirit was almost gone, his voice reached the couple’s ears.

  ‘I’m taking Adri with me.’

  Robert turned to his wife.

  ‘It wasn’t very nice deceiving him that way, you know,’ he accused.

  ‘I had to. If he knew he could return immediately I wouldn’t have had a chance to talk to him,’ she defended.

  With a sigh she added, ‘I just hope he understood what I was trying to say to him.’

  ‘You did have a talk with Lilian when she was here, didn’t you?’ Robert asked.

  ‘Yes, I did. Because Brighton loves her with all his heart, he has no defence against her. If he loses his way she will have to kill him,’ Evangeline answered.

  Lilian lost count of how many times she had used her sense while they travelled through the cave. She berated herself once again for not practicing more so that the range could increase. She didn’t know if she couldn’t sense the other two because they were still dead or simply because her sense didn’t reach far enough.

  ‘I want to rest a bit longer,’ she said to Brac.

  They had been resting far longer than Brac thought was necessary. He knew Lilian was hoping to sense Brighton and Adri coming towards them.

  ‘I think we’re close to the other side of the mountain. We should go look why you can’t feel any life beyond that line you spoke about. When Brighton comes we will have some valuable information for him,’ he suggested.

  Earlier, Lilian had told him it felt like there was a line that separated life and death just up ahead. She could feel some plant life above and in front of her but after a certain point there was simply nothing.

  ‘Fine, let’s go,’ Lilian sighed and got up.

  Brac didn’t allow another lengthy rest period.

  They walked until they saw daylight ahead of them.

  ‘It looks like we’ve made it through,’ Brac commented.

  Mischief leapt forward and raced for the light.

  ‘I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who was getting tired of this dark cave,’ Brac chuckled.

  He was trying his best to get a conversation going with Lilian to get her mind off Brighton and Adri. Lilian didn’t respond, she seemed to be in her own little world.

  The two carried on walking until they stepped into the late afternoon sun.

  Brac closed his eyes and faced the sun.

  ‘Ahhhh, that feels so good,’ he sighed.

  Mischief was rolling around on the ground making soft growling noises.

  ‘Brac, look at that,’ Lilian interrupted Brac’s moment of ecstasy.

  Less than a hundred paces beyond the cave entrance was a line of thorny bushes. It stretched north and south for as far as the eye could see and was at least twenty paces wide. The ground sloped downwards until it reached the line and then levelled out. Beyond the bushes was just open ground where nothing grew. Far in the distance, Lilian could make out what she thought to be some trees.

  ‘So that’s why it feels like there is a line that separates life and death,’ she whispered.

  ‘Because there is,’ Brac commented dryly.

  His eyesight was not nearly good enough to see the forest in the distance. Lilian didn’t think her sense would reach all the way there but she tried using it anyway to find out how far the trees she saw on the horizon were.

  ‘Brighton!’ she screamed as her head snapped around.

  ‘I assume your husband is coming,’ Brac said calmly.

  ‘Yes, he is alive!’ Lilian shouted.

  She gave Brac a tight hug with her free arm.

  ‘And Miss Adri?’ Brac asked carefully.

  ‘Yes, she is coming too,’ Lilian exclaimed excitedly.

  Brac slowly let out a sigh of relief.

  ‘That’s good,’ he said in a calm, controlled voice.

  It was not how he felt. His insides were all knotted up since they left Brighton and Adri behind in the cave.

  Excitedly Lilian said, ‘Let get some food going. Those two will be hungry when they get here.’

  She looked around for some firewood. There were no trees, just a few bushes and small plants.

  Lilian quickly spread out a blanket on the ground and put Thomas down.

  Brac put Clarissa down and said, ‘I’ll go look for some wood.’

  ‘No,’ Lilian said quickly. ‘I will. It looks like I might find some dead wood in those thorn bushes down there.’

  ‘But…’ Brac started.

  ‘Brac, please, it will give me something to do. Look after the kids, I will be back soon,’ Lilian said with pleading eyes.

  Brac smiled and nodded. He loved playing with the twins.

  Lilian walked down to the line of bushes that seemed to separate
life and death. She spotted a few dead ones slightly to the south.

  ‘Not really good firewood but it will have to suffice,’ she mumbled to herself.

  As she stuck out her hand to break off some dead branches Brac’s voice reached her ears.

  ‘MISS LILIAN! STOP! STOP!’

  She pulled her hand back and looked around.

  Brac was running towards her screaming and waving his arms.

  ‘STOP! STOP!’ he kept shouting.

  Lilian held her hands in the air so that Brac could see she wasn’t doing anything.

  He skidded to a halt right in front of her.

  Grabbing her hands and looking intently at them, he asked breathlessly, ‘Did you touch the thorns?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I was about to break off some dead wood when you started throwing your little tantrum,’ Lilian said irritably.

  Brac turned her hands around a few times inspecting them carefully.

  ‘Let’s step away from these bushes a bit, shall we?’ he suggested.

  The two walked a few paces back towards the cave entrance.

  ‘Why are you getting yourself in a twist about a few dead branches?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘It’s not the branches I’m worried about, it’s the thorns and what could be on them,’ Brac answered.

  Lilian put her hands on her hips and said, ‘Brac, what could possibly…’

  She stopped and looked at the thorn bushes.

  ‘Oh, I see. It is darkweed,’ she said in understanding.

  ‘It could be. I’ve never seen it so it’s difficult for me to make a positive identification. I think it would be clever to stay away from it just as a precaution,’ Brac replied.

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ Lilian agreed.

  They walked back to where the twins were playing on the blanket. Mischief was lying between them. Clarissa was trying her best to remove his ears from his head and Thomas was pulling on his tail. The big panther seemed not to notice, it looked like he was fast asleep.

  When Thomas saw his mother coming, he started crawling towards her. Lilian scooped him up and tickled him a bit.

  ‘Your father is almost here,’ she said happily.

  Thomas started whimpering.

  As soon as Clarissa heard her brother, she joined in.

  ‘You two are always hungry,’ Lilian said to them.

  Brac walked off and inspected the bushes around them. At the third bush he found what he was looking for. He picked a handful of berries and went to sit down on the blanket.

  ‘Who wants berries?’ he said to the twins.

  Brighton and Adri stepped out of the cave.

  ‘I will never complain about the hot sun again,’ Adri said.

  Lilian flew into Brighton’s arms. Neither of them said anything, there was no need.

  Brac stepped closer to Adri.

  ‘Miss Adri, so nice to see you healthy again,’ he said awkwardly.

  Adri flung her arms around his neck and planted a kiss right on his lips.

  Brac didn’t know what to do.

  Adri stepped back, a little embarrassed.

  ‘Sorry, I am just very glad to see you…uh…everybody again,’ Adri apologized.

  ‘It’s quite all right, I’m happy to see you too,’ Brac smiled at her.

  Brighton and Lilian stepped closer. Brighton had both the children in his arms. He looked at the thorn bush line and the dead ground beyond it.

  ‘Now I see,’ he muttered to himself.

  To the others he said, ‘I wonder why there is such a wide piece of seemingly dead earth here. I can feel life beyond it. Thick woods, lots of animals and even a few people.’

  ‘Brac says the thorn bushes down there are darkweed,’ Lilian offered.

  Brac quickly corrected Lilian’s statement, ‘I can’t be sure of it, I just wanted to be careful.’

  ‘That’s a good decision,’ Brighton agreed.

  He handed the children to the women and said to Brac, ‘Let’s go have a look. We will need to find a way through.’

  The men walked off towards the thorn bushes.

  ‘So, what happened after we left you?’ Brac asked.

  ‘Nothing much, it all worked out exactly as I planned,’ Brighton answered.

  He was still mulling over Evangeline’s words and wasn’t quite ready to share it with anybody.

  Why did she try to defend Graham? he thought.

  Brighton could not imagine seeing any good in Graham no matter how hard he tried.

  When they reached the thorn bushes Brighton looked at Brac.

  ‘How will we know if this is in fact darkweed?’ he asked the hunter.

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ Brac answered.

  Brighton thought for a moment and said, ‘The only thing we know is that darkweed explodes when it’s burned. That will be the way to test these bushes.’

  Brac didn’t like the idea at all.

  ‘If it is darkweed and it does explode, don’t we run the risk of someone getting infected again? A fragment could easily pierce the skin,’ he argued.

  Brighton shook his head and said, ‘Everybody will hide in the cave while I send a small amount of energy into a bush to set it alight. We should be safe enough up there.’

  Brac still didn’t like the idea but he couldn’t think of anything else.

  ‘Let’s go do it then,’ he agreed.

  The group moved some distance back into the cave.

  ‘This should do,’ Brighton said.

  He turned around and headed out again.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘I have to set fire to the bushes,’ he answered as he turned back to face the others.

  The men had already explained Brighton’s plan to the women.

  ‘Can’t you do it from here? You can sense the bushes, just direct the energy towards them,’ Lilian argued.

  ‘And how will we know if they explode or not? Someone has to watch what happens otherwise the exercise is pointless,’ Brighton countered.

  Before anybody could say anything he quickly added, ‘And I will be doing that alone.’

  Brighton expected arguments but instead he was greeted only by silence.

  He headed towards the cave entrance again. Standing just outside the opening he gathered some energy from the plants around him. A small ball of energy jumped from his hand and raced towards one of the smaller thorn bushes.

  The bush caught fire immediately.

  Brighton watched closely as it burnt. Small popping sounds started coming from the bush.

  ‘Not exactly an explosion,’ he muttered.

  He turned around and called for the others. They joined him at the cave entrance just as the fire was dying down.

  ‘There were no explosions but I did hear some popping sounds. It’s not enough to say definitively that those bushes are in fact darkweed but I think we should stay clear of them just in case,’ Brighton told them.

  ‘We need to find a way around,’ Brac mused.

  ‘Yes, but that’s going to be a slight problem. These bushes go in both directions as far as my sense can reach,’ Brighton answered.

  ‘So we can’t go around them and we can’t go through them. I don’t see another option. We will have to turn back and face the soldiers,’ Brac said worriedly.

  ‘No, we will go through,’ Brighton replied.

  ‘How are we going to do that?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘I’ll burn a pathway for us tomorrow,’ Brighton answered.

  They retreated to the cave to set up camp.

  The next morning when Lilian woke up, Brighton wasn’t next to her. She looked around the cave but he was nowhere to be seen. Using her sense, she felt him and Brac about halfway down to the line of thorn bushes.

  ‘Adri, are you awake?’ Lilian called softly.

  When the younger woman didn’t reply, Lilian crawled over to her.

  She gently shook Adri’s shoulder and said again, ‘Adri, are you awake?’
r />   Sleepily Adri said, ‘No.’

  Lilian frowned and said, ‘If you’re not awake, how come you’re talking to me?’

  Adri opened her eyes.

  ‘I was having such a nice dream until you interrupted it,’ she complained.

  ‘Really? And who was this dream about?’ Lilian asked with a smile.

  ‘I was in the most beautiful forest with….uh….who says the dream was about a specific person?’ Adri asked indignantly.

  ‘It’s all over your face. Could it be a certain older gentleman?’ Lilian prodded.

  ‘Lilian! Brac is far too old for me!’ Adri immediately started arguing.

  ‘I never said his name, you did,’ Lilian pointed out.

  ‘It’s obvious you were referring to him,’ Adri defended.

  ‘Why do you say he is too old for you?’ Lilian asked.

  ‘He must be twice my age, maybe more! I could be his daughter,’ Adri replied sharply.

  ‘What does that matter?’ Lilian asked, still smiling.

  ‘Well, I suppose…’ Adri started.

  She quickly looked around.

  ‘Where are the men anyway?’ she asked hoping to distract Lilian.

  ‘Just outside the cave,’ Lilian replied.

  Adri was relieved that Lilian didn’t continue the awkward conversation about Brac.

  ‘You and I are still going to talk some more about a certain man and your feelings for him,’ Lilian said as she got up.

  Adri sighed. She didn’t really think Lilian would just let it go.

  They picked up a baby each and stepped out into the crisp morning air. It looked like Brighton and Brac were involved in a serious discussion.

  ‘Morning,’ Lilian called to them.

  Brighton looked up, waved briefly, and continued talking to Brac.

  ‘That looks serious,’ Lilian muttered.

  They walked down and joined the men.

  ‘We should at least try to hide our trail,’ Brac said heatedly to Brighton.

  ‘And what would that help? The soldiers will find it no matter what we do. A burnt pathway through these bushes will be a dead give-away, whether I do it here or way over there,’ Brighton argued.

  ‘True, but doing it right here will make it too easy for them. We should pick a direction and travel at least a day before we attempt to get through the bushes. The soldiers won’t know which way we went so they will have to split their forces in two to cover both directions. Besides, we might just come across something that we can’t see now, something that will make it easier to get across,’ Brac argued.