Son of The Prisonland (The Myth Shadow Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  “They don’t need to fight to come out,” Aylan smiled. “But I need the guards to be distracted.”

  “In that case, the end of the autumn festival would be the right time for you,’’ Master Dorian said.

  Chapter Eleven

  Aylan headed to the lightning mountain as a part of his plan. He had discussed some other facts with Master Dorian, and Cro. Cro told them some news and stayed at the monastery to spend some time with his old friend.

  The hardest part is to gain the trust of the villagers and gather them in one place at the right time. And that’s why he needed to meet Laam Yaadsor.

  Aylan smiled and sighed at the same time. “The life is indeed, very strange,” he murmured. He and Laam have never been friends. Laam had a charming look and was very friendly and kind. No doubt everybody liked him. As opposed to him, Aylan’s arrogance made him isolated from the other students. Those few days that Aylan came to the monastery, he had clashed with Laam, and it was Aylan who started first.

  “It’s going to be a sweet reunion,” he said to himself as he walked through the garden, going to the bottom of the mountain to meet Laam and Jeem. According to Master Dorian, this duo was supposed to practice for the upcoming big sports at the end of the Autumn Festival. It was the largest festival of this region. At this time of the year, farmers harvest the crops. And the fishermen fish for the last time before the water level of the river Aar start going down and the most famous fish of Ashaland, the Ylish fish get caught effortlessly before they swim in the Myra Ocean. The merchants end their businesses to head back to their homelands. And to celebrate all of these things, the end of the autumn festival was invented.

  To make the five-day festival even exciting, the big sport added to it. It was arranged at the last day. It started from the other side of the river Aar, with running through the jungle, finding an arrow, swim across the river and finishing with shooting the arrows to the boards. Often people try to cheat, and as a result, the sport got violent. After all the excitement, the day finished with a big feast across the city. And that was the only day when the guards give lose in their duty as the villagers get tired and go to sleep early, straight after the meal. And Aylan was targeting that very time.

  From a distance, Aylan heard the sound of laughter and the twang of bowstrings. In a few moments he saw them on the field, practicing archery. From the place where Aylan was, he could recognize Jeem and Laam. Jeem’s fair complexion and skinny and tall body structure were distinguishing him easily from Laam. Laam had become even muscular and taller than Aylan saw him the last time. His black, medium length hair was tied back. They both were wearing monastery’s black uniform. The duo was so into their shooting practice that they didn’t realize when Aylan came and stood about a yard behind them. Jeem was lecturing as usual about bow and arrow expertise.

  Aylan’s lips bent in a smile as he remembered Jeem’s declaration of being the best bowman in the region. He wouldn’t spend enough energy on any other games as arrow shooting. He’d get excited as soon as somebody mentioned about bow or arrow and start lecturing about it. Thanks to Jeem’s perfect aims that they had enjoyed from rabbit to deer roast in their picnics.

  As Jeem stopped, Laam took an arrow out from the quiver and notched it onto the sting. At the same time, Aylan did the same. He smirked, amused by the fact that they were still somehow unaware of his presence. Not even a single leaf was moving, Aylan’s could hear their breath from this distance. Laam shot his arrow. At the same time Aylan’s arrow followed him.

  Crack! Thud! Two different noises were heard at the same time. From this distance, Laam saw his shaft was broken into two pieces and lying on the ground, and a strange arrow had hit the bull’s eye. Within the fraction of a moment, the duo turned back drawing and notching their arrows, ready to attack.

  A smiling Aylan put his hands up with his bow in the left hand.

  “Hi old friends, how are you doing?”

  Jeem and Laam exchanged a glance. Neither his appearance nor his voice was familiar to them. Although the stranger didn’t seem like trouble, the duo kept their muscle tight to ready for any challenge.

  Aylan understood their body language and gave a laugh, “I knew Laam wouldn’t remember me for the first time. But you Jeem? Can you still not recognize your old friend?”

  Jeem narrowed his eyes. The stranger’s body structure and bearded face didn’t match with anyone he knew, but his dark retina was reminding him of someone he knew. “Aylan, is that you?” he asked at last. It took a moment for Jeem to recognize Aylan. He lowered his weapon and un-notched his arrow. “What a surprise man!’’ he shouted. The friends hugged each other tightly. It’s been a long time they haven’t seen each other.

  “Yes, my friend. You took a heck of a long time to recognize me.”

  “You have changed a lot. And this beard on your face made you unrecognizable.”

  “That’s my style now,” Aylan smiled.

  Laam lowered his bow down but kept on the string. His eyes were not friendly either. Jeem looked back and laughed to see him, “It’s Aylan, mate. Your childhood enemy.’’

  “Is that the arrogant fellow?” Laam asked with a crossed voice. “I have never thought to see you again, man.”

  “Me neither,” Aylan broadened his smile and reached his hand for a handshake. “But the Duray is round my friend. We had to cross our path one day.”

  Laam shook the hand. “You have changed a lot, indeed. Your hands aren’t like the chicken wings anymore,” he said, sarcastically.

  “I’m taking it as a compliment,” Aylan replied. He can feel that Laam didn’t like him being here, like the past. “Would you mind if we close the past chapter and speak about some important things?”

  “Actually, that’d be better,” Jeem commented. “Let’s sit under that tree and hear what Aylan has to say.”

  “Of course, we’ll sit and talk. But before that I want to see your skill again if you don’t mind,” Laam said, challengingly.

  “Oh, yes,” Jeem Cheered. “That was the best arrow shooting I’ve ever seen. It was unbelievable. Where did you learn that from?”

  “I learned from a master bowman,” Aylan replied. He didn’t want to ruin his first impression by mentioning Darkhor leader Bolakut’s name here.

  Laam raised his bow and waited for Aylan to get ready. As Aylan nodded, both of them shoot their arrows, and the same thing happened. Aylan’s arrow had hidden its head into the board, and Laam’s was broken into two parts and fallen on the ground.

  “How did you do that?” Laam asked, surprised.

  “All you have to do is timing and follow your opponent’s arrow, and rest would come by practice,” Aylan explained to his impressed audience.

  “I at this moment, declare you my new master bowman,” Jeem announced. He was proud of his old friend. “Anyway, you came to tell us something important, remember?” he pointed back to the trees.

  Aylan and Laam shook their heads and followed Jeem. The tree he showed them was one of the biggest Banyan trees in the monastery garden. Most of its large roots were above the ground and shaped as the maze. Two of the roots had crossed each other making it look like a throne. In their student life, this throne belonged to Laam, as he was the undisputed leader of the students. Only Aylan fought for the root throne and took it over for one day. He had to hire ten boys to fight against Laam and tie him with a root for the rest of the day. And Laam was untied only when Aylan left the monastery and didn’t come back ever after.

  They all had a laugh remembering the incident. “I wanted to rip your head off whenever I’d saw you next,” Laam said.

  “I knew that,” Aylan laughed. “That’s why I didn’t come back, even when my father got angry and threatened to beat me up. I rather left the house forever.”

  “Seriously?” Jeem couldn’t stop his laughter. “I was ready with the boys to protect you, but you didn’t show up. Then heard you have gone missing and thought you had an argument with your fat
her again and hiding somewhere for a few days to teach him a lesson.”

  “I wish I did that,” Aylan sighed. “But I didn’t have a gut to face Laam. On top of that I wanted to stay away from the study,” he explained.

  “Do you want to take a sit on that?” Laam offered.

  “I’d be honored,” Aylan replied. He climbed on a root and sat on the throne. Jeem and Laam sat on two other roots next to him.

  “So,” Jeem said. “What made you come here after all these years?”

  “Well, I actually came to my parents,” Aylan said. “But it was a bit too late. And there’s another thing that I needed to speak to Master Dorian.”

  “What happened to your parents?” Jeem asked.

  Aylan described what happened to his parents last night. Jeem and Laam felt sorry for his loss, but they didn’t seem to be surprised to know about the Dainees. Aylan had expected so. He had suspected that this duo had been doing something secretly when Jeem’s father told him about his business in the city, and Master Dorian said about their friendship. So, he went straight to the point, “I know you guys knew about the suspicious activities of the king and the royal family. And I’d like to add that he is going to do a massacre soon. The king is going to blow the whole village, most probably just after the festival.”

  “We were suspecting the same,” Jeem said. He looked at Laam for his permission to tell their secret to Aylan. Laam shook his head as he had no doubt that Aylan was on their side. “My business is just a cover. It lets me wander around the city and Laam to come as my supplier. We’ve been trying to sneak into the castle and find something that would help us make the guarding system weak, and we can attack with our chosen few people. But so far, we didn’t get the success.”

  “Apart from guessing the plan,” Laam added. “Just a few days ago two ships full of Kajlas came to Ashaland. And all of them looked way more aggressive than they usually are, as if ready for a battle. Their arrival made our plan to remove the people from the village even harder.”

  “That’s what I’ve thought about,” Aylan said. He didn’t look like worried as the other two friends.

  “And what is that?” Laam asked.

  “We need to do three things,” Aylan started explaining his plan. “First, we need the people to trust us and follow what we say at the right time, without making the guards being suspicious. Second, we need the guards to be distracted, which is easy as the last night of the festival is upon us. They’d be tired and lose their guard by the time we strike. And third, is depending on a person I’m going to meet. I’m confident that he’s not going to disappoint me. And I’ll let you guys know exactly what is going to happen. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Jeem nodded. Laam shook his head, too. “I think the matter of trust from the people wouldn’t be that hard. Our friend Laam has been already well respected in the community, and he’s going to be the leader soon.”

  Laam smiled. “It all depends on winning the big sport. The people want someone who can bear this immense responsibility. And this competition is a way to prove it.”

  “Good,” Aylan said. He was happy that Laam didn’t take him as an enemy and cooperating with him. “I hope you win the competition. Anyway, you guys are aware of the spy within the community, right?” The duo shook their head. “We need them to be tied up just before the incident happens. Laam, you and your most trusted people, start tracking them down from today. We have just two days for the festival to start, plus the days of the festival. I want you to do your job within this time.”

  “It’s almost impossible,” Laam protested. “There are five thousand people in the village. How would I know who the traitors are?”

  Aylan thought for a second. “Well, I have a raven friend, who’s brilliant and can speak, too. I’m going to send him to you and he’ll find the spies and let you know.”

  “A talking raven?” Jeem said. “What are you man, a wizard?”

  “Yes, kind of,” Aylan smiled, mysteriously. “You’ll get to know in time. Meanwhile, you’ll try to learn more about the movements in the city and let us know. Keep your eyes to find the smallest fault that could be helpful for us. Now, can you tell me, how I can go out of Ashaland without facing the guards? I don’t want them to suspect me.”

  “There’s a small tunnel under the mountains,” Jeem pointed to the wall of mountains. “I’ve discovered it a few years back to avoid the guard tower. I’ll show you.”

  Three of them shook their hands together. Laam headed to the village and Aylan, and Jeem walked to the secret tunnel.

  Master Dorian was watching them from the above with Cro on his shoulder. After a long time, he felt better. He felt his hope was about the freedom of the Ashalandians was coming back. Cro understood what Master Dorian was thinking. All of a sudden, he realized what it made human different than the other creatures.

  Within an hour Jeem brought Aylan to the entrance of the secret tunnel. It was an underground canal created by the force of rainwater, far from the guard tower ended behind a small hill making it safe enough to escape without being caught by the guards. Jeem found it while he was looking for a way to climb the mountain to go to see his father. The tunnel was hidden behind a bush, and he fell into it all of a sudden. When he put himself together, he saw the light from a distance and followed it and found himself outside the border. So far, only Laam knew about it, and the third person was Aylan. The two friends separated again. Aylan went into the tunnel and Jeem headed to the city.

  Aylan was thinking about the garden on the top of the cliff that Cro had seen on the way to the Queen’s Tower. He didn’t know much about the royal family, as he was never interested in them before, but Master Dorian said he didn’t know about it either and suspected that the Queen Mother must be involved with this. Aylan decided to take a look at that garden soon, even if he had to climb the straight wall all the way to the top.

  By the late afternoon, Aylan had arrived at the lightning mountain. It was surrounded by twelve other mountains and was the tallest of all. People were afraid to go there, because of constant lightning on the top of the mountain. No one knew since when the lightning had started here. Generations after generations had witnessed these lighting and knew the name as the lighting mountain and to avoid it. Aylan came here just after he left his parents. He was curious to learn about the mountain but was scared to go there as well. On that day, he didn’t think about any danger as he was passing by. Just started looking for a way up and found a mountain goat trail, which surprised him to reflect on if these animals were not afraid of lightning as they supposed to. He followed the trail and went up the mountain and solved the mystery of the lightning mountain.

  Aylan found out the path. It looked unused for a long time. The way was covered with grass and plants. If he didn’t know about it from before, he would never consider it as a trail. Aylan started going up carefully. The trail couldn’t make him feel disappointed about his hope.

  After a while, he reached the mountaintop and walked past the boulder that he hid in the last time he came here, to see what happened. He stopped in the front of the cave and looked around him.

  The same type of silent lightning was crashing on the ground. Aylan thought they were just illusions to keep the intruders away, but now standing beside them, he changed his mind. Within the lightning, in the cave lived the old man who had the power to control this lightning. He just stayed there silent; waiting for the old man to come out, as he was sure the man was looking at him from the dark corner of the cave.

  He remembered the incident that he had witnessed ten years ago. He was at the same place, trying to take a look inside the cave. His heart was trembling and telling him to stay away from it. Aylan was so determined to solve the mystery that he kept ignoring his inner voice. As he neared the entrance of the cave, suddenly he felt the wind around him. The invisible air started being visible and whirling in front of the cave. Aylan stepped back with fright. And when he saw the silent lightning started strikin
g the whirl of wind, he jumped out of the yard and hid behind the boulder nearby.

  He couldn’t believe his eyes about what he had seen next. As the whirl of wind started fading, some people appeared in the yard from nowhere. There were twenty-one people, he counted. Soon he pointed the old man out, who was telling the apparent dizzy people what to do and what not. They listened to his orders and wandered around the cave. Aylan thought he would get caught soon if one of these confused people come around the boulder. Luckily nobody showed any interest to leave the yard.

  After a few moments, the old man went inside the cave and brought a cooking pot filled with water in his hand. He put it in the oven made of three stones and flamed the woods under it. Then he put some rice and vegetable at the same time and let them boil. He sat by the oven with eyes closed, as if he was meditating. Once the food inside pot started pouring out the delicious aroma, he stirred it once and called the people to sit around him.

  Aylan saw the magical moment with disbelief. The cooking pot wasn’t that big. It could barely hold enough food for two people. The old man kept taking food out of it and put them on the pieces of banana leaves in front of the others and continued serving when they asked for more. Aylan stayed in his place until the old man called everyone inside the cave. Then he tiptoed to the oven and grabbed a hand full of food and returned behind the boulder. He noticed the pot was still half full. The food was delicious, and he couldn’t remember if had eaten any kind of food like this before. He stayed there overnight to see what happens to the people.

  In the morning, the old man came out and heated up food and called the others. When they joined him, he served them like the day before. Once they finished their food, he explained them about his next move. The people shook their heads in agreement. After a few moments, they gathered in front of the cave, and the old man spread his hand. As he raised his hands, the air around them started circling. Soon it formed like tornado like the day before and slowly they disappeared inside it. The silent lightning began striking soon, and the whirl of wind vanished.