There was quiet on the Eastern Field of Paṉi Makkaḷ. It was too quiet to Ṭirākulā’s taste. Because of this, he remained far behind his Vanamars, having his eyes closed while sniffing the horizon. He did that because the air around him bothered him, even if he couldn’t understand why he felt all that. And, even if this bothered him, Ṭirākulā didn’t have whom to ask about this and about the anxiety from his chest or if someone else felt the same.
Understanding that he was on his own on that field, Ṭirākulā decided to keep his mouth shut. The Vanamar thought that it was safer for him to do that, at least for a while until he would have understood what the deal with that silence was, that silence felt all over the Field Miruṅkaḷ, or, as it was known among the People of Ice, the Field of the Beasts. Why exactly of the Beasts? Because… It was said, among the People of Ice, that a very long time ago, probably millennia ago, a fierce battle took place there. What kind of beasts fought there? Nobody knew. People only remembered that a lot of blood had been spilled on that field and, because of this, their ancestors called that Field Miruṅkaḷ, a field that didn’t have a name by then, which they simply called the Field of Peyaraṟṟa or the Nameless Field.
„They should have called it the Field of Dread not of the Beasts,” Ṭirākulā hissed through his teeth eventually when his fur raised a little because of the cold wind that had been suddenly felt around. „Or the Field of the Ghosts because… I can’t explain otherwise why I feel as though I’m closed into a cage full of beasts.”
„Is it because you are losing your mind?” Domas decided to tease the Vanamar, suddenly approaching their leader, from behind. He didn’t look at Ṭirākulā after this, even though the Vanamar squinted at him. Domas only sat on his belly, to their leader’s right, staring at the Barrier. After that, sweetly yawning, he continued his thought, „Yet, I’m wrong and you are still lucid.”
„Did you think differently or what?” Ṭirākulā asked, showing his fangs.
„I hoped so. Actually, I dreamt of this. Yet, as I’m not a lucky creature, just as the frog doesn’t have the luck to have hair one day, I still have you among us. Yet, you also must accept that your power is weak. Is it because you are old?”
„In case you have forgotten this, Domas: you are older than me,” Ṭirākulā growled eventually, surrounding the Vanamar.
Domas yawned again, letting Ṭirākulā know, who was still squinting at him, that his threats were in vain. After that, bored, he laid his snout on his front paws, saying, „Yes, you are right: I’m older than you and maybe wiser too.”
„Something I actually doubt. Do you know why?”
„Because… if I had been wiser, you would have been headless a long time ago?”
„Something like that. Yet, while I still have my head on my shoulders, you shouldn’t boast that you are wiser.”
„If you say so. Anyway, Ṭirākulā, you know: someone’s wisdom cannot be measured by his physical strength or ability to leave his enemy headless. Someone is wise if he feels that the danger is close, like the one behind that Barrier.”
Ṭirākulā looked at him, thunderstruck. „What the hell are you talking about, Domas? There’s nobody there! Or what… are you blind?”
„Nea, I’m not blind, even if I’m old and I have some problems with my sight. Yet, this doesn’t impede me from feeling the energy. A damn cold one by the way, of Kirivas. And he’s not alone behind that Barrier, but with many other winds that guard that border.”
„Kirivas is behind that invisible wall? What has he lost there?”
Domas squinted at their leader as if asking him, „Are you dumb?” Then, reproachfully shaking his head, he said, „What else can Kirivas do there if not to impede us crossing through that Barrier?”
Ṭirākulā burst into laughter so suddenly. A laughter that exited his throat as if inside the Vanamar was an empty barrel. Seeing Domas staring at him, confused, Ṭirākulā said, „A Barrier we aren’t able to cross anyway. Not even with the help of the crazy creature over there.”
„I suggest you keep your tongue behind your teeth, Ṭirākulā,” Domas growled, furious, standing up on his four paws. „Titanide Tīmai isn’t crazy.”
„If you say so! Yet, you forget one thing: she isn’t normal either. Do you know why I’m so sure? Because of her „friends.” Those that are over there.” Saying this, Ṭirākulā pointed with his head toward the first row of trees that was behind them. There, through the branches of the trees, the two Vanamars saw a lot of crows. „No normal creature is followed by such „friends.”
„As though those who walk alone are all normal. You are the perfect example, by the way.”
„Yeah, I must accept you are right this time: I’m also crazy. Since a long time ago actually. Yet, this had never shadowed my judgment, and neither did I ever think that I was superior. Unlike your „Princess.” Anyway, be as you wish: if you want to keep serving her, your problem.”
Domas grinned. „At least I serve her because I want this and I’m not forced to do that as you are, Ṭirākulā: a beaten dog that had been chained and then forced to run behind the cart.”
„Who are you calling a dog?” Ṭirākulā shouted, suddenly approaching Domas. Then, rippling his fur, the same Domas did, Ṭirākulā showed him his sharp fangs, stained black in places.
Both Vanamars were more than eager for a fierce fight at that moment. If they had fought eventually, as they wanted, they would have remained both without their fur because… both of them were more than eager to rip off the other one’s skin. Yet, they had to let that fight for later when the sharp top of a whip deeply bit their fur. This made them jump up at first, then to the side, yelping like mad souls. Eventually, only a deaf sound was heard coming out of their throats when they saw that who had whipped them was Tīmai. She, seeing them ready to fight, decided to teach them some manners before all the Vanamars hadn’t joined their leader’s party. If this had happened, she would have probably suffered too because she knew that the Vanamars were there listening to someone’s order and not because they wanted that.
In the end, still staring at Tīmai, whose throat, both Domas and Ṭirākulā, would have tasted eventually if they had had that chance, the two Vanamars pulled a little back. Then, they squinted at her when Tīmai hissed through her teeth, „If you miss someone to rip off your skin, just stay in line, dogs! We have unwelcome guests behind that Barrier, in case you didn’t know that! Other dogs that barely wait to stub their stinky fangs into our throat.”
„We also know that!” Ṭirākulā growled, barely heard. „We started to fight because of this. Actually, we were fighting to see which of us would say first „hi” to them,” the Vanamar lied.
Tīmai squinted at him. She didn’t believe the Vanamar’s words. Yet, she couldn’t prove the contrary. Because of this, she only asked, „May I know since when you two know about the enemy hidden behind the Barrier?”
„We have just found out, My Lady,” replied Domas, fawning beside her. „We were about to tell you too!”
„When exactly: before or after you would have broken the other one’s throat?” Then, without waiting for their answer, Tīmai turned her back to them, demanding, „Be ready for the attack!”
Ṭirākulā and Domas exchanged glances. „Attack? Which one?” Domas asked their leader.
„I have no idea! Yet, I feel that we’ll find this out, very soon!” Ṭirākulā growled, walking around the field to tell the other Vanamars to be ready for the fight.
Halfway through the field, he suddenly stopped when he felt a damn hot air coming from behind. He felt that arson as though the entire forest behind him would have been in flames. The same happened to the air: it was difficult to breathe, as though he was breathing smoke and not fresh air. Yet, looking at Kiago Forest, he saw that it wasn’t burning as he thought, something that seemed damn weird to him. Also, Ṭirākulā saw that he wasn’t the only one bothered by that air and that Domas and Tīmai felt the same as he felt and, because of this, they started to sniff the horizon, trying to understand who was to blame for that „Fire.”
The only ones who didn’t move from their place were the Vanamars. Only their fur raised a little and the skin of their snouts was slowly shaking as though they were all about to sneeze. Yet, once they had the order not to move from their place and keep their eyes focused on the borders of Paṉi Makkaḷ, they had to stay still. In case any of them would have disobeyed the order and would have looked at the forest, then all of them would have been punished, bitten by the throat by Ṭirākulā, who would have sent them to the world of Samargo in seconds only.
Unlike the Vanamars, who kept shaking their furs eventually and showing their fangs, Tīmai seemed damn calm. Yet, she was aware that she hadn’t visions and that she had enemies in front and behind her. Why was she so sure of this? Because of the air around them. The air from behind them, for example, the one felt coming from the Kingdom of Ice, was damn cold, something that made her have goosebumps. The air in front of her instead, the one that came from Kiago Forest, was extremely hot, which scorched the top of her hair and eyelashes eventually, and this made her understand that a single enemy was capable of such power. „Our beloved queen Hestia!” Tīmai shouted so suddenly, making all the Vanamars wince and look at her, terrified. The Titanide, paying attention to none of them, rotated on her heels, slowly, trying to make sure the sudden appearance of Hestia wouldn’t take her by surprise in the end. And, while rotating on her heels, she kept yelling, „Come one, Hestia, don’t be a coward! I know you are here because… not for nothing you let us feel your hot breath: You wanted us to know that you are here, right?”
A strange peel of laughter suddenly surrounded the Field Miruṅkaḷ. A peel of laughter that seemed so similar to a horse galloping through that field because it surrounded that place in seconds only, making the wolves’fur shake more. This made Tīmai attentive because that laughter was familiar to her. Yes, it was Hestia’s laughter, undoubtedly. At the same time, the sound of drums seemed familiar to Tīmai, drums hit by someone's palms, which started to be heard soon after the laughter. Then, about a minute later, when they managed to make all the Vanamars feel the fear sneaking into their bones, the first one who appeared on the Field Miruṅkaḷ, a few meters only from Tīmai, was Hestia. The Titanide of Fire, smiling, looked at her enemy, to whom she said in the end, „You are still able to feel me, Tīmai! Even after thousands of years of not seeing each other! Is it because you have missed me?”
„Absolutely. What I dreamt of all this time was to twist your neck, sister Hestia. Because of this, I’ve learned all your tricks, something that allows me to avoid being taken by surprise by you, actually.”
„Really?” Hestia said, confidently. This made Tīmai attentive. „If I had been you, I wouldn’t have been that sure because… ups, you are surrounded, Tīmai. You went straight into the trap. The Trap of Fate I mean, the one that can be found only on the Field of Beasts.”
It was Tīmai’s turn to burst into laughter. Her laughter didn’t take Hestia by surprise. She only carefully looked at the mad person in front of her, for minutes in a row, actually because Tīmai, who seemed to have finally released the laughter she had kept inside for centuries, didn’t give up on her madness soon. Only in the end, when she could calm down, Tīmai looked at Hestia, saying, „As though I’m a beast to be locked in a cage, Hestia. You can try it if you want. Yet… I doubt you’ll make it. Do you know why?”
„Because your master Maranam watches your back?”
„My father, not my master, that’s different. Why? Because… this way, I’m my only master.”
„If you say so! Yet, to make some light in your dumb brain, Tīmai, because you look so „confident,” I’ll tell you that… hmm…” Suddenly, Hestia kept silent while a cunning smile was seen sketched on her face. This made Tīmai attentive. Tīmai even stopped grinning after a short while, understanding that Hestia knew something she wasn’t aware of. And she was right in thinking so because the Titanide of Fire told her soon after this, whispering the words only, „What I wanted to say is that you are alone in this war, sister Tīmai. Why? Because your father, the great Maranam, is locked in a cage already.”
„You are lying!”
„What do I win by doing this? Nothing! I would only lie to myself and not you. I just say what I know: that Maranam and the Virgins Uyarvu are in a bigger problem than you are because… Iruḷ has surrounded them too. And she’s not alone there but with Nemirā and the entire Kal Kaṉiyaṉ between them.”
„Ah,” yelled Tīmai, crazy. „It seems to me that you all have lost your mind if you have decided to stay in our way! Yet… you have made a wrong decision, Sister Hestia because, by attacking us and wanting us dead, you made us tighten the circle around you and look for your death! Now, Ṭirākulā! Attack them!”
Ṭirākulā, with pumped eyes, looked at her. Seeing that Tīmai was completely out of control, he demanded his Vanamars to regroup and head toward Hestia eventually. The Vanamar Ṭirākulā not only demanded his wolves scare the Titanide, but to break her into pieces only to give an example to everybody and let others know that it was a huge mistake attacking them.
Yet, the Vanamars had to leave that thought for later because, after taking about ten steps from Hestia, green arrows, with a poisonous top, stubbed in the ground right between their front paws. This made them stop and look around, frightened because those arrows took them by surprise. Even Ṭirākulā seemed terrified because of them. That’s why he focused his glance on the forest, understanding from where the arrows were shot. Looking over there, he saw nobody. At least he saw nothing for a while, until the moment Hestia looked past her shoulder. Then, Ṭirākulā saw Daphne, the leader of the Dryads, who was hanging on a liana, hidden by the crown of a secular tree. Daphne wasn’t alone there, but along with a lot of nymphs. Ṭirākulā saw them also through the branches, which hid their faces, protecting them with their leaves.
„Now I get it!” Growled Ṭirākulā, staring at Domas, who was to his right. „We have leafy enemies threatening us!” Yet, even if he tried to say this as a joke or maybe as an insult addressed to the Dryads, Ṭirākulā was outraged because he realized that as long as they were in an open field, they were vulnerable.
Tīmai seemed to think differently because, right after she saw Daphne in that tree, she told Hestia, „Such a big deal: you brought such „faithful” servants with you. No one other than Daphne, a snake that hides between leafy branches.”
„If I were you, I wouldn’t have despised her, Tīmai. You know very well what the Dryads can do.”
„Yeah, I think I’ve heard something. Nothing out of the ordinary, anyway,” replied Tīmai in mockery. „An enemy I can easily defeat if I want this.” Then, so suddenly, she threw a wave of black energy toward the forest, trying to knock the Dryads down.
To her great surprise, that wave of energy stopped halfway through the field, floating around Hestia after this. Not the Titanide of Fire was to blame for the fact that the black energy stopped, but the Virgins Tineimu, who suddenly appeared, one by one, all over the field Miruṅkaḷ.
There were dozens if not hundreds of Tineimu on that field. Their bonfires were slowly burning under their barefoot feet while their eyes were closed at that moment. Unlike other times when they appeared somewhere, the Virgins Tineimu didn’t have their arms folded over their chests, but each of them was holding a dagger at that moment. They held them right in front of their chest, daggers that were burning at that moment, blocking the power of Tīmai’s magic this way.
„I told you that it was your end, Tīmai. Yet, you haven’t believed me!” Hestia told her calmly. „This is a trap you won’t ever escape!” Then, as a response to Tīmai’s attack over the Dryads, Hestia used her power, sending a wave of hot energy toward Tīmai, whom she managed to throw away so close to the Barrier of Paṉi Makkaḷ.
***
The deaf sound, of something that started to crack, made Inlan Diar attentive. She was heading along with Eṉōl and part of the soldiers toward the Barrier that separated their Kingdom from the Field Ātma when they heard it. Because of this, all of them stopped and carefully looked around, trying to understand what was going on in the surroundings of Paṉi Makkaḷ. Yet, none of them could understand this. Not even the queen. Because of this, Inlan Diar’s heart started to pounce strangely in her chest, feeling her palms bathed by cold drops of sweat.
„Something happens, my queen?” Eṉōl asked her, preoccupied.
„Yes, commander: the air!”
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„The air? What do you mean, my queen?”
„I talk about the power of this place, Eṉōl. At the power that has protected us so many times before, but which seems to be against us in this war.”
The concern that he had felt in the queen’s voice and the fact that she was whispering those words, made Eṉōl wonder if Inlan Diar was hiding something from them. Yet, he didn’t dare to ask this because she was their queen while they were simple servants. All that he could do at that moment was to bow his head and follow her to the southern border of Paṉi Makkaḷ, where they had to keep an eye on a real enemy: the Coal Burners.
Eṉōl didn’t fear the enemy: neither Vvokkam nor his soldiers. Why? Because… yes, maybe Eṉōl was a simple soldier, without magic power, but even so he was on his lands. He was on the same lands where he was born, where he felt the morning dew with his barefoot feet when he was only a child, where he learned from his father what love meant and what the longing for his home was, and this was a weapon even sharper than a sword. The weapon the commander intended to use against the Coal Burners in that war because Paṉi Makkaḷ was his home, and not theirs. For his home, Eṉōl was more than capable of destroying the world, only not allowing Vvokkam to turn them, the masters of those places, into servants.
To make sure he’d succeed in this, Eṉōl had to be strong. He had not to be weak inside and not allow his soldiers to feel weak. Even so, he still knew that they were humans, at least a great part of the soldiers were, and this worried him because they could have been scared and given up in front of the enemy. Actually, for the same reason, the commander always thought about this since he found out that Tikil and the Coal Burners were on the Field Ātma. Yet, after Tikil died, and he found out from Alena that only Vvokkam controlled the Black Magic, he calmed down a little bit. Even so, he kept saying to himself, „As long as there is still hope for us and for them, we can’t be sure of anything: neither of success nor of failure.”
Nevertheless, the moment he saw the concern in the queen’s glance, Eṉōl started to doubt his success. He doubted this because it was a human feature that controlled his will and it was normal for him to question himself about how things would end eventually. Yet, being the commander of the army, which had hundreds of soldiers, an army Eṉōl had to protect at any cost, the commander decided that he had to be the strongest of all of them if others were weak. Because of this, Eṉōl deeply breathed in and followed the queen, even if the sound, of an icy surface that continued to crack, started to be heard around them again.
That sound made the soldiers anxious eventually. Yet, even if he saw them concerned, Eṉōl said nothing to them. He only carefully looked at each face seen around him, into their preoccupied glances, and at their fingers that were squeezing the handle of the weapon that they had in their hands. And, even if he felt them worried, Eṉōl smiled in the end, even if that smile wasn’t his natural one. Even so, he knew he had to smile because this would have given some courage to the soldiers. Through smiling, Eṉōl wanted to show them that he was courageous, that he didn’t fear anything: neither the war nor Fate, even if there was a fierce battle in Eṉōl’s heart already. Then, when he felt that his soldiers calmed a little bit, Eṉōl told them, „Let’s go! The fate of this place depends on us! So, while we still stand, this place will stand too!”
None of the soldiers said anything after this. They only tightly squeezed the handles of the swords, the spears, or the handle of the axes, following Eṉōl and the queen eventually, who were a few meters in front of them already. The soldiers followed their queen and commander even if the worm of doubt, fear, and concern was squirming in their souls, not knowing if there was a tomorrow for any of them. Even so, even if they felt all this, the soldiers were aware that the commander was right and as long as they didn’t give up, there was still hope to see the sun in the sky again.
***
„The Barrier cracks!” Kaṇkaḷ told Colte when the sound of the ice that cracked was clearly heard all over the Field of the Brave One.
„It cracks? The Barrier?” The Vanamar asked, confused. „Why are you so sure of this?”
„I feel it. It’s something I’ve felt for a long time. Actually, I have been dreaming of this since we joined Parca in this war.”
Colte looked at her, confused. The sadness seen in the eyes of the Virgin Yātrīkar started to bother him so suddenly. Why? Because he thought that she didn’t have a soul. Yet, he’d been wrong because he saw sadness in her eyes. Even so, Colte couldn’t understand the reason why the Virgin Yātrīkar felt it, but this still intrigued him because he had never wondered what kind of life Kaṇkaḷ had had or what her story was. At that moment, seeing sadness in her eyes, Colte became damn interested in finding out about her, but he knew that it wasn’t the right moment to ask her this.
Even if Colte couldn’t ask her about her past life, he still allowed himself to look at her, curious to find out what would come next. However, Kaṇkaḷ, who seemed not to have spotted anything, closed her eyes briefly, whispering shortly after this, „I would have liked you here too!”
„Who exactly?” The Vanamar asked.
„Keyṉ! My little sister, the one who disappeared a long time ago because of Hestia and Gaea. Her loss is something I intend to punish with blood,” Kaṇkaḷ shouted eventually, suddenly opening her eyes, in which the fire of hatred sparkled. „And, I think we aren’t alone here.”
Colte squinted at her. „Of course, we aren’t alone! There are my Vanamars, and over there are your Yātrīkars. Or what… have you lost your mind already?”
„No, Colte! I wasn’t talking about them but about those unwelcome guests over there. No one other than Tesa’s Epimelides!”
The hatred felt in Kaṇkaḷ’s voice and the fire seen in her glance made Colte look along the Field of the Brave One. Soon after this, he widely opened his eyes when he saw, behind his Vanamars and the Yātrīkars, the nymphs of highland pasture, led by Tesa. The nymphs were standing in an attack position already, having lit torches in their hands, and staring at the enemy with the same hatred that the Virgins Yātrīkar looked at the nymphs. A hatred that wasn’t impossible for the nymphs not to feel because of that enemy, who was right in front of them and who chased them away from their beloved highland pastures when they set their camp there and did not allow the Epimelides to keep freely dancing through the morning dew.
„Something we won’t ever allow,” Kaṇkaḷ growled this time. „We won’t allow them to thwart our plans.”
„What do you intend to do then? Don’t tell me you want to turn them into Yātrīkars!”
„It will be useless because the nymphs aren’t submissive creatures. Even if I use the same spell we’ve used to turn the Virgins of Siars into Yātrīkars, it’ll be in vain because the nymphs don’t have a human heart and, because of this, they can’t be deceived.”
„This can be changed if we can convince them to fight by our side in this war. This will tip the Balance in our favor.”
„Or against us. Don’t forget that the nymphs aren’t alone and not on their own in this war. Right, Tesa?”
The nymph smiled. „Is it so?! Maybe, I don’t remember!”
„Put this game of words aside and answer the question, Tesa: whose command are you listening to if you are here now? Or… should I ask better what you hope to get by coming to the Field of Illāmal maybe?”
„The second question sounds better and it’s the one I will answer, Kaṇkaḷ: I’m here to see fear in your eyes, Virgin Yātrīkar, and to feel the smell of the scorched fur of the dogs over there,” Tesa calmly responded, squeezing the torch in her right hand to pass it to her left hand after this.
„Fear? In my eyes? I think you’ve lost your mind, Tesa, because the Virgins Yātrīkar will never feel fear. We are immortal, remember?”
„And you are still lying to others without blushing, Kaṇkaḷ,” Nikkari’s voice was suddenly heard coming from Kiago Forest, which was to the left of the Virgin Yātrīkar. Looking over there, Kaṇkaḷ and Colte saw Nikkari coming toward them. She wasn’t alone but accompanied by Issaṉdrā and Melia. And, right behind the first row of trees, they saw Melia’s nymphs, hanging on lianas and having the bow and the arrow ready for shooting.
„Defiance, then!” Said Kaṇkaḷ, proudly looking at Nikkari.
„No,” Nikkari calmly replied. „I would rather call it justice because this is what we are looking for. And, of course: not to allow you to leave this field. Not alone and not alive!” Then, looking at Tesa, Nikkari gave the signal and the Epimelides set fire to the dried herbs that were all over the Field Illāmal. The herbs ignited right away, forming a big circle of fire around the enemy, blocking the way of the Yātrīkars and the Vanamars toward the Borders of Paṉi Makkaḷ. Thus, Nikkari managed to separate them from the army of the Coal Burners.
Kaṇkaḷ and Colte weren’t alone inside of the circle of fire. Flames also surrounded the Vanamars and the Devilish Virgins. And, stopped in the same place where Nikkari said what she said, Melia and Issaṉdrā were.
Not seeing fear in the eyes of none of the nymphs or of Nikkari, Kaṇkaḷ found it weird because she knew that if the nymphs hated something was the fire. Yet, at that moment, they stood right behind it. Not only the nymphs were staying so close to that curtain of flames, but also they’d been those who ignited that fire also having arrows and bows in their hands, ready for a second attack.
***
„Something stinks around here,” murmured Vvokkam while he was carefully looking around. He did that after he felt a strange pulsation on his skin, whose source he couldn’t understand. Yet, not having anyone to ask about this because Tikil was dead and he was alone with his Coal Burners, Vvokkam had to figure this out on his own. At the same time, he had to be there up to the end, even if he felt that not everything was rosy for him and his soldiers in that war.
Why was Vvokkam still at the Borders of the Kingdom of Ice? Not because of devotion, but because he had promised this. Yes, Vvokkam had promised Tikil to help him to defeat Paṉi Makkaḷ while Tikil had promised him to have full freedom after this. For that freedom, Vvokkam was still there at that moment, dreaming of fulfilling another big dream, the one of Rueb. What kind of dream? To see the big Gates of the City of Alshamal taken off their hinges and burnt to the ground. At the same time, he dreamt of seeing Jrijuru’s head falling off his shoulders, something he would have seen two decades ago if the Mago of the Black Stones hadn’t intervened in that fight between Jrijuru and Rueb.
Remembering that, Vvokkam gnashed his teeth. „Ah, I really hate this feeling. Just as I hate the injustice others did to us over time.”
„King Vvokkam, look!” One of the commanders told Vvokkam, pointing with his arm toward the forest. „I think we are surrounded.”
„I also think so,” responded Vvokkam, turning toward the forest where he saw, next to the first row of trees, the Hamadryads. Yet, even if he clearly saw them, Vvokkam didn’t know who they were because the world of the forest wasn’t something familiar to him. He only knew the world of the rocky areas and of the underworld. And, for the first time since they came there, he would have wanted to have learned the details Tikil tried to teach him while he told him about the entire world and about enemies.
„Nymphs,” the same commander told him when he saw the confusion in Vvokkam’s eyes. „I think they are the Dryads.”
„Or the Hamadryads or hell know who exactly because there are so many,” Vvokkam hissed through his teeth. He was furious not because of his commander, but because of himself because he really hated not to know who his enemy was. Even so, he shouted to the unwelcome guests, „You know, it’s a sign of bad taste not to tell others who you are when you appear at the borders of their kingdom, nymphs!”
None of them said anything after those words. Only one of them took a step in front. And, preparing her bow, she shot an arrow toward Vvokkam.
Seeing the arrow hissing through the air, Vvokkam took his sword out of the scabbard, intending to use it to defend himself. Yet, he missed the target eventually because, before he had the chance to hit the arrow with the blade of the sword, the arrow stubbed into the ground, a few millimeters away from his metallic boots. This amazed Vokkam a lot because he expected that he’d be injured in the end. Instead, he received a message, just as he received another one when he was still a child and Samit had shot that arrow from off the walls of the City of Alshamal.
With that image of the past in his mind, Vvokkam cooked his nose. „I hate the cowards that send their messages this way and avoid talking to me face to face.” Yet, as he had no other choice once he didn’t know whom he had to deal with, he had to accept talking to them that way. Because of this, he bowed a little and grabbed the arrow, which he pulled out of the ground. Then, untying the piece of cloth that was tied by the top of the arrow, he unwrapped it and read the message written on it.
The language used for writing that message was a very old one. Vvokkam saw those old letters only once, when he was still a child and Tikil showed them what kind of writing was in the world. Even so, as he didn’t pay attention then, not even to this, Vvokkam barely read the message of the text written there, a message that sounded like this, „This isn’t your home, Vvokkam of the Coal Burners. This isn’t your war either. And, as we understand that maybe you’ve been forced to come here, we’ll give you a single chance to escape death. Only one.”
„What if I’m not going? What happens to us then, huh?” He asked the nymphs with malice in his voice while staring at them.
„Then your head will stay where your soles step onto,” Syke, the leader of the Hamadryads replied, preparing to shoot a second arrow.
The same thing Vvokkam’s commander did: he prepared to throw his knife, which he used for carving, toward the nymphs. Yet, before the commander managed to do that, Vvokkam stopped him, telling him in a low voice, „Not now, Iannish. We’ll make victims after that. Let’s find out first why they are here.”
„But, my king: she’s preparing to shoot another arrow. One that can kill one of us eventually.”
„This won’t happen because I feel that they aren’t here to kill. So, tell me, nymph: why are you here? Are you looking for fun maybe?” Vvokkam tried to provoke her.
His words only managed to enrage Syke, who released the arrow, and the Coal Burner that was right behind Vvokkam fell dead eventually. A loss which Vvokkam avenged with another victim: a Hamadryad, who died when the knife used by Iannish for carving, which Vvokkam pulled from his commander’s hand and threw toward the nymphs after that, pierced her chest. Then, staring with hatred at Syke, Vvokkam told her through his teeth, „Tit for tat, nymph! This is the Law of the Jungle, one you should have known before coming here. Or maybe you know it already once you live among beasts, green leaves, lianas, and other devilish things that can be found in the woods.”
Syke didn’t say anything after this. She only looked, from the corner of her eyes, at the dead nymph, gnashing her teeth and squeezing her fists after that. The leader of the Hamadryads squeezed her fists so hard that the nails managed to enter the skin of her palms, hurting her. Only after that, Syke looked at Vvokkam, to whom she said, „This is a law you know nothing about, King of the Coal Burners.”
„It doesn’t seem so to me once I’ve killed one of your sisters.”
„What you managed to do was to amplify the hatred from our souls, King Vvokkam. A hatred we’ll fully use against you on the battlefield, where we’ll chase you everywhere. There… she’ll be avenged!”
„Wait for your turn then!” Vvokkam told her in mockery. „There are so many others who want the same as you want, and who have promised me the same long before you. If you don’t believe me, you can ask that man, no one other than Jrijuru of the Alshamals,” Vvokkam yelled the moment he saw Jrijuru behind Syke and the Hamadryads. The King of Alshamals wasn’t alone there but with a few of his soldiers. Then, shortly after this, a huge part of his army appeared along the Field Ātma - part on the horses, part on foot, but all of them armed and ready for attack. Thus, they managed to surround the Coal Burners, not leaving any gate of salvation for them.
After he saw his soldiers in position, Jrijuru approached Syke. He didn’t look at her, but into Vvokkam’s eyes, to whom he said, „I see you know me well, King of the Coal Burners. Something that surprises me a lot because I don’t remember to have seen your face before.”
„Yet, you’ve seen my father’s face. It happened two decades ago when his head rolled at your feet when the Mago of the Black Stones cut it,” the king of the Coal Burners roared, taking a few steps toward his enemy.
Vvokkam stopped eventually the moment he heard Jrijuru saying, „Rueb of the Coal Burners! I remember him: a great man! He was a brave man and he died like one!”
„He’s still someone you should talk about with respect, King. Not with indifference as it seems to talk about him now.”
„This is what you think I feel right now?” Jrijuru asked. He felt disappointed because he wanted to end the story of hatred with the Coal Burners in a different way. Yes, he had hoped to make peace when he would have seen the new king of the Coal Burners. Yet, he’d been wrong in thinking so because the Coal Burners’hatred, the one they felt for the Alshamals, was still huge, like an eternal calling for blood. Even so, this didn’t impede Jrijuru from saying kindly after this, „If you think so, you are wrong, young man! I have never felt contempt: neither for you nor for your father, for King Rueb. On the contrary, I have respected him just as I respect you now, to whom I hope to have a fair fight. The same I hoped to have with Rueb that day. Yet, he cheated in that fight when he attacked me behind my back.”
„You did the same when you used the Mago,” Vvokkam hissed through his teeth, making Jrijuru curious. „Yes, I was there that day: a boy, who was barely standing, saw his father’s death that day. I’ve been that child who felt hatred and contempt very early in his life. A poor soul who was forced to fight for his throne and life after this. Even so, I was meant to lose everything I had: my father, my throne, and my family, Jrijuru.”
„I had nothing to do with that, and you know this very well. I only protected my people that day.”
„Just as I’ll do it now, King. In this field that doesn’t belong to any of us. Here, I’ll take care to make my father’s dream real when your head falls off your shoulders.”
„You can try this if you want, young Vvokkam. I won’t hide and I won’t avoid you on the battlefield either. On the contrary: I’ll calmly wait for you to finish what I’ve started a long time ago, to finish it once and for all: this mindless war between the Coal Burners and the Alshamals.” Then, bending his right arm, at ninety degrees, he gave the signal to his soldiers, who prepared the bows and the arrows, aiming the Coal Burners. After that, Jrijuru said, „Even if they are ready for this, none of them will shoot! Not without my signal! So, King Vvokkam, if you really love your people, you’ll give up on this fight, bowing your head and hiding forever in the hole of your kingdom that can be found in the rocky area of Kaṟkaḷ Pēy.”
After such words, Jrijuru turned his back to Vvokkam, thinking of returning to their camp, which they set in the heart of the forest, where he wanted to wait for the final gong before the battle. Yet, he stopped the moment he heard Vvokkam’s mad roar. Even so, he didn’t look at him. Jrijuru only listened to the noise made by Vvokkam’s metallic boots when they touched the stones that could be found on the Field Ātma. A noise, which had been heard heading toward a single target - Jrijuru of the Alshamals.
An arrow, shot from his left, which passed by his ear, made Jrijuru wince and then look in amazement at Morena, who shot it. He hadn’t ever expected that she would react like this, protecting him. What amazed the king more than this was to see her character and her courage, one he had never expected to see in a woman, a beautiful one that managed to surprise him each time she did or said something. And, the moment a cold breeze of wind started to blow around, dancing with her hair, Jrijuru understood that he was completely charmed by that woman.
Eventually, when he could finally take his eyes off her, Jrijuru looked behind him where he saw Vvokkam knelt. The arrow Morena shot had pierced the Coal Burner’s right shoulder, which was badly bleeding at that moment. Even so, looking into Vvokkam’s determined glance, Jrijuru understood that it wasn’t the end and that the King of the Coal Burners would survive. A thought that made him smile eventually. Then, Jrijuru turned his back to the field and to Vvokkam and headed toward their camp. Not alone, but with Morena, who followed him after he took the bow from her hand.
Looking behind them, Vvokkam gnashed his teeth. „The Mago of the Black Stones is in that forest. I feel his presence. I feel it madly beating in my chest and I feel it because of that woman, who’ll die because of me in the end because she deserves death for sure… for being his woman.”
While saying these words, hatred was seen in Vvokkam’s eyes. He kept staring behind Morena while she moved further and further from that place, walking on the sinuous forest path, hidden among the secular trees. To her right, Vvokkam also saw Jrijuru, the only man whom Vvokkam hated in his life and whom he wanted to chase in that forest at that moment. Yet, he didn’t follow any of them at that moment, even if Vvokkam badly wanted this. He didn’t follow any of his enemies because he knew the risk: if he had done this, the entire People of the Coal Burners would have died that day, on someone else’s lands and not on theirs, surrounded by enemies that were waiting to end their miserable life… once and for all.