The Merchant and the Menace (20 page)

‘A bite of food and a friend for conversation would
be wonderful in these trying times,’ stated the old man.

‘I’m afraid we only have berries and some tubers to
eat,’ said Gretcha. ‘I intended to hunt today.’

‘Gretcha, my dear, we must offer our guest better
than tubers and berries. If you intended to hunt, please go. I will hear our
friend’s story and perhaps render some comfort.’

Gretcha smiled and nodded. She entered the cabin
and retrieved a short bow and small quiver filled with stone tipped arrows.
Awoi smiled at her approvingly.

‘Good hunting, my princess.’

Gretcha smiled and sprang down the path into the
wilds of the Northern Mountains. After she was gone for a long moment, Awoi
turned back to the old man.

‘It’s pure joy to spend time with someone so open
and honest about her emotions,’ reflected Awoi.

‘She appears to be a remarkable woman,’ said the
old man.

‘Honesty is a rare commodity these days. The world
moves in a direction I do not favor,’ stated Awoi.

‘The world is what it is and we must shape
ourselves around it, or it around ourselves,’ replied the old man.

Awoi smiled and sighed. He placed himself across
from the old man in the clearing.

‘My world would be joyous once more if I truly
believed you came here for council and assistance, my brother. But alas, I feel
in my heart it is not the case.’

‘Your heart leads you truly. I seek neither advice
nor council from you,’ growled Amird.

‘You anger because I see through your ruse,’
laughed Awoi. ‘The guise of an old beggar does not suit you. You manipulate
your appearance, but cannot change your true nature in the spirit world. I see
your churning maelstrom there.’

‘You are too proud, Awoi! You mock me and act above
temptation. But we are not so unlike you and I,’ barked Amird. ‘I see that you
too fall for the temptations of this world.’

Awoi stared at his brother with a puzzled
expression on his face. Amird’s anger turned to amusement.

‘You mean to say the beast has not told you?’
smirked Amird. ‘She is with child you fool. You who are so observant. You
missed that which is right in front of your nose. I saw it clearly as she
stepped from the cabin. Its lifeforce is strong, like that of no other human.
Half Seraph and half human. Perhaps when you are gone I will raise it as my own
and make it one of my generals. It is the least an uncle can do.’

‘You can raise nothing, for nothing grows under the
whip of your oppression,’ yelled Awoi. ‘You know nothing of beauty or love,
compassion or truth. Gretcha has lived on this world only a short time, yet she
knows more of these things than you in your millennia of existence.

‘Avra created us apart from men. It is true our
spirits are different from those of men, but the Creator put us on this world
in the bodies of men. Gretcha is no temptation because our bond is true. You
live in lies, subjugating all into forced existence with you. Step into the
light of truth and the world will show you what a beautiful place it is.’

‘I care not for beauty you fool. I crave power.
Beauty is a nuisance to production.’

‘The butterfly is beautiful yet helps produce the
sweet apple.’ said Awoi.

‘The hornet cares not for its looks and performs
the same task. Yet, the hornet rules through pain.’ came Amird’s reply.

Awoi lowered his head and sighed.

‘I grow tired, brother. I must rest. I’ll not allow
you to harm me. We were created with the same stroke of the painter’s brush.
Our powers are matched. To undo one is to undo both. Please leave me in peace.’

‘It is true we were created together and our powers
were matched. However, you live begging your existence off Avra and I surpass
him, deriving my power from an ancient, darker source.’

Amird pulled a scimitar from the folds of his
cloak. Flame leapt from it and the blade smoldered and sputtered. He cackled as
he moved toward his brother.

‘The last time I only crippled you. Now I will
finish you!’

Amird slowly circled Awoi, sensing his power. Awoi
raised his right hand and the green glowing light appeared around it. As Amird
lunged toward him, Awoi spun away. The light spread from his palm and formed a
wall between the men. Amird’s sword met the wall and sprang back.

‘I see you recovered a good deal of strength since
our last meeting. No matter. I not only recovered, but have grown.’

Amird’s eyes rolled into his head and he mumbled an
incantation. His body burst into flames and the flaming sword he carried
increased its intensity. Amird reached into the folds of his cloak and produced
a second fiery blade identical to the first. He crouched low then sprang toward
Awoi. The dual blades churned the air as the evil Seraph slashed again and
again at his brother’s shield. Awoi stood in his green shell, hand raised. He
softly whispered prayers to his Lord, begging for the redemption of his
brother. Sweat trickled down Awoi’s forehead and each slash weakened the
intensity of the glowing orb.

Gretcha was not too distant from the cabin when she
heard voices rise. She returned and heard all. The woman crept to a spot behind
a large woodpile. The revelation of her pregnancy angered her. Gretcha wished
to tell Awoi under the right circumstances, and the opportunity had not shown
itself. For him to find out in this manner was wrong. She watched the battle
progress, stunned by the power of these two beings.

Amird pressed on with his assault. His supply of
energy appeared limitless. As Awoi weakened, Amird sensed that weakness and
doubled his efforts. The green wall thinned into tatters. Amird attacked the
openings and each slash widened the gaps. Gretcha concluded two things. Awoi
became vulnerable and would accept defeat rather than harm his brother.

The massive woman stood and grasped the handle of
her ax, lodged deeply in a nearby tree stump. Amird eyed the green orb for a
place to penetrate. Gretcha confidently stepped up behind him. Awoi stood
covered in sweat, shoulders hunched, eyes closed, muttering prayers of
protection. As Gretcha raised the ax the father of her unborn child looked up
and their eyes met. He smiled softly to her.

‘Goodbye, my love. We are done on this world.’
whispered Awoi.

Amird howled in triumph. Both blades plunged
through rents in the shield and found their mark in Awoi’s stomach. The green
orb immediately dissipated and Awoi fell to his knees, arms and head thrown
back. Amird laughed, channeling more fire down the wicked blades as he twisted
them in his brother’s stomach.

‘Noooooo!’ screamed Gretcha.

Her broad-bladed ax crashed down on Amird.
Gretcha’s strength was that of five men and the ax penetrated the protective
flame. It lodged in Amird’s shoulder. The Deceiver cried out in pain.

Instantly, Awoi’s head and arms sprang forward. His
powerful hands locked onto his brother’s wrists. Awoi wrenched himself forward,
ramming the twin blades further through his own body. The brothers’ faces
nearly touched. Amird writhed in agony attempting to break free. Awoi stared deeply
into his brother’s eyes.

‘It is time to return to our Master. Repent, and
even now he will accept you to his bosom.’ whispered Awoi.

‘Never!’ slavered Amird.

Awoi closed his eyes but his iron grip held Amird
close. Awoi’s body convulsed. Amird fought to break free. A green wall of light
burst from Awoi and swept across Amird, scouring him of the scarlet flame and
pushing it high into the sky. The bodies of both guides fell to the ground
lifeless.

The flawless wall of green light pushed the
sparking, leaping clutter of crimson flame toward the heavens. The auras
hesitated in the sky, struggling with one another. The red fire abruptly fled
from the green wall and fell to the earth, dissipating over many leagues of
mountainous terrain. The green light stopped and swirled once below the clouds,
then formed an orb and shot upward, out of Gretcha’s sight and into the
heavens.

Gretcha fell to her knees and buried her face in
her hands. She sobbed for hours at the loss of her love. The brothers’ bodies
lay on the earth as they were created, side-by-side. The giant woman stood and
walked to the fallen pair. She bent low and grasped the handle of her ax,
wrenching it from the shoulder of Amird’s body. She hefted the fallen Seraph
onto her shoulders and carried him to the pile of readied timber. Somberly she
tossed his body amidst the dried logs and set the entire pile aflame.
Immediately the woodpile turned into an inferno, its dry timber hissing and
popping in the cool mountain air.

Gretcha returned to her fallen hero. Awoi’s body
lay in a deepening pool of blood. The earth around the clearing was stained
crimson. Gretcha gently lifted Awoi’s body and carried it to their cabin. She
stripped him naked and cleansed the blood from his body. She retrieved a white
linen cloth and carefully wrapped him. Next, she set out for the mountain’s
summit. It towered over the other mountains in the Northern Range. When she
neared the top, the Zodrian princess sought out a suitable cave.

The wind and snow whipped her face as she sealed
the cave’s mouth and departed the mountainside. She descended the mountain and
traveled west, eager never to stare upon its horrible slopes again. The slopes
that held the resting place of the only human who knew her for what she was, a
lovely creation of her honored God.”

“So Amird was destroyed that day, along with Awoi,”
stated Kael.

“His physical body was destroyed that day,”
returned Teeg, “but we are not solely made of skin and bone. Amird was a
creature of special ability. He was a favored servant of Avra. When we leave
the body we inhabit in this world, our spirit returns to the force from where
it came.”

“Where is that?” asked Kael.

“Why to Avra himself,” said Teeg. “All men are
creations of Avra. Avra takes them back to him when they pass over.”

“So Awoi and Amird returned to the spirit pool of
Avra?” asked Kael.

“Awoi returned, that is true, but Amird chose a
different path,” replied Teeg. “Amird’s soul was meant to go to Avra, but since
he rejected his Creator, his soul was banished from Avra’s presence. The evil
Seraph was without life and a physical presence on this world. His spirit
however, was able to survive. He has lost command of it but it does exist.

“Amird’s spirit is sustained by Chaos. The ever
present power that tries to breakdown and corrupt all good that we accomplish
on this world. Amird has become the essence of evil. His spirit moves through
the lifeforce pool as a chaotic wave. He is unable to maintain his spiritual
presence for long but he affects all he touches. Those who are strong in spirit
are unaffected when he passes. Temptations and notions of evil are brushed away
as soon as they arrive. Their strength resists the suggestions from Amird and
Chaos.

“The weak willed fall easily into the trap of
Amird. They are like the flame of a candle when Amird’s spirit blows by them.
Bending this way and that to his every whim, easily controlled. He sways them
with unfulfilled dreams, lusts and passions.

“Amird believes that since he is able to affect
others with the powers of Chaos, he will become all-powerful if he plunges the
world into Chaos. If you are turned to the ways of Amird, you will help bring
about more Chaos and evil. The more Chaos and evil in the world, the stronger
Amird’s foothold here becomes. One day he intends to use his army to challenge
the Creator himself, stripping away control of this world.”

“But ... but he’s dead,” said Kael.

“Again I ask you to put aside your notions of life
and death. Amird lost his physical self on this world, but his presence and
power are as great as ever. He influences minds and directs events through his
hold over thousands of servants. Those who worship him, do anything for him,”
stated Teeg.

 “What of Awoi? Why didn’t his spirit stay to
combat Amird?” questioned Kael.

“Awoi and Amird’s time on this world ended. Awoi
understood that and happily departed to join his Creator. Amird is the one who
refused to obey.”

“Well, what happened to Gretcha and her child?”
asked Kael.

“Gretcha traveled west. She remained in the
mountains and their foothills for fear of encountering people. Finally, she
came to the lands where the Northern Mountains met the Western range. It was
uninhabited, rough terrain. Ice cold winters full of stinging sleet, and
summers as hot as any on this world. Gretcha built a cabin in the cradle of
these mountain ranges. There she lived happily and gave birth to a child she
named Hrafnu. Old tongue for ‘memories’.”

“Hrafnu the giant?” said Kael.

“Hrafnu the founder of the Keltaran,” corrected
Teeg.

“But he was evil,” stated Kael. “He killed hundreds
of Zodrians in the first Keltar wars. He started the feud with our people a
thousand years ago. He was an outlaw.”

“He was a man, Kael, just like any other. He
dreamed dreams and held passions. All stories have two sides. A great ruler
learns to hear both of those sides in order to make an informed decision.“