The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

  "Yeah," Baloric answered. "We should probably finish with this memory recall before he wakes up, otherwise he'll be confused."

  "I agree," Louisa said. "But we should be careful too."

  "Of course," Baloric nodded.

  "You need more time?" Louisa said.

  "No, do you?" Baloric responded.

  "I can start now," Louisa said, taking hold of the railing of the stairs and leaning against it.

  "Okay, then, let's do it," Baloric shrugged.

  They started to climb the stairs and, when they reached the top, Baloric asked, "So what was with the pictures?"

  "They were of Walden," Louisa responded.

  "I knew that," Baloric said. "But what about them?"

  "Well, it's good to see him again after so long," Louisa said.

  "Is it?" Baloric pondered.

  "Of course it is," Louisa replied.

  "I'm surprised you're all right with this," Baloric said. "It used to be that whenever we mentioned his name, it would upset you."

  "I think I'm in high spirits right now," Louisa admitted. "With Jameson coming back to us, and all. Plus, everything's easier when you're here, and I guess I'm just excited to leave this place and go to Market City. I'll feel safer when we're all together."

  "That's good to hear."

  "Of course, it would be even better if Walden was here too. But we have Jo, and she's like family now. Did you know she told me I'm like a mother to her?"

  "Did you ever think anyone would tell you that?"

  "No." Louisa shook her head with a smile as she took the knob to the door with Jameson behind it. "It feels good, especially since she's Walden's daughter. It almost makes it like he's still here even though he isn't."

  "I'm glad you're finally getting better."

  "I'll be even better when Jameson wakes up."

  "He's really grown up, hasn't he?"

  "But he still looks like Jameson."

  "He's still him, after all."

  "I'm excited to learn where he's been all these years. Aren't you?"

  "It'll be an interesting conversation."

  Baloric approached the bed and once again took his position beside it.

  Louisa leaned over and looked at Jameson's sleeping face. "How much will he remember?" she asked.

  "Hopefully everything."

  "Everything…"

  "Good, so let's get back to it."

  Baloric took a deep breath and closed it us, quietly drawing energy from Louisa next to him and channeling it towards Jameson.

  12. They Were Young

  Chapter 12

  Baloric felt a firm hand on his shoulder suddenly begin to shake him. He struggled to pull himself away from Jameson's mind, finding himself short of breath and suddenly very cold. For a few moments, he found he couldn't open his eyes but, when he finally did, he was staring up at the ceiling, unaware he had even fallen over.

  Louisa leaned over him with a concerned expression on her face.

  "What?" he said, almost choking on the words.

  "I looked over at you, and you were shaking," she said. "And that didn't happen before."

  "I'm all right."

  "You were unconscious for a few minutes," Louisa pointed out as she held a rag with spots of blood out in front of him. "All this came out of your nose."

  "I'm all right," Baloric repeated as he began to sit up. Louisa helped him, though she still looked worried that he was even moving.

  "Are you sure?" Louisa said. "The last thing any of us need is you getting hurt."

  "I'm not hurt."

  "Why didn't you tell me this stuff hurt you too?" Louisa asked quietly.

  "It's not bad."

  "You need to rest."

  "I'm all right, really."

  "How many times are you going to say that?"

  "Until you listen to me."

  He adjusted himself so he was kneeling again and looked as though he was going to start, but Louisa began tapping her foot.

  "How about you listen to me?" she said.

  "I did listen to you. And I disagree."

  "And I disagree with you. Come on, you're resting."

  She took hold of both of his wrists and then pulled him to his feet. He was so surprised at her sudden actions that he was already halfway to the door before he managed to wrench himself away from her.

  "Louisa, we have to finish before he wakes up," he said as he started to go back over to Jameson.

  "We'll just give him more of the herbs," Louisa said, taking his arm and pulling him back. "Stop being stubborn! I know how you get."

  "Do you?" Baloric said.

  "Yes!" said Louisa. "You work yourself as hard as you can because you don't want people around you to lose their faith in you. Well, it's okay. You've never had a very strong body, and I know it's difficult to control the amount of power inside of you, so it's important you rest."

  Baloric glanced back over at Jameson who hadn't moved, then turned to Louisa. "All right, but just for a few minutes," he said.

  "Let's go to the garden," Louisa said with a smile.

  Still not letting go of his arm, she led him down the stairs and out the door. They walked around the inn and made their way past the basement doors when Johanna was still working.

  "Any progress?" Louisa shouted down at her.

  "Some," Johanna called back, coming into view. "How about you two?"

  "Coming along nicely," Louisa said.

  Baloric finally took his arm back from Louisa and the two of them went to the back of the inn where there was quite the surprisingly large garden. It had an abundance of different types of flowers that didn't grow any place else aside from there, since it was mostly due to Baloric's continuous effortless upkeep. There was a small chair situated in the midst of it all that was where Baloric sat whenever he had to go there.

  Baloric checked his nose again for blood as he sat down, but there wasn't any. Louisa paced beside him as he made himself comfortable.

  "Are you going to stand there for this?" Baloric asked. "I know you hate it when I do this."

  "As long as you fix it afterwards, it's okay," Louisa said. "Besides, I have some questions."

  "And what are those?"

  "The Prophecy. I've been thinking about it."

  "Which part and how so?"

  "…The Seven of Prophesized One will fulfill his destiny to unite the six nations," Louisa recited. "What does that mean?"

  "I always thought it was the six stones and Jameson," Baloric said.

  "The Stones will turn to dust, and the spirits will rise again," Louisa continued. "But the stones didn't turn to dust. Jameson still has them. Did we do something wrong when we took the weapons? I mean, could that be why Jameson disappeared?"

  "We did a lot of things wrong," Baloric reminded her.

  "The Seven of Prophesized One…" Louisa repeated and then sighed. "What does that mean? And why didn't the stones turn to dust?"

  "Maybe because the wrong person absorbed the Fighter," Baloric suggested.

  "Don't blame this on Felix," Louisa warned him. "It was an accident."

  "I'm not blaming anything on him," Baloric said defensively. "He did the right thing. If he hadn't taken it, Devin would have and then we'd be even worse off than we are now."

  A faint light began to shimmer around Baloric as some of the plants immediately around him began to wilt.

  Louisa watched the plants as their leaves turned brown and the petals fell to the ground. "Do you ever regret it?"

  "Regret what?" Baloric inquired.

  "Ever deciding to devote your life to this," Louisa said. "I mean, if you had never found that book, then you never would have been captured by Roth, and then you never would have met us. You could have traveled to Market City while you were still young and become a scholar, like you always wanted to."

  "I always wanted to do something to help the Prophecy fulfill itself," Baloric said. "That's more important to me than being a scholar. Besides," t
he light around him pulsed while the plants continued to die and he exhaled deeply before continuing, "I've learned more since I met all of you than I could have possibly learned from books."

  "But are you happy?" Louisa asked.

  "Are you happy?" Baloric retorted. "You made a choice too."

  "I guess I did," Louisa admitted. "I've met a lot of people because of it, though. So I guess that makes it worth it."

  "I have met people too," said Baloric. "A lot of people I never would have met if I hadn't come along with you guys. All kinds of different people from different nations, each with information I could learn. I consider myself more of a scholar than anyone with a proper education."

  Suddenly, Baloric's eyes sprung open and the dead plants shot into the air, uprooting themselves and then fluttering back to the ground.

  "What is it?" Louisa asked, observing what had happened.

  "I felt something just now," Baloric said.

  "I didn't feel anything," Louisa said.

  "Felix Cyrus is coming," Baloric decided. "He'll be here within the day."

  "Why is he coming?" said Louisa, confused. "How do you know?"

  "A few days ago, did you feel the intense wave?" said Baloric.

  "I was sleeping," Louisa nodded. "And it woke me up."

  "I think that was Jameson," Baloric explained. "We're connected to him because of the Ultimates. Cyrus has one inside of him as well, so he must have felt it too."

  "We haven't seen him in years," Louisa said. "Why would he come back now?"

  "For answers," Baloric reasoned. "And he's likely got the princess with him. She wouldn't be able to resist finding out what shook Cyrus up like that."

  "I wonder if we'll recognize them when they get here," Louisa wondered. "They were only little kids the last time we saw them."

  "They were young," Baloric said.

  "If you hadn't yelled at Felix like you did, he never would have run away," Louisa said.

  "He put all of us in danger when he wouldn't listen," Baloric pointed out. "He thought he was invincible. Someone that young should have never taken the Fighter."

  "You said yourself it was good Felix took it," Louisa said.

  "We, unfortunately, didn't have the luxury to make another choice at the time."

  "There were no other choices."

  Johanna suddenly rounded the corner of the inn, brushing herself off as a cloud of dust floated around her.

  "Recharging?" she said.

  "Mm," said Baloric.

  "How's it going with Jameson?" Johanna said, looking at Louisa. "Are you sure there's nothing I could do to help out?"

  "I told you already; Daigh is doing all he can," Louisa said. "All you can do is be patient and finish cleaning out the basement."

  "Well, how come I can't help out?" Johanna asked, sounding a little desperate.

  "There's nothing you can do!" Louisa insisted.

  "I bet you could find something for me to do," Johanna crossed her arms indignantly. "What are you doing?"

  "I'm being Daigh's support," said Louisa. "He can't do it all on his own, and needs a boost every once and a while from my energy."

  "Why can't I do that too?" Johanna said. "I can sit by and be support!"

  "Louisa's different," Baloric said. "You know she's special. Her life energy is different from yours. I could seriously hurt you if I took much from you at all. Louisa hardly feels it."

  "I don't care if it's dangerous," said Johanna. "It's driving me insane just sitting by and waiting for you guys to be done!"

  "Sorry, Johanna," said Baloric. "You just have to wait it out."

  "I'm not satisfied with that!" Johanna said.

  Baloric stood up and, instead of facing her, he crouched down to the ground where are the dead plants were scattered. He began to wave his hand over the dirt, still slightly glowing. Johanna only watched him instead of arguing further as tiny spokes of plants began to push out of the soil. At first, they were small, by they very quickly began to grow in size until they were at least waist height. Baloric stood as they grew in size and, with one last wave of his hand, the flowers all bloomed simultaneously, glistening in the sunlight.

  Baloric gazed up at the blue sky, and then back down at the plants that had replaced the dead ones. The entire process had only taken less than a minute.

  "I don't know what to tell you, Johanna," Baloric said, looking over his shoulder at her. "You can't help this time. I'm sure something will come along so you'll be able to do something, but not now."

  "Even if you can't take my energy," Johanna said, speaking much quieter. "Can I at least sit by you and support you both by just being near?"

  Louisa looked to Baloric for him to answer, and he nodded very slightly.

  "You can stay by us," said Baloric. "But you have to stay very quiet and still."

  "I can do that," Johanna assured him.

  "And you also have to keep an eye on Daigh," Louisa added. "In case anything happens."

  "What could happen?" Johanna asked nervously.

  "Anything, really," Louisa said.

  "Louisa's being dramatic," Baloric said reassuringly.

  "Daigh's body is weak," Louisa explained. "It always has been."

  "Louisa," said Baloric harshly.

  "That can't be true," Johanna said. "Baloric can defeat every Forces he faces!"

  "That hasn't always been the case," Louisa said.

  "Louisa, really," said Baloric, now sounding passive. "That's enough. Please stop."

  "All right," Louisa said. "I will. But I want you to be more careful. You're still just a person and you can't do everything all the time."

  "I get it," said Baloric. He glanced up at the window he knew was Louisa's, which was the room Jameson was still sleeping in. "We should finish. I don't want him to wake up before we do."

  Baloric began to walk back to the house, but then he stopped and turned around, looking past the garden and over the fence behind it. He squinted and continued to stare, as the two girls waited for him to report what he was looking at.

  "What is it?" Louisa finally asked.

  "Forces are coming," Baloric replied.

  "Don't say it so calmly!" Johanna gasped. "We have to do something!"

  "We have to protect Jameson!" Louisa agreed. "Where is it?"

  "It's coming," Baloric answered, still not moving. "Here. Now."

  Baloric immediately threw his hands against the grass as everything shook. The ground began to rise up and rumble until Baloric was lifted right off his feet an enormous creature burrowed through. Baloric kept his hands firmly on the creature's head as it crawled out of the ground, trying to contain the beast. It shook as it thrashed its enormous arms, but Baloric's power flowing into it kept it from moving too much.

  Louisa immediately went to Johanna's side and tried to get in front of her, but Johanna pushed by. "We have to help!" Johanna insisted.

  "You can help by staying out of the way," Louisa said, pushing her back.

  The Forces raised one of its claw-like hands and brushed Baloric off of it, flinging him back against the fence, knocking it over. Baloric did not cry out in pain, but he had a difficult time sitting up as the beast charged at him, crushing the flowers in the garden.

  Louisa ran out in front of Baloric and extended her hands towards the creature, creating a solid but transparent barrier that stopped the Forces in its tracks. It continued to attempt to break through the wall, but Louisa held it with confidence, and looked back at Baloric as he staggered to his feet.

  He attempted to pull his sword out of his sheath, only to realize he had taken it off earlier. Though he couldn't remember exactly when he had done something like that, he knew the whole day had been somewhat chaotic. When he discovered the handle of the sword was not there, his hand moved to his chest which hurt from being thrown.

  "Daigh, if you have any plans to do something, now would be a good time!" Louisa shouted as the monster's gigantic leg stopped down on the barrier agai
n.

  Baloric put his arms up in the air and began to wave them, but the Forces remained unaffected by his gestures. Baloric didn't understand why nothing was happening, but he didn't have time to think it through, so he made the decision to use the flowers in the garden. All at once, the flowers that surrounded the Forces wilted and died. He stretched above his head, and then forced both of his hands forward, causing an enormous sweeping wind that rocketed towards the beast, lifting it right up into the air. As it sailed overhead, Baloric lowered his arms and it exploded into a rain of ash and dust.