Published: 23 Nov 2020

The Ghost of Yesterday

The day was quiet and Bram again was alone. Yes, he was alone but he was getting used to it. For once, the voices were being quiet, but in Bram’s mind, he thought they were all away, which gave him a great bit of relief. Sometimes he thought their bickering and abuse would drive him crazy. But not today. Bram still wished Jemald and his son Lon were there to enjoy his conquest with him. Jemeld’s memory for a second made him smile. Her beauty always made him stop and feel the joy of her heart. There wasn’t anything he would deny his love. They could both have any dream she or they could think of. But they were not there with him, and he didn’t understand why. It had to be her father and damned his interference. He never liked Bram no matter what he could do for Jemeld. They never understood that he could make her a Queen. Bram could have everyone bow to her, but that didn’t matter. Not to Valerian. To him, all he would ever be was a monster. If a monster is all they thought he was then a monster is what he would be.

Bram stood up and made his way out of the throne room. When he made his exit, Prince Dersaran was there with all the other warlocks he had fought and put down. For a minute, Bram thought he would have to fight them again. But they sneered at him and stepped aside as he passed. He knew all of the witches, warlocks, and wizards here. At one time, he had fought them all. He could remember each battle. What was funny is, he couldn’t remember what happened after the battles. He knew he won but he thought they all died. If they were dead, how were they here?

Bram shook the memories from his head. He didn’t have time to think about dead witches and warlocks, he had an empire to build. From the throne room, he walked down the hall, passed two guards and up the stairs to the master bedroom. He pushed open the door and the smell of Jemeld’s perfume grabbed his attention. The room smelled like violets and lavender, Jemeld’s favorite perfume. He loved that smell. It always made his heart beat faster and his blood pressure rise.

His head was in the clouds as he stepped into the room. He walked to the balcony and pulled the doors open. The day was dark and cloudy, but that’s not what Bram saw. To him, it was clear and beautiful. The birds were singing and there was a nice warm breeze. Just the kind of day Jemeld liked.

“You’re right my love. It is a beautiful day.”

With a smile in his heart, Bram turned to see Jemeld standing at the dresser in a gray gown, with a lighter gray veil covering her face.

“Where have you been?” Bram asked. “I have men out searching all over Fay Shrea for you.”

“You knew where I was.” She said in a sweet heartbreaking tone. “You sent us there,”

“It doesn’t matter.” He said as he walked over and kissed her. “You’re back now and that’s all that matters.”

“I’m here for now.” She pulled herself out of his arms. “You killed my father.”

Bram stood there watching her as she turned away from him. Then she turned back as she passed the mirror.

“I had no choice. I know he was hiding you from me.” Bram was upset and he didn’t like being questioned. “ I warned him. I warned all of them. All he had to do was tell me where you were and I would leave them in peace. But no, they had to do it the hard way. They’re sorry now.”

“They are all dead now.” She screamed at him. “My sister is the last Ammath fairy alive. Do you understand what that means? That means, for the rest of her life, she will be alone.”

“I don’t care about your family,” Bram said. “I have a destiny to think about. We will be the emperors of these lands.”

“They will stop you,” Jemeld said. “The Dragons won’t let you rule. They will stop you.”

Bram stomped his way across the room to stand right in Jemeld’s face. One would think she would be scared of her husband, but she wasn’t. She stood there staring up into his eyes.

“Then I will kill them.” He screamed down at her. “I will kill anybody I have to.”

Bram turned away to walk to his desk. His staff sat there, he grabbed it and turned back to Jemeld. He started to say something to her, but she was gone. He looked all around the room, but there was no one there but him.

“It doesn’t matter.” He said. “She will be back begging for me to take her back.”

With his staff in hand, Bram walked to the balcony and he said a simple spell and he disappeared. As the new emperor, he had a lot to do before his coronation.

Undercover of dark and dirty shadows, Bram stepped out to spy on the city of Dakath. It had been years since the last time he was here, but not much had changed. The market was just as busy as he remembered and it was just as loud. Shopkeepers still walked the lanes, calling out their wares. People still pushed and pulled at each other trying to pry things from each other’s hands. He saw men fighting over pieces of polished armor. And the women were just as bad, carrying small clubs to beat down the competition. Cloaked in shadow, Bram walked the market streets. He didn’t see anything interesting, but he knew it would soon all be his.

As he entered the market, he looked left to see the different hardware vendors. On the right, men and women sold vegetables and livestock. The sound of Dera crying for freedom echoed through the streets. Around their stalls, children gathered to throw rocks at the poor beasts. For a second, Bram thought he would show these brats what it would be like if they were the ones locked up in the stalls.

As he mumbled a silent spell, Bram disappeared from the market and reappeared in a swirl of smoke in the center of the king’s courtyard. The guards coughed choking on the arid smoke. When the smoke cleared, Bram Thorne was there standing on the steps of the castle.

“Stop wizard!” A sergeant called as he pulled his sword free of its scabbard. With a look of disgust, Bram turned to face them. Each warrior came at Bram with his sword out, ready to strike him down. Bram looked at them and swung his arm out at them. A force, like a giant invisible hand, swept out, throwing them all off their feet. A few broke their legs or their arms. But some, it just knocked the air out of them. As Bram took another step up towards the entrance, they came at him to attack. The first came at him with his sword raised to chop him down. Bram flicked out with a finger. That small move sent the guard flying into the wall, where he was smashed, to fall off the wall dead. Two more warriors came in to attack. As they charged at him, he called out another spell. Swords slammed into Bram’s robe where they snapped like twigs and fell from their bruised hands. Bram took another step and more warriors came out to challenge him. As he flashed his hands out, the guards fell to the floor with agonizing pain. Bram stepped over the fallen bodies and made his way into the castle.

When he stepped through the door, a spasm of pain hit him as he fell to his knees. Gritting his teeth, Bram cast a spell that would reflect the pain back on the mage that sent it at him. When the pain let up, Bram climbed back on his feet. He brushed the dirt from his robe and started into the castle. As he started in, Bram heard someone scream from his left. Bram smiled thinking it was good for whoever it was that set the pain on him. With the wave of his hand, he sent them flying into the gate, where iron spikes stabbed into their bodies.

From a floor high over Bram’s head, the king of Dakath watched as his men died. He could see all the broken bodies spread all the way back to the castle’s entrance. He knew he was in trouble. He had more men and they would defend him to their death, but they were spread all through Dakath and the troops that were there were dying as they fought. Soon there would be no one left here in the castle to fight except him. He knew there wasn’t any hope of surviving this battle.

Slow and calm he turned and walked his way back to his throne room. Though Bram had come through the marketplace without anyone’s notice, an alarm had gone off in the city mage’s palace workroom. He warned the king that someone powerful and dangerous was on the way in through the marketplace. He promised he’d meet the intruder as he made his way through the castle, but he could feel that whoever it was, they were very powerful and he had no hope of defeating them. The king thanked Tampyl and dismissed him. There was no need for the mage to die. He would be needed after this was all over to help put the city back together.

With his sword across his lap, Keto Diecen III sat down to wait, as Bram made his way up to the throne room. He was glad that his family was away visiting the Queen’s family. They would rule when he was gone. While he waited for the intruder, he said a prayer to Aramis to keep his family safe.

As Bram passed through the ghettos of Dakath, gray clouds blew in and it started to rain. The wind grew from a summer breeze to hurricane force. Trees were knocked over and slammed into buildings as lightning flashed out of the sky, striking one house after another. Rain poured down, flooding all the lowlands and sweeping away the small homes of the poor. People ran from their simple homes to find refuge in the high hills where they would be safe. From his stern look as he walked through Dakath’s market, people could tell something bad was about to happen. A church bell rang out a warning to the citizens to make haste leaving the city. Crowds ran like madmen for the city gates. Women wrapped their children in their arms as they cried and prayed for salvation.

As Bram Thorne reached the throne room door, he pushed it open and stood there as the wind blew his robes out. His hair blew back, making him look more intense and power-mad.

As he stepped into the throne room, an arrow shot down from a high place over the throne. With a flick of his finger, Bram sent it in a boomerang motion around the room then back to stab the archer in his fleeing back. That was the last of the king’s men in the castle. There was no one else left to fight but the king.

As Bram walked in, the king sat up proudly on his throne. He looked over to watch him walk in down the aisle.

“You’re sitting on my throne,” Bram said with a smile on his crooked face. “You should get off before I get annoyed.”

“This is my throne,” The king said calmly. “And I rule here in these lands.”

Bram stepped over to the foot of the throne and looked up at King Keto. He’s bold, Bram thought.

“But not very smart.”

Bram raised his hand and sent a bolt of power at the west sidewall. When the bolt hit the wall It exploded sending debris all over the throne room. The king didn’t even bat an eye. The warlock didn’t scare him. Bullies never do.

“Was that supposed to scare me?” King Keto laughed. “You’re not the first power-mad fool to come knocking at my door.”

“Fool?” Bram stuttered in anger. “You dare to make fun of me?”

“It’s about time someone put you in your place.”

“That may be but it won’t be you.”

“Kill me if you want but this won’t be the end,” King Keto said as he stood up. “Others will come to challenge you. They will come and you will go down in the mud like the worm you are.”

Bram stood there with his mouth agape. He was surprised at the nerve of the king. Suddenly he started to laugh hysterically. Keto reached into his pocket and pulled out a blaststone from Torcin. He aimed and took his first shot at the Warlock. It shot from the stone and hit Bram near the chest area of his robe. Bram screamed out surprised, then fell to the floor. Keto started to walk over to kick the warlock, but he coughed and climbed up on his knees.

“Well done your majesty,” Bram said as he got on his feet. “Now it’s my turn.”

With a quick flaring of his arms, Bram summoned a hurricane wind out of the gray skies. It blew at a speed of 75 to 100 hundred miles an hour. Keto took refuge behind his throne, which was bolted to the castle floor. The desk and chairs of his court ministers took off into the air, crashing into the walls. Tapestries were sailing through the air like wild kites in a tornado. Bram’s hair blew, making him look like a wild hermit at war with the north wind. As he laughed, he sent bolts of power out to strike at his imaginary enemies.

“You thought me to weak to fight back.” He yelled to his foes. “This is not my first time in Dakath. I know it’s you out there Molis.” He yelled. “I would smell your deception anywhere.”

Keto listened as Bram screamed at his unknown enemy. It’s true that Dakath once was ruled by a powerful Warlock. That was Molis Diecin, his great great grandfather. But how would he know about his great grandfather? The warlock can’t possibly be that old.

Just then. Bram heard a familiar rack of laughter in the wind. It was a laugh Bram hadn’t heard in over a hundred years.

[You found me, Bram Thorne.] Molis said as he appeared out of the wind. [You beat me once. Let’s see if you can do it again.]

As Molis floated closer to Bram, his eyes blared with a golden glow and beams of heat shot out at Bram. Thrilled and surprised, Bram raised his hands to create a force shield in front of him. As the beams hit his shield, Molis started to laugh as he switched to a force blast to crush Bram into the wall. Bram let out a grunt of surprise as he was slammed into the wall. As he recovered, he got back to his feet with an evil smirk on his face.

“Dead two hundred years,” Bram said. “And you use the same old spells.”

[You want something new?] Molis said. [How’s this?]

As Molis raised his hands, a golden split appeared in the air and a monstrous insect crawled out. It had huge claws and gray armor covering its body. It turned to look at Molis, then moved on to Bram Thorne.

Its speed, for something that big, was amazing. Like a grasshopper, it jumped at Bram. Reacting quickly, Bram shot out with a force blast that sent the insect creature flying off at Bram’s side.

Bram created a huge spear of light and sent it up and out, to stab into its side armor. As the insect creature thrust out with a bottom leg. It pushed itself up, to right itself on its legs. As the spear of light came at the creature, it spit a blast of sticky paste at the spear and sent it flying off into the wall where it stuck until it melted the webbing and fell to the ground.

[How do you like my new friend?] Molis yelled. [We met in the underworld and I thought of you.]

“It figures,” Bram said as his hands took on a green glow.

As Keto watched Bram fight a battle with himself, he wondered what the hell was going on?

This battle started between the warlock and him. Now he seemed to be fighting with himself.

Keto wasn’t sure who he wanted to win. Him or him. It was confusing. One thing he did know, was that now was his chance to get out of there, before he or they figured out what was going on. With the hurricane winds gone, Keto pushed his way through the debris and ran for the door. He thought he should stay and try killing the warlock himself, but that might give the warlock a chance to see him again. Better to live to fight another day.

While Bram fought his invisible enemy, Keto ran through the castle grabbing things he thought were important. He loaded it all on a horse and he was gone. He would see the warlock again. And when he did, Keto would win back his city.

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