Three Visions

by Tony Johnson

  Steve shook his head, embarrassed of himself. I’m exactly like those annoying people, inquisitive about his Tournament experiences.

  “I will say that if it weren’t for the Tournaments, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. Winning your city a trophy from any of the main competitions puts you on the fast track for a promotion. If you beat Cyrus and your next two opponents, I guarantee you would’ve been a captain within a year and one of Celestial’s Commanders within the decade.”

  “That would’ve been cool,” Steve said, but it wasn’t at all what he was thinking, because he didn’t want to be a captain so soon. I love the daily patrol of my district and it’d be unfair, had I’d won the Joust, to leapfrog warriors who wanted the captain position. Men like my father, who worked years to achieve his dreams of becoming a captain, commander, then knight deserve priorty.

  “Here we are,” Commander Lockland gestured, leading Steve up the steps to a bright yellow door. Immediately, Steve had a lump in his throat. I haven’t thought at all about how to tell Emma her husband is dead. How am I supposed to break the news to her?

  To make matters worse, the commander would be unable to help as he regrettably excused himself, saying, “I feel bad to leave you, but I need to get back to the barracks to brief the sentries. Please give Emma my condolences. When things have settled down, my wife and I will be sure to visit with her. And if you think of it, make sure she knows all expenses for the funeral will be paid for and let me know if she needs anything at all and I will personally take care of it. It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Steve.”

  Commander Lockland walked down the steps, but then, having sensed Steve’s anxieties about talking to Emma, turned and told him, “Sometimes we’re called to do things we don’t feel capable of. Trust your instincts. You’ll be fine.”

  Steve watched as a civilian noticed the commander and shouted his name, but the commander pretended not to hear and quickly cut down an alley that he had to turn to sidestep through it because his Giant’s frame was too big to walk through normally. The Celestial warrior smiled for a moment at the scene, then, erasing it, took a deep breath, raised his knuckles, and knocked on the door to deliver the devastating news.

  Chapter 80

  We’ve done it, Ty thought, we’ve alerted the kingdom about what’s happened and that we’re at war. No longer will any cities be taken by surprise when attacked. Carrying one of the sacks of gold on his shoulder, the Elf walked alongside Kari, while Grizz, walking ahead of them next to Mayor Hughley, held the other.

  “Your defenses here seem pretty secure,” Grizz acknowledged, analyzing Casanovia’s capacity to withstand the potential attack headed their way. “It looks like you have a decent amount of aerial monsters,” he mentioned as they passed a stable housing a pair of dragons, and a few phoenixes, gryphons, and warbirds. A couple monsters were visible above, flying around in the sunset-lit sky, and Hughley mentioned a few more were in the Highland Forest training all day.

  “It’s odd to see a city’s political leader work so well in tandem with the warriors,” Ty said to the short-statured mayor in front of him.

  “You’re right, usually politicians and warrior leaders have contrary ideas as to what is best for the city, so sometimes there’s a lot of hostility and progress doesn’t get made because of financial greed and power struggles. Thankfully, it’s not that way with Lockland as commander. He and I have a similar vision for what we want the future of Casanovia to look like. We want to make it a central hub of trade and commerce that extends to all cities in the north. That’s why I find all this talk about an approaching army so unsettling. It has the potential to disrupt the economic progress we’ve made over the past few years.

  “After I show you to the Inn, I’ll head back to the barracks and meet with him. Lockland and I will draft and send out the letters to the Primary Cities and then talk over some preliminary defense plans and catch you up to speed in the morning.”

  “Sounds like you’re in for a long night,” Kari wasn’t jealous of his agenda as all she longed for was to sleep in a regular bed at a reasonable hour.

  “We’ll do whatever it takes to give us the best chance of winning this battle. Casanovia will not fall like the others,” Hughley confidently pronounced.

  “Here we are,” he said minutes later, extending his hand to a three-storied Inn. “Applewood is kind of like a one-stop shop. On the first floor is the tavern with drinks and food. On the second is a general store selling clothing and personal care items and the top level has rooms for lodging.”

  Walking through the swinging doors and entering the tavern, the heroes saw tables and chairs for dining, a bar, and a small stage for music or other forms of entertainment, although since it was not a weekend, no performers were playing.

  The room has a comfortable amount of people, nowhere near the obnoxious cluster the Crooked Compass had in Port Meris, Kari thought.

  “I’ll go see how many vacancies there are for tonight,” the mayor offered before heading to talk to the owner in one of the back rooms.

  “Despite the lack of people, it’s loud in here,” Kari commented. I guess the amount of noise in such as small space would seem overwhelming to anyone, especially after days of being on mostly calm waters.

  “Yes,” Grizz agreed, “but the drinks are flowing and the food looks great,” he was staring at the bar. “I think we’ll be happy here.”

  “I’m starving. I can’t wait to eat.” Ty’s mouth watered.

  “I got three rooms for you,” Hughley came over to them, handing the Elf the keys. “It’s free of charge. I told them you were friends of mine visiting from afar, plus they owed me a favor.” Then, with a purposely mischievous smile, he added, “maybe as a favor to me you can spend some of that gold you have around the city,” he glanced at the obviously large amount of money Grizz and Ty each held.

  “Guess you weren’t lying when you said you’re really are trying to build the economy here!” Ty respected that Hughley was so bold in his request, knowing the mayor didn’t care if he had to give a shameless plug if it meant improving his city.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Hughley changed his mock-mischevious smile to one of nicety.

  “Steve and I can share a room so you two can have your own,” Ty offered, giving Grizz and Kari their own keys. But as he gave the Halfling hers, he nudged her playfully and said, “Unless you wanted to share your room with Steve.”

  “Stop, Ty!” Kari wasn’t in the mood for that kind of kidding around, especially as she was overanalyzing and second-guessing if Steve actually wanted to spend time with her after he told her she couldn’t come with him. Ripping the key from his hand, she said, “I’m going to buy some new clothes upstairs and wash up in my room.”

  “I’ll join you,” Ty said. “Just for the first part!” he clarified.

  “I guess Grizz won’t be joining us. There he goes straight for the bar,” Kari rolled her eyes at the Dwarf who cared more about drinking than hygiene.

  “I guess he’s done lugging this around,” Ty shook his head in similar frustration and, with a groan, picked up the sack of gold that Grizz had left where he’d been standing. The slender-framed warrior heaved it up on to his left shoulder to balance out the sack on his right. “I’ll put these upstairs in my room and meet you on the second floor. There should be enough money in our coinpurses to cover the cost of a new outfit.”

  “You don’t want to come back downstairs and have dinner with Grizz and I?” a freshly bathed and dressed Ty asked a half an hour later from the other side of Kari’s door. Under the crack of the door came steam from her hot bath, which Ty could tell she was still in because he heard the rustling of water as she moved in the washing basin.

  “I think I’m going to stay in for the night and relax,” she called out.

  Ty sighed, disappointed his Halfling friend didn’t want to hang out, but mainly because he could tell she was feeling down.
She had barely said anything while the two shopped.

  “Are you okay?” he asked kindly, wanting to help cheer her up.

  “Yeah, I’m just tired. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she answered, in which Ty picked up on a definite tone of sadness.

  “You know if you keep drinking at this rate, the entire tavern will run out of mead by the end of the night,” Ty plopped onto a stool next to a no-longer-sober Grizz.

  “I don’t care. We’ve got enough gold to cover it,” Grizz said flatly, without the hint of a smile.

  Wow, people are moody tonight, Ty thought, disappointed he couldn’t cheer up either of his companions.

  “What can I get you?” the bartender asked Ty while filling someone’s drink and wiping down a section of the bar.

  “Anything good to eat as long as it fills me up.”

  “Okay then, something greasy and unhealthy coming right up!” he rapped his knuckles on the table twice. “The worst food for you is usually the best tasting food from my experience.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Ty said.

  “We have something called the dreck dish here. It’s a bunch of different foods thrown together on a plate. It’s delicious and filling. I’ll have the cook get started on it right away. Can I get you anything to drink?”

  “Just water would be fine.”

  “You got it,” the bartender disappeared briefly into the kitchen where he shouted Ty’s order to the cook.

  “You should have something more exciting than water. Here, try this,” Grizz slid one of the many drinks in front of him to Ty. “It’s not that horrible.”

  “No,” Ty shook his head. “I'm a warrior, Grizz. Half the problems I deal with involve drunkards.”

  “Not even one? Come on, it's not like we can't afford it.”

  “I don’t want it,” Ty stayed his ground. Then, more aggressively, hoping Grizz would get the hint, he said, “I’ve seen too many times where it brings out the bad side of people’s personalities. For others they are easily addicted and don't know when to stop. The only time I drink is on special occasions.”

  “What, so Alazar himself choosing you to be the bearer of the element of lightning is not a special occasion?”

  “It's even more of a reason not to drink,” Ty argued. “We're called to a higher level of responsibility. We need to be ready to protect people at a moment's notice and can't have our senses dulled. I'll tell you what though, if we successfully defend this city, I’ll share a drink with you.”

  “Deal,” Grizz said, before chugging the rest of the whiskey in his hand. He let out a loud belch after reaching the bottom and then slammed the glass down, only to pick up his next drink.

  Unable not to say anything, Ty asked pointedly, “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

  “You know why,” Grizz barked while staring forward, rolling his eyes as he spoke, knowing where the Elf was steering the conversation.

  “This isn’t the way to grieve. You can’t numb yourself to the pain. You have to deal with it. You have to come to terms with your family’s death.”

  Unhappy, Grizz turned his gauntleted fist into rock and slammed it down onto the bar, denting the wood.

  Ty looked around to see if anyone had noticed Grizz’s powers. We really need to keep the news of Celestial and King Zoran’s death quiet until tomorrow. Good thing no one seems to be paying attention.

  “If you’re going to pester me, I wish you weren’t here at all. There’s plenty of other places to sit,” Grizz motioned behind him without actually looking.

  “Fine,” was all Ty said, giving up on trying to be a good friend. Getting up, he surveyed the tavern. There were two guys arm wrestling, a small group sitting by the fire, chatting, and the rest of the tables filled with people eating dinner. The people represented all social classes and types of careers. Warriors, farmers, blacksmiths, stonemasons, and many others had come to converse and relax. Other taverns across the city likely had similar clientele. Ty smiled at a family of five sitting and eating a late dinner together. It’s nice this is even a family place.

  As he was people watching, he caught the sight of a woman playing darts in the corner against a talkative guy who was flirting with her.

  She’s not very good, but she’s having fun, Ty could tell. The woman enamored him. She had lavender-dyed hair and a tattoo sleeve down one of her arms, but it wasn’t her physical appearance that Ty found attractive. She has an aura of confidence about her.

  Somehow, the woman won the dart game. When the man shook her hand and went to sit down with his group of buddies who were making fun of him for losing, Ty saw her standing alone.

  “Are you looking for another challenger?” he asked, walking up to her.

  “Always,” she replied, who Ty could now see by her features that she was a Human with striking green eyes. She handed Ty the white darts while she took the black ones. “You must be new here. I haven’t seen you before.”

  “My name is Cy Tanard,” he introduced himself while throwing the first dart. “Sorry, Ty Canard,” he corrected himself.

  What was that? I’ve never been tongue-tied around a woman before. Either I’m losing my edge or I’m too focused on trying to hit the bullseye.

  The woman tried played it off as if she didn’t notice, but Ty could help but see she was stifling a smirk.

  “Well, if we’re switching the letters of our first and last names, then I’m ‘Lhana Saitmer.’”

  “So your name is…” Ty took a second to reorganize the letters, “Shana Latimer?”

  “You got it,” she extended her hand to the blonde-haired Elf. “Nice to meet you.

  “So, Ty,” Shana spoke as she took her turn, “Are you from Casanovia or are you visiting from another city? I’m assuming it’s the latter because you’ve got that not-from-here sort of look.”

  “You’re right, I was born and raised in Celestial.”

  “The capital, I've never been there,” Shana confessed, taking a break from talking to laugh at Ty for completely missing the dartboard on one of his throws. “I've always wanted to see the Circle City though, especially the castle. I hear it’s one of those trips everyone has to take once in their life. What do you do there?”

  “I'm a warrior.”

  “Didn’t you guys just host the Tournaments there? What are you doing here in Casanovia?”

  “I was there for part of them, but just as a spectator.”

  “Well, that makes sense you wouldn’t qualify for any of the competitions if you did as poorly as you’re doing in this game of darts.”

  Ty, sizing up his tattooed-opponent, smiled when he again saw Shana hiding a smirk. She’s enjoying giving me a hard time.

  “I did try out for jousting, but I lost in the Qualifiers, to my brother, no less,” Ty smiled at the fun memory. “He still gives me a hard time about it. How about you? What do you do for a living?”

  “I work for the mayor here.”

  “Oh yes, Mayor Hughley, I’ve met him. He seems like a great guy. I can tell he has a good rapport with Commander Lockland.”

  “He really is and he does,” Shana admitted. “Those two make quite the pair,” she laughed to herself, thinking about the commander and mayor’s interactions. “I’m one of Mr. Hughley’s aides. Me and two guys. I handle most of the event planning. You know, organizing citywide events, festivals, and our city’s Qualifiers. We actually sent a jouster to Celestial who was one of the most dominant contenders we've had in a while.”

  Ty gulped, knowing that he couldn't alert her of Celestial’s condition.

  “You’re up,” Shana said, then began telling Ty about her aspirations as he threw his next round of darts. “My goal is to become the first female mayor of Casanovia someday. Working on laws, working with the warriors to make the city safer and more productive. I can’t imagine a job better than that! Right now though, we're working on Mr. Hughley’s reelection campaign since his term is co
ming to a close at the end of the year. I’ve found that doing things like this,” she motioned to the table where the man she had just defeated was sitting, “just talking to the civilians here and getting to know what the people want is one of the most beneficial things. But I don’t think Mr. Hughley will need help in winning.”

  “Why’s that?” Ty asked, stepping aside so Shana could take her turn.

  “Have you heard about how he was elected?”

  “No,” Ty admitted.

  “Well, you’ve seen how he is a…”

  “Little person?” Ty finished her sentence.

  “Yeah, so a lot of people wrongly didn’t have high expectations for him. There was an open debate between everyone who wanted to run for the mayoral election, and the early polls showed Mr. Hughley didn’t have much of a following. But once he got up there for the debate, he completely destroyed everyone. He used logic, humor, charisma, rationality, and spewed facts like nobody’s business. He even pitted his opponents against each other so they were started bickering and fighting. He made the hotshots in all their bravado and popularity look like idiots. We all say that what Alazar lacked to give him in physicality he made up for with intelligence. Ever since he was elected, Mr. Hughley’s done an incredible job with this city. It’s such an honor working for him.”

  “So you want to take his place when he retires?” Ty asked.

  “I definitely plan to run for office when that day comes. Mayoral aides have a better chance of being elected than an average civilian from the street. The experience and knowledge I’ve gained the past few years has been invaluable.”

  “Politics is quite a competitive field to get into, but I hope you achieve everything you want,” Ty said in earnest, impressed by Shana’s attitude. “Not backing down to my challenge is the type of moxie you’ll need to succeed.”

  “It’s not much of a challenge so far,” Shana teased him as she tallied the points of the previous round and declared herself to be in the lead.

  The two played out the rest of their match, talking and conversing. When they finished and Ty lost, they played another since Ty ordered a rematch, claiming, “I’m warmed up now.” He lost again, however, and gave up trying to beat the dyed-hair, tattooed, Casanovian mayoral aide.