The Shards

by Gary Alan Wassner

  Tamara stared from one agonized face to another. She saw what they had done to themselves by choosing the path of darkness or by having darkness seek them out and allowing it to poison them. None were innocent. Some could have taken a different path when the fork presented itself. They were the guiltiest ones; those for whom there was once hope!

  “Choice! Guilt and innocence is all about choice!” Tamara said. “Whether they knew it at their moment of decision or not. But I do pity those who could not help themselves. They seem suddenly not so shameful.”

  “And there are many such. Remember though that the havoc they wreak hurts just as much! The fact that the evil is pure and without doubt, and was embraced without a conscious decision to do so is not cause for redemption! They are guilty for their actions nonetheless, if not for their nature!”

  “Is it not their nature that determines their actions?”

  “To an extent, Tamara. But we must defy evil regardless.”

  “Can one be both evil and innocent?” she asked, perplexed.

  “Look upon them. Do you see an innocent face amongst them? The ones who did not consciously choose may have hearts as black as pitch. And they will commit horrendous acts. They cannot help themselves, perhaps.”

  “How can we condemn them then?”

  “For the sake of the earth, we must confine them. Judgment we will leave to others. Their actions speak for their souls, and it is the effects that they have upon the world that are their measure. We must evaluate our response thereupon. This is the perspective we must assume if we hope ever to make the world safe again.”

  “And what of Colton? I want to believe that he could have chosen otherwise. I want to believe that he is guilty.”

  “Never doubt his guilt! As evil is to good, so is Colton to the earth! Though they be the opposites that define each other, he is but an example. It may be that in him, the rule is broken! The earth will survive without this demon, this icon of iniquity!”

  Tamara was unsure of what she was feeling, but she knew that she would forever look upon things differently from now on. Things were not as simple as she had always thought. Her mind was unaccustomed to deep thoughts, and now she could not stop herself from thinking. As she walked, she contemplated these issues over and over again in silence.

  She had been so immersed in thought that she barely noticed that they had left the nethers some time ago, and that they were heading up a steep incline in another passage totally unlike any she had been through before. The odor of Lalas was unmistakable, and as soon as it reached her nostrils, the aura that surrounded them vanished.

  “Oh!” she said, startled. “My body reacted before I even made the decision. All of a sudden, it felt wrong to have this around us.”

  “No explanations are required,” Etuah replied, and she drew deeply on the scent. “How sad and how lovely. It is not often that I am able to experience it. Usually, all signs of life have vanished by the time we arrive.”

  “Knowing that the tree is dying, I can hardly bear this,” Tamara said. She was suddenly breathing in fits and starts. “Is he still alive? And what of his Chosen?” Tamara asked, already profoundly disturbed by what she was seeing and feeling.

  “Behold!” Etuah said and she held her long, thin arm outstretched before her.

  Lying upon the soft ground about twenty yards ahead of them was the body of a large man. It sat there motionless and unprotected.

  “This is awful! Is that Carlisle?” Tamara asked. “Is there nothing to be done?” she said, almost frantic with concern.

  “Nothing, sister. It is too late for him. The tree itself will depart soon, and you must be ready. Now Tamara, you must go on without me,” she said.

  “Without you? You mean I have to go in there alone?” she asked, though she knew this before.

  Etuah nodded.

  “How will I find the shard?”

  “I cannot answer that, but I am confident that you will know how. Go, sister. The time has come,” she said. She extended her arm toward the heart and her long, knobby fingers stretched almost double their ordinary length.

  Tamara looked at the Drue closely.

  “Will you be here when I return?” she asked.

  “I will.”

  “And then?”

  “And then I will enter and secure this place from the lost ones.”

  “And then?” she asked again.

  “And then I too will depart, Tamara,” she replied. “And so must you, for other places as well,” Etuah smiled.

  “I will see you again then,” Tamara stated with certainty, and that thought gave her courage and hope as she walked past the fallen Chosen. She glanced back momentarily at Etuah and nodded soberly.

  She looked at Carlisle’s face as she passed him by, and impulsively, she leaned over and picked up his bow and quiver. Carefully, she laid the quiver across his chest and stuck the end of the bow as deep into the ground beside him as she could. Briefly, she kneeled upon the soft ground next to the Chosen and placed his hands over the quiver. They were already cold and the tears came to her eyes unbidden at the touch. She rose and walked past him, while choking back the sorrow.

  The surface upon which she stepped was strewn with rubble, branches perhaps, or fallen rocks, she was uncertain, and she created a small light in her palm so that she could walk forward without tripping in the gloom. She looked back once again, only this time she saw Etuah standing there in the distance with her hair and garments streaming out from her body as if a strong wind was blowing at her. A soft and peaceful glow surrounded her and her eyes were bright with anticipation. No sign of fear or regret marred her beauty. Suddenly, Tamara understood the true meaning of sacrifice.

  She is so strong and so noble. This will not be for naught, she vowed, as she stepped cautiously into the sacred chamber ahead.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  “We must move quickly,” Teetoo warned. “This place is not safe.”

  “Why? What do you fear?” Alemar asked. “I thought that no enemy would dare pursue us whilst we are in one of the Forbidden Places.”

  “’Tis not the enemy outside that concerns me, Princess. These places are so named for a reason,” the Weloh said.

  “Forbidden? Yet, we are here,” Clovis said.

  “Prepare yourselves. It takes a person of strong constitution to endure the sorrow that will greet you,” Teetoo explained. “It may be that we are permitted to enter at all only because of Premoran and his token that I wear, but nothing can insulate us fully from the impact of this place.”

  Suddenly, a wave of nausea washed over Alemar and she doubled over in response. Clovis went to assist her when he too almost collapsed from the weight of his grief. Giles was leaning against the packed earth of the tunnel wall and he was shaking his head back and forth as if in a stupor.

  “Fight it!” Teetoo said. “I have been in these places before. It is not easy, but you can do it,” he urged them all.

  “I feel as if my whole world has ended,” Alemar sobbed. “I can barely breathe.”

  “I am so cold,” Clovis said, and his body was shivering noticeably. “My heart has turned to stone!”

  “Aye! Mine too,” Giles said. “What manner of place is this?”

  “It is the space that remains,” Teetoo said. “We are in the emptiness left in the wake of the Lalas whose roots passed through here at one time.”

  “It is dreadful!” Alemar said. “How are we to fight this feeling?”

  “Accept it for what it is and keep it from crippling you. This is as close to the void as you will hopefully ever come!” Teetoo explained.

  “Is this what death will feel like?” Clovis asked.

  “Death would be more welcome than this,” Giles said.

  “Here you feel the pain of collective loss. It is amplified because the Lalas was connected to life so intimately that it is far more intense than anything an individual could feel.”

  “The regret I perceive is insufferabl
e. Did the tree love the earth so much?” Alemar asked with tears in her eyes.

  “More than anything else,” Teetoo responded. “Though it chose to depart, that choice did not mitigate its sorrow,” he explained. “Walk with me. Hold your heads up!”

  They struggled to obey his directions, and slowly they each pulled themselves together and followed the Weloh down the dark passage. It twisted and wound its way through the earth, descending all the while. The further they walked, the less they were able to see, and they tripped and stumbled constantly, but they did not stop again for quite some time. The motion of walking seemed to keep them from collapsing upon themselves in total despair.

  “We must review the map, Alemar,” Teetoo reminded her. “Soon, we will have choices to make. We cannot afford to take the wrong path.”

  “The light, Alemar! Take out the light!” Giles suggested. “Can you do that in here?”

  “Can I, Teetoo?” Alemar looked to him for reassurance. “It will be impossible to see this without it.”

  “Colton would not dare to pry into this place with his own senses. He knows the dangers thereof. It should be quite safe. The light may help us in many ways,” Teetoo replied and he nodded his delicate head.

  Alemar reached into her blouse and grasped the finely woven chain upon which hung the delicate cocoon of silver that encased a simple looking object. She held it before her and at her urging it exploded with light.

  “It makes me feel so much better just to see it shine,” Clovis said while breathing deeply. “It is like a reminder of how beautiful things can be.”

  “A much needed reminder,” Giles concurred.

  “Spread the parchment out on this surface here,” Teetoo pointed to a flat area in a crevice in the wall.

  They all huddled around it in a semi-circle, shoulder to shoulder, and stared at the markings.

  “We must avoid these areas at all costs,” Teetoo said. He traced a line across the left side of the map with the tip of his index finger. “These passages lead through the nethers. We cannot traverse them without being observed. We also cannot get too close to the heart. The feelings you are experiencing would only intensify if we were to draw closer.”

  “This must be castle Sedahar itself,” Alemar said, and she reluctantly placed the tip of her finger over a blood red design on the top left of the parchment. “Odd. It is warm to the touch,” she commented, and then she removed her hand quickly as if the feeling was offensive in some way.

  “The routes to it look like veins in the skin,” Giles observed.

  “Some are red and others are black,” Clovis added.

  Alemar went to trace her finger down one of the red ones, but as soon as she touched it she recoiled. She then attempted to follow one of the black lines, and it did not bother her at all.

  “A warning if there ever was one!” Giles chimed.

  “So which one shall we choose? There is more than one painted in black,” Alemar asked the group.

  “Bring the light closer,” Teetoo instructed.

  The Princess removed the chain from around her neck and placed it practically on top of the map. As she did so, the map began to glow in some places while it simultaneously dulled in others. It appeared now as a three dimensional image, and the various lines wove over and under one another. Alemar gasped.

  “Do you see the breaks in the lines now?” Teetoo asked.

  “My eyes just are not good enough,” Clovis admitted. “I can barely see the lines themselves.”

  “I saw them before, but it was obvious none of you did. Without the light, even I would not have known which ones rose and which ones fell. Look more closely here,” Teetoo pointed to one of the thin, black markings that wound from the bottom of the parchment nearly to the top.

  “I see it!” Giles said. “There is a mark perpendicular to the line. What does it mean, do you think?”

  “That the passage is most likely blocked!” Clovis said impatiently. “What else could it signify?”

  “I suppose,” Giles acknowledged.

  “Here too. This one is blocked also,” Alemar noticed, as the markings became clearer and more defined. “And this one,” she pointed.

  “Here as well,” Giles said.

  “Are they all dead ends then?” Clovis asked as he strained his eyes in vain to see.

  Teetoo scrutinized the map closely.

  “No. There is but one that leads without interruption to the castle,” Teetoo observed and he laid his graceful finger upon it. “This one!”

  “So we have our answer!” Alemar said. “Does it take us too near the heart?” she then asked, remembering Teetoo’s last admonition.

  “No. It stays safely away,” Teetoo replied. “Look here! This is where the tree was once centered. And here is Sedahar. This pathway leads us around the nethers and into the outlying root work. You can tell by the smaller striations that crisscross it. It then heads straight for the castle, though it may be rather narrow as it nears it.”

  “The others all terminate quite abruptly after the blockades. I thought that all the trees were connected. These passages all end before Sedahar,” Alemar said. “Did they ever extend further, do you think?”

  “When the tree lived, it stretched itself as far out as it could. It was remarkable that it actually came as close to Sedahar as it did. I suspect that this passage has another’s hands upon it, “ Teetoo explained. “An actual meeting of the two, Colton and the Lalas, would have been cataclysmic! After the tree departed, Colton must have sealed all the burrows off, large and small.”

  “All but one it seems,” Alemar observed.

  “This one must be shielded in some way or he would have found it as well when the Lalas died. There is surely some great magic at work beneath the plains of Colton’s domain that he is yet unaware of,” Teetoo said while contemplating this turn of events.

  “I hope that it continues to work whilst we are here,” Giles said.

  “I second that!” Clovis agreed.

  “Without the map, we would have been wandering in this maze forever,” Alemar said.

  “And without the light, we would never have been able to see what we needed to on the map,” Giles said.

  “The cloth weaves around us,” Teetoo reminded them all. “Fate and coincidence, destiny and luck; there is so much that we do not understand,” he mused aloud.

  “Shouldn’t we start moving?” Alemar suggested. “We still have quite a ways to go.”

  “Yes, Princess. You are so right. We have such a long way to go,” Teetoo replied.

  She stood up with the map in her hand and started to walk forward, while she turned it back and forth to make sure that it was properly oriented. Then she strode determinedly ahead.

  “This is the way. Follow me!” the Princess commanded.

  Teetoo immediately caught up to her and walked by her side while Giles and Clovis took up the rear. It was not difficult to travel down the tunnel now that it was illuminated, and nothing hindered their progress except some occasional debris and a fallen rock or two. They made good time. The feelings that they had suffered previously were rapidly abating the further they walked from the heart of the Lalas, and according to the map, they were traveling directly away from it. But it was the blacker heart of another, more fearful place they would soon be entering that dominated all of their thoughts now.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  “It is Mintar!” Colton said aloud. “Mintar, my beauties!”

  He was sitting upon an obelisk of polished black stone that rose from the center of the smoking ruins of Talamar, waiting for the answer that he knew would reveal itself to him soon. Below him, prostrate upon the scorched earth, lay the forsaken women, the Possessed, motionless and silent. Now that it had come, Colton gazed out toward the western horizon through his black and shining eyes. Invading the thoughts of the women carelessly and without shame, he engraved the image of the dying Lalas and its location upon their minds.

  “Soon, ano
ther of the trees will be gone. But this one is different! It harbors something that I want much more than any of the others did!”

  He slid off of the high pillar and floated to the ground. Before he reached the scorched earth, his legs extended and he landed softly and quietly amidst the perfectly still women, as if they were not even there. His crimson robes settled softly around him, and they caressed his perfect body like a soft brush upon his hair.

  “They deceive and conspire too, my beauties. They had been so self-righteous, so judgmental, these ‘great trees’, but they are so no longer. They have accepted their fate, and now it is my turn! It is our turn!” he said, while barely moving his sensuous lips.

  Colton extended his arms and the dust rose in thick clouds from the smoldering surface beneath him. It swirled around for an instant, and then it began to coalesce. In moments, the semblance of a huge tree loomed before him, though it was grey and deathly in appearance; a mockery of the Lalas that he had just named. He moved the fingers of his left hand slowly and the apparition erupted. It burst apart in all directions and rained ash and detritus everywhere. The debris from his conjuring covered the women in a blanket of grey death. Colton laughed gleefully with his mouth wide open. His laugh became a wail and the wail became a howl, as the horrific sound rolled across the barren plain and increased in intensity as it spread throughout the countryside. It reached into the towns and villages, and cottages and homes of anyone who still remained anywhere within miles of Talamar. Like a scream ululating through a silent, summer night, the Evil One’s laughter invaded the unsuspecting hearts of all who heard it, and it turned them into cold stones in their pounding chests.

  “Rise, Margot! Come to me!” he ordered and he curled his index finger at one of the women.

  Immediately, a prone body clothed in red, liquid-like garments ascended from the darkened surface, her body still stiff and unmoving.