Once We Were Kings (Young Adult Fantasy) (The Sojourner Saga) (28 page)

"Who would do this?"

"We thought it was you."

"Why would I want to—?"

"It may have been the Torians, or Xieh-Suh's people.  What's even more puzzling than who, or why, is how."

Greifer directed Branson to sit with Ahndien, then came to join the discussion.  "They have both lost their fathers.  We do well to afford them time to mourn."

Lao-Ying nodded and regarded the bodies strewn about the courtyard.  "I have never prepared myself for this."

"Nor have I."

"It was simply not within the realms of possibility."

Intrigued as Render was by it all, one question refused to stay put in his mind.  He turned to Greifer.  "Why have we come here, in the first place?"

"It hath been so ordained, long ago."

Lao-Ying was now gazing around the courtyard, his lips moving silently, his finger pointing from one body to the next.  Suddenly, he stopped, recounted, then turned back.  "But one is missing.  Besides The Lord Agon and Ahndien's father, there should have been five Elders."

Branson ran over to the body of the fallen Sojourner.  "Father!"

"Wait!" Ahndien ran after him, but not in time to stop him from turning lifting the black cape that bore the Red Gryphon insignia off of its face.

"But...this is not my father!"

Greifer and Lao-Ying gathered around and marveled.  "Are you certain," the old man asked.

"Without a doubt." He laughed nervously.  "This Sir Nolin, his right hand...My father is still alive then!"

"This is puzzling," Greifer said. "We are without direction and must seek out the shrine of Valhandra.  Or truly, all shall be lost."

The old man straightened up.  His eyes opened wider than before and his woolen eyebrows crumpled together.  "With respect.  I must disagree.  It is now clear that we must find the fifth elder.  He alone holds the answers we seek, he will know who is responsible for this massacre."

"Now, more than ever, we should seek Valhandra's counsel."

"You wish to seek him?"  Lao-Ying set his jaw firm and narrowed his eyes.  "Where was Valhandra when our villages were attacked, women and innocent children slaughtered?  Where was Valhandra when his faithful council of Sojourner Eelders breathed their last?  Seek him?  I think not!"

Render stepped between them both.  The etchings in the pair of swords flashed in his mind.  UNITED—One instrument of peace.  "We mustn't fight amongst ourselves or we'll be doing our enemy's work for them—whoever they might be."

"Lao-Ying?"  Ahndien, the cold-hearted warrior, now looking more like a frightened girl, approached, wiping her eye and sniffling.

"Come, child."  He stretched forth his hand.  "We must find the missing elder."

"But we came here to seek the council, to seek the wisdom of Valhandra's prophets."

"They sought him as well.  And now?  They're all dead!"  Lao-Ying threw his arms up.  The sleeves of his white robe flowed open and he began to transform.  Sleeves and arms into vast wings.  Sandals and feet into formidable Talons.  "Come, Ahndien.  I've seen enough."

But she did not.  Nor did she answer.

"Please, Ahndien.  We have been mistaken.  For half a millennium, we have misplaced our faith!"

Render tried to grasp at one of his wings.  "No, Lao-Ying, wait!"  But Lao-Ying, now fully in his eagle form, screeched and snapped at his neck with his curved razor beak.

The eagle tilted its head, gazing straight into Ahndien's eyes.  She shook her head, her lips quivering and silently mouthed, "No."

Letting out a mournful cry, the eagle leapt and flew into the sky.  The clothing of the dead Sojourners ruffled in the breeze as wind kicked up leaves and sand, obscuring the air with a cloud of dust.

Render marveled that Ahndien had remained.  She kept watching as the great bird's form grew smaller and smaller into the clouds.  There was a sadness in her eyes, but at the same time an immovable determination. 

Once again, in the recesses of his mind, swords flashed, the smooth deadly sound of blades striking.  And then the image of the symbols etched into the blades, which he now recognized and understood:

Two weapons of war—UNITED—one instrument of peace.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

It struck Render as unexpected how everything changed in so short a time.  Within the hour, he and Greifer had defended themselves from supposed enemies only to find that they were not.  And now with Lao-Ying's flight and the revelation of Branson's Sojourner heritage, the one thing needed to complete Render's absolute confusion now happened before his very eyes.

Ahndien knelt over her fallen father, weeping and trying in vain to stir him. Greifer went and stood over her.  The shadow she cast over him and onto the blood stained ground did not match her human form.  It was more like that of the great panther.  Had this been a month ago, it would have made Render stare in wonder.

When Ahndien took notice of her, she stood, turned and sank into her arms.  With a motherly caress to the young lady's head, she held her, her eyes condolent.  "There, child."

A few minutes passed, and Ahndien regained her composure.  Courage steeled her countenance and she went over to Branson, who sat on the large tree stump, staring up into the clouds.

"He'd been away so long."  Branson wiped his eyes and sniffed.  "King Corigan was always sending him to battle somewhere, and as soon as he returned, he'd send him out again."

"How did you know to come here?" Greifer asked him.

"He had been acting strangely since last year when my mother died—they say she was lost at sea.  From then, he became suspicious, not trusting anyone.  But he would always say to me, ‘To the hills, the tallest summit by Handara.’"  If anything were to happen, if he failed to signal me for longer than a fortnight, I should at all costs come here."

"So you knew there would be an attack on the castle!" Render said, remembering the last time he saw his brother alive.

"I knew nothing of the sort!  It was three days past the time I should have left."  He straightened himself up and wiped his face.  "And what happened here?  Where is my father?"

Until now Ahndien stood quietly, her eyes squeezed shut, her lips quivering as she uttered silent words.  Until... "Render."

Surprised, he answered, "What is it?"

 "My father managed to escape the Torian raiders and find his lost sword, the one you now hold.  How do you suppose he overcame them?"

Fire?  Lightning? These were abilities that Render had only begun to manifest, though he had no explanation for them.  "I don't know."

The crying was over now.  Her tear-softened countenance toughened once again and she stood.  "Father often spoke to me of the Sojourner's spirit potential.  All my life, I thought he was entertaining me with fairy tales, children's stories and legends.  But after all I've experienced, all I've witnessed, especially today, I know it is real."

At this Render became animated.  "How long have you been able to...?"

"Just recently.  Lao-Ying had been training me."

"Quite well, I'll daresay."  He glanced down to the hole burned into his shirt.  "How you managed to survive the lightning I conjured is beyond—"

"And what about you?  I struck you with my worst." Ahndien ran her hand through his hair.  "Not even one singed."

At this point, Greifer stopped her pacing and said, "I must retreat to a quiet place and...and think."

"Wait."  Ahndien stepped forward.  "There's so much I want to ask you.  So much I need to—"

"Perhaps later, young one."  And with that, she became a black panther once again and stepped outside, her tail whipping back and forth.

Branson groaned.  "Oh, I do hate when she does that."

In response, Ahndien touched Render's arm gently and said, "I think I should talk with him, he's distraught and frightened."

"If you only knew him the way I do."

"After Lao-Ying left like that, I am not certain I know anyone anymore."

"Go ahead.  I'll see if I can find Greifer and bring her back so we can decide what to do next."

"What do you think we should do?"

Render glanced over to the dead Elders in the courtyard.  "Let's give them a proper burial."

The sun blazed high over the treetops and burned away the fog in the valley below.  Many a song bird twittered and Jicaba beetles sang, all as if nothing remarkable had happened here.  No battle to the death with unearthly powers, no massacre of Sojourner Elders, no loss of fathers.

And the fact that both Ahndien and Branson’s fathers had been Sojourner Elders, one Torian and the other Tianese, should have struck Render as odd, or at the very least, coincidental.

It did not.

Instead, it made him think about his own father, whom he had never known.  Yes, Kaine had always said that Father had been killed that same night in which mother...

// RENDER //

But who was this?  The voice that entered his thoughts, his very soul, was not Greifer's.  She was nowhere in sight, anyway.  Nor was this the voice of his doppelganger.  No, it seemed much more powerful, fearsome, and at the same time, it drew him.

He didn't even think to answer.  He just allowed his feet to take him to where it seemed the voice emanated.  Pebbles crunched beneath his feet, a hot breeze, like that which rushes from a freshly opened oven flew into his face.

Render continued to walk towards the edge of the chasm, towards the face of Mount Handara.

// RENDER //

With each step, he heard a smaller voice in the back of his thoughts.  What if it were the voice of his enemy, the doppelganger, or some other form of evil intent, luring him to the edge of the precipice, only to have him fall and be dashed to pieces?

Doubts notwithstanding, he could not resist the call.  He didn't want to.  As he neared the end of the ledge, a white rush of steam—a cloud perhaps—rushed up from the valley below, right before his face.

But he didn't flinch.

Now the voice called again, but this time it was heard echoing throughout the valley, across the manifold summits of the mountain range, causing even the ground to shake with its magnitude.

"RENDER."

With a loud whoosh came a column of fire that burst through cloud.  And before him was what could only feebly be described as a brilliance, like that of a star, pulsing with...with life, energy, supreme wisdom.  It was as if the sun itself had descended and now confronted him.  But that too would be but a child's description of what he could never quite put into words for the rest of his natural life.

Filled with awe, and dread, and excitement, Render stepped forward, not realizing until he nearly slipped that he had been standing on the edge of a cliff.  He took in a sharp breath and watched broken pieces of the ground fall eternally.  He never heard them hit the bottom. 

The light before him swelled, as though taking a deep breath.  With profound rumblings, the mountains quaked, causing pieces of rock to crumble and fall all around him.

"COME FORTH, RENDER."

One step further and he would fall over the edge.  Instead, he leaned as far forward as he dared.  "Here I am."

"VERILY, I SAY UNTO THEE, RENDER, THOU MUST STEP BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THY IMAGINATION."

Surely, he did not mean...But if this were who Render knew he must be, then..."Forgive my ignorance, but...are you—?"

"I AM."

From the bottom of his feet to the very ends of the hairs upon his head, he felt a tingling charge rush through his entire body.  Even his bare hands began to glow, pure and white.  The light from the great white flame smoldering before him enveloped him.

"REMOVE THY SHOES AND CAST THE OUTER GARMENTS FROM THY SHOULDERS, FOR THE GROUND UPON WHICH THOU STANDETH IS HALLOWED."

Render obeyed.  And though any question in his mind as to whose presence he stood before faded, he still felt the compulsion to ask.  To speak His name.

"Then it's true.  You're—"

"I AM HE.  WHO FORMED THE WORLDS BEFORE ALL THINGS CAME TO BE.   YEA, BEFORE I LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THIS, AND ALL WORLDS, I AM.  BEFORE YOUR SUN GAVE THIS WORLD LIGHT, I AM.  BEFORE THE FIRMAMENTS LIT THE NIGHT, I AM."

Terror, excitement and recognition surged through him.  Render fell on his knees and buried his face into the ground.  Even His name has power.

"Valhandra."

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

All at once, at the uttering of His name, something within Render changed.  He could never quite say what exactly it was, but it seemed as if the white light, unadulterated and omnipotent entered him.  Only one word to describe it came to mind: TRUTH.

And so it was.

"ARISE AND FOLLOW ME, RENDER."

When he opened his eyes, Valhandra's light had moved further, deeper into the expanse above the valley.  Towards Handara's summit.  This was Valahandra, and yet, it could not be.  Not completely, in any case.  For he knew the glowing sphere of light in and of itself could never fully encompass the entirety of Valhandra's being.  It could only have been a manifestation, a supreme condescension.  As a story is to its author.