The dirty man sat on the floor of the cave among refuse and rotting carcasses, while looking at some sort of shell he was holding in his hands. The man would put the shell to his ear and laugh gleefully. Then he would look intently into it as if there was something inside, before putting the shell back to his ear and giggling again. The strange man seemed oblivious to Jak and Benjim entering, and did not even look up at them.
Benjim spoke again, “We seek the prophet. Do you know where he is?”
The man gave a start, and then looked at the newcomers as if seeing them for the first time, before returned to examining his shell. Jak looked at Benjim and shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps the old man had been wrong. It seemed that he had been wrong about the name of the village where those insane people had been, so why not this too. Maybe there was no prophet here? There only seemed to be this crazy old hermit.
Benjim began to get frustrated, and asked the man again, even more emphatically this time. The dirty man suddenly sat up straight, deliberately placing the shell down carefully in front of him before saying, “The prophet is not here right now. But he will be here shortly, if you would like to wait for him.” He stared at them expectantly, as if waiting for an answer.
“We will wait,” Benjim said.
It was strange to Jak, the man sounded and acted differently than he had just a moment ago. Even though it was the same grubby dirty man, he sounded much more refined and coherent than before. The man’s voice was different, and his eyes alert and focused. It was almost like a different person altogether.
The silence stretched on for several more long moments, and Jak began to shift on his feet impatiently. Where was this prophet? He wondered. What did the man mean when he said the prophet would be there shortly? The stench was overpowering, and he raised his hand to shield his mouth and nose from the putrid smell.
Suddenly the dirty man’s head slumped forward as if he were asleep. Then abruptly his head swung back up, regarding Jak and Benjim with a clear fervent look in his eyes. “You wish to speak with the prophet?” he asked in a reverberating tone. His voice now sounded different than either of the previous two times. It resonated from the cavern walls, and had a commanding tone. This was all just a bit too strange for Jak.
“If so then you have come to the right place. You are extremely fortunate, since I do not come back here very often any longer. I am the prophet Leginaria. What is it that you wish to know?”
This man was the prophet? He seemed to Jak just to be a crazy old man. How could this dirty, smelly man sitting in a pile of filth, be a prophet?
However Benjim’s eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, “We seek wisdom concerning the Blood Witch, Allysix. She has been freed once again into the world, and we seek knowledge of how to stop her.”
Jak’s head swung around in surprise. Allysix? That was the name the villagers at Gloryvane had used. Allysix was the Blood Witch? What did she want with Jak? She had already had him in her grasp in the cave that night. What more could she possibly want from him, and why had she set the villagers on him to capture him?
Leginaria sat there for a moment with a far away look before finally speaking, “Have you kept the watch…..Watcher? Do you still watch?”
Benjim’s head slumped in shame. Jak wasn’t exactly sure what the prophet was saying, but Benjim was acting as if he had failed in something important. There was remorse plain in the old man’s eyes.
“The watch is not through…..you must watch still,” the prophet said to Benjim, “the watch is never through.”
The prophet then abruptly turned his attention to Jak. “You are the key, but as yet, the wrong key for the lock. You must loose yourself, and by doing so, you might never find yourself again. The girl is the key….
“What?” Jak interrupted, as Benjim frantically tried to silence him, “you just said I was the key. Then you say the girl is the key. Which is it? And what girl?”
Leginaria sat there for several moments staring at Jak with no expression, and not speaking a word. Jak was afraid he had made a mistake in interrupting.
Finally, Leginaria began to speak again, “Is there but one lock? One key? One door? There are many locks, with many keys, and many doors. You must die in order to live. Light must be extinguished, in order for light to prevail. Alas, evil will prevail, if light abides.”
This man was talking in circles, and it made no sense to Jak at all. What did the man mean? He contradicted himself with almost every sentence he spoke. Maybe he was just a crazy old man.
Suddenly the man in front of them slumped over for a moment, and then returned to studying the shell.
“What do you mean I must die to live? Jak asked.
“What? Who are you? What are you doing here?” the dirty little man was back.
“Where is the prophet?” Jak asked emphatically.
“Who?… Oh… He’s gone. You can wait if you want. He might be back. Maybe he will be back before the season is through. He don’t come round here too much. Not nomore at least. But you can wait if you want. Might never come back, just don’t know for sure. But you can wait if you want. Do you want something to eat?” He said, picking up a rotting fish carcass and extending it towards the Jak.
Jak looked at Benjim who just shook his head and said, “I do believe we are finished here. The prophet is gone, and apparently we were lucky to have heard what we did.”
As Benjim led the way out of the cave, Jak was still arguing with him. “Maybe the prophet will come back. Shouldn’t we wait? What did he mean? I want to ask him more questions. Is he just a crazy old man, or is he really a prophet? Why won’t the prophet speak to us further?”
Benjim stopped and looked Jak in the eyes with a somber expression. “That is not how it works, lad. The dilemmas with prophets are that they are half-mad to begin with. Some people even speculate that it is their insanity that allows them to see alternate realities and future events. It is true, that some of what they say is nonsense, and just the ravings of a mad mind. Some of it however, is truly prophetic and will surely come to pass. But most of their words are in riddles and ciphers, since their mad minds cannot put what they see, fully into coherent thoughts and words. You must decipher what is real, and what is not. More importantly, you must puzzle out what it means….that which is true.”
“You are speaking in circles like he was,” Jak said with exasperation.
“I am saying it as plainly as I can. I admit, I do not understand much, if any of what the prophet said, right now. I will need to think on it for a time, and even then, I may never fully know the truth. Many wise men have studied the prophecies over a lifetime, and still were not able to decipher them.”
That didn’t really satisfy Jak, but he had no other choice but to follow Benjim back up the cliff. Not unless he wanted to stay here with the crazy old man. That thought had no appeal to Jak, so he followed Benjim up the cliff to where the others were waiting.
By the time they returned to their campsite where Nicoldani was waiting with Gin and the horses, it was still well short of midday. The time they had spent with the prophet had not taken as much time as Jak thought.
“Well, were you able to find the prophet? What did he say?” Nicoldani asked. “Was it worth it to come all this way?”
“Perhaps” Benjim answered guardedly. “I do not know yet. I suspect there are gems of great value in what the prophet said, but I must think on it a while. However, the prophet did confirm that Jak has an important part to play in all this.”
That seemed to satisfy Nicoldani, at least a bit. “What now?” The big man asked.
“He did?” Jak said interrupted, at the same time, Gin said, “Jak is an important part of what?”
None of them had seen Gin walk up behind them from where she had been sitting on the edge of the cliff, watching the waves on the beach.
“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about right now little one,” Benjim said with a smile. Gin started to put on one of her looks that sa
id the answer wasn’t good enough for her, but the old man forestalled her saying, “I think we had better be on our way quickly, time may be short, although I do not know for certain. In any case, we must be on our way.”
They broke camp quickly and started back up the mountain. Jak didn’t really want to leave already, since he hadn’t even had time to enjoy the water and waves of the sea. It would have been great if he would have actually been able to go swimming in it. It seemed like ages since he had gone swimming, or had been able to have any fun. He was tired of traveling, and not looking forward to going through the pass at the top of the mountains again either, but it made little difference since they had to be on their way.
The four rode hard trying to make as good as time as they could. To Jak’s dismay, when the sun began to set, it found them back in the same valley where they had stayed on the way through….the place with the watching eyes.
Staying in the same spot was not an appealing thought to Jak, but they had no choice but to spend the night there again. There would be nowhere on the steep slopes of the western side to camp, and it was far too dangerous to attempt the rough trail in the dark. So they setup camp where they had before.
At first, it seemed as if whatever had made Jak feel as if something were watching him was gone now. Perhaps it had only been his imagination after all, since now he did not have the same feeling of eyes on him as he had felt before. But to his trepidation, it wasn’t long before the feeling returned, and this time it was much stronger.
Jak wasn’t the only one on edge, and the older men agreed that they should take turns standing watch. Jak volunteered to be first, since he didn’t think he could sleep anyway, so he took up position on the fallen tree where he and Nicoldani had sat and talked the night before last. As Jak sat and peered into the night, he thought he could see shadowy shapes slinking around out among the trees. However, even his eyes could not focus on them or actually see anything, other than what was usual for the forest. Perhaps it was his imagination playing tricks on him, but he could swear there was something out there in the dark among the trees.
Frog seemed just as disturbed as Jak felt. The dog sat with his ears pulled back and occasionally whimpered. If Jak had not commanded the dog to keep still and quite, he was sure that Frog would have been growling and barking furiously, or even been running off into the trees after whatever it was that seemed to be out there.
After a time, Jak noticed Nicoldani approaching. The big man walked purposefully over and took a seat on the fallen tree next to Jak. Nicoldani didn’t say anything, but just sat and peered out into the murky darkness. Jak was glad of the other man’s company. He wasn’t sure if his mind was playing tricks on him or not, and it was comforting to have someone else keeping watch with him.
When Nicoldani did finally speak, Jak wished he had remained silent, “Something is out there……. I can feel it …..Even if I can’t see it,” the big man said with a fierce alertness that Jak had never seen before in the man.
The confirmation made the hair on the back of Jak’s neck stand on end, and the eerie feeling become more intense. The sense of impending doom was almost palpable, like teetering on the brink of a tall cliff, just before falling. More chilling moments passed, with the sensation growing stronger and stronger, and Jak could even hear rustling in the trees and see branches moving, but his eyes couldn’t focus on what was causing the noise or movement. If there actually was something or someone out there, Jak should easily be able to see them even in the dark. But as intently as Jak scanned the outlying area, it was in vain. Unbelievable as it was, there was nothing out there that he could see clearly.
“Go wake the old man,” Jak jumped and his heart leapt into his throat at the abrupt command from Nicoldani. “NOW.” The big man said urgently.
Jak immediately jumped down from the tree, and hurried towards where Benjim laid several paces off.
Jak only made it a few steps, when seemingly out of thin air a shadowy figure darted from one side and knocked him hard to the ground. It took him a moment to gain his bearings, but his instincts had at least picked up the slack. In the confusion, he had somehow been able to grasp his attacker by the wrists. Jak’s eyes were finally able to focus, at least partially, on the shadowy figure that had him pinned to the ground.
The creature was trying to tear at Jak with its long sinuous fingers, tipped in sharp claws. At the same time, spittle was dripping from its jagged yellow teeth onto Jak’s face, as the figure ferociously tried to slash and bite at him.
No matter how hard Jak tried to focus on the assailant, his eyes seemed to want to slide past the creature instead of actually focusing on it. The unknown creature was blurry and almost transparent in a way. It was constantly changing, like the surface of a pool of water disturbed by ripples. From what Jak could actually see of the thing, it was hideous and terrifying, like a monster had climbed out of his nightmares.
Although the thing was smaller than Jak, it was incredibly strong. It seemed to be smooth, and had no hair at all that Jak could see. The only thing that Jak could actually see clearly, was the creature’s beady black eyes, that were even blacker than the night, and which seemed to absorb the light. Its black eyes and sharp yellow teeth were all that were clear, but everything else about it was cloudy, and out of focus.
The faint light from the fire, which was still many paces from where Jak struggled with the monster, seemed to glint and reflect from the skin of the creature. Those small reflections of light looked almost to coalesce into a milky white liquid, flowing and dancing over the surface of its body.
If it had been anyone else but Jak, or possibly Nicoldani struggling with the creature, they would probably be dead by now. After Jak’s encounter with Nicoldani at Gloryvane, and the way he was able to lift the huge man with only one hand, he should have been able to easily twist and crush the small creature without a problem.
However, he was just able to hold the creature at bay, but only barely. The thing was incredibly strong and slippery in a way that made it difficult to hold.
As he continued to grapple ferociously with the beast, he began to hear a strange soft humming noise. He thought it was just his imagination at first, or just a ringing in his ears from hitting the ground so hard, but it began to slowly grow louder.
Jak soon found himself feeling very tired, and almost relaxed, which made him just want to lie down and go to sleep. He knew it was something the creature was doing, but he was having an extremely difficult time ignoring the sound, and the feeling. The longer it continued, the less Jak wanted to resist.
Jak wondered why Nicoldani was not coming to his aid. Then his heart sank as he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Nicoldani was on the ground a little ways off, struggling with another one of the horrible creatures as well.
Time was running short for both him and Nicoldani, but Jak didn’t know what to do. He thought of Frog, but he couldn’t even muster enough will power to call the dog, and since he had ordered the dog to stay, and be quiet, it would never disobey him.
Frog wouldn’t disobey even to save Jak’s life, not unless he called for him. It was taking every ounce of strength he could summon just to keep the creature from tearing him apart, besides he didn’t think Frog would be of much help anyways.
As precious moments slipped by, Jak felt his strength being leached away somehow by the creature. Panic and fear danced at the edge of his consciousness as he realized that it wouldn’t be long now until the creature was able to overcome him.
The last of his will power to resist was slipping away, and his strength was failing. His will to resist the creature was fading away into mist and it would soon end here. The nightmarish creature was just too much for Jak to withstand.
If he was not so drained and sleepy, then his heart might have failed completely when he saw two more of the creatures, a few paces off heading to join the melee. The scurrying figures looked as if the very air had coalesced into a thick jelly, and was mov
ing through the shadows of the night to slay him.
Suddenly a bright flash of light streaked by and nearly blinded Jak. The white light struck the two approaching figures, and instantly, they seemed to solidify into solid milky white beings, before dissipating into mist and disappearing.
At the same instant the light flashed brightly, immediately the humming stopped, and Jak’s head began to clear a bit. He was still grasping the creature by its arms, but his hands were beginning to go numb where he was touching the beast. It felt bitterly cold, as if he were holding ice or snow in his hands. Jak could barely feel his fingers through the icy cold, and the numbness was moving into his arms.
However, now the creature was struggling to break free of his grasp and flee. Jak realized that the light had somehow affected the creatures. He then noticed that Benjim was awake and standing a few paces off, facing in the direction of Nicoldani and his assailant. The white light came again, emanating from Benjim, and this time Jak heard the creature that was attacking Nicoldani scream a blood curdling cry of pain and frustration.
As the bright light streaked past the creature on top of Jak, the monster seemed to turn almost completely white and milky, as the others had appeared. It too cried out in frustration and anger, struggling fiercely to break free of Jak’s grasp.
The light lasted for several seconds this time, and when it dissipated the creature that Nicoldani had been struggling with was ….. gone. The beast that had been trying to kill Jak was able to break free from his grip, and almost immediately, it melded into the night, and disappeared without a trace.
Jak lay there gasping and attempting to catch his breath when Benjim walked over and helped him to his feet, but it was difficult for Jak to even stand in his weakened condition.
The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) Page 22
