by Travis Kerr
“I still don’t understand why what happens in the rest of the world would concern you,” Drom persisted. “If you can stay hidden, than what the mages do shouldn’t make any difference for you one way or another. I don’t see why you would want to get involved.”
“For the same reason that anyone would want to get involved. The world has become sick. If something is not done it can only get worse, and eventually it would affect the bree as well. I would like to heal the world before it makes everyone sick, including my bree. The three of you are the means to that end. You are the ones who have a chance to heal this world. You might be the only ones who can.”
“How can I do anything to save the world?” Raine asked suddenly. “I can understand how Drom can help; he’s a battle mage. I can even understand how Raiste can help. Since the mages are going to be hunting him, that might be something that can be used against them I suppose, though I don’t really know how. But not me. I’m good with a blade, but so are a thousand more. There’s nothing at all special about me.”
“That’s not true at all. You are your father’s daughter after all. You have a fire burning in your heart, one that the world will need before it is done. Even were that not true, you will all need strong blades before this comes to an end. Right now it is only the three of you, but in order to fight against the mages, you will need an army. That is something that, unfortunately, I cannot help you with.
“However, I believe that your fire will help burn away the fear that keeps most men frozen. Few men are happy with the way the mages control the world. They need someone to show them how to fight back, and that is something you can provide them with. They will also need someone to follow. That person, I believe, would be your friend Raiste. Most important of all they need someone to believe in. That person would be you, Drom.”
“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned my father. What do you know of him?”
“He was once a lot like you are now,” the old king replied sagely. “Long before you were born, he tried to rebel against the elders in your clan, much like you did. He wanted to change things for the better too. One of the saddest days in his life was when you had to leave the village.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” She screamed. “My father was the one who ordered me to leave the village! Sure, it was the elders that had wanted it, but he was chief! The final decision had been his, and he chose to force me to leave!”
Drom was glad he had a hand on her shoulder, meant to provide comfort more than anything else. If he hadn’t, he feared she would have attacked the old man then and there, which he was certain would have been an entirely useless gesture, just as it had been before, and would only infuriate the feral woman even more.
“He knew that if you stayed then the fire inside you would be smothered under the elders ways, just like it had for him,” the wizened man replied calmly. His calm demeanor while facing an angry person reminded Drom of the way Raiste had been when he had been angry with the assassin, after they had killed Sloan and his guards. “He didn’t want to see that fire die in you, so instead he sent you out into the world, where the atrocities of the mages would only fan it further. As I said before, the world will need that fire now.”
This was apparently not the answer that Raine had been expecting. Drom felt her calm beneath his strong hand, though she still trembled a little from the strong emotions coursing through her.
“Your people will need your help soon as well,” the old man continued. “Things are not the same now as they were when you left. As you already know, they have been paying a tribute to the mages to retain their anonymity. The mages have been raising that tribute regularly, and soon your people will no longer be able to afford to pay it. Once that happens, the mages will begin an assault on the ferals that they can’t hope to win.”
“No! We have to do something! We have to go help them!”
“You will need an army at your back before you can be of any use to your people. Nor is it only the ferals that the mages have been doing this to. They have been increasing taxes on everyone, and have been increasing their military at the same time. They are preparing for a war, a war with the entire world. To the best of my knowledge, which is extensive, the mages do not know for certain where this war will start or which race will strike back first, so they are preparing to attack anywhere or everywhere should they need to.
“You couldn’t hope to fight the mages all on your own, even with the battle mage by your side. Right now, you’re not in any condition to be fighting anyway, and we both know that. To win this war you will need to do things correctly, and running off into danger before you are prepared for it will not help anyone.”
“I have to do something! I can't allow my people to get slaughtered if I can do something about it!”
“Something will be done, young lady, I can assure you of that. However, there is more than enough time before there’s any danger of that happening. The mages are getting ready, but they are far from being fully prepared yet. Before you can do anything to help the ferals, you have to be prepared. If you try to go to them now you will not be helping them. The only thing you would accomplish would be to join them in a fate that I’m sure you would rather prevent.”
“So what do you propose we should do then?” Drom asked quickly before Raine could reply.
The bree ruler was right, he knew. They needed to think in a level head in this situation, and Raine was not doing that. He could not blame her. If he had just heard that the entire sorvinian race was in danger of being wiped out, he would likely feel the same way she did at that moment.
Or was that a danger? he wondered fearfully. He had just said that the entire world was in danger in this war. Surely that would include the sorvinian homelands as well.
“First, you will have to wait for you friend Raiste to return. Once the three of you are active again, the eyes of the mages will be pointed directly at you. The three of you, at that point, should begin to inflame the hearts and minds of the rest of the populace. The mages have been oppressing them for so long that it should not take much to motivate them. What you are starting here is a war, make no mistake about it, and it needs to be treated as such. Wars are fought with men. The three of you alone will not be enough.”
“I never wanted a war,” Drom said solemnly. “Couldn’t there be another way? Surely the mages don’t want a war either, even if they are preparing for one. Perhaps if we talked with them we might be able to avoid this outcome.”
“Some of the ruling mages may listen to reason. There are even some that may come to the aid of your cause. These men will likely come to you. However, I advise caution. There are others that may attempt to trick you by using that same ploy. Until you are certain you can trust them, you should not. I may be able to help you at that time. As I said before, my bree have access to information that most people never could.”
“So you’re suggesting we just wait here?! If that’s the case, than you shouldn’t have come! Why would you tell me about this, only to tell me not to try to do anything?!” Raine was shaking hard under Drom's hand. He understood how she was feeling, but didn’t know what he could do to comfort her.
“For now, the battle mage needs to continue his training, and you need to rest while you can. Your friend will be here soon enough. Then it will be time for you to act. It will be some time before this war begins in earnest. By then you will be fit to fight again. In the meantime, I will continue to have my bree doing what they do best, watching, and listening. Now I must get back to my people. I will return to you when I am needed, or when I have more information that you need. It was a pleasure meeting you, battle mage. Study hard, young Drom, and learn well.”
“Wait!” Drom said quickly before the small king could disappear. “What did you mean when you said that Raine wasn’t in any condition to fight? Is there something wrong with her? Is there anything I can do to help her?”
The small man chuckled lightly. “S
he will be just fine,” he replied. “My bree learn many secrets. Not all of those secrets, however, are mine to tell. Do not worry yourself over it. Instead, you need to focus on your training. You are strong, battle mage, but you have the potential to become much stronger. You will need all of that strength to survive what is coming. Learn to control your power battle mage, but be cautious. If you are not careful, that power may come to control you instead.”
Before Drom could reply or ask any further questions the miniature king vanished, returning to wherever it was he had come from. The messenger, who had named himself Bree, though Drom now understood that it wasn’t truly a name, remained.
“Bree should go back with Bree now, battle mage. Thank you for meeting with Bree. If you need Bree for anything, just call for Bree. There’s always a chance that Bree might hear you, and if Bree does, Bree will come right away. Goodbye, battle mage. Goodbye, pretty feral lady. Bree hopes to see you again sometime soon.”
That said the small messenger disappeared as well, leaving Drom and Raine staring blankly at the empty space he had occupied only a heartbeat before. Raine still shook underneath his strong hand. Now that they were alone he bent down and held her in his arms until the shaking subsided. At first she stiffened, and he thought that she might even push him away, but instead she slowly relaxed and melted into his embrace.
“So those two were certainly strange,” he commented once she had regained control of herself.
“I thought that the messenger was extremely annoying,” she replied. “I couldn’t understand half of what he said. It makes me wonder if their ruler sent that one on purpose, just to annoy me.”
“I don’t think so. I got the impression that all of the bree are like that, with the exception of their leader. Thankfully, he can speak normally. I’m not sure if I could have followed that conversation if he was talking in the third person the entire time, like his messenger was.”
Raine didn’t reply, though Drom was certain that she agreed. She had already said that she had found the messenger’s method of communication annoying, and Drom believed that to be an understatement. He didn’t think it necessary to tell her that he thought the same thing.
After all, who wouldn’t?
Several minutes went by, with Drom just holding her, before the smell of burning meat caught their attention.
The food!
In everything that had happened they had completely forgotten that their dinner was already on the fire! Drom jumped up quickly and leaped to the fire, where Raine's meal was just beginning to scorch on one side.
He deftly flipped it over with the tips of his fingers, nearly burning them on the sizzling grease. Luckily the slab of meat wasn’t completely ruined. It was slightly blackened, but wasn’t burned through completely. He turned back to the pot that his stew was simmering in, to discover that Raine was already attending to it. His stew wouldn’t have burned, he knew. They had been talking to the bree for a fairly long period of time, but not long enough to harm the boiling vegetables.
Raine removed the pot from the fire, apparently satisfied that the stew had cooked for long enough. The thick slab of meat took a little longer to finish, but in short order the two retired to the living room to eat their meals.
Drom remained silent for the first part of the meal, the vague words of the bree leader foremost in his mind. He had said that Raine was not in any condition to fight. When he suggested that Drom continue his training until Raiste returned, he had told Raine to relax during that time instead.
Was something wrong with Raine?
“What did the bree leader mean when he said that you were not in any condition to fight?” Drom asked, failing in his attempt to sound nonchalant. “Is everything alright with you?”
“I'm fine,” Raine answered, just a little too quickly in Drom's opinion.
Drom was far from being convinced. Had she been fine, she wouldn't have stopped trying to capture the bree messenger when he told her to, Drom knew. If anything, it only would have inflamed her more.
“Just drop it, OK?”
Drom tried, not wanting to anger the volatile feral woman. Still, the question continued to bother him. If there was something going on that would keep her out of a fight, it was something that he needed to know in the unlikely event that there was one. Of course, he had other reasons as well. After several minutes in complete silence, the question began to sit too heavy on his mind.
“Look Raine, I'm not entirely sure what it is that's going on between us, but whatever it is, I can say that, for my part, I care about you more than just as a friend. The bree said I should concentrate on my practice, but how am I supposed to concentrate when someone I care about might be in danger? I understand that you have your secrets, and if there’s something that you don’t want to talk about I understand, but if there's something wrong with you, I need to know about it. You should know you can talk to me about anything.”
“I told you, there’s nothing wrong with me, so you can stop your worrying. I’ll be fine.”
“If there’s nothing wrong with you, than why did you sit down when that bree messenger told you to? We both know that it’s not really in your character to listen to someone you know, let alone someone you don’t. Please, just tell me what's going on with you? We can figure whatever it is out together.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. Look Drom, I like you too, but this is something I just have to deal with on my own. If we were in one of the port cities I would have taken care of it already. It’s probably too late for that now. I’m not even sure if I would want to really. It doesn’t matter. I’ll talk about it when I’m ready, alright? I just have to figure this out first.”
“You don’t have to do it all on your own Raine,” Drom said, almost pleading with the feral woman. He couldn’t rest until he knew what it was that was troubling her. He certainly wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his practicing. “You know, no matter what it is, I’ll be there for you. I’m sure that Raiste will say the same thing once he gets here. Just tell me what I can do and I’ll do it, if there’s anything I can do to help. If not, at least tell me what it is. I can’t stand waiting any longer.”
“The only thing that telling you about this would do would be to worry you further. I understand how you feel, but this isn’t something that you, or anyone else, can really help me with right now. I have to do this on my own.”
“Please, could you at least tell me what it is? I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about anyone else in my life. I might even love you. The only thing I know for sure is that, no matter how bad it might be, it can’t be worse than not knowing. Please, just talk to me.”
“You might even love me? Really?” Raine repeated softly, then paused, as if digesting this information. She seemed on the verge of making some sort of decision, though Drom didn’t know what she might have been thinking.
“Well, we’ve been spending nearly every waking minute together, even sleeping in the same bed, for most of the winter. I wouldn’t want to change any of that for a minute. I know that we were only supposed to be spending time together like this as friends. That was what we agreed it was when we first started this. I’m not even sure if what I feel is love. I’ve never felt like this before anyway, that much is certain. I can’t think of what I would do if you weren’t here with me. I’m sorry if that’s not how you wanted it to be.”
“No, I mean, that’s alright. I haven’t wanted to say anything because I didn’t want to ruin what we have together, but I think I love you too. Let me ask you a question. If you had the choice, I mean if it wasn’t just the two of us here, and you could be with someone else if you wanted, would you still want to be with me like this? Would you still want the two of us to be together?”
“Of course,” he answered automatically, almost without thinking. He had been thinking similar things himself for quite some time, but like her hadn’t said anything, not wanting to ruin what they had.
“What ab
out more than that? I mean, what about things like getting married, having children together; the things that normal couples do?” she pressed.
This was a bit more than he had thought about, and the question was enough to give him pause.
Is that really what I want?
He wasn’t even sure what to call their relationship yet, and hadn’t even considered taking things to that level. He certainly hadn’t thought that she might have.
Could she be suggesting that she wants me to propose to her?
He wasn’t certain what she wanted him to say, but decided not to try and guess. If he proposed and that wasn’t what she wanted, for instance, it might make things awkward between them. That was the last thing he wanted. Instead, he decided that honesty might be the best course of action here.
“To be honest with you, I hadn’t really thought about it,” he answered truthfully. “I wasn’t even sure what we were yet, if we were just friends enjoying each others companionship like it was meant to be in the beginning, or something more than that. Now that you’re asking me, I think that I might, if that’s something you would want as well. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that, with everything that’s going on, we won’t really be able to settle down like other couples would. But if you’re asking if I want you to stay with me, than the answer is definitely yes.”
Her response was completely unexpected. She pounced to her feet, the small amount of what remained of her dinner falling to the floor unheeded, and fell against him. Barely managing to keep his bowl of stew balanced, he carefully set it down on the floor before it spilled its contents on the white fur of the bear at his feet. With his arms free, he met her embrace, pulling her tightly against him.
“Not too tightly, lover,” she whispered lightly, her breath softly tickling the hair on his chest.
After a moment he gently pushed her away from him slightly.
