by Tony Johnson
“Grizz, you can't drink to avoid your problems. Please, stay here, sit with us,” Ty begged.
“I know I have a problem,” Grizz admitted in the momentary silence of the empty hallway. “I used to drink like this before I met Juliana. When we got married, she made me promise I wouldn't ever get drunk because she knew of its danger. I'm proud to say I made and kept that promise. I still drank, but I never consumed enough that I wasn’t coherent. It hasn’t even been a full week she’s been gone, and I’ve already slipped back into that old addiction.”
“We'll do everything we can to help you beat this,” Ty didn’t want him to feel alone. “Just because your family died, doesn't mean you have to break your wife’s promise. Honor her memory by keeping it.”
For what felt like an eternity, the Human, Dwarf, and Elf sat and waited for the infirmary’s head cleric to come by and check on Kari. In that time, Copper came and joined them, laying down next to three men. Ty could tell from his bloody fur coat that the direfox had continued transporting wounded to the infirmary.
“Good boy,” he stroked the direfox’s chin.
Shortly after Copper arrived, Shana showed up, sitting down next to Ty. Now that four of the heroes were together and the fifth separated by only a wall and a curtain, they decided to discuss the vision they’d all shared.
“Are you sure you’re okay after seeing that?” Ty asked Shana again, having gotten an unclear answer before.
“I’m really fine with it. I talked to my mom about it, which helped. No part of who I am as a person was influenced by Malorek before I learned he was my father and neither will it now that I know who he is.”
“Shana, you aren't the only child of Malorek,” Steve pointed out another part of the vision he couldn’t stop thinking about. “At the same time your mom was giving birth to you, Princess Kyra was having twins.”
“Cyrus and Silvanus,” Ty recalled, naming them in order of their birth. “We know who Silas is, but Cyrus is a mystery. There is no Cyrus in the royal family. Do you think Malorek killed one of his own children?”
“Possibly,” Grizz supposed. “He almost murdered all his brothers and sisters in the orphanage by trying to burn it down, so I wouldn't put it past him to kill one of his own sons.”
“Based on what Mr. Sep told us at Hunters Den, we know he ended up killing his wife and the queen, which I’m sure we’ll see in an upcoming vision,” Steve tried putting the pieces of the puzzle together as best he could. “It’s quite possible he was trying to kill all the royalty since we know his next step is to kill King Zoran. Maybe he succeeded with one of his twin sons but failed to kill Silas.”
“Why wouldn’t he have killed Silas?” Shana was confused, “Instead, he’s been working with him.”
“I think it’s because of the prophecy,” Steve thought back to what he heard as Silas read the inscription on the Aurelian Sword in the King’s Tower. “It says Silas is destined to die, so the Hooded Phantom will take over the kingdom regardless. In the meantime, he can use his son to his advantage.” But it still doesn’t answer the question of what happened to Cyrus, Steve thought. I wish we knew the answer.
It would only be a few days until Steve learned that Cyrus hadn’t been killed by Malorek. Malorek’s firstborn was still alive, and Steve would quickly determine their identity, for it was someone he had met in-person back in Celestial.
Chapter 91
“Thank you, Ms. Latimer,” Grizz and Ty said, gratefully accepting the tray of food she brought as she stopped by the infirmary. Not only did she bring enough for the heroes, she made provisions for as many people as possible who anxiously waited outside the rooms that held their injured loved ones.
“I’ll pass,” Steve politely declined the food as the tray was handed to him. I don’t think I can stomach anything. It feels like it’s twisted upside down as I sit here and wait to hear about Kari. It’s been hours, he thought, getting up and pacing around.
Finally, the infirmary’s head cleric, who had been going around checking on the injured, entered the room holding Kari. After speaking to the clerics, she came out and spoke to the group to share the devastating news.
“Hi, I’m the head cleric here,” she introduced herself. “I apologize it’s taken so long, but your friend has sustained some significant injuries, and my clerics wanted to run some additional tests to try and figure out what’s wrong with her.”
Get on with it and tell us how she is, Steve so badly wanted to say, his heart racing in nervous anticipation.
“We believe that due to severe head trauma, Ms. Quinn has entered a catatonic state from which she is having trouble awakening. There’s nothing we can do to fix her condition, other than try to reduce the swelling on her brain, which we are still working on. If she can recover-”
“What do you mean, ‘if she can recover’?” Steve blurted out. “Are you saying there’s a chance she won’t?”
Understanding Steve’s concerns, the woman calmly explained, “Injuries like this are notoriously difficult to predict the outcome of. Sometimes, the damage to the brain is so catastrophic it can lead to life-altering impairments and, occasionally, death itself. Other times, it can be anywhere from days to weeks before the person regains consciousness and can begin to slowly work their way back to their normal routine. It all depends on the severity of the impact. I will say this though,” she tried to sound hopeful, “the other injuries Ms. Quinn manifests tell me she did not have as bad of an impact to her head as my clerics initially thought.
“Based on her dislocated knee, we believe her leg may have been what took the brunt of her fall. We were able to fix that, although she will have to wear a brace and may walk with a limp for some time. She also sustained two broken ribs and a plethora of cuts and bruises. For now, we are in what I call, the wait, see, and pray stage. We’ll let you see her now, but I’m afraid with night setting in and each room packed with twice as many patients as we usually have, we can only allow one person to stay bedside.”
“It’s you, Steve,” Ty piped up, making sure his brother knew neither he, Grizz, nor Shana would disallow him from being the one to sit with Kari.
“The rest of you are free to remain here in the hallway or head somewhere more comfortable to sleep for the night.”
“I’m sure my mom would have no problem if you three came back to my place,” Shana said to Ty, Copper, and Grizz. Although she was still not fond of the Dwarf, she knew he was one of Alazar’s elect and didn’t want to create a toxic relationship by not inviting him.
At the notion that Copper had to go to the Latimer’s house, he whinnied and moved to Steve’s side, showing he intended to remain with the Human and the Halfling.
“What about our friendly Copper?” Steve asked the head cleric, presenting the direfox by using his name and a positive- sounding-adjective to help dismiss the preconceived notion that, just because he was a monster, he was untrustworthy and savage.
Expecting that the woman would decline his request, considering that monsters were the reason so many Casanovian’s were needing aid today, Steve was surprised to hear her reasoning for why Copper could stay. “I said, we’re only allowing one person to stay bedside. Since he doesn’t qualify as a person, I think he can accompany you in the room.”
“Thank you,” Steve told the exhausted-looking woman, who briskly headed off to a different part of the infirmary to check on more patients.
“We’ll come by in the morning,” Ty told Steve, hugging his brother goodbye and then heading out with Grizz and Shana. “Give Kari our love.”
“Will do,” Steve promised, walking into the room and taking a breath before he pulled back the curtain.
Instantaneously, his heart sunk and his eyes welled up at seeing the broken and battered Kari lying helplessly before him. Her right leg was covered in tight bandages, as was her forehead. The burns on the side of her face had an ointment spread over them, which a cleric later came in and tol
d Steve would only take a couple days to heal completely.
Copper looked on with sorrow as well, going up to Kari and rubbing his wet nose on her leg as if to say, “Get better!”
Sitting in a chair next to her bed, Steve gently grabbed Kari’s hand and held it in his own. “I feel so terrible,” he said aloud. “This is all my fault. I went to Emma’s to build her crib, and when I saw she didn’t have a lot of food, I took her to the market. I shouldn’t have gone at all until I made sure everything was alright between us. You're the priority to me. Not her. You're the one I care about.” I don't want to ever make you mad, or hurt you, Steve thought, spending the entire night mentally beating himself up, believing he was the cause of Kari’s injuries.
Ty came in early the following morning by himself, having left Grizz and Shana to sleep in. “Have you slept at all?” he asked Steve seeing him sitting in the same spot, still in his red armor plate, spaudlers, and gauntlets.
“No,” was all Steve replied as Ty solemnly moved to look upon Kari, seeing her for the first time since her fall.
“Have you been eating or drinking?” he asked Steve as he silently said a prayer for the Halfling.
“No.”
“Okay,” Ty responded annoyedly, not happy he was getting one word, unfriendly-sounding answers from Steve. Trying one last time he asked, “Do you want to hear the updates on Casanovia?”
“No,” Steve said sharply, his tone signifying he only cared about one thing, the person laying in the bed.
“Fine,” Ty gave up, throwing the curtain out of his way as he walked out of the room.
“Ty, wait,” Steve called out to bring his brother back. “I'm sorry, I’m not angry at you, I'm just frustrated at the situation we're in. What's going on?”
Reentering and leaning against the windowsill, Ty crossed his arms. “You sure you want to hear? It’s not good,” he warned.
The way things are going, I didn’t expect they would be, Steve thought, then said, “Tell me.”
Coming right out and sharing the news he heard on the streets that morning, Ty announced, “The monsters focused their attacks on the three barracks around the city. Over two hundred warriors and around one-hundred and fifty civilians were killed. Among the casualties were Mayor Hughley and Commander Lockland.”
“You’re kidding me!” Steve was shocked.
“I wish I was. I don’t know how I’m going to break Hughley’s death to Shana. She loved working for him.”
“Do you know if they managed to get letters sent to the Primary Cities?” Steve asked.
“They did, so we’ll have to wait and see what comes of those. But whatever plans the two had been working on went up in flames during the attack. I went past the barracks earlier. The mess hall was one of the only buildings that wasn’t damaged beyond repair. And I’ve heard its just as bad in the other barracks as well.
“You haven’t met him yet,” Ty continued, “but there’s an aerial warrior named Captain Nereus, who was one of the only survivors that fought in the sky battle. I heard his mount was killed and crashed into Lake Azure, but he survived and swam to shore. He’s self-asserted himself as the new commander.”
“You’ve met him?”
“Yeah, and let’s just say he’s not a stand-up guy like Commander Lockland was. In my few encounters with him, he’s come off as an arrogant jerk.”
“Does he know about the army headed here?”
“Yeah, I think that news has started to spread around the city, but the rumors people are making up are foolish. No one knows what’s really true. I don’t even think Nereus himself does. I guess everyone’s waiting to hear back from the sentries.”
“They should be back tomorrow,” Steve said after counting the days on his fingers.
“Yeah,” Ty concurred. “I guess until then we’ll be cleaning up the city, burying the dead and trying to fix what was destroyed.” Ty nodded to Kari, “How’s she doing?”
“No changes yet,” Steve was dismayed, growing impatient at the lack of positive signs she’d recover.
“Do you want me to take watch? You should go get some food and rest.”
“I’m still not that hungry.” Then, looking up to Ty, Steve pleaded, “I don’t want to leave her side.”
Sighing, seeing how important being with Kari was to him, Ty offered, “How about I go get some food for you and leave it on her nightstand here? You can eat when you feel up to it.”
“Thank you,” Steve said, after Ty left and returned with a tray. “You should probably get back out there and help out in the city. There’s not really any reason to stick around here.”
“Okay,” Ty said, patting his brother’s shoulder in caring fashion as he started to leave. “You should take off your armor and relax a little. Try to eat some food. I’ll come by throughout the day to check in. I’ll bring you some fresh clothes, too. Keep talking to her,” Ty added as his final piece of advice. “I’m sure deep down she can hear you.”
Chapter 92
A full day and a half passed. In that time, Ty, Grizz, and Copper did what they could to help around Casanovia while Shana was busy with Mayor Hughley’s two political aides, working with them to determine the best course of action for a variety of issues related to the fallout of the attack. Each of the three heroes periodically came in to check on Kari, but there were no signs of improvement.
Steve as well, seemed to have setbacks with his own injuries due to his refusal to sleep in a normal bed or eat a full meal. “You need to take care of yourself,” Ty continuously told him, as did many of the clerics that recommended he step outside and get some fresh air, but Steve didn’t oblige them.
“Some of the sentries returned about an hour ago,” Ty came in with a grim look on his face. “Steve,” Ty admitted, “it’s more bad news.”
“What’d they say?” Steve asked pointedly, which was more words than he had spoken in the past twenty-four hours. Ty had been able to tell throughout that time, as his brother sat alone watching Kari, that with each passing minute he was falling more and more into a downward spiral of anger, guilt, and depression.
I don’t know how he’s going to handle what I found out, Ty worried, but decided to share the news anyway.
“They met with Commander Nereus and warriors close to him in a closed-door meeting, so I was only able to get this news secondhand after coaxing it out of one of the sentries, but he confirmed that Silas is leading the army and that their numbers are massive. There’s thousands of monsters. The sentries saw through their magnifying tubes that they’re only five days away. Nereus doesn’t think we can win. He wants to evacuate the city. He's going to address the city in a couple hours.”
For a long time, Steve was silent. Then, instead of reacting angrily, he calmly said, “That’s not an option. Abandoning Casanovia gives Silas’s army a foothold in the northern part of the kingdom. This war will be over before it even begins if monsters take this city.”
“Why don’t you come talk to Nereus about it, then?” Ty suggested, trying to get Steve out of the infirmary, even if only for a little bit. After Steve declined and said that there was nothing he could do to change anything, Ty was more direct.
“If you believe the future of this kingdom depends on us defending this city, then why are you sitting here doing nothing? It’s been nearly two days now! You have an opinion and a clear passion about what the right thing to do is, but your voice can’t be heard if you stay within these walls. We need you out there! I know you want to be with Kari, but there’s nothing more you can do for her. She’s in good hands here.”
“I’m not leaving!” Steve yelled from his chair, frustrated because everything Ty was saying he knew to be true.
“Steve!” Ty was yelling himself now, trying to break through to his stubborn brother.
“I need to be alone!” Steve yelled even louder, preventing the conversation from going any further.
After Ty stormed out
, Steve broke down. Holding Kari’s hand, he laid his head on her bed, and cried aloud, “I can’t take this anymore. The kingdom is falling apart. Everything is falling apart. Please come back, Kari. I need you.”
As his eyelids grew heavy from exhaustion, Steve heard loud yelps of pain and the voices of concerned clerics as they rushed past, escorting a blonde-haired, pregnant woman past the room. Too tired to give it a second thought, Steve fully closed his eyes, gave into sleep, and dreamt he was back in Celestial at the start of the siege, only, instead of reliving his experience, he dreamt of someone else’s.
Only a few people in the predominately red and blue crowd cheered for their hero, Cyrus Wheeler. Cyrus and his opponent were tied after a grueling, back-and-forth match. Whoever won the next two out of three passes would win the quarterfinals of the Warriors’ Joust.
Closing the visor of his yellow helm, Cyrus kicked his heels into the sides of his armored horse, Oakley. The hearts of thousands of fans collectively beat faster as the two stallions raced towards each other. As Oakley’s speed increased, Cyrus lowered his heavy yellow and sky-blue lance. The colors swirled down the shaft in a dizzying spiral.
The sharp crack of splintering wood rang through the entire stadium and was quickly replaced with a chorus of cheers. Cyrus had received a devastating blow on his chest.
No! Cyrus mentally beat himself up for failing the critical pass. Now my opponent only needs one more point till victory.
Turning and facing his opponent, Cyrus signaled he was ready by raising his lance high above his head, pointing it to the blue sky, polka-dotted with fluffy white clouds.
The flagman slowly walked to the middle of the arena with his flag held even. As the two warriors anxiously awaited the rise of the white flag, a bleeding Celestial warrior with two arrows stuck in his chest stumbled into the middle of the arena yelling,
“We’re under attack! We’re under attack!”
