From Journey to a Mystery: The Legend of Tscon Lightbringer Book Two

Tscon heard his name, the voice calling from far away. He struggled to open his eyes, but at first they wouldn't open. He tried to get to his feet, but his body felt as if it weighed a ton, and he could barely move it. He heard his name called out again, this time it seemed much closer. He forced his eyes open, and slowly the world came into focus around him. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying on straw, which seemed very odd indeed, as he had gone to sleep on his bedroll. He started to sit up, when suddenly he felt his head strike something hard. He looked up to see a wooden board over him. Then he looked around, and saw bars surrounding him in three directions. He was in a cage. The side closest to him was made of solid wood. The box could not have been more than ten feet square, and just a few feet high. The monk was forced to stay bent over in the cramped conditions. On his right, Naeid and Daenna were sitting down, hunched over as well. Daenna's face was filled with worry, while anger, or perhaps even rage, was manifest on Naeid. He scooted over toward them.

"What happened? " he asked, still groggy.

"I don't know yet," Naeid replied," but I have an idea.” She looked slowly around the cage. “ Someone seems to be missing from our group."

"No it can't be," Daenna burst out, "he just couldn't...". She was unable to finish her sentence, her sobs choking out the words.

Tscon looked around the small cage, and found that Leng was not with them. The monk suddenly noticed voices nearby, but could not see anyone.

"Hey what's going on?" he asked, hoping to get the attention of whoever was speaking.

The talking immediately ceased, and he heard footsteps coming toward them. Soon two soldiers came into view, wearing the leather armor of the Mytarian Militia. The monk recognized them as two of the men they had seen in the company on the southern road days earlier. As the men approached, one of them leaned back and yelled.

"Captain the last one is awake."

The companions heard two more sets of footprints heading toward them, and soon the captain came into view with his second in command close beside him.

"Well, well," Thur said as he approached the wagon cage, "the great monk has finally awoke from his long slumber. You sleep well, did you ? I hope so, cause it's the last good night's sleep you'll get, probably for the rest of your life. Haha."

Both Thur and Brag found this no end of amusing, and when their laughter finally died away, he continued.

"I guess you're wondering where your other friend is. Well, he's riding at the head of the column with us. He gets to ride outside the cage since he did as he was told and helped us capture you. Heh, he must have used the whole package of sleeping powder we gave him, it's almost midday. We found him wandering on the road yesterday, and we, ah, 'convinced' him it would be in his best interest to help us. Naturally, he saw it our way. Well, you all seem healthy enough to make it to the capital, so let's get on our way."

As Thur and his men left, Naeid jumped to the edge of the cage and grabbed the bars.

"You send that traitorous backstabbing son of a bitch back here, you hear me!"

Rancorous laughter came back as an answer to Naeid's demand. She sat back down with force, and looking at the floor, her arms folded across her chest. It was obvious she was very uncomfortable in these confined quarters. Soon, they heard the captain call for the march to start, and the wagon lurched forward.

They sat in silence for most of the day, with only Daenna's occasional sobbing and the creak and groan of the wagon wheels interrupting the quiet. Unfortunately, Daenna's crying began to get on Naeid's frayed nerves, and her anger suddenly burst forth.

"Will you stop that pathetic sniveling! By the gods, do we have to put up with your childishness in addition to being caged in here like animals?"

They could hear a few chuckles come from the front of the wagon, obviously the driver had heard Naeid's little outburst. Daenna, caught off guard by Naeid's anger, shrunk away from her, holding back her cries as best she could. Tscon moved next to Little D, and held her hand.

"Don't worry," he said calmly, "we're going to be okay."

Daenna didn't respond to him, not even to look up and acknowledge he had said anything. Tscon didn't blame her. She was caged up now with a group of fugitives whose crimes she had nothing to do with. And the man with whom she had shared a growing attraction had betrayed them all. Tscon had seen the young man and woman's friendship growing, and admired it. He was happy for both of them, but now that affection had turned into an extra insult to add to the injury of being held prisoner. After doing his best to console her, the monk turned and scooted slowly over to Naeid.

"Just stay away from me, okay? " she exclaimed, sharp anger still filling her voice.

Tscon stopped, but did not take his gaze off of her. It took only a moment of looking into her eyes to see that not only was their anger there, but fear as well. He wished she would let him near, the power of the Chyr might soothe her heart and mind, if his words could not. But he knew she would never allow it, not anytime soon. So he sat in silence, as they all did, considering their predicament.

When the day fell and dusk settled in, the wagon slowed to a halt. They could hear the captain giving orders, then the men broke up their formation and began to mill around. A few went into the forest, while others simply sat where they were, opening the backpacks they slung off their shoulders. Both Naeid and Tscon did their best to see if they could spot Leng somewhere in the group, but he never appeared. Tscon noted aloud that he was probably being held by the captain himself, just in case Leng had any last minute thoughts about releasing his friends.

Almost an hour had passed since the wagon stopped, and no one had come to check on them, much less give them anything to eat. Tscon was about to say something about this, when he heard one of the men cry out. A loud snapping sound immediately followed. All of a sudden the entire company seemed to be yelling. Sounds of swords being drawn, and other commotions of battle came to their ears. All three of the captives strained to see what was going on, but could make out nothing from their limited vantage points. Suddenly, a soldier came flying past their cage, as if having been thrown like a rock. He sailed past the entire cage in midair, landing some ten feet behind it. He did not move after he hit the ground. After only a few minutes, the sounds of battle began to subside, until they heard one last bone crunching snap, and the sound of a person falling to the ground. Then, nothing.

A moment later, they heard a metallic sound at the rear of the wagon-cage, like someone inserting a key into a lock. No one was back there. Then the cage door swung slowly outward. Naeid moved to the door, and gently pushed it open. When nothing happened, she leapt out, and ran around the wagon toward the soldiers as soon as she hit the ground. Tscon moved out next. When his feet were on the ground, he turned to help the much shorter Daenna. The two of them quickly walked around the corner to see Naeid standing there, her mouth wide open in stunned surprise. A quick look around provoked the same response from the two of them.

All the soldiers lay dead. One of them had his head turned into an impossible position, while another man appeared to have had his limbs broken, both arms and legs. But what elicited the most response from the three observers, was that the soldiers appeared to have killed each other. The man named Brag had a spear driven deep into his chest, and the killer's hands were still on the long wooden pole. That man had a sword sticking right through his chest, driven from back to front. Two more had swords thrust deep into their abdomens, almost to the hilt. The rest of the bodies all had mortal wounds as well. Deep sword cuts were evident in their necks and chests. There were no corpses other than those of the soldiers. Blood was everywhere, and the three companions had to watch carefully to avoid stepping in it.

Tscon and Naeid broke themselves from staring at the sight, and immediately began looking for Leng. Daenna was still transfixed by the horrible scene, unaccustomed to sights like this. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the two looked at each other, Tscon speaking for them both.

"He's not here. I don't know whether to be relieved or angry. I still can't believe he'd turn us in just to save himself. There must be more to it than that. And what about this," He turned back to the garish scene of the recent battle. "What could have made these men kill each other?"

Naeid looked over the battle once more, then slowly shook her head.

“I have no idea. This is insane, to say the least. And who let us out? That door opened by itself. And, where the blazes is Leng?”

Tscon was thinking about that too. They had searched thoroughly, and were sure their friend was not among the dead. Naeid looked skyward, then up and down the road, and suggested that they should get on their way. He agreed, and the three companions walked quickly away from the horrific battle. Though the scene was nightmarish, it had a strange sense of familiarity to the monk.