The Estian Alliance

CHAPTER 20

3rd September - Outside Te’oull - Siatol

“W-w-what happened, sire?” asked Nytig, his voice trembling with fear. “Where did they go?”

Jake and all of his companions had vanished completely. The shield which protected the King and his servant from the Keeper’s attacks was gone. All the evil wizard and Nytig could see before them now, was the hill on which they stood and the open countryside beyond. The battle still raged behind them in the city of Te’oull and the awful sounds of war still filled the air, but they were left all alone on their patch of ground, able to reflect on just how close they had actually come to being killed.

“Bah… You can show yourself now, Nytig. You can come out from beneath my robes, you coward. There is nothing to fear now, they have gone,” replied the King.

Nytig took a step sideways and looked around nervously. He was at first reluctant to leave the wizard’s side and the protection his close proximity afforded. Another thorough, anxious visual search of the ridge revealed that it was indeed deserted, but Nytig could see several small piles of ash lying here and there. Most had been scattered by the wind, but the few that remained were fading reminders of what had just happened and proof, if any were needed, of the awesome power wielded by Jake and his kind. “Srr… I thought we were fighting against a solitary boy? Where did the other Keepers come from? That was too close by far, sire. We were dead for certain, until you saved us. They were…!” began Nytig, once he had recovered himself a little.

“Insufficient!” interrupted Vantrax, triumphantly. The self proclaimed King was still incredibly angry, but his mind was now working hard to understand what had taken place, and he was seriously impressed by his own actions. “…Think on it, Nytig? Even with the powers of three Keepers combined, they still could not kill me. When it came down to it, I was able to combat their spells and defeat them, to survive completely unharmed. In fact, if they had not have disappeared, I would have destroyed them all! Do you realise what this means? I am… Ohh…!”

King Vantrax suddenly faltered. His knees almost gave way beneath him and he nearly fell. A feeling of intense fatigue swept through his body like wildfire, and his energy was drained in an instant. He felt dizzy, incredibly sick, and every one of his muscles ached and throbbed like they never had before. He became very weak all of a sudden and he dropped the Lichtus stone to the ground, as he tried his utmost to remain upright.

“Sire! What is it? You look awful. What is happening?” asked Nytig, as much concerned for his own safety and protection as anything else. He knelt down to pick up the wizard’s pendant for him as he spoke.

King Vantrax was almost unconscious now and completely disorientated. The feeling of nausea was worse than any other he had known. It lasted a lot longer and it was far more intense, though he was able to breathe this time without too much difficulty. He sat down on the ground, barely aware of his surroundings and what was being said, as the world around him seemed to spin uncontrollably. He remained there for several minutes and everything faded to grey.

Then, his senses began to return, very slowly. At first, he was unable to move. “Where…? Where am I? Nytig? Yes, now I remember. I… I will be fine in a moment… It will pass. I just need a little time. The life has been drained from me for a brief spell. It must have been the effects of the stone, when I fought against the Keepers. Go, fetch me some water. I have a terrible thirst all of a sudden… And be quick about it! Go!”

* * *

Inside the city, the Battle of Te’oull had descended into complete chaos. King Vantrax’ warriors had broken through the Estian lines of defence in several places, whilst other isolated pockets of resistance held their ground. This meant that the marauding attackers had effectively surrounded large groups of Estian forces. The gallant defenders within them fought on with bravery and determination in the face of overwhelming odds, cut off from one another for the time being, but hoping for relief and praying for a miracle. To add to their problems, more and more enemy warriors were pouring over the city walls and through the newly opened gates. However, these fresh troops were being funnelled straight into the narrow city streets, where their considerable advantage in numbers was somewhat nullified due to the restricted space and the rebel forces ranged against them, used to fighting lost causes against overwhelming odds, continued to give a good account of themselves.

The spell Jake had conducted to escape from King Vantrax’ wrath had used the last remnants of power from the reolite stone. It had landed him and his colleagues directly behind the warriors commanded by Brraall and Verastus. “Oh great!” Ben had moaned, when their dire situation became immediately clear. “Nice one, Jay! Of all the places to pick. Talk about out of the fryin’ pan and into the fire!”

As the enemy took the surrounding streets quickly, one by one, the Estians ahead of Jake’s group fell back to form another defensive pocket, centred more or less around their current position. Jake and the others were therefore trapped in the middle and had nowhere to go. It was not long before Verastus and Brraall heard of their arrival and appeared to greet them. Following closely behind them was Jean. In amongst the mass of bodies she saw Jake first and her heart leapt for joy. She immediately welled up with emotion and ran towards him, intending to give him a hug. But then, she realised that he did not yet know who she was, and she stopped.

“Jake!” shouted Verastus, his hand now drenched in blood as it remained firmly clamped over the wound to his stomach.

“Hi’ya, big man. It’s great to see ya still alive. That looks nasty. Tien, do what you can for him, will ya?” Jake asked.

The wizard duly obliged. He took Verastus aside and began treating his wound, though his face betrayed his concern, and it was a feeling that was obviously shared by all. He tore off part of his sleeve to use as a bandage and performed a small spell in an attempt to stem the blood loss, which seemed far too great.

“Brraall, I’m sorry, but can you go back and organise the defence for us? We have to hold out for as long as we can, while we try to figure out how we can win this thing,” said Jake, looking straight into the huge warrior’s eyes.

Brraall obeyed without question, he said his goodbyes quickly and left to lead the fight. Jake issued several more orders to the warriors around him and one by one they disappeared, as Jean and the others looked on. When all the necessary commands had been given and they had a moment to speak, it was Ben as usual who was first to broach the awkward subject that needed to be raised.

“Oh come on, you lot! You West’s are impossible, aren’t ya? Right, leave it to a Brooker to take charge then… Jean, meet Jake! He’s the Keeper of the Stones, if you didn’t know, and he’s your grandson.”

Hardly able to contain herself, Jean stepped forward with tears in her eyes. She hugged him like they were well acquainted, the best of friends. Understandably perhaps, she had had tunnel vision ever since she laid eyes on him. Everything and everyone else around her had escaped her attention, as she concentrated solely on the grandson she had never met, and waited anxiously for a chance to speak.

“Hey! Break it up, break it up! I’m not finished, and we’re rather pushed,” said Ben, once he was satisfied they had had enough time. “This is… Well, its bin’ a few years I know, but I think you should recognise this guy?” he added, pushing Graham forward unceremoniously.

Jake’s father could hardly see at this point, his eyes were filled with so many tears. He did not object to Ben’s manhandling of him, largely because he could not speak. Though he was the last person she expected to see, Jean took less than a second to recognise her only son. She nearly fainted, and had to stop herself from falling over, grabbing onto Ben with both hands. Graham reached forward and took her in his arms. He pulled her close to him and hugged her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. He was so deliriously happy in that moment that he didn’t want to let go, but Jean’s eyes opened and, looking over his shoulder, she finally caught sight of Harry!

This time, she did faint. She fell like a stone. Graham managed to hold onto her and prevent her from hitting the ground. He picked her up in his arms and looked at the others, unsure what to do. “Here, bring her over here,” cried Harry, pointing towards the nearest open doorway, which had been kicked in. “…It looks deserted and I’m sure they won’t mind.”

The small group headed inside the dwelling and minutes later Jean came round in her son’s arms. As she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the most wonderful sight; three generations of her family were looking down lovingly upon her, members of a family she thought she had lost forever. They were all staring at her with concerned, enthralled, devoted eyes.

“Harry? Is it really you? Tell me I’m not dreaming, please?”

“It’s me, Jean. I’m right here beside you, at long last. I will never, ever, leave your side again, I promise!” Harry replied, emotionally. He bowed his head a little and could hardly look his wife in the eye, overcome all of a sudden by intensely strong feelings of remorse, guilt and shame… As well as love. The noise of an enormous battle continued all around them as Harry looked down on the woman who, in his mind, he had abandoned when she needed him most.

“Oh no, no, no… My darling, why do you look at me like that? You must not blame yourself for what happened. It was not your fault, Harry. You had to survive, you had no choice. I knew that. Your job was to protect our family, our world, and all the others I never knew about,” said Jean, softly. She reached up with her hand and placed it tenderly upon his cheek.

“Yes, but I should have… I could have…!”

“No. Don’t think of that now. Too much has happened. Look at our son, and our grandson. Neither of them would be here if it were not for you, and the decisions you made. I could not remember a thing, my memory was lost. When you do not know any better, you cannot lay blame, so I held no grudge against you for the actions you took. I could not question what you did, don’t you see? And now that I finally know the truth, I still think you did the right thing. If I had been in your shoes, I would have done the same. I would have done anything to protect those I loved.”

Harry held her closely in his arms and kissed her tenderly as if they had never been parted. They both began to sob and the others retreated to the doorway, sensing the need to give them a brief moment of privacy in amongst the turmoil.

“Well, Jay? What happens now?” asked Ben. “I saw you on that hill fighting with Vantrax, all three of you. We both did. To be honest, when we saw him beat your weapons, we thought you’d missed the fact that we were there. Tien actually thought that you were gonna leave us.”

Jake breathed in deeply, once. “Oh, Tien thought it, did he? Nah mate, leave you? As if. You’re like a piece of bubblegum stuck to my shoe… I couldn’t get rid of you if I tried.”

“Ha ha ha… Too right. I’m Juicy Fruit me, and I’m glad you know it,” Ben replied, placing his arm around his friend as they shared a rare moment together.

Graham’s next words halted their laughter. “Sorry, I hate to interrupt this touching reunion boys but, seriously now, what happened out there on that hill? I’m not being funny but if we can’t defeat this wizard between the three of us, why the hell have you brought us here? I mean, far be it from me as the newcomer in all of this to point out the obvious, but we’re slap bang in the middle of a war zone! And it doesn’t appear to be going too well? So, how in God’s name are we going to get out of this mess?!”

* * *

Nytig had been absent for far too long. King Vantrax was almost fully recovered now from the effects of using his stone to create the shield, and he suddenly realised that something was amiss. ‘Raar! It should not take so long to fetch water, even for one such as Nytig?’ he thought, with increasing concern.

He tried to stand, but the blood rushed to his head and he had to sit back down again. “Frah! Nytig!” he screamed, furiously. “By Hereddian’s blood, where are you? I will roast you alive if you take much longer, you vile…!”

King Vantrax stopped himself in mid sentence. To his absolute terror and utmost concern, he realised abruptly that his servant still had the Lichtus stone in his hand!

“Raarrggh!”

He roared his fury so loudly that the bark almost seemed to tear itself off the nearby trees. His eyes turned blood red and his fingers extended and tensed so much that they appeared to be like giant claws. The reolite stone enhanced and magnified the wizard’s powers, but even without it King Vantrax was still a powerful mage. Out of desperation and despair, he began immediately calling upon his old master, the most powerful wizard he knew, the one who had tutored him in the dark arts all those years ago, and never really left his side.

“Notorold! Notorold! Venlachtreuus, expallanin iethe,

Parassleugh misrall zenett srriidde qatron!”

The air ahead of the King suddenly split itself in two. A black cloud of smoke appeared within seconds and through it stepped a horrid figure, the vague semblance of what used to be a man. It was dressed in black rags from head to toe. Its white bones were exposed here and there beneath a thin layer of dead and rotting, grey flesh. The deep yellow of its eyes was the only other colour to be seen, apart from the brown, black and duller yellow of decaying teeth.

“Notorold!” rasped Vantrax, his rage scarcely diminished. “How is it that I knew to summon you now, when I have never been able to before? What gave me the power and knowledge to do it? The stone is gone and without it I am…!”

“Srreeeaatt!!!”

Notorold screeched his anger and discontent. The black spirit’s awful, ear-splitting cry stopped King Vantrax in his tracks. “Enough! It does not matter now,” he stated, immediately reverting to a deep, sinister tone. “…Your stone is gone. It is unfortunate, but not in itself the disaster you believe it to be. The fight goes on. The battle is yet to be decided and it can still be won. There has been great disruption in the realms of the afterlife of late. You have done well to provoke such a response from those who should have known better. The chains which bound me were freed when they foolishly took action, the gates were unlocked. You felt that change. One of those who control the spiritworld and all of its domains, has gone too far in support of a mortal. They were wrong to act, and they must now pay the price, for they have unleashed not just I, but an entire legion of spirits held in the fires of zsorcraum!

I was able to free them all before the break could be closed. I have opened up a further breach in their shield. Very soon, an army of black spirits will descend upon this world and everything within it will be destroyed. My forces wait only for the hole to widen… And widen it will, for it cannot be stopped. The time was right so I entered your mind. You have brought me here Vantrax seeking my help, but there are thousands coming behind me!”

King Vantrax was absolutely thrilled by the news that all his wishes had at last been granted, and more. He began to grow excited and started clapping his hands. It wasn’t long though before he also became impatient. “When? When will they come?” he asked.

“Relax, Vantrax. It takes time to open a breach such as this. They are gathering at the gates as we speak. You will have your victory. It is imminent.”

“Good. Excellent. But, what of Nytig and the stone? If the boy seizes it, will he be able to destroy us?”

Notorold shook his head slowly. “There is nothing written about us in the prophecies, for we were not meant to be here. No one could have foreseen the foolish actions which have released us. No, you do not need to fear. He does not have the power to defeat us. This young Keeper is not strong enough. Soon, you will see spirits and wizards reborn who are far more powerful than you and I, more potent than any ever known. For this world, for the people of Estia and all of your enemies, today is the dawn of oblivion. There is nothing the Keeper can do to stop it!”

* * *

Nytig ran towards Te’oull as fast as his deformed body would allow. His heart began to beat thunderously in his chest and he was soon gasping violently for air, but he kept on running. He was convinced that he was about to die. He dashed frantically from cover to cover crossing the fields that approached the city, all the time looking up and behind him for any sign of pursuit from his evil master. He was astonished to find no evidence of a chase, and convinced that it would eventually come. “Koh no, koh no… What have you done? You stupid fool! He will kill you for sure. Why did you do it? What possessed you to be so brave? Yarrggh! Where were your brains? Since when have you been so bold? All your life you have been a coward, and you have been happy to be one, so why do you decide to grow some courage today, of all days?” he asked himself as he ran.

He just could not understand or believe the folly of his own action, one he believed had sealed his fate. When King Vantrax had dropped the Lichtus stone on the ground before him, Nytig had picked it up immediately without really knowing why. He was unwittingly responding to an impulse which had come to him from out of nowhere. It was an automatic reaction he had known nothing about until it was too late, and something he could not explain now. He had expected the King to see his action and immediately demand the stone’s return. However, King Vantrax was too exhausted and weary to notice. He was worried about his own sudden illness and his senses were badly affected. He had given no such order. In fact, the evil wizard had not even realised it was gone, until it was too late.

The impulse to run away with the stone had come straight from the heart. It shocked Nytig more than any other he had ever experienced. It was just so unlike him, so out of character, and so fantastically weird, that he of all people should act in such a manner. Even more of a surprise as he replayed the incident in his mind and dwelled on his foolish act, was the fact that he had actually listened to what his heart was telling him, ignoring the vociferous protestations of his mind. Now, as if controlled by some magical force, he headed straight towards the attacking forces and the city beyond, though he had absolutely no idea why!

He did not know what he was going to do when he reached the front. Years of suffering and hardship, of serial abuse at his master’s hands, came flooding back to him as he ran, ushered into his consciousness by a gentle, helping hand he knew nothing of. ‘The scars on my mind and body run too deep, they will never heal. The emergence of not one but three Keepers has to be a sign that the tables have turned? Never before has the power of three been seen on this world. The days of King Vantrax are surely numbered, and if I am ever to be rid of him, if I am ever to break free, the time to act is now!’

High above Nytig and the city of Te’oull, the army of dragons were suffering terribly in their long, drawn out fight with the creatures raised by King Vantrax. Their epic struggle against the graxoth and revalkas was still being waged furiously. Many dragons had been seriously injured or killed. Resus was leading the remaining few in a desperate attempt to turn the tide, but in a fleeting moment he looked down on the ground below, his eyes drawn away from the fight for a split second by a mysterious and unknown force.

With his superior eyesight, Resus immediately saw Nytig scurrying across the open fields, heading for the battle within the city walls. Despite the need to remain with his fellow dragons, Resus felt another irresistible urge to investigate, instinctively knowing that he had to temporarily detach himself from the fight and help the Keeper somehow, as only he could.

Seconds later, the powerful dragon swooped down out of the sky and grabbed the luckless servant in his long talons. His giant claws cut deeply into Nytig’s shoulders. Nytig cried out in pain as the dragon’s powerful wings beat rapidly and he was lifted up into the air. Resus flew low over the city and the fighting until he spotted Jake and Ben. To his surprise, they were a little behind the action and standing in an open doorway. He flew lower still and circled around, before dropping the unfortunate, pain-wracked servant upon them, like food from an eagle for her hungry chicks.

Nytig landed awkwardly and with a loud cry. He rolled over several times before coming to a halt less than a yard from Jake’s feet. His arms were outstretched to break his fall and in one of his hands he had the Lichtus stone which held the key to restoring the box, held firmly within his grasp.