Zachania (36 page)

“It shall be
done.”

“Yes now tell
me of your secret army.”

“They are in
place all over Zanlia but the Zanlian’s are very secretive and
distrustful of strangers but day by day we are making
progress.”

“People hiding
something usually are.” Grarlin answered.

Krustov was now
starting to relax as he felt his life was no longer in danger so he
began to ask questions himself.

“Your highness
I know of the build-up of the royal guard on the Zachanian border,
are we going to attack Zachania?”

Grarlin looked
at the General slightly angered at his intrigue.

“That is not
important to you or your mission, you have your orders and station,
do not disappoint me again as there are plenty of Generals who
would like your position.”

Grarlin’s
demands did not take long to start taking effect as hundreds of
Zanlian’s began disappearing as the town was blanketed in smoke
from hundreds of burning boats, even the yards, were boats were
built, were torched to the ground.

Nearly a week
had passed since Grarlin’s conversation with Krustov and the day
before last saw the town’s first public execution. Four men were
stripped and hung in the library square witnessed by over a
thousand Zanlian citizens who had been forced to watch the barbaric
spectacle.

On the eastern
region of Zanlia, there was a deserted beach where a gathering of
men, five men who were the heart of the Zanlian resistance were
meeting to discuss the drastic persecution that was happening in
Zanlia. The most powerful of the men was Falkan from the western
region of Zanlia, he was the eldest son of four, and his family had
strong ties and allegiance spanning back hundreds of years to their
Zachanian cousins. Then there was Dudron and Arrof who started out
as thieves and smugglers and over the years had grown to hate the
Empire because they had murdered dozens of their fellow crooks.
There was also Osto a mountain of a man who was also a smuggler
coming from generations of family smugglers who detested the Empire
for he witnessed with his own eyes the murder of his father and
brother when they were caught on a smuggling run. And lastly there
was Kasoon who had become rich holding illegal gambling taverns in
back rooms of the ghettos of Zanlia. His hate for the Empire comes
from being betrayed by two royal guards, Kasoon specialised in
running ‘jonek’ games, a card game outlawed, but many of his
customers used to be members of the royal guard, but on one evening
two guards lost all their wage and after drinking all night they
killed Kasoon’s two brothers who were running the game, that night
was ten years ago and Kasoon’s resentment had never weakened.

“Falkan I am
afraid for my farmers, yesterday forty-five of them were taken away
for questioning and only thirty returned, I tell you if this
continues it will only be a matter of time before they arrest me.”
said Kasoon looking anxious as he walked in circles.

“Kasoon please
sit down and try to relax, I too have suffered but we must remain
calm” answered Falkan looking strong and relaxed as he always did
no matter what was happening. Amongst the thieves and criminals
Falkan was called ‘the General’ and it was well known in the
underworld that if anyone had a problem then Falkan was the man to
see. Family feuds then Falkan would make the peace or if a man was
being hunted by the Empire then Falkan would be the one who would
give him a few Krasos and smuggle him out of town.

“I have just
returned from Vilsillius and there is no unrest there, it seems
that the Empire only want to harass us.” replied Osto.

“The Empire
have always been harder on Zanlia, you know this.” added
Falkan.

“Yes Falkan
they have but never has it been like it is now.” replied Osto.

“I say enough
of this! I have taken too much, we should slit the throats of a few
captains and let it be known that we will fight back.” snapped
Arrof obviously angry.

Falkan looked
across at Arrof and thought to himself that he can’t be hearing
such madness

“Arrof an
action like that would only result in more killings, if we killed
one soldier then they would kill fifty Zanlian’s, if we kill two
soldiers then they would kill a hundred, think man, think with your
head and not with your heart.”

Arrof still
standing scowled at Falkan, but not too much as he knew of Falkan’s
power.

“Falkan I hear
you but I would rather die fighting than live as a coward.”

Falkan suddenly
snapped at Arrof looking at him very coldly.

“I forbid you
or your family from taking any such action, is that clear
Arrof.”

Arrof scowled
again, then he looked Falkan deep in the eyes, both men held the
stare until Osto reached out grabbed Arrof’s arm and ushered him to
relax and sit down.

Falkan reached
out and took Arrofs hand.

“Arrof you are
my friend and brother, and I fully understand your concerns but if
we start killing soldiers then matters will become much worse, we
must endure and see this through.”

“You want us to
just act normal when they are killing our friends Falkan” added
Kasoon.

“What I want
Kasoon, is for Zanlia to be free but if you want to live then you
will wait, killing soldiers will bring us nothing but our
doom.”

So it was
decided that the men would try to act as normal and hope the
Empires persecution would quieten down but for how long these
fighting men would wait, no one was certain.

Talon sat on a
small ledge shielding himself from the bitter winds that swept the
peaks of the mountains of Zachania, the wind was stinging his face
and after nearly a week of searching he was feeling dejected and
weakened. Talon had searched in every nook and cranny but so far he
had found nothing to encourage him he was close to finding Apollo’s
cave.

Talon pulled
himself into a gap between the rocks and decided to see the storm
out and as he sat he noticed that he was feeling negative so
remembering his Pangkor teachings he tried to rid his mind of these
thoughts, after a short while Talon began to meditate, cleansing
his mind, after an hour or so he was deep into meditation. Talon
then tried to imagine he was an eagle flying high above the
mountains searching every detail of every mountain, soon he could
feel himself flying, in his mind the dream felt so real, even the
wind blowing on his face and the calmness of flying high in the
sky, then the bird was blown by a sudden gust of wind and was
forced to land on a small ledge, when the bird landed he saw that
the ledge was the entrance to Apollo’s cave.

Talon suddenly
snapped out of his trance.

“Apollo!” he
whispered opening his eyes.

“Could it be
you? You said your spirit could not enter Zachania” added Talon
still whispering.

Then with a new
found zest and confidence Talon rose and left the ledge heading for
the valley below, he found his horse and set forth trying to
remember the landscape he had saw in his trance. He rode for miles
as his mind wandered from the dream and his thoughts of Apollo.
Talon also thought about when he was young playing in his father’s
gladiator school in Tallasian, it seemed like a thousand years ago
as so much had changed in his life.

“Would you be
proud of me father, I wish you was by my side.” he thought to
himself

Before thinking
of his mother, and family.

“Mother, dear
mother you never hurt anyone, I miss you with every breath I take
and my brothers Tols and Kramos my dear brothers, I swear I will
avenge you”

After a few
more hours riding Talon turned into a landscape that looked
familiar, he knew he had never been here before so it must be from
his dream. He dismounted his horse and walked over to a
mountain.

“This is it, I
can feel you Apollo.” he said silently.

Talon started
to make his way up the side of the mountain on a path that had
obviously been made; he reached half way up before taking a short
rest to gather his breath and thoughts. Turning he looked at the
sight of the valleys below and sighed at the beauty of the
panorama, then turning back to the mountain he began studying it
looking for any clues which would lead him to the cave. He noticed
some strange formations in the rocks nearby so without pause he
made his way across the boulders towards it. As he pulled himself
over a large rock he suddenly felt his adrenalin rush as in the
distance he saw an opening, Talon smiled as he began to feel
excited at the chance that this was the cave, the opening became
larger as Talon approached, Talon soon reached the opening and
dropped to his knees, this is it he said triumphantly as he saw a
carving in the rock face above it, he looked up at the sign and it
was the same sign that was on his pendent, Talon had made it, he
had reached the cave of Apollo.

He reached up
and ran his fingers across the carving; he was feeling a mixture of
relief, happiness and wonder as he took his first step into the
cave.

The cave was
dark and damp with a musty smell where Talon began to take a path
that angled very steeply downwards, he had to steady himself with
his arms as he descended. The further he went the darker the tunnel
became with only a glimmer of light shining from the entrance.
Talon reached into his bag to find something to light his way but
as he shuffled his hand in his bag he suddenly lost his footing and
began to slip, he tried to correct himself but the darkness was
acting as his enemy as he could not see anything to grab onto, he
began to fall as the downward angle of the descent made him tumble
down head over heels. Talon yelled as his body crashed from side to
side until he finally stopped with a thud, he was lying face down
in a large puddle “ouch!” Talon said as he felt the cuts and grazes
on his arms and legs.

Talon felt for
his bag and was pleased that it was still on his back so after a
short while he lit a piece of cloth and wrapped around the end of
his sword. As the flame began to light the cave Talon’s first sight
was thousands of cobwebs. He walked forward and started wiping away
the cobwebs with the flame causing them to disintegrate as the fire
touched them. He made his way over a to a far wall where there was
an indentation carved into the rock, Talon ran his fingers across
it and thought it was like a key hole, he thought for a moment as
he lowered the torch to get a better look and realised it was same
as the markings which were in the Pangkor temple in Zanlia where
Talon used his pendent to open it. Quickly Talon removed his
pendent from around his neck and pushed it into the holes, it was a
perfect fit, he twisted it till there was a large crack and with a
puff of dust the wall pushed back to reveal a large hole with steps
running down into the darkness.

Talon carefully
walked down the steps till it opened up into a small room, on the
wall were two fire staffs so Talon lit the torches with his burning
sword and as the torches lit up the room he saw it was full of
books, garments and weapons.

Talon slowly
proceeded looking at the artefacts scattered across the room then
he stopped and admired some shields and swords some of which were
so exquisitely made he sighed at the craftsmanship.

“These must be
Apollo’s own collection.” he thought as he pulled a shield from the
wall and noticed Apollo’s sign engraved upon it, then a large chest
caught his eye so he opened it and saw inside were items wrapped in
cloth, he picked one of them up and opened it to reveal the skull
of an animal.

“The treasures
Ganasis spoke of.” Talon whispered as he eagerly grabbed for
another, he then unwrapped the cloth to reveal a large glass jug
with a cork stuck in the end, Talon lifted it to the light and saw
that it contained soil, he then reached for the last cloth noting
how heavy it was as he picked it up, carefully he unwrapped the
cloth and sighed as he revealed the most beautiful of books.

“The spell
book!”

Talon’s eyes
widened as he lay his hands upon it, he felt a tingle sensation
like there was a power emanating from it, Talon walked across the
room and placed the book on a table and opened it where found a
loose piece of paper on the first page, holding it up he saw that
it was a map from the early days of Kratos.

On the map
there was seven markings with words written under the signs, Talon
noticed that the marking on the mountains of Zachania had soil
written under it, then there was hair written under a marking on
the Forest of Deceit, and a pearl written on the southwest shore,
water from the well of the gods in the Suchian desert, and lava
written in the province of Degrain

“The artefacts
Ganasis spoke of” Talon thought.

Talon flicked
through some of the other pages feeling his hands tingle as he
turned the pages, Talon then wrapped the book back up and packed it
in his bag along with the soil and the skull, he then gazed around
the room and felt an eerie feeling as he looked upon the other
artefacts scattered around the room.

“These are all
I shall take, the rest are yours Apollo.” he said out loud.

Talon had
succeeded in his task of retrieving the book but everything else
belonged to Apollo, they were his personal belongings and Talon
would respect that.

As Talon
returned to Zachra he noticed that everyone seemed busy, there was
a sound of hammers and chisel’s on every street and even the women
seemed to be busy making garments. Talon dismounted his horse and
walked along looking at everyone preparing for war and he suddenly
began to feel a feeling of guilt, then out of the corner of his eye
he saw a frail old man struggling to polish a sword but his
withered old arms had long lost their youthful strength and as he
dropped the sword for umpteenth time. Talon stopped and rushed to
pick up the sword for him, the old man reached out with his shaking
arms and strained with its weight as he rested it upon his
legs.