The Forsaken Call

by Jamie Murray

"You're exhausted so you need a hug?" Jameson said.

  "No, it's just that I don't think I've ever hugged you before," Louisa said. "Come on, just one quick hug."

  "Fine," Jameson said with a laugh he tried to stifle.

  Louisa grabbed him into a goofy hug. She bobbed back and forth and hummed, her grip on him loose at first, but then tight again, like she was never going to let go. Jameson was beginning to feel a little uneasy as Louisa's breathing calmed and finally let him go, but only a little. She clung onto his forearms and stared up at him.

  "I can't believe you're the same Jameson as the one I found digging around in the dirt ten years ago," she said. "Now look where we are."

  "It's bizarre," Jameson agreed.

  "Let's get some rest, okay?" Louisa asked. "Let's all get a good night sleep."

  "I can't argue with that," Jameson said.

  "Have a good night," Louisa said, leaning over and looking through the doorframe of the room across the hall. "I think this will do nicely. There are two beds in here, so why don't you send Tina and Jo this way? The girls will sleep in here, and you boys can have that other room."

  "It's all the same to me," Jameson said.

  In the end, Jameson was pretty sure he wasn't going to get much sleep that night no matter where he was.

  41. They've Been Here

  Chapter 41

  It happened like it had a before: Jameson suddenly sprung awake, unsure what had awakened him. He was laying on the floor next to the bed, staring at the floor, his eyes wide. He was oddly alert for having just woken up.

  He rolled over in hopes to get more comfortable, his eyes now on the ceiling and fixed in the darkness. After a few moments, he turned his head to the side and saw Baloric leaning over the side of the bed, also looking quite awake.

  "Hey," Jameson whispered, not wanting to wake up any of the others.

  Baloric blinked as if he was startled by the fact Jameson was awake even though they had been looking at each other. "Hi," he said finally.

  "You look better."

  "I don't feel much better."

  "Can't sleep?"

  "Apparently, I've been sleeping for a long time," Baloric said with a sigh.

  Jameson propped himself up on his elbows. "We weren't sure if you were going to wake up ever again," Jameson said.

  "Well, here I am. How's your memory?"

  Jameson momentarily forgot just how much had happened since he last spoke with Baloric. Their most recent conversation had been an attempt to convince Louisa that he really was Jameson, followed by the hope that his memory might return in his induced sleep. In the end, Baloric never had an opportunity to find out if all his work had resulted in Jameson's memory returning or not.

  "It's good," Jameson said. "I remember everything…except when I was missing."

  It was not a lie, but of course not a truth. As far as Jameson could tell, Baloric had no recollection of meeting the Ancient Lorne or any of the conversations he had while in that strange place. Baloric had told him that he probably wouldn't remember, but it was bizarre for Jameson to be the one to remember things.

  "That's a step in the right direction," Baloric said tiredly.

  "So what happened to you?" Jameson asked. "Louisa told me that you went to the mines to fight some Forces while she and Cyrus came to the Forest to get me. Then you're missing."

  "Yeah…" Baloric said, exhaling audibly. He glanced briefly around the room with his eyes to confirm Luke and Cyrus were still sleeping, as if afraid that he had woken them up. "It was just another day. I wanted to go to the Forest to get you, but the Forces were coming on strong. I think they're looking for you too."

  "Devin said that was happening," Jameson said quietly.

  "I was caught by surprise at the inn when I got back," Baloric explained. "Normally, I can sense them coming. But not her…"

  He trailed off and bit his lip awkwardly, making him look the way Jameson remembered him ten years ago.

  "Quinn?" Jameson tried.

  "She's one of Devin's favorites," Baloric said. "Not one of mine."

  "I killed her," said Jameson flatly.

  "Did you?" Baloric said, looking impressed and somewhat amused.

  "With Luke's help," Jameson revised. "Really, it was mostly him, actually."

  "It doesn't matter. She's gone. Though, I have to admit, I wanted to be the one to get rid of her for good. But I don't mind, not as long as I never have to think of her again."

  "What's the last thing you remember?" Jameson asked. He was really just wondering exactly when the Ancient Lorne had intervened and taken Baloric away from reality. Also, he hated to think Baloric was tortured in any way while he was off running around in the Forest or wandering around Miner Town with Johanna.

  "I don't want to think about it," Baloric decided, shaking his head.

  Jameson did not prod for information. He rolled over and tried to smile optimistically to indicate he was changing the subject. "We'll have to fill you in on our new mission," he said.

  "New mission?"

  "We know what we have to do," Jameson said. "We know the reason why things didn't work out ten years ago. Once we complete this mission, then we'll have the power we need to defeat Devin and fix everything he's destroyed."

  "I'm interested to hear this," Baloric said, now smiling as well.

  So Jameson launched into an explanation, trying to keep his voice low but clear so Baloric did not have to ask him to repeat anything. Baloric listened carefully and thoughtfully and rarely interjected, only doing so to clarify something Jameson did a poor job explaining.

  "The Angel will tell us who the other Spirits are tomorrow morning," Jameson said. "And we'll go to the Shadow Shrine as soon as we know who the Resurrected Spirit is and have him with us. I don't think we'll have any trouble finding it. You've been there before, and Cyrus and Erestina have been to it too, but they couldn't get past the barrier."

  "And you can," Baloric inferred. "Like at the Rain Shrine."

  "I don't know exactly why," Jameson said. "But I assume it has something to do with the stones."

  "Or maybe it's just you," Baloric pointed out. "You are the Prophesized One, after all."

  "Yeah, about that," Jameson said with a heavy sigh.

  Then he explained what the Ancient had told him about the generation skip following his father's death, consciously leaving out the young age of all members of the Prophecy as a reason for Jameson's disappearance. He assumed Baloric would probably come to the conclusion on his own but, for now, he didn't think there was a need to share information that heavy with him when he was only just recovering.

  "This really tears apart all my theories about destiny," Baloric said. "To think, one year earlier, your father would be the Prophesized One, and my mother or father would have been the Powers. I wonder if you and I would have ever met as a result of our parents' adventure."

  Of course, this statement made Jameson feel as though he had to break the news to Baloric concerning the whereabouts of his family. Baloric's parents were both dead, as confirmed by William, while his brother and sister were both working for the Angel. He wondered which news would be more difficult for Baloric to hear.

  "Baloric, I have to tell you something about your family," Jameson said, trying not to make it sound like bad news right off the bat, but he knew it wouldn't matter in a few seconds.

  "What happened to them?"

  Jameson wanted to defensively ask what made Baloric think something had happened to them, but he realized that would be a pointless and overall insensitive gesture. After all, something did happen to them and Baloric was perfectly justified in assuming the worst.

  As he looked Baloric in the eye, he realized it was a little more difficult than he originally assumed it would be. "I'm sorry," Jameson said. "I don't know where to start. I've never done anything like this before."

  "You learn how," Baloric said with an encouraging tone. He sounded somehow casual, as if he already knew what James
on was trying to tell him, and was only allowing the conversation to occur as a formality. Perhaps it was easy to guess that his family had been killed for one reason or another, but Jameson imagined learning his younger siblings were working for the Angel might prove a little too creative for even Baloric's forward-thinking.

  "Your parents were killed," Jameson said, at a loss of any other way to begin. "A long time ago. I don't know exactly when or how, but it was in a Forces attack."

  He paused, trying to allow the news to sink into Baloric and let him react to it. However, Baloric did not offer Jameson any visual sign that he even heard what he had just been told. His face remained stoic and unchanging.

  "You all right?" Jameson asked, fully aware of the stupidity of his question because he knew, of course, Baloric would not be all right after hearing such news.

  "I'm all right," Baloric said, nodding slightly. "I mean, I sort of assumed. My father had a bad leg. It always made running away difficult. No doubt Mother stayed behind when he couldn't get away. I'm sure that's what happened. And Raven would never leave Mother's side. She was my sister, Jameson, I don't know if you knew I had a sister."

  "You have a sister," Jameson corrected.

  "She's alive?" Baloric questioned.

  "You have a brother too," Jameson said. "Did you know that?"

  "Mother was pregnant when I left home," Baloric said. "So I never met him."

  "They're both still alive," said Jameson.

  Baloric didn't look as though he had a response to that statement. "Good," he tried, avoiding eye contact. Clearly, something was dawning on him, and it was not something he wanted to be fully aware of. "How do you know? Have you seen them?"

  The look in his eyes almost begged Jameson to tell him that he had not seen them and had merely heard about them from a stranger. At that point, Jameson was sure Baloric had concluded where his brother and sister were; with the Angel. After all, it wouldn't make any sense for Jameson to have found out about them anyplace else.

  Despite Baloric's knowing stare, Jameson acknowledged that it all still needed to be said. So, pausing momentarily, Jameson continued with, "We met them here. They work for the Angel."

  "Oh no," Baloric said simply, putting both his hands over his eyes. He repeated that short phrase a few times and shook his head slightly.

  "I met them both, Baloric, and they seem really healthy and well off," Jameson added quickly in an attempt to make him feel better. "I haven't really gotten an opportunity to talk with Raven, but William helped us get you back"—he decided to leave out the life threatening peril part of that adventure—"and he's really strong. He uses magic like I've only seen you use it. And the thing is, Baloric. Baloric?"

  "What?" Baloric said, his hands still over his eyes.

  "It doesn't seem to me that they're being held here against their wills," Jameson said.

  "Why does that matter?" Baloric said, finally lowering his hands and staring directly at the ceiling.

  "It wasn't like when you were here," Jameson offered.

  "You don't get it, Jameson," said Baloric cleanly.

  "What don't I get?" Jameson asked when Baloric did not continue.

  "Anything. You don't get anything at all."

  Jameson felt as though he should be offended or even mad at what Baloric had said, but somehow it didn't affect him at all. In fact, he found it incredibly profound and, admittedly, perhaps accurate in most ways.

  "Maybe not," Jameson said. "But at least they're alive."

  "I would rather them be dead than be here."

  "You don't mean that."

  "I mean that."

  "I think you'll feel differently when you meet them."

  "I don't want to meet them."

  "Why not?"

  Baloric finally let out a deep breath which he had been holding in. Slowly, he sat up with some difficulty so he was staring at the wall in front of him, and Jameson sat up as well so he could get a better look at his face.

  "Why not?" Jameson repeated after some time passed.

  "All these years, they've been here," Baloric said. "And I could have come to get them. What kind of brother is that? Why would they want to meet me?"

  Jameson was about to immediately refute Baloric's questioning by saying that they would want to meet him just because they were family. However, he thought back to the way Raven reacted when she had first seen him; she knew he was her brother right away. And, as a result, what had she done? She refused to see him. She showed no interest in saving his life. And, throughout the years, she had never told William about his brother. As far as William knew, he never had a brother.

  It was quite possible Raven had absolutely no interest in seeing Baloric, and it was equally possible that once William found out who Baloric was, he would not want to meet him either.

  "Imagine if you suddenly found out your father was alive," Baloric said.

  "What?" Jameson said immediately.

  "If you just bumped into him in Market City," Baloric said with a shrug. "Just like that. Suddenly, your father is alive again. And, all those years he had been missing, he was just in Market City doing other things. Unconcerned, unbothered and completely disinterested in the fact that he had a son back in the Forest who thought he was dead. What would you do? What piece of you would be bigger: the piece that was happy he's alive or the piece that resented how he abandoned you with no concern for your well being for his own selfish reasons and fears? Answer honestly, Jameson. Don't lie to me."

  Jameson looked at the floor. "I guess there would be a piece of me which resented him," Jameson admitted. "But, I'd also know that whatever reason he had for going away must have been a good one or else he wouldn't have done it. A lot of bad things happened here in Gislan for you, Baloric, and I don't think you're wrong for having fears of even being in this place."

  "That is a convenient answer," Baloric said. "Comforting, but convenient."

  He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and began to stand, using the bed to steady himself.

  "Where are you going?" Jameson said, getting to his feet to stop him.

  "I just need to go for a walk," Baloric answered. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

  "No, you have to rest," Jameson practically commanded.

  His tone surprised even himself, but Baloric seemed more shocked that he did. He quickly dismissed the shocked expression from his face and, instead of being intimidated by him, he used Jameson as a crutch to help him stand. Jameson wasn't about to push Baloric back down to the bed, so he only balanced him until he could stand on his own.

  "Don't follow me," Baloric ordered, letting go of Jameson and slowly walking towards the doorway.

  Jameson followed him anyway, but Baloric turned and glared when he reached the doorway.

  "I said don't follow me," he said. "I'm serious."

  "You shouldn't be walking around on your own," Jameson said. "You've been through an ordeal. You should lie back down."

  Baloric actually looked angry, a look Jameson could not recall ever seeing. He continued into the hallway and Jameson immediately began to follow again, but then Baloric did something completely unexpected. As soon as Jameson reached the doorway, Baloric waved his arm, sending a gust of wind towards Jameson which completely knocked him off his feet and sent him sliding across the room.

  "Don't follow me!" Baloric yelled as Jameson hit the floor.

  Jameson wasn't hurt, but he was certainly surprised.

  "What was that?" Cyrus said, sitting up and looking around. Luke was up as well due to the commotion, and both saw Baloric in the doorway and looked ready to jump up to get him.

  "Hang on," Jameson said, sitting up and putting his arm up to the other two men. Baloric was staring at him intently, still angry. "Leave him alone. Just let him go."

  "What?" said Luke.

  "He should be resting," Cyrus added.

  "Just let him go," Jameson said reluctantly.

  Baloric finally broke eye contact with h
im and trudged off down the hallway, leaving Jameson in the room with Cyrus and Luke, clearly owing them both an explanation.

  42. It's Raven

  Chapter 42

  Baloric sat on one of the walkways which connected the several buildings, his feet on the grass which only grew in the Angel's territory. He was staring at the horizon where the sky was the brightest, the place where he would have been able to see the sun if it were rising anyplace except Gislan. He knew Louisa was standing behind him and he also knew she was going to approach him whether he asked her to or not.