The Stone of Tarna

We were sprinting through the hallway, Merandon and me. We knew we were late yet again because of over sleeping. We raced into the cluttered kitchen, Cookie rolled her eyes and sighed the word, “Boys”. We finally hurried into the servant’s quarters. Herbert looked up at us with cold, hard eyes. “And yet again we have the privilege of hearing the amusing story of why Tarka and Merandon are late”. We both put our heads down to look as if we were ashamed, we were late but both nearly burst open with laughter. Herbert is the head butler and in charge of our lives. He has eyes in the back of his head and always appears when he thinks you’re up to no good. His smooth, brushed grey and black hair, his freshly ironed clothes, we can’t take him seriously. But one advantage we have over him is that he is so old he can’t chase after us. Herbert is 58! The poor guy would never stand a chance.1

“Right Tarka you will be helping Miss Surella with her home work, Salvia you will….” Oh great I say to myself, Miss Surella is the daughter of King and is an only child, which means she is spoilt rotten. She is the most annoying person in the whole world and Herbert knows this. I hate him, I hate him so much. I stumbled out of the servants Quarters and into the kitchen. I sat down at the table and watched Cookie chop some Onions. “What you got this time.” She sighed. “Miss Surella” I spat back at her. I knew I should be rude to her but I was in the most awful mood. Cookie is like an Aunt to me instead of just a cook.2

“Ah, well if you going up there you should take this to Queen Shansa, she’s in the north tower as usual”3

Before I had any time to complain she shoved a tray of tea, biscuits and cakes into my hands.4

“Tea and biscuits in the north tower, oh how lovely” I said in a sarcastic voice and quickly darted away with the tray before she could hit me with the rolling pin.5

For as long as I could remember Queen Shansa always spent her morning in the north tower painting the scenery from outside the window .She had turned a bit crazy ever since the king had been having weekly meetings with all the land lords around the castle. I walked out of the hall way and took a short cut through the hot stuffy laundry room. It was like a maze in there. White sheets dangling down in the room made it feel like I was going round in circles but finally made it out of the room and into the passage that led to either the meeting room or the north tower. I took the spiral staircase up the top of the tower. As each foot came down, a sudden thud occurred against the cold, hard stone floor. It felt like I had been climbing the stairs for hours when finally I made it to the door at the top of the stairs.6

I knocked on the door. No reply. I tried again. Still no reply. I opened the door to find no one in the room. I snuck in and pushed away the paint pots and cups of water on the table to make room for the tray. Just as I had put the tray down a voice from no where asked “who’s there”. It was defiantly not Queen Shansas’ voice but a mans. I looked around the room to see who the asker was and out of the corner a man step forward in to the light.7

“Do you take the name of Tarka?” he asked. 8

“Yes that is my name but...”9

“Have you witnessed any strange things this week?” looked at him blankly. Who was this guy and what was he doing in the north tower?10

So I said what any gentle man would say “Would you like a cup of tea?11

“Would I like a cup of tea!” I jumped back in fright.12

“I have travelled for nights and day and the first thing someone says to me is would you like a cup of tea!”13

He looked at me with emotionless eyes. This was the first time I noticed how he was dressed. He clothes were tattered and dirty, his shoes covered in mud and had layers and layers of clothes on. His jacket was ripped and the bottom of his long coat was covered in dirt. He looked like a thief to me.14

“Why did you travel all this way to stand in the corner of a cold, dim tower? I asked.15

“Don’t you be cheeky with me.” He darted back at me.16

“You want to know why I have travelled here”. I nod my head with curiosity.17

“I have travelled here to ask you if you have seen anything strange or weird.”18

I thought about this last week. Nothing really strange had happened apart from the chicken soup that smelt of fish and looked like goo and the strange man in the north tower.19

“Well have you wondered about the meetings the king is having? He asked.20

“To tell you the truth I thought they were talking about the harvest festival”21

“7 months before the festival, how peculiar.” He joked22

“Well it could be about….”23

“They’re discussing the demons!” he exclaimed24

“What” I blurted back25

“The king wants to go to war with his brother King Imon.”26

“This isn’t making sense” I announced27

“The king wants to take every innocent soul and torture them until they can live no more. He wants to take over who he calls special peoples minds so he can control them. The forest will be burned, plague will go round, drought and starvation will be coming round soon. People are going to die Tarka and you never forget that. There is going to be a great war to decide what the earth’s fate will be.”28

“And you’re telling me this because?” I questioned29

“You may be the only one who can stop all of this. You have a hidden power to change the world and you may not believe me but it’s true. You are the one!”30

“I think you have the wrong person, I’m just a servant boy, that’s all I ever have been and that all I am ever going to be.” I reported31

“Have you ever wondered why the king took you in when he already had hundreds of servants??” 32

“Because he is a nice and kind person who found me on the streets when I had been abandoned. Anyway If I was ‘the one’ why didn’t you come here years ago to tell me.” I screamed at him33

“A) he took you in because he had heard rumours about you and thought when you became of the right age he could perform evil experiments on you.B)I didn’t come until now because you were not of the right age” he stated34

“What do you mean not of the right age!” I shouted35

“Not the right age to use your powers!” he yelled36

I stared at him in alarm37

Me, powers, king, evil, no this was wrong, this was all too wrong.38

“I know you don’t believe me boy but if you see anything strange just think about what I have said, you’ll realise the truth.39

“But what will happen if, lets say I do believe you. What will happen?”40

“You would leave the castle and come with me and then……”41

He had said enough.42

“Leave the castle, leave my friends and people I call my family!”43

“Well what were you expecting me to do, stay here with the knowledge and do nothing? You are to come with me to go to the ancient sacrifice to find the sacred stone of Tarna to wipe out these demons forever.”44

All this took a while to sink in. Leave the castle to go on a quest to find this stone thing.45

“For all I know you could be a loony, who was so mad that they could make up a story like that!”46

“I thought you would say that, so I’ll come tonight to see what your choice will be.”47

Suddenly the door opened and in came Queen Shasa.48

“Oh hello, oh good you brought tea.”49

“Yes Miss” I looked at the corner and the man had gone, vanished into thin air. Was he real or just an illusion”50

Five minutes later I was in Miss Surella’s room helping her with her maths, but my mind was in the north tower thinking about the man.51

“What’s that you said?” She asked.52

I came out of my thoughts “What, sorry”53

“Did you just say demons?” she asked54

“Well I don..”55

“ I had to go to one of daddies meeting and they were talking about demons” she blurted out.56

“But also about magic, gypsies, stones, sacred places and about the kingdom”57

“Did they say anything else?” I asked58

“Well I don’t know because I had to go to bed, but when I went out I thought I heard your name, or something like that but why would they be talking about a stupid servant boy. Anyway I really don’t understand this maths question.”59

I was off again into my thoughts, maybe the loony guy was right, was the king really planning something evil, no I needed proof.”60

After a long, boring hour of helping Miss Surella with her homework, I went to the kitchen, to talk to Cookie.61

“How was it then.” She asked62

“All right I suppose”63

“Oh is my boy Tarka getting feeling for her”64

“No” I exclaimed65

“I’m only joking with you, but could you do a favour for me, could you be a dear and bring this to the meeting room?”66

This was my change to see what the king was talking about, but did I really want to know, yes ,yes I did and nothing was going to stop me from taking the tea to the meeting.67

“Sure why not”68

Cookie looked at me in alarm, “wow, you actually doing me a favour?”69

So out of the kitchen I went, thought the hot, stuffy laundry room and to the door of the Meeting room. Right what do I do? Do I listen in and wait for a bit or do I go in hoping that they’re still talking when I go in.? Well the easiest option is to listen in. So I put my ear to the door and try to look like I was resting just in case anyone passed.70

“But are the demons really that powerful.” One person asked.71

“Yes” it was the king’s voice. “They are so powerful that whoever is in control, would be able to do anything they wanted”72

No this isn’t right, no this isn’t the king speaking no.73

“Mister Tarka, what on earth are you doing!”74

I looked around and saw Herbert.75

“I ju.. , just slipped….sir”76

“Well move along.”77

I knocked on the door, and inside the room everything went quiet.78

“Come in” a booming voice said79

I opened the great doors and all eyes were on me.80

“Ah, good the tea has arrived, thank you Tarka, you may go”81

I darted out the room and closed the door but before I could go anywhere the room burst with noise again.82

“Was that the boy, the chosen one?”83

“Yes” it was the king’s voice again. “That was.”84

I ran as fast as I could through the hall way, up to the north tower stairs , and banged on the wooden door85

“Come in.”86

I raced in and saw the queen painting again.87

“Oh, did you want to take the tray.”88

“Um, yes miss.”89

I looked into the corner, the man wasn’t there. I had to speak to him, he said he would see me tonight but were. Oh gosh this was confusing.90

So I got on with the day, doing my daily chores.It dragged on and got to night time.91

I was all alone in the bath room and was brushing my teeth, when out of the corner of my eyes, there was the man.92

“Well?”93

“I want to go with you!”94

“What changed your mind?”95

“Um, well just talking to the princess, listening into the kings meeting, and that’s about it.”96

“Well pack up your stuff, were leaving straight away.”97

“Right now?”98

“Will I have to repeat everything I say?”99

“No sir.”100

“First of all don’t call me sir, my name is Zargon, now get packing!”101

I couldn’t believe I was going, leaving the castle, but this could all just be a joke, no I’m going, and at least I would get out the castle.102

About half an hour later we were outside in the courtyard in the cold, and it was raining. Great.103

“Right what is the easiest way to get out?” he asked104

“Well we could go through the forest or take a boat across the lake.” I answered105

“Well we could clearly be seen going across the lake, so we’ll take the forest route”106

“Are you sure, people have gone missing thought there.”107

“Do you want to come or not.”108

“Well…Where are we going first?”109

“To find the old women.”110

“What old women?”111

“The old woman who is going to tell us where to find the sacred sacrifice place.”112

“Why do we have to go and see her.” I moaned113

“Are you ever going to shut up or am I going to have to make you!”114

“Sorry.”115

“Right we’ll go through the forest and go to the town of Lanket to get supplies, and then we go to Mount Sentha to find the old women.”116

So we snuck out of the archway, through the courtyard and into the forest.117

It was dark in the forest and cold and it smelled of rotten tomatoes. We just walked and walked for what seemed like hours, until Zargon stopped dead in his tracks.118

“What ever you do don’t move, don’t speak, don’t even breath.” He whispered.119

Out of no where came the noise of horse hooves. It sounded as if it was getting closer by the second.120

I turned my head and through a bush I saw a white horse.121

“Are you sure they came through here.” I heard someone say122

“Ye, they can’t have gotten far.”123

“Right, Captain Lancost, you go north with your men, and I’ll go south with mine.”124

I never realised that they would go looking for me, or even realise I had gone. I started sweating, the sound of my increasing heart beat in my ear, I went cold and started shaking. The horses were getting closer and closer, I had no idea what to do.125

“On the count on three, crouch down, but do it slowly. Then make your way to that bush.” Zargon whispered126

“1” I started to feel dizzy127

“2” my knees felt like they were going to give way128

“3” I crouched down slowly and scrambled over to the bush.129

“Right, now try and get under the bush with out making a noise.”130

I squirmed under the bush and just a second later horse hooves were just in front of me.131

Suddenly the bush started shaking and in came a hand through the bottom, straight for Zargon. He looked at me with eyes that said don’t do anything stupid or I’ll kill you and he was pulled out from under the bush.132

“And what do we have here?” asked the same voice from before133

Oh my gosh, what were they going to do to him! What if they killed him or took him to the king. Without realising, I crawled from under the bush, stood up, and yelled a word that I had never heard of. But suddenly from all around a dark mist about ankle high appeared, it seemed to get darker and cold.134

“What is going..”135

That was all the man had time to say. His eyes were wide open with fright and he mouth opened wide. Black fogy spirits shaped like horses, with eyes like red hot fire started to gallop around the small army, and then ran into them. As they ran towards them you thought the men would go crashing to the ground on impact. But, the horse spirits ran straight through the men and the unfortunate person would turn as white as a sheet of paper, scream like they had never screamed before and would topple to the ground.136

I stared at this event with wide open eyes and my mouth dropped open.137

What had I done, had I killed them? I started to breathe quickly then everything went black.138

I opened my eyes and bolted up. I was in a warm room in the most comfiest bed I had ever been in with the moonlight shining on my bed. Where was I and what was I doing here?139

The door opened and in came Zargon.140

“How you feeling?” he asked141

“All right, were am I?142

“You’re in the little town of Lanket” he replied143

“What happened” I yawned while rubbing my eyes144

“You performed a really strong spell, which used all your energy so you passed out.”145

I gave him a blank look, my memory had gone fuzzy and could only remember the faces of the men as they fell to the floor.146

“But those men, did I”147

“Yes, they’re dead,”148

An awkward silence broke out. Why had I done that to them, they were just normal people doing their job. The silence carried on for what seamed like hours I couldn’t cope with this. I had to break the silence or it was going to swallow me whole.149

“How long have I been out for?” I spat out quickly150

“A day, you’re lucky, some people have been out for weeks.”151

“Did I , you know, do magic?”152

“Ye, it was amazing, I’ve never seen anything like that, you must have used old magic.153

Another faze of awkward silence broke again but this time Zargon broke it.154

“Are you hungry?155

“A bit.”156

“Well come downstairs and we’ll get something from the bar.”157

I got out of bed and slipped on some clothes that I had never seen before and headed towards the door. As we got down stairs, the atmosphere changed completely, from the sleepy, relaxed bedroom, to the busy, over crowded bar downstairs.158

We went up to the bar and Zargon signalled the bar tender. People were holding themselves up by the ledge and were laughing hysterically.159

“What will it be boys?” the bar tender sighed160

“A roast Sunday dinners and 2 Apple Honey Swenchs161

Zargon turned to me and nodded over to a place in the corner.162

“Go and get the table in the corner over there.”163

I lumbered over to the table and sat down on the hard wooden chairs.164

I saw Zargon whisper to the bar tender and passed him some money. What was he up to? Then he quickly turned round and walked over to the table.165

“He said it would be about 10 minutes” Zargon said166

“How far have we got to go?” I asked167

“We haven’t even set off and you’re already complaining. I can’t take complaining, I’m not Cookie!”168

Cookie! I hadn’t thought of her or Merandon or anyone in the castle. What were they thinking, had I betrayed them or did they think I was dead. Herbert! I actually missed that guy.169

I sulked and looked down at my feet, maybe they weren’t thinking about me at all. Just someone they once knew, just a forgotten no one.170

“Ah here’s the food” Zargon smiled171

“The roast and 2 Apple Honey Swenchs” the bar tender said.172

He laid them on the tables. It smelt so good, but not as good as Cookie’s.173

“Right then, dig in”174

I felt sick, I wanted to go to the castle and not go to find the stone of… stone of, oh does it really matter, what am I doing here. Why is the king doing this, is he possessed or just power hungry?175

Zargon must have seen my doubt, and briskly passed the lamb to me.176

“Don’t think about them, or the past, just think about the future.”177

I shoved the lamb back at him178

“I’m not hungry.” I stated179

“You’re going to need the energy, we’ve got a long journey ahead of us so you have to eat.”180

“I’m not hungry” I repeated181

“Look you eat that or you will starv…” Zargon look round cautiously and then looked at me with open eyes182

“Get under the table.” He whispered183

“What! Have you gone completely barmy?!” I exclaimed184

“Some one’s coming, so either you get under or I’ll make you.185

I slipped under the table just in the nick of time as the inn door swung open and in came ten or fifteen men who were all in heavy, thick armour.186

The room went cold and quiet. People looked around and started to whisper.187

“Has anyone seen a young boy, about this high and with a dark looking man?” the biggest said in a booming voice who I thought was probably the leader188

“Do you have any idea how many boys are around here, hundreds of them and as for a dark man, lots of weird people come into this town. Last week we had one guy come and swore he was Jesus! So the probability of us remembering one of those many boys or men and quite unlikely” the bar tender quoted189

“You’re being quite certain about that.” The leader stated as he walked closer to the bar. “Are you sure about that because if we find you’re lying, lets just say your customers will have to find another bar to go to.”190

The bar tender went pale and looked around for help191

“I think I saw them!” someone shouted out192

No, they weren’t going to tell them where we were. Oh please don’t tell!193

“Last I saw them they were at the church across the road praying or something like that.”194

And with that the leader rushed out the door followed by the others.195

I slowly and quietly slipped back from under the table and stood up with Zargon to find a hundred faces looking at us.196

“There’s a back door through here.” The bar tender said pointing to a door.197

“Thanks a bunch.” Zargon said to the man who practically saved our life and patted him on the back.198

“Come on they might come back. I’ll show you were to go.” The bar tender whispered.199

We were whisked to the back room and Zargon put his ear to the back door.200

“What are you doing?” I questioned him201

“Do you want us to run into the men again? No!! So I’m listening out for them.”202

I let him carry on and waited for a while. Zargon turned around to the bar tender and thanked him so much for what he had done, then he turned to me.203

“Lets go.” He commanded and he opened the door.204

It was cold, raining and dark. Just like the night we had left for this stupid quest.205

We started walking towards the street. I got to think that Zargon wasn’t a nutter after all, well a bit mad but that’s it. This was so much better than helping the princess with her homework. 206

There was a rustle in a bush next to me. I stood back and so did Zargon. What was it? A beast? One of the king’s knights? It rustled a bit more, I cautiously took another step back, then out it came. Not a beast or a knight but a squirrel. Halleluiah.207

I turned around to tell Zargon to find a huge figure in front of me. The next thing I knew my hands were being cuffed. I looked around for Zargon and saw he had been caught as well. There were four big strong men holding us by the shoulder.208

The leader was standing ahead facing us. I was shacking all over and the men’s grip got tighter. 209

“Take them to the boats” he ordered.210

“I have one more promise to keep.” He turned to his men and nodded211

I was lead away by the two men who were holding me. I turned my head to see what was happening. About 10 of the knights were walking back to the inn.212

To be continued….213