Chosen (23 page)
‘I’m sorry I must betray your
trust,’ he said sadly, ‘but it is for my family I do this.’
‘Come on, come on,’ said the
man impatiently.
Stefan looked up, ‘she told me
she is not the Chosen, someone else in the group is.’
‘Interesting,’ said the haughty
man, ‘but unfortunately for you and your family we already knew
that, it was the names of the other Chosen we wanted. Kill him.’ He
said addressing the guard as he turned to leave, ‘then kill his
family.’
‘No . . . please . . . Anubis,
I beg you, let my family live,’ said Stefan as he crawled towards
Anubis’ feet.
Anubis kicked Stefan away and
left without another word.
The friends materialized in a
grim, rubbish filled alley between two, crumbling stone walls that
looked like they had seen better days.
Still clinging tightly to one
another, Gilster said, ‘I think we’ve arrived,’ he looked around at
the forbidding environment, ‘and it’s exactly as I pictured it,’ he
finished grimly. Elkeira dropped to her knees, vomiting loudly and
violently.
‘Sweetheart,’ said Max, gently
rubbing her back, ‘are you alright? What is it?’
Gilster pulled a handkerchief
from his pocket handing it to the girl. Elkeira stood on wobbly
legs, wiping her mouth.
‘You could have warned me,’ she
said putting a hand out to the stone wall to steady herself. ‘Why
didn’t you tell me how bad going through the portal would be.’
‘Because we didn’t know,’ said
Max, still rubbing Elkeira’s back, ‘none of us have experienced
anything like you just did.’
‘Typical,’ was all Elkeira said
as she wiped her mouth.
‘I think we need to move,’ said
Haven, spying some dangerous looking men standing at one end of the
alley. They looked to be about seven or eight in number and filthy
in appearance. Three wore long, tattered coats, two appeared to be
wearing some sort of dirt encrusted camouflage clothing , clearly
not working in the urban environment and the others looked like
they had just put on whatever they could find, bits of rag, scraps
of leather. One huge man was wearing a rather incongruous woollen
jumper with a large bumble bee embroidered on the front. Each
carried some sort of weapon, from lumps of wood to metal poles.
Tallon nocked an arrow and let it fly over their heads, causing
them to scatter in all directions.
‘What do we do now?’ asked
Elkeira.
‘Well,’ said Gilster with a
slight hint of sarcasm, ‘I suppose we always have the element of
surprise.’
‘This way,’ said Tallon,
walking in the opposite direction to which the men had run. They
came to the end of the alley and Tallon cautiously looked around
the corner. ‘I can’t see anyone about,’ he said quietly, ‘let’s get
into that burned out building across the street and decide what
we’re going to do next.’
They quickly crossed the road
and disappeared into the building. It had once been two storeys
high but the roof and upper floor had fallen in covering most of
the bottom floor with debris. Only the front room still had a roof
over it and that looked like it might fall in at any time.
‘Oh great,’ moaned Elkeira, who
was keeping watch at the broken window overlooking the road
outside, ‘it’s starting to snow and I am not exactly dressed for
this sort of weather.’
In their hurried departure from
Naturine everything had been left behind, all the extra clothes,
torches, food and weapons they had so carefully packed were now
sitting in the ruins of the meeting place somewhere.
‘Hey!’ said Max, ‘I’ve just
noticed something, all of you have weapons and I don’t.’ Haven and
Gilster had taken to wearing short swords since their arrival in
Naturine and still had them buckled around their hips hidden under
their cloaks, Elkeira had her bow and Tallon his bow and dagger.
‘With this place being as bad as I think it is, don’t you think I
should have something to protect myself with?’
‘Here,’ said Tallon, untying
the dagger from his thigh, ‘take this.’
He bent to tie it around Max’s
thigh but before he could, Haven ripped it savagely from his
hands.
‘I’ll do that,’ he
growled.
‘Just trying to help,’ said
Tallon holding up his hands in mock submission.
‘Please don’t start all that
again,’ sighed Max as Haven knelt to tie the dagger.
‘You forget . . . I have my
telepathy back now we have left Naturine behind.’
‘Oh god,’ said Max, ‘I forgot
about that.’
‘I thought you might have,’
said Haven looking up at her as he tied the dagger to her
thigh.
‘I’m trying Haven, believe me,
I’m trying not to think about anything that may upset you.’
‘I know you are, I can hear
your thoughts, remember?’ Haven smiled sadly.
‘It’s him,’ said Haven standing
and taking a menacing step towards Tallon. ‘Stop thinking those
thoughts about Max or I swear, protector or not I will kill
you.’
Tallon retaliated, ‘I will
think whatever I like, my thoughts are all that is left to
me.’
He closed his eyes picturing
Max standing before him in a candle lit tent, the flickering light
behind her making her flimsy dress see-through. She was smiling,
beckoning him forward, slowly he walked towards her, he placed his
hand behind her neck pulling her close, bending his head towards
her, he kissed her lips. He smiled, opening his eyes just in time
to see a huge fist coming towards him; it smashed into his mouth.
He stumbled backwards but quickly regained his balance and began to
advance on Haven, all the rage and anger clearly evident on his
face. He snarled. Max screamed, but before anyone could move
Elkeira sprang between the two towering men.
‘Stop it,’ she shrieked, ‘stop
it now, both of you or I swear by Ragnar and Isis, Max and I will
go on without you, we are the Chosen, we can finish this journey
alone if we have to.’
She was breathing heavily, her
small wiry body quivering with anger, her eyes blazing as she
looked from one man to the other. Both men stop advancing, looking
down at the little spit-fire between them.
‘I am sorry little sister,’
said Tallon, all the rage leaving his body, he sagged visibly. ‘I
will do my duty to you and Max and will not cause any more
problems.’
Haven looked at Elkeira too,
the fight gone out of him. ‘I promise too, but . . .,’
‘No buts,’ said Elkeira, ‘take
my offer or leave it, it is up to you.’
‘I will take your offer,’ said
Haven resignedly, so quiet it was hard to hear him.
‘Now,’ said Elkeira, ‘we will
hear no more about it.’
‘Well done child,’ said
Gilster, who had wisely decided not to intervene.
‘I am no child,’ hissed
Elkeira, turning angrily towards Gilster.
A small smile appeared on
Gilster’s lips, he swept the hem of his long black cloak before
him, bowing slightly. ‘You are right my lady,’ he said grandly,
‘you are no child, I apologise.’
Tallon wiped the blood from his
lip with the back of his hand, he looked at Max and then turned and
walked to the back of the room, squatting down on his
haunches.
After everyone had calmed down
they sat in a circle on broken bits of masonry and old wooden boxes
to decide their next course of action, Tallon taking up sentry duty
at the broken window.
‘I have no idea what we should
be doing next, how can we find Daria and the Chosen?’ said
Max.
‘Can you use your telepathic
abilities to help?’ asked Gilster looking to Haven.
‘I’ve been trying ever since we
arrived,’ said Haven, ‘but I don’t believe I have my full abilities
back; whether that will come in time I don’t know.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked
Max.
‘I mean,’ snapped Haven, more
angrily than he meant to, ‘I can’t hear anyone unless they are
standing very close to me. Normally if I concentrate I can hear a
constant whisper of sound from everywhere, but not here.’
‘What about you Gil, are your
songs working?’
Gilster stood, closing his eyes
he began to sing, softly at first; the sound was so beautiful,
rising and falling, slowly becoming louder as Gilster became more
confident, its ethereal sound out of place in this ugly world.
Elkeira, who had not heard Gilster sing before had tears in her
eyes at the loveliness of it, even Tallon turned to listen, his
heart lightened by the song’s magic. Gilster began to weave his
arms in the air; wood and dirt from the floor swirled and twitched
as if a wind was trying to lift them, a column of dirt rose in the
air and began to form into a shape. Gilster’s song ended and the
light seemed to go with it, leaving the room a dark, dreary place
again. He bent to pick up the shape formed from the dirt. It was a
cat.
‘Here,’ he said offering it to
Elkeira, ‘for you.’
She took the small statue of
the cat and looked at it closely. ‘It’s me,’ she cried, ‘thank you
Gilster, I will keep it with me always.’
He smiled, ‘you’re welcome my
lady.’ Elkeira went over to window to show Tallon.
‘At least your songs still
work,’ said Haven.
‘Yes, but like you, I don’t
have my full powers, it took a lot of energy just to make that
small statue.’
‘What do you think is causing
it?’ said Max sounding worried.
‘Who knows what we can expect
in this world,’ said Gilster, ‘but we can’t sit here forever, we
have to get out there and find the Chosen and more importantly,
Daria.’ Turning to Haven he asked, ‘if we get close enough, will
you be able to hear either of them?’
‘I should, but I just don’t
know how close I need to be.’
‘Well, let’s go and see what we
can find,’ said Gilster heading for the door.
‘Wait!’ said Max, ‘I think we
should dirty ourselves up a bit first so we don’t stand out so
much, but our clothes should be ok, it seems anything goes in this
world.’ She bent down grabbing a handful of cinders from the cold
fireplace and began rubbing them up her arms and on her face. ‘You
should pull your hood up Haven, your hair is so distinctive.’ He
complied.
Tallon smiled at Max’s grubby
appearance. ‘You could never be anything but the beautiful woman
you are,’ he said graciously, ‘even under all that dirt.’ Haven
tensed, but held his tongue . . . just.
After a thorough covering of
dirt and cinders had been applied to each member of the group they
felt they could mingle in much better. They left the derelict house
and began walking. From what they could see that was left of the
buildings this had once been a great city. It looked to Max like a
picture from a war-zone in her world after the bombs had been
dropped, destroying everything.
The wide avenues had once been
lined with large trees, now all that was left were rotting stumps
and weeds. No window was left unbroken, no building was untouched
by some sort of damage. Broken furniture and old, rusty vehicles
lay in every street, looking like a tornado had just dropped them.
Around every corner scenes of utter destruction greeted them. In
one street they found what appeared to have once been a library,
its roof long gone allowing the weather to slowly destroy the
contents within. Pages of books fluttered around like small birds
in search of food.
Max, who had always had a love
of books, was devastated. ‘All that knowledge, gone forever,’ she
thought sadly. They continued walking, occasionally spying a
furtive face watching them from broken buildings and places of
perceived safety. No one approached them, no one spoke to
them.
‘Getting anything?’ asked
Gilster.
‘No, not much,’ said Haven,
‘just fear mostly, from the ones that are close enough for me to
hear. I have picked up one thing though, they know we’re not from
around here, so getting dirty didn’t help,’ he looked at Max, ‘but
I haven’t heard any mention of the word Chosen yet.’
‘Well, keep listening, they
have to be here somewhere.’
Hours passed. ‘This is getting
us nowhere,’ said Elkeira sounding annoyed, ‘and it will be night
soon,’ said added looking up at the ever darkening sky, ‘I am cold
and I am tired, we should find somewhere to spend the night and
start again in the morning.’
‘Here,’ said Haven untying his
cloak from around his throat, ‘have this,’ he tossed it to Elkeira
who caught it with a deft hand, ‘that should keep you warm, it’s
from my home world, it also has camouflage abilities, if you cover
yourself with it and keep completely still you’ll blend in with
your surroundings and no one will be able to see you.’
Elkeira wrapped herself tightly
in Haven’s long cloak. ‘Thank you Haven,’ she said, ‘it’s very kind
of you.’ Haven smiled in return.
Elkeira had not really liked
Haven up until that moment because of the trouble between him and
her brother, ‘maybe he’s not so bad after all,’ she thought as
warmth seeped into her frozen limbs.
‘I saw a building back there,’
said Gilster, pointing back to where they had just come from. ‘It’s
only a couple of streets back, its roof was still on and its walls
were intact, only the windows had been blown out.’
‘Sounds like a palace compared
to most of what we’ve seen,’ said Haven, ‘let’s go and take a
look.’ They walked back, soon finding the building Gilster had
seen, it was one of the most complete buildings they had seen all
day. ‘This will do nicely,’ said Haven, ‘welcome home,’ he said
ushering everyone inside.
‘I wish we could have a fire,’
said Elkeira, ‘everything looks much nicer with a fire.’
‘We don’t have anything to
start one,’ said Haven.
‘I do,’ said Tallon stepping
forward, ‘if you think it will not be too dangerous I can start a
fire.’
‘As long as we keep watch all
night, it should be alright,’ said Gilster, ‘we don’t want any
unexpected visitors.’
trust,’ he said sadly, ‘but it is for my family I do this.’
‘Come on, come on,’ said the
man impatiently.
Stefan looked up, ‘she told me
she is not the Chosen, someone else in the group is.’
‘Interesting,’ said the haughty
man, ‘but unfortunately for you and your family we already knew
that, it was the names of the other Chosen we wanted. Kill him.’ He
said addressing the guard as he turned to leave, ‘then kill his
family.’
‘No . . . please . . . Anubis,
I beg you, let my family live,’ said Stefan as he crawled towards
Anubis’ feet.
Anubis kicked Stefan away and
left without another word.
The friends materialized in a
grim, rubbish filled alley between two, crumbling stone walls that
looked like they had seen better days.
Still clinging tightly to one
another, Gilster said, ‘I think we’ve arrived,’ he looked around at
the forbidding environment, ‘and it’s exactly as I pictured it,’ he
finished grimly. Elkeira dropped to her knees, vomiting loudly and
violently.
‘Sweetheart,’ said Max, gently
rubbing her back, ‘are you alright? What is it?’
Gilster pulled a handkerchief
from his pocket handing it to the girl. Elkeira stood on wobbly
legs, wiping her mouth.
‘You could have warned me,’ she
said putting a hand out to the stone wall to steady herself. ‘Why
didn’t you tell me how bad going through the portal would be.’
‘Because we didn’t know,’ said
Max, still rubbing Elkeira’s back, ‘none of us have experienced
anything like you just did.’
‘Typical,’ was all Elkeira said
as she wiped her mouth.
‘I think we need to move,’ said
Haven, spying some dangerous looking men standing at one end of the
alley. They looked to be about seven or eight in number and filthy
in appearance. Three wore long, tattered coats, two appeared to be
wearing some sort of dirt encrusted camouflage clothing , clearly
not working in the urban environment and the others looked like
they had just put on whatever they could find, bits of rag, scraps
of leather. One huge man was wearing a rather incongruous woollen
jumper with a large bumble bee embroidered on the front. Each
carried some sort of weapon, from lumps of wood to metal poles.
Tallon nocked an arrow and let it fly over their heads, causing
them to scatter in all directions.
‘What do we do now?’ asked
Elkeira.
‘Well,’ said Gilster with a
slight hint of sarcasm, ‘I suppose we always have the element of
surprise.’
‘This way,’ said Tallon,
walking in the opposite direction to which the men had run. They
came to the end of the alley and Tallon cautiously looked around
the corner. ‘I can’t see anyone about,’ he said quietly, ‘let’s get
into that burned out building across the street and decide what
we’re going to do next.’
They quickly crossed the road
and disappeared into the building. It had once been two storeys
high but the roof and upper floor had fallen in covering most of
the bottom floor with debris. Only the front room still had a roof
over it and that looked like it might fall in at any time.
‘Oh great,’ moaned Elkeira, who
was keeping watch at the broken window overlooking the road
outside, ‘it’s starting to snow and I am not exactly dressed for
this sort of weather.’
In their hurried departure from
Naturine everything had been left behind, all the extra clothes,
torches, food and weapons they had so carefully packed were now
sitting in the ruins of the meeting place somewhere.
‘Hey!’ said Max, ‘I’ve just
noticed something, all of you have weapons and I don’t.’ Haven and
Gilster had taken to wearing short swords since their arrival in
Naturine and still had them buckled around their hips hidden under
their cloaks, Elkeira had her bow and Tallon his bow and dagger.
‘With this place being as bad as I think it is, don’t you think I
should have something to protect myself with?’
‘Here,’ said Tallon, untying
the dagger from his thigh, ‘take this.’
He bent to tie it around Max’s
thigh but before he could, Haven ripped it savagely from his
hands.
‘I’ll do that,’ he
growled.
‘Just trying to help,’ said
Tallon holding up his hands in mock submission.
‘Please don’t start all that
again,’ sighed Max as Haven knelt to tie the dagger.
‘You forget . . . I have my
telepathy back now we have left Naturine behind.’
‘Oh god,’ said Max, ‘I forgot
about that.’
‘I thought you might have,’
said Haven looking up at her as he tied the dagger to her
thigh.
‘I’m trying Haven, believe me,
I’m trying not to think about anything that may upset you.’
‘I know you are, I can hear
your thoughts, remember?’ Haven smiled sadly.
‘It’s him,’ said Haven standing
and taking a menacing step towards Tallon. ‘Stop thinking those
thoughts about Max or I swear, protector or not I will kill
you.’
Tallon retaliated, ‘I will
think whatever I like, my thoughts are all that is left to
me.’
He closed his eyes picturing
Max standing before him in a candle lit tent, the flickering light
behind her making her flimsy dress see-through. She was smiling,
beckoning him forward, slowly he walked towards her, he placed his
hand behind her neck pulling her close, bending his head towards
her, he kissed her lips. He smiled, opening his eyes just in time
to see a huge fist coming towards him; it smashed into his mouth.
He stumbled backwards but quickly regained his balance and began to
advance on Haven, all the rage and anger clearly evident on his
face. He snarled. Max screamed, but before anyone could move
Elkeira sprang between the two towering men.
‘Stop it,’ she shrieked, ‘stop
it now, both of you or I swear by Ragnar and Isis, Max and I will
go on without you, we are the Chosen, we can finish this journey
alone if we have to.’
She was breathing heavily, her
small wiry body quivering with anger, her eyes blazing as she
looked from one man to the other. Both men stop advancing, looking
down at the little spit-fire between them.
‘I am sorry little sister,’
said Tallon, all the rage leaving his body, he sagged visibly. ‘I
will do my duty to you and Max and will not cause any more
problems.’
Haven looked at Elkeira too,
the fight gone out of him. ‘I promise too, but . . .,’
‘No buts,’ said Elkeira, ‘take
my offer or leave it, it is up to you.’
‘I will take your offer,’ said
Haven resignedly, so quiet it was hard to hear him.
‘Now,’ said Elkeira, ‘we will
hear no more about it.’
‘Well done child,’ said
Gilster, who had wisely decided not to intervene.
‘I am no child,’ hissed
Elkeira, turning angrily towards Gilster.
A small smile appeared on
Gilster’s lips, he swept the hem of his long black cloak before
him, bowing slightly. ‘You are right my lady,’ he said grandly,
‘you are no child, I apologise.’
Tallon wiped the blood from his
lip with the back of his hand, he looked at Max and then turned and
walked to the back of the room, squatting down on his
haunches.
After everyone had calmed down
they sat in a circle on broken bits of masonry and old wooden boxes
to decide their next course of action, Tallon taking up sentry duty
at the broken window.
‘I have no idea what we should
be doing next, how can we find Daria and the Chosen?’ said
Max.
‘Can you use your telepathic
abilities to help?’ asked Gilster looking to Haven.
‘I’ve been trying ever since we
arrived,’ said Haven, ‘but I don’t believe I have my full abilities
back; whether that will come in time I don’t know.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked
Max.
‘I mean,’ snapped Haven, more
angrily than he meant to, ‘I can’t hear anyone unless they are
standing very close to me. Normally if I concentrate I can hear a
constant whisper of sound from everywhere, but not here.’
‘What about you Gil, are your
songs working?’
Gilster stood, closing his eyes
he began to sing, softly at first; the sound was so beautiful,
rising and falling, slowly becoming louder as Gilster became more
confident, its ethereal sound out of place in this ugly world.
Elkeira, who had not heard Gilster sing before had tears in her
eyes at the loveliness of it, even Tallon turned to listen, his
heart lightened by the song’s magic. Gilster began to weave his
arms in the air; wood and dirt from the floor swirled and twitched
as if a wind was trying to lift them, a column of dirt rose in the
air and began to form into a shape. Gilster’s song ended and the
light seemed to go with it, leaving the room a dark, dreary place
again. He bent to pick up the shape formed from the dirt. It was a
cat.
‘Here,’ he said offering it to
Elkeira, ‘for you.’
She took the small statue of
the cat and looked at it closely. ‘It’s me,’ she cried, ‘thank you
Gilster, I will keep it with me always.’
He smiled, ‘you’re welcome my
lady.’ Elkeira went over to window to show Tallon.
‘At least your songs still
work,’ said Haven.
‘Yes, but like you, I don’t
have my full powers, it took a lot of energy just to make that
small statue.’
‘What do you think is causing
it?’ said Max sounding worried.
‘Who knows what we can expect
in this world,’ said Gilster, ‘but we can’t sit here forever, we
have to get out there and find the Chosen and more importantly,
Daria.’ Turning to Haven he asked, ‘if we get close enough, will
you be able to hear either of them?’
‘I should, but I just don’t
know how close I need to be.’
‘Well, let’s go and see what we
can find,’ said Gilster heading for the door.
‘Wait!’ said Max, ‘I think we
should dirty ourselves up a bit first so we don’t stand out so
much, but our clothes should be ok, it seems anything goes in this
world.’ She bent down grabbing a handful of cinders from the cold
fireplace and began rubbing them up her arms and on her face. ‘You
should pull your hood up Haven, your hair is so distinctive.’ He
complied.
Tallon smiled at Max’s grubby
appearance. ‘You could never be anything but the beautiful woman
you are,’ he said graciously, ‘even under all that dirt.’ Haven
tensed, but held his tongue . . . just.
After a thorough covering of
dirt and cinders had been applied to each member of the group they
felt they could mingle in much better. They left the derelict house
and began walking. From what they could see that was left of the
buildings this had once been a great city. It looked to Max like a
picture from a war-zone in her world after the bombs had been
dropped, destroying everything.
The wide avenues had once been
lined with large trees, now all that was left were rotting stumps
and weeds. No window was left unbroken, no building was untouched
by some sort of damage. Broken furniture and old, rusty vehicles
lay in every street, looking like a tornado had just dropped them.
Around every corner scenes of utter destruction greeted them. In
one street they found what appeared to have once been a library,
its roof long gone allowing the weather to slowly destroy the
contents within. Pages of books fluttered around like small birds
in search of food.
Max, who had always had a love
of books, was devastated. ‘All that knowledge, gone forever,’ she
thought sadly. They continued walking, occasionally spying a
furtive face watching them from broken buildings and places of
perceived safety. No one approached them, no one spoke to
them.
‘Getting anything?’ asked
Gilster.
‘No, not much,’ said Haven,
‘just fear mostly, from the ones that are close enough for me to
hear. I have picked up one thing though, they know we’re not from
around here, so getting dirty didn’t help,’ he looked at Max, ‘but
I haven’t heard any mention of the word Chosen yet.’
‘Well, keep listening, they
have to be here somewhere.’
Hours passed. ‘This is getting
us nowhere,’ said Elkeira sounding annoyed, ‘and it will be night
soon,’ said added looking up at the ever darkening sky, ‘I am cold
and I am tired, we should find somewhere to spend the night and
start again in the morning.’
‘Here,’ said Haven untying his
cloak from around his throat, ‘have this,’ he tossed it to Elkeira
who caught it with a deft hand, ‘that should keep you warm, it’s
from my home world, it also has camouflage abilities, if you cover
yourself with it and keep completely still you’ll blend in with
your surroundings and no one will be able to see you.’
Elkeira wrapped herself tightly
in Haven’s long cloak. ‘Thank you Haven,’ she said, ‘it’s very kind
of you.’ Haven smiled in return.
Elkeira had not really liked
Haven up until that moment because of the trouble between him and
her brother, ‘maybe he’s not so bad after all,’ she thought as
warmth seeped into her frozen limbs.
‘I saw a building back there,’
said Gilster, pointing back to where they had just come from. ‘It’s
only a couple of streets back, its roof was still on and its walls
were intact, only the windows had been blown out.’
‘Sounds like a palace compared
to most of what we’ve seen,’ said Haven, ‘let’s go and take a
look.’ They walked back, soon finding the building Gilster had
seen, it was one of the most complete buildings they had seen all
day. ‘This will do nicely,’ said Haven, ‘welcome home,’ he said
ushering everyone inside.
‘I wish we could have a fire,’
said Elkeira, ‘everything looks much nicer with a fire.’
‘We don’t have anything to
start one,’ said Haven.
‘I do,’ said Tallon stepping
forward, ‘if you think it will not be too dangerous I can start a
fire.’
‘As long as we keep watch all
night, it should be alright,’ said Gilster, ‘we don’t want any
unexpected visitors.’
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