Ellas - Two years ago

Kane

‘So what the bloody hell is going on, Chief?’ Garam asked.

We were sat around the fire, Carthia at my side, and my four long lost companions, the companions that I had thought dead for such a very long time, sat opposite, facing us.

As I looked around at each of them in turn, the same question, Garam’s question, was written plain upon all their faces.

Carthia snorted. ‘Even without a formal introduction I can tell you for the one known as Garam. I am truly honoured to be in the company of one who, I am told, can outdo even my foul tongue.’

Garam’s mouth fell open, and Tarnia burst into laughter, closely followed by the others.

‘Please forgive my shortcomings,’ I said. ‘I did not believe that introductions were necessary given that you, Carthia, have already given your name to my friends here, and I have bored you at length on many an occasion as to their redeeming features. But if it is a formal introduction that you wish, then that is what you shall have.’

And with those words, I introduced each of my so cherished friends to the one who I had hated for such a terribly long time, the one who was now as a daughter to me.

A smiles and handshake from Step, a hug from Jain and Tarnia, and a growl and returned glare between Garam and Carthia followed, and then it was done.

But even as we all sat, Garam again said, ‘Well, what the bloody hell is going on, Chief?’

‘Explain it to them for pity’s sake, Kane… poor Jain is almost climbing out of his skin with impatience,’ Carthia said, a wide grin on her face.

‘Besides, I myself need a second telling. You told little… and that was said in haste, so great was your need to see your friends again. Go on, tell them all that you finally revealed to me… but tell it all this time.’

Jain sat across the fire from me, his eyes had not left mine since we’d sat. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Tell us what this farce, as Carthia termed it, is all about, Kane. Tell us why it is that the man I knew as Kane was in truth named David, and had to be sent away. And tell us how it is that he now stands before us… Kane and the man David, and yet somehow more than both. Much more.’

I had know this moment to be coming for years, had longed for its coming, and had spent countless hours rehearsing for it. Yet now, as I looked from each expectant face to the next, I was tongue tied. Speechless.

‘This is difficult,’ I finally said. ‘Much more difficult than I ever thought it would be.’

‘Blood and ashes!’ Carthia said. ‘We’ve not got all night. Jain is not getting any younger, you know. Tell them!’

‘I am the Kane you know of old, your friend and comrade. And I am the one who you just saw sent back to his home. But…’ I choked, as the memories of it all welled up before me – all the lifetimes, the friendships won and lost, and these, my friends, finally returned to me. I took a deep, deep breath, and then faced my friends again.

‘My story is very long, complex, and very hard to believe… I myself have doubted my memories on many a time. So for now… please bear with me, Carthia, I will tell again what only a short while ago I told you.’

Carthia groaned, but when I turned toward her, she gave a wicked smile, and said, ‘I jest, Kane. Please continue… but, to be clear, I will not rest until I have heard every detail of your story. Every detail, mind.’

‘On that, I concur,’ Jain interjected. ‘I, too, will not rest, Kane.’

‘The two of you!’ I said, with mock disbelief. Then, with a smile, I said, ‘I will eventually tell all… all that I can at least.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Carthia blurted, before Jain could as much as open his mouth.

‘Jain knows well the need for not telling all, don’t you, Jain? Somethings must never be disclosed, less they affect what is yet to come. Is that not so, Jain?’

Unbelievably, Jain who had continually left me in a state of fury when he would drip feed what he knew, if he shared his knowledge at all, said in an exasperated tone, ‘You would withhold detail from me?’

And before I could voice mock indignation at his remark, Carthia, a knife in both hands, said, ‘Oh, he will tell all, Jain. Believe me, he will.’

We’ll see about that, I thought, even as I said, ‘Okay, fine. Have it your way, I will tell all… but eventually, as I said earlier.’ But it will be I who decides when eventually arrives. ‘So what if you all now give me a little quiet while I tell the short version, is that okay?’ I stared at each in turn, holding their gaze for a second or two until they nodded their assent.

Finally, I turned to Carthia. ‘And you, do you think that on this telling you can hold your tongue… at least until I’ve finished?’

Carthia merely smiled, her face a picture of innocence.

I sighed. Oh, how I wish Anna was here. She would know how to go about this. She would at least know where to start. What I told Carthia was a shambles… I was all over the place. I again took a deep breath.

‘Right then. Start at the beginning, I suppose—’

‘That’d be a good idea,’ Carthia said, with a grin.

I sighed, but smiled inside. She was a pain, but she was my pain, and I loved her for all her irritations.

Eyes locked on her, I said, ‘I will tell my story as it happened to me… for, confusing as it will be, it is the easiest to understand… if not believe. I was born David Ellis, on another world… the world, that the man, David, the man I was, was just sent back to.’

Jain simply nodded, Carthia and Step both had confused looks on their face, and Garam grunted, a noise that seemed at once both an indication of confusion and strained impatience.

I ignored them all and continued. ‘One day Nargu came to our world, four of them, by way of the Travelling Stones at Achra—’

I stopped suddenly and held up my hand to Jain, as I saw that he was poised to interrupt.

‘No questions now, Jain. No interruptions. None! There will be time enough for questions later.’ I knew that he perceived a flaw in my story – the stones did not allow travel between worlds, so he believed; indeed, Jain believed that even the rods did not allow such journeys.

With a look of mock indignation and a tone dripping with sarcasm, Jain said, ‘Forgive me, Kane. Please accept my humble apologies and continue.’

I couldn’t help smiling at the old bastard. Years, centuries even, of believing him dead had actually given me fond memories of his so very pedantic and sarcastic nature.

‘Ignore him, Kane. Just get on with it!’ Tarnia said, impatiently.

‘Yeah, get on with it. I’m confused enough as it is without Jain running off at the mouth,’ Garam added with a growl.

‘Okay,’ I said, as I again locked my eyes on Jain. ‘They brought me here, to Ellas, and took me to him… to Dar’cen. He had sent them to my world to capture one such as I because somehow our bodies are different to the people of Ellas, and he could change us… enhance us, and make us… make me into what I was when I was… Kanteth.’

‘Shit!’ Garam exclaimed, as he pushed himself back from the fire, away from me. Step and Tarnia fared little better, their eyes went wide, and Tarnia covered her mouth in shock, whilst Step’s just hung open.

They had not known any of my past, only that I was hunted by Dar’cen, sought to foil him at every turn, and that with Jain I searched for some relic of the past.

‘That is who he once was! You have known him far too long to believe that any remnant of Dar’cen’s servant still exists within him. So sit still, and listen!’ Jain said, eying me before continuing, ‘If you don’t want interruptions, Kane, please be more tactful with your revelations.’

‘You’re right, of course, Jain. Time has made me forget of the effect of that name… and of who I was then. Garam, Step, Tarnia, Jain speaks true. I am not that man, that creature who did such unspeakable things. He is long gone. Longer even than you believe, Jain. As my story will tell. I will not talk now of all that happened whilst I was his. Sufficient to say that I was his, and now I am not. As Jain will attest to, I was set free of him on the day that I was to assassinate him.’

Of my companions of old, all but Jain’s face showed shock, quickly followed by horror. ‘But I didn’t,’ I quickly added, and then forced a laugh at my stupid, so obvious remark.

‘No you didn’t, and I thank you earnestly for that,’ Jain said, coming to my rescue. And the rest up to this day, we all know. So where does your tale go from there. Unless, of course, you would now finally tell me of how it was you broke his bonds that day.’

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I smirked at his persistence – he had never stopped probing for clues on how I had escaped Dar’cen’s clutches, and I had always held back, not understanding why, but not wanting to tell of Anna.

‘Another time perhaps, Jain. My tale now follows the man we sent back to his home world today… though I will tell it as it was for me, when I was that man, and I was sent back.’ Seeing their faces, Jain’s included, I laughed. ‘I told you it would be confusing. But don’t worry, it gets worse… much worse.

‘I arrived at my home world, Earth it is named, believing that Carthia here, had murdered you all. ‘I could believe nothing less, as the last I heard before I travelled were her’s as she said, ‘Kill them all.’’

Looking to each of them in turn, I said, ‘I believed you all dead for a very long time, and my hatred for Carthia was as great as that for Dar’cen himself. That hatred, and my need for vengeance, dictated much of what happened to me then.

'I tried to forget. I tried to fit back into my old life with my son, Tony, and the woman I had loved before I was taken. But I was a very different man to the one they had known, and neither believed the lies I gave to explain my disappearance.

'Worse still was telling the truth to my son… he thought my tale the ramblings of a madman. It is true what they say, ‘You can never go back.’ I brought them nothing but pain, and it would have been better had I never returned… But enough of that. Eventually, when the strain on all of us was too great to bear, I left.

‘For a long time then I searched then for a way to return here… to extract vengeance on Carthia. But I found nothing, and so I tried to block out all that had happened to me by attempting to fit back into the life I had had before… without my son and Maggie that is.

'But you can never go back, as I said earlier, for almost as I began my new life, I began to receive messages that could only have come from Ellas, or someone who was from Ellas. And that was before…’ Alex, I finished in my thoughts. Don’t tell them of Alex. Carthia mustn’t know of her. I hadn’t mentioned Alex earlier when I spoke with Carthia, or at least I had not told of how she was Carthia’s Earth bound twin.

That I had not even told Anna. And like then, I had no reason to withhold details of Alex, nothing concrete that told of grave consequences should I tell of her, just a reluctance, a wariness that stilled my tongue.

‘Before what?’ Jain prompted.

‘Uh! Before the attacks came… There were a number of attacks, and strangely, they were almost always preceded by a warning. It was very confusing, as if two, or more even, factions were at work. I got messages, usually telling me to search here or there for clues on how to return to Ellas.

'All of which, save the last, turned out to be worthless wild goose chases. And then there were the warnings of an attack, and always last minute warnings. The attack, in whatever form it took, coming fast on the heels of the note, text or whatever form the warning took.’

‘Text?’ Mumbled Jain.

I ignored him. ‘Regardless, I spent two years on my home world… being sent all over the place by those infernal messages, and I learnt absolutely nothing. It was extremely frustrating, and it was only the very last message we received—’

‘We? Who was with you? You haven’t mentioned anyone else accompanying you. Not now, nor earlier,’ Carthia said, a hardness in her voice.

Shit! Years of rehearsing what to tell, and I still bugger it up with my big mouth. ‘A woman I met helped me. Her name was Alex. I confided in her, told her my story. All of it… and she believed me. She was the only one… well apart from my mother, that is.’

‘So there is this Alex, and your mother! Are you sure there are not others that you did not think to mention, Kane?’ Carthia’s tone was as cold as ice.

Well there’s Jalholm, isn’t there? But for now, I think my story is unbelievable enough without the complication he brings to everything. That said, Jain will have to know eventually… he’s sure to have some thoughts on all Jalholm told. And then there was Pauline… I hardly knew the woman, and yet thought of her has seldom been far from my mind all these years.

I sighed, feigning exasperation. ‘Nope. You’ve got all the players now. Alex helped me chase all around my world, directed by those infernal messages. She was with me right up to when I got the last message, and even up to when I clenched the rod and pressed its button—’

‘Rod? What rod? A travelling rod, you found one there on your home world?’ Jain, blurted.

‘This one here, Jain,’ I said, as I grasped hold of the rod hanging from my belt. ‘This very same rod was delivered to me on my last day on Earth with a message telling me to us it within the hour. And I did, and it brought me back to Ellas.’

‘Only hours ago you used that rod to send yourself to your world, and your telling us that you used that very same rod to come back… and yet you still have it!’

Jain paused, a quizzical look on his face. ‘What you say makes no sense. That you were here to send your younger self back, means you returned from your world to Ellas some time ago, some time in the past. Travel through time? Surely that is impossible… isn’t it?’

‘Clearly it is possible, Jain, for you are correct, I did arrive back on Ellas some time ago. Before even my younger self, as you put it, was even brought here by his Nargu captors. Long before, in fact.’

I looked down a second as I steeled myself for what I needed to say next. Then, as I again met Jain’s eyes, I thought I could almost glimpse comprehension dawn as merged all I had said with his vast store of knowledge and experience.

Do you know, Jain? Have you guessed what I will say next? ‘I do not understand it… any of it, but I was returned to the distant past, and they were waiting for me. Waiting for the one who would be named Al’kar…’

My words died off then as I looked upon the faces before me that were all so very suddenly filled with astonishment – Garam, Step and Tarnia, and even poor Carthia, for I had not told her of this earlier, only Anna had shared that secret with me – all except Jain. Jain, who’s face was filled with excitement.

From Carthia, I expected anger and resentment at not sharing this with her earlier, but she surprised me by taking my hand in hers. ‘Many things you rushed to tell me earlier, so do not worry that this, the most important, you did not say. The Lady… and you talked of many things during our time together that now make sense to me. So though what you say sounds ridiculous, I know it for truth.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, putting my arm around her, as my teary eyes surveyed those in front of me. Tarnia and Step were speechless, their mouths hanging open, whereas Jain had the smug smirk that I knew so very well plastered across his face, a smirk that I had hated with a vengeance, and yet missed for so very long.

‘Go on, spit it out,’ I said, and I almost choked on my own laughter, ‘you smug bastard.’

‘I did not know that you were Al’kar. I did not even consider it. But I did know that it must have something to do with the prophecies… what with having two of you here together, both at the same time, and you keeping it from the other one, the other you,’ Jain said, his voice filled with awe.

Here we go again, I thought. The bloody prophecies. All I'd ever heard of the prophecies were guarded references – ‘The prophecies tell us that…,’ ‘My dreams and the prophecies,’ ‘the prophecies do not show all.’ Anna and her talk, or should I say lack of talk, of the prophecies drove me mad on times. Anna. Oh, how I miss her, though. I thought that my world would end when I lost her first, but that was nothing in comparison to witnessing her final passing from this world. I miss her so very much.

‘So what do your prophecies say that cover this situation, Jain? What do they foretell? And while we’re on the subject, what are these precious prophecies of yours, who wrote them, when, and what are they all about? What is their purpose?’ I asked sarcastically, not really expecting an answer, as Jain had rarely given direct answers to any questions put to him. Besides, Anna had told me a little of what she knew, and of a fashion, I had met the woman, Erithain, who had written them.

For a second Jain seemed a little taken aback by my questions, or perhaps it was the obvious frustration in my voice as I asked them.

But his concern cleared quickly and a wide smile broke his face.

‘My, my, so many questions! It will take until daybreak to answer what you ask, and that will still leave all that we wish to know of you Al’kar. Or would you rather be addressed as Kane, or even David, perhaps?’

'Kane will do just fine,’ I quickly responded.‘ But does that mean that you are actually prepared to give me answers? Not bloody vague references with hidden meanings mind, real answers?’

‘I will tell you what I can,’ Jain answered, solemnly, the smile now less, much less, more a withered grin.

‘And what exactly does that mean? What are you prepared to tell?’ I asked.

The others sat patiently observing the mind games that Jain played, expecting yet again to come out empty handed.

‘I will tell you all I know of the history of the prophecies, though that is little enough. Of their content I dare only tell you of that which has already come to pass. Though what they tell of out future is scant indeed; cut off almost at the here and now, telling very little of what is to come, and that seemingly of little importance.

'But even of that little I dare not tell you of, lest it influence the path you take, the path we all take—’

‘Words! More bloody words, with little or no content. Tell us clearly what you mean, Jain… give us detail… Please!’ I angrily interrupted.

‘You never were a patient man, Kane, and it seems that time has not cured you of even that small affliction!’ Jain said, his smile returning and bringing with it an evil gleam to his eyes.

‘I will tell you all I offered but a moment ago. But—’

Tarnia guffawed, Garam said, ‘Bloody knew there’d be a but!’ and Carthia smiled as she said, ‘Garrote him Kane, you know you’ve always wanted to.’

At her words Jain lifted a hand to his neck, a question replacing the evil gleam in his eyes. ‘Garrote me?’

‘A long story, Jain. I would tell you but…’ I answered, leaving the but hang in the air.’

All laughed, but as they fell silent, I said, ‘Go on, Jain. Tell us all what it is you must have in return for the little you will share with us.’

‘You are all so very distrusting and suspicious. I do not demand anything! I will tell you of the history of the prophecies, and I will do that now… here and now. But, before I speak of what the prophecies told of what has already passed, you must tell your story, Kane.

'I need you to tell it true, as it happened, unclouded by what I have to say of the prophecies and their foretelling. My hope is that perhaps, just perhaps, some of your tale will lend some meaning to the little that has been written about what is to come… Surely that is not too great a request?’ Jain said, in a serious tone, his smile gone and his face now that of the scholar who had lectured us all so very many times on the ways and workings of the world.

It was so very good to have him back, to have them all back.

‘Agreed!’ I said. ‘I will tell you all of my story, though there are still very many happenings that I do not understand myself. But I will tell it all.’

And as I said those last words, my eyes met Carthia’s, and I wondered would I really tell it all. Would I tell of Alex, Carthia’s virtual twin, and of her dead sister, and their book, the book that I knew somehow linked our two worlds. I had held that back from Carthia – she was troubled enough by her own past without heaping those of another world upon her.

I knew though that I should tell them, tell Jain at least. But then, his recent words came to me – ‘lest it influence the paths you take.’

Would my telling Jain change his path, and would it be for the good? No, I would hold back for now, and think on it a while.

‘Go ahead, Jain. Tell us of the prophecies, and their history, and then I will tell my story.’