Shane Porteous - The Battle of Ebulon - A Shared Anthology

The pair traveled many miles through forests, hills and valleys. From far off they heard a hum in the air. Zelphan put his hand on the hilt of his sword and Xazaz flew ahead. Zelphan nearly drew his sword when he heard a surprised squawk from the bird. He herd an, “Oomph,” then, “I’m happy to see you too, Xazaz.” Zelphan recognized the voice and ran to the weird man with the thick bottle bottom glasses.

“Petre!” Zelphan greeted with a hug. “It feels like a life time since I last saw you!”

“Hello there, chap it has been a while hasn’t it.”

“It has, we shouldn’t wait so long to see each other.”

“No, I don’t think we should.”

“What brings you to this area?” Xazaz asked.

“Well, it appears I am here to help you.” Petre said with a smile.

“Help us? How? Are you coming with us?” Zelphan asked.

“I’ll be coming with you for part of your journey, in fact I’ll be leading you, but you must follow my instructions carefully.” Petre instructed.

Zelphan nodded his head in response. He’s done this before with Petre, and he knew how important it is to listen to him. The old man with the thick glasses had a unique gift. He could follow the line of time and bring you to new places. His home exists in a line of time that is in the past, and it’s filled with unusual items that Zelphan didn’t know how to describe or use. He was there once, when Petre rescued him from a horrible place, those were dark times and he didn’t want to think about that. Instead he put his focus into following directly behind Petre so he would not lose the way. He didn’t know what would happen if he mis-stepped, but he didn’t want to find out.

They started in a circle, and then they zigzagged and hopped. They walked 500 paces to their left, and then they walked backwards for 600 paces. This was the weirdest pattern Zelphan ever walked with Petre, but he did it even though he felt silly. They continued the nonsense until Zelphan felt like he was going to drop. “Close your eyes.” Petre instructed. Zelphan squeezed his eyes shut, and Petre placed his hand on his shoulder. Zelphan held on and stumbled forward. “You can open your eyes now,” Petre said.

Zelphan gaped at the scene around him. He had been here before. He was standing in the middle of dense forest with trees so tall you couldn’t even see the sky above. All you could see was a green glowing mist above. “Zelphan, are we?” Xazaz started.

“Yes we are.” Zelphan confirmed. This forest was deadly and he and the phoenix were the only two known to enter and come out alive. Petre whispered into the air, and then sat down. “You might as well sit down with me, it may be a while.” He said, and they both sat down.

Zelphan must have fallen asleep because he woke up to a bright lime green light shining in his face. “Turn out the light.” He mumbled, rubbed his eyes, and saw the lime green butterfly fluttering in front of his face. “Rise and shine sleepy head.” It said in a high pitch voice.

“Smalls!” Zelphan grinned.

“You remember me well.” He replied.

“How could I ever forget you?”

“Stranger things have happed, for all I know you could have fallen off the mountain and hit your head so hard that you forgot who you were.”

“It’s nice to see you’re still the same optimistic butterfly that I knew before.”

“Smalls, Zelphan, this is not the time for this. We must go, our presence is known by creatures that wish us harm.” Petre said.

Smalls landed on Zelphan’s shoulder, and once again he followed Petre through a maze of moves. He was delighted that smalls was coming with him. The butterfly was tiny, but he could shine a light that was so bright it canceled out all darkness. Smalls saved his life one day using that skill.

After a while Zelphan was instructed to close his eyes and when he opened them he stood on the side of a road. The stone that was used in the road was the size of a house. The buildings that stood on either side made Zelphan feel like an ant. He was in the land of the giants, and he knew this time who they were about to see. A giant by the name of Oren lived here, and Zelphan was excited to see him.

The first time Zelphan came upon the city of giants he was terrified. So scared, in fact, he avoided it all together, and it was the exact place he needed to go. Oren possessed the sword before Zelphan did, and he was taken aback at how friendly the Giant was. He couldn’t imagine such a gentle creature going to battle with him, but if that’s what the wind had instructed Oren to do, then that’s what would happen.

When they reached the Giant’s home, Zelpahn ran up and gave the giant a hug, wrapping his arms around his leg as best as he could. The giant laughed a deep hearty laugh, nodded at Petre and they were off again, traveling through the lines of time.

The time came for Zelphan to close his eyes and when he opened them he was in an unfamiliar place. Before him he could see big ominous mountains, the sky around them was dark. In fact the town itself had a darkness that seemed to loom over it.

Townsfolk bustled in the street, carrying piles of wooden boxes with food and other supplies inside. The word siege hit Zelphan’s ears, and a phrase, “Ebulon is doomed.” Came from somewhere in the crowd. He looked at Oren next to him, nodded at Smalls, and shared a worried look with Xazaz. They seemed like a misfit group, but they were summoned to fight for Ebulon. He knew the wind made no mistakes, and he hoped that they all possessed the skills to help the kingdom. He didn’t want to think about what it would mean if they fail.

“This is where I leave you.” Petre said and gave them all a hug before he began walking in one of his weird patterns. Soon he disappeared and Zelphan hoped he would see him again. The foursome nodded at each other and set off into town looking for a place to eat and sleep for the night.

Xazaz, Smalls, Oren and Zelphan went from tavern to tavern looking for accommodations. Mixed in with the fear and darkness that loomed over Ebulon, there seemed to be an unusual amount of outsiders. The foursome were not the only ones called to Ebulon, there were many many more who answered the kingdom’s desperate call. Zelphan, Xazaz and Smalls were able to stay in a room together but there wasn’t a place for a giant to stay. Oren was offered the back garden from a friendly Ebulonite by the name of Tinzy. She apologized for not having anything more comfortable for him, and explained that her husband has been busy in the armory preparing for battle. She advised the crew to check in there so that they could be properly suited, although she didn’t know what they would do for the bird and butterfly. They thanked her and worked their way to the gaurds keep.

“Please state your business” The armed guard said.

“We were called to defend Ebulon, I was told an army of ocrs are on their way.” Zelphan answered.

“Yes, they are follow me and I will take you to be fitted for protection, although it won’t help you much if we face hand to hand combat.”

“Thank you… I’m sorry I don’t know your name.”

“My name is Robert; these men in here will help you find something that fits.”

The soldiers found suitable pieces of metal and fur to help protect Zelphan, for Xazaz they found a metal breast plate, and the giant there were scads of metal clumsily tied to various parts of his body. Smalls was the only one who remained unprotected, but he was okay with that. He was so tiny he was sure that he would be able to flutter through battle virtually unharmed. After all who would expect an insect to be the enemy?

The four left the armory and prepared for the night. Zelphan was exhausted from the day’s events. They said goodnight to Oren and left him in Tinzy’s backyard, then they retired to their room in the tavern. Zelphan was looking forward to a full night’s sleep full of what he hoped would be good dreams. Xazaz sat next to him on the bed and sang to him a beautiful melody until the boy was asleep. The three slept peacefully and dreamed of good things. Xazaz about his long lost tropical island, Smalls of the forest and Zelphan of home with his mother and father who were lost to the dragons of Ellandra.