It was said that Gurgaldai ezen Celegan was the largest man to ever walk upon Celegana’s lands, that he was strong enough to split men in half like their bones were twigs and their flesh brittle bark, that his taming power could destroy your mind with a single thought, that his mighty reach extended across the evil water to all the faraway lands and that there was nowhere to hide if he sought you. It was said that his destiny was to tame every heathen until the whole world was Celegan.
Many things were said about Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. Seeing him with her own eyes, Tuya found it hard to disbelieve. The Great Ezen was sculpted like the old stones and the weird rocks left behind by Zaya’s people. Gurgaldai was so immense that he made Jhorgal look like Makhun. Despite his terrifying power, there was an unparalleled beauty to his grandeur. Indeed, were this a world where the women were sovereign of the Hollows, it might be a man like Gurgaldai that they called the “good tamer.” He was as beautiful as anything Tuya ever laid her eyes on.
The Great Ezen strode among them and all was silent. No khorota moved from their position in the line the tamers arranged them in. Even the tamers kept their heads down as if they were mere khorota before the mightiest man alive. Gurgaldai set his eyes upon the old stones, desecrations that remained in the region throughout Tuya’s days here, despite many tamers trying to break them apart in Celegana’s name. Gurgaldai ezen Celegan hefted the abominable metal he claimed from the last of Zaya’s people and shattered the old stones in a single blow. Big stones were flung afar and others crumbled into dust. The other tamers set their eyes even deeper toward the dirt as they knelt down before their master’s might.
Gurgaldai berated them for allowing this desecration of evil stone to shame Celegana, especially this close to the Spire. Alas, all Tuya could hear was the sound of Sarnai crying that day in the rain when Khargoth bred her and left her in a puddle of her own blood beside the old stones. All she could see was Sarnai’s battered and broken corpse and her blood on Tuya’s hands. All she could feel was the emptiness of a woman who could not go on without the person who loved her most.
The crushing sadness washed away the memories of love, of making pain smaller, and turned them into dust just as easily as the Great Ezen destroyed the old stones. The pit in her chest, the hollow of hopelessness, dimmed her perception to the point where Tuya did not feel like she was in control of her body, even though no tamer possessed her now. Even her mind faded, as though she chewed the root of the numbroot after all and this was all a horrible nightmare. No, that was not it. Tuya twisted her neck and remembered the realness of everything. Khula and Sarnai lied beside her, their heads shattered or snapped from their necks, never to open their eyes again. They returned to the ground, to Celegana. If only Tuya had joined them.
Instead, she lay there with them, her face bruised for the first time in many seasons, her eyes swollen and hard to keep open. Makhun’s last words to her after he and Jhorgal struck her face ripened in her mind. Pretend you are dead like them or I will have you return another khorota to the ground.
Thus, Tuya pretended at death, thinking that the real thing might be preferable. Perhaps if Makhun’s plan worked, she would leap from the cliffs down onto the rocks and let her body be taken away by the evil water. She would never let him have her. Of that, she was certain.
Beyond, out where the tamers and khorota gathered, Gurgaldai inspected the offerings the tamers made to him. Tuya braved another glance at him, again feeling awe at his presence. He was at the end of the line, nearest to her. The Ezen was not as old as she would have thought, given the legends of his deeds. Celegana made him well and Tuya felt a twist in her gut, an urging she had never known before. Disgusted by it, she twisted her head and looked away from the beautiful man. Tuya lowered her walls to remind herself of why she must hate this beautiful, beautiful tamer. At once, her mind filled with the desperate cries of the tamed creatures near and far. All of this suffering was due to this monster. Hatred filled the hollow pit in Tuya’s center, giving her the smallest reason to live. If only she still believed she could help any of the many who suffered because of the tamers and their beautiful master.
Then, walls down, she felt him. Gurgaldai pressed against the edges of her mind, enveloping her in his consciousness. The Ezen did not plunge into her, as Makhun had earlier. His thought came to her, its volume within her mind louder than the tamed combined, louder even than when Makhun was within her. His mental shout was tinted with curiosity and wonder. Who hides this one from me?
Fear, that primordial survival instinct, awakened the girl who pretended to be and felt dead within. Her mind ran with ideas. To tell the Ezen the truth and hope he punished Makhun and Jhorgal, to deny the Ezen and hope he did not punish her, to continue to pretend at death and hope he ignored her. In the Hollows, it always came down to appeasement and hiding. Tuya could not hide and answer Gurgaldai’s thought. She threw up her walls, blocking out the sounds of the tamed, the pervasive fear felt by khorota and tamer alike while the Ezen inspected them, and, most importantly, made herself small to Gurgaldai. His presence lingered, and despite her walls, she felt him there, pulsing with curiosity and wonder. His thought reached her, muffled as if spoken through a mighty wind. Do not hide from me, strong one.
Tuya did not let the benevolent feeling attached to his thought lull her defenses. She stayed small, pretending at death, all while her fear mounted, knowing that the most powerful man in all the Hollows, in all the world, found her and knew her strength. Her life was over. She needed to find a way to die before he carried her away to Celegana’s Spire.
Her fear, her defenses did not let up when his presence vanished. She kept her eyes shut and tried to make her breathing small. Tuya breathed, trying to do as Zaya taught her so that the Ezen would find a third dead body if he sought her. When he sought her. Tuya knew hope was a dangerous thing in the Hollows and rarely did the good things happen, especially on days like this. He would come. He would find her. He would take her away. Her life was over. Strange, how just a few moments ago, she wanted to die and now she yearned for a life that could never be.
“Great Ezen,” Jhorgal said, panic touching his tone in a way previously unknown from him, “where are you going?”
“You dared hide one from me. You thought to lie to Gurgaldai?” The Ezen did not shout or yell, but spoke with a calmness and control that made him more terrifying.
Jhorgal sputtered, “I do not know what you speak of, Great Ezen.”
“Which tamer resides within that hollow?” Gurgaldai asked.
“That is the hollow of Tamer Jhorgal,” Makhun answered, Tuya sensing his satisfaction went beyond serving his master and well into dooming his strongest competitor.
Jhorgal’s pleas were almost incoherent, as if he spoke through a mighty wind, as if he were naught but a khorota searching for the words that would appease her master, as he explained that one khorota killed his claimed and another little unblooded before he returned her to the ground. Jhorgal cried just like a khorota would have, whimpering, as he was dragged toward his hollow. His begging, his whines, felt so pathetic after seasons of drawing them from nearly every woman in the region. The moment he faced one stronger than him, he showed what he truly was: another slave to those with more might than him, a scared, little boy trapped in a big man’s body.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What is this one’s name?” the Ezen asked.
“Tuya!”
The ground vibrated from Jhorgal’s body meeting it, his cries assaulted her ears offset by the smooth calmness of Gurgaldai ezen Celegan’s voice. “Stay there. Pretend you are dead.”
Face in the ground, eyes shut, Tuya pretended at death too, knowing that her life was about to change and change was rarely a good thing in the Hollows.
Gurgaldai knelt beside her and placed his strong hand on her back. His touch was gentle, the same way Tuya’s had been with little Khula. “No more hiding, Tuya. None can hide from me, nor do you have to fear me as you do. I am not like the ones who did this to you.”
Tuya startled at his use of her name. Tamers did not use a khorota’s name unless referring to her as a thing. This was not something they said to her as a person, nor with such a soft touch. Not only did her flinching spoil her hiding, but it made her curious about this tamer that saw her as a human worthy of a name.
Tuya crawled to the edge of the hollow and leaned against the blessed wood. She kept her eyes on the ground, neither looking at the two dead women, the fallen tamer, or this paradox of a man before her.
The Great Ezen’s hand was the roughest she ever felt but his touch upon her face was soft. “I am sorry they did this to you, Tuya.”
Her pain felt smaller at his touch, and that same urge from before returned at this little piece of love Gurgaldai offered her. He lifted her chin until her eyes met his. Sky-colored and bright, just like the big lightmaker of the night, they gave off a gentleness when gazing upon her. There was no denying to herself that she never saw a man that was so beautiful to her. In this moment, it did not feel so bad to have his hand on her face and his eyes on her. She smiled and his lips rose to match hers.
“He tried to hide your beauty from me by hitting you, but I still see it.” Gurgaldai lowered his hand and to her amazement, Tuya missed his touch, missed his eyes on hers as he turned to the supine body of Jhorgal.
The menace of this region seemed so small on the ground before this mighty, beautiful man. Tuya hoped he suffered, she hoped Jhorgal cried like Sarnai had the many times he hit her, hoped his life would be extinguished and the pain he inflicted on others with it.
“Tell the truth now, Tamer Jhorgal,” Gurgaldai said. “You hoped to hide Tuya from me so that you could keep her for yourself.”
“No!” Evil water cascaded down Jhorgal’s ugly face. “She killed my claimed. I struck her down and thought her dead!”
“I hate it when they lie,” Gurg said. He turned his head, those beautiful eyes on hers once more. Her chest rumbled and grew nauseous but with something much different than disgust. “I would never lie to you, Tuya. I hope you will be as honest with me.”
Tuya would make no such promise, lest he see through it and this kindness be killed. The Great Ezen stepped on Jhorgal’s gut, and the tamer squealed much like Khula had. Tuya closed her fist, wishing it could be her foot on Jhorgal’s belly. “This is your last chance to tell the truth, Tamer Jhorgal. You thought to hide Tuya from me. You hoped to claim her yourself. Confess!”
Jhorgal sputtered with denials. A vast mass of vapor emanated from Gurgaldai and bounded at Jhorgal’s skull. The tamer’s cries ceased and his trembling body went still. Gurgaldai spoke as he scoured the truth from within Jhorgal’s mind. “Jhorgal wanted the pretty khorota with the shiny eyes who sneaks food and herbs to the other khorota. You planned to break her and breed her. You thought you could hide her from me. You and another.”
Jhorgal wrapped his hands around his own throat and squeezed. Tuya lowered her walls, curious. Within her mind, she could hear him screaming for freedom and feel his terror knowing that he was powerless. Tuya felt no impulse to free him, nor did she think she could if she wanted to. Gurgaldai’s taming strength made Makhun’s seem paltry and pathetic. Fear flowed from the little tamer and he made himself small. Besides Makhun, the other tamers and women watching mirrored Tuya’s own hidden jubilation. None would be sad to see the end of Jhorgal.
Jhorgal’s face changed, growing paler. His gurgles grew weaker as his own hands choked the life out of him. Gurgaldai released him and retrieved his massive abomination while Jhorgal fought to breathe again. The long, stick-like handle of Gurgaldai’s abomination was as tall as Jhorgal and the head of the monstrosity was rounded on one side, like a fist, and sharp on the other. It glimmered in the midday light as it descended on a screaming Jhorgal.
The first blow crushed Jhorgal’s leg, shattering bone with a sickening crunch. The once-horrifying tamer was reduced to a crying babe, pleading for his life. Tuya never heard any woman cry for her life like he did. She studied the other tamers, their eyes down, pulsing both glee that Jhorgal would die and fear at how this man who dominated them was broken. When faced with death, when given pain, this monster was nothing compared to Sarnai. It sickened Tuya that this creature had compelled one so much stronger than himself for the last seasons of her life.
His cries only worsened as Gurgaldai continued to strike, shattering the other leg, both arms, his groin, and finally, pulverizing his skull, ending the wretched life of Tamer Jhorgal. The Ezen did not project any joy in the destruction, only an essence of determination and a tightly-contained rage. Beneath both, Tuya’s strength detected a sadness within him.
Feeling compelled to make his pain smaller, Tuya reached toward Gurgaldai with her strength. His mind flinched at her touch, but let her in, sharing his consciousness with her. Tuya felt the burden of his responsibility, of needing to make the entire world fear him, of always needing to be the strongest, of never letting anyone see him as weak or vulnerable, and of the inevitability that for all his efforts, they would still betray him.
Gurgaldai recoiled, setting down his colossal abomination, a weapon he claimed from the last Gidiite pretender, a big man the sunset heathens called Aldar. The abomination shared the name of its last wielder. He turned toward Tuya, his eyes on hers. Smile, she thought to him, brushing his awareness with a gentle caress, trying to soothe the sadness he harbored within.
If only it were so easy, Tuya. I carry the world on my shoulders. Will you share this burden with me?
Me? Tuya pulsed with uncertainty and confusion.
As my Chosen.
Chosen?
Yes. The one who will help me save this world and make it whole.
Whole?
To make the world as Celegana created it. He smiled at her and reached out his hand. Tuya took it and he pulled her to her feet. He towered over her, like the Spire over the Hollows. “Would you share this burden with me?”
“I don’t know,” she said, too afraid to tell a lie. Why me?
Because, I have been seeking for one like you.
“Like me?”
“Yes,” Gurgaldai said. “One worthy of me and my burden.”
I am worthy?
You are unlike any other.
Tuya’s survival senses went up and she broke her link with Gurgaldai’s mind. She erected the walls around her consciousness, quieting all the voices and keeping her away from everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Lowering her eyes to the ground, she said, “I am exactly like every other.”
Gurgaldai held her face in his mighty hand as the entire region watched them from their peripheral vision. He was beautiful, yet so were many plants that hid poisons. Tuya tried to make herself small, even as she knew that there was no hiding from Gurgaldai. “Amazing,” he said, the awe plain on his anything-but-plain face. “How do you do that, Tuya? One moment, you are stronger than even Tugal was and the next you are so small I can barely tell you are there?”
Tuya trembled as his smiling face surveyed hers. She tried to avert her eyes, to glance to Sarnai for courage like hers. “I am weak, Tamer Gurgaldai. She was strong and they made me kill her.”
Gurgaldai’s eyes drooped as if he had not slept in days, his mouth curved down, and his beautiful face crumpled into dejection. He brushed Tuya’s face and she could sense the sorrow in his touch even with her walls around her mind. “I am sorry that I must do this, but I cannot let you lie to me, even if you are lying to yourself. Brace yourself, Tuya, and hope that you are not as weak as you say you are.”
Tuya shook her head, she thought of running, of hiding, but nobody could hide from Gurgaldai ezen Celegan. Streams of tamer essence flowed from him and flooded into her, like waves crashing into the rocks and washing them away into the vast, evil water. Nothing could have braced her for his power.