I had discovered that the weather here on the island varied little over the course of days, never really cold or warm, and always sunny. I wondered if it were always like that or if, on the rare occasion they did have rain or even clouds. Nevertheless, the grass stayed a verdant green and the flowers in the field never wilted.
I had cleaned out my backpack a few days ago, and organized my house for a more permanent stay. The pack was lighter on my shoulders now. As I came across pretty or Interesting thing, I began collecting them and bringing them back as decorations.
I was nearing the path to the outlook, which I had successfully worn down into a proper trail, when something caught my eye. A movement, a few yards down from the trail, just off into the bushes. I decided to check it out. It was early still, and I had somewhat abandoned my search for new trails after finding the outlook. Maybe I should see what else I could get into.
I had to step over small bushes and flowers, but again I spotted what had been another trail at some point. This one looked a bit more ominous in the dim light, and of course unfamiliar, but there was very little if any danger here on the island, or at least I hoped so.
The trail followed close to the same path as the trail to the outlook for a while until sloping down instead of up, and veering sharply to the left instead of right. With each step the sky was growing more and more light as the trees thinned, and I could see the path a little more clearly.
I could smell something around me, something familiar. It almost reminded me of the smell from my parent’s bathroom in the morning. Musky, like the aftershave my dad used. Maybe it was a flower I hadn’t come across before, I thought.
The further I walked the rockier the road became, like the path I had taken on my way into the city that first day. But unlike that path, I found it smoother walking without the huge boulders to climb over. The trees were becoming larger, but spaced farther apart, the ground clearly visible like a clearing that had grown back the trees but not the flowers.
I stopped short, catching a glimpse of movement near one of the larger trees. It almost looked like a person, but the only other “person” I had seen was Ethera when she chose the shape of the woman. Surely my eyes were playing tricks on me.
“Ethera?” I asked into the twilight, just in case it was her, and I was interrupting her, although I didn’t think it was likely. Probably just my imagination, I thought again.
A slight breeze kicked up just then, blowing from the direction I was walking, and again the smell hit my nose, this time more intense than before. From the corner of my eyes I could see a dark mist, like the one from the dead forest. My feet slowed, then stopped all on their own, my senses on high alert. I was starting to have a bad feeling about the trail I was on.
I turned around, deciding I’d rather head back to camp, only to find myself face to face with a young man not much older than me, a dark mist whirling around his frame.
Drugan
Handsome didn’t begin to describe him. The jet-black hair that fell to his shoulders, his intense almost maroon eyes set deeply and under dark lashes. He was captivating. I realized I was staring and dropped my eyes.
“Hailey, it is a pleasure to finally meet you,” he smiled, impossibly white teeth flashing behind his lips, and a deep black essence escaping his mouth as he breathed.
The smell was overwhelming close up. It was almost sickening in a way. The cloying smell far more potent and different in a way I couldn’t quite figure out.
All my senses told me to run.
He reached out to shake my hand. I hesitated then reluctantly placed my hand in his. His hands were warm almost electric to the touch, his grasp firm, but not too firm to hurt.
I stood frozen, unable to think about what to say for a moment. I could feel his eyes on me, looking up and then down as he took me in.
“I’m sure you’re wondering who I am, and how I know who you are.” He said slowly, taking a step.
The dark mist swirled around his feet as he walked.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you if that’s what you’re afraid of,” he continued circling me until he came back full circle to stand in front of me again.
“Why do you think I would be afraid of you?” I asked, although I was, and there was no doubt that he knew it.
“Because by now you’ve probably heard all sorts of nasty lies about me.” He drawled. “Things that aren’t true of course, but that never stops people from saying them does it?”
“I have to be getting back,” I said in an attempt to extricate myself from the conversation and from him.
I tried to move around him, but he quickly stepped backwards, still staying in front of me, blocking my way back to the village. I felt my pulse quicken.
“Didn’t you like my present?” he asked, twisting his face into mock sincerity.
“What present?” I spat at him, although I did have the feeling I knew exactly what he was talking about.
He sighed as if he were actually annoyed with me now. “Oh, that’s right.” As he waved his hand, curling his fingers into the air, I felt a curtain lift inside my mind, a veil that had been blocking all sorts of memories from my consciousness. “Better?” he asked.
It felt like the breath was knocked out of me for a second as the memories came flooding back.
The crow. The voice. The humming. The necklace. It was from him, his ‘gift’ to me. A gift that I remembered was not a gift at all, but something dangerous, something disgusting. Angel . . . .
“Oh, God,” I muttered, bringing my hand to my mouth.
I looked at him, with conviction. It was his voice I’d been hearing.
“Don’t look so pissed,” he grinned. “I was impressed. I’ve never seen someone pick it up so easily. Not even me. You have a real talent for carnage.” He chuckled.
“Get away from me.” I said, brushing past him and walking as fast as I could. It had taken me almost an hour to get here from the city, but that was walking at a leisurely pace. If I ran, I could be back in maybe twenty minutes. Fifteen minutes and I could be close enough to yell out for help.
Before I had taken more than two or three steps he was in front of me again. The black mist at his feet rose behind him, obscuring the path I had come down.
“Let me at least introduce myself,” he sneered, “I’m Drugan.”
I had known. At least I think I had known, the moment I saw him.
“Oh, and you’re not going anywhere. At least not yet.” With a flick of his wrist I was stuck still, solidly planted to the ground, my feet unable to move. Everywhere I looked the dark cloud surrounded us, he was the only thing I could see now.
“Help!” I screamed as panic overtook sense.
“Yeah, none of that either.” He smiled and made another movement.
I opened my mouth to scream a word at him my mother would have grounded me for using, but nothing came out. I could hear, I could feel, I could move my mouth, but I couldn’t make a sound.
“Much better,” he proudly smiled at me, standing still and mute for him.
“I think you’ve got the wrong idea about me,” he started.
I’m pretty sure I don’t, I thought.
“You’ve heard the propaganda about the war, about the righteous army of Ethera’s against the evil here. Namely me.” He said, pacing back and forth in front of me like a professor giving a lecture. “It’s not true.”
“I just want to go home, the same as you.” He said smiling.
“But they won’t let me. They have made me a prisoner here, no matter what they’ve told you. I have been stuck here in this purgatory for I don’t know how long. Ethera, have you met her?” he asked me then laughed, obviously remembering that I couldn’t answer him if I wanted.
“Sorry, no more questions. Um well, Ethera is the only one who can open the gates. And until she does and I go home, I’ll continue to fight her for it. It’s simple really.”
I opened my mouth to ask a question, but quickly close
d it. What if he was telling the truth, I wondered. No. That didn’t seem possible.
“You’ve met the council, yes?” He sighed, “Just nod.” I nodded.
“They were the very council that voted to keep me here. Just like they voted to keep you here. They told you it wasn’t safe right? That there was no escape because of the war, right? What if I told you, assured you, that my army would not harm you, that if Seraphina gave you permission to leave, that I would myself personally escort you to the gate so you could leave?” He waved his hand in front of me again.
“Talk.” He sighed.
“You’re lying.” I said. “Why would they want to keep you here?”
“You think you can go back to the way you were?” he leaned in towards me, the odor of his breath lingering in my nose after he pulled away.
“They changed you! You’ve changed! You can hear things, see things. You have abilities that no one in the outside world should have. Do you think they would let you go back?” He railed.
Was he right about that? I thought that when I returned home I would lose those abilities, but what if I didn’t.
“When I go back that will all go away.” I said trying to make myself believe it too.
He laughed, “No Hailey, it won’t. And they know that.” He pointed off in the distance like a mad man.
“We can go back,” he said, letting the possibility hang in the air before continuing. “You and me, we can go back. But we have to fight for it.”
“Why did you give me the necklace?” I demanded. I watched his eyes narrow and a cruel smile flicker across his face for a brief moment until he slyly replaced it with that charming grin.
“It’s our only weapon.” he said, as convincingly as possible.
I shook my head. “No, no . . . No!”
“Yes! I didn’t mean for you to hurt her. Angel was never a threat to us. But you see how powerful you are now with me. We can force them to open the gates, to send us home.”
“Ethera said you wanted to stay. That you stole some stone and . . .”
“Killed the ruler of Ealdume and took over the island for myself.” He smiled. “All true. But what she failed to explain was why.” He paced back and forth as he spoke, weaving his story.
“Darsythus was a cruel ruler, he never allowed any of his subjects to travel to Empira, he trapped them there on Ealdume.” He paused to let his words hang, then continued, all the while never stopping his pacing.
“If the other spirits here are allowed to start again, to have a second chance, why shouldn’t they all?”
“Because only dark lights live on your island. Evil.” I countered.
“So they can never be reborn, right their wrongs, have a chance at making different choices? Do you believe that animals or even people for that matter are born evil?”
I considered his argument, “But this is the punishment they’ve been given because of what they did.”
“It’s true that there are some I would not allow to travel to Empira, but I do believe that some should be given a second chance. . .“ He thought he was getting to me.
“If that were true then why not strike a deal, a truce, end this war. I don’t believe you.”
“And that’s your choice. But at least think about what I’ve told you today. You’re smart enough enough to know that I’m telling the truth . . . .” If I said I still didn’t believe him I was denying my intelligence. If I said I did believe him I was partially giving him my support. He had me in a tough spot, and he knew it.
“Let me go.” I said gently, trying to appease him. “If you truly want my help, you’ll let me go and let me make up my own mind, instead of keeping me captive and mute.” I hope I sounded as convincing as he did.
“Fair enough.” He waived his hand and I felt the heel of my foot leave the ground.
“Thank you.” I managed and took two large steps back in the direction of the city before he called to me again.
“Hailey, before you go. . .”
I reluctantly turned to face Drugan one more time. “What?” I asked.
“I meant what I said. You can go home, we can go home. I promise Hailey.” He stared at me, knowing this was the one thing he had told me that could ever convince me to side with him.
I turned again to leave, making my way back down the path towards camp. The curtain of black smoke had lifted and I knew that he was gone, but it didn’t help to release me from the uneasiness I felt.
I couldn’t help but replay the creepy conversation I had with the devil in the forest. I knew I shouldn’t trust him. I knew that what Ethera and the council had told me was the truth, but he was so skilled in his choice of words that I found myself wondering if maybe there was some conspiracy at work here.
Perhaps not total lies or purposeful manipulation like Drugan wanted me to believe. Although I had always felt key pieces of information was being left out, hadn’t I? Would they really keep me here forever?
It occurred to me now that I could remember everything. That missing piece of information I always felt were just out of reach in my memory were returned, no longer obscured by the foggy veil. Had he forgotten to replace it, I wondered. Or did he truly think I would revisit everything and finally decide to join him, that I would accept the things I had done now that I knew his truth, that I could somehow justify them?
I could never justify what I had done to Angel, I thought sadly. I never wanted to feel that guilt inside me again. I wanted to find both her and Dusty and apologize, to somehow make right what I had done.
I heard a rustle in the trees above me and looked up to see Wishu looking down at me. I guess he had waited for me so we could go on our walk. I tried in vain to give a genuine smile to the squirrel and snicked at him to let him know I was ready.
Our walk was peaceful on the outside, but inside my mind I was turning Drugan’s words over and over.
By the time we made it back to camp I was starving and made a plate of some of the fruits and vegetables I had left. Over the past few days I had figured out how to make a fire and Ethera had given me a pot she had found when she was out in my world. It wasn’t a hamburger, but I had come up with a few recipes that tasted pretty good. I had even gone with a goat named Monty to find some of my favorite fruits and tubers, so I could provide myself with food when needed.
I stood at the door to my home for a few minutes after my lunch and gazed out over the plains and the tall red rock wall around the village. It was beautiful, more beautiful than any place I had ever seen in my world, but I couldn’t stay here. I needed to ask Ethera about what Drugan had said, without letting her know I had seen him. I detested how many secrets I was beginning to accumulate. A large part of me wanted to tell Ethera everything. I wasn’t comfortable with duplicity.
I wanted to tell her that Drugan promised me safe passage, to convince her to take me to the gate and let me go back home. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t go over well. Whatever trust she and I had cultivated these past weeks could vanish, replaced with suspicion or even disgust. What would she do then? Of course she would have to go to the council, and that would probably seal my fate.
I shivered at the thought. And I realized that Drugan truly had left me no choice but to choose a side. With no one but myself to talk to I felt very alone.
Maybe I would still talk with Ethera and maybe I could convince her to allow me to try and make it to the gate. She wouldn’t have to know that Drugan had assured my safety, she would just have to think we got lucky. She didn’t have to know I’d seen Drugan at all if I chose my words carefully.
I saw Tindo by the edge of the stream next to the woods at the far end of the village. Over the last week I no longer saw his crimson breath, but a more subdued yellow orange when we spoke in passing. I wouldn’t go as far as to say friendship of course, but I wasn’t afraid he was going to maul me anymore.
I set off in a gentle jog over the grass between us, slowing as I neared the brook beside him. “Good afternoon”
I greeted him smiling.
He puffed his wide lips then stood on his hind legs. “Hello.” He said as he towered above me.
“Have you seen Ethera?” I asked as casually as I could, squinting into the sky. I knew her hut was in the center of the village, but that with the conflict raging on all fronts and her trips to the outside world, I hadn’t seen her in nearly a week, but maybe someone else had.
“No.” he huffed, then lowered himself back down to the ground.
“Oh. . . .Ok, Um, I just had a question for her, but it can wait.” I stammered.
“I’ll tell her you were looking for her.” He said, then turned and lumbered off into the woods.
Yeah, definitely not friends, I thought, but shrugged and headed back to the bungalow.
I put my phone on the charger then set about my next project. My dad was always tinkering with something or the other in the shed in our back yard. One time he made my mom a rocking chair from some aspen wood he cut in Colorado with vines wrapped around the back.
I didn’t have the same tools he had, but I did have my Swiss army knife and had already accumulated a large amount of saplings I’d cut from my trips with Wishu. It was a crude chair just a stool really, the pieces fit together by sharpening one end of the sticks and joining them into a hole carved in another. But it would do nicely I thought. I sat down gently testing my weight at first, pleased that it felt quite sturdy.
At twilight I was just brushing the wooden shaving from my jeans when I saw an owl flying in the distance heading for the village. Actually, heading straight towards me. I watched amazed as Ethera transformed into the woman just above the ground, her feet effortlessly meeting the ground like landing on the grass after jumping out of a swing.
I wondered if Tindo had let her know I was looking for her, or if she happened to come back on the day I most wanted to talk with her. Thinking quickly I planned in my head what to say and how to say it to avoid rousing suspicion.
“Is everything all right Hailey?” she asked, her face full of honest concern.
Ethera and the Island of Evisara: Book One of The Enrovia Series Page 15
