ROGUE ANGEL - Book One: The Beginning

Chapter Eight

THE LAST rays of the morning sun fell directly on the creek, leaving a heavenly glow on the flowing waters. Small puffy clouds were appearing in the sky. Soon the afternoon spiraled about us, bright and windy.   

The old man or Old Al as he liked to be called, who had miraculously become sober so quickly, insisted we join him for lunch if we wanted to learn more about Drakev and got a nice campfire started beside the river. Sirius was utterly delighted when I finally agreed; his belly was starting to rumble. 

With the fire blazing away, we sat around it, enjoying our grilled trout. With its buttery, rich flavorful taste and alluring aroma, the fish tickled my taste buds and overloaded my brain with sensory pleasure; I had to admit that Old Al had prepared a masterpiece of a feast.

“Old Al, I must have the recipe for this,” I said, munching on my second trout. “The fish and the sauce … they are simply yummy!”

“I second that,” said Sirius, licking the garlicky barbecue sauce off his fingers.

“Thank you,” replied the old timer as he gently turned another trout over on the hot grill. He was pleased. “But I’m afraid the recipe won’t do you any good because some of the ingredients can only be found here. You are from out of town, aren’t you?”

“How can you tell?” I asked, sipping my wine from a porcelain cup. Old Al had also brought out a small barrel of the alcoholic drink from his hut to go along with the meal.

“No true Ipohite would want to come here,” answered Old Al. “They don’t call this place ‘Dead Man’s Waterfall’ for nothing, you know.”

“But I am an Ipohite,” Sirius butted in.

“Then you are a dimwit.”

Sirius’s lips pouted. “In my defense, this was the only alternate route to Ng Chan Villa. The main one is blocked by Drakev and his men.”

“Are you both mad?” cried Old Al, his eyes bugged. “That is another unholy place!”

“Maybe we all are,” I said, hinting at him that he was just as crazy as we were if not crazier. “But still, I need to go there.”

“Why?” asked the oldster, ignoring my hint and chomping on the fish which he had grilled. 

“Frankly I don’t know,” I replied, taking another sip of the wine. It had a kind of salty yet sweet taste with a trace of bitterness. I quite liked it. “And believe me, I really don’t want to be in Ng Chan Villa but I have no choice. I’ve lost my memory, don’t know who I am or where I came from. Somehow, that mansion is holding the key to all the missing pieces of my life.”

There was a long pause. Old Al continued to wolf down his lunch and drowned himself with a few cups of wine. He might be behaving like a chronic boozer but my gut feeling told me it was just a charade to conceal his true identity. Furthermore I caught him gazing hard at Sirius, as if he was studying him, when he thought we were not looking. I wondered why.

“You were going to tell us about Drakev,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Ah yes, Drakev,” Old Al sighed, turning his attention to me. “Being in the company of humans once again after years of living alongside animals,birds, and reptiles has given me such immense pleasure that I have forgotten about him.” 

After pouring himself another cup and drinking it in one gulp, he looked at us then cleared his throat; Sirius and I were all ears. “Drakev is a rogue angel,” he said. “Possessing abilities and physical powers far superior than his peers, he is essentially an omnipotent being. The Fellowship, a shadowy guild dedicated to eradicating witches and warlocks, saw his potential and took him in. Over the course of the next couple of decades, his skills made him more than a match for any foe. Many of my peers died in his hands; I am the only one who survived his onslaught. In order to evade him, I came here.”

“Wow, you mean you are a warlock?” asked Sirius, staring at the old timer in awe. “Now I fully understand how you were able to make the anaconda turn back; it was your magick!”   

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, give this man a cigar,” said Old Al, rolling his eyes in a sarcastic manner. “Of course I’m a warlock. If not, the ghosts and other evil spirits that dwell in this place would have overwhelmed me a long time ago.” 

Then Old Al focused his attention on me when he realized that I was suddenly quiet. Actually I was stunned; my facial expression must have been comical for it drew a chuckle from him. “What’s the matter, young lady?” he asked.

I returned his look. “After listening to your tale and witnessing my own inhuman powers, I dread that I might be a witch too,” I said, my voice wavering. “Perhaps, that’s why Drakev is hunting me.” I paused and watched the gem-blue stream winding down to the foot of the hills. The grace of the flowing water felt so therapeutic to me at that moment. “Oh, how I wish none of this was happening, how I wish I was just an ordinary girl going home to her ordinary, uncomplicated life and looking forward to reading a good book.”

There was silence again and it stretched for quite a while this time.Everyone seemed to have nothing else to say.

“Alison, don’t plunge yourself into the depths of despair as everything happens for a reason,” said Old Al at length with a saintly smile. I suppose he was feeling compassion to my plight.

Then he got up and much to my amusement, he began dancing to Gangnam Style and singing a parody of Only You: 

 Only you

Will know what’s wrong with you

Only you

Can tell what’s bad and what’s cool

Only you and you alone will know what to do

And make all your sweet dreams come true …

His clowning cracked the both of us up, and between our loud giggles, Sirius, making a rotating motion of his index finger beside his head, said, “He really is a first-class nut!” 

Suddenly, the old man came behind Sirius and gently tapped his head. The next instant, he fell to the ground, out like a light.

“Hey, what did you do to Sirius?” I cried, as I hastily moved away from the warlock.

“Do not be alarmed, Alison,” Old Al reassured me. “I put Sirius to sleep for our own safety.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You may not know this, but Drakev has an apprentice who is a mind reader,” he said, glaring down at Sirius. “And that apprentice is your friend here.”