The duelist 7, p.4
The Duelist 7, page 4
“I think the words you’re trying to find are thank you, Gavlain,” Mec sang and then poked the Regent in the side like he was a school boy.
“I’m glad to see things haven’t really changed much with you,” I snorted and crossed my arms over my chest.
The playful grin on Mec’s face faded into something a little fonder and a little softer when he locked eyes with mine.
“I’m just glad to see you, lad,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Then, in typical Gavlain style, the ram-lord enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug complete with a round of hardy back slapping.
“The same goes for me, big guy,” I said and then stepped back.
“Your Mr. Jenner is truly an outstanding genius to get this thing up and running,” he continued as he sheathed his broadsword. “For all of Gella Vane’s treachery, he sure was capable of designing some of the most amazing feats of modern machinery I’ve seen so far. And that power source. Where did you find such an amazing device?”
“Would you believe me if I told you I made friends with a tree, and somehow the tree gave me the most powerful battery in existence?” I half-jokingly asked, but I only raised my eyebrows at him when he began to laugh.
“Wait... You’re serious?” he asked as his laughter faded. “A tree gave you one of the most powerful sources of energy anyone’s ever seen in existence? What in Mercedes did you do to earn that?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” I said with another grin. “But I’m sure we’ll have time to talk about it once we get to the palace.”
“True enough,” he agreed. “Besides, I heard there is a wedding that my good friend Sskern needs to be in attendance for. After all, he is the guest of honor.”
“Not the only guest,” the raptor- man said. “It seems as if my uncle might finally take a wife after all these years.”
“Oh?” The ram-lord tilted his horned head as he regarded his friend with a curious expression. “Old Griss has finally decided to settle into being a husband, is that right? Tell me, who is the lady he has his heart set on?”
“That reminds me!” I interrupted forcefully. “I came across Issa during the battle. She seemed to be hurt, so I left her to rest under a tree back the other way.”
“We should make it a task to search the area for any wounded who have first priority on getting back to the palace,” Sskern said. “I will also go tell my uncle to be on the lookout for his wayward bride.”
“Speaking of wayward brides,” the ram-lord said as we both watched the raptor-man head off in the direction of the Terran Asher Lord. “What happened to yours? And also, have you seen my sisters?”
“I bet Anwaar is with Horus, and Zoie and Amaya are hopefully with Shay where I last left her,” I said as Mec and I started walking away from the tower. “I had to make sure Shay was safe because she was kind of the reason as to why we suddenly had those nightmares after us.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he glanced at me.
“She’s been able to come into her Incarnate powers a little more these days,” I explained. “She was able to actually heal the heart of the island, but by doing so she inadvertently ended up threatening the heat source for that colony of parasites. All of their young perished, and they wanted to make the Terrans pay."
“How do you know all this?” Mec asked.
“How else do you think?” I snickered.
“Amaya, of course, it’s Amaya,” he concluded as he shook his head with a weary sigh. “She seems to be getting stronger day by day.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I pointed out as we made our way through the smoldering campfires.
People were slowly coming out of their tents as the sun rose higher in the sky. Now that the danger had passed, it was safe to come out and start putting things to rights. Some of the older matrons already had pots simmering as they stoked up the dead fires, and there was sure to be a filling but flavorless soup being made in one or all of them.
Mec didn’t say anything at first, and I grew suspicious at his silence in the face of the perfect opportunity to brag about his baby sister.
I knew if I waited long enough, whatever was on his mind would make itself known sooner or later, and eventually, I was proven right when he slowed to a stop and looked at me.
“I admit I’m not just here for a wedding, as nice as that would be,” he started as his shoulders slumped ever so slightly. “My wife, Dawn, has come with me because Amaya especially has been receiving messages from the High Temple Order. They say the time for her to take the Oath has come.”
My heart seemed to fall through the floor.
“What does that mean for her, then?” I asked as an icy fear tried to claw up my spine. “Are you here to take her away?”
“We can only be the ones to inform her of her duty,” he said. “We cannot make her do anything she doesn’t want to do, which I’m assuming you’ve come to realize yourself.”
I chuckled as I cast my eyes to the ground. “You’ve got that right. She can be a stubborn one.”
“And that’s part of the reason why we love her so much,” the ram-lord concluded, and we both shared a knowing look. “However, as much as Dawn and I are loath to force Amaya to do anything, that is not the case with the Order. They will be demanding her answer hand-delivered by Dawn herself. That is why we have come, but it’s more of a formality. Because Amaya’s powers seem to be getting stronger, she has been making waves so to speak. Dawn has been able to feel her whenever she expends a great deal, which means the High Priestess also can feel this as well. They know she is almost in her prime.”
“What can we do?” I asked as we resumed walking in the direction of the outcrop.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said as he cast his eyes to the horizon. “I just know I need to talk to her about all this. Maybe we can put our heads together later when we know the full scope of what’s going on.”
I tried to take his word for it as we made our way through the rest of the camp, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious inside like a swarm of hornets was constantly buzzing through my rib cage.
When I finally ran across all three of my beautiful ladies, they were a sight for sore eyes, to say the least.
It appeared as if Amaya had built a small fire while Zoe was cooking some of the mole-bat carcass rotisserie-style, and Shay was curled up on the ground with Zoe’s cloak under her head as a pillow. My phoenix-wife looked like she’d probably slept through all or most of the commotion and would probably go right on sleeping come hell or high water.
“Brother!” Amaya gasped when she looked up from her task and saw who was responsible for casting the shadow in her sunlight. “Were you aboard the magnificent airship Zoie and I just saw?”
“I was indeed, baby sister,” he said and gathered her up in his arms when she launched herself at him. “It’s so good to see you. Tell me, where is our Ana?”
“Probably wherever Horus is,” the oryx-woman snorted. “Are you here for the Regent’s wedding?”
“Apart from other things, my dear,” Mec said in a tone that was a little more somber as he held her hands in his.
Amaya’s rain-colored eyes shimmered as she looked into her brother’s bronze ones, and her Knowing powers didn’t have to stretch far for her to discern the real reason for her brother’s visit.
“You brought Dawnie, didn’t you?” She apparently decided she wanted a verbal answer to that question because she pulled her hands away and folded them behind her.
“I did.” Mec nodded with a sad look in his eyes. “But I also brought Meera.”
“Don’t think that peace offering will work every time,” the oryx-woman said with a laugh that turned into a sob at the end.
“Ames.” I made an abortive gesture toward her like I wanted to pull her into my arms, but I stopped at the last moment because I was unsure if my advances would be welcome or not.
Amaya took the guesswork out of things and lessened the distance between us by seeking comfort in my arms anyway, and I cupped the back of her dear head.
“Oh, Alex,” she whispered as fine tremors raced through every fiber of her being. “I don’t want to go.”
“We haven’t given up yet, flower,” I said as I smoothed my hands along her spine to try and ease her. “In fact, a big part of why your brother is here is because we are going to come up with a plan. Isn’t that right, Gavlain?”
“That’s correct,” Mec said with a nod. “Don’t give up hope just yet.”
Her shaking eased, and her short breaths returned to normal as she collected herself, and when she was composed again, she finally stepped back.
“I understand,” she sighed. “And I trust you both.”
“Hey, Amaya, do you think you can help round up every one who is wounded so we can start ferrying them across to the Upper Echelon?” I requested and then glanced at the amazing, hovering, castle-ship my awesome Crew back on Nata Isle had managed to engineer.
If I had to describe the vessel floating over the deep crevasse of Terr-- other than just wickedly awesome-- I would have said it looked a little like if Monger Manor had traded its creepy Wes Craven vibe for a more whimsical Studio Ghibli one.
“Yes, I can help,” she said as she brushed off her palms on her thighs. “I need to help. And then… then I would like to talk to Dawn and find out what the Order has said.”
“You are one of the bravest people I have ever known.” Zoie’s serene voice interrupted before the spark in the augur-woman’s eyes could flicker and die out completely, and the sage-like Varthan warrior approached Amaya and brushed some of the platinum ringlets out of her gray eyes.
“I don’t feel very brave,” she admitted shyly as she held Zoie’s hands.
“But don’t you feel you are loved?” the cat-woman asked. “That is all you need when your courage fails.”
Amaya sighed out slowly through her nose as she bumped her forehead against the other woman’s.
“Okay,” she said, and this time when she pulled back she seemed determined and confident once more. “First thing’s first, Shay should be taken to the airship so she may sleep more comfortably.”
“Good idea,” Mec said with a smile on his bearded face, but the look he fixed me with said he was definitely going to hunt me down for a Conversation here pretty soon.
Which was fair because there was quite a bit I’d like to chat with him about as well, now that I thought about it.
Namely, the time here just recently when I may have traveled back in time and actually met a younger and more depressed ram-lord who was on the brink of offing himself via Dark Realm Seppuku.
Oh, yeah. We had much to discuss.
For now, however, I needed to see to my exhausted phoenix-wife.
“You guys go ahead,” I said as I turned back to the makeshift campsite where Zoie had returned and was now attempting to rouse the poor woman.
“Is it time for the ball?” Shay asked deliriously as the cat-woman helped her to a sitting position. “I’m afraid I haven’t gotten a thing done.”
“Don't worry about that, darling,” Zoie said as she helped the other woman to her feet.
I ended up having perfect timing because just as I approached them, Shay’s knees went soft, and I prevented her from sinking back to the ground like a puddle of candle wax.
“Oh, Alex,” she mumbled as she rested her crimson head in the curve of my neck and shoulder. “I still haven’t picked out my dress…”
“It’s all taken care of, sweetheart,” I assured her and then scooped her up princess-style.
She merely hummed a contented hum in the back of her throat before succumbing to her healing sleep once more.
“Is she going to be okay?” Zoie asked me after she put out the fire and slung the roasted meat over her shoulder. “She seems more out of it than she usually is when she uses her powers.”
“Well, she did just heal an entire island as well as forty or fifty injured people on top of that,” I pointed out as we followed behind the Mec siblings at a slower pace. “Also, I think if there was something else wrong with her that we needed to know about, Amaya would have told us by now. It’s hard to keep almost anything from her nowadays.”
“Do we have a plan?” my cat-wife asked me as she tilted her head to the side. “To help her with the Order, I mean.”
“I’m hoping maybe Jenner was able to find out more that can help,” I said with a shrug. “Other than that, we are all going to have to be really creative because letting Amaya take her oath is absolutely not an option.”
“I agree,” Zoie said as her normally stoic features hardened into a mask of fierceness and solidarity, and I knew that with her at my side, my chances of failure decreased by a lot.
I wasn’t entirely sure percentage-wise, but whatever the case, I stood by what I said. I’d made a promise to the auger-woman, and I would be damned before I broke it and let her live a life of servitude she’d never asked for.
There were several loose ends seemingly dangling in the wind, and as much as it drove me crazy, my priorities with my family, and seeing a little piece of what I now considered to be home floating in the air in front of me, made a good distraction from all of the things currently out of my control.
When we approached the floating airship, it seemed as if a lot of the miners and what remained of the Asher Lord’s guard were helping to escort as many injured as they could up the ramshackle ramps built to reach the front steps of what used to be Monger Manor. The Terrans had used a number of items to construct the bridges and ramps using anything from branches to parts of disassembled wagons, and not many it seemed were in dire need of care, but a few needed to be carried via stretchers.
Leader Zerr and Major Tharfin were the ones directing people toward the little koala-man standing on top of two wooden boxes, and Mr. Jenner was also giving short and simple directions to anybody passing through the airship. He wore his trademark blue velvet waistcoat, and every so often when answering a question, he would tweak his monocle.
“Master Alex!” My trusty koala-butler stopped mid-sentence when he caught my eye, and then he scrambled down the stack of boxes so he could rush over to me. “Mercedes be. What happened to Lady Shale-Lea?”
“She wiped herself out trying to heal everybody and everything, of course,” I said with a fond grin as I glanced down at my wife silently drooling on my tunic. “How have you been, Mr. Jenner?”
“It certainly has been an interesting time without you, my boy,” Jenner said as he buffed his monocle on his jacket sleeve. “I’m sure not quite as interesting as yours, though. But you had better go inside with her. There will be time enough to catch up, I’m sure, so go on, your shared suite on the upper floor is still made up for you. I’m sure Shay will be comfortable there. Also, I will borrow the lovely Zoe for a moment if you don’t mind.”
“I suppose I could part with her just this once,” I said with a wink, but then I sobered. “Thank you, Jenner, for all of your hard work and research.”
“Of course, lad,” he said with a dismissive gesture as if the acknowledgment was some bothersome insect, but the small grin at the corners of his mouth told me my thanks had touched him somehow.
With one more grateful nod, I maneuvered past him and some of the crowd in order to take my wife up to bed.
When I got up into the rooms I shared with my wives, and hopefully now my lover, I couldn’t help but linger on the side of the large bed after I’d tucked Shay under the soft covers.
The bed itself was almost too much of a luxury compared to the scratchy cots and floor mattresses I’d become accustomed to in the past several weeks. So much so I briefly considered just crawling under the duvet along with my slumbering wife. The only reason I didn’t, aside from the growing list of responsibilities I seem to always have as an Asher-slash-Ambassador-slash-whatever, was the fact I was missing one very important person during this period of unexpected reunions.
Rylan.
After stowing away on the Soaring Light, and generally popping up in places where he shouldn’t be, I figured it was just a given that he would be among the first people I would see on Monger Manor’s airship. But since I’d entered these walls, I hadn’t seen one wisp of him.
Which was odd because there was just simply no way he would allow himself to be left behind.
It was this realization that clued me in on the fact that the corridors were especially silent as I traversed them back down to the main level.
Almost too silent, and this small little detail along with Rylan’s suspicious absence were the breadcrumbs I needed to prevent myself from being tackled to the floor a split second before I was attacked.
“Roar!”
My missing foster son in question exploded out of one of the broom cupboards on the bottom floor when I passed. He attempted to put the basic hand-to-hand things I’d been trying to teach him to use in order to try to take me down, but he didn’t place his center of gravity correctly, and it was easy for me to knock him off-center.
“Oof!” He landed hard right on his back side.
“You’re getting rusty,” I teased as I helped the gangly kid up off the floor, but then I wondered if my vision or memory needed to be checked because Rylan seemed to have grown five whole inches and then some since I’d seen him last.
His lanky arms and legs were still awkward, but his chest had filled out a little with muscles, and his face had lost some of its softness. It was odd to see him grow right before my eyes, and I had one of those existential parental moments when I cosmically understood the desire to see him stay young forever. Already the shadows lurking behind his eyes were of things he should have never had to see in the first place, and the frailty of innocence was definitely fading.
It wasn’t fair.
“I’m only rusty because you’ve been gone for so long,” he argued logically as he brushed the dust off the back of his trousers. “At least I had the element of surprise this time.”
“Actually, your lack of noise, although commendable, was what tipped me off in the first place that you were up to no good,” I said as I ruffled his sandy hair. “Yeesh. Wasn’t there anybody who could give your hair a good chop back on Nata? You’re starting to look like Arvid.”
