by Tony Johnson
Nodding, Emma agreed, and Steve could tell at least some of what he said had not fallen on deaf ears.
“Thanks for coming here and telling me all this. I know it must not have been easy for you to relive Cyrus' death.”
“Is there anyone I can call to stay with you?” Steve asked. “A friend, perhaps?”
“Actually, my doula should be here in another couple hours. She's a cleric that serves in the nearby temple who’s been checking in on me every day since the baby is so close to being born. Especially with Cyrus gone it’s been nice to have her around, but I think I want to be alone until she gets here. I'm going to go to my room and lay down.”
Seeing another wave of emotion about to come over Emma, Steve offered, “If you’d like, Copper and I can wait here until she arrives.”
“That’s sweet of you, but you don’t have to.”
“I insist,” Steve offered. “In case you need anything at all.”
“Okay,” Emma relented, then struggled to get up because of the weight of her belly. Steve hurried to her side and let her use his arm to pull herself up. He then allowed her to put her arm around his as he escorted her to her bedroom. Inside, on the floor, lie the pieces of a wooden baby crib. “I was trying to put it together today, but it was hard to do by myself,” Emma apologized for the mess.
“I can come by tomorrow and assemble it for you. It’d be my honor. Putting this together would be the least I can do.” Steve, being more assertive, realizing Emma’s personality was one that was too polite to accept help, pointed to her stomach, and quoted the widow’s own words, “You said yourself, you’re ready to pop any day.”
“If you want to stop by tomorrow morning, I’d appreciate it. It’d be nice to finally have this crib done.”
“Okay,” Steve was happy he could help. He walked to the bedroom door and began to shut it to give Emma a darkened room. “Try to get some sleep. Do you want me to send in your doula when she gets here?”
“Tell her to peek her head in, but to leave me be if I’m sleeping. If you don’t mind, could you tell her the news about Cyrus?”
“Of course I can. Goodnight, Emma,” Steve stepped into the hallway and then returned to the couch in the living room where his direfox friend greeted him.
“You’re a good boy, Copper,” Steve said, rubbing the direfox’s head before he and the beast beside him swiftly fell asleep.
Chapter 82
“What else happened in the dream you saw?” Ty asked inquisitively.
“A baby named Malorek was abandoned at an orphanage,” Shana closed her eyes to recall as much as she could. “When he was a teenager he tried to kill himself because he hated his life. But he was saved by a girl who he later murdered, along with the bully of the orphanage. He grew up to become a warrior and returned to the orphanage to kill his foster parents and that's where he met Grizz, a child who was living there.”
Ty stared in shock. She's seen the vision Steve, Kari, Grizz and I all saw.
“Did you also have a dream where Malorek murdered one of the men who he went through Warrior Training with?” Ty asked, cringing at the unfavorable memory.
“Yes, I saw that too, but it wasn't a dream. The first one occured while I was sleeping, but the second happened in the middle of the day. It was more like a vision. Everything went into slow motion and then faded to white. I was in the market when it happened. It felt like it lasted for half an hour as I watched it all play out. But after it ended, I was still standing in the same spot and so was everyone else. No time had passed at all. It was so strange. How did you know about what I saw?”
“The Grizz you met tonight is the same Grizz who was in that vision. And I am the little Elven boy who came out that night because I was scared of the lightning. Those were my parents Malorek murdered.”
“What!? Those things really happened?”
“Yes,” stated Ty. “There were three people I traveled to Casanovia with and all four of us saw those visions. After the one in which Grizz was in, he gained the power of the element of earth. After the one I was in, I gained the power to control lightning.” Ty got up and walked to the room’s chest in which he was storing his armor and swords. He pulled out his sword and infused the metal with electricity to prove his ability.
“How are you doing that?” Shana asked, bewildered. “I thought King Zoran was the only one that could control the elements.”
“He was, but he's no longer alive. That man, Malorek, who you saw in the visions, murdered him nine days ago with help from Prince Silas. We've been trying to keep this under wraps, but Celestial was attacked.”
“You're lying!” Shana shook her head in disbelief.
“I know it's hard to believe, but it’s true. Not only was Zoran murdered, Celestial, Almiria, and Serendale were all destroyed and overrun by Malorek's army. There are tens of thousands of monsters under his command and we believe many of them are marching towards Casanovia right now. My friends and I came to warn the city and help defend it. So far, the four of us who saw the visions are receiving the elements one-by-one. We believe we’re Alazar’s elect and if you saw the visions, that means you’ll probably get an element too.”
“I don't believe this. I don’t know what I’d do with an element even if I got one. I'm not like you or Grizz, I don't know how to fight monsters! How am I supposed to help defend Casanovia?”
“I'm not sure, but Alazar wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't have a purpose for you.”
“This is crazy!” Shana struggled to process all the information, just as Lockland and Hughley had. “Casanovia is going to be attacked? How long do we have?”
“I'm not sure,” Ty tried to speak calmly and slowly to help Shana not to be even more overwhelmed. “Sentries were sent out a few hours ago. When they come back they'll give us their report of how far away the army is and then we'll decide what to do.”
At that moment, Steve opened the door to the room, and upon seeing Ty sitting with a woman on the bed, apologized and started to close the door to leave them alone.
“No, no, Steve, it’s fine, come in,” Ty called out, wanting to talk to his brother.
“What happened downstairs?” Steve asked. “Everything’s trashed and in pieces. The owner told me this was your room and not to cause as much trouble as my friends did. He told me Copper had to sleep outside because he wasn’t taking any more chances.”
“Yeah, all that is my bad,” Ty took the blame for the brawl. “We’re going to have to dip into some of Jun-Lei’s gold to offset the damages. But Steve, I can tell you about that another time. I want you to meet Shana Latimer,” he introduced his new friend. “She claims she saw the visions too and was able to describe them in perfect detail.”
“So you saw when Malorek stole a warriors sword when he was a teenager?”
Confused for a moment, Shana answered, “I don’t remember that part of it. I don’t think that happened in my vision.”
“It didn’t, sorry,” Steve apologized for purposely tricking her. “I just wanted to test to see if you were telling the truth about the visions.” He looked over the small-framed Human sitting on the bed in front of him with surprise. She doesn’t appear to have any fighting or hunting experience like Ty, Grizz, Kari, and I do. I wonder why Alazar would choose her to be a wielder of one of the five elements.
Nonetheless he said, “That's incredible! I guess if you’re elect you don’t have to be near the rest of the group to see the collective vision. I assume it means we can be anywhere in the world and still see them.” Steve paused for a moment, still surprised Shana had been found so easily. “Now there’s one of us for each of the five elements. I guess you’re a part of the team now, Shana.”
“Do I get a special badge or something?” Shana asked, which neither Steve or Ty could tell if she was joking or being serious.
“I’m kidding!” Shana revealed. “It’s nice to meet you. Ty's filled me in on everything that's ha
ppened. I'm so sorry to hear most of it. It's so hard to believe all that has happened.”
“I know, but hopefully we can prevent it from happening further. I think that's why those of us seeing these visions are getting the elements, so we can know the story of the leader of the enemy army and are given the abilities to defeat him. Can I ask,” Steve ventured, “are you an orphan?”
“No, my mother is still alive. As for my father, I have no idea who he is.” Even as she briefly hinted at her father, both Steve and Ty saw Shana clench her teeth in anger.
Explaining the reasoning for asking about her parentage, Steve said, “When we first all saw Grizz’s vision, I realized that myself, Grizz, Kari, and Ty are all orphans, so I wondered if that was a prerequisite to being chosen, but I guess your mom debunks that theory. Based on the two visions we’ve seen so far, it seems like we all have been affected in some way by Malorek’s past, so maybe that’s the real reason Alazar selected us.”
“Well,” Shana stood, “You two have had a long day from the sounds of it, and it’s past midnight now. I should head home.”
“It’s dark and late. I’ll walk you,” Ty offered, standing up. He grabbed two jackets he had purchased for the nights that were consistently growing chillier. The first jacket he had bought for himself, and the second for Steve, but he handed one to Shana to borrow, knowing Steve was in for the night.
“Will you be up when I get back?” Ty asked his brother, who had unsheathed his sword and started removing his armor, slowly, from being so sore.
“Yes, I’m going to take a bath, so I should be up.”
“I bought some clean clothes for you and put them on the chest. If for some reason I don’t make it back before you go to sleep, you can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor tonight.”
“No,” Steve was going to argue against Ty’s politeness, but one glance from Ty as Steve was in the middle of groaning while taking off his armor plate reminded him that he was the one in more pain and needed the extra comfort.
“See you in a bit,” Ty closed the door behind him.
“I look forward to meeting Kari tomorrow,” Shana said, as she and Ty came downstairs into the still-destroyed tavern. The owner, who was sweeping up a pile of broken glass, stared them down with furrowed brows as they walked through the war zone. The two awkwardly pretended not to notice him as they sped up, then burst outside through the front doors, doubling over in laughter.
“I haven’t had this good of a time in a long time,” Shana said. “Thank you for the making it fun.”
“I could say the same thing,” Ty smiled at her, as both he and she pulled the collars of their jackets tighter around them. The night was exceptionally cold, more than any of the previous nights.
Winter will be here before we know it, Shana thought.
An excited yip came from the alley next to the tavern where Copper ran out to Ty and immediately starting licking him.
This must be Copper, the direfox Ty told me about, Shana immediately adored the cute and playful direfox, despite the fact he was a hulking beast.
“Tomorrow, I’d like to have everyone over to my mom’s and my house for breakfast,” she mentioned to Ty as she greeted the monster. “That includes you too, Copper,” she made sure to include the loveable monster.
Copper barked, sensing Shana’s excitement.
I can’t let him stay in this alley all night, Shana knew. “Do you think he’ll come home with me? He can sleep in my room so he doesn’t have to be out in the cold.”
“I think he’d love that,” Ty whistled to Copper as they continued walking. The poor direfox’s muscular shoulders seemed to be sulking as he was walking back to the alley, but once he was allowed to join them he bounded over to his Elven friend and his new Human one.
“Does he have an element?” Shana asked of the orange-furred beast.
“No,” Ty answered, “None of the diremonsters have elemental abilities. That includes direrats, direboars, direwolves, direcats, and direfoxes, like our friend here. But don’t worry, Copper can hold his own on a battlefield without needing an element. Can’t you boy?”
Copper barked in agreement and trotted along with them.
“Well, this is my house,” Shana gestured to it, after they’d walked for a few minutes. Giving Ty the jacket back, she said, “I’d introduce you to my mother, but she’s probably fast asleep by now.”
“That’s okay, I’ll meet her tomorrow for breakfast. Can’t wait.”
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Maybe we can devise some more things to do to prank Captain Nereus.”
“Sounds like another exciting adventure,” Ty smiled. He accepted a hug from Shana and then watched as she held the door open for Copper and invited direfox in. With a silent whisper of goodbye and a wave of her hand, Shana shut the door, concluding their night.
“It’s me,” Ty knocked on his door back on the top floor of the Applewood Inn. For the past half hour he had helped the tavern owner clean up, feeling too guilty not to do anything about the mess he caused.
“It’s open.”
Ty walked in on Steve, who had just gotten out of the bath and was putting on his nightclothes. The Elf winced, seeing his shirtless brother’s plethora of cuts and bruises in various shades of yellow, purple, and black. When Steve turned around, his back showed that the multitude of lashings he had taken from Ironmaul had turned into scabs.
“You feeling okay?” Ty asked concernedly.
“I was starting to once we sailed out of Port Meris, but Jarek beat me up pretty good. He reopened some of my old wounds,” Steve admitted, tenderly putting a fresh bandage on his side. “and gave me some new ones,” he pointed a few out. “How are you doing, though? It looks like someone punched your forehead pretty hard.”
“I’m a little sore, but mostly, I’m good. I’m riding on a lot of adrenaline tonight ever since I met Shana, so I’m sure that helps. She’s great. I like her a lot.”
“I could tell by the way you looked at her. Good for you, Ty. I’m glad you found someone you like, especially after what you were telling me in the Evergreen Forest about falling on Wildwing and reevaluating your life and your future.” Steve shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe this girl is someone that will stick around for a while and be important to you.”
I hope so, Ty thought to himself, then asked, “So where did you go off to tonight?”
“Do you remember the guy I jousted in the quarterfinals?
“Yeah, Cyrus, he was from…” Ty stopped, immediately understanding where Steve’s story was headed.
“Right, Casanovia,” Steve finished. “Before he died, I promised him I would speak with his pregnant wife Emma, so I asked Commander Lockland to take me to her place.”
“That was over six hours ago. What took so long?”
“I was waiting for her doula to come, but I fell asleep.
The doula woke me up a few hours later, confused as to who I was, so I explained what happened and why I was there.”
“Kari seemed pretty bummed after you left,” Ty brought up the half-Human, half-Elf to make sure Steve knew how he had made her feel. “Why didn’t you take her with you? You could’ve at least told her where you were going.”
Steve dropped his head, disappointed with himself for making Kari sad. “I don’t know. You’re right, I should’ve told her, but I knew I’d be talking about the siege with Emma and be telling her what happened.” Steve climbed under the covers, into bed, taking a pillow and the top blanket and handing it to Ty who was laying on the hardwood floor. “I didn’t want to have you or Kari with me and have to hear about it all over again and stir up the memories. You have to admit that the three of us have stopped discussing it in detail. We skirted around half the stuff when we spoke to Lockland and Hughley. It’s bad enough every time we fall asleep we have to relive everything in our dreams.”
“I didn’t know you were going through all that still.”
>
“Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Ty admitted and took a breath as if a weight was being lifted off his shoulders. After a moment, he said, “Whenever it’s just me, with nothing going on or no one to talk to, all I can think about is Wildwing dying, Darren in that tower, all the death and destruction I saw, and wondering if Lucan and Cassandra are still alive,” Ty trailed off, and Steve knew it was because he was trying not to cry in front of him.
Steve’s heart broke for his brother’s confession. What he’s going through are the same types of things that continously invade my mind. It’s a secret battle he, Kari, and I are all facing. “Ty, we’re damaged, but not irreparably. It’s like a mental battle we’re in, but we can’t give up. I can tell you what’s helped me so far: I keep trying to focus on the days to come, not the days behind us.”
“Okay,” was all Ty said. Steve heard his brother sniffle and then mention, “Tomorrow, Shana invited us all to go over to her house for breakfast. You should come with us. I’m sure Kari would like if you were there.”
“I told Emma I would stop by in the morning to put together a crib for her. Can you let Kari know that I want to meet up with her in the afternoon for lunch and that we can spend the day together, just her and me?”
“Yeah, I’ll make sure I mention it,” Ty promised.
“Alright, goodnight then,” Steve said, then teasingly added, “Don’t have any inappropriate dreams about your new girlfriend.”
