by Scott Toney
The Flaming Sword
“He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Genesis 3:24
As Thomas walked through the dense woods, a sense of fear resonated through his body. He clenched his ruby sword at his side and breathed in a deep breath. Animals howled in the distance and a fog began rolling through the trees.
Memories came back to him of the beasts that attacked his ship on the journey to meet Lilya. What am I doing here? he thought. He reached forward with his free hand, moving branches away so that he could walk through. The woods seemed to pulse around him, taking on life of their own.
Grrrr, a low growl resonated close by and Thomas pivoted, ready for a beast to emerge through the dense trees. “YOU should NOT HAVE returned.” A bear’s paw burst through nearby limbs, crushing into his chest and knocking him to the ground. He barely held onto his sword in the fall.
A beast with the head of a bear and wings extending from its back was looming over him, pinning him with its massive paw to the earth. “WHY HAVE you RETURNED to the forbidden LAND?” it questioned him.
Thomas gulped as his heart raced. Every nerve in his body wanted to attack the beast. “I… I come for the fruit of the Tree of Life.”
The half bear, half winged man, growled again. “WHY?”
Thomas felt stones in the ground digging into his back beneath him as mists curled above his eyes. The paw of the beast was heavy on his chest and the beast’s claws dug into his skin. “If I could have eternal life, then I could restore my realm and live to see the wrongs I have committed righted.” He barely found breath beneath the pressure of the creature.
A low growl resonated in the beast’s chest. “YOU WILL leave THESE LANDS!” It snarled and puffed warm air from its nostrils onto his face.
With a surge of strength in his arm, Thomas lifted his sword and thrust it toward the winged beast, causing the thing to pulse its wings and lift into the air to escape his blade. Thomas took his opportunity and rose, bracing his sword above him in defense as the bear-faced creature flew above. “I will reach the tree,” he told it. “I only care about living to see my land healed. You will not stop me.”
The winged beast struck down with its paw and Thomas slammed his blade into its arm, slicing it open and causing the thing to roar.
As his heart raced Thomas turned and ran deeper into the woods. He leapt over a moss-covered log and then ducked beneath a fallen tree that was braced against a large rock. The faint smell of ash was in the air as he ran across the lush vine-riddled ground, certain the bear-thing would be on him at any moment. Then the smell of honey combined with that of the ash. He was close. This was what he had smelt when he discovered the fig tree, the tree that had filled him with evil desires.
“YOU go NO FARTHER!” a different voice boomed out from the woods ahead and a ram-headed beast with an ornate sword stepped out from behind an outcropping of rocks. Its feet were goat-like hooves.
Thomas looked up to see the winged bear-beast above him, soaring in the air. Was this the same ram-beast he had fought on his ship? With a strong hold on his sword Thomas ran at the beast, driving his blade down toward it. Clang! Their blades met and Thomas felt his arms burn with heat as the ram-beast drove his sword down. Thomas couldn’t free the blade and it was knocked from his hands.
The sound of cracking tree limbs came from above as Thomas dodged one of the ram-beast’s blows and was crushed to the ground by the flying bear creature. The bear thing’s claws dug into his back and he could feel his muscles being torn.
“YOU were OFFERED your FREEDOM,” the bear’s rumbling voice came from above. “NOW your life IS OURS.”
He watched as the ram-beast’s sword struck into the earth before his eyes and then lifted. He soon felt its chilled blade on the back of his neck.
“No,” a third voice spoke through the woods. It was tamer than that of the beasts. “Bring him to me. This young king has much to answer for.”
Grrrr, the bear-headed thing growled above him.
“WE must LISTEN,” the ram-beast told it. “RISE, BOY.”
The bear’s claws retracted from his back and it beat its wings, lifting into the air and away from him. Thomas stood slowly and felt blood flow down his back from where the claws had been. Pain seared through his veins.
“YOU WANT to see THE TREE?” the ram-headed thing asked as it kept its sword pointed toward Thomas.
“Yes,” he replied, holding his voice strong.
The ram-beast grinned. “THEN follow ME.”
Following the beast through the woods was surreal for Thomas. He had been forced to leave his sword on the forest floor behind him and was now certain that with each step he came closer and closer to death. What was the thing that spoke to save him?
“WE NEAR the CLEARING,” the ram-headed thing spoke as he watched its hoofed feet leading the way. The smell of ash was stronger.
“Is the tree there?” Thomas asked as a shiver ran through his body. He watched as the woods opened up to a vast sunlit clearing. Its earth was covered in clover.
As he stepped out of the forest and into the open space he saw beasts with different animal heads standing like guards around the space’s outer sides. Wings extended upward out of their backs and they held long swords.
There was a large tree at the far end of the garden with pure red apples amongst its leaves. Thomas reached into his pocket and felt the ruby apple he had discovered in his hall. This must be the tree, he thought and took a step toward it. He had never seen a tree so beautiful before. He felt drawn to it.
A sudden red mist curled through the boughs of the trees, rushing past the beasts and almost covering Thomas’s sight as it passed him. It wove over itself in streams in the center of the clearing and began to take a form. Before his eyes, Thomas saw the mist solidify into the form of a crimson dragon.
“Alexander?” Thomas gasped in disbelief. He stepped forward with his hand outstretched, wanting to touch the dragon to know he was real.
“Stay where you are, Thomas,” Alexander spoke. “Leave us. He is unarmed. I will deal with him,” he told the beasts and waited as the creatures disappeared into the shadows of the woods.
“But I saw you die. I touched your blood.” Thomas stood, grasping for some reality. “How can you be here?”
“I cannot die. I was placed in this land, Eden, to guard the Tree of Life. I am not to let any mortal eat of its fruit again.” Smoke poured out of the dragon’s nostrils and rose into the sky. “I was awoken from a long slumber when you took the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge from our land. Now you return to steal from the Tree of Life. You should never have come back to this place.”
“I wish to have eternal life so that I can rebuild my kingdom and redeem myself for the wrongs I have committed against my people.” Thomas shook with desire for the fruit and anger because Alexander dared stand in his way. Alexander took Lilya from me. Now he denies me this tree, he thought and clenched his fists.
“You cannot eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, Thomas. And you must pay for what you have done.”
Thomas saw fire churning in the dragon’s mouth as it spoke. “How can you hold what I have done against me?” he asked, enraged. “The figs of your land cursed me. If not for them, then my land would be spared.”
“You have cursed yourself.” Alexander’s eyes flared with heat. “It was you that accepted them, you that allowed them to take you over. The sparks of your sins were within you and you chose to succumb to them. Do not blame a fruit for the evil you became. It was your free will which controlled you.”
“It was the figs!” Thomas shouted at Alexander, his face red with hate.
“It is not for me to judge. It is the Lord you must ask forgiveness of.”
“Enough!” he shouted and ran forward, rage guiding his steps and searing his chest as he went for the tree.
His scorched bones tumbled to the ground as a hot pulse burst throughout the clearing and Alexander’s flames sucked back within his maw.
43
