The Path Of Destiny - The Blue Moon Ch 9.

The Path of Destiny - The Blue Moon Ch 9.

Really sorry for late update... again. But our cottage got flood and we have to drive almost through the whole coutnry to get there because most of roads were under repairs. We were trying to save what´s left and somehow fix it. It took us almost half of a week. And we wrrived yesterday about 2 a.m. and I also must learn for some exams... So sorry it took longer than I thought, but here you go! Enjoy :-D

———————————————————————————

When she got to the statue, Arian wasn´t there yet. It was late morning. The sky still has pinkish hue. In this weather the statue has strange color. It was carved out of gray stone, but now it looked like she had normal skin. Almost alive. Just talk. Eunis looked Mykénai into her eyes. While were from the cold stone, Eunis saw sadness and fear, with some urgency.

´I guess I was dreaming.´ She assured herself. I'm tired and it is too much for me. But Mykénai disproved her conviction. Her eyes moved. They looked at the horizon. Eunis winced. She looked in the same direction as Mykénai. There grew a thick forest, behind which was a long strip of mountains. Behind one a mountain she saw protrudes a tower. It could belong to some castle or chateau. It was certainly far. Far to the west. Eunis again turned to Mykénai. Her sight was as before. Empty. She stared blindly ahead.

„I'm glad you waited here for me.” Arian emerged from the woods. „I'm sorry I took so long. I had to put Karmisha to sleep.” he explained. „That little creature didn´t want to stay home. And Luten wasn´t too excited about it too.”

„Why did you want to meet me here?” she asked. Arian laid his canvas bag he was carrying in his hand on the ground. For a moment he was rummaging in it and then he pulled out a folded piece of paper. He triumphantly showed it to Eunis and then decomposed it on a rock that lay off to the side. It was a map. It was full of colors and names that describe different places. Arian pointed to a small sketch of the castle. Beneath it was written Azzaret.

„This is the kingdom of Azzaret. I've got some friends, who would allow you to stay with them. Moreover there rules queen Selestia. I've heard that she's a good and generous. You would get work from her.” Then he turned his gaze on the bottom side of the map. „This is Sarezs ravine.” He ran his finger along a winding brown line. „But don´t be fooled. On the map it looks very small, in fact it is huge. Passing takes up to three days.” he pointed out. „It´ll leads you thee into Kanterlot Empire. There rules emperor Cronos. They say he is also very kind.” he explained. Eunis studied the symbol of Kanterlot. It was also castle just a little bit bigger than the Azzaret. He also had many more towers. Then her eyes slid to the west side of the map. Strange. Behind a strip of mountains she found a stain. As if the painter accidentally spilled paint there. Dark, satin black color. Beyond that, nothing. Map ended there.

„What's in here?” she asked curiously. Lightly shock flashed Arian's face, but quickly disappeared. It was replaced by nervousness.

„There's nothing there.” he said quickly.

„Why is there that stain? There's like the end of the world, or what?” she refused to be denied.

„I do not know. I found it in the library. Maybe it is an older map. Certainly there is nothing there. Probably just another mountains.” he said gruffly.

„So let's explore.” she said.

„That would be just a waste of time. There's nothing there.” Arian raised his voice to confirm his assertion.

„How do you know?”

„Do you see the map, don´t you? There is nothing. We could get lost.”

„You said it's an old map.” Arian was already angry.

„Does it matter how old it is? There's nothing there and DOT! We won´t talk about it.” Eunis was confused. But she didn´t let him intimidated her.

„You know something about that, right? What do you know about that?”

„Hey, I'm here with that to help you find your way and new place. I can just walk away if you want.” he snapped.

Eunis stopped. Why is he angry? Why didn´t he just says, what is there? It is possible that he really don´t knows? But that wouldn´t explain his behavior. Does she have to tell him what had happened before he arrived? Mykénai looked pretty urgent and desperate. Probably she will look like a fool.

„Mykénai wants us to go there.” she said slowly, watching Arian´s reaction. He looked at her uncomprehendingly. He didn´t believe her.

„I know you don´t believe me. You probably think I'm crazy.” she continued before he could say anything.

„But Mykénai wants us to go there. Before you came here, she looked to those mountains.” she pointed towards the tower.

„You see that tower? That is our goal.”

„Are you sure? I don´t mean to say that you invent it.” he added hastily, when he caught her gaze. „It's just that you do may seem. You've probably upset about what happened to the village. Or ...”

„Arian, please.” she interrupted him. She stared into his confused emerald eyes.

„You must trust me. I don´t know why we should go there. Maybe it has something to do with the attack.” she said urgently. „I don´t know how or why, but I feel that we should listen. She is our goddess. She protects us. You didn´t see her eyes. She was afraid. If you don´t want to go with me, than don´t. Just please, tell me, what is there and how to get there.” Arian did not know what to do. He looked Eunis into eyes. There were seen urgent plea for help. She begged him to not let her in it alone. She hoped for help. He saw in them also panic. Fear of rejection. Fear of what is waiting at that place. Yet he found some kind of determination. Eunis made up her mind. Now it was up to him to decide. He looked up at the horizon of the western mountains. He found high black tower stand out among the mountains. It looked to mysteriously ominous. Even from this distance it seemed to be impressive. His gaze then slid to a map in his hands. He stared at the black stain in the upper left corner.

„It's Forbidden territory.” he said quietly. Eunis stepped closer to him and looked at the western part of the map.

„According to legend, there lives a very bad elf. They say destroys everything and everyone who approach him. That tower could include his chateau or castle. But nobody knows for sure. Couple elves decided to investigate, but never returned.“ Eunis looked at him aghast.

„That's why you not want to me to say anything.” He nodded.

„ It doesn´t change anything on my decision.” she said in a tone that he rejected any resistance. Arian lost. Again. He had to smile about it. Twice a day he lost against inexperienced elf, while he diligently studied and practiced, so that someday he could get on post of headman. How ironic.

„Arian?” Arian cleared his throat and looked again seriously.

„To these Forbidden mountains leads many paths, only a few of them are right. A large majority of them leads through the forest. However, they are unused. A lot of them naturally overgrown with grass and bushes. You easily get lose. It is good to find someone who knows it there. A guide. Unfortunately, none of us here are familiar with those paths and I can´t think of anyone else. We'll have to ask someone local.” he paused. „Won't you reconsider it? Are you sure you want to go?” he asked worriedly. Eunis for a moment still hesitated.

„As I have already said. It doesn´t change anything on my decision.” she said.

„Okay.” he said resignedly. „We're going to find a guide.” When they returned, the village was in full flow. Many elves were still eagerly working on repairs. Just a few more days and there will be no trace about the attack. They decided that they first visit Sankore. As a blacksmith he should know the nearby mountains, due to imports of material for the job. Moreover Eunis wanted to take look at his condition. His left hand still needed to be fixed, but otherwise he was fine. No serious injuries. Soon, even the splints won´t be necessary. That day he was very lucky. They found him near the northern border. He instructed a group of elves how build the future protective walls. Now he was arguing with one elf over the construction plans.

„What the hell you were you thinking? You can´t just say that you build the wall, then pick a nice spot and finally begin to pile up stones. What on earth were you thinking? In this way this wall will fall even because of a breeze. Remember that the most important thing are the foundations. Without them they won´t stand. Where did you learn that you don´t know even this? No. Don´t say anything. And most importantly, after you lay the stones, don´t forget add some binder, ok? Now, get out. And make it right this time” shaking his head in disbelief after him. But when he saw, that Arian with Eunis were approaching him, kindly he smiled and waved.

„Hey, Sankore.” Eunis greeted him. „How are you doing?”

„Oh, well. And when do you plan to take this off my hand?” he asked. „It obstructs me at work.”

„You know that you shouldn´t work at all. At this rate, I´ll never take them off. But if you behave, you should be just fine before the celebration.” she said.

„So it'll be a complete saint.” he grinned. But suddenly spun around and marched to the elf, with whom he spoke a moment ago.

„For the King´s sake, what are you doing again?! You're probably kidding me? These are the foundations? And how is the wall suppose fit? It should be a protective wall, so it must endure something. And to endure anything it should be wide and strong. Yeah, so you think that should be enough? It has barely a meter! I could demolish if I leaned against it, let alone if the invaders began attacking it. A minimum of two and a half meters it will be wide and a meter deep, understand? And woe to you if you mess up something again!” grumbled Sankore. Reprimanded elf shuffled shamefully to other coworkers.

„Bloody likely.” he complained. „Getting nowadays somebody who knows something is almost impossible.”

„That's why we came to you." Eunis said.

„What? You need to fix something?”

„No. We need more like advice.” Arian said. The answer surprised Sankore.

„Advice? From me? What you want to know?”

„Well, as a blacksmith,” said Arian, „at least in our opinion, you should be familiar with the broader surroundings of the village. Especially the mountainous area due to rocks and metal. It is that so?” Sankore nodded. Confused eyes darting from one to the other.

„Thou shalt confess in the mountains around the Forbidden territory?”

Sankore startled by his question backed off. But he tripped over shovel, and with a muffled thud hit the ground. Incredulous he looked at them. Has he heard correctly? No, no. Certainly he misheard. They couldn´t ask him about something like that.

„Thou shalt confess in the mountains around the Forbidden territory?” Arian repeated. He hasn´t misheard. What do they want to know? Why did they come after him? Does he have to tell them what he knows, or send them away?

„Why ... Why do you ask?” he said finally.

„We want to check something.” Arian replied simply.

„I don´t understand ...”

„Thou shalt confess there or not?”

„Well, we can say yes.”

„Could you take us somewhere?” Sankore stood up and firmly shaking his head.

„No no. I can´t. Sorry, but I don´t want to have anything with this.”

„Sankore, please. You're the only one who can help us.” Eunis begged.

„I'm really sorry, but no.”

„And do you know someone else who would be willing to show us the way?” Arian asked.

„With that someone barely helps. Although ...” he thought for a moment.

„Someone could have possibly been found. Oh dear King, I'll get in trouble if someone finds out about it. Well. Listen carefully. I will not repeat it. Deeper in the woods, north of our village, lives one a freak. His name is Zodocar. If you persuade him, he´ll take you wherever you need. But be careful, he is quite explosive. He easily gets angry. Then you definitely don´t want to know him. Tell him that I send you. In this region he is known by everyone. Just ask someone about him and they will show you where he is.”

Eunis threw her arms around his neck. „Thank you, Sankore.“ Arian nodded gratefully. Sankore sighed and returned to work.

<previous/first/next>