The Awakening

by Gary Alan Wassner

  “Go, my children,” he said to those who were chosen to ride the beasts to the Heights of Lormarion. “Destroy the elfin city. Bring me back the boy. We shall welcome him here with our arms wide open, whether he comes to us as a corpse or a living thing. He will help us to hasten the coming of the end.”

  Colton raised his chin high and thrust his right arm into the air with his fingers outstretched. He lingered that way for a moment or two, until total silence cloaked the plain. He turned his head from left to right, slowly panning the field and gazing upon those who stood before him. Shifting in his saddle slightly, he faced in the direction of Seramour.

  “The fabric weaves according to my will,” he roared, rearing up fiercely upon his black steed.

  He raised his sword into the air and it radiated his power, sending titanic bolts of crimson light high into the sky, feeding the turbid mists above and directing them onward toward Seramour. The flying beasts began to rise into the sky in endless waves, darkening the ground with their shadows, each with an armored warrior upon its back. The clamor was earsplitting and it echoed across the plain.

  Ruffin bowed deeply to his master before climbing atop the largest of the animals. As soon as he was settled upon it, the beast soared upward, circled the field and then sped off into the distance to take its place at the head of the throng. Colton watched in silence as the rest of the swarming hoard took off in noisy pursuit, disappearing quickly into the dense shield of dark clouds that moved relentlessly northward.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Angeline pulled upon the heavy ropes as soon as she spotted the lone traveler on the eastern horizon. The big bell chimed loudly, resounding throughout the tower and far into the countryside. Rella dropped her small trowel onto the soft earth and headed for the gates. Bethany lifted her head from the ancient scroll, marked her spot with a silver tab, and jumped up from her seat. Dahlia, Gretchen and Sevilla put away the cards they were studying upon the table, and headed for the tower. Rose and Jocasta dropped the bucket and brushes, led the horse to his stall, and hastened from the stables for the main building. Violet, startled by the sound, dropped her embroidery, slipped her feet into her sandals, and walked quickly out of her chamber toward the great hall, bumping right into Courtney who had just bounded down the narrow stairway from the kitchens. Emmeline, startled out of her deep reverie, opened her brown eyes wide, sat up straighter at the large table and awaited the assembly of Sisters.

  They each took their place around the great slab of ancient wood, silent to a one. When all of the eleven seats were occupied by those still present in the tower, leaving only Tamara’s empty, Emmeline began to speak.

  “Our dear Sister has returned. Shortly she will be among us once again,” she said lovingly, her dark skin illuminated by the flickering candles, enhancing its natural beauty. “Soon, we will know what we are to do. These are dangerous days, Sisters. We must choose carefully what paths we all will tread as the days go by. I pray to the First that Tamara has been successful on her journey,” Emmeline said, bowing her head in thought once again.

  “She returns alone, as she departed,” Angeline advised, having seen only a single traveler on the horizon.

  A few of the Sisters sighed and shook their heads.

  “Did you really think the Chosen would accompany her?” Gretchen asked, wide eyed.

  “I had hoped,” Violet replied softly, eyes down.

  “As had I,” Jocasta said.

  “Tamara is bold of heart. If there were need, she would have convinced Liam to join her. I am glad she returns alone, though it would have been an honor to welcome a Chosen into the tower,” Emmeline commented. “It bodes better for us that he felt not the need to join us here.”

  “I am so nervous, I can barely sit still,” Dahlia said, tapping her fingernails upon the wood.

  “Nervous?” Bethany questioned. “What have we to be nervous about?” she asked bewildered. “I can assure you that, come what may, tomorrow I will be pouring over the Tomes as usual. And you Dahlia, will be mending the Sister’s gowns as before and preparing the next day’s menu. Change will not come to the Tower of Parth so easily,” she concluded.

  “How do you know that Tamara will not bring us news that will alter our lives forever? Were you not the one who questioned our purpose to begin with?” Jocasta asked.

  “No, Sister. It was Tamara who suggested that our purpose may have changed. I merely related her thoughts to the passages in the Tomes that refer to us. But, if our purpose changes, I see no reason for our lives here to change as well. We have protected the map all these tiels. But we have also created a haven for travelers, an environment for study and learning, and a breeding ground for strong and stable horses, among other things. We have also learned how to grow the best of vegetables and to cultivate plants and flowers more abundant than anywhere else we know of. The value of the examples we set for women of all ages cannot be underestimated,” Bethany concluded.

  “She is correct, Sisters,” Emmeline said firmly. “If we are no longer to be the guardians of the map, there are many other things that we need to preserve here in Parth.”

  “The Tower stands upon hallowed ground. Beneath the stones and foundations of Parth, lies a juncture of the Lalas, a connection between many of the trees. We have been protected by the power that passes through the earth beneath our very walls. That is why we were bequeathed with the task of protecting the map,” Gretchen related.

  “As the trees die, perchance that power wanes and the map is no longer safe here,” Angeline speculated.

  “I suspect that you are correct in your thinking, Sister,” Gretchen replied.

  “Maybe we will be told to turn it over to the Chosen,” Violet suggested.

  “I think he would have come here himself, if that were to be the case,” Rella replied.

  “There are other Chosen. Liam is not the only one.”

  Emmeline listened carefully to the conversation buzzing around her. She knew that it was merely anxious worry that precipitated it, as the answers were surely forthcoming with the arrival of Tamara. It eased the tension of waiting, so she closed her eyes and settled into a calm, meditative state and anticipated the Sister’s arrival, while many of the others reflected upon the events at hand.

  “Angeline?” Gretchen said to the tall, blonde girl. “Would you kindly greet our dear Sister at the gate? After all, you were the one within whose watch she arrived. She must already have reached the stones.”

  “It would be an honor,” she replied, jumping up from the table, her long braid flying over her shoulder and nearly hitting her in the face.

  They all watched as Angeline, lithe and strong, quickly made her way to the winding stairs and disappeared in moments.

  Tamara dismounted and led Hector toward the gates. She was tired, but she was happy to be home. She was also very hungry, as she had not stopped to refresh herself or her horse since leaving Oleander’s woods. Nevertheless, her nagging hunger and overwhelming fatigue could not subdue her desire to tell the other Sisters about the events that transpired, and the incredible quest that she was asked to undertake.

  I must choose who will come with me, she thought as she slipped the bridle over Hector’s head.

  Tossing it into a trough beside the outer gate, she loosened the girth around his now smaller belly and then placed the saddle carefully atop the fence. She slapped him tenderly upon his rump and sent him off to graze with the other horses in the fields beyond the Tower.

  Where is everyone? she reflected to herself. I would have thought that someone would be here to welcome me home?

  Tamara walked between the two pillars of stone that marked the entrance to the Tower grounds, and still she saw no one.

  I wonder what time it is? she thought, glancing at the sun which stood directly above her. Perhaps they are all having their midday meal, she considered. Far be it that they should miss a meal on my account. I would have thought though, that someone would be looking out fo
r my return, she deliberated, disappointed.

  Tamara walked downcast toward the great arch that harbored the doors to the Tower, when she saw Angeline emerge breathlessly from the portal ahead. It was the most welcome sight she could imagine. And strangely, it seemed fitting to her that it was Angeline who was the first Sister she saw.

  Odd, she thought. I have been thinking my entire journey home whom I should ask to accompany me. It is as if my question has been answered.

  She felt thoroughly satisfied with her decision, knowing intuitively that it was the right one. Tamara walked directly up to Angeline and took her hand in her own. Smiling as if drunk, she pumped it vigorously.

  “It is so good to see you,” she beamed at her startled friend and now unknowing partner, as the two women headed for the Great Hall and the assembly of Sisters therein.

  Chapter Forty

  Preston could not resist running across the soft moss of the forest floor. He was still a young dwarf, regardless of the fact that his beard was as long as that of a grown man.

  “It is beautiful in here,” he shouted backward in the direction he had left Elion, Tomas and Stephanie a few moments before.

  The dark haired youth stopped abruptly in front of a wall of dense foliage. The greenery was so thick that he could barely see through it, and try though he might, he could not even part it with either his hands or his feet. Frustrated, he sat down upon the spongy ground and waited for his friends. He had not realized just how tired he had become until this moment, and since neither Tomas, his pretty, young friend Stephanie, nor Elion, was yet in sight, he closed his eyes for just a second. No sooner were they closed, than he was fast asleep. His body slumped against the barrier of leaves that had prevented him from running any deeper into the woods.

  Preston’’s eyes sprung open and he immediately realized that he did not appear to be in the same place he had been only moments before. Still somewhat confused by the transition from the deep sleep he had fallen into to being awake, he was unsure if his eyes were simply still out of focus. What he saw around him did not seem to be possible.

  Somehow, he had fallen through the barricade of branches and greenery, and now he lay upon his back, staring at the most magnificent tree he had ever seen. It was huge. From his position, he looked upward at it and it seemed to fill the entire sky. The branches were bent in great arches all around him and they hung heavily with leaves, perfectly shaped and fragrant. The smell was almost too much to bear. He nearly passed out just by continuing to breathe it in.

  He lay upon the comfortable ground, wondering where he was and how he was going to find his friends, when he thought he heard a rustling sound behind him. Sitting up briskly, he turned his head in order to look toward where he thought the noise originated from. As he looked over his shoulder, he heard the noise again, only this time he was sure it came from somewhere in front. Quickly shifting his position once again, he snapped his head around, but he could not see anything moving at all.

  Preston felt no danger. In fact, he felt safer than he had felt in days. He actually found himself laughing aloud for no apparent reason whatsoever. Surrounded by dense brush on all sides and covered by a canopy of heavy branches and luxuriant foliage, it was almost as if he was inside a protected area, a shelter, and out of harm’s way. And the odor was incredible!

  He stood up and walked toward where he had first heard the sound, but there was nothing there. As he turned to survey the other side of the area, he felt something touch him lightly upon his back. He knew that he should have been startled, that he should have jumped and swatted at it as one would at an unexpected insect that alights upon one’s shoulder. But, it was so gentle a touch, and it seemed to warm his entire body, that all he could do was smile. He reached his hand slowly back just to feel it, perhaps to grasp it, with no trepidation in his movements at all. When his fingers encountered the source of the touch, he laughed again, as for some odd reason it was no surprise to him at all that it was the branch of a tree that fondled him.

  Languishing in the feeling of comfort and well-being, Preston closed his eyes and could have remained there forever. He shifted his position slightly so that he could face what it was that touched him while never releasing the branch from his tender grasp. Just as he was about to attempt to speak, to communicate verbally with what had already touched his emotions so deeply, the leaves shimmered and shook, creating a sweet and sonorous sound like nothing he had ever heard before. They parted slightly, and he watched as Tomas, Elion and Stephanie walked through the opening.

  “I see you have met Ormachon,” Tomas said, smiling at Preston.

  “Ormachon? This is Ormachon?” Preston replied, startled. “I did not have the time to think about who or what it was. I cannot believe it,” he answered. “I never felt so safe before in my life,” he said, the Lalas’ branch still resting upon his arm.

  “He likes you too,” Tomas laughed in response.

  “This is amazing,” Elion commented, looking around. “I have rarely smelled anything so wonderful as this, not even in Seramour,” he said.

  “It is the essence of life that pervades the area,” Tomas remarked. “What could smell better?” he asked, wide-eyed.

  “Is this truly a Lalas, Tomas?” Steph asked him, her bright green eyes sparkling.

  Tomas smiled from ear to ear, the answer apparent upon his features. Never before had either Preston or Elion seen him so full of emotion. He gazed upward, and they both watched him as a look of complete elation overcame his features.

  “Has he lived here all along? Right here, so close to town?” the girl continued to question her friend, though not really expecting an answer. “I passed through here countless times. How could I have missed something as wondrous as this?”

  “He is seen only when he wishes to be,” Tomas replied. “And until now, the only other person who has approached him and has been allowed to view him, was Cairn,” he said.

  Tomas walked closer to the huge trunk and placed both his palms flat upon it. He closed his eyes and was silent for a few seconds. The others respected the moment and said not a word, but they watched him with awe in their eyes.

  “I have never been away from him for this long in my life. I feel as if I had suffered from a great thirst and it has at last been quenched,” Tomas finally said to the group around him.

  The blonde haired boy stood beside what the others could now definitely see was the trunk of the great Lalas. It became clearer and more distinct than it was even a moment before, yet it seemed so full of life, so fertile, from the very first moment they all beheld it. They were neither astonished to see it loom so obviously before them now, nor to be able to suddenly distinguish the massive limbs and luxuriant foliage all around them, as one would have expected. It was as if they knew subliminally that it was there since the moment they stepped foot into this sheltered clearing, and now that Ormachon revealed himself in all his glory to them, they felt only satisfaction, not surprise. It felt so right, so correct, to be standing beneath these mighty branches.

  Tomas raced upward into the tree itself, gingerly stepping upon one gnarly knob after another, that miraculously appeared beneath his feet as he ascended. Elion, Preston and Stephanie watched from below until he was high up in Ormachon’s arms and out of their sight.

  “Make yourselves comfortable,” he shouted from somewhere above. “I will be down shortly,” he said.

  Preston sat down once again upon a blanket of soft grass, careful not to lean against the tree itself, and Elion soon joined him after taking a brief stroll around the perimeter of the clearing. Stephanie bent her head back and attempted to follow Tomas with her eyes as he climbed, though she soon lost him in the foliage.

  Oddly, only moments later, before they even had an opportunity to talk to each other, Tomas came scurrying down from the branches above. He had a grim look upon his face and it startled them all.

  “Follow me,” he said to his friends in a hushed and troubled voice.


  “What’s wrong?” Preston asked, and he stood up and walked to Tomas’ side.

  “You will soon see,” the boy replied, ushering them both to a spot safely out of the clearing and into the shadows behind Ormachon’s massive trunk.

  Stephanie stood next to Tomas and took hold of his arm, frightened by the tone of his voice. The elf and the young dwarf watched in awe from their concealed vantage point as a horse and rider came crashing through the wall of encircling bushes and pulled up sharply to a halt. Within seconds another horse, a massive warhorse, followed the first animal, and they could all see that in addition to the rider, there was another body being transported and it was lying unmoving across the saddle. They both stopped abruptly after entering Ormachon’s domain, surveying the area with looks of confusion and consternation upon their faces. Their horses were frothing at the mouths and dripping with sweat. It was obvious that they had been ridden hard and fast.

  “The first rider is a woman,” Preston whispered.

  “As is the unmoving one,” Elion observed.

  “And the other is one of the Knights of Avalain. I can see his sigil upon his breastplate,” Preston remarked. “I wonder what could have caused him to run at such speed.”

  “We will soon find out, I presume,” Elion replied.

  As they watched undetected from their position, the group of pursuers arrived, led by a dark haired woman. The bushes seemed to part slightly at their approach, yet neither Elion nor Preston could see clearly through the space that their separation created. It was as if they were peering into a polished piece of quartz which distorted the images. All they could make out were lots of blurry figures scurrying back and forth.

  The images grew sharper when they approached the opening.