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A Man Returned
66. No Other Way - Kane

66. No Other Way - Kane

Ellas Past

Kane

Only the sound of our footfalls surrounded us as we moved forward through the tunnel of stone that would take us back to the home of the giants.

I was, as were the others, alone with my thoughts.

Who was the woman, Erithain? Anna had obviously had some contact, even if she had not known to whom. So who was she, who was she really? Long dead if it was really she who had authored Anna’s vaunted prophecies, and why had my heart clenched so very tight at the mere sight of her, and even now at the memory of how she had held me? And what of her words – the Unwitting Ones, and the Soul Sisters who even now, because of my presence here, were in some distant future penning the final downfall of Dar’cen? And yet she could say no more. Could not… or would not elaborate on what she said.

Despite my so very strange feelings for the ghostly woman, I growled deep in my throat. ‘Too long have I been dangled at the whims of others. Too long a puppet.’

‘You think… nay, you dwell on what the woman, Erithain, has said this day, Kane. Put it from your mind… her meaning will become clear when the time has come. In this you may trust me, for my life has ever been thus. What Erithain has said this day changes not a moment of the days that lie ahead for us now.’

And it was only then, an hour or so after the woman’s words, that a realisation came to me. She had talked of Dar’cen’s final fall, and of how Anna would have to seek out the story of his birth before he finally fell. ‘You know, don’t you? You’ve known all along.’ I said, incredulously.

‘Know, Kane? Know what?’ she answered, her eyes as she turned toward me a piercing blue that captured my gaze, held it fast, and seemed to drag forth the meaning of my words.

‘Ah… yes, I see,’ she said, turning away. And after a moment’s pause, ‘So you yourself knew that he would rise again. At that, I am surprised, intrigued even. Oh, how I wish that I could know all that is you, Kane. You hold knowledge that, were it not for those blasted prophecies, Erithain’s prophecies…’

I stared at her, eyes wide. I had heard Erithain’s words, but given them no mind, all my thoughts had been on what she said was to come, and the feelings that had welled up inside me as soon as she had appeared.

‘Yes, Kane, it was she who first put down the words of his coming, and she, too, who told of how he would rise again. So, yes, Kane, I know that what we do, what we will sacrifice, is but a brief respite from his tyranny.’

‘But—‘

‘Your role in what is to come is now clearly far greater I had believed, Kane, and… my plans, what I had thought to be our means to deliver our respite must change…’

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She fell silent then, and we walked a moment, I afraid to ask what she meant, and Anna seemingly deep in thought.

I was so engrossed in my thought that I was startled when Garath said, ‘How so, Daughter? What is it that now changes on the day that we confront him?’

‘Yes, Wise Mother, please tell us what must now change,’ Gremok added.

Anna smiled. ‘I know not how, Father, Gremok. But Erithain has today given me hope. For in her words, I now know that, Kane here, Al’kar, our saviour, is not to be sacrificed. He must live… live to see futures unknown. Futures not written… or yet not seen in my dreams. Our days ahead must now be spent in search of how we can ensure his survival.’

And search we did, or rather we talked. Days we spent discussing how, on the day that was fast approaching if our hidden eyes and ears were to believed, we could defeat Dar’cen in a manner that left me alive.

I had the gist of Anna’s plan now, and as my only role was to be bait, I could see no way to ensure my survival other than relying on the gift that our prey had bestowed upon me. And given what was planned, I considered that my chances of survival to be slim indeed.

‘You have no choice, Anna,’ I repeated for what seemed like the tenth time.

‘The time is upon us… we must set out now, and trust to fate… the gods, whatever, to keep me safe. He must be defeated, and I am prepared for whatever will become of me. Your plan must stand as is, for we have no other. It has been weeks now, and he has consumed… them all, all that we left behind. The watchers say he is restless and filled with anger. Soon he will leave Falhar, and on foot and using the limited travelling that his magic allows, he will find more sustenance in only a few days. We must act now!’

Anna’s face was a thunderhead as she replied. ‘You think I do not know this, Kane! These last day, I have thought on nothing but what comes today… and what will become of you. I do not…’ Her voice trailed off as tears flooded her eyes.

‘Come her,’ I said, as I enveloped her in my arms. ‘It will be fine… whatever happens.’ I gently pushed her back to arms length and looked into her eyes. ‘You have done all you can, Anna. Now we must act… and I am ready.’

Anna stood on tip-toe and kissed my cheek. ‘ I will not lose you this day, my friend Kane, this I promise you.’

I laughed. A strange response for one with a death sentence but hours away. But such things take us all differently. ‘We waste time… are the others in place still?’

Anna nodded slightly, her eyes still brimming with tears.

An hour later – Anna had used the rod to transport us to within a mile of his chambers at Falhar – I stood in a Roken created chamber a few feet below the surface, Isal at my side ready to break though when Anna’s call came. Cold sweat coated my brow and my heart hammered in my chest.

Today, just moments away, I would endure pain beyond any I had ever encountered, and I would in all likelihood loose my life. And yet those thoughts were as nothing compared to the terror now within me at the thought of facing him once more.

Anna, the older Anna from my past, from the future to come, had broken the bonds he had placed upon me, and had given me the strength to resist his compulsion and the fear and terror that he could inflict with his magic. But what I felt now was of my own making, not his magic, but my own mind feeding off all that he had done in those terrible days that I was his.

I took a deep breath, and then another, in an attempt to calm myself, and then almost hit my head on the stone roof above my head as Isal spoke.

‘I, too, am afraid, Kane. But what I feel is as nothing compared to what radiates forth from you. He has no hold on you now… and today we destroy him. Think only on that, nought else matters. Think only of his destruction and your fears will turn to thoughts of hope. Hope for all our futures.’