by John Sharp
Chapter 19 – Judgment Of The Gods
A soft sound reaches my ears, as if being broadcasted from the opposite side of an ocean. It’s the sound of heartache and loss.
Crying… Do I hear crying? Yes… there it is again. Who’s crying?
I try to move but an intense pain hits me, sending me back deep into my mind. I try opening my eyes but find the task impossible.
Why can’t I open my eyes?
Did someone glue them shut?
It was probably my shadow… He’s always doing stuff like that.
The haze comes back, pulling me under with irresistible force. Awareness fades like a dream.
I think I’ll just sleep some more… Maybe I’ll see that girl again and get some answers…
I awaken to fingers gently stroking my hair. It is so nice, and I am so tired that I stay still, enjoying the sensation. The ground beneath me is hard and unfriendly but my head is on something warm and soft with a familiar, welcoming smell to it. Again the fingers lovingly caress my head, slowly dragging though my hair.
A half sob sounds from just above me, “Jerry, please wake up. I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”
It’s Sarah. I would know her voice anywhere. Immediately, I open my eyes and then promptly shut them as a tremendous headache racks my skull. I let out a groan. Did I get hit by a car while I was out?
“Jerry!” Sarah yells, her hands tightening on my hair.
“Shifter!” Comes Whisper’s worried voice, echoing in the room and in my head.
“Ugh, please not so loud,” I say weakly, my head pulsing in pain at each word.
Opening my eyes again I resist the urge to shut them this time. I am in a dank prison equipped with sturdy bars, hanging moss on the ceiling and the smell of old, dry bones. Not much else is visible from my vantage on Sarah’s lap except her beautiful face, wet with tears but smiling down at me. I get an extreme close-up as she presses her lips firmly to mine. The act causes my head to scream in agony, but I ignore it. This is too wonderful. After what seems like a long time we separate and I half expect Whisper’s huge face to fill my view, covering me with his large wet tongue. The fact that he doesn’t tells me something is very very wrong.
Regretfully, I sit up, leaving my warm pillow behind. A glance tells me much. I am indeed in prison along with both Sarah and Whisper. Sarah and I are in the same cell with a pile of the straw in one corner and a chamber pot in the opposite one. Whisper is across the hall from us in a rather large cage that barely holds him. He is pressed tightly against the bars as if he is straining to reach me. The bars of his cage show signs of being gnawed on. Whatever material was used in their creation they resist even his powerful jaws.
“Shifter! You’re finally awake!” He shouts excitedly, his purring tone echoing in the silence around us.
“Yeah,” I say clutching my head. Unless I am mistaken there are several new lumps that hadn’t been there before. “How long was I out?”
“Two days,” comes a reply from a wide set of stairs to the left of my cell. A moment later Tarith steps into view, his arm in a sling and his face haggard like the day he was forced to kill the creatures from the fighting pit. “I was afraid my blow did more damage than I anticipated.”
An extremely menacing growl emanates from Whisper that sounds like thunder in the confined space. Tarith stays safely in the middle of the corridor.
“Careful, little man,” Whisper says. “If it was me you would have lost more than the use of your arm.”
“I doubt that not, great warrior Whisper,” Tarith says.
“I did the best that I could before they pulled me off,” Sarah argues, leveling a death glare at Tarith. “A few more seconds and more than his arm would’ve been broken.”
“I do not doubt that as well, Sarah of house Clifford,” Tarith says giving a respectful bow. “Rarely have I’ve seen a fighter with such skill. You fight as well as many of my brethren who dedicate their entire life to the art.”
“Don’t compare me to you monsters,” Sarah says, looking like she might leap at him despite the bars. Her anger is electric in the air. I however, don’t feel much of anything which surprises me. I just feel empty and hollow, like a part of me is missing.
“I’m sorry you feel such anger toward my people. It is not unwarranted,” Tarith says. Turning, gives me such a haunted look that I nearly feel sorry for him, if my head weren’t threatening to collapse at any second. Getting to my feet I stare at Tarith through the bars.
“What the hell is going on, Tarith?” I ask. “The last thing I remember was the Primehouse speakers talking about some type of abomination then someone mentioned my shadow…” Like a sudden fireworks display at the dead of night it all comes back. The fight that broke out and my shadow’s resulting slaughter of the Kiraten. Suddenly the part of me that felt missing becomes clear.
“Tarith, where’s my shadow?” I demand. He should have been here mocking Whisper or causing his standard havoc.
Tarith gives me such a low bow that his face nearly reached his knees. “I’m truly sorry for striking you, Jerry of Primehouse Ageroth. The situation was beyond control and no other course of action would suffice. The corruption of Shalarom inside you was greater than even the fires of the dragon. It had to be contained at all costs. Once you lay unconscious the corruption lost much of its strength and we were able to contain it with no further loses.”
I look around, half expecting to see a grumpy shade of darkness stuck on the wall like a pinned bug in an insect collection.
“It’s around your neck,” Sarah says. At first I can’t make sense at what she said. Around my neck? The idea is absurd. I instinctively reach down feeling a heavy pendant there. It’s soft and cool as if absorbing the heat from my fingers. Pulling it away from my neck as far as I can I look down, studying the pendant. Utterly black and seamless it is surprisingly heavy in my hand. The size and shape of a ring box, it is slightly hypnotic in its beauty, drawing my gaze and thoughts into it. Directly in the center is a fiercely glowing sigil that should have been too bright to look at yet isn’t. It’s like the pendant is stealing the light before it can reach my eyes.
“That is shadow wood,” Tarith says. “Created by Valerdon during the last Great War, it is used to contain the power of Shalarom. Corruption is drawn into it sealing it inside. The Primehouses rightly fear your corruption, for if it is unleashed once more many will perish.”
Standing stiffly he adds, “I have come on behalf of the Primehouses to inform you that all three of you will be judged before the Five themselves tomorrow at the suns’ zenith.”
“What?” Sarah exclaims. “You attacked us! Hell, even Jerry’s shadow was behaving itself until you attacked it.”
“I should have killed you when I first saw you,” Whisper snarls. “All of you are no different than Solarkar.”
“Yes, perhaps you are both right,” Tarith says sadly, shaking his head. “You came to us in good will with vital news of Solarkar that now has been forgotten. Jerry’s existence is more of a threat to the Primehouses than a thousand Solarkars. Even the deaths today are of little importance. For Jerry’s existence means that the abomination might still be alive.”
The abomination could only be one thing. “Tarith, who is my father?” I ask.
“Ask the other if you live through tomorrow,” Tarith says as he turns away, walking to the stairs.
“Damn it, Tarith!” I yell at his back. In response to my emotions I feel the pendant twitch, straining to hold back the flood of corruption within. “Who is my father?”
Ignoring my outburst Tarith walks up a short flight of stairs, exiting the prison and sealing us behind. My blood pounds in my head and it feels like I was just smacked again. I sit back down, taking breaths far too fast, my vision darkening slightly.
Sarah wraps her arms around me, “Jerry, calm down. You’re s
till hurt. Don’t push yourself.” My anger fades fast at her warm embrace and the pendant grows still as does my headache.
“Don’t worry, Shifter. We will endure,” Whisper says.
“What happened after I was knocked out?” I ask.
“I didn’t get a good view of it,” Sarah admits. “Once Tarith hit you I jumped him, wrestling him to the ground. I saw your shadow stagger, becoming insubstantial. It was like a glass of ink that suddenly had water added to it. It looked diluted. I didn’t see much else. Three Kiraten pried me off Tarith before I could finish him. After that I saw a Kiraten with that locket placing it around your neck.”
“Why give it to me at all?” I ask. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be far away from me?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah says, shaking her head. “No one told me anything.”
“If only I was there!” Whisper growls. “I would have finished off these cowardly Kiraten and we would be free.”
“What happened to you?” I ask, surprised that anyone could capture Whisper.
Whisper lowers his head in shame. “They kept bringing me delicious food and I fell asleep. I woke up here. Forgive me, Shifter. I have failed you.”
“No you didn’t,” Sarah says with a scoff. “They drugged you. I’ve seen drugged sleep before and that was definitely it.”
“Cowards,” Whisper snarls. “They have no honor.”
“Let’s hope they have some or we are totally screwed,” I say.
