A Warrior's Legacy (6 page)

She paused and the people waited, “Destroy
all evidence of the idols we have served and the false traditions
we have observed in accordance with the folly of our false beliefs.
For the Creator whom we now serve is One and there are no others
before Him.”

Of one accord her people roared their
approval and each ran to his or her own home to accomplish the task
of removing the stain of their former unpure beliefs.

The sun stood still as the natural
progression of day and night righted back on course due to the fast
forwarding of the previous night.

While the day remained the people of the
Eastern Kingdom of one accord destroyed everything they could find
of their false beliefs. Temples and shrines burned and monuments
and ornamentation were smashed into dust, nothing remained of the
reproach of false belief.

As darkness fell the people returned to the
plain exhausted from their efforts and the emotions of the long day
and fell into a deep sleep. Many of them were healed during the
night of ailments and their peace was not disturbed as it so often
was by the sickness of the Sorcerer that afflicted their entire
people and often gave them nightmares.

Zalisha got up off her bed and walked down
the darkened halls of the palace. She felt as if she was dreaming
and what was happening was not real.

She made her way outside to a private garden
towards the place where the little temple had been. She sat down on
the grass and waited not sure why she was here or even if she was,
perhaps all this was a dream.

“Well done thou good and faithful
servant!”

Hearing the voice she fell to her face, but
she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder urging her to get up.

“Come walk with me for a while and I will
show you in part what is to be.”

She looked up and saw a man, “Are you the
Creator?”

He smiled and said, “As it is written if you
have seen Me you have seen the Father.”

Puzzled she looked at him.

He explained further, “I am the Creator’s
Son and yet I and the Spirit of the Creator and the Creator are
One.”

She nodded trying to understand and the man
laid a calming hand upon her shoulder, “It is all right. Do not
worry for your lack of understanding. My Father is sending you and
your people a teacher from across the seas that will help teach and
be used of my Father’s Spirit to bring understanding to your
people. The faithful step of your people today has issued in a time
of hope and reconciliation for the people of this land such as they
have never known before.”

She stood and He gave His arm to her to hold
as He led her through the garden now devoid of any tokens of her
former beliefs.

“What shall I tell the people? We all want
to know more.” She asked softly.

“There hunger shall be filled and their cup
will overflow and your land will be filled with good things, if
your people continue in their desire to know more of the Creator
and serve Him in all their ways. The teacher I am sending will show
you the path of righteousness by the use of the Holy Scriptures.
Through understanding of the words of My Father you will know how
to live and discover more of the ways of the Creator.”

A little time passed as they walked, “When
will the teacher come?”

He looked at her, “The Spirit of the Creator
that will lead you into all understanding and the unlocking of
mysteries is already here and at work. It was His strength and
words that filled you and came out of you this past afternoon, as
you willingly contended for the future of your people. Your
obedience to the Creator even at the risk of your own life shall
not go unrewarded. The teacher who is coming, while he will do many
great things for your people, he is also especially meant just for
you.”

Zalisha’s eyes flew wide as she stopped and
looked at Him and stuttered out, “I..... I don’t understand? For
me?”

His gaze was tender as he patted her hand,
“Yes, as I said he will do great and wonderful deeds on behalf of
the Creator for your people, but he is also a man worthy of great
reward and so the Creator has given him you. Both of you have asked
for so little in life so far and God has decided to give you much
in return. Together you will rule your people and if you remain
faithful you will see great change in your land and happiness in
your heart.”

Zalisha nodded and swallowed over the
foretelling of her future, “What do I do?” She asked ready to do
her part, as what He said must surely be the only thing to be
done.

She hadn’t realized that she had lowered her
head and that her face had become flushed. A finger from a scarred
hand brought her chin up and she couldn’t help that a couple of
tears had popped out from the corners of her eyes.

She was scared. She was in the presence of
the Creator’s Son, as spokesperson for her entire nation. She
didn’t want to make a mistake.

All that was stressful enough and now she
learned that she was to be given to a stranger from across the
sea!

“Zalisha do not be afraid, but only be
faithful and see what the Creator will do on behalf of your nation
and you.”

She nodded trying her best. “Can I know when
he is coming?” She asked hesitantly.

“Soon. He is not coming alone. His brother
will come too. They are both the sons of one of my most faithful
servants. One is a warrior the other a teacher. The warrior will
free the people of this land from the captivity they are held by.
He is richly blessed by My Father and you will do all that he asks
of you. His brother will do with words what the Spirit gives him to
do and will bring freedom of the spirit and understanding of the
Creator’s ways among your people, even as his brother will bring
freedom by the sword and his strength of character. Two peoples
shall be freed, but a third people shall be made greater than them
both and yet you will all be one people. Guardians forever of the
truth of God’s word. When your teacher comes you will know him even
though you have never met him. You will lay the crown of your
father at his feet and the kingship of your people and you will
both be his. You will rule your people together and your family
line will continue and not be broken off. You both will aid his
brother and the work that my Father has for him. Do you understand
all this Zalisha?”

“Yes.”

Zalisha’s eyes opened as the morning
sunlight filtered into her room. She got up from the bed
remembering the dream as if it was still happening and knew that it
was going to happen.

She rested a hand on the corner of the
window and gazed out at her people’s land and the sea beyond. He
would be coming soon.

She would make sure that all was in
readiness for him and his brother’s arrival to her land, but
whether or not her heart would be ready she was not sure. What
manner of men would these two brothers be?

She had known that there lay a larger body
of land off to the Northeast. That was where they had come from
long ago. Legend had it that when her people were brought to this
world that they had not been well treated because of differences in
their ancestry and appearance by the others of this world.

It was said that the great lord Ta’lont
known as Tadias had not been happy with the treatment of the
survivors of Berniam at the hands of his own kind. He had relocated
the people of Berniam to these shores and forbid any of his own
kindred from following.

That had been long ago. Had the people of
the other lands changed in how they thought of her people any?

Time would tell what manner of men these two
brothers would be. Her whole body started shaking suddenly and she
held onto the window frame to keep from falling as she bit her lip
to fight off the pain.

Not all her ailments had been cured then.
She had hoped so, but apparently the Sorcerer’s curse on her people
was still in effect, but maybe soon her people could be free of it
to. She hoped so

The sea breeze ruffled my hair across my
eyes and I had to brush it back. I watched as the land of my birth
fell rapidly out of sight on the horizon. All that could be seen
now was the tops of the mountains.

I looked over at Gavin. He wasn’t even
looking at our fast disappearing homeland, but instead he was
gazing out at the flat slightly undulating sea that stretched out
before us like a fast unexplored plain.

Things had come together a lot faster than I
had imagined possible. It had been but four days since I had
arrived back in the Valley Lands and now I was leaving them again,
perhaps for forever.

Our convoy of three ships sliced through the
open sea, as if they too were eager to discover the unknown. The
ships were of Tranquil Islander design. Both the ships and the
sailors had been supplied to us by our good allies the Tranquil
Islanders, when they had learned of the mission.

They were a seafaring people and they
depended on trade for their livelihoods. The possibility of opening
up an entire new trading opportunity had not been one that they
could pass up and they had offered the ships and the men
gladly.

My father had still bought the ships and
hired the use of the sailors from them anyway to assure that the
focus of the mission would be elsewhere and that trading would be a
secondary objective at best.

Each ship was manned by forty sailors and a
Captain. Along with supplies my father had complemented each ship
with a force of two hundred picked warriors. Father had placed me
in charge of all the men and the decisions of the expedition were
solely up to me to decide.

No pressure.

I walked up beside Gavin and shared his view
of the sea ahead of us.

“When do you think we’ll be there?” He
asked.

“Well from the maps it doesn’t appear to be
all that far. About three weeks should see us there if everything
goes right.”

He looked bothered by the length of time
involved to make the journey.

I slapped his back, “Don’t worry Gavin we’ll
get you there in plenty of time to save the girl.”

He didn’t respond right away when he did it
was cryptic at best, “I had another dream.”

And that was all he said.

“Care to enlighten me a little further on
this dream brother?”

A terse, “No!” followed.

Exasperated I asked, “Do I need to know
about the dream for either the safety of the men or the success of
the mission?”

He looked at me briefly and said, “I don’t
think so.”

And that was all I could get out of him.

Everything did not go according to plan.
Just short of three weeks saw our convoy run into the worst storm
any of the sailors had ever seen. We could see no way around it so
we decided to fight our way through it.

Two days into the storm we realized that it
would be impossible to make our way through it and we tried to turn
back, but we were caught within the storm’s savage grip.

We were tossed around like a piece of wood
in a pond with a herd of boys throwing rocks at it to see if they
could sink it.

The storm drove us southward with no end in
sight. I wasn’t even sure we were headed southward as we hadn’t had
a clear view of the skies since we had entered the storm. It was
hard to even tell if it was day or night.

The third day of the storm we lost sight of
one of the other ships, but it reappeared the fifth day and we did
our best to stay together. A week into the storm and still we found
no way free from it.

We lost all hope of survival. The hulls of
the ships were taking on water from the savage pounding of the
waves that we were buffeted by on every side.

It was all we could do to keep the water
pumped out as men worked around-the-clock manning the pumps. Most
of our sails were either torn into shreds or ripped free entirely.
We’d lost several men overboard, if we didn’t break free of the
storm soon the ship would break apart, because of the strain it was
under or because the men might just give up and let the ship fill
and slip under the waves in search for the piece of the depths of
the sea.

I sunk to the floor of my cabin beyond
exhaustion. We had no chance for sleep or even food, since we’d
been caught in the storm.

Wearily I croaked out, “God have you led us
here to this storm to die?”

My head slunk down to rest against a bench
seat cushion. I was giving up the fight. The cabin was a mess from
the upheaval of the storm. What possessions I had brought with me
were strewn about the cabin.

My weary eyes caught something glowing in
the dark. I tried to focus on it. It was the box holding my sword.
It had broken open and my sword had half spilled out of it and it
was pulsing with color.

Why was it doing that?

It never glowed or showed any color unless I
was holding it in my hand. There must be a reason and I forced my
body to listen to my mind’s commands as I reached out for it and
pulled it to me. Staggering to my feet I made it back outside.

I was knocked off my feet and I settled for
crawling along the slippery deck, until I reached the ladder to the
bridge.

Gaining my feet my eyes met Gavin’s as he
stood at the wheel and fought the storm with a willful strength
that I knew I had never had.

He looked at the sword glowing brightly in
my hands and then back at me with a sardonic look as if to say,
“What are you going to do with that? Attack the storm?”

It was as good a suggestion as any I thought
in our current condition. Instead of raising the blade to the sky I
raised the pommel stone of the blade with the ruby colored
crystal.

I don’t know why I did that.

Red light shot out in multi faceted
directions and then began to alternately flash on and off for the
space of five seconds and then a solid column of red shot into the
dark clouds overhead.