Drakan (The Chronicles of Eli) [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 13

Eli placed both hands on his knees and stood slowly. He then made his way towards the kitchen, where he found the drawer containing a small black pocket knife. Initially he was going for a regular kitchen knife, not wanting to head upstairs for his hunting knife, but then remembered about the old pocket sized knife kept in the drawer next to the sink. It should work, he told himself with a shrug.

                        “How long have you been out there in Black Forest?” he asked, as he turned on his heels heading back to the chair.

                        “Was going on a week” Eldis said, slouching lower on the ground.

            Once he was at Eldis feet, he bent down low and twiddled the blade between his fingers. “So you were sent here to kill me….” He lowered his head and focused on the shoes in front of him. “….and who’s to say, once I cut you lose, you won’t finish the job?” Without moving his head, he fixed his eyes on Eldis. “What are you?”

                        Eldis squinted his eyes, curled the end of his lip, and slowly nodded his head. “So it’s true.” He chuckled slightly. “I am a wizard, and who’s to say I won’t free myself and finish it”.

            Eli stared at him for a short time before looking around at the damage Eldis caused earlier. He ran a hand threw his hair, and then massaged the bridge of his nose. “You do have a point”, he said with closed eyes. His lids rose to a sharp blade and in one swift motion he grabbed the thick rope and cut through by Eldis wrists. No one moved. After seconds passed Eli’s lungs replenished themselves as he let out a silent sigh. From his squatted position he rose and walked to the couch adjacent from Eldis, who was now rubbing his wrists.

                        “Who taught you how to do a double figure-eight knot? As I’ve been told it’s truly a hard skill to master.”

                        “My father taught me when I was young….” he said after he sat down. He hung his head low while his eyes stared at the blade he held in his hand. The memory came crashing in.  It was just another day out in the woods, doing various training activities with Valen. Strange part about it was on that particular day it was raining, which rarely happens in Drakan, not to mention the abnormal behavior from the faol. Re-living the memory made his heart race, he still couldn’t understand why the man was looking at him that way. The way the man bared his teeth, the way he hunched over as he approached Eli and the drool hanging from his lips. And those red eyes…. “…..he said that it was imperative that I learned the ways of the forest. That way my intellect would outweigh the lack of strength I possessed”, he finished saying, after a quick shake of his head.

                        “Valen is good man. For a man of many regrets, his heart has always been in the right place.”

            Eldis rose to his feet and examined the room. His body followed the rotation of his head until he was facing the wall of blown out windows.

                        Regrets….. “Wait. You knew V….”

Before Eli could finish his sentence Eldis began moving his hands in a swaying circular motion, blue light started to glow from his palms, as he placed his right foot a step behind his left. After the glow shined bright, he slowly put his hands out towards the broken glass on the floor. Instantly the broken pieces lifted off the ground and with a flick of his wrist, the few pieces that rose found their way to the window seal. Eldis continued the process with the motion of his hands until all the pieces found formed a complete window again. There were still cracks and lines, showing the outlining of the puzzle that was just put together. He bent his knees, increased the distance between his feet, straightened his back and brought his elbows behind his back before launching them forwards in a forceful manner. The blue light that suffocated his hands now surrounded the window.