Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain)

by Chester, Mireille

  She sighed and snuggled into him. “Tyler?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Where’s home for you again?”

  He frowned. “Sageden, why?”

  “Are you going there?”

  He opened his eyes and found her looking up at him. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I haven’t been there in over five years.”

  “Don’t you ever plan on going back?”

  “Yes, no, sometimes…” He sat up. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll go back when the time is right.

  She watched him quietly for a moment. “Maddy insists on leaving tomorrow.”

  He nodded. “I was thinking of leaving tomorrow as well.” He stood and pulled her up. “I should see what I need for supplies.” He took her hand and they started back toward the town. He glanced down at her. Could he do it? Could he leave her? They’d spent the past three days together doing everything from eating, fishing, and hunting. They got along well enough, they worked well together… and yet, for as fantastic as his time with her had been, he couldn’t see himself with her for the rest of his life.

  She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “What? Like how?”

  “Like you’re trying to think of a way to fall in love with me.”

  He stopped walking and took her other hand. “I just… the past three days have been unbelievable, Mina, really they have.”

  “I won’t argue with you on that point.” She smiled. “Tyler, stop feeling bad. It’s fine. You made it clear how you felt, yeah?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but…”

  “No buts. Will it make you feel better if I tell you I don’t want you as a mate either?” She laughed at his frown.

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  He started to lead her back to town once again then stopped. “Why not?”

  Mina grinned. “You’re moody.”

  “I am not!”

  “Yes, you are. You get lost in these odd moments. Certain things send you off on these little memory trips and it always looks like it’s painful for you to come back.”

  “Like what? Name one.”

  “Your grey tunic,” she said without hesitation. “In the three days you’ve been here you’ve never worn it and every time you take it out of your pack to grab a different one, you get the saddest look in your eyes.”

  Tyler pictured of the tunic she was talking about and his thoughts turned to Heidi. Mina put her hands on his face.

  “That look,” she said softly and kissed him. “That’s the one right there. There’s also the fact that I’m ready to settle down and you, as you just told me yourself, are not. I want a mate, Tyler; one that’s going to want to build a cabin with me, one that’s going to want to come home to me every night for the rest of my life.” She smiled. “I knew you weren’t that man when I threw myself at you our first night here.”

  “So why did you?”

  She blushed. “Can’t a girl have a little fun? Well, that, and I’ve had a thing for you since we met.”

  He smiled. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him then reached up and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

  “Now,” she said as she took his hand and started walking again, “let’s get to the inn. I told Maddy we’d meet her there for supper.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Tyler gave Maddy a hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Have a good trip.”

  She smiled. “You too. Try to keep out of trouble.”

  He grinned. “I should be saying that to you.” He turned to Mina and his smile softened. He took her hand and pulled her to his chest. “I…” He frowned and tried to think of what he wanted to say. Not finding the words he needed, he held her face softly and kissed her. She smiled and deepened the kiss.

  “I feel the same way,” she whispered. “Stay safe, Tyler.”

  “You too.” He watched as the sisters took the trail leading south. Mina turned and blew him one last kiss. He adjusted his pack and looked at Bird.

  “Ready?”

  She bobbed her head and the two of them headed west. A chirp overhead made him look up.

  “Bird, one of your friends is here.”

  She flew up into a tree where she chirped a whole conversation with the other bluebird. She looked down at Tyler then back to her friend and gave one last chirp. The two birds parted ways and she flew back down to him.

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “What was that all about?”

  She flashed him a picture of baby blue birds hatching.

  He smiled. “Someone you know had babies.”

  She bobbed her head.

  “Did you want to go see them?”

  He shrugged at her head shake. “Alright.” They started off again. Bird saw him glance back.

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t love her.” He blew a breath out of his nose. “Do you know, I think I’m starting to tire of being on our own.” He glanced at her and shrugged again.

  She flashed him a picture of Sageden.

  “Not yet. I really do want to see the coast. Once we’re done exploring there, then maybe.” He frowned as Bird angled off of the trail and headed north.

  “Why this way?”

  She showed him a picture of two bluebirds and the picture of a flock of plearants they’d seen using the path they were on.

  He followed her. If the birds said there was danger ahead, he wasn’t one to argue. He’d avoided trouble more than once with their help.

  “You know, I haven’t seen a flock of plearants in a long time. They must stay close to the Wedelven River here in the west.” He remembered the last run in he’d had with the five foot flightless birds. They weren’t much to look at with their dull grey feathers and thick black legs, but they could run just as fast as a wolf and he’d made the mistake of getting too close a few years past. He’d spent four days in a tree waiting for them to leave.

  The day was quiet and uneventful, which was how he liked it. It was taking longer than usual to put distance between himself and civilization, but he wasn’t complaining.

  “Let’s set up camp here. We’ll start west in the morning.”

  Bird bobbed her head.

  “Hopefully the plearants will keep on their course.” He’d had to go from north to south to north again due to the bothersome birds changing their direction of travel throughout the day. He smiled. “It’s a good thing we’re not in a hurry.”

  He skinned the rabbit he’d caught for supper and started the fire to cook it on. Once the food had been eaten, he settled on his blankets, his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes.

  In his dream, he wandered into his room. He frowned. It wasn’t the hotel he’d just been in, but it was definitely his room. His pack sat on the chair, his green tunic on the back of it. He gazed out of the window and smiled at the two moons rising just above the trees. They were full and bright tonight. He looked at the small form under the blankets on his bed and his smile softened. Maybe he should go after them, he thought to himself. Would it be so bad to settle down? He’d already thought of it; of going back to Sageden, of fixing up his cave so it was liveable.

  He sat on the bed and brushed the dark hair back and his heart jumped in his chest.

  “Heidi.” She stirred at the whisper, her hand covering the one that still lay against her cheek.

  “What time is it?”

  He glanced out the window again. “Late. Early.”

  She frowned. “Are you ok?” She traced the scar on his chest and he realized he was only in his pants. Why was he half naked if he’d been wandering around the inn?

  “I’m not sure. This seems like a strange dream.”

  She smiled softly and moved over on the bed so he could lie down. Her lips touched cheek softly. “Go to sleep.”

  He pulled her close and she snuggled into his chest. She gave a surprised cry as he sat up abruptly.

&nbs
p; “What’s wrong?”

  He looked around the room. “This is my room! This is my cave!” He shook his head, blinked and lay back down at the pull of her small hands on his arm.

  Heidi screamed as four men came crashing through the door.

  Tyler jerked awake and sat up. He took deep breaths, trying to slow his heart. Bird cocked her head at him.

  “Nightmare,” he explained. He looked up at the moons through the trees and noticed they were the same as the ones in his dream. When he had his breathing and heart under control, he lay back down. He closed his eyes and tried to think of anything and everything other than those grey green eyes as he drifted back to sleep.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Tyler pulled himself up the last few feet up the rocky side of the cliff and lay on the grass, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest. He glared at bird as she landed on his bent knee.

  “By the moons,” he huffed. “This was it? This was the only way we could get around those damn birds? What in the name of the moons is going on! And don’t tell me that flock of plearants is still around!” His attempt to yell at her was seriously impeded by the fact that he couldn’t breathe. “We’ve been avoiding the damn things for almost a week, now!”

  She flashed him a picture of home. He shut his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.

  “What? Why? What is so important that I have to head home? No one is hurt or sick! You would have told me that!” He looked up as another blue bird settled on his knee. This one flapped its wings and chirped excitedly before taking off. Bird showed him the image of a tlarrison.

  He grunted. “Yeah, I bet. I suppose there’s a whole herd of those exactly where it is I need to go if I still want to head west.” He sat up and waved her off of his leg. “Is someone I love in trouble?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then, go home, Bird. If you’re tired of wandering, it’s fine.”

  She showed him his angry face and flew away. Tyler lay back down with a groan. By the moons, what had gotten into her? He heard a loud distant squawk and he looked over the edge of the cliff. He laid his head in his arms at the sight of a half dozen plearants following the trail along the bottom of the cliff. He didn’t bother looking around for Bird. He knew she’d have flown away as fast and as far as she could.

  “She wasn’t telling you to go home, you idiot. She was telling you to double back so you could avoid the flock.” He sat up and rubbed his hands over his face. Now what? He stood and adjusted his pack. Well, he couldn’t very well keep on going when he owed Bird an apology. Maybe if he hurried he could find her before she flew too far. He shifted and started loping east.

  Three hours later, he still hadn’t found her. He shifted back and took a drink of his water while he looked around in the trees and tried to catch his breath. He decided to make camp for the night and start his search again in the morning.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Tyler scooped the cool water from the creek and washed his face with it. He glanced up into the trees and let out an exasperated sigh. One week. He’d spent the past week trying to find a blue bird half the size of his hand in the middle of a forest. He was one week closer to home and he hadn’t found one clue to suggest that Bird had even come this way. He sat and pulled the last of his cheese out of his pack, cut a bit of mold off of it, and stuffed the rest of it into his mouth. One week. Fine. He’d look for another two or three days and that was it. If he hadn’t found her by then, he’d head to the coast. It was more than likely she’d make her way back to Sageden, but for as horrible as he felt for his outburst, he wasn’t ready to go back just yet.

  He froze at the sound of a grunt behind him. He turned slowly, hoping he was wrong, and his heart dropped at the sight of the tlarrison watching him with its beady eyes. He glanced around, trying to plan his escape. Not seeing any real way to avoid it, he shifted into his wolf, turned, and started to run, not bothering to look back to see if it was following.

  When he was sure the beast had been left behind, he slowed to a walk and shifted back so he could have a drink of his water. By the moons, what was it with his luck lately? Plearants and tlarrisons, all in the span of one week?

  “Look out! There’s three tlarrisons coming!”

  Tyler groaned, found the tree he thought the voice had come from, ran at it and managed to grab the lowest branch. He hauled himself up with a growl and leaned against the trunk, trying to see where the beasts were coming from.

  “If I didn’t know you were a wolf, I’d think you were a monkey.” There was laughter in the woman’s voice.

  Tyler felt his heart stop. He pushed away from the trunk and looked at the branch to the right and above the one he was on. Heidi smiled at him, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Hi.”

  He rubbed his hands over his face, blinked, and looked again. “By the moons, I have to stop dreaming of you.” He pulled himself up so he sat on the same branch and held the one above him for balance.

  “Do you dream of me often?”

  “Every night.” The answer was just a whisper. “I’m sure I would have been fine, but I never caught up to you in time to tell you how I felt. I didn’t get a chance to explain why I held you under the water. You left and you hated me.”

  Her grey green eyes saddened and he put her hand on her face. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.

  “Don’t be sad. You were meant to leave. We knew that.” He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.

  “Why didn’t you ask me to stay, Tyler?”

  “I couldn’t. I couldn’t go through that. I couldn’t have you agree to stay just to realize you’d made a mistake two or three years down the road. It was easier to let you go then than to lose you after having had you to myself for any amount of time.”

  “Would you be happy if I came back? Would that prove to you that this was what I truly wanted?” Her eyes searched his.

  He smiled sadly. “I’d be ecstatic. I’d spend the rest of my life making sure you didn’t regret your decision.” He kissed her forehead then frowned at her laugh. She took a hold of his tunic and pulled him closer.

  “Well, that’s good to know,” she said with a smile. “I’d hate to think I used the displacement stone just to be told you wanted me to leave.”

  His frown deepened. “I lost that stone.” The two of them looked below at the sound of two of the tlarrisons fighting.

  “No, you didn’t. I took it.” She held his face in her hands and he closed his eyes at the touch. “I took it in case I decided to come back. I knew I could cross back over with the cross gem, but I knew I’d have no idea how to find you if I did.”

  The tightness in his chest deepened and he swallowed hard.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  “I’m going to wake up from this dream and I’ll spend a half a day trying to push you back down in your place beside Trent. This is the worst one yet.”

  “How do the dreams usually end?”

  He frowned and opened his eyes. “I always think of kissing you, or you tell me to kiss you. As soon as I lean in to do so, we get interrupted and I wake up.”

  She blushed and looked up into his dark eyes. “Why don’t you try it now and we’ll see what happens.”

  “I don’t want to wake up yet.”

  She smiled, took his hand and kissed his palm. “Kiss me.”

  He took a deep breath, held her face gently in his hands and leaned in closer. His forehead touched hers and he paused, his lips a mere inch from hers. When nothing jumped out at them, he closed the distance. Heidi leaned into the kiss and pressed herself against him, her arms wrapping around him.

  Tyler pulled back and looked at her with wide eyes. “I’m not dreaming.”

  Heidi grinned and shook her head.

  “You’re really here?”

  She answered him by lacing her fingers in his hair and pulling him down to her lips. His hands ran up her back and pulled her close. Her tongue
flicked over his lips then touched his lightly. He shivered and she sighed.

  “By the moons, Heidi, I missed you.” He kept his forehead against hers, his arms still pulling her tightly against his chest.

  “God, I missed you too.”

  “What happened? What made you decide to come back?”

  She shrugged and smiled before kissing him again. “It’s a long story.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her and looked at the ground where the three tlarrisons stood. “I don’t think time is an issue.” He kissed her softly.

  Heidi sighed and wrapped her arms around him. “I still love him, Tyler, I do. But things were different. If I’d stayed, I’d have spent the rest of my life shrugging off questions about what had happened. Everyone was on edge around me all the time. And the whole time I was there, all I could think about was you; how you thought I hated you when I didn’t. I was scared and mad when you held me under, I won’t lie about that, but after I’d been home for a few days, I realized what you’d done. You saved me, Tyler. Again.” She took a deep breath and looked up into his deep brown eyes. “I had to make sure you knew how I felt.”

  Tyler smiled softly. “You came back not sure if I’d want you here? What would you have done had I told you to go back?”

  She gave a half shrug. “I would have stayed regardless. Going back there if I came here wasn’t an option. It was strange really. I mean, even though I wanted to see you more than anything and that was my main reason for coming back, there was also the fact that…” She frowned, unsure as to how to explain it. “It… it felt wrong over there. Like something was missing. Now that I’m back, I feel… whole.”

  He nodded. “It’s the magic here. Once you’ve been around it, I’ve been told it’s hard to leave it.” He pressed his lips to her hair. “So you just left?”

  Heidi shook her head. “I wrote a note. I explained absolutely everything to them.”

  “You told them you were coming back to Quelondain?” Tyler laughed.

  She grinned. “I didn’t want to lie to them. I’m sure they’ve contacted the police and they’re out looking for me thinking I lost my mind, but I feel better for it. I told them of how I crossed over the first time and everything that had happened; the camp, the tlarrisons, you bloody pains in the asses that you are,” she hollered down to the trio below them. “I told them about the Zerpanay, you falling, and all the times you saved me. I made sure to tell them not to worry about me; that you’d take good care of me.”