The choice, p.12
The Choice, page 12
The remaining Shadars scurried off into the dark of the forest, not willing to face these terrible foes. As the last remaining Shadar left, TJ fell to the ground as the darkness crept in again, feeling his power fading despite the short time he had called upon it.
“TJ,” Melody whimpered as the dark enclosed on them again.
“What?” came the exhausted response to her left.
Mar put her arm around Melody, “It’s okay sweetie. Where are you?” She looked around blindly as her eyes readjusted.
A rustle came from the side of the road with some murmured cuss words. Then his light voice said, “Over here. I umm… need your help.”
The two girls came rushing over, all fear forgotten at the unexpected request. TJ never asked for help and it worried them more than anything else. “What is it? What happened? Are you hurt?” They gasped, seeing him gulping air and trying to pull himself up.
“No. I’m fine, but my legs won’t hold my weight. The light took a lot of power to create and then I was killing Shadars on top of it,” he mumbled. “Can you help me up?”
“You made that light?” Mar questioned, slightly shocked and a little stupidly.
“No, it was a bogey,” TJ rolled his eyes at her while naming the creature that haunted children’s nightmares almost as much as the Shadars. “Of course, it was me.”
Melody leaned down simultaneously with Mar to help pull TJ to his feet. He tried to stand and walk on his own, but on the first step he took, his legs shook violently. Melody pulled his arm over her shoulder as she wrapped her other arm around his waist. He stiffened as his breath came even quicker. “Mar help! I’m goin’ down!”
“How? He’s so tiny. He can’t possibly weigh that much,” she shook her head and took his other arm, “Shit. How do you weigh this much?”
“You’re not going to pass out right?” Melody questioned, watching TJ for any forewarning.
“No… I don’t… think so… I need… water… some water…please,” TJ mumbled brokenly as he tried to still the vomit threatening to spew out as images from his past assailed him one after the other.
Mar let go of his arm and dug in the pack she had thrown to the ground when the Shadars first showed themselves. Melody braced herself for his weight and suddenly became more worried about TJ than before. He clung to her shoulder as he took steadying breaths, “TJ? Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
He nodded and took the water Mar handed him then looked back to the red head like she was the village idiot, “What, pray tell, do you expect me to do with this?”
“Huh?”
“I can’t open this. I can barely stand,” he said shaking as one of his legs gave out and Melody pulled his arm more around her shoulder. Her face turned red with the effort and then an image came. Not intrusively this time, more instructive. TJ shrugged back from her as she reached out to him. Feeling hurt, she let her hand drop, but then she saw him wrap his arms around his ribs and swallow hard as he tried not to look at her – and she knew. “TJ, are you okay?” He frowned and looked up at her – eyes olive green, “I’m fine.” She shook her head, “No you aren’t. You’re lying. What did she do to you this time? Or, was it Roger? Let me see.” She reached out and he tried to step back, she paused, arm half raised, “TJ, I’m not going to hurt you. You know I would never hurt you – let me see.” Tentatively, he lowered his arms and raised up his shirt to show her his side covered in an array of bruises – old and new. She closed her eyes to fight back tears. Melody felt her stomach twist uncomfortably at the after image, but the one thing that had struck her was his scarred angel wings were missing in the vision. At least now she knew why he was so tense in her arms.
“Oh right,” sheepishly Mar undid the top for him and he took a long drink nearly draining the canteen. His legs strengthened slightly, but it took both Melody and Mar to help him walk.
Melody cleared her throat and looked up at him, “TJ, relax. You keep pulling away from us.”
TJ worked his jaw, staring straight ahead, hating the feel of the girls holding him up as he remembered Roger picking him up and throwing him, his mother dragging him by the arm. He tried to relax, but couldn’t.
Melody tried to imitate her father’s calming voice – the one he used with frightened patients, “We would never hurt you TJ, you do know that, right?”
He looked down at her suddenly and tensed more for a moment, before nodding. He forced himself to relax as much as possible. It wasn’t much, but he was no longer pulling away from them.
We can’t keep this up. Melody thought to herself as she watched the half-elf from the corner of her eye. We need to stop soon. Otherwise, I fear, he will seriously be in trouble.
They made slow progress for perhaps a half hour, but soon, surprising the girls and beyond their better judgment, TJ attempted walking on his own. “Shouldn’t we stop soon?” Melody asked as he let go of her shoulder and she dropped her arm from around his waist.
“We need to put more distance between us and Tasberia. Mitchie knows we were there and it won’t be long before he sends smarter Shadars for us,” TJ told her. “Once it gets lighter, we can stop.”
“Can you stay awake that long?” Mar chided, “You look dead on your feet.”
TJ looked around. “Yes, I can. I get energy from plants remember?”
“Why don’t you usually?” Melody questioned.
“I would kill the plants if I took too much, because they need energy to live just like everything else,” TJ sighed.
They walked in silence for a time, pacing out the distance until daylight and rest. Finally, after what seemed like ages, the moon went down and dawn began creeping its tendrils over the forest. It turned the darkest shadows into fading greens at the lightest touch. The sounds of night turned into twittering birds and rustles as the eyes gazing at them became unveiled to the girls. They were really just curious squirrels and chipmunks after all.
“Okay,” TJ murmured sleepily, a little after the sun peaked into the forest. “We can rest here. Only for breakfast and a small nap. We need to carry on.”
“Thank you!” Melody breathed a sigh of relief.
Mar rubbed at her tired eyes, “Finally.”
TJ muttered under his breath in a different language as he slid to his knees.
“What did you just say?” Melody asked completely annoyed, more from the lack of sleep than her lack of understanding him.
“Sorry,” he sheepishly responded. “I just said ‘you would think I was trying to kill you’ in Astyreian.”
“It’s very pretty,” Mar complimented with a yawn.
“I’ll give you that,” Melody admitted dropping the pack unceremoniously in the dirt. “Even if morbid.”
TJ laughed in exhaustion. TJ pulled out the food from one of the packs. They ate their share of bread and cheese then fell asleep where they sat.
The sun finally woke TJ a few hours later. Shoot. I hadn’t meant to sleep that long. He quickly gathered up the food stuff and shoved it into one of the packs and woke the girls. They woke and stiffly followed him out onto the road once more.
The two girls, still slightly grumpy and sleep deprived, spent most of the morning glaring at TJ for waking them. “I’m sorry,” he kept telling them but they would not relent in their stares. It soon seemed that even the rabbits felt pity for him and the girls gave up glaring in request for a song.
“What kind?” He asked. “I know folk, a little country, modern-”
The girls cut him off, “Modern!”
“Okay pick a song. One of your favorites. You two will have to help me though,” TJ smiled.
“Medi? Or -”
“Oceans Rising?”
“Oceans Rising!” They exclaimed.
“Okay. Melody, how does it start?” TJ questioned a glint in his lime green eyes. Melody stopped bouncing almost instantaneously.
“Why me?”
“Because,” TJ patiently picked up a daisy and started pulling the petals off. “You probably know it better than me. I can’t remember how it goes.”
“Umm well, okay,” Melody looked around as if expecting an audience in the middle of the woods.
“There is not anyone here. Only chipmunks and Mar. Oh and there is me. Yeah, we are the toughest crowd you will ever meet,” TJ sarcastically encouraged.
“Especially those chipmunks,” Mar commented catching on.
“Thanks for taking his side. What a true friend you are.”
“Just sing already!” Mar retorted hiding a smile.
“Fine! Don’t rush me!” Melody paused then quietly began the song.
“Tides come in but soon drift out
Passing time like sailors from hell
I know I can find her
Catch her some day
The moon itself
Just fades away.”
At the chorus, Melody finally gained confidence and her voice soared. If Mar didn’t know how amazing her voice was, she would have grown teary eyed at the beauty and emotion that rushed along with the melody. TJ just looked at her smiling for a moment, then opened his own mouth to join her song as they walked on.
TJ smiled broadly at Melody while Mars mouth hung open at the conclusion. “You both have such amazing voices that I don’t think I should be allowed to stand in your presence.”
TJ laughed, “I have had years of practice. So, I don’t count. This one on the other hand,” he waved towards Melody, “is just incredibly talented.”
Melody blushed and smiled slightly mumbling, “No, not really. But you said you didn’t really know the song. Liar.”
“Just ‘cause I was an angel at one point doesn’t mean I am now. And angels are shifty anyway.”
“You are so strange.” Mar laughed.
Melody joined her in the laughter as she snorted, “You just called angels shifty.”
“It’s true,” TJ started laughing as well. “Never trust an angel.”
“You told us to trust you,” Mar reminded.
“I said I wasn’t an angel anymore. So, it’s okay. You can trust me and almost all of the other Aeolian.”
The three finally made it to a good clearing to stop for the night. Though only just getting into evening, the girls were struggling to stay awake.
Dropping the bags onto the soft grass, they sat down to unload the supplies and clear a place in the ground for a fire. Once prepared and lit, Melody boiled water for tea. They ate the evening meal laughing at one another as they threw the dried meat and nuts into their mouths.
A clear and cool night, the girls huddled together as they slept. TJ couldn’t sleep though. He threw his blanket over the girls and kept watch and when he could barely keep his eyes open, he finally woke Mar to take over. Finally, after the moon rose into the sky, he fell into a fitful dream that sped forward to Mitchie holding Melody over a cliff and laughing at him. He woke covered in sweat and chills to watch the shadows the moon threw into the clearing with unease.
Though his dreams had been dark, the next day dawned bright. They made good time and TJ was pleased by their progress, yet, as they set up camp two nights later, he worried the next day would be miserable. Towering storm clouds gathered throughout the day and appeared to be a few miles high.TJ grimaced as he dropped the pack and helped Melody gather dinner. The girls slept as TJ took first watch. As dawn peered through the thick clouds and set a grey light on Islandrial, TJ realized they needed to get moving for cover before the storm unleashed its fury.
While searching for a place to hide against nature, the sky dumped upon the three. The wind howled whipping the girl’s hair into their faces. Melody – already holding Mar’s hand – took TJ’s as he led them off the road and into the forest. Even with perfect elven vision, TJ could barely see through the sheets of rain coming down. Finally, after what seemed like hours, TJ led the girls under a large spreading pine tree. It held back the rain like an umbrella and protected them from the howling wind and torrential down pour.
They rushed under the towering pine to take cover until it let up enough to move on. The girls looked frozen. Lips blue, long hair dripping, and shaking like leaves, they felt they would never get warm again as their small frames trembled from the bitter cold. They envied TJ. Soaked to the bone, he felt as warm as ever. It appeared that cold didn’t bother him so much. He pulled the dry cloaks out of the packs along with the blankets and spare set of clothing – wrapped in oil cloth – and handed them to the girls.
“Th-th-thank-k yo-you,” Melody stuttered and they took the clothes to change. TJ turned around and pulled his own tunic off wrapping up in one of the blankets and sat down, back propped against the pine tree.
“Won’t you freeze?” Mar asked as she pulled his white tunic over her head.
“No,” he answered and held the blanket open for them. “Come here. I’m warm and you two are getting hypothermia.”
Without question, the girls came over and sat down close to him, but not touching until they realized he gave off heat like a stove. Then they nearly climbed into his lap. TJ squirmed, but soon got comfortable and wrapped the other blanket around the girls. The three settled down to their own thoughts and, for the girl’s, sleep.
***
TJ felt uncomfortable. He didn’t really mind the closeness of some people, but generally knew them really well first. He looked at the girls sleeping on his shoulder. He could tell Melody had just relaxed and he wished for, possibly the thousandth time, he could feel that way when in close contact with others. He inhaled deeply, hoping it would calm him, and noticed a sweet scent perforating the air. Peonies flower? Why in hell would that be here? So out of place and yet… He looked down at Melody and subtly smelled the air. It’s her. She smells like a peonies flower and obviously rain at the moment – just like... He felt his heartbeat slow and became surprised by that, despite the well of sadness. His thoughts no longer bounced around his head like the moment before.
Why is he all uptight? Melody wondered as she concentrated on stopping her shivers. She pushed her curly wet hair out of her face. I mean he is not even cold. He is so warm. Maybe I should ask him what’s wrong? That’s a dumb idea, he wouldn’t tell me anyway. If it is private information, he never lets anyone know anything. He is so infuriating sometimes. One of these days I will get him to trust me. I mean it’s only fair that if he asks for people to trust him, that he trust them in return. Right? Why am I asking myself questions…
Mar turned her face toward the forest and peered out at the rain splattering against the lush ground. Everything appeared to have a veil over it, fading the brilliant colors. It’s amazing how everything can change so quickly, she observed. Just like now. I wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t run back in Austinor. If TJ didn’t care so much about Islandrial none of this would have happened. Mar peered at Melody over the blanket and shifted under TJ’s arm. She felt his arm muscles clench. Melody looked like she was concentrating hard on something and Mar wondered what it could be that made her best friend frown like that.
The rain wouldn’t let up. For over an hour, the torrential downpour continued to batter the forest as if it just began. Thanks to TJ’s shared warmth both girls gained color in their faces again and their lips no longer looked blue. Melody turned to look up at his face.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
The only response was a tight, “Fine.”
At the one word answer, Mar looked up too, “Don’t sound like it.”
“I am.”
“You are not okay,” Melody gave him a patronizing stare. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing I can really change,” TJ said without looking at them. Instead, he watched the rain fall outside their makeshift shelter as if hypnotized. “It doesn’t really matter.”
“Well, what is the matter? Maybe we can change it,” Mar mumbled to him, trying to get him to look at her.
TJ just shook his head, “You can’t change it unless you want to freeze. I am your greatest heat source.”
“You have huge personal space issues,” Melody sighed as if imparting some great secret, “Which is why you had problems with asking us for help to walk the other night.”
“And now we are using him for heat,” Mar concluded.
“We can move TJ,” Melody muttered quietly. “It’s no problem.”
“It’s fine. Too cold today for you,” he, finally, looked at the girls. “Jake did say I needed to get over it,” TJ smiled, but it didn’t meet his eyes. Mar looked back down and squirmed back to the position she previously occupied, but Melody, still meeting TJ’s eyes, watched as they turned olive green and he added, “You guys are fine. Really.”
Unconvinced, Melody lay her head back down on his shoulder and as she drifted in and out of sleep under the pine she thought about TJ’s eerie eyes. His eyes didn’t scare her or unsettle her like they did to so many others. Instead, they intrigued her. She couldn’t figure it out. What is he hiding behind them?
They ate lunch under the pines and dinner as well. TJ decided even though it had stopped raining, they should stay the night there too. The girls believed this a brilliant plan and curled up next to one another to sleep. TJ did not have a good night’s sleep though and woke before dawn.
Still cloudy the next day, the sun tried valiantly to poke its rays through the clouds. It wouldn’t rain that day, TJ determined, all of the skies anger had already been unleashed.
14
“Who is taking first watch tonight?” TJ questioned a few nights after the storm. Under his request, watch needed to be taken as a precaution from then on since nights already were lengthening as summer faded into the distance and fall took its place.
Melody volunteered for first shift and Mar picked up the dishes to go wash. She would take the last watch because of this. Once Mar returned, they all lounged around the fire until first Mar and then TJ fell asleep. Melody leaned back against one of the packs and looked at her friends. Mar curled, cat like, as close to the fire as possible without setting herself aflame and TJ, lay sprawled on the ground without a blanket. His tunic had ridden up to reveal part of his scarred abdomen. He muttered something in his sleep and rolled over, his back to her. Mar whacked at a coal trying to burn a whole into her tunic and fell back asleep. Melody tilted her porcelain face up to the stars and guessed the time to be around eleven, by the position of the stars. In two hours, she would wake TJ.
