Zachania (7 page)

Talon swiftly
threw off his heavy coat and placed his bag on top of it before
hastily and confidently walking over to the spot where Zephil had
pointed.

“Come on little
man, let me break you.” Zephil shouted.

Talon noted
that the large man had not even bothered to take off his flowing
desert gown and that his anger had increased and now turned into
rage.

“I am going to
teach you some manners!” Talon smirked as he purposely tried to
enrage the man even more “To lose control in order to gain control
can only result in no control at all.” Talon thought to himself as
he remembered the teachings of Zung-Lu. “I will bend with his force
and use it against him.” Talon planned silently and calmly.

“I am going to
break you in two!” The big man shouted as he advanced menacingly
towards Talon with both hands held high as if to grab him.

Talon remained
motionless until the very last moment, just as Zephil was about to
grab him Talon ducked to his left under Zephil’s arms and crashed a
blow with the back of his knuckles striking Zephil on the brow and
opening a large gash. Which immediately began to pour blood, Zephil
covered his face for fear of another blow, he was surprised at
Talon’s speed and power. The blow caused him great pain and
impaired his vision greatly.

Talon
instinctively felt his opponents fear and uncertainty.

“Your Slow as
well as foolish!” Talon remarked.

Zephil shouted
out in rage before charging at Talon like a wild bull, Talon
remained still waiting calmly for his attacker to meet him
“Control, I must have Control” Talon thought.

Once Zephil
reached him, Talon dropped down onto one knee as he used Zephil’s
great weight and power to throw him forcefully over his shoulder
crashing him to the ground. Zephil’s head smashed heavily into the
mud as Talon immediately rose to his feet.

“I’m up here!”
Talon taunted as he kicked Zephil’s backside, forcing him back into
the mud. Zephil rose to his feet and tried to wipe away the blood
and mud that now covered his face. “Fight me you coward.” he
angrily shouted.

Talons face
suddenly turned more serious.

“You have
called me scum and now you call me coward, I will show you how I
fight.” Talon thought to himself.

Within the
blinking of an eye Talon attacked. Zephil frantically tried in vain
to cover his face and defend himself as blow after blow struck him
with shattering force. Zephil suddenly dropped to his knees and one
more blow later he was hunched over in the shape of a ball. Talon
grabbed his hair and lifted his head; the crowd could now clearly
see his bruised and bloodied face.

“Do you yield?”
Talon asked.

“Never.”
replied Zephil while spluttering blood.

“Yield!” Talon
repeated only this time more firmly as he tightened his grip. Talon
waited for an answer but none came as Bolzar the slimmer man walked
ominously over.

“Release him”
ordered Bolzar as he placed one hand on to his crossbow.

“Kill him and
we shall kill you.” Bolzar added as he emphasizing the word ‘we’
now that the crowd looked angered by Talon’s actions.

“Take your
horse and leave town.” came a voice from the crowd.

“Go now
Imperialist!” was another shout as the crowd seemed to close in,
making Talon feel threatened.

Talon released
his grip of Zephil who then fell defeated into the mud and slowly
moved away towards his horse. The crowd begrudgingly made way for
him as he carefully retreated, once Talon reached his horse he
hastily jumped upon it and kicked it into a gallop and rode out of
town with great speed.

He headed north
once again and once he felt certain that he was not being followed
did he pull his horse to a walk. Talon sighed deeply as he tried to
regain his composure and breath.

Once he relaxed
he began to reflect on what had just occurred, he was puzzled as to
why the town had shown such hate for him “imperialist! They kept
calling me Imperialist,” he said to himself.

“They called me
Imperialist scum, why would they hate the Empire so much.” he
thought.

Talon was now
very confused, never in all of his young life had he ever heard
anyone speak so badly about the Empire. And he felt deeply offended
that he had been called scum. Talon then remembered his father
saying that the Emperor was a great and magical man who had brought
great wellbeing to the whole island so why did these people show
such anger for the Empire?, it seemed to mystify Talon greatly and
no matter how much he tried to discard his thoughts he found it
deeply confusing.

It took Talon
two days of riding to reach the military town of Gansaw. Talon was
relieved that after he produced his passes he was treated with good
manners and respect. He was given food and water for himself and
his horse, and allowed the provisions that he needed. Then bathed
himself in a military bath house while his horse was groomed and
reshoe’d. Once Talon and his horse were refreshed he once again set
upon his journey. He crossed the great river of Tash across the
mighty Tash Bridge, he had never seen anything so impressive, the
bridge was hand carved from the finest marble across the banks and
rapids of the river. This was a sign of the Empires craftsmanship
and it definitely impressed Talon, and for the first time on his
journey he found himself feeling excited.

On the other
side of the river Talon found himself startled by the beauty of the
landscape, the lush valleys he rode through took his breath away,
never in all his life had he seen such beauty. Talon’s hometown of
Tallasian with its dry and arid terrain which stretched down from
the mountains was a beautiful land filled with oasis’s but it was
nothing compared to the lush valleys Talon now found himself in,
every moment of this forest, Talon seemed to greet with wondrous
discovery.

Talon breathed
in deeply as he tried to refresh his head with the sweet smell of
the conifers and pines, it was like drinking fine ale or eating a
delicious meal, even the grass under the horse’s feet gave him
delight as his horse walked upon its springiness.

As the sun
began to set, Talon was now deep into the valley where he decided
to use what was left of the daylight and make himself a camp for
the night, Talon built himself a fire and fetched water from a
nearby waterfall. Once his horse was watered and relaxed he tied
him to a tree and gathered his bow from his pack and set about
hunting some food. Talon returned to his camp just before sunset,
his hunt had been successful, as he had caught himself a small
Babbot, a small creature related to rabbits about the same size but
fiercer, Babbot’s were carnivores who fed mainly on birds.

Talon skinned
the Babbot and found a stick to skewer it with and then placed it
over the fire to cook. He then began to feel tired so he laid back
and yawned loudly, his tiredness soon got the better of him and
Talon drifted into sleep.

He began to
dream, he dreamt that he was walking alone in a strange mountainous
region dressed in strange garments and all though the landscape
seemed unfamiliar to him he seemed to know where he was heading and
when he was met by a stranger who was dressed in the same garments
he felt overwhelmed with warmth at the appearance of the man. The
man’s face was unknown yet Talon felt drawn by an unbelievable
sense of bond ship towards him. When the two men met they embraced
each other warmly, the stranger smiled broadly before placing a
pendant around the neck of Talon and then spoke with a voice that
filled Talon’s entire being with belief.

“Your destiny
awaits you, you must become what you were born to become. You must
return to the home which is in your heart.” suddenly Talon felt
confused at the strangers remark and the stranger sensing this
grabbed hold of Talons hand, within a fraction of time flames
engulfed the two men. Talon felt fear but was calmed by the
stranger’s sincere look, then both men were whisked high into the
sky. As Talon flew amongst the clouds he was engulfed totally by
what he saw for beneath him, he saw battlefields for as far as the
eye could see, upon closer inspection he could see that thousands
upon thousands of men dressed in the same garments were lying
slaughtered on the ground. Surprised and confused Talon became
enraged, he was overwhelmed with emotion it felt like every dead
and dying body was his family.

Talon woke
violently from his dream with a shout. He sat up and rubbed his
eyes as if he had just been in pain and let out a loud sigh of
relief as he tried to gather his thoughts at what has just
occurred. His mind was then distracted as the smell of burning
Babbot filled the air. “Damn!” He shouted as he quickly grabbed it
from within the fire, he blew at it forcefully trying to cool it
but soon realised that it was burnt through. Talon placed the burnt
Babbot down onto the ground and mouthed his anger, then as he
turned his torso to his back pack to fetch his knife with the hope
that maybe if he cut the Babbot in half he might find some meat
that was not burnt, he felt something slap him across the chest, he
looked down and to his utter shock he found a blue coloured pendant
tied by a leather thread hanging around his neck. He lifted the
pendant up to his face and inquisitively gazed at it, he then
swiftly turned his head from left to right to see if anyone was
around, who could have put this here, Talon saw no one, he felt no
presence.

Then his
confusion turned anxiously to shock as realised that he was looking
at the same pendant that was placed around his neck in the strange
dream he had just had. Talon quickly lifted the pendant over his
head and threw it to the ground as a sudden fear aroused him.

“What trickery
is this?” he sighed to himself as he rose to his feet with knife in
hand now feeling sure that he was not alone “someone must be near”
he said as his heart began to pound. Talon ran into some nearby
trees as he urgently searched the vicinity but he found nothing, he
remained as silent as he could trying to hear if anyone moved but
all he heard was the sound the birds and insects of the night and
his own heart pounding. He consciously tried to calm himself as his
mind focused on his training “Calm yourself.” he whispered to
himself “ There must be footprints if I have been approached.” he
thought now much calmer. Talon searched and searched carefully
examining the ground for signs; only when he felt sure there was
none did he finally stop and accept that he was alone.

Talon then
turned his attention and thoughts to the pendant, he walked over to
it almost cautiously as he stood motionless staring at it where it
rest at his feet. With no explanation Talon found himself being
drawn to the pendant.

The intense
feeling grew as he felt urged to pick it up; it was almost if it
belonged to him, like a family heirloom it was his. He picked it up
and placed in the pocket of his coat before swiftly gathering his
belongings then jumped on his horse and rode off into the
night.

The forest no
longer felt beautiful to Talon as he now felt edgy and suspecting
of it,

He rode almost
frantically throughout the night and the coming of dawn and the
bringing of light was greeted with a welcomed sigh of relief. Once
Talon left the forest he began to relax, he began to feel shame,
shame at his fear of the forest and how quickly he let it arise in
him, he noted the feelings that he had had and tried to comfort
himself that in the future he would be more aware of his fear and
not let it overcome him.

The next three
days passed uneventful with the only obstacles being that in
Talon’s mind as he wondered again and again what was the meaning of
this pendent, his mind went over and over again what it could
mean.

One thing was
certain in his mind though, these past eight days had been the most
curious and confusing days of Talons life, and his future now
seemed more uncertain than ever.

The
Magnificence and size of Kallick Town’s architectural structure
shone like a beacon across the whole of Kratos, every aspect of
this military town praised the Empire’s might. It was the military
show piece of the island, said to rival the mystic and secretive
Palace lands which lay to the east.

As Talon rode
into the region the first thing that struck him was the giant wall
that surrounded the inner city which was exclusive to only the
soldiers and servants of the Empire. Talon crossed one of the many
bridges that surrounded the city and showed his passes to the
immaculately dressed soldiers of the royal guard.

Once he was
inside the wall he was astounded at the city’s splendour, never in
all of his life had he seen or imagined such impressive buildings
which dwarfed him as he rode by. Everywhere he looked was military
presence, the inner city was heaving with soldiers all of which
were dressed in shining uniforms. Statues of soldiers, some as
large as his home back in Tallasian lined every corner and open
space. He was also struck by the cleanliness, every road was
cobbled, there were giant flags hanging from the buildings, even
the horses were dressed in military covers.

Talon began to
feel excited as he allowed himself a smile. This did not seem at
all as bad as he had imagined, he even found himself feeling keen
and eager that he soon to become a part of it all. When Talon
reached his fourth stop point he hunted for his passes with a new
found enthusiasm. The soldiers gave Talon an escort to the north
eastern sector of the city, commonly known as cadet village because
of its four military schools and libraries. Once again Talon rode
feeling amazed at the village, everywhere he looked he saw stone,
nothing like in Tallasian which was mostly built from wood. Again
he saw statues of soldiers reaching high into the sky, stone
carvings of scholars adorning walls, and when he saw the library he
had to stop and take in the sheer size of the giant building which
was carved in marble the colour of purest white.