The Awakening (The Stones of Revenge) (7 page)

Having not eaten anything all day besides the apple for breakfast, Landon’s stomach was aching for food. He set the cauldron upon the hook over the fire and began preparations for dinner. He filled the cauldron with water and lit a fire under it to warm it. Feeling the sweat from the day, he decided to clean himself off. Around the back of the hut Landon found the large tub full of water the two of them used for a bath. Since there were no lakes nearby, they had to make do with what they had. Landon undressed himself and slowly lowered himself into the vat of luke-warm water. Feeling his muscles relax slightly, Landon cupped his hands and poured handfuls of water over his face and shoulders. He spent a half hour in the water, until he decided to return to the potage.

Once he finished eating his supper, Landon decided to recline by the fireplace and enjoy the blaze upon his skin. Sitting there he glanced over to the doorway and saw his new sword leaning against the frame. He retrieved it. He partly drew it from its sheath. He marveled at the craftsmanship of the weapon. The jewels studded upon the sheath appeared to come from the same stone with which the blade had been fashioned. He held it before the fire as a soft glow permeated through the blade, and Landon realized that it was slightly translucent. He pushed the blade back into the case and set it upon the floor next to him. He then turned his attention back to the fire and waited for Mordecai to come home.

He
sat in his hut staring intensely at the fire burning in the mantle for quite some time
.
Mordecai needs to return
,
he thought
.
The food is growing cold and I do not know if I can wait up much longer
.
After another half hour of sitting and staring, he decided to remove the flame from the cauldron. At that moment, a light rap on the door echoed in the small room
.
Who would be calling at this hour
?
Landon slowly walked to the door. The past few days had been full of too many strange things; he wasn’t sure if he wanted to deal with anymore. He stood next to the door trying to listen for any clues that might distinguish the person on the other side. He heard a largeman shuffle his feet
.
Perhaps it is a messenger from Lord Malchus? If so, I should not keep him wai
ting
.
There is no clanging of metal to indicate armor of some kind; anyone from Lord Malchus would assuredly wear armor to identify himself.

Rap.

Rap.

Rap.

The sound came from hitting a wooden object against the door. Landon decided it was best to open it and find out
.
This week couldn’t get any wors
e
, he thought to himself as he opened the door. The door creaked open bringing with it slight breeze. Standing in the doorway was a messenger.

“
Good evening, sir,” the man said.

“Evening to you; to what do I owe your company,” Landon returned to the man.

“A have a letter for you, sir. I was given explicit instructions to deliver this to you with great speed.” When he finished speaking he handed out an envelope to Landon. Looking at the man, Landon wondered if he should receive the letter. He considered the letter might come from Mordecai with more details of his strange disappearance, and he knew of no one else who would find him important enough to hire a postal carrier to bring a letter to him. Most people would simply come themselves. Deciding it was best to find out whatever this message indicated, he accepted the letter.

“Best of luck to you, sir,” the man said then turned, mounted his horse, and rode away speedily.

Landon closed the door and looked down at the letter in his hands. He returned to his seat by the fire and sat down uneasily. The message had an unusual weight for its size. He opened the envelope and discovered a letter along with something else. He shook the envelope until a tiny object fell out into the palm of his hand. It was his ring! Opening the letter he discovered it was from Godfrey. It read thus:

“
Master Landon,

Here is your ring which I have promised to engrave and have returned to you as soon as was accomplished. I forewent all objects of my attention to focus on this forthwith. But Hark! There is an unknown malice arising in the west preparing factions for war. I have been summoned to a meeting of my kindred. For this reason, I will not be able to accompany you on your journey, but it is imperative that you discover the secrets of your inheritance. We will have need of it soon, I fear. Nevertheless, I should very much not like to see you venture out alone. Henceforth, seek a man in town named Daxis. He knows much of what transpires and may be of some use to you. I give you into his care with only minor trepidations, but trust no one else. Take care, good friend.

With sincerest regard,

G.
”

Immediately,
excitement and dread welled up in his heart. It seemed an adventure lay before him. But the thought of some shadowy malice gave no comfort. And that Godfrey would not be with him weighed upon his breast. He had been the only person to provide a glimpse into the man who was his father. He deeply wished he could have someone familiar to investigate this mystery with.  He trusted Godfrey’s guidance, but still. It was not the same. And what need could the world have of his inheritance? Is there a darker secret his father wished him to know? He decided he would ride to town and speak with this Daxis as soon as the field was planted and uncover what knowledge he could.

Setting down the letter, Landon held the ring up to the light. Inside the band he could make out letters crafted into its curve. As he rolled the ring in the fire light, he could
read the words:  food life water death. He remembered his initial fear of not wearing it, but somehow, now that it bore the words his father had left, it felt right to wear it. His duty to wear it. He slipped the ring onto the fourth finger of his right hand. He decided he would never remove the ring until he discovered the meaning behind them. Tonight, however, Landon needed rest. It had been a long day. He tossed dirt upon the fire to quell it then headed towards his room. Setting down the letter upon the trunk at the end of his bed, Landon disrobed and eased back onto the straw bedding as he closed his eyes. He lay there for a brief moment before slowly fading into nothingness. But between closing his eyes and losing consciousness, Landon could have sworn he heard a deep rumble come from the night sky.

Chapter
Seven

Trials and Tribulations

A thin wisp of cloud shaded the moon’s light in the black sky. A dark ocean of grass spread out before Landon. Behind him, a precipice dropped sharply into black nothingness. Landon’s brow began to condensate due to the sweltering heat. He tried to breathe and gasped as his lungs filled with water vapors from the humidity. He knelt on the ground to get as much cold air into his lungs as he could. When that did not help, he attempted to walk. But his feet felt like bricks and he strained at each step. Suddenly, far away in the distance a figure began to walk towards him. Landon stopped moving to focus on the shadow shimmering in the night. It appeared to be a man, but he was unsure. The figure closed in on him. A feeling inside urged him to hide before he was seen. Looking around he saw only grassland; there was nowhere to hide! He did not want to be stuck between a strange man and a cliff, so Landon focused all of his energy on moving away from the cliff.

Walking, however, was very difficult for Landon. It was as though his legs would not obey his command. Step by step he had to force himself forward. The strain made him grow weak and tired.
The gap between the two men quickly dwindled, and Landon could see clearly that the man was wearing a dark robe to mask his face. The man stopped suddenly in his advance, and threw back his hood. Shockingly, the man’s head was solid black with no distinguishable facial features. Landon halted as well. Abruptly, a low rumble surrounded the two men on the field. Static energy appeared to live in this place. Lightning flashed across the sky illuminating the grassland.  A second flash sparkled throughout the clouds above them. Another flash streaked across the sky and struck the grass. Suddenly, the two men were surrounded by a conflagration. The ring enclosed them pushing them towards each other. Immediately, the robed figured raised both arms as if carrying a massive object over his head. Before Landon was aware, he hurtled the invisible object towards the ground. A deep fog formed blanketing the entire area and hiding the flames from view. It was so thick Landon could no longer see his enemy standing right before him. Rolling thunder drowned out all other sounds. Panic began to engulf him. He knew his enemy was within a striking distance but there was no way to know exactly where he was. He reached down to withdraw his sword but found it stuck in its sheath as if frozen. A cold, piercing laugh rippled through the area.

Suddenly, Landon was cold in the midst of the flames. The sweat on his skin stung like frostbite.
Rage began to build inside of him. Slowly he began to focus all of his strength onto one source, the unknown man.  In his mind, he tried to picture where the man might be hiding. He controlled all of his energy into finding this man as he strained his eyes to see through the mist. A shadowy figure coalesced in front of him as the man moved closer towards him. Fear overcame Landon. He couldn’t understand why he was so cold. Fear and rage swirled inside his chest. The figure moved closer. He was no longer a shadow, but a true form standing before him again. It was as if Landon could smell the scent of evil emanating from the figure. Suddenly, another lightning bolt struck. It hit the grass directly in front of Landon momentarily blinding him. An angry roar rose through the air. The dark figure had just been struck. Immediately the mist vanished along with the cold, and Landon could see the man clearly lying on the grass as though dead.

Landon wanted to know his enemy. He moved closer. As he approached, he
saw a disturbing sight; the man was writhing in pain and clearly still alive. He was struggling to pick himself off the ground. ‘He’s not dead?’ Landon realized. ‘How could anyone survive that?’ Landon stood over the man watching and waiting to see if his slow movements would cease. They did not. He rose to his knees trying to catch his breath. Then, without warning, the man struck Landon in the midsection deflating all of the air in his lungs. From the man’s fist grew a cold freezing pain.  Landon toppled to the ground doubling over in pain. He had never felt such pain in his life; it was excruciating as if every inch of his body was on fire. The pain and ice spread from his midsection out towards his extremities. He felt as though he was freezing to death and being burned alive. “Getting cold, isn’t it,” the cold, evil voice of the figure taunted.

Landon opened his eyes to glare at his enemy, but
the hooded figure was nowhere to be seen. Landon was lying in the center of the field looking up at the heavens expecting any minute to breathe his last. He looked above him but couldn’t see any remnant of the fire which only seconds before had been hemming the two combatants together. But though he could not see any, he continued to smell fire. The scent was so strong it felt as though it was permeating him, but where was it coming from? Then lightning flashed one last time above his head and unmistakably it had struck the ground on which he lay. Landon was certain.  The loudest burst of thunder Landon had ever experienced immediately followed shaking the ground all around him and rattling his ears.

Startled, Landon jumped to his feet. He looked about him and recognized the familiar confines of his bedroom and felt relieved that it had only been a dream. But he still smelled smoke. He had been having nightmares like these for the past year, but never had a scent from his dre
am lingered into waking. He lied back in bed to return to sleep when a familiar sound reached his ears. It sounded like the crackle of fire. He was certain he had extinguished the hearth, but decided he ought to check. As he entered the main room, he noticed everything was dark and fine. His head was spinning because he was certain he had clearly heard the sound of burning wood and still smelled fire. Then, without warning, Aquila screamed in terror.

Gripped with fear, he burst out of the hut only to stop abruptly sliding along the
gravel. The barn was fully engulfed in flames. Some animals had escaped the conflagration by deserting the farm in a panic, but Aquila was stuck in her stable kicking wildly at the door to free herself. Immediately, Landon raced to the barn when an explosion of flame made him jump back in fear. She screamed louder this time, and Landon knew he had to do something. He gripped the barn door with both hands and yanked them towards himself allowing a torrent of air to rush in. The flames drew back as if taking a deep breath then erupted out of the crack Landon had made. Anticipating this Landon hid behind one of the doors to shield himself from the blast.

As soon as
the flames subsided, he sprinted around the door and down the row of stables to Aquila. He prayed he would find her alive. Amazingly, she was though still kicking wildly. She had backed away from the door and was trying to break through the barn wall. Landon immediately opened her stable and whistled to her. In her fright, she kicked the wall harder than ever cracking the frame. But upon Landon’s second whistle, she recognized the sound and sped out of the barn with her master on her heels. Landon looked all around for enough water to douse the blaze destroying the barn, but due to the drought nothing sufficed. The only water available was the drinking water, and it wouldn’t make a dint in extinguishing the flames. It was all Landon could do to watch his barn be consumed by the inferno. He contented himself to allow it to burn down knowing he and Mordecai would need to rebuild it after the field was planted.  Landon was sure to give Mordecai an ear full when he returned.

Walking over to Aquila, he noticed she had not yet calmed from her fright and was still running in circles. He wanted to calm her but was unsure what to do. This reminded him of the first time he had saved her life. He held out a hand to her to show he was not an enemy. The mare stopped running in circles but bucked wildly.  Landon continued to hold out his hands. She continued to neigh but her wild demeanor began to fade. Reaching out and stepping closer, Landon placed a hand on her mane. The mare responded with a huff and nuzzled his hand. Soon,
he had her calmed down and resting near the hut. Unexpectedly, a loud rumble rang in his ears. He looked up and noticed dark thick clouds hanging ominously in the sky. Fingers of light webbed through the clouds. He hadn’t even given a thought to what could have caused the fire. The lightning he heard in his dream now made sense. All the while he was dreaming, his farm had been burning. A cold drop hit his head. Suddenly, a new fear washed over him.

Quickly, he
raced around the backside of the hut to find the containers where they stored the seeds for the harvest. He grabbed a large rucksack hanging next to them and heaved handfuls into it. Lying on the ground near the containers were the seed poles Mordecai and Landon used to plant. Landon was praying he would have enough time to get the seeds in the ground. He grabbed his items and hurried to the field. His body ached from the plowing he had done a few hours before, and he felt sick for not getting enough sleep. Ignoring the pain, Landon moved to the first row and jabbed his pole into the dirt. He removed it leaving a small hole about two inches deep. He grabbed a seed and tossed it in the hole. Normally, he would have taken great care to assure the proper depth and covering. He moved a few paces further and made another hole with his seed pole. Once again he tossed a seed into the hole. He continued this process every few paces until the first row was complete. He moved as quickly as possible knowing that rain could fall at any moment ruining his work.

Finishing the first row, he took a second to gaze at the barn. It was in a sad shape. The blaze had already begun to subside, but the roof had collapsed already. The sides were falling apart and the frame was now visible. It was quite a sad sight after all the long years it stood. He turned his attention away from the barn and back onto the field.

As he began planting this row, Landon thought he felt a few more drops on his heads. He quickly bored and planted. He knew he might not have time to plant all of them, but he was determined to do as much as he could.  Small sporadic drops continued to fall as Landon finished the second row. He turned to begin the third row when a loud thunderclap made Landon jumped. The thunderclap resembled the sound of a dam breaking for as soon as it was over the clouds released their hold on the water in the sky. Landon’s heart sank. His work was about to be ruined, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Immediately, a thought burst into his mind. He knew he wouldn’t be able to plant the entire field but he
remembered a method of planting used long ago. It was called sowing. Landon hoped that if he could broadcast enough seed, the water might flood the field and bury it in the earth. It was all he had left. He grabbed large handfuls of seed and scattered them across the field letting them fall into the mud that was forming from the flood from the sky. He ran around the field wildly throwing seeds upon the ground as the rain drenched him and the ground. Landon quickly prayed again that something would come of this wild sowing. Within ten minutes the entire field was covered with seeds and a slight flood was beginning to form on the surface. The barn had also been reduced to a smoldering shell.

Landon looked around him trying to analyze the moment and his next actions. It did not take long for him to decide for another loud thunderclap shook the farm as a lightning bolt tore across the sky and slammed into the
hut engulfing it in flame. The rain was beginning to let up, and the fire quickly spread. Landon knew he had only minutes to save his effects. He raced into the hut to salvage what items he could. He first searched his room to gather clothes and his sword. Next, he ran into the main room to find a sack and fill it with food, money, and any other useful items he could find. Before leaving the house, he took one last look around to make sure he had everything of importance then raced out of the house just as the roof over the main room collapsed.

Landon stood in the middle of the
road between the hut and the field throwing his eyes between the flooded field and the ruined barn. Despair filled his heart. He turned around and watched the only home he had ever known burn to the ground. He raised his arms in the air as if in surrender. The devastation from the lightning had left him homeless. Animals ran wildly over the open grassland feeling free from their service. All Landon felt was loneliness and emptiness. He looked down at his hands, and realized that all he owned was there. The sight of the ring on his hand reminded him of the father he never knew, the sad lonely life he had lived, and he realized he had nowhere to go. He fell to his knees and began to weep from the depths of his soul.

It took n
early another ten minutes for Landon to collect himself enough to clear his mind. The sun was already beginning to shine through a few of the clouds creating beams of golden light. An orange glow emanated from behind the clouds indicating the sunrise. The rain lessened its beat upon the earth. Standing up, Landon knew that what remained of the farm was not enough to live off of. He would need a lot of assistance from Lord Malchus, but since Mordecai was not around to experience the devastation, Landon felt it should be Mordecai’s responsibility. He had done his part by getting it ready enough to sow in the emergency of the morning, but he resented his uncle for making him do it alone.

He knew the farm was no place for him anymore. He looked down at his ring again. He had a question that needed to be answered, and, now that he was homeless, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to seek it out. H
e decided he would leave as soon as he could be ready and seek out Daxis. He retrieved his sword from the ground and strapped it to his side. Next, he reached deep into the rucksack and pulled out the letter from Godfrey. He tucked it into his tunic in case Daxis would want to see it as proof Godfrey sent him. He found Aquila and strapped the saddle onto her. He threw the sack with all of his belongings around it and mounted her.