“How many?” he demanded.
“A few. Hard to tell when they’re all spread out.”
James squinted at Drift, “How. Many?”
“Five.”
James shut his eyes, already dreading finding out which five were missing and why.
“What do we do?” Crispin asked, having already accepted Drift as the leader here.
“They will remember you and they know James. I am none of their concern. We’ll stay here until they find us.”
“I wonder if they’ll be glad to see me after I left them so abruptly.” James commented as he began to pace, not being one for waiting.
“We’ll see soon enough.” Drift answered shortly.
—————
Sir Kessil came over the rise first. At first he seemed stunned to see anyone at all in the valley. Then he seemed on guard and shouted to his nearby fellows. Then he caught sight of James and seemed to take pause. The others were just rushing forward to see what the problem was but they all stopped short and silent when they saw James there, alive and well before them.
“Hi guys.” James said, a growing lump in his throat. He hoped he wouldn't cry.
“Master Redmond? How are you here?” Sir Ingot asked in disbelief as they all slowly came forward.
“There's a lot to tell, Sir Ingot.” James answered springing forward and hugging any individual who didn’t mind the indignity. He was then peppered with an excessive amount of questions all at once and in such a steady stream there was no way he got around to answering them all. He threw both hands in the air and yelled when he realized his head might burst. Everyone fell silent at the unusual show of frustration.
“Guys, I'll tell you everything, and what's more I'll keep it short. But you must calm down so that I can think straight.” he lowered his arms and took a moment of pause before speaking again.
“I never said I'd stay with you guys forever. Terragone knew that. I always meant to leave sometime in the mountains.” and he again held up his hand because the questions were beginning to pepper in again, “There were some people in the mountains I needed to talk to. I got behind that day by accident, but it was the right timing either way. So I went back. I wanted to tell some of you so bad because I knew you'd miss me, but I didn't know if Terragone would let me go if he knew the details of my plan, so I didn't. I'm very sorry about that, truly.”
And James really was. If not before, then definitely after he had seen the effect Cliff’s leaving without a word had on his elven friends. It was a selfish thing to do and he’d have told Cliff so if he were still alive. And to see the company’s joy at seeing him now made him even more sorry he had not made more of an attempt to keep one or two in his confidence.
There were, of course, other questions, some of which James cleverly evaded fully answering. Once they were mostly satisfied he had his own slew of questions to ask. What had happened after he'd left? How was Falair? Where was Terragone? Why were they headed back already? Were they looking for something? And on the tip of his tongue was the question of, who else was gone, and what had happened to them?
There were no happy answers to his questions. Terragone had had to rush back home because the queen was ill. They were following at their own pace but had met with tragedy in the mountains and had lost three men, Fife included.
James felt a little piece of his heart freeze over at the news. He'd had liked the daring and simple young man. And all of a sudden, the reality of the danger in this world hit him. People here died. People he had known.
Were they searching? Yes. Sir Lavison had disappeared.
James felt a little more of his heart go cold. Sir Lavison? Of all the company, he had been the kindest to James and had always stood up for him after things had gone sideways. Secretly, James had liked him the best of all. So what had happened?
“We last saw him yesterday. He went off for firewood and never came back. We've been searching around looking for any sign as to where he's got off to. We found indications that he perhaps entered the Tanlyiere, but we're no trackers, and can only guess at what could have caused him to enter that place.” Sir Kessil’s shoulder’s drooped helplessly.
Drift spoke for the first time in quite awhile. “Was there anything different about him right before he disappeared?”
Sir Kessil seemed to anticipate such a question and ruefully nodded his head, “He was very out of it. He'd slowly been getting worse, really ever since James’ disappearance. But he got more sullen once the prince left and then, after the attack in the mountains, well, he was quite different after that. Very withdrawn and quiet.”
James felt a darkness creeping in on his own heart. What had become of Sir Lavison?
—————
Two hours later, a decision had been made. The prince’s company wasn't adept at tracking and they were tired and worn. They would return to Hermin Druer and home. Blacky and Crispin however, would continue searching for Sir Lavison in the valley and forest north of the Perla.
And James had a decision to make. He could return with the company to Hermin Druer, which everyone of the prince’s company urged him to do. He would be safe and comfortable and have time to decide what he wanted to do with himself moving forward.
Or, he could join the dangerous search for Sir Lavison in the cursed Tanlyiere, a task which, perhaps, he wasn't fit for. As much as he wished he didn't have to choose between friends like this, there was nothing for it. He couldn’t walk away from a mission to find a lost friend who could be in grave danger. That’s not the kind of person he was.
So it was that James found himself on the edge of the Tanlyiere waving a bittersweet goodbye to the company, Drift mounted to his left, Blacky to his right, and Crispin flying above. What would come next, only the Indestructible knew.
Rolling Thunder Page 25
