by Bill Albert
“I have one,” the Eighth Minister said, and they all turned to look at him. “Someone whose beliefs and teachings we are all well aware of. Someone we have all known since our childhoods and who has been a calm, steady voice in our society. Jarson, that is who should sit in the throne.”
“Jarson, the entertainer?” The Ninth Minister asked after a moment of consideration.
“Not just an entertainer,” the Eighth Minister said without malice. “He shown his skills at recognizing what the citizens want and believe in. Through his entertainment he has taught lessons on what is good in our world without forgetting what is bad.”
“Storytelling and holding the throne are two different things,” the Sixth Minister said calmly. He continued ignoring the Third Minister’s rolling his eyes. “In his stories he has complete control of the characters and situations. In real life he does not.”
“Yet one can help influence the other,” the Second Minister said with a raised eyebrow. “A life can influence art and art can also influence life.”
“Correct,” the Eighth Minister nodded.
“Still,” the Third Minister said leaning forward. “It’s easy to control the outcome when you know what happened and why in fiction. In life we don’t always have that certainty.”
As the debate went on for the next several hours the Second Minister, for the First time in a long time, started to relax. This was the steady, regular debate that used to always take place at the Circle of Ministers. Several months ago, this had been the norm, now it was the exception.
The sun was pas its peak when the First Minister finally spoke.
“This Jarson is a good, and wise giant with great insights. He knows how to read what’s happening around him. I have seen his entertainments and found them quite remarkable.”
Though they had no memories of the First Minister ever leaving his chair and knew that none of the players had been into the Council room, none of them doubted what he was saying.
“However, I suspect, as the author, he has spent most of his private life away from the stage. The exposure that comes with the throne will not be to his liking. A king, he is not, but our friend has probably already solved our next debate.”
The Eighth Minister smiled and nodded his thanks as he glanced at the vacant chair where the Fourth Minister usually sat.
“I have someone in mind,” the Third Minister said and even those who always sided with him tensed up. “I know someone who would thrive in the exposure of the throne and whose dedicated his entire life to preserving the Land of Starpoint.”
He was interrupted by a bell ringing and they all turned to look at where the stairs rose up from the level below them. There were only a few things that would warrant interrupting a Circle of Ministers session, but they knew the cause of this one.
There was a steady stream of heavy footsteps and soon Mekon entered the room. Despite the casting and healing potions he had taken he still looked weak and weary. His eyes were dark and ragged, and he moved slowly.
“My Lords,” he said respectfully when he was standing in front of them all. “On my honor, I have led the caravan bringing the assassin to us for execution. I have also served as the giant Lords loyally and faithfully for many years.”
“You have,” the First Minister said you have been one of our most talented and trusted agents in the field.”
“What of Gallif?” the Third Minister asked quickly. “Is she here now?”
“No, my lord. I’m afraid she is not with us.”
“She escapes!” the Third Minister said angrily with his eyes wild.
“No, my Lord,” Mekon said bending his head to the floor. “She has not escaped.”
“If she is not with you, nor has she escaped, then where is she?” the Ninth Minister asked.
“She’s dead,” he said reluctantly.
There was a long moment of silence as they all consider the news.
“You’re sure?” the Third Minister asked. Despite the way he spoke there was a gleam in his eyes.
“Yes, my Lord,” Mekon said. “We were attacked by a massive heard of aquilus, there were hundreds of them. They overran us and slaughtered everyone they found. Gallif was hidden in one of the caravans. It was burned to the ground by the elves.”
“You are positive she died?” the Second Minister asked.
“Yes,” he nodded. “On my honor as a servant of the giant Lords, I saw the charred remains of the body myself.”
CHAPTER NINE: RESURRECTIONS
He let the metal helmet with the faceless cast that had allowed him to become Acrufix drop the ground and just stared at her.
She didn’t understand how it was possible as she took several deep breaths and stared back at him. Finally, with tears in her eyes, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. He accepted her embrace and pulled her closer than ever before until she finally pulled back and looked at him up closely. She wipes some dirt off of his skin, brushed his hair back, and looked at him softly. She glanced up at down at him but stayed close enough to keep her arms wrapped around him.
She finally gathered her thoughts and said, “We found a body and there were no signs of Jayus. We thought he abandoned you.”
“No,” Luvin said gently putting his palm against her cheek. “We were surrounded by the Others; they were in a frenzy and there was no escape. We tried to back out but ended up in a corner. He ordered me to concentrate and take shadow form so he could protect me. It was amazing. I’d never seen anyone fight like that, even you haven’t matched his skill. He knew what he had to do to get forgiveness for becoming that character of Acrufix. He saved me to please his God. I shadow formed. He held them back until I was safe. Then they overpowered him.”
Gallif looked into his eyes with a shiver of guilt. She had never considered the possibility that she could have been wrong. She was reminded how hard it was to get people to believe her about the elves. She moved her hands to his shoulders and squeeze them tight.
“How did you end up back in Outbound? Or here?”
He took a moment before answering. “When we were in the library, I was desperate to find a cure for the tarna eggs. There was someone else there. Someone who Leading me to the books. Again, in the swamp there was someone there who kept leaning me in the right direction. Rayjen came to me, so I could help you.”
Gallif rose and looked him in the eyes with no doubt that he was telling the truth.
“While I was still in shadow form, he came to me again and they could see him clearly. He said the best way for me to help you was from the outside. Staying hidden until you needed me the most.
After that’s I kept going south west until I hit the road. Then, mostly in shadow form, I went back to the restaurant in outbound were Jayus had buried it. Then I just had to wait,” he said looking into her green eyes.
She looked back at him, cupped his face in her hands, then kissed him on the lips. “Thank you,” was all that she could say.
***
Respectfully they recovered the bodies of the hobgoblins that had been killed. They carefully placed them in a row near a flower bush and left them there for the hobgoblin priests. The hobgoblins had their own ritual for the dead and Gallif and Luvin knew it would be wrong to continue any further. They paid their respects, kneeled gracefully, then quietly left the flower field.
Deciding what to do with Acrufix was another problem they dealt with. They dug a grave and had laid the armored remains inside them when Keta and Ganna returned to the campsite.
“What happened?” Keta asked solemnly.
“He attacked us; they were killed the bravely defending me. Then Luvin killed him.”
“Thank you, Luvin,” Ganna said. “They will go to the great beyond with honors.”
“I’m honored,” Luvin said and nodded.
“Your armor,” Keta said pointing at Luvin. “You are Acrufix, the legendary Elven killer.”
“No,” Luvin said quickly. “Acrufix is more of a le
gend than a fact,” he said. He looked at Gallif and she nodded for him to continue. “The Giant Lords have enlisted for, at least, humans to appear as Acrufix in certain parts of the Land of Starpoint as a keeper of the faith to keep the public fear of the aquilus active. In return and helped keep the loyalty to the Giant Lords.”
Keta and Ganna look at each other showing no sign of surprise.
“We hobgoblins are taught from an early age that, well good and evil do exist, there is absolutely no clear divisions. The difference is not as easy as black and white or night and day. There are only infinite shades of gray,” Keta said. “Somewhere in there is the truth.”
“You serve the Giant Lords,” Gallif said slowly.
“We believed that they are closer to the light than others. They have given us no reason to think not,” Keta said.
“Perhaps they had some of their light,” Ganna said looking at the body of Acrufix.
“There is much more than that,” Gallif said. She kneeled down so she could look at the hobgoblins eye to eye. Luvin did the same next to her. “The elves, they are not nearly as cocooned in the dark as we think. There was a curse, cast during the Dragon war, that took away their ability to choose.”
Keta and Ganna looked at each other for a long while. There was no sign of what they were thinking or how they were reacting until Keta spoke. “This could change everything we know. Can the Giant Lords rescue them?”
Gallif didn’t say anything, but the look on her face answered his question.
“This may be the answer to our quandary,” Ganna said than explained. “Before, we were trying to get information from Mekon. There was… Interference? The feeling that there was something going on. Maybe even something listening in. We could get nothing, read nothing, but there was still the feeling that there was someone else there.”
“Could that be how he found us?” Luvin asked nodding at Acrufix’s body.
“Yes,” Ganna admitted dejectedly. “I fear that was how he found out where you were. We should get moving quickly.”
“No, I think we are safe,” Gallif politely disagreed. “If he brought others with them, they would have been here by now. I imagine Acrufix would want to boast that he caught and executed me single-handedly. He started to believe in his own legend and wouldn’t have guessed he could be taken down.”
“What are we going to do with him?” Luvin asked.
“Bury him in a humble, unmarked grave,” she said picking up the shovel she had found in the remaining wagon. “Let this part of the legend remain a mystery.”
No words, no prayers, and no monument. In 20 minutes, there was just a fresh patch of dirt in a field in the middle of nowhere that marked the resting place of a man whose face no one would ever know.
Keta and Ganna asked for a moment of privacy to bury their honored friends. Gallif and Luvin walked away from the campsite until they were out of sight. The sky was clear and bright from the stars and they realize the sun would be up in a few hours.
“You weren’t always this tall, were you? Gallif asked with a smile. He was now almost as tall as she was, and she bounced on her tiptoes to gain some height on him.
Well, you know how that happens,” he said shyly.
“You’re grown up in a lot of ways.”
“So, have you” he said as he turned to face her and pulled her close. “What happened in the swamp after we got separated?”
“Maura was there.”
“I know,” he said losing some of his confidence, but he decided to clear the air. “I saw you in her, I was in the sanctum in shadow form and saw the two of you together. Do you love her?”
Gallif blinked before she spoke. “I did, I did love her, but she died. She was killed by one of the others who had gone frenzy,” she stepped into him and wrapped her arms around him. She chose not to tell him the about, Varet, being the killer.
“Thank you for being honest with me.”
Suddenly feeling tired she leaned in and gave him a long, slow, gentle kiss on the lips.
They laid down on the long grass and she slept next to him until the sun rose.
***
Luvin woke the next morning with the sun in his eyes. He was surprised to find Gallif gone but did not worry. He knew that she would not leave without him.
Still wearing the metal armor that he had dug up the dirt in outbound he started to walk back to the campsite. He stopped only where he had left spark, his mount, hidden the night before and led the horse by the reins back to where the wagon had been parked.
Keta and Ganna were dismantling the fire and had everything else ready to go. Before Luvin could ask anything there was a creak from a hinge as the door to the carriage open. Gallif jumped out and landed square on the dirt wearing her boots.
The drab cotton uniform she had been forced to wear as a prisoner was gone. Again, she wore the red tinted leather armor that fit her perfectly. She had her flame sword she on her right side and the Frost sword on her left. The backpack was slung over her shoulders and, Luvin knew the 12-inch blade was also strapped to her leg. Her hair was full and bright red and the cast from the armor had removed the scar from her face.
She closed the door, whistled, and snow galloped from the bushes he had been chewing on and stopped right next to her. She took his reins and mounted her companion with a broad smile.
She took the face cast metal helmet from where it had been hung on snow saddle and tossed it to Luvin who caught it with ease.
“Let’s get going,” she said boldly. “We’ve got execution to get to,” she smiled, and snow bolted from the campsite at full speed with the rest of them close behind.
CHAPTER TEN: PATH CROSS
They rode steadily but cautiously for most of the day. Reluctantly Gallif admitted that any pretense of her being innocent would be immediately lost if someone saw she was armed. After much convincing by Luvin she agreed not to wear the swords but would not completely surrender them. She placed them into her cast backpack keeping them just under the flap. It would be complicated but, if she needed them, she could retrieve them quickly.
They decided, due to the proclamation declaring Gallif as fugitive kind, that they would avoid the main roads and larger towns as much as possible. In addition, when there are any signs of other people ahead, Gallif would ride surrounded by the others to give the impression she was a prisoner if someone recognized her.
The first two towns they went through without incident. They were small towns of just a few dozen people each who were taking care of their own business and not bothered with much else. A dwarven couple offered some fresh apples for a few coins and Gallif made sure all the horses were fed properly. Three halfling boys ran up to greet Acrufix when they dismounted in the second town. They swarmed him with questions and Luvin gave them the thrill of a lifetime by letting them hold his sword while, at the same time, warning them how they must be cautious when yielding a weapon. Though Gallif could not see his face through the mask she knew he could see hers when she smiled and nodded at him for a job well done.
At the third town on that first day’s ride they decided to stop for dinner. The town had about 150 residents and was prospering quite well. They chose a smaller restaurant on the outskirts to stop for good meal. Gallif, Keta, and Ganna found a table in the corner to eat at. After the two previous towns it was discomforting getting attention got here. Two of the Giant Lords militia guards and a known female prisoner was certainly noticeable.
Despite the conditions they ate heartily on a festive meal of steak, potatoes, and the freshest corn any of them had ever had. As a farm girl Gallif had grown up on heavy meals like this and she enjoyed every tasty bite. When the court arrived, it was still steaming hot and she speared it with her knife. The whole event reminded her of home and the whispers of her family came back to her. She closed her eyes, let the aromas tease her senses, and smiled warmly.
“Would you like us to move to another table?” Keta asked.
Gallif’s
eyes snapped open and she remembered her hobgoblin allies and realized they were staring at her. She quickly put the ear of corn down on the plate and started hacking up her steak.
They had finished up their meal, deciding not to take dessert, and were starting to get up from the table when two men approach them. One was over 7 feet tall but didn’t have the proper bodily proportions that were natural to Giants. He was a tall and stick thin human with shaggy hair and a single eyebrow over both eyes. Behind him was an average size human who, compared to him, seemed incredibly small. He kept his eyes, which protruded from his face like bugs eyes, centered on Gallif.
The taller one leaned forward and put both his hands on the table trying to intimidate Gallif.
Gallif looked up at him and said, “Hello.”
“You kill King Lord Giants!” He said pointing a finger at her from a hand bigger than Gallif’s face.
“No,” she said matching his presence with her honesty. “I did not kill King Paleth.”
“Proclamation says you do,” he said and pointed towards the wall near the door. They all looked to see there were several official proclamations on the wall, most very old and yellowed, and while many had no connection with Gallif there was an empty spot were something had recently been hanging.
The tall man smiled, looking at the empty wall space, then looked down at Gallif with a grim face. “How you hide that?”
The smaller man darted from one side of his friend to the other glancing from Gallif to the empty spot on the wall and back again.
Keta stood and looked up at the man. Despite their size differences it was obvious he was not being intimidated.
“As an official officer of the Giant Lords I order you to cease and desist and leave this woman in peace.”
“What do you if I do not?” The tall man asked, and they could tell from his breath that he had drank more than a few jugs of ale.
