Ruin & Reliance

by Jeremy Dwyer

  “This could be a trick, Consolata. Kaija is a deceptive woman, who is determined to prove everyone else wrong. She may have an illusionist creating the appearance of success to hide her failures,” Grand Duke Braden said.

  “No, my lord, Cinder Valley is no longer in ruins. The land is vibrant and lush. Everything there is just wonderful now,” Consolata said.

  “Do not trust your eyes or your emotions, Consolata. Your fearful female mind wants to see only those pleasant things which it can handle. You cannot endure the unpleasant realities of life,” Grand Duke Braden said.

  “Father, if terrible things happened, Consolata would alert us and beg for our help, would she not? Her fear would not be replaced with wishful thinking, would it?” Duke Rowan asked.

  “Perhaps not. Yet, her eyes could still be deceived by false light. I will have to look at this myself,” Grand Duke Braden said. He removed a crystal from his sash and looked through it to gaze into the distance. When he saw that Cinder Valley was, indeed, a verdant pasture instead of a volcanic wasteland, he disbelieved his own eyes. He then drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial to be energized with the power to manipulate crystals and stones. Grand Duke Braden altered the low-level structure of the crystal and peered through it again. “It appears that circumstances within Cinder Valley have truly changed. The land is now pleasing to the eyes. There are signs that the soil is now fertile,” he said.

  “Should we go into the valley and see for ourselves what has changed, father? If the land has been restored, perhaps the remedy for this poison truly can be found, as we discussed. And if it works, should we not share in it, so that we can give it those people in our new city who are still suffering from the illness?” Duke Rowan asked.

  “Do not raise your expectations too high, my son. I still do not trust Kaija, or any of the promises she makes, based on her interpretations of mythology. We believe only what can be proved. In order to establish the facts, we will go into the valley and examine it more closely. Allegria, chart a course and take us into Cinder Valley,” Grand Duke Braden said.

  “Yes, my lord,” Allegria said. She drank anew of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean from her vial to be energized with the power to listen to the sounds of the stars. She concentrated to learn their paths and positions and used the information to chart a course. She pulled a lever to raise the anchor and then sailed the ship westward along the river, toward the entrance to Cinder Valley.

  ~~~

  From within the maze of caves high up in Mount Rurik, Talmai Hathus continued observing the events in the valley through his telescope. The transformation of Cinder Valley from wasteland to verdant pasture pleased him, and gave him hope. He heard the song which changed everything and knew that the music was born of deep faith. The waters of the Pirovalen Ocean were certainly used to give the necessary energy to the singer, but those waters were from God. The song clearly asked for something that only the Divine Creator could possibly give – new life from decay and death – and that new life was received. Yet, Talmai also knew that faith usually faded from generation to generation, giving way to more numerous and terrible sins over time. He also knew that a tremendously depraved sin had brought ruin to Cinder Valley in the distant past. He hoped – even prayed – that this time would be different.

  ~~~

  The Chronicler Caemgen walked through the revitalized Cinder Valley, recording all that he saw into his book. He heard the ending of the song and walked toward the source of it, where many people were gathered.

  “I am Caemgen, Chronicler of four hundred twenty-six (426) years. I came to observe and record everything here,” Caemgen said.

  “This valley came to life before my very eyes. Elise sang the song,” Romana said, pointing to the musician.

  “I saw what happened in the valley. I heard the song. Why are you here?” Caemgen asked.

  “We came here to help the sick. To do that, we need to plant these seeds and collect the nectar from the trees,” Commissioner Wallace said. His voice was strained and he coughed. Then he spit up a drop of blood.

  “When can we see if it works?” Commissioner Hannah asked. Her voice was strained and she coughed, bringing up a bit of blood.

  “It should be good now,” Odhran said. He touched a flower on a branch of a nearby kaiyoyad tree and opened it to reveal the nectar it had already produced. “Hold out your hands,” he said.

  Commissioner Hannah approached Odhran and he placed several drops of the nectar into her hands.

  “Eat it, like you would eat honey,” Odhran said.

  Commissioner Hannah placed the drops of nectar on her tongue and it was mildly sweet. She ate it and her throat felt soothed.

  “Well?” Commissioner Wallace asked.

  “I feel fine,” Commissioner Hannah said.

  “Does that mean you’re cured?” Commissioner Wallace asked.

  “She got it the worst,” Niven said. He supported Fantine – who was visibly weaker than the others who were affected by the poisonous red mist – as they approached Odhran.

  “Hold out your hands,” Odhran said.

  Fantine coughed and brought up more blood. She struggled to hold out her hands, and Odhran placed drops of the nectar into them.

  Fantine coughed again, bringing up more blood. When she finally calmed for a moment, she ate the drops of nectar.

  “Well?” Commissioner Wallace asked.

  “That felt right. My throat is clear. I don’t feel run down,” Fantine said.

  “You do sound better,” Commissioner Wallace said.

  “I also feel better,” Fantine said.

  “How much better?” Niven asked.

  Fantine kissed Niven on his forehead, then on his lips and said: “Much, much better.”

  “Captain Arata, Captain Gijsbert, Romey, all of you need it,” Commissioner Wallace said.

  Colonel Lodokus extracted the nectar from the flowers on another kaiyoyad tree and gave drops of it to the others who came forward.

  “That works. That really works,” Captain Arata said after eating the nectar.

  “I feel a lot better,” Romey said after eating a few drops of the nectar.

  “That’s definitely an improvement,” Captain Gijsbert said after eating some for himself.

  Colonel Lodokus then ate some of the nectar to cure himself of the poison’s effects and he gave some to Lieutenant Mazavida.

  “That worked, Colonel. I feel as if the poison has left me…immediately,” Lieutenant Mazavida said.

  “Yes, Lieutenant, it’s very effective. My own sickness has already ended. This mission was very risky, but successful,” Colonel Lodokus said.

  Commissioner Wallace waited while his twenty (20) armed guards each took their own helpings of the nectar – which were extracted by the other farmers – and then he took his own. “My own throat – and my chest – feels clearer,” he said.

  “I’ve never felt better!” Fantine said. She kissed Niven again.

  “That’s all that matters to me!” Niven said and he kissed Fantine in return.

  “What matters most is God’s Plan for you,” Kaija said.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” Niven said.

  “Believe in the God who created this world, and renewed it. Believe in His Love for you,” Kaija said.

  “Believe in my love for you. You can see it. You can feel it. I can feel it. I couldn’t feel it before. Now I do,” Fantine said. She kissed Niven back yet again.

  “You’ve learned to open up after all these years, Fantine. Your cold and hardened heart is now warm and welcoming. You don’t believe in God. Yet, He is the Loving Creator who healed you,” Kaija said.

  “I believe in what I can see,” Fantine said.

  “See what God has done. No one else is that powerful. No one else is that good or that loving,” Kaija said.

  ~~~

  Duke Jovan eased his powers of music so that he and his two thousand one hundred (2100) soldiers reappe
ared. It seemed clear enough to him that the threat was now over. Not only were his visible enemies vanquished, but the very land was renewed. “The power of the music that restored this land impresses even me,” he said.

  Judith was standing there in the former battlefield, where Count Nemanja and his soldiers had been destroyed either by the acid rain, by the flowing lava or by unseen warriors. She suspected that this newly appearing man and his army were responsible for slaying many of the soldiers, yet the Oath forbade even the most logical and obvious inferences in favor of direct observation.

  ~~~

  Even from her hiding place in the tunnel, Fenella could hear the powerful song. She carefully crept back down to the alcove and saw that the land was clear. Not only was the flowing lava gone, but the barren rock was now covered in green grass and flowers. She looked around and caught sight of a small army. She drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from her vial to be energized with the powers of telepathy and empathy and then approached the warriors, probing their thoughts to learn their intents. Fenella came close enough to the army to recognize the leader.

  Duke Jovan saw her approach and said: “Fenella, the battle is over.”

  Judith introduced herself, saying: “I am Judith, Chronicler of twelve hundred forty-five (1245) years. Under the authority of the Oath, I will be recording all that I witness here.”

  Fenella and Jovan looked in Judith’s direction momentarily and then returned their attention to each other.

  “My lord, Duke Jovan, good people died here, in a battle that didn’t have to be fought. Vadim and Rexana died. Zoe and Brant died. Why do you keep fighting? Why can’t we have peace?” Fenella said.

  “You still don’t understand my purpose, even if you can read my thoughts,” Duke Jovan said.

  “You still don’t understand my love for you, even if I make it obvious and I tell you and show you by everything I do,” Fenella said.

  “Like my family, you deserve a better land to live in – a land that isn’t ruled by murderers and thieves. That means we have to fight until they’re gone. That’s why I brought the battle to them, where they could die in this valley,” Duke Jovan said.

  “Your heart still burns with hate, my lord. What happened to your family was horrible. I know it hurt, but you need to let go of the past and put an end to the war inside you. Your every thought is hate. You’ve become the battlefield,” Fenella said.

  “Yes, I brought my enemies close to me, where I could see them, and remain unseen. That’s how I was able to win,” Duke Jovan said.

  “Winning in battle is the most important thing to you, even though it’s not what’s really important,” Fenella said.

  “What do you believe is most important?” Duke Jovan asked.

  “I love you and I always have,” Fenella said.

  “Love alone is not enough to bring peace. Hate and war are both necessary to bring an end to the robber barons. Any love I’ve felt has long since been forgotten. It died with my family,” Duke Jovan said.

  “You could learn to love again, and you could do it without hate,” Fenella said.

  “You want this to be true. Wanting something doesn’t make it true,” Duke Jovan said.

  “I want you to feel love…love for me. Wanting love makes it possible,” Fenella said.

  “So long as the enemy lives, they ruin everything and threaten everyone,” Duke Jovan said.

  “If you learn to love, you can rebuild the ruins,” Fenella said.

  Judith recorded all of this into her book. She kept her opinions to herself, despite wanting to express her thoughts and feelings about war and vengeance. This was complex, and there were no easy answers. She certainly wanted to see the end of the tyranny of the robber barons, yet hatred was not the answer. If anything was to be said, she had to be careful not to violate the Oath.

  ~~~

  “We’ve seen so many unfortunate situations, and had to work to overcome them, that it’s a great relief to see something exceptionally good occur,” Captain Pradrock said.

  “I told you the spirit meant for us to be here. I told you this was too important to ignore,” Akantha said.

  “We’re going to have to work to bring this cure to everyone who got sick from that poisonous red mist,” Captain Pradrock said.

  “Yes, Captain Pradrock, we’re going to need your help so that we can help others. You can be certain that God had a purpose for bringing you here,” Kaija said.

  “This place is our home now. God has healed it,” Elise said.

  “If we plan on living here, we have to build homes and plant food crops. There’s a lot of work to do,” Ruth said.

  “Tell us, Elise, is this God that you believe in going to do that work for us?” Sophie asked.

  “Sophie, we should be grateful for what we have been given,” Ciaran said.

  “Be grateful to God,” Elise said.

  “God sent us to do the work. I will be helping you,” Romana said.

  “I will continue helping, not that there’s any better alternative. No God sent me to do this. It’s just the most logical and beneficial course of action,” Colonel Lodokus said.

  “I can see far, yet I see no sign of any God,” Lieutenant Mazavida said.

  “I can’t say I’m a believer, but things are definitely looking better,” Sean said.

  “It’s warm and the air is so fresh and the land is so beautiful. That’s all I care about,” Molly said.

  “I can’t argue with results. Ruth is right about getting to work, though,” Patrick said.

  “We’re going to need seeds for the food crops, and then we can start planting them,” Odhran said.

  “I can also help arrange for that,” Captain Pradrock said.

  “So can I. However, you are going to need so much more,” Kaija said.

  “That’s right: besides wheat, corn, oats, barley and the other food crops, we’re going to need oak, cedar, redwood, spruce and pine so we can cut timber for our homes,” Odhran said.

  “And we can extract the stone from the mountain sides for building walls and foundations,” Ruth said.

  “You’re going to need more than that, even,” Kaija said.

  “What do you mean? What are we forgetting?” Ruth asked.

  “You’re going to need to have faith in the God who gave you this land. You’re going to need to learn His Laws, to love Him, to seek Him out with all your heart. I’ll teach you everything I can, and all that you’re willing to learn,” Kaija said.

  “And I will teach you how to pray. For a little while, I can stay here before I return to help others who need me in the Port of Reliance, in Emeth and in other places around the world. While I’m gone, I’ll always pray for you. Whenever I can, I’ll return,” Lady Onora said.

  “Your music protected us. I heard it, I saw what it did, and I believe in that much. I’m still not convinced about God and prayer and religion, though. We just need to get to work to rebuild our lives,” Ruth said.

  “The land needs to be evenly divided, so that everyone gets their fair share of property, and does their fair share of work,” Patrick said.

  “And that is why you need God’s Laws, so that your ways are fair and just. Without God in your hearts, greed and laziness will set in over time. Then, you will start to become like those robber barons who stole from the weak and the poor to make their own lives easier. Just as God saw their evil and brought war and calamity to vanquish them, He could do the same to you if you reject Him and give in to evil,” Kaija said.

  “We’re going to need laws, I agree with that much. Everybody has to live by them, and deal fairly. Religion isn’t necessary. That just requires a little common sense and decency, and good leadership to make everyone follow the rules,” Ruth said.

  “Sense and decency aren’t so common as you would like. Evil is. Trust in God and make Him your leader,” Kaija said.

  ~~~

  Nearby, Caemgen busied himself with drawing sketches of all the
trees and the flowers in the now-verdant Cinder Valley. He did this while recording everyone’s activity and conversations into his book. He watched the extraction of the nectar from the flowers of the kaiyoyad trees and how it was used to heal the sickness that some people had.

  Sophie observed the handsome Chronicler and said: “While you’re looking them over, I’m looking you over. I like what I see.”

  “Your name is?” Caemgen asked.

  “Sophie. And I’ve seen a few Chroniclers, but you’re the first one that ever caught my eye,” Sophie said.

  “Caught your eye?” Caemgen asked.

  “You know what I mean – the whole ‘man meets woman, then woman flirts with him’ story,” Sophie said.

  “I am here to record your story,” Caemgen said.

  “And I’m here to make you part of mine,” Sophie said.

  ~~~

  “You witnessed the battle, Chronicler. You know that I did what needed to be done to end this evil,” Duke Jovan said.

  “I don’t pass judgment on good or evil. I only write the story of the events that I observe. I saw you emerge from some unseen place. I did not, in fact, witness you kill anyone,” Judith said.

  “You can see that the murderous robber barons and their warriors have been destroyed. Yet I – along with my army – remain standing here on the battlefield,” Duke Jovan said.

  “By the Chronicler’s Oath, I am not allowed to infer that you are the warrior who defeated any of these other lords or their armies, no matter how logical or likely that conclusion might be,” Judith said.

  “Judith also can’t see what’s inside you – the hate that never ends, the love that never begins,” Fenella said.

  “What does a Chronicler know of hate or love? They write the tales of everyone else’s lives. They don’t live their own. Chroniclers don’t suffer or know what it means to lose family to murderous thieves. I could tell her my story, but she wouldn’t write it down, because she didn’t see it for herself,” Duke Jovan said.

  “How could you assume that? You don’t know Judith and neither do I! My lord, you are not the only person who has suffered! You are not the only man to lose his wife and children to the tyranny of the robber barons, in this land or anywhere else!” Fenella said.