Book II - Exodus (Chapter 1)

The Market Fair had come to an end. The vendors, as the sun set over the castle on the seventh day, began to pack for their long journey out of Hatha and to whatever homes waited for them. For many, the road was their home, and they’d be off to Mercha or one of the nearby merchant kingdoms in their lifetime quest to find wealth, true wealth. It was dark, or very nearly so, when Erich emerged from one of the alleys and joined the river of those who would not stay in Hatha.

There were so many of them, all moving at a good clip, and Erich felt blessed. He belonged here, if only for a few hours. He was joining those who turned their backs on the great Kingdom of Hatha, the birthplace of Meil. Of their ancestors. Well, Erich supposed, that didn’t exactly apply to him, as he’d been born outside the Wall, in Mer’ka. A place he’d only seen as a baba, and he didn’t remember. How could it be any different from Meil? A land of rolling green hills, populated with his people. But he knew that wasn’t right. He knew the Darks lived in needles, metal needles that poked at the sky. Perhaps the needles came out of the hills.

The river of merchants gave no notice of him, and he kept his pace with theirs so he wouldn’t trip and end up underfoot of any oxen and the carts they pulled. They’d reach the limits of Hatha’s merchant district fairly soon, and after that it was only a mile or two to the green hills.

Men grumbled, talked to each other in low, bored voices. Wheels turned, squeaking, and oxen breathed heavy sighs. Erich let his mind wander as he absorbed the sounds and smells of the merchants’ exodus from Hatha. For once he did not have to think, just blankly followed the flow of the crowd. No one paid him any mind, and he paid them none in return. They were past the limits of the the merchant district already, and the group was beginning to spread out, each merchant travelling his own separate path. Erich took notice again, trying to find the largest group, the most people going in the same direction, so that he could tag along. They took the path toward Mercha, about a third of them, and Erich pulled himself along. He’d stay with them until the morning, because they wouldn’t stop for rest. Not tonight.

Much of his worry had dropped off his shoulders when he decided he would leave Meil. Men had done it before, he knew that, but they never came back to tell of it. They’d seen what was on the other side and had been so enchanted by what they had seen that they wanted to stay there, leaving their homeland behind forever. Or they’d been killed. It all depended on which storyteller you believed. Erich decided it didn’t matter what had happened to the ordinary men. He was a Dark. He was one of them, and he belonged on that side of the Wall, no matter how much he regarded the land of Meil as his home. Whoever waited on the other side would accept him as a son of Mer’ka.

The next couple of hours he walked steady, noticing that he wasn’t getting tired. He wouldn’t need to sleep, not tonight. Perhaps not the next night either. Possibly it had been a one time thing, a fluke, that he’d slept and dreamed among the others who did the same. He shivered, as the cold of the night truly set in. He began thinking of Breyda, and the things he’d told Erich. There was a secret organization who watched out for Darks like him, who kept them safe from the ones who wanted to kill them. But why did they even exist? To protect murderers like himself? People who can’t control their power? Breyda had said something about making a better world. Were the Darks they protected just being used as weapons against some higher power? If that was it, then Breyda had lied to him. Manipulated him. He made me believe I was something good, something to keep Meil from being destroyed. How can that be so, if everyone else like me is only capable of destruction?They told me I was in danger so that I’d be in their debt. So that I’d fight for them. Erich clenched his fists. I won’t kill anymore. I’m not a killer. Not for them or anyone else. Let one of the other Darks fight, kill. Erich wanted nothing to do with it, any of it.

All the better that I’m leaving Meil, then. He forgot the cold, and stepped with force, anger. Breyda and his people had freed him, only to trick him into being their slave. They’d made a mistake, to believe that he’d go along with it. He’d never be a slave again, despite the mark on his face. He was his own now, he was Erich.

The morning came silently, and seemingly all at once. The path they’d been walking on became illuminated with pale light as the sky brightened. In the East, rays of fire warmed the atmosphere, and when he looked behind him Erich saw they’d walked far enough from Hatha that it was no longer visible. Just their road, cut in the dirt from passage, and rolling green hills on every side. The light of dawn lit up the blades of grass, making the undulating waves glow spectacularly. It was beautiful, and Erich watched many a man become distracted from his travelling purpose, just to gaze.

He knew he’d have to leave the group, he’d planned to do it at dawn, and so Erich the Dark set out on his own path, toward where the sun touched the ground. He was going East. There were several kingdoms to the East of Hatha, Triga and Rothkin just two of them. Beyond them, and beyond the great river Mispi, was the Wall. The barrier between the outside world and the inhabitants of Meil.

He took a breath, hardening himself for the journey ahead. It would be long, and he would be tired, but he’d reach the wall and his people soon enough.

For the tenth time that morning, he found himself imagining what it must be like on the outside. Heaven or Hell, it would be his home.