Episode 21: Homecoming and Aftermath

"Where on Elorhe are we now?" moaned Arik. He, Gregan and Aradel were marching through knee-high, dew-moist green grass. The grass covered hills for as far as the eye could see, and trees were few and far between. The sky was mostly blue, but darker clouds loomed out on the horizon.

"So this is your shortcut, Gregan?" Aradel looked to the oldest of the trio.

"Well…I think we should be in the general vicinity of Thaliron by now…I think…" Gregan said.

"And that’s what you said yesterday—and the day before that," Arik replied.

"Well, I know we’re really close now!"

"Can’t you do that communication-thing with the Queen of Shadows and get us some directions?" Arik asked Aradel. She shook her head.

"I…I can’t," she murmured. The two young men looked to her.

"What’s wrong?" Arik asked. Aradel bit her lip nervously.

"I…I haven’t got any reply from the queen for a couple of days now," she said. "I’m worried."

"Oh," Arik echoed. Gregan walked on forward.

"Hey—hey! I hear the ocean! We’ve just gotta get over that hill over there—" he took off at a run, and Arik and Aradel followed. They reached the crest of the hill, and could finally see the ocean below them, the grass thinning to sand. Gregan scanned the horizon. "We should be able to see Thaliron from here…"

Aradel pointed. "There."

"What? I don’t see anything…"

"That point, there…it’s Thaliron. Unlike some people, I know this area. That’s the last time I let anyone else give me directions. It’s gotta be another six miles…and we were supposed to be there two days ago…"

"Well, you were just as lost as the rest of us a second ago," Gregan retorted. "What makes you so sure that’s Thaliron?"

"Stop talking and start walking." Aradel rolled her eyes, stepping through the tall grass.

"Who died and made you Queen?" Arik muttered, and then regretted her words.

"I’m not the heir." Aradel replied, trying to hold her head high despite her fear.

"Um, sorry."

"There could be some other explanation…" Aradel said. "But we won’t know until we get to Thaliron, so let’s get going!"

"I will say this for you," Arik said. "Even if you are ugly, you sure are energetic."

"You jerk! I’m scared, okay? Don’t push me!"

"Some people don’t know how to take a compliment," Arik muttered.

Gregan pulled off his shoes and socks to walk in the waves, and Arik soon forgot about teasing Aradel as he gawked at his first view of the ocean.

"It goes on forever…" he whispered.

"No, it doesn’t," Aradel retorted.

"Why not?" Gregan replied. "If anything was an Ocean of Dreams, this is it."

"Ocean of dreams?" Aradel asked.

"It’s a poem I used to do, before our plays," Gregan replied. "About…leaving your ordinary life behind, and going down into an Ocean of Dreams."

"It’s awesome!" Arik put in. "On stage, he actually looks like he knows what to do with a sword!"

"Really? Is that possible?" Aradel managed a smile. "You really must be a great actor."

"Oh, shut up! Just wait until you see me act—and I may not be a natural with a sword, but I haven’t given up yet!"

"Your sense of direction’s a bit lacking as well," said Arik.

"I didn’t see you offer any suggestions!" Gregan replied. "And we’re here, aren’t we? So there’s no point in complaining!"

"We’ve still got another couple hours," Aradel pointed out. "And I know something is horribly wrong in Thaliron…if we could have got here sooner, we…"

This silenced Gregan and Arik for a bit. Kieme…thought Aradel. Please be all right, Kieme. I don’t want to lose two mothers…

*

"Why does one disaster have to follow another?" Re mused.

"What’s wrong?" Amercy asked, following his friend’s gaze out the window.

"There’s a storm moving in. Nasty one, from the look of it. But I guess I could be mistaken."

Amercy paused to think, then shook his head. "You’re not," he said. "It’s coming."

"Heh, what makes you so sure, kid?" a nearby patient asked. Re and Amercy were among many volunteers working in the makeshift hospitals and infirmaries around town.

Amercy tapped the symbol on his forehead. "This," he said.

"Shit. Can you see anything else?" Amercy shook his head. "Well, I guess the warning is better than nothing. I’m going to carry the news to Ki—Tarin."

"Okay, if you want," Amercy said. "I’m going to keep working..." His eyes spoke volumes that his words could not. Re simply nodded and left the building.

As he walked, he caught sight of a familiar figure in the crowd. "Hey, Aradel!" he called after her. The rosy-haired lass spun to face him. In her eyes he saw both relief and fear.

"Re!" she greeted him. "Hold on, Greg, Arik, it’s Re. What—what happened here?"

Re looked down at the ground. "Dralions, to make a long story short," he said. "And now there’s a nasty storm coming on top of that. I’m on my way to talk to Tarin—what brings you back here?"

"Grandpa ordered me back to the capital," she replied. "And sent these two as my escort. Re, you remember Gregan and Arik?"

Re nodded. "Nice to see you guys again. Shall we go to the castle?"

"All I can say is that Grandpa must have had a lot of faith in the security of the country to trust these two," Aradel told Re as they walked. "I’ve had to protect them far more than they protected me."

"You poor thing," Re replied. "But you had an uneventful trip?"

"Pretty much. Although it would’ve been shorter if we hadn’t trusted Mr. Shortcut’s sense of direction."

"Hey, what’s that supposed to mean, huh?" protested Gregan.

"If the General knew what was going on, he probably wouldn’t have sent you back here," Re said. "Even the heart of Elorhe isn’t as secure as it would seem."

Aradel was afraid to ask, but she looked up at Re apprehensively. "Did...anyone...die?"

Re just closed his eyes and nodded. Aradel didn’t ask any more questions.

*

"As you can see, the toll taken has been horrible," Tarin said to Aradel, as the girl followed her through the Thaliron cemetery. "Elorhe’s time of greatest sorrow is not over yet." There were too many fresh graves, too many burned and destroyed buildings in the city, too may injured for the healers to keep up with them. The city of Thaliron had managed to defeat the dralions, but the victory had come at a high cost.

Kreis, Triana, and Re accompanied Aradel and Tarin on the walk through the graveyard, a break from several days working in the makeshift hospitals that had sprung up to take care of the wounded. Amercy was still working in one as the others walked, striving to correct the error for which he still blamed himself.

"Kieme wanted to call you back here so you could start to live a normal life again, away from the army…the war is almost over, and you deserve happiness. The burden that has been placed on you is more than a child your age should bear, and it’s past time you were freed of it."

"Oh, right." Aradel rolled her eyes. "How many times have we gone through this? I like helping her, and not because anyone forces me to do it. I mean, I’ve got to achieve my dad’s dream, right?"

"Your father’s dream?" Triana inquired.

"Aradel’s father was Rondin Aemonstane," Tarin informed them. "He wanted to see Elorhans united, instead of fighting amongst each other."

"War a human disease, not Elorhan," Aradel continued. "We need to wash our hands of it. Um, no offense, Kreis."

"None taken," Kreis replied distantly. His mind was elsewhere, as it had been for the past few days.

"So Amercy didn’t even know when the storm would hit?" Tarin asked Re, who shook his head.

"Before the day is out, I bet," he replied. "We’d best start getting prepared."

Kreis walked ahead of the group to where a woman knelt in front of two headstones on a small platform. She wore a gray cloak that matched the color of the sky, and the wind was getting stronger.

She sat perfectly still, head bowed, in mourner’s meditation. Kreis read the names on the stones over her shoulder.

Korien? The woman finally moved, standing up but not facing Kreis.

"Why didn’t you let me die?" Kieme asked him, her voice barely audible above the wind.