by S L Gassick
Hemero wondered if this was a trick. Nayakax looked extremely earnest, yet it was a statement that suggested Hemero didn’t do anything, which in fact, he did not. He sighed and hung his head wondering whether he could tell Nayakax the truth.
“I froze, Naya… I froze and it cost someone their life.”
Nayakax wondered if he would elaborate but instead he could see Hemero was going over the scene in his head. “What happened?”
“A young boy was trapped and I tried to help, but my mind went blank and I suddenly found myself not knowing what to do, the boy was screaming and…. and….” Hemero broke down into tears. Nayakax walked up and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Listen, I can’t imagine how horrible that must have been. But you have to believe you can do this, because you can. And I don’t understand it, but I’ve sensed a change has come over you. This is your calling, Hemero and if Gaea willed that boy to die, then so be it.”
“Why would Gaea want some innocent boy to die? It’s nonsense.”
“I don’t know Hemy, and maybe we’re not meant to know. But he’s dead. So either learn from it and grow stronger, or let it smother you and wallow in self-pity. Death will happen to us all, one way or another. But don’t believe you can’t help these people Hemero, because you can. They might think I’m a hero, but it was nothing more than what you would have done.”
Rose stirred and Nayakax took that as a sign to leave; he wandered towards the outskirts of the village while Rose shuffled up to lay her head in Hemero’s lap. But all Hemero was aware of was a tiny gap between the houses in front of him. Between the gap he could see the house in which the boy died, and he had not listened to a word Nayakax had said.[DG27]
Later that night there was a huge fire in the middle of the square. Dancing had taken place and the women were putting on shows for their other halves sitting in the audience. There was a small group of people singing in the corner as some make-shift drums were driving the rhythm.
Unmarried men and women, all dressed in their finest colourful outfits, danced in a separate area on one side of the fire. Hemero and the others [DG28]had been sat there. Phin and Rose were joking and dancing around, enjoying the festivities and even Hemero was able to crack a smile and relax after the previous evening’s ordeal. However, Nayakax and Lirilius sat in near-silence at the edge of the party.
“Nayakax, do you know the history of my father?”
“The stories I hear are of how Lithius helped rid our land of tyranny and oppression. That he helped my father and then was overpowered by another. We were in danger and we had to leave. We cannot tell anyone about it for fear we might be found and slaughtered,” Nayakax answered coldly.
“Hmm...” Lirilius mused over this for a few moments before coughing and nodding. “That worries me.”
“Why?”
“This age of tyranny your father speaks of, that was under the command of Gaea.”
“What do you mean?”
“Quiet down. There are ears everywhere. We, as former Dark Clan members, are to never be trusted, or to trust. It is a foul lesson that you will learn.”
Nayakax played with his shoelace and the way it was tangled up into a knot suddenly became mesmerising. The way one simple piece can hold something together and keep it secure, the way it is shaped and the rules that make it twist a certain way.
“I do not consider myself part of the Dark Clans, Sir.”
Lirilius nodded. A slow, thoughtful nod that meant he understood the young boy. He placed a hand on his shoulder and kept a firm grip.
“And neither did I. Yet it does not stop others and, more importantly, it will never cease. The problem with swapping sides is that neither will ever trust you. Just remember who your friends are - and even then, keep on them a watchful eye. It’s a curse our forefathers placed on us.” Lirilius picked up a handful of dirt and let it fall into the ground before he patted it dry and wiped his hands on his trousers.
“I will heed your words, but rest assured I am a good judge of character.”
Lirilius laughed. “Ah! The arrogance of youth. I used to believe in what my clan was fighting for. A land for the future under my father’s rule. But my father was not a leader, merely a selfish, self-indulgent man with a thirst for power. He was merely a pawn for Shui.”
“Shui?” asked Naya.
“You do not know of Shui?”
Nayakax shook his head. Lirilius looked deeply perturbed and glanced around him once more. He leaned in close and the air around them felt heavy, it seemed that nothing but the sound of Lirilius’s voice could be heard. “Then this is also worrying.” He looked Nayakax straight in the eye. “Shui is the leader of the Dark Clans, child. It is not told of where he came but people believe he was born from the sky and depending on who you talk to, sent here as the new Gaea. He was found beside a river many, many moons ago and has been around for centuries coming in and out of hiding. He has remarkable power that not many can match and some say can never be beat. As powerful as he may be, there is another more so than he. Shui believes he is the conduit for a higher source and as rumour has it, he has channelled this power into a human entity: a woman whom he calls the Queen[DG29].”
“Queen? I‘ve never heard of a Queen?”
“Ssh! Not so loud. It is said only he has seen or spoken to her. He has created a following around this woman, a very substantial following. But his detractors believe this is a mere ploy, a figurehead to rouse a rebellion, a final effort to gather the necessary forces he needs for an attack on the remaining Valhallas protecting the lands from his rule. Believe me, his path carries much death and disease and his claims of being the true Gaea are completely unfounded. Indeed, the history of the Dark Clans comes from those who opposed Gaea in the first place as I’m sure you know – but then, I guess everything always changes with time.”
Nayakax didn’t know what to say. This man, this strange knight who clearly had a disposition about him, was being too forthcoming. What would this man gain by telling him this? Nayakax felt he needed context, he needed to figure out this man before this was all over. “You know a lot Lirilius. How is this so? What path led you to Knighthood?”
Lirilius picked up his sword and began sharpening it on a small black oval rock that appeared from his pocket. The noise felt somewhat comforting and had a steady rhythm to it. Naya had realised he had overstepped the mark and quietly turned his attention to the night sky.
The sharpening stopped.
“It was my father.” Lirilius dug his sword into the earth in front of him and studied it slowly, looking for chips, scratches and stubborn blood marks. “I left after knowing the truth of my father. Our lands were peaceful under Gaea’s rule, there was no tyranny as your father calls it. We were simple folk and my father, a simple man. That was, until he began working for the Dark Clans. Then he changed. My mother noticed it first and they had begun arguing. They had never really argued before, or if they had done, my father would bring back purple flowers from the market. My mother’s favourite. She always forgave him for she knew he had a warm heart.” Lirilius smiled, then put away his sword. “Then one night my father came back late. It must have been late as the shouting woke me up. This wasn’t a normal argument, things were being smashed. They were shouting and my father sounded angry. I hid in the cupboard until it stopped and I fell asleep.
I found my father looking into the smouldering ash of what had been a fire. When he turned round to me, his eyes were bloodshot, his face had aged a thousand years and I could see he had been crying. He told me my mother had gone. That she had left us. That she did not believe in us anymore and had to go. I did not know what he meant by ‘us’, I still truly don’t know. Yet on that day, each and every year, my father would bring purple flowers home and put them in my mother’s favourite vase.”
Lirilius was crying.
“Your father believed in what he thought was right.”
“No,” Lirilius spat, “my father got a tas
te for power and it consumed him. He and others turned against their own people; their own neighbours, colleagues, friends. They tried to help them see a life without Gaea and those who openly disagreed? They were killed.”
“Killed?”
“I watched my father slice the tongue out of a man for praising Gaea before sawing his head off with a kitchen knife. I watched him descend into madness as he made ordinary citizens pray to the Queen and beg for forgiveness before hanging them outside their own homes. His taste for death knew no bounds and when I was old enough, I had to leave.”
“You came to Norheath?”
“Yes, I deserted my clan, my own father to start a new life at the Valhalla at Norheath. I was accepted after rigorous tests and swore to protect those that loved me and took care of me, which I did.”
“Did your father not love and protect you?”
“He did, in his own way.”
“Have you seen him since?”
“No. Never. He belongs to Shui and the Queen now. They are his family and my family are the people of Norheath. You, Hemero, Rose, the other kid, all of you. We will protect each other for I am a Knight.” Lirilius laughed out loud. “Well, I was a knight. But now no longer! Nothing more shameful than a dishonourably discharged knight.”
Lirilius started playing with the scorched grass by his feet. Picking it up in clumps and throwing it to his side, creating a small pile of long, brown, cindered strips of land.
“Yet your courage remains intact, they will surely let you back in,” Naya reassured him.
“They will not, young one. I have a dark history, and one that leaves me a lonesome knight at the best of times – any excuse to have me dropped, they would take. Maybe it was fate; it is not often I run into someone of the Dark Clans who has not been fooled by their twisted ways.”
“I am not twisted either way, Sir. I see things for how they are. I take your comments on board, but not as gospel.”
Lirilius smiled. “Then you are not a fool, and neither would I hope you be.”
Nayakax returned the smile and stuck out his hand. Lirilius gripped it firmly and gave it a single hard shake. Behind them, the moon had risen to its fullest height and illuminated the world around them, exuding a silver shine over the black shroud covering the land.[DG30]
“Dance?” Rose held her hands out to both of them. A brief glance between them and Lirilius nodded.
“Sure,” the Knight said, “for once, I feel like I might have something to smile about.”
Hemero had been chatting to Phin for an hour now about whether it was right to mix Amaldatine into your orange juice to make it thicker. The argument had got more heated than it should when Rose intervened. “Dance?”
Hemero stood completely still as if he was having a spell cast over his soul until Rose spoke up.
“Well?”
Hemero looked at Phin as if to verify he wasn’t making this up and then furiously nodded his head, grabbed her hand and enthusiastically ran her to the middle of where everyone was dancing.
“Hemero! Calm down! Not so fast!” she giggled.
Hemero stopped still and then suddenly realised something quite terrible. “Rose … I don’t know how to dance.”
Rose laughed. “It’s fine, Hemy! Just follow my lead!”
She took Hemero by the hand and led him. Hemero’s body went completely stiff, but as he looked at Rose, he began to relax. People usually turned away when they caught sight of Hemero’s strange eyes looking at them, but Rose held his gaze and smiled warmly.
Rose felt what she thought was sympathy for the young Hemero, but she started to realise she enjoyed spending time with him. A warm glow filled inside her stomach. She then suddenly noticed something dark moving in the shadows behind Hemero; looking closer she saw it was Nayakax walking away from the group.
“Naya!” she shouted and ran after him, leaving Hemero shuffling his feet by himself. ‘Why is he always in the way?’ he asked himself before running after her. “Wait! Rose!”
He pushed his way through a thick brush to a small clearing in the dark, only faintly making out two figures by the light of the fire until his powerful eyesight revealed Nayakax sitting by himself and Rose crying. She suddenly stood up and ran away pushing past Hemero in floods of tears.
“What’s going on?” Hemero asked.
“Keep your nose out of it, Hemy.” Nayakax answered, “This has nothing to do with you.”
“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Look at you. You’re useless.” He started spitting as he was talking, like every word was vile on his lips.
“Nayakax, calm down, what happened?”
“Like you don’t know. Are you that thick?!”
“What’s got into you? Where did this come from?” Hemero asked, genuinely surprised.
“Maybe something deep within me. Something that’s part of my blood.” Nayakax was suddenly thoughtful of his words. “How are we going to succeed in this mission? We’ve lost the Knights and we’re sitting here partying – people are going to die!”
“He’s right…” a voice boomed behind both of them. Lirilius stood tall against the moonlight, he was leaning against a huge wooden post in the debris of what was once a house and the fire in the distance behind him was casting an enormous dark shadow over the area. “We have to leave first thing in the morning.” Then he just walked off.
Hemero hadn’t decided if Lirilius was listening all along, or if he happened to have just entered at that moment, but it unsettled him. After his comment about being part of the Dark Clans, Hemero could do nothing but cast doubt onto Lirilius, for his intentions were still unclear and he felt something was not quite right. What disturbed him more, was that now he had the same feeling about Nakakax.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Delay had been waiting for his master in the study for over two hours now. During this time, he had been thinking, which was something he had not done for a long time. What was this strange feeling? He did not care for it. His life was simple and at least he was alive. Yet something burned deep inside.
It was not so long ago that he had finally been let out of his cell. That he had begun seeing unfamiliar sights again after hundreds of years of daily torture amongst the screams of countless others. His voice had only just started to work again after speaking to no-one for so long. He should cherish this and yet he felt the need to change something.
He began to hobble around the study in an effort to shake the thoughts and concentrate on something more menial. As he passed Shui’s desk, he noticed something on top of it. He would normally dare not look but what had caught his eye had been so intriguing he found he could not resist.
It was a flower lying next to the quill and ink. Delay did not touch it but rolled his head over and brought his face closer to it, examining it. It had long purple petals and a bright yellow centre and the smell was so sweet it overpowered him.
He felt a pain in his head and let off a little cry of agony. Wondering what was happening he clutched it with a deformed hand and realised it was because he was remembering something.
The purple lily suddenly grew into a field, where thousands of purple lilies grew. He looked down and realised he had an upright neck once more and he could move his head how he wanted. And his hands were different; he was a young knight again.
“Marcumos!” came a cry behind him.
He turned to see a young woman, her golden hair flowing and her brown clothes stained with a day’s farming work covering peachy pale skin.
His wife.
This was his wife.
He remembered her now. He smiled until he realised she looked distressed, he opened his arms until her chest exploded in a splatter of warm blood. She fell forwards into his arms revealing behind her a small group of Dark Clan soldiers running towards them. Their murky shadows staining the bright daylight behind them. He looked down and saw that an arrow had pierced her heart, her bright blue eyes faded and finally glaz
ed over He dropped her to the ground, took up his sword and ran screaming towards the four killers. He brutally slaughtered each of them, his blood lust quenched. In that moment he fell to his knees and sobbed, vowing revenge.
“Delay!”
The servant suddenly looked up to Shui standing in front of him. “What are you doing?”
“A rat, Master,” Delay quickly replied, “I thought I saw a rat.”
“Who cares if you saw a rat? By Chuskia’s nose, you are very strange!” Shui replied and hit him hard on the back of the head before sitting at his desk. Delay awaited orders and saw Shui playing with a shiny, attractive object in his hand. Had this been what all the recent fuss was about?
“Delay, go get me something to eat. Something raw.” Shui put down the object and picked up the flower, sniffing it whilst swivelling on his chair.
“Yes, Sir.” Delay replied and went off to fetch one of the prisoners. But all he could see now was the field of purple lilies.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The next day, Lirilius, Hemero, Nayakax, Phin and Rose got all their stuff together and decided to say farewell to the village that had welcomed them so kindly after such a horrendous plight. The locals brought them food and water and lavished them with praise and many turned up to watch them slowly make their way over the hills in the distance.
Their feet felt sore, their bags heavier and once the curling smoke of the village was behind them, their good spirits evaporated just as quickly. It didn’t help that Lirilius had not uttered a word the entire day; his mood growing darker and darker the further they ventured. So strong was the discomforting atmosphere, that no-one dared to say anything in case it might bring about something worse.
Rose felt like a ticking time-bomb, she couldn’t stand the anxious pressure of silence and was prepared to say something. She pulled her shoulders back, started smiling and chirped up.
“The weather really has lightened up, wouldn’t you say?”
