Chosen of the One: Chapter 12, Part 2

30 January 2026

We return this week for the rest of Chapter 12 after a week off (not by our choice!), of our epic fantasy, Chosen of the One: Book 1 of The Redemption. Last time, the gathered chosen were discussing what to do about Thal, who had fallen into a black mood, having learned that his parents, Kalamar and Nelle, were dead. . . . (7 April 2014) We again remind our readers to right-click on the Glossary link, open in a new tab or window, thus enabling the reader to learn what each of these new terms mean.

Chapter 12, Part 2

They lapsed into silence, Blakstar withdrawing into his own thoughts. After a time, something roused Blakstar from his brooding–the sound of soft weeping. He looked up, first looking at Delgart, then both turned to look at Marilee, who held her face in both hands.

“What is wrong?” Delgart asked.

Marilee looked up, her eyes red and wet, but her face wide with surprise. “What’s wrong? I’m hideous! That’s what’s wrong! I know I wasn’t the prettiest girl before, but I wasn’t unattractive. Now . . . ,” she started to say but instead, hid her face in her hands and sobbed.

Blakstar was at a loss for words, unable to speak; Delgart spoke. “I do not think you are hideous,” he said truthfully, “one side of your face is damaged, but the other is as pretty as any I have seen. You are still beautiful.”

Marilee sniffed and looked up at Delgart. “I thank you for the compliment, but I think you must be half-blind.”

The kortexi tried to recall again what had happened to him, and the words of the blonde girl–his future wife–echoed through his mind. “Let me see him!” He realized that what had been done to each of them went beyond the mark of evil they all now wore. “Each of us has not only been marked, but damaged in some way,” he said quietly. “Klaybear is hurled into his vision if he thinks of it too closely, becoming completely unaware of what is going on around him–in battle, that could be tragic. Me . . . ,” he faltered, then shook his head. “I have been marked . . . somehow, on the chest and loins,” he went on, pointing to himself with one hand, “for what reason we have been marked . . . I don’t know,” Blakstar finished and fell silent.

“What do you remember?” Delgart asked. “Anything, any detail, might help us figure out what happened, and how you were marked.”

Blakstar thought a moment. “I remember leaving the main road south to follow the trail leading to the Mountain,” he answered, his eyes closed in concentration. “I rode along the trail throughout the morning, stopping once and beginning to feel as if there was someone watching me. I stopped for lunch . . . , and then everything is blank until I woke up in a burned-out clearing on the north side of the Mountain, although I dreamed, at least I think it was a dream, but is it a real dream when one is awake?” he asked, then shook his head. “In this dream there was a figure in white who told me not to be afraid, and then a pretty girl with golden hair and blue eyes appeared in the dream, and the figure told me she would someday be my wife, but when I tried to approach her, she was afraid of me, afraid I would kill her. Then we both felt lines of fire burning on our chests, and she accused me of selling out to Gar and taking her along, but then another symbol, a rune, was burned into us both–low on the front of my belly, and in the same place on her, and again on her . . . ,” he hesitated and felt his neck and ears begin to burn, “lower back. The figure then showed us a clearing next to the Mountain of Vision, told us we should meet there in our dreams, then we were both drawn away; I woke up in the same clearing, burned and blackened, surrounded by twisted trees. I felt . . . pain and soreness–there was a lump on my head,” he noted, touching the back of his head, “and my clothes had been torn open. . . .”

“Torn open?” Delgart interrupted. “Sliced or ripped?”

Blakstar opened his eyes and looked at Delgart. “I don’t really know,” he admitted, “I never considered it important, but the edges were smooth, so I’d guess cut.” He saw a slight tightening around Delgart’s eyes, but he said nothing, so Blakstar closed his eyes and concentrated again on what he remembered. “There was a . . . face,” he hesitated, “a huge, kindly face with deep blue eyes, looking at me out of the side of the Mountain; he spoke to me, told me he waited for me and to climb the Mountain. I asked about my lost memories, told him I felt filthy, and he told me not to be concerned, that I would be cleansed of his son’s violation–I do not understand the words he spoke, but I think it must have been . . . ,” he hesitated again, fearing to say what he was thinking–that the face was the face of the One, “. . . I don’t know,” he finished, opening his eyes to look at the others and saw them exchanging a look with each other.

“Anything else?” Delgart asked, his eyes still fixed on Marilee.

Blakstar closed his eyes and concentrated again. “It rained after that,” he said, “a sudden, warm downpour that lasted only minutes, but I felt as if all pain and anguish had been washed away, and I no longer felt filthy. I sewed my clothes together using some broken strips of leather lying on the ground beside me, then went and led my horse to the Mountain,” he finished, opening his eyes to look at them; he saw something pass between them, then Marilee’s eyes widened.

“That’s awful!” Marilee exclaimed, still looking at Delgart.

Delgart looked back at her, then got out of his bed on the side closest to her, holding out his left hand. She understood, and reached out with her right hand. Suddenly, the maimed sides of their faces drew together, a scream exploding from both mouths. When the two halves of the sign met and joined, the whole mark flashed an angry red, pulsing in time with their voices, as their screams grew and shrank. Blakstar leaped forward, jerking Delgart away from Marilee, both wethem crashing back onto Delgart’s bed.

“What were you doing?” Blakstar snapped, eyes wide.

Delgart panted. “I guess that answers the question,” he said.

“I think so,” Marilee said weakly.

“Will you two explain?” the kortexi asked, perplexed by their behavior.

“What you said made us wonder if a similar result would occur if we brought our half-marks together,” Delgart said. He looked at Marilee. “Perhaps we should switch places?”

“It seems all right,” she replied, “as long as we are not too close. Just don’t walk on my right side.”

Blakstar stood and walked back to his chair. “Yes,” he agreed, “you two should stay a safe distance from one another.” He thought for a moment. “I think Klaybear said something along those lines when he was telling us what happened in the glade; he brought the mark on his palm into contact with the reflection of the mark on his forehead, when he tried to cool his hand in the stream.”

Blakstar fell silent, withdrawing again into his own thoughts. After a few moments passed, Marilee sobbed again, causing Blakstar to look at her, then look at Delgart. Blakstar looked a question at Delgart, who shook his head and said nothing. Marilee continued to sob softly, face held in her hands. The kortexi turned to Thal, hoping for some response, but saw immediately there would be none. He looked back to the tray, but could not bring himself to eat anything else, or give any more to Thal. Moments dragged by in silence but for Marilee’s soft sobbing. When she stopped suddenly, he looked at her and saw her eyes wet and swollen but her cheeks flushed.

Marilee clutched the blanket covering her. “Why?” she exclaimed. “Why would this happen to us, to me? I haven’t done any more against Gar than anyone else has; why would I be singled out?”

Blakstar shrugged and looked at Thal. “Perhaps he could tell us,” he said.

“Maybe there is no ‘why’,” Delgart said, “maybe we were all in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Marilee shook her head, making her hair fly about. “Maybe that would account for one, or two, but not four of us here in this room today, two others here at this school, maybe others we don’t know about; that’s too many coincidences to believe it accidental. Why us, why here, why now?”

The door opened slowly, and the Headmaster, Myron slipped into the room, closing the door quickly behind him. He tapped the floor with his staff, then looked straight at Marilee. “Because, Marilee, you are the Chosen of the One, those destined to end the rule of Gar.”

“That’s not possible,” Marilee said, a look of horror on her face.

Her declaration caused Thal to stand on his feet. He looked around the room, but did not respond to their looks of concern. He started speaking, to himself at first, but the words soon became audible to the others: “not possible, not possible; it’s not possible; it’s not possible,” and as the phrase grew longer his voice grew louder, until he was shouting, “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!” He turned and ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Myron tried to stop him but failed. He sighed and looked back at the others. “Sir Blakstar,” he began.

“Just ‘Blakstar’ is enough from you, Headmaster,” the kortexi said.

“It is who you are now,” Myron continued, “so you’ll have to get used to it. Have you given Thal some of the Waters?”

Blakstar’s eyes widened, then his face reddened. “No,” he admitted, silently berating himself for not thinking of it.

“We must follow Thal and see where he goes; I have a hunch,” Myron went on, “but we must give him some of the Waters. I think they may be the only thing that will help. You two stay here until we return.”

“What about my brother, Klaybear?” Delgart asked.

“The Council will not meet until the mekala can gather, and it will be several days before that will happen, so there is little you can do,” Myron replied. “Considering how you all have been marked, I think you would do more harm than good if you try to do anything, so stay here for now, out of sight.”

“And Klaybear’s wife, my sister-in-law?” Delgart asked, having trouble with the words.

Myron shook his head. “One of the apprentices said she thinks she saw her leave the school, but we did not find her at her home or traveling in between.” Myron raised a hand to stop Delgart. “You would do more harm than good, leaving this room, since very few of us accept that you are the chosen and not agents of Gar. I’ll make sure that no one but Avril and I can enter.”

Myron looked around after closing the door, then started moving toward the infirmary’s exit. Blakstar followed, taking note of the Headmaster’s caution; he gripped the hilt of his sword.

“Headmaster,” he spoke softly, “where do you think Thal went?”

“The telepad,” Myron replied, “he may try to return to his parents’ tower.” Myron opened a side door, pulling Blakstar quickly through.

“This is not the way we came in,” he said.

“No,” Myron replied. “This way is little used, and will take us to the courtyard less visibly.”

“If he intends to return to the tower, he’ll be gone before we get there,” Blakstar said.

“I think not,” Myron said, leading the kortexi down a series of narrow, twisting corridors, pausing at each turn and doorway to ensure the corridor ahead was empty. “Kalamar’s tower was surrounded by a special, protective field. If anything happened to him and Nelle, that field would become impenetrable for a time, preventing any entry using teka. Thal knows how to open the barriers, knows that he can only do it if he approaches on foot. Trying to go directly by teleportation is not possible, but in his current state of mind, he will not remember.”

“But if he tries, won’t he get trapped in rumepant?”

“Teleportation requires that the maghi, to put it simply, contact the pad to which he or she intends to go. Since that is not possible right now, Thal will be stuck here.” Myron opened a final door and pointed down to the pad and Thal sitting in the center of it.

Blakstar did not hesitate, but strode forward, removing the special flask from his belt. He knelt beside Thal, unstoppered the flask, and put it to his lips, tipping some of the precious fluid into his mouth. Thal drank reflexively, and when he swallowed the Waters of Life, his eyes opened wide and he started to rise. Blakstar put a hand firmly on his shoulder, and whispered to him. “Peace, my friend. The Waters of Life are potent,” he said.

Thal looked into the kortexi’s dark brown eyes, his blue eyes filling with tears. His head fell into his hands; he began to weep. “They are dead,” he sobbed.

The kortexi saw Myron kneel on his other side, putting a hand on the maghi’s other shoulder. “They died defending you and Blakstar, and your home. Their sacrifice makes it possible for us to go on, to keep fighting evil. They were great in life; they have become greater in death. I mourn with you for they have been my dear friends for most of my life.” Myron looked up at Blakstar. “Help me get him to his feet; let’s get him back to the others where he can mourn his loss in private.” . . .

Come back Monday for another installment of our tale, in which we will discover what Klare has been doing, and why she hasn’t returned. In the meantime, the ebook version of the story is available from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, you can purchase it from the link provided. Good reading!