The Destiny of Amalah (111 page)

‘You know nothing of honour Rakan, you simply return for the show and spectacle in some pathetic attempt to gain adoration.’

‘Oh father, that really hurt,’ Rakan said in a mocking tome.

‘What is it that you want Rakan?’ Amara asked impatiently.

‘What can I have?’ he said irreverently.

‘To follow your men or die where you stand,’ she said sharply.

‘Well, then, dear Empress I will follow my men,’ Rakan said.

He held her gaze and smiled and then looked at the portal that was now fully opened and was at least the length and height of the palace. The portal showed a dark world that looked hostile and uninhabitable and Rakan raised his eyebrows.

‘You weren’t expecting paradise were you?’ Amara asked in a mocking tone.

‘Well life is what you make it,’ Rakan replied, slightly irked by her comments.

He did not know why, but she was the only woman on earth who ever really managed to irk him so, but now he did not care, for he knew he would have the last laugh and he would have it very shortly. Rakan turned away from Garrick, Amara and Michael and faced his army.

‘Men and women, we fought the good fight and we fought with everything we had. No one could have done better. Know this; this defeat is not the end and the new world will not be ours forever,’ he said passionately and forcefully. ‘We will return and when we do, we will not face defeat – but victory.’ The crowd of army rumbled and made noise but they were still dejected. ‘I stand before you a free man; I will not go into the prison unless I want to. I want to – we are the dark army and we stand together as one and as such, my fate is your fate and my destiny is your destiny.’

With those words, the army burst into thunderous applause, they cheered and stamped their feet and as the army cheered, Rakan walked forward to where his brethren and army were and when he reached the edge of the prison, he stopped still and paused for a few seconds before he took an ostentatious step forwards and entered the prison that had been holding his brethren and army. The army’s cheers grew deafening and Rakan smiled as they continued to make noise.

The first prison began to move forward and the free people of Amalah looked on as the army went to meet their fate. When the first magical prison entered the portal and was completely through, the second one began to follow.

As the bubble moved forward Rakan, Rufus. Luxor, Bryce and Ellora were now at the back of the prison and they were to be the last people that Amara and the others would see before they disappeared forever. When the prison began to enter the portal, the four men turned around to face Amara, Michael, Garrick and the rest of the onlookers. Rakan’s hood was already down and he nodded to his friends, on his right stood Luxor and he removed his hood to reveal his face and he simply nodded and smiled.

At the opposite end of Luxor was Bryce and he then removed his hood and nodded and smiled which left Ellora in the middle, and then Rufus removed his hood and smiled. The four men smiled and nodded and then Rakan pulled down Ellora’s hood to reveal a bound and gagged Ellora, much to everyone’s horror,

Amara’s jaw dropped and she screamed a piercing scream, while Garrick flew into a rage as he realised what Rakan had done and Michael shouted at those in the bubble who had taken the princess captive. The three of them ran after the moving prison but they were a good distance away from it. Amara screamed after her sister, as she Garrick and Michael ran after her; she tried all the magic she could but the prison was impenetrable and no magic could open a hole for Ellora to escape.

‘Open the prison,’ Michael commanded the council.

‘They cannot,’ said Dale.

Michael glared at Dale; ‘open the prison Dale,’ he bellowed but Dale stood firm and the council would not open the prison and so he turned and continued to run after Ellora.

The three of them ran after the prison and tried everything they could to free Ellora, including a volley of energy balls from Amara but to no avail – she was trapped in the impenetrable prison that they had created and as they ran after it, trying everything in vain – the prison moved further away from them an further into the portal while Rakan and Rufus smiled and waived at the three of them – it was to be their final taunt and they enjoyed it to the last.

The moving prison finally fully entered the portal and disappeared from sight, taking Ellora with it and Amara ran even faster, trying to reach the portal; just as she thought she was going to reach the portal in time, it snapped shut and the glimpse of the other world and Ellora disappeared before their very eyes forever.

As the portal closed shut, Amara crumpled to the ground, in grief and despair and she sobbed and punched the ground repeatedly. She sobbed and punched uncontrollably and within seconds Michael was at her side.

‘No!’ she screamed. ‘No Michael, no,’ she screamed. ‘Please no, please, I beg you, please,’ she said crying for her lost sister. ‘Michael,’ she wailed. ‘Michael, we have to get her back,’ Amara screamed between sobs.

Michael was at a loss as what to do, he knew the portal could not and would not be opened again and he knew Ellora was lost to them forever and so he did only what he could do – and that was to hold on tight to Amara and comfort her.

Amara held on to Michael and cried until she could cry no more, and when she had stopped flailing around and her sobs turned into a whimper, Michael picked her up and turned to face in the direction of the palace; Garrick let out a cry and placed his hands on his head in sheer grief and frustration. The Guard commander looked at his friend and tried to speak, but no more words could come.

‘I know my friend,’ Michael said forlornly. ‘We all feel it.’

As everyone dispersed from the temple and the city, the two men made their way back to the palace with Amara in Michael’s arms. She was still whimpering and in shock when they arrived. When they entered the palace doors, Michael hurriedly took Amara to her room and placed her on the bed. The two men remained with her for a while but then Michael gave Garrick his blessing to leave.

‘Are you sure?’

‘I am positive,’ Michael said dejectedly. ‘There is nothing more you can do today Garrick.’

‘Then I will leave you.’

Garrick went over to Amara to tell her of his departure but Amara was in too much shock to realise Garrick was there. Garrick left the Empress alone and bid Michael goodnight, before he left the two of them alone. Michael went to Amara’s side and held on to her and she clung onto him for dear life. After an hour or so, Amara fell into a troubled sleep but awoke a few hours later to find Michael still watching over her, and as she stared at him the day’s events came flooding back to her and fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

‘Ellora – she’s gone hasn’t she?’

‘I am afraid so,’ Michael said gently.

‘Forever!’ Amara said.

‘Yes,’ Michael said holding her tightly. ‘And I am so sorry my love, I am truly sorry.’

‘I can’t believe she’s truly gone,’ Amara said as she wept.

‘Nor I,’ Michael said sadly.

‘She truly has gone,’ she said, as the sobs came once again.

Chapter 33

The day after such events is always the worst. At the time of things happening you’re in shock, hysterical and everything is so surreal, but the next day – when sleep has passed over you and you awake with a clear mind; it comes flooding back with crystal clarity. The next day there is no shock, or numbness, or confusion to protect you from the horrors of your grief and loss; there is only a stark and grim reality. That is how it was for Garrick and that is how it was for Amara. The Empress lay in her bed and let the tears fall freely as she mourned for her sister; she was inconsolable and Michael, who had remained by her side, despaired as he witnessed his lovers’ pain.

Amara grieved and cried and Michael held and comforted her, and the two of them stayed that way for days, until Michael was able to coax Amara into stepping out of her bed and back into the world again. At first she would not listen but he persisted and after a while, she took his hand and gout out of bed. When she left her room, he stayed by her side and every step she took, he took with her. She had taken her first step back to living her life and even though she still grieved for her sister, she was still part of the world.

Garrick on the other hand was finding it much more difficult to come back to everyone. He was a broken man and he walked aimlessly among his garden. He only came to work when he had to and when he was not there; he spent his time in his garden, in between Sarah and Kalon; where he would stare into space for hours on end. Sometimes he would weep bitter tears and wish to join his son and his wife, or he would weep for the promises that he felt he had failed to keep; and sometimes, he would just stare at everything and nothing.

Eventually Garrick stopped going to work and to the palace, for it was too painful for him and so he retreated to the confines of his home and his garden and stared his days away. Thaddeus would visit him regularly and Michael came to see him everyday and talked with him and tried to get him to come back to them but Garrick was lost in his own world and it was a world where he would constantly torment himself. Amara also visited Garrick and she too, tried to bring Garrick back to them but Garrick could not be moved.

‘Garrick, my friend, please come back to us,’ Michael begged, as he sat besides Garrick in the garden.

‘Why? What is there to come back to?’ Garrick asked as he looked at Michael, who saw his friend’s pain.

‘Garrick…’ Michael began.

‘To my sons? No – one is dead, by the hands of the other, who is banished to another dimension. To my wife? No – she is long since gone and in some small way, I am glad she never saw the fate that befell her beloved children and how I failed them.’

‘You did not fail them,’ Michael said forcefully.

‘Yes I did Michael,’ Garrick said with equal force. ‘Look at Rakan and how he turned out to be,’ Garrick said with new found anguish.

‘Rakan’s deeds were not your doing.’

‘He was my son and I raised him,’ Garrick said with anguish.

‘Not to become what he became.’

‘And Kalon – I sent him to die in Basimine.’

‘No!’

‘Yes,’ Garrick said, letting out an anguished cry that he had been holding onto for so long. He brought himself under control once again and then he looked at Michael. ‘I failed Kalon twice. The first time was when I sent him to Basimine to die and the second time, was when I failed to protect Ellora – and now she has gone,’ he said emotively.

‘You were not to know,’ said Michael. ‘None of us were.’

‘Yes, I was to know,’ Garrick shot back. ‘I should have known. Rakan was not captured, I should have known that he would have gone after the Empress or the princess, I was commander of the guard – I should have known.’

‘You cannot blame yourself for Rakan’s actions.’

‘Perhaps not but they were still my failures,’ he said with defeat. ‘I failed Kalon and I failed Kai because he entrusted me to look after his daughters and I failed.’

‘You mean we failed,’ Michael said sharply. ‘He entrusted the five of us, remember: you, me, Raynor, Häkan and Thaddeus. If you failed Garrick then we all did, but I do not think that we did. I think war came upon us once again and we did what we had to do. We fought and some of us died: Kalon, Raynor and Häkan – but we did not fail. We did everything we could, only this time our losses were more and our grief deeper.’

‘Michael, I know you mean well…’

‘No,’ he said forcefully. ‘You know I do not speak for the sake of speaking, nor do I tell people what I think they want to hear. You have known me a lifetime my friend and you know I do not speak falsehoods, or false flattery. You did not fail Garrick – you did not fail.’

‘It feels like it.’

‘I know, but you did not.’

‘Even if I did not Michael, I still cannot find it in my heart or find a reason.’

‘For what?’

‘To go on.’

‘For me, for Amara and for the future,’ Michael said, with conviction.

Garrick smiled a thin sad smile and looked at his friend and then spoke: ‘Thank you for coming Michael, but now I feel I need to be alone,’ Garrick said, as he rose to his feet. Michael rose to his feet also and took hold of his friends arm and looked him in the eye.

‘I will return tomorrow,’ Michael said firmly. ‘You will not be lost to us Garrick,’ Michael said solemnly as he turned and left.

Garrick watched his friend go and returned to his house. He made himself some food and when he sat down to eat it, he ate a few mouthfuls and then toyed with it for a while, until he pushed it to the side of him. Garrick sat in his house, thinking and remembering the good times that he had had with his family now gone. He thought back to the years with Sarah and when they were a young couple and so much in love and then he thought of his two sons and how they had filled his house and his heart with joy, love and laughter and when he came to the end of his thoughts and back to where he was now; he was brought to tears of frustration and heartache. He longed to step into those memories and become part of them but they were so fleeting and intangible and they only tormented him more. When Garrick could stand it no more, he retired to his bed and fell into a fitful sleep.