Chapter 35
Bill searched the dark room looking for any signs of his Lady but only found her shield. He picked it up and said he would carry it to Davalin to be put in the great hall of the palace. It was the right thing to do for the memory of the woman whose body Cathy and I borrowed for our mission.
With Gina’s help, I was able to get Chieftain Harkis up the stairs and into the entrance of the city hall. Scert’chak civilians had begun to gather in the building, disoriented from the brainwashing. We handed the Chieftain off to the group and explained the situation to them. The men left to track down the army while the women remained to care for the traumatised Chieftain. When I asked about Warlord Narrilok or Commander Bak, the citizens looked at me blankly while the Chieftain repeatedly muttered ‘dead’. I maintained some small hope that they would turn up despite where the signs were pointing.
With Harkis in safe hands, I wanted to track down Desroche’s belongings and destroy his notes about the brainwashing machine. I was sure the Evenawks would be in a hurry to ensure their destruction, but this was something I felt safer doing myself.
Through the notes on his machine, I found corresponding letters between him and other Mages. They mostly detailed orders to spy on selected cities and targets. The information would be useful if the Mages involved didn’t use codenames. It would take some time to decipher them, but it would be worth it.
All the letters had a hooded figure with white eyes above “SS” in fancy writing. I believe this confirmed my suspicion that Desroche was starting a new Order of Magic. With his death, the group would disperse or, most likely, destroy itself over who the new leader is. I bundled up all the letters, destroyed the notes on the brainwashing machine, and was ready to head back down the hill.
Before leaving, I promised Harkis I would be back shortly. I left Scert’chak behind to find my friends still waiting by the bridge. Natalie was helping Aaron despite a couple of arrows in the back and shoulders. Donkor was covered in bandages around his chest and arm saying that he had already taken care of himself and not to worry about him. When he noticed Cathy was missing, his smiled turned sad and he picked me up into a hug, trying to comfort me because he thought the woman I loved had died. It was hard to lie to him, but it was necessary.
I healed the couple of remaining Davalin soldiers and helped Natalie with her arrows before using the remainder of my magic so we could cross the bridge. I assisted Natalie in carrying Aaron and the walk to the base of the mountain was slow and quiet.
At the base we saw the aftermath of the battle. Bodies from both sides littered the ground in Archanion. Once again, the field swallows the souls of countless innocents in battle. Only this time the scar that is left behind won’t be as hideous as the distortion.
We crossed the field, looking through the bodies for friends or familiar faces. I prayed that I wouldn’t find the face of King Markus looking up at me and was pleased to see him and the Balendar-Nesqa army marching towards us.
King Markus called out for a cheer as the ‘Heroes of Balendar’ returned. I made a quiet joke to Natalie about how much ‘heroes’ get paid and the three of us shared the first chuckle in what felt like forever. Field medics and doctors arrived from the group to look after everyone and Markus approached me covered in mud and blood, but smiling like it was his birthday.
“My friend,” he started, “if you had told me back when we first met that we would be standing here in victory I probably would have called you delusional.”
“Didn’t you anyway?” I asked, turning to Lord Kyle as he joined us. “Good to see you’re still here too.”
“Took you long enough,” he joked.
“We were going to be fine,” Markus said to him. “The Nesqian’s fought like crazy people.” He turned back to me. “I owe you and Lady Middleton a lot. I...see she didn’t make it.”
I shook my head. “Sacrificed her life to free the Evenawks.”
“That is a shame,” he said sadly. “We are already so short on leaders but she will never be forgotten. I will make sure everyone knows she died protecting our home.”
“She deserves no less,” I replied.
“We’ll check the records and see who is next in line for succession of the Davalin title,” King Markus said. “But in the meantime, I need to talk to you about something.”
“As do I,” I said.
“Allow me to go first then,” King Markus started. “I want to extend to you Sandra’s title of Advisor to the Crown. Your work with Sandra proved you are the most qualified for the job.”
“I...am honoured,” I said stunned. “Are you sure it is wise so soon after Desroche though?”
“You are not Davenport...or Desroche as you call him,” King Markus said. “People thought my Uncle was a fool for making a Mage an advisor but it needs to happen. Magic/Non-Magic relations are very important now. It’s no secret that Mages were helping the Evenawks and maybe so many wouldn’t have been in a hurry to join up if they weren’t hunted down like wild animals. With the respect and reputation you’ve earned here today, you can be the face and voice of Magic users and teach everyone that they aren’t the boogiemen of the past. It’s a new age, Kairu. People will change with people like us showing them the way.”
“You’re ready for all that responsibility, my Liege?” I asked with a smirk. “Last I saw you, you seemed a little nervous.”
“Still am,” he smiled. “But I’ve got you to make me look good, Advisor.”
I laughed. “Figured out how to be king already?”
He shrugged. “We’ll see. What is your news?”
I removed the notes from my armour. “During the mission, I had suspected Desroche was building a new Order of Magic. I confirmed that something was going on but can’t say what his death means for this new group.”
“Most likely continue his work in some capacity,” King Markus pitched.
I nodded. “Could be. These notes are Desroche’s last orders to be sent out to his spies. Everyone is in codename, but it could give us an advantage in tracking them down over time.”
King Markus took the notes and studied them quickly. “I feel bad for the Mage he code named ‘Sweet Cans’.”
“Don’t we all,” I said.
He handed the notes to Lord Kyle for further study. “Seems our list of tasks to get the kingdom back in shape just gets longer. But for now, let’s head back to Thurlborn Peak. We have fallen men and women to honour and a victory to celebrate.”
“I’m going to need a little time to take care of some loose ends first,” I said. “Consider it the start of my Advisory duties.”
“Very well,” he said. “You know where home is.”
He turned around to head back to the army and I had to chuckle at what he said. I hadn’t known where home was since the Tower’s destruction. Would Thurlborn Peak finally be a home or just another place I happened to sleep at that week?
I searched for my friends but they had already disappeared with the medics into the crowd. The only one that remained was Donkor and he was debriefing the Nesqian soldiers despite his injuries. I hurried over to him and General Kobo smiled slightly at the sight of me.
“Good to see you’re still alive,” he said. “My condolences on your lady friend.”
“Thank you, General,” I replied. “It’s good to see you are alive as well.”
“What’s next for you?” he asked. “Can I trust that you’ll be in Nesqa soon?”
“Most likely in an official capacity,” I answered. “The king has made me his official advisor.”
“Good,” the general said pleasantly. “We don’t have to invade Balendar then. Your king seems a bit lost when it comes to things.”
“It’s not easy being thrust into things so young,” I responded.
“That’s how you know a boy is a man though,” General Kobo replied. “You are only twenty cycles and I would trust you as king over him. And you know my feelings about Mages.”
“Giv
e him a chance,” I said. “He’ll surprise you.”
“I hope so,” he said, extending his hand. “If it ever comes to a battle between our two provinces, I hope to not see you out on the battlefield.”
I took his hand. “It won’t ever come to that, General.”
He nodded. “Advisor.” He turned to Donkor. “See you back at the outpost...Ambassador.”
Donkor smirked at the title before looking sadly at me. “I will be fine,” I assured him.
“No, you will not,” he said. “How could you? It was only starting.”
“We both knew what was going to happen when we climbed that mountain,” I replied.
He shook his head. “When you both went up, I thought for sure you would both come back down.”
The feeling of longing was starting to gnaw at me. “Sometimes life doesn’t work that way. We were both prepared and, yeah, it is going to hurt, but one day I will move on and find another. You need not worry about me.”
“I always worry about my friends,” Donkor said. “But I won’t push it. Come find me if you want to go bandit hunting though. You know Kobo always has something going on.”
I smiled. “Deal. Safe travels back home. We’ll talk again a lot sooner than last time.”
He smiled. “Good.”
I watched him head off towards Nesqa before turning my attention back to Ghanlar. I was already dead tired but I needed to do one more trip up the mountain. I gathered my strength and started towards the mountain path.
Markus’ words started jumbling around my head. We were at the start of a new age. I was now in charge of improving relations between Mages and normal people while watching to make sure the seventeen cycle old king grew up to be a real leader. It was an interesting future considering I started this adventure sleeping in a forest.
The longing gnawed at me again and I remembered something else from the start of the adventure. Cathy had predicted that we would probably end up fighting a dragon. I scanned the skies and confirmed that there wasn’t a single dragon in sight. This meant I got to tell her she was wrong about something. I smiled at how sweet that would be.
Epilogue
The smell of the charred earth filled the air as I stopped just outside the forest around Scert’chak. The walk up the mountain had been long and I seriously considered setting up camp and napping a couple of hours, but the gnawing feeling in my gut reminded me to push on. When the feeling suddenly stopped, I waited.
A rustle in the trees behind me drew my attention but I didn’t turn fast enough as I was tackled to the ground. “Got you,” Cathy said in her normal voice.
“You can finally talk normally again,” I said, happy to see her again.
“I know!” she said happily. “Any longer in that high voice and it would have become permanent.”
“Are you just going to keep lying on top of me?” I asked, shifting a bit to get her armour out of my rib.
“Don’t act like you don’t like it,” she said, climbing off me and helping me up. “How was my acting?”
“Great, as always,” I said. “I thought mine was a little stale but we convinced Bill pretty easily.”
“Yeah, I’d give you a C plus,” she said. “If it wasn’t for my brilliance the whole charade would have fallen through.”
“Oh, whatever,” I replied.
“So does everyone miss me?” Cathy asked.
“Lady Middleton will always be remembered as a hero that sacrificed her life to free the Evenawks,” I answered. “We did her proud.”
“Hopefully her soul will rest peacefully in the Void,” Cathy said.
“Some good news though,” I started, “King Markus is making me the Advisor to the Crown so we can improve Mage relations.”
“Impressive,” Cathy said. “Makes hiding me a little more difficult.”
“That it does, but we can just change your hair, maybe get you some tribal tattoos, something to hide that scar,” I said.
“Oh, watch,” Cathy smiled. She covered the scar with her hand then removed it. The scar had disappeared. “Just part of my healing powers. I kept it there because it was part of the role.”
“Easy enough,” I said, impressed.
“This is going to be fun,” Cathy said.
I looked at Cathy and tried to summon my courage to finally say the things I’ve wanted to say, but it wasn’t going well. I ended up just looking at her weird enough that she laughed.
“You look like you’re going to throw up,” she said.
“Almost,” I replied. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to say something.”
“Usually words work best,” Cathy said. “Especially in a language I understand.”
I gave her a look and she smiled and batted her eyelids. “That doesn’t help.”
“So you’re going to draw it instead?” she asked.
“Ha, ha,” I said sarcastically.
“Just say it already!” she exclaimed.
“I think...I mean, I know...that...I, uh, have feelings,” I said. “For you.”
Cathy looked at me weirdly and I decided the next logical thing for me to do was bash my head on a tree trunk several times. She took me by surprise when she placed a hand on my cheek. “Did you just say you have feeling for me?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Do you love me?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered quietly.
She smacked my cheek gently. “What took you so long to say it?”
“What?” I asked.
“Since I’ve been able to translate these feelings of mine into human emotions I’ve realised that I have loved you since we first got stuck together,” she explained. “I didn’t want to say anything to you because I didn’t understand it and well, I didn’t want to freak you out.”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything!” I replied. “When I realised what I was feeling it didn’t feel appropriate to bring it up until after we saved the world. I didn’t want to confuse you with new emotions.”
“Hello, girl body over here,” Cathy said pointing to herself. “I could write books on new emotions, if you’d like.”
I laughed. “So I could have said it and I would have been fine?”
“Definitely,” Cathy said. “In fact, from now on, just say it all the time.”
I chuckled. “I love you, Cathy.”
She squealed and jumped into my arms for a hug. “I love you too, Andy.”
“Your armour’s crushing me,” I squeaked.
“Right, sorry,” she said, backing away.
“Wait, you forgot something,” I said, pulling her in for a kiss.
It was our first kiss. Not just with each other but our first kiss in general and I wouldn’t have changed anything about it. It didn’t matter that Cathy had forgotten to close her eyes and we were really just mashing our lips together. It just felt right. It felt like we were whole again.
Our lips separated and Cathy sagged as her knees grew weak. She giggled. “You can do that all the time too.”
“I just might have to,” I said playfully.
She stood on her own two feet and smiled thoughtfully. “I wonder what other couple stuff we can try right now.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” I said, heading towards Scert’chak. “Right now let’s play ‘Who is Cathy?’ What do you look like? Where are you from? How did we meet?”
Cathy followed and looked thoughtful for a second. “Well I definitely should have brown hair. You know how you like brown hair.”
I chuckled. “Yes, but you are currently blond and that didn’t stop me from falling in love with you.”
“Still, if I could look like the way I did in your head, that would be great,” she said.
“Okay, what did you do before we met?” I asked.
“Demon slayer,” she answered with a playful smirk.
“Really?” I asked.
“No, think about it,” she said. “As a young girl my parents were killed by a posse
ssed Mage so I hunt them down now. My back story writes itself.”
I laughed. “Needs a little fine tuning.” I thought about it for a second. “How about you are an ex-Mage from the Tower that specialised in hunting down the possessed? With the Tower’s destruction, you still wander and hunt down ex-Tower Mages that have become possessed and ravage the countryside. It would explain your lack of past AND explain why you can glow blue and move faster. It’s just your Demon slayer/Mage training.”
Cathy nodded. “Alright. That works. You were out doing something when we bumped into each other and you helped me with my mission and we ended up falling madly in love.”
“Works for me,” I said.
“This is going to be great but...” she started, “why are we going to Scert’chak?”
“We need to check up on and help the Chieftain,” I said. “We can’t leave things a mess there. After that we will need to go to Szwen and update the Naos.”
“So more walking?” Cathy asked.
“Unfortunately,” I said.
“Lame,” Cathy whined.
“Oh, by the way, you were wrong,” I said.
“How, may I ask, was I wrong?” she asked.
“You said we would fight a dragon,” I said playfully. “Where’s the dragon?”
She looked at me seriously. “Say I was wrong one more time and I will show you a dragon.”
I laughed. “Fair enough.”
The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 Page 28
