Yazen (Ponith)

by Nicole Sloan

  “You did very well, Zac. Here, let Laderic and Drakoe fix you up. I want to thank you for saving Narissa, our friends and family, and Yazen,” he says to me.

  “You are welcome,” I say to him. My leg’s hurting so bad it’s making me nauseous. I can only imagine how Korla’s feeling. She’s a trooper; she is lying there quietly. Jenn and Alex sit next to Narissa and me.

  Laderic and Drakoe hover over my knee. This time they pull out a different gem. They pull out a pearl instead of their usual emerald that they carry with them around their necks. I watch as they close their eyes, squeeze their pearls, and focus on my knee. I watch as the flowers on their tattoos light up and as they draw all of the white out of some Griffin feathers nearby. I can feel slight shifting pain in my knee but shortly after, relief. I look down at my knee and they have completely healed my knee back to normal. I rub my knee, bending it back and forth. It seems to be fine, like nothing has ever happened to it.

  “How did you do that?” Jenn asks.

  “Just a skill we have picked up,” Drakoe says with a smile. Laderic and Drakoe go over to Korla next, relieving her of her pain.

  “I knew you would do it. Before you know it, Zac, we’ll be going home,” Alex says. It’s a relief to know that we can go home at any time now.

  “I can’t wait to go home and see Brad. I miss him so much,” Jenn replies. I notice a sad look on Narissa’s face.

  “What’s the matter?” I ask her while holding her hand. She begins to tear up, still keeping a slight smile on her face.

  “Now that I finally got you back, you will be leaving to go home forever. I’ll never see you again,” she begins to cry into my chest.

  Alex and Jenn look like they feel bad for having that conversation in front of Narissa, so both of them get up and give us our privacy.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Please don’t cry, Narissa,” I beg her. We lay together until the Halflings bring us some food from the Dark Lords’ kitchens. I bet it’s the food they stole from us the other day.

  We all sit together quietly and eat, resting as Laderic and Drakoe heal the others.

  “Thank you so much, Zac, for saving my family. I can never repay you for your generosity,” Korla says to me. She’s hugging me with a super tight grip. I don’t have much more to say so I just smile. I’m exhausted.

  I walk around, looking at the mess that lies around us. Bodies scattered everywhere. I notice as Rowin, Kolin, and the other Centaurs and Fauns run around outside because they have their freedom back.

  The Dwarves and Halflings are eating together, laughing and telling their stories on how they helped win this fight.

  Then I see Champion. I slowly walk over to him. He looks bad, as he didn’t go down easy. I really hope that Laderic or Drakoe can bring him back. I call them over.

  “Can you heal Champion for me?” I ask them. They both look at each other with a look of uncertainty. They begin their routine. I sit back and wait for it to work but it doesn’t seem to be working. Why is it not working?

  “Come on, Champion. Please pull through; I need you,” I say to him. He’s not responding at all to their magic. Laderic and Drakoe step back, leaving me alone with him. I begin to cry and I bend down to kiss his nose. I wait for a few seconds then begin to stand up. As I stand, a few of my teardrops fall onto Champion’s cut.

  I really thought they could heal him; I gave it my all. I turn and begin to walk away from Champion. I look up and see Alex and Jenn watching me. They have a sad look in their eyes like they are about to cry as well. As I am walking toward them, however, both of their eyes light up and their facial expressions change suddenly as they begin to smile.

  I turn around and Champion is slowly getting up, healed and healthy. I run to him and hug him as hard as I can. He neighs loudly.

  “How could this happen? I’m so happy that you’re alive!” I tell him, crying tears of joy. I have never felt so happy in my life. I climb on Champion’s back and have Narissa climb on too. She wraps her arms around me tightly as I hold on to Champion’s mane.

  “Thank you both for saving him. I can never repay you for this,” I say to them. They both look at each other is surprise and step back as Champion takes us for a walk around the castle. The sky has cleared up nicely and the wind’s blowing in our faces. It has turned into a beautiful day. We ride around the castle, to the Dryads, and back to the courtyard.

  “Thank you, Champion. Thank you for everything,” I tell him. I run over to a basket of vegetables and grab a carrot for him.

  Nytril gathers us all up and smiles as he tells us, “Well, everyone, it’s time for all of us to head back home and return to our normal lives. We’re free from the Dark Lords and their Dark Elves, thanks to Zac. If it wasn’t for all of you coming together and working as a team, we would never have made it.”

  We begin to pack everything up inside of the castle and gather up the merchandise that was stolen. I look over at Ovvar and the other dwarves. They all have a sad look on their face.

  “What’s the matter, Ovvar?” I ask him. Everyone turns to hear what he has to say.

  “We may have to stay here for now. I’m pretty sure our home was completely destroyed by the lava. It would take decades to rebuild. Nytril, do you mind if we stay here for now?” Ovvar asks.

  “Of course you can stay here. You can choose to live wherever you please now. It’s fine by me,” Nytril says.

  Ovvar heads back and breaks the news to his fellow Dwarves. They seem visibly relieved by the news, some of them nodding and smiling.

  “We will see you soon,” Laderic says to the Dwarves. We begin to head back home. It feels like a long walk back home.

  We camp overnight by a few trees, not having to worry about being attacked as we sleep. We get up early the next day head back to the Deeproot Forest homes, then we get back late and everyone gets ready to go to bed for the night.

  Narissa comes back to our room and sleeps with us. Alex takes the bed near Jenn, offering up his bed so that we can sleep near one another. It feels so good to be lying in a bed. I roll over and face Narissa.

  “Would you like to sleep in my bed with me tonight?” I whisper to her. She quickly but quietly jumps out of her bed and crawls in bed next to me. We give each other a big kiss and she falls asleep in my arms. I pass out quickly after Narissa falls asleep.

  I dream of the fight. It’s horrible and I wake up suddenly in a sweat. I look over and Narissa’s still asleep. I’m glad I didn’t wake her up. I slide my arm out from under her and step outside. I lean against the branch and enjoy the cool air.

  Narissa wakes up and stands next to me outside. What am I going to do? I don’t want to leave her, but I do want to go home at the same time. It’s a hard choice for me. I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to hurt Narissa’s feelings.

  We stand in silence for a few minutes, holding hands. I know I have to tell Narissa how I feel. I want her to know my true feelings. We need to talk and figure out what we are going to do. I turn to my side and face her.

  “Narissa, I want you to know that I care for you a lot. I feel complete when I am with you. You know how to make me smile and laugh. I have fallen for you and when you got kidnapped, my chest hurt. I had to save you and but I wasn’t sure how.”

  “When I saw you in the cage, I was relieved to see that you weren’t hurt. When you ran up the stairs and kissed me, I felt complete again. I want you to know that,” I tell her. She turns to face me as well and gives me a smirk.

  “I have liked you ever since I first met you. You made my heart melt. I had to get to know you, and I wanted any time alone with you I could get. I was scared when the Dark Elves took me, and the whole time I was in that cage I kept repeating to myself that you would come for me. When I heard your voice, I knew I was saved. I really don’t want to lose you again when you have to go home. I don’t know how I will live with myself,” she explains to me.

 
“This is a tough situation for me, Narissa. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know my friends will be going back home, and I would like to do the same to see my grandpa again. I don’t want to leave because I care for you and your family. I have grown to love Yazen altogether. I’m torn apart and not sure what I am going to do,” I say while turning back with my shoulders against our guest house.

  “Do you think I can come back with you?” she asks me. I don’t see why she couldn’t. People may look at her differently because of her ears but we could hide them with her hair in public. We do have both the Yazen gem and Earth gem so we could travel back and forth.

  “We can talk to your family about it tomorrow and get their opinions on it. I don’t want to take you away from them when they just got you back. I would love for you to come with me, but only with your family’s approval,” I reply to her. She gives me a big kiss. We decide to head back inside and get some sleep.

  We both pass out quickly and sleep through the rest of the night. Laderic wakes us up in the morning to ask us to come down to breakfast. We go to the King and Queen’s home to eat.

  We are greeted by everyone and take a seat at their table.

  “I know that you will be leaving to go home soon. We would like to ask if you will stay with us for one more night. We want to have a party tonight celebrating our victory. You can leave first thing in the morning after if you’d like. We invited everyone to come,” Nytril says.

  I look over to Alex and Jenn to see their decisions. I’m okay to stay for one more day myself but I want to check with them anyway.

  “It’s fine with me as long as it is okay with Alex and Jenn,” I tell him.

  “I would like to party one more night,” Alex says laughing. I’m glad that Alex has enjoyed himself on this trip.

  “It’s okay with me,” Jenn says. I think she’s having fun, but I can tell she’s ready to go home. Hopefully the party tonight will get her mind off of everything.

  “Then we’ll have the party tonight,” Nytril says while eating some of his breakfast.

  Laderic, Calina, Drakoe, Korla, and Narissa clap and cheer for us staying for one more night. I look at Narissa and can see she’s starting to get teary eyed again.

  “Nytril, can I ask you and your family a rather big question?” I ask Nytril. I’m starting to get nervous. I begin to fidget with my fingers to help calm me down.

  “You know you can ask me anything, Zac. What is on your mind?” Nytril asks.

  “As you know, I really care for your daughter Narissa. I’m so glad that we got her back home safely. I know that you just got her back, but I was wondering if it was okay for Narissa to come home with me for a little while to meet my grandpa. I will return her back to you in a few weeks. I will always have the Earth gem, and you’ll have the Yazen gem when I leave, so we can travel back and forth at any time. May I have your family’s permission to take Narissa with me tomorrow?” I say while my voice starts to crack just a bit. My hands are sweating tremendously as I rub them together.

  The whole family looks at each other in visible discomfort. Alex and Jenn look at me like I’m crazy. Narissa’s smiling at me.

  “Zac, we’ll make a family vote right now. Everyone who is okay with Zac taking Narissa with him, raise your hand,” Korla says.

  Korla is the first to raise her hand. Laderic and Drakoe put their hands up rather quickly. Nytril slowly raises his hand. Calina is the only one left. I don’t know if she will raise her hand because I know she’s overly protective of her sister. I look down at the table, knowing I won’t be able to take Narissa with me now.

  I look back up after a nudge from Narissa and Calina’s raising her hand high over her head. She gives me a smile and says, “You are a great guy in my book. You have my permission to take my little sister with you. Remember, though, you better take care of her because if you don’t, I’ll come after you,” Calina says.

  Narissa jumps up with joy, thanking her family. She goes around hugging each one of them.

  “Thank you all for being so understanding. I promise to take good care of her and return her to you,” I say to them.

  “You are like our son, Zac, and you are welcome here anytime, as well as Alex and Jenn,” Nytril says.

  We all finish our meal and go work in the fields. I want to help them get their crops back up and going. We work in the fields for about two hours and then all go to the lake to bathe. We’re all extremely filthy. We all laugh, play, and joke around and the day goes by rather quickly.

  I go with Narissa to her room and help her pack her items so she is ready to leave with us in the morning. She packs a few bags and then leaves them in our room so everything is together.

  “I’m happy that you are going with us, Narissa,” I tell her. I give her a kiss and then spin her around. She giggles.

  “Thank you for asking my family if I could go with you. I wasn’t sure if Calina would agree to it, but I guess you have won her over,” she says to me.

  We hang out in the room until it’s time to go down for the party.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “It looks like they are setting up for the party,” Alex says while looking out the window. He looks really excited to go.

  “We should go down and help them set up,” I tell them.

  We all decide to head down to where Laderic and Drakoe are. They’re setting up some tables to put food on. So far they have set up five tables.

  “What can we do to help?” Jenn asks Laderic as she puts her hand on his bicep.

  He smiles big at her and then looks at all of us, “We have about 20 more tables to put up if you would like to help set them up, and then we will be bringing all of the food out. We still need to set up a campfire and bring some chairs out and blankets. Just jump in; we appreciate any help you can give. The guests should be arriving soon,” Laderic says.

  Alex and I help finish setting up the tables while Narissa and Jenn set up the chairs and blankets. After we set up the tables, we start up a huge campfire in the middle.

  Everyone begins to show up, one after another. Kolin and Rowin are the first to show up with the other Fauns and Centaurs. The Dwarves show up next, surprising us, as I thought they were staying behind. I wonder if the Dryads will come; I really wanted to thank Summer.

  Before I know it, everyone is there. Even the Dryads came. Alex is already talking to Summer, so I will thank her later.

  The Fauns begin to play some music, so Narissa and I decide to dance around the campfire. I spin her around and then dip her down, trying not to drop her.

  Kolin’s flirting with Calina, and she’s actually flirting back for once. The Dwarves are having drinking contests to see who can drink their beer the fastest. The Halflings are sitting quietly and talking with Nytril and Korla.

  The Gnomes are eating food, sitting on a fence. The best part is that everyone is getting along and having a good time.

  “Everyone, please settle down for a minute. I have an announcement to make,” Nytril says. Everyone settles down immediately and circles Nytril.

  “I want to thank everyone for coming out here tonight. I’m glad we have become friends and worked together to take Yazen back from the Dark Lords. We never would have had the courage to do this if Zac hadn’t come along. Zac, you and your friends are welcome here any time. Thank you for bringing us together, showing us true courage, and guiding us. If there is any way we can repay you, please let us know,” Nytril announces.

  Cheers are coming from every direction. It feels good to be cared about by all of these people. I know it’s my turn to make a speech.

  “I just want to thank each and every one of you for taking us in and giving us a chance. Every single one of you is very special to me, and I consider you all my friends and family. I will definitely come back to visit. Summer, I want to say thank you for helping us come up with a plan to start the fight. I don’t know how it would have gone if you hadn’t helped us,” I say while smiling at her.

&
nbsp; The rest of the night we all talk, drink, dance, and just have fun. I’m relaxing with everyone until Nytril comes over and asks to talk to me. So I get up and follow him up to his home.

  “I want to give you these books to take with you. They explain more about the different types of magic that we have. I think you are stronger than you know and have more tricks up your sleeve than even you yourself know about,” Nytril says as he hands me a handful of books.

  “I really don’t understand what you mean by that. I don’t have magical abilities at all. I just copied what I saw you do with the gem. I tried without the gem and it didn’t work,” I try to explain to him.

  “Oh, but you do have magical abilities, Zac. Not everyone can do that, with or without the gem. Humans are known to be inert when it comes to the arts, so you’re a true exception,” he tells me.

  “I know you’re going to have lots of questions, but please do me a favor and read these books first. They explain a lot and then next time I see you, you can ask me anything and I promise I’ll answer them as best as I’m able,” Nytril says. He puts his hand on my shoulder.

  “Thank you, Nytril,” I respond.

  “Go out and finish having fun with everyone,” he pushes me out of his front door. I take the books back to our room and set them on my bed. Then I head back out to visit with everyone.