Chapter Ten
After dinner, Kara walked Adam back to his small room. He felt happier than he had ever felt in his life. Everything was going his way. A short time before he had been lost and directionless. Now, thanks to Fontus and Kara, he was confident and had started his own business.
‘You must be pleased with yourself,’ Kara said.
‘I am. Everything has changed.’
‘Your parents would be proud of you.’
Adam nodded. His parents had not entered his mind all day. A feeling of guilt overcame him with the realisation that they had strayed so far from his thoughts.
Kara was staring at his face. ‘Did I say something wrong?’ she asked. ‘You look angry.’
‘No,’ Adam said, swallowing. ‘Not at all.’
But his parents remained in his thoughts as he climbed into bed. As much as he tried to focus on the successes of his day, Adam was unable to get his parents’ faces out of his mind.
Adam fell into a restless sleep that night. He had a terrible dream that he was in the forest and could hear his parents’ cries for help. Running frantically through the trees, he tried to find them. To help them. To save them. But every time he drew near, their voices receded, moving further away.
Awaking in the middle of the night, Adam realised his heart was hammering and his body drenched with sweat.
I’ve done something terrible, he thought. I can’t go on like this.
He had been busily building a new life for himself and all the while his parents had been resting in unmarked graves in the forest. What sort of son was he? I have to avenge their deaths. The Dagarni had gotten away with murdering his parents and he had done nothing about it!
Fontus and Kara had been kind to him. They had done everything they could to help him make a new start—but he couldn’t keep moving forward without first bringing resolution to the past.
Adam quickly put on clothes and packed a small bag with all his belongings. I don’t know when I’ll be back. He lit the lamp that stood on the small table in his room and made his way to the front door.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Kara?’
The girl was standing in her doorway, looking at him in astonishment.
‘Go back to bed,’ Adam said.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded. ‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m doing what I must do,’ Adam said, feeling sick at heart. ‘I’m going back to the forest.’
‘What’s in the forest?’
He shook his head. ‘I have not been a good son,’ he said. ‘I must avenge my parents.’
‘Have you lost your mind?’
Adam placed the lamp down and looked squarely into the girl’s eyes. ‘If all goes well,’ he said, firmly, ‘I will return.’
‘And if it doesn’t?’
He didn’t answer. Pulling the door shut behind him, he made his way into the night and within minutes was striding through the empty streets of the city. His heart felt like it had been torn in two.
It wasn’t long before he exited the city gates and headed back along the road towards the mountains. The sky was still dark, but the sun had begun to crease the horizon. Apart from the occasional cry of an owl and the noise of his footsteps on the road, there was only silence.
No one’s around at this time, he thought. Not unless they have a good reason.
Then he heard a sound behind him. Surprised, he turned quickly and spotted a shadowy figure approaching.
‘Who...who’s there?’ he asked.
‘Who do you think?’
‘Kara! What are you doing?’
‘What am I doing?’ She marched up to him. In the early morning light, she looked furious and out of breath. ‘Never mind me—what are you doing?’
‘You know what I’m doing.’
‘Avenging your parents’ deaths?’ she said. ‘How? By getting yourself killed?’ She gripped his shoulder. ‘Adam, you’ve built a life for yourself here. You’re on the verge of building something wonderful for yourself.’
Adam sighed. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘But how can I do that when my parents are lying dead and forgotten?’
‘They’re not forgotten. Not while they live in your heart.’
‘That’s very poetic!’ Adam snapped. ‘But I can’t live knowing that the Dagarni chief—Prendah—has gotten away with their murder.’
‘So what are you going to do? Take on a whole village?’
‘I’m not sure what I’ll do. I only know that I must deal with this before I can move on.’
There were tears in Kara’s eyes. ‘It sounds like your mind is settled,’ she said.
‘It is.’
‘Then I wish you well.’
She looked both furious and dismayed all at the same time. Adam watched as she turned away and started back towards the city. She turned back one last time.
‘There are people here who love you, Adam,’ she said. ‘Come home to them.’
Hours later and in full daylight, Adam found the trail that led up the side of the mountain. With determination as his companion, he started up and along the trail at a good pace. The first time he had climbed the mountain he had been terrified. His focus had been on falling. Now his goal was to get to the top so he could make it down the other side.
What will I do when I get there?
He had never killed a man before. Prendah was bigger than him—a strong and proven warrior. How could he defeat such a man?
I will find a way.
It was mid-afternoon by the time he reached the mountain’s summit. Adam was hungry, thirsty and freezing. Snow covered the ground. He had not brought any food, water or warm clothing with him. The sooner he descended, the better. He followed the path down the other side of the mountain, his legs shaking all the while from strain and his stomach growling.
It was dark again when Adam finally reached the forest. Finding a stream, he drank thirstily from it, using his cupped hands to scoop big mouthfuls of water into his mouth. After the exertion of the long day, coupled with a lack of water, he immediately felt better. Then, spying a nearby bush laden with blue berries he knew were safe to eat, he gorged on them until he could eat no more.
With his thirst quenched and hunger sated, he gave thought to his next actions. Despite the darkness, Adam decided he had to keep moving. His stomach was churning with worry—and he had a mission to complete.
Continuing through the dark forest, he tried to work out the best way to confront Prendah.
I will challenge him, Adam thought. I will engage him in a duel to the death.
Adam tried to feel brave, but his body was shaking, almost as if it were betraying him; and with the passing of each moment he felt it increasingly difficult to draw breath.
I can’t win. Kara’s right. There’s only one outcome, and it doesn’t involve me winning.
To quell his fear, Adam forced his thoughts towards his parents. Yet, while he sought to achieve firmness of resolve, all that took hold in his mind were thoughts of their disappointment.
They would not want me to throw my life away. Yet that is what I am doing.
Eventually, Adam found a bush and crawled under it. He had been travelling all day and was now almost at the point of exhaustion.
I can’t confront Prendah like this, he thought. I must rest and face him in the morning.
Closing his eyes, Adam doubted he would be able to sleep. But he did.
When he next opened his eyes, he saw an early morning mist swimming about the trees. Pale beams of light cut through the forest’s canopy.
This is the day, he thought. Today I will confront Prendah.
He thought about the contents of his bag.
Other than my carving tools, I don’t even have a weapon, Adam thought. But I don’t need one. I will fight him with my bare hands.
In his heart, though, he knew it was a ridiculous idea.
He continued his journey, finally fi
nding a path that he knew led to the Dagarni village. As he neared the settlement, Adam’s nostrils caught the smell of smoke. At first he thought it was from early morning campfires but then realised the air was thick with it. There had been a large fire through here recently—probably within the last few days.
Quickening his pace, Adam came over a rise and saw where the Dagarni village had been. Adam had only been here a few times over the years. Then, it had been a settlement of thirty or more woven grass huts. All that had changed.
The huts were gone. Burnt to the ground. Lingering columns of smoke rose from their remains. The bodies of men, women and children lay everywhere, as did those of their slaughtered animals.
Adam turned his head away, sick at the sight.
What had happened here?
Cautiously, he crept through the village. It was obvious that there had been a fierce and bloody battle, and that the villagers had been caught unawares. Possibly an attack had come at dawn before they had risen for the day.
After ten minutes of searching, Adam was able to identify Prendah’s hut at the centre of the devastation. It had been the largest hut in the village. The chief lay next to it, a sword in his hand. A woman—presumably his wife—lay dead at his side.
‘Adam?’
He turned in amazement. ‘Fontus?’ he cried. ‘Kara?’
‘What happened?’ Kara asked, shaken. Her eyes took in the remains of the village. ‘Who killed these people?’
‘It was the Telang,’ Adam said, holding up a spear that he had found. ‘They bind the handles of their spears in tamara grass.’
Boosted by his success of killing Adam’s parents, Prendah must have turned his attention to the Telang. But unlike Adam’s parents, the Telang were experienced warriors with superior numbers. They must have launched a dawn attack upon the Dagarni, destroying them in a matter of minutes.
Now Adam focused on Fontus and Kara. ‘But what are you doing here?’ Adam asked. ‘How did you find me?’
‘How?’ Fontus said. ‘You forget that I’m the one who showed you the path through the mountains.’
‘But why—?’
‘Kara told me you had completely taken leave of your senses. I knew I had to save you…from yourself.’ Fontus then nodded towards his daughter. ‘I tried to leave Kara behind, but she refused to stay.’
Adam swallowed. These people had followed him all this way, and had been prepared to risk their own lives to help him.
‘Thank you,’ Adam said, his voice thick with emotion. ‘Kara, you were right. I was stupid to behave as I did.’
‘I know,’ her voice firm, but there was kindness in her eyes.
He did not argue with her.
‘Fontus,’ he said. ‘You have been good to me—and I repaid you with foolishness. I never should have come here.’
‘When I was young,’ Fontus said, ‘I allowed my anger to control my actions. A man who had been a friend challenged me to a fight. I could have walked away, but did not. We fought, he fell and hit his head, and died.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘I think of that fight every day.’
Adam felt miserable. He felt that he had betrayed Kara and Fontus.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m so very sorry.’
‘Adam, it was not far from here and only a short time ago that I said to you that hatred only leads to more hatred,’ Fontus said. ‘Now you must learn your next—and for now—final lesson.’
Adam looked at the man who over a period of only weeks had become his friend and mentor. ‘What is it?’
‘Letting the past control you is like tying an anchor around your neck,’ Fontus said. ‘It drags you down. It strangles you. It stops you from being all that you can be. There is only one direction in life—and that is forward.’
Lesson 10: There is only one direction in life—and that is forward.
Epilogue:
Later that morning, accompanied by Fontus and Kara, Adam returned to the ruins of his home in the forest. Nature had already started to consume its remains. Soon it would disappear and there would be nothing to show that Adam and his family had ever lived here.
Taking the stone bird from his bag, Adam placed it between his parents’ graves.
I will never forget you, he thought. But now I must focus on the future. I’ve come a long way, but I still have a great distance to travel.
Fontus gently gripped his arm. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked gently.
‘I am,’ Adam said. ‘I’m ready to become the best I can be. I owe that to my parents.’
Kara smiled. ‘Adam,’ she said. ‘You owe it to yourself.’
They walked away from the ruined home. Soon the only sounds were those of insects singing in the undergrowth and sparrows fluttering between the trees.
The place that had once been a home was swallowed by time. The walls sagged and collapsed. Vines and ferns grew over the makeshift graves. A tree grew from the place where Adam had once slept.
If a passerby had come across the spot, they might have guessed that a family once lived here. They might have pondered at their hopes and dreams. They might have found the sculpture of a stone bird lying between two raised mounds of earth.
But no one came, and the stone bird lies there still.
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