The Tale of Onora: The Boy and the Peddler of Death (12 page)

CHAPTER 4

A Light from the Forest

D
AYBREAK BROUGHT AN UNEXPECTED flier tacked upon Ellia’s house. She noticed it as she was watering her plants. She set her watering can down and carefully approached the flier before ripping the metal stud out of the wood. The hole it left behind made her grimace. She shook her head at the disrespect someone could exude, to deface her home for the sake of a notice. The parchment was wet with the morning’s dew and felt slippery in between the tips of her fingers. The inscription read:

Regulations Against Armament

11 Morroway, 4
^th
Era TC

All Amori are hereby prohibited from acquiring, possessing, and carrying swords as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons from this day forward. Those in possession of such are at once summoned to turn them over to the local authority.

Swords and truncheons found in an Amori’s possession shall be forfeited without compensation. Whoever willfully or negligently violates this provision shall be punished with imprisonment and a fine. In especially severe cases of deliberate violations, the penalty is banishment.

For the implementation of this regulation, the Minister of the Interior waives the necessary legal and administrative provisions. This regulation is valid in Amori Village and all districts within the Eidolon Territory.

                                   
Minister of the Interior

                                               
Chako

Ellia felt sick to her stomach. She had no use for swords, but she certainly recognized their historical significance in maintaining freedom. The founding Amori would recognize this weapons confiscation for what it was because they had seen it before in parts of Caliphweald. They witnessed the only thing that prevented standing armies from ruling this region of the world, after it was left ruined by war. The right of every person to bear arms was a simple but effective freedom. The founding Amori had centuries of experience to see how criminals throughout every era used the same ploys to exact their will upon the people. The cycle was broken when the populace decided to arm themselves to the teeth and never be victims again.

Ellia’s real concern was how a weapons confiscation could be possible under the protection of a faelen tree. It was an unnatural event for the Book of Dro to be misconstrued to take freedom away, and Ellia knew it.

There were so many Amori that had come to this world in recent times with no perspective to help them understand the true nature of what was occurring. They would eagerly give up their swords in exchange for the promise of safety. They weren’t aware that there was no such thing as safety, that there was no truth in the idea of protecting people by taking their weapons away. While Ellia embraced these newcomers, she also knew that they didn’t appreciate the values here, and that was the most dangerous threat of all.

Banning weapons under the guise of security was a tyrannical ploy, nothing else. There was no such thing as weapons control. There was only people control. Logic dictates that inanimate objects do not do anything on their own, much less kill people. It is an irrefutable law of nature. Ellia frowned at the thought of it. She knew that killing was the trade of men, and that having an unarmed population would lead to a mountain of atrocities.

For the Minister of Interior to waive the provisions so that he and his thugs could wield swords to enforce a sword ban was sheer hypocrisy. Amori Village was descending into tyranny subtly but ever so steadily. It was as clear as day.

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“
I
N THE VAST WILDERNESS of the Eidolon Woods, long have I cultivated this Shadean climate as the guardian essence of
Caliphweald.
I am the Great Faelen Tree,” he said.

“Your summons honors me,” Dani replied. She emitted her brilliant glow in a beautiful display of affection as she fluttered her wings, floating in the Faelen Tree’s Meadow like a hummingbird. The surrounding forest grew as high as she could see. Their branches obstructed her ability to grasp her bearings. Light split through the foliage from above, but Dani did not know from whence it came. The faelen magic that blanketed the Eidolon Woods always kept
time
a secret beyond knowing whether it was night or day.

It was astonishing for Dani to see a faelen tree in another world. Faelen trees were enormous living temples that contained the astral records of whichever region they were planted in from the moment of their inception. They possessed hominoid facial characteristics and spoke to those who sought their wisdom.

           
The Great Faelen Tree marveled at the tiny fairy. “I watched thee flourish in the Shade, my child. Thy wisdom astonishes me. Thy selflessness is most admirable. There is one here worthy of thy companionship.”

           
“I trust my life would not have been risked were he not,” Dani replied.

           
The Great Faelen Tree studied her. “Thy courage to pass through The Great Barrier honors us eternally. How dost thou feel?”

           
Dani didn’t know how to respond. She felt well enough, but Caliphweald was an entirely different realm than the Shade. Everything felt different.

           
The Great Faelen Tree sensed her insecurity. “Ye may go anywhere, Dani. Ye may survive in the outer limits of this physical realm.”

           
It was the embarking of an uncharted adventure for Dani, an entirely new beginning. She fought to conceal her excitement, but there was a grave concern that churned her heart.

           
“It dost not serve thee to harbor such emotions, child,” the Great Faelen Tree warned. He thought about what he could reveal to her. He did not wish to spoil the experience this new quest would gift her. “He shall take thee to inconceivable places. He shall help the world reveal itself anew.”

           
“Who is he,
Great
Faelen Tree?” she asked.

           
“Ah. That is a question not even he could answer, child,” the Great Faelen Tree replied. He gave serious thought before speaking again. “It is a question whose answer evades even me. Perhaps ye shall be the one to find it.”

           
Dani didn’t want to overstep her bounds or grow comfortable in this realm. “I look forward to this task, Great Faelen Tree.”

“Very well,” the Great Faelen Tree responded. “Each of the Amori has a guardian fairy. However, there is one child here who lives without one.
‘Tis a truly remarkable thing.
He is Shadean, though he crossed no barriers to get here. He endures loneliness and ridicule most days.

“How could he be lonely here?” Dani asked.

“To be without a fairy is to be without a god,” the Great Faelen Tree lamented. “As ye shall discover, Dani, Caliphians hath different customs and beliefs than the Amori. They do not look favorably upon children born without family or raised without religion. This matters not to the Amori but it matters a great deal to those whose unfounded beliefs make them mortal and erect the prisons of their minds.”

“The Caliphians shun their own kind?” Dani asked.

“Are the Amori so different?” the Faelen Tree asked. “Loneliness is the most terrible poverty, Dani. Imagine a burden so great the world’s fate depended upon thee. Imagine that burden remaining unknown, yet binding itself to thee all the same.”

Dani wondered if perhaps the Faelen Tree was alluding to this unknown burden now attaching itself to her.

“It was the reason for which ye were chosen,” he said. “However, the weight of the world is not the greatest burden one may know.”

           
Dani tried to imagine what the weight of the world felt like. Her words were cautious. “What is the greatest burden?”

There was heartbreak within The Great Faelen Tree as he spoke. “Imagine not knowing thyself, Dani. Imagine not knowing ye are of the Shade. Imagine losing what ye loved most and not being able to remember it. The loneliness that accompanies the search to find thy own self is the greatest burden.”

Dani knew the dangers of those who become lost. The Shade was not paradise. The greatest atrocities all had one thing in common. People who became lost were the ones who orchestrated them.

“It hath been over a decade since the Great War of the Fourth Era,” the Great Faelen Tree continued. “Much was taken from the boy who is worthy of thee. Much was lost. He is a child of destiny, Dani. Bring him to me.”

______________________________

T
HUNDER CRASHED BETWEEN THE dark clouds that blanketed the sky. It was deafening to Aithein, who looked to be around twelve years old. His woodland colored tunic was soaked through and heavy. Lightning broke the heavens and blinded his vision. Multicolored spots covered everything he tried to focus on.

The air was as hot as day but as black as night. Rain clapped like the applause of evil as it ferociously struck the ground. Aithein looked down at the little rivers that fled past his feet. Wet cinder mixed with the rain, causing each drop to sting his skin. The smell of hot ash escaped the city walls.

           
Water dripped from Aithein’s brow. The wind chilled his wet skin when it blew past him. He stood alone in the field, watching, waiting, but he knew not what for. A familiar feeling overcame his senses. He had been here before, but he couldn’t find the memories. He faced the city walls that guarded the entrance to Maebelfry. The crevasse in the ground ahead of him harbored a giant moat that prevented him from further passage. The entrance’s torches gave off a cloudy burn through the fog. He didn’t remember what brought him here or how he journeyed this far outside of the forest.

The only other travelers on the cobblestone roads were dead. Disintegrated carriages and maimed horses littered the field. Aithein was overcome by the fear that he was the only one to survive the end of the world.

Giant metallic objects clashed with each other. The sound jolted Aithein from his state of horror. Man-sized chain links descended from tunnels in the kingdom’s walls. The massive drawbridge opened. The sound of carnage grew louder and louder with each foot of space that the opening gate created. Oak and steel collided with stone. The drawbridge landed with a thunderous sound that echoed across the Steppe.

Aithein focused on what was to come. He couldn’t see amidst the chaos. He took a step forward, but then froze at the sound of hooves clapping against the cobblestones.

______________________________

D
ANI SOARED THROUGH THE thicket that separated The Great Faelen Tree’s meadow from the rest of the forest. She descended into a natural-grown tunnel. There was a male Amori figure with his fairy up ahead. She had to decide between being polite or completing her task. She chose the task.

Dani arched her wings back and let the wind skyrocket her upwards. She soared above the figure en route to the end the tunnel. Something about his features bothered her. It was a subtle irritation that she couldn’t quite pinpoint.

The figure’s shaggy, pumpkin-colored hair jutted out from his Phrygian cap. His big teal eyes ignited from the carrot-colored freckles that covered his pale skin. His cheeks were droopy and his jaw was small. His buckteeth protruded over his bottom lip.

As Dani glided over the figure, his fairy communicated with her through thought. “Stay clear of him. He is nothing but trouble. A wolf.”

“What is his name?” Dani thought.

The Amori boy’s suspicious stare pulled Dani’s focus toward him. The command of his presence was magnetic. Something within him was hungry for recognition.

“Chako,” Dani heard as she flew over them. “Don’t forget. Not everyone with a fairy is Amori. Not everything that crossed The Great Barrier is from the Shade.”

The words haunted Dani. Her flight pattern dipped into a plummet as she lost her focus. Her heart sank into her stomach. The feeling awoke her like cold water on a sleepy face. She collected herself and flapped her wings twice as hard to make up her lost altitude.

She reached her previous elevation and reclaimed her composure. As she exited the tunnel, she flew up high and hovered in awe. She beheld the beauty of Amori Village for the first time. The luminous aqua glow of the water was the first thing to capture her attention. It cascaded down a waterfall from the Eidolon Woods in the northern part of the village. It was just like the Shade.

Amori Village was built in perfect harmony with nature. Wooden rope bridges connected tree houses to each other. Smoke from hearth fires gently rose out of the chimneys. It was not quite lunchtime, but most of the forest folk’s daily chores and tasks were done, so the square was filled with recreational energy. The sound of harps and wind instruments drifted with the breeze. Gentle voices singing and playing in the late morning echoed throughout the village.

           
Dani was flooded with an overwhelming appreciation for the Amori. Each one of them risked his or her life to cross The Great Barrier. It was a relatively new settlement that culminated from an astonishingly dangerous expedition. They were pioneers that left everything to start anew. Aside from Chako and those that served him, the camaraderie of the Amori was much deeper than anything Dani had ever known in the Shade. There was some kind of gathering going on in the village square, but Dani had more important things to tend to. She would, however, certainly be keeping an eye on that unnatural bastard Chako. Nothing but trouble, eh? If only the Amori knew what she really was. Dani smiled at the irony.