take, Qurrah Tun?”
“I hold faith in you,” Qurrah said, his eyes leaving the fire for just a moment. “I trust in your judgment. I understand you in your faith. And I hold hope that you will keep your promise, and grant me and Tessanna a second life somewhere far away from here.”
“I am just a man, no matter my strength,” Velixar said. “I will fail you. It is inevitable. Are you so certain it is I you should hold your faith in?”
Qurrah stood. His words came heavy and certain.
“Karak has proven nothing to me. I am withering away for him. I have given my all, yet what have I gained in return?”
“You have gained a child,” Velixar argued.
“He’s right,” Tessanna said. “Please Qurrah, you know he’s right.”
The half-orc quieted. Velixar shook his head, saddened by the sudden disruption in Qurrah’s faith.
“Keep remembering,” Velixar said. “Remember when you entered Veldaren as a conqueror. Remember the certainty and power of Karak’s voice. Remember the times you held faith, and then decide, were they so long ago? Were they so false? Or are they something to reach for, to struggle and claw with every shred of your strength to regain?”
The man in black left them alone, but his presence lingered long after he was gone.
“A child,” Qurrah said as he joined Tessanna beneath the blankets. “We sacrifice the whole world for a child.”
“Could you do the opposite?” Tessanna asked as she curled against him. “Could you sacrifice a child for the entire world?”
He placed his hand on her growing belly and thought of that life extinguished, of Karak’s army destroyed, and Velixar defeated and broken. He tried to think of living in that world. A soft stir of motion pushed against his palm, and he knew he could not.
“Precious,” he whispered. “And no, I never could.”
“Then do what needs to be done,” Tessanna whispered before kissing him. “Just as you always have and always will.”
He kissed her back, accepting her wisdom. Accepting what needed to be done. For her. For him. For their child.
Especially their child.
14
B ecause of their proximity to the walls, they heard the sudden call of alarm.
“What are they shouting?” Harruq asked, staring at the soldiers atop the white outer wall.
“Well, let me find out,” Tarlak said. He put down his food, swirled his hands, and moments later vanished with a ‘pop.’ High atop the wall he reappeared, startling a nearby guard so badly that he nearly fell. Tarlak grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to safety, smiling and saying something that Harruq couldn’t make out.
“Guy’s going to get himself killed one day doing that,” Harruq said as he watched Tarlak point to something in the distance.
“If I had to make a wager,” Aurelia said, “it’d be that when Tarlak dies, it’s at the hand of a friend. It only seems appropriate.”
“Gambling’s a dangerous vice,” Lathaar said as he and Mira strolled over, hand in hand. “Especially over the death of a friend, and by another friend you say?”
“Easy way to win,” Aurelia said with a wink. “I roast him with a fireball and claim the coin.”
More guards pointed, and Tarlak looked down at them and shouted.
“What’d he say?” Harruq asked.
“I think he said Dieredon,” Aurelia said. She waved her arms, ripped open a small portal, and stepped through, reappearing at Tarlak’s side. Harruq grumbled.
“They get nifty magic, and I stab people with pointy objects,” he said. “How is this fair?”
“Life’s not fair,” Mira said, smiling at him even though she pressed against Lathaar’s side as if to hide.
Harruq grunted.
More guards shouted along the top wall, and accompanying their shouts the gigantic gate groaned to life. Harruq and the others hurried to it, curious as to what the commotion was all about. They waited before the gates as a thin sliver of daylight pressed through. Harruq sighed as he saw a white horse with wings banking low, straight for them.
“It’s Dieredon,” he said.
“Someone rides with him,” Mira said, squinting at his approach. A sudden hiss of air behind them signaled Tarlak’s return.
“Lathaar old buddy,” the mage said, wrapping an arm around the paladin. “You’ve got one awesome surprise waiting for you.”
Dieredon’s horse banked lower to the ground, and with a beautiful display of wings, she flapped and reared back, halting their momentum. When she landed, the elf atop her back leaped off and bowed, and in doing so, revealed his passenger, who smiled and waved.
“I don’t believe it,” Lathaar said, his jaw dropping.
“Miss me?” Jerico asked as soldiers swarmed around them, preparing their immediate audience with the queen.
“Told you,” Tarlak said, laughing and slapping him on the back. Lathaar was too stunned to respond.
H is discussions with the queen ended, Jerico left the castle to where the Eschaton waited. Lathaar embraced him first, his smile lighting up his entire face.
“How did you survive?” he asked.
“That’s a story for a warm fire and a warmer meal,” Jerico said as he hugged Mira and Aurelia. “The short version, they kept me prisoner instead of killing me, and when we reached the first of the Gods’ bridges I escaped. An elven scout spotted me a few weeks later and brought me to Dieredon, who brought me here.”
As if summoned by his name, the castle doors opened a second time, and out stepped Dieredon. He took his bow from one of the guards and slung it around his back. With a joyless look he bowed to the Eschaton.
“The queen here is far more agreeable than Vaelor ever was,” he said. “A pleasant surprise.”
“We’ve had enough chatter with the queen to last a lifetime,” Tarlak said. “Come, we need to eat, and celebrate!”
“Tar…” Jerico started, but didn’t continue. Dieredon, seeing this, finished what Jerico would not.
“The demon army is but three days away,” the elf said. “There is no time for celebration.”
“Three days?” Tarlak said, the blood draining from his face. “But that’s impossible, how could they have caught up so fast?”
“The dead in their army don’t tire,” Jerico said, shifting the shield on his back and wincing as if remembering a painful memory. “And the demons have incredible stamina. As for the rest, they are fanatical, and push themselves to near death every day without pause.”
“The queen has marshaled her soldiers from all over the country,” Dieredon said. “Many won’t make it in time. As for the outlying farms and villages, she has sent out riders warning of the danger. No matter what she does, though, thousands will die.”
“Enough,” Tarlak said. He grabbed Jerico’s shoulder and led him down the stone steps toward the main streets. “Tonight we celebrate. One we all thought was dead is alive. Tomorrow, we worry about armies and demons.”
Once gathered round a fire with warm food, they let Jerico tell his story. Antonil was not among them, for upon hearing of the enemy’s proximity he had begun rounding up his soldiers, finding them horses and preparing for battle. Lathaar and Mira sat side by side, while opposite them Harruq and Aurelia cuddled in each other’s arms. Jerico and Tarlak sat between the two couples, with the mage prodding whatever information he could out of Jerico.
