Ekleipsis (13 page)

“Can you get me out of here?” Rayhold
quietly asked.

“Indeed I can. But first
Rayhold, do I have thy allegiance?” growled Onyx.

Startled by the question and still
amazed by Onyx’s entrance, Rayhold replied, “Yes.” Part of Rayhold
was answering honestly, yet the other only for the sake of escape
from his situation.

“Will ye swear an oath to such?” asked
Onyx coldly.

Without thinking Rayhold replied,
“Yes, I swear.”

Onyx held out his free hand, “By this
oath ye swear allegiance to both my master and I?”

Rayhold reached out to
Onyx. Very anxious to leave this cell, Rayhold replied, “I swear, I
swear,” without even asking who the master was that Onyx spoke of.
To Rayhold it was merely the means to escape his current
predicament. No different than telling his parents he promised to
obey to free himself from punishment when caught, only to find
himself needing to promise yet again another day. Rayhold figured
he would ponder the question of who the master was on the morrow –
once he was free.

Onyx’s fingers tightened
into a grip over Rayhold’s hand. Rayhold felt a sharp pain shoot
through his arm into his shoulder. He jerked, but Onyx did not
release him. The florescent sphere levitated in the air, as Onyx
placed his other hand over the outside of he and Rayhold’s joined
hands. Rayhold struggled to pull back his hand from Onyx, feeling a
hot burning sensation throughout it. This time Onyx released him,
as Rayhold almost fell backwards.

By instinct, Rayhold
covered his hurting hand with his other. Massaging it roughly, he
hoped to remove the uncomfortable burning feeling, but it didn’t
help. Rayhold looked at Onyx, removing his left hand from atop his
right. Rayhold looked down at his throbbing hand Onyx had just
released. There was now an odd black mark tattooed atop his hand,
shapened as three overlapping sixes: it had the appearance of the
eye of Darkness, with tales flowing from the eye upon the left,
right, and bottom, which curled clockwise as hooks. He had seen the
mark before. Upon the Gottlo he killed.

Onyx reached his hand back to holding
the glowing green sphere, “Shall we go then?”

Frustrated, Rayhold
replied, “What about…” He was cut off by the sound of the shackles
unlocking and dropping to the dirt floor with the chains.
Momentarily amazed, he asked, “How did you get in here? And how do
we get out without Yanes seeing us?”

“Have ye learned nothing,
dear Rayhold? I hold the power to do that which I will,” growled
Onyx.

Onyx muttered words that
Rayhold had not yet been taught. The glow disappeared, returning to
total darkness, as they vanished from the slough of bondage beneath
the Council of Nesal. Yanes, snoozing off and on, knew nothing of
what had transpired literally under his nose. Likely, he would have
been unable to stop it regardless.

§ § § §

An individual, wearing a
dark grey cloak, crept into the council building, making his way
slowly around the side hallway. He saw Yanes sitting at the desk,
and observed him momentarily. Hunched over in the chair, Yanes’
head rested atop his folded arms on the table. Silence was only
broken with the sound of light snores. The cloaked individual moved
smoothly toward Yanes while he slept.

Standing aside Yanes, the
aggressor used brute force to drive his dagger deep into Yanes’
unprotected ribs. Yanes gave out a gasp and flinched to the left.
His eyes sprang alive in fear. His mouth opened as if to scream,
but unable to release any sound. Yanes leaned over, pulling the
chair to the ground with him. The cloaked attacker withdrew the
dagger, and plunged it into Yanes’ chest. Pulling it out again, the
aggressor turned toward the basement door. Yanes was unconscious,
with his life flowing freely from him.

The murderer entered the
basement door He raced down the steps to the three cells, of which
one was to hold Rayhold. To his surprise, all three were empty. In
a moment of confusion, he paused to physically check the doors to
each of the cells. Pulling on the bars, he realized they were still
locked. There was no Rayhold, and he saw no means of escape. A huff
and sigh of surprise, frustration, and confusion seeped out, as he
returned to the top of the stairs, and headed out the front of the
council building.

Around the villages, one by
one the council members met like fates, as they were awakened by
the pounding on their doors. Assuming another council issue,
pertaining to earlier matters, their wives did not initially waken,
and the men did not suspect foul play. Qad, Kol, Ishbal, and Zoac
all fell to final sleep at their doorsteps by the hand of a cloaked
assailant. A merciless slaying of vengeance had come to Nesal, or
did it exist from within?

A knock at the door had Nau
pulling on the pants and boots, sitting next to his bed. His wife
Amashai pulled the sheets higher. A cool breeze chilled the back of
her neck, which had been kept warm lying against Nau. She spoke a
little detest of the council calling for her husband yet again, but
dosed back to sleep when Nau failed to give a reply.

Opening the door, Nau met
the attacker. Unexplainably fast for being woken from his sleep,
Nau was swift enough to escape the deadly swing of the dagger he
was met with. Slamming the door, it caught the forearm of the
invader inside his home. The sting of pressure caused the aggressor
to drop the dagger with a grunted squawk of pain.

Doing his best to hold the
door with his right shoulder and leg, along with the weight of his
body, Nau reached down and grabbed the dropped dagger with his left
hand. Gripping the dagger tightly, Nau swung the door back open,
lifting the blade mid-waist high. As the door opened and the
attacker struggled to pull away, gravity grabbed the cloaked
aggressor, pulling him backwards, off balance to the ground.
Sparing no time, Nau pounced down upon the attacker with the blade
piercing his heart. A groan escaped from the foe as he appeared to
grip his chest, but death took him.

Nau felt out of breath and
held the dagger in place for a moment, to ensure its purpose had
been served. The cloaked foe laid still and Nau was sure it was
over. He stood to his feet and took notice of the face revealed
from the fallen back hood. To his dismay, the countenance belonged
to Labo. Nau’s eyes widened in surprise, for he assumed it would be
no one from Nesal.

Screams of the slain men’s wives began
to fill the night air, bringing fear to the children of Nesal,
causing them also to cry.

The noise broke Nau loose
from staring. “Amashai get the children, and bring them to our
room.”

Pulling his sword, Nau
slammed the door and ran to the center of the village, near the
council chambers. He rang the warning bell, almost jerking it from
the post. Its echo bounced off the surrounding trees, as lights
began to appear inside the homes, with the streets already quickly
filling with inquisitive people.

Nau left the bell and
rushed in to check on Yanes. Not really surprised, but hoping
against his fears, he saw Yanes covered in blood. Nau ran to Yanes’
side, but realized he was too late. There was nothing he could do,
but feel sorrow.

Turning toward the door, he took
notice that it was already open. The hole was coal black. He called
out, “Rayhold.” No answer. “Rayhold, are you down here?”

He grabbed the light on the
table where Yanes sat, and headed down the tunnel to the cell
Rayhold was placed in.
Gone
, Nau said to himself, yet didn’t
notice the cell was still locked.

Making his way back up the small
hallway, he was met by Tindal at the door. “He’s gone.”

Shock gripped Tindal, as
Nau spoke of meeting Labo at his door. He told him of the attack
and slaying of Labo. Tindal, in return, told Nau the women and
children were crying because of the deaths of the other council
members. It was immediately assumed Labo had decided to slay the
members of the council for taking his son into custody on charges
of sorcery. Frustration and anger gripped Nau and Tindal. They
realized too late that Labo’s earlier actions should have warned
them to lock him up also, at least for the night, for the safety of
the council and people of Nesal.

By now, the whole village
was awake with the street full of small talk. Tindal and Nau
hurried back to Nau’s house. Tindal wanted to see the slain Labo,
and Nau desired to check on his wife Amashai, his ten year-old son
Hisum, and thirteen year-old daughter Misal.

Arriving back at Nau’s house, Amashai
had the door cracked open, but their children remained in their
bedroom. Labo lay lifelessly on the ground, surrounded by those of
the village. Cries from the other houses of the fallen council
members lingered in the fog. Tindal asked all to move away so that
he could see the body, so they did. Some moved to other homes and
some simply stood back talking quietly.

Vandor knelt next to Kayla,
looking at the odd black-handled dagger that also drew Tindal’s
attention. “Where did you get that Nau?” Tindal questioned, having
assumed it was Nau’s own dagger with which he had slain
Labo.

Nau informed them of the
events as they took place. He explained the dagger was the weapon
Labo had tried to slay him with, and assumed it must also be the
murder weapon of the fellow council members. Tindal agreed, but
looked as though there were more to the dagger than simply being
the weapon Labo had used.

“This is a Gottlo dagger.
Legend claims this type of dagger is forged by the fire of a
dragon, and each is cursed with the power of Ubils. Although the
handle is black, if you look closely you can see the raised symbol.
Legend claims this symbol to be worn by the servants of Darkness,
meaning the sworn enemies of the true King, Salvare. There is no
reason Labo should have had such a dagger unless…” Tindal looked
around, ending abruptly what he was about to say.

Tindal paused to whisper
where only Nau, Vandor, and Kayla could hear, “Legend declares it
is the symbol of the Wicked One, the eye of Darkness. It is the
mark given to those who swear allegiance to the Darkness. Once the
oath has been taken, they are sealed with this mark upon their
flesh. They are then his servants forever.”

Kayla’s eyes widened. She
opened her mouth, as if she were about to say something, but
didn’t.

“But Labo doesn’t bare this mark,” Nau
pointed out.

Tindal looked at Labo’s
forehead, and true, there was no mark. Tindal knelt down beside
Labo. He picked up Labo’s left hand, searching it palm-to-back, and
again he saw no mark. Reaching over, he lifted Labo’s right hand –
the mark. Tindal looked up at the three.

“That mark wasn’t there before,”
Vandor exclaimed surprised.

“Indeed, we would have seen
it in our daily walk. Legend claims the evil spirits – the Ubils –
have the ability to hide the mark, that others may not see it. This
would explain why he has such a dagger in his possession, and why
we never saw the mark before. Or, it could be that he has only
recently received the mark,” explained Tindal.

Kayla had been listening intently and
asked, “So one may have this weapon and not have the mark? Can one
be recovered from receiving the mark?”

Tindal began, “Legend says…,” but was
cut off abruptly by Vandor.

“Why do you keep saying,
‘legend says’ father? Are these things not contained in the Book of
Wisdom?” Vandor fervently questioned. “Do you not believe they are
much more than mere legend?”

Dismissing his son, for
this was not the time or place for argument of such things, he
answered Kayla. “Once a person has sworn allegiance by taking the
mark, there is no known way to break the enchantment of the Wicked
One or the evils spirits’ control of that person. As for one having
such a cursed weapon without first swearing allegiance and
receiving the mark, I assume it is possible that one could have
found or taken the blade from a slain Gottlo. But that would most
likely not be the case, as we see here.”

Vandor and Kayla turned the subject to
Rayhold, since they had not seen him. They thought it odd that this
was his father, yet he was nowhere to be found. There was talk of
Rayhold and sorcery, through the idle chat of those in the village
that night. Tindal explained what had transpired earlier in the
evening, for it was neither Vandor nor Kayla who had given up
Rayhold’s secret. They were somewhat confused, for they believed
they had been the only ones there to witness what had taken place.
They silently questioned how Rayhold had escaped, and assumed his
father had released him before he began to slay the
council.

Vandor was grateful his
father had been passed over by death. Kayla was unsure how she
felt. Frustrated by the council’s actions and with the situation as
it were, Vandor and Kayla refrained from mentioning their run-in
with the Gottlo and seeing Rayhold use sorcery. They decided it
would only complicate the matter, and Vandor was already upset that
his father spoke of those things contained in the Book of Wisdom as
if they were merely legend. Vandor also noticed how Kayla seemed to
appear nervous and most inquisitive about the mark and the
dagger.