Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (60 page)

Of
course, he was opposed to
the
potential outcome of this particular prophecy, despite having
discovered it so long ago as a young man, as he knew that it might
mean the end of his career as a Follower of Doomba when it would be
the end of Doomba himself. He could not allow it to come true, he
could not, and yet he admired the quality of the writing itself,
the craft that Wintha the Wanderer had shown in composing her
prophecy, if not in the prediction itself, as he saw how close her
words came to achieving immortality, for having lasted this long
and yet sustaining their meaning, value, and exigency. Not even
Doomba could say the same thing about himself.

Doomba was
deteriorating, it was a well known fact amongst his Followers and
Servants, and he had been for a long time now. Most of the legions
of Servants he had could not march out of the Wastelands without
being noticed by humans and heavily opposed, possibly wiped out, by
them in the process, so the Servants could not take over Arria on
their own without human, or Follower, interference. The gruelmoffs
and Black Wolves could slip out and wander across the continent
without being noticed by humans, although they were certainly no
match for a human army, and could only perform menial tasks. All of
Doomba’s Followers were in hiding, most of them not in very
powerful positions or ineffectual, and there were too few Followers
to really make an impact on the outside world. Nothing about Doomba
at this particular time spoke of exigency, emergency, and power to
the outside world, aside from some vague fear or notion of him, not
like he was at the beginning of the Dark Ages.

At the
beginning of the Dark Ages, despite his obsession with getting into
Coe Pidaria, which had created the Wastelands surrounding
Coe Pidaria’s magical shield in the
process, Doomba’s forces had been massive, and had spread all
across the continent, taking over nearly everything, including
Arria, but the human resistance had been strong enough that it had
outlasted the invasion force, and the Servants of Doomba had
eventually crept back into the Wastelands about a thousand years
later. Still, the promise of Doomba, while it had been squandered
in the past and remained weak to this day, offered a tantalizing
hope to Followers such as himself, the chance to gain power beyond
what most earthly institutions could offer; the chance to become a
master over the earth itself. Lord Crow, as he was so called
amongst other Followers of Doomba such as himself, wanted such
power, and would do anything to get it, as he had so proven in the
past to Doomba and himself, but the words that Wintha the Wanderer
had written challenged that notion for him.

The
words
that Wintha wrote never
changed, despite whatever interpretation, translation, or mistake
was applied to them. They remained steadfast while everything else
shifted about them. Their meaning might change or the mind might
misremember, enlarging or belittling certain facets about them,
making the words greater or smaller than they were, but what
remained, after such illusions, delusions, and disillusions were
taken away from them, would at least be intelligible and
decipherable, perhaps even understandable, to those who chose to
read and heed them.

Well, he
had chosen to read and heed these words, their message about the
tiger of light and the dragon, and so he had passed them along to
Doomba, although he now wished, all these years later, that he had
not. Perhaps, if he had been smarter, he would have kept ‘The Tiger
Prophecy’ and
The Writings of
Wintha the Wanderer
a secret
to himself, and waited to see the result. That way, Doomba would
never have known that such a threat to his security existed, and
thus would have done nothing to prepare for it, until the day came
that the tiger would surprise him. But then again, perhaps Lord
Crow should not wish for that.

Perhaps he, Lord
Crow, should not have even read the book in the first place, when
it had ruined so many surprises for him and might have ruined his
life as well. Perhaps, if he had not read the book and passed the
message on to Doomba, he would not have gotten so wrapped up in the
business of oracles and prophecies, obsessed with finding out more
about the future and what it meant for him. That way, his family
would have stayed together, single and whole, not dispersed,
fragmented, or dead. And, of course, he would have known nothing
and done nothing and gained nothing in the process.

Maybe
he would not
have become such a powerful Follower of Doomba as he was now, if he
was not known as the Follower of Doomba who had discovered ‘The
Tiger Prophecy’ and had passed it along to Doomba so many years
ago. Such loyalty and dedication counted for something, even
amongst Doomba and his Followers, right? Perhaps he might have
remained a reject then, a lowly minion unworthy of notice from
Doomba himself, if he had not so boldy stepped forward with ‘The
Tiger Prophecy’ in his possession, as he did; then he had been able
to negotiate his way into the high echelon of the Followers of
Doomba, who took notice of him now and his association with Doomba.
If he had not been so bold to read the book and pass it on, then he
would not be in the position that he was in now, to take control of
Doomba’s throne if Doomba was deposed.

Of
course, that did depend on whether or not ‘The Tiger Prophecy’
proved true
, if the tiger
would depose Doomba. Lord Crow wanted Doomba’s power more than
anything else in the world, and yet…the words of Wintha the
Wanderer would have to prove true, then. Doomba would have to be
deposed, Lord Crow would gain Doomba’s power, and then Lord Crow
would truly be in danger, for Wintha the Wanderer’s words, the
power, immortality, meaning and exigency of them, would prove true,
and then the next prophecy after The Tiger Prophecy might very well
prove to be about him. There was no escape for him then. He would
prove to be the next Doomba if the current course of the prophecy
held.

Coming
Soon:

Power Over Death

The Legends of
Arria
, Volume 3

“
It goes without saying,”
Oaka snapped back at her, staring, “that we cannot always accept
things at face value. We have to keep looking, digging deeper and
further into the other person or thing, trying to understand who
they are, what they want, and what will stop the screaming?” Oaka
asked, turning around.

The others looked up as they heard several
different people screaming, not far off from them on the other side
of the door into the training room, and then they heard running
footsteps, scattering in different directions, with one tread
heading straight towards them. The group braced themselves--Basha,
Monika, and Oaka reaching for their Swords as Gnat ducked down
behind them--just as the door was ripped off of its hinges and
thrown aside by an invisible hand, back towards one of the corridor
walls. Gnat shrieked in fright as she covered up her head even
more, but the others remained stalwart in appearance, though they
trembled inside.