The illusory encounter with the Unicorn only
raised more difficult and unanswerable questions for Zara. How could this all
be? Were stories of the dogons and the Barren Wastelands, the Eternal
Winters and houses built of bones nothing but lies? Why would they lie to
her? To everyone? Did the
real Hellias only exist inside the mountain?
She
flipped through flashbacks of the journey she had made once again, trying to make
sense of it all as they continued along the road to Anur. Memories came and
went, sometimes she could only recall glimpses. She remembered being in the TLS
program... She remembered Sophia... She remembered Orien's sacrifice... She just couldn't
remember whether the sacrifice happened before or after she met Sophia...
Vikkar
pulled into a picnic camp along the way for a rest. He lowered Zara off the
horse, dismounted himself and gestured to the fire pit. "You
can collect some kindling."
Zara
stared at the fire pit, unsure of what he meant.
"Twigs"
Vikkar pointed to the ground around.
Zara scanned the ground around her, still unsure of what he meant, was this another
test? She knew that twigs were used on the pyre, was he actually going to sacrifice her too? "What
is the fire for?"
Vikkar
shook his head in dismay, none of the refugees knew how to take care of themselves,
none of them even knew how to use fire properly. He stooped to pick one up. "We
need a fire to cook our food."
Terrified
and feeling stupid now, Zara began to gather twigs from the ground while
Vikkar gathered some larger pieces of wood. Once the stack was big enough, he
drew the sword with a warning. "Stand
back!"
Zara
stumbled backwards as he wielded the powerful weapon into the air. But instead of
casting it down upon her, he cast it down towards the pile of twigs. Sparks of
lightning shot out from the blade, igniting the twigs instantly. Within
seconds, flames engulfed the pit.
"Wow…"
Zara gasped out loud.
"Sword
of Lightning is real, too" Vikkar winked, blowing the smoke off the blade,
returning it to the scabbard.
Zara stood amazed, speechless as Vikkar cooked an elaborate lunch which Vida had prepared, here came those yummy smells again. There were just too many contradictions for this all not to be some sort of gag. She scanned through the history lessons she had learned in Culloom, trying to unscramble the thread called Vikkar and the legendary Sword of Lightning. How did it get confused with the dogons?
She chugged back the wine, grateful for it now as she savoured the delicious food, whatever it was. The truth was, it was too late to be afraid of Vikkar or his sinister little plan if he had one. Surely if the Dogons were going to eat her, they would have done so by now? Was Vikkar in fact, returning her to the TLS Program?
Zara stood amazed, speechless as Vikkar cooked an elaborate lunch which Vida had prepared, here came those yummy smells again. There were just too many contradictions for this all not to be some sort of gag. She scanned through the history lessons she had learned in Culloom, trying to unscramble the thread called Vikkar and the legendary Sword of Lightning. How did it get confused with the dogons?
She chugged back the wine, grateful for it now as she savoured the delicious food, whatever it was. The truth was, it was too late to be afraid of Vikkar or his sinister little plan if he had one. Surely if the Dogons were going to eat her, they would have done so by now? Was Vikkar in fact, returning her to the TLS Program?
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