Beginning: Victoria
Chapter 7
Leaves fall and land delicately on the freshly dug ground. Many people have gathered and share together the pain and sadness of loosing such fine fighters...So many had died in these cursed woods. Many people hold one another and sob quietly. A tall man clad in a long ceremonial robe says words to pay homage to the fallen. The usual serene atmosphere of the village is filled with sorrow and despair. Zenith stares at the graves and lowers his eyes - there was nothing he could have done to save them. His mind tickles the thought of the dark man and a mixture of hate and fear washes away the sadness. Why had he come? What was he after? Zenith does not know the answers and although curious, hopes he never has to find out. When he had finally settled into the Sleepywood Hotel, the assassin had contacted his leader, Dark Lord, in Kerning and told of the death of all the fighters and destruction left by mysterious man. The leader of Kerning had took this news very seriously and told Zenith to remain in Sleepywood until he had contacted the other leaders of Victoria. They would come to him.
The assassin turns on his heels and walks away from the gathering of mourners and makes his way back to the Hotel. The experience a few days ago with the man had brought back so many unwanted memories, so much death. He just wants to take some time and relax in the Sauna, to try and forget.
He walks through the door and nods to the receptionist and then makes his way down a hallway lined with doors and comes to one at the far end. He goes to open the door, but it opens before he can put his hand on the doorknob. The young dark haired cleric looks up at him. Her forehead is wrapped in bandages.
"I was just going to visit the graves," says Valencia. "Jaimus said he would come and give her the potions when he was done in the sauna... She could wake soon."
Zenith nods
and once Valencia has left the room he passes through the narrow
wooden doorway. Sira lay on a small bed at the back of the room. When
he had finally got her and the others to Sleepywood, he thought she
was already dead. The healers of the town took her in and with the
help of Valencia have spent many hours in this room casting spell
after spell repairing the damage done to her body. Valencia had taken
Zenith aside after the heal session and said that she was lucky to be
still alive. The cleric and the two healers did not understand how
Sira had lived so long without receiving more blood, she had lost so
much. Valencia said that her external wounds had closed up and begun
healing before they had even started taking care of her. The bones in
her leg were partially restored to normal and the puncture wounds
made by the steely had closed on its own. The healers had thought
that it had been Valencia's doing before reaching the village of
Sleepywood. When valencia had explained that she was unable to
perform such advanced healing at her level, the healers concluded it
was a miracle sent from the great maple god, Wizet. Zenith had not
told anyone about the sudden strength and fight between Sira and the
man. He had just explained that the man, believing they were all
dead, left. He is afraid of what he had seen in Sira. He had to be
sure it wasn't what he thought. He had to wait to talk to Sira.
Zenith walks to a closet next to Sira's
bed and takes out a blue bathrobe. He goes into the bathroom, changes
and then makes his way towards the sauna.
As he enters the steam filled room, he sits opposite the only other
person in the sauna, Jaimus. The bowman sits relaxed with his legs up
on a wooden stool. His burn wounds on his face are almost completely
healed - Valencia and the healers had been working hard on healing
the wounds caused by the explosion.
"The people of this
village are going through some terrible times," Says Jaimus.
"Yet they took us in during their own time of despair and have
tended to our every need. I had highly misjudged them."
"Yes,"
agrees Zenith. "They have."
Zenith thinks back a few days when he and Valencia had finally found the gates to the hidden village. They had walked dragging Jaimus and Sira on their backs for hours before finding it. They were shocked to find it ablaze and to hear many voices in panic when they arrived. The village was in utter chaos as people ran caring for the wounded. A villager had explained to him that a man had passed through their town not long before and when the village had refused to allow him passage to the Ant Tunnel he had summoned what looked like lightning that devoured the village quickly. Through the flames he had walked and disappeared into the ant tunnel.
"You were lucky,"
says Zenith.
"Indeed," says Jaimus. "If Valencia
hadn't cast Invincible we would surely be dead."
When Sira had fallen into unconsciousness Zenith had gone to see the
two others. He was surprised to find both of them breathing. They
were badly burned and their bodies were bruised, but they were alive.
Valencia woke when Zenith shook her gently. She was not seriously
injured and was able to help the assassin bring Jaimus and Sira to
Sleepywood.
Mr Sweatbottom, the caretaker of the sauna, enters
and pours more water on the hot coals.
"I'm gonna go check on Sira, then go pay my respects to the villagers' graves," says the bowman standing and then leaving the sauna.
Once alone, Zenith leans over with his elbows on his knees and buries his face in his hands. The assassin remembers the fight that seemed so long ago. He remembers with spite his sensei's orders…His fear….The Blood…He can still hear her screams in his head. "You knew we weren't good enough yet..." he thinks."Not strong enough…" he whispers.
