Forest & Kingdom Balance

by Robert Reed Paul Thomas

  John ordered Peter to collect the Guard’s weapons and signaled Tre to see to the wounded. He met Kalibra and Yamikura as he reached the pavilion. They watched the Caretaker redress. “Caretaker, what happened?” John asked.

  The Caretaker stood there, he started to answer, then stopped and considered. “I don’t know. He seems to have grown tired of people’s foolishness and desired a new adventure. The rest you saw.” The Caretaker’s consciousness spiraled out from the clearing, he went farther and faster. Nothing. He went to the coast, and then across the sea to the Red Knight’s fortress. Nothing. He scanned the large Kingdoms and population centers. Nothing. He turned to those who had gathered. “The crimson flame of the Red Knight is no more.”

  Tre joined the group at the pavilion. “Captain.” John turned around to take his report. “Four Elites dead, six wounded. The Guard have two dead and two wounded.” Tre said.

  Kalibra looked over her shoulder. “Deminar, go away.” She said as the High Councilor approached.

  “Knife!” Catherine’s mind screamed as Deminar stepped up to Tre’s back.

  Instantly John shoved Tre aside as Yamikura’s blade flashed and Deminar’s head fell.

  “John!” This plea was Dionara’s.

  John dropped to his knees with Deminar’s blade in his chest. The Caretaker rushed to him and laid John down gently. John’s flame became weaker with each moment.

  “Please Froggy! Please! Save him!” Every person in the clearing could feel the desperation and pain of Dionara’s thought. The void within the Caretaker swelled as the observer receded. He was filled with sorrow and rage. He raged at his own failure to keep his loved ones safe. The void engulfed him completely as he admitted to himself that the years of pain John had put himself through was because him. “Please Froggy! Please!” Dionara repeated over and over. His love for Diana, Catherine, Dionara, and John fed his flame to an intensity that the observer in him had never allowed.

  “Forgive me Catherine.” He opened his mind to her, completely.

  “I understand my love, there is nothing to forgive. I will love you always. Save John.”

  “The teacher becomes the student.” The Caretaker thought. Suddenly the Caretaker’s clothes dropped to the ground but there was no flash. A brilliant emerald green glow surrounded John. The watchers stood back as it grew and solidified. Within the glow there was a flicker of white, barely an ember. The emerald glow pulsed and the white flame grew. As the white flame became stronger the emerald light faded. “Now John,” and in a brilliant flash of white light, John was lying naked on his clothes, whole and unharmed. The emerald light had vanished.

  In Spirit’s Vale two women held each other as bittersweet tears fell like summer rain.

  Later, much later when the shock had worn off and the wounded had been treated, John and Yamikura went to the Guard camp. “Warrior Queen Kalibra,” John addressed his counterpart. “As you may have already guessed, the Caretaker was not the only Ward of these mountains and the people who live here. I am one, there are others. I offer you safe passage to the coast on one condition. You and the Crimson Guard speak to no one about what you’ve learned here, with the exception that the immortal Red Knight perished here. No details, no exceptions.”

  “Keep in mind that we can hear your thoughts and our actions are not limited to the mountains.” Dionara’s voice rang clear in the minds of Kalibra and the Guard.

  “Do you accept?” John awaited her answer.

  “Yes.” The two nodded and John departed.

  Yamikura stayed to talk with Kalibra. “You have a realm to recapture, and it will be a free for all once the news spreads that the Red Knight is no longer with us. You will be busy.”

  “I’m still the head of his army and his fortress will make a nice getaway from the Realm. I think I’ll hang on to those for awhile.” She smiled like a hungry tigress. “What are you doing now, I could use a good second.”

  Yamikura laughed. “There’s someone here I’d like to see. After that I’ll ask if I can stay, I’ve always liked the mountains. Safe journey, Warrior Queen Kalibra of the Realm.” He bowed.

  IX

  Two days after the battle Dionara stood outside the chalet and waved to greet her guests. “Grandmother! Grandfather!” She shouted as her feelings of love and comfort at seeing them preceded her words.

  Dionara gave Danielle a big hug as Edward and Raphael dismounted. The three shared their joy entwined with loss. Words were not needed. Dionara looked at the four packhorses and gave her Grandparents a quizzical look.

  “Your Grandmother doesn’t exactly pack light, if you know what I mean.” Edward flashed a sheepish grin and slowly put some distance between himself and Danielle.

  “Don’t you move away from me Edward.” She gave him a glare of retribution. “Not to worry, I know where to find you.” Danielle put her head close to Dionara and whispered. “When you’re cooking for a broken heart, you can’t be too prepared.” She gave Dionara a sorrowful smile and stroked her arm.

  “Wow!” Raphael tried to look in every direction at once.

  “You must be my new uncle! Hello Uncle Raphael.” She felt Raphael’s emotions rotate between wonder, surprise, worry, and confusion. The spinning wheel stopped on worry as he bowed so low she thought he’s snap in half. Dionara took his hand as he stood. “You’re my family now, there’s no need to bow to family. Well, other that Edward, he needs to bow to Danielle of course, but that’s a special case.” He laughed in spite of himself.

  She looked at Edward. “Wasn’t he shorter? It’s hard to tell remotely.”

  “Yes he was, he’s spouting like a spring crop. If he’d been on the trail any longer, he would have had to wear Tre’s clothes. Danielle had me pack three different cuts of clothing for him.” He pointed to one of the packhorses.

  Dionara turned back to her young uncle. “It looks like you’re going to give John and Tre some competition on who’ll be the tallest.” She gave him a stern look. “ And you’re my uncle so I expect you to win, okay? Now, when we’re in the Forest, I’m just your niece. No bowing, nothing. The only time you need to worry about that is when we’re with people in the Kingdom, and even then, you just nod when you meet me, and nod when you leave. That’s it! Here, nod like this.” She showed him. “You try it.”

  Raphael nodded as he was shown. “Your Majesty.”

  “Well, you’re a little ahead of the times, but I like your thinking!” She grabbed him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. Raphael left to help Edward unpack, if his face was a bit redder than usual, no one mentioned it.

  “How is Catherine?” Danielle asked.

  Dionara sighed. “If you ask her, she’ll say she’s fine. If you ask me, I doubt she will ever be the same. She needs time to grieve, but until John gets back, she’s the only Sentinel. That takes special training that I didn’t get yet.” She hugged her grandmother again. “Thank you so much for coming. I convinced her to stay here for a while, try to keep her here as long as you can. If you can get her to open up, that would be even better. You two knew Froggy as a person all your lives.”

  “Of course.” Danielle took a big breath. “We all lost a dear friend, but she lost the love of her life.”

  Dionara felt the loss, hers as well as Danielle and Catherine’s. She accepted it and looked forward. “Did Angela and Michael settle in all right?”

  Danielle wiped a tear from her face. “Edward made sure they knew what needed to be done on the farm while we’re gone. Michael’s ready to start his own farm anyway, and the way those two go at it, I assume he’s going to need it soon. I asked Seth to build an extra large, extra strong bed. I’ll give it to those two when they decide to settle down, or we’ll need it if they break ours.” She considered a thought. “We should get a new one anyway, Edward likes a little room to work”

  This time it was Dionara that turned a little red. “Grandmother!”

  Danielle raised her eyebrows. “Look who’s talking!”

>   Dionara had Foil all packed before they arrived. She stayed a little while longer, then started back. “Hello my love.” She reached out to John. “I’m leaving now.” John’s love joined hers and their single flame shown bright. She watched John direct the Elites as they built the temporary memorial.

  “Good morning my love.” He said and Dionara purred. Sad or happy, worried or peaceful, it didn’t matter; Dionara always felt the thrill of their contact. “Take it easy, I’m working!” John’s embarrassment was evident. “Do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face when you do that?”

  She watched Tre walk up to John, then shake his head and walk away. Dionara chuckled. Her thoughts turned to when she could be with him again. “How are the wounded men? Will you be ready to travel soon?”

  “Yamikura thinks it would be best to stay one more day, he wants to make sure their wound’s won’t open on the trail. He is an amazing healer.” She could feel John’s admiration for the Far Lander. “I talked to him as we discussed, and he’s agreed. He’ll stay with me at my cottage to start, and visit our healers one at a time to teach them, Forest and Kingdom.”

  “He can have your cottage, what makes you think I’ll let you out of my sight ever again?” She sent him a purr.

  “You know I want that as much as you, but we’ll need somewhere to stay in the Forest that’s closer to the gate than Spirit’s Vale. I have my sentinel duties, and there’s a great deal yet for you to learn. We can only do that in the Forest.” John mentally shrugged. “At least splitting our time between Forest and Castle will be easier. Have the councilors selected the storytellers?”

  “Not yet, I want to get the story just right first.” Dionara glanced at her saddlebag. “I’ll read you what I have tonight. You are a master storyteller my love, I need you to make this perfect for them. It’s going to be a shock for our people as it is, but they need to know who created their life here and honor him. They also need to know about the coastal Mindow. I’m going to ask a great deal of our people and they will need to know why.”

  “Have you chosen a day?” John asked.

  “The first day of fall will be Caretaker’s Day, and that’s when we’ll dedicate the memorial at the clearing. We have about seven weeks. I’ve spoken remotely to Cal, and will see him when I get to the village. He’ll have whatever resources from the Kingdom he can use."

  Dionara watched the Elites as they built around the graves of the four who fell. “My first priority is the families. I’ll spend a day in the village before I leave the Forest, then I’ll go to each family and let them know how and why their sons gave their lives for us all.”

  “Thank you." John sent Dionara his love and appreciation, but still keenly felt his own duty to the fallen men. “I was their captain, I should be there."

  Dionara’s warmth comforted her twined flame. “In a very real way, you will be my love. You and I are one, Forest and Kingdom.”

  Epilogue

  Mindow Council

  Far above the sleepy mountain kingdom puffy white clouds drifted on sky’s azure sea to flicker white marble battlements in an ephemeral dance of light and shadow. Upon the castle’s highest pinnacle two silk banners gently waved, one of brilliant Mindow blue and the other of rich Forest green. While far below, in a newly commissioned room of the castle, a long awaited meeting was taking place.

  “Hello everyone!” Catherine mentally bowed, “and my deepest respect to Your Majesty.”

  “Hello Catherine!” The seven voices said in unison.

  “Your Majesty!” Dionara’s habit of using a non-verbal response to comments she disliked had not diminished with her elevation to queen. “Your Majesty almost missed the meeting.”

  “We could have met tomorrow.” Sentinel Prince John reminded his wife.

  “This meeting is already three hundred and sixty years overdue, I didn’t want to delay it any further.” Dionara said with conviction.

  “If you had left Spirit’s Vale when you were supposed to, you would have had plenty of time.” Catherine reminded them.

  “We were busy.” Dionara smiled.

  “Yes,” John reached for Dionara’s hand, “Priorities of the crown took precedence.”

  Catherine spoke to them privately. “Yes, extremely important. However you two did have an entire month in Spirit’s Vale after the coronation wedding to prioritize to your hearts delight! Speaking of which, any news yet? Aunt Catherine is having two bedrooms and a nursery added to the house. Everyone wants to help, they start tomorrow.”

  “Soon we hope.” The couple answered.

  In a room adjacent to Atheria and Simon’s quarters, a circular table carved with images of Paladin’s ships, Kingsport, the seacoast palace, and Garden Tiers sat beneath an oil painting of Paladin’s original Mindow Royal Seal. An inlaid compass design decorated the outer ring of the table with eight council seats marked at the cardinal and ordinal points.

  Dionara stood. “We declare the Mindow Council assembled and charge this body with the restoration of freedom for all Mindow people.” The royal ‘we’ vanished as soon as she sat down. Dionara never was comfortable with the royal mantle. It helped her to think of the ‘we’ as John and herself.

  “Let’s not fool ourselves,” Dionara addressed the table, “this will take awhile. The full glory of a Mindow Kingdom restored to the coast is our goal, but it will be one step at a time. I believe that our youngest member,” she smiled and looked at Raphael, “will long be an adult by the time we are ready to take back our land. It may take decades to reach our goal, and perhaps generations to fully restore our people.”

  She paused, and with an expression of pure determination she made an oath. “I Dionara, daughter of Stefan, direct descendant of Palinar and Paladin, vow that all my people shall one day be free, and the values we honor, restored. This I swear.” A profound silence filled the room.

  After a moment Tre grinned and rubbed his hands together, “Okay, the hard part’s done. Now all we have to do is figure out how. Nothing to it.”

  “That’s our Tre.” Catherine’s laughter spread around the table. John just grinned and shook his head.

  After several hours a few first steps were planned and assignments given. The first step would be to train new agents and to contact the Mindow Elders. No one could say what the Elders reaction would be to Dionara’s bloodline, or the existence of the Kingdom itself.

  After the meeting, Dionara took Yamikura aside. “How’s she really doing? It’s coming up on a year and she has never let herself grieve. I don’t want to violate her trust, but I will if I have to.”

  “Your Majesty, Catherine is the strongest person I have ever known. While she does miss the Caretaker, and occasionally searches for him, she also takes joy in life and looks to the future. Your decision to have your children raised to know both Forest and Kingdom has given her great hope.”

  “If as you suspect, your children will be born with the gift, then she will be an important part of their lives from birth. That alone will bring her a joy she has never experienced. The Forest is hers now, as the Kingdom is yours. Her life is varied and full, one aspect of that life will always be her love for the Caretaker.”

  “And you.” Dionara added to herself.

  John joined the pair. “Yamikura, how goes Raphael’s training?” Yamikura bowed his head to the Prince. “Hang on! Let’s put a stop to this right now. My title is Sentinel Prince John. I fought very hard to get that title changed, I’m a Sentinel first which means no one bows to me.”

  “I have known many princes, and I can state beyond the shadow of a doubt, that you Sentinel Prince John have earned more respect than all of them combined.” The two men clasped forearms in a warrior’s greeting.

  “To answer your question, Raphael is a year ahead of where I was at his age. He’s also faster and smarter.” The trio looked across the room at Raphael who was talking with Atheria and Simon.

  “He’s grown another foot since I’ve seen him last, and
that was this morning.” Dionara mused.

  “When the time comes,” Yamikura noted, “He will be a formidable force. He also has that indefinable trait that creates great leaders. What of Simon and Atheria?”

  “Simon’s a military man through and through.” John considered his protégé. “In a few years I’ll relinquish command of the Elites to him. Not only do his skills warrant it, but his history also gives him an edge that the Kingdom’s recruits can’t match. It’s one thing to tell a warrior about life and death choices, it’s another to have lived through so many.”

  “And Atheria?” Yamikura turned to Dionara.

  “You mean my Councilor for Sea Coast Mindow Affairs? You should have seen the looks on the councilors faces when I told them. It had a value beyond wealth.” Dionara sighed. “She will be very important as we move forward, though I think her true happiness will always be in the Garden Tiers. She has an affinity for the land. If she had been an original refugee, the Caretaker would have chosen her for the Forest. Do you know what her first reaction to the Caretaker was? It took him two days before he stopped mentioning it to me.”

  Yamikura felt a warmth rise deep within him as he remembered. “Yes I was there when he thanked her. In my first contact with him, the Caretaker was an eight-foot bear wreaking havoc. For some reason ‘warm and cuddly’ wasn’t my first impression.

  “In honor of the Caretaker.” Yamikura addressed the Sovereigns. “The sooner we start, then the sooner we can get Atheria back to her gardens. With your permission Sentinel?” He gestured toward Dionara and John stepped aside. Yamikura then gave Dionara a full formal bow that an emperor could not find fault with. “Your Majesty.”

  “Oh!” Dionara shook her head. Then she and John walked slowly to the door, their conversation trailing them.

  “So that’s why you wanted your title changed. I should have done that.” She said with surprise.

  “I wish you could have my love, but it may not have been allowed.” He took her arm.