A Para-fable (Complete Version)

The hermit looked at the two young men.

"I may not have communicated with my brother lately, but you both forget that we started this school together and we worked side by side far longer than your combined apprenticeship. Follow me."

The hermit strode across the main hall, past the skeletal remains of the grand staircase and through to the main dining area until they reached the cavernous kitchen, the three wood-paneled walls were gutted, only the tiled wall was intact. Calmando and Lemuel followed Magdalo as he went around it. There, behind the blackened tiles, inside a small concrete enclosure, were five huge tapayans, fired earthenware urns, where drinking water was often stored.

"Your arms are far longer than mine, Lemuel," Magdalo said, "reach into the fifth tapayan."

The Lakan's nephew did as the hermit instructed. He rolled his sleeve up and submerged his right arm into the urn, the water rose almost up to his shoulder and was surprisingly cool. Magdalo smiled at the surprised expression on Lemuel's face.

"You found something, haven't you? Well, bring it up."

Lemuel lifted a flat metal case out of the urn and placed it on the floor, while Calmando found a rag and dried the top of the case

"Pry it open, Calmando," Magdalo said.

There were several sheaves of paper inside the case. Magdalo scanned them quickly, handing those he deemed important to Calmando.

At the very bottom of the pile was a flat leather pouch. His brows arched in surprise as he read the first document then he handed it to Calmando.

"It should be you, Magdalo," the farmer's son said after he finished reading the letter.

The hermit smiled.

"No, Calmando, you are the most deserving one to head this school."

Lemuel clapped his friend on the back.

"Matang Lawin knew what he was doing, Calmando, in naming you the next master. And aren't you glad it isn't Laoakan?"

Calmando nodded.

"We are all glad, but even if he is not here, Lemuel, he is still dangerous. Come, we'd better get back to Mariquita and the others, they need to eat. Hopefully, there is still rice and corn in the granaries to last us a week."

It was much later that night when Magdalo approached Calmando again.

"We need to bring Lemuel to the palace before the month is over, Calamando."

"Why, Magdalo?"

"Your young friend is set to be the next Lakan."

The sun was already setting behind High Mountain when the mayoress' daughter called out for the other students to stop. They were pulling away the burnt timber from the ruins; anything that looked salvageable had been stacked in one pile, while those that were obviously unusable were placed in another.

Mariquita's heart sank as she looked at the pitifully small pile of wooden posts and planks that were not totally blackened by the fire. They would need a miracle to rebuild. But she was not about to show any of her fears to the others.

It was difficult to let Calmando and Lemuel set off with the hermit earlier that day, had she the powers of the earth-mother, Mariang Makiling, she would have cast a spell on the three men to make them stay. But it was the words of the young Lemuel that finally decided her to let them go,

"I have never wanted to be Lakan, Mariquita, but if it is the only way to bring justice to what has happened here, I will accept my uncle's offer."

So, she had hidden her fears from everyone and let them leave.

"We will come back, Mariquita," Calmando promised.

Mariquita shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"We had better start a fire for the evening meal," she said calmly to the group, "Mayumi, come with me to the granary."

It was dark and hot in the granary, a low squat adobe building, with only three thin slats on one wall to let a little light and even less air in. It was constructed to keep the bins of cornmeal and rice as dry as possible. Mariquita scolded herself, as halfway to the building, she realized she and Mayumi had not brought any candle to brighten the gloom inside the granary.

"Can you go back and fetch a candle, Mayumi, while I go on ahead to the granary? It will save us time," she asked her companion.

The younger girl readily agreed and walked back to the others, while the mayoress' daughter proceeded to the granary.

She opened the heavy door...and the whole world turned black.

---------

Magdalo sat up from his blanket and looked at the sleeping figures of Calmando and Lemuel. They had made good time, covering several leagues before the night made it both impossible and foolish to travel any farther.

The veil of darkness that surrounded the Medero had descended rather quickly for this time of year. The hermit shook his head; he thought he knew every mood the plains had to offer -- after all, he had spent years sleeping, cradled in their vastness -- but just when he thought he had figured them out, they would show another side that would confuse him all over again.

"How like a woman," Magdalo said softly to himself. He held out his trembling hands to the fire for a few minutes, hoping its warmth would seep deeper into him, but the cold that had gripped his heart since he saw the school burning the previous night, had not eased. And now his brother and Laoakan were nowhere to be found. The hermit gathered up his satchel and walking stick, stood up and quietly left the camp. He did not look back.

---------

"Don't look at me like that, Mariquita," Laoakan said, as he made sure the ties around her wrists and ankles were secure, "I know how deep your contempt for me is anyway, so you are just wasting much-needed energy."

Satisfied that she could not wiggle free, he adjusted the gag around her mouth then left her at the foot of the hill where his two beasts were quietly grazing and crept up the rise. He had seen the thin smoke of a campfire and decided to investigate. He recognized the two figures of Calmando and Lemuel asleep by the fire.

"My, my, the stars seem to be aligning tonight -- and all in my favor," he said to himself.

A wolf howl broke through the silence, the assistant's smile grew wider; and with the help of some four-legged friends, it might not be too difficult to get rid of the farmer's son and capture the Lakan's nephew. Laoakan turned around and slid down the hill, back to where Mariquita and the animals were tied. He opened one of the donkey's saddlebags and pulled out a small pouch. He walked over to the larger animal.

"Shhh," he whispered to the stallion, gently. He reached into the small sack and pulled out a fistful of the mixture inside -- thick grains of salt and hops. He stroked the beast's strong neck, offering up the feed. The large horse greedily licked the grains from Laoakan's hand; when the animal had finished feeding, he gave it his own water-bag, letting him drink its fill while he patted its neck once more.

"You all never appreciated my beautiful boy here," he said to Mariquita, "everyone thought he was a luxury. But tonight, you will find out his true worth," he turned to the stallion, "drink up, my beauty, we still have a few more chores left to do together."

The animal tossed its head and nickered softly. Holding the reins, Laoakan mounted and turned the beast towards the direction of the gorges of the Medero, where the wolves were known to live.

---------

Calmando sat up with a start. He was dreaming of the battle he had fought with the wolf two days ago, but in his dream, he had been too late to reach Mariquita. The beast had run her down, and the screams in his nightmare woke him.

Several moments passed before Calmando's breathing eased. He felt for the long sword beside him and felt relieved when his hand touched the cold steel. He was about to lie down again when he noticed the empty space between him and Lemuel.

When had Magdalo left?

---------

The three wolves, two females and a juvenile male, were restless; it had been several days since any of them had eaten and if any of the pups were to survive, they had to make a kill soon. The alpha male had not returned after setting off to hunt alone three days earlier, so they had looked to his mate for leadership. The older of the two females growled then set out of the den and down the gorge, the others followed.

---------

Laoakan steadied the stallion, he had not traveled far from where Calmando and Lemuel were camped. The horse tossed his head uneasily and the assistant knew that it could smell the wolves, they must be nearby.

"Easy, boy," Laoakan murmured.

He reached for the long knife in his coat with one hand while the other tightened the reins, lifting the horse's head. Then he reached under the animal's head and cut a deep gash across the soft flesh under its neck.

"Good boy," the assistant said softly as the sand under him slowly turned red from the drops of blood that trickled from the wound; the hops had done its work, though it shivered slightly, the poor animal stood quietly beneath Laoakan.

"I need you to hold on just a little longer."

---------

The full moon painted the rocks surrounding the hermit a cathedral grey. He hoped he had gone far away enough from where the two young men lay asleep. He did not want an audience for what he was about to do. He put his walking stick down and opened the small bag he had. He took out a short candle and a box of matches. He lit the candle and placed it on a flat rock. Then he reached into the bag again and drew out a small packet of white crystals, the cause of the rift between him and his brother. Matang Lawin had not approved of the stuff and Magdalo could never explain why and how the crystals helped him.

"They have become a crutch that you cannot do without, Magdalo," his older brother warned him, "be careful that it does not interfere with how we manage the school."

The hermit remembered his brother's words as he began to pound a few of the crystals with a loose rock until they began to break into smaller pieces. Soon, he had a small mound of fine white powder. He reached into the bag again and brought out a vial of clear oil. With his hand, he mixed the oil and powder until he had a thin paste; then, he took the candle and let a few drops of wax drip into the mixture, a thin blue haze began to rise from it.

Magdalo closed his eyes and inhaled the smoke's pungent bouquet.

The haze thickened and rose higher until it enveloped the hermit.

---------

The unmistakable smell of fresh blood drew the wolf pack closer to where Laoakan and the stallion were. The assistant could make out their shadows as they approached. He could feel the horse beneath him steadily weakening from the loss of blood.

"Just a moment more, boy," he whispered.

Finally, he saw the red eyes of the wolves! He turned his poor mount and mercilessly kicked the stallion's heaving belly.

"One final ride, my beauty!" Laoakan cried as the steed broke into full gallop.

Terrifying growls escaped from the wolves as they pursued the assistant and the half-dead horse -- straight to the camp where Calmando and Lemuel lay asleep.

"Magdalo, I need you to get up now! The sun is starting to climb and if we don't get a move on, we'll lose that boar we've been tracking."

The young man lying on the blanket mumbled something inaudible and turned away, hoping to shut out the sound of the voice -- and the pain in his head.

"Come on, Magdalo," the voice was gentle but insistent, "it's late. Get up."

Magdalo stirred and finally sat up. The pain in his head became worse and after a few moments, he began to wretch.

Magdangal looked down at his younger brother with love, pity and more than a little exasperation. He had warned him of the potency of sugar wine the night before, but Magdalo had always been headstrong. He reached into his coat and brought out some dried biscuits.

"Here, eat these. Believe me," Magdangal said, as he saw the uncertainty in the younger man's eyes, "they will soon settle that stomach of yours."

He handed over the biscuits.

Magdalo took the biscuits and started nibbling on them. Now that he was feeling what he had been warned about, he was not about to question anything Magdangal said.

His older brother smiled gently and ruffled the young man's unruly hair. Turning around, he started to roll up their sleeping blankets. He loaded them onto the horses tethered nearby, then walked to the small fire burning in the middle of their makeshift camp where a kettle was boiling away. Magdangal lifted the kettle and poured its contents into a tin cup. He walked back to where his brother still sat and gave it to him.

Magdalo accepted the drink gratefully. His stomach certainly felt a lot better, but the pain in his head had not eased at all. He waited for a few moments then gulped down the strong hot brew, knowing it was the cure for his headache.

"Good," Magdangal said, "now we can get a move on."

He held out a hand and pulled his brother to his feet.

After mounting their horses, they turned west to where the tracks were leading. Magdalo had looked forward to this -- it was only his third hunt -- but in truth, after a day and a half of following the beast, he was more than a little tired of the adventure. He sighed and gripped the reins of his horse tighter.

"We'll catch up with the boar before mid-noon, you know," Magdangal calmly said, "by that time your headache will be gone and, hopefully, your aim will be truer," pointing to the spear strapped to the young man's horse.

Despite the pain in his head, Magdalo smiled.

"You have the eyes of a falcon, brother, you see far too much."

Magdangal allowed his younger brother to take the lead in following the tracks for most of the morning, and it was not long before they led the pair to a thick tangle of shrubs with a stream at the far end of it. As they neared the bushes, they could clearly hear the boar rooting around inside the copse for its meal.

Magdalo signaled silently to his brother and both of them dismounted quietly. After unstrapping the spear from his horse, Magdangal quietly walked to where his brother was waiting.

"I'll go around to the left, brother, while you move in from the other side. The stream at the end of these bushes will prevent the boar from escaping that way, so I'm sure he'll head back out here," Magdalo whispered.

"And when you give the signal, we'll rush him from both ends. A very good plan, Magdalo, we'll be dining on roast pork tonight."

Magdalo nodded and the two men set off in opposite directions. They closed in on the boar and when both were only a few feet from it, Magdalo shouted, running towards the boar, his spear held in front of him, his older brother did the same. The boar squealed and started running back towards the clearing!

The plan was sound, but in their excitement, both brothers did not realize that the beast was heading towards where their mounts were. Both horses reared up on their hind legs and the frightened boar, surprised by the much bigger animals, veered away again and ran straight towards Magdangal!

There was no time to take any sort of aim, the boar was too close. In a flash, he pushed the blunt end of his spear as far as he could into the ground, then holding it upright, he knelt behind the spear and braced himself.

The boar, now crazed with fright, squealed even louder!

Suddenly it leapt towards the kneeling figure of Magdangal, just as Magdalo hurled his own spear!

The fragrant aroma of roasted meat wafted towards the stream where Magdalo had led the horses to drink at dusk. His mouth started to water and it was only then that he realized that he and Magdangal had not eaten anything at all the whole day.

It would be a grand feast that night, even if there were only the two of them. The young man filled their water bags from the stream, gathered the horses' reins in one hand and walked back to where his older brother was cooking their kill.

Later that night, hunger appeased by meat and thirst quenched by clear stream water and the leftover sugar wine, the brothers did what they had done years back, when, as children, they could not sleep...they talked. They told tall tales, the taller the better, trying to outdo each other with ridiculous stories, most of which they made up.

It was almost midnight when the brothers heard horses approaching their camp. They both picked up their spears; they knew they were quite safe, Green Forest was well within their father's holdings, but one could never be too sure.

"Who approaches?" Magdangal called out into the dark.

"Master, it is us," Agapito, their mother's manservant and his young son, Laoakan, came into view, "you and Master Magdalo must come back at once, Poon, your mother is dying."

"She's dying..."

The words went round and round Magdalo's head. They were all that he could remember from the journey back from Green Forest, that and the tears on their servants' faces when he and Magdangal finally reached home.

The babaylan was in their mother's room when they arrived. She was deep in prayer, as she held the dying woman's hand between her own, but she looked up when they entered; one look at her face told them all that they needed to know.

"It will not be long," she said, as she left the room.

The brothers knelt on either side of their mother's bed. Dayang Hiraya was still beautiful as she lay on the bed, but she was very pale; and her hands -- when Magdalo held them -- were like ice. She opened her eyes at his touch and smiled at her two sons.

"I need to speak with your brother, Magdangal, if you don't mind," their mother requested softly.

Her older son bowed his head, stood up and kissed Dayang Hiraya on the forehead. Then he gently ruffled his younger brother's unruly hair, turned and quietly left the room.

"I thought I could keep this secret with me, Magdalo, even beyond death. But now that it is upon me, I find that my need for redemption is greater."

Her son listened as the dying woman told her tale.

---------

"Magdalo, I need you to get up!"

The hermit sat bolt upright. The burning crystals deadened his senses, giving him sleep whenever he needed it, but they had never caused him to hallucinate -- until now; his brother's voice had seemed so real.

He was about to close his eyes again when he heard men shouting, wolves baying, and the terrified neighing of a horse.

The hermit grabbed his staff and ran back to the camp.

The farmer's son was about to wake Lemuel to ask if he knew anything about the hermit's disappearance when the quiet was shattered by the neighing of Laoakan's horse and the unmistakable baying of a wolf pack.

The assistant himself was screaming, as he urged the poor beast towards the small camp! Grabbing his long sword, Calmando was about to confront the half-crazed horse and rider when he heard the snarls and howls of the wolves that were following behind. Realizing that he was outnumbered, he turned back to the governor's nephew and yanked him out of the bedroll.

"Get up!" Calmando cried, pulling Lemuel to his feet.

With a loud cry, Laoakan turned the stallion towards where the pair stood. He kicked the heaving sides of the stallion mercilessly with his heels. Reacting with fear, panic and blind loyalty, the horse galloped as fast as his ebbing strength would allow -- while the wound in his neck gaped even wider, spilling his blood faster.

The wolves, too, ran after their prey with renewed vigor, their hunger and bloodlust fueled by the stallion's sudden burst of speed; their terrible howls echoing ever louder round the canyon walls.