Crusaders Part 38

13.

Present

By the shoreline of the Great Lake

At the break of dawn, we were all awakened by the shouts of alarm on our safety. We all dressed up in our clothes and ran for our mounts. I met the elder man who spoke to us last night on the folklore. I held him by his arm sleeves and questioned him.

The Spirits are not pleased with our guests. Its going to create havoc on the lakes and then onto the land. We must flee to the inner land to avoid its fury." He pulled at my hand to release my hold on him.

"Whom do you accuse of this havoc?" I questioned the man and he points to Ben. Damned be the curses of our task as we are now plagued by foreign spirits who felt we intrude on their land with our evil companion. 

"Ben, if you are fully restored in your power; do something or we would all perish. Your presence brought this calamity and be it you that would stop it." I can see Ben dismounting from his horse and standing before the wave. He raised his hands to the skies and then spread them out. But the water in the great lake starts to rise to heights above us as the strong winds carried it to the shore lines. Its not working whatever he is doing.

"Ben, do something, or we would all perish here." I looked at the demon as he strained his mind to bring forth the spells he may need. Soon he reached not for the skies but he took on handful of the earth. He mutter something to the sand he holds on his hands and then he dispersed them into the lake. I saw nothing happening but a surging high waves which may soon swept us like drift woods.

"Rise!" Ben shouted for the first time in this conflict, and the shore line starts to change as the ground beneath it rose up like a dyke on the sea shores, creating a long tall bastion to the oncoming waves. The dykes that appeared rise up even higher until we could not see the lake from our view.

Then Ben shouted in his voice the command to move the dyke towards the waves. As the first line of dykes moved forth, a new line of dykes appeared behind it and then its moved to allowed another wall come up. It likes gigantic portion of the earth has been summoned to hold the waters back. Then we heard the clashing of the dykes against the oncoming water. We could not see but we could visualize the impact of the two as they hit each other with such great force. Maybe Ben was right to called up reinforcement as I can see the force of nature cannot be that easily held by man's magic or in this case demon's spell.

Five layers of bastion made of earth was only sufficient to hold the raging waves but with it, the water was still to reach our feet to a depth of two feet. We stood with our feet on the ground as the water seeped by our body and onto the ground behind us. The water still comes in but it not with any great force but more of a spillage on its contents as the bastion withhold its strength.

"Black!" I heard Ben called out and he then collapsed into the water. I immediately wade over and held him up while others came running to assist us.

"I need more rest...." Ben slipped into unconsciousness as I still held onto him until a native came with a canoe to load him on.

"Your friend may not be what he was born to be. Maybe the spirits in him may be changing to good and as such, we would extend our hospitality to you for a longer stay." The elder man who told me the earlier tales lead us to an elevated land so that we can rest our wet body on it. Ben slept through the two days as the water receded to what was it previous levels. The shore lines remain the same as if nothing had happened to it during the storm.

I stood up from my rest area and scoured the surrounding which now is so calm and serene except for the children shouting and the womenfolks chattering away. It was then I thought of Marcus, my squire. I was not to know of his fate but I am hoping he would handle his well.

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Within the deep forest.

Marcus stood in the clearing to view the incoming tribes members who has come to view this outcast. He is more than an outcast as he had killed two of the tribes members. He may be made to account for their deaths as required by the tribes. He saw the six seniors of the tribes has come together and they now approached him.

"My name is Marcus, the rightful son of the previous Chief of Mons. I have come back to explain my actions before the six tribes." Marcus eyes lighted up with rage on seeing the Xeno tribes warrior. " Its true I killed the Xeno warrior as he came to intervene on our leader selection then. He intrude and injured my tribe warrior until he fought me and lost. But my tribe was weak then as his warriors are more so they attacked my tribe in revenge. In order to save me, my friends spirited me away while I was injured. I killed again when they attacked me at the docks, and of recent, they also tried to kill me before I could come back here.I come back now to reclaim my true heritage and restore my tribes ranking. Mons would never bow to Xeno."

The last line drew applause and roars from his tribes although many of them are old or very young to be warriors.

"You know the Law of the Tribes? If you are to come back, you must be proven in the test." Marcus nodded and he accepts the test. Its a test of Warrior and many has died in it or became beast themselves. Marcus was led to the abyss and he was told to climb down. He was to stay there for the night and the tribes would come to received him here tomorrow if he does come back up. But before he was to descend, he was given some herbs to eat so that his body odor would be known to the great spirits or they would consumed him without a thought.

"Go now, outcast and returned a warrior.Or never return at all." The elders offered me his last chance to withdraw but he did not.

I scaled down the abyss into the eternal darkness. I let my hands and feet be my guide as I lose the sense of sight. I could use the smell but the air here is of the death that I tried not to think on it. Unlike my smell, my hearing hears nothing but the movement of my limbs but the bottom is far below. I could take it no more this long way, that I just leap off the ledge and let myself fall. Just as I know when to jump, I knew by feel when to brace myself for the bottom. I landed on my toes and crouched on my knees.

I smell the flooring and separate the smells to the one I want; and I got it now. Its waiting for me at the end of this corridor. I walked towards it and soon myself facing the hidden spirit of the Wendigo; the creator of our kind. Its larger than the biggest and more fierce than the most violent one. It crouched itself on a large boulder which serves as its throne. The place is lighted by the candles that burn here. 

"I am Marcus of Mons. I come to reclaim my heritage again, and I would do whatever you command of me." I stepped forward to the King of the Wendigo.

"Marcus, you are no more of mine. You have a bigger and powerful master now. So you waste your time to come here. But since you are here, I am in need to let you know. The High Lords has seen me and I agree to his terms. One of them was your bounty dead or alive. But you are my kind so how can I do one of my own. In the end the High Lords created a warrior to fight you." Just as he completed his statement, a creature that equal his frame stepped from the dark corner. Its a gigantic golden brown bear that are seen in the far forest but his one has extra set of arms unlike its counterparts in the forest. His extra arms are not form the shoulders but from behind his shoulders and they are longer than the normal ones. "Oh, Marcus. I forgot to tell you that he has killed ten of our kind before when here." 

Marcus needed no time to wait, as he transform to his Wendigo self, and circled the giant bear. The bear ventured forth to meet Marcus to find the Wendigo missing from there. The bear looked up to see the Wendigo leaping toward it with the deadly claws spread out. The bear lashed out with it rear set of limbs blocking the attack. The Wendigo on seeing the new threat somersault it body to the rear again. The Wendigo landed on its toes and stared at the bear. This battle could last forever if he could not see the weakness in the bear.

Then Marcus remembered an incantation taught to him when young by his father. The Mons are not any ordinary tribe but one who dwell in the necromancy arts. He was taught one whom he feel has a need to called on now.

"I called on the lost souls of the Mons. Hear me out as the true son of your leader calls on your help. Come forth now."

Around the young Wendigo, the shadows of many more of his kind appeared. They are not one but of ten of them but they are not in the physical form but the incorporeal one. But when they attacked the bear, they claws slashes are real and so are the bloods which flows from the abominable bear. The bear shriek out in pain as the wounds are increased but the final cut was by the young Wendigo who came low to push his claws into the bear's heart and pulled it out.

"Behold Great Spirit of mu kind. You champion now dies at my hand." Marcus grasp the heart of the bear in his hand and squeezed out its contents in front of the Great Spirit. "Today is the final time we of the Mons would called on you. Your collaboration with the High Lord defiles our love for you. From today,we would march alone and any of your worshipers would to challenge us, then the death of the bear would be an example they can sample."

"Marcus of Mons, you would not walked away from my domain just like that. I challenged you to a duel for my honor. I cannot have you telling your people I am no more their God. I am still their God and you are mine as my worshiper. So pray to me or challenge me." The Great Spirit has stepped off the boulder and approached the young Wendigo.

"No!" The young Wendigo jumped aside to avoid the attack from his rear by the Great Spirit. The earlier image was an illusion painted by the Great Spirit but now it stands real in front of the young Wendigo.

"How did you know?" The Great Spirit was taken aback by my awareness of his attack. And he is not as big as he was given the impression as they are all works of the herbs to see everything bigger and more fierce..

"Your herbs does not works on me. I had the antidote to it before I consumed it. Now we would fight like equal" Marcus speak true now as he see the true self of the Great Spirit. "Your greed consume you as you work with the High Lords. I am now free of you now. More to it, I worship you no more as I now seen the true God and he is the one I followed."

The once Great Spirit glared at him and then he looked down. He knows he has been bested in a real challenge not on his power but also in the belief. He has the look not only of a defeated warrior but also of a God.

"Marcus of Mons, I cannot fight you. I am too weak and old to fight you. Let me go here and I shall not disturb your people anymore. I am past my prime and would soon leave this mortal world. Let me be." The Great Spirit sulked away back to his boulder.

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