Chapter 24
The night lingered casually in the giant hall of Warhead Dale. The rain continued to pummel the outside of the house painting the exterior walls and unloading its fury on the rooftops like steel ball bearings being poured into a tin bucket.
The noise earlier had made everyone in the house anxious, but now it became just another sound of the night. And in some way, the knowledge that even as bad as this tempest was at the moment, it was comforting to possess the knowledge that the sun would come up tomorrow.
After the children heard that Michael had declared war on Triton, the young boys in the group leapt from their spots in front of the intense fire and started acting as though they were battling with a ghost army. They ran about yelping charges of war shooting bullets from fingers and slashing unsuspecting victims with invisible swords. The little ones that were at the receiving end of the invisible bullets and blades clutched their chests and fell in agony.
Some of the young girls joined in the mêlée, but most sat staring at me, whom at that moment garnered a look of horror over their faces.
“Wait! Wait children!” I yelled out trying to calm them. “This is not a game!”
No matter how I tried to settle them, the children continued to bounce relentlessly around the hall pretending to kill each other. One clever little boy, made his way behind my black leather chair, and in his excitement at playing the game of war, rolled on the floor in front of me, leapt to his feet, and pointed his stubby little index finger right at my head. I stared at the fleshy barrel of his gun, and anger cleansed over me. I had not felt intense emotion in a very long time. The children had not realized or understood the anguish that pierced Michael’s soul the second he muttered the words to go to war. It then dawned on me that maybe I did not express Michael’s feelings well enough to prove my point. It is a very hard thing to read someone’s mind.
The young boy, still with his pink finger pointing at me, drew his weapon to his eye and took aim. He winked and smiled at me. He then pulled the imaginary trigger on his imaginary gun and yelled out, “Bang, you’re dead!”
“STOP!” I projected as loud as my voice would let me. I felt the rage depart my body like water rushing through a burst river dam. “SIT DOWN BACK IN FRONT OF ME RIGHT THIS MINUTE!”
The children froze where they were standing. The expressions of excitement, as they killed each other and fell to the floor, morphed into fear. They stood petrified, scared that I might lash out at them again.
“Now. Come and sit now,” I said in a less ominous tone.
The children hung their heads and placed their arms shamefully to their sides, and very gently and quietly shuffled back to their places in front of the fire on the large brown rug. They peered up at me as though none of the events that had transpired in the last three minutes had even happened, and even if it had, they had no part in it.
With laser eyes, I gazed down at them from my big black leather chair, crossed my arms, and let out a huge rush of air. “I cannot believe that you have not learned anything from my story.” The children glanced back with looks of sorrow. “Do you actually believe that Michael’s decision to go to war was easy? Do you think just because he went in front of the panel in the Chamber of Common and exchanged a few words with Tickler that the idea of war just popped into his brain?” I paused for a second. “I’m ashamed of you,” I explained, but I think I was acting more upset upon my emotions than actually feeling ashamed of my listeners.
The children hung their heads again and I waited. The silence was biting. “Do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?”
The children popped their heads up and stared at me with anxious fright and nodded very tenderly. I believe they were afraid I would stop my story. But I would not.
“Well then, I must continue.” The children’s mood turned for the better and I could see once again that they were eager and willing to listen.
“Michael was feeling particularly somber after the hearing in the Chamber. He left immediately after he muttered the words that he would go to war with Triton and rushed to his castle while most of the subjects that attended the proceedings still stood in tranquil quiet as they watched the boy king of Godwin depart.
JT sat on his chair trying to comprehend what had just transpired. He brushed the headset from his ears and pondered the floor in front of him. He was proud of his friend in that he stood up to Charlie and his brazen disregard for the people of Godwin, but in some ways he questioned Michael’s motive. What did he mean that he was going to war because of freedom?
There would be war between the two lands that were once divided by a large ravine. Now, as the young Godwin soldier announced, the two kingdoms touched, leaving no gaping border to slow the charge of armies and war. Men and women alike, as the conclusion settled in their hearts, emptied the Chamber of Common and returned to their respective territories to brace themselves for the infamous event that was about to occur.
JT purposefully was the last to leave the chamber. It dawned on him right away as subject after subject passed, that no one really cared that he was a fugitive of Godwin and was supposed to still be imprisoned. What he really wanted to do was find Michael, and tell his companion that he would support him in his decision to go to war.
He left the chamber and earnestly walked into the Bruinduer night.
The stars danced and sparkled across the sky, and as he strolled up the winding roads of Godwin, he mysteriously and subconsciously felt at ease. He walked past numerous houses, finding himself peeking through open windows where he saw families embrace each other despite the upheaval of their lives. He saw men toss their sons and daughters into the air and grab around them with complete admiration and love. He saw women kiss there men as though it would be the last time they would see them, and older people laughed and danced as though they had no care in the world; especially the weight of the burden of battle.
JT knew there would be chaos and death in the land when the sun rose the next day over the desert, but tonight there would only be happiness; a feeling of hope and dreams. As he marched his way toward the ivory and golden tower of Godwin, he listened carefully to the sounds of the favored night, and for a brief moment, everything was good in Bruinduer.
Security around the castle was heavy, but lighter than it had been earlier that day. Godwin soldiers spent the night before the war with their families, and what security remained paid no attention to JT as he made his way up the stairs to Michael’s castle. It was JT’s assumption that Atal must have allowed him to pass even the thickest of security checkpoints within the citadel’s walls, for he had no trouble at all as he went to find Michael.
He slipped through the entrance of the castle and the cascades of water that had poured so magnificently out of the mouths of the swans that stood on either side of the large ornate doors when he and Kali first ventured there, stood dry. He walked into the great hall and an unexplained feeling of coldness and death wash over him. He felt empty.
He climbed onto the small stage and up to Michael’s throne, and with every step he could hear the echo of his feet as they clogged the stone floor. He ever so slightly grabbed around the back of the throne and clutched the golden back support. He felt a gust of wind spit in his face. An intense pain shot through his head. He shut his eyes and grimaced and felt himself fall forward. He did not feel the impact of his body crashing to the floor, but with pure luck immediately opened his eyes to complete darkness.
JT reached out in hopes of grabbing the throne to pull his body up, but he felt only a void. His legs were light beneath him and he realized that he was floating in mid air.
‘What in the world is going on?’ he thought and realized everything happening to him was out of his control.
He hovered in the darkness for what felt like forever and then he heard a small thump, then a small snicker behind him. JT tried to swerve around to see where the noise came from, but then he heard it again. The snicker turned into a laugh that JT recognized. He he
ard that ominous, dark, booming, condescending, and simply outstanding laugh on the Shorts’ farm and in Warhead Dale in dreams. He knew exactly who the welcomed laugh came from -- it was Billy, and he had finally showed up to help.
‘Where are you?!’ JT yelled out. He didn’t know whether to feel happy, mad, or scared, but he did feel a sense of relief.
The laugh boomed louder and in the distance, after a brief second, Billy’s two large, red eyes in possession of the blackest pupils JT had ever seen, opened.
‘I’m right here, boy,’ Billy’s long growl shattered the lonely darkness around JT. ‘Seems like you’re in a bit of a pickle.’
‘Yeah, with no help from you.’ JT was perturbed at the Essence and then felt his feet settle on solid, black ground. ‘I thought you were some kind of spirit guide. You know, a little guidance would be good right about now.’ With his arms crossed, JT stood staring at Billy’s eyes, now circling him.
‘Hee, hee,’ Billy chuckled sarcastically. ‘I told you that these heathens in here had no belief. I can’t do too much without people believing in me.’
‘Then why are you bothering me? Don’t you think you need to find somebody who does believe in you?’ JT tapped his foot impatiently.
‘It’s lonely isn’t it?’ Billy scoffed and gave JT a minute to think. ‘The blackness I mean. It just never seems to end does it?’ His huge eyes blinked in a sort of I-know-what-you-are-thinking kind of way. ‘Despite the contradicting thoughts I sense, I think I found someone who believes in me, and trust me when I say I had no idea that it would be the furthest person down my list.’
‘Really?’ JT stated. ‘Well why don’t you go bother them?’
Billy’s laugh boomed. ‘Gosh, you amaze me. Don’t you see? It’s you, boy. Whether you admit it or not, you believe in me. That’s why I’m botherin’ you. That’s why I’m here now. Your belief in me has grown while you’ve been in Bruinduer. It’s as though you are finally coming to grips with me --- and this world.’
JT tapped his foot and looked up at Billy’s blazing, dark eyes. He shook his head and glanced away. ‘I’ve seen you, right? I guess I’ve got to believe in you. You did say that people believe in what they see.’ JT sighed. ‘I have no one else to turn to but you. Michael is on some crazy crusade, and Kali just wants to get out of here, and I don’t want Bruinduer to collapse. That’s if it is really collapsing.’
Billy’s laugh grew even louder and his eyes shifted in front of where JT was now looking. ‘Bruinduer will collapse. That’s a fact. But your faith in me and this world is the first step in saving it.’
‘Then why don’t you do something and end this nightmare now? Why haven’t you done the right thing and stepped in and put a stop to all of this? I don’t understand.’ JT realized that he did believe in Billy no matter how his temper flared when he was around the big brut. There was a feeling of comfort when Billy whispered those lines in his ear while he was tracking through Godwin and Triton. And though he felt his hope fading since time was running out to save Bruinduer from its demise, he felt secure being with Billy now.
‘It’s hard to interfere in the ways of men. I have tried,’ Billy explained. His voice descended a few notches. ‘It is especially hard if you are in Bruinduer to learn as you are. Belief is a powerful motivator, and my power grows with belief. When one truly believes, it is then, that all can be revealed.’ Billy’s eyes began to circle JT once again. ‘And all you really have to do is ask.’
JT pondered Billy’s remarks and then thought about the times in Bruinduer when he thought Billy was there with him. He particularly thought about being on his throbbing knees in the grimy, dingy, smelly, wet dungeon of the Triton Pyramid. He asked for Billy then, but the only ‘being’ that showed up was a fat, brown rat. Or was it?
‘Wait a minute,’ JT said shaking his head. ‘That was you? You were that little fat rat that chewed through the ropes as I hung from that hook?’
Billy laughed, ‘Yes.’
‘Why all the secrecy then, why not just appear and take care of business?’ JT’s voice became impatient.
‘You said it yourself, boy. I’m only a guide.’ The black eyes blinked again. ‘I need people to believe in me. I need people to remember. They are starting to remember, but, just like you, they forgot.’
JT thought some more tapping his toe. He really wanted Billy to stop speaking in circles. ‘Are you the one I’ve heard some people call Kaida..., Kaidawa..., or something like that?’
‘You never could pronounce that name right,’ Billy chuckled. ‘You and your friends just called me Billy and that is just fine.’
‘I thought you might have something to do with being the spirit of Bruinduer after Atal told me the story of the great intellect that once lived here, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure. When I first learned about Bruinduer and you, I thought you were only available to guide me, Kali, and Michael; I didn’t realize you guided everyone else as well.’ JT paused. ‘I admit. I was wrong. You are a much larger and a more meaningful variable for this world. Just as my grandfather said.’ He hung his head and Billy let out a large sigh as though he accepted JT’s apology. ‘Well, these people are starting to believe in you, right? I mean, I heard many after the explosion and in the streets of Godwin call your proper name. You should go and do something for them,’ JT’s voice became excited. ‘I saw this young girl with a little boy sitting on an embankment. She said that you would take care of everything. She said you would save them from all of these problems. I really believe she thinks that you will make their pain and sufferings go away.’ JT felt odd. He was actually trying to tell Billy what he needed to do.
Billy remained silent. It was apparent he knew that JT was right in that he could end everything that was happening or prevent bad things from happening, but even as JT, Michael, and Kali had to abide by the rules of Bruinduer, obviously, he did too.
‘You said this was simple and all I have to do is ask for your help. Well, I’m asking.’ Panic seeped into JT’s voice. He had to end this conversation and get back to the mission of saving Bruinduer. ‘What do we do now?’
Billy’s eyes stopped circling and peered down at JT burning a hole through him. ‘People have a destiny to fulfill,’ Billy began. His solemn, low, dark voice cut through the empty blackness. ‘Rule number four: Your destiny in Bruinduer must be finished.’ Billy blinked.
‘You keep telling me that. I heard it when I was on the floor pummeled by guards here two days ago, in the desert with Joshua, and in the Chamber of Common. Now you tell me here. What does it mean? Whose destiny? My destiny? What destiny? Just tell me!’ JT demanded.
‘Sometimes we look to fulfill our destiny in the wrong places and at the wrong times. We think we are doing the right thing at the moment, but most of the time it’s simple.’ Billy’s eyes moved higher above JT. ‘You must try to think a little differently when I explain this.’
JT prepared himself the best that he could by trying only to focus on what Billy was telling him, though his thoughts wandered to Kali and Michael.
‘We all want our lives to be grand. We want to be special and achieve some extraordinary feat or be an important person. In reality, most suffer from delusions of grandeur. Our destiny, in truth, may be as insignificant as opening a door. After that door opens, other events happen, and so on and so on.’
‘Can I just get a straight answer?’ asked JT. He was tired.
‘Just think about your friend, the little rabbit Mikey. Think about why you’re supposed to be here, and that everything else that’s happening around you really doesn’t matter. His destiny needs to be fulfilled.’ Billy’s eyes went dark and JT’s eyes opened. He was lying on the stone floor of the great hall beside Michael’s golden throne.
He looked up at the ceiling and gazed at the wonderful murals and stories that danced across it. His eyes wandered about, still trying to gain his bearings, when he noticed the shiny, gold trim of the walls.
He then peered at the glitte
ring jewels that encrusted the borders of the paintings’ frames. He then heard a groaning, painful, sobbing voice come from the little room that was to the right of the stage. It was the tiny room where he had almost punched Michael out two days ago.
He couldn’t explain what went through his mind or how the idea even formed, but he figured out what Billy was trying to say to him. He knew what he had to do to save Bruinduer and it had nothing to do with Michael’s war.”
“JT walked to the door of the small room and placed his ear against it. He heard painful, sad, moaning muffled from the other side. He reached for the silver handle, opened it, and peaked inside the room. As the light flooded into the room from the great hall, it split the darkness and shone on the young King of Godwin. He sat on the small cushioned bench fastened to the wall. His elbows were perched on his knees and his head was buried in his hands.
When the light flickered in front of his feet, Michael quickly poked his face up toward JT. His eyes were swollen red and he was out of tears. His crown and glasses sat nestled beside him in the red pillows and his hair, once slicked back, was now in wretched shambles. He was exhausted and torn.
‘What do you want?’ Michael lamented in a deep, scratchy voice, his throat dry from his sobbing.
‘Just to find you,’ said JT calmly. He walked into the small room and shut the door. The room went dark. JT reached around on the wall out of instinct and flipped a switch. Gas lights lit and the warm light flickered gently across the walls.
‘I’m not in the mood for any lectures,’ Michael said as he planted his face back into his hands.
‘I’m not here to lecture you,’ JT began. ‘I came to support you. I’m here to help.’
Michael’s face wiggled in his hands as though he appreciated the gesture, but he kept his face hidden. ‘Sometimes I don’t think people understand what a difficult decision going to war is,’ Michael started, his voice muffled from his hands, but JT could hear him just fine. ‘When I left the proceedings in the chamber, I had people surround me and yell that I was going to war for nothing. They told me the men and women of Godwin would die in vain. They said that going to war over water was crazy.’ Michael lifted his head and even the glowing gas lights illuminated his tortured face. ‘It’s not about that though, JT. It’s about freedom.’
JT leaned against the wall beside the door and stared at his friend. ‘I was wondering about all of that Michael, but only for a second; especially after what I saw in the chamber. When I saw you stand in front of that panel and show your conviction, to tell you the truth, I was inspired.’
‘It’s about freedom. I don’t see how you can’t see it!’ Michael’s voice was huffed.
‘OK, OK I hear you,’ JT said as he gestured to Michael to calm down.
‘Look,’ Michael began, ‘the people here in Godwin live a certain life. Sure, we have our faults, but who doesn’t? We live here because I made it free. I wanted people to be whom or what they wanted. I wanted to make this place like the Vryheid conceived it in their minds; a place where people could choose their own destiny.’ Michael touched his heart and swallowed. ‘I always had a problem with that out in the earthly world. I promised if I was ever able achieve what I have now, I and the people who would live here would not have that same problem.
The people liked the water that was supplied from Triton. It not only sustained our life, it gave comfort and joy. The citizens could create their beautiful gardens and luxurious fountains. They could take their baths whenever they wanted with as much as they wanted.
But Charlie comes along and betrays us even though he specifically said he would provide what water we wanted. To me, I think it’s obvious he does not like our way of life. So, he controls the water supply and cuts us off from it, he destroys the bridge so we cannot trade, and ultimately we cannot become who we were destined to be. We are now at his mercy scared beyond our wits to do anything. We can then only bow down to his wishes. In the end, what Tickler was saying, Charlie’s actions aim to destroy our way of life, and as the leader of Godwin, I will not let that happen.’ Michael buried his face back into his hands and breathed deeply.
JT continued to stare at Michael. He took in and digested what he said, and he actually could see his point. The people of Godwin had the right to live the way they wanted, and they could not give their freedom to someone who was determined to destroy them and take it away in the process.
‘But what’s all that talk about freedom and your way of life, if you’re all dead?’ JT questioned.
‘Exactly,’ stated Michael. ‘I’d rather be dead if I couldn’t have my freedom.’
JT was surprised at the words he heard from Michael. This was totally opposite from the young man he met back at the farm under the big tree in the Ol’ 22. That person seemed to want to manipulate his way back into Bruinduer to take his throne and live an easy life with no thought of protecting others. Now that same person, but a changed person, wanted to die for it.
‘I guess you have to die for something.’ JT nodded his head and gave a crooked smile. ‘Might as well be for freedom.’
JT waited a moment and let Michael wrestle with his convictions. He hated to ruin the young king’s inspired confidence, but explained why he was really there. ‘I need to tell you something, and I don’t think you’re going to like it.’
‘What?’ asked Michael.
‘It’s about Billy. He’s here,’ JT stated.
‘I know he is. I told you I knew he was here,’ answered Michael. ‘He’s been trying to get back in my head ever since I walked through the Mahogany Door.’ Michael shook his head and wiped away a few new tears he found trickling down his nose. ‘I won’t let him. I forgot about him.’
‘He wants to help you Michael. He wants to help us, and all you have to do is ask,’ JT said, but Michael shook his head violently in disapproval. ‘Listen!’ JT raised his voice. ‘He told me that Bruinduer is going to collapse and you and Charlie are wrong, and I believe him; just like I believe my grandfather. I’m going to save Bruinduer and you are too, because Billy said you have to fulfill your destiny.’
‘This is my destiny!’ Michael barked. ‘My destiny is here to save Godwin and live a life I can’t have in Athens Eden!’
‘Come on Michael, think!’ JT became impatient. ‘We were what, fourteen? Our destiny wasn’t to rule Bruinduer. You said it yourself. We picked an adventure and completed that adventure, and once it was done, it was finished. We walked through the Mahogany Door and had an adventure. We could come back whenever we wanted, but the original task was finished. Don’t you get it? You have to complete what you started. You have to fulfill that destiny -- the adventure you chose.’ JT paused. ‘You have to retrieve the Golden Diamond.’ With his back pressed against it, he slid down the wall and buried his face in his hands. ‘We can go home and Bruinduer will be saved. I will be saved. We will be saved.’
Michael was silent. He did not answer JT.
A few moments later, JT rose from his seat and shuffled over to Michael. He placed his hand on the back of the Godwin leader’s shoulder. ‘But I will fight with you Michael. I will fight Charlie to the death if needed.’
Michael glanced up at JT and smiled through his red, swollen eyes.
The door of the room creaked opened and Kali stepped through. She had also, probably at the hands of Atal Leer, been released from her cell. She had a worried but relieved expression upon her face. She slumbered over to JT and Michael. She had been listening to the conversation through the door. She grabbed them both, kissed them on their cheeks, and said, ‘Tomorrow, it will finally be finished.’”