by RG Long
The elders did not move but rather continued to stare down at Laserie and the others. Laserie noticed that the elves who had stood guard by the door were seeming less confident of their role and slackened their arrows.
“Yes, we know that there is death and destruction that will fall all over Gillia. We know that there are darker days ahead and at the end of all things may be near.”
“Maybe near?” Laserie asked. “But it is not for certain?”
“The stars are certain,” the elders' voice rang her head.
“Then why say maybe? Is there hope? If it is not for certain, shouldn’t we fight?” Laserie shot back.
Paula stepped forward.
“If you see hope within your visions, tell us now. If there is a chance to fight the darkness, should we not do so?”
“It is the slimmest of hope,” the elders said a measured tone. “A single glistening star in the overwhelming and all-consuming darkness. It is futile. What hope can there be had in such a small light?”
Laserie looked at the elves who were standing at the door holding their bows pointed at Paula’s guards and the Skrilx who were with her. She looked back at the group she had come to the forest with and then up to those who were behind the elders. Friends and other she had grown up within the tower. Those who had heard the elders say there was little hope for any future not covered in darkness.
But that there was, in fact, a glimmer.
“If there is a chance,” Laserie said she stared up at the elders. “We ought to take it.”
22: Stubbornly Determined
Ealrin was feeling bitter. The opportunity to make peace with his father had been stolen from him. Blume had teleported them away from him when they could’ve explained themselves. Elise had said that their mother had been involved in the rebellion and that had obviously pushed their dad to the brink.
What was his part in all this? All he had done was fall into a past he could not remember. He didn’t know if he had meant his rebellion. He didn’t know what his part in the whole thing had been. All he knew was that he wanted a family. Well, a family who didn’t betray him to other members of his family at least.
Ealrin was walking away from the city. He was fairly certain Blume and Elise were behind him, but at the moment he was not concerned much.
He would rather that both of them not to do any talking. One was his sister, and the other was his dear friend. And he was irritated with both of them.
Out ahead, he could see small lights. Perhaps it was a fishing community or old docks used for shipping when Poral’s became too crowded. If he had to sleep out under the stars tonight that would be okay with him. He didn’t care. All he wanted to do right now was walk and think.
Their father had thrown them in league with the rebels. That was fair. Supposedly for one part of his life, he had been a rebel fully intent on overthrowing the government of Rerial. But they most certainly did not blow up King Belfast. It was not their fault. How could they prove that was not their fault?
They had to find the ones who did it.
But how could they find the ones who did it when they were on an island without a boat or an airship or a lead on where to go?
Ealrin stopped and looked around at Elise.
“Are the Blackthorn’s based out of the Court of Three?”
She looked like her his question caught her off guard. That was probably a valid reaction. He had not spoken to them since they had turned and headed in this direction an hour ago, even though they had both tried to get him to speak.
“They’re based all over the continent,” she said with a stunned expression. “There’s not a country that they aren’t influencing or a part of.”
“Okay, but where is their headquarters?” he asked again, telling himself not to get frustrated or upset. He needed a cool head if he was going to think this through.
Elise crossed her arms and gave a little huff. The shock that he was talking again apparently had worn off.
“If you hadn’t lost your memory, I wouldn’t have to explain this to you,” she said, sounding impatient.
Ealrin sighed.
“Yes, I’m sorry I have amnesia and can’t remember anything from my life before a few years ago. Can we move on from that please?”
Elise stared hard at him, but Ealrin didn’t care. He was trying to fix the mess they were in and would put up with as much attitude as he could give out.
“Yes, one of their headquarters is in the Court of Three,” Elise said. “To the best of our knowledge, another one’s in Darc. The human nation to the south of us.”
“How far away is it? Darc?”
Elise pointed over the water.
“Just over the horizon. Not as far as you might think. But I really don’t think we can...”
“Then we need to get a ride to Darc,” Ealrin said. “I’ve got to figure out who did this and why. If we can clear our name, and maybe we can put it all back.”
“Put what back?” Elise asked.
Ealrin gave her a hard stare.
“Our family.”
“Ealrin...”
He shook his head and turned around before Elise could say whatever it was she was going to argue. He didn’t care. He had found his family. He found his father. He wasn’t just going to throw it away. He was going to do whatever it took to mend the relationship and make it right.
Elise to see the benefit of that. She had to.
Blume ran out in front of him and started walking backward, speaking to Ealrin. He didn’t look at her.
“Look, how do you expect to go across the seat?” she asked. “I can’t just keep teleporting us places. We don’t have anything to eat, and I’m tired. Plus this march you have us on isn’t helping.”
“Let’s go see who they are,” Ealrin said, indicating the torch lights that were up ahead of them. “Maybe there someone who can give us a ride.”
“Oh yeah,” Elise asked. “And what if they’re not based in the city because they like to kill people who ask questions? Or what if they’re the Blackthorn gang who would love to get their hands on the Commodore of Rerial’s kids? We’re kind of known all over Redact, Ealrin. It’s not a small thing.”
Ealrin was feeling stubborn. Elise had gotten them into this mess. He was sure it was mostly her fault. She had dragged him into this rebellion nonsense. Maybe she had even been the one to convince him to turn against their father and the king in the first place.
It had been Elise‘s fault that they were now wanted by Rerial. If she had gotten him into this mess, Ealrin was determined to get them out of it.
He continued marching and quickened his pace.
“Then we’ll figure it out,” he said with determination.
23: Amends
Blume couldn’t get comfortable, nor she could she find it within herself to fall asleep among these strangers. She had spent too many days among people she didn’t know to trust anyone they just met and had no history with.
They had found a group that was willing to take them to Darc in the morning. Some fisherman who said that they needed to go that way for supplies and, to visit their girlfriends.
Ealrin had at least made sure that the men knew these two girls were traveling with him and under his protection. He had also made it abundantly clear that they were to arrive safely. She was glad for his words of protection. Still, Blume didn’t want to be caught unaware by anyone.
If they were going to be traveling by boat most of the day tomorrow, she could sleep then while Ealrin was awake. Right now, he was leaned up against a boat with his arms crossed and snoring slightly.
“Did he always snore?” Blume asked.
Elise looked up at Blume with a raised eyebrow from her own spot among the boats. She was laying on the other side of Ealrin. Elise looked at Ealrin and shook her head.
“Only when he’s mad,” she said.
Blume had not given Elise much of a chance. She admitted she was jealous for the excitement that was buzzin
g about the two being reunited as brother and sister. Blume had always felt a close connection to Ealrin.
How many times had they saved each other’s lives? And yet here was Blume not willing to give Ealrin’s own family chance. She cursed at her jealousy and then plowed on.
“So it’s true?” Blume asked.
“What?” Elise snapped back.
Blume narrowed her eyebrows at that. She hadn’t thought she had been annoying. Elise took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” she said. Blume had a feeling she meant it.
“It’s just how everything went. We tried to make a better future for Rerial. One where it’s leaders were forcing us into war. Now not only are we back in another war that might likely end both nations but now I’m estranged from my father, the only one who kept me safe during the rebellion. We all faced questions following the death of king Beltrame. He kept me from the prisons by speaking of my loyalty.”
Blume looked at Elise. She looked genuinely distraught.
“I thought I lost Ealrin four years ago. Even though I’ve got him back, now I really have lost my father. What with mother...”
Blume didn’t say anything. Elise looked rather uncomfortable. Speaking about the topic of their mother must have been hard to deal with. Blume knew it was still hard for her to talk about her own mother’s death.
“I hate sailing on the water,” Elise said.” Once you get used to flying going out on the waves is just a poor excuse for being on a ship. And it takes forever to get anywhere.”
Blume paused before she pressed on. There was something she wanted to know, even though it might be hard to talk about.
“What did happen to your mother?”
Elise was quiet for a while, and Blume figured that she wasn’t going to tell her. That would be fine. She was really being nosy in asking. It was for Ealrin to know, not her.
“There was a time when I had almost been caught. Lots of people were taken in for questioning, as I said. Only some never saw the light of day again. You have to understand that after news of the plan, rebellion broke out in the military was furious. It happened right under their noses, and they didn’t know about it. It was terrifying if it wasn’t something you were used to. When someone who knew me was taken in for questioning, they put everything on me. Even though some of it was true, the person they had taken in wasn’t a part of the rebellion.”
Elise took a breath as if recalling the experience first-hand.
“Anyway I was called in for questioning again, but mother refused to let it happen. The first time had been so hard on her, watching me endure the Inquisitor’s wrath. She knew it was difficult for me. So she said she had been at fault in the part of the rebellion. Whatever she had said in the questioning, chambers must have been pretty terrible. She never came out. Father was cleared of any knowledge of whatever mother said she had done.”
Elise took a deep breath.
“It destroyed father. To lose both his son and his wife. Granted he never trusted Polk again. He always believed mother had gotten confused in the chamber and had been falsely accused. He tried to get her out several times but to no avail. Not even the Commodore could get someone convicted a clean slate. He threw himself into his work. That’s why we have such magnificent airships. It was all my father focused on. And in the time the peace that followed, it was how I was going to reconnect with him. To be an airship pilot. At least that way, he might spend time with me.”
Elise fidgeted with something in her hands. Blume couldn’t see. All she could see was the face of a daughter who wanted the love of her father.
You told your father that your mother really was a part of the rebellion.
Elise nodded her head but didn’t elaborate.
“We should get some sleep,” she said. “I’ll take first watch. If any of these fishermen try something,...”
Blume watched Elise finger a dagger in her waist.
She didn’t imagine that Elise was going to allow any of the fishermen to touch either of them, let alone get close.
“Sorry about your mother,” Blume said.
Without meeting her eyes, Elise shook her head.
Blume kept going.
“I don’t know Ealrin as you do,” she said. “But I have known him for the last three years. He’s a good man. Stubborn. Clueless at times, but a good man. And from what I can see, he’s glad he’s found his family. That includes you. “
Blume leaned up against the side of the boat and closed her eyes, trying to focus on getting to sleep. Before she dozed off, she was certain she heard at least one sniff from the other side of Ealrin.
24: Full Sail
“Are you sure this thing can fly?” Jaxon asked as the Sky Dart dipped and then rose again, faltering even as it attempted to reach into the sky.
“Quit asking questions and just steer!” came Jill’s voice from down in the deck.
“How can I help, Miss Jill?” Jurrin asked as he disappeared through the hatch with an enthusiastic smile on his face.
Teresa was very unceremoniously hanging onto the railing for dear life.
They had said that Jaxon’s small airship was unfit for long distances and really only used for traveling in between the towers of Rerial. She wished that they would have taken his small carriage and risked it rather than fly Ealrin’s old airship that seemed to be on its last leg.
“Hold this and don’t let it move!” she heard Jill shouting from down below. “If that thing moves we’re going to tip to the right and keep tipping!
Teresa firmed up her grip on the railing.
“Have a care and help me turn this wheel!” Jaxon shouted. Teresa hoped with everything inside of her that the pilot was not talking to her.
“Thanks very much!”
She cautioned to look behind her and saw that Urt was standing at the wheel, holding it steady as Jaxon reached down underneath it and appeared to adjust something.
Teresa shut her eyes and hoped that they would soon stop vibrating as much as they were. From just below the deck, there came what sounded like a small explosion. Jill was cursing as the sound of a great thumping increased, and Jurrin began to shout.
“I’m losing it, Miss Jill! Help!”
“Bloody old airship!” Jill replied. “The new ones aren’t near this fussy!”
There was a resounding boom from below and all of a sudden, the vibrating stopped. Teresa looked up cautiously as the morning clouds began to sail by, and her vision stopped rattling within her head.
And then the ship plummeted.
All pretense and honor forgotten, Teresa let out a shriek as her feet began to leave the deck.
Just when she thought she was going to go over the side, the ship shot upwards and Jaxon let out a whoop of joy.
“That’s it! You got it!”
From within the hatch, a very dirty Jill emerged with Jurrin scrambling out behind her. The halfling looked like he had danced in ashes and smeared them all over his face.
“I thought you said you had fixed this!” Jill said as she walked carelessly on the deck without holding onto anything. “What a mess down there! It’ll take me two weeks to straighten everything out!”
“We tried to fix it, Miss Jill!” Jurrin replied. “Did the best we could with what we had. Which wasn’t much by the way.”
“Oh that’s plain,” Jill said smacking Teresa is back with one of her hands.
“Don’t like flying much, eh, princess?”
“Please don’t call me princess,” Teresa said she did her best to straighten up.
If there was any hope of regaining the command she had had over them last night when she had told them she was a princess, she would have to endure this flight. Now that the airship wasn’t vibrating and rattling so much, Teresa felt like she could take one hand away from the railing. But most certainly not both.
Both suns were just rising over her that the horizon. At the moment, a fog was resting over the landscape. It was still quite chilly. Te
resa was sure that once the suns rose up high enough, they would burn away the clouds and they would be able to see what had transpired so far between the Court and Rerial.
Both Jill and Jaxon had been right. The hanger had been hit in the explosion, and it looked like several airships had been damaged. Fortunately, Ealrin‘s had been in such bad condition that it hadn’t even been stored next to the other flying ships. All the ones that were able to fly had left the city to face the threat from the Court in the west.
Which was the direction they were heading now.
They didn’t think it would take them too long to catch up with the rest of the fleet. Hopefully, Jaxon and Jill would be able to drop them off so that they could reconnect with Ealrin and the others. The pair of them would be able to fly back to safety then and not get mixed up in this conflict.
“Thank you again for flying us,” Teresa said, trying to put on a brave face. Jaxon smiled at her from the control panel.
“It’s the least we could do!” he said. “You need to get reconnected with your friends, that’s for sure!”
“Tell your friends they need to have their airship professionally looked at,” Jill said as she wiped off a tool on the end of her skirt. “It’s a bloody mess down there.”
“I’ll tell him,” Teresa said, looking out over the horizon. She was worried about Ealrin. There had been such a commotion with the explosions and the start of this battle that she was wondering how he was doing.
She tried to comfort herself with what she knew so far. Blume and his sister had gone with them. Blume was a powerful speaker and Elise, a competent woman from what Teresa could tell. And they were with the Commodore. Everything should be all right.
“Galp!” Jurrin shouted as he finished wiping off the face. “You’ve got to get back in bed!”
Teresa turned and looked at the door that led into their quarters. Galp was stumbling out, holding his stomach with one hand and the side of the door with the other.
“Jurrin!” Teresa said, flustered. “I told you Galp had to stay. Why in the world would you bring him with us?”
