Ized- the Ancestors

by Esther Barvar

  She seemed disturbed. The death of his father had taken her with it. Gently he kissed her temple and soothed her: »Maioshan, my beloved little Maioshan, don’t be sad. Also, the nights of the fire must stop one day. Certainly! You are not to blame for the death of anyone. Come, dearest. Let’s have dinner with our son. You must have other thoughts. My father’s life clock had expired. We cannot foresee or even avert the end of life. Death belongs to every life, but especially to that of a warrior«.

  He took her hand and put the ring back on her finger. Then he stood up, pulled her up. He joked, poked her nose with his finger, kissed her at every opportunity, but he could not scare away the sadness that surrounded her. She seemed apathetic on the way back to her rooms. Adar worried more and more.

  They ate dinner together. Then Maioshan brought Atesch to bed. Adar heard her sing him a song in the foreign language, as she did every evening. When the boy had fallen asleep, they also went to bed together. He kissed her tenderly, and they loved each other. Together they glided quivering over the waves of lust.

  Adar felt that this act of love was a farewell.

  »I love you, Maioshan, with all that I am. I cannot and do not want to live without you anymore,« he whispered to her. Then he fell asleep, held her close to his body, and was soothed by her scent.

  When he woke up the next morning, she wasn’t lying next to him. It was silent, way too quiet. Otherwise, he was the one who woke up earlier. He jumped off the bed. Worried, he put on a pair of light cloth trousers and hurried into the living room. He did not find her. Her scent was barely perceptible. Panic seized him, as he looked around, he discovered the ring on the table and a note underneath. She had left a letter. Adar’s hands trembled as he starts to read it.

  My love,

  forgive me, but I had to leave. I can’t bear any more deaths. I am waiting for you and the Ringbearer in Emeishan, the land of dragons and magic. There is an entrance at the steep rock face, where the tendrils grow. Only in this place can you enter my country. You need a lot of water to cross the rock plateau. Ask the people you meet about the priestess Maioshan, and everyone in the land will tell you where to find me.

  Befen once told me that if danger came, the magicians of the land Ized would find a solution. Unfortunately, no magician can do anything against the fires of the Red.

  But I can’t take any more guilt. I love you and our son more than my life. That is why I must leave. Please believe me. Otherwise, the Red will kill you one day, just as he killed your father.

  Farewell, dearest. My thoughts and my love remain here with you and Atesch.

  I love you, will always love you.

  Maioshan

  »No! No! No!« Adar shouted desperately, crumpled up the piece of paper, and threw it to the ground. He gasped, could barely breathe. She was gone, just gone. No, it could not be! How could he live without her? She could not; she was not allowed to leave him! Maioshan was everything to him!

  And yet it was like that, he knew, felt it. She was no longer here. She was no longer with him. In the middle of the night, she had left him. He could feel it deep inside; she was gone. By the Waves of the Wide Stream, how did she leave the city at night? All the gates were closed. Both the city’s and the quarter’s gates. She had been with him when the gates were closed; he knew that very well. Since the fires spread across the countryside and approached the city inexorably, the guards closed the gates at nightfall.

  As these thoughts went through him, he felt a terrible pain in his chest at the same time, and the numbing pain was running through his whole body. He sank to his knees, slapped his hands in front of his face, and groaned resignedly.

  Atesch came running into the living room. »Father,« he shouted with a bright child’s voice, ran to him, threw himself into his arms. With his little arms, he embraced Adar’s neck and pressed him firmly to himself. »Father, you must not be sad. Mother spoke to me in a dream. She loves us, even if she had to go far away. She loves us, you know?«

  For his part, Adar embraced the boy, pressed him to himself. Only Atesch still meant something to him.

  At the same moment, there was a loud knock at the door. »Adar, Maioshan, Adar! Damn it, open this door !« It was Lord Befen who hammered wildly and anxiously against the door and called out for them.

  Adar opened with a small magical impulse.

  Befen rushed in, slammed the door behind him. He seemed irritated, but got right to the point as he walked towards Adar. »By the Waves, where is she, Adar? Is she still here? Damn, what is going on here? She appeared to me in a dream, sent me to you. How did she do that? Adar, now finally talk to me. Where is she?«

  He stared at the young friend who was kneeling on the floor with his bare upper body, holding Atesch in his arms. His face was streaming with tears and painfully distorted. So much pain, so much suffering in that look hit the Administrator deep down. Adar barely shook his head. »Gone,« he whispered with a voice that no longer seemed human. Then he collapsed.

  »Father …«

  - Lord Sors, you are urgently needed at Adar’s premises. Hurry, come immediately quickly!

  Befen called out, panicking to Lord Sors with the help of a mental message. Every magician in the city heard the words and also the urgency because no mentally shaped metal was exchanged between the men. But in such an emergency, Befen didn’t care who was listening.

  He hurried the few steps that still separated him from Adar and checked his life functions. Adar was in a bad kind of condition, and it got worse and worse. Befen didn’t know what was happening, but he felt life give way to the young man.

  - Sors, hurry! He’s dying!

  A few moments later, there was already a knock. Befen hastily moved his hand, and the door almost flew open, slammed against the wall. Sors came in. He was barely dressed in trousers and a shirt that was still open.

  »Do something. He’s dying,« Befen shouted at him and made way for the healer.

  Sors hurried over, knelt beside him, laid both hands on the unconscious man, and concentrated on him. He felt the torments Adar was going through, was carried away and had to moan involuntarily. The magician suffered terribly. His spirit visibly faded. Besides, strangely, the man’s heart no longer wanted to beat. Breathing had stopped.

  Sors initially sent strengthening energy into the body to enhance it. Then he gave regular and intense impulses to the heart to make it beat evenly.

  »Befen, two more healers, no matter who, fast. I cannot save him alone. His heart, his breathing, his spirit. I cannot influence everything at the same time. Hurry!«

  Befen, who had slipped a little aside, jumped up. He ran out, knocked on the door next door, and asked where the next healers lived, as Lord Adar needed help urgently. Fortunately, one was standing right in front of him.

  »I’m coming,« he replied, trying to hurry over to the warrior’s room.

  Befen held him back by his arm. »Sors needs another healer.«

  »A colleague lives there.« The magician pointed to a door and hurried into Adar’s rooms. »Energy,« Sors hissed at the colleague. He nodded, put his hands on his body, and strengthened the warrior.

  Befen also brought the next healer into the rooms of Adar. Immediately he took care of the breathing. Then the Administrator looked around. He discovered Atesch, who huddled on the ground not far from the healer and quietly watched the scene. He walked towards the boy, took him on his arm, and went with him to his room to distract him there. However, he left the door open and listened to what the healers were doing in the living room.

  Atesch tapped Befen on the shoulder. »What about my father, Lord Befen?« the little one wanted to know quietly from him.

  »Your father suddenly became very ill. We have to be quiet so that the healers can concentrate,« he explained to him, forcing himself to rest. He sat down with the boy at his bed.

  Atesch nodded, snuggled up to the Administrator. »Mother appeared to me in a dream. She loves us, but she had to leave so that no
one would have to die anymore«.

  Befen stared at the little one. So he had also received a message? Befen was very worried about Adar but also about Maioshan. He tried to sort out his thoughts. Little by little, a single question crystallized out.

  How, by the Waves of the Wide Stream, had Maioshan been able to leave Farsie?

  At night this was simply impossible. And in the evening, he had seen Adar with her. So she must still be in town. The gates weren’t open by now. But where could she be? And how had she managed to appear to his and Atesch’s dreams?

  After a few anxious minutes, the healers leaned back exhausted. Lord Sors nodded to them and wiped the sweat off his forehead. »We made it. I thank you, my lords. He is stable now. Heart and lungs are working independently again«.

  »What was that phenomenon, Sors? The man is actually in good health,« one of the two healers said in amazement.

  »It is a mystery to me as well as to you, but I will get to the bottom of it here. A young warrior like him, healthy, and suddenly, overnight, he dies? I have never experienced anything like it before. That is inexplicable. I will investigate whether there has been a case of this kind before and inform you if I find it.« Sors seemed grimly determined.

  Both healers nod in agreement. They gathered, greeted the Administrator, who just at that moment entered the room with Atesch, and left.

  Sors still stared stunned at the unconscious man. Then he turned to Lord Befen and shook his head. »What was that? Why by the Waves of the Wide Stream life disappeared from him? I never felt anything like that. No wound, no poison, nothing I could detect. Nevertheless, he has just almost died here. His life clock would have to beat for many decades to come. Something like that should never have happened. It is as if he had no will to live. Befen, can you explain to me what has been going on here?«

  Befen shook his head and lowered Atesch to the ground. »Go into your room for a while, Atesch. I’ll come right to you.«

  After the boy had gone, Befen turned to Lord Sors, breathed deeply, and denied again: »I don’t know, Sors. I’m just happy to have followed my dream. I dreamed of Maioshan. I think I had a vision. She stood before me as clearly as you do now and asked me to take care of Adar and Atesch because she would have to leave if there were not to be more deaths. Then she was gone again, and I awoke. It was so real, and it worried me, so I hurried here. When I knocked on my door and entered, Adar knelt on the floor with Atesch. Sors, you should have seen that look, the anguish that could be seen in his face … I asked him where Maioshan was. He just said gone and collapsed the next moment. The rest is known to you. That’s all I know.«

  »Maioshan? Is she no longer here? How is that possible? The city gates are still closed. And last night, I saw them together in the neighborhood.«

  »I’ve seen them too. In the evening, just before the closing of the gates. I am quite sure of that. Abarta and I accompanied the warriors to the city gate. I wonder how she was supposed to have left us, and I come to no result. At least she’s not here,« he said objectively. »But if she climbed over the city wall, how would she have survived the flames, Sors?«

  »She couldn’t have survived that,« Sors confirmed, shaking his head in shock, looking over at the bedroom and opening the door with a small gesture. Now he bent down to Adar. »He had to go to bed. For sure, he won’t be able to serve for a few days. I’ll watch him during that time.« Sors lifted Adar from the ground using magic and let him float over to the bed. There he laid him down. After covering him up, he once again controlled his vital functions. When he returned to Befen, he left the door open.

  »I’ll come by regularly, but now there should be someone here with him to inform me if his condition worsens. I urgently need to make some inquiries at the library.«

  »I am staying here. Please tell Lord Abarta that I will not come to him today.«

  »That is not necessary,« it sounded from the door. The healers probably hadn’t closed the door behind them when they went out. Lord Abarta stood in the opening. »Your message was urgent enough to worry me. Tell me what happened here.«

  Befen repeated what he had already explained to Lord Sors.

  Lord Abarta listen skeptically. Maioshan’s disappearance also seemed strange to him. »She is gone? How is she supposed to have done that? No one could go out unseen. All gates are opened again immediately. You saw for yourselves how close the fires of the last night of the Wall came. Perhaps Maioshan is still somewhere nearby. I will search for her. But at the moment we have other problems. Huge problems! Of those who moved out yesterday, no warrior has returned yet. The landscape, as far as you can see, is charred. Everything is burned. The losses among our magicians are meanwhile threateningly high. If we don’t find out soon what’s happening here, we won’t be able to protect the population.« With a sigh, he let himself fall into one of the armchairs. »Right now, I don’t see that we can protect anybody. The seekers don’t notice any danger, and yet our people disappear. Many of them are researching in the closed area of the library, whether such a phenomenon has existed before. Perhaps the ancient writings provide information.«

  Sors hesitantly approached. He seemed strangely absent. Abarta looked up at him piercingly but helplessly. »Lord Sors, what about him now? Can his condition somehow be connected to these nights of fire? He was already on patrol, too. Did that make him sick?«

  The healer shook his head slowly. »No, I don’t think because of the fires. But his condition is extremely unusual. I have never experienced such symptoms before. Nevertheless, I remember reading something a long time ago.« He shook his head again. »I thought it was superstition, nonsense. It was in an ancient textbook. There was a strange chapter in it. By the Waves, what was that called? I can’t remember the title of the book, but I know about where it should be. Don’t think I’m crazy, but it was something in the direction that a magician who really and truly loves can die if the woman leaves him. If that is true, we may have a severe problem here with Lord Adar. He seems to be without the will to live.«

  »What? Excuse me? And now what? Do you think something like that could be real?«

  »I do not know, but perhaps the book could help us. I will go to the library and look for it. At that time, I only flew over it and put it back again. I thought it was absurd. A love that can be so intense that you could perish from it - perhaps in the further course of the work, there is something about possible treatment. Hopefully, I will find it again at all. Lord Adar should be under constant supervision during this time.«

  Befen confirmed his intention: »I already told you, I will stay with him. You’ll get an instant message from me if anything changes in his condition.« With it, he pulled a ring from his finger and handed it to Sors.

  He accepted the piece of jewelry thoughtfully and handed Befen one of his own rings. He quickly left the living room.

  »By the Waves, Befen, should it be possible to love so intensely that you can die of it?« Abarta asked in horror.

  Befen resignedly raised his shoulders and shuddered. Everything that had happened that morning was scary to him. How had Maioshan done to appear to him? If he hadn’t reacted to this strange vision, Adar would be dead now.

  »I don’t understand any of this. Can you remember how much she insisted on being a priestess and not a magician? By the Waves, what is a priest? What kind of power exists inside her that she could appear to me? She gave me the order to pay attention to Adar and Atesch. Maioshan must have controlled it consciously. Who knows if Adar’s strength doesn’t make him all the more vulnerable. Atesch is playing in the room. Could you get the boy a breakfast? I want to see Adar. If he gets worse, Lord Sors must be informed as soon as possible.«

  Befen was aware of the shock. He rubbed his temples, shook his head again and again. It was simply unbelievable.

  »First, I will give a healer in this building the order to wait on call in his premises,« Abarta replied. »No matter what else his duty says, the health of our warriors is more impor
tant and especially now and from this one. Because if the healer is here in the building, he can get there faster than Sors, who is researching in the library. When I came, two healers were talking in the hallway. They were talking about the event with Lord Adar, and both of them seemed even more helpless to me as Sors right now. Then I will organize breakfast for all of us. I’m worried about this man, partly because I know what hope you have in him. But also because our losses so far among the warriors will accompany us for a long time to come.«

  »One of the two healers lives right next door.« Befen turned to the bedroom and walked over to the unsteady step. It had struck him in shock after see our so controlled friend collapse.

  The Supreme Lord briefly left the rooms. When he returned, he rang for a servant and ordered a sumptuous breakfast for all of them. It didn’t take long, and it was brought.

  Abarta fetched Atesch from his room. »Do you want to invite Lord Befen for breakfast, Atesch?« he asked the boy and pointed over to the bedroom. He nodded and ran into his parents‘ bedroom. »Lord Befen, breakfast is already here. Come with me.« Atesch grabbed a hand from the Administrator and pulled him towards the living room.

  »I’m coming, Atesch, don’t pull like that.« Befen had to smile because of the impetuous behavior and followed him. After they had strengthened themselves, Atesch, who had remained silent during the entire breakfast, slipped down from the chair.

  »I’m now going to my father,« he announced and ran over to the bedroom. There he climbed onto the bed. Befen hurried after him to stop him from disturbing Lord Adar. But when he saw the tenderness with which the boy snuggled up to his father, he couldn’t bring himself to send him away from there.

  »Atesch, boy, your father is very ill, he needs rest,« he warned him friendly.

  Atesch looked up briefly. »I am very quiet,« he whispered to the Administrator and held his stretched finger in front of his lips. Then he lay down again and stroked gently along Adar’s cheek.