Mafik swung his blade to cut the rope Castar was hanging from. Castar fell to the sand, groaning in pain as he landed on his bruised back. His hand closed around Castar's neck and he pulled him off the ground and led him out of the bush. Mafik led him to an open lot, somewhere. The land bore no grasses. The rocks were pale and the land looked like it was suffering from drought.Castar wondered why he was freed from the ropes. His hands were still tied behind his back, but at least he was no longer hanging upside down from a tree. From a distance, he could make out the figure of a man standing in the middle of open land. The hem of his cloak rested on the jagged rocks beneath the soles of his feet, his face obscured by the hood that protruded from his cloak. He held a sword in both hands.The sun had risen, and the blade reflected its light, casting it in Castar's eyes as he came at him. Mafik forced Castar to his knees the moment they both reached the cloaked figure. Castar looked up
Zyra still sat where she sat. The same could be said of them all.She coughed into her bent elbow again, and Callagh moved closer to her and squatted in front of her."Allow me," he said, extending two fingers toward Zyra's throat. Zyra was not sure what he was up to, and she did not know him well enough to trust him. She glanced at Era and she nodded to her, showing that it was okay for him to touch her neck.Zyra nodded to Callagh and stretched her neck. He placed two fingers on her throat and say a few spells. His eyes glowed blue and Zyra shivered."You have magic too," Zyra coughed."Why do you sound so much like the Kranians? The language you speak sounds so much like the dialect spoken by the tribe of kranía" she added, and Garissa nodded."Yes. In fact, I speak the Kraì dialect as well. The Kranians are the only tribe across the border, and though I am only a guard-an anchor between the two sides-I can speak both Kraí and Earthín."I understand!" said Zyra.Moments after Calla
A sharp knock on the door drew Halbay's attention to the wooden door."Draia! Look who's at the door, my child!" he called out to Draia, who was already on her way out of the kitchen, as her father was still busy removing a poison from his patient's arm. One other patient waited in line for Halbay's treatment.Luck had visited him in the last few days. Earlier that day, his house was filled to the backyard with people waiting and begging for his attention. It was everything he had always wanted, but it still shocked him how much and how quickly things could change. He remembered the time he had chased someone up Alderis's mountain to convince him to stop by instead of walking up the mountain just to meet Castar.Castar was the best healer in the tribe. Most people came in search of him, not knowing that he was special because he used magic. Halbay envied him for the rate at which he was known for doing a great job. He felt it to be odd, seeing people rush into his house for treatment,
RITORÁ-LORTÉ-BORDERThey moved side by side on their horses through the grasslands. Like puppets being controlled. They were aware of their every move, knowing that their movements were being monitored by Baraka. Era's mouth was full. She had so many things to say, but she did not want whoever was wearing the mirror to overhear her. Callagh noticed how uncomfortable she was and broke the silence."He's just watching. He can not hear us," he said, and Era was surprised that he knew what was going through her mind."Why are we traveling if we are just going to show him where Castar is? Will not that mean the end of our journey?" she said."Gitak loe jata! We have no common course. This is my fight. I only had you follow me so you could lead me to Castar's mother," he said, and Era frowned."Why are you letting me follow you now? If I remember correctly, you can track Castar now with your magic. Why did not you stop me?" She said."Because you are the one to find Castar. He's watching me
Malak.Malak!The voice again, that one voice. It was always the same. It crept up on him and let the darkness invade his subconscious."There is a new message.""Listen to me."Darkness filled his eyes. He could not move an inch, he could not see light, he could see nothing but darkness in its entirety.It was like another realm, a realm where the senses must go into exile. The only sense that remained was that of hearing, that of perceiving words, and that of understanding.How he understood this remains a mystery. He heard it speak and translated it in Earthín.It was spoken in the same foreign dialects he had not been taught. This time, he could think. He was thinking of something when the horrified voice spoke to him."I wish you could hear my thoughts," he thought in a quiet voice in his head. It was not new to him what he was experiencing. It was not the first, nor the second time he had been visited by the unknown messenger, who always seemed to bring him messages that had no
"We almost lost hope. We thought you would stay that way until you join your fathers," she said, and Castar's mouth dropped open."What were you doing there all by yourself, and how did you get those bruises on your back?" she asked. She was asking too many questions at once. She had more. Castar was there, but his mind was not with her, his thoughts were elsewhere. He still wondered. It was not like he'd been hit on the head or anything. He wondered if the magic he had used had sent him into a six-day slumber."I do not know," he said."I was out in the field. I can not remember everything that happened, but I know I was suffering from dehydration..." He said and the old lady interrupted him without letting him finish."Just do not mention that you were dehydrated. The field where we found you is near to the river. To get to the field, your part must have crossed the river," she said. She had no intention of doubting his words, but she was only in disbelief.Castar's head dropped, an
Her ears listened as she watched from her perch in the tree, like a predator marking its prey. She pulled off her hood to get a better view.The gathering of 5 men - all of whom looked like bounty hunters - was so unfamiliar to her. They did not know she was above them, under the fig tree they were camped under for the night. She blended so well with the darkness that reigned in the treetop that even the fire that was lit amid the men to ward off the wild animals and keep them warm could not reveal her.Two fingers of her right hand caught on an arrow of the quiver of arrows that hung over her back, and she also clung to the bow that was still crossed.Her gaze circled over the weapons of the others. Some had clubs, others had hammers, and one had a sword. And then there was that thick shackle hanging from an even thicker chain that lay in the middle of them. She wondered what they were up to.She watched until her attention was drawn to two other male figures coming at them from the
There he was, having traveled to the land of infinite mystery. Someone like him, with eyes that were not ordinary, knew why it was called the Land of Infinite Mystery. Where was that land located? In the eyes of men, it is an open garden, shrouded in beautiful flowers and narrow-leaved grasses that would reach to the heel. A land as colorful as rainbows, changing from beauty to beauty as time went on. That was all they could see.He looked at the little children running and playing in the sunlight and thought to himself, “If they could only see...”The children and their parents watched him as he walked into the middle of the extensive garden and took off his hood. They looked at him as if he came from another world, but that was indeed the case, but they did not know that.The moment he pulled his spear from behind his cloak, the children ran to their parents. They all wondered what kind of man he was and why he held the golden spear with such ferocity. Some took their children in th