The Warrior of Elamor (Saga of Zel-Elcon Book 1)

by Richard Wood

  Meanwhile, the horde is on the move again in South Scarland. When the village Elders get word of it, provisions are supplied for the village and the lookouts are alerted. Weapons are supplied to all the able bodied men of the village. Eli secretly enlarges his underground safe house with a quiet room for Jesse. Tensions mount all through the village, but everyone works hard to control any outbursts. Their common enemy of Quygon unites them with a purpose that outweighs any personal dispute, with the ultimate goal of saving each other’s lives and protecting the village.

  It is now the forty-sixth year of the kings’ reign and Jesse is now four years old. He walks easily throughout his home and plays safely in his father’s shop. In slow times, Shaira and Jesse stay for hours at the Blacksmith’s Shop. Jesse plays as his parents watch and talk to each other like old times. They hold hands, kiss and laugh while sharing bread and cheese.

  One afternoon as Eli and Shaira sat together talking, little Jesse falls asleep on the floor next to the billows. Soon the bench that Eli and Shaira were sitting on begins to shake. Eli clutches Shaira’s hand and looks over to Jesse sleeping on the floor. The shake is then followed by a deafening stillness. Seconds later, the ground shakes so violently, their vision is blurred. Both are thrown to the ground, dust rises, metal showers to the ground from the shelves they were on, and tools fly from the wall. Hot coals are thrown from the fire pit and start raining down on Jesse. Eli screams uncontrollably as red-hot coals dance on and around his little boy. Still sleeping on the floor, Jesse lies still, showing no reaction to the coals smoldering on and around him. Reaching him, Shaira brushes away the glowing embers sitting on her little boys’ body. Her hands dotted with little red and white burn marks, she picks him up and holds him closely. Little Jesse opens his eyes, smacks his lips around a few times, and then wraps his little arms around his mothers’ neck. Shaira turns and looks into the shocked face of her husband. Perplexed, they stare at each other. As tears run down her face, Shaira asks, “What does this mean Eli”? “The shaking ground didn’t wake him up, and the coals didn’t burn him”, she exclaimed. Eli has no answer. He just stands there looking at Jesse, offering nothing but a blank stare. He moves towards them and put his arms around them both. As he pulls her closer, he offers an answer with a gentle whisper, “I think it was Elamor”. Instantly an invisible warm blanket lowers down and covers them. The blanket is so real; they can feel it on their skin. Unknown to them, the warm blanket is that of the “Cloak of Elamor”.

  Elamor is a place of legend and folklore to most who do not believe. Some say it’s real while others call it fantasy. When in fact, it’s a world ruled by love alone. Nothing gets hurt there. There is no war, no hate, and no death. There is only one language spoken instinctively, and without training. Its’ people are so vast they cannot be numbered. All are personally known and loved by their one great king. In Elamor, time doesn’t exist. Its citizens can live in the past, present, or future; either one at a time or all at once. Music in Elamor has no beat or rhythm and moves in a flow too perfect to fit into Terra-Covian time. Light doesn’t shine on you there; it shines through you and becomes a part of you. The land of Elamor never ends, stretching beyond light. It’s the impossible world, the unlivable life, and unreachable to men. Those Terra-Covians who believe in it, use it to describe the perfect life.

  Eli, Shaira, and Jesse huddled together under the Cloak of Elamor for a brief moment, which felt as if it was a lifetime. It was a place of sanctuary. Slowly the cloak was absorbing into their skin, giving them strength and refreshment. Shaira noticed her skin was becoming softer and smoother than ever before and had an aroma of sweet lavender. The aroma will follow her for the rest of her life. They gray in Eli’s hair soon vanished, replaced by his natural dark-brown with reddish highlights. Jesse’s eyes took on a green-hazel color. The covering of the cloak gave them an experience like no other, a moment and an eternity in the same instance.

  Slowly, the familiar aromas of the shop started to fill their noses. The woodpile, the oil bucket, and the carbon in the air start to stir their senses. Eli’s mind floods back to the present. Dust seeps into the shop from the cracks in the walls. Then screams of chaos shatter the silence. Eli heads towards the doors and swings them open. Through the dust and fluttering bits of leaves, he sees frightened villagers, some holding their children and others who are searching through their destroyed huts looking for family and friends. The villagers’ faces look empty as they look upon the rubble that was once their homes. Eli steps out to survey the area. He turns back to look at his shop and is shocked to see that not one board was out of place, although his sign is still swaying from the effects of the shake. The villagers look at Eli with amazement. Shaira walks from the shade of the shop holding Jesse’s hand and puts her other hand in Elis’. Eli knows the villagers need an answer, so he states with great honor in his voice, “We were protected by Elamor”. The villagers’ look at one another, some whisper and others shake their heads. Jesse looks up to his right and smiles as he sees a Guardian. The Guardian looks back and says one word to Jesse, “Elamor”, then winks. Jesse’s eyes light up as the sound of the word Elamor gently sweeps through his soul. This single event would seal Eli’s and Shaira’s belief in Elamor and the fact that Jesse is truly chosen. The villagers don’t want to believe Eli but they see that his shop and home are untouched while their homes are destroyed. They see that Eli looks younger and there were differences in Shaira and Jesse, although they could not pinpoint exactly what they were. Eli sends Shaira and Jesse home and then begins to help the other villagers search for their loved ones. Fortunately, all of Payne could expel a sigh of relief, everyone was found alive. Some were wounded and a few had broken bones but all were recovered. Just four weeks had passed and the village is repaired. Eli is asked to become an Elder in the village, and everything slowly returns to normal.

  In the forty-eighth year of the kings’ reign, he passes away and a new king is crowned in his twenty-third year. Days later, a message is sent to the area of Payne stating that the Horde of Quygon is on the move in South Paradore.

  One afternoon before the Elders’ meeting, Eli is sitting alone in his shop. As the doors open, Shaira and Jesse walk in. “Hi Eli”, says Shaira. Little Jesse runs and jumps into his fathers’ arms. Looking into the face of her husband, Shaira sees an uncommon look of puzzlement. “What’s wrong Eli”, Shaira asks. Eli looks towards the ground slightly shaking his head. She walks toward the bench and sits next to him, asking Jesse to go play. Placing his lunch in his lap, she puts her hand in his. Eli begins to speak. “Shaira, I’ve been thinking about our little boy. He has a power we know nothing about”. “You’re right”, Shaira replies, as a loving smile forms at the corners of her lips. Eli looks at little Jesse playing amongst his tools then looks into Shairas’ eyes and begins to speak softly. “I believe in Elamor, and I’m going to ask it for a sign”. “What kind of a sign”, Shaira asks. Without hesitation, Eli responds. “The widow Skylas’ husband died a few years before you came to Payne. He died falling from the cliffs. There was no way for her to pay for all of the services I provided for her, so I have done most of the work for free.” Shairas’ eyes soften; generosity is one of the traits she loves most about her husband. Eli continues, “I’m going to ask Elamor to give me the sign of the widow Skyla paying her bill in full”, no matter how much it is”. Shaira smiles. She knows Eli isn’t asking for the sign for the money, he is asking because of the impossibilities. “Ok”, she says as she rubs her husband’s strong back. “That’s a good idea, Eli”. They sat together for a little while longer talking and playing with Jesse, and then Shaira and Jesse leave for home.

  As dusk falls, Eli hears his doors open. Bouncing into his shop is the widow Skyla with a huge smile on her face. Swinging a leather pouch with excitement, she runs up to Eli and says, “Look!” Eli’s eyes widen. Skyla holds up the pouch and shouts, “I saw something sticking up from the ground in my hut and started to try to pull it up, but
couldn’t. I then decided to dig around it and was able to see what it was. They were pouches full of coins!” she exclaimed. She walks over to Eli’s worktable and slowly pours out the coins in the pouch. Gold coins begin falling from it. “How much do I owe you”, she asks with a smile. Eli backs up to his bench and slumps down into it. “I have eight pouches like this!” she says loudly. “My husband must have buried them before he died”. She looks over to Eli slumped on his bench, pale as a sheet and asks, “Eli, are you alright?” He looks up to her but is speechless. Confused, Skyla asks, “Do I need another pouch? I want to pay you all I owe, you and your wife have been so good to me”. Waiving his left hand, Eli replies, “No, it’s not you Skyla. My wife and I were talking about something earlier today. Your’ bill is no problem at all”. Then with a childlike smile, he looks back up to her and says, “Your’ bill has already been paid!” Her face went blank. “Who paid my bill?” she asked. Half smiling Eli replies, “I can’t say Skyla”. With a look of amazement, she says, “Tell whoever it was that I said thank you”. She then asks, “What do I do with these coins Eli?” “Keep them Skyla”, he replies. “And please don’t tell anyone you found them, keep it a secret, or someone might try to steal them from you”. She gathers up the coins and places them back into the pouch. “Are you sure?” she asks. “Yes ma’am”, he replies. As she starts to leave, she pats Eli on the hand and says, “Thank you to you and your’ wife, Eli”. “Not a problem”, Eli answered. “But please remember Skyla, don’t tell anyone what you’ve found”. As she leaves, Eli replaces his tools, closes up the shop and heads for home.

  Walking home, Eli has a little dance in his step. “I can’t believe it!” he thought. Elamor has sent the sign. He opens the door to his home and shouts, “I’m home!” Little Jesse comes running and happily leaps into his father’s arms again. Giggling, Jesse wraps his little arms around his fathers’ thick neck. Eli pulls him in close and they laugh together. Shaira leaves the fire and rushes to Eli, takes him by the hand and lovingly kisses his cheek with Jesse still clinging to his father. They sit by the fire and Shaira says, “You’re home early today, is everything ok Eli?” “Oh yes”, he says. Noticing he was unable to hide the excitement in his voice, Shaira says with a smile, “Ok Eli, what happened tonight?” He replies quickly, “The widow Skyla came to see me!” Shaira gets a puzzled look on her face and asks, “What did she want?” Looking into her eyes with a big grin Eli replies, “She wanted to pay her bill, all of it!” A little shocked, Shaira glances down at Jesse in his fathers’ lap and begins to cry. She knows her little son has a big future, which only means that he will have a hard life. Jesse will have to carry some very heavy loads and make many sacrifices. She covers her mouth, trying to not let Jesse hear her cries. The thought of her little Jesse becoming something special was a huge honor to her, but now the reality of the costs it will bring to Jesse and her family is beginning to set in. Eli wraps his strong arms around her and pulls her close to him, trying his best as her husband to bring comfort to her. She leans into him and soon falls asleep.

  A week has gone by and Eli takes Jesse out past the shrubs and into the trees. Today he cuts wood for the fires at home and in his shop. After walking a distance, he sets little Jesse on an exposed rock. Pointing at him, Eli says, “Jesse you sit right here and watch dad”. Eli walks over to the tree and begins examining it closely. Looking up into the tree he considers what direction it’s likely to fall. The fluttering leaves give him the winds direction. He looks back at Jesse and can see he’s sitting on the rock with his hands in his lap watching his father closely. Turning toward the tree, Eli takes a big swing as the axe blade flies deeply into the trunk. Eli looks back again to Jesse and sees he is still perched quietly on the rock with his hands in the same position as before. Eli nods his head and whispers, “good boy”. He once again pulls the axe back and lets it fly. As it hits the tree, wood chips get catapulted into the surrounding area and then he hears Jesse cheering while clapping his hands. Eli giggles and takes another swing. Just as this happens, he hears in the distance the sound of falling rock and a woman’s scream. Eli drops the axe and runs to Jesse, pulling him into his powerful chest and runs into the direction of the woman’s cry. Unknown to Eli, the Sounds of Elamor are flowing loudly in the heart of Jesse and the spirit of the warrior child is alerted to danger. Eli makes his way through the trees and shrubs to the cliffs. There he finds the teenage daughter of a fellow villager lying on the ground. Her skull is caved in and blood is everywhere. Next to the girl is a rock that too is bloody. “A rock has fallen from the cliff face and killed the girl”, he thought to himself. Eli gets down on his knees next to the girl, lowering his ear to her chest to listen for a heartbeat. He hears nothing. Standing up, he walks a few feet from the girls’ body. Looking into the shrubs, he wonders how he will tell the girls’ family. As he looks back to the little girl, he sees little Jesse laying across her head and shouts, “Jesse no!” Reaching down, he grabs Jesse by the belt and lifts him up off of the girl. Then he sees something he hasn’t seen in years, a beautiful glistening light coming from Jesse’s birthmark. Suddenly the girl rises from the ground with a confused look on her face. Eli stands there motionless, staring at the little girl. The girl asks, “Is he alright?” “What do you mean”, Eli replies. “Your little boy, he has blood on his chest, is he alright?” says the girl. “A rock fell and hit you in the head”, Eli exclaimed. Instinctively, the girl reached up to her head and feels a wet spot. She lowered her hand and sees blood covering her palm. Once again, her hand reaches up to touch the wet spot and she states, “It doesn’t hurt”. Looking up toward the trees she says, “I better go to the river and wash”. As she leaves, Eli looks down at Jesse as he is still holding him by the belt and whispers, “Elamor”. To keep her from worry, Eli doesn’t tell Shaira about the event. A favor he does many times over.

  Meanwhile, Quygon and the Essence have become drunk on the emotions and sensations of the surface animals. They run with wild horses, and fight with stags. They lavish the delight of hunting with wolves, enjoying the taste of blood and the joy of the kill. They rise on the winds with the eagles and enjoy the closeness of breeding. Their adventures are a whole carnival of new enjoyments. They become lost in the pleasures of the surface world, losing their desires to consume souls. Then one day at dusk, Quygon and the Essence were in a huge stag grazing in an open field when they heard a strange sound and felt a deep pain come from within. Looking up, they see a hunter with an empty bow and then the stag’s legs folded up and the stag fell to the ground. Quygon is filled with rage. He orders the Essence to attack and leave the stag in a black mass of burning rage. The Essence jumps onto the man, and instead of killing him, they just enter into him. For the first time ever, Quygon feels the true fragile nature of man. “These bodies are not eternal”, he thought. The idea of killing man is a temptation Quygon would never try to resist. Together, Quygon and the Essence pull a knife from the hunters’ belt. The man is terrified. “What is happening!” he screams out. The man tries to replace the knife but it’s hopeless, as he has no control. He places the sharpened blade to his throat as his body trembles with fear. A look of lost desperation fills his face as he feels his hand tightly grip the knife handle. A second passes, and then a quick slash and his throat receives a deep cut that opens a large gaping wound. The man drops to the ground and gasps for breathe. He looks around for anything or anyone that might offer help but there is nothing that can come to his aid. He attempts to crawl but his arms give way and he slams to the ground. His heart begins to slow, then suddenly stops. In the Darkness of Ness, Quygon howls with delight. He has never experienced such a huge rush of sensations. It is a ride with an instant addiction. The amazing thrill of killing man, and feeling his permanent death. It was a joyride beyond description. Quygon and the Essence would kill off an entire tribe of men before the thrill would be gone. Then once again, he would return back to his original goals.

  Eli is hard at work in
his shop when a disgusting odor wafts into his work area. He instantly stops and sniffs the air. Dropping his hammer and tongs, he runs to the shop entrance. As he opens the doors, he’s hit with an unspeakable foul stench. It’s an odor he experienced years ago. It’s the stench of the Horde. This time, the odor is many times worse, almost suffocating. He turns to look in the direction of his house. Shaira and Jesse are already on their way to the shop and she now remembers the foul stench as well. She starts running with one hand over her mouth and nose while covering Jesse’s face with a scarf. Eli sees Shaira and screams out to her as he is pointing in the direction of the safe house. It was a hopeless attempt; her attention is totally on Jesse. Eli scans the area trying to figure out what direction the odor is coming from but soon comes to realize that the odor was flooding in from all directions. He looks to the sky but only sees an eagle in flight. He turns toward Shaira and Jesse, hoping to get them to safety beyond the shrubs, but the villagers have poured out into the streets making a getaway impossible. The villagers’ stand confused, some carrying weapons, others alone or with their families. The village men have no combat training but with weapons in hand, they are determined to protect all they have. Seconds later, the square is a mass of screaming villagers with no leader or direction. The vile odor of the Horde hangs in the air like a thick fog; you could taste the odor within your lungs. Mixed with the odor, you could now hear the frightening howls and growls of the Horde. Soon the sounds would become deafening. Between the thick odor, the hideous sounds and unholy fear, the crowd lost control. Some older villagers were trampled by the Horde and killed, many were intensely sick, and others were frozen with fear. As the crowd became closer, bodies started to be squeezed amongst each other. Shaira looked down to see Jesse but he was gone. She screams out, “Jesse!” Eli hears Shaira and tries to get to her but he was locked in the chaos of the screaming crowd. Eli too lets out a horrific scream, “Jesse! Jesse! Jesse, where are you!” The image flashes through his mind of little Jesse trampled to death, seeing Jesse’s body stomped into the ground. Instantly, Eli’s eyes scan the ground. The crowd moves wildly, pushing, stomping, slipping, and falling. Then Eli sees a child’s leg half covered with dust. Eli’s world goes silent. The little child’s foot is twisted and snapped. Eli screams out in horror. He lunged to the ground using his body to protect the child. Down on all fours, he looks down onto Jesse, his heart completely crushed. Tears fall from Eli’s eyes as he sees Jesse’s body pushed face first into the dirt. Eli realizes for the first time in his life what true hopelessness is. He thinks aloud, “The sign of the widow Skyla was wrong! Elamor never heard my request!” He kisses the back of his sons’ head then notices that the child he believes is Jesse isn’t. This child has black hair. He rolls the boy over and comes to see that this boy is a son of one of the villagers. He picks the child up and throws him over his shoulder; as he turns around, he sees Shaira. Her face is pale white, almost lifeless. This is the very first time he has ever seen her sweet face totally emotionless. Eli shouts out to her, “It’s not Jesse!” Her eyes then move from him, back to looking for Jesse. She looks up, outside of the mass of people and sees a familiar figure. It’s little Jesse searching the ground for rocks. He sees one that he likes, reaches down to pick it up, examines it and smiles. He sees another stone he likes and reaches down for it. Just then, the Horde pours into the village square from all directions. The crowd screams out in terror. As the Horde files in, several Horde warriors run toward Jesse.