FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (17 page)

THE STORY OF RAY, PART II

     It is a moonless night. Large cumulus clouds loom overhead. A strong breeze blows. He knows something is wrong; this man with a scar across his face. He senses it. Is it his fate to die on this gloomy night
?
It is not the weather that he worries about. It is the three dark figures walking towards him that do. He can see that they are armed. So, they are finally catching up to him, his enemies. He grabs the wooden handle of his broom. They draw out their swords…

     The dark figures charge at him. Hired assassins from a distant land, they must be. They do not look like Fallsians or his fellow countrymen. Not surprising, given that his enemies do not like to venture far from home. He gets up and charges at the assassin on his left. He thrusts his broom handle straight forward and slightly upward to the assassin’s throat, catching the assassin by complete surprise. A loud snap and a muffled groan are heard. The assassin falls to the ground, dead.

     The two remaining assassins are taken aback by this display of great skill. They re-posture themselves. They are now aware that this street sweeper is no ordinary man. This pretentious street sweeper, who is a once-proud Recavian and Guardian of the Royals of a clan that no longer exists, is truly extraordinary indeed. And they are not in the business of killing ordinary men, are they
?
No, they pride themselves in killing extraordinary men
!

     The first of the remaining assassins charges in with a Downward Vertical Strike. The street-sweeper moves to his left and counters with a vertical strike of his own. The broom-handle snaps as contact is made with the top of the assassin’s head. This assassin falls to the ground dead as well.

     One assassin remains. The street-sweeper may just survive this encounter, he thinks. He throws away the broken broom and draws out a knife from his waist. He waits patiently for the assassin’s attack. But the attack never comes. He feels a sharp pain at the back of his neck. He reaches out to the source of the pain and pulls out a tranquilliser dart. He turns around to see another assassin appear out of the shadows. Now he understands. They do not want to kill him. They want to catch him for interrogation. He knows he cannot resist now. Only one way out
!
He stabs himself with the knife. And in his dying thoughts he hopes that they never discover the whereabouts of Ray Iddell, the infant whom he had left at Monune Ruby all those years ago.

     Six months after Scorpion Tannex’s funeral; Ray, Slide and Thunder accompanied Senior Dencon to Eastpeak Town to buy some supplies. They were surprised to see a crowd gathering at the side of the main road. Senior Dencon asked one of the townsfolk with regards as to what was going on. The man told him that a dead body was found in the early hours of the morning. At first it looked like a suicide but there was evidence of a struggle. There were several pools of blood despite the fact that there was only one body.

     The soldiers had cordoned off the area. Until the experts from Timberstock arrived, the area in question was not to be disturbed in any form or way. From what the man could see, it appeared as though the unfortunate man had killed himself after getting into a fight. But it did not make sense. Why would the unfortunate man kill himself if he had won the fight
?
Why would anyone want to murder a street-sweeper, or force him to commit suicide
?
This was the question that got all the townsfolk curious.

     Senior Dencon decided that the street-sweeper’s death was not Elementhar business, so he, Ray and the others moved on. They went about town gathering their supplies, and then checked themselves into a local inn to spend the night. Slide and Thunder got Senior Dencon’s permission to go visit one of Thunder’s family friends, who lived in town. But as the two adult novices set out into the night, it was not to a family friend’s house where they were going.

     Slide and Thunder went to the local bar. But they were not there for the taste of alcoholic beverages. They were there to eavesdrop on the conversation of its patrons. This had been their routine for the past year. Every time there was a need to come to town to buy supplies, they would volunteer. During the night they would then create an excuse and sneak away to the local bar. They were seeking news of a centipede demon. They were seeking news of
the
centipede demon that had killed both their families.

     And it would seem that this was their lucky night. They could clearly hear a travelling merchant telling his friends of a horrible demon attack that happened just a week before at a village on the outskirts of Clearcatch Town. The demon responsible looked like a giant centipede with a long black line down its back. Slide and Thunder could not contain their excitement. This was the centipede demon that they were looking for. Casually, they got up from their seats, went back to the inn, got on their horses and rode off into the night.

     The next morning, Senior Dencon was furious. Two of his novices were missing, and he did not know why. Finally, Ray found a note in one of his saddle pockets. It was left there by Slide the night before, explaining why they were gone, but not where to. Senior Dencon became even more furious, for he knew that Slide and Thunder were not knowledgeable and experienced enough to hunt down a demon by themselves. But what was he to do
?
He had no choice but to return to Monune Ruby with Ray and their supplies; and to report the matter to Master Santlyn.

     Master Santlyn called for an emergency meeting with all the Master Fire Elementhars. Funnel Polt, who was already a master of the Earth Element, attended as well. During this meeting, the masters discussed the issue of Slide and Thunder’s disappearance. But tried as they might, they had no idea where the two missing novices had gone to. None of the masters had heard of any centipede demon attacks lately. Finally, it was decided that Senior Dencon and several others would return to Eastpeak to see if they could find any clues.

     Senior Dencon and the others returned to the monune a few days later. Their search led to a dead end. Nobody in Eastpeak knew of any centipede demon attacks. They vaguely remembered a merchant talking about some sort of attack, but it could have been about a Serpentian attack. And the merchant in question had already left town for an unknown destination.

     A month later, Slide and Thunder rode their way past the gate of Monune Ruby, but just barely. Master Santlyn came charging down from his office when he heard the news. Everyone was gathered around the two novices, who were badly injured. Their clothes were in shreds and clumps of congealed blood were all over their bodies.

     “Dare _ how of this of you two to have gone without permission, and even more so to return here afterwards
?
” yelled Master Santlyn, full of rage.

     “Apologise _ we do of this of our actions, Master Santlyn; but our actions cannot be helped; for we had to seek revenge, for that is why we came here in the first place,” said Thunder.

     “Revenge _ must you seek of this in such an irresponsible manner
!?
” questioned Master Santlyn.

     “Revenge _ perhaps we should not have sought of this in such a manner, for we admit it was irresponsible; and for this we beg for your forgiveness, Master Santlyn,” pleaded Slide.

     “Return _ why have you bother of this, for I assume you have managed to exact you revenge
?
” asked Master Santlyn.

     “Return _ we did of this even though we have managed to exact our revenge, for we wish to help prevent our tragedy from befalling unto others,” answered Slide.

     Thunder nodded his head in agreement.

     Master Santlyn was silent. But the look on his face was one of pure anger. After several long moments, he recomposed himself. He cleared his throat, and then spoke out loud.

     “Punished _ Novice Elementhars Thunder Humbold and Slide Moltox, you are both to be of this by whipping, ten lashes each; and if you endure them fully, you shall be accepted back; otherwise you may leave and do not bother to return,” he said.

     “Punishment _ we accept ours of this, master
!
” said Slide and Thunder together.

     The two novices turned around, got on their knees and removed their tattered shirts. Master Santlyn gave a nod to Senior Dencon who then left and returned shortly with a whip.

     “Ready _ are you both of this
?
” he asked.

     The two novices nodded their heads. Senior Dencon proceeded to whip them alternately. Every single crack of the whip brought immense pain to the novices, but they kept their composure and withstood the pain. There was not a single moan or grunt or scream. They kept silent throughout the punishment. When Senior Dencon was done, the two novices stood up and turned around.

     Master Santlyn facial expression was cold. He was no longer angry, but he was not happy either. Finally, he spoke.

     “Forgiven _ you both are of this, but remember, you shall not be so the next time,” he said.

     The two novices nodded in silence. Master Santlyn turned around and went back into the main building. The two novices began to wobble and then collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Senior Dencon instructed the other novices to carry them to the infirmary. Ray volunteered to help Master Matten treat their wounds. It was two weeks before Slide and Thunder left the infirmary. It was two months before either of them slept on their backs. But they had no regrets
!
They did what they had to do. They had to get their revenge
!
Ten lashes of the whip was a fair price to pay for vengeance. And vengeance, they did get
!
And with this act of vengeance, they had closure…

     A month after Slide’s return, Ray went to the giant boulder as per his routine. He was surprised to see Slide already sitting on top of it. He climbed up and joined his classmate.

     “Feeling _ how are you of this, Slide
?
” asked Ray.

     “Feeling _ of this, my back hurts like hell, but my heart is at peace, Ray,” answered Slide.

     “Feel _ how does it of this for you to have finally gotten your revenge
?
” asked Ray.

     “Feel _ I do of this of a sense of closure, but more importantly, there is also a sense of fulfilment, for I know that that centipede demon can no longer hurt anybody; and both Thunder and I had wanted to make sure of it ever since we first knew each other,” answered Slide.

     Ray nodded his head. He understood what Slide had said. But he wanted to know a little more.

     “Feel _ how does it of this to battle a demon
?
” he asked.

     “Felt _ of this, it was scary; and there were a few times that both Thunder and I thought that we were going to die; but the thought of that centipede demon being on the loose and killing more people gave us the motivation we needed to overcome our fear,” Slide answered.

     “Kill _ how did you finally do of this to the demon
?
” asked Ray.

     “Kill _ of this, we both managed to execute a Heat Burst to its head at the same time after battling it and weakening it for an hour; and it was only with the combined effect of both our Heat Bursts that we had managed to kill it,” answered Slide.

     “Closure _ well, you finally have yours of this, but mine is still far away,” lamented Ray.

     Slide afforded a slight smile. He knew what Ray was lamenting about.

     “Past _ you are lamenting about yours of this, are you not
?
” he asked.

     “Yes,” answered Ray.

     “Worry _ do not do of this about it, for I am sure that you will find out one day; and if you need my help to do so, all you have to do is just to ask,” stated Slide.

     Ray gave a silent nod. Slide gave him a little smile. Then both novices looked out to the forest below and enjoyed the view of the gentle swaying of trees. And the Dellix twins joined them shortly afterwards.

     It was nine months since the death of Scorpion Tannex. Life was tranquil for the novices, seeing that both bullies were gone. Some of the novices had wondered how Stick Dugs was getting on. But not Ray. He figured that if he ever bumped into Stick again, it would only be far too soon
!

     A month later, Monune Ruby had a guest. It was Master Elementhar Dulcet Calnen of the Order of Earth Elementhars. He was there to check up on Funnel Polt’s progress. He was also there for a business proposition.