Brankin Huoh

  A cold cloth touched his face and Tagan opened his eyes and looked around, wary and unsure.

  The adept applying the cloth pulled his hands away from Tagan and dunked the cloth into a stone basin at his bedside, wrung it out, and placed it back on Tagan's throbbing skull.

  “What happened?" Tagan was groggy, struggling to piece together where he was and why.

  "You couldn't be revived at the induction ceremony so you were brought here," the adept replied, continuing to dab at Tagan’s head with the cloth.

  Tagan thought for a minute. He remembered battling with some entity for control of his mind. The entity was evil and powerful. It was beyond anything Tagan had experienced before and he couldn’t figure out how he had not died. He blacked out after one final struggle with the being. "Was I chosen?"

  "Yes, you were chosen,” the adept replied with a warm smile, “Lozan has been here many times to check on your condition. He can't wait for your training to get started."

  The last thing Tagan remembered before blacking out was seeing Lozan slumped down on the other side of the tome after the struggle with the entity. "Is Lozan ok?"

  The adept’s pleasant demeanor disappeared, replaced with an air of testiness. "Why would he be anything but?"

  "I saw him slumped over the tome before I passed out." Tagan started to second guess if his recollection was accurate.

  "You must have been imagining things," the adept said sharply. “Lozan is perfectly fine.”

  Tagan was certain that he had seen Lozan collapse but didn't feel up to arguing about it. “But the stone of Balz didn’t change like it did for the other boys.”

  The adept put the cloth aside and started mixing some medicinal herbs. "The stone changing color is only a small part of the ritual. The biggest part is Lozan connecting with your mind. He can determine from that if you are worthy or not."

  "Well. What." Tagan’s thoughts stopped and started as he tried to figure out how best to ask the question he was dying to know. "Is it Lozan's eye that appears in it?"

  The adept looked at Tagan with a vacant expression. "What are talking about? There is no eye in the stone."

  "But I saw an eye appear in it during the ritual." Tagan refrained from mentioning anything about the entity he felt was attached to the eye and the battle they fought for his mind. He was starting to wonder if it even was an entity he battled with or if he had some sort of hallucination brought on by the stress of the entire event.

  "I think you were more shaken up than we thought. First you claimed to see Lozan injured, when he wasn't and now this with an eye appearing in the stone of Balz. I must make mention of this to Lozan. He will be most interested to know of these developments." The adept handed a glass filled with an odd colored liquid to Tagan. "Drink this. It will help you get some rest."

  Tagan took the glass and forced down its bitter contents in two gulps and handed it back to the adept. The adept took the glass and put the cold cloth back on Tagan’s forehead and left the room.

  Tagan was sure he knew where the adept was going as he watched him walk from the room. Tagan didn't have long to think about this turn of events before the medicine took effect and he fell into a deep sleep.

  "What happened, Kyriu?" Even though deep down he was frightened by what he might hear, Lozan demanded to know.

  The force of the struggle between Tagan and Kyriu had been forced back on Lozan when Tagan placed his left hand on the tablet. It was as if a circuit had been completed and the battle of wills flowed into Lozan's mind as well and it needed the extra room. Lozan shuddered as he remembered it. The fierceness of Kyriu's relentless, probing attacks, trying to crush the boy’s defense and take hold of his mind. But Tagan fought back with a ferocity that Lozan didn't expect, nor experience before in all the induction ceremonies he had presided over. If his mind hadn't merged into their struggle, Tagan may well have died. Lozan could sense it coming from Kyriu. He could sense that Tagan’s defiance was pushing Kyriu over the edge. Kyriu was going to have his way or Tagan would die in the attempt. But Lozan's unexpected appearance had caused a break in concentration and in the confusion Tagan blacked out and the brunt of Kyriu's forceful attack had hit Lozan's unprepared mind full force. In that moment before unconsciousness Lozan felt the true breadth of Kyriu's powers and he was frightened by it. He had seen Kyriu do some awful things before but the mental image Lozan was filled with was of such frightful, terrible things that he wondered if he would ever be able to forget them.

  Lozan had seen a land much like Brankin Huoh but it was desolate and dark. The sun obscured by dark clouds borne of the fire and destruction; lizard like creatures were crawling amongst the devastation, feasting on the rotting flesh of dead humans. Bodies were strewn everywhere like someone dropped them from on high. Everywhere was rot and decay. It was a vision that Lozan prayed he had imagined.

  "The boy is more resilient than I thought." Kyriu lounged on a chair in his quarters feeling quite bored.

  "What about the stone of Balz? That has never happened before."

  "There was never anyone as important as Tagan at the induction ceremony before but the stone was designed for that purpose." Kyriu was growing angry at having to answer such questions and was toying with the idea of getting rid of Lozan altogether but decided that approach would only cause more problems than it would solve right now so he had to try and placate Lozan's fears. Kyriu had been as surprised as anyone when Lozan's consciousness came blundering into his attack on Tagan. Right when he was at his most vulnerable, his mind pre-occupied with intensifying his attack. Kyriu had been so crazed by Tagan’s defiance that he let emotion get the better of him. But even he did not know what would happen when Tagan placed his other hand on the tome. It had never happened before.

  "But Brankin Huoh. I saw it in ruins. Strange creatures were roaming about eating the dead like they were some sort of delicacy.” Lozan’s voice trailed off to a whisper, the horror too much.

  "I was trying to project that image into Tagan's mind to frighten him." Kyriu used the most soothing tone he could muster. “Not to worry Lozan, Brankin Huoh is still in one piece.”

  Lozan shuddered, remembering the vision once more. "But why?"

  "I wanted Tagan to believe that Brankin Huoh was going to come under attack. I wanted him to think that these things would come to pass if he didn't become part of the Citadel. When your mind joined us, I was generating that vision to scare Tagan."

  "But what of the ritual?"

  "It wasn't going to work on Tagan,” Kyriu said, shaking his head. “Tagan isn't the same as the other weak minds you confront at the induction. He wasn’t going to hand over his mind freely to you, he would have easily resisted, and then what? Everything would have come to a crashing halt right there on stage in front of all the citizenry. What would they have thought? That is when I stepped in and used the stone of Balz to help you. He needed to be inducted as I told you. There was no other choice." Kyriu’s tone signaled he was nearing the danger zone and that was the end of that subject. "He is still in the care of the adepts is assume?"

  "He hasn't woken yet." Lozan shook his head, still confused.

  "I must leave today. I have already stayed longer than I wished but I am reluctant to leave now that I have felt the power that Tagan possesses." Kyriu’s thoughts drifted to the battle he and Tagan had shared. How it angered him. How it enraged him. How he loved every second of it and wished he could experience it once more.

  "We can handle him my lord."

  Kyriu’s wicked eyes narrowed at Lozan. "I will return as soon as I can to make sure that everything is going well. No need to prepare the chamber for my departure. I wish to leave as soon as possible. You can join me and three of your closest adepts. That will be enough.” Kyriu waved his hand dismissing Lozan.

  Lozan bowed his head and left the room

  Tagan’s stay with adepts was short lived. Within a day of his waking he was pronounced well and joined the other seven inductees in t
heir daily chores and training.

  Tagan did suffer a few dizzy spells when he first began training but he got past those quickly and was soon able to participate fully with the other boys. Each training day was broken into two parts. The morning part was spent learning the laws of the land. Why they were in place and how the hierarchy of enforcement operated. From Lozan on down to the lowliest gate keeper, each person had a specific role and they followed that role to a tee or else 'the machine would break down' as it was described to them and order, above all else, was paramount.

  The after lunch session was physical training; sparring with swords, calisthenics and the like. Tagan was at home with the laws but was at a disadvantage when it came to the physical training. Here the other boys shone and they let Tagan know it as often as they could, applying more than one beating to him right under the noses of their trainers who turned a blind eye to Tagan's plight. If he protested to them the masters would only say that he needs to be strong and learn to stick up for himself. This approach only increased the severity of the extra attention he received so he curtailed that and went back to keeping his mouth shut. Each evening Tagan would drag himself into bed sporting gorgeous new welts and bruises.

  When they weren't in training, Tagan and the other inductees were given chores around the Citadel. Most of the boys were given physical jobs like mucking out the horses stalls, chopping and stacking wood for the furnaces and maintenance of the carriages. A few, like Tagan, were given less physical jobs. Mainly work in the kitchens, scraping and cleaning the pottery from the days meals, helping the cooks prepare food.

  Then there were the prisoners. Each prisoner was fed twice daily. Tagan and two other boys had to include the prison tower in their rounds when they were distributing meals. Tagan dreaded his trips through the prison. The inmates would jeer at them, calling them all sorts of vile names. They would hoot and holler as the boys worked, asking if they would be coming back later to join them in the bath. Most were not civil and they would employ all manner of actions to abuse them. This included spitting on them and throwing urine and feces at them. Although this last behavior wasn't well tolerated by the guards and more than one of the prisoners who had done it were never seen again. Tagan learned this was all part of the cycle of the prison. People would come in and out all the time so he learned not to pay much attention to whom he was handing bowls of food to.

  Tagan found himself once again pushing a cart of food through the jail, stopping every few feet to distribute meals, doing his best to remove himself mentally from what was going on. He was near the end of the row of cells and only had one more prisoner left. He couldn't wait to get out of there so he could enjoy his own food.

  The last cell contained the newest prisoner. Tagan had seen the guards bringing him in earlier. They were overjoyed as though the person was someone of importance and even though he didn't resist, the guards were taking liberties, punching and kicking him as they brought him to his cell.

  In the earlier rounds the new prisoner had lain asleep and didn't stir as Tagan came through with food. This time the prisoner was sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. Not weeping but looking more like someone who couldn't believe where he found himself.

  "Food for you." Tagan stopped the cart and readied a plate.

  The man groaned as he stood and Tagan could hear him shuffle toward the bars of the cell to collect his meal. Tagan looked up as he passed the plate and stopped, staring into the man's eyes and gasped. They could have belonged to Kenok.

  Chapter 12