Caution - If you haven't read Before the Dark, do not proceed further.You can read it here
"Oh come on, you call that greatness?" Mr.Gibbon spat ,a look of disgust on his round and by now red face. "What he has done is no great deed, he is just an ordinary man with an unusual name that's it."
"Look at you, Gladwell Gibbon, you foolish man. You still don't accept it, do you? He has lured you and your damned group of men right into his lair, sure you have me captured but then, i am hardly of any good, aren't i? You have no bargaining power Gibbon your days are numbered."
"We'll see about that", sneered the Captain of the Redemption Society as he turned towards Roman with a sharp knife in his hand. "Tell me the rest of the story boy or ill slice off your ear." and he placed the knife right beneath his right ear-lobe.
"okay, okay."said Roman as he continued his tale.
"He blended so well within our family that after a year it was difficult to even imagine that he wasn't infact a part of it till as near as a year back. He would help my father with his Dairy and then help me with my studies. For a boy who never went to school he was unusually intelligent. He was sharp, very sharp. Nothing ever missed his eye. He was 14 when i found him and in a year the transformation was remarkable. The small, squeaky, timid boy had gone and the one that took his place was tall, confident and mysterious. He seemed to write a lot and the diary that he kept was like a treasure, he kept it so well guarded that i had seen it only once. Till i finally got a chance to read it three years later. But other than this he hardly seemed to be any trouble. My father even started to consider handing him the dairy business so he could permanently shift to Livingsworth. But a sedentary life at Big City was hardly what He wanted so he refused. Saying something about other plans. We never knew then what his plans were, and i wished i would never have found out. He left-"
Roman stopped short as another man dressed in the same military camouflage as Capt.Gibbons entered the room. "Sir, its one of the ships, Claude 1. They are hit bad."
"How many left?"
"Twenty three of our's against Three Hundred from their end, they attacked sooner than we expected"
"God Damn ---", Gibbon cursed, "Go to the tower and get me Commander Von Ham on the line, NOW." he bellowed as the soldier ran out of the room. "You wait here, i'll be back to finish our little story.Till then you have time to decide where your priorities lie. One wrong move and my men outside the room will not hesitate to shoot you like an animal." Saying that he left the room shutting the door behind him.
As Roman heard the click of the lock he wondered how and when did things get so far.
He was always a bit cautious around his new friend but not in his wildest dreams did he think that the hatred He harbored was so deep rooted.
He had recounted the stories of his Orphanage and Roman heard with horror the atrocities that the young children had to bear. But what scared him most, gave him sleepless nights was the confession that the master of Telling Tales Home for Children was murdered, neck sliced from one end to the other in his sleep by a timid little 14 year old. That was the day Roman started sniffing into the life of his friend, who now seemed something much different that what he had initially thought. But it was not until two years later, 21 June 1956, precisely that he found out the truth.
The Summer of 1956 was one of the hottest anyone had spent in recent memory and as usual Roman and the entire family was at Livingsworth on their summer visit. Having tried to locate the Diary unsuccessfully at his home in the city, Roman was more and more desperate to find it and read it. All his efforts seemed futile as the Diary seemed untraceable yet Roman knew,as he walked through the narrow lanes of the village that the Little Book held all the answers he needed and that it was too important to be lost. The most difficult part had been to pretend that nothing was wrong and that all was just as it had always been, yet he doubted that his fears were not a secret. There was a slight difference in the camaraderie between the two boys ever since that confession was made and Roman knew that he had to find that book as soon as he could. As he neared the shack where it had all begun, a sudden thought hit him. Like a flash of light Roman ran into the shack and frantically started looking around. He scaled the entire shack and finally reached the corner where four years back he had stared into those mesmerizing eyes. He noticed the the tiling was a bit loose and lifted it from the floor. There was a hollow pit under the tile, the size of a small box. Roman reached out his arm into the pit and with a jolt of excitement laid his hand on something slim and leathery. He knew he had found it and as he pulled it out, he could feel his heart in his mouth. Finally his search was over, he thought as he retrieved the black book from its underground pit. With shivering hands he opened the book and there on the first page written in a bold, neat hand was,
"THE DIARY OF MORDRIC ZATANION"
At last,Roman thought as he found the first entry, that he was about to unravel the Secret of his friend, Mordric-
A loud thud brought him back to the reality as the door of the room flew open and Gibbon came flying into the room, seething with anger,"Two of my ships have been lost boy, you better tell me the story or i will blow your head off."
Foolish man, Roman said to himself as he began his tale yet again, he thinks he has a chance....
To be Continued...soon.
