by Joe Jackson
“When are you expecting?” Kari asked, making small talk, and the woman put a hand to her belly with a smile.
“Just a couple more months,” she said, beaming as her mate wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s our first. Do you have any children?”
Kari shook her head but had to smile as she thought about it. “No, not me,” she said. “As a demonhunter, I’ve lived my whole life on the road. Never really had time to think about it before…but I am now.”
“There was already talk when the large man came back to the village with you and the darker one in tow,” the woman said, and a mischievious smile crossed her face. “Rumors and gossip spread quickly about outsiders.”
“Oh?” Kari prompted, curious.
“The initial assumption was that you might be mates,” the male said, pushing purple hair back from his face. He had matching amethyst eyes and hair, an intriguing combination, and as his eyes began to glow softly in the twilight, they were wondrous to behold. “Once word spread that he is serilian-rir and you are not, the gossip dried up rather quickly.”
“Serilian-rir?” Kari repeated. “You mean half-demon?”
“If that is how your people call them,” the male said with a shrug. “Our people cannot breed with serilis-rir or serilian-rir, and were unsure if the same held true for your kind.”
“Well, yes, we can,” Kari answered, trying not to sound condescending. “Half-demons – or serilian-rir – can come from any of our people. Well, except yours, I guess.”
Erik called to Kari from the street, and Kari walked to the edge of the roof. “Come to Elleraus’ home, there’s something we need to discuss,” her companion said as though there was little choice involved.
“I’ll be right there,” Kari said. She already felt defensive simply based on his tone and the way he’d looked at her and Grakin earlier. She thanked her hosts and excused herself to go speak with the elder and her friends, and then she descended a ladder to jog down the street. The windows of the elder’s home were aglow with the warmth of candlelight, and she found the door left slightly ajar so she could enter.
Kari expected to find all of her companions in the elder’s home, but when she saw only Erik, Sonja, and Aeligos along with Elleraus and his mate, she wondered if being summoned had something to do with Grakin. Erik had made only a poor attempt to mask his aggravation at finding the two naked on the beach, and Kari was at a loss as to why it would bother him. He hadn’t seen anything except for two naked people drying on the beach after swimming, unless he’d been watching them for several minutes before he approached. In any case, he had made no indication that he was interested in Kari, so she wondered what the issue could be.
Erik had an exasperated expression on his face when he looked at her, as did Sonja and Aeligos, and Kari shook her head lightly. She quickly decided that if there was any sort of attempt at disciplining her for making love to their brother, she was going to let them know exactly what she thought of their nosiness, and possibly even more than that. She paused in her thoughts, however, as Elleraus smiled and gestured for her to sit on one of the low padded chairs around the central rug of the living space.
“How are you enjoying the company of your hosts?” the elder asked Kari. His mate approached from the kitchen, and the elder seterra-rir woman touched her forehead to Elleraus’ shoulder and then took a seat across from Kari.
Kari smiled, stalling while she let her heartbeat slow down a bit. “They’ve been great,” she said, shrugging sheepishly. “I already forgot their names, though.”
“Dowain and Saisha,” Elleraus said with a smile. “They are expecting their first child.”
“Yea, they said as much,” Kari returned. “Is the child his or did she have to have a baby with a man from a different island?”
The elder waved his hand and shook his head. “No, the firstborn is always with our mate,” he explained. “After that, we will normally have one or two with another couple, then again with our own mates if we desire more.”
“How many children do you have?” Kari prodded, ignoring the impatience she could clearly see building up in Erik. She wasn’t sure if it was because he knew she had been with Grakin, but she found the topic something she was giving a lot of thought to now. “And how many do your people normally have?”
“I have three by Minaara,” Elleraus said, touching his mate’s shoulder, “and four more by women on other islands. Minaara has three more by other males, so it gets a little confusing as to how many children we have.” He chuckled shortly. “Each of our women generally tries to have six, but their health or the availability of unrelated males sometimes makes it less. Rarely do they have more.”
Kari’s eyes went wide and she chuckled despite herself. “That’s a lot of babies,” she said, trying to imagine herself with so many children.
“Yes, but we tend to have them all young,” Minaara said, her voice vibrant and sweet. Like all of her people, she had a fascinating combination of hair and eye colors: her eyes were a stunning orange, while her long, straight mane was of a deep red. She had age-lines on her snout as was typical for an elder rir, but was still quite lovely. “Usually by the middle of our fourth decade, our babies are all having babies of their own, so life is quiet except when the little-little ones are around.”
The group shared a laugh. “Why don’t we get to the reason we’re all here,” Erik said, clearly trying to keep his tone neutral. Kari noted that he wasn’t looking at her: his stare was fixed on Elleraus. That eased Kari’s tensions.
“As I am sure you have heard, either from our people or from Captain Galdur, these islands receive supplies from ships running the lanes between Askies and Terrassia,” he said. “What he might not have told you is that sometimes those ships also bring refugees of one sort or another, escaping a life on one continent to start over on the other. Rarely do they choose to stay here, but sometimes they leave things here that they feel they cannot take with them.”
“Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like this?” Erik asked somewhat irritably.
Sonja glared at him, shutting him up. “Erik, for the love of Kaelariel, these people have been nothing but generous and accommodating to us, stop being so suspicious of everything,” she berated him, and he held his hands up in silent apology. Sonja turned to Elleraus and asked, “What would you have of us?”
Elleraus waved off Erik’s outburst, took a seat beside his wife, and sipped from the mug of rum he was holding. “Many years ago, twin children were left with us by a human couple trying to escape their past. They were on the run from something that threatened their lives, and hoped to spare their children by leaving them with complete strangers in a place few ever visit.” Minaara took his free hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “Though we love them, there is no future here for these youngsters.”
“So you want them to travel to Terrassia with us?” Kari asked. During the dinner they’d shared with their hosts, it had slipped that the group was truly headed to Tsalbrin, much to Erik’s annoyance. An embarrassed expression suddenly crossed Minaara’s face, and the seterra-rir woman rose and crossed to the kitchen. Elleraus didn’t respond. Instead he waited for Minaara to return and hand Kari a mug of rum, and the terra-dracon woman smiled her thanks.
“No,” Elleraus said when Minaara returned to his side. “No, what I ask of you is much more specific. We have done our best to shield these youngsters from the past of their parents, and the results have been a mixed blessing.”
“You didn’t tell them the truth about their parents?” Sonja asked, though her tone was non-accusatory.
“We thought it best not to,” Elleraus said. “They were left here nearly seventeen years ago, and their parents have never returned. Our assumption has always been that whatever their parents fled from eventually caught up to them. We thought it best not to expose the children to whatever that might have been, so we told them that their parents were crusaders who left them here for their protection.
It was not entirely true, of course, but we felt it would be less hurtful – or dangerous - than the absolute truth.”
“Understandable,” Aeligos said, and Kari and Sonja echoed his sentiments.
“Of course, when they learned that their parents were crusaders, they likewise began to strive to the same ways of knighthood,” Elleraus said. “Now, I am no expert on the ways of knightly honor, but I believe with a little refinement, they may champion the people as paladins.”
“Both of them?” Kari asked, surprised.
Minaara nodded. “When you meet them, you will know it to be true,” she said.
“How old are they?” Erik asked.
“They are twins, roughly seventeen years of age,” Elleraus answered.
The blue-eyed half-guardian shook his head. “Forget it,” he said, waving a hand dismissively. “This isn’t a pleasure cruise and we don’t have the time or luxury to babysit a couple of teenagers.”
“Erik!” Sonja barked. “Don’t disrespect our hosts.”
Erik sighed but then apologized again. “This is just not a good idea,” he said. “Maybe we could leave them in Flora, but taking them with us to Tsalbrin is a bad idea. A possible civil war is no place to bring a couple of inexperienced seventeen-year-olds.”
“How quickly you forget that Typhonix and I were that age and younger when the Apocalypse came upon us,” his sister countered. “No one is saying we should take them out to the battlefield, but we’re being asked to show them how agents of the gods operate. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, but your irritability is making me think I may be wrong.”
“What do you think?” Erik asked his younger brother.
“I’m not sure there’s a lot I can teach them,” Aeligos said. “Somehow I don’t think the kind of work I do or what I’ve been teaching Kari will be very helpful to them. But if they really have received the calling, maybe being around you and Kari would be good for them.”
Kari was surprised: she’d never assumed she had anything in common with a paladin other than perhaps a crusader title. She had met only a few paladins in her lifetime. The chivalric, knightly defenders of the faith simply pursued different goals and went about their quests much differently than the demonhunter did. While they had occasionally enjoyed each other’s company, contrasting styles, and fighting prowess, she had never really found much in common with them on a personal level. Paladins were simply a different type of person and represented strength of character that even Kari aspired to.
“Kari?” Erik asked, and she started. “What do you think?”
Kari shrugged, surprised that Erik would even ask. “As far as I’m concerned, more help can’t be a bad thing,” she said. “Honestly, I had no idea there were going to be as many of us as there are. Worse comes to worst, we leave them somewhere if the fighting gets too intense or they’re in danger. They’re still kids but they’re also old enough to make their own decisions. Maybe we should just tell them where we’re going and why, and let them decide.”
Sonja nodded with Kari’s assessment. “I couldn’t have said it better,” she said. “If we tell them where we’re going and why, their response should pretty much tell us where they stand as far as becoming paladins is concerned. I know you don’t like variables, Erik, but you have to keep in mind: we may not succeed at our primary task.”
It was clear Erik hadn’t really considered that point, and he nodded after thinking about it for a few moments. “Yes, you’re right,” he said, rubbing a hand thoughtfully across his wide chin, and he looked to Elleraus. “Can we meet them first?”
“Of course,” the elder said. “I will have them meet us here for the morning meal, and you can make your final decision then. Better that you rest on it and give it more thought.”
Erik nodded, bid everyone goodnight, and made his way quietly from the home back toward his temporary abode. Sonja and Aeligos soon did likewise, and after thanking Elleraus and Minaara for the drink, Kari returned to the roof of her hosts’ home. She found them still there, romancing under the young stars, and let them know that she would be turning in for the night. They graciously offered to let her share a side of their bed, but she turned them down politely and headed indoors.
The interior was set up much like Elleraus’ house. After failing to get comfortable in any of the padded chairs, Kari spread her clothes out on the central rug and lay down under her cloak. She fell asleep rather easily, as the rum loosened her up a bit and the consistent drone of the tropical island settled down around her like a second blanket. She slept soundly, dreaming of Grakin’s soft touch, the smell of his body, and the feeling of his half-guardian warmth pressed against her.
Morning came with a slightly damp but not unpleasant heat, and when she saw her hosts cuddled in their bed, Kari dressed and left quietly. She was the first to arrive at Elleraus’ home, and found him and his mate already preparing a morning meal for their guests. The rear door of the house led to a common area with an outhouse, and when Kari returned from her trip there, she found that Sonja and Aeligos had arrived. Soon all of the Tesconis siblings and their half-brys companion sat around Elleraus’ dining table, and they took their breakfast.
The group made small talk, joking about the joys of returning to the ship, and after a while a pair of young humans arrived in the elder’s home. It was immediately apparent that they were siblings, and it only took a moment to confirm what the elder had said about them being twins. Both were a little taller than Kari and had long, sun-lightened brown hair with chestnut eyes. The young man was starting to grow a beard, his face covered with well-maintained stubble and his long hair tied back in a tail while the young woman’s hung in long, wavy curls.
The two bowed respectfully to the elder and his mate, and moved to the sitting area when Elleraus bid them take seats. Soon, the elder and his mate rose and moved to the sitting area, and Erik walked over to stand before all of them. Kari and the others took seats around the rug or on unoccupied chairs. The two humans studied the many half-demons before them with the same amount of interest as they were receiving in turn.
After a few moments, Elleraus finally spoke. “Katarina, Sherman, these are the adventurers we spoke of last evening who may be taking you with them,” he said. “They wanted to meet you first to see if they felt you could handle the dangers of the road ahead, or if perhaps you would simply like to accompany them to Flora and remain there.”
Erik spoke up. “The first thing you have to understand is that we’re headed into a possible war, far to the west on the island of Tsalbrin,” he said, his muscular arms folded tight across his chest. “While it was only rumored when we left home, it’s still going to be another month and a half or so before we reach the island. By then, who knows how far the situation will have devolved. The entire island could be in the throes of war, destroyed, or maybe untouched – we don’t know at this point.”
“We’re all war veterans: every one of us fought in the Apocalypse, which you were thankfully shielded from, living out here on the islands,” he continued. “I understand you’ve self-trained a bit in the ways of knightly honor and combat and that’s a fine start, but if I’m going to be responsible for you, then you have to respect and obey my commands. I can’t have people who don’t listen to me traveling with my siblings: ultimately, I’m responsible for all of us. So the decision you need to make is whether you want to travel into a possible war, if you think you can handle that and obey my orders, or if you would rather just be left in Flora. If we leave you in Flora, you’re on your own. We have no idea how long we’ll be on Tsalbrin and will not come looking for you when the war is over. Sorry if I seem a bit like a drill sergeant, but I want to make sure you know what it is you’re getting into should you leave the islands with us.”
“We understand,” Sherman said, and he shared a glance with his sister. They both smiled after a moment. “If anything, you’re just what we were hoping for. Elleraus has told us about our parents being crusaders, and
we want to follow in their footsteps.”
“We want to make a difference,” Katarina added, and Kari was already impressed by the look of determination on the young woman’s face. It didn’t mean the twins were ready to face the dangers of the world or a war, but it at least gave Kari the impression that they weren’t walking into the situation blindly. “If you go to divert or fight in a war at the direction of the gods, then I think there’s a reason you’re here now. And if Elleraus wants us to go with you, he must think you can teach us something of the way of the crusader.”
It was clear even to Kari that Erik liked what he was hearing despite his reservations about bringing youngsters with them. “None of us are paladins, but there may be a bit we can teach you since three of us are demonhunters,” Erik said. “My elder brother Jol can teach you about some of the more exotic creatures we might run into. Aeligos is our tactician, and though he’s mostly an infiltrator, I’m sure there’s a lot you can learn from him. I’ll leave this decision to you; Kari was quite right on that. Unless anyone else has something to add?”
“How do you fight?” Typhonix asked.
“We’ve trained quite a bit with the greatsword,” Sherman answered. “Obviously, there are no master swordsmen here on the islands, but our friends here have many warriors among them and they have trained us as well as they were able.”
The blonde demonhunter nodded and pointed his thumb toward Serenjols. “He and Sonja will probably be able to teach you a thing or two,” he said, and the two youngsters nodded.
“I have seen no temple here, what deity do you two serve?” Grakin inquired, and he was surprised as the two shared a glance before shaking their heads. “Well, I see I will have a part in your training as well, then. The lifeblood of a paladin is the strength of their faith. Who you have faith in is not the issue, so much as that you have faith. We can discuss it further later.”
