Welcome to Deep Cove (The Vellian Books Book 3)

by Reed, Grant T.

  “An example of? How so?” Rowgar assisted in skewering the remaining two morsels and adjusted them over the flames.

  “Etan has returned,” said Jack “He must have been escorting the other detainees to their new facility.” Jack watched Rowgar out of the corner of his eye.

  “You are sure?” hissed Rowgar.

  “Yes,” admitted Jack. “I never forget a voice.” He watched Rowgar’s fists clench and the soldier’s face twist in rage. He knew it was Etan who had taken Rowgar’s eye. Rowgar turned away in an attempt to hide his anger.

  “You and the other war criminals are to be made an example of. Butchered no doubt and displayed to the Vellian troops.”

  “Others?” snapped Rowgar, his good eye settling on Jack.

  “Apparently, one of the balloons crash landed on the cliff tops during that misguided first assault. There were several soldiers captured. They are being held in the eastern wing of the compound.”

  Rowgar thought on this. He rotated the dangling rats. “Did they say when this example would take place?”

  “No, but I have a feeling it will be soon – within a week, two at most. They talked about baiting the Vellians into another irrational attack. You know how the Poncemen feel about us. They think they have the advantage here in the prison.”

  “They do,” said Rowgar, “but not if I have a say in the matter.”

  “Does this change our plan?”

  “Not really, we just have to make an additional stop to free our boys. We wouldn’t want them to miss the fireworks would we?”

  “I suppose not,” agreed Jack. “This could complicate things, Rowgar. We don’t know what shape those men are in.”

  “I won’t leave a man behind,” said Rowgar firmly. His tone softened and he laid a hand on Jack’s arm. “I know you’ll work their release into the plan somewhere between lighting the fuse and stealing the griffons. I have full confidence in you, Jack.”

  “I don’t think so,” warned Jack, reading between the lines, “I agree we’re not leaving a single man behind, Chief, and that includes you.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be at the stables at the appointed time. There’s someone I want to say goodbye to.”

  16

  It’s Still Not a Date

  Garrett walked through the park, enjoying the spring breeze on his face and the scent of the fresh green grass. The sun was by no means hot, but it felt good on his shoulders and was a welcome change from the rain they had received recently. He strolled along the foot path, nodding and smiling to the Deep Cove residents he passed. The walkway led to a clearing with a duck pond and benches. There were many people here, enjoying the warm day. Several small children ran amongst the adults, some of them feeding the fowl on the pond.

  Searching the individuals, he located Coral near the edge of the water. The woman’s arms encompassed a small girl as she helped the little one to tear up a piece of bread. Several ducks paddled in circles in front of them and the little girl giggled at their antics. Garrett watched them for several minutes and then approached. As usual he felt awkward and out of place in Coral’s presence. “Hello,” he said and the woman looked up and smiled.

  “Hello,” she said back and stood. Wiping the bread crumbs from her hands, she lifted the girl from the water’s edge and onto the soft grass above them. She climbed up after the child and Garrett offered his hand. He pulled her to the bank, feeling flushed at her touch. “I’m glad you decided to meet with me again,” she said. The little girl ran off to her mother and the woman waved at Coral.

  “I didn’t have a choice,” said Garrett, pulling his hand away quickly. He caught himself and added a quick smile. He had no intention of fighting with the woman. Merle had advised him to accept these meetings and do what he had to do to get them over with.

  ‘She’s like bad medicine,’ the little dragon had told him. ‘The sooner you swallow it down, the sooner you get that taste out of your mouth.’ It seemed liked good advice and Garrett had decided to be polite and answer the woman’s questions without stirring things up needlessly.

  “I didn’t think there would be this many people here,” he said in an effort to change the subject.

  “It is a beautiful day. Do you want to go for a stroll down the path?” she asked. “We can talk as we walk.” She looked up at him, and Garrett realised she was much prettier when she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

  “That sounds like a fine idea,” he agreed. He was happy to see that she had not brought her notebook.

  They headed down the path Garrett had arrived by, and Coral remained quiet as she watched the birds singing in the trees. “I saw you feeding the ducks with the little girl,” said Garrett. “Do you have children of your own?”

  Coral glanced at him and shook her head. “No children,” she said. Her gaze went back to the birds and they walked on in silence.

  Unsure of what to say, Garrett grew uncomfortable again. At last he cleared his throat. “Um, so what do you want to talk about?” he asked with uncertainty.

  Coral blinked. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just enjoying the weather and the sounds of the forest.” She smiled at him and to his embarrassment, he looked away uncomfortably. “Why don’t you tell me about you, Garrett?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “What haven’t you told me?”

  Garrett cleared his throat again and looked at his feet. “Lot’s of things,” he said.

  “Why don’t you tell me about the two masters that trained you? You seemed very fond of them when you mentioned them before.”

  “Their names were Fonn and Yarl,” said Garrett. “I suppose they were like grandfathers to me. I never had a real grandfather, so I can only guess. I loved them though. That much, I know.” Coral nodded.

  “They trained me on many things.” Garrett smiled at the memories that stirred in his mind. He realised he hadn’t truly thought about his masters in a very long time. “They were good men,” he told Coral. “They did what they thought was best. Like any of us, I guess.”

  “You lived with these men?” asked Coral.

  “Yes, with my adoptive father, Big Kirk and with my training partner, Azilda. Big Kirk still lives in Fable. He runs an inn there, always has. All four of us lived at the inn – once it was rebuilt anyway. Fire took it the first time.”

  “Why did the masters want you to become a man of violence?” asked Coral.

  Garrett felt his anger arrive out of nowhere, but he quelled it instantly. “Training in a discipline such as Pun-chu or Ma-chu does not make you a person of violence. On the contrary, it teaches you self respect and reverence for the living creatures around you. It does provide you with a means of defence, and when warranted a means of offense. What you do with these skills is up to you.”

  “I didn’t mean to offend you,” said Coral. “I worded my thoughts poorly. I wanted to know why the two masters chose to impart their knowledge to you.”

  “I can’t say why they chose me and Azi specifically. They knew things in advance, sometimes. I can’t explain it. Yarl told me it was their destiny to train us. We were to carry on their legacy as protectors of the realm.”

  Coral was quiet for a few seconds. “Do you think you have succeeded?” she asked him.

  “Boy, if they could see me now,” said Garrett. Yarl would be laughing, that’s for sure. “I have done many things I regret in this life, but those decisions were my own. Nothing I would want Fonn or Yarl to carry. They trained us to protect the innocent and the helpless. They taught us to follow our gut instincts and to try and choose right from wrong. I feel like many times I have failed them.”

  “Yet some of the time you have succeeded?” she prompted.

  “I want to do what is right: what is good.” That’s why I left his Majesty’s services. War sickens me. Everything they trained us for flew out the window the day Azilda left. I think it broke their hearts when she no longer wanted to be a S
hiva.”

  “What is a Shiva?” asked Coral. She watched his face as they walked along the path, her eyes inquisitive.

  “The Shield,” informed Garrett, “one of two bodies trained in union. The Shiva protects the Sworvei or the Sword. Together, they form a single entity in battle. The pairing is for life, and the Shiva and Sworvei are trained in the ways passed down from the ancient battle masters. We were to carry on the tradition. When Azilda left, Fonn and Yarl knew they were the last of their kind. They had given it their best, but in the end they did not fail; their students did.”

  “Did she tell you why she didn’t want to continue her training?”

  “She hated violence and didn’t want to be a warrior. One day she received word from an uncle down south. Until then she had never known any of her family. Having been raised an orphan, she was naturally interested in finding him. From that moment on, he was all she could talk about. We were eighteen and she knew I wanted to join the service and fight for King Renli. She didn’t want that lifestyle. So, she left.”

  “And you went on to enlist.”

  “Yes. Three years later, when I returned home, Kirk told me Yarl and Fonn had left on one of their adventures. They went back to the Ghondorian Glacier, to search for some artefact. What he didn’t tell me, though I saw it in his eyes, was that they had gone off to die.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Coral. Reaching out, she patted Garrett’s arm.

  “It’s okay,” he said and pulled back. “They were old men. They lived their lives to the fullest and never wasted a day. I never could see them dying in their beds, that’s for sure. I just wish I had gotten the chance to say goodbye.”

  “What about Azilda. Do you ever see her?”

  “No,” said Garrett. “She found her uncle and lived with him for a while, just north of the border wall. I wrote her to inform her of Fonn and Yarl. She came to visit Kirk once, but I was away on crusade. Sometimes she writes, but not often.”

  “Is that why you are so uncomfortable around women?”

  “I’m not uncomfortable around women.”

  “Then can I ask why you wanted to meet me at that whorehouse those first few times, Garrett? Did you want people to think we were having relations?”

  ‘No,” snapped Garrett. “I like that inn. It reminds me of Big Kirk’s place. I only asked you to meet me there because I am comfortable there and I knew no one would bother us.”

  Coral nodded, considering his words. They continued down the path, not speaking. Finally, she turned to Garrett. “Are you angry with Azilda for abandoning you?”

  “Azi is a big girl she can do whatever she pleases.”

  Coral watched him closely. “And she chose an uncle she had never met over you and the two masters. Did that make you angry?”

  Garrett stopped and turned to face Coral. “I was eighteen and selfish. Yes it made me angry.”

  “And now that you are older, do you still carry that pain?”

  “What pain?” he asked mystified. “She did what she felt was best for her, and I went on to do the things I wanted to do, even if I later learned those choices would not be the same ones I would make today. I am not angry at Azi for abandoning me, as you put it; I am angry she abandoned Fonn and Yarl.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they took us in and cared for us. They trained us. She owed it to them.”

  “Don’t you think she owed it to herself to be happy?”

  Garrett stopped mid argument and forced himself to think about the question. “I suppose her happiness is paramount,” he agreed. “She could have waited until Fonn and Yarl were dead before she quit, though.”

  “Is that what you would have done? Put their needs before your own?”

  “Of course, I owed them.”

  “I can see you were happy under their tutelage, Garrett. I also know you are a loyal person. But do you honestly feel it was your duty to carry on in the footsteps of Fonn and Yarl? Whatever happened to making your own way?”

  “It doesn’t matter, does it?” argued Garrett. ‘When Azi left, I ended up going off on crusade with Merle. I never fulfilled their dreams. The choices I have made since have been for me, and for good or bad, I have indeed made my own way.”

  “It does matter, Garrett. I think you are still trying to make up for letting the masters down. You need to quit beating yourself up and move on. You have to let yourself be happy. No one else can do that for you.”

  Garrett almost said that he was happy, but he knew it was a lie. He hadn’t been happy in a very long time. “I’m working on it,” he said honestly. Coral smiled at him and squeezed his hand. This time he forced himself not to pull away.

  “What makes you happy?” he asked as she let his fingers go.

  “Oh, the little things, I guess: the ice melting on the river, the birds singing along the path. My family and friends make me happiest.” She looked at Garrett and smiled. “I’m not all that complicated,” she admitted.

  “You could have fooled me,” he said teasingly. “Are you married?” He felt his heart beat faster as soon as he asked the question, but it was too late to take it back now.

  “I was once,” said Coral. My husband died four years ago.

  “I’m sorry,” offered Garrett “I didn’t know.”

  “Of course you didn’t. That’s why you asked.” Coral smiled at him. “It’s okay. I grieved for a long time after his death. I was very depressed for about two years. Now the little joys in life are helping me to get better.”

  “The birds in the trees,” said Garrett.

  “Yes,” agreed Coral. They walked on, crossing a red bridge that spanned the creek. “What about you, Garrett. Do you think there is a special woman out there for you?”

  “I’m sure there is,” he decided. “I haven’t found her, that’s all. Truth is, until the last couple of years I never had the time to settle down. Merle and I were always venturing across the country on errand for the King or peacekeeping in the orient. It was a busy life.”

  “You make it sound like you ran personal messages for King Renli.” She laughed, but saw the look on his face and stopped. “Have you really met the king?”

  “Met him?” returned Garrett, “We were practically raised together. Bronwan and Gustov tried to push me into championing Renli. They said that with my prowess as a fighter, and their experience, they could easily train me.”

  “Stop it, Garrett. I wasn’t born yesterday.” She smiled and gave him a little push on the arm, “You don’t know the king’s champions.”

  “Yes, I do!” exclaimed Garrett. “I even saved King Renli’s life, one time. Well, I had help from the masters and Azilda. Renli said himself, he’s owed me ever since.”

  Coral laughed so loud she snorted. She covered her mouth and looked at Garrett, her eyes bright with humour. “The king owes you one! Garrett, you do have a sense of humour.”

  Garrett watched the woman beside him and couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t remember the last time I made someone snort,” he said. Now they both laughed.

  They kept walking until they came to another clearing. This spot contained a stone patio and statue surrounded by a well maintained lawn. Several flower gardens encircled the central monument. The sculpture was that of a cannoneer and his gun. An engraved plaque occupied a stone pillar beside the effigy. In front of the bronze cannon, a dog was barking madly and pawing at the artillery piece. Seeing the newcomers, the canine ran over to them. It jumped on Coral and tried to lick her face.

  Garrett groaned, recognising the beast. He tried in vain to push the animal away from the woman. “Down, Flower,” he said commandingly, but the dog did not respond.

  Coral looked surprised, but she recovered quickly. She pushed the dog off of her and scratched behind his ears. She turned to Garrett. “You know this pup?”

  “Unfortunately,” agreed Garrett.

  P.C. appeared from behind the sculpture, running awkwardly to them. “Perfect!” he exclaimed, �
�humans.”

  Garrett felt his embarrassment rising. “P.C. what are you doing here?”

  P.C. didn’t look at Garrett, but pointed to his dog. “I… am… walking… Flower. Isn’t… that… what… dog… owners… do? I… thought… this… would… be… a… good… opportunity… to… look… for… that… man… who… threatened… me. I’m… sure… he… would… appreciate… meeting… Flower.” The robot assessed the dog as it licked Coral’s hand. “Flower… input… command… Get… Angry.” The dog showed no outward signs of recognising the order. “You… are… a… hopeless… beast.” He turned to Garrett. “Why… is… this… thing… so… damn… hard… to… program?”

  “P.C, take that dog home. You are forbidden from turning that mutt on anyone. Am I understood?”

  “Your… orders… are… understood,” agreed the robot. His eyes flashed and he snapped his fingers at the dog. “Come,… Flower.” The dog immediately went to P.C’s side and the pair turned back for the treeline. Garrett frowned as he heard the automaton explaining that just because he understood the man’s orders didn’t mean he had to follow them.

  “A metal man?” asked Coral. “That can’t be the all-powerful Germinator everyone is talking about?”

  “One and the same,” agreed Garrett.

  “I can’t believe he beat Stoneman. He’s smaller than I envisioned. I would have loved to witness the fight.”

  “You like the Golem Wars?” asked Garrett in surprise.

  “Oh yes,” admitted Coral. “My husband was the biggest fan. We used to go all the time.”

  Garrett grinned at her. “I never would have thought it. You know, if you’re interested, I could get you a good seat for the Germinator’s next match. You’d have to come with me, though.” Coral bit her cheek and Garrett continued before she could decline. “It wouldn’t be a date or anything; it’s just that, as his owner, they allow me a free ticket for a guest.” He paused as he realised what that implied. “I mean, it’s not that I wouldn’t pay for you to come and see him if you wanted to, I was just thinking I have a free ticket and all.”