Walah

I found myself face to face with the Wise Man, whom I could almost see looking down at me from behind that ridiculous veil covering his face. His wrinkled hands on the still reddened skin of my grandson made me shiver with anger.

“Given your ancestry, you enjoyed staging that beautiful pantomime,” I said, my tongue curling around their ancient language.

“How do you know the language of the children of Ciekčis Eatnamat?”the Wise Man balked, unable to hide his astonishment despite the veil.

“You don’t really think that all that remains of the Ancients is a bunch of jesters living off tribes that revere them.”

“How dare you speak to us like that, bitch!” one of them shouted, banging his fist on their table in a manner unbefitting their role as ‘Wise Men’.

The Reiks and his wife watched the scene in astonishment, completely paralyzed by uncertainty. Such a thing had never happened before, and they surely couldn’t understand a single word of what we were saying. They were probably wondering if we were casting spells at each other.

Another of them said something to the Reiks, in a voice low enough to be heard only by those at the table. The Reiks recovered from his stupor and stood up.

“What you are doing is sacrilegious and cannot be accepted. And-”

“Stop” I said firmly.

The command had an almost instant effect. Black veins appeared all over the man’s body, immobilizing him as if they were tendrils. His golden eyes looked in my direction, and you could see the utter, undeniable terror in them.

The crowd erupted, but the guards were so terrified that they didn’t dare approach for fear of what I might do to them. It wasn’t even something I had done; it was intrinsic to the ritual they had performed to subjugate him. I really felt sorry for him, caught in the middle of things he couldn’t understand, and turned into a puppet without even realizing it.

“Where do you come from?” the Wise Man on the stage asked, still holding Alrik in his hands.

“I have returned from far away,” I replied.

“How is that possible? We should have noticed you.”

“You are only a shadow of what you once were. The magic that kept you hidden is dissolving, soon the world you tried to escape will overwhelm you.” I pointed to the dragon’s carcass. “That thing didn’t manage to get here  for the honor of my grandson’s birth, but because your magic has become fragile. My ears may not be as sharp as they were when I was young, but I heard everyone’s concern.” I scoffed, “The hilarity of it is, that thing could have arrived many years before today, and yet it didn’t happen until now. It’s because, Wise Man, the world out there is very different from what it was when you first hid here.”

“Perhaps, but it remains full of dangers. That is why your grandson is more important than ever before. Magic flows through him, and I perceive the threads of destiny intertwining within him. It is important to raise the barrier again and protect everyone,” he insisted.

“How arrogant you must be to think that the highest destiny is to prolong your existence just a little longer.”

My gaze fell on my son, who was still collapsed on the stone floor. His face was distraught, and I could see the storm of emotions overwhelming him at that moment. He had lost his brother, his newborn son was being taken by wizards he considered almost omnipotent, and now his mother was confronting those same wizards. Many people would have collapsed in despair in his place.

Gazing at him, I felt a deep pain. I knew it wouldn’t end here for him. The details of my vision were becoming increasingly blurred, and in the end, I would forget much of what would happen, but at this moment at least, I knew terrible days were coming.

“My grandson’s destiny is not to go with you,” I said, gathering all the voice I could to allow as many people as possible to hear me.

“How can you say that?” he asked. His tone was more measured and composed, now that he’d switched to the common language.

“Because I have looked into the fabric of destiny.”

For those of the tribe, this phrase probably seemed vague and meaningless, but for the Wise Men, it was something disconcerting, and their meaning spread like a wave over them. The man in front of me flinched, and the others at the table were even less controlled in their reaction.

“Impossible!” exclaimed one of them.

“How is it possible that you managed to cast a spell that we haven’t succeeded in for centuries?” the man in front of me asked, having more and more difficulty hiding his astonishment.

“Perhaps you have forgotten how it works. Only events that will change the course of all humanity, makes the fabric of destiny visible enough to be seen. Your role in history ended a very, very long time ago.”

I turned to the crowd and pointed at random to a member of the crowd. The poor fellow looked completely terrified and almost fell backward.

“You, get me several handfuls of clay. There’s some suitable near the rafts,” I ordered. After a few seconds of hesitation, the man obeyed and ran at full speed.

*“What do you want to do?” he asked.

*“I will prove that I am right.”

One of the men sitting at the table stood up abruptly and pointed impatiently. He was tall, much more than the man in front of me and less decrepit, at least from the voice. Even speaking in another language, it was an attitude unbefitting the role they were playing, but it seemed he had reached the limit of his patience.

“You primitives cannot be so versed in the mysteries of the cosmos! You are just bluffing, pretending to have powers that only we can possess, just to keep your grandson!” he shouted.

“Well, then I suppose you won’t have any problems testing that,” I responded coldly.

He stood still for a few seconds, a sign that he was evidently less sure than he wanted to appear, but it was too late to back down. He got up from the table, and the man still holding my grandson stepped aside.

The Tribesman I had sent returned after a while with the clay I had asked for. I was afraid he would take it too wet, and I would have to throw it on the ground to write on it. But fortunately, he had taken a fairly compact handful.

I flattened the clay with my hand and wrote the formula along the edge. During the operation, the two Wise Men stood still, trying to seem disinterested even though I knew both were watching very closely. 

I carefully handed the disc to the tall man, then drew the knife from my belt, opening my hand so that the cut I had inflicted the day before was clearly visible, before reopening the wound with my knife.

“I declare that it is not Alrik’s destiny to stay with you,” I said loudly, taking the disc in my blood-soaked hand.

The man hesitated again when I handed him the knife, understanding what it was for. Of course, he still had time to desist and leave me my grandson, but if he did, he would completely lose face. Their arrogance would never allow them to accept such a thing.

The man took the knife and quickly cut his palm.

“I declare that it is Alrik’s destiny to stay with us,” he said even louder, grabbing the clay disc.

For a moment, nothing happened as our blood dripped and mixed together, then before my eyes the tall man was engulfed in flames. He screamed in an inhuman way as the fire consumed him. The one holding Alrik stumbled backward while his companion writhed from side to side and then fell off the platform, causing a chorus of screams from the crowd.

I ignored the dying fool and focused my gaze on my grandson, who was still crying in the man’s arms.

“I think there’s nothing more to say.”

The Wise Man’s hand trembled, and I could almost see the anger and indignation under his veil. However, he knew very well what had just happened and what it meant, and so did everyone else. Even that astonished and frightened crowd, who had no idea what had just happened, understood that this meant I was right.

The man hesitated for a moment, then handed me the child. Without saying a word, he turned and walked away. He didn’t even stop at the table; instead, he continued back to the cave, followed shortly after by all the others, leaving the poor Reiks still stuck where he was.

“Release.”

At my command, the black veins visible on the exposed parts of his body retreated and then disappeared completely, leaving only his weather-beaten skin. Even so, he didn’t move, continuing to look at me as if he feared that even if he looked away, I might cast another spell on him.

I turned and saw that the whole tribe was looking at me with the same fear. Gunnar, in particular, who had retreated to a corner of the platform, had a look of pure terror. I looked away from him and picked up the cloth the man had dropped, covering the surely cold infant again, then moved to my son, who was struggling to get back on his feet.

“When Heike wakes up, reassure her, tell her that her son is fine and that they won’t come to take him anymore,” I said.

“Y-yes, okay,” he nodded, sounding uncertain.

Still holding the child, I got off the platform and headed towards Wallia. To be fair, he was the only one who didn’t move away when I approached, but he still looked at me with total bewilderment.

“I entrust Alrik to you,” I said, holding out the boy to him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, gingerly taking Alrik into his arms.

“It’s better if I don’t stay here,” I said simply, before turning, and walking away.

The crowd moved from me in fear, making a clear path towards the outskirts of the trees. I  walked through it until I entered the forest.