The Herraneans- The Maze Of Choices

The beginning

'Go! Go fast I say!' Shouted the Gazur. 'I am not leaving without you, Gazur!' The Saphor responded firmly. 'What you are doing is foolishness, Saphor. You must go. You must!' The Gazur began,'Don't you know how necessary it is to protect the boy. We cannot let him even have a scratch, understand?'

The Saphor knew that there was no use of arguing with the Gazur as what he was saying was true. The boy must be protected.
'But Gazur-' he was cut short as the Gazur waved his hand in dismissal. The Saphor knew that their conversation had come to an end. He had to safely get the boy to the place the Gazur had mentioned....

The weather was bitterly cold and the snow wouldn't stop. The wind was becoming stronger by the minute.
The Gazur carefully placed the baby boy, wrapped in soft blankets, in the Saphor's shivering arms.
'I know you are scared, my Saphor. I know that you think that you are not strong enough to protect him from his grasp. You know who I am talking about, right?'

'Yes. But I do not want to think about it.' The Saphor responded.
'You and I and everybody else in the clan know how important this boy is for us, there are hundreds like him but he....' the Gazur pointed at the sleeping baby 'is very special.'

Their conversation was cut short when Alamac, the Gazur's son and the future Gazur of their clan, came rushing towards them. 'Father...' he panted. 'Father, the boy's mother....she...she is...The curse has begun. She asks for her son.'
'You know that's not possible. Anyone struck with the Sgerfus is cursed....I cannot risk to bring the child to her. ' the Gazur replied.

'She is his mother! I cannot bear to see that pain....that is too much for a Hernan.'
The Gazur saw the pain in his son's eyes. He knew that it was too much for a Hernan or healer like Alamac. Alamac could feel the lady's pain and the pain of Sgerfus is inevitable.

'Alamac, my son.' The Gazur placed his hand on Alamac's shoulder. 'There is nothing we can do.....I don't know how but you have to do this, for the clan, for Defalcios.' Alamac hung his head and nodded. Then he turned to leave.

Suddenly he remembered something and pulled out a locket from his pocket. 'Saphor, it's the boy's father's. And with him gone, this belongs to the boy.' He handed the locket to the Saphor. The Saphor tucked it inside the boy's blankets.

'Now, we don't have time to waste. Not even a little bit. Get going, my Saphor.' said Gazur.

The sky churned and the strong winds made it difficult to even walk. Every blow of wind seemed like a shrill angry cry. The Saphor cradled the baby in his hands and broke into a run. The wind resisted but he had to keep on going. He had to.

He concentrated and two enormous wings, darker than the darkest black, erupted from behind him and he soared off into the sky.

'Protect us, dear Lord!' 'Keep us safe enough to complete our journey.' The Saphor muttered.

He knew why the wind resisted, he knew why the forces joined against them. It was him.

The Saphor pressed the baby to his chest and flew as fast as he could. At times it felt as if the wind laughed at him. He could feel the awkwardness.

Finally,he could see it vividly, the wind indeed, laughed at them. It formed a face from time to time and broke apart as soon as created, but it was certain that it was a man's face.

'Saphor......My champion.....' a voice whispered. The sound was raspy and cold. It was followed by a shrill laughter. 'At last! I see a boy......' it hissed. 'You have brought him to me.'

'Show yourself! You coward! Slave of your master!' The Saphor shouted. 'I am not anybody's slave!' The voice rose to an angry tone and the wind materialised.