The Awakened: Book One (38 page)

He pushed gently on the door and it moved open, allowing him an inch of visibility to the courtyard and the wall beyond it.  There were no guards to see along his narrow path of sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there.  There was a change of guard every night at midnight, or so it seemed to his limited senses.  And that had occurred more than an hour ago.  Pushing harder on the door, he opened it far enough to peek his head out.  Just as he suspected, to his left a guard sat outside on a crude chair, slumped back against the building.  Saba smiled to himself. 
It’s nearly impossible for a guard to follow the same routine for years without losing vigilance.
  This man had probably become bored with his task long ago, and tonight was just another night to get some sleep while the old man inside the jail couldn’t possibly escape anyway. 
But this old man has a few tricks.

Saba
pushed the door open a bit wider and walked quietly out of the cell, slipping into the night.

* * * *

The hours dragged on into days as their ship cut a northeasterly path through the ocean.  When they sighted land, Coen spoke up.

“Are we traveling faster than before?”

“No,” Ukiru answered.  “It is only that you were asleep for several days at the beginning of this return trip, so it seems shorter.”

They kept the land on the starboard side of the boat and continued traveling north until there was only ocean again as far as the eye could see.  Kael didn’t feel much like talking and kept to himself most of the time.  Ukiru allowed them to skip the usual morning routine of meditation and instruction, explaining that they would need some time to think about what the All Powerful had shown each one of them.  They would resume their studies after they returned to the monastery.

Kael had been doing nothing but thinking for days now and he would have liked to do something else to take his mind off of it.  All of the old feelings of mistrust were coming back to him, only stronger this time.  His meeting with the All Powerful was not what he had expected it to be.  They were always taught that he was a loving and merciful god who was heartbroken when the world turned away from him.  But the intense hatred and wretchedness that Kael felt from being in his presence made him think that they had all been lied to.  Anyway, he was tired of thinking and just wanted to sleep.  When the sun went down, Kael went below deck and lay on his bed.  It was quiet with everyone else above deck, talking about the whole experience.  Kael shut his eyes and let the gentle rock of the ocean soothe him to sleep.

Sometime during the night, he began hearing voices.  When he lifted his head, he realized that most of the others were gone.  Berit and Horace were still sleeping.  The thump of footsteps moved up above, heading for the stairs.  Shortly after, Coen peeked his head down.

“You guys better wake up.”

“What’s going on?” Kael asked.

“We’ve reached the island and some of the monks are loading our stuff into the wagons.  Ukiru said we could take a few of the horses and ride back to the monastery.  If we’re quick, we could be back in our own beds before the sun comes up.”

“Where are the others?” Berit asked.

“Soren and Narian are waiting for us; the rest already left.”

The remainder of the night was a blur for Kael.  He felt half-asleep most of the time.  Immediately after leaving the small desolate harbor of their island, the horses began to climb.  It was slow going at first, but after climbing for the first few hundred feet, the path leveled out and the horses began to pick up speed.  The sky was still dark when they got back and Kael went straight to his room and collapsed on his bed.

The next day was unusual compared to their normal routine.  They didn’t have to get up at a certain time, nor were they required to do any of the activities to which they had become accustomed.  Kael woke up just before noon and wandered down to the kitchen where one of the monks was starting to prepare the evening meal.  He gave Kael something to eat and shooed him out of the kitchen.  For a few hours, Kael wandered around the monastery, letting the silence clear his head.  He didn’t know where the others were, but he also didn’t care.  He eventually found Berit in the library where he usually spent his free time, but neither one of them was in the mood for conversation, so Kael moved on.  Finally, Kael arrived at the top of the cliffs overlooking the ocean and took a seat on his favorite rock.

The past eight years of his life had been quite strange, he realized.  How many children grow up in a bustling port city like
Bastul
, living the life of a privileged few, only to have that life ripped away in an uncontrollable string of events that leaves you to grow up in a monastery?

He stood up suddenly, trying to shake off the questions.  He wanted to do something instead of thinking, so he walked around looking for rocks to throw over the edge and finally found an area where a boulder was falling apart under the relentless forces of nature, slowly eroding into a pile of rubble.  Kael picked up a handful of stones and tossed them, one by one, over the edge.  He watched the smaller ones zigzag through the air as the wind moved them.  The larger ones fell without any perceptible movement other than straight down.  The surface of the ocean was too far down for Kael to see them hit, but it was something to keep his mind occupied.

The hours of daylight diminished and the sun began to slip behind the mountains.  Kael made it back to the monastery just in time for the evening meal.  Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and even Kael was happier after a good meal.

“Before we retire for the night, I just want to say a few things.”  Ukiru stood up to address the group.  “I am proud of you all.  We made a difficult and long journey, but it was for a great purpose.  The All Powerful has met each of you in a different way and has seen your future.  In a short time, I am expecting to hear a message from the High Priest.  The message will contain a commission for each one of you.  For the next two years, you will continue to train in a more specific manner related directly to your commissioning.  Until we receive this message, our days here will look much different.  There is cleaning and reorganizing to do and I’m sure it would be a welcome break from all of the recent traveling.  So, get your rest tonight.  Tomorrow things will begin to change around here in preparation for the coming months.  I assure you that the next two years will go quickly and before you know it, you will be back in the world of men once more.”

Everyone clapped their hands together and cheered at Ukiru’s words; everyone except Kael.  The feelings of contentment and gratefulness which used to reside in his heart had vanished, replaced by a sense of uneasiness and doubt.  As the others went off to their rooms in high spirits, Kael had to pretend in order to not draw attention to himself.  Ukiru had been acting strange toward him ever since their time at the temple and Kael was doing his best to appear as normal as everyone else.  When he lay down to go to sleep, his mind was racing.  He tossed and turned in his bed for hours until he couldn’t take it anymore.

I know what I have to do!

Quietly, so as not to disturb anyone, Kael began to lay out a few articles of clothing on his bed.  He got dressed and wrapped the rest in one of the sheets from his bed.  Easing open his door, he peered down the hallway until he was certain that all was clear.  As he tiptoed out into the hallway, every sound seemed amplified in the silence.  Even the sound of his own breath threatened to wake up the whole monastery.  He continued moving cautiously until he found himself outside, heading through the outer wall and along the path that would eventually lead down to the harbor.  He wasn’t sure how he was going to get off of the island, or what he would do once he did.  But it didn’t matter; he just knew he had to go.  The moon was nearly full, illuminating the fields and casting shadows beside trees.  Within several minutes the monastery began to disappear into the darkness behind him and Kael was feeling better with each step.

Suddenly, a shadow flitted behind a tree at the corner of his vision and Kael stopped in his tracks.  His heart was beating in his ears, making it difficult for him to listen for further signs of movement.  He waited for a few seconds, but there were no other noises.

“Who’s there?” he called out, more sure with every passing second that it wasn’t just an animal.

“Where are you going?” came a voice out of the woods.

Kael immediately recognized Ukiru’s voice.  Now he was scared.  He looked around, but wasn’t sure where Ukiru was, and had forgotten exactly where the voice had come from.  “I can’t stay here,” he shouted, the panic rising in his voice.

“And I can’t let you leave.”  A figure, silhouetted by the moonlight, walked from the trees and onto the road, fifty feet away.  Ukiru was silent, standing sideways as he watched Kael with the careful but relaxed look of someone in complete control.

Kael’s heart was beating powerfully in his throat.  But he choked down his fear.  “It’s all a lie.  This whole…place.  You.  Your so-called god.  Everything!”

“You choose to see it that way,” Ukiru responded calmly.

Kael didn’t know what else to say.  He knew the truth, but Ukiru was deceived along with everyone else.  Once Kael experienced the true presence of the All Powerful, felt the hatred and filth of being near him, his fragile faith began to unravel.  He was lost now, unsure of anything but the powerful need to leave.  Any trace of gratefulness at being rescued from the prison, cared for, and trained, was swept away by an overwhelming sense of betrayal.  And then a thought occurred to him, a thought that would have seemed ridiculous until this very moment.

“You didn’t rescue us from that prison, you miserable liar!  You put us there.  You locked us up like animals to see who would survive!”  Kael was yelling now, his volume in sharp contrast to the silence of the night.

Ukiru turned to face Kael.  “Pack animals develop their own hierarchy, especially under threat of extinction.  Humans are no different.  I had to have a winning team, to see who was capable of survival.”

“You bastard!” Kael shouted between gritted teeth.  “How could you do such a thing?  We were just children.”

The figure before him, who now seemed more like a complete stranger than a friend, crouched slightly into an attack posture.

Kael had seen this many times before, but it was never directed at him.  He dropped his bundle of clothes on the ground because he knew that it would only be a hindrance.  “If I had a sword, I’d cut you down right here!”

In response, the ring of sharpened steel rang clear as Ukiru pulled his sword from its scabbard, a shaft of reflected moonlight moving down the length of the blade.  “The All Powerful was displeased with what he saw in you.  It was obvious to him that you were never one of us.  I told you time after time that you must let go of your past, but you just wouldn’t listen.”

For a moment, the two stood still.

Then Ukiru burst into motion.

Kael spun on his heels and ran as fast as his feet could carry him.  He lengthened his stride and breathed steadily as he had always been instructed to do.  A quick look back told him that he was keeping just out of Ukiru’s reach, even if he was closer than expected.  The monastery came back into view and Kael circled around to the right following the outside of the perimeter wall, not wanting to get trapped inside the grounds of the monastery.

He was gliding now across the meadow between the monastery and the ocean cliffs.  The ground started to rise before him and he sprinted up the hill as his legs burned and his lungs gasped for air.  Another panicked look behind showed that he had gained a few strides on Ukiru, but not nearly as much as he had hoped for.  The older man was still as fit as a man half his age and ten times more deadly when the chase was over.

Cresting the hill, Kael picked up speed and started down a slight decline.  He suddenly realized that he had been heading for his favorite spot and knew that now he was trapped between Ukiru and the cliffs.  He slowed to a stop.

Ukiru stopped just past the peak of the hill, knowing that he had already won.  “You’re trapped,” he stated, hardly out of breath.

Kael turned and stared into the eyes of his mentor, his mentor who had now become an enemy.  Slowly, a calm presence came over him, slowing his heartbeat and breathing.  It was a familiar sensation that made him feel safe, and consequently, he felt a confidence stir up inside him.  “You can’t have me!” Kael yelled, turning toward the cliff.