The Four as One

by R. F. Pace

       They rode into Tumed Osto with their heads held high.  When Jake turned to say something to Ralnor, all the wardens were gone.  Sara did a double take and said, “When did they leave?”  George asked, “Who?”  Then he and Tammy noticed the wardens were gone also.  George said, “That is so cool.  I need them to teach me that trick.”  Tammy remarked, “Why?  So you can get out of work when you get home?”  George smiled and nodded his head.  Jake said, “That would be good to know for family reunions when your aunt wants to pinch your cheek and say how adorable you are.”  Sara laughed and said, “But you are adorable, little boy.”  She tried to reach over and pinch his cheek but the horses were too far apart.

       They lined up single-file and headed through the gate.  When they arrived at the second gate, the guard must have remembered them from months ago.  He stepped aside and let them pass.  They rode up to Ralph’s home and dismounted.  The clatter of the horses drew a few neighbors’ attention, but not many.

       Ralph unexpectedly came running from the house and exclaimed, “Well! I’m glad to see you’re okay!”  Jake said, “It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Ralph.”  Ralph looked up at him and said, “I was referring to the horses.  I’m glad you brought them back in one piece.  I really thought you would have eaten a couple by now.”  Jake and George laughed at his comment, but Sara and Tammy looked disgusted at the thought of eating a horse.  George inquired, “How are Franz and his family doing?”  Ralph smiled, “They’re doing fine.  Franz is a hard worker and very smart.  Thank you for sending him my way.”  George asked, “Where are they living at?”  Ralph said, “In the lower section of the city for now, but as smart as he is, he will have a place up here before too long.”  George asked, “Can you have someone take me to see him?  I have something for him.”

       Ralph instructed one of the servants to show George where to go, and Tammy accompanied him.  Tammy was more curious about what was going on than wanting to do any additional traveling.  As long as Tammy had known him, this was a rather strange way for him to act.  It took several minutes on horseback for them to arrive at Franz’s house.  This area of the city was not as fine as the upper section, but the house was located in a fairly decent area.

       As they rode toward the house, the kids ran in to warn their mother.  Maria was looking out the door smiling at George and Tammy.  Maria started calling for Franz, who walked to the door and looked out to see what all the commotion was about.  When he saw George and Tammy, he ran out of the house and greeted them by hugging them both at once.  “Welcome home, my friends,” he cried.  George said, “Thanks for welcoming us to your home, Franz.”  “This will always be considered your home as well,” said Franz.  “If it wasn’t for you four, we might not have anything at all.”  Franz got a very concerned look on his face and asked, “Are the others fine?”  George smiled and replied, “Yes, they stayed with Ralph and his wife.  Franz said, “I got worried when I only saw the two of you.”  George explained a few of the trails they had gone through on the journey.

       George said, “I have thought about you and your family since we met many moons ago.  George walked over to his horse and removed his backpack from it.  Tammy’s eyes went wide.  Franz noticed and said, “Is everything okay?  George smiled and said, “Everything is great.  Can we go inside for a minute, please?”  Franz led them into a small but comfortable living area.  George lowered his head a bit and stared at the floor.  He said, “When I was a lot younger, my dad lost his job.  We moved in with one member of our family and after a while moved on to the next. We must have moved about 10 or 12 times that year.  To me it looked like nobody wanted us.  My dad later told me why we kept moving was because of him looking for work, not that the family didn’t want us.”

        George looked up and continued, “I want you to have this.”  He handed the backpack over to Franz.  Franz didn’t expect it to be as heavy as it was and dropped it to the floor.  The impact shook the room.  Franz slowly opened it and looked inside. He saw it was packed with valuable jewels, gold coins, and other rare treasures.  Tears began running down his face as he said, “There is no way I could accept this.”

       Tammy also had tears streaking her cheeks, moved closer to Georges’ side, and hugged him.  George said to Franz, “I could see the thankfulness in your eyes with the little bit of food we gave you.  I could tell you were an honest man by the way you tried to refuse the food and money.”  Franz said, “That is one thing, but this is more than most people in the city combined are worth. As Franz said that, Maria was getting her first look inside the backpack.  She almost fainted, but luckily for her, George was there to stop her from falling to the floor.  George said, “I know there’s a lot there.  But I also know that you are the right people to take it and help others.”  Franz just kept shaking his head from side to side.  George looked at him and said, “If I come back here, I may need a place to live and someone to get me on my feet.”  Franz sat with tears rolling down his face.

        George got up, took Tammy by the hand and walked out of the house.  It didn’t take Franz long to run after him and put him and Tammy in a bear hug.  Franz said, “I don’t know how to thank you for such a generous gift.”  George said, “May I suggest you buy a big house in the upper compound, so when we come back this way we don’t have to stay at an inn.”  Franz was nodding his head and saying that would be one of the first things he did.  Maria had joined the hugging and crying too.  George could see the concerned look on the faces of the children, so he said, “I need one more favor from you.  I need you to explain to the children what has happened and why.  Don’t let them grow up thinking something was wrong when it wasn’t.”  Franz said, “I promise I will.”

       George mounted his horse and said, “We have traveled a long way and need to get back to the other before they miss us too much.”  With that he and Tammy turned and rode off.  “I never understood why you were overloading your backpack when we were in the treasure room.  If I would have known, I would’ve helped you carry it,” said Tammy.  George grinned and said, “It was no big deal, but thanks anyways.”   Nothing else was said during the ride back to Ralphs.

       When they arrived, George went up to his room by himself.  Jake gave him a funny look as he walked by without saying anything.  Jake looked at Tammy and asked, “Is everything okay?”  Tammy, who still had tears in her eyes nodded, “Yes.”  She finally found her voice and said, “George filled that backpack at the Dwarven Caverns for Franz.  He gave them the backpack full of gold.”  Jake’s mouth dropped open and he was left speechless.  Sara who was standing next to him didn’t say a word.  Tammy just turned and went up to George’s room.

       Jake and Sara followed a short time later.  When they arrived, George and Tammy were both cheerful and happy.  Jake asked, “Can we come in?”  George said, “Anytime, my friend.”  Jake and Sara entered and sat on the edge of the bed. “Tammy told us what you did and I want to tell you I’m sorry for thinking that you were being greedy and wanting to keep that for yourself,” Jake stated.  George said, “No problem.  I did disobey on the amount of stuff we were allowed to take, and then kept it a secret what my intentions were, so it is partly my fault too.”  Jake said, “I think what you did is great and I admire you for it.”  George replied, “I just wanted to help someone in need because I remember when my family was in need and how hard it was for us.”  He stayed silent a few minutes, then said, “I only kept two items from the room for myself.”  Jake looked at him and felt bad for what he had been thinking about George.

       The biggest shock came next.  George pulled a diamond ring from his pocket.  It wasn’t a huge, gaudy ring, but a simple cut diamond on a plain setting.  George said, “This is one of the two items I took from the treasure room, but the problem I have is it doesn’t fit my finger.”  Tammy was about to explode with excitement and anticipa
tion.  Jake said, “So what are you thinking about doing with it, trading it in for one that fits?”  Sara smacked him and gave him a dirty look.  George smiled and said, “No, I have thought about this for a long time now.  I have become very close and fallen in love with someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.”  Jake couldn’t resist: “That will never fit your horse.”  He received a double whack and two nasty looks from the girls.

       George turned and looked at Tammy, “Tammy, you and I were made for each other.  I have loved spending the past several months with you always being by my side.  I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  I know we are still young, but I want to give you this ring as a promise of my love and that one day we will discuss being married.  Tammy, will you be my fiancée?”  Tammy almost knocked him down when she landed on him.  All she could say was, “Yes!”  “Yes!”  “Yes!”

  CHAPTER 46

   

      When Sara and Jake left they went to Jake’s room.  Sara was smiling and Jake looked like he was sad.  Sara asked, “What’s wrong?  That was such a cool proposal…aren’t you happy for them?”  Jake said, “Yes, I am.”  He left it at that.  Sara waited for him to say something else, but he remained silent.  She flopped down on the bed and continued to wait for Jake to say something.  He sat next to her and Sara leaned her head on his shoulder.

       She said, “I know what’s wrong with you.  You wanted to propose to me first.”  Jake pulled away and asked, “How did you know?”  Sara was stunned, she meant it more as a joke than the truth when she said it.  Jake caught the expression on her face and turned away from her.  Sara said, “No, it’s not like that at all.”  Jake said, “I could see the disappointment on your face when I asked how you knew.”  Sara said, “It wasn’t disappointment, it was more, why don’t you just ask me.”  Jake turned back and faced her.  He said, “Because what he said to Tammy was what I wanted to say to you.  I had a long talk with Ralnor about this a while back.  I just didn’t know what to say to you, when to say it or how to say it.”  Sara hugged him.  She said, “Jake, I love you.  I don’t need a ring to say I’m your girl, because I am.  That is, unless you don’t want me.”  He said, “You know I do, and I love you too, Sara.”

   

  ***

   

       The next morning when they were at breakfast, Ralph’s wife noticed the ring on Tammy’s finger.  She said, “What a lovely ring.”  Tammy replied, “George proposed to me last night and I said, ‘yes.’”  Ralph about choked on his meal.  His wife gave him the strangest look.  Ralph said, “Excuse me for that; it caught me by surprise.  If I may, please excuse me.”  Without anyone’s further comment.  He got up and left the room.  The teens figured he was going to clean up or some such thing.  Ralph instead went into his library and started looking for a book.  He had been looking for about an hour when he heard his wife yell, “Come say goodbye to the kids, Ralph!  They are getting ready to leave.”  Ralph left the library, unable to find the correct book. He walked out to say his good-byes.

       Jake said, “Once again, thank you for your hospitality.”  Ralph replied, “Anytime.  I look forward to your next visit.”  Jake said, “I’m not sure if we will be back in this area again, but if we are, we will stop to see you.”

   

  ***

   

      With that they turned and rode out of Tumed Osto toward Alalda Ostar.  Sara said, “Remember when we got here, it took us a full day to walk this.”  Jake said, “Yeah.  And every sound was a monster coming after us.”  George laughed and said, “I thought I was the only one that felt that way.”  Sara added, “I think we all felt that way.”  Tammy nodded her head in agreement.  Jake remarked, “That seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?”

      It only took them about four hours to be on the fringe of the village.  As they looked down the road, it appeared the whole village had come out to welcome them back.  Jake remarked, “It almost feels like the first time when we arrived, with everyone staring at us.”  Sara replied, “It does feel a bit awkward.”  Norhorn could be seen standing at the elder’s hut with several others.

      As they rode up, Jake had taken Yatuku from where it was secured on the horse and held it in his hand.  George said, “I can’t hear any music playing for our arrival, can you?”  Jake gave him a side glance with a bit of a smile. When they passed a group of people, the group fell in behind the teens and followed.  By the time they arrived at the hut, most of the village was there or following them.

       Jake hopped off his horse and went to hand Yatuku to Norhorn.  Norhorn shook his head ‘no’ and pointed inside the hut.  Jake walked in.  The furs that had been on the floor were pulled back and there, in the center of the room, was a hole.  Jake walked to the center and glanced up at Norhorn.  He nodded ‘yes’ to Jake.  Jake then placed Yatuku in the hole.  All four of the teens looked a bit disappointed when nothing happened.  The four of them kept waiting for a boom or the ground to shake, but nothing happened.  Jake said, “That was pretty anticlimactic, if you ask me.”  Norhorn turned and walked to the door and said, “Yatuku with her stone have been seated.”  The crowd let out a big cheer and the noise was deafening.  Norhorn stated, “It may not seem to you that anything happened, but a lot happened when the stick and stone were seated.  The plants will produce more, harvests will feed more people, the water will purify, and damaged areas will heal at a faster rate.”

       Jake smiled and was about to say something when the ground started rumbling and Yatuku gave off a blinding gold flash.  Jake asked, “What just happened?”  Norhorn was shocked and replied, “I do not know.  Nothing is written about Yatuku being seated.”  As suddenly as the ground-shaking had started, it stopped.  The crowd outside had gone quiet.  Norhorn addressed everyone, “Do not be afraid.  It is Yatuku being awakened.”  The whole group walked out of the hut and headed to the dining area.

       Ralnor walked up and said, “I have some good news for you.  We have found the entrance to your world.’  Time basically stopped. The four froze in their tracks.  Ralnor had expected to hear cheering and shouts of how happy they were, but instead he heard absolutely nothing.  He repeated, “Did you hear me?  They have found the entrance to your world!”  Jake replied, “Yes, we heard you.”  Ralnor left the unsaid alone.  Sara pointed out, “This is going to be weird going back home.  Here we are able to make decisions we deem necessary, but back home we will have to ask our parents for permission to do anything.”  Ralnor wasn’t about to say another word.  He could see and hear the conflict they were all struggling with in their hearts.  Tammy said, “I think the strangest part will be the four of us not being together all the time.”  Tammy was looking more at George than anyone else.

       Jake tried to cheer everyone up by saying, “Hot pizza and a cold soda sounds nice.”  George remarked, “Fontun’s pot roast with cold spring water does too.”  Jake said, “I think you have me there, that one is hard to beat.”  Sara smiled and said, “Running hot water, cell phones and internet.”  Tammy countered, “A running creek, nature’s sounds and the various warden’s calls.”  Sara said, “I’m convinced, I’m staying!”  The other three just looked at her like she had lost her mind.  Jake said. “I wish it were that simple.”  Sara smiled, “I know, but that’s what I want to do.  I know I have to go back and see my parents at least once more.”  George said, “True.”  Tammy questioned, “When do we want to go home?”  George mumbled, “Never, really, but we might as well get it over as soon as possible.”

       Jake turned to Ralnor, “Where is the entrance located?”  Ralnor replied, “About two leagues west of here.”  Sara gasped, “Wow.  That’s close.”  Jake said to Ralnor, “Do you mind if we take a few minutes and talk about this?”  Ralnor answered, “No, why would I?”  Jake commented, “It is just a figure of speech.”  Jake walked off toward a quiet
little spot and sat down.  The other three followed.

       Once everyone was seated, George stated, “This really sucks.  Do we go or do we stay?”  Jake snapped, “Get real, we have to go!”  Tammy said, “We can come back anytime we want to.”  Jake interrupted, “It’s not that simple.”  Sara didn’t understand his reasoning and asked, “Why not?”  He replied, “Once we leave, we know the location of how to get back in.  But once we come back in, we will have to find the entrance to return home again.  This time they were able to find it shortly after they started searching for it.  But remember, they said it could take years.”  Sara remembered, “True, I forgot about that.”  Jake flopped back and Sara leaned on him as George and Tammy were huddled together.  Jake said, “It’s not going to make it any easier to wait and go back later.  I say we just leave now.”  Sara grunted.  Tammy looked at George.  George said, “I don’t know, maybe you’re right and we should just go now.”  Jake sat up, kissed Sara on her forehead and said, “Let’s go.”

       They walked into the hut where their clothes had been laid out and gathered their belongings.  Jake looked at Norhorn and asked, “Can we keep the traveling clothes?”  Norhorn shook his head no and said, “You would have to explain where you got those items from.  I suggest that you take nothing back from this world except the medallions you wear around your necks and the ring the wizard gave each of you.”  Tammy involuntarily covered the ring on her other hand.  Norhorn added, “And maybe a few small items that may not be noticed.”

       They changed back into their own clothes and without another word being said, they went over and got on their horses.  Ralnor was a bit stunned by their actions, but followed suit.  He was ready to lead them to the entrance.  They said their farewells to Norhorn and a few others, then rode off.