The last sacrifice

Minan is a country divided into five territories name Allat,Enap,Issis,Oliniar and Ulive. Each territory is gorverned by a Lord and all serve one queen. The queen lives in the capital which is located in Enap territory. Enap for that reason has prospered and its the most powerful territory. The territory for centuries has been led by The Mk family. Lord Illian Mk now rules the territory and when time comes he has to pass it down to his son. His only son Neid however, ran from home with hundred soldiers and stays hidden in the capital. Lord Illian has tried many times to plead with his son to return home but his son sends back the head of the messenger and his father has had enough. One evening as Neid is celebrating with his men another messenger arrives but this time with fifty soldiers behind him. Neid had never been prepared for this since it was impossible to have a army into the capital. The Queen would not allow, it but the queen and his father were great friends. The guards after seeing this fell back inside house and closed the door. The house was sorrounded by soldies within minutes and there was a knock on the door. "Open this door or we will burn this house to the ground." came a voice from the door. "We all know you can't do that this house is in the middle of the capital." shouted Neid. "Boy look on the window," the voice spoke again. Neid ushered one of the soldiers to take a look. All the soldiers on the outside were holding a bow with a flaming arrow, "Your father is one of the most respected and wealthiest man in this country. He has always made sharp decision and I have seen him take such a stupid decision. He is willing to go to war with the queen just to return you home." "I don't want to go..." Neid was quick to reply but was intrupted by one of his soldiers. "Everyone here knows you father and most importantly every soldier here knows that voice speaking on that door. He will burn this house to ground and go to war with the queen if it gets there. Soldier open the door." The last bit sounded like a command. The soldier was opened and the first thing the messenger did after entering into was cut the throat of the man who had opened the door. The messenger walked in the hall holding his bloody hall high in the air ponting to Neid. "Lok around son you are sorrounded by the most dangerous warroirs of Minan." Neid hastily walked to the window and saw women with bows and arrows pointed to the house. Then the messenger went on, "When I whistle they will walk in here and kill everyone here including you. I ask which of you soldiers is ready to die fighting for this boy who has abbandoned his throne to come and waste himself in the city. All of you have forgotten your vows and Lord Illian however, is merciful and is ready to give a you second chance. You will all be thrown back to the pit and graduate as soldiers again. This offer stands only if you drop your weapons and help me drag this boy back home." Seconds later all the men had dropped their swords and let the messenger get to Neid. Neid was heavily whipped in front of all the soldiers and dragged by a horse bach home where he was presented to his father. His father denied him in front of the public saying "From this day till the end of days you are no longer a son of mine. You will not and will never sit on my table and since you were my only son then the leadership is now open for everyone. Soldiers will fight and whoever wins the tournament will be our leader and his generations for eternity. And for you fool, you will be thrown to the pit with your fellow men and if you don't die there you will become a true soldier of Minan. Now get him out of my site." Neid was crying hardly but his tears could not be seen due to the blood on his face after the whipping. The men carrying him threw him in the gates of the so called pit. He fell hard on the ground. He hoped the men who had been loyal to him during the good times would carry him but no one came for him. He tried to stand but he could not. He lied down there until he passed out. The next time he open his eyes 'I must have died and I am surely in hell' he thought. He had never felt such cold in his entire life. It was dark wind was blowing fiercely and what made him believe he was still alive was the sound of the wolves. He sat. He was in the middle of a forrest he had been lieng on dry leaves. Then he saw someone approaching, he tried to jump up but his left foot was tied to a rope. "Finnaly you are awake," Neid did not expect to hear a woman's voice but was still terrified. "Please don't kill me. I will give you anything. My father.." then it all came back. He froze and the pain of remembering his father's voice seered slowly inside him. "I see now you have remembered that you have nothing and you are nothing and again if I wanted to kill you why would I wait for you to wake up only to kill you?" asked the lady. "Then why did you tie me to a tree. Let me free." Neid was still backing away in fear. what he didn't realize was that he was not moving since the rope was full stretched. The lady squatted and now he could see her but not clearly. She was a young girl, curly hair and the dirt on her face could be seen clearly. "The rope on your leg was a precaution," she spoke as she started to untie him, "To make sure you would not make a mistake of running back to your friends who brought you here to die." When she was done untying him Neid had managed to reach a wood and hit the girl hard and started to run. He ran for about a mile and for the first time he leaned on a tree to rest. On the same tree he was leanig on, the girl was standing two metres ahead of him. Neid could not see clearly and the girl spoke, "I do like you but the next time you do that again I will tear you apart and feed you to the wolves." Neid dropped to his knees. everything went silent and was loosing his breathe due to shock. There was no moon and the night had never been this dark but neid could see. He could see the eyes of the five wolves sorounding him. The smell coming from their teeth was killing him. Now stand up and follow me. When you try to run again I will not follow you but they will." spoke the girl who was now disappearing to the darkness. Neid regained his full strength when one of the wolves growled on his ears. On the way neid had very many questions in his mind. 'How is this young girls speaking with the wolves?' 'Where was he?' 'how many days had he been asleep since he had fully recovered?' When they got back to where he had been tied he was ordered to sit and wait. He saw the girl sent away the wolves. He was shivering due to cold. "You have to get used to the cold. Your father threw you to the pit and there are no houses there. You hunt your own food and you make your own clothes." The girl reminded Neid who kept on looking at her long woolen clothe which had some parts made of leather. "And stop staring at me." Neid immidiately looked away, "what happened to me?" " Your father denied you in front of everyone, your were thrown to the pit, you passed out, two men carried you deep to this very forest to be eaten by the wolves and I spared you, well you woke up,tried to run, I followed you and again spared you and brought you back and now here we are." the girl explained her voice very clear. "How long ago did thar happen?" asked neid curiously."I mean the part where my father denied me." The girl put it clearly that had just happened only a few hour ago. " Before I passed out I had pain all over my body, could you tell me how I healed that fast?" Neid seemed to have irritated the girl who had started to walk away, "You know I am surprised that you still asked that question," she said as she turned to looked at him and an enormous wolf stood beside her. In his mouth was a dead gazzele which it spat as the girl held it closely and hugged it. Then it disappeared. "My favourite son. Now be of good use and help me roast this gazzelle you did delay my supper," she spoke before Neid could ask another question. Neid knew nothing of cooking, he did not even know how to start fire. Lucky for him the girl did almost everything. Most of the time he remained silent. When they had roasted the meat he sat ready for supper but the girl ordered him to carry the meat and follow her. It was heavy but he would not dare show it. They did not walk for long and neid could hear flowing water. Then the girl came to a halt, though Neid could not see clearly he knew exactly where he was. He was standing in front of the most famous water falls in the country. He was miles away from home. No one alive had ever managed to get this near to the fall. Whenever one dared get this near to the fall would killed by wolves and he sooned knew why after the girl walked down to the flowing water. Neid had to follow her. When he got down folliwing every step the girl made to right under where water was falling. His heart was threatening to demolish his chest but he saw the girl go right under the fall. He took a clean look and realised that on the fall there was a stone at the top which blocked the water hence creating a space on the flowin water making a doorway. Neid gathered all his courage and kept on walking. The fall was noisy but once he got past it he had never been in such a peaceful place. The lights in the cave were very beatiful. There were nothing like candles. He was staring at everything and even forgot of the heavy meat he was carrying. The girl appeared and for the first time he saw her clearly. She had washed her face and was carrying a large plate which they put the meat on. The girl walked away and Neid kept on staring at her. The cave was huge with old arts and when he walked arround he found out that this was a hall and in front of it was a well carved stone which was most definately a throne. Before he could get to it the girl returned and Neid stopped exactly where he was. "Come, I made you supper." He took one more look at the stone throne again before quickly following the girl. "This is a nice place you have here, how did you find it?" warmth had returned to Neid's body and now he had the courage to ask questions. The girl explained that since her birth she felt attracted to this forest and when Lord Illian threw her to the pit for naming herself after the first queen of Minan, Queen Ela on her first day she found herself sorrounded by men wanting to r**e her and the only way to escape was to the forest. Girls were never allowed to go hunting and this was the only opportunity she would ever get to get to the forest so she ran. They ran after her until they made sure she had made it to the wolves. The pit was a prison. Once you got in there the only way out was through the same gate you had come through. The prisoners came to hunt in the forest but no one was supposed to go deep into it since there were wolves and no one could escape by the the forest was since it was at the bottom of a mountain. Mostly the prison was for soldiers to be reminded of their oaths and once they had proved that they were ready to serve the territory. Any other person who found himself or herself in the pit it meant that he or she was of no use to the territory and was handed over to the soldiers to be their servants. When Lord Illian had heard that Ela had escaped the men he went ahead and picked her little sister and threw her to the pit to replace her. "But why would he do that? Ela is just a name like any other." said Neid. "No, Ela isn't just any name. Remember she was the first queen of this country. My birth name is not even Ela my mother named me Wendy but as I grew the only name I could recognise was Ela. Within no time my parents knew I was abandoning my birth name for another. They were willing to accept the change of my name. I started by telling my closest friends but the change spread out very fast and I was happy until one evening when Lord MK's horses arrived at our home and he himself saw to it that I was arrested." "So did you save me... wait how do you control wolves?" Neid asked eagerly. They had finished eating and Ela was cleanig a stone oval table which was sorrounded by only two wooden chairs. "That's a story of another day," said Ela as she walked away. Neid was still surveying the cave. 'How is some of this things possible?' 'How can a cave possibly be better than Lord Illian's palace' He kept on asking himself. He hadn't noticed the return of Ela from kitchen. "Now let,s get to why I spared you.' Ela spoke and Neid turned to see her, " I want you to be my messeger." "Messengers are for a queen or Lords, and you are neither of those." said Neid. "What do you know of Queen Ela?" Ela asked and Neid opened his mouth and nothing came out of his mouth. Possibly of the confusion in his mind. He was confused by the fact that his entire he had been sorrounded by book about queen Ela and he had never dared touch one and also the thought that this young girl thinking she was Queen Ela. "Yes I am Queen Ela." The voice of the girl shocked Neid. "I didn't know you can read minds." said Neid thinking of the thoughts he had thought since he met this girl. " I have never been able to. I can not read the minds of men. I can only hear your thoughts and yours only which means somehow we are connected. It only happened with my husband centuries ago..." "Are you married?" Neid asked intrupting her. "How do you think I managed to have five sons? I was married centuries ago and my husband died long ago. He was a normal human being. Our minds were somehow connected and I could hear his thought and he could here mine's. As for me, I can not die except if I choose to kill myself. Only years ago your ancestors, Lord Mk the first to be precise overpowered me and managed to put my body to sleep for years. I have been trying to wake but it was impossible so I shifted to be born inside this girl." "Lets say I believe you, what can I possibly do for you?" asked Neid. "I want you to save my sister," said Ela. " Before you ask I can not possibly employ my wolves to the task. There is something else I am doing and when it will be all over we will all be safe." "The only other option I see out of here is by fighting five wolves and possibly you and thats not an option so tell me how shall I save your sister." reasoned Neid. Then Ela spoke, "You do know I have been hearing all you thoughts. You do not truly want to escape and you want to return to this cave. Well if you want to ever see my face again impress me." Neid was given a warm house where he slept that night. though half of it he spent it thinking he managed to sleep. In the morning he had breakfast and was escorted back to the edges of the pit where he could all other soldiers. "Remember I will be the one to call you. If you ever make it this way without my call," Ela poused as three wolves appeared from the trees dragging dead animals, "You will fight the wolves." she turned and walked away. The wolves follwed her leaving the meat behind. Neid picked the lightest placed it on his shoulders and walked towards the pit. He pushed bushes and by the time he appeared several men and gathered. He could barely recognise anyone, it had only been one days in the pit and everyone here seemed to be dieing. From the looks on their face once they were done with the meat he was carrying they would roast him too. "I come bearing gifts. You all seem hungry..." He stopped when one of the soldier grabbed the meat and the rest were following behind. The weakest who could not make it in the fight stood there staring at him and others were returning to sit and wait to die. Then one soldier spoke, "You said you came bearing gifts, that was only...'' Before he could finish Neid had reached for the soldiers mouth and the other men saw it. "pick up your bows we are going hunting," said Neid "keep asking questions and those men will return and I will be forced to give out the rest of the gifts." Quietly the men followed Neid and when the men saw the two deers lieng dead could not believe. " We were in this forest the whole night and we did not make any kill, how did you manage to kill two deers alone?" asked the questioning soldier. "You better start making fire." said Neid and was met by a big "NO." "What is your name soldier?" Neid asked. "Right now my name doest not matter. If you make fire now it will be minutes and the rest of the men will join us." The man was right. All they needed to do was cutn the meet into small pieces and hide them. They would carry small pieces for the day. they would come for the rest of the meat at night. They were fifteen men in number and Neid divided them into three groups, each group got its lot of meat and they would be resposible on how to hide their meat. After doing so they one by returned to the pits from diifrent sides. When Neid got to the pit he approached the soldier who was asking many questions, "Now what is your name?" asked Neid. And the soldier answered, "For years I have been serving you and you never cared to know my name." Neid had nothing to say and the man walked away.