“My smart phone, my computer,” Steven Hayward blurted out almost instantly. “Video games, Wi-Fi, and the Internet, all the friends I had online. I hope they’re all okay, wherever they are.”
Steven was barely sixteen. He’d seen death and war up close, and still he sounded busted up more about missing his online life that he had once enjoyed so much.
The heartbreak in his voice affected everyone.
“Running water. Especially hot water,” Belinda Blackwood said.
“I’m really going to miss air conditioning, after this summer,” Pete Steiner added.
Lots of agreement there.
“Cell phones for sure,” Carrie Daniels noted. “Talking to my mom whenever I wanted. My sister in St. Louis. Now I don’t know where they are or if they’re even alive.”
There were a great many worries about the fate of distant relatives.
“The Tharanorians call St. Louis Kavendo. They’re all probably doing the same thing there that we’re trying to do here,” Dirk said. “Survive and look ahead.”
No one mentioned the vile Dragon Cult model for towns. Everyone hoped that atrocity was just a fluke.
“Restaurants,” Tim Carroll said. “Fast Food. Junk food. Sit down places. It’s funny how much of the past we took for granted, like it would always be there. Then one day, it was all gone…forever.”
Several people wept.
Everyone grew quiet for a time.
Other voices spoke up from out of the shadows. “Cars. Roads. Motorcycles. Trucks. The freedom and ability go anywhere you wanted, whenever you wanted.”
“It’s not the same,” Zack Lancaster said. “It just isn’t the same.”
Again, lots of agreement on that note.
“You don’t see planes or jets in the sky anymore,” someone else spoke up. “Except for those few hot air balloons we’ve been seeing, we don’t fly anymore as a people.”
Carrie Daniels sighed heavily and wiped her eyes, half sobbing. “I miss all of the stores and going shopping. We used to have so much fun. I remember going to the mall with my parents and my brothers and sisters. Then my friends. You just can’t do that any more. All you see now is the same, tired open street markets with the same old used junk to barter and trade that they had a few months ago. Ugh!”
“Well, I still miss electricity more than anything else,” Owen Sanders said. “Think about how much stuff required electricity. That’s the thing we miss the most. Electricity made all of this other stuff possible.”
“Movies, Blue Ray, DVD’s,” Jacob Meyer noted. Lots of nods and agreement there. “I was a film buff. I saw two movies a week on the big screen, usually a matinee of a new release or a dollar show. Then there were video downloads, movie rentals. None of that works anymore.”
“Not without electricity,” Owen persisted.
“I’m so glad to be working with the development teams,” Robert Billings said. “Big things are on the way, I assure you. Just going to work is something to do each day. But doesn’t anyone miss their job before the Merge, or the people they worked with?”
Several boos there.
“Hey,” someone shouted. “Screw that! I hated going to work.”
“Yeah, my boss was a dick!” Lots of people laughed and chimed in.
“My friend, you gotta be kidding me,” David said to Rob. “There were a lot of crummy jobs.”
His friend persisted. “There still are. That doesn’t change that much. Not to mention all of this survival crap. But don’t we all have friends and acquaintances that we just don’t see anymore? They might still be safe, or on the other side, we hope.”
“You can try to find out,” Jerriel said. “We’re trying to reconnect people and find out which side everyone is on. And who survived, and who did not.”
“Get this,” Mason cut in, with a wink at Tori. “The weird thing is, some people went and started completely new lives and relationships on the other side already–within a matter of months–and now they don’t want to be found by some of those people they knew before. It can be a caution.”
People continued to be strange and foolish. Yet everyone had friends and family on the other side, as well as out of town. Those points kept coming up again and again.
“I miss television, TV news, World, National, local,” Nick Denardi said. “I was a news junkie. Now we’re cut off from everyone else. We don’t know what’s happening in other places, or on the other side.”
“Some day we will,” Belinda said, “we’ll branch out and make contact with all of the other civilized areas, here in the New World, and the Old World across the pond–on both sides.”
“That could take years,” Ellis Newcombe said. “Maybe decades and maybe never. We could all be dead a month from now.”
Someone else chipped in. “There are rumors going around that there are cities where the Urth people are at war with the people from Tharanor.”
“That was bound to happen,” another added. “People don’t always see eye to eye, and one group often tries to dominate another. The side that has more magic than Urth people do might be tempted to remain dominant. That’s the only way they know.”
“We’ve heard those rumors as well,” Belinda said. “Along with all kinds of crazy reports, everything from ghosts in many places, to bodies of giant crabs washed up on the east coast beaches.”
Jerriel pointed a finger at David, her eyes wide. “I warned you about Shochi. I warned you. They do exist, and they are a major threat.”
Everyone began to babble at once, going out of control until Rabbi Bergman banged on the big gong set up to call people to dinner.
“Let’s try not to be so pessimistic,” Bergman noted. “Or let the worst of our imaginations run away with us. We don’t know the truth of any of these wild fears yet. We might be able to re-connect with other survivors more quickly if we can locate and train more travelers and other mages in general.”
“We need more Champions of all kinds. Magic is the real new power. For better or worse,” Dirk Blackwood said. “This is the world we live in now. The world we must fight and struggle to survive in–for the sake of each other and humanity from this point on. And we face enough threats as it is. This is our new reality. This is what matters…not what was. Not what we have lost, what is gone, either for now or forever. What we face now and what we cling to now is what matters most.”
No one said anything more for a long while.
An hour later, David and Jerriel and some of their friends visited the camp of the Marrandorians.
Prince Valandin and Prince Alendel looked as if they were feeling no pain, celebrating and drinking heartily with their wizards, knights, and other troops.
They spotted Jerriel right off.
“Cousin! Noble allies. Welcome. Welcome! Join us. Please sit!
“Toast. A toast!
“A toast!” many voices took up the cry.
Thul-Kazar did not hesitate to have his massive drinking horn filled.
David took a sip from his goblet after it was topped off with golden, sweet-smelling liquid.
Mead. They drank mead, tart and delicious, tasting of honeyed blackberries. He didn’t want to drink much more, his head already a bit tipsy. Getting really drunk always made him sleepy or sick and then sleepy.
David lifted his glass to the princes. “Your Highnesses. Much honor and thanks to you and your people, especially your wizards.” He saluted Pharrio, Maelen, and Urnessan again. “Without your aid, the battle in Elkhart would have been lost.”
“Here here!” Thul-Kazar said. “I will drink to that. But then,” he chuckled. “I will drink to most anything.”
They joined him in laughter.
“The day would have been lost,” Prince Valandin noted, “had you and your friends not taken out those transport gates. Not to mention your crucial alliance with the green dragon.”
“Shavalkathar goes where and does what he will,” David said. “I can take no credit for that. He i
s a force of nature. But I admit, it was a great help that he showed up and took out the red dragon for us when he did so.”
“Indeed,” Pharrio said, “to Shavalkathar!”
“To our ally, the green dragon!” others shouted.
Only the Thulls did not drink; they had no great love for dragons.
David wondered. ‘Ally’ was perhaps a bit of a stretch just yet.
Valandin took Jerriel’s hand. “Dear cousin, it is so good to see you alive and well. And your radiant smile.” He glanced at David and smirked. “And to see you happy, when you aren’t battling demons, monsters, dragons, or otherwise fighting for your life.”
“That’s the truth,” David said. It was good to have a break from being at war.
“I’m so glad you and dear Alendel and your people came to our aid,” Jerriel said graciously. “You couldn’t have arrived at a better time.” She hugged them both.
Valandin looked at David for the first time and appraised him. “You have done well, Captain,” he said. “Did you know that she is a princess of my royal line? Her standing is distant, yes, but a princess all the same.”
“She is the queen of my stars,” David said. “Jerriel is simply amazing. I could not think more highly of her than I do, or love her more. She is my world.”
Jerriel looked at him and sobbed, reaching out to touch his face.
“I know your worth, my friend, on the field and as a man, from the short time that I have been with you. You have my blessing. As Prince of the Realm, I will not oppose your union with my cousin in any way.”
David considered that rather odd. He had never even thought to ask for this fellow’s blessing on anything, let alone his love for Jerriel. Perhaps he would have done so if Jerriel’s father, had he been alive and present, but not some distant prince or cousin, ally or no.
Valandin persisted, but in his defense, he was quite tipsy. “I do so Even though you are an Urther and a commoner. And even though she was once my own betrothed, from when we were children.”
David felt more than slightly uncomfortable and did not quite know what to say. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“She has told you about us, am I correct?”
“Yes?” was all that David would offer in return. This was getting rude.
Valandin breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I did not want there to be any misunderstandings that could mar our friendship. My cousin’s heart has been free for years. She has no obligation to me. I myself am betrothed, if my beloved can still make the voyage across the sea to join us here in the New World. The Merge has upset so many of our private plans.”
“Congratulations,” Jerriel said. “I am so happy for you, Valan.”
“What does the future hold for the two of you?” Prince Alendel finally asked. “Surely two so in love must have a wedding planned?”
David took Jerriel’s hand as she tried to motion him to silence. “There has scarcely been any time. If not for all of the troubles, I would marry her this instant. But we’ve been so busy trying to help our people survive that we’ve barely spoken together about our personal future.”
“It has been incredibly hectic,” Jerriel agreed. “The day will come when it will, when the time is right. I too would wed David this instant. So sure is my heart of him, and his place in my life.”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it off too much longer if I were you,” Valandin warned. He took another drink which he probably shouldn’t have. His speech already slurred slightly. “After all, you don’t want your children to end up landless bastards.”
Jerriel looked down slightly.
David tried very hard not to be angry.
He wasn’t used to being around any kind of royalty, and Tharanorian royalty not at all. Perhaps princes in their world felt free to say anything they wanted, however unkind. Not surprising, since they had a more medieval mentality. Valandin was a leader from a completely different culture, age, and mindset.
David struggled to understand that. He tried very hard not to take offense. He rose from where he sat and went to fill his goblet again with sweet scarlet wine this time. Rowdy troops hooted and hollered nearby, carousing and rough housing.
A football sailed in out of nowhere and smashed David in the side of the head just as he was walking back.
As buzzed as he was, David toppled forward, crashed right into Valandin, and dumped the cold red wine all over the prince. The collision tumbled them both the ground.
Everyone gasped.
“Get off me, you drunken, bloody oaf!” Valandin roared out loud, assuming he was being attacked. He lashed out on the ground and backhanded David in the face.
David deflected further blows and tried to roll away.
“How dare you attack me!” Valandin raged, obviously drunk himself. “After I befriended you and paid you honor!”
Prince Alendel pulled his brother back.
Thul-Kazar wrapped a huge, hairy arm around David and pulled him away.
Jerriel stepped in between them all. “Cousin, please. There must be some mistake. I’m certain that David was not trying to attack or offend you. It must have been an accident. Both of you have been celebrating far too much.”
David rubbed his head and his eye. His head swirled even woozier than before. “It’s true,” he said. “I meant no disrespect. I was just terribly clumsy. That was all. I admit, I’ve had too much.”
The crown prince would not relent. “So, you were drunk and dumped your wine on me and knocked me down merely out of clumsiness? What kind of fool do you take me for?”
Jerriel looked at him confused. “David, what happened?”
“It was an accident, I swear Your Highness.”
“Yes, of course it was,” the prince sneered.
“It was. I went over to fill my cup, and on the way back a football came in out of the darkness and whacked me in the head! I lost my balance.” He pointed at the ground in the dark, but the ball had either bounced away somewhere or been retrieved.
Valandin looked around. “And did anyone see this ‘football’ or whatever it was strike him?”
No one else had noticed, apparently. But they had all been talking and their heads were down. They weren’t watching him.
“I was dizzy already and lost my balance when it struck me. I’m sorry!” David went down on one knee. “I truly, truly apologize my lord. The fault was entirely mine, but it was not in any way intentional.”
“I must insist upon satisfaction,” Valandin said proudly, wine still dripping down him and staining his clothes. “On the morrow, two hours past mid-morning.”
Jerriel paled. “Cousin. Please. Do not do this.”
“Not a word from you, Jerriel. You chose your man, not I. He will face me this next day and know my displeasure, or be branded a coward.” He glared at David. “Your choice of weapons, bumpkin! Good night and rest well.” He pulled away from Alendel violently and stalked off, his stunned guards clustered about him.
Prince Alendel looked embarrassed and turned back to them. “I guess the evening’s merriment is now ended. I will speak to him. We’ve all had too much to drink. Things will be better in the morning.”
“I hope so,” Jerriel said. “David, we’d better go.”
David felt at a loss for words. It was all so stupid, and yet it was still his fault. “Jerriel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to…”
“Please. Let’s just leave,” she said wearily. No one else knew what to say.
“I don’t want to fight him,” David said. “We’re allies. We should be friends.”
“If he challenges you, you must accept,” Thul-Kazar said. “You are no coward. This is now a matter of honor.”
“Screw that,” David said. “We’re allies. We can’t be quarreling with each other.”
“Oh, please,” Jerriel said, sounding more than slightly irritated. “You were all drunk from the celebration. That makes all of you fools in this affair.”
“I am not dru
nk, milady” Thul-Kazar said. He belched like a foghorn.
“Not yet,” Alejandro said, “and not for want of trying.”
“The night is still young,” the big Thull said.
Jerriel shook her head. “This is ridiculous. Hopefully it will all blow over tomorrow after everyone sobers up. Alendel will talk some sense into him. Valandin usually listens to him.”
“We can only hope,” David said. “Any kind of duel would be a disaster. We need to inform Dirk and the Council about this incident.”
“We’ll send word. If a duel does take place, you cannot harm him,” Jerriel said. “I mean, if he insists on fighting you.”
“I’m supposed to just to stand around and let him beat on me?”
“He’s the Crown Prince of Kellendra. He’s family. He’s an ally. You cannot harm him in any way.”
“Jerriel, I have no intention of doing so. I hate this sort of thing. This is all a terrible misunderstanding!”
The next day promised to be interesting.
Prince Alendel came to them the next morning, his face somber and grim.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” David said, rising to his feet.
Jerriel groaned, “Oh, no.”
“I’m afraid so, my friends. My brother is still angry about the incident. A bad hangover has done nothing to improve his mood, nor his judgement, I’m afraid. We must meet on the field of honor within the hour. I must take back your choice of weapons, Captain.”
“Can we at least speak to him, Your Highness?” David said.
“I’m afraid that time is past. Please, your choice of weapons, my lord?”
“Boffers then,” David said.
Alendel looked at a loss. “What? What in the devil are…?”
David showed him one. “Boffers. A practice weapon. Flexible plastic, covered with foam, harmless for sparring.”
The prince reddened visibly. “Seriously, my lord?”
Thul-Kazar looked up from his hangover long enough to curse in disgust.
Prince Alendel frowned. “I’m afraid that will not do, Captain. They must be real weapons. No practice weapons. This is a real duel.”
Naero's Valor Page 47
