“I will have more faith when I get older. Right now, I will believe in what I have seen with my own eyes,” Selenia defiantly argues, running a hand through her hair. “Gabriel must be looking over that kid with all his power. Either that or Cessia is in love with him. Of course, I have a feeling a certain drite had something to do with this victory as well. My point is that the Lich was not a pushover when I first encountered him and I doubt he has lost any of his tenacity. Luke still needs to return before I believe he is safe.”
Her mother lets out an exasperated sigh before casting a spell, which completely repairs the wall. Nimby and Fritz stand in front of the mended wall, staring with stunned dismay at the towering structure. Fritz turns to his blueprints for a second before tearing them up and tossing the pieces into the air. He storms off with Nimby a few steps behind trying to cheer him up.
“You miss the point, Selenia. While you were destined to confront the Lich at the beginning, it is now Luke who must deal with him,” her mother explains, placing a tender hand on Selenia’s shoulder. “There is something brewing in the shadows of Windemere and Luke will be a key to keeping our world alive. He will find others like him and they will be the ones to stand against the coming storm. Yet, do not think that your role in all this is over, Selenia. All of us will have a part to play in the coming events.”
“Nice speech, but I don’t really care about shadows. Windemere has always had dark creatures on the horizon,” Selenia stubbornly contends. She clears her throat and spits off to her side, grinning at her mother’s scowl. “If you know so much about what is going to happen then why don’t you do something about it? Try to stop the disaster before it occurs like the rest of us are trying to do, mother.”
The old elf maiden laughs and gives her daughter a hug. “It is neither my place nor my time to get involved. The coming events have little to do with me, but they have everything to do with Luke’s generation of heroes. Now, I must take my leave. Be easy on the boy when he returns.”
“You know me.”
“That is why I asked.”
The old elf’s voice drifts over the wind as she casts a teleportation spell, disappearing in a shimmer of light. The students are still wandering about the academy, excitedly talking about everything that has happened. Only a handful of students talk about their own experience in battle while others politely avoid the questions from those who were hiding during the attack. A few mentions of Luke’s name catch Selenia’s attention, but she doesn’t react to them. Ignoring everyone around her, Selenia climbs back on top of the wall and patiently awaits Luke’s return.
17
The pain is still growing in Luke’s hands and face as he lets Fizzle gently guide him through the forest. His vision vanished soon after they had left the Caster Swamp and his bleeding hands barely have any feeling in them. Several times, he loses his grip on Fizzle’s tail because of the slippery blood seeping out of his pores. Luke can’t push his body any more, weakly collapsing over a mushroom-covered tree stump. Even his ability to see sound has been hampered due to his ears being burned at their tips. At best, he can sense vague, jerky forms around him. Fizzle quietly lands next to him and begins muttering prayers in dragon tongue.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t end like this,” Luke whispers, pushing off the stump and leaning against it. A few squirrels bound along the ground in front of him while an early morning rain starts to trickle through the trees. The water feels both warm and painful on his horribly burned skin. Luke is barely able to notice a feminine hand caressing his cheek as the rain starts to come down harder.
“It is at times like this that I wish the gods were not so distant. I would heal you if the punishment of eternal sealing were not above my head,” Zaria says, putting Luke’s head in her lap and stroking his hair. “Too many of the gods would jump at the chance to be rid of me. I am their moral compass and many think they are beyond morals. The most I can do is comfort you in your time of passing.”
“I guess I’m going to die if you’re here,” Luke mutters. He starts to feel blood drip out of his mouth and turns so it falls onto the ground instead of Zaria’s dress.
“The potion was very strong, but it was also unfinished,” Zaria explains, wiping his face with a silk handkerchief that smells of lilacs. “As smart as the Lich thinks he is, he is not an alchemist in any way. A few ingredients necessary to bring the potion to its full potency were missing. Furthermore, he was not aware that adding only your blood would make it work slowly when it came in contact with your skin. One must also add part of his or her own body to the cauldron in order to make a life-transferring potion work at its optimal rate.”
“It sure doesn’t feel like the option was weak,” Luke laughs.
“That would be the result of your actions,” Zaria points out with a soothing smile. “Adding the taste of tempered metal to the potion made it acidic, but it also furthered weakened its magical potency. While your actions were foolish and rash, they allowed you to live long enough to get this far.”
Luke coughs violently, splattering the ground and her silk slippers with blood. “It wasn’t enough to get me back to the academy. Fizzle used the last of his magic to save me from the Lich. He’s barely able to keep his eyes open. I guess I wasn’t meant to be a great hero.”
“It is too early to tell,” Zaria states, bending down and giving Luke a kiss on the cheek. “I will see you again, Luke Callindor. Be prepared for the hardships that have been set in front of you.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t I dying?” Luke feebly asks.
Luke can feel a cool, sweet-smelling liquid drip onto his face and hands, mixing with the warm rain. The wet patches of blood on his skin dry and flake off as his damaged flesh painfully reforms. The intense pain he had been feeling is slowly pulled out of his body, left to vanish in the rain. A few minutes later, his eyes are able to see fuzzy shapes. Colors begin to appear before him and the squirrels that he heard come into focus a few yards in front of him.
With the lingering effects of the potion rapidly fading, Luke becomes aware of his head being in someone’s lap. Instead of the soft dress of Zaria under his head, he feels rough breeches with the scent of desert orchids. A slender hand runs through his hair as he turns enough to see an empty potion bottle emblazoned with the blazing sun of Durag sitting next to a backpack stuffed with more potions.
“Is there something you want to tell me, Aedyn?” Luke asks in a confused voice, straining his neck to see his savior’s face. He finally regains all of his vision and looks up into green eyes with a hint of blue.
“That’s rude,” Kira says with a smile.
Luke gets to his hands and knees with a jump, accidentally knocking Fizzle off the tree stump. The drite lets out a small growl before he realizes that someone else is with them and Luke is healed. Fizzle goes to tackle the young warrior at the same time Luke pulls Kira toward him, passionately kissing her on the lips. She kisses back until they realize Fizzle is trapped between them. The drite scrambles to get free, urgently whimpering and squeaking.
“Way to kill the mood, Fizzle,” Luke says, moving away from Kira. The drite’s entire body turns bright red in embarrassment as he flutters out from between them.
“Fizzle sorry. Got emo . . . emat . . . Fizzle happy,” Fizzle stutters, spinning into the air and circling them. “Luke all better and his mate here. Happy day!”
“Mate?” Kira asks, her cheeks blushing immediately.
“It was the best explanation that I could come up with to help him understand what a couple is,” Luke answers, giving her another kiss. “Now, do you mind explaining what you are doing here and how you healed me? I’m more than prepared to use force to get the information out of you.”
Kira gently pushes him away and moves to sit against a nearby tree. She shifts uncomfortably and rubs at her back where a tree root pokes at her. Most of her attention is on the tiny dragon that is quietly hovering above them. Fizzle stares at her with curiosity, which makes
the girl even more nervous about the tiny creature.
“You smell terrible and you got swamp muck on my pants,” Kira claims after she decides to ignore Fizzle and stare at Luke. “I enjoy your . . . enthusiasm with me, but please keep the dirt to yourself. I just had the spadix blood and sweat cleaned out of these. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good cleaner in that academy? Duggan and Kevin are terrible at it. They shrunk or destroyed all of my best dresses weeks ago. I had to convince Lord Skyblade to clean these before he left with Selenia to find you.”
“I’m sorry. I promise to clean them for you when we get back,” Luke swears, standing up and grinning.
He takes her hand to help her up, noticing that she is moving very stiffly. He guesses that she has been walking with the heavy backpack all night. Fizzle lands on her shoulder and Kira tenses up as the adorable creature rubs his scaly head against her skin. Luke can already see her hands quivering as her eyes remained locked on the drite. The sudden purring that comes from Fizzle’s throat makes her giggle while Luke bends down to pick up the heavy bag of potions. She finally calms down as Fizzle takes flight and hovers next to her.
“These potions all have the symbol of Durag on them,” Luke mentions as he quickly looking through the bag.
“Aedyn has a stash in his room and another stash in the infirmary. One of the other female students told me about it a few days ago. So when I saw the spadix coming, I snuck into his room and stole all of the anti-toxins as well as a few healing potions,” Kira explains as they walk through the quiet, dew-bathed forest. “I took that regeneration potion from his room before I left to find you. My weapon, the kusari-gama, allows me to coat the blade with a potion and deliver it from a distance. By the way, I was supposed to hide in the cave during the battle. I convinced Kevin to let me stay by offering to help in the infirmary. I just wanted to let you know why I was actually in the battle.”
Luke puts a finger to her lips, taking a minute to look down at the odd weapon at Kira’s side. Getting a closer look at the weapon, Luke can tell that it is an expensive custom job made by a highly skilled weaponsmith. A few narrow grooves have been forged into the sickle to allow blood to flow off the weapon and the dull metal shaft of the sickle is expertly merged with the chain.
“That is a strange weapon,” Luke states, taking her hand and helping her across a stream.
“You know, it is very rude to interrupt a lady when she is talking. Now, shut up and let me finish talking,’ Kira playfully demands before returning to her story. “As I was saying, I decided to stay and fight, but I only knew how to lash out with the sickle and pull it back with enough control to cause varying degrees of damage. Unfortunately, I’m not that good with this yet, so I was hiding in the chaos and healing people during the fight. Still, the battle was really scary and I don’t want to go through another one lifetime. In fact, I’m going back to Bor’daruk after I finish learning how to use my weapon. The busy life of a merchant’s daughter is more for me than a warrior’s life. My father will accept this since I tried to do as he asked and made some progress. I’m thinking of trying my hand at politics relating to race relations. Though, that entire plan can change once I have more time to think rationally.”
Luke smiles and raises his eyes to the sky. “We never know what the future holds. Maybe you’ll become a better warrior than me.”
“Now, you’re just teasing me,” she says with a small pout.
A few birds are singing in the tree branches as the couple comes across a wide trail in the forest. They are forced to stop by a parade of animals that are traveling across their path. All types of beasts walk next to each other as they scatter into Visindor Forest. Fizzle can be heard talking to a few of them in their own tongue and some of the animals approach Luke to lick at his hand. A full-grown grizzly bear lumbers by next to a young moose while they look toward the forest tracker. The bear lets out a mighty roar before separating from the other animals and heading off alone.
“This is surreal,” Kira whispers as the animals continue to walk past.
“Aminals returning,” Fizzle happily announces as he spins and flips in the air. “They thank Luke. Today day of peace in forest. All aminals be friends. Not food. We all thank hero Luke.”
Luke smiles and blushes as he carefully leads Kira through the parade of animals. A herd of deer stop to let the two pass, Luke quickly getting out of their way. He stops to look back and notices that Fizzle is staying behind to talk to the animals. Luke waves to the small dragon who waves back with his tail and darts out of sight. Without Fizzle’s cheerful demeanor to energize them, the couple continues walking in tired silence until they reach the edge of the killing field. The sun is already above the distant trees, removing the last wisps of a morning fog that had recently coated the clearing. Several students are playing sports in the open area while others are sitting on top of the academy’s fully repaired walls. There are only a few subtle signs left of the battle that happened a day ago.
“Why did they fight, Kira?” Luke suddenly asks in a low, choked voice. “They were only students and they had the choice to go hide. This didn’t concern them.”
“Everyone had their own reasons. Some did it for honor while others did it for the challenge. I know many who did it for Selenia and I heard that the catapult teams did it to honor Fritz,” Kira whimsically explains before gently kissing Luke on the cheek. “In the end, I don’t think it matters why they did it. They simply did it and should be proud of their actions. Just remember that I have to be a spoiled brat when we get back. Everyone will think that I feel asleep in the forest, so you found me and I never gave you any potions to save your life. I’m having enough trouble defending what I did in the battle. Oh, don’t tell them that I actually have deep thoughts or the teachers might expect things from me like attention or good grades. If that happens then I start losing sleep and I don’t have enough make-up to cover that mess.”
“So, did you fight for Selenia?” Luke asks as his curiosity peaks.
Kira narrows her eyes and quickly grabs Luke by the arm to angrily shove him onto the killing field. The students on the wall begin applauding when they see Luke making his way to the academy. He can hear them calling to those in the academy and he catches a glimpse of Selenia watching him from the wall. Luke is surprised when students pour out of the front doors, swiftly making their way toward him.
“You ask too many questions, Luke Callindor,” Kira whispers, slowing her steps and falling behind before the mob of students converges on Luke. She quickly loses sight of him and quietly slips to the edge of the growing crowd. “Especially when you should already know the answers.”
Luke gradually pushes his way into the academy, blushing at the onslaught of attention. He only hopes that Selenia is in the same mood as his classmates. Though, now he could always sneak off with Kira if he gets into trouble. With the Lich and the Hellfire Elf defeated, Luke’s time as a student is finally over. He grins at the thought of ridding himself of academy rules and class schedules. Even better, Luke realizes that no longer being a student means Selenia can no longer boss him around. With his head held high, the victorious forest tracker makes his way to the cafeteria where he can see his friends smiling and waiting.
*****
His friends can only cringe and turn away as Luke is knocked onto the sturdy table. He slips to the floor holding his jaw while Selenia stands above him, massaging her fist. Luke tries to get back up, but falls back down when the room starts spinning. After everything he has been through, a punch to the jaw is the last thing he thought would put him down like this. Aedyn helps Luke to a chair while Selenia glares at Nimby who promptly gives up his seat to her.
“If you ever do another stunt like that, I will magically lock you in one of the classrooms for the rest of the semester,” Selenia angrily threatens, her fists clenched around the chair arms. The arms creak under the strain and begin to splinter before she lets go. “You nearly got yourself killed five times
in one day. The last thing I need to deal with is some reckless hero jumping headfirst into everything. That will not happen again. You hear me! Never again, Callindor!”
“Luke did what he had to do,” Nimby defiantly argues, taking a seat on a nearby stool. “It wasn’t his fault that it was a dangerous day. At least everything turned out for the best.”
Selenia glares at him again and hurls an apple at the halfling. It bounces off his forehead, knocking him backwards and onto the floor. Nimby quickly scrambles behind Aedyn, timidly peeking around the priest’s leg.
“Nimby is right. I did what I thought I had to do,” Luke says with pride. He bravely stares down Selenia whose eyes are filled with brewing fury. “Besides, five times is an exaggeration. It was only once that I almost died when I went off to fight the Lich. I came back alive and that is what is really important.”
Fritz clears his throat for everyone’s attention. “Actually, Selenia is right. You came close to dying five times today.”
“I have to agree with Fritz and Selenia on this,” Aedyn calmly states. He moves away from Nimby to take a seat and the halfling takes a subtle step behind Luke. “You can put the number up to eight if you count the fire trap in the cave, the poisoning by the snake fiends a few days ago, and your first encounter with the Hellfire Elf. I hope you realize that I will not always be there to heal you.”
“That’s three incidents and my fight with the Lich,” Luke begrudgingly concedes. “Where do the other four come from?”
Fritz gets to his feet with a grin and puts on his best lecture hall voice to answer Luke’s question. “There was the blindness during the fight with the Hellfire Elf. Your special ability came in to save you in the end, but it was still not enough to guarantee your victory over the demon. Then, there was when the giant cyclops almost crushing you in its fist and when it almost fell on you in the fountain. That would be two and three, which you could have avoided by being more careful and fighting on the defensive instead of being reckless. The fourth time was when you leapt out of the hole the griffin had made and risked plummeting to your death. I know you yelled for Fizzle, but you didn’t know for sure if he was awake or if he even knew what to do. We almost forgot another near death, which brings the total to nine. Kellia told us that you almost died in your mid-air battle with the griffin. You really should have asked for more help or let the more experienced warriors handle some of these threats.”
Beginning of a Hero (Legends of Windemere) Page 40
