WeatherMaker Hearts Desire Prologue

Talut returned, having been gone for only a few days.

‘Talut’ Arlen said, feeling a deep trepidation growing inside at the sight of him. ‘I didn’t see you there.’

As usual Arlen had wandered from the others to be alone. This is where Talut had found him, in the mountains where the men waited.

Talut advanced on Arlen, but Arlen stood his ground.

‘The king is dead’ Talut grumbled.

‘Good job’ Arlen replied flatly.

‘He was already dead when I found him’ Talut went on. He lifted a bag he was carrying, pulling out what was inside and throwing it at Arlen’s feet. ‘There is your proof.’

Arlen stared down at the king’s head below him; then glanced back up at Talut.

‘Already dead?’ Arlen repeated.

‘And I have freed the Weather Makers imprisoned in the palace’ Talut continued, glancing behind him.

Arlen suddenly noticed faint silhouettes hanging back behind Talut, clinging to the dark.

‘Come closer’ Talut said to them.

He turned to face Arlen again as several women stepped forward, coming into view just behind him. Arlen looked to each of their faces. They were all young, about the same age Amaia would be or thereabouts.

‘Amaia was not among them’ Talut said. He spoke to the women behind him now. ‘Do you see those fires before you? There is a camp; I want you all to go there. Now.’

The woman all obliged, walking with their heads down and clinging to one another. Arlen watched them curiously as they passed him by. Only one or two spared him a glance before rushing on.

‘Tell me’ Talut growled dangerously to Arlen when they were alone again. ‘What is the poison inside me?’

Arlen hesitated.

‘I fulfilled my end of the bargain’ Talut spat, barely able to keep his anger back. ‘Now you fulfil yours.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘I must save my son.’

Arlen took a deep breath, preparing himself for what would happen next.

‘Sinful child’ he said. ‘That is the name of the poison.’

Talut narrowed his eyes, staring at Arlen hard as if to determine if he were lying. Then he bolted towards him without warning.

Arlen stepped back as Talut threw up his cloak to distract him, and suddenly Arlen felt hands around him. Talut had grabbed him from behind. As quick as the blink of an eye, Arlen felt something slide into his stomach and out again.

Talut jerked him back roughly, holding him tight.

‘You are going to spend the rest of your short life in terrible agony’ Talut snarled at him. ‘There is no cure for this.’

He shoved Arlen forward onto his knees, wiping his thin blade clean.

When Arlen turned around, Talut was already gone.

Talut was marching down the path around the edge of the camp, when he ran into a figure.

‘Who’s that?’ Bill asked squinting. ’Talut? What are you doing here? Why are there suddenly women in our camp? Did you bring them?’

Talut strode past him silently; then turned swiftly back.

He slid his hand around Bill’s neck, running underneath his jaw and grabbed his own bicep. With the other hand, he pushed Bill’s head forward.

‘Rest now my friend’ he whispered into his ear as Bill chuckled wearily in his grasp. ‘Go to the next place, where you will suffer no more.’

He began to squeeze.

Bill struggled weakly against him, but his efforts were futile. Talut held him there, until Bill’s arms dropped to his side, and he struggled no more. He lay Bill carefully down on the ground, whispering a prayer over him quickly before vanishing into the night, taking with him the army he had brought.

The next day, there would be no trace of any of them. The princess’s army was gone, and Talut was never seen in these lands again.

Farrell was sitting in the camp warming himself by the fire when the women arrived. Suddenly, beside him Adam spoke.

‘What in the name of Ludus and her blue crown is that?’

Farrell glanced around, straightening in curiosity at the sight that was before him.

Seven women huddling together looking frightened and more than a little out of place, stood at the edge of the firelight. They waited as if for something to happen.

‘Where did they come from?’ Adam wondered as Farrell rose to his feet.

But William was the first to approach them.

‘Who are you?’ he demanded. ‘And what are you doing here?’

‘We are Weather Makers’ one of the braver women spoke up. ’We were set free by a man and brought here.

‘A man? It must be Talut’ William realised. ‘Where is he?’ he spoke back to the women.

A short time later and Bill was found dead.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Adam said aloud as a small crowed began to gather around his body. ‘Why would Talut do this?’

Beside him stood Arlen, he was staring silently down at Bill. His hand unconsciously went to his stomach, his might fraught with fear.

A pyre was built for Bill and his body placed upon it. William took the burning torch and set the thing alight. There were tears in his eyes as he stepped back.

Surrounding the pyre the Weather Makers stood. Each lifted her hand, performing a different spell, now that it was safe for them to do so, since the king was dead. One blew the wind, so that the fire burned more brightly, another summoned forth a garden to surround the fire’s base, and another brought forth a great light, burning like a star above them for all to see.

When the fire had burned down and the people dispersed, William and Adam sat on the edge of the rocky hillside, staring down at the smouldering pile of what remained.

‘Do you believe in an afterlife?’ William asked Adam.

Adam took a pause before answered.

‘I hope so’ he said.

Later that night, Arlen collapsed.

He was carried indoors to one of the tents and laid down, away from the curiosity of the other soldiers who milled around him.

‘Arlen’ Adam pressed. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It hurts’ Arlen whimpered sadly, clutching his stomach. ‘It hurts…’

William removed Arlen’s hand and saw on his shirt a dark red patch. Behind William one of the Weather Makers lit up a light in her hand, shining it down upon Arlen as William lifted his shirt to see.

They saw a thin slit near his stomach, but nothing more.

‘Arlen’ Adam said sternly. ‘What is this?’

Arlen stared back at him reluctantly.

‘Talut…poisoned me’ he said when pressed. ‘He killed Bill…and left with his men.’

A short time after that and Arlen began to convulse, clenching his fists beside his bed and balling up in his fists small piles of dirt.

‘Please…’ he whispered to the Weather Maker that stayed by his bed, gazing up at her with pleading eyes. ‘I can’t take it….make it stop….please…..’

She held his head in comfort, moving close to him, but said nothing.

‘We have to take him to a healer’ William told the others gathered outside the tent.

‘There is one near here’ Adam informed them, ‘a temple where there are many healers.’

‘I’ll go’ Farrell said.

‘As will William and I.’ Adam was already marching away to fetch some horses, some the king had left behind. ‘But we have to move as soon as possible. I don’t know how long he will last.’

Arlen was helped upon the horse, held by Adam who sat behind him in the saddle. Beside them William and Farrell mounted their own horses, Farrell holding the reins awkwardly in his crippled hand.

They rode away together, and took him to the nearest temple of healing, only a short distance away from their camp in the mountains.

Chapter Forty Eight

Prayer

‘Please help me’ Arlen whispered to the healer as he lay on the bed clutching his stomach. ‘My body…it’s in agony…….it feels like I am……..burning from the inside…’

‘Here’ the healer said, stirring a white powdery substance into a glass of water and handing it to Arlen. ‘Drink this. It will ease the pain.’

Arlen reached forwards with shaking hands and took the glass, putting it to his lips and drinking.

Before he was even half finished, the glass slipped from his hands, and he threw his head back, screaming at the top of his lungs and pawing at his stomach. The healers all rushed to him, trying to hold him down as he thrashed around.

‘What’s happening?!’ Farrell called to the healers in panic. ‘What’s wrong?!’

‘It must be the poison’ one healer shouted, another beside her bound a gag around Arlen’s mouth to keep him silent, fighting him as he clawed desperately at her arms as she did so, leaving scratches in her skin which bled.

Farrell watched helplessly as his brother struggled, Arlen’s eyes screwed tight shut, tears running from them.

His body began to convulse, he was heaving as if he were about to be sick.

‘Quick!’ the older healer barked. ‘Take that off and let him go!’