Eternal Forest: Savage Rising (4 page)

             
“I went into the Savage Lands once by myself when I was a child,” Zehlyr said. He wasn’t sure if he was talking to her in particular, or if he was just recalling the past as a way to pass the time. “Mother and father were furious when they found out, but I’d always wondered what it was like to walk amongst the trees towering over my head.”

             
“What happened when you went in there?” she asked without looking at him.

             
Zehlyr smiled. Maybe he was getting through to her. “I wandered in too far and got lost. I must have gone at least a mile into the woods before I realized I didn’t know the way back. I remember being so scared as I ran around in the trees. I didn’t know if I’d ever make it out or ever see my family again. Then I came to a cluster of huge azalea bushes towering high over my head. The flowers were at their fullest, with thick petals of bright pink. There were hundreds of them, each one absolutely breathtaking.”

Zehlyr looked up into the sunshine warming his face and smiled. “I remember being amazed that the forest could hold such a beautiful sight. All I’d ever heard was how terrifying and horrible it was in the Savage Lands, but those flowers were more amazing than anything I’d ever seen.”

“It sounds beautiful,” she said. Zehlyr’s story of comfort and wonder was helping her to feel better. She turned to look at him, not attempting to hide herself. Her hands reached up and peeled the hood back.

“It was more than that,” he responded. “I remember feeling something then that I still can’t explain.”

“What’s that?” she inquired.

Zehlyr continued to look off into the clear, blue sky. “When I was lost in the trees, I felt so alone. Standing in that spot amongst the azalea bushes, I felt as though someone, or something, was standing there with me. I still remember feeling a gentle hand on my shoulder, and in that moment, I knew I wasn’t alone.” He laughed a little as he realized how silly he sounded. “I wonder sometimes if it was the Lady there with me.”

              “Perhaps She was,” the girl said with a smile.

             
He looked at her. “Your hair reminds me of those flowers when I was a child. May I call you Azalea?”

             
She smiled. It was the first genuine smile she’d given since she woke up. It likely wasn’t her real name, but it was a name. Better still, it was a name given to her by someone who seemed to care for her. She also found the name quite lovely. “I would like that,” she responded. “Azalea; I like it a lot.”

             
Their moment was short lived. As Sansehr’s traveling party passed by the massive root ball of a downed maple, a soft rustling filled their ears. Feneris and Viyana heard it first, each throwing a hand out to shield their Lord from possible harm. The guards sprang into action, half surrounding their lord while the rest raced into the dirty roots in search of the sound’s source.

             
Zehlyr and Azalea suddenly found themselves completely ignored. They could run away and likely escape with their captors now engaging a phantom threat. Zehlyr considered the possibility, but his curiosity kept him from leaving, that, and Azelea’s hands quickly wrapping around his arm. Instead, they stood together, watching on as the guards returned to the path, dragging behind them another red-cloaked balisekt. This time, however, the beast’s arms and legs flailed wildly as it hissed and clicked in protest. This one was still alive, badly injured, but alive.

             
“Found a live one, lord,” one the guards said. He and the other guards forced the creature to its hands and knees in the mud. Trails of blood ran between its scales from wounds both old and fresh. Its cloak was in shreds and caked in mud. The balisekt’s clawed hands sank into the wet earth, holding its body up off the ground. There was fight in its spirit, but the body was too weak to do anything with it.

             
The creature groaned as it tried to stand. It made it up off its hands before one of the guards kicked it in the back of the neck and sent it crashing back down. Feneris leaned in and placed his boot on the creature’s back. His sword was held down, with the tip resting on the side of its head.

             
Sansehr looked down on the beast with a sneer. “Kill it,” he said with no emotion. He could have just as easily been deciding what to have for dinner. Nodding back towards his lord, Feneris held his hands high over his head, prepared to thrust the blade down into the creature's neck and end its life, but amongst the furious hisses and clicks, Zehlyr heard something familiar with haunting clarity.

             
“Stop!” the creature yelled. “Don’t…kill…me.”

             
Everyone jumped back in alarm, including Feneris before he could deliver the deathblow.

             
“Lady’s grace, it spoke!” Viyana shouted as she drew her sword.

             
“How is that possible?!” Feneris questioned. The guards backed away from the balisekt, allowing it to slowly rise to its feet and look the Lord of Meadowgold directly in the eyes.

             
“Please, human, spare me,” it said. It spoke like a man with a terrible lisp, but its words were completely understandable. Its knees knocked beneath it, showing just how weak it was.

             
Sansehr stepped forward, watching the creature with almost child-like curiosity. He had no idea what to make of this. The balisekt was speaking clearly and in his own tongue. Ordering its death had felt as simple as slaughtering a lamb for the evening meal, but intelligent creatures weren’t killed like cattle. They met their end on the battlefield. He’d never thought balisekts were as civilized as humans were.

The balisekt simply stood there, weak-legged and breathing heavily. It barely had the strength to draw breath, certainly not enough left to defend itself. Its fate was in the hands of whatever words would come from the lord’s mouth.

              “Bind the balisekt and take it with us,” Sansehr finally declared as he turned back towards the trail. “If this creature can speak, it can give us answers.”

Chapter 4

“Though human blood runs through my veins, I cannot bring myself to tread in the lands of my kin. The trees are gone, long since cleared away, but I feel their spirits all around me whenever I wander through the empty fields. I hear their cries, calling out through the centuries, demanding to be avenged.”

From the journal of Teranis the Harmonious: 63rd year of the New Age

              Meadowgold was a very different place from this morning when Zehlyr ventured off in search of his lost sheep. The once quiet human settlement was in pandemonium. Debris from the village littered the fields to the north. There were torn pieces of thatched roof, laundry that had been hanging on the line to dry, bulletins that had hung in the center of the village, all littering the fields from the force of the blast. The people moved frantically about, searching for their belongings, their loved ones, and answers.

             
Zehlyr and Azalea stepped out of the trees and back into the northern fields, following Sansehr and his guards. Once out of the forest, his first instinct was to look for his flock. His sheep were gone, but so were the livestock from the other families that kept them. This didn’t surprise him. What was left of the flocks that hadn’t scattered in fright likely had been quickly led back into the village by their owners. He said a silent prayer to the Lady that his sheep were still in Meadowgold and his idiot brother had enough sense to rush them back home. Those sheep were their livelihood, and they couldn’t afford to lose any more.

             
“Does anything look familiar?” he asked Azalea.

             
She shook her head. “I have no memory of this place.” It was a lovely village, considering the damage, but nothing about it seemed familiar. She hoped the disarray was clouding her memory. After all, this had to be her home. If it wasn’t here, where could it be?

             
Zehlyr looked forward again, reacting just in time to step over a plank of wood stuck in the ground. “Don’t worry, it’s not exactly as I remember it, either.”

             
Up ahead of them, Sansehr marched at the head of the group. Behind him came Feneris and Viyana. Each was holding a chain, which was shackled to a collar around the neck of their balisekt prisoner. The beast didn’t attempt to flee, but that was likely due to his lack of strength. A healthy balisekt could easily overpower two humans and race back towards the forest, but this one could barely stand, and the long march through the forest had been hard enough on it.

             
Zehlyr couldn’t help but feel some pity for the creature. He’d never looked upon the face of a balisekt until this day, but there was an unmistakable sadness in its expression. Its eyes were shut. Its thin, long lips hung slightly open. Its long tail dragged limp behind it like a heavy sack of feed. It seemed beaten as much in spirit as it was in body. He wondered what answers they could get from the creature about what happened in the Savage Lands and, after they were extracted, what fate Sansehr would decide for it.

             
Their ears were met with screams of terror just before they reached the edge of the village. The people on the outskirts shrieked and fled at the sight of a balisekt in their midst. Mothers clutched their children’s arms and dragged them quickly indoors. Men drew knives and axes, leering menacingly at the creature as it passed them. If not for the fearlessly still expression of Lord Sansehr, the people would likely have rushed the balisekt and killed it out of panic.

             
Azalea slipped a hand into Zehlyr’s and clutched tightly to his arm with the other. Her skin was cold and trembled against his. He could only imagine what she was thinking. For someone with no memory of her life before the morning, seeing Meadowgold in such a state would be frightening indeed. He reached over and placed a hand on top of hers, trying to calm her nerves.

             
“It’ll be alright,” he said, though he wasn’t sure if he believed his own words. Nothing was sure at this point other than the fact that nothing would ever be the same again.

             
“Zehlyr!” Cherin shouted as he emerged from the crowd. His older brother rushed into the street towards him, but two of Sansehr’s guards quickly blocked him.

             
“Wait!” Zehlyr called to the soldiers. “That’s my brother!”

             
Sansehr looked back over his shoulder to see what the matter was. As the guards looked to him for approval, he simply nodded before turning away again. The guards moved aside and let Cherin run to his brother.

             
Zehlyr opened his arms, expecting an embrace from his sibling, full of love and relief that he was okay. However, all it did was open him up wide for the punch to the stomach he received instead. The force knocked the air from his lungs, causing him to double over.

             
“Where have you been, goblin brain?!” Cherin demanded. “Where’s the sheep?”

             
“Glad to see you were so worried about me,” Zehlyr croaked out between gulps of air.

             
Cherin took another look around as his brother straightened back out. “What’s going on around here? What happened out in the woods? Why do they have a balisekt? Who is…?” His sentence trailed off into silence as he looked into Azalea’s beautiful, yet scowling face.

             
“I’m Azalea,” she said harshly. “Your brother saved my life, you big jerk.”

             
Cherin raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure he didn’t just trip over you or something?”

             
Zehlyr turned away to hide his blushing face. She was going to find out sooner or later that he wasn’t the big, brave person she seemed to take him for. He didn’t know what she would think of him then.

             
Up ahead, the balisekt tripped on a small stone and fell to its knees. Caught off guard, Feneris and Viyana were knocked off balance and landed on their sides in the mud. The guards rushed into a flurry of activity. They swarmed around the fallen beast, driving blow after blow into its scaly flesh with their boots and the blunt ends of their spears.

             
Zehlyr and Azalea watched the scene with dumbstruck awe. There was still no struggle in the creature’s actions. Its clawed hands shielded its face while its knees tucked in tight to protect its midsection. Its tale wrapped tightly around its body. This was a defensive position, a helpless position. The balisekt sounded no hisses or clicks, but Zehlyr and Azalea thought they heard a faint whimper amongst the horrible chorus of shouting guards and boots striking scaly flesh. The moment made Zehlyr’s blood boil; then, something in him snapped.

             
“Enough!” Zehlyr shouted as he dashed over to the balisekt. He threw his arms out, trying to push the guards away. “Stop!” The guards ended their assault, but it seemed more out of curiosity over the young man’s brashness than fear of his influence. Zehlyr dropped to his knees at the creature’s side. He could see its midsection rise and fall with short, staggered breaths. The assault had reopened a few of its small wounds, and fresh blood was running between its scales.

             
“Can’t you see it’s not fighting back?” Zehlyr said. He was exasperated, and not sure himself why he was coming to this beast’s aid.

             
“What are you doing, boy?!” Sansehr demanded. Reaching down with his massive hand, he picked Zehlyr up by the sleeve and hoisted him into the air. “That beast helped kidnap your new friend over there and then leveled a square mile of forest! You dare show it pity?!”

Zehlyr gave no response. He was too afraid to say anything, and too busy mentally cursing himself for his foolish act of bravery.

Sansehr lowered Zehlyr back to his feet, but didn’t release his grasp. “Explain yourself.”

             
He knew he had to come up with something. Silence was only getting him into more trouble. “This balisekt is your only chance for answers,” he said. “If your men kill it, we’ll never know what happened.” There was a long silence as Zehlyr tried to read the thoughts behind his Lord’s eyes. Finally, Sansehr released his grip.

             
“We’re not going to kill it,” he said coldly. “But we’re not going to treat it like a guest, either.”

             
“You’re not going to get any answers if you break its jaw,” Azalea chimed in. She’d made her way over to the injured balisekt’s side and kneeled in the mud.

With her memory gone, Azalea had no recollections of what a balisekt was. It looked frightening enough, but so did Lord Sansehr, and everyone seemed to treat him with great respect. All she could see was a poor, defenseless creature being tormented for no reason, and it filled her heart with pity. She reached out a hand towards its face. “If you treat it better, you might just…” As soon as her hand made contact with the balisekt’s skin, Azalea’s body suddenly let off a brilliant flash of light. All the humans turned away, shielding their eyes from the blinding light. A loud, high-pitched hum filled the air.

              When the light faded and the people of Meadowgold could see again, they found Azalea still kneeling next to the savage creature, only it was no longer injured. Its cuts were closed, its bones were mended, and, most frighteningly of all, its strength had returned.

             
Now fully healed, the creature leapt to its feet, knocking Azalea onto her back. Viyana and Feneris reached out for their chain leashes, but they were quickly jerked from beyond their grasp. The balisekt’s tail twitched wildly, nearly striking a nearby guard. It lifted its head into the air, taking its first full and painless breath since the Phenomenon.

             
The people of Meadowgold went into frenzy. Screams and shouts filled the air as the panicked humans scattered like roaches. Zehlyr rushed to Azalea’s side, falling to his knees to help her up. Returning her to a sitting position, they both looked up at the balisekt looming over them. Its clawed fingers were spread wide and its jaws were open, revealing its slender tongue flipping between them like an angry snake.

             
Zehlyr and Azalea knew they were at its mercy. For Zehlyr, this was much like staring down the wolves that morning. How many times would he have to face certain death today? He wrapped an arm around Azalea and pulled her close, knowing the gesture would do nothing to save either of them. Oddly enough though, Zehlyr could still detect no rage in the creature’s face. It looked more happy to be healthy again than angry.

             
Behind the balisekt, Viyana and Feneris finally got hold of their chains. Catching the creature off guard, they grasped them and jerked down in unison. The balisekt toppled forward, landing face-first on the soft ground and nearly falling on top of Zehlyr and Azalea. Mud splashed up on their wide-eyed faces. The dove on top of the balisekt and keeping it pinned to the ground. It squirmed beneath them, but was ultimately unable to rise again.

             
Zehlyr put a hand on Azalea’s cheek and turned her head towards him. Her sparkling green eyes held nothing but panic and bewilderment. “What did you do?!” he demanded.

             
Azalea opened her mouth to respond, but only heavy breaths came out at first. “I…I don’t know!” she said. “All I did was touch it! I only touched it!” She hadn’t intended to heal the creature. She didn’t even know such a thing was within her ability. It was as though her empathy for the injured balisekt manifested in some strange, unexplainable power.

             
Zehlyr’s hands moved to her shoulders and grasped her tightly. He couldn’t help but shake her slightly in his fear and confusion. “What are you?!” he demanded. “You can’t be human! No human could do that! Please, tell me, what you are!”

             
“I want them both in chains!” Sansehr bellowed, pointing one of his fat fingers at the mud-coated duo huddled together on the ground. He’d had quite enough with losing control of the situation while his subjects were watching. At his command, Zehlyr and Azalea were ripped from each other’s arms and lifted out of the mud. Their hands were forced behind their backs and shackled together with cold, heavy chains.

             
“Wait, stop!” Zehlyr shouted. His request fell on deaf ears.

             
“I knew there was something about you two I didn’t trust,” Sansehr said smugly.

             
“No, please! This is a mistake!” Zehlyr insisted. His words were met only with a heavy, painful slap from Sansehr’s massive hand across his cheek. The impact stung with a sharp pain before his face went numb.

             
“The only mistake I made was believing your goblin-brained story back in the woods. If you want to sympathize with this monster, fine. You and her can rot in a cell along with it.”

             
Sansehr’s words made him feel dizzy and sick. The thought of being jailed was bad enough, but to share a cell with a balisekt? They would be dead before the cell door was slammed shut. His mind searched desperately for something,
anything
he could say that would change his fate, but he and Azalea were already being dragged through the mud towards Meadowgold’s one and only prison; their fates now no different from that of the savage beast.