23. Refuge in the Jahm Paths

He galloped as fast as he can. He heard Marvelo’s horse chasing him. Zimon sat unconscious in front of Marco tied to his body by a wet rope.

“He had mentioned something about Jahm Paths while we were about to leave from Irasy.”, Marvelo had said to Marco before they decided to take Zimon and leave in search of help. He had pulled out a map and pointed on the long dense forest drawn onto south-west of end of River Tuks. Marco had no choice other than agree on Marvelo’s call. They had left their army behind and asked them to follow the tracks of their horses or follow the route to Jahm Paths using maps. Zimon’s head careened as Marco’s horse turned to the curvy tracks of rocky lands. They sensed the low temperature of the west; much colder than their home in the east. The soaked clothes of Marco added to the misery of the cold breezy winds. They covered quite a few leagues now all the way to the end of River Tuks. Their army would probably be a long way behind them trying to catch up as soon as they can.

It was around noon and yet freezing cold. Marco kept rubbing Zimon’s palm in between his hands, trying to feel his pulse every while. The cold chapped their lips and their mouth was dry. Marvelo asked for water and Marco passed the tiny bottle attached to his belt. They had left all the food and water back in the tents; Marvelo shook his head in vain at the thought.

“What do you know about Jahm Paths?”, Marco asked.

“Brr... It’s the last forest after Chakuzlam I’d like to go to.”, Marvelo grunted, “I heard stories... stories of it being haunted by creatures unknown to the world.” He looked at Marco, “It’s too creepy for the two of us.”

“Three...”, Marco rectified.

“Yeah... whatever.”, Marvelo crossed his lips.

“But, who are we going to search for in that forest?”

“You might want to sit quietly rather than throwing questions that you possibly know I could not answer.”

Marco glared at Marvelo.

“Sorry... sire.”, Marvelo said through gritted teeth.

“Are you jealous of me?”, Marco asked calmly. Marvelo felt his face turning pale. The two did not speak for a while. After about thirty leagues, they spotted dense trees ahead of them. They slowed their paces down.

“Blimey... scary place...”, Marco muttered as he found himself surrounded by trees in no time.

“Hurry...”, Marvelo whispered.

The ray of light could hardly enter through the canopies of thick leaves. Yet the dark barks shimmered unnaturally in the creepy silence. Marco stepped upon a rotten wood that consequently exploded, turning Marvelo’s head in fear. A strong smell of wet soil erupted as they moved ahead. The ground was carpeted with clumps of moss creeping out of the rocks and logs. A thin stream bed winded up along their path. “Streams always lead to a cave. You never want to end up there.”, Marvelo whispered and changed his route. He slapped his face hard, “Filthy insects.”

A ghostly wind blew past them with all the dead leaves following the wind. Thick saliva dripped from Zimon’s open mouth.

“I know you don’t like to answer me but did Zimon mention about someone living here?”, Marco asked desperately.

Marvelo had a tint of fear on his face as he nodded, “He said he knows someone here.”, he whispered.

They froze on their tracks when they heard a faint dreadful wail.

“What was that? Where did that come from?”, Marco whispered, clearly frightened.

“A wolf, I guess. It’s a jungle full of wild beasts, yet no sign of life.”, Marvelo said, his eyes wide.

Marco nodded. They took out their swords and proceeded. Soon they realized they were lost and were clueless were they came from.

“They’re gone!”, Marco gasped.

“What are gone?”

“The foot prints!”

Marco pulled back the lasso and his horse stepped back and noticed that the marks of its hooves left on the soil slowly disappeared and so did Marvelo’s.

“I told you this forest is haunted!”, Marvelo whispered.

“Who are you??”

“WHOA!”, Marco cried out when he heard the echoing voice around him. It came from nowhere yet everywhere. Marco tried to search for the source but in vain.

“Who says that??”, Marvelo shouted holding his sword high.

“Put that away now.”, the calm heavy echo of the voice said.

Marvelo looked at Zimon, “Did he...”

“No!”, Marco snapped, “It’s him!”, he pointed straight at a tree in front of him.

This tree had eyes like Blabber, wooden but huge. A thin cut in the centre of the thick dark bark probably implied the mouth of the tree. The bark was sheltered with a huge spread of canopies. It had an uncanny resemblance to an oak tree, but Marco was sure it wasn’t one.

“You have no nose?”, Marvelo snorted loudly.

“Shut-up!”, Marco yelled at Marvelo.

“How dare you insult me?”, the tree shouted, “I don’t breath through nose you fool! My leaves breath for me!”

“Please don’t mind my fellow commander. I apologize at his behaviour.”, Marco said while Marvelo put up a straight face. “We need help.”

“I don’t help humans. For years they have proved themselves nothing but selfish creatures... not to mention that I have seen them carry pride for no reasons... and taking pleasure in mocking others.”, he looked at Marvelo giving emphasis on the last sentence.

“Look I was just joking mate...”, Marvelo grunted.

“Go away from here. This place is not safe for you.”

“But we don’t...”, Marco stopped, “Hey... where are you?” The eyes and mouth had disappeared. Just a normal tree stood ahead of them. “I need help!”, Marco pleaded.

“I’m going to sleep. Don’t disturb me. I’m seven hundred and eight years old and it’s my birthday today.”, the voice echoed.

Marvelo cleared his throat, “A’ight... How about this... Happy Birthday!”

“Ssshhh....”, the leaves rustled above Marco’s head. The tree remained silent. Marco glared at Marvelo again.

“What? I didn’t do anything!”, Marvelo protested.

Marco sighed and gave a slight kick on his horse’s belly. They left the tree alone and plunged deeper into the mysterious forest. It was sometime later that they heard the ugly wolf howl again, this time much louder and closer. The hooves of the horses froze. Marco breathed quietly.

“He’s very near... somewhere around us.”, Marvelo whispered.

“Throw your swords down!”. It was a lady’s voice, a very shaky one and a very harsh one too. The voice came from their left, from within the huge bushes. A massive grey wolf emerged from within. Its height levelled up-to Marco’s shoulder. Marvelo didn’t mean to but the sword slipped off his hand at the sudden sight of the giant wolf. Marco was petrified at the magnificent presence. The wolf’s terrifyingly long canines seeped through the corners of its jaw. It was seven feet long with a strong muscular back that would support any human’s weight and yet not falter in its sprint. Heavily cladded by exquisite soft greyish pelage and a pride in its prowl, the wolf rasped in cold breaths.

“You... you also speak?”, Marco spoke.

“No, but I do.”, an old lady appeared from behind the wolf. She carried a staff much like Zimon’s in her hand.

“You understand English, don’t you?”, the old lady asked to Marco.

Marco gently nodded.

“Then why don’t you throw away the sword, young man?”, her tone had an impudent air in it.

She stood four feet tall. Her stature seemed nothing compared to her temper. She had a repugnant aura to her attire. Her teeth were decayed to silver. Heavy wrinkles bore on her face. Her loose shaggy brown robes on the back of which were spread an oleaginous and long lanky grey hair. Her eyes so feline were almost hidden beneath the bushy brows. They perched above her almost snubbed nose. Her face in whole was seasoned with a time-gashed look.

Marco didn’t obey the order. Instead he pulled out Zimon’s staff tied to the side of the horse and showed it to the weird lady. The wolf snarled at Marco.

“No, No Grozzald! Bad boy!”, the lady grasped the fur around the wolf’s neck. “How do you possess a staff?”, she asked to Marco curiously, her gaze following to the bent figure in front of him, “Who is the drunkard, that sits so recklessly in front of you?”

“This is Lord Zimon. The staff is ...”

“Whoooo??”, she stretched her word as much as she widened her eyes.

“William Zimon, the Emperor of...”

“Shut up, you fool! As if I don’t know who he is.”, she said and hurried to the horse. She shook Zimon with strong pushes which moved Marco as well. “William Zimon!”, she gasped, “What happened to your man?”

“Long story... can you heal him up?”, Marco asked his hopes rising.

“Heal him up?”, she mimicked with a cross face, “What were you two idiots doing strolling in the garden? Came here for a morning walk with an unconscious king? Stupid brainworms...”

“Whoa... Hold on... we were searching for help!”, Marco retorted, “It was Lord Zimon who said he knew someone in Jahm Paths... Er... who are you?”, Marco quickly asked before she started again.

She gave a long exaggerated nod to imply that she understood Marco along with a dreamy ‘Aaahhh!’, “Then you’ve come to the right place. He wanted to meet me. Is he under a spell?”

“Not exactly... But he fainted right after he cast a spell.”

“I don’t know how Zimon hires fools like you! You know nothing! He is under the effect of magic and his body is set on fire. He’s heating all over... You grumbling cattle dungs! Grozzald, lead our way... make haste. Follow us you... whatever...”

“She’s so sassy!”, Marvelo tightened his fists as he picked up his fallen sword from the ground.

“Like you?”, Marco chuckled.

“I’m not so rude!”, Marvelo said and paused, “Atleast not that rude!”

Marco and Marvelo went through the horror of the old lady’s yells and scolding all the way. They were now in a much heavier wood. Grozzald leapt up a bent tree and nested on the strongest branch. There stood a small cottage besides a muddy lake. The cottage looked like an old abandoned home with cracked roof and window panes. It was built out of wood, brown, cob webbed and full of dirt

“Bring him in, quick!”

Marvelo and Marco bought Zimon inside the cottage, barely squeezing through the doorway. An unpleasant odour of potions greeted them. The only furniture they spotted was a bed made of bamboo sticks. A fireplace stood besides the bed; on top of the woods stood a black cauldron. A ladder dangled from hole in the ceiling, wherein a person could only crawl to fit in. She quickly climbed up the ladder and came back with a bag of potions in small dirty glass bottles and kept it by the cauldron.

Marco spoke, “Listen, I think some of our men will be reaching the Jahm Paths by now... so if you could help with ...”

“How many?...”, she blurted.

“Close to a thousand.”, Marco said with a sorry looking face.

She slapped her head and moaned, “Grozzald! Go and inform Seezy about the thousand visitors... and yes tell him that he could expect some more misbehaving comments like one of these did.”

Marco stared at Marvelo. Marvelo mouthed ‘His name is Seezy?’ The giant wolf leapt off the branch and sped away.

“And yes, stay out, both of you. What are your names anyway?”, the lady asked before closing the doors.

“I’m Marco... Marco Hymes.”

“And I’m ...”, Marvelo started.

“Aaah, you shut up!”, and she slammed the door shut on their faces.

“I swear once the lord is up, I’m going to punch her in the face.”, Marvelo growled.

They drank some water from the clay pot kept besides the doorway.

“Eeeks! How does she drink this water... yuk!”, Marco reacted. The water tasted too sour. “How does she survive in here?”, Marco wondered and sat besides the muddy lake.

“She’s a witch didn’t you see that? And that ugly wolf!”

“Yeah, why is she so secluded from the outer world? Are all the witches like her?”

“Oh please... I always imagine them as beautiful fairies.”, Marvelo snorted.

They waited for long. There was a pin drop silence in the cottage. A very thin ray of light reflected from Marco’s blade.

“It’s so dark in here. It must be noon though. Hey where’s the staff?”, Marco inquired.

“She took it.”

Marco nodded. He observed the trees around very keenly. All the trees were different in size and shape. There was no evenness in its type. Some were pine, some willow, some oak, some walnut, maple, olive, some tulip, some redbud; it was all a mix of a thousand variety concentrated at just one place. Some were bent, some thick, some were straight, some thin. It was truly a strange forest. Marco heard a crash from the cottage as if a glass shattered into pieces.

Marvelo shrugged and said, “A prolific inventor of spells, I guess!”

Soon the door burst out open. “SUCCESS! SUCCESSFUL!”, the lady came out shouting, “The thunders of the sky... the blunders of the earth... the lanes near the houses and the manes of the horses! I swear by the trickling, glittering, littering...”

“Excuse me...”, Marco interrupted the old witch, “Is Lord Zimon alright?”, Marco gave a confused smile.

“Don’t you understand my language? Urgh... how down Zimon hire such fools! You people don’t even appreciate my work and don’t even let me do it for myself. This world is so selfish. Come in you two junkheads!”, she scowled.

Zimon lay quietly on the bed soothing his staff. The old lady broke the silence, “Aah dear... your servant, Mr. Hymes, I think, yes Hymes... bought you here saying that you wanted my help. It was so wonderful of you William Zimon to think of me.”

Zimon looked at Marco and gave a confused look which probably meant ‘Did I say that?’ and Marco just shrugged smiling.

“How do you feel, my lord?”, Marvelo asked.

“Very fine dear. Good thinking Marvelo that you bought me here.”, Zimon slowly sat up. The witched helped him to do so. Marvelo gave a tired smirk.

“Where are the others?”

“Might be reaching soon.”, Marvelo replied.

Zimon nodded, “Yulisa took care of that, I believe?”

“Aah, don’t worry of that. I have warned all the ghosts and animals not to attack them. Now if only you could tell me what exactly happened!”

“Let me explain?”, Marco said

“Why you? You ...”

“He’s my successor, Yulisa.”, Zimon said calmly.

The old lady bulged her eyes out until it almost popped out and then she caught Marco’s cheeks and pulled it hard, “So sweet cute little boy. This surely surprised me.” She turned to Zimon and then back to Marco, “But I still hate you!”

Zimon snorted.

“Well... er... right...”, Marco explained everything that happened at River Tuks.

Yulisa couldn’t believe after Marco finished the story. “You actually shifted the whole river?”

“Don’t you understand English?”, Marvelo grunted under his tone. Marco elbowed him.

“Now I understand why you were about to die. You could have died!”, Yulisa yelled.

“I didn’t see much of a choice.”

Yulisa shook her head, “Now what? What are you playing at? The winds of Salaha gave me the news of your defeat. I expected you the least here when the trees said you were residing in Irasy.”

‘What the heck is she? A demon in disguise?’, Marvelo thought.

“We’re heading to Dark Dume.”, Zimon said.

“Why? To dance with Elezabor?”, she yelled again.

Zimon couldn’t help laughing and Marco couldn’t help getting embarrassed. “Oh, that’s the last thing I would do with him. I’m serious, Yulisa.”

Zimon raised his hand before she lashed out again, “I’ll explain.”

They heard loud noises outside the cottage.

“They arrived...”, Marvelo said, peeping outside the window.

Peter came running inside, “Marco! My lord...”

“OUT! SHOO...SHOO... FLY!”, Yulisa screamed at Peter. “You misbehaving bolt of earth quake! Notorious pints of moths entering my house!”

Peter ran out with the same speed he had entered. Yulisa did not cease to chase him even outside her cottage.

“I’ll take care of them.”, Marco said laughing. Marco saw the lot petrified while Yulisa scowled at Peter.

“Lady Yulisa, let me take care of this. Pardon me.”, Marco said softly.

Yulisa went back into the cottage banging the door shut.

“Wha-? Is she nuts?”, Peter whimpered.

“Far from nuts!”, Marco laughed and faced the army, “The king is fine now!”

“We were so lost in the woods, Sire.”, Yoyo said from a distance.

“And an ugly talking tree scared the hell out of us... out of nowhere.”, Albert added, “But then he asked us to follow that... er ... wolf.”

The giant wolf was sitting on the same branch licking its paws.

Reiford and Jack lined up besides Yoyo, “What are we doing next, Sire?”

“We have no water left Marco”, Peter said, “I’m dying man...”

Yulisa came out along with Zimon and Marvelo. Zimon looked better but weak.

“We need water Lady Yulisa.”, Marco demanded.

“So drink it from the lake.”

“From that lake?”, Marco said with a look of disgust on his face.

“Don’t you underst...”

“No, no... I mean, it’s so filthy and polluted.”

Yulisa shook her head again and without uttering another word, she waved her staff pointing at the lake. Gradually, the colour of the lake turned blue and then transparent like pure water. This was the first time Marco was impressed with this witch. After all of them quenched their thirsts, Zimon asked them to form a circle around him.

“The magic I performed had a great toll on me. However, it was a success. The Engerians won’t dare cross our paths again. As for the Dark Lord, I believe the news has reached him by now but he knows not what our current aborde is. This is the Jahm Paths and her mighty presence is called Lady Yulisa, the mistress of Jahm Paths.”, Zimon motioned his hands towards Yulisa.

“Nor can the Dark Lord enter this jungle. All the animals, trees, winds, water, ghosts and spirits answer to her command. But we cannot stay here for long. We must move out of here by nightfall.”

Zimon had explained Yulisa everything about the war.

“I can offer you help, William Zimon!”, Yulisa said, “A whole flock of giant hawks and eagles can come to your aid. I can also provide the elephants. You haven’t seen their sizes... large as the size of your so called bedrooms or halls of your palaces.”

“So great of you, my dear lady... But we are fighting against a whole empire. It will only result in loss of your friendly army. We shall kindly cease this discussion here.”

The following evening, they fed on raw vegetables. The horses were all refreshed and felt relaxed after the freezing journey. Yulisa prepared a hot potion in the cauldron. “Churned out of the most precious of the wild plants.”, Yulisa had said, “Fill them in your bottles. You can live on it for days.”

Zimon and Yulisa were busy discussing on worldly matters all day; to be precise, Yulisa yelled most of the time and Zimon would laugh heartily in return. “Grozzald will lead your way through the shortest part out of the forest.”, Yulisa announced. The forest now looked darker than ever. They had lit up a fire near the cottage to keep them warm amidst the plunging temperature. Everyone geared up to leave the place. What freaked out most of them was when they would see Yulisa speaking to no one into thin air and most of the times arguing with unseen creatures. They lit fire on their wooden torches with Zimon’s staff giving the brightest light in the lead.

“Thank you Yulisa.”, Zimon kissed her hand. Marco could spot the tiny freckles on her wrinkled hand in the firelight.

“Wish you succeed in your task, William Zimon.”, she said, “And yes... you there... Hymes man. Good luck with handling the throne.”

“Thank you, my lady.”, Marco smiled and bowed.

“Now hurry, fools of Legendia!”

“There she goes again!”, Marco shook his head.

The giant wolf prowled by the side of Zimon. Peter kept a nice fair distance from the terrifying beast. The army marched slowly in a long five queues. Marco felt he heard some whisperings around him. “The ghosts of Jahm Paths.”, Zimon whispered. The low branches would sometimes rise for the huge bevy of men to pass by.

“Silent, I’m sleeping.”, the trees would mumble and the men would gape at them.

“She’s so weird.”, Marco said.

“She’s got immense power, beyond your imagination, Marco. I say she is more powerful than me.”, Zimon said, “That’s why she’s so weird.”

“How did she land in here?”, Marco asked.

“There is a place called Ayei nearby... where she was born. Her master who taught her magic lived in Sooryu. They would often visit this forest to practise wild magic... a highly skilled one.”

The creepy darkness of the jungle send chills down Marco’s spine as Zimon narrated, “I was eleven that time. But I didn’t know her then. We met years later, a decade before I sat the throne. I would wander to every corner of the world to attain deeper knowledge of every aspect of magic. It was then that I came across the Jahm Paths. I had learned from my master that there is a mistress of Jahm Paths that roams this land. It made me very keen to see her. But as to everyone’s perspective about her, mine was no different. Crazy and insane she is, I would think. But there was more to her...

“As a matter of fact... she didn’t really belong to this forest. One night, when she and her master were practising spells somewhere in the forest, a demon named Khaaz attacked the master. This demon was the evil ruler of the jungle during those days. Yulisa’s master died in front of her. She was left alone in the woods with a demon to confront. The ghosts and spirits were under Khaaz’s command in those times. But something strange happened that night. Remember I told you, those who have the capability to become a magician or a wizard or a witch in her case, have some supernatural powers?”

Marco nodded silently. Zimon did not look at him but continued, “This little girl can produce lightning bolt from her body when she is in a state of dilemma or furiousness. Khaaz was made of fire so a fire wouldn’t harm him... But a thunder lightning would fade away his existence. She didn’t intend to, but her whole body lit up like a blazing thunder that pierced the demon into smoke. Khaaz still dwells in this forest, but he is body less, with no physical strength... just a helpless soul.

“First this phase of lightning emitting from her body was not under her control. She mastered it slowly, day by day, all alone by herself, striving each day on insects, dead meat and leaves. After she demolished Khaaz’s existence, all the ghosts, beasts and every living creature around knelt and bowed to her. She decided to stay in the forest, as she had no family to wait for her back home. So instead, day by day, she bonded with everything around her. The ghosts taught her their kind of magic. The magic that ghosts and spirits perform is a very different one and a more skilled one than ours. They taught her to connect with every living creature in the forest... a kind of language if simply put. She grew up in these woods with her powers increasing day by day with her powers increasing day by day. Consequently, she became the most powerful witch in the world. But she always kept her confined to the woods. The outer world frightened her more than Khaaz did that night. She lost her etiquettes and deceptive civilised mannerism, as she calls it. She had eventually turned wild... no more fit for the outer world. People only used to hear her stories, which made her quite less popular to the outer world and more of a myth. The Dark Lord knows about her and keeps a fair distance from her territory because she’s the one who can truly match his powers... the powers of Chakuzlam versus Jahm Paths... you don’t want to know the consequences if the two clash... the map of the world would change, I suppose. Funny that they both learned magic from the same source, ghosts and spirits, but one used it for evil and the other... just for the sake of it.”, Zimon smiled.

After a long thought and imagination of her childhood and struggle, Marco said, “And the staff...”

“Staff?”, Zimon snapped, “Yes she has a staff.” Zimon looked at Marco’s blank face. “Don’t tell me you don’t know about the staffs!”

Marco raised his eye brows and shook his head.

Zimon said, “The master of the student provides the staff but it’s just a stick initially made of common teakwood.”

“Really?”, Marco was taken aback.

“Yes, it takes its shape and form according to your powers and progress. You see, what do magicians carry? A wand, it is called.”

“Now I get it!”, Marco exclaimed, “So it’s because their magic is limited to a magician’s and the wand transforms into a staff only if you practise wizardry.”

“Exactly! That’s how she is supposedly carrying a very... very powerful staff. Well?”, Zimon looked at his staff.

“So you also got that from your master, eh?”

“Everyone does...”

“Why is she always so frustrated?”

“Living secluded from the rest of the world with plants and winds to converse with... I think she’s doing just about fine... and specially when you have a best friend like him.”, Zimon soothed the wolf’s back. His harp fangs with tongue hanging sideways gave him a hideous look in the dark.

Marco nodded, “I’m starting to like her.”

Reiford leaned over a thick bark supported by his left hand, “Man... my legs are itching all over.”

Suddenly some of the men stopped and gazed at Reiford with confusion.

“What? Since when have you all started showing so much caring towards me?”

“Er... Reiford... Can you quietly come back?”, Debril whispered.

“Why? Can’t I scratch my legs?”

“No...not near that thing.”, Debril said nervously.

“You scared of a tree Debril? Too bad...”, Reiford giggled.

“It’s not a tree Reiford.”, Jack squeezed in and calmly said, “It’s a leg... an elephant’s leg.”

“Whoaa!”, Reiford trembled and fell over the huge leg. The leg moved aside, rose up in the air and came straight at Reiford. He managed to roll over just in the nick of time. He saw the head. Its tusks long enough to carry twenty men on each of it. It’s trunk longer than a tree. The huge body, which Reiford mistook for a massive rock, started to make motion. Soon, there was a lot of commotion in the vicinity. There were not one or two, but a herd of a dozen elephants grazing from top of the trees; their heads seeming to touch the skies. Long sharp voices screeched through their trunks.

“Get away from the herd! Away!”, Zimon shouted. Grozzald gave an ugly howl. All of them managed to squeeze out through a possible stampede of the giant beasts. Their noises slowly faded away into the darkness.

“Good boy...”, Zimon patted the wolf.

They rested every now and then before starting off again. They pursued their paths until the next night. The forest seemed never ending. However, by the dawn they had reached the exterior of the forest. The skies were visible now as the density of trees started to decrease. A streak of ray broke across the blue sky. Grozzald stopped. Zimon understood and said, “Yes. So this is it, Grozzald. You are a very good company. Thank you.” The wolf licked his palms.

The wolf gazed up at the sky and let out a very loud howl. The forest was filled with a large number of howls from within the woods.

“Your friends, eh?”, Zimon said.

The wolf sprinted away into the dense trees. Marco turned to the unending land before him.

“Alright folks!”, Zimon took a deep breath, “LONG WAY TO GO!”