Zachania

by Joseph Henry Gaines

  Talon held onto the beast’s thick hair on its back as it began to walk away, slowly at first making sure Talon was comfortable until it burst into a sprint which took Talon’s breath away at the speed it was travelling. Talon could feel the branches whipping and scratching his arms as the beast galloped across the forest, Talon lowered himself and held on frantically as the beasts was dodging trees and making huge leaps over rivers and broken trees.

  Talon began to wonder where he was being taken too as they ventured deeper into the dense forest, then in the distance Talon saw an opening in the forest, moments later they broke into the daylight and entered a huge valley that was filled with strange looking dwellings, where Talon saw hundreds of beasts, ‘Apollo was right this a vast civilisation’, as they ran into the valley Talon could feel the hundreds of eyes upon him, they made their way to the largest wooden building where they stopped, Talon climbed down and began to feel fear as hordes of the beasts started to gather around, Talon could feel their eyes burning into him and sense the savage nature from them.

  Then a door opened and an old but immensely strong looking beast appeared and walked over, Talon lifted his head to look up, his eyes caught glimpse of a huge stone pendant that adorned the beast, Talon could see that the pendent had the markings of Apollo inscribed upon it.

  The beast walked towards Talon and reached out its large hand, Talon stiffened as the beast touched Talon’s own pendent, then he lowered its large head to get a better look, moments later the beast gently rested his arm and ushered Talon into the dwelling.

  Once inside Talon sat down on the floor opposite the beast waiting to see what would happen, Baaksa the beast that had carried Talon to the town also sat down and began to make low growl like noises to the leader, they tilted their heads and turned back and forth to Talon which made Talon think it was obvious they were having some kind of conversation about him, shortly after the elder beast turned to Talon and winced, then Talon felt the feeling he had felt before as he heard thoughts enter his head.

  “I am Quankow……I am Lord of this tribe, my son Baaksa has told me you are a messenger of Apollo.”

  Talon nodded and concentrated replying with his mind.

  “My name is Talon, I am a member of the great counsel of Zachania, my people are fighting the Empire as we speak, Apollo asked me to travel here and seek your help.”

  Quankow stirred and then replied.

  “I see the markings of Apollo on you but we will see if you speak his words.”

  Talon stiffened at the leader’s remark, slowly he rose to his feet and very cautiously he pulled out his sword.

  “Is the sword of Apollo the proof you seek.” Talon thought before very carefully placing it on the ground between them.

  Quankow waved his hand as if he was not impressed.

  “Swords and pendants mean nothing; your mind holds the truth.”

  “What is it I must do?”

  “Enter the inner circle, then we will know who you really are.” replied Quankow pushing his thoughts sternly into Talon’s head.

  “Then take me to this inner circle now, my people are dying as we speak.” replied Talon frustrated and getting to his feet.

  Talon was then led outside and escorted to a circle of stones which had a strange coloured crystal sat on a large pedestal in the centre, Talon was ushered into the circle as the beasts gathered around outside. Once inside Talon turned and face Quankow, Talon looked at him with determination as if to say get on with it.

  Quankow then moved closer and reached out his huge arms towards the sky, moments later Talon heard his thoughts enter his head.

  “Walk upon the inner circle and open your heart, if you speak the truth then Apollo’s wishes will be obeyed, if you have lied to us then you will be engulfed by flames and your soul will be sent to the Sarakask depths of Kratos.”

  Talon walked into the centre of the circle and stood next to the crystal, he turned to look at Quankow who began to back away slightly, Talon raised his arms in a gesture of frustration just before he started to feel his legs tingle. Talon turned to the crystal as suddenly he felt a warm glow emitting from it, then his legs began to tremble as the intensity of the heat coming from the crystal increased, soon the whole circle was glowing, the beasts backed away further as Talon found himself trapped and unable to move, the heat now was making Talon sweat as he gritted his teeth in determination, he wanted to call out but he knew this was some kind of test so he bit his lip and held his resolve as the heat got hotter and hotter, Talon then suddenly shaded his eyes as a flash of light burst into the sky from the crystal, Talon cried out as he felt like he was being crushed by the blinding light, then Talon was lifted into the air, he threw his arms back and shouted out again, it was a shout of determination where he used all of his strength to withstand the pressure and pain.

  Talon began to shake violently but he refused to call out for help, the beasts were now cowering away as thick dark storm clouds moved across the sky, then with a deafening bang a bolt of lightning struck the crystal, the beasts turned their heads from the blinding heat and light, when they turned back they saw Talon was now laying on the ground coughing and struggling to get to his feet, the light from the crystal had now disappeared and the storm clouds that were above were now gone.

  Quankow slowly entered the circle to see Talon, he walked very hesitantly as he looked at Talon and then the sky, then he looked at the crystal and to his disbelief he saw it had been cracked, he suddenly felt horrified at what had just happened.

  Talon rose to his feet before him, there was a look of rage upon his face.

  “Apollo is not pleased with you Quankow, he told me to remind you when he found you dying and gave you a drink from the well of the Gods, he gave you eternal life and you repay him with doubting his messenger.” Talon said using his mind.

  Quankow listened to Talon’s thoughts in his mind and realised that what Talon was saying was only known by himself and Apollo, Quankow turned his head slightly as he took in what he had just seen and heard, then he dropped to his knees paying homage to Talon, seeing their leader humbling himself before Talon, the surrounding beasts followed their leaders action.

  Talon now raised his head as all around him he saw the beasts on their knees with their heads bowed, whatever had just happened, Talon now knew that he had their respect.

  “I am yours to command.” Quankow then said to Talon.

  Talon walked across and lifted the leader to his feet.

  “Order your tribe to be ready to march by nightfall” Talon replied before leading Quankow back into the leaders dwelling.

  “We must reach Death Valley within four days or the Zachanian army will be defeated.” Talon said as soon as they were inside.

  “Where is Death Valley?” replied Quankow.

  Talon then realised just how long these beasts had been isolated within the Forest of Deceit, they have lived here hidden long before Death Valley was ever given a name.

  “Quankow, what do you know of the wars of Kratos?”

  “We have been here centuries, what has happened outside this realm we do not know.”

  “Do you know of the Empire?”

  “We know of its existence, Apollo told me a long time ago that they joined with our ancient enemy, the Degrain’s and that the Zachanian’s were at war with them.”

  “That war ended centuries ago, we were defeated but now we have returned.”

  “And the Degrain’s” replied Quankow showing disdain on his face as he thought the name Degrain’s.

  “The Degrain’s were defeated by the Empire, now they are rarely talked about, I know that the Empire had been experimenting with their bloodlines for centuries but any talk about them is forbidden, why are you so interested in the Degrain’s Quankow, I can see the emotion in your face when you mentioned their name.”

  Quankow reached out for a drink before he replied.

  “Thousands of years before the Zachanian’s, there were three great
tribes in Kratos, us, the Degrain’s and the Tusarian’s, the Tusarian’s are your ancestors and they were conquered by Degrain, what was left of the Tusarian’s fled to Zachania, when the Tusarian’s were defeated the Degrain’s and our race battled each other to point of extinction, thousands of years passed where we were at war with them.”

  “Were you defeated?”

  “They out bred us, we could not withstand their numbers, generation after generation more Degrain monsters entered Kratos and fought against us.”

  “How were you outnumbered Quankow.”

  “We are like your race Talon, the females of our race usually give birth to only one child but the Degrain give birth in litters, a Degrainian female can spawn ten or more infants, as the years passed they quickly outnumbered us.”

  “What was your relationship with the Tusarian’s?”

  “We were their friends, they were a great race, they built towns and villages across island, the Tusarian’s did not want war but they were forced to fight.” replied Quankow who was interrupted by his son Braaksa who informed him that he had told his tribe to ready to leave at sunset.

  “Tonight we will be at war again Talon.” Quankow added solemnly.

  King Arun was exhausted, for the past five days the Zachanian front lines had been constantly pounded by the Empire, Zachanian’s casualties were building in their thousands and Arun was struggling to defend against the relentless attacks. The pressure was also shared by Ganasis who had been in a nonstop battle of his own against Grarlin and the Empires wizards, Ganasis had been using all his magical skills to the nullify the spells of flames, earthquakes and storms that Grarlin had been summoning onto the battlefield.

  “What I wouldn’t give for one nights decent rest.” Arun sighed as he slumped himself down onto the ground after returning from the front lines after another savage day of battle.

  The King was exhausted both mentally and physically, today’s fighting had been a repeat of the past five days where the Empire would advance and the Zachanian’s would advance to meet them, they would battle for half a day and then the Empire would retreat and the Zachanian’s would retreat leaving the battlefield littered with dead and dying soldiers. The only difference in today was that there was no magic used as both armies wizards rested from exhaustion. King Arun was in mixed emotions, the initial fear of the magic had passed and in its absence today the fighting was relentless, no respite, just a continued onslaught of murder.

  When nightfall fell King Arun once again sat down to meet with his council to discuss the battle, as the King sat down he could barely find the strength to talk, his face looked as if he doubled its age in five days, gone was the boyish and optimistic look and in its place was a puffy tired scowl.

  Seated next to the King as usual was Ganasis who was more slumped than seated, his old grey haired head was slumped on his chest as he looked too tired to lift it, the other Lords were all present except Lord Zalon who was still in Zachania, Lords Heikan, Tanaga, Zargar and Krazmos all sat with the same posture except Heikan was still showing signs of enthusiasm and determination. As the Lords waited for the King to begin, Lord Heikan started to talk by once again asking the King for permission to lead his own army on a separate attack.

  “Sire I implore you, let me take my warriors and attack the Empire from the east” he shouted as he banged his fist onto the table.

  King Arun turned violently towards his Lord and out of tiredness lost his own composure.

  “I will have order in this room! I will not have remarks shouted at me from across the table.” he shouted back as he banged his own hand loudly.

  “Heikan control your temper! It would be better suited to helping your King rather than fighting his every suggestion.” snapped Ganasis suddenly roused and angered from his slumber.

  Lord Heikan bit his lip and lifted his hands to the air in frustration; tempers were on the brink of breaking as the stress of battle was having its toll on everyone. Heikan wanted to argue his point, he was a fierce fighting man, proud and bombastic and it was frustrating him greatly that he was not being listened to, Heikan then took a deep breath as he decided he would quell his temper and try to use his cunning and guile. It was pointless to keep shouting, so after composing himself he replied, only this time carefully trying not to sound so abrupt.

  “Sire, our men are dying in their thousands, we cannot withstand this trade-off for much longer, we are greatly outnumbered by the Empire, if we have any ambition for this war then we cannot allow that ambition to be taken from us on this battlefield, if we continue fighting in this way then I fear that even in victory we will desecrate our army. The Empire want to end this war, here and now, if they do not beat us here then they want us so weakened we will be unable to advance any further into Kratos. I suggest we attack them on their flank and separate them from their superiors, if we isolate them from the chain of command then we break their discipline, we break their discipline and we take away their strength.”

  Surprised by Lord Heikan’s demeanour, Lord Tanaga suddenly found himself in agreement with Heikan.

  “My liege, there is wisdom in Heikan’s words, we cannot fight on like this for much longer, your own army is down to one third of its strength.”

  King Arun nodded his head, uncertainty was ravaging his thoughts, Ganasis saw that the exhausted King felt too indecisive to make a decision.

  “Arun, let us give Lord Heikan the opportunity to come up with a plan, then we will make a decision on what to do.” Ganasis said as placed a reassuring hand on the Kings hand.

  King Arun again nodded his head, thankful for Ganasis’s intervention.

  “Make it so Heikan.” he sighed trying to sound alert and positive.

  Just as the King finished talking his wizard Zumal walked over to him and produced a large note and placed it on the table before him,

  “Sire this is the latest report on our casualties, your own army has suffered two hundred and forty six thousand fatalities, you have ninety nine thousand soldiers on the front line who are on the verge of exhaustion. I would suggest that we let these men fall back and bring forward Lord Tanaga’s army of one hundred and seventy thousand men, we also have Lord Krazmos’s army of one hundred thousand, both armies are camped at Fort Arun so it could be done in a matter of hours my liege.”

  King Arun looked at the note in silence as the colour seemed to drain from his face; he cleared his throat and looked at Lord Tanaga to see what his opinion was on what Zumal had just suggested.

  “Well?” the King asked him.

  “I will bring my army to the front sire but I would ask for exceptions.”

  “What exceptions do you ask for Lord Tanaga?”

  “My exception sire is that our plan of attack be changed…..I agree with Heikan, we cannot continue to fight as we have been fighting……I give you complete control of my army and Generals but I implore you as a friend to change the way we are fighting.”

  The King nodded in agreement before turning to Lord Krazmos.

  “You have my allegiance as always sire, my men are at your disposal but I also agree that we need to change, this stalemate is doing nothing for our quest and nothing for our morale, let us try something new.” replied Krazmos.

  “The Empire are grinding us down with weight of numbers, it seems they care nothing of their own lives, they seem willing to lose a life as long as they take a life, I say we attack them, and attack them hard.” added Kinlan, Lord Heikan’s champion.

  The King listened intently to his men and realised the truth in what they were saying, bringing fresh men to the front lines would be the ideal time to change how they had been fighting.

  “Gentleman I am open to suggestions.” the King answered.

  For the next few hours the Lords of Zachania discussed many different plans and ideas. Generals and Captains were sent for as the King probed every kind of scenario they could think of. Lord Heikan was finally given permission to attack the Empire from the east and it
was agreed that attack was going to be the Zachanian’s new way of battle.

  When dawn broke it brought with it a huge storm, rain, wind and thunder crashed over the heads of Lord Tanaga’s army as they prepared for their first day of battle, General Heikan had already left with two hundred thousand warriors, marching out under the blanket of night to avoid being seen he headed east where they could attack the Empire on their flanks.

  King Arun looked down onto the battlefield from his position on the hill overlooking the valley; he walked out of the tent and looked up into the sky where the rain splattered his face

  “Ganasis this is the work of the Empire.” he sighed.

  Ganasis standing beside his King looked above before answering.

  “I do not think so Arun, but one thing is certain, if this does not stop soon then our men will be fighting up to their knees in mud.”

  “I hope this rain does not slow Lord Heikan, there are some treacherous hills he must cross, Ganasis can you not cast a spell to stop this?” replied Arun.

  Ganasis stepped forward and raised both arms to the sky, he started to strain as he began to talk in wizard language, Arun noticed the wizard start to shake and that he had a strange look of pain on his face, Arun then looked up to the sky and saw no change before his attention was sharply returned to Ganasis who let out a loud cry before dropping to his knees.

  “GANASIS!” Arun shouted as rushed to his aid.

  “Are you alright Ganasis?”

  “I am sorry Arun but I am too exhausted.” replied Ganasis as the King and two soldiers carried him back into the tent.

  “It is ok my friend, just rest Ganasis.” replied the King as they laid him down.

  King Arun knelt down besides the old wizard and wiped the rain from his face, he stayed by his side until Ganasis slipped into sleep, just as Arun rose to his feet Lord Tanaga burst into the tent.

  “Sire the Empire is advancing!” Tanaga shouted.

  “You know the plan.” replied the King as both men walked back outside.