Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  Joshua reached for his slingshot, but his belt and weapon were back at the camp. His terror soared as he realised he was weaponless. He thought of making a dash for it back to the campfire, but there was thick vegetation all around and a fully grown Wood-boar would be too quick to outrun.

  He considered his options but none of them seemed appealing. A scream for help would attract the attention of the others, but that would also startle the wild animal and by the time they arrived, he could easily be dead.

  Joshua’s heart skipped a beat, and he took a sharp intake of breath as the Wood-boar leaned forward and jumped to the ground. But before it had time to land, it morphed into the figure of a Woodsman. Joshua gazed with open jaw as Protello walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

  “It’s OK, my friend,” the Metamorph said in a soft tone. “You’re safe.”

  For several moments, Joshua was unable to speak.

  “I…I thought you were dead. I…I saw you killed.”

  “That was another of my kind. The man that shot at you was injured but he is still alive.”

  Joshua looked at his friend with wide eyes.

  “Who was he?” he asked.

  “His name is Melachor. He is trying to prevent you from finding the third orb. He is trying to kill you, Joshua, and he will stop at nothing to prevent you from fulfilling your destiny.”

  Joshua paced back and forth and shook his head.

  “No, no, that doesn’t make sense. Melachor traded the Orb of Vision with me to begin with. He was desperate, but the poor man just wanted to get his hands on the Mirror of Prophecy to find out what happened to his family. If he wanted to kill me, he could easily have done it after the trade. Why would he be trying to stop me from finding the third orb?”

  “He is not acting of his own accord. The Goat commands him now. He fears the Goat and there is nobody more skilful at manipulating fear than the Goat.”

  Joshua continued to pace back and forth, scratching his head.

  “Why is he so afraid of the Goat? What control does the He have over him?”

  The Metamorph shook his head. Joshua paced some more. His mind was racing again.

  “If only I could find out what it is that makes Melachor so afraid of the Goat maybe I could convince him otherwise.”

  Joshua stopped and looked over to where the campfire was flickering in the distance. He could just about see Sarah sitting and clutching his belt. If Melachor was to make another attempt on his life, it might be her or one of the others that got hurt instead of himself. Joshua knew he had to prevent that from happening. He turned to Protello.

  “Galleon said he could sense the Goat’s thoughts when he experienced the Orb of Vision. Is that how it works?”

  “The Orb of Vision opens a gateway to the Goat’s mind. But beware. The connection works both ways, Joshua. You must be cautious. The Goat has incredible discipline of thought and is a skilful manipulator. You will do well to distinguish what is real and what the Goat wants you to see.”

  Joshua scratched his chin as he took in Protello’s advice.

  “I must leave you now, my friend. I will try to find Melachor again.”

  Protello walked away.

  “Wait! The other Metamorph? Who was it?”

  Protello looked down at the ground in front of him and sighed, turning back to Joshua again.

  “Malena was my soulmate. Do not let her death be in vain, Joshua. Bring the orbs together and open the Portallas!”

  Protello took a step back. Wings extended from his shoulders. Within seconds, he morphed into a Raetheon and flew off into the dark forest. Joshua followed the Raetheon with his gaze until it was out of sight, then he turned and headed back to the campfire.

  Sarah stood up as he arrived. She was still clutching his belt.

  “Are you OK, Joshua?” Galleon asked him.

  “I’m going to use the Orb of Vision to talk to the Goat.”

  Sarah gasped and Galleon stood up. Andrew opened his mouth to say something but Joshua cut him off.

  “It’s no use trying to talk me out of it, either. Melachor is still out there somewhere and he’s looking for me. If I can find out what it is the Goat has over him, maybe I can do something about it and stop him. That way,” he went on with a softer tone, “that way, you’ll all be safer.”

  Joshua walked over to Sarah and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes and spoke softly. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

  Sarah put her arms around him in a warm embrace. It lingered for a few moments before he let her go.

  “Now,” he said, turning to Galleon, “I’ll be able to read the Goat’s thoughts, right?”

  “Yes, but He’ll be able to read your thoughts too, and control them.”

  “Hopefully, it won’t last long enough for that. All I need is to understand why Melachor is so afraid of him. Once I have that information, I’ll try to break the link.”

  Joshua picked up his keeper bag and pulled out the Orb of Vision, still wrapped in cloth. He looked at the others in turn, then unwrapped the orb and peered into it.

  As he stared, the noise of the fire faded and Joshua could hear the sound of his breathing echoing through his mind. A murky, dark image formed inside the orb.

  Joshua felt himself floating in a dark room, disconnected from his body. The image of the Goat formed before him. It was twisted and evil looking. The young man could sense pure hatred rushing through his thoughts. The Goat’s dark eyes moved from side to side and Joshua sensed He was trying to figure out where their camp was. A wave of frustration engulfed him. The Goat fixed his gaze directly on Joshua.

  Joshua’s anxiety heightened as he thought this, and at once a hideous grin spread across the Goat’s face. Joshua knew he had to discipline his mind and tried to empty it of thoughts.

  “You are scared of me,” the Goat snarled. Although His lips weren’t moving, Joshua could sense the Goat’s thoughts.

  “Good. You should be.”

  Joshua found his thoughts racing with images, but not of his own doing. A jumble of disconnected sounds and events flooded his mind. The Goat was searching for something. He was testing Joshua’s reaction to each image He was communicating. Joshua fought to ignore them, but the Goat’s power was intense and Joshua felt powerless to resist.

  Joshua felt a rush of grief when he saw an image of Sarah feeling sad. The Goat’s smile widened. Without warning, the same image of his future self standing over the grave flooded his mind. He tried hard to push it to one side, but it persisted and he couldn’t shake it no matter how much he tried to concentrate.

  In his mind, he looked down at the grave but it seemed somehow different to how he remembered it. There was now a tombstone present at one end of the long mound of earth. Powerless to resist his own thoughts, Joshua felt himself staring hard at the inscription on the tombstone. It read ‘RIP Sarah, my dearest love.’ A wave of uncontrollable grief gripped him with such intensity he felt it would tear him apart from the inside.

  Joshua’s emotions overwhelmed him. His grief turned to anger, and then to rage. He looked at the Goat’s malevolent face. Exerting his own will, his mind turned to the Orb of Suffering. He needed to get the third orb to open the Portallas.

  Fear flooded his thoughts. Joshua sensed it was not his own fear but the Goat’s. Uncontrolled terror raced through Joshua’s mind. He saw Melachor whimpering on the floor in the corner. The image lasted briefly before being replaced by another of Melachor being gripped by his throat at the Goat’s hands. ‘Stop the boy or your family will die,’ rang in his ears.

  Joshua closed his eyes and concentrated as intensely as he had ever done before. At that moment the orb fell from his hand and his legs went weak. As he collapsed, Andrew and Sarah caught him and lowered him gently to the ground. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. The sight of Andrew, Sarah and Galleon looking down at him came into focus.

  “Joshua? Are you OK?” Sarah asked.

/>   It took a few moments before he realised he was lying on the forest floor by the campfire. He raised his hands and Sarah and Andrew lifted him to his feet.

  “It’s his family. The Goat has Melachor’s family and He’s using them to get to him. That’s why he’s so afraid of Him. That’s why he’ll do anything to stop me. He fears the Goat will kill his wife and children.”

  “What else did you see?” Galleon asked.

  Joshua looked at Sarah. A wave of sadness gripped him again and tears began welling in his eyes. Sarah looked him in the eye and saw real fear staring back at her. She threw her arms around him and held him tightly. Joshua rested his head on her shoulder and cried. She gently cradled the back of his head and the two of them stood there holding each other.

  24

  Isabelle

  It was another full day of travel before the four of them reached the outskirts of Jemarrah. Sarah’s bubbly enthusiasm was returning.

  “It’s not far now. My sister and I used to climb that tree when we were young. Oh, the fun we used to have throwing Yucust cones at unsuspecting Traders passing by.”

  “I bet you’re looking forward to seeing everyone again.” Galleon said. Sarah’s faced beamed and she spun around with her arms outstretched.

  “Oh, I can’t wait! Once we cross the stream up ahead, you’ll see Jemarrah. It’s a wonderful place. I really think you’ll like it there.”

  Joshua recognised the tunic colours of some of the Woodsmen they encountered but not all of them. A few were from the same tribe he had seen during the vision with the Orb of Time but there seemed to be Woodsmen from all over Forestium here.

  As they walked, a young woman about Sarah’s age approached them. Judging by her uniform, she was a Jemarrah Tender. She stopped a few paces in front of them and stared, tilting her head forward and squinting.

  “Sarah?” she said, tilting her head forward some more and widening her eyes.

  “Sarah, is that you?”

  Sarah beamed with delight and the two of them ran towards each other. They threw their arms around each other, screaming joyfully.

  “It is you,” she repeated several times, as the two girls jumped excitedly up and down and hugged.

  “I can’t believe it. I thought you’d never return to us. You’ve been gone far too long. You must have learned heaps, though.”

  Sarah smiled from ear to ear and nodded enthusiastically.

  “Ahem,” Andrew said.

  “Oh,” Sarah said and turning to the others, “some introductions are in order. I want you all to meet my sister, Isabelle.”

  Joshua, Andrew and Galleon all smiled and waved in unison.

  “This is Galleon…and Joshua” Sarah motioned to them in turn.

  She reached out, grabbed Joshua’s hand and pulled him towards her, then beamed at Isabelle.

  Joshua opened his mouth but didn’t seem able to produce any words, so he just smiled. The two girls looked at each other and giggled in unison. Isabelle raised her brow and nodded at Sarah. She pointed her thumb upwards just in front of her chest where the others couldn’t see.

  “And this,” Sarah said, turning to Andrew, “this…is Joshua’s best friend…Andrew.”

  Isabelle looked Andrew up and down. Her eyes widened as she surveyed slowly from top to bottom and back to top again. Andrew shifted uncomfortably on his feet and his face reddened. Isabelle looked back at Sarah and they both giggled again, shrugging their shoulders and raising their eyebrows at each other.

  “Come Sarah, we must celebrate your return at once.”

  The five of them walked on towards Jemarrah. Sarah and Isabelle were holding hands and joyfully telling each other all about what happened over the past several months. Despite her enthusiasm and attention to Isabelle, Sarah didn’t once let go of Joshua’s hand.

  Every now and then, Isabelle would turn to look over her shoulder at Andrew and the two sisters would giggle like giddy schoolgirls. It made Andrew blush each time, and this just seemed to add to their sense of amusement. Galleon nudged Andrew to attract his attention. Andrew leaned down to hear what he had to say.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll warm up to you eventually.” The mischievous Imp said with a chuckle. Andrew gave him a friendly shove that almost knocked him off his feet and shook his head dismissively with a reddened face.

  As they neared the town they noticed more and more signs of civilisation. Joshua and Andrew looked around with wide eyes. Even though they had not yet reached the centre, it already looked to be a much bigger place than Morelle.

  Joshua and Andrew had only ever seen smaller, neighbouring villages in the west of Forestium. Neither of them had seen any place as big as this.

  The first dwellings they saw seemed very similar to the huts they were familiar with from Morelle, but there were also some strange-looking buildings wrapped entirely around trees. Above these, Joshua was amazed to see odd wooden constructions built around the trees high up in the air. Huge tree trunks branched out from them as if the tree had grown through the middle of a hut and lifted it clear into the air. Rope ladders stretched between the buildings on the ground and those in the air, and walkways crisscrossed beneath the treetop canopy linking the trees together.

  “What are those?” Joshua said with wide eyes and pointing up into the treetops.

  “What, those?” Sarah said, following Joshua’s line of sight. “Oh, those are lookout posts. They were abandoned many years ago. Screechers used to use them to watch for marauders but nobody uses them anymore.”

  “Screechers?” Andrew asked.

  “Screechers,” Isabelle explained, turning to him, “were people who stood watch and raised the alarm if they saw attacking tribes approaching from the South. I’ve heard the Elder talk about them before.”

  Andrew’s jaw hung open as he kept gawking at the walkways and cabins high up in the trees.

  “We don’t have anything like this where we come from,” Joshua said. He too was shaking his head and gazing up at the structures above him.

  “My village isn’t nearly as big as this. I’ve heard of stories of tribal wars from long ago but that’s all in the past, I suppose. We don’t have any need for lookouts or anything like that.”

  “Neither do we, really. Not anymore, that is. The tribal wars ended many years ago. Nowadays, Jemarrah is home to people from many different tribes and we all live in harmony. It’s better that way, don’t you think? Hardly anyone ever goes up there to the lookout posts anymore.”

  “Except for when you’ve broken your mother’s favourite cauldron and are trying to find a great place to hide,” Sarah said, looking at Isabelle, who was cringing and grinning from ear to ear. Both the girls burst into fits of laughter.

  Joshua was thrilled to see Sarah having such fun. It lifted his spirits and he was starting to relax, himself.

  Isabelle insisted she prepare them all a nice, home-cooked meal, to which everyone agreed.

  “I should visit father first,” Sarah suggested to Isabelle when they arrived at her hut.

  “Oh, you can’t. The Elder won’t be back for at least another day.”

  “More trials?”

  “Well, you know, Jemarrah. The place has gotten so big that rarely a month goes past without a new group of hopefuls setting off to do their stupid trials. The Elder has even started taking young Woodsmen from other tribes with him. There must have been more than twenty of them this time around.”

  Joshua and Andrew listened to this with particular interest. It would be a true honour for any Woodsman to participate in the trials in the presence of a village Elder. With Morelle’s Elder being so old and frail, that was never going to be possible for either of them. It wasn’t hard to see why Woodsmen from other tribes might be attracted to Jemarrah with such a vibrant and active village Elder able to participate in the trials with them.

  “Welcome to my humble abode,” Isabelle announced as they arrived at her modest hut and she led them in.

&nb
sp; Isabelle’s home was small but comfortable. The main living room behind the front door was decorated with lots of flowers and other plants. Most were arranged in an assortment of pots and vases placed in every nook and cranny. Some hung from the rafters. No shelf was left empty and no floor space unused. The clutter and pleasant floral odour made it feel homely.

  Off from the living room was a tiny kitchen. Judging by the herbs, spices and other ingredients hanging there, Isabelle shared Sarah’s enthusiasm for cooking. The kitchen led through to a bedroom at the back. In the main living room a couple of comfortable sofas in front of an open fire looked inviting.

  Once everyone was inside, the girls caught up with all the latest gossip, whilst Isabelle prepared them all a hearty Jemarrah feast.

  Sarah told her all about the various Shrooms and berries she had learned about and how she had prepared grassland Flarrets with little more than a campfire and wild grasses. Isabelle listened intently and kept raising her eyebrows each time Sarah mentioned something she’d learned.

  The two girls continued to prepare the food in the kitchen, whilst Joshua, Andrew and Galleon sat and rested.

  “So, tell me,” Isabelle whispered to Sarah when the two of them were alone in the kitchen. “This Andrew friend of yours; does he, um, you know, does he…have someone waiting for him back home?”

  The two girls giggled.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you should ask him? Don’t tell me you still haven’t found love?”

  Isabelle shrugged her shoulders.

  “And your handsome friend, Joshua?” she asked raising her eyebrows. “You clearly like him a lot. Is he, um, well, you know…”

  She was stirring the cauldron but kept glancing briefly at Sarah. The pot was starting to steam with all the delicious-smelling ingredients she had added to it.

  “Well, I mean, do you think, maybe…he’s the one?”

  Her tone rose towards the end of the question, and she paused, looking Sarah in the eye. Sarah smiled. She bent over the steamy cauldron of stew and sniffed.