Silas nodded his head silently.
“You should!” she exclaimed, and slapped her hand down on his thigh in a friendly and familiar gesture.
“You obviously know that the sprites and the imps brought you here,” Silas nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“That’s because your friend Riesta called them to the battle scene and ordered them to carry you away,” Kere explained.
“Riesta can call the sprites?” Silas asked in astonishment.
“Yes, indeed. Queen Preeanne commanded the sprites to work with Riesta, under the terms of the treaty between the sprites and Faralag. From what I gather, Riesta had spoken to the sprites, and imps on many occasions, on a regular basis, using them to convey messages to and from the Queen,” Kere astonished Silas with the revelation.
“Is Riesta alright? What about the others from the caravan?” Silas asked.
“They are all well. A group of sprites worked to transport them all from their location in the heart of Ivaric city to the deck of one of the Faralag ships that were in the harbor, along with the Queen. The Fleet has sailed away safely, and is on its way back to Faralag now,” Kere told Silas. “And the caravan members were able to return to their wagons after the battle at the harbor died down. They’re rolling away now.”
“I’m glad they’re all safe,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “What about the Amenozume fleet?” he asked.
“That fleet too has sailed,” Kere answered. “They’re safe now. Preeanne traveled via sprites to the ship of their admiral, and explained that their queen was safe,” Kere gave a meaningful look over at where Lumene slumbered in the spring water. “Preeanne promised that Ivaric’s leaders were dead, the threat of invasion was over, and that you and Lumen were undergoing healing before being sent back to Amenozume.”
Silas sat silent for a moment, digesting the news.
“What happened to L’Anvien’s priest?” he asked.
“Just what you planned, you clever boy. You motivated the guard to kill him, and I’m told it was quite a spectacular sight. The priest died, and along with the ruling family of Ivaric having been exterminated, the deaths disheartened the leaders of the military. They’ll withdraw their forces from other lands, and they’ll fight a civil war now among themselves, between those who want to oust L’Anvien, and those who want to continue to serve him,” Kere told him. “And that particular guard who you persuaded is apparently alright; he was able to steal away in the chaos of the city and return to his family,” she added.
Silas sighed contentedly.
“So it’s all over? We’ve done everything we were supposed to do?” he asked happily.
“Not everything, but quite a bit,” Kere rattled his complacence. “There are several things yet to do, some right away, and others that can be delayed.”
“What else is there to do?” Silas asked hesitantly. “Will I be the one to do them?”
“You are still the chosen champion of your human gods,” Kere said. “I’ll let them explain the rest of your remaining chores.”
“Silas?” Lumene’s voice sounded from the other side of the pool. He looked up and saw that the princess was awake and looking at him.
“You should go see your great fan and savior – at least a part of the team that saved your life. Your gods will be in touch. On behalf of my people, thank you for striking such a mighty blow against the evil one. I look forward to your further victories, and I believe we’ll see each other again,” Kere reached over and tousled his hair affectionately, then disappeared.
“Silas!” Lumene’s voice was both a soft scream and a gasp at the sight of the disappearing goddess.
He slipped back down into the water so that he could return to the princess, and as he did, he saw that where Kere had sat, a pile of waterskins lay, full of liquid, presumably the healing waters of the spring, he reckoned.
“Thank you Kere. You think of everything,” he whispered with a smile, as he once again awkwardly moved through the water with only one foot, then scrambled up to where Lumene was gracefully moving down to meet him.
“Who was that?” she asked. “She was beautiful, and an elf, I presume?! Where did she go?”
“She is a goddess of the elves, Kere, the goddess of fortune,” Silas answered. “She was beautiful, but I usually see her as an old woman. She was different this time.
“She’s been very good to me. This is her spring. This,” he remembered a connection he could explain, “this spring is where I was brought to heal after raising the storm that defeated the Ivaric fleet.
“It’s where I brought you when you fell into the mountain stream during our flight on Amenozume; this is where the water saved your life.”
“And where you undressed me while I was unconscious!” she added.
“The water feels wonderful,” Lumene said. “I can believe it would heal a body, heal anything,” she spread her arms wide enthusiastically, then suddenly felt her nudity, and felt embarrassed, quickly pulling her arms back in and crossing them in front of her chest.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” Silas turned slightly so that he didn’t appear to look directly at the self-conscious woman.
“I wish I could take credit, but I was only a passenger along for the ride, at first. The sprites came and grabbed the two of us. I had just bent down over you, trying to save you, when the sprites grabbed us and brought us through some gray place – a very disturbing place – to here, and then they told me what to do,” Lumene told Silas.
“I’m sure that included explaining how to place them in the water,” he said with a grin.
“It did, as a matter of fact. Just about as soon as they were sure you were going to be okay, they told me to put them over there. I was a bit startled by the way they all shed their clothes without any explanation, but I guess clothes don’t have much of a place here,” she told him dubiously.
“Not much, but we do almost always put our clothes back on before we go home,” Silas answered slyly. “Would you like to go get dressed, and we can have the sprites take you straight back to the palace at Amenozume?”
“I’d love it!” Lumene said brightly. “And you’ll be coming back to the palace with me, won’t you?” she asked the question in a straightforward manner, her eyes suddenly staring at his with a doubtful expression.
It was a loaded question, and a simple question, Silas realized. And he didn’t know how to answer. It was wonderful to see Lumene again. She was as desirable and beautiful as ever. She was a strong spirit, he knew; that had been proven by her ability to take a fleet into battle, survive capture and exposure to horrifying evil, and yet still be able to smile and react courageously to all that she had been exposed to.
But going back to Amenozume would mean going back to the place he had run away from, the conflict – the personal conflict – that he had run away from. He’d face Lumene and Mata once again, and once again have to try to find a solution to his own unresolved affairs of the heart.
He ought to do it. He ought to have the strength and courage to go back and do whatever was the right thing to do.
“I understand if there are other places you want to go,” Lumene broke the strained silence, casting her eyes down. “You’re a hero to every land on the continent; I’m sure you have other places you’d love to celebrate your victory,” she rose and dove into the water without further comment, then swam to the other shore before Silas could speak.
“I’m coming with you,” he told her as he began to hobble across the pool. “I’m coming back to the palace at Amenozume.”
“You are?” she had reached the bank and stood facing away from him, but turned her head to look back at him over her shoulder, a hopeful expression on her face.
“Lumene,” he said, then waded over and joined her as she climbed up on the grass and began to pull her clothes onto her wet body.
“Silas,” she replied and paused in her motions.
“I love you. You’re a woman I admire and lo
ok up to and enjoy and want to protect with all my heart and soul and ability,” he told her.
“Is there a ‘but’ coming?” she asked softly.
Silas gave a minute nod.
“But I have fathered a child with Mata, and my responsibility is to meet my obligations there. Kere said that I have more battles to face, but until then and afterwards, I know that I have to go back to Mata and try to give her the home that she wants,” he spoke with difficulty, pausing between the difficult words.
Lumene looked at him gravely. “I understand, but I think you’re being far too noble. You go try to do what you think you have to do,” she told him. “I won’t interfere, but I won’t sit around and wait forever for you Silas,” she warned.
He nodded in agreement, his heart pained by her words, and then hobbled through the water over to the sprites and imps. “We need to give them time to wake up and dry off. It’ll take a few minutes,” he explained with forced cheerfulness.
When the last of the small blue bodies were back on a terrestrial setting, Silas returned to his own pile of clothes, and slowly pulled them on. Lumene came over and stood next to him.
“Here,” she said gently, “you can lean on me,” she sidled up next to him and pulled his arm over her shoulder, giving him balance and stability as he tried to stand.
“And when we get back to the palace, we’ll give you a cane,” she added.
“The water skins!” Silas said excitedly, reminded to look over to the pile that Kere had left. “They’ll help me restore my foot,” he explained. “We have to take them.”
“You’ll actually regrow your foot?” she asked incredulously.
“Well,” Silas realized that his claim was only an assumption of his, something he had taken for granted. “I think so.”
The pair walked over to the skins, chuckling as they figured out how to manage to walk as a three-legged unit, then strapped the skins over their shoulders as the sprites and imp awoke from their slumbers.
“Such happy dreams!” Odare said brightly. “They could have perhaps been allowed to last a few minutes longer, especially after we had put our very lives at risk by diving into the center of a war zone to rescue our friend Silas.”
“There are more visits to the water to come, I’m sure,” Silas counseled the imp. “For now though, would you carry us to the palace at Amenozume, to the room where you took me after my last extended visit to these waters?”
The imps and sprites momentarily looked at one another in silence, as they communicated the coordinates for their expected destination, then they flocked around the two humans.
“Away we go,” Dewberry warned, and the grayness surrounded them all.
Chapter 29
Silas and Lumene and their friends arrived back in a dark room. Night had fallen in Amenozume, and the palace was quiet.
“Are you well to stay, Silas-friend?” Dewberry asked.
“We are quite well,” Silas answered happily, as he continued to hug Lumene’s shoulder for both friendship and physical support. “You have met your obligation and are free to go home,” he said. “Thank you for all that you did. You helped save my life.”
“Yes, we were the heroes once again,” Dewberry answered matter-of-factly. “But you had some fine moments too, I’m sure,” she said graciously.
“My queen,” Stillwater began to speak, but all the small blue bodies then disappeared in the middle of his comment to Dewberry.
“Here Silas, let me help you to your bed, then I’ll go let the staff know we’re here and you’ll be tended to,” Lumene told him. She directed their movements to the edge of the bed that sat in the large bedroom where Silas had laid to recuperate after his last great battle.
As she helped him adjust himself on the mattress, he looked at her face, and saw the care that was evident there, her focus on attending to his comfort, even after he had just spoken the words minutes before that had sounded to her like a rejection.
“Lumene, you are a wonderful woman, and you would be whether you were a princess or not,” he told her with heartfelt emotion. “No man is good enough to deserve your affection.”
“I think one man is,” she answered softly.
“Thank you, now stay still and rest,” she placed the water skins in a pile next to the bed, then slipped out of the room.
A moment later there was a shriek in the hallway.
“Your ladyship! You’re back!” a servant exclaimed.
Moments after that there was a loud, extended, flurry of voices out in the hallway, as more servants and guards came running to the scene of the unexpected appearance of the princess. And seconds after that, Silas’s bedroom door opened, and a number of faces stared into the room to confirm the princess’s claim that Silas had returned as well.
“Bring lanterns; don’t let the poor boy sit there in the dark like a mushroom!” a chambermaid commanded.
“He can see in the dark better than a cat; it doesn’t bother him,” a guard’s voice sounded from outside the door.
“Ooof,” the man said a moment later.
“There’s your cat in the dark,” the maid’s voice spoke sternly. “Now bring lights for the poor boy.”
Minutes later Silas was being tended by a trio of maids who helped him to a more comfortable position.
“Her highness directed that I bring you this,” a guard delivered a cane. “And there’s a tray of food on its way from the kitchen as we speak,” he gladdened Silas’s heart with his report.
Silas slept soundly that night, and woke late in the morning, to find a maid patiently sitting in the very chair where Forna had sat so often while she had watched over Silas.
“Good morning your greatness,” the girl rose and gave a cheerful curtsey. “What would you like this morning?”
“Some breakfast, and a visit with the princess. If I can be fit into her schedule,” Silas replied. He’d realized there were several messages he needed to deliver around the continent, and perhaps there were some that Lumene might need for him to deliver as well on her behalf.
Minutes later, his breakfast was served on a tray.
“Her highness is quite busy this morning, but she said she’ll see you any time,” the maid reported as she delivered his tray of food.
Silas took three quick bites of food.
“Would you get out some clean clothes from my closet?” he asked. “I’ll go soak my leg and then get dressed before I go.”
“Silas?” Sloeleen’s voice suddenly intruded on his consciousness. “Are you really here in the palace?” she asked.
“Right here,” he replied using his Speaker Voice.
“Right here what, my lord?” the confused maid asked.
“I was speaking to the Speaker, my apologies,” Silas told her.
“I’ll be right there!” Sloeleen told him.
The Speaker of the palace arrived five minutes later, and after an affectionate hug, Silas made her turn around while he undressed, then dressed in his fresh clothes, and soaked his leg, all the time giving her a disjointed travelogue of the adventures he’d experienced along the way, without revealing the role that Faralag had played to the extent that he could hide the nature of the southern nation’s activities. The battles at Heathrin particularly intrigued her.
“I cannot believe that Cinda was a traitor,” she exclaimed several times. “And how about that Botton? Who would have thought he’d lead a rebellion? – perhaps he has some good at the bottom of that small-minded heart of his after all!”
“I want to go see the Princess now,” Silas said when he’d finished his preparations. “Would you accompany me?”
“It will be my honor, and the highlight of my day, my week!” she told him cheerfully.
“You may be busy after this. I imagine there are a number of messages that the Amenozume palace needs to deliver around the continent,” Silas told her as she helped him slowly walk along, his cane providing awkward assistance as he tried to get used to it.
“The princess will finish her meeting with the ministers in five minutes. She asked that you wait for her in this parlor,” a palace functionary told the pair of Speakers when they tracked Lumene to a hearing room.
“Silas! I’m glad you’re up! I heard reports that you were trying to sleep until noon,” Lumene gently teased him when she entered the room where Silas and Sloeleen were waiting comfortably. “And it’s good to see you watching over him, my Speaker,” the princess addressed Sloeleen.
“I think there are a number of messages I need to send around the continent,” Silas spoke to the matter at hand. “And Sloeleen can as well. Are there particular messages you want delivered to particular people?” he asked.
They worked on a list of messages, then Sloeleen was sent off to her tower to begin her deliveries.
“Stay a moment Silas,” Lumene asked before he could head out the door. “There are messages I’d like to ask if you can deliver – such as a message of thanks to the Queen of Faralag, for instance?” the princess asked.
“Speaking to a moving target is always chancy,” Silas replied. “But I can give it a try,” he agreed gamely.
“And can you speak to my own fleet, to confirm for them that I am here safe? I’d like to give them some peace of mind,” she explained.
“I’ll do both of those things as soon as I go run one errand of my own,” Silas replied.
“And what pressing errand does the mighty Abomination have to run?” Lumene asked playfully.
“I need to go talk to Mata,” Silas replied in a neutral voice.
“Oh, of course,” Lumene’s voice was subdued. “I’m sure Jade can help you find her sister.”
Silas nodded his agreement, and waited a second more, but there was no further conversation forthcoming between the two of them, so he nodded his obeisance, then slipped out of the door.
The court lady-in-waiting, Jade, greeted Silas joyfully, and the two spent long minutes together as Silas gave an abbreviated explanation of all that had happened.
“I’d like to go see Mata,” he finally told Jade. “Could you tell me where she is now?”
Foundations Broken and Built Page 25
