The Destiny of Amalah (75 page)

‘Humans – or more accurately – humanity.’

‘What will that do?’

‘Well I can’t tell you everything,’ Adriel said smiling.

‘Then tell us about Rakan and Rufus,’ said Garrick.

‘Oh yes Rakan and Rufus, what power they have and you – you made my job so much easier. You forbade them from using their magic unsupervised; you set rules for them and they resented you for it, for they were grown men and free spirits and I showed them just how free they could be and of course I massaged their not so insignificant egos.’

‘I knew someone or something had done this to them,’ Ellora said.

‘Yes, you are right princess,’ Adriel said with more sarcasm; But it is too late, there is nothing you can do to stop this. The seeds of evil have been sown and when blood was spilt it was reaped and now there is no return.’

‘But why?’ Amara asked.

‘The demon god Salwar, he walked among us in your father’s time, well he walked among us long before your fathers’ time – but he left. Anyway, in your fathers’ time; some of us he tricked into joining him and others he simply asked to join him. His fight is with the gods and the arena is our world. The allure of dark power and the feeling of absolute power: it is seductive. Salwar offers it and Rakan was only too happy to take it, for he was truly seduced.’

‘How?’

‘I introduced him to dark magic, taught him to use his magic for whatever he desired.’

‘How did you know he would turn?’ Garrick asked.

‘I did not – but not only did I see great power in him, I also saw he had a great mind and strength but above all of that, I saw much passion in him and when a person has so much passion, often it is out of control and easily manipulated,’ Adriel said bluntly. ‘But mostly, I knew turning him would rip the heart out of you all and in turn, rip the heart out of Amalah.’

‘Why are Rakan and the others doing what they are doing?’

‘It was not the original plan that Salwar wanted. Salwar wanted to have Rakan on the council and turn the world into darkness from there, slowly but surely. But Rakan grew tired of waiting and being denied his place and so he created his own plan – which is very interesting by the way,’ Adriel said, nodding his head and smiling. ‘He is half way around the world now and when he arrives in Amalah, the world will be his and it will be in darkness just as Salwar wanted.’

‘What does Salwar want and why is he doing this?’ Kalon asked.

‘Salwar walked among you and when he did, he fell in love with a woman but she died. He was beside himself and inconsolable. He could not bear to live another moment and so he vowed to turn back time to save her but the other gods had already ruled that they would no longer interfere in human affairs, so it was forbidden to change time. Salwar did not care for their rules and so he went to the temple of the gods and there, in one of the monoliths lies an answer to time written by the god Zarab. Salwar used the rock of Zarab to turn back time and save the woman that he loved.

‘Did it work?’ Garrick asked.

‘Yes it did but the gods were – and still are – outside time and they knew what Salwar had done; they therefore decreed that it should have to be reversed and so they reset time and Salwar, himself outside time, had to watch his woman die again. Salwar was filled with grief and rage and in his rage, he went to the heavens to attack the gods – but there were more of them than he and inevitably, he was defeated; after which, they cast him out of the heavens. He created his own world, it lies beneath yours and there, he had much time to think and after much thinking, he came to your world once again – not to live among you – but to ruin you.’

‘But why – I still don’t see it?’ said Häkan.

‘If Salwar makes the world a place of darkness and despair and humans embrace evil or are destroyed, he believes that the gods will have no choice but to reset time,’ Adriel replied.

‘But it still may not work. They may reset time but not bring back his woman,’ said Ellora.

‘It does not matter, if they reset time they would have broken their cardinal rule of non-intervention in human affairs and if they break it – then he can too.’

‘Why don’t the gods stop Salwar?’ Häkan asked.

‘They have to find him first, he walks on earth but cannot be found and he walks on his own world – a world of which other gods will not enter.’

‘We all lose loved ones,’ said Amara. ‘We live, we love, we suffer and die and we watch as those we love die too. If Salwar lived among us he must have known that, he must have known people would die and that he would suffer loss, so why did he resort to the action that he did?’

‘Salwar is not human, he is a god and they feel more than you could ever imagine. Their pain is beyond anything a human could ever know. If the whole world was in pain it still would not compare to that of his pain.’

‘What if the gods refuse to interfere?’ Kalon asked.

‘Then this world and all of the humans in it are doomed,’ Adriel said simply.

Everyone in the room remained silent. What they had just heard was beyond anything that they ever could have imagined, and so they simply stared at Adriel; the man who had told them of what was and what a god wanted them to be.

‘Take him away,’ Häkan said to the guard.

The guard obliged and led Adriel from the room and took him to the dungeon below the palace. Garrick sat and stared into space with a pained look on his face.

‘Do not think that Garrick,’ Dale said to him firmly. ‘He is your son and you love him and you raised him well. Adriel likes to twist every word he speaks.’

‘I can’t think of anything else Dale,’ Garrick said sadly.

‘We cannot let Rakan and the others get any further,’ said Kalon.

‘Is the army ready?’ Amara asked.

‘Not yet,’ said Häkan. ‘We are not even at three thousand strong yet and many of them are not ready to fight.’

‘They will have to be,’ said Amara. ‘We go to Basimine the day after tomorrow.

‘Empress we are not at full strength.’

‘We never will be,’ she said grimly. ‘Every nation they go to, they raise a bigger army and every nation we let fall, it brings us one step closer to our downfall. Garrick and Häkan gather the troops and prepare them.’

The council adjourned and there was high tension in the room, for they were at war and when they left the room they had to go and prepare for it.

Garrick, Häkan and Kalon went and gathered the guard and organised them into troops. They organised supplies, weapons and logistics and Callan Knight helped them throughout.

Amara and Michael organised everything else; people came to report to them and they made sure everything was co-ordinated. Thaddeus worked with those sorcerers who had volunteered and he liased with Michael and Amara as well as Garrick, Häkan and Kalon. Ellora went about organising the palace, food, clothing, shelter and the care of the sick and the children.

By early evening, nearly three thousand troops stood at the front of the palace and stretched all the way back to the palace exit. The troops were joined by sorcerers’ who wore robes of red and blue and they waited under the night sky for their leaders to appear and a few moments later they arrived.

Amara, Garrick, Michael, Häkan, Thaddeus, Kalon, Ellora, Callan Knight and Zach appeared on the balcony and Garrick addressed them. Thaddeus and the sorcerers had worked their magic and so the image of Garrick as he stepped forward was magnified and placed high in the sky of Amalah City.

‘Guard, Attention!’ he shouted, and as he gave the order, the guards stood to attention en-masse and simultaneously. ‘I give you Empress Amara.’

Amara stepped forward and her image appeared in the sky above the people.

‘People of all the nations’ darkness and chaos are falling upon our world. The people of Santeb, Aradene, Mantor and now Filine already know this, but now – now we have the chance to defeat that darkness and bring the light back – before it is too late for all of the nations. Men and women, we must march to Basimine and make our stand there. We must fight the army that has brought us death and destruction and if not stopped, will bring more, of this I am sure.’ Amara grew more confident and in her belief and in what she was saying and as her confidence grew, her voice rose.

‘People of the nine nations, the day after tomorrow we leave for Basimine and there; we will make our stand. Not all of us will make it through and some of you will fall, but know this: you will live on. We will once again rebuild the nations and return to peace and prosperity and our future, and the future of our children will once again be assured and you will live on in our hearts and minds and in all of the nations. Our destiny is to survive and to live in light and love but to do that, we must first walk through the darkness and that is what we will do the day after tomorrow. No one will be alone, we will all walk and we will walk – not as a person of a nation –but as a human being of this great world; a human being fulfilling our destiny and survival.’

Amara stayed silent and so did the people of the City and then there was thunderous applause and shouts and stamping. Those on the balcony stood still as the noise deafened them and when it did not abate after a few minutes Amara stepped back and Garrick stepped forward.

‘Guard,’ he shouted and they immediately fell silent. ‘Dismissed,’ he shouted again and they turned to the right and fell out of their formation.

The nine people on the balcony waited as the soldiers and people began to disperse and they then turned and went into the balcony room.

‘We are set to leave the day after tomorrow but we need some to go tomorrow and evacuate the people of Basimine,’ Garrick said. ‘We already have some guard posted there but they are simply observing.’

‘I will go father,’ Kalon said.

‘You would be the best person to go Kalon but I am not sure.’

‘Father I am the best person, in that you are right. I will lead some of the guard. Once there, we will evacuate the people and observe, not engage with Rakan’s army.’

‘If you are sure Kalon?’ Garrick said, looking at his youngest child.

‘I am father.’

‘I will be on the outskirts of Basimine to help the people to Amalah,’ Ellora said.

Garrick, Michael and Häkan looked at Amara and Amara nodded her head.

‘Very well,’ said Garrick.

The nine of them worked until late at night and then retired to bed. Kalon and Ellora went to bed early so that they could spend more time alone. They talked and laughed and played and lay next to each other and as they looked into each other’s eyes, Kalon smiled a beautiful smile at his princess and she smiled back. He rested his hand on her stomach and his hand almost covered it and he gently stroked it up and down and round and round as he continued to look into her eyes and smile.

‘I want to be touching you always,’ he said looking at her.

‘And I want you to be always touching me.’

He continued to stroke her stomach and then he ran his hands over her legs and back up again until he was resting his hands in her curves. She ran her fingers through his hair and then stroked his face and kissed him gently on the lips.

‘Ellora, I am the happiest man in the world and you make me that way. I don’t want to spend my life without you.’

‘You won’t,’ she said urgently.

‘I want to marry you. When I return, will you marry me?’

‘Oh Kalon, yes, yes I will,’ she said, smiling and laughing and kissing him. ‘Yes, Yes, Yes,’

‘Then you make me even happier than I ever thought I could be,’ he said smiling and pulling her closer to him.

He held her tight in his big strong arms and she held onto him. They kissed once again, deeply passionately and lovingly and they began to make love, but this time was different; it was slow and long and magical and as they explored each other’s bodies once again; they grew more intimate and more bonded to each other. They made love throughout the night and when they were both spent, they held hands with each other and kissed slowly and then fell asleep feeling ecstatic.

When they awoke at dawn, they made love again, and washed and ate breakfast together. Kalon was wearing the uniform of the guard, dressed in black and dark blue, and carrying his sword and dagger. When they had finished, Kalon went in search of the guard that were to accompany him to Basimine; there were one hundred in all and they were all under Kalon’s command.

Kalon met them in the courtyard where they were all waiting and they stood to attention when he arrived and he stood them at ease immediately. He gave them their orders and plans for the day and told them to wait while he returned to the palace.

He found his father and Häkan and went through the last details and said farewell to them and then he then went in search of Ellora and said farewell to her. The young couple embraced and kissed and he smiled and then winked at her before he left. When he came to the courtyard, the guard had all mounted their horses and were waiting for him; he mounted his horse and looked back to see Ellora and Amara up on the balcony. He waived to them and then made off with the guard. Ellora watched until there were out of sight and then she left the balcony.

A few hours later Ellora was setting off on her horse towards Basimine and Garrick, Michael and Amara were waving her off. She rode steady and followed Kalon’s tracks and when she arrived in the east of Basimine, she dismounted her horse and set to work.