Zachania (38 page)

Heikan and the
Prince’s initial excitement quickly subdued at what Ganasis was
saying.

“So the book is
useless!” snapped Heikan.

“Do we know
where the artefacts are Ganasis” added the Prince.

“Talon returned
with two of them and we have a map showing the locations of some of
them but there are still some artefacts unknown.”

Talon then got
to his feet.

“It is my
intention to find them all but all in good time.”

“When we know
more we will tell you” added Ganasis.

Pelkan sat
alone cursing the storm that was thrashing the cliffs of Zachania,
Perad his second in command was standing under shelter with twenty
other soldiers wondering if they would be sailing tonight or would
wait to see the storm out.

“Perad we can’t
sail in this.” one of the soldiers said.

“It’s not my
call.” answered Perad before walking out into the rain to join
Pelkan.

“General the
men want to know what we are doing.”

“The seas are
rough” he answered looking out across the moon lit ocean.

“It would be
foolhardy to sail now General.”

Pelkan grimaced
before replying.

“I know that
Perad but we must make haste.”

“Sir the
chances are that if we set sail we would just be swept against the
cliffs.”

Pelkan did not
answer as he crouched down and carried on studying the sea

“Tell the men
we leave now.” he answered.

“Yes sir”
answered Perad before returning to the soldiers and telling them
the bad news which made them feel fear at the task before them.

Within an hour
the group had swam to the hidden boat and began to set sail, the se
was extremely rough and the first big wave they met crashed against
the hull sending a huge gush of water over the top of the boat
soaking the men, Perad pleaded with Pelkan.

“General it is
no good, this boat will break!” he shouted anxiously trying to
raise his voice above the roaring sound of the sea and the storm.
Pelkan snarled at him in anger.

“Where is your
courage? Tell the men to man the oars and row, turn the boat into
the wind and cease your complaints, we are not turning back so if
you want to survive then concentrate on the journey!”

Perad saluted
his General and then shook his head in disbelief before returning
to the men and giving them the order, the boat was taking a
terrible pounding as wave after wave crashed against it.

After a couple
of hours they reached the first island where Perad pleaded with
Pelkan to take shelter but once again Pelkan denied them and told
them to continue

“Are you
insane?” Perad screamed at him.

“We have orders
Perad, we sail tonight!” Pelkan shouted back at him then picking up
an oar to help.

when dawn
arrived the men felt relief as they felt the wind ease, it has been
an exhausting night but still the storm was raging and Perad was
certain that they had drifted off course, he was an able seaman but
he was in strange waters and with thick cloud above he was
struggling to find his bearings.

“I think the
sun is over there.” he shouted to Pelkan.

“Are you
sure?”

“It’s my best
guess General.”

“Do the best
you can Perad.”

Perad took the
helm and steered the boat using all his seamanship and experience
and after a few hours he saw something on the horizon.

“General I see
something.”

“What is it, is
it land.”

“No it looks
like a ship.”

“A SHIP!”
Pelkan replied.

“Yes a ship”
answered Perad wincing and shielding his eyes from the sun which
had now come out from the clouds.

Then one of the
men shouted that they could see land, Pelkan and Perad rushed to
the port side of the boat and looked at where the soldier had
pointed.

“Man the oars!”
Pelkan shouted.

Quickly the men
began rowing towards the land, and then Perad noticed two more
boats coming into view which looked like they were heading towards
them.

“Who are they.”
Pelkan yelled.

“Damn! I think
their Imperial.” replied Perad.

“ROW! ROW! Row
like your life’s depended on it!” Pelkan shouted to his men.

“It’s the
Empire!” Perad said as he sat down next to Pelkan and picked up an
oar.

The men
frantically rowed but they were no match for the Imperial battle
cruiser which was gaining on them very fast.

“Perad, steer
us into its path, we will have to jump.”

“WHAT!”

“Crash the
boat, we will have to swim to land” Pelkan yelled before turning to
the men.

“Prepare to
jump!” he shouted before turning to see bowmen readying there
arrows on the Imperial ship. The men grabbed their swords and
shields and readied themselves to jump and whoosh a volley of
arrows flew down on top of them.

“TAKE COVER!”
Pelkan shouted only for five of his men not to move fast enough and
get run through with arrows.

“JUMP!” Pelkan
shouted jumping into the sea.

As the men swam
for their lives the battle ship rammed the boat they had been in
and smashed it to pieces, but thankfully the water was becoming
shallow so the battle ship had to stop. Pelkan and his men were
split into three groups as they swam to the shore, he could hear
the arrows flying over his head, Pelkan, Perad, and two others were
first to reach the shore. Quickly they rose to their feet and ran
towards the shelter of some sand dunes nearby, when they reached
the dunes they turned to see that there companions were still just
pulling themselves from the water.

“Pelkan look!”
Perad shouted as he saw Imperial soldiers running towards his
men.

“Damn it!”
snapped Pelkan.

“General there
are too many, we can’t help them.”

Pelkan’s heart
sank as before his eyes he saw his men beaten and taken prisoner by
at least a hundred Imperial soldiers, Perad looked at him and
sensed that he was going to try and help them.

“General!
General! It’s no good we must leave.”

Pelkan paused
as he looked painfully at Perad before taking one last look at his
men all now taken prisoner before he jumped up and with Perad and
his other two soldiers and ran into the interior of the sand
dunes.

The men ran for
a couple of hours until they collapsed in exhaustion.

“Do you think
were safe?” Perad gasped looking around.

“I think so.”
panted Pelkan.

“What do we do
now General?”

“We carry on
with our mission; we go to Zanlia and find Falkan.”

“What of the
men?” Perad asked Pelkan who was looking tired with a stressed look
on his face.

“I don’t know
Perad, they will be tortured.” he answered rising to his feet.

“Come we have
no time to waste.” he added before they pulled themselves up and
feeling tired and dejected they headed in the direction of
Zanlia.

Pelkan’s
captured men were tied and gagged and taken back to the Imperial
castle in Zanlia for further interrogation and punishment, they
were thrown in the castles notorious Grespen dungeons a place where
few people came out.

The men were
all thrown in the cell together still bound and blindfolded, after
a while one of the soldiers managed to free an arm and pull away
his blindfold and gag.

“No one must
say a thing, we are all Zanlian smugglers, do you understand.” he
whispered sternly.

The men all
nodded and groaned through their gags agreeing with them.

The man who
spoke thought to himself for a moment before speaking again.

“Soldiers! It
does not look good for us but our families and home lands safety is
depending on us, if I am to die today then I will not betray my two
brothers who are with the armies at the border, we must not let the
Empire know who we are, we must all take an oath of silence to
Apollo.”

The soldier
then closed his eyes and swore his oath.

“I swear that I
will meet death with my honour intact, I swear on my eternal soul
that I will remain silent.”

The rest of the
men in turn closed their eyes and repeated the vow silently in
their minds.

They sat in the
dark damp cell for a couple of hours until the door was slammed
open and three Imperial soldiers picked up the man nearest to the
door and pulled him out the room, the atmosphere was sinister as
the men sat blindfolded. As the door opened they heard a struggle
and then the door slammed again without a word being spoken. But
the men all knew and feared what was now happening to their
companion.

He was dragged
to another nearby room where he was shackled to the wall and then
the beating began, two soldiers repeatedly punched him in the body
and face his nose broke and blood poured from his face, he found
himself thinking that he was being beaten to death until the door
opened and an Imperial General entered.

The General
raised his hand for the soldiers to stop the punishment.

“I see you have
met my men.” the General said pulling down the man’s blindfold.

“What is your
name?” the General added turning away.

The Zachanian
through semi unconsciousness remembered his oath and remained
silent.

The General
turned to one of his soldiers who reminded the Zachanian he had
been asked a question by striking him again in the face.

“Your life
means absolutely nothing to me, if you fail to answer me again then
you will die, do you understand?”

The Zachanian
raised his head and tried to see the General through the blood
which was in his eyes, once he could see him he spat the blood in
his mouth towards the General who reacted angrily by striking the
Zachanian.”

“Kill him!” the
General then ordered as he wiped the blood from his face.

An Imperial
soldier then picked up a large stick which had a large metal ball
covered in spikes attached to the end of it then he gave the
Zachanian a sinister smile before crashing the ball down onto his
head and killing him instantly.

“Throw him to
his friends, when they see him it may loosen their tongues.”

The soldiers
did as the General ordered and the man’s body was picked up and
thrown amongst his friends before they took another man, and
brought him to the General, once again he was shackled to the wall
where the Zachanian could feel the wet ground which was still warm
from his friend’s blood.

The General
grabbed the man’s face forcefully.

“Did you see
your friend? I asked him two questions, two chances he had but he
foolishly refused but you my friend will only get one chance, now
what is your name.”

The Zachanian
locked at the General and felt hate in his eyes as he looked across
at a soldier who was playing with a poker in a basket of red hot
coals.

“My name is
Agar.”

“Good that’s
better, now what were you doing this morning.”

Agar swallowed
deeply and felt fear rise in him before replying.

“I am a
smuggler.”

“Ar a smuggler,
what was you smuggling.”

Agar through
fear and confusion suddenly paused as he frantically tried to find
a plausible reply.

“WELL!”
demanded the General as the soldier pulled out the poker and
approached making the situation even more desperate.

“WELL WHAT WAS
YOU SMUGGLING!”

“I, I, I, don’t
know.”

“So you’re a
smuggler who does not know what he was smuggling! Then why were
there no goods in the wreckage of your boat.”

Agar again
swallowed deeply as he tried to find the strength to be brave.

“I am a
smuggler.” he gasped not very convincingly.

“I think you
are lying! Maybe some pain will find the truth.” replied the
General before indicating for the soldier with the poker to
advance.

The red hot
poker was ominously paraded before agar’s face, he could feel the
intense heat already burning him as it passed before him and then
agar screamed in terror as the soldier thrust it into his mouth.
The sound of sizzling flesh filled the room as smoke poured from
agars mouth. The sound of his screams could be heard throughout the
whole castle but as he drifted in sleep from the shock and pain the
General was still no further in finding out the true identities of
the Zachanian’s.

Five more
Zachanian’s were given the same treatment but much to the Generals’
frustration and rage the men all remained silent.

“I know they
are lying but their strength is like something I have never seen
before, they seem afraid of something more than their own deaths
but what, what could be so important.” said the General to one of
his captains as they took a break from the torture

“We could try a
different approach.” replied the captain.

The General
paused for a moment because he knew what his captain was asking was
also a declaration that he had failed to find out the truth himself
so resentfully he answered.

“Send for a
wizard.”

Then captain
nodded before leaving only to return about an hour later.

“General, all
the wizards are at the border in Death Valley, I have sent word for
one of them to return to interrogate the prisoners.”

In Zachania
Talon and Zumal reached the castle in Zafra where they were
welcomed and informed that Talon’s Grandfather was upstairs in the
middle of a conference with some of Korvak’s Generals. This was
great timing Talon thought as he rushed to the room and did not
bother to knock he just barged in looking very serious. The
Generals and Zalon turned in surprise at this sudden entrance and
as Zalon rose to greet his Grandson he was surprised to see Talon
just nod rather than give his usual hug as a welcome.

Talon looked
angrily at the Generals before speaking.