The Destiny of Amalah (88 page)

As he spoke, he swung his arms out to the side until they met at his back. As Adriel moved his arms the blue and sapphire fire that had been surrounding Adriel engulfed the six young men and they found themselves trapped in the blue flame with the old man.

‘What is the meaning of this?’ Rakan snarled.

‘Take this to mean whatever you want it to mean,’ Adriel said flatly. ‘Salwar says you must come to Amalah and go to Amalah you will – it is that simple.’

‘This was not the way things were to be done,’ Rakan said, clearly irked at being taken against his will.’

‘According to you,’ Adriel replied tartly. ‘Salwar had plans for you and you defied them. You defied Salwar, not because you could but because he let you. Don’t ever forget that Rakan, none of you here now should ever forget that. If Salwar commands something, then it will be done and no one on this earth could or should, defy him.’

Rakan looked at Adriel with a look that was a mixture of defiance and contempt and he could feel himself become more enraged by the minute as he was taken to Amalah against his wishes. Adriel simply stared back at Rakan with that cold hard stare that had put fear into the hearts of many. The two men remained deadlocked in their stare until Adriel broke the silence.

‘I warn you now Rakan, the power you possess will never be enough. I know you are a powerful young man and years from now, you may even pose a threat to me; but even if you did, you could never be powerful enough to stand against Salwar: not in this lifetime and not in ten lifetimes.’

‘I may never be powerful enough to face Salwar Adriel but I am already powerful enough to face you,’ Rakan warned. ‘And even if I am not, I am sure that the six of us right here and right now are.’

Adriel laughed a contemptuous laugh. ‘Stupid, fledgling boy,’ Adriel said, with even more contempt. ‘The price you would pay for doing such a thing would be one you could never afford,’ Adriel said in an icy tone. ‘You are young Rakan, you will learn,’ Adriel said, before a thin smile appeared on his lips and he closed his eyes to concentrate.

Rakan continued to stare at Adriel for a few moments while he seethed quietly and when he could look at Adriel no, more he turned his head from him and made eye contact with Luxor and Kenaz. The two men held their friends gaze and nodded and Rakan nodded back; he then turned to Waldon, Bryce and Rufus and stared at them and they too nodded at their friend.

Adriel did not see the exchanges between the friends and he carried on oblivious to their goings on. Had he opened his eyes, he would have known that a silent and secret understanding had passed between them; and although I am all see and all knowing I could not see or hear what went on in the minds of those six young men at the time but I know now.

The six men and Adriel travelled in the blue flame through the night sky and invisible to the human eye. They had barely made themselves comfortable when the flame that was carrying them, came to a smooth halt. Adriel opened his eyes and uttered a few words that were incomprehensible to the six and seconds later, the blue flame that had transported them, disappeared. The six looked around and saw that they were in Amalah and close to the temple of the gods.

‘Amalah!’ Waldon said, rather emotionally. ‘It really is Amalah,’ he continued, clearly happy to be back, even if it was only for a short while.

Waldon looked around and saw the palace in the distance and he wondered about the people inside; he thought fondly of Ellora and the others who he had grown up with. He thought of Garrick, Häkan and his parents and he thought of all the good times he had had in Amalah. The memories came flooding back to him and they filled him with joy and happiness for a while but then, they filled him with pain when he thought of what he had done and what he had become and what he now realised, he had lost.

Waldon had been taken by surprise at how happy he had become at being in Amalah once again. He looked around at the city; the city he had loved so much with all of his heart and then he looked at his friends and wondered how he had come to this.

‘You chose this,’ said Adriel, who was standing very closely behind Waldon.

Waldon was slightly startled by Adriel’s voice and his words. He turned round to face the old man and stared down at him.

‘What?’

‘I said you chose this,’ Adriel said calmly. ‘You chose all of it; death, destruction, murder, darkness – evil. You chose it all.’

‘So?’

‘So, there is no going back, but I don’t think that is what pains you. What pains you is what you think you have lost and what pains you the most, is that the princess and Kalon did not take the path you took and they – well only she now – have everything you gave up,’ Adriel finished, with a mocking tone in his voice and he watched and waited for Waldon’s reaction.

Waldon glared down at Adriel and as his gaze bored into the old man, he placed one hand around Adriel’s neck and attempted to pick him up but all Waldon managed to do, was grab his own hand. He attempted to grab Adriel’s throat once again but the same thing happened – he only grabbed his own hand.

Waldon uncurled his fist and straightened his palm and waived it from left to right and through Adriel’s body, as the others looked on. Adriel laughed raucously and bent over double for a while, as he held onto his belly and laughed and laughed. The five men came to Waldon’s side and watched as the image of Adriel laughed himself silly. They watched in silence as Adriel laughed and then brought himself back into an upright position to face them all.

‘Oh dear,’ Adriel said, still clearly amused. ‘That was the best laugh I have had in a long time. As you can see gentlemen, I am not actually with you – well not physically anyway.’

Waldon stepped forward and closer to Adriel; he towered the old man and he bent his head down and glared menacingly at him again. ‘Luckily for you,’ Waldon snarled.

‘Where are you?’ Luxor asked.

‘I am in a dungeon in the palace of the Empress. I have been for some time.’

‘You should stay there for your own safety,’ Waldon said threateningly.

‘If you are all powerful, why do you remain in the custody of the palace?’ Why not free yourself?’ Bryce asked.

‘Because Salwar wishes me to remain.’

‘Whatever,’ Luxor said, with a mixture of sarcasm and disbelief.

‘The great Salwar wishes me to remain here, he has his reasons…’

‘It’s strange to see such gullibility in one so old,’ Luxor continued. ‘You remain because you are weak and unable to leave the palace, not because of the wishes of Salwar.’

Adriel was quite indignant at the boy’s remarks and he let it show. ‘You, you are too young to understand anything and you know nothing about what you talk of.’

‘Perhaps, but I know of freedom and captivity, which one are you?’ Luxor asked.

Luxor continued before Adriel had a chance to answer.

‘I know my own mind and my own will and I follow only mine,’ Luxor said, his head tilted in arrogance as he looked on Adriel. ‘Whose mind do you follow? Not your own and so, while you talk of our youth and our ignorance and powers that we do not understand, at least we are free. We follow Salwar and perhaps you, because we choose to and for no other reason. If we did not want to Adriel, we would not – regardless of the consequences and I say this to you old man –
Don’t you ever forget that.’
Luxor said and when he was done, he turned on his heel in such a manner that let Adriel know that he no longer cared for whatever it was he had to say. Adriel spluttered and was about to speak when Luxor who still had his back towards Adriel spoke again.

‘Yes Waldon did choose. He chose this life and he chose the losses and the gains – unlike you,’ Luxor finished.

Luxor walked on and his five friends looked over Adriel with the same cursory and dismissive manner and then joined their friend. Waldon nodded and smiled at Luxor, he knew the young man had not needed to say anything in his favour or defence but he had and Waldon saw him in a new light. The six men then looked at Adriel once more and simply smiled and walked away from him in unison.

Adriel stood alone, angry and malevolent. “How dare the brat boy talk to him in that way,” he thought to himself: he would have killed him there and then had he not been under strict instructions to keep them alive. “Damn it,” he thought again. He wanted to think a thought but he had to suppress it, as he knew Salwar would not be pleased and that irked him even more.

The six men stood around the temple and watched, as Adriel stood alone at the bottom of the hill. They wondered how things would turn out in the end; not just in Amalah but between themselves, Salwar and Adriel. Things between them and Adriel were not good and they knew that there was room for things to get much worse. They could not fight two wars and so they hoped that whatever happened between them, happened after the fall of Amalah.

Adriel’s figure began to walk towards them and they watched as he made his way to them. He walked slowly and confidently and he stared at them through his piercing cold blue eyes. He was barely a foot away from them when he stopped and stared at each and every one of them in turn. He reached into his robe and pulled out a dagger that was unlike any dagger the men had ever seen before.

The blade was made out of pure diamond and the hilt made from pure silver with rubies etched into it. The six young men could not take their eyes off the dagger that Adriel was holding, because it was the finest thing they had ever seen.

‘Take it,’ Adriel said to Rakan, as he outstretched his hand and offered it to him. Rakan took the dagger and looked at it closely. ‘You will need it for the ritual and when it is done, you will return it to me,’ Adriel told them. ‘When you are called to the temple, cut your left palm and let the blood fall. When all of you are in the temple, place your right hand into the centre, one hand on top of the other and then, drive the dagger through those palms. Then and only then, can you swear your allegiance to Salwar and each other and only then will you be bound by it – Salwar comes,’ he told them.

The six men straightened up and watched as Adriel’s eyes turned black and he became motionless and silent. The black fluid that Rakan and Rufus had seen before began to spill out of Adriel’s hands and when the mass was complete, it began to take shape. It took a while for the shape to take form but when it did, the six young men who looked at him, fell to their knees and worshipped him; such was his power and his might.

‘Rise,’ he commanded them in a voice that was far from human.

The six men rose to their feet as Salwar had ordered and they looked at him and he in turn looked upon them.

‘You have done well and you have done much my dark princes,’ Salwar said to them. ‘But before you go on, you will all swear allegiance to me and to each other,’ he told them, in the booming voice that seemed to shake the core of the ground that they were standing on. ‘Adriel will guide you,’ Salwar said, as he made his way into the temple.

Salwar’s form towered over the monoliths that made up the temple and he rested his elbow on one stone and looked down and into the centre of the temple and then looked on at the six young men and Adriel, before he looked up at the skies and towards the heavens. He wondered if the gods were watching him and he wondered if they were going to intervene. He smiled up at them defiantly, for he knew that he was breaking the cardinal rule of all the gods by interfering in human affairs.

He had been doing so for some time now; mostly, through Adriel to ensure he would remain undetected but sometimes, he would do acts of his own accord and still, they remained silent and passive. He wondered how far he would have to go and how long he would have to wait, before they returned to earth.

Adriel had instructed the six young men on what they would have to do and when he had finished, he made his way to the back of a monolith. He took out a small vial and dipped his finger into it and then daubed a strange symbol on to the stone and when he had finished he went to the next stone and daubed another symbol on to that; he went on until he had put a figure on each stone and then he was back where he had started. Adriel moved to the left so that he was standing in between the monoliths; from there, he could see the centre of the temple and Salwar and from there, he watched and remained and kept his silence as the ritual began.

In the dead of night and under the black skies, Salwar began to chant in the language of the gods; neither Adriel nor the six young men understood what Salwar was saying but they listened avidly for it was powerful and rich and almost hypnotic. I knew what he was saying and I really wished I did not, for Salwar had taken the language of the gods and twisted it into something that was completely dark and evil and when I heard him utter those words against the gods, against nature and against humanity – I was pained. I was pained more than I thought I could be and as he continued, I felt myself being brought to my knees and willing myself not to hear what was being said.

As Salwar continued to chant, changes began to occur; slivers of lightening began to appear in the night skies and Rakan and his friends looked to the skies with a mixture of awe and disbelief, for they knew that this was the doing of Salwar. The lightening continued and grew more frequent as Salwar went on, and as he continued, the sky began to thunder and then Salwar became silent, as the white rocks and pebbles began to glow in the middle of the temple. Salwar looked into the centre and then to the six young men. He stared at them and through them and then he turned his head back to the centre.