Death Or Fortune

by James Chesney

  'I was happy to do it. Hell I wanted nothing more than to see my father happy. To give him that one thing he had asked of me. I never thought it would take so long to find them. It was two and a half years before I returned home. I killed them all, without thought, without hesitation. The first was a man named Riley. After the business with my parents, he gave up his life of crime. He took up the black smith trade. When he saw me standing in his shop he knew why I was there. He knew the elf woman died but he never knew her name. Before I killed him he asked me her name, pleaded with me to tell it to him. I only said her name after his head was rolling across the floor of his own forge. The second of the men I found in Manchrist. His name was Tomas. He was missing a leg when I found him, living on the streets begging for coins. I remember dragging him into an alley by his hair. Asking him if he remembered what it was that he did to her. I almost let him live, my reasoning was that death would have been a way out for him. I changed my mind when he stabbed me. I punched him, over and over again. His head shattered like an over ripe melon.'

  'Old George never settled in one place very long. I think the only reason I caught up with him was his old age. I found him in a little dirt hole of a town on the western edge of Arcadia. I followed and watched him for close to a month. At first I wanted him to suffer so I waited and watched for the right chance. One night he was in the only tavern around, drinking his life away. I watched as he tried to get a whore to sleep with him, when she turned down the old fool, George started hitting her. Well, I couldn't sit there and watch that. I got between him and a couple rough necks who kept the place from burning down every night. I told them I would take care of the old man. I tossed him out the door and followed after him, picking him up out of the street. He tried to push me, calling me a dirty elf. I remember kicking him once, just once. The only sound I heard was the sound of his ribs breaking as I planted my foot in his chest. His breast bone shattered under my kick, stopping his heart. He was dead before he hit the road again. I left him in a in a pile of trash alongside of the tavern.'

  'When I got back home my father was gone. I was so looking forward to seeing him, yet he was nowhere to be found. So I waited for two long years, never leaving the house unless I had to. I wanted him to be proud of me for doing as he wished. After two years of waiting though, I started to wonder if he was still alive. I gave up waiting and decided to live my life. I wanted to know more about my mother. That is when I went in search of her family. That is how I learned of my father’s past, my grandfather knew of his daughter’s death. He was not very warm towards me. I think he wanted to blame me for her being dead. Yet he still told me what I wanted to know. My uncle, he was much more welcoming to me. He made my armor and gave me my cloak. He also gave me some things that belonged to my mother. Among them was the medallion of Solarth that Zender carries. He found it all by himself when he was young; he said it just called to him. I guess some things are just destined to be, no matter how hard I tried to talk him out of it. I left Kemmermer after a week with my grandfather and uncle. Grandfather had passed away when I returned the next time.'

  'I returned to my father’s home. I planted a garden, gathered some livestock. After twenty years I started to think he was dead. I was sure he was gone for good, I lived a peaceful life. Just when I started to think about starting a family of my own, he returned. Thirty years had passed and he looked much like I remembered. When I told him that I had done as he asked he was pleased, for a time. He then asked me what I had been doing since I had returned from his task. I told him of my trip to find my mother’s family. He told me he expected this but he wanted to know what else I had been doing since he was gone. I took him out, showed him the farm. "This is all you have done, all this time and this is it." I wanted him to be proud I had done something worthwhile with my life, I helped feed people. That is when he hit me with the lightning bolt. I had never felt anything like it, he attacked me with everything he had. I didn’t wake up for two days. I was tied to his table in the cellar where he did all his work. It was the first time I had been down there since he left. He was over me when I opened my eyes. He asked me how I felt.'

  'I told him I felt fine but I knew he had done something to me. "Windfall my son" he said to me. "You have wasted much time and squandered the gifts I have given you. Evil is festering in every corner of this land. I thought I had set you on the path to battle it where ever it may be. I see I did not do enough, not until now." That is when he told me of the curse, he told me it was a gift but it is a curse. I am compelled to seek out those who do harm to innocents. If I avoid it for long, I start to get ill. He also told me he did other things to me to help. I didn't know until years later what it was. I had always aged slowly but this; even the long lived elves do not see me age. I have not changed one bit since he untied me from that table. He put his arms around me and told me how much he loved me. I will be compelled to hunt criminals and others who have done evil until the day he dies he told me. This was his way of making sure I used the gifts he had given me. He left the farm that day and I have not seen him since. I had not heard another soul speak his name until the other day with Hans in the temple.'

  Argon I said to him. He nodded to me, with a somber sigh and said 'Yes, Argon. When Hans told us that story I was worried, when he said the name I became terrified. I always wondered what had happened to him, where he had gone. Now I know and it does not make me feel any better my friend. I would like to keep this between us. I do not want the others to know it is my own father we will be hunting.' I told him that I would keep his secret, it was the least I could do for him. I had always wondered why he took such an interest in me as a child, now I understood it a little bit better. He saw my relationship with my own father and he saw what my father was trying to do to me. Windfall gave me the strength to chart my own path, find my own destiny. As I sat there in the dark office with my mentor and oldest friend it dawned on me that we were no longer going to just find our people. We were going to hunt a dark and evil man. The very thing he wanted his son to stop, he had become.

  79. Musing

  Windfall and I never spoke about what he told me that night. I wanted to question him about the curse and if it would affect him on the ship, he later told me that he would be fine. I guess he could see the question on my face. After he left me alone in my office again that night I sat there in the dark, thinking about the task we were about to undertake. Of the people going with me, it seemed like Pare and I were the only ones going without any kind of hidden agenda. Michaels wanted to free the entire island, start his own personal war with an army of Orcs. Windfall was going into this to face his father. I didn’t see how we were going to do any of it with the limited people we had going with us. I sat there with my hands over my face telling myself over and over again. Just come home alive. That was all that mattered, just get home alive. I had too many things to live for at home to die elsewhere.

  As the days went by the preparations continued to progress at a steady rate; supplies were gathered, our group was assembled and we did lots of talking. Talking about things we couldn't have been prepared for in a hundred years. We had ideas and vague notions about what was going on. It was all second hand information. I wanted to trust the information we were given by Hans and Eli. I owe Hans my life but some days I think the man has gone crazy. I don’t think he was made to carry the weight of his mantle. Still at other times, quiet times. When we are alone together I see the man I knew, the man who had saved my life over and over again. Times like that I think that I am wrong, that Hans is perfect for his job. I try not to think about it. Jasmin forbids me to ever say a bad word about him as they grew close during the time I was away. I think she understands him a bit better than I do at times. With Pare gone, she clung to the only other person in my life that she knew cared about me. The only other person who she knew that wanted me to come home alive.

  I got to know Sgt. Bryce a bit during this time. I thought that since my life may have depended on him doin
g his job, I should endear myself to him. Turk wasn't far off on what he told me about him. He himself was a scout for the Arcadian Army, before he fell in love with a city woman and gave up his life in the wild. In later days, when we were in the thick of things I saw him out there. I saw the way he would look at the wild life around him. As sure as I know there is a beating heart in my chest, I knew that is where he belonged. That and he moved like a ghost where others sounded like a herd of cattle on a cobble stone street. I think he could have taught Windfall a thing or two about sneaking around if the spooky bastard wasn't so good at it already. A day or two before we left he pulled me aside as asked me why I was going. 'I just don't get it. Why not leave this to the troops? No point in getting yourself killed.' I thought for a moment he was joking but the hard look on his face told me this was something he was serious about. I told him that I had two reasons for going. First being that a good friend asked me to and sometimes in this world, your friends are all you have. Second, never ask a man to do something you are not willing to do yourself. He looked at me for what seemed to be the longest time and then just nodded his head. He never asked me again.

  The only person I didn't spend a lot of time with during the days leading up to us leaving was Pare. That being said it was by no effort of mine. More than once I went looking for him only for him to be gone. His travel packs were all ready to go and in a pile by the foot of his bed. I knew something wasn't right, it was odd that I went more than a day or two without seeing him. As a point, he has been in my office this very day as I sit here to write three times to ask me what I am doing. He knows of my writing and has taken a peek or two. When I told him what I was writing about today, he became silent and sullen. Some of the pain we feel, has a habit of returning to us when we least expect it. We all have wounds that reopen from time to time. My happy halfling friend is no different. Truth be told, I have the same wound. I asked Jasmin once if she knew what he was up to the days leading up to us leaving, she just laughed at me and told me he was out having fun. 'Hope he gets it out of his system before you stick him on a ship for three months.' My wife's wisdom has yet to fail me.

  The last two days before we left were the busiest. Wagons were loaded with all of our gear. Food enough to last us there and back twice over. I didn’t know it until we were watching everything get loaded that Turk was sending along extra weapons and armor as well. If we found any of his men alive he wanted them well equipped. That was the day I met Ebbit and Mason. When I first saw him, he was standing watching the men work. I knew right away he was a dwarf but he was thin, closer to the size of Pare than any dwarf I had ever seen. Sitting next to him was what I assumed as a black dog but after a time I knew it was a wolf. It was the eyes that gave it away. The two of them just stood there watching the men work. As I approached them, the two of them locked their eyes on me, as if they were watching me with one mind directing both sets of eyes. I asked him if he was looking for someone, since he had been standing there for so long.

  'Yer Darmot?' he asked me, his voice was so deep it kind of shocked me. I nodded at him and waited for what he had to say. 'I work for Windfall, not all the time mind you but we have been running together for the last five or six years. I am here to ask you, if I can come along on your trip.' My mind kept going back to what Pare had told me about the time I was gone. He told me there was a dwarf helping Windfall but the half elf himself had never told me about him. 'I don't much care for boats, solid ground is where my feet belong but I owe him. He never told me I was going, which means he isn't planning on taking me, so I am here to ask you. Take me along, I want to help.' I asked him if he knew just what it was that we were going to do, I told him that the odds of us coming back at all were slim. I fought a hill giant once, he laughed at me, the laugh coming out of that dwarf sounded much like that. 'That pointy eared bastard is tough to kill and I think you will all be coming back. Yer only fighting Orcs. Besides, it is a good death to die in battle when you are fighting for what is right.' I told him to go find Windfall and to talk to him. If he agreed to let the dwarf come along, I would gladly welcome him.

  With that out of the way and the wagons loaded I returned home for the night. I had a full day and two nights to spend with my wife. I wanted to make the most of it. What happened next wasn't something I expected. Not that my life had been predictable at that point. I returned home just as dinner was being served, the smell of roast beef and the sound of laughing Halflings filled the air. Jasmin, Pare and Miri were sitting at the table. Jasmin was at the end, Pare and Miri were on the same side, sitting close to one another. Truth be told I had no idea she was still in town. 'Hiya Darmot.' Pare shouted as soon as he saw me. The voices in the room stopped, the two women at the table were chatting about something before Pare shouted out to me. I leaned over the back of Jasmin's chair and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down beside her. I looked at the second halfling asking her why she was still here. Telling her I expected her to be gone already. 'Well Mi'lord, I have found more than a few things to do here. To be honest, the pay here in the capital is better than it is in other cities. The rewards are higher and Pare has been helping me.'

  I started to get worried. I asked her how he was helping her. 'Well Mi'lord, he knows his way around the city better than I do. He has been helping me find the dark corners where the cockroaches like to hide.' I could feel my wife putting her hand on my leg, I did not know if she was trying to stop me or warn me. It was then that I noticed that Pare was a little red in the face when I asked Miri how many cockroaches they had found? 'Well Mi'lord, just one so far but I am sure by the time we get back there will be a lot more for us to catch.' The world in front of me stopped, had I not been so on edge already I might have missed it. I asked her what she meant when she said ‘by the time we get back.’ That is when Pare exploded right there at the table. 'PLEASE DARMOT!' he squealed at me. 'She fights really good and I told her she could come help, I didn't think it would be a big deal. Please can she go?' The hand on my leg was getting tighter by the moment. I turned to look at my wife who had a slight smile on her face.

  I told them both that what we were going to do was very, very dangerous. 'I can take care of myself Mi'lord. I am more worried about Pare that is why I want to go. Besides, he told me what you are going to do and I want to be a part of it.' It was then that I asked her why? 'Well Mi'lord, most folks don't know this but I am Arcadian. I was born here and I have lived here all my life. If there are Arcadian men out there, being held captive by a bunch of foul smelling, dirty skinned, disgusting Orcs, I want to help.' I will give her this much, she had passion. I sat in silence looking at her big eyes, pleading with me. Pare was sitting in his chair with his hand over his mouth but I could still hear him saying please, please, please over and over again. I reached down under the table and took Jasmin's hand into mine where I held it tight. I said to her, you understand we might not make it back. We could end up like the men who had been captured or worse. 'Yes Mi'lord, I more than understand Mi'lord.' Something inside of me told me to tell her no yet I ignored it. I told her to have her things ready to go as we were leaving in two days.

  It was then that it happened. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this would happen. Pare put both his hands in the air cheering, he looked at her. She turned and looked to him, her arms reaching out for him. She placed both hands on the side of his face, leaning in. I had never seen anything so strange. I think the only thing I could compare it to is watching your child get kissed by a girl. Hetaron's words from Eystlund once again came to me. 'Halflings do have sex Kromwell.' It made me wonder just what it was that Pare was showing Miri in those dark corners of the city. I knew that I had made a mistake in telling her she could come with us. Yet the damage was done, if I changed my mind I would have lost Pare right there. Perhaps for all time, I don’t know, I never want to know. As I stood up I reminded her that she had two days to change her mind, no one would slight her for it. I left them all behind at the table. My best friend
, my wife with unborn child and this strange new halfling with eyes of green. Words were spoken behind me and I didn’t hear a thing. I retreated to my cellar where I practiced my sword forms. Fighting the worst my mind could conjure. At times, the demons in my mind are much worse than they are in the flesh and much harder to kill.

  I had a few practice blades, a dozen wooden swords and there at the end of the weapons rack was the Nameless Blade. Forged by Boris Sparkcatcher from a rock the fell from the sky only to interrupt his fishing. While it was not magical in any way it was one of the finest swords I had ever seen. I pulled the weapon from its scabbard, looked at the faint light reflecting off the dark metal blade. It was made by a master weapon smith, not a single imperfection could be seen. In the dark, as I moved the blade you could hear it cutting the air as it would cut flesh. This blade had served me well and I could honestly say I loved it. That is why I passed it on to my wife. It would never fail her as it had not failed me. Perhaps one day I will pass it on to my son. If he wants it, I will teach him as I have been taught. His path will be one of his own choosing, not one of my own. No matter what that path is, I will support him on his quest to become what he wants. The sweat was rolling down my back in waves when she spoke to me. 'Darmot, make sure you take a bath before you come to bed, I can smell you from all the way over here.' The real world came back into focus and I was still just in my cellar practicing with my sword. I returned it to the rack one more time, placed my hand on the pommel and said to it, I will see you soon.