Zerif - The Jackal

CHAPTER ONE

**On to Stetriol**

Zerif’s eyes flew open. He had had a nightmare. A dream. He had seen a Great Ape. It was sitting in a giant hole. He had great big red eyes that looked like it could kill a man with his glare. He saw the Ape roar and then he saw him gripping a shining staff. Then he heard a voice, “Zerif, get up and go to Muttering Rock in Stetriol.” The voice had an eerie tilt to it, like it was being pulled up from the very depths of the oceans. And he had known those eyes. The red eyes of Kovo. Zerif had of course heard of Kovo and the story of the Devourer. But Zerif also knew that you never say no to a Great Beast. Today Zerif knew that he had been chosen to meet a Great Beast and he would follow that message. He packed and got up and walked out the door. Soon he would be more than a retired merchant. Zerif would be a name all would know, fear, and respect.
Zerif got off the ship. He was in Stetriol. He saw the dock worker get up in surprise.
“Well where do you come from sir?”
Zerif looked at the man briefly, or rather the boy. “I hail from all corners. What is your name, boy?”
“Names Alec" he replied. “Take me to Muttering Rock, Alec.” said Zerif, slipping a coin in his hand. The boy bristed. “Muttering Rock, sir? Nobody has been there in many, many years.” Zerif looked straight at the boy and pulled out his sword slowly. “Allow me to rephrase. You will take me to Muttering Rock. I have urgent business with a… certain someone there.” The boy asked no questions. He simply nodded and said, “We can leave at first light, if it pleases you sir.” Zerif shook his head. “No, we leave now.”
Three hours later the sun began to set. They had started out and were now in the dessert. They had bought horses and were on their way to Muttering Rock. All the people of Stetriol knew about it. The mutters shook the earth and occasionally the Ape would roar and shake Stetriol. The tremors from the Ape's muttering were getting closer. Soon they would be there. But it was getting extremely hot. Even though he was from Nilo, Zerif this was stupefied at this heat. It was hotter than any summer day in Nilo and that was a statement. As a boy, Zerif had always dreaded the heat of Nilo and longed to travel. And he had traveled as a merchant. That's when he had met a woman by the name of Aidana. Aidana was pregnant after a few months after his meeting with her. But her mother had hated Zerif and forced him to leave. She had been the love of his life and he had lost her. Her mother had a spirit animal. A crow. The crow had pecked at him all the time trying to claw his eyes out and Aidana’s mother had taken that sign to heart. Before he left he told his love that he wanted the boy to be named Rollan. Then he had left and his life had been lonely ever since. His girlfriend’s mother had been a Greencloak but was retired. And Zerif swore he would do everything he could to stop the Greencloaks and he would start with that witch of a mother that Aidana had. The night Zerif was to leave Amaya, he went to Aidana’s house when Aidana herself had left. He snuck in the back door and in the middle of the night attacked the witch. She however reacted faster than Zerif had thought an old woman could react. She called on her spirit animal and with a screech, it dove for Zerif’s eyes. But Zerif had been ready. He had wanted this to happen. With one graceful stroke of his short sword he cut at the bird and it flew right into his sword, reacting too late. The sword went right through its neck and its head fell from its body and the bird hit the floor in half with a resounding thud. The old woman cried out as the bird was ripped from their bond. Zerif didn’t stick around to see what the woman would do next. He fled, leaving the old woman and Aidana behind. Last he had heard of the old woman, she had abandoned Aidana had taken to drinking her pain away. Filthy old witch, Zerif thought with a smile. I should have killed her too. Maybe he would if he ever saw her again. That moment would be joyous. And he couldn’t wait.
“Sir.” The boy called, starting Zerif out of his daydream.
“What, boy?” Zerif snapped. The boy looked startled at Zerifs sternness.
“I think it would be good if we bed down now sir. It's pretty dark and it will be a dangerous climb to the Great Rock. How about we bed down for the night.” Zerif wanted to argue with the boy but that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “Fine, we’ll bed down.” He huffed. “Help me set up this tent.”
The boy said, “ I haven't ever been somewhere where I have to set up a tent.” Zerif shook his head pitifully. “Can you cook at least?”
“Yes, sir.” the boy said, “I can cook just fine. My father showed me how to use spices and mix flavors.”
“Fine, do that.” Zerif said and then he turned to set up the tent.
“Why do you want to go up to the Rock, sir?” The boy asked after about two minutes of silence.
This boy just won’t shut up and leave me be, Zerif thought. “Why does it matter to you my reasons, boy?”
“I mean no disrespect sir, I just am curious. They say that nothing good comes from Muttering Rock.”
“Who says that?"
“The people in town. They say Kovo is up there. You know, Kovo the terrifying Great Beast.”
“All Great Beasts are terrifying.” Was Zerif's reply.
“Maybe, but Kovo is different.”
“Of course he’s different!” Zerif boomed. “What else would you call a giant ape who could crush a whole city with his foot, who could kill you with a flick of his finger, who can talk in all the languages of the world.”
Alec coughed uncomfortably obviously uncertain by the explosive retorte Zerif had just given.
“So yes, Kovo is different.” Zerif said, his voice lower. “Are you done cooking supper?”
“Uhh… just about sir. I can start to set up.”
Then the boy went to the busy task of setting up the food for their meal.

CHAPTER TWO

**Father Talk**

After eating their stew and cabbage with a little bread, they bedded down in the tents. It took Zerif a while to go to sleep. How would Kovo react when Zerif answered his call? Would Kovo kill him? Would Kovo possibly eat him? How could Zerif be sure? All the man knew is that tomorrow He would ascend up the Red Rock to see the greatest Ape the world has ever seen. Zerif could hear Alec sleeping near the far side of the tent. Zerif considered the boy. How brave the boy was. Zerif hadn’t asked the boy about his family or anything like that. The boy acted like nobody would care if he went traveling with a complete stranger. Zerif would never have been able to do that when he was a boy. His mother had cared for him as his father went and served with the Greencloaks. The man he needed most growing up was off *“protecting the world.”* But from *WHAT!?* Zerif should have been the main priority! His father was a great man. At least that's what his mother used to say. He saw the man maybe two times a year. That was before his father's spirit animal had been killed in battle. The way Zerif had heard it, his father had been cornered by a man with a jaguar spirit animal. The jaguar had jumped at his father, but his fathers spirit animal, a jackal named Humzi jumped to intercept the attack. The jaguar ripped the jackal to pieces. His father was picked up by a man with a moose spirit animal now known world wide by Olvan, commander of the Greencloaks world wide. Olvan carried Zerif’s father to safety. But even though the Green cloaks tried to help his father overcome his grief, his father couldn’t. His father commited suicide on his way home to Zerif and his mother. Zerif had wanted his father to come home. Had wanted him to stay. But his father couldn’t get over his dead mangy dog spirit animal and become the father Zerif had wanted. Zerif wasn’t surprised when he didn’t call anything at his Nectar ceremony. But he had wanted his dad there. To encourage him, to comfort him, to be a *father*. That's all Zerif had wanted. Isn’t that all anybody wanted. And to make matters worse his mother had gone mad with grief over her dead husband and decided to make the *Greencloaks* pay for not protecting him and helping him more. She went to Greenhaven and with her husband's old sword started stabbing at anyone who got in her way. She was headed for Olvan. It wasn’t enough that Olvan had carried his father to safety. She wanted him to heal him and take away his grief. But she never made it to Olvan. She was stopped just beyond the gate. She had been told to stop but she kept going. Part of Zerif thought that his mother knew what she was doing. That she wanted to get killed but Zerif doubted she wanted her life to end the way it did. An animal rammed into her trying to protect the man she was going to kill. A moose. The had rammed her from the side and had torn her side to shreds with his antlers. Oh, what a dreadful way to die. His mother had been buried at sea the next day. Zerif did not attend. In fact, he didn’t know that his mother was dead at all for two whole years! He had found out when he returned home after a trip he had taken to Amaya. He was an orphan at the age of 14. He had no sibling either to comfort him; all he had was Aidana and she had been ripped from him. And all these issues seemed to have a nasty Greencloak attached to the problem. Zerif sighed. What could he do? That was years ago. It seemed like a lifetime had passed. And indeed it had for two out of the three people he loved the most. Well, four. That made Zerif sit bolt upright. Four! Aidana must have had her baby by now. That's when he noticed something he had never thought of before. He blamed his father so much but what if little Rollan was blaming him too. He must hate Zerif! Zerif was just as bad as his father! Zerif hated the feeling of uselessness. What was his purpose in life? To just take the hit every time life threw him a knock-out punch? No more! After he spoke with Kovo he would find Aidana and his son and he would be a father. With that thought Zerif fell slowly off to sleep.
When Zerif woke up, the first thing that hit him was the glorious smell of baked bread. He rushed out the tent to see Alec on a log humming a tune. When Zerif came and sat on a rock opposite of him Alec just shot him a glance and said, “Your breakfast is ready.”
“Thank you, Alec,” Zerif replied.
Alec smiled and started to laugh.
“What's so funny?” Zerif said with a quizzical expression on his face.
“Nothing” was the boy's reply.
“There is something.”
“It’s just that that's the first time you’ve said my name. Before you just said ‘boy’.”
“A name is a powerful thing,” replied Zerif.
“I named myself, you know.” said the boy, “I don’t remember anyone giving me a name so I named myself.”
Remembering his thoughts from the night before Zerif said, “Do you remember your father?”
“Yeah.” said the boy.
He took a long sigh and said, “He had the bonding sickness. Same with my mother. My father had a cow and my mother had an ox. That's about all I remember about them.”
Zerif told about his experience with his father.
“You blame the Greencloaks?” asked Alec.
“Of course!” boomed Zerif, “who else am I to blame?”
Alec muttered something.
“What was that?” Zerif said in a challenging tone.
“I said, does somebody have to always be at fault? Do you have to blame somebody for everything that happens? Blaming people gets you nowhere. Nowhere but eating out of the trash bins, begging for coins and waiting to get beat up in an alley after you scavenge the trash heaps and earn your coin! You can't wait around blaming people for everything and anything under the sun. Either get a move or move out of the way because people with ambitions have no time to be entitled and ask for hand-me-downs from the richest idiots in the city!” Alec exploded.
Zerif looked at the boy. What has he been through exactly in his life? It sounded like he had been holding this in for quite a while. And what shocked Zerif the most is that the boy was surprisingly correct. The boy was probably no more than thirteen years old yet he spoke like a man with a lifetime of experience. The wisdom and fierceness in the boy that Zerif had missed had come out. The boy was huffing like it had been such a long time ago that he had let out all of that.
“Alec? Are you okay?” asked Zerif.
Alec didn’t answer the question.
“Are you done eating?” he said in a low, gruff voice.
Zerif nodded and Alec took his plate.
“Let's head out before it gets even hotter. No sense in waiting around.”

CHAPTER THREE

**The Eagle in the Sky**

So, they got up and packed up. They started to pack up. Alec was unusually quiet. He was always quiet, but this just seemed different. Zerif didn’t ask questions. He knew Alec would be fine after he got over the little chat they had.
“Are you ready Alec?” Zerif asked in an uncertain tone.
“Yes, lets go.” Alec replied in a small voice.
And off they went. Zerif, after about an hour was again struck by the scorching heat that this place had. What in the world of Erdas kept Kovo from dying of a heat stroke? But Zerif had no time to focus on that. The Red Rock was in plain view now. The sun was up. A beautiful sky spread across Erdas and not a cloud was in sight. Nothing but a single bird roamed the sky. They kept walking and soon they were at the base of the mountain. Then just as they were about to start climbing, a giant shadow passed over them. It darkened the area where Alec and Zerif stood, then vanished. Zerif was thrown to the ground when the shadow passed. It was as if the shadow had blown him down. Zerif heard a cry as Alec was slammed against the Red Rock when the gut of air had hit him. Zerif got up quickly and brushed himself off. But as soon  as he was on his feet he was knocked down again. This time Zerif hit the Red Rock and screamed. Not only had the Red Rock cut him in the cheek, as Zerif felt hot blood trickle from his cheek, but the rock was scorching hot. Zerif had felt the burn and jumped back. That when he saw Alec. The boy was staring at the sky. That's when Zerif became aware of not just the wind that continued to pummel him, but the giant darkness spread around them. Then suddenly the beating stopped and the shadow settled. That's when the Zerif got a good look at the blue gray feathers on the beast's body, the razor sharp beak protruding from the beast's noble head. This Zerif knew instantly, was Halawir the Eagle, one of the fifteen Great Beasts. Zerif looked on in shock and reverence as Halawir’s eyes seemed to look right through Zerif.
“Glad to see you,” The Eagle said in a mocking tone.
Zerif just stared.
“Kovo’s been expecting you.” the Beast continued.
Zerif saw Alec shift in his sitting position, still with an awestruck look on his face.
“Knock that stupid look of your face. I'm not going to eat you.”
“Halawir?” Zerif asked in an awed voice.
Halawir rolled his eyes. “Maybe I should eat this stupid human.” he muttered.
“Halawir,” Zerif said getting over the awe and putting strength in his voice. “Kovo called me and I have come to answer his call.”
Alec cleared his throat and said in a low but strong voice, “And I guided him, Halawir.”
Halawir studied the boy seeing probably the same things Zerif saw in the boy.
“Very well, I will fly you up to Kovo.” Said the Eagle.
Zerif stepped closer to the Eagle.
“Halawir,” he said.
Halawir stared at him.
Zerif continued, “Why are you taking us to see Kovo? I thought you were supposed to guard Kovo, not help us get to him.”
“I have long wanted to help Stetriol, the longlost brethren continent to the four great lands. But the Greencloaks have separated them and made the deal with the wretched bonding sickness. You can help change Erdas. Aid Kovo, Gerathon and myself and you will rule with us.”
The Eagle spoke so smoothly and so passionately that Zerif had no problem listening to him. Zerif had heard that the Eagle had a way with words and was very wise. Also, who could defy a Great Beast right to his face? With that Zerif gave a nod of understanding and the Eagle rose and picked up the two humans one in each talon. With one beat of his wings the Eagle was airborne and they were soaring to the top of Muttering Rock.

CHAPTER FOUR

**Kovo Speaks**

They landed on top of the giant Red Rock and Zerif gasped. In the middle of the Rock was a cage made of antlers. The antlers were thick like the strongest wood in Erdas. Zerif came closer and saw a great yawning pit stretched below like an endless hole. Or at least, it looked endless. Then he heard rocks rumbling from deep below and soon he saw a figure like a shadow emerging from the grave like a pit.
“Finally Zerif, friend, you have come.”
It took all of Zerif’s willpower not to soil his pants, steam and run or throw Alec in front of himself as a shield against the monstrosity still arising still slightly from the ground.