The Destiny of Amalah (85 page)

As the new day dawned, the six rose and set to work; they carried out their own tasks and also supervised the soldiers. Rufus and Waldon found themselves working together and they toiled throughout the day. At lunchtime, the two broke off for food and took shelter in one of the caves. Waldon lit the fire and Rufus prepared a meal for them both and they sat down and they drank hot sweet chide. The two talked and ate and after a while, Waldon broke off and a silence filled the cave as he stared at Rufus.

‘What troubles you Waldon?’ Rufus asked.

‘Something that Luxor said. I should have said something at the time but I did not. Now I must, for it troubles me more each day.’

‘What did he say?’ Rufus asked, concerned for his friend.

‘That I was more than a brother to you. Not just what he said but the way he said it.’

‘You are more than a brother to me Waldon. You saved my life in Qomolangma remember, you did so selflessly and that I will never forget.’

‘And there is nothing more?’

‘Such as?’

‘I do not know,’ said Waldon. ‘I just remember Luxor’s tone and your face, it felt, or so I thought – that there was more to it.’

‘What did you think Waldon?’

‘Now that I try and put those thoughts into words I cannot. Perhaps I should just let whatever thought I had go.’

‘I was scared that day.’

‘Scared of what?’

‘Scared that you might really die, scared that I would lose you and the thought filled me with so much dread, a dread I had not felt before for some reason that day scared me more than the day I almost died at Qomolangma.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know it just did.’

‘If I died Rufus you could go on.’

‘But it would be so difficult. The thought of losing you – any of you, does fill me with dread and to actually lose you – well I do not want to contemplate that.’

‘The thought of losing
anyone
of us?’ Waldon said, slightly sharply.

‘Yes – well perhaps not Luxor, because he can be insufferable at times,’ Rufus said dryly, as he and Waldon laughed a little. ‘And wel,l we haven’t known Bryce that long either. But if anything happened to you or Rakan or Kenaz my grief and pain would be immeasurable. I know we have not mentioned his name since his death but I grieve for Kalon too. That day, I felt as though Rakan had put those swords through me.’

‘As did I.’

‘I loved him you know, he was like a brother to me, to us all and every day that goes by – I think of Kalon and I mourn him.’

‘I think of him too,’ Waldon said sadly. ‘I wonder if Rakan thinks of Kalon and what he did?’

‘I think so, but I don’t think he thinks too deeply. I know him – I know how much he loved Kalon – if he really thought about what he had done, I think it would have destroyed him.’

‘I wish he could have joined us.’

‘Rakan was right. He would never have joined us and he would eventually have killed us if Rakan had not killed him.’

‘I wish there could have been another way. It does cut like a knife. Kalon had been with us since I can remember being a child. It’s strange to think that we will never see him again or drink mead in the guardroom or venture the nations again.’

‘I know,’ said Rufus sadly ‘Yet, the life we have made now invites death. The path we have chosen is a dangerous one and even though I hope above hope, that we will all see this through to the end; I cannot help but think that death may afflict one of us between now and the time we reach Amalah.’

‘I would be inconsolable if death were to reach us but more so if that death were yours,’ Waldon said looking Rufus in the eye and holding his gaze for a while before he stood up and walked away from him.

Rufus sat in the cave in stunned silence. He watched as Waldon walked away from him until he disappeared out of sight. Rufus stared at his chide and into the walls of the cave and back to his chide and then he stared in the direction of where Waldon had been standing and fixed his gaze outwards on everything and nothing. Rufus finished his food and drink and went in search of Waldon. He found him a few feet away in the forest and walked to where he was.

‘Why?’ Rufus asked.

‘Why what?’ Waldon asked back.

‘Why would you be more inconsolable if I died?’

‘Because of the way I feel about you and what I feel for you is not the same that I feel for the others. I cannot explain it – I just feel it.’

‘I do not know what to say Waldon.’

Waldon laughed slightly. ‘This must be a first – Rufus lost for words. I did not think
that
was possible.’

‘Neither did I.’

Waldon walked towards Rufus and stood close to him. He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder and looked tenderly into his eyes.

‘Then say nothing dear Rufus, say nothing,’ Waldon said, as he walked away from Rufus.

Rufus was stunned once again as he watched Waldon walk away from him. He could not think properly nor could he speak and so he gazed into the open air, ignoring the cold that began to bite into him. He caught up with Waldon once again and the two men set to work, only this time they worked together in silence, not because they had nothing to say but because each was lost in their own thoughts. As the day ended they made their way to the top of the mountain and joined the others for dinner; once there, they found that only Bryce, Kenaz and Luxor were there in Waldon and Kenaz’s cave.

‘Where is Rakan?’ Rufus enquired.

‘He is with Maddox,’ Luxor answered.

‘Yes, Rakan seems intrigued by the old man and the old man has taken a liking to Rakan,’ Kenaz replied.

The five men sat down to eat and later, they were joined by Rakan and Maddox. The evening went by quickly and Maddox was the first to retire and when he left, the six young men talked for a while until the early hours and once again, they retired before the new day dawned.

And that is how the days, weeks and months passed; the six and their army were holed up in the mountains, working or soldiering by day and dining around the cave fires at night. Rakan would spend much time with Maddox; talking, laughing and learning from him while Maddox enjoyed Rakan’s company.

I do not know why Maddox could not sense the darkness that lived in their hearts or the evil that coursed through them but he did not and so Maddox let his guard down and befriended Rakan and his five friends. Every evening, Rakan would spend a while sitting in the cave with Maddox and then he would return to the five; sometimes Maddox would join them and sometimes he would not.

Rakan was learning a lot from Maddox and Maddox was happy to teach him. Maddox used magic that Rakan had never seen before – it wasn’t always particularly powerful but it was different; what Rakan liked most, was Maddox’s ability to take objects and enchant them, or make them magical.

Maddox would share everything, except that one secret and Rakan was wise enough not to press the old man for an answer. For Rakan, there was still so much to learn and he did not want to jeopardise that.

As time went by, Waldon and Rufus remained friends but in the back of their minds were the conversations they had had in the caves and the forest that day. Waldon had come to regret telling Rufus of his feelings and Rufus had come to wonder how he really felt about his friend.

He remembered that day with Luxor and Waldon and he had seen the expression on Luxor’s face and his eyes – and he had known; he knew that Rufus felt something more than the others for Waldon and he wondered how. How could Luxor have known, he had barely admitted it to himself and yet, here was this brat boy mocking him, with the full knowledge of his feelings.

Rufus was troubled, he was troubled about how he felt and he was troubled that Luxor had some how known it too. It was not long before the two men were once again working together in the forest. Once again it was just the two of them and when the mornings work had passed, they broke for a while and retreated to the same cave for lunch. They ate and made small talk and at the end of their meal, they put out the cave fire and resumed work once again. They toiled late into the evening and when they were done, they made their way back to the mountain. They remained on their feet and led their horses through the trees; at first they remained in silence but eventually, Waldon broke it.

‘Are we to remain this way?’ he asked.

‘Which way?’

‘Like this – the long silences, the discomfort that is now between us and the inane small talk. Is that to be our fate?’

‘I hope not.’

‘So do I but then where do we go from here. Things between us are not good Rufus and that pains me so.’

‘It pains me too my friend – it really does.’

‘Then what – what can I do?’

‘I do not know,’ Rufus said, stopping in his tracks.

‘We cannot remain this way,’ said Waldon, as he stopped too. He walked closer to Rufus until he was in front of him. ‘I miss what we had. I have known you all of my life and now, we are reduced to small talk – why?’

‘Because what you said threw me and discovering and facing how I feel, has thrown me too.’

‘How do you feel?’

‘I can’t explain; I just feel it when you are around, or when I think of you. It’s what I have been feeling for the longest time.’

‘I was beginning to regret having told you, I thought I had pushed you away or lost you – even as the friend you are.’

‘I will always be your friend Waldon – always. That I promise you, but the rest it is new to me and it scares me.’

‘I know, it scared me too,’ Waldon said, as he moved closer to Rufus. ‘It scared me so,’ he whispered, as he took hold of Rufus’s arm with one hand and ran his fingers through his hair with the other.

‘Waldon,’ Rufus whispered.

‘Tell me to stop,’ Waldon said quietly.

‘No,’ Rufus said.

Waldon pulled Rufus close towards him and kissed him and Rufus kissed him back; the two of them remained in that kiss and under the moonlight for a while and each of them at that moment, felt they were right for each other and the awkward moments melted away. When the kiss came to an end, Waldon stepped back from Rufus but Rufus pulled him back closer to him and smiled warmly at him.

‘Are you sure?’ Waldon asked.

‘Yes I am,’ said Rufus, as he leaned forward and kissed Waldon, who kissed him back for a while and then Waldon stepped back once again and this time Rufus let him.

‘No more awkward silences?’ Waldon asked.

‘None,’ Rufus said, as he laughed softly.

The two men held onto each other for a while under the moonlight sky and talked – really talked and when everything between them was resolved, they made their way back to the mountain, where they had been living.

‘Do we tell the others?’ Rufus asked.

‘Let’s wait a while,’ Waldon said.

‘How long is a while?’

‘When we both agree.’

Waldon and Rufus made their way back to the top of the mountain and took dinner with their friends, and Maddox. The evening passed by quite quickly and before long, they were retiring for yet another night in the caves that they had now begun to call home.

As time passed by, Rakan, his friends and his army, were nearly ready to march into Parades. They were now well clothed and well fed and armed to the teeth with the weapons that they had made while holed up in Equer. They all carried at least three weapons on their bodies. Every soldier had a sword, a knife and a battle-axe, or more or some other fearsome and deadly weapon that they carried on their back. They were armed to the teeth, savage and now – fully trained soldiers.

Before, they had begun as a rabble, a small rebellion and then they had grown in size and skill and now, they were a fully-fledged army – and they were an army to be feared.

As their time in Equer drew to a close, Rakan told Maddox that they would soon be leaving and that the mountain would be all his once again. Maddox was not as happy as Rakan thought he would be; the old man had become attached to Rakan and his five friends and he had begun to enjoy having the company. It would have been a lonely winter for Maddox and having Rakan around, had shown him that perhaps he wasn’t as solitary as he thought he was. In the last few days, Rakan spent every day with Maddox and one evening Maddox brought a bundle to the edge of his cave where Rakan was sat and presented it to him.

‘What is this?’ Rakan asked, smiling at the old man.

‘A present,’ Maddox replied. ‘I think you are going to need it.’

Rakan unfolded the cloak and looked at it, it had presence and a sense of power; he looked at the black cloak and wondered why it felt the way it did.

‘You can feel the power in it can’t you?’ Maddox said.

‘Yes I can and it is not like anything I have ever felt before.’

‘I know – it wouldn’t be.’ Maddox took the cloak from Rakan and began to put it on. ‘It will render the wearer close to invincible.’

‘How?’

‘Watch,’ Maddox said, as he finished putting the cloak on.

Maddox looked at Rakan for a few seconds and smiled a wry smile before he reached back and pulled the hood of the cloak over his head and as the cloak went over his head, his face disappeared right before Rakan’s eyes. Rakan’s eyes widened incredulously as he saw the cloaked figure rise up inches from the ground and float towards him.