Aela (31 page)

Then Juno had an idea, ‘I must act quickly before it is too late. Guards summons my officers instantly, I have much to do before the new dawn.'

Slowly Rom opened his eyes and gingerly looked around the room, which was lit up by a single lamp, as he lay awkwardly on the bed. Much to his relief he realised he was alone and there didn't appear to be any guards near him. He attempted to raise his head but immediately felt dizzy and very weak in the body. He realised he must somehow raise himself from the bed, so he summoned all his strength and managed to heave himself up a little from his prone position. But then he lost his balance and his body fell onto the floor. He felt a sharp pain shooting through his injured arm as he was lying face down on the ground. Rom had difficulty catching his breath, but after a while he managed to summon up his reserves of energy and dragged himself into a sitting position with his good arm hanging onto one of the legs of the bed.

Encouraged by this he placed his body weight onto this arm and with further manoeuvring he staggered to his feet. Much to his surprise he felt energy surging through his body once again. Not wanting to waste any time Rom straightened his body and began to moved slowly forward with staggering steps.

He shuffled towards the door and cautiously looked out into the corridor, as far as he could see he was alone and there was nobody in sight. So he moved out still further, all the time warily peering around to see whether there was anybody near him. Further encouraged he continued to move tentatively down the passageway.

He grabbed a flaring torch from one of the sockets on the wall to help him light his way but also realised he could use it as a weapon if needed. As there was still no one in sight, he continued to move on until he came to a heavily iron studded door. He lifted the latch with his good hand, opened the door on its creaking hinges, then peered around outside. Rom couldn't believe his luck as he continued to stare into the deep black night, with a hint of dark gnarled trees in the near distance.

Without thinking he staggered outside and he found he was soon swallowed up into the inky depths of the forest. He didn't slow down his pace for sometime, until weary with exhaustion he sank to the ground, breathing heavily with quick, erratic bursts from his chest. He realised he could not go on like this, so he rested his back against a huge tree trunk and forced himself to calm his breathing and hence slow down his heart rate.

Feeling rested, he closed his eyes and fell into a state of deep meditation, where he opened his third eye and his soul proceeded on the pathway towards the white light. He immediately felt his inner being flowing along a vortex, wrapped in encompassing love of timeless eternity.

He knew that he was completely protected and cared for and understood. He bathed in this everlasting feeling of nurturing joy and rapture. Rom lost all sense of where he was or how long he was in this sublime state of peace. Then he heard a rasping voice calling his name.

‘Rom, Rom, come back to this world. You must hear me instantly now!'

Rom felt extremely reluctant to respond, wanting to stay in the chrysalis of pure love forever. He felt his body being suddenly shaken and a shudder of fear engulfed his whole being. Gradually he opened his eyes to find himself staring into a roughened and heavily wrinkled human face, with small beady light brown eyes looking down on him.

‘Thank goodness you have come back. It is not time for your spirit to leave us. You have much to do before you are summonsed to crossover,' droned on the voice.

‘Who are you?' exclaimed Rom rapidly leaning forwards.

‘Now take it easy. You are wounded and must reserve your energy as much as possible.' replied the kneeling figure who was holding a brightly lit flame of a lantern thrust into Rom's upturned face.

‘My name is Ette. I am the wise woman of the forest. Don't you remember me?'

Rom's thoughts were in confusion. Who was this creature who was staring at him and what did she want of me? Then suddenly he remembered, ‘Of course, you are the woman who shared your meal with himself and Aela a couple of days ago when they all met on the sandy bank which surrounded the sacred lake. Also you took myself and Aela to hide in the cave of the eternal flame.'

Ette could see recognition flick across Rom's eyes, and she sat back on her haunches with a sound of a sigh passing between her lips. ‘Thank goodness you have come back to this life again. I will dress your injured shoulder with my special herbs and lotions and give you an elixir that will bring back your strength to your body again.'

Without waiting for a reply, Ette began to unravel the bandages from his shoulder and with rapid speed applied the necessary ointments to the wound and re-bandaged the shoulder again.

‘Now drink this liquid. No arguments from you!' ordered Ette.

Rom did not have the strength to resist and meekly downed the liquid. He was very surprised at how wonderful the drink tasted as it passed down his throat. Almost immediately he felt a surge of energy passing through his body and found himself sitting up looking around with alert interest.

‘Good. You are much better already, my handsome one!' exclaimed Ette.

‘I am not your handsome one,' Rom petulantly replied.

‘We do not have time to exchange the niceties of life. Suffice to say that Aela is in danger. She is a prisoner of Juno and you must rescue her immediately before she is killed by either Juno or Tua.'

Rom was immediately on the alert. ‘Aela where is she? How can I rescue her from Juno and Tua?'

‘That my friend, you have to work out. But I will take you along a secret pathway in the forest which will lead you to where Juno is encamped in the woods with his army, awaiting the rise of the sun at dawn, to once again lock his forces in battle with Brude's men in their final struggle for victory over each other. Here is a sword, dagger and a shield I have brought you to protect yourself, thus providing you with the means to rescue Aela.'

Ette pulled the sword out of a large woven bag. Rom immediately grabbed the sword out of her hand and swung it into the air, in order to test the strength and weight of the instrument.

‘I see from your face you are very happy with the sword I have brought you. Here is the belt and scabbard that you will also need. Come follow me now.'

With surprising agility Ette turned on her heels, lifted the lantern above her head and strode towards the black trees, giving every impression to Rom that she knew where she was going. Rom quickly followed Ette, and at the same time he buckled his belt and sheathed his sword. He thrust the dagger into his boot and picked up the shield with his left hand.

‘Wait for me!' Rom cried out, as he saw Ette disappearing before his eyes as she was being swallowed up by the forest.

Juno was absolutely spewing with rage with the thought that he could be tricked by his old enemy Brude, in sending a scout with false information of his plans to attack his sacred self and his army. To think that he would swallow the idea that Brude would sneak up in the darkest time of night with his forces. It would be absolute mayhem and many men would be killed or wounded in the confined spaces amongst the heavily wooded trees. Also it would be pitch black and no one would know who was fighting who in the circumstances.

Reassured by these thoughts, Juno took himself to bed and was soon asleep. He was no sooner dreaming when he was awakened by a series of men yelling, the sound of steel hitting metal, blood curdling cries of pain and then more human cries, as well as horses neighing in terror.

A guard rushed into Juno's sleeping quarters, yelling, ‘My lord, Juno, we are being attacked by Brude and his army. Come quickly or all will be lost.'

Juno instantly leapt to his feet, reached for his armour and weapons and catapulted himself, pell-mell out of the tent. He was immediately thrust into the core of the fighting, with men lunging at each other in the darkness. Swords were flourished, all over the place, wherever there was space in the air, no matter how miniscule.

There was much grunting, cursing and swearing, then a piteous cry of agony sounded, when the point of the sword penetrated the soft flesh of a body. There came the sound of a thud, as a soldier crashed to the ground, either wounded or his torso convulsing in the twisted death throws of dying.

This nightmare of bloody mayhem continued unabated, until the first rays of the morning sunlight. Now that the protagonists could see each other more clearly, they could drive their swords more accurately through each other. There was renewed energetic activity in the killing prowess of the warriors, but there was still no decisive victory for either side.

The collective energy of everyone was beginning to ebb and then there was a spontaneous pause in the fighting, as men from both sides began to melt away into the dark recesses of the forest. They were now not only thinking of their body aches and injuries but also of their loved ones and families at home. Thoughts of rich plunder started to fade from their memory and instead there was a gnawing feeling of thirst, hunger and an overwhelming hopeless weariness, that took hold of their bodies and minds.

These men felt that they must go home now or perish for ever in these dank, inhospitable forest. On both sides the warriors were beginning to feel completely and utterly defeated.

Very soon the only two people left were Brude and Juno warily facing each other. Both men were totally exhausted, but were not wanting to admit it to the other. They stood there like two engraved statues, two old soldiers left on the battlefield, with the stench of death lingering in the air. Neither protagonist was wanting to surrender to the other one and admit defeat.

Brude cleared his throat. ‘Are you going to admit defeat now or will I thrust my sword through you and cut your heart out.'

‘I will not, you senile imbecile!' Juno spat out through his blackened teeth. ‘You cranky old gibbering bag of old bones.'

The two men took a step towards each other, and dragged their swords along the ground. Neither had the will or the strength to lift their weapons, let alone lunge their swords into the enemy. There was a long pause, with a lot of heaving and irregular breathing was heard issuing from the mouths of the two men. Then Juno's body crashed to the ground and he lay awkwardly, but still relentlessly holding onto his trusty sword as if it was his only lifeline.

Almost immediately Brude also found himself straddled on the ground, panting away with short breaths through his gaping mouth. Both men were completely absorbed in their own world of thoughts as they angrily stared at each other. Neither could understand or grasp the reality of their total defeat on the battlefield. That was too threatening to their over inflated egos, each thinking that their vast superiority both intellectually and physical prowess was better than every other mortal. They were above everyone else, pure and divine, equal to their gods to whom they professed to worship. Somehow everything had gone wrong and for a fleeting moment they both dared to admit to themselves that perhaps their plans strategically had flaws in it.

Then both men turned their heads and glared at each other with hatred in their eyes and total contempt for other.

‘You are the lowest scum on this earth and I wish you could disappear for ever.' growled Brude.

‘Not possible. I am here to stay until I am the victor and have had the satisfaction of plunging my sword through your heart, you old windbag!' exclaimed Juno.

Then there was silence again between the two men.

After a short break Brude broke the deadly silence, ‘Just for now we should call a truce. Go back to what is left of our armies and when the time is right we could lock arms again and see who is truly victorious.'

There was a pause for a while. ‘I think you are right, even though I hate to admit it,' replied Juno.

Then an absolute unheard of event occurred when both men helped each other to gingerly get to their feet. Without glancing at each other again they shuffled off in opposite directions making their way towards their own base camp.

Aela continued to run blindly through the trees in sheer panic, sometimes tripping over a stray root, or hitting her head on a wayward branch of a tree hanging too low near the ground. Finally she reached a natural clearing and sank to the ground completely exhausted, she was totally confused and terrified.

She called out in agony, ‘Rom! Rom! Where are you? I need you desperately!'

Then somewhere within her head she heard Rom's voice, ‘Aela, I am coming to rescue you, now. Don't move! Stay where you are and I will be soon be by your side, my true love.' With these words resonating in her ears she instantly felt calm within herself.

There was a silence as the birds and animals stopped moving in the bushes, trees and sky. Just for a moment the earth itself could be heard breathing beneath her feet, as the first shafts of sunlight penetrated through the sprawling branches and leaves of the closely crowded trees, surrounding her. Aela sat down on the ground again and gathered her long skirt around her legs. She was now completely confident in her belief that Rom would find her very soon and she would be safe once more in his strong arms.

Time passed as the sun climbed higher in the sky and there was still no sign of Rom striding through the trees. Aela began to feel restless and thoughts of being rescued by her hero started to dim. She realised that she must do something herself to find her way to wherever Rom was located. But she was at a loss to know how to go about it.

Panicky thoughts began to gather in her mind and her breathing started to develop in short bursts quickly emerging from her chest. Then she remembered what her mother told her to do, if she was ever lost in the forest. First she was to work out from the sun which direction she should aim to go, towards home. By placing a stick in the ground in a cleared space and observe where the shadow fell, she could then determine where the sun would set and from this she could work out which direction would take her to safely to the Temple of the Moon.