Left behind episode 22

Left Behind – Episode 22
© Happy William
Ewan’s POV
I didn’t want to think of what would have happened if I did not get to Harriet on time as I held on to her, with my other grip on the edge of the cliff.
I looked up to see Rex standing above.
“Here. Catch her,” I said to him and lifted Harriet a little bit upwards before Rex took her hand and lifted her all the way up, while I climbed back up, slipping a bit.
Immediately my foot touched land I hurried over to where she laid away from the worse part of the smoke and dust.
I took her palm in mine.
It was burning hot.
I felt for a pulse at her wrist.
It was still there but growing fainter…..
“Get Juliante over here,” I yelled to no one in particular as I felt all over her body.
She didn’t even move, no subtle sign to tell me she was alive apart from the faint pulse and the slow beat of her heart.
Even the rise and fall of her chest was limited.
And she wasn’t breathing.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest seeing her like this and knowing that it’s my fault.
If only I had waited to hear her out…when she tried to explain….
We’d have sorted things out and made a way somehow.
In that moment as I knelt beside her, I didn’t care about anything else; the Master, Amazon, nothing.
All I knew is that I’d give anything for Harriet to awake.
Juliante came over and checked her pulse too without sparing me a glance.
Then he sat cross legged on the ground. With his palms spread inches above her body he began to mutter and him with his eyes closed and his face turned upward.
I stood beside Rex as we watched.
“She’s going to wake,” Rex said.
“I know. I’d die if she didn’t,” I replied.
He looked at me, sighed, and looked away.
As Zoe and Jean and some other people came running to us, I took the time to look around me.
So much damage in such a little time.
What happened?
I’d been in time to see the Master fall into the cliff, and I was assured that nobody could survive that.
Did this really mean what I thought it did?
Was it all over?
Zoe threw her arms around me, and I hugged her tightly.
“Oh Ewan….” she sniffed.
“Shhh Z, it’s over,” I said.
I smiled to Jean, who smiled back.
We’d won.
But victory would be incomplete if Harriet didn’t wake up.
And then it hit me:
“Where’s the Horn?” I asked loud enough for everyone to hear.
They all turned to me.
“The Horn….” Zoe began as if she just thought of it.
Then her eyes darted around to the others.
“We don’t know,” Lino spoke. “The girl was facing the Master. We were trying to keep the minions outta the city. We lost track of what she was doing.”
I ran a frustrated hand across my face and resisted the urge to curse aloud.
Without the Horn, how do we free the spirits?
Just then there was a loud rumbling noise, coming from the direction of the valley where the dragon fell.
Instinctively, I put my hand on the handle of my sword and walked with Rex to check it out.
As we neared, the noise grew louder, and the ground shook.
“Get out of here!” I said, referring to the girls, Juliante and Harriet.
Before we could take another step forward, something flew out forcefully accompanied by dust, and landed a few feet away from us.
The Master, in his normal form.
His head was bowed, and he appeared dusty, bruised.
Defeated.
But then he raised his head, opened his eyes, and it was filled with dark smoke as he took slow steps towards us, twisting and twitching his fingers as if they were impatient to carry out an action of destruction.
He breathed scarily through his mouth.
“You all thought you could get rid of me that easy,” he began, still advancing.
I made to pull out my sword when Rex stopped me with a gentle but icy hand on my shoulder.
I turned to him in confusion and he gave a nod that said, ‘Let me handle this.’
I nodded back and stepped away slightly as he stepped forward.
Where the hell did the Horn go!?
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Rex’s POV
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I’ve made mistakes.
My wh0le life I’ve been following the brutal instructions of this man standing before me.
Not a man, but a monster.
A monster who happened to be my father.
I watched as he turned his dark gaze to me, his eyebrows raised in incomprehension.
“Father you have to stop all these,” I began.
Then his eyebrows lowered in a frown.
“What do you mean by that?” he growled. “We’re steps away from claiming ultimately power, and you’re saying… what?”
“No father. YOU’RE steps away from claiming ultimate power, not me. You’ve never had me in mind as a father should. All you ever cared about was your selfish ambition to rule Amazon with evil and dubious means!”
From the way he stood, I knew that I’ve angered him.
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Rex’s POV
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Suddenly he stopped moving and paused a few metres away from me with his arms at his back, his usual stance position.
“And where are you getting at?” he asked in a cool but deadly tone.
I knew that tone.
It always meant he was planning some catastrophe.
But nevertheless, I continued. I was going to tell him that I wanted out of everything about him. That I was sick of his evil….mind playing tricks.
I took a deep breath.
“I’m saying you should stop, father. I’m saying you should let go of all your selfish plans and… and embrace peace.”
He laughed.
“Peace?” he mocked spitefully. “Is that what these…” he spared a glance to the people around us, “….lairs have led you to believe? There is no peace, son. Only war, darkness, and victory.”
I frowned when he called me ‘son’.
”You’ve never even been a father to me. Not once. I was more like a…. a puppet to you. A minion. A ‘boy’ who could obey you without hesitation. You never even cared about my feelings. What I wanted to do, where I wanted to go. You were never THERE for me.”
I choked down emotions. This was the very first time I was opening up to him. And I was going to unburden it all.
“You made me do nasty things. Which I regret so much. But I just wish for one thing…one thing I’ve always wished for. That you’d love me. As a son. And let go of these evils.”
I stopped finally, not believing I said all that.
I looked up to him, gauging his reaction. Hoping that maybe…. just maybe…..
“All this is because of her, isn’t it?” he asked. “Do you really think she’ll even come to you?”
“No. But she taught me, showed me, that life was better when there was no evil.”
For a moment I was expecting his scornful laugh to echo across the valley.
He bowed his head down.
Then raised it up with a smile I’ve never seen on him.
A genuine, caring smile.
He walked towards me.
“I’m not one for sentiments……” he began stretching his arms out towards me.
I couldn’t believe this!
I inched closer into his embrace. And as his hands enveloped me in our very first hug, I felt the sharp edge of something piercing my chest.
My eyes opened wide, not at the pain, but at the surprise of what he actually did.
He deceived me.
Then I felt my body grow limp, and Ewan’s distant shout of “Noooooo!” which sounded so far away, before I slumped to the ground.
“…..and I will never be,” the Master ended.
He stepped over me and walked towards the people.
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Ewan’s POV
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It was so unbelievable and amusing to watch that people with black hearts could actually have emotions.
I guess I was wrong about Rex then. He was a good guy, just led to believe something else. And from the look on everyone else faces, I assumed they thought so too.
I didn’t really trust the Master, but things looked to be shaping up. So I left and went to where Juliante was with Harriet.
Just looking at her injured and dusty frame on the ground sent an arrow through me.
I felt as if a part of me was dead.
“You know,” it was Jean that spoke, “Back in Creole, girls love this popular movie. The Sleeping Beauty. There, the Prince Charming k-ssed the princess, and she woke up from a deep deep sleep.” She grinned as she ended her story and I smiled.
“I don’t really think—”
“Or Snow White. Same story. Only that hers was the sleeping death.”
I smiled again, and even laughed when I realized that I was contemplating trying to do that.
Juliante shook his head.
“I don’t know Jean…”
I didn’t hear the rest because I got distracted by the Master’s voice.
I turned to the scene in time to see the Master walking to him.
I narrowed my eyebrows as I noticed something.
The Master never apologized, nor felt remorse. Something was off.
I placed my hand on the sword’s handle and walked closer.
By the time I saw the dark dagger in the Master’s grip, it was too late.
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“Now you see what happens to all who defy me!???” the Master commanded in a loud voice which echoed everywhere.
Whimpers could be heard allover.
The warriors regrouped as they formed a protective circle around the girls and Juliante, who was still trying to revive Harriet.
“Your own son!” I accused.
“If he was my son he wouldn’t have questioned my commands. And if I could kill my own son, as you put it, then how much more you?”
He grinned widely as his eyes took on the smoky quality again.
All swords were drawn.
But it was as if they knew that it was no use.
The Horn was missing.
The Master was still going to destroy us with dark magic.
All was still and quiet as he assembled the powers of the dark forces of the universe.
And just as he was about to strike…..
The sound of the Horn from behind us was music to everyone’s ears as the Master said a loud “NOOOOOO!”
A cool breeze swept through everyone, as the sound of the spirits release gave us ultimate joy.
One by one they appeared, all guardians of Amazon, and they stood in an arch before the Master.
“Elton Comoro of Amazon,” the Head guardian began in a voice that was thunderous, “You went too far in your quest for power, defying every law that governed the universe, above and beneath.”
The second spirit took over, “You committed vile atrocities. Made widows, orphans, and lonelies.”
The third continued, “And indulged in evil practices, for your own gains.”
“So in accordance to the Laws of Amazon, we’re going to declare your verdict. Any last words?” the fourth asked.
“No,” said the Master…. or Elton. “You cannot do this to me. I was close, so close!”
“But it brought about your destruction. Now, do you wish for a second chance at life, to mend your ways and live in all goodness?” the fifth, which was a woman, Orne, asked.
“To change for those you love, and who loves you?” the sixth, Narcissus, asked.
“I don’t love no one!” Elton roared, looking now like an ordinary man with no evil power, no threat.
I felt like giving him a spank on the head.
“And I’m not taking anything from you! Amazon’s mine, and I will be back for it!”
“I’m afraid we cannot make that mistake again,” said the first spirit, Adolph, who was the ‘A’ in Amazon.
“And now,” they all chorused, pointing their right index fingers skyward, “By the powers vested in us as guardians and keepers of Amazon, we cast you into Doomsland, where you shall forever roam, a restless evil spirit with no way out. So it shall be!”
Then they pointed the fingers to Elton, and an orb surrounded him, after which he was seen no more.
I couldn’t believe it.
We were FREE!
“And calling on the moon, the sun, the stars and all goodness in the earth, we therefore restore Amazon as it was before pains, sin and death!”
They spread their arms out wide, and it was wonderful to see how all the dust and rocks vanished to reveal soft green grass underneath.
Everything was changed; broken pieces put back.
The Master’s prisoners set free.
The dark sky turn bright blue and clear as a summer’s sky.
The foot of the cliff was filled with spring waters.
And finally, the magnificent rainbow that adorned the sky.
Sort of like a promise.
Amazon was restored to it’s former glory, a City of Peace.
We did it.
Then I looked away from the happenings to see Juliante helping Harriet to lean comfortably on his arms, with Zoe and Jean kneeling around her, and smiling brightly.
With the horn in her hand.
She blew the Horn!
I stood transfixed as she took a slow look around her.
And when her eyes lit up as she looked at me, I hurried over, like a seconds delay was too much, and threw my arms around her.
To be continued