Chapter 27

With the Help of his Friends

- And so he felled the enemy impossible, but only with the aid of his comrades -

Thonavar lay awake.

He could not sleep.

His body ached from tossing afnd turning upon the cold hard stone. The group of children were each assigned a small room with three walls and a long door which reached the ceiling. Inside the room was a small mat of straw for sleeping and resting purposes. There also a table on which were some plain clothes. Other than the two items, there was nothing else. There was a window high above from which a shaft of light speared through.

Thonavar’s was weary from the day’s events. Memories surfaced in his mind. His mother kneeling and embracing him and his father’s tall silent form standing nearby. Silent and sullen boys and girls torn apart from wailing parents. The division of the children into groups by dark-robed men and the slow silent procession to their living quarters for the night.

When they had come to the doorway of his assigned living space, the dark-robed men who had escorted him to his room had given Thonavar an instruction:

Rise with the sun, venture into the forests and locate an open clearing within. From there shall you begin the journey  to Sanctum.

He had not slept for hours now and already he could imagine the sky outside turning from nighttime darkness to a dark blue, then light blue and then turning golden with the sunrise.

His mind was a jumble of thoughts. What was he to learn in a place like this? Was he really going to become a watcher? Would he be imbued with special powers? When would he get to see his parents again?

A wave of anxiety surged through his body. Then frustration. He could do nothing for now but to wait.

Looking up, the shaft of light above him illuminated particles of dust which floated silver-like in the moonlight. The effect was almost magical. For a while, he watched the dust particles make patterns in the air. Like tiny freckles of snow, he thought.

Suddenly, the light increased in intensity and became brighter. Thonavar sighed to himself. It would soon be morning and the sun would be rising with the dawn.

Sitting upright, he got to his feet and did a few stretches, easing the tension from a stiff body that was full of aches. He put on the clothes that were on the table.

The upper shirt was body-hugging and slightly tight. The pants were loose but clung firmly to his waist. Both pants and shirt were a dark grey. A pair of laceless shoes of the same colour was also found under the clothing. It was light, fitting snugly and strangely comfortable. The inside of the shoe was made with a woollen sock-like material and he reasoned that this would protect his skin from walking movements that would cause abrasion to his skin.

After he had finished changing, he looked up. The shaft of light seemed to getting brighter. Time to go, he thought.

He stood in front of the long wooden doors that stretched to the ceiling. With a deep breath, he pushed them. To his surprise, they opened easily without a sound and a cool breeze hit him. It was most refreshing.

Outside his room, the hallway was silent and Thonavar wondered if the others had managed to rise this early or if they were still sleeping. He walked stealthily down the hallway, careful not to make much noise. At the end of the hallway, he found himself peering down two passageways. One led further into the darkness. He chose the other passageway where he could see the moon in the dark blue sky.

Walking out into the nighttime sky, he came to the edge of a steep grassy hill and peered out at the horizon before him. He could see the land stretching into the distance, ending at the tall peaks of mountains, dark and foreboding in the distance.

In the dark, his eyes picked out what looked like a nearby small forest with a small clearing in the middle. To get there, he had to climb down the grassy hill and walk across the valley to the edge of the forest. The surrounding grasslands were a mix of even fields and rolling hills. Strangely, there did not seem to be anybody around.

Am I going the right way? If so, why is there no one about? Has no one risen yet?

Suddenly, a sound!

He spun around urgently.

His eyes made out the figure of a boy. The boy approached him. He came up in front of Thonavar who took a step back, fists clenched and preparing himself for a potential attack from the silent figure before him.

"Greetings," said the boy. "Do you know where we are supposed to go?"

The boy stood just before Thonavar, hands on waist, grinning from ear to ear with a cheeky smile. Relieved, Thonavar unclenched his fists and relaxed.

Greetings. I am Thonavar. Ironhand. Look yonder there," replied Thonavar, pointing to the clearing in the middle of the small forest.

"I am Chaeron Theon. From the House of Theonis, of course. You may be right. That seems the only likely place to go. There do not seem to be other places which fit the description of a forest clearing. That being said, it does not look like much of a clearing to me. Then again, I am unable to see so clearly in the dark. Nevertheless, I must ask, were you about to attack me a moment ago? Unless my own eyes betrayed me, I saw you getting ready to hit me!"

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Chaeron spoke quickly and his accent was characteristic of one who came from city above. Thonavar was taken aback by his fluency of speech. But his thoughts quickly become dark.

He belongs to a House. He must be wealthy then. Just like Alexis’ family.

"Well, I thought you were about to attack me. I braced myself for a fight," replied Thonavar. He assessed Chaeron as he spoke. Chaeron was slightly taller than he was and this annoyed Thonavar for some inexplicable reason. They were both dressed in the same clothing.

"You cannot be serious," said Chaeron, looking slightly taken aback. "Me? Attacking you? To think someone might want to hurt you in any way is an extreme reaction. This is unless you come from the slums of course. I have heard that city below is crawling with violent gangs of thieves and brigands. You are not from one of those gangs, are you?"

"We must start to make our way down. The sky will be light soon," replied Thonavar, ignoring Chaeron’s question, and started to make his way down a grass hill, heading straight for the dark trees in the distance. Chaeron followed him and the two made their way down the hill.

"Thonavar…apologies, do I pronounce your name correctly? Do you not find it odd that we seem to be the only two walking in the moonlight to some clearing? There is no one to be seen at all."

Thonavar nodded in agreement. It was odd indeed. At any rate, the sky was now a light blue. This meant that the sun would be rising soon.

We need to hurry.

A thought flashed across Thonavar’s mind and he paused, halting his climb down.

"Why are you stopping?"

"Could it be that we each were given different instructions? It is possible that only both of us were given instructions to meet at this strange location while the others were given instructions to meet elsewhere," said Thonavar, suspiciously.

"That does not seem likely," replied Chaeron, shaking his head. "I saw you exit from the hallway. I followed you. The chamber in which I was held was close to yours. It would not make sense for all of us to receive instructions to meet at different locations. Our living quarters are right next to each other and there is only one entrance into the open grasslands."

"I do not understand. I did not see any doors to other living quarters near mine," said Thonavar, puzzled.

Chaeron smiled at Thonavar, and then he grinned.

"If you had looked closely at the long doorway that opened from the inside, you will see that from the outside, the doorway appears like the walls of the hallway. It is hard to identify any door. You might have trouble finding your room again Thonavar," chuckled Chaeron.

"I doubt we will return to our chambers again. Today, we make the journey to Sanctum."

"Wherever that is," muttered Chaeron, before yawning loudly, stretching his arms as he did so.

The line of dark trees loomed before them and Thonavar increased his pace to a jog. The dawn was breaking and he could see that in the distance, hints of yellow and orange could be seen. Chaeron followed Thonavar’s gaze and he too increased his pace to a slow jog, coming up beside Thonavar.

Coming at last to the edge of the small forest, Thonavar slowed down and proceeded to walk cautiously. Chaeron did the same. They entered the forest. All was dark within. The thick tree leaves and branches blocked all light from entering, even light from the moon, and it was as though they were experiencing a different, darker, kind of night.

The two walked in the dark for a few minutes when they both heard a whisper.

"Over here!"

Chaeron and Thonavar spun around but could see nothing but the silhouette of dark tree branches and overhanging roots. Suddenly, someone whispered again.

"Over here!"

The sound had come from a direction to their right. Thonavar and Chaeron followed the sound, tripping over roots and dead leaves in their effort to locate the source of the sound. Suddenly, the roots and dead leaves disappeared beneath their feet, to be replaced with soft grass. Their eyes adjusted and they realised they had entered a large clearing in the middle of the forest. Sitting around in ones and twos were other boys and girls, all dressed in the same clothing Thonavar and Chaeron wore. Heads turned to stare at them, then turned to look away again.

"Here!"

Sitting near the edge of the clearing, Thonavar saw a girl waving to them. She sat alone. Thonavar and Chaeron approached her before sitting down next to her. She looked at them both but said nothing. Thonavar met her eyes and in that moment understood why the girl was sitting alone. The girl stared at Thonavar and Thonavar felt her piercing gaze. It was both frightening and eerie at the same time.

Thonavar held her stare.

Satisfied, the girl looked away and began to stare at Chaeron who stiffened as he was put under her punishing gaze.

Sitting there in between the two, Thonavar observed each closely. The girl was small in frame. She had blond hair and blue eyes which seemed to glitter softly. Chaeron had brown hair and was slightly plump. His eyes were a greyish-blue.

A strange awkward silence followed and the three of them simply exchanged looks. Not being able to bear it any longer, Thonavar spoke up.

"Greetings, I am Thonavar Ironhand and this is Chaeron Theon."

"From the House of Theonis," added Chaeron, beneath his breath. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Thank you for directing us to this clearing," said Thonavar. Chaeron nodded in agreement.

The girl remained silent and hugged her knees to herself. After what seemed like an eternity, she nodded back.

Chaeron looked around the clearing before turned to the girl.

"What is happening here?"

"Greetings, I am Lyla," said the girl, look at Thonavar, ignorning Chaeron’s question.

"Lyla?"

"Evesong."

"Well met, Lyla Evesong. What are we doing here?"

"Awaiting our next set of instructions. Were you not told to come to this forest clearing?"

"Yes, we were. But we were unsure of the way," replied Thonavar. "We saw no one on our way here."

"This is the only distinct location upon the grassy plains that can be seen from our chambers," said Lyla. Her tone was challenging and aggressive. Thonavar did not answer and there was another long pause as the three exchanged looks.

"When…when did you arrive here," asked Chaeron nervously.

"Most of us waited a few hours to sunrise before coming here. There was nothing else to do," replied Lyla. "I could not sleep. Hence, I was one of the earliest to arrive."

Then, turning to Thonavar, she addressed him.

"Your hair is strange," she observed.

Annoyed at this remark, Thonavar made as if to answer but before he could do so, a hush fell over the clearing and it became impossibly quieter than it had been before. Thonavar saw that all across the clearing, boys and girls lifted their heads, straining to look at something. Thonavar looked up and saw soft beams of light filtering through the dense foliage above. The light beams gathered in intensity to form golden rays which defiantly pierced into the clearing through the dense leafy foliage, proving fatal to the darkness. And as though by some strange magic, the clearing transformed into daytime. But silence reigned.

For it was now dawn and the sun had risen.

Without warning, a male black-robed figure suddenly materialised in the midst of the clearing.