“Did he work from home often?”
“When he was in the city he did. He had a small office here, at the front of the house,” said Sebastian, pointing to the lower windows. “But more often he was out at sea for months on end. Sailing for the southern cities, bringing back tales of exotic food, performers who spit fire and swallowed swords. My mother was the one who was there for us.”
“Don’t you want to see her again?”
“I do. But how do I explain where I’ve been for the last ten years? How do I tell her that my father—her husband—is gone?”
“I don’t know, but don’t you think it’s better to know than to spend your entire life guessing? Even if it’s hard to hear, it will probably give her some closure, don’t you think? And she’ll be happy to see you, without a doubt!”
His friend looked at him before finally giving a small, silent nod. Sebastian walked up the stairs to the large wooden doors, his stride skipping every other step. It was the movement of someone who had climbed those steps hundreds of times before. He may not have been here for many years, but his feet had not forgotten what it was like to come home.
Raylan saw Sebastian hesitate. Then he pushed his uncertainty to the side and gave a firm knock with the large iron ring that hung on the door.
Chapter 8
Maim
The knock echoed through the hallway beyond, and for a moment nothing happened. Raylan saw tension on Sebastian’s face before they heard sounds of someone moving around inside; shuffling feet, the sound of a lock being pulled back. With a deep clunk in the hinges, one of the doors opened. An elderly woman stood in the doorway. She looked at Sebastian and briefly glanced at Raylan behind him.
“Yes? May I help you?”
“Mrs. Wrinkle? Is that you?”
“Wrinkle? My name is Wiggle. I’ve not been called Wrinkle since…well, since the young master Halloar disappeared, I suppose.”
“Mrs. Wiggle, it’s me. Don’t you recognize me? I’m Sebastian.”
“Sebastian…Sebastian?” said the elderly woman, leaning in closer to compensate for her bad eyes. “Dear lord! Sebastian! Could it really be? I didn’t recognize you! You’ve grown so much—and what are you wearing? Where in King’s name have you been?”
Tears ran down the old woman’s face as she pulled Sebastian close and hugged him.
“Please…please come in,” she said, as she held the door open.
Sebastian stepped inside, and Raylan followed him in. The door closed behind them as old Mrs. Wiggle, or Wrinkle—Raylan could not decide which was the more appropriate name—showed them into the front study.
“Please, sit. Sit,” offered the old lady. “Would you both like some wine or ale? I’m sure the master won’t mind.”
Raylan was thirsty after spending the entire afternoon in the tailor's shop, but Sebastian declined.
“No, thank you Mrs. Wrin…Wiggle. While I hate to say so, unfortunately we have other obligations tonight which we must attend. I was hoping to speak to my mother and explain what has happened. Is she nearby, or coming home soon?” Sebastian said hopefully from the edge of his seat.
The elderly woman fell silent. She walked to the empty chair across from them and slowly sank into it. Fresh tears formed in her eyes.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, dear. I thought you knew. I thought you were here just to visit little old me,” said Mrs. Wiggle. “Your mother passed away years ago. I work for a new master in this house now.”
Heavy silence filled the room. Sebastian sat motionless, processing the news he had known to be a possibility but which hope had pushed to the back of his mind.
The old woman stood up and took Sebastian’s head in her arms, pulling him close. Raylan saw his friend’s eyes shining wetly and felt the sting of his own tears welling up. His thoughts were with his own sorrows. His mother and Gavin. Soon, he would have to deliver similar news to his father. The knot in his stomach twisted further.
From the darkness of his mind, Corza’s face floated forward, laughing at his hurt, and for the first time since his brother’s loss Raylan felt something other than guilt, loss and numb regret. Anger seeped into him and quickly swelled. It screamed at him to give Corza what he deserved.
But as quickly as the anger flared, shame followed not far behind. Here he was, getting angry at someone thousands of miles away while his friend had just been confronted with the loss of one of the most important people in his world. At least Raylan had someone to blame for his sadness; something to focus on besides his sorrow. Sebastian had no choice but to go through it.
“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” said Raylan softly.
Sebastian broke away from the old woman and straightened up. He cleared his throat and dried his eyes.
“Perhaps I’ll have that drink after all. If you don’t mind?”
Mrs. Wiggle offered him a glass of red wine, which Sebastian emptied in one gulp. He stayed quiet for a while, clearly trying to come to terms with things as best he could.
“What about my sister? Is she gone, too?” he asked carefully.
“No, she’s still alive,” said Mrs. Wiggle with a smile, happy to be able to bring some good news as well. “She lives near the Sailor’s Gate. Small house on the corner with round windows in a narrow street to the left of the gate. You can’t miss it.”
“Is she…doing well?” said Sebastian.
“I think so. I don’t see her very often, but I did run into her the other day. I believe she’s happily married and has two little rascals of her own. They remind me very much of you both when you were small. Why don’t you go and see for yourself if you have the time?” said Mrs. Wiggle. “She’ll probably be back from the afternoon market by now.”
Sebastian looked at his friend. Raylan shrugged.
“I’m game,” he said in answer to the unasked question.
As they headed out the door, Mrs. Wiggle hesitated.
“I understand you have to go, but before you do…can I ask you to please tell me what happened to Master Halloar?”
Sebastian’s hand froze on the door handle. He was so preoccupied with finding his family that he never actually explained to the old woman what had happened. He turned around.
“He…didn’t make it. I’m sorry that I don’t have the time to tell you all the details, Mrs. Wiggle, and we’re likely to continue our travels soon. But if I can, I would like to drop by and tell you all about it,” said Sebastian.
“I understand, Sebastian. And you’re always welcome, dear. Now go. Go and let your sister know you’re alive. Quickly!”
With that, both Sebastian and Raylan again set out onto the streets. The sun had started the final part of its descent, coloring the clouds red and purple.
“Mrs. Wiggle helped my mother around the house. With my father so often away and my mother busy with running the household and local business in his absence, Mrs. Wiggle was like a second mother to me,” Sebastian explained as he and Raylan moved through the streets.
Raylan gave a polite smile, but could not help feeling an involuntary sting. Two mothers? Growing up, he did not even have one. It was an unexpected, childish, hurtful feeling, especially given the fact that Sebastian had just heard that his mother was gone. Raylan quickly pushed it to the side.
“We don’t have a lot of time left if we’re to make it to the festivities,” said Raylan after they rounded another corner.
“I know. We should hurry. Luckily, the Sailor’s Gate is on our way to the castle from here, so it's not much of a detour,” Sebastian called back as he sped up his pace.
The harbor city of Azurna buzzed with activity. The inns and markets were rarely empty, as the main trade routes from the southern cities that ran over the Great Eastern Divide all came together at the city’s port. Large seafaring ships unloaded their cargo, which was then transferred to the smaller ships travelling further inland via different rivers. Merchants, information brokers, bargain seekers and thieves; all kinds of people constantly came an
d went. The city blossomed under the constant stream of people and their never-ending need for rest, food and entertainment.
But if Raylan and Sebastian had thought the streets crowded during the day, it was nothing compared to the sheer mass of people that flowed along them now. The festival’s first night was about to begin and it seemed every able body had dragged itself into the street to kick off the festivities. Raylan took deep breaths as he followed Sebastian through the crowd. He wondered how Galirras was doing.
Thankfully, the back alleys were a little easier to move through, but not by much. Children were playing soldiers with sticks, men were drinking ale, and women gossiped about what would happen in the next few days.
A door slammed open in front of Raylan just after Sebastian passed it. Tumbling out of it, assisted by a large pair of hands, was a man who landed heavily against the wall on the other side of the alleyway. The impact did not seem to have much effect; he simply got up and staggered off, jabbering about going to look for his next drink.
Raylan noticed several people's heads turn to follow Sebastian in his brightly colored outfit. In comparison to the ordinary folks of the city, he stood out like a jester amongst monks. Raylan did not think his friend noticed, or at the very least did not seem to mind. He was too focused on his family reunion.
After a few more streets, they turned a corner and looked straight at a large gate built within high city walls. Behind it lay a stone bridge, large enough for two wagons to pass each other, crossing the wide river toward the castle. The large gate contained two iron portcullises, one on the city side and one at the waterfront.
“That’s the Sailor’s Gate,” said Sebastian. “We’re almost there.”
Behind the gate, Raylan saw the castle of Azurna. The structure rose directly from the river, as if built on the back of a giant turtle. Its large stone walls had been built to resist constant wear and tear from the moving water, which was forced to split in two by the castle island before being allowed to rejoin at the other end of it.
“It’s massive,” remarked Raylan.
“Come on. I think it’s this way,” said Sebastian, heading for a smaller street to the left.
Before long, a small house with round windows came into view. This time Sebastian did not hesitate at all. He knocked on the door and waited, but there came no sound from within to indicate someone was on their way. He knocked again. Still no answer.
“Maybe she got held up by the crowds,” suggested Raylan.
His friend walked around to the back of the house. Raylan was surprised to see a small garden, fenced off by a low stone wall. Most cities were too crammed to offer space for a garden—a privilege held only by those wielding religious power, or the very rich. A thick tangle of grapevines grew upward supported by a wooden frame; it was too high for Sebastian or Raylan to see the other side. Sebastian peered through the leaves of the vines to check if anyone was in the garden.
“Hello.”
Startled, both men looked down.
“Hello to you too,” said Sebastian to the young girl beside him.
The girl’s hair was full of tangles. A few smears on her face were evidence of her outside activities. Her clothes were basic, with a few patches here and there covering everyday wear and tear. She could not have been more than five years old.
“What yah doing, mister? Mommy says it’s bad to peek into people’s houses.”
“She has a point,” said Sebastian.
“So, why’d you do it then?”
The girl had a smirk on her face that clearly showed she enjoyed being on this side of the interrogation for once. Raylan suppressed a chuckle when he saw the look on Sebastian’s face. With his friend lost for words at the child’s logic, Raylan jumped in.
“My friend here is looking for someone he hasn’t seen for a very long time. We were told she lives in this corner house with her children,” said Raylan.
“Why did it take so long?” asked the girl, tilting her head to look at them.
“He was very far away,” said Raylan.
“Do they all wear those silly clothes there?”
The girl stepped forward to touch the green fabric of Sebastian’s new clothes. Raylan saw Sebastian roll his eyes at the remark.
“Not so much. But listen…I was wondering if perhaps you know who lives in this house?”
Before the girl could answer, a small metal clank sounded. The creaking of wood announced the opening of a small door in the garden fence around which a woman stuck her head.
“There you are. Emily, stop bothering those men and get back in here. It’s almost supper time,” said the woman, who threw an apologetic look at Raylan and Sebastian as she went back into the garden.
“But Mother,” said the girl as she ran to the gate. “The man in the strange clothes says he is looking for you.”
“What are you talking about?” said the woman as she came back out.
Raylan had already seen Sebastian’s face change when he saw the girl’s mother for the first time. Had he not, the resemblance between the two would still be enough for Raylan to know Sebastian had found the family he was looking for.
Sebastian slowly walked over to where the girl held her mother’s skirt. The woman looked at them questioningly, keeping a protective hand in front of her daughter.
“Hey, Sis.”
The woman looked at Sebastian. Her eyes went down to his boots and back up again, stopping at his face. Raylan saw a mixture of confusion and wonder cross her face. Then her eyes grew wide as she recognized who stood in front of her.
“Seb? Is that you? It is you, isn’t it?”
The woman jumped forward to hug her brother, pulling young Emily, who still held onto her mother’s dress, with her.
“How? Where did you come from? You look so different, and I don’t mean the clothes. What happened to your cheek?”
Tears rolled down Sebastian's cheeks, ten years of pain, hardship and survival released in a single moment. The embrace broke the wall Raylan's friend had built around himself to survive the mines and cope with the losses and horrors of those dark years.
“What's wrong?” asked Sebastian’s sister.
“Nothing. There were just so many times I thought this would never happen. I—I’m just glad to be here,” said Sebastian.
His sister took a step back.
“But what happened? And who’s your friend?”
Sebastian smiled.
“This is Raylan. Without him I wouldn’t have made it here. Raylan, this is my sister, Elena.”
Raylan was about to say “Hello” when the cry of a second child came from inside the garden.
“Excuse me.”
Elena disappeared through the tiny gate. The little girl was hot on her tail. Sebastian and Raylan quickly followed to see what was wrong, but by the time they entered the garden, the small baby boy who had been the source of the sound had already quieted down in his mother’s arms.
“He fell over, with his little clumsy baby feet. Right, Tobias?” said Elena in a soft, loving voice. “Tobias, I would like you to meet your uncle, Sebastian. Seb, this is my youngest, Tobias. And you already met Emily, of course.”
She put Tobias down. He could not have been older than a year and a half. Right away, the baby boy started wobbling around again, his tiny legs trying to keep up with where he wanted to go. With a large smile, he wrapped his two little hands around Sebastian’s leg and bent backward to look at his newly-introduced uncle’s face.
“He likes you,” said Elena with a smile.
Sebastian picked up the smiling boy and handed him over to his sister again.
“It’s great to see you’re doing so well, Sis.”
“How did you find me?”
“Mrs. Wiggle. We just came from the old house.”
“Ah. So you know about mother?” asked his sister.
Sebastian nodded.
“And father? Is he here with you as well?
Sebastian sho
ok his head.
“How? What happened? I need to know,” said his sister quietly. “No, wait. First, come inside. Have a seat.”
“We were boarded off the coast of the Dark Continent. Father fell defending the ship,” said Sebastian, deliberately sparing his sister the details as they followed Elena inside.
Sebastian turned his head away as he spoke, as if it was his fault.
“I was captured, forced to work for them until we were able to escape. I’ve been looking for a way home all these years, but it wasn’t until Raylan came along that we were able to cross the Divide and get back here.”
As her brother fell silent, Elena grabbed his hand. Her eyes shone with tears.
“I’m ashamed to say I gave up on you both years ago,” she confessed. “Mother never did, though. She always hoped for you both to return. But I—I moved on.”
She gave a sad smile, even as a tear fell for the loss of their father.
“And I don’t blame you,” added Sebastian with a meek smile of his own.
Tobias pulled on Elena’s arm, and her daughter gave her a hug.
“Are you sad, Mommy?” asked Emily.
“Just a little,” Elena said as she gave both children a firm hug. “And a whole lot of happy.”
She picked up her food basket.
“Perhaps it’s best to keep the details for another day,” she said. “You and your friend are welcome to stay for supper.” To Raylan, she said, “The summer festival started today. In this house, we traditionally celebrate with a large supper. Lucas, my husband, will be home soon. I’m sure he’ll be very glad to meet the both of you.”
“I’m sorry, Elena,” said Raylan. “I know Sebastian would love to stay here tonight, more than anything. However, we’re required to attend Lord Algirio’s festivities...which are about to start, so we need to leave.”
“At the castle? But you just got here,” protested Elena.
“I know. I’m sorry. When I decided to join Raylan’s group, I signed up for a few things I have to see through,” apologized Sebastian. “But I’ll come back tomorrow, I promise. They’re keeping us all camped just outside the city walls in one of the meadows toward the beach. You can come and visit us there if you wish.”
Wavebreaker (Book II of the Stone War Chronicles): Part 1 - Trickle Page 16
