Plan in Motion

Francis went out around two in order to go to the saloon for a drink. About five minutes later, the citizens of Jolly Roger saw a strange site. Maria Bendict Sonnolo and her young son Malik were walking through town with a few bags of unidentifiable items. The thought of them doing spring cleaning was the first thing on everyone's mind, but then why didn't they wait for Francis? And why were they taking the items over to the Enduro household? Some people who had noticed the changes in Maria's behavior thought that whatever was wrong with her caused this. The others believed they were giving some things to the couple.

The next strange thing was that Maria left the house so quickly. Jess had come to the door to pick up the items, whispered something in her friend's ear, and then the two left. Usually, Maria would at least stay for cake and tea. It was weird that the two women hadn't seen one another as often as before. Even on the days when Francis was busy and they could rule out family time getting in the way, Maria was not seen going to her friend's house. Her behavior as of late baffled the villagers; they worried about the woman.

'Let them think,' Maria thought, 'I will not let them affect me. I must assure the safety of my son at all costs. The only reason I am not running to stay with Jess right away is that I know it'll take too long to bring all of the necessary items over there. Malik's school books will have to go on the day we make our escape after work and class as it is. If we did all the work today, he'd come home before we finished and catch us in the act. Then, I know I would be beat like hell; and Malik would probably feel it ten times worse.'

So after dropping the items off at the Enduro household, they returned to their own home. Both of them owned enough clothing to wear for a month without doing laundry; mostly because everyone always gave the two clothes for their birthdays and for the Festival of the Guardians. So if they took about a weeks worth of clothes apiece, it would only take four trips to get everything loaded. If no ships came in, that would be four Sundays of work. It might only be around a month to execute the full plan. With the clothes they'd also brought items of sentimental value such as some of the jewelry left to Maria by her mother. It wasn't like Francis actually paid attention to what they wore; they could run around in the same shirt and pants for a year and he wouldn't give a care, nor did he even look at the jewelry Maria wore and know in what frequency she put certain pieces on. They weren't taking the items that he would really miss later on.

. . .

When Francis came back from his little forrey into the saloon, he found Maria reading Malik a book on the couch. Due to the fact that all the villagers had begun to look at him strangely while he was on his way home, he was somewhat ill mannered. But since Malik wasn't supposed to know about the abusive way he treated Maria, little boys do talk too much and too often after all, he couldn't take out his temper on her at that exact moment. So he vowed to give it to her all the more once the boy went to do his homework.

But Malik needed help with some of his history questions this week. Or that's what he said while Francis was around. In reality he was pretending in order to keep his mother around him a little longer. He saw the gleam in the man's eyes; knew it was about to get ugly. At this rate, she was going to get hurt when she and he were apart. However, if Malik could keep Francis from hitting Maria for just an hour or two more then perhaps his rage would subside and she wouldn't be hurt. It was all he could do to protect her.

"And then the demon was vanquished by a brave hero whose name was lost to history long ago. However, some of the people who had survived the bloody massacre of fire and fangs wanted to extract their vengeance on the being who had caused so much pain. With their target dead, they went for the ones they believed caused its ascension onto our world. Now Malik, the question asks for you to explain about the theory of how this demon first came to Filgaia, as were held by the people who lived back then," she said.

Malik told her as he wrote the answer on his paper, "In fact, several theories existed such as vengeance for the old war or the defenselessness of Filgaia. The main theory believed by those who held their weapons out in vengeance was that the sorcerers of Adlehyde, the Shamans, were the cause of this bloody disaster. As the most powerful human controllers of magic, they were believed to have Summoned the creature in order to weaken the populace of Filgaia so it would be ripe for invasion later on. So in order to avenge the deaths of their friends and family, these people marched into Adlehyde and began to slaughter everyone they found; be they man, woman, child, or even infant. Not even the unborn was spared the ax."

Maria nodded her head as she looked at the notes he'd copied in class earlier. "Ok, now the next question asks about the battle inside the city. What exactly happened? Was there any facts that either backed up or seemed to contradict the original theory as to how the demon came to attack our ancestors?"

"There was actually little resistance on the part of the Shamans," commented Malik as he wrote, "Other than parents shielding their children from blows or fathers who tried to simply buy time with a weak display of swordsmanship in order for the others in the family to escape towards the castle, nobody fought against the mob of angry people. Most of the resistance came from running into the highly fortified castle in order to hide. Although this seems to contradict the theory of wickedness on the part of the people, it was also reported that a demonic figure stood in the middle of the flames that covered Adlehyde. He held out his scythe and struck out at the attackers. But despite that, he never injured them. Finally, after the castle was stormed, both he and the queen of Adlehyde were killed in combat. However, it appeared as if the fight inside their castle was not a last stand, but a diversion to allow most of their people time to escape. For the number of bodies found inside were by far less than the number of people who ran to hide inside the castle."

"You seem to know this real well Malik. I don't know why you even wanted my help in the first place. You're a genius, a child prodigy. Why, I bet you're even smarter than me. But it was nice to spend some time with you. Because of my schedule, I barely get to do so. I wish I could be a better mother to you. I've always felt like I've failed you in at least one way since you were born," she sadly lamented to him.

Malik stated, "You're not a terrible mother. Mamma, you're the best. If you were as bad as you say you are then you wouldn't care about me. A bad mother wouldn't care if they were too busy to spend time with their child due to circumstances. We are unable to escape fate, it is inevitable that you have to work and need time to rest up some days. But because you regret what fate does, you're a great mother."

She took the boy into her arms for a hug. Such philosophy, and from an eight year old no doubt. He was a genius, and would one day become a man of great wisdom. "Thank you Malik. One day I'll make it up to you for your confidence. I can't wait until the day I see you become the great man I always know you will be. Someone is going to become very happy because of your knowledge. That I can see for sure."

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Don't mind my theories being inserted into the story. Well, I needed a history lesson in there and I figured that it would be best to think about the ones I always use. It seemed cute to have some bonding time while he did his homework and tried to cool the temper of his step-father. Even the Demon in the fire has significance. It was supposed to be Zed. Except he really didn't wield a scythe in combat when he helped the people of Adlehyde escape to the palace. The people just believed so much in a devil incarnate that they saw what they wanted. He felt that he would give his life for something important; and saving the descendants of the ones who had helped him a long time ago seemed fitting. Well, Sieggy said that his race was immortal, so Zed could only die of wounds. And since he isn't around in this timeframe…