Chapter 28

  There is nothing more insidious than an idea. The only way to stop an idea is not to think of it in the first place. But once an idea is thought of, it can never be un-thought.

  Hektor fell victim to such an idea. He did not know the when, the how and why, but once he had the thought, it infected his mind and latched on with serrated hooks. It wouldn’t let go.

  For the past few days, Hektor had tried to keep away the obsessive thoughts, tried to figure out his emotions and solve the conundrum. To no avail. Distracted and absent minded, he was lost to his ruminations and forgetful of the time. In rare moments when he could focus, the infectious thought was never far away and would reappear to plague him.

  Others had picked up on Hektor’s behavior and expressed concerns. When Hektor had remained reticent, they had drawn their own conclusions that maybe Hektor was crumbling under the pressure. And worse, that maybe he was moving towards a nervous breakdown.

  Everyone starting walking on eggshells around Hektor.

  Hektor knew that things had to change, and change soon. He had to resolve the issue and put a stop to the rot.

  The only problem was, as much as he tried to think of an alternative, Hektor could only think of a single way to solve this.

  Cursing the madness that drove him, Hektor made for his mother. Every step he took was a battle between the two whisperers on his shoulders. The brave voice encouraged him to take action and face his fear. The other voice, the one that Hektor was more intimate with, was shouting at him to turn around, run away and hide.

  A fortnight ago, Hektor would have succumbed.

  Now though, Hektor was willing to take a leap of faith. He owed to the people who had stood by him.

  Having inquired about Sabina’s location, Hektor half dragged himself to her private office. Much to the guards’ alarm at his state of duress.

  Barely holding onto his courage for dear life, Hektor hammered at the door before he lost his nerve.

  Hektor’s ears were ringing as the door opened on its own to reveal Delia standing guardedly in front of Sabina, her wand withdrawn.

  Spotting Hektor, both the women relaxed.

  “Hektor?” Delia uttered, surprised. “Was it you kicking the door down?”

  “Sorry,” Hektor apologized, hating that he stuttered. “I need mama.”

  Sabina had already reached Hektor before he had finished speaking. “What is it, son?” she asked with motherly concern.

  Hektor took deep breaths. “I need you to come with me.”

  “Of course,” Sabina agreed immediately and without question.

  Delia wasn’t so forthcoming. “What is this all about, Hektor?” she asked.

  Hektor was conflicted, but stood his ground. “Only mama and me.”

  “It’s fine, Delia,” Sabina interjected. She wound her arm round Hektor’s, giving a gentle pat for encouragement.

  Giving her a weak smile, Hektor led her out of the room. As Sabina passed the guards, she stated, “Allow us some privacy.”

  The guards saluted and Sabina gave Gideon a glance who was standing a little further away. He nodded to her command and withdrew as well.

  Hektor started leading, desperately trying to commit to what he had planned, only to come up blank. Sabina quietly followed by his side, worried but willing to be patient.

  Passing by hallways and corridors, Hektor finally found the words he wanted to say.

  “At the beginning, when it was the worst, every doctor, healer and counselor advised me to face my fears. They wanted me to talk about what had happened and express how I felt,” Hektor spoke up, looking ahead and avoiding his mother’s gaze.

  “All of them wanted to help me, to cure me. It was only Teacher Nazeer that told me that it was okay to run away. To hide. He called me weak and a coward, and then said that I shouldn’t care what he said,” Hektor recalled with a smile. “He told me that he would teach me the proper way to be weak and cowardly. How to hide. How to outlast, to endure. How to survive”

  Hektor paused at an intersection before choosing a direction.

  “Later, when I got better,” Hektor continued, “Teacher Nazeer offered me a choice. He told me that I could try to overcome my demons, or continue to live with them. I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t,” Hektor confided. “I rejected him. Months later, Teacher Nazeer asked me once more. And I declined him still. He didn’t ask again.”

  Sabina was afraid of what she suspected her son was attempting.

  “For the past few days, I couldn’t get this thought out of my head,” Hektor confessed, getting progressively flustered and agitated. “Everything is different. Everything is changing. And it is all happening so fast! And I just, I just,” he struggled, turning incoherent. “I do not know. I do not know why, but I want to see it. That it did happen. That it was real. That my pain was real,” he spoke haltingly, maddeningly frustrated at not being able to put words to his feelings.

  They walked in silence until they came upon a corridor like any other. It had the same floor tiling as the ones prior and even the same wall patterns. Two sets of armor were displayed at the center and a few landscape paintings decorated the walls.

  There were no windows as this small section of the castle didn’t share any of the outer walls or had a direct line of sight with the outdoors. It was just a small nook of a corridor, around twenty meters before connecting with other passages.

  What it was indeed, was that it was secluded, with no clear sightlines unless you were standing at either end of the lane.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Hektor’s heart started racing and his back broke in a cold sweat.

  “I remember that I was exploring,” Hektor spoke hoarsely, struggling to utter each word. “I was bored and you were away. I had nothing better to do than just roam around the castle.” Hektor walked up to a painting of a red sunset behind dark shadowy mountains.

  “I wondered for so long why I was here, what brought me to this place,” Hektor admitted, a little calmer as he observed the swirl of the red sky in the landscape. “It took me some time to accept that it was just coincidence and bad luck.”

  Hektor turned round and pointed to the suit of armors. “I was there, trying to loosen the shield out of its bracket when Reginald came from over there,” he pointed left to the end of the corridor, his voice breaking when he spoke the name. “I didn’t even know it was him until he came closer.”

  Hektor turned to face the same direction and could almost imagine a phantom of Reginald walking up to him.

  “I didn’t notice anything different about him at first,” Hektor recalled. “Maybe I was too young to know any better or I simply missed it,” Hektor shook his head at his naive folly. It wouldn’t have made a difference.

  “Reginald reached me and grabbed me by the arm,” Hektor whispered while rubbing his left bicep. “It hurt. I was about to scream when I saw his face.

  “I had never seen anyone look like that before. Even then, I knew that something was very wrong. His face was broken. Like it was unhinged and put together badly.”

  Hektor turned to the right and started retracing the events of that fateful day.

  “He started pulling me. I resisted, but he didn’t even seem notice my struggle. He started talking to himself in whispers and he moved with a twitch. He would spasm violently and jerk my arm painfully every time he did.

  “I cried out when it got worse and he slammed me into a wall and drew his wand at me,” Hektor stared at a blank portion of a wall, remembering. “He seemed to have entirely forgotten about wizardry till that point, but with a wand in hand he started weaving spells frantically.

  “Most likely they were spells of silence and illusion because I couldn’t hear anything anymore. I screamed, but no sound came out. I thought I had gone deaf and lost my voice. It was more that Reginald’s spell dispelled any sound.

  “No one was around and no one came to help as Reginald dragged me across the floor. I kicked and screamed. Bit and clawed. I couldn’t escape.”

  Hektor reached an old wooden door against a curved wall. This part of the castle felt more ancient than the rest. It was well maintained, but the polish couldn’t hide the older and faded brickworks.

  Hektor hummed, looking around as if he were lost. “It all seems so much smaller now,” he murmured.

  With a shaking hand, Hektor pushed the door to open. It was locked. Hektor was stumped. He had not anticipated such a mundane obstacle.

  Sabina silently stepped forward and pushed the door near the keyhole with her just her fingertips. With a screech of protesting of metal, the door slowly swung open.

  Task accomplished, she stepped beside her son.

  “How I wish I had I your strength, mama,” Hektor murmured.

  Before Sabina could console her child, Hektor stepped up to the threshold and glanced at the spiraling staircase descending into the gloom. Cool and musty air wafted through in small gusts with door being opened.

  “It was when I saw the stairs that I realized where Reginald was taking me,” Hektor picked up from he had left his retelling. “I struggled harder. Thrashed, did my best to break his grip.”

  Hektor began descending the stairs, the narrowness forcing Sabina to walk behind Hektor. Both of them managed to navigate the dark with their heightened eyesight.

  “I remember my head hitting the steps. Again and again,” Hektor spoke in hollow voice. “I would try to get my legs under me, only to stumble and fall as he dragged me down.”

  The stairs levelled out to a gate that was left ajar. Hektor stepped though in a brighter room.

  “It looks different,” Hektor murmured, observing the place. Sabina stepped up beside and held his shaking hand.

  There were in a large room with a pathway down the middle across the room. On either side, the vast majority of the space was divided into barred prison cells.

  Once upon a time, these walls were part of the castle dungeons. They had served as the prison hold for the most secretive and valuable of enemies in a time long before Ithica even came to be a united nation.

  The dungeons had long since outlived their purpose and been turned into a place of storage. Broken and unused furniture, crates, casks, trunks, rolled rugs, and bundles of cloth could be seen through the bars of the once prison cells.

  One cell solely contained mattresses and winter bedding. Another was entirely occupied by carefully fitted stacks of table and chairs. A cell further in the back held discarded glassware and crockery.

  They were ten former prison cells on either side facing each, filled with things discarded or stored for later use. At the end of the room was a door leading to another similar room.

  The place was ventilated by the barred windows over the east side of the cells. They were also responsible for providing the light. With it being before noon, plenty of rays from the rising sun got through to the slanted windows for Hektor and Sabina to see clearly.

  Hektor looked around, more than a little lost.

  “I do not remember so well after the stairs. It comes to me in flashes,” said Hektor to his mother. “Where did you find me?”

  Sabina wordlessly walked up the sixth cell to the right.

  Hektor walked up to Sabina, before stopping inches from entering. Inside were broken frames and damaged canvases, along with other art pieces that were protectively covered with sheets of cloth to preserve them from deterioration.

  Shivering like a leaf in a storm, Hektor took the step and entered the cell. And before Sabina could follow, he closed the door behind him, leaving it slightly agar.

  Hektor was shaking so badly that he feared his teeth might crack. He walked to the middle of the cell and turned around to face Sabina. Seeing her on the other side of the bars calmed him a little.

  Straining every fiber of his courage, Hektor tried to take in the moment. But for the occasional twitch, he went still. With rooted feet, his eyes scavenged for some hidden meaning in this place of significance.

  But for the life of him, Hektor couldn’t. He couldn’t even remember being here. He trusted Sabina that this was where she had found him, but his memories were so fabricated that he couldn’t connect them. All he remembered was the pain and fear.

  Try as he might, Hektor couldn’t find what he was searching for. He didn’t find any hidden meaning in the symbolic pairing of damaged paintings and discarded artworks.

  Nor an epiphany, intervention, nor revelation.

  He did not find peace, acceptance or catharsis. He didn’t find anything, but pain and fear. Again.

  Leaning over the brink, Hektor struggled.

  And that was it.

  He struggled.

  He fought.

  He didn’t give up.

  If what he needed didn’t come to him, he would chase it down.

  No even knowing what he was fighting or what he was fighting, Hektor readied for battle.

  And suddenly, that was it.

  It was nothing more than the will to fight, to struggle that meant everything in that moment. Just the will to stand against the inevitable. To live to fight for another second. Just to endure. To strive for better and to hope.

  To fight the Eternal Fight.

  The tribulation shattered and Hektor could breathe again. He looked to his side and knew what would be there waiting for him.

  His younger self, looking up to him in solidarity.

  Hektor’s heart felt like it was put in a vice and he wept without taking his eyes away from the boy.

  The past and present came to reconcile in that ripple of time. Hektor felt it like a different gravity descended upon him to make that which was broken into one.

  The ghost of young Hektor vanished into the ether. No, not vanished. For Hektor knew that he had gained a weight in his soul. For what was once lost, was now found and he was closer to being whole.

  Hektor looked to his mother and whatever Sabina saw, she burst into happy tears.

  For his mother’s sake, Hektor rearranged his face into a smile and walked to the prison door. Feeling emboldened, he telepathically opened the door and stepped across and collapsed into Sabina’s embrace.

  Hektor took one last look behind the bars and saw that there was no one there.

  After nearly six long years, Hektor had finally escaped the dungeons.