We Three Heroes

by Lynette Noni

  “He’s dead.”

  The two words that left his numb lips were barely a whisper of sound. He looked down at his hands resting on his knees, saw his visibly quaking body. He didn’t feel anything.

  “Who’s dead?” D.C. breathed, kneeling beside him and placing her hand over his. “Who, Bear?”

  He met her eyes, seeing the fear in them, and uttered the words that were repeating in his mind.

  “My dad. He’s dead.”

  Ten

  Bear wasn’t sure what happened in the aftermath of arriving back at the academy.

  He recalled Jordan and D.C.’s shock and grief as they managed to pull the story from him in stuttered, pain-filled words, with Jordan affected by the news almost as deeply as Bear.

  At some stage, Marselle arrived, having heard about the battle and that the three of them had been there. He brought Fletcher with him, the doctor checking them over and using his healing salve on the nicks and scratches they’d obtained in their various skirmishes—the wounds minor compared to what might have happened.

  They were fortunate.

  So, so fortunate to have survived.

  Bear knew that.

  And yet, he wasn’t able to summon any relief. He wasn’t able to summon any feeling at all, not over his all-consuming heartache.

  D.C. was the one who quietly informed the headmaster and doctor about William, with both Bear and Jordan too overcome for words. Fletcher offered to give them something to help numb their emotions until they were ready to process what had happened, but Bear had no need of the medication—not when he was already numb inside. Jordan, too, declined, but the offer managed to rally him and he laid a hand on Bear’s shoulder, offering his silent support.

  I’m here, Jordan seemed to be saying. We’ll get through this. Together.

  Everything afterwards was a blur, the words spoken between Marselle, Fletcher, D.C. and Jordan nothing but a murmur of sound reaching Bear’s ears.

  He only managed to regain some focus again when the headmaster ushered them all out of the room, then out of the dorm building, before handing Jordan a Bubbler vial.

  “Take as much time as you need,” Marselle said quietly to Bear. He turned to Jordan and D.C. and added, “I’ll send Alex along as soon as she returns.”

  And then Jordan was smashing the vial on the ground, the Bubbledoor rising up in front of them.

  Bear didn’t need anyone to tell him where they were going. As soon as he stepped through after Jordan, he found that they were in Woodhaven, right outside his home.

  The door flung open before he could even make it four steps up the path, his mum running towards him, her eyes red and her cheeks wet.

  Bear didn’t ask how she’d heard. He already knew the answer—already knew what he’d find once he stepped inside the house.

  He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight as she cried into his shoulder. She was trying to speak around her sobs, trying to say how relieved she was that he was safe. Bear didn’t know how she’d learned that he’d been at the battle. But it didn’t matter.

  Nothing mattered.

  It took some gentle encouragement from D.C. and Jordan, but somehow the two of them managed to guide Bear and Dorothy up the stairs and into the house.

  Blake and Johnny were in the living room, word having already reached them. Their faces were ashen, their eyes shadowed by grief.

  Evie was sitting on Johnny’s lap, tears falling freely down her face and splashing onto his shirt. Even as young as she was, she understood. She knew what had happened. She knew what it meant.

  Gammy was standing in the corner, her grey head bowed, her hands pressed to her chest as if doing so would help ease the pain of her son’s death.

  And there, sitting innocuously on the coffee table, was the reason they all knew. The reason Johnny and Blake were here. The reason Dorothy had run out of the house upon Bear’s arrival home, already lost in her grief.

  Before word had been delivered from any outside source, before news had come telling the why, the when, the how—it would have arrived.

  It was an insurance policy, a safeguard in place for all those who served the crown, so their family members would be the first to know of their passing.

  The moment William breathed his last, it would have appeared.

  A headstone.

  A glass headstone.

  The same one that would be laid over his grave at Hallowgate, as soon as his body was retrieved from Graevale and moved to the cemetery for burial.

  On wooden legs, Bear moved closer. With a shaking hand, he reached out, trailing his numb fingers over the glass.

  His heart—it was like he could feel it breaking as the words appeared one by one above the headstone.

  HERE LIES THE WARDEN WILLIAM EUSTACE RONNIGAN ALWAYS LOVING, ALWAYS LOVED REMEMBERED UNTO ETERNITY

  It was simple, heartfelt. They would be able to change it if they so wished. But Bear couldn’t imagine what more they would say. What more his dad would want written.

  Empty.

  He felt so empty.

  And yet, looking around him, he also felt a spark of something more.

  His family—they were all here. Even Aunt Tessa, walking into the room bearing a tray of steaming teacups, handing them out with quiet words of comfort. She sat by her sister, taking Dorothy’s hand in hers, lending her quiet strength and the unspoken promise that she was here—for all of them.

  Jordan and D.C., too, were offering the same strength, the same promise.

  And then Bear felt it.

  Waves upon waves of peace flooding him. Supernatural peace, the kind that touched him from the inside, easing the pain, soothing the hurt—the reason he felt anything over the emptiness within.

  His eyes moved to Gammy, knowing she was responsible. Knowing that she was pushing through her own suffering in order to help the rest of them with theirs.

  Minutes passed—hours passed—as they drank their tea, and then more tea, and tried to process their grief.

  No one asked Bear what he knew, if he’d seen it happen. For that, he was grateful. He couldn’t go over it again, not when it was taking everything within him to keep accepting the peace Gammy was offering.

  They were already aware that he’d been at Graevale—whoever had reported as much likely shared the rest of the details. Maybe one day his family would ask him, but not today. Today was for silence and comfort and tears. Today was for holding each other together. Today was for somehow finding the strength to continue.

  As the hours continued to pass and the room filled with late afternoon shadows, Bear ended up in his room with D.C. and Jordan sitting on either side of him. They weren’t saying anything, knowing he wasn’t ready for conversation. Gammy’s peace was still flooding him, but the echo of his pain lingered—a pain he knew would stay with him until the end of his days, when his body was laid beside William’s at Hallowgate. But for his dad’s sake, despite the sorrow he felt inside, Bear hoped that day would be a long time coming.

  William would have wanted him to live a long, happy life. And as much as it hurt to even consider living in a world without his dad, Bear knew he had to honour the sacrifice William had made—the life he’d given in protection of his kingdom, his race and his family.

  A soft knock at the door interrupted Bear’s quiet thoughts, the pale, drawn face of Gammy peeking through the entry.

  She moved into the room and, without needing to be told, D.C. squeezed Bear’s hand and Jordan patted his shoulder before the two of them slipped out.

  Gammy lowered herself onto the bed beside Bear, taking the hand D.C. had just released.

  “There’s something you need to know, Barnold,” she said, her quiet voice alone helping to soothe the pain within him.

  He shifted his eyes to hers, seeing the tears pooling there—tears like the ones he felt lining his own eyes, though they still refused to fall.

  “Your father may never have had a gift like you and me, like all
those who enrol at Akarnae, but he had an uncanny knack for knowing things he shouldn’t.” Her wrinkled throat bobbed. “Things that hadn’t yet happened.”

  A tear escaped, rolling down her weathered cheek.

  “Last night, he came to me,” Gammy said, lifting Bear’s hand until both of hers were wrapped around it, holding him tight. “He woke me up, telling me he’d just spoken with you.”

  Like an echo in his ears, Bear replayed the last words his dad had uttered during their call—the last words William would ever say to him.

  ‘I love you, son. More than you’ll ever know.’

  A sudden, sharp pain pierced Bear’s chest, enough that he had to close his eyes against the agony.

  “I think he knew what was going to happen to him today.”

  Bear’s eyes shot back open as he looked at Gammy, his disbelief as clear as his anguish.

  “He said—” Gammy had to swallow again. “He wanted me to remind you about what he said to you last night. That tragedy can strike at any time, and that when it does, we have to keep moving forward.”

  Bear couldn’t hold his tears in any more. One fell down his cheek, followed by another.

  “He also wanted me to tell you,” Gammy said, her own tears now flowing freely in streams down her face, “that you are brave, you are loyal, you are strong, and that, living or dead, he will be forever proud of you.”

  Bear couldn’t take any more.

  He.

  Couldn’t.

  Take.

  Any.

  More.

  “And most importantly,” Gammy continued, her wet eyes holding his, “he wanted me to tell you that you have to keep fighting, no matter what.” She released his hand only to cup his cheek, wiping tears from his skin as she finished, “He made me promise to tell you that the role you are yet to play in the coming days will be vital, not just in protecting your friends and family, but in protecting the world as we know it; in ensuring a safer future for us all. He said—He said—” She drew in a ragged, tear-filled breath. “He said that you have the heart to overcome whatever challenges you are yet to face… and that no matter where you go and what you do, he will always be with you.”

  With that, she was done.

  And so was Bear.

  He wrapped his arms around her, the two of them now crying openly, their grief pouring from them.

  Gammy wasn’t flooding him with her peace now—their pain was raw and unmuted. But in releasing it, Bear found his own sense of inner stillness. Hearing the message William had left him, the shredded part of Bear’s heart—the part that had torn open at the undeniable truth of the words floating above the headstone—was now slowly being stitched back together.

  He would never fully heal. His heart would always carry a scar. But his dad had left a message for a reason, knowing exactly what Bear needed to hear in the wake of such utter despair.

  Bear would follow his dad’s final request.

  He would keep fighting.

  No matter what it took, no matter how hard it was, he would keep fighting.

  He didn’t know how. He didn’t know what the future would bring, what challenges his dad’s message had alluded to. But he was determined to be the man William saw him as; the man his dad had said he’d be forever proud of.

  Bear’s growing resolve fortified his grieving heart, granting him the strength he needed to guide Gammy downstairs and offer comfort to the rest of his family. They were broken, but in time, they would find a way to work through their pain. Bear planned to be there with them, for them, every step of the journey.

  But those plans changed when there was a knock at the front door.

  Bear figured it must be Alex, given the lateness of the hour. It was now fully dark outside, and he recalled Marselle saying he would send her along once she returned from Graevale. But when Aunt Tessa left them all to go and open the door only to return seconds later with Declan on her heels, Bear had it in him to feel surprised.

  While Declan’s timing was unusual—inappropriate, even—Bear presumed he had come to offer his condolences, given that he was wringing his hands together, clearly having heard the news. But the look on his face said otherwise, because while there was sadness there, and a depth of understanding, too—having felt deeply the loss of his own father—there was mostly guilt.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” Declan said, glancing around the room, at everyone in their various states of mourning. “I know this is the last thing you want or need to hear right now.”

  Bear’s muscles tensed, preparing for another blow, one he wasn’t sure he was yet ready to take.

  Alex—where was Alex? Where was she?

  Panic set in, overriding his grief. If Declan was the messenger…

  Bear opened his mouth, but he couldn’t force the question out, couldn’t voice a single syllable through his suffocating terror.

  “It’s just—” Declan broke off, unable to finish; unable to be the bearer of whatever news he brought with him.

  “What is it, Declan?” D.C. pressed, her face revealing dread almost as acute as Bear’s. “Why are you here?”

  Declan was clearly torn, but he straightened and looked right at Bear as he said, “Earlier this evening, Marselle told me and Kaiden what happened at Graevale.” His gaze travelled around the room again, the sympathy he felt for them all clear to see. “He filled us in on what he thought we needed to know, then shared that Alex had returned to the academy late this afternoon.”

  The breath whooshed out of Bear, relief nearly sending him to his knees. Alex—she’d made it back to the academy. She was safe.

  But… Bear’s brow furrowed, since if that were the case, he wondered why she hadn’t come straight to Woodhaven, as Marselle had said she would.

  “She was battered enough to need treatment from Fletcher, but he sorted her out and she left the Med Ward, telling the headmaster that she’d clean herself up and then come straight here.”

  “But… she’s not here,” Jordan said, fear sharpening his voice—fear that was again welling within Bear. “She never came.”

  Declan was nodding. “Kaiden presumed as much. Somehow he sensed something, and he took off to look for her.” His gaze moved from Jordan to D.C. to Bear as he finished, “That was hours ago. And now… they’re both missing.”

  “No,” D.C. breathed, her voice choked. “No.”

  Bear’s vision began to blur. Not Alex—not Alex.

  Gammy stood and moved to his side, placing her hand on his forearm. Her peace flooded him once more, allowing him to think more clearly—and helping him to realise something important.

  In a croaking voice, Bear said, “If Aven had captured her—or worse—we would all know about it. He’d be shouting it from the rooftops. Someone would have told us.” To Declan, he added, “You would have heard something at the academy. Word would have reached there, reached Marselle, before anywhere else.”

  Declan was nodding. “Wherever the two of them are, I’m sure they’re together, and I’m guessing they’re safe.”

  “Guessing,” Jordan repeated, his face white.

  “We have to find them,” D.C. said, just as pale. “We have to make sure they’re okay.”

  Declan nodded again, with Jordan copying the gesture.

  Bear, however, was torn.

  His family needed him. Especially now.

  But—Alex was also his family. She might not be related by blood, but she’d been adopted by all of them. And if she hadn’t come straight to Woodhaven despite telling Marselle that she would, then there must have been a reason for it.

  A gentle pressure on his arm turned his gaze to Gammy. The understanding he saw in her wrinkled features had him fighting against the renewed burn of tears.

  “You have to go, Barnold,” she told him quietly. “Alex needs you more than we do right now.”

  Bear wasn’t sure if that was true. But when he looked at his gathered family, he was met with the same understanding offered
by Gammy, with them all silently urging him to go and find his two missing friends.

  For Bear’s ears only, Gammy leaned in and whispered, “Remember the message I gave you—no matter what, you have to keep fighting.” She squeezed his arm and encouraged, “Don’t be afraid to walk the path you were always destined to travel, Barnold. As your dad said, everything you need to overcome the challenges ahead can be found right here.”

  She pressed a finger to his chest right over his heart, before kissing his cheek and moving aside as Dorothy rose to take her place.

  Bear released a haggard breath as his mum enfolded him in a tight embrace. Her voice was rough from crying all day, but she still whispered words of love into his ear, making him promise to be careful and telling him that this was what his dad would have wanted—for Bear to go and be a protector to his friends, just as William had been a protector for all of humankind.

  Bear swallowed back yet more tears as the rest of his family hugged him, with D.C. and Jordan being swept up in the farewells right alongside him. Declan was also included, despite having only met Bear’s family in passing at social events over the years. But that was the way of the Ronnigans—all it took was a single meeting to be considered one of them for life.

  When finally everyone but Evie had said their softly spoken goodbyes—with her having cried herself to sleep hours earlier—Bear left his grieving family and walked outside with his friends.

  “This’ll take us back to the academy,” Declan said quietly as he threw what must have been an authorised Bubbler vial to the ground. “That’s where both Kaiden and Alex were last seen. So that’s where we should begin our search.”

  When the others voiced their agreement, Declan gave a comforting squeeze to Bear’s shoulder, before he stepped through the Bubbledoor, with D.C. following right after him.

  Jordan, however, paused. His eyes held Bear’s as he whispered, “Your dad—he was the greatest man I’ve ever known.”

  Bear swallowed thickly and replied, “I know.”

  That was all either of them needed to say—because nothing more needed to be said.

  They both knew what a loss William’s passing was, what it would mean in the coming days to Bear, to Jordan, to everyone who had ever met William.