L`Univers: "The Sigil" Book 2

Echo and Ox

     Aelizia stood in front of the council that was gathered in the frozen colosseum, it was just a normal colosseum made out of stone bricks it`s just that they called it ‘frozen.’

     “Now keep in mind that what you are saying is proven false it could have serious consequences towards you,” said one of the advisors of the king.

     “I am telling you what we saw and we even had to face him,” said Aelizia.

     “This is just going to cause mass hysteria, this is,” said one of the nobleman`s that sat in the colosseum and the others just followed after him, everybody wanted to speak his opinion out loud and it just caused a big noise nothing else.

     “QUIET!” yelled Teodryll. “Let my daughter speak her mind.”

     “Mind… That`s it,” remembered Aelizia as she ran up to take her staff, the others just watched her run around the arena thinking she went mad. She rested the tip of the staff on her head and chanted a verse that made the spot where her skull and staff connected to glow blue. She held out the staff as high as she could and chanted another verse. The staff projected a holographic video in front of the entire council. It played the scene where they fought the n***d man as to how Aelizia saw it after all it was extracted from her memory, it showed them how it grabbed Cristina and how Liza jumped behind him and hurting him, it also showed where Francis spoke to Aelizia to gather the army and why they split the group.

     The council was speechless as Aelizia stood frozen below them the whole hall was covered in silence as one of the advisor's chair cracked and stood up.

     “And has the white city prepared their armies?” he asked. 

     “I don`t know, I haven`t got word from them,” answered Aelizia as the advisor went back to his chair and whispered amongst each other. Teodryll said something to the other advisors as he nodded twice and stood up from the chair. He moved toward the pedestal and stood there looking around keeping everyone guessing, he cleared his throat and:

     “We are gathering the armies, I want it to be known that Everpeak is now at war!” his say was decisive and last whatever he orders it must be done. Aelizia looked at her father and smiled, she knew that this is bad but it was the right thing. They sent their letter to the White City, now the question remained how the queen is going to respond.

     “I am proud of you daughter,” Teodryll sat on his throne as Aelizia was bowed before him. “You fought that evil being with valor and lived to tell the tale, lived to warn us, you shall make a fine queen one day,” he smiled.

     “Thank you, father.”

     “Go now, get your rest I am to need my general rested for the upcoming war,” said Teodryll.

     “Father?” Aelizia was confused.

     “Yes girl, you are to be next to my side on the battlefield,” it was a real honor for those who lived in Everpeak to be participating in the war or so they thought, it was an even bigger honor to be the king`s general and be a part of his guard. The word cowardice simply did not exist in their dictionary.

     “Thank you father,” Aelizia retreated to her chamber.

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     Francis just could not have enough of the food that the witch gave them, he was like an animal with no manners, you can`t blame him he had been starving for a couple of days and he has been tired it`s a natural human instinct to fight for survival. Hugo and Liza looked at him to slow down but the witch didn`t mind. She was just an old ordinary witch with grey long hair and wrinkled face, her weary and little body, and a cane to keep her on the feet.

     “Can you help us?” asked Hugo, the witch walked toward the bed where Cristina was laying, the witch placed her wrinkled palm on her stomach and remained quiet.

     “I can,” said the witch. “It comes at a price,” she looked at Hugo and Francis.

     “What can we do?” Francis stepped up.

     “You, nothing, it must be him to decide,” she looked at Hugo.

     “Me?” Hugo was confused.

     “What?” Francis was confused as well. “No, it cannot be, I am her brother.”

     “And she bears his child,” said the witch. Francis was shocked and couldn`t believe what he heard, in fact, nobody could believe nobody knew not even Hugo, Francis looked at Hugo with anger and it wasn`t long before a fight erupted.

     “You son of a b***h!” Francis pushed Hugo on the ground as Hugo did not stay passive this time and he pushed back, they were ready to get in a fight as Liza intervened and stood between them.

    “Out!” she pushed them outside on the snow, the storm has passed and the weather had settled, the air was clean and from atop the hill they could look at the whole valley, you could see their villages, the mountain Everpeak where Aelizia lived and they could see The White City, it was dark and under the flickering stars, The White City lit the grass around like a small wooden boat in the middle of a sea.

     “What happened?” asked Liza.

     “That night at the entrance of the forest,” started Hugo. “We talked, we exchanged ideas then we talked about our future, and when our shift ended she came to my tent, it must have been then…”

     “You son of a b***h! I`m gonna kill you!” Francis was ready to jump him but Liza pulled him back.

     “You think you can protect her your whole life?” Hugo looked at Francis. “She does not want your protection, she is smarter and stronger than you, she does not need your traditional ways,” Francis remained calm and just listened to him as he sat down on a piece of wood and entered his thoughts.

     “What are we going to do?” asked Liza.

     “I think it`s clear,” Francis stood up. “She won`t have my enemy`s child.”

     “Look at how stupid you are!” Hugo went mad. “You don`t have enemies here, you`ve been stuck in that village of yours and you don`t know anything else, I won`t let you make the decision, your farm boy ways of life cannot be applied here,” Hugo starred at him cold-blooded as Francis out of nowhere charged a mighty blow to his nose.

     “NO!” screamed Liza as she ran up to help Hugo up, he stood up with a bleeding nose and laughed.

     “Franco was right, you are nothing but a simple farm boy,” he kept taunting him.

     “Hugo enough!” yelled Liza. Hugo ran inside the house and pushed the door.

     “Are you going to take the child? As a price?”

     “The child will be safe with his mother and father until it comes of age, then I shall offer him a deal,” explained the witch.

     “What kind of deal?” asked Francis.

     “The deal where he gets to decide that he keeps living or I murder him,” said the witch.

     “What? That does not seem like a tough decision,” said Liza.

     “Times change and under certain circumstances decisions could be difficult.”

     “Do it,” Hugo looked at her. “Save her,” the witch just nodded and stood up from her three-legged chair and picked up a vial that stood on the cupboard, she removed the cork from the vial and opened Cristina`s mouth as she poured the green liquid down her throat, not the whole thing just half of it, the other half she gave to Hugo as a token of their good partnership. Cristina almost instantly woke up and gasped for breath, she was back.

     “Cristina,” Francis ran up to her and hugged her.

     “Cristina,” Hugo also approached her but it was weird for them now as Francis was standing in between.

     “Who are you? They`ve been telling me stories about you, but now seeing it with my own eyes, who are you? Where do you come from? What`s your name?” Liza asked the witch.

     “I come from a different land, different time,” she answered with her old and tired voice as Liza slowly turned at her.

     “You are not one of the Watchers are you?”

     “No,” smiled the witch. “I cannot be, they never meddle in fate, they just watch and I have just meddled,” she looked at Cristina who was smiling and happy between Hugo and Francis.

     “Then who are you?” asked Liza.

     “Everybody calls me Isidora, but my real name is Ivy.”

     “Ivy…” repeated Liza.

     “The n***d man, that you are chasing,” Isidora looked at Liza.

     “What of him? Can you tell us more?”

     “He has been talking to The Watchers, the evil soul, Echo was but a young boy a merchant`s sone that was always on the road on his carriage, learning new things from strangers around the continent, he has always been fascinated by the secrets of the world and skies beyond. Until one day he met a stranger that gave him a very strange tome in exchange for some food that he and his father sold. The tome showed him the way of the dark magic and the power beyond measure, he wanted to know that the tome offered but there was only one place he could find such knowledge, he was ready to give his life away and join the masters.”

     “Then what?” Liza was listening with full concentration.

     “He did join them, he gave up all earthly belongings  Echo is nothing but a young master, studying the ways of power and magic, he is now the servant of the evil soul.”

     “The evil soul? That`s the thirteenth soul, right?” Liza asked.

     “Indeed, but what the evil soul does not know is that there are still servants who live and he has forgotten about them, and there are those who will betray him.”

     “Are you one of his servants?” asked Liza directly.

     “Not anymore, my own actions and intentions are for my own now,” answered the witch.

     “What`s he like? The evil soul?”

     “All the evil, betrayal, and the worst things you can imagine, those are just the things I saw in his burning red eyes, Ox his name is,” finished Isidora.

     “But… I thought The Watchers never interfered with fate, could he be the mysterious man that gave Echo the tome?” asked Liza.

     “The same rules don`t apply to that wretched soul, he is an outcast he is hated amongst The Watchers, the day will come when he falls dead and everybody is going to celebrate over his dead body.”

     “Right,” Liza was becoming uncomfortable as she stood up and walked toward the others. “We must leave, now,” she said quietly.

     “In the dead of the night?” asked Hugo but luckily dawn was near.

     “It`s dawning,” Liza looked out of the small window and saw the sun peeking from behind the mountains. “We must not waste time, we must warn them about Echo.”