Road To Shandara (Book One of The Safanarion Order) (9 page)

Smoking embers and a burned out shell were all that remained of the home he grew up in, but Aaron wouldn’t let himself turn away. He couldn’t. He took in the scene in its entirety, allowing it to burn into his mind lest he forget the price of failure to see the truth of things. A small voice from within cried out that it wasn’t fair. How could he have known? He should have known that an attack would come and others paid the price with their lives.
Maybe if he...
He looked around wearily avoiding the path of ‘what ifs’ for now, and with heavy footsteps he got in his Jeep and drove slowly away.

***

Faint stirrings of a heart long buried ached within his chest at the tragedy before him.

Tarimus what are you up to?
Colind wondered watching Reymius’s grandson drive away. A remarkable man not at all the fool that Mactar believes him to be, but what did Tarimus believe, Colind wondered? Soon he would have to reveal himself to Aaron, but he knew that Aaron had somehow sensed his presence already. He wasn’t sure how, but presumed that his senses were more acute than most. Power was drawing itself to Aaron and he was learning to control the power of the Falcons, which both troubled him greatly and gave him hope. The balance of life on Safanar was a delicate thing and the pendulum was swinging wildly out of control. Always were the guardians like himself there to lend guidance and to maintain balance, but he was the last and he wasn’t sure he could truly call himself a guardian anymore with his own dark betrayal haunting him still. Reymius’s last days on Safanar were the darkest of both their lives. So much had gone wrong and evil was allowed to endure. Colind launched himself into the air riding along the shadows easily catching up to Aaron. He kept pace while watching. Was Aaron strong enough to endure the path that he must walk? Colind didn’t know and his perceptions were clouded whenever he tried to think on it. It was like he was being purposefully blocked. He resolved to do what he must and hope for the best at times, it’s all one can do.

C
HAPTER
12

PARTING

AARON STOOD ON a deserted city street where buildings reached through a thick billowing fog. Footsteps echoed from different directions and he scanned trying to make out the figures that sent swirls through the thick fog. Then he heard it again, a faint call desperately pleading for him to hear.

He struck out in a run toward the call blindly running so fast that his feet barely touched the ground. The fog gave way to an empty black void with a sheer drop off seemingly without end. He could still hear the call faintly from the void pleading with him to keep coming. There was nowhere for him to go. Aaron stood there breathing hard, frustration building as he stood at a ledge. Gathering his will, he leaped out into the foggy void and began to plummet down into darkness.

“Aaron!”

 
His whole body jerked awake and he sat up gasping.

“Are you alright?” Tara asked.

 
“Yeah it was a bad dream.” Aaron answered. “It’s not like that, not with Tarimus. It was...Bronwyn calling for me,” he added seeing her alarmed look. Barely two days had passed since their parents were murdered and neither one of them had gotten much sleep. Tara’s fiancé Alex stayed with them lending support to his sister where he could to which Aaron was grateful.

They were staying at his grandfather’s house...their house now, since they had nowhere else to go. The funeral for their parents was today and Tara had made him promise that he would stay long enough for that, which he grudgingly agreed. Tara didn’t realize the danger she was in, but he was glad to have this chance to settle his affairs before leaving. Zeus on the other hand had hardly left his side these past two days. He seemed to be expecting something and he wasn’t about to miss it.
 

The funeral was peaceful and quiet and completely at odds with how Aaron was feeling. It was his second funeral in the past few weeks and he didn’t have any tears left. After burying three family members all he had was smoldering rage, loitering beneath the surface wanting to lash out at anything and everything around him. He yearned to have his swords in his hands to kill those men again, only this time he would arrive earlier and save his parents.

After the funeral Tara went with their family friends to Alex’s house while Aaron slipped away. He changed into his good hiking clothes which were extremely durable and left a note for Tara. Advising her to go away for while and that he loved her. Threading a leather cord through the medallion, he tied it off and tucked it safely under his shirt. The medallion had pulsed with a warmth all its own since the other night. Aaron knew that it had protected him once and hoped it would again. He didn’t know how it worked, but that it had come in handy recently and that was enough for him. His swords were strapped on either side of his hips and at one time he would have felt foolish with them on, but he didn’t feel foolish today, just determined.

Standing before the doorway in front of the ruins of the training room Aaron gathered his will and stepped through. He struggled to quiet his mind and sought solace within himself. He needed to focus. It was only through calmness that true mastery could be obtained. The raging firestorm within, demanding to know the why of things subsided just below the surface and that would have to suffice for now. He closed his eyes taking deep rhythmic breaths and stretched out feeling the life energy all around him. He felt the familiar presence of Zeus, sometimes savage, sometimes loving as is all that is wild by nature. He delved deeper into the secret chamber where he had found the Falcons, the Medallion, and the cylinder that glowed in a bluish light. Calling it forth, the floorboards shattered as it hovered in front of him slowly spinning.

“There is no turning back from this," a voice said from the shadows.

At last the presence that had lingered for so long finally revealed itself. “I know, but they will never stop hunting me if I don’t do this and I will find the men responsible,” said Aaron peering into the shadows.

“Vengeance is a path that you can follow to be sure, but it usually leads to a place devoid of spirit.” Answered the voice.

“Who are you?” Asked Aaron.

“My name is Colind. I was and am a friend of your grandfather Reymius. I am sorry for his loss and the loss of your mother. They were both very dear to me.” Colind answered.

Aaron saw the old man more clearly. There was a hard edge to him and his gray eyes carried a slightly worn and haunted expression. “How do I know you are telling me the truth?”

“You can’t,” Colind smiled, “I understand your caution, I do, but as Reymius has told me on countless occasions, the choices we make are all leaps of faith. You will need to decide whether you can trust me or not. Just hear me out and then decide for yourself.”

Aaron watched Colind considering, “Fair enough,” he said. “It sounds like something he would say and I see no harm in hearing you out.”

It was Colind’s turn to consider Aaron’s response and then he laughed. It was a sound that seemed foreign, ripped from the pages of another life. “You surely are your mother’s son. She had a backbone to her too and a no nonsense attitude when she set her mind to a task.” The smirk felt foreign to his lips and was gone quickly, “Time grows short and the need is great, for you are in more danger than you realize.”

Aaron watched silently waiting for him to continue.

Colind looked at the cylinder as it hung in mid-air slowly spinning then fixed Aaron with a hard stare. “To travel the crossroads between worlds is perilous by itself, but for you the danger is tenfold for Tarimus is waiting. Tarimus dwells in the plains between life and death with a foothold in each world, but is denied the release of which he yearns. I know you have unlocked some of the secrets to the Falcon’s but believe me you’ve only scratched the surface of what you are truly capable of.” Colind sighed in frustration, “I know painfully little that will aid you with the Falcons as they were held within the house of Alenzar’seth, but I will tell you to trust your instincts and walk the path that feels right to you and you alone. It’s the best advice I can give you until you can reach those who can help you master your gifts, but we can worry about that another time, in another place. Your gravest obstacle is Tarimus and he has played both sides of this battle masterfully. Through your confrontations with him you have learned much and gained in strength, but when you face him on the crossroads he will come at you in full strength. In his arena he will be the master. As a parasite would possess a host, Tarimus will vie for your soul and gain a vessel with the power to return to Safanar.”

“A vessel? You mean me,” Aaron asked incredulously.

“That’s really up to you Aaron. He will try and he may succeed if you don’t find a way to stop him. He is so full of hate, so full of jealousy, and power hungry.” Colind looked away with a pained expression. “He is lost,” he whispered. Colind felt tears well up that could never come, because his anger forbade it, anger at Tarimus at what he had become and at himself for his gravest failure.

Colind studied Aaron, by the goddess the last remnant of the shattered house Alenzar’seth stood before him, stripped of family and the knowledge that was passed down generations.

“How do you know so much about Tarimus?” Aaron asked.

The question was simple enough, but Colind could tell from Aaron’s gaze that he was testing him. He decided to be honest and cut straight to the point.

“Tarimus is my son and my greatest failure in life,” said Colind bitterly.

“Your son,” Aaron hissed stepping back from Colind locking his grip on hilt of the Falcons.

“He was not always the monster you have seen.” Colind said quickly. “Like all men he was innocent as you are now. And his decisions and my unwillingness to see the truth cost the lives of many.”

“There must be more you can tell me. How can I beat him? I wounded him once I know there must be a way to do so again.” Aaron pressed.

Colind let out a deep sigh, “He was once a man and despite what he has become, the foundation remains.”

“Are you alive or dead Colind?”

“I am neither. I am banished. My body locked away in an earthen tomb. And my soul is tied to this realm, a punishment for my failure.”

“I don’t think so,” Aaron said quietly. “You are alive I can sense it in you.”

“Don’t tell me my own business boy,” Colind barked. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“I may not know what happened to you, but you have presence, an energy. All life is energy in one form or another. As you stand before me in one form or another. The fact remains that you are alive and if you are alive then there is always hope.” Aaron finished with an inner smile, because he supposed he was speaking for the both of them. He believed the words he spoke, but his answer came without thinking and somewhat a surprise to even himself.

Colind stared at Aaron in disbelief. Here was Reymius’s grandson with no knowledge of his linage or their world of Safanar. Lecturing him! He was banished. Banned from the realms of the dead and of life, yet here he was. A whisper on the winds of his mind pleaded with him to yield to this wisdom. Could Aaron be right?

“Now is not the time for this,” he smiled at Aaron wearily. “We need to focus on you.”

“Okay. Is there a way that I can get through the crossroads without Tarimus knowing?”

“Not a chance I’m afraid, Tarimus is attuned to you as you are him, both of you will know when the other is near. And there is no one who can guide you through.” Colind stopped abruptly as Zeus let out a low growl and barked looking at each of them. Colind studied Zeus as if seeing him for the first time. “Was this Reymius’s companion?”

Aaron nodded and Colind laughed mischievously, “Oh Reymius you sly dog,” Colind bellowed.

“What is it?” Aaron asked.

“Tell me Aaron has Zeus left your side since your grandfather died?”

Aaron smirked, “Not for long.”

“Zeus will be your guide. Reymius prepared him for this. He bonded Zeus to him and when he died that bond passed to you. Wolves live in the world of the living and their spirits roam other realms. He will be your spirit guide on the crossroads to Safanar.”

“You can’t be serious,” Aaron said.

Colind could understand Aaron’s hesitation, but there was no time. By now the news of the prince’s death would have surely reached High King Amorak and Aaron was not ready for that battle.

“Is it so hard to believe? Your grandfather surrounded himself with animals, all of which he loved. When I knew him he had the uncanny ability to know exactly what they needed. He had this ability with people too and they were drawn to him. He prepared Zeus to be your guide, because he knew that there was a strong possibility that you would journey to Safanar. He suspected the protection bought by your grandmother, the Lady Cassandra would cease with his death. The fact remains Aaron, you are being hunted. They came once and they will come again because you have something they want.”

Protect your sister.
His father’s last words echoed in his mind. The best way to protect her was to leave, but part of him felt like a coward for leaving. He took a long look around from his grandfather’s house with the wrap-around porch where friends and family would gather often joking into the night. Then turned to the various paths that led through the wooded estate. Pathways he and Bronwyn would take to pass the afternoon away. When he looked once again at the remains of the training room he clenched his teeth hard. He would have his vengeance and he would start with Tarimus.

“I will not hide from Tarimus.” Aaron said coldly. Then his gaze softened, but only slightly, “But I will accept whatever help you have to offer.”

“The crossroads is a place where time can be chaotic. So be mindful of which path you take. You will be drawn to Safanar whose doorway will resemble the carved relief of those columns," Colind said gesturing to the remnants of the mahogany columns sticking above the ruble.

“Let’s say I make it through somehow, where will I come out in Safanar and will you be there?” Aaron asked.