Zenak Read online

  “My mind, my eyes can now control towns, nations, and all the Island,” Vokar said. His voice was booming and it resounded in the tree,

  “I’m dying, please help,” Mara said then she fell to her knees keeping the baby close to her.

  Vokar looked down upon her and then shut his eyes, Mara immediately felt her strength coming back, until in only moments she was herself again,

  “Will I be queen of the Island?” she asked,

  Vokar nodded and Mara beamed at the answer.

  Vokar once again flashed open his eyes and aimed his eyes at the sky. “Zenak still lives.”

  “How do you know?” asked Mara.

  “I know,” he yelled viciously. He then quieted down and continued, “I will take over Gaston tomorrow, and the entire city shall be pitted against Zenak when he comes through.” A wicked smile crossed his countenance as he shut his eyes and faced Mara.

  “How do you know that Zenak will come to Gaston?” Mara asked

  “Since Gaston is the last town between here and Soci, I’m sure he will come in to see if anyone has seen us” Vokar replied.

  “Now sleep until tomorrow,” Vokar said to Mara. The queen lay back and while suckling the sleepy prince fell into a deep sleep.

  Vokar turned around and stared once again at the sky with his blazing eyes. He was never to sleep again.

  The next morning came without the slightest relief from the torrential rain. The Volski River was even more violent than before and it had risen to a never-before-reached height. Many of the buildings that had stood upon the banks of the usually lazy river had been washed away. How many people had been lost was not known, but many cries of help from the drowning had drifted into the helpless town. The people in the town were in a near panic, for there was nothing they could do to save the drowning victims or themselves. All they could do was to pray for relief.

  Vokar poked Mara in the ribs and told her to get up. Mara rose stiffly from the cold ground and rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. The baby was still asleep on the ground.

  “It still rains,” she remarked as she looked outside.

  “How perceptive,” replied Vokar sarcastically. “The town of Gaston is in trouble. Now I will test my great powers and see if I can truly control an entire town with just my will. Come Mara we leave.”

  Mara put on her cloak, picked up the prince, and fol­lowed Vokar out of the tree hollow. To Mara’s dismay the marks had fled in the night.

  “Did you see them leave?” she asked Vokar.

  “Yes, but who cares. We will have no need for them,” he answered, smiling to himself.

  Mara looked sternly at Vokar, but only mumbled her dissent of the lost marks. Vokar’s powers frightened her too much

  The walk toward the riverbank was the most miserable walk Mara had ever had. The ground was muddy and the rain was cold. And she was failing to protect her child from the rain no matter how hard she tried. The child, though, did not seem to be both­ered by the rain. Zenak’s strength was coming through in him.

  When the two of them reached the river, Mara was horrified at the vastness of it. Never in her life had she seen such a fierce river. Vokar was unconcerned and he motioned for her to come closer to him by the bank.

  “I can’t swim!” she cried. “My child and I shall drown.”

  “Come here now!” Vokar ordered.

  Mara flinched a little at the order and for a moment she wasn’t sure how to listen—to her senses or to Vokar.

  “Come now! This is the last time I will call you,” Vokar yelled.

  Mara decided to go to Vokar’s side.

  “That’s better. There is nothing to be afraid of. This river rages only on the surface. Beneath this display of power lies a calm interior, a weak interior. This river somewhat re­minds me of your Zenak,” Vokar said.

  At the mention of Zenak’s name, Mara’s face contorted to an indescribable ugliness and her voice became brutal.

  “Never mention his name,” she said angrily.

  For the past two days Mara had been calm, beautiful, and fragile. She had been the woman Zenak was pursuing. Little did he know how ugly she became when the thought of him came into her mind. Her anger was of such a magnitude that she began squeez­ing the prince’s hand so hard that it turned white from lack of circulation. Even the screams from the child did not dispel her daze of hatred and malice.

  Vokar wanted to stop the baby’s screams, not for love of the child, but because he hated the sound of a baby’s cries. So he calmed Mara down with just a slight glance. Mara fell to the ground hugging her baby and quieting it down. She kept saying while she rocked the prince in her arms, “Zenak must die. He must die. He must die.”

  “Yes, yes,” Vokar reassured her. “Zenak will die in this town of Gaston, for even he will not be able to fight off an en­tire town.” Mara looked up, her eyes aglow with evil. She was happy to hear that her son’s father was soon to die.

  “Now, let’s go to Gaston,” Vokar said firmly.

  “How? I can see from here that the bridge is out,” Mara said.

  “We will walk under the river, on its bed,” Vokar said matter-of-factly.

  Then Vokar walked into the water. Mara stood up and bit her bottom lip. This was going to take a lot of courage on her part, but without further questioning, Mara followed him into the water. As they headed into the river, they became surrounded by what seemed to be a bubble that would not rise to the surface. The walk under the surface of the water was dryer than if they had been on land in the raging rains. The walk, how­ever, was slow and deliberate, for if they walked too fast the bubble would burst. Because of this it took them over an hour to walk the distance of a karn. But when they emerged they were dryer than if they had crossed a bridge in the rains. Mara look­ed about questioningly. First, she looked at her dry clothes that were fast becoming wet again from the rain, then she looked at the distant shore that they had come from, and finally she looked at Vokar. A look of wonder touched her face. She was amazed at this man. He could do anything, she thought. Upon thinking this, her look of wonder replaced itself with a look of regality, pride, and a touch of evil.

  “I can truly be queen of the Island. I can rule this vastness. I can control the lives of all,” she yelled. “I love you, Vokar. You are truly strong.”

  Vokar smiled and slightly nodded. “I am more powerful than I imagined. While I was under water I realized that I can do more than I thought possible. Possibly the water gave this revelation or maybe I discovered it for myself, but I cannot be stopped! Even this boring weather can be controlled with my powers,” he laughed out loud at his new discovery.

  Vokar raised his arms in the air and looked toward the cloud-covered sun. He was concentrating intensely. The raindrops splashed on his face but nothing disturbed him from thinking. Then a blinding blue flash radiated from his eyes and the ferocity of the storm increased tenfold. The rain was coming down like little daggers and the wind was blowing as if all the winds from all directions had gathered in Gaston. Mara was knocked down by the wind and she immediately covered her child. Vokar stood like a palace pillar. Further down the road, in Gaston, the people were in a panic. They felt sure the river, which was now in a total frenzy, would flow to Gaston and wash their town away. But no sooner had the storm increased than it totally abated. The rain stopped like a dammed up waterfall and then the wind stopped. Within moments the clouds dissipated and the sun was shining, sending its health-giving rays all over the countryside and town. As fast as the rain stopped, the river shrank to its origin­al size, and instead of being the ravaging river of only moments ago, it became its lazy, muddy self. The day became beautiful and the sun shone like a diamond. Mara looked more radiant than ever, her rain-washed face reflected the sun, which in turn, re­flected her soft loveliness. She looked at Vokar admiringly and felt how lucky she was to have a man with so much at her side.

  She smiled at him and to her surprise he smiled back. For the first time in his vicio
us life, he was truly happy and his bony, white face reflected this feeling with a pleasant smile. Mara rose, taking Vokar’s arm as they walked to the town. If one had seen them one would have said that they were a picture of true bliss. How sad that such happiness could be produced from such evil.

  Meanwhile, the people in the town were astonished. Never in their bleak but sometimes happy lives had they ever seen a storm disperse so rapidly.

  “The gods were with us,” said an old shawl-covered woman as she stared blankly out of her window.

  Within minutes the main street was filled with the towns­folk. There was laughing, singing, and praise to the gods. Even the ones who had lost loved ones in the terrible storm felt a spark of happiness inside as they searched by the riverbank for the bodies of their relatives and friends. All the people of the town, save for one, were in the main street. They were pushing and shoving each other jovially and a cry of joy came out from the crowd when two tavern owners brought out five caskets of wine and a grocer came out of his store with a cart­load of bread, meat, and cheese.

  It was a joyful town that Vokar and Mara observed as they entered the main street of town.

  “Just as I expected,” Vokar said. “All the peons are celebrating. Like animals they have all gathered in the main street. It will be extremely easy to take over their minds.”

  “Could you do it without all of them together?” Mara asked revealing a natural curiosity.

  “Of course, but for the first try I prefer having them together so I can be sure to get all their minds,” Vokar said without looking at Mara.

  He looked greedily at the crowd. He thought to himself that these people will be in his power and that they were just a delicious sampling of the people yet to come under his sinister power. He stopped a little away from the crowd and stood quietly. Not a muscle in his body moved; he seemed to be engrossed deeply in concentration. Mara stared at Vokar wondering what was going through his mind. He would not even take the slightest notice of her and this made her impatient. She sat down with the child and rocked him while she waited for Vokar.

  For some reason the entire town had ignored the presence of Vokar and Mara (another source of her impatience.) Why the town did not take notice of so strange a couple standing relatively close to them is open to question. No matter what the reason Vokar was left to his mischief. The town could not feel the omi­nous presence. They could not feel that they were slowly going under his spell. It took time, but Vokar’s concentration per­meated the crowd’s mind, and after a short movement of the sun the entire town, still wrapped up in its party, was enveloped in Vokar’s mind.

  While all this was happening Mara had put her baby on the ground and taken her blouse off so she could enjoy the sun to its fullest extent.

  “Stop,” said Vokar in voice so low that Mara couldn’t hear him.

  Immediately the entire town froze in position. Mara look­ed up at Vokar in shocked response. She rose quickly and put her blouse on. Vokar then began reciting his orders to the town.

  “A man, your King Zenak, will ride through here tomorrow. When he enters the town you will all rush him with anything you can use as a weapon and slay him,” The people did not move, but stayed in their posi­tions and unconsciously listened. Vokar, looking at the blacksmith, continued, “Bring me your two best riding marks complete with fur-covered saddles.” Vokar then turned to Mara and said, “Now we ride for Mea.”

  “What! We don’t rest!” exclaimed Mara.

  “We will rest in Mea in a little less than an hour,” Vokar said.

  “What are you talking about? Mea is at least another month’s ride from here,” Mara said in an astonished tone.

  “You seem to forget my powers, don’t you? We shall be trans­ported by them instead of by marks,” Vokar said.

  “So what do we need the marks for?” Mara asked.

  “Mea is the capitol of Soci, a nation of wizards. I must be careful not to display all my powers at one time, for one can never tell whether or not the great wizards of Soci may be just as powerful as I. And if they find they don’t like such a powerful man amongst them, we may never get a chance to rule, for we may be killed as dangerous foreign wizards. We shall be transported a few miles from Mea, to its dark surrounding forest, and ride in.”

  Mara nodded to Vokar that she understood. Then she rea­died the prince for the trip by strapping him to her back.

  “Ah, here come our marks,” Vokar said as the blacksmith brought two black shiny marks to the couple’s side. The black­smith stared at them with glassy eyes.

  The couple mounted their marks. Vokar looked around, smiled, and said a short incantation; then they disappeared.

  The moment Vokar and Mara disappeared, the clamor and ex­citement of the post-storm party resumed as if Vokar and Mara had never landed on the shore of this town and sealed the townsfolk’s doom. Only the blacksmith was a little perplexed because he could not remember moving out of the ale line, which he had been through three times, and going to the outskirts of the party. But he gave it little thought and went back to the ale line laugh­ing and joking with the others.

  When Vokar had cast his spell he thought that the entire town was present. Why he thought this, only he could say. Possi­bly, he felt too sure of himself, or, possibly, he did not care if a few people were missing from the party. The last hypothesis, though, is rather unlikely for Vokar was sure he knew all. The fact of the matter, however, was that one person had been missing from the party. His name was Tak, well-known as a great hunter. Tak was young. He was twenty-two, with his heart full of love and fun. He was also the most agile and strongest man in the area and he loved to show his strength at any gathering, especially after a few ales. It was not like him to miss a party, but he had slept through the beginning of the party and the arrival and departure of Vokar and Mara. Tak did not arrive at the festivities until later on in the afternoon. Until then he had been in a straw bed in the back part of an attic of the tallest house in Gaston. He had gone back there the night before with a large flagon of wine and a young pert wench to satisfy what he felt was the last of his days. For even though Tak was a great hunter and great fighter, he could not swim a stroke, and with the water rising rapidly the night be­fore, Tak felt it was his last night to live. And live he did. All through the night he and his woman for the evening enjoyed themselves to the fullest extent a young man and a wild young woman can. At first light both of them fell asleep satisfied from a night of wine and love. As is usual for women, the young wench did not sleep long but later in the morning left the side of her lover and crept back to her parent’s side even before the storm had let up. Tak, however, slept deeply and soundly after his final hurrah to life, love, and wine.

  When Tak awoke he awoke with a start because he was dreaming the flood waters had reached him and that his great sword was pulling him under the crashing waves. To his relief he realized right away that he was dreaming. So he lay calmly back on his straw bed and chewed on a piece of loose straw while he thought with relish of the previous night. It had been wonderful! The young woman had been occupying a corner of the second floor with her parents. Tak saw her when he was looking for a place to settle down for the night. Her parents had al­ready gone to sleep, but she had stayed up and was knitting by candlelight when Tak saw her. As is normal with all twenty-two-year-olds he debated with himself for at least a half an hour on how to approach this woman and what to say to her when he did approach her. Some men, especially in Deparne, would have taken the direct approach and just dragged her off to a corner, but Tak was a hunter and had spent much of his life in the moun­tains hunting with his father. He knew how to capture any wild animal, but a woman was a different thing all together, so finally to her amusement, for she had seen him the instant he entered the room, he shuffled over toward her, acting as if he were studying the woodwork. She spoke first, “Hello Tak.”

  “You know me?” he asked in amazement.

  “Of course, everyone knows
the great hunter Tak,” she said while she smiled shyly at him.

  This was the inducement Tak was looking for. He smiled back at her and, his courage bolstered, walked boldly up, and asked rather loudly, “How about drinking some wine with me in the attic? Um…oh, what’s your name?” The sleeping father grumbled at the loud racket. Both of them looked at him and said and did nothing until the old man was snoring again.

  “Last question first. My name is Marga. And yes, I would love to drink some wine with you in the attic,” she said softly so as not to wake her now slumbering father.

  The two then crept up to the attic found an empty bed, and before Tak even knew it he was being lovingly raped by this smooth fair-skinned blond wench. The drinking and the loving went on all night until they both fell into blissful sleep. This is what Tak thought about as he lay in his straw bed. Then he realized that the rain had stopped. Had the end come and was the building floating on the floodwaters? His question unanswered in the straw bed Tak jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs. To his surprise no one was there. He walked to one of the windows and looked out upon a sunlit, green landscape rather than pounding rain and raging wind. He threw open the window and breathed in the warm air and basked for a moment in the warm sunlight that poured into the room.

  “How long have I slept?” Tak asked himself, for he knew a storm of the intensity that had raged before he went to sleep couldn’t stop just like that. He then looked down and noticed the packed pandemonium that was going on in the main street below. The people were so thick that Tak couldn’t even see a cobblestone. “Craziness has struck all the people and I alone am sane,” Tak said softly to himself. Then he laughed out loud and rushed down the porch stairs of the old wooden building to the street.