FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (48 page)

     The High Elementhar had no choice but to let out a breath of frustration, leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea.

     “Rain _ cool and refreshing it is of this, is it not
?
” he said casually.

     “Rain _ of this, indeed it is cool and refreshing, my master,” replied Ray casually while he sipped his tea as well.

     A long silence ensued. Both Elementhars said nothing to each other. They did nothing, but sipped tea.

     “Been _ where have you of this all these years, Ray
?
” asked Master Calnen finally.

     “Been _ of this, I have wandered all over Farhayven, from north to south and east to west. Search _ I was doing of this for the Mind Elementhars,” answered Ray.

     Master Calnen leaned forward, his interest obviously triggered.

     “Find _ did you do of this to them
?
” he asked.

     “No. Find _ I have failed to do of this to them,” answered Ray.

     Master Calnen leaned back again, disappointed. He had really hoped that Ray was successful in finding the Mind Elementhars. Besides solving the mystery of their disappearance, the Mind Elementhars were greatly needed for an endeavour that the Grand Order would be embarking, an endeavour that had been delayed for at least 15 years.

     “Failure _ so, your search has been entirely one of this,” concluded Master Calnen.

     “Failure _ my search was not entirely one of this. Found _ I have of this of Master Torch Abken,” answered Ray.

     Master Calnen laughed out loud and shook his head in disbelief.

     “Alive _ is he still of this
?
Find _ where did you do this of him
?
” he asked.

     “Found _ I did of this of him at the Island of Towering Waves,” answered Ray.

     “Island of Towering Waves
?
Island _ that of this is so far away, so what is he doing there
?
Dead _ honestly, I thought he was already of this since we have not seen him for almost 25 years,” said Master Calnen.

     “Doing _ of this, he is hunting demons as an Independent, and he has done so since he was shipwrecked there 18 years ago; but he has settled down there with a new wife and he has got three children now. Wife _ his first of her cheated on him, stole his treasures and ran off with her lover. Shipwrecked _ he became of this when he chased the both of them across the oceans. Treasures _ his of these that she had stolen, he had never recovered,” said Ray.

     Master Calnen laughed so hard that Ray thought his former mentor had gone crazy.

     Finally Master Calnen recovered from his laughter and took a sip of tea.

     “Training _ did he complete yours of this in the earth element
?
” asked Master Calnen.

     “Training _ he did complete mine of this, Master Calnen,” replied Ray.

     “Wasted _ at least your ‘
exile
’ was not of this, Ray. Visit _ did you do of this of Monune Ruby when you got back
?
” said Master Calnen.

     “Yes
!
Monune Ruby _ of it, I did visit and it was as how I had left it 15 years ago, except the grass has grown long, and the blood and ash are washed away,” answered Ray.

     Master Calnen opened his mouth to say something, but he suddenly stopped. The words ‘blood and ash’ triggered a great sadness in him that temporarily interrupted all other thoughts. Ray thought that he saw tears welling up in Master Calnen’s eyes. He knew that Masters Calnen and Santlyn were close friends, and this was the part that had hurt Ray the most. Why did Master Calnen not support Ray’s request for justice 15 years ago
?
Why did Master Calnen not push for justice himself
?
This was the deed that had cut Ray the deepest
!
It was a cut that he could not forgive
!

     The sky finally cleared up. Both master and student then spent the rest of the day reminiscing and kept each other updated with the progress in their lives. Ray told his former mentor of his adventures during his exile and Master Calnen informed Ray of the events that the Grand Order had gone through during Ray’s absence from Free Falls.     

     A small rock exploded into a hundred little pieces as a Heat Burst struck it. Lance’s mastery of this spell had improved tremendously. Life at the palace was good. Besides the ample food, the absence of travelling afforded him more time to train and sharpen his skills. Lance held Ray’s headband in one hand, absorbing Ray’s stored energy to replenish his depleted soul energy as he went casting spells after spells. Using his other hand, he thrust out his finger and another rock exploded into little pieces. Ray nodded his head in approval. Lance felt a surge of satisfaction. He was now beginning to be able to cast this spell steadily and on demand. He was no longer singeing his fingers.

     Yet another rock exploded, but this time the Heat Burst came not from Lance but from Clover. A smile of great amusement formed on her face. Since she was already a Master Elementhar in two elements, learning a third element was relatively easy for her. Then the race was on as both Lance and Clover tried to outdo each other by obliterating as many rocks as possible with a set of ten Heat Burst Spells each.  Lance came out the winner with eight successful hits whereas Clover could only manage seven. Spirit was lying on the grass, watching the training and enjoying the morning sun. But he was not the only spectator. Dozens of soldiers had gathered here at Palace Liberty’s archery range, intrigued by the mysterious powers of the Elementhars.

     Drops of sweat fell on to the grass. The searing heat of the sun burnt his back. The chains around his neck, wrists and ankles felt extremely heavy. Thorn Sayvion looked around. What he saw saddened him. Hundreds of his fellow Fallsians, mostly women and children, had shared a similar fate as his. They too, had chained around their necks, wrists and ankles. He hated to think about the Fallsians who did not survive.

     Thorn and his fellow Fallsians had been force-marched from one location to another throughout Serpentia for the past three weeks. At every location, their numbers would be reduced as their Serpentian captors selected suitable candidates based on the type of forced labour required. He had not seen Caramel at all. There were a few Eastgush villagers with him, but these were men. Thorn looked around at the faces of his fellow prisoners, or more precisely,
slaves
. The look of deep disappointment and the void of hope, self respect and the will to survive stared back at him. He did not have a mirror, but he was sure that he looked no better.

     Thorn knew his next action would have horrible consequences, but he had to try. He needed to know.

     “Soldier, I have a request
!
” he said loudly.

     Immediately, a fist slammed into his face.

     “Shut up, slave
!
March or die
!
” said the Serpentian soldier who punched him.

     “Where are the women from our village
?
Why are they not here with us
?
” asked Thorn defiantly.

     The same fist slammed into his face again. This time the punch was so hard that he was knocked to the ground.

     The Serpentian soldier picked Thorn up. He gave Thorn a cold look and then started laughing at him.

     “This is how things work here in Serpentia, slave
!
You men work in the mines. The women and children work in the wheat fields. And the pretty women entertain our bosses, all right
!?
Now move
!
” he said as he pushed Thorn to march on.

     Thorn’s face was a mess of congealed blood, sweat and dirt. He pushed on silently. But in his mind, there was a war going on. The situation seemed hopeless. There was nothing he could do but to surrender to a life of slavery. But the soldier in him said ‘no
!
’  The warrior in him refused to give up. He must escape
!
Or die trying
!
‘Wait for the opportunity, wait and be patient’, this was what the warrior in him had said. It was so easy to surrender. It was so tempting
!
  But in the end, the warrior in him won and he hardened his resolve. Whenever the Serpentians were near, he looked to the ground, to feign hopelessness; but whenever they were
not
looking, he looked forward and forced the fire in his heart and his mind to burn hotter. You are Minvian Thorn Sayvion, commander of 1
st
Pond, One, 3
rd
Ocean
!
You are a Fallsian Provincial Guard
!
You are a shadow-archer
!
You were an instructor of the Fallsian Guards Academy
!
You are a living example to your students and your subordinates
! You will fight on!

     The
8
th
Day of Third Month of Wet Season
began early for Thorn. After being rudely awakened by the Serpentian guards just before dawn, the slaves of this metal ore mine deep in the Serpentian heartland were given mere moments to wash their face in order to force themselves to come to life. The clanking of chains reminded them of the predicament that they were in. Their hands and feet were bound a shoulder’s width apart, making running relatively difficult. After splashing some life into their faces, they were given breakfast, which was a single bread bun. Then they were herded to the mine. The rest of the day was spent smashing pieces of rock from the walls of this mining cave and carrying the pieces out to the processing facility where the metal was extracted from them.

     There were only two types of sounds that could be heard in the mine. It was either the sound of rocks being smashed by pickaxes or the whippings by the Serpentian overseers. Slaves collapsed silently and died silently. They were too weak and too tired to even let out a death cry. Their malnutrition faces were hollow and their diseased bodies exemplified decay in slow motion.

     Thorn slammed his pick-axe as hard as he could onto the rock wall. Chunks of the wall shattered out onto the ground. He struck it again. More chunks of rock were separated from the cave wall. A skinny elderly man collected the chunks in some sort of woven basket and brought them out to be filled into a large woven container which other slaves would carry on their backs to the processing facility. The elderly man returned to collect the next load. As Thorn was about to swing his pick-axe yet again, the elderly man collapsed
!
Thorn dropped the pick-axe and rushed to the aid of his fellow slave.

     The crack of thunder and the burn of a sharp pain overcame Thorn a few heartbeats later and he fell to the ground. His back was bleeding. A crimson line marked where the whip had contacted his skin. Thorn was ordered to get up. Another strike of the whip reinforced that order.

     Thorn forced himself up and like a well trained dog, picked up his pick-axe and started chipping away at the wall. The collapsed elderly man was whipped several times, but after seeing absolutely no reaction to the whippings, the overseer ordered several slaves to remove his body from the mine. Outside the mine, the dead body was dumped into a wide and deep pit. The stench from the pit was foul beyond description. The other slaves returned to their labour immediately, eager to avoid being on the receiving end of an overseer’s whip. Though it was just Thorn’s second day of slaving away in the mine, he began to wonder if death was a better option than living in these conditions. If ever there was a hell, perhaps now he would have a better idea of how it looked like.

     The sun set below the horizon before Thorn and the other slaves were allowed to stop working. They were herded back into their prison cells. There, the slaves fell onto the stony floor and shut their eyes almost immediately. Most of them fell asleep while a few pushed their minds into an illusionary dreamland heaven in the hopes of maintaining what little sanity they had left. Brilliant flashes of light and loud explosions echoed throughout the dark Serpentian sky. An infinite number of water droplets bombarded the roof of the prison. Although cells were dry, Thorn was shivering. His face was pale and his lips were blue. With barely any clothes on his body and the stony floor as cold as ice, he tried different body positions to stay warm, but it was a pointless exercise. Cold or not, he was asleep within moments, never knowing if he would wake up the next day.

     Clover kept nervously adjusting her Elementhar uniform. She fidgeted constantly. She was uneasy, for some reason. Ray sat calmly. Lance was indifferent. Spirit was just plain hungry. Dinner was about to be served, but with a difference.