by Joe Naff
Zehlyr turned away to hide his blushing face. She was going to find out sooner or later that he wasn’t the big, brave person she seemed to take him for. He didn’t know what she would think of him then.
Up ahead, the balisekt tripped on a small stone and fell to its knees. Caught off guard, Feneris and Viyana were knocked off balance and landed on their sides in the mud. The guards rushed into a flurry of activity. They swarmed around the fallen beast, driving blow after blow into its scaly flesh with their boots and the blunt ends of their spears.
Zehlyr and Azalea watched the scene with dumbstruck awe. There was still no struggle in the creature’s actions. Its clawed hands shielded its face while its knees tucked in tight to protect its midsection. Its tale wrapped tightly around its body. This was a defensive position, a helpless position. The balisekt sounded no hisses or clicks, but Zehlyr and Azalea thought they heard a faint whimper amongst the horrible chorus of shouting guards and boots striking scaly flesh. The moment made Zehlyr’s blood boil; then, something in him snapped.
“Enough!” Zehlyr shouted as he dashed over to the balisekt. He threw his arms out, trying to push the guards away. “Stop!” The guards ended their assault, but it seemed more out of curiosity over the young man’s brashness than fear of his influence. Zehlyr dropped to his knees at the creature’s side. He could see its midsection rise and fall with short, staggered breaths. The assault had reopened a few of its small wounds, and fresh blood was running between its scales.
“Can’t you see it’s not fighting back?” Zehlyr said. He was exasperated, and not sure himself why he was coming to this beast’s aid.
“What are you doing, boy?!” Sansehr demanded. Reaching down with his massive hand, he picked Zehlyr up by the sleeve and hoisted him into the air. “That beast helped kidnap your new friend over there and then leveled a square mile of forest! You dare show it pity?!”
Zehlyr gave no response. He was too afraid to say anything, and too busy mentally cursing himself for his foolish act of bravery.
Sansehr lowered Zehlyr back to his feet, but didn’t release his grasp. “Explain yourself.”
He knew he had to come up with something. Silence was only getting him into more trouble. “This balisekt is your only chance for answers,” he said. “If your men kill it, we’ll never know what happened.” There was a long silence as Zehlyr tried to read the thoughts behind his Lord’s eyes. Finally, Sansehr released his grip.
“We’re not going to kill it,” he said coldly. “But we’re not going to treat it like a guest, either.”
“You’re not going to get any answers if you break its jaw,” Azalea chimed in. She’d made her way over to the injured balisekt’s side and kneeled in the mud.
With her memory gone, Azalea had no recollections of what a balisekt was. It looked frightening enough, but so did Lord Sansehr, and everyone seemed to treat him with great respect. All she could see was a poor, defenseless creature being tormented for no reason, and it filled her heart with pity. She reached out a hand towards its face. “If you treat it better, you might just…” As soon as her hand made contact with the balisekt’s skin, Azalea’s body suddenly let off a brilliant flash of light. All the humans turned away, shielding their eyes from the blinding light. A loud, high-pitched hum filled the air.
When the light faded and the people of Meadowgold could see again, they found Azalea still kneeling next to the savage creature, only it was no longer injured. Its cuts were closed, its bones were mended, and, most frighteningly of all, its strength had returned.
Now fully healed, the creature leapt to its feet, knocking Azalea onto her back. Viyana and Feneris reached out for their chain leashes, but they were quickly jerked from beyond their grasp. The balisekt’s tail twitched wildly, nearly striking a nearby guard. It lifted its head into the air, taking its first full and painless breath since the Phenomenon.
The people of Meadowgold went into frenzy. Screams and shouts filled the air as the panicked humans scattered like roaches. Zehlyr rushed to Azalea’s side, falling to his knees to help her up. Returning her to a sitting position, they both looked up at the balisekt looming over them. Its clawed fingers were spread wide and its jaws were open, revealing its slender tongue flipping between them like an angry snake.
Zehlyr and Azalea knew they were at its mercy. For Zehlyr, this was much like staring down the wolves that morning. How many times would he have to face certain death today? He wrapped an arm around Azalea and pulled her close, knowing the gesture would do nothing to save either of them. Oddly enough though, Zehlyr could still detect no rage in the creature’s face. It looked more happy to be healthy again than angry.
Behind the balisekt, Viyana and Feneris finally got hold of their chains. Catching the creature off guard, they grasped them and jerked down in unison. The balisekt toppled forward, landing face-first on the soft ground and nearly falling on top of Zehlyr and Azalea. Mud splashed up on their wide-eyed faces. The dove on top of the balisekt and keeping it pinned to the ground. It squirmed beneath them, but was ultimately unable to rise again.
Zehlyr put a hand on Azalea’s cheek and turned her head towards him. Her sparkling green eyes held nothing but panic and bewilderment. “What did you do?!” he demanded.
Azalea opened her mouth to respond, but only heavy breaths came out at first. “I…I don’t know!” she said. “All I did was touch it! I only touched it!” She hadn’t intended to heal the creature. She didn’t even know such a thing was within her ability. It was as though her empathy for the injured balisekt manifested in some strange, unexplainable power.
Zehlyr’s hands moved to her shoulders and grasped her tightly. He couldn’t help but shake her slightly in his fear and confusion. “What are you?!” he demanded. “You can’t be human! No human could do that! Please, tell me, what you are!”
“I want them both in chains!” Sansehr bellowed, pointing one of his fat fingers at the mud-coated duo huddled together on the ground. He’d had quite enough with losing control of the situation while his subjects were watching. At his command, Zehlyr and Azalea were ripped from each other’s arms and lifted out of the mud. Their hands were forced behind their backs and shackled together with cold, heavy chains.
“Wait, stop!” Zehlyr shouted. His request fell on deaf ears.
“I knew there was something about you two I didn’t trust,” Sansehr said smugly.
“No, please! This is a mistake!” Zehlyr insisted. His words were met only with a heavy, painful slap from Sansehr’s massive hand across his cheek. The impact stung with a sharp pain before his face went numb.
“The only mistake I made was believing your goblin-brained story back in the woods. If you want to sympathize with this monster, fine. You and her can rot in a cell along with it.”
Sansehr’s words made him feel dizzy and sick. The thought of being jailed was bad enough, but to share a cell with a balisekt? They would be dead before the cell door was slammed shut. His mind searched desperately for something, anything he could say that would change his fate, but he and Azalea were already being dragged through the mud towards Meadowgold’s one and only prison; their fates now no different from that of the savage beast.
He tried to make sense of what he’d witnessed. Azalea seemed just as surprised as everyone else at whatever power she had used to heal the injured balisekt. All it took was a touch, just one gentle touch, and all of its wounds were gone. A once bloodied and broken monster was instantly healed. Everything he learned about Azalea only raised more questions.
The crowds dispersed as they arrived at the prison. It was a solid structure, built from split oak trunks. An iron door covered the entrance and a small, single hole in the wall laced with bars made for a simple, yet impassable window. Where most of the roofs in Meadowgold were made from straw and twigs, this one was made with the same logs as the walls. Zehlyr could see no method of escape possible. The iron door was opened with a loud groan and the prisoners were forced inside.
Stepping out o
f the sunlight and into the poorly lit jail, Zehlyr felt temporarily blinded. The lack of heat from the sun made him feel cold, though the chills running under his skin from fright certainly played a part in that. As his eyes adjusted once again, he could see the room was divided into four cells, each with a set of iron bars encasing it. A thin hallway ran the length of the structure between them. There was one window on each side of the building that the two cells on that wall shared. They were large cells, each roughly four hundred square feet, and none of them was occupied.
Seeing the condition of his new surroundings, Zehlyr felt a glimmer of hope that the balisekt would be placed in a separate lockup, hopefully against the opposite wall and out of reach through the bars. However, once the creature was tossed into its cell, he and Azalea were quickly added to the same space.
Zehlyr and Azalea each struck the cold, dusty ground with a painful thud. Zehlyr quickly scrambled to his feet again and turned back towards the entrance of the cell, but only in time to see the iron bars close with a deafening crash that echoed against the oak walls. “No! Please!” he shouted.
Sansehr only gave him a sinister smile. “You two feel like saving the life of this savage creature? Well, let’s see if it returns the favor.” At those words, Sansehr and his group left the jail.
Trembling and short of breath, Zehlyr turned around slowly. Azalea was huddled up against the far wall, her body shaking violently from fear. The balisekt crouched down in the opposite corner. It didn’t move or make a sound. It only watched, and waited.
Chapter 5
After a while, Zehlyr was starting to get splinters in his back. Pressed up against the oak wall of his cell, his feet pushed hopelessly against the stone floor, unwilling to admit there was no more room he could put between himself and the balisekt. Azalea coward beside him, her hands up over her face and her knees tucked up to her chin. She held her cloak tightly around her, like a child taking comfort in a favorite blanket.
On the opposite side of the cell, the balisekt remained crouched down. Its hands were over its head, letting its clawed fingers wrap around the bars behind it. Its long, green tail smacked the ground with each twitch, sending up clouds of dust into the barely-lit room. Its eyes were locked forward, fixated on the two humans. It hissed softly with each breath. The sound was as calm as a kitten’s purring, but utterly terrifying.
Zehlyr lost all track of time, each breath he took felt stolen from fate. He had no idea why the creature hadn’t torn them to shreds yet. Everything he had seen today went against all he’d been taught about balisekts, but old ways of thinking didn’t die quickly. This balisekt seemed more curious than malicious, but Zehlyr wasn’t sure enough to let his guard down; not that having his guard up would save him.
“You…you can speak…right?” Azalea finally asked with a shaky voice. She wasn’t sure if attempting to establish communication would make their situation better or worse, but it was better than just waiting to die. “I heard you speak in the forest.”
The creature nodded. “I can,” it said. Its voice was raspy. Understanding its words was difficult, but not impossible.
“How is it you can speak?” Zehlyr asked.
“How is it you can speak?” the balisekt retorted with a chuckle.
“I’m sorry,” Zehlyr replied, blushing with embarrassment that an animal had just bested his wits. “I’ve just never heard a balisekt speak before.”
The creature moved suddenly, causing both Zehlyr and Azalea to flinch. Kicking off the ground with its massive feat, it whipped its tail around the top of the bars while grasping onto the lower portions with its hands. Suspended against the wall of the cell, the balisekt swung back and forth like an anxious child told to sit in the corner by its mother. “So, you have encountered others of my kind then?”
Zehlyr shook his head. “Well, no.”
“Then why do you assume we cannot speak?”
“I…I don’t know,” he responded, realizing he truly didn’t have a good answer. “I guess I’ve never been told by anyone that balisekts could talk. No one in any tribe has ever told of such a thing.”
“To learn about a mouse, would one query a hawk?” the balisekt inquired.
“I don’t understand.”
The balisekt sighed. “You Creatures of Order have always despised my kind; cast us out into the uncivilized forest to live like savages with the goblins and trolls. Never have you thought us as equals, instead always meeting us with anger and bloodlust.”
“Is that why you’ve learned our language, to seek our favor?” Zehlyr asked.
The balisekt nodded.
“Are…you going to kill us?” Azalea asked. As far as she was concerned, best to go ahead and skip to the important questions.
The balisekt shook its head. “I will not kill you. You saved my life and healed my wounds. I am in your debt forever.” Its eyes turned towards Zehlyr. “You, I haven’t decided yet.” Zehlyr’s eyes widened as his feet resumed kicking futilely against the floor. The balisekt closed its eyes, letting out a hissy laugh at the sight of it.
Zehlyr’s legs calmed down as he realized he was being played for a fool. “That reminds me,” he said, changing the subject. “How did you heal his wounds back in the village?”
Azalea held up her hands and examined her palms as though she’d never seen them before. “I have no idea,” she said softly, not to anyone in particular. “All I did was touch him and then, there was that light. I felt something rushing through me, like a river flowing beneath my skin, through my arms, and out my hands onto…onto…” Azalea looked up at the balisekt who was still swinging back and forth on the bars. “Do you have a name?”
The balisekt dropped back down. Its claws clicked loudly against the stone floor as it landed. “Not that you could pronounce in your tongue.”
“We could at least try,” she argued.
The balisekt let out a short hiss, followed by a quick clicking sound.
“Is that your name?” Zehlyr asked.
It nodded.
“It sounded like you said Heeska. Is that at least close?” Azalea asked.
“Close enough.”
She smiled. “Very well then, we will call you Heeska.”
“I’m assuming that is a male name?” Zehlyr asked.
Heeska laughed again. “How you humans survive on your own is remarkable. Yes, it is a male name. I suppose I should learn your names now since we’re not going anywhere for a while.”
“I’m Zehlyr.”
Azalea lowered her head. “I’m Azalea,” she said somberly. “At least, I am for now.”
“I don’t understand,” Heeska said.
“Whatever you all did to her out in the Savage Lands, it caused her to lose her memory,” Zehlyr said. “She doesn’t remember anything before…what exactly were you all doing out there anyway?”
Heeska sighed. “You’re not going to believe me, but I’m honestly not sure.”
“You’re right,” Zehlyr said. “I don’t believe you.” It felt very strange to be conversing so plainly with a balisekt, especially since moments ago he was convinced the creature would tear him to shreds. “We found you at the site. You were wearing the robes.”
“You found me hiding in the trees away from the site,” Heeska retorted. “I was spying.”
“Spying?” Zehlyr questioned.
Heeska nodded. “The Chasers had been going into the woods together for months, sometimes not returning for days. No one in the tribe knew what they were doing, but our Lord insisted they’d discovered a power that would tip the scales of influence in the forest.”
Zehlyr rose to his feet. No longer fearing for his life, he began to pace the floor in the tiny cell, giving his muscles a chance to stretch. “What does that mean?”
“We balisekts are not the savages you think us to be,” Heeska said. “We do not live like animals. Our communities have order, structure, and hierarchy. We engage in trade, we honor agreements.” Heeska looked up towar
ds the tiny window. An orange beam from the evening sun shone warmly upon his scaly face. “Some of us even revere the Lady.”
Zehlyr was surprised. Heeska was nothing like the balisekts he’d grown up learning about. “I had no idea,” he said softly.
Heeska looked upon Zehlyr once again. The room was dusty, and swirling clouds were passing through the sunbeam coming through the window. The balisekt coughed before answering. “Your ignorance is not without justification. My race was not always like this. Hundreds of years ago, we did live as your legends told.”
“What changed then?” Azalea asked. She too had risen to her feet, but kept the cloak wrapped tightly around her naked body.
“The Blight happened,” Heeska responded. “When the blight drove my ancestors northward from the old lands, we passed through your Lands of Order in our exodus. It was then that they first saw a world of civility and structure, a world of order and law. When the Blight ended, some returned to the south, but many of my ancestors stayed in the north and began to build a civilization like they’d seen in their travels.”
A loud groan echoed through the small room as the iron door opened slowly. Everyone in the cell rose to their feet and turned towards the entrance. From the dim light of the evening sun came Viyana. In her hands, she held a pile of clothes and a small, leather sack. “Lady’s grace,” she said as she approached the cell. “You two are still alive.”
Heeska crouched low against the floor, letting out a slow hiss and flicking his tail against the bars. Azalea turned away. Zehlyr leaned his back against the wall.
“These are for you,” Viyana said as she reached her items through the bars and dropped them on the dusty floor. The faint thud echoed off the oak walls. “Real clothes for the lady and something for the two of you to eat.”
Azalea bent down and snatched the clothes off the floor. It was an old brown dress that came down to her knees. Though tattered and worn, it did look to be her size. Retreating to the corner, she made quick work of getting dressed with her back to the others, eager to wear something she didn’t have to keep holding closed.
