Zenak (13 page)

“What did you see?” the king asked. He leaned forward in his throne in apprehension.

“I saw a man, a woman, a child and—”

The king cut him off with a nervous question.

“Were there faces on the man, woman, and child?”

“Yes.”

“Who were they?” the king asked quickly.

The guard looked at the king and shrugged his shoulders. Impatient with the guard the king pointed at Vokar and Mara.

“Were their faces on the panel?” the king asked.

“Yes, it was them but there was also—” the guard stopped speaking. He fell to the ground dead.

The king pushed a tear back because he had raised both of these guards. Then he slowly looked at Vokar and addressed him, “Well, Destiny does bring you, my dear Vokar. For only if it were meant for you to take over would the faces appear on the panels of the Gates of Destiny”

Vokar smiled but never stopped his concentration. He pro­bably could not have stopped even if he had wanted to. Destiny would not allow him to stop until he had achieved his goal. The battle, however, was not an easy one so Vokar kept tuned to Demis in hope of finding out where this power he was battling was coming from.

Demis continued, “Yes, you will take over, and I will be killed, probably sooner than you realize. Had it not been for my protection you would have killed me at the same time you kil­led my guards. But I have good protection, but not good enough to save me. My barriers are old and can no longer pro­tect me against the new forces. I am sure you want to know what these forces are. Well, I will tell you in due time, for who am I to stand in the way of Destiny any longer than need be?”

Vokar was sweating profusely. He was releasing every power he had ever learned, but nothing penetrated the king. Then one of the wizards in orange fell to the ground. The smell of death wafted quickly throughout the throne room.

“You are winning,” the king said as he laughed. He grab­bed up a goatskin of wine and began guzzling the rich red liquid. “I'm sure you realized that you were not fighting me or any power that I wield. You are fighting the two greatest wizards of the Island. Excuse me, now it's one. They are my spiritual body­guards. They have been the spiritual bodyguards of every king since Soci began. They have lived since before the beginning and they gave the powers to the special wizards of the land. They are the gods of the Island. The true gods, for they existed before the Island. Now they die. Even gods can die. Yes, Vokar, Destiny brought you here to replace me, and I accept that with only a little sadness for me and a lot of sadness for the Island. But Destiny has also pulled a great, ironic joke on you, and for that I must lift my wineskin to my mouth.” The king drank heartily, and continued, “You have killed one of the Island gods, and the other is on the wane. Once he dies I will go quickly and you shall be ruler of this great palace and this great country, but you shall never rule the Island for your reign will not last long,” Vokar clenched his fist and concentrated harder. King Demis continued, “You see you will be the last ruler of Soci—at your death Soci and all mankind will perish from the Island. I know this because the Gates of Destiny tell the entire history of Soci, and also foretell the future to a point. The Gates show how many rulers there will be in the future, but do not re­veal their faces. The faces appear only when the future ruler en­ters Mea, as you did. But, as Destiny decrees, the last panel also signifies the end of Soci and the Island.”

Vokar, sweating and stiff with concentration, finally spoke, “It may signify the end of Soci, for I will take over the Island and probably do away with the Socians.”

“No,” the king answered softly, “you will do nothing of the kind for you and the woman and child are not the last figures on the last panel.”

Vokar shook with surprise. Mara looked at the king quickly for she was watching and listening intently to all that was hap­pening.

The king expounded with a little amusement, “There is an­other figure behind you, and he stands very close. I'm sure his face has not been filled yet, but he is on his way and he will be the end of you and with the end of you, the Island and mankind will die. This I know, for he is the only armed figure in all the panels. He brings total destruction to the Island. Well, actually Destiny brings him for it is time for another era to begin. Shall I tell you what he looks like? Yes, I think I shall. His body is great and powerful with massive muscles that remain flexed. And upon his giant shoulders rest locks of wavy hair. You know, Vokar, I have traveled much and I have only seen one man with a body such as the one in the panel. When I met him we fought side by side on the other side of the Island. His recklessness and my style got us through many a battle and many a woman. Now, how­ever, we are neighboring kings. Destiny made me save him from the mercenary army you sent to kill him. I don't think he even knows that I am king of Soci, for he never believed me when I told him. He was so superstitious that he thought only wizards controlled Soci. I'm sure you know who I mean—King Zenak.”

Mara screamed and fell to her knees while she squeezed the prince tightly. Vokar went white with rage and intensified his concentration on the king with renewed vigor, but he still could not reach the king. Demis smiled and sat very calmly on his throne. He looked at his old wizard and could tell the god was losing his battle with Vokar, and quickly.

“Know the fellow, Zenak?” Demis asked sarcastically.

Vokar, now red with rage, turned all his thoughts on the old god and within seconds, the old man fell to the ground crack­ing open his skull. No blood came out, though, for it had dried up thousands of years earlier and only the great mind of the man had kept him animated. He had lost because even powers get old and he could not fight Vokar's new cosmic powers.

Demis looked at the old men and looked at his dead guards sprawled on the floor. “It shall not be hard to kill me for I am no wizard. The king never is. Wizards detest the kingly life. I loved it.”

“You shall die an excruciating death,” Vokar said hate­fully.

“Believe me, it won't be anywhere near as terrible as yours,” the king answered. He laughed out loud.

Then his laughter stopped short and the throne room was fil­led with a blue light. When it faded King Demis was on the floor. He was ripping at himself, filling his nails with blood and skin. The blood ran in hundreds of small streams onto the cold ivory floor. Then he began to stiffen and slowly bend backward. He kept bending until his head touched his toes and his screams penetrated the walls of the palace like need­les through skin.

Mara stared at the king as he writhed on the floor. She put down the prince and quickly let her silks drop to the floor. Then she began passionately caressing herself by squeez­ing her pert breasts with one hand and skillfully exciting her sexual passions with her other hand. The screams from Demis and the moans from Mara were a strange and satanic-sounding chorus. Vokar looked on amused.

“It's been a long time, hasn't it my pretty?” Vokar asked Mara. Mara looked at Vokar and nodded her head slightly. “Yes, for your never-ending passions it has been a long time. Take him, Mara, he's yours.”

Like a savage animal Mara jumped on Demis and began fulfilling her sexual desires on his now deformed body. Mara's moans and Demis's screams were marred only by the snapping of Demis's spinal column; then only Mara's moans continued.

After Mara had taken Demis, Vokar left the throne room and went to the king's bedroom. From the balcony of the bedroom much of Soci and Mea could be seen. Vokar studied the area and decided this would be a good place from which to take over the kingdom. He sat down on the soft mark skin pillows that were placed on the balcony.

He raised his face to the sky and began an intense siege of concentration. For a long while nothing happened; then a blue mist began settling on the land. At first it was hardly noticeable, but as the hours passed it thickened until all of Soci was covered with thick, blue fog.

The castle wizards felt it first. Because the fog disrupted their abilities to control their environments, they suspended their specialized powers of concentration and sent the purple demon back to Varsoula. They no longer needed him. Then they went as a group to the center chamber of the castle and waited in meditation for the end. When the blue fog had finally settled, all other living beings, plants and animals, had stopped moving, stopped growing, stopped living. With the aid of the blue fog, Vokar sent his very thoughts into the brains of all the living things. He reached into their subconscious and gave the people and even the animals his ambitions, his love, and his many hates and desires. He took from them their ambitions and placed in them only one ambition: the ambition of Vokar to suc­ceed. Before he lifted the blue fog, he gave a final order. He ordered every Socian and any other intelligent animal to be on the alert for Zenak. He ordered them to capture Zenak at all costs and to bring him to the palace chained to an iron cross. Finally, he recited an incantation from a language that had been nonexistent for thousands of years and drew from the deepest pits of Varsoula the most evil, the most terrifying demons that had ever roamed the Island before the two great wizards, lying dead in the throne room, had exiled them to Varsoula. They were the dark demons of the early universe and each was a deadly disease to all who loved and lived for the good of man and the good of the Island. The demons flew in the sky above the palace and Vokar ordered them to the borders of Soci so they could watch out for Zenak. They were ordered to bring Zenak to the palace chained to a cross. No one else was to be harmed, for Vokar felt in a generous mood. Then Vokar lifted the blue fog and allowed the rising sun to cast its life-giving light on the land.

When the morning came, all was the same in the kingdom of Soci. On the outside nothing had changed but inwardly every­thing had been destroyed, perverted, and restrained by Vokar's creative annihilation. Vokar was not life; he was another dimension of death. He was the death of soul, of love, of crea­tivity, and of change. Vokar knew that any creativity in a man's mind would create dissonance in him and spread in a society. He knew that he had to appear to be the only leader to progress, the only man of creativity. When he lifted his blue fog, he also lifted from the Socians the ability to think. Thereafter, they were only mechanical humans caught up in a routine and controlled by Vokar. On the outside, life did not seem to change, at least day-to-day life. But inside each person, dreams of better things no longer ex­isted. Dreams of love and adventure no longer existed. All that existed was day-to-day living. No other inventions, no other great works of art were ever to come from the Socians. They had been put into a routine and stifled.

Yes, the sunrise was beautiful and its rays fell upon the almighty ruler of Soci, Vokar. But the same rays also fell on a frightened little man. Why was not his figure the last figure on the panel? Who was the fighter behind him? Was it Zenak? Was Zenak the final end? The demons of black Varsoula were patrolling the borders of Soci and a whole kingdom was on the lookout for Zenak. No, Zenak could not be the final ending. But then who was this figure? Vokar could think no more and being quite drained from a night of concentration he rose stiffly and went to King Demis's silks and furs where he fell down exhausted from a weary night of worry and concentration.

Chapter 14

When Zenak rode out of Gaston his only desire was to drive his blade through Vokar's heart. And even though he had no direct proof, Zenak knew that Vokar was responsible for the insanity that took place in Gaston. He knew that Vokar was a cancer that had to be stopped or it would spread to the rest of the Island quickly. [It is interesting that even before dinosaurs, man was plagued by the same dread disease we now have—S.A.] For the entire day after escaping Gaston, Zenak rode his mark hard and fast. He rode into the next night, but was forc­ed to stop because his mark was faltering and was obviously tired.

Zenak's hatred of Vokar and love for Mara kept him wide-awake.

The night was cool and relaxing and Zenak felt his tired, but restless muscles relax on the soft, grassy ground when he lay down. He also needed a rest. Rising majestically above Zenak was the great Volski. It stood above Zenak in stark power. Its snow-capped, jagged peaks glistened in the moonlight. On the other side of this vast mountain lay the fertile lands of Soci and in the middle of Soci sat the capital of Mea. Only one mountain blocked Zenak's entrance. But the Volski was formidable and extremely difficult to hike and climb across.

Zenak looked down in the valley below him and fixed his attention on the field of a great battle that had oc­curred only days before. To Zenak, however, the battle seemed to have occurred many years ago. He felt that his life had chang­ed and that his youth had been demolished in the last few days. He felt age, like never before, was marching him down the aisle of life quicker and with less sympathy. He lay back and looked at the star-speckled sky; his mind wondered aimlessly from thought to thought, but it seemed always to come back to the same question. What had Vokar done to his beloved Mara? What had happened to his only son? Not being able to rest with these thoughts, Zenak rose quickly, saddled his not-quite-rested mark, and proceeded to Mea. He had to reach Vokar and do away with him.

Looming in front of Zenak, the Volski looked down on the ex-king; Zenak knew that the crossing was going to be a hard one.

He also knew he could expect an attack from a pack of pones. A pone was a small, fist-sized, white, furry animal with jaws like a steel trap and the speed of the mountain winds. It could tear the jugular vein from a man before his hand could even reach his sword. The terror of the mountains was one of the pone's names; the wind of the mountains was another name given the pone. The latter name was because it usually struck only when the winds were blowing swiftly and whipping up the snow on the mountain, a condition that would reduce its victim's vision and increase the pone's chance at a meal.

The winds, however, were quiet and the road into the moun­tains was an easy one; at least up to the timberline. After the timberline, which was barely half way up the mountain, a treacherous path took its place. There was a better and safer road to Soci that went around the mountain and took a month to travel, even at the quickest pace. The path over the mountain, assuming one had good weather and also the hiker was in good shape, took only a full day to reach the borders of Soci. Zenak, of course, did not want to waste the time so he took the shorter but infinitely more dangerous route. Zenak also knew that he had a chance at the crossing because legend had it that one person could cross the mountain with little difficulty. But if any more than three people tried to cross the Volski instead of taking the longer route, the weather on the mountain would turn into a raging storm with winds that would whip even a mark off its feet and into one of the many bottomless crevices that crisscrossed the Volski. It took only a few hours of hard riding for Zenak to reach the timberline and the foot-path. The path was slippery and one wrong step would lead to the death of Zenak and his mark. A slip to the left and they would fall into one of the dangerous crevasses. A slip to the right would send tons of ice and snow crashing upon them. Their position was precarious. Zenak had dismounted his mark and was proceeding at the fastest pace he could go. Any other man would have called Zenak reckless, but his sure-footedness made up for his reckless speed on the icy path. He also knew that his mark was sure footed enough not to make any mistakes.

The climb to the peak of the trail was demanding and treacherous. Even though the mark was sure footed, Zenak had his doubts of the mark's ability to get up the trail that sometimes angled at sixty degrees. But every doubt was extinguished as the mark nimbly followed Zenak up the slopes.

Even with the trials of the climb and the sick worry that was eating at his love-stained heart, Zenak could not help but be in awe at the fantastic view that was afforded him on the ice-ridden mountain. Behind him spread the green and yellow fields of Deparne. For miles all he could see was the never-ending fields dotted with the villages and towns of his kingdom. The great River Volski, named after the mountain that it was born from, slithered across the land. Ahead of Zenak were the mighty ice mountains, but every once in a while, through the mountains, Zenak caught a glance at the rolling green hills of Soci. A mystery to the world, this fertile land sat in the midst of barren, snow-covered, ice-laden mountains. It was a land of wizards with minds of great powers and feelings. But it was a land that had kept to itself, pro­tecting itself from any intruders. Because of this the people of the Island felt that Soci was an evil place filled with death-dealing wizards. The consensus of the people was wrong for Soci had been a land of peace and harmony, working only for the harmonious order of the brain with nature. It was also the center of the Island, the be­ginning of the Island and it was to be the end of the Island. Soci was also a major center of learning. The wizards were far advanced in science and technology. They knew the answers to questions that riddled the rest of the Island. But Soci had one foible, one tragic flaw; that is, she never shared her magnificent minds with the rest of the Island. They kept their knowledge locked up in their own country. Why they did this can only be left to speculation. But it seems a shame, because knowledge for know­ledge's sake seems a waste of time and resources. Since no one else knew of the wizards' profound discoveries, what was the pur­pose of those great finds? It was as if no one had ever learned the deep mysteries the Island yearned to know the answers to. It was like a dancer doing the most notable dance of his career and no one seeing it. What good was it? There was no one to ap­preciate it or pass on its beauty. Possibly this is why Destiny had chosen Soci to be the end of the Island—because Soci had never really been a beginning for the Island. She had been the birth­place of mankind, but it stopped there and she never led the Island the way she should have. It was too late to turn back now, for Soci had fallen out of the hands of the wise wizards and kings. Now the most perverted thinker of all time sat on her throne and controlled her. Why had Vokar's evil taken over? Were not these people great thinkers? Or were they so stifled by their greedy thoughts of keeping what they learned to themselves that they never felt the presence of Vokar's evil? Only a pure mind fil­led with love and compassion would feel the dissonance of Vokar's evil. Of course it would be argued that the people of Soci could do nothing to stop Vokar because Destiny willed it. But even Destiny's vigilance was not always kept up completely. It seems to this writer that if Soci and had not accepted the Gates as the truth that Destiny might possibly have been beaten and there would have been a happier end­ing for the Island. Instead, Soci accepted the situation and thus lost the battle from the beginning.

Yes, this was Soci and Destiny had already taken over when Zenak looked upon her lovely hills from the peak of the Volski. He was very close to Soci now; all he had to do was to take the easier trail down into the valley of Soci. But no sooner had Zenak begun his hike into Soci than the winds that had not plagued him coming up the mountain began getting much brisker by the second. And within fifteen minutes Zenak was groping through a fierce snowstorm that was so thick with falling and flying snow that Zenak could not even see his now beloved riding mark. This wall of white was so thick that Zenak had to inch his way down a usually easy path. Step-by-step, inch-by-inch Zenak moved down the now treacherous path. His riding mark kept obediently behind him. Then all of a sudden Zenak heard the mark drop to the ground and the air in front of him was filled with bloodstained snowflakes while his nostrils picked up the wrenching scent of death. Zenak immediately let go of the bridle and jump­ed to the side of the path, his sword unsheathed. He quietly wait­ed for the pones to attack. He waited for about an hour and no­thing happened. He figured maybe that the pones had left him alone. But as he was rising and preparing to make his way down the path, which was blinded from his sight by the storm, he saw the pones flying out of the spinning and churning snow. His well-trained eyes could see the pones almost nonexistent eyes glaring like red dots through the white. Like a spinning wheel of death Zenak went forward against the murderous creatures with his sharp sword. Within seconds most of the devilish animals had met their death, but to Zenak's painful dismay three of them dug their terrible jaws into his left arm. Zenak cried out in pain, for the pain was ex­cruciating. Then he swept his blade across his arm sheering away the pones. The pain, however, was pain Zenak had never felt. It was as if his arm were on fire with the heat hotter than any flame he had ever encountered. He cried out in pain twice before he fell to the ground. For a long while he lay on the cold ground unable to move. The pain kept shooting up his arm and into his neck. He knew he had to remove the pones's teeth if he was going to stop the pain. He got up and took his knife out. He then started digging into his arm trying to remove the teeth. The removal process was painful; he had to stick his knife deep into his arm to extract the entire embedded tooth, and he had to do this twenty times for there were twenty teeth embedded in his arm. Finally, after about two hours of sweating and probing, Zenak had removed all the teeth from his arm. The pain stopped and Zenak fell back down unconscious.

It was late the next morning when Zenak came to. The storm had stopped and the air was crisp and clean. Zenak first looked at his wounds. They were savage looking but the cold from the snow had kept them from getting infected. He then looked for his mark that he had named Ston. He found what was left of the mark a little further up the path. Its bones were stark and bare; not a piece of meat or a thread of hair was left behind by the pones. Apparently, the pones that never attacked Zenak had had a feast during the night. Zenak was saddened. He had never before lost a mark, and yet within a space of a few days he had lost two marks. But he could not ponder his losses for long; he turned away from the remains of Ston and quickly walked down the now easy path for Soci.

The difference between the land inside the border of Soci and outside the border was like night and day. On the outside there was nothing but bleak snow-covered rocks. The winds blew cold and there was no place to protect oneself from the cold. But inside the border were green rolling hills, immense oak trees, fruit trees, and berry bushes. The spring water was the sweetest and the meat of the animals was the juiciest, When Zenak saw this difference from the path on the mountain, he could not help but respect the power of Soci and her wizards. He only wished that they had shared some of their power,

The closer Zenak came to the border the better he felt. He felt contented, because for some reason, he knew that Vokar would die by his hand. He was also feeling somewhat lighthearted and because of this he picked up his pace as he headed toward the green fields and in less than half a day en­tered the beautiful Soci. His somewhat happy feeling did not last, however. Upon entering Soci he felt a foreboding that he could not overcome. It was feeling of hatred that was coming not from within him, but from the environment around him. It was as if a rank smell had entered his nostrils. Also, things did not look as they should. The trees did not really look alive. It was as if they were just pretending life. The grass did not have the spring in it that it should. And he didn't see any animals roaming in this obviously abundant field. Something was definitely wrong and Zenak was not going to take any chances. He drew his sword and walked steadily and resolutely toward Mea. He was prepared for anything to happen as he hiked toward the capital of Soci.

Zenak walked for about ten karns without any trouble. He saw very little life and the animal life he saw he had to kill. For example, a mouse ran out of the bushes and with its teeth bared jumped Zenak's boot. Zenak tried to shake it off, but the mouse would not let go, so Zenak snapped its neck in between his fingers. He had never seen a rodent act this way. Why it did, only Vokar knew.

Zenak was making good speed when he found his progress im­peded by an invisible shield in front of him. He was baffled and walked along the shield trying to find an opening. When he couldn't, he turned and walked about three steps from this invisible shield and found a similar wall to his back. He was trapped in some sort of invisible corridor. He ran down the corridor search­ing for a way out, but he could not find one. When he finally stopped running two karns from where he first entered the cor­ridor, he noticed a figure high above him coming lower and lower. A shrieking scream came from this thing, and when it came into view he saw a large red man with black wings and talons that rivaled only the five-inch teeth emanating from his mouth. The red demon was swiftly joined by four other demons exactly like him except in color as they swept to him from different parts of the sky. Each one of these demons had its own color. They were swooping around and around and kept diving toward Zenak, but they would pull up long before they would come near him. Sometimes they would swoop as a group or only one would drop out of the sky and fall toward Zenak. Zenak waited for an attack but they wouldn't attack. All they would do is swoop down, then go back into the sky, and fly in formation above the corridor. Zenak was getting impatient; he wanted something to happen. He was tired of being trapped in the now hot corridor and he wanted action. Then all of a sudden the demons released a loud shriek that bounced off the walls of the corridor. Zenak looked up and saw the demons dropping from the sky with their talons in fighting position and their teeth bared. Zenak jumped into position and answered their shriek with the great western war cry. The thunderous cry shook the invisible wall so hard that the demons were caught by surprise and they retreated back into the sky.