Homecoming

by Tull Harrison

  Travis looked at Delmer in understanding. "We’re abandoning Kingdom Cove. Then you plan to let everyone escape through your passageways?"

  "Yes," Delmer replied quietly.

  Bowing deeply to the king, Travis fought his way back through the crush of people.

  Delmer stood by his father's monument, watching the stream of people pass. More soldiers appeared in the crowd and disappeared inside the castle. The more time elapsed, the weaker he grew. He was losing too much blood. It had begun to soak through his robes, though people continued to ignore their sovereign's weakness.

  Eventually the crowd thinned and gave way to soldiers who were helping their injured comrades. Despite Delmer's best intentions, numerous Malzepherians had lost their lives in the senseless battle.

  "Your Majesty, why have you called a retreat?"

  Delmer's head swiveled sharply in the direction of the voice and immediately regretted it as his vision swam. "I thought you knew the value of life, General Portam. We have been routed. We cannot have much more time."

  The general did not react to the rebuke. "We have only moments. As we retreated further into the city, we blockaded every street we could with the materials at hand. Still, this will not delay the Noennaans for long."

  Delmer did not reply. Instead, he turned and surveyed the last of the injured entering the castle doors. "Laredo, please ensure that as many people as possible get into the tunnels. I will stall the army for as long as possible. Also, be aware that the tunnels are not impregnable, so move as quickly as you can.

  "Follow the unlit torches straight to a grove of trees, a mark away from the castle. From there I will rely on you and Lord Richmon to lead our people to safety. Head to the east, past Noenna, and you will find haven."

  The general shook his head. "Your Majesty, you cannot bear the burden of all your people's safety by yourself. How will you stall the Noennaans?" he asked, pressing the white robes against Delmer's chest and looking at the blood on his fingers. "You can barely stand and do not have a sword."

  Delmer moaned in agony, but looked at the general angrily. "Do not question me, General. I will hold them as long as possible."

  "I believe you,” Portam said softly. Like Travis before him, the general bowed deeply, and turned towards the castle.

  His business with the general finished, Delmer turned back to his companion. "Annabeth, you can leave too."

  "We could both leave, together,” she countered.

  "Many of them would never make it into the tunnels if I can't stall the army."

  Her eye brimming with tears, Annabeth sighed. "Then I believe I will remain here with you and help you save lives.”

  Delmer smiled fondly at the woman at his side, "Thank you, sister."

  He could ignore the pain that nearly overwhelmed him for however long he needed to. It would not be long before the Noennaans arrived. Whether they would stop or not was undetermined, but he would his do his best to stall for time. The last stragglers shut the courtyard gates, which clicked with disturbing finality.

  Chapter 22

  Everyone had heard the old cliché about dying. Delmer never would have guessed it was true. The light that shone before him blinded the one eye of his still functioning. I don't even feel any more pain than I already had, he thought in awe.

  He was shaken out of his reverie by Annabeth’s frightened scream. Apparently, the light he saw wasn't only in his head. As the fierce glow receded, he was able to make out several shapes across the courtyard from him.

  "My transportations are always smoother than that," a voice he recognized, vaguely, rang out.

  "Yes, but you have never transported anyone such a great distance," another voice, one that he had desperately hoped to hear again, replied in a shaky tone.

  Delmer allowed his vision to clear and then forced his tightening throat to ease. "Rebenna, I'm over here with Annabeth."

  The ambassador turned and saw him. Her smile was visible even to his failing eye. She crossed the courtyard’s breadth in a matter of moments and was in his arms. Staggering backwards under her weight, Delmer suppressed a scream of agony.

  "You're injured," she cried as she felt him cringe. Taking a step back, she scrutinized him.

  "Not for much longer." He tried to smile but failed utterly.

  She touched the blood that stained his robes, echoing the general's gesture. Then she surveyed her own uniform. Meeting her eyes, he could see that she was shaking. "Delmer, why?"

  "We were ambushed during the peace treaty. After that, the war resumed and the Noennaans breached the city."

  As if emphasizing his words, a great crash came from the gates to the courtyard.

  "Why Delmer, why?" she repeated, ignoring the noise.

  "I have to do this. It is my duty, my purpose, my destiny! Don't you understand?" His tone had slipped from calm to urgent in a matter of moments.

  Perhaps it was a melodramatic way to state it, but Rebenna finally seemed to understand. She looked at him: surveyed his bandaged eye, his bloodied robes, noted that he did not have his sword. She saw not just what he looked like, but his very reason for existence. She nodded, approving his choice.

  I knew that we could not be together from the beginning. I believed it was because of our different stations and background, but that turned out not to be the case. My destiny converges here and hers goes on.

  Without another thought, Delmer embraced Rebenna again, ignoring the pain. Meeting her gaze, he saw that she was dry-eyed. She truly understood what he had to do. He tilted her chin up and met her lips as he had on the night of his coronation.

  They kissed urgently, oblivious of the others around them. Delmer's rising passion was cut short as another crash sounded from the gate, accompanied by the splintering of wood. They pulled away simultaneously and looked towards the noise.

  "We can hold the gate, but it will drain our power," a girl called from across the courtyard.

  Delmer looked at her and then down at Rebenna, who was still in his arms. "They are the sacred items," she said in answer to his unspoken question.

  All this tumult and fighting over these five people. What a pitiless and ironic world we live in. Delmer thought with an edge of despair as he surveyed the five teenagers and children.

  Rebenna was waiting for him to respond. He looked at her and then at the other people, who had their eyes fixed on him. "Let them come in. We will stall them for as long as possible, but once things become futile, I want you all to leave."

  Giving her another meaningful glance, Delmer reluctantly let go of Rebenna. Once again, he looked at the youngsters Rebenna had referred to as the sacred items. It did not take him long to decide they were not what they seemed.

  The taller girl who had spoken before saw his interest. "Transporting ourselves here drained much of our energy. We can either heal you or erect a barrier that will last for...a mark, perhaps. We cannot do both and still have enough power left for all of us to escape. A lesser injury would take hardly any energy, but you are near death."

  The declaration left Delmer with a sense both of dread and certainty.

  He waved his hand faintly. "Focus on the barrier and forget my wounds."

  The five looked from him to Rebenna. It was the eldest boy who spoke. "Child, you called on us to help save this man. If you still wish it so, then we will save him despite his wishes."

  Looking at Rebenna pleadingly, Delmer remained silent. She shook her head. "I wanted your help in order to save Delmer and his people. I will respect his desires, although it goes against my heart wishes."

  Taking a few stumbling steps across the courtyard; Delmer met the boy's dark eyes. "Often there is a discrepancy between what we want and what is needed. I have always tried to take the latter choice."

  The sage nodded and Delmer could see understanding in the other boy's gaze. "That is the sign of a true leader," the boy replied without a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

  Straining to control his protesting mu
scles, Delmer took the few steps necessary to carry him to the front of the small group in the courtyard. Without a sound, an ethereal wall shimmered into existence before him. He glanced backwards slowly to avoid making his vision blur and saw the five sages in deep concentration. Their eyes were closed and their faces tense.

  Grimly, he looked to Annabeth, the girl he had been raised with, his sister. Her face was trembling, but when she met Delmer's eye, she tossed her head slightly. He then turned to Smith and a man he had not noticed before. Meeting the other man's eyes, he discerned approval and admiration. He was surprised to see Tymon sitting on the stranger’s bare shoulder, but he nodded his approval.

  The sphinx smiled, but her lashing tail gave away her state of agitation. Her hindquarters were bunched, and she shook her head. "Love, you are too much like your uncle."

  The last person he looked for was Rebenna. She did not stand with the others, but directly behind him. She leaned close and he felt her lips brush his ear. "I will help you through this."

  He swallowed hard. He could feel his heart beating frantically and to an irregular rhythm. “I had hoped you would not be in time, for I can hardly bear to see you in danger. Now I realize I am thankful for the chance to see you again. Rebenna, I love you."

  For the first time since she had appeared in the courtyard, Rebenna began to weep. She touched his face softly as tears cascaded down her face. "I love you too."

  Covering her hand with both of his, he smiled down at her. Gently he bent and kissed her again. Before she could begin to respond he broke away from her touch and turned back to face the entrance of the courtyard. The only reminders that there were others present were the translucent barrier before him and Rebenna's light touch on his shoulder.

  "They have breached the gate,” the smallest of the sages announced gravely, partially breaking her trance as the wood shattered.

  Like the trance that came with battle, the sense of existing outside the realm of time settled over Delmer. He was aware of everything around him, yet none of it mattered. Fulfilling the mission he had assigned to himself was the only thing that he could focus on. Blood continued to trickle out of the wound in his chest, but it was of no consequence.

  The Noennaan troops poured into the courtyard like the Malzepherians had passed though earlier. The sound of their chain mail moving and their boots slapping against the stone reminded Delmer vaguely of the ocean roaring during storms outside his bedroom. Forcing his good eye to focus on the invaders’ faces, he saw the fury that possesses everyone in battle.

  Briefly, he recalled the first day he had addressed the public as Malzepherians. From that long-ago date he summoned his loudest voice. "Noennaans, I appeal to your good senses. You have let your lust for blood and victory overtake you. Stop."

  The soldiers in the lead saw the King of Malzepher and dug their feet into the unyielding stone in order to stop themselves. They looked at him in complete horror. Somewhere deep inside, Delmer laughed. I suppose I look worse than I realized.

  The line of Noennaans in the front braced themselves as the soldiers behind them could not stop in time. Screaming, a few were pushed into the barrier, and instantly disappeared after a sizzling noise. There were no remains, no ashes left behind. They simply vanished as though they had never existed. After that, the front line of soldiers redoubled their efforts to halt the charge.

  Still terrified to the point of paralysis, the Noennaan army stood motionless in the courtyard. Delmer could not even see the end of the troops from where he stood, but somehow the general of Noenna's army had pushed his way to the front.

  "What is the meaning of this?" the general demanded sharply.

  Stupefied, the soldiers pointed toward Delmer and the shimmering wall in front of him. Noticing it for the first time, the general's eyes went blank. "Magic," he murmured to himself and those around him.

  "Yes, this is the magic that your king seeks to control. He does not yet realize that no one can truly control the wielders of this power. They are here by request and not by demand," Delmer proclaimed for the entire army to hear.

  Receiving no response, he continued, "Your king used you shamelessly. He treated you as tools to achieve the end he wanted. Your lives mean nothing to him. I repeat, you are just pawns in his game."

  "He lies," Rogan spat as he made his way through the ranks of frozen soldiers. "This filth calls our sovereign ignorant, yet it is he who has proven himself unworthy. He abandoned his people in their need. He has formed an alliance with a traitor from our country."

  "Rogan, you chastise me for leaving my country, yet it was Noenna that invaded Malzepher. You speak of traitors, yet you are the worst of them. You do not even have the courage to address me directly, but instead speak to your soldiers." Delmer's tone was cold, and he saw people flinch under his one-eyed gaze.

  "Malzepher tore itself illegally from Noenna. This war is reclaims lands that we once lost," Rogan insisted.

  "That does not give Noenna the right to destroy thousands of lives. It does not give Noenna the right to regard Malzepherians as less than human." Delmer's voice stilled the soldiers who had begun to break from the trance he had brought upon them.

  Delmer put his right hand on his chest, where his wound continued to seep. Within moments, it was covered with blood. Even in his transfixed state, he could feel himself waver and was only held steady by Rebenna's hand on his shoulder.

  Raising his arm above his head, he looked out over the soldiers again. "Perhaps after two wars in less than a century, people become desensitized. Perhaps they truly forget that the only difference between them and their opponents is the land they were born in. People forget that their faceless enemies bleed and die."

  Bringing his hand down in disgust, Delmer launched drops of blood from his hand. They hit the barrier with a hiss and the soldiers on the opposite side recoiled. Even the stoic general flinched at the reminder of his opponent's humanity.

  Delmer shook his head sadly and looked back at the people behind him. Rebenna had been torn from her country, forced to choose between the law and her morals. Annabeth's innocence been shattered by the invading army, yet she had still gathered the shards of her dignity to stand in support of him. Smith had seen her mate killed, outlived the lord she pledged to serve, and been thrown into a conflict she had no part in. The Savann man, who stood so quietly, had been cast in carelessly into their mix. Even the five sages were influenced by the power they controlled.

  Without meaning to, his mind recalled other faces of loved ones he had lost. His father came to his mind first, but he was only one casualty in a vendetta for a power that no one could possess. The two guards who had fetched him from the goat-herding village were truly the first casualties in the war. The laughing face of Siegfried caused him to shake his head.

  Then came the more recent losses, the ones he had never even had time to mourn. His selfless bodyguards were first. Tullister, Simeon, and even the determined face of the man he had killed in combat all flooded Delmer's memory.

  Glancing a final time at the sages, the king noticed that their faces were strained, and their clenched fists shook. He had stalled as long as he could. His knees buckled. He fought to focus his blurred vision and remain conscious.

  I cannot let them kill me. Delmer's thoughts raced frantically, as searched to find a way to distract to spellbound army even further.

  Rising slowly from his shaking knees, he drew himself erect. "Perhaps you have won this battle and my country, but at what cost?" He managed to rasp. Though he believed that no one could hear him, the words seemed to spread throughout the crowd.

  He partially turned and allowed his hand to linger on Rebenna's, but then he removed her fingers tenderly. He took a deep breath and took his final, staggering steps into the barrier.

  Rebenna tore her gaze away from the magical wall as soon as she realized what Delmer intended to do. As the horrible, mocking burning sound began, she threw herself to her knees and covered her ears.
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  An unknown length of time later, she felt strong arms encircle her and lift her. For a split second her hopes rose, but upon opening her eyes, she realized that it was Kellas who held her. Unconsciously, her finger reached up to scratch Tymon's ruffed breast feather. She could hear a low keening sound issuing from the bird.

  In her ear, Kellas began to sing a lullaby in Old Tongue that mothers used to soothe their frightened children. It covered the breathless sounds of the disoriented Noennaan army and the uglier sounds of the crackling barrier.

  Maybe that's how Kellas thinks of me. He thinks of me as a needy child. Rebenna's mind continued to function, though her will no longer controlled it.

  Kellas continued to sing in a calm baritone even as they came to stand among the Kotai and Smith. Rebenna was barely able to hear the roaring sound of the collapsing barrier over his voice.

  Within seconds of the barrier's disintegration, Rebenna's eyes were filled with light for the second time in the span of a day. Hoping to block out the light, she shut her eyes tightly. In the weird, alternate reality they existed in while transporting, Kellas’ word echoed and changed, taking on an even greater lilting quality.

  At some point during the transportation, his song changed. Kellas no longer sang a lullaby, but Rebenna and Delmer's story as he knew it. How odd that such sad words, can be so comforting, a little voice from inside her noted distantly.

  Feeling the jolt that marked a completed journey, Rebenna opened her eyes. She squirmed slightly to let Kellas know he could put her down. He complied, meeting her eyes. The pity she saw in them made her glance away in embarrassment.

  Once standing on her own feet, she looked around. They stood in a small grove of trees that she recognized. They were perhaps a mark away from Kingdom Cove, in the midst of countless people. Many more still streamed out of an open trapdoor on the forest floor.