Deke Brolin Rhol (19 page)

“Of that I have no doubt, Oisin. Their appearance came shortly after Solharn began to gain an advantage in the war, which came mainly because of Phanthus. Nobody had ever expected to see a dragon again on Rhol but there he was.”

“Perhaps
when we retreated to Leal and the Pegapires to Tamon they left too, and are safe from Solharn’s wrath.”

“Perhaps Oisin, we can always hope
...,” Jayden stopped and stared at the village as it came into view. Oisin stopped beside him.

“What is it Jayden. Is it what you feared?”

“The village has not changed a bit,” Jayden whispered. “Quickly, we must find some cover.”

When they were safely
hidden within the forest, Jayden crouched down staring at the village toward what he thought he had seen. His hand remained on his sword so it was at the ready should he need it in a hurry. It was gone, vanished. Had he imagined seeing the figure standing just before the village? His eyes scoured the area looking for any sign of activity but he saw none. Perhaps he was making too much of the sign that had made him so cautious, but he was not one to take a chance. He felt something was wrong and he had to trust his instincts. The village appeared to be abandoned, untouched by time. Perhaps the Kilto were not here when Solharn’s army arrived making it pointless for them to waste any more time here. Furthermore, because the entire village was built with trite stone it was impossible to burn or destroy.

His thoughts were broken by Oisin whispering into his ear. “Jayden what is it? I see nothing more than an abandoned village.”

“As we walked toward it a figure appeared to me just ahead of us. It was a Kilto elder, of that I am sure. But not in the form I would expect; it was more like an apparition. It was waving us away and then it simply disappeared.”

“I did not see anything, h
ow do you know it was a Kilto elder?” Oisin asked.

“They cannot be mistaken.
Elders are tall thin people, with pasty white skin only enhanced by the black robes they wear. They have long ivory white beards which almost part at the end and they all bear the Sign of Life, a quarter moon. It is etched into their foreheads from the time they are born.”  

“What does it mean Jayden?”

“A warning I presume although, with the armies in Aura, I cannot imagine Solharn wasting manpower here. What would be the point! There is nobody here. Unless they knew we were coming.”

Oisin looked at Jayden bewildered. “That is impossible Jayden. How could they possibly know such a thing! We did not even know where we would end up when we entered
the river that led us here.”

“No, we did not
, but perhaps someone else did. Move cautiously Oisin; we will stay to the forest out of sight. Perhaps I am being overly cautious, but better that than oblivious.”

Oisin did not doubt Jayden’s foresight and followed closely behind in silence while they slowly advanced around the village through the forest. They had made it to the far west side without any signs of trouble when Jayden stopped and lay on his stomach motioning Oisin to approach. Oisin was by his side in seconds peering over the small embankment that overlooked the last stretch of buildings that marked the end of the village.

He could see what concerned Jayden. The remains of a Garin which had recently been butchered lay just outside one of Kilto houses. The Kilto did not eat meat and Garin were used only for producing milk - unless you were a Kaltaures or a Phit.

They did not have to wait long for their answer as a Kaltaures soldier was thrown out of the nearby building.

“You idiot, clean it up. You were told specifically not to leave signs of our presence outside the buildings,” a Kaltaures voice bellowed from inside the cabin.

“Ahh, I am sick of it. Perhaps Solharn’s source was wrong, an entire battalion of us locked up in these shacks for two days when we could be fighting and feastin
g, for what? Two measly Lealians? They will not even cure the hunger of two of us.”

“Just clean it up or Solharn will have all of our heads.”

Jayden and Oisin looked at each other astonished at what they had overheard. There was a traitor amongst them. They had not arrived in the swamp until this morning yet two days ago Solharn knew they would end up here in Kilto. How was it possible? And more importantly who was it that could have possessed such knowledge.

After the Kaltaures had cleaned up his mess and returned to the cabin
, Jayden and Oisin slid back down the embankment. “We will wait till nightfall. I see no other choice. There are five dwellings that I count before we are past the village. We have been lucky so far, but in darkness we will have more of an advantage to approach the last house and capture one of those soldiers.”

“Capture?” 
Oisin whispered loudly.

“We must find out who betrays us Oisin.”

Deke sat up and noticed that he was no longer in the swamps. The air was cool and a light breeze made him shiver as he rose to his feet. He was standing on a beach of white sand that surrounded a small crystal clear lake. The lake was perfectly round and its waters, so calm it appeared to be made of glass. 

A large range of mountains surrounded the lake
. Their slender snow-covered peaks jutted high into the sky creating what appeared to be a natural fortress. He could see wisps of snow blowing gently from the tops of the mountains which shimmered briefly in the sunlight before coming to a rest once again.

There was
no way in or out from where he stood. Further down the shoreline a large piece of land, rich with vegetation, was nestled into a section of woods that began where the beach ended. He could just make out the top of a building towering above the trees.

Even though it was clearly midday he could see a quarter moon outlined in the bright blue sky. 

He felt at peace here; he felt no fear. There was no sign of Mary or Deo. Deke wondered if this was the afterlife; perhaps it was a waiting place for one’s soul to await the other. The last thing he remembered was trying to throw the amulet to Mary and Deo. Grasping his chest he was disappointed to find the amulet still hanging from his neck. He had failed to get it off in time.  There was no way Elissa could be saved now. He was starting to feel dejected again.

“Do not carry your burdens so heavily, Deke Brolin.”

Deke stopped walking and quickly looked up to see an elderly man with a silvery white beard that dangled far below his waist. A quarter-moon was etched into his forehead.

“You have great responsibilities
, but success will come only if you trust that the people around you will carry some of those responsibilities for you.”   

“Who are you?” Deke asked.

“It matters not who I am Deke, but who you believe yourself to be. When you come to that realization you will succeed because then you will believe in yourself. Only you can define who you are. No one else can.” 

“Are you the Creator then?”  Deke asked.

The elder laughed. “I am no more the Creator than anyone else is in the five worlds. We all have the Creator within us, some more and some less than others.”

Deke considered this answer. Was this a riddle of some sort? “How did I get here?”

“You are full of questions that you already know the answers to Deke Brolin. Trust your instincts for you will need them very soon. You wield more power than you know, but when one carries such power, betrayal always follows closely behind. Weigh your choices and consider the people around you carefully.”

“But
...”

“There is one other thing you must remember Deke. It will be essential if your quest is to succeed.
The purpose of your journey is to prevent the extinction of a world, but do not forget that the extinction of any single living thing can bring an end to what we fight for. To renew a life that can be saved is a step forward in completing the quest you were sent on.”

“What does that mean?” Deke asked.

“I cannot answer that for you Deke, but remember this: whatever action you decide to take at any given moment will always cause a reaction. Trust your instincts…”

“Deke!” Mary yelled.

“…Trust your instincts.”

“Deke, snap out of it,
” he could hear Deo saying.

“Trust your
...”

Deke sat straight up nearly knocking over Mary and Deo who had been trying everything they could to get him to regain consciousness.

Mary hugged Deke. “Are you okay?”

“I feel okay. What happened? Where was I?” Deke asked.

“You have been here unconscious for over an hour. When you touched the amulet it caused the creature that held you captive to implode and in turn it sent you flying several hundred meters through the air,” Deo responded.

“But it was so real, so vivid …”

“What?” Deo asked.

Deke described the elder that
who had spoken to him and what he had said.

“It
sounds much like a Kilto elder,” Mary said, “Kiran told me much about them. They are a very mysterious race and very spiritual. Perhaps, you were visited by one to give you some sort of warning?”

“It is possible Deke. I
, too, have learned that the Kilto have many spiritual powers that most cannot comprehend,” Deo added.

“Well, if it is true then we must be wary of what is to c
ome,” Deke said still pondering the elder’s advice.

“That would be wise indeed,
” a scratchy broken voice came from behind them.

All three looked over to see who was there. It was not pretty. It was hard to tell
, but the figure appeared to be that of a female. Her small body was mainly skin and bones. Her face was long and drawn, wrinkled as if time had taken its toll on her very being. She wore ripped filthy clothes making her unhealthy appearance even more unappealing. Her greasy unkempt hair dangled down obscuring half of her face. She crouched to the ground just staring at them as she drew circles in the dirt with her long filthy nails.

Deke began to walk toward the creature but Deo grabbed his arm holding him back.

“Be careful Deke. This person is not what they used to be. She is almost Pintante.”

Deke had heard this word before when Kiran had told him
why she thought Solharn had left Mary alive. He had been so excited to see Mary he had not thought to ask what it meant.

He looked over at
Mary. She was crying, holding her hands to her face. “Mary, what is this about?”

“Deke, I did not want to tell you yet. I feared that once you found out my fate y
ou would not concentrate on the, the greater good. I feared you would spend too much time trying to save me.”

“To save you, what are you talking about? I have told you I will stay with you. Everything will be okay Mary.”

“Deke, I am sorry I did not tell you sooner. When someone loses their Paladin this is what they become, a crazed animal, not to be trusted, a Pintante. They take no sides and will attack anything that comes in contact with them,” Mary cried.

“But you look nothing like t
his creature. You are fine Mary,” Deke responded.

“It is only a matter of time Deke, a matter of days by now
before I will start to change and there will be nothing you can do to prevent it,” sobbed Mary

“Deo?” Deke said looking over at him.

Deo did not take his eyes from the creature when he responded, “It is true, Deke.”

“You knew as well and did not tell me?” Deke said glaring at Deo.

“It was not my place Deke. Mary wanted to tell you herself. If she did not, I would have told you before we were in any danger.”

“Danger, are you serious?
Do you think that is what I am concerned about? If you two had told me sooner, perhaps I could have done something. Perhaps we could have formulated a plan to save Mary. I cannot let her turn into this,” Deke said pointing back toward the creature.

“Yo
u are aware that I can hear you,” the creature responded.

“I am sorry,
” Deke said looking empathetically at the creature, “but she means far too much to me to lose her again.”

“Well
, I am not sorry Deke. Your mind set has already changed. You are already thinking about me instead of thinking about finding Elissa. I have not gone through all of this and nor should you, just to fail, for it to be all for nothing.”

“But Mary….”

“No Deke. This is my choice, not yours,” Mary yelled back.

“She i
s right Deke and I can help you,” the creature said.

“I mean no disrespect but if you are almost what they call a Pintante I don’t think it would be in any of our interests to trust in your help, particularly in light of the fact that a Kilto elder just warned me to be wary of a betrayal. We don’t even know who you are…or were.”

“The elder also told you to trust your instincts Deke. The words he spoke of betrayal and instinct don’t necessarily intertwine. Besides, how could I have betrayed you when this is the first time we have met?”