by Mario Routi
“Well...” Rebecca turned and looked at him, patting his hand. “While I’m still angry at you for keeping this from me, Alexander, I would like to thank you for being merciful to her.”
“I’m a descendant of Hercules, Princess. If I didn’t go easy on my opponents then I would most likely have killed them all by now...” Both of them drew sharp intakes of breath as they saw Mo slam Leylah to the ground with his club. “Oh my, that’s going to hurt,” he said.
Every maternal instinct she possessed was urging Rebecca to stand up and run to her daughter but she suppressed the urges, gripping the arms of her throne until her knuckles turned white. She watched as Mo picked Leylah up and was unable to stop the tears from coming to her eyes as they walked out of the stadium together.
“Are you okay, Princess?” Alexander asked, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Yes!” She brushed the tears away quickly. “But it was a tough moment.”
“Mo is a good and honorable friend,” Julius said. “You know he takes care of Leylah as if she were his little sister. He would never do anything to really hurt her.”
Rebecca nodded and they all rose and walked together to the arena exit.
“Princess Rebecca,” Alexander continued, “what Leylah learns here will probably help to keep her alive. The Lomani is approaching and, sooner or later, we will all be called upon to fight. She needs to be ready to defend herself.”
Rebecca put her fingers on Alexander’s cheek. “Thank you. You’re a good man and we are all so proud of you.”
Turgoth approached. Rebecca linked arms with her husband and they headed home together.
19
Outside the stadium, Mo led Leylah up to group of other Cyclopes.
“Well, hello there,” she smiled up at them.
“Leylah,” Mo said, “these are my good friends: Curel, Jacob, and Harry. They travelled with me from our Kingdom, CyPor, to enjoy the Games and wanted to invite you to join us for dinner.”
“Of course!” Leylah couldn’t believe that Mo was ready to eat again already, but she was famished from her exertions. “That does seem like a fun idea. Let’s go!”
They headed to the food halls and all four of the Cyclopes piled their plates with mountains of food. Each plate load could have fed an Orizon family for a month. She found the sight of such gluttony disturbing and the more she watched them swallowing down their food, the more her own appetite diminished.
“Mo tells us that you like to work in the mining shafts?” Curel said, half-chewed food spilling from the corners of his mouth, only to be scooped speedily back in with his fingers.
Leylah nodded.
“How is that?” Jacob asked. “You are a princess.”
“It’s very relaxing and it’s also a great workout. For a long time I wasn’t allowed to use a real weapon so I chose to work in the mine instead. It seemed to be the equivalent in labor and I wanted to prepare my muscles for the time when I would be called to fight. That’s why I prefer to fight with a pole.”
“To us, it seems weird to use any weapon other than a club,” Harry said. “There’s nothing more useful than a nice big, stout club.”
“That was some good fighting that you did in there, Leylah,” Curel added. “Mo is one of the strongest Cyclopes in our Kingdom and he’s always been a skilful fighter. We saw you hesitate just at the end. Why did you do that?”
“General Nemesis told me that it is dishonorable to break someone’s nose during a friendly fight,” Leylah said, nibbling on a piece of bread and trying not to look at her fellow diners too closely.
Mo slammed his fork down on the table. “What did you just say?”
“You remember the fight I had with Alexander?” Leylah inquired innocently.
“Yeah?”
“Well, Nemesis spoke to me after the match and explained that I should not have taken the risk of nearly breaking his nose.”
Mo took this in for a moment and then turned to the others. “You guys knew she hesitated?”
“Yes,” Curel and Jacob said in unison.
“It was obvious,” Harry added. “You must have realised.”
“Now I feel terrible about the match,” Mo said. “It means I didn’t win outright after all.”
“Look on the bright side,” Curel offered. “At least Leylah didn’t mess up your pretty face.”
All of them burst out laughing and Mo picked his fork up once more.
“Maybe she didn’t want to make it uglier!” Harry suggested.
Mo changed the subject. “So Leylah, I heard you had dinner with Prince Alexander - is that right?”
All four of them stared at her, waiting for her to answer with their forks hanging in mid-air.
Leylah felt her cheeks redden. “Well, yes, but only because my mother forced me. It wasn’t like a date or anything, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“I bet that was awkward!” Mo said, winking at his buddies.
“Yes,” Leylah admitted, “it was awkward, but he was very sweet about it.”
“Don’t you just love parents?” Mo said, re-filling his mouth with gusto. “Sometimes they can’t help making you feel all weird inside and meddling with things that would be best left alone.”
“Speaking of which,” Leylah announced, standing up from the table, “I really must be getting back to my parents now. They’ll be waiting for me.” She gave Mo a big hug. “It’s been great seeing you, my friend!”
“It’s always a pleasure to have you around, Leylah. I hope that we will fight again in the next season of the War Games!”
“Absolutely! And next time I won’t hesitate - I promise.” She turned to the others. “It’s been great meeting you all. I hope we hang out some more before you head back to CyPor.”
They waved goodbye and continued eating as she headed out towards her parents’ house.
***
As Leylah walked into their yard, Bebi leaped up at her. He knocked her to the ground and then stood on her chest and licked her face. When he eventually let her struggle back to her feet, he burst into an excited run, chasing after her around the house and making her laugh uncontrollably. She dodged left, letting him charge past her while she started running in the opposite direction, which forced him to spin round on the spot.
They played like this for a while until the fatigue of the day’s activities began to take over her limbs. While the Flame would always keep her from feeling completely exhausted, she was still out of breath and needed to sit down on the front porch for her breathing to even out. Bebi sat next to her, panting heavily but appearing content to have let out all the pent up energy he had accumulated after a day without her. She stroked his head. He was a sweet looking creature. His body was brown-red with patches of white on the left side of his face and also on his neck and chest, while his muzzle was pink and black and his right eye had a beautiful black ring around it.
Rebecca stuck her head out from the front door. “Dinner’s ready if you two want to come in.”
As she had hardly eaten a thing with the Cyclopes, Leylah was still hungry and she wanted to make it up to Bebi for having been on his own at home all day. The smell of fresh cooking filled her nostrils as she sat down. Bebi had his own plate across the table from her and he dived into the food before anyone else had even picked up their utensils.
“Did you enjoy the fight in the arena, dear?” Rebecca asked.
“Oh, it was fun. But I think I kind of ruined Mo’s self esteem afterwards.”
“Why is that?”
“His friends noticed that I hesitated during the match and I had to tell him why I did it.”
Turgoth smiled. “Well, yes, I noticed that you could have broken his nose if you had wanted, but you chose not to.”
“
He had me pinned and it was a very hard decision that I had to make.”
“Alexander had a match just before you. How is it that you weren’t there to support him?” Rebecca asked.
“Well first of all, I was surprised to hear that I was fighting against Mo and by the time we got to the stadium, Alexander had already had his fight. I missed it because I had taken Mo to eat.”
“Why didn’t you come home straight after the match?” her mother asked.
“Mo and his friends wanted me to have dinner with them.”
“Ha!” Turgoth laughed. “I’m surprised you can even stand being in the same room with food after a day like that. They are big eaters, aren’t they?”
“Oh Dad, you have no idea!”
“Your father has extensive experience with Cyclopes,” Rebecca reminded her. “I’m sure he knows exactly what you’re talking about.”
Turgoth smiled. “They’re good people, but that much food going into a single body is not the most pleasant sight to behold - even if they are your friends.”
“Well I’m glad to hear that you had a good day,” Rebecca said. “After the dream you had the night before, you needed something to take your mind off it.”
Leylah nodded and she finished her meal in silence, patting Bebi on the head as she went to her room. When she had closed her bedroom door behind her she let out a huge sigh of relief. She threw herself flat on the bed - spread out on her back like a starfish - and felt an overwhelming exhaustion flood her body.
Bebi jumped up next to her. He pushed his head against her body as if trying to give her a massage. She ran her fingers through his fur and buried her face in the folds of loose skin round his neck, falling deeply asleep to the rhythmic sound of his contented breathing.
20
A cold chill ran through Leylah’s body as she stared blindly into the darkness. She could hear chanting in the distance but could see nothing. Bits of the chanting began to make sense to her as she strained to hear; some of it seemed to consist of familiar ancient Greek words, while the rest sounded like Latin.
Once again, she stretched her arms wide and spread her hands out on both sides, feeling the jagged rocks beneath her palms. Groping her way forward, the edges of rock led her into what seemed like a hallway and the chanting grew louder with each step she took. Slowly, she began to make out shapes around her and the hallway seemed intensely familiar, like something that her mother had described before. It was full of mirrors but none of them reflected anything. The flickering light of a fire appeared ahead of her as she felt a rumble which made the rocks around her tremble. There were torch handles on the walls but none of the wood was burning. Instead, there were orange crystals hanging from the roof that were unlike anything she had seen before.
The chanting was changing in tone, becoming more repetitive and monotonous. It sounded angry and eventually all she could hear was a crowd of hideous voices shrieking out one word: “Revenge!” Beneath the shouting of the crowd she could just make out someone delivering a speech and stoking the coals of their fury. Peering round a corner she froze in horror at the scene before her. Cronus was standing overhead looking down at someone in front of him. It was the same scene as the other night, but louder and more intense. She paused for a moment, telling herself that it was just a dream and that she must control the fear that was threatening to take over both her mind and her body. It was important that she find out more about the dream. She decided to look closely at the Titan but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make sense of his features.
Rows of demons were packed in front of what looked like a stage. Peering closer, she could see that they stretched beyond the horizon - which was glinting - and she realised that the thing they were chanting for was battle.
“You have long been forced to live in your graves,” Cronus was screaming in a voice that could still be heard despite the overwhelming roar of the crowd, “as Hades refuses you entrance into the wonders of either Heaven or Hell. Your souls are too malevolent and too bloodthirsty to be considered worthy of dwelling in Hades’ realm. So you come here, to our land, to the land of the Titans, to squander your days wandering about in hellish silence. You are trapped here. There’s no way out. If you die here, then your existence is snuffed out forever. Is that just and fair? We are in prison as much as you are. Do you want to set yourselves free?”
“We want to be free!” the hordes of demons shrieked in one unearthly voice.
The creature who had been sitting beside Cronus caught Leylah by surprise again, appearing in front of her and grabbing her by the shoulders. Its skull began to morph, turning first into her father’s face - but distorted by a wicked smile - and then into Rebecca’s before finally becoming Alexander, laughing as if mocking her for being trapped inside her own fear.
***
“Leylah!” Turgoth cried, “Leylah!”
Her body was shaking uncontrollably and her throat felt as if it was on fire. Her father was holding her by the shoulders and staring into her frightened eyes. Rebecca stood in front of him.
“Leylah, baby, are you okay?” Turgoth asked.
She looked at her parents for a moment and then fell against her father’s chest, sobbing into his shirt. For a long while he held her close as she shook.
“Rebecca,” he said, “just an hour or so ago I saw Felicia in the hospital with Doctor Afterland. If she’s still there it might be a good idea to bring her over and see what she makes of these nightmares.”
Rebecca nodded and hurried out of the house. She jumped on her horse and galloped towards the hospital.
Although her sobbing was beginning to subside, Leylah had still not managed to speak by the time the door opened and Rebecca returned with Felicia and Doctor Afterland, who carried the Flame. Turgoth gently laid her down on the bed and moved away as Doctor Afterland administered a small amount of the Flame to her shivering body.
Leylah felt peace flow through her, calming her trembling and making the pain in her throat melt away. Doctor Afterland lifted the Flame and looked at her enquiringly. She nodded and gave a weak smile. He stepped back, allowing Lady Felicia to sit on the bed with Leylah as she delicately took her hand. Before Felicia could say anything, Leylah burst out with her story, telling everyone in the room what had happened in this more detailed dream. When she finally fell silent, Felicia squeezed her hand encouragingly.
“There’s not much I can add to this, Leylah,” she said softly, “but I can tell you that there’s nothing to fear inside your dreams. They’re not sent to hurt you. On the contrary, sometimes they are meant to help guide you along your destined path. What is very interesting to me is the man whose face you say changed from a skull to three people who have nothing to do with Evil - the three people who are closest to you. You are sure he was just one entity?”
“Yes. Is that significant?”
“Actually, it’s unheard of - at least I have never heard of it before. It seems strange that a dream this horrifying should be filled with the faces that bring you the most peace. With your parents’ consent, I think it is best if we go to see my father, Lord Life, in the Elysian Fields. He may have some answers for us. Rebecca? King Turgoth? What do you think?”
“You must do whatever you believe is best,” Turgoth said and Rebecca nodded.
“How do you feel now,” Lady Felicia asked Leylah.
“I feel okay, but exhausted. If you don’t mind, I’ll go back to sleep. I assume it’s very late and I’m sorry for keeping you all from your beds.”
“Honey,” Turgoth chuckled, “it’s nearly noon...”
21
The Elysian Fields
As Leylah walked out from the house to the garden, she felt her spirits lifting and all the fears of darkness leaving her. Pegasus swept down from the sky, landing elegantly on the grass in front of them and folding his giant wi
ngs. Felicia helped Leylah onto his broad back and they took off together into the sky.
The air was cold but Leylah relished the rush of the wind lapping against her face, making her eyes water and her hair stream out behind her. She had a clear view of the sun and all around her the blue sky was mixed with its yellow hues like an artist’s palette.
After a surprisingly short time, Pegasus dived back down towards sprawling green lands which looked very similar to Utopia. A castle-like structure glinted in the distance as they landed in the Elysian Fields. Lord Life and Lady Danae were waiting to greet them as they landed with a soft thump. Immediately, Felicia jumped off Pegasus and ran to hug her parents.
“Welcome, my love! We have missed you so much!”
“How did you know I was coming?” she asked.
“Morpheus told your father, my dear,” Lady Danae explained.
“Morpheus? The God of dreams?”
“Exactly. So, am I to assume this lovely lady is Rebecca and Turgoth’s daughter?” Lord Life asked.
“Yes! This is Leylah.”
Leylah slid from Pegasus’s back and bowed to Lord Life and Lady Danae.
“I’m honored to meet you,” she said. Lord Life shook her hand and Lady Danae kissed both her cheeks in turn.
“So, Father,” Felicia said, “if you already know about Princess Leylah’s horrible dreams, could you impart some of your wisdom to us?”
Lord Life frowned. “Alas, I cannot shed any light on this for now. Morpheus has promised to look into it and he will talk to you when the time is right, but I warn you it may take a while; that God is particularly elusive.”
Felicia nodded in understanding.
“I would advise you to pay even closer attention to every detail the next time you have such a dream, young Leylah,” Lord Life continued, “because this is probably a premonition dream. Try to find clues that might be of help to us in figuring out what it all means.”
