Dark Echoes of Light

by Michael James Ploof

  He landed and inspected the area. On the lip of the crater that had been created, there were no footprints. There was nothing. He saw something faintly with mind sight, but it seemed that he could not pinpoint what it was. It could have been a footprint, a paw print—he did not know. For when he looked directly at the energy disturbance, it shifted out of view like a spot on the eye, dancing just out of reach.

  Whill thought back on the moment the earthquake had begun. He had been speaking with Dirk when it happened, yet the man had not seemed alarmed or even surprised. Granted, Dirk was a master at hiding his thoughts and emotions, but the earthquake should have caused some sort of reaction…

  He took to the sky once more and returned to the castle. Landing on the balcony, he spotted Dirk where he had left him in the study.

  “Do you know what I found?” Whill asked as he strode into the room through the swaying curtains.

  “Please, do tell.”

  “A crater caused by an explosion. Whoever created it also set off the earthquake.”

  Dirk’s eyebrows leapt, and Whill wondered if his surprise was real. “Could it be a dark elf? Was it elf magic?”

  “I do not know,” said Whill, studying him.

  Dirk shook his head and turned to the bar to grab his drink. He raised Whill’s glass. Whill nodded, and Dirk poured them both a refill.

  “Do you think it was a warning?” Dirk asked, handing him the drink.

  “You are the governor. What do you think?”

  Dirk squinted at Whill curiously. “You believe that I am lying about something?”

  “Are you?”

  “Can’t you just read my mind and find out?”

  “I could.”

  “Then do it, and let us move on with our lives. I have something to tell you that I believe you will find quite interesting.”

  Whill stared at him, scowling, wondering.

  “What do you have to tell me?” Whill said at length.

  Dirk had already drunk his shot of whiskey, and he hurried over to the bar, holding up a finger to Whill to wait a moment, and refilled his glass. He strode back over like a man in love. “Krentz is pregnant,” he said proudly.

  “Congratulations,” said Whill.

  “Thank you.”

  They tapped glasses and drank.

  “I wanted to tell you first, well, because, you know…your children are mixed, and I thought that if anyone could tell me what to expect, then it would be you.”

  “Expect the unexpected,” said Whill. He laughed. “Expect to be happier than you have ever been in your life. Expect a lot of stares. Expect silent judgement.”

  “Yes, and this coming from someone who has a child with a sun elf. I cannot imagine how half dark elf children will fare in today’s world.”

  “If they are your and Krentz’s children, I imagine that they will fare quite well. At some point you just stop giving a shyte,” said Whill.

  Dirk laughed boisterously. “I’ll drink to that.”

  They shared a good laugh, and Dirk studied Whill.

  “There is something more,” said Dirk. “I would like to journey with you to Drindellia to fight these drekkon.”

  Now Whill looked to him with suspicion. “A soon-to-be father, and you want to put yourself in that kind of danger?”

  “Meh, one last romp can’t hurt. Besides, it sounds like you—the settlers need all the help they can get. If there is to be a war for Rhuniston, then I intend on being there.”

  “And what about the governorship?” said Whill.

  Dirk shrugged. “I haven’t had a day off in six months. Consider it a vacation.”

  Chapter 26

  A New Hope

  Dirk watched Whill leaving, and he smiled to himself as the golden boy flew off to the east toward Elladrindellia. He had instructed Dirk that he and the soldiers would be returning through the portal the following afternoon, and to meet him there if indeed he was going.

  With Whill finally gone, Dirk breathed a little easier, but he soon set his mind to Krentz and Orrian. Krentz had rushed into the room, telling Dirk that she needed the trinket, and with no explanation, she had left just as swiftly. A few minutes later, Whill arrived, and then the earthquake. Dirk was worried, for he knew that Orrian had something to do with the crater that Whill had found, and the earthquake. Something had been going on with the young man for the last few days, and Dirk wanted to know what.

  To his dismay and extreme annoyance, Krentz did not return for another hour, and when she did, she had Orrian with her.

  “About time,” said Dirk as they walked into his study.

  “Sorry, but Orrian had a…let’s just call it a bit of an overload.”

  “What happened?”

  “I just got overwhelmed is all,” said Orrian, his eyes heavy and tired and his voice low.

  “Overwhelmed? What does that mean?”

  “I get…I don’t know. It is hard to explain, but Krentz said that she experienced the same thing when she awoke to magic.”

  Dirk looked to her, and she nodded. The nod was for Orrian’s sake, and Dirk knew that she had more to tell him in private.

  “Why don’t you go on and get some sleep?” said Dirk. “You look like hell.”

  A small laugh escaped Orrian, and he nodded as he turned for the door.

  When the door closed behind Orrian, Dirk looked to Krentz. “So?”

  Krentz explained what had happened, and how Orrian had nearly been consumed by the power coursing through him—a power that should not have been so great.

  “But he has Whill’s power, surely strange things are bound to happen.”

  “Of course,” said Krentz. “But he should not have that much magical energy at his disposal. I only showed him how to use an energy crystal a few days ago, yet he was strong enough to create an earthquake.”

  “I’m assuming that takes a lot of magical juice.”

  She stared at him, unamused. “Yeah, it takes a whole hell of a lot of magical juice.”

  “What do you see when you look upon him with mind sight?”

  “It is like staring at the sun; we elves tend not to look too close for too long.”

  “Well, keep an eye on him. We can’t have another spell like that when Whill is so close by.”

  “Did he suspect anything?”

  “Of course, but I diverted his attention with a lie.”

  “Clever. What did you tell him?”

  Dirk chuckled. “I told him that you were pregnant. It was actually one of my better ones—two birds with one stone kind of thing. It took the suspicion away from me while at the same time establishing a bond, in that we are both having children with elves.”

  Krentz said nothing. She didn’t laugh at his cleverness. She didn’t so much as smile.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t understand why joking about me being pregnant is funny.”

  “What? When did you become so…Krentz, have you miscarried again?”

  She shook her head. “No, but somehow you guessed the truth.”

  Dirk was confused. He looked from Krentz to her midsection and back again, wondering. “What are you saying?”

  Krentz said nothing, but her eyes widened, and she looked at him expectantly.

  “You actually are pregnant?”

  She smiled. Then she laughed, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Yes, I am. I was going to tell you soon, but I—”

  Dirk rushed to her and took her up in his arms, twirling her around in a circle. “You’re pregnant! This is amazing news.”

  “Do you think so?” she asked shyly, which was quite uncharacteristic of Krentz. It reminded Dirk of Krentz from twenty years ago, when she had just arrived in Agora.

  “Of course I think so. Why wouldn’t I?”

  Krentz shrugged. “We’ve never really talked about children. I didn’t think that you were interested in being a father.”

  “We never talked about it because we didn’t even know it wa
s possible. Even after Avriel got pregnant, I thought the odds slim. Hells, Krentz, we’ve rolled around in the sack enough times by now. I kind of figured that if it was going to happen, then it already would have.”

  “Well, it has,” she said, beaming.

  Dirk hugged her again, and they shared a long, slow kiss. He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom, where a fire and a warm bed waited.

  Sometime later, as they lay together watching the moon through the swaying curtains, Dirk began to wonder what kind of father he would be. His own father had been an abusive drunk for most of Dirk’s life, and Dirk wondered if his father’s temperament and degrading personality would come out. Dirk had seen plenty of men who hated their fathers end up acting just like them to their own children, but then again, many of those men had been rotten to begin with. Dirk felt the weight of the title pressing down on him then. Father. It was such a powerful name; it could illicit happy memories and sad, terror and joy, regret and appreciation. It could remind one person of home, while reminding another person of a prison. To a woman, it could mean loyalty or betrayal, a bright new beginning or a worn-out dusty road. To Dirk, it was the unknown. And like all humans, he feared the unknown.

  As much as Dirk was concerned by passing on the blood and temperament of his own father, the thought of Eadon being the other grandfather made him burst out laughing.

  Krentz jerked, having been lightly sleeping. “What’s so funny?” she said, snuggling up to him with a tired smile. “Are you imagining me with a fat pregnant belly?”

  “No, but that is an amusing thought.”

  She slapped his shoulder playfully.

  “I’m kidding,” he said with a wink. “Actually, the idea of you naked with a pregnant belly is quite alluring.”

  “I didn’t say naked.”

  “You didn’t?”

  She gave a laugh and propped herself up on one elbow, letting the sheet fall as it may. “So, what were you laughing about?”

  “I’m not sure if you will find it as funny as I did.”

  “Oh, great.”

  “Hear me out. I was thinking about what a shithead my father was, and kind of worrying if I would be like him. But then it occurred to me that your father will be the child’s grandfather as well.” Dirk laughed again thinking about it. “Can you imagine? Eadon and Thad will be this kid’s grandfathers. Hah!”

  Krentz stared at him straight-faced. “You’re right. I don’t think that is funny at all.”

  “Awe, come on, lighten up a little.”

  She plopped down on her pillow and let out a huff. “I’m worried as well. We don’t even know what to expect. And a dark elf child? What kind of life will he have—”

  “He?” said Dirk, looking to her stomach with intrigue.

  “He, she, whatever it is. What kind of life will they have? They’ll be treated like a freak, an abomination. And we won’t have a chance to be a real family. It is hard enough pretending not to be in love in public, and I cannot imagine trying to hide being a family.”

  “Krentz.” Dirk took her face in his hands and kissed her lips. “That will never happen. I will not hide this child away like some dirty secret.”

  “You cannot pretend that it is Mary Ellen’s,” said Krentz, looking fearful.

  “Of course not.”

  “Then how do we move forward? What are we going to do?”

  “Well, I’ll just quit.”

  “No. We have not worked this hard to get where we are to just quit.”

  “I don’t care. I will not raise this child in secret.”

  “Dirk, you know that you cannot give up the governorship.”

  “Then it is settled. We shall announce our love, and we shall announce our pregnancy. I will divorce Mary Ellen and formally marry you.”

  “If only it were that easy,” said Krentz, lying back.

  “It is that easy,” said Dirk. “Besides, I am kind of getting sick of this job. It’s all paperwork and bureaucracy. The gears of government move so slow that it makes me want to pull my hair out. Better to be a dictator or a king and do what you like without all this other shyte to deal with.”

  “Say we do give up all the hard work that we have put into this; where will we go? Where will our family be accepted? We cannot live with the humans, the elves, and surely not the dwarves.”

  “Now there’s a hoot. Us living with dwarves. That would be one messed up kid; one grandfather was a human drunk, the other an elven dark lord, and the tyke grew up in a mountain with dwarves.”

  “Are you done?”

  Dirk wiped his eyes and tried to stop laughing, which only made Krentz laugh, and once her steely façade broke, the dam was let loose.

  “I’m serious,” she said once they had settled down again. “Where will we make our home?”

  “Well, it’s a big world out there. But I imagine that Rhuniston would be as good a place as any.”

  “Drindellia?” Krentz was suddenly quite serious. “What makes you think that I want to go back to that place ever again? I risked my life to escape from there.”

  “You risked your life to escape from a maniacal father and an evil society. Hells, you lived underground most of your life. Drindellia has been born anew. Besides, in Rhuniston, we’re bound to find a different type of folk. Those settlers are trailblazers. And what is anyone going to say to us when they fear that it might get back to Whill, who is basically in the same situation with Avriel?”

  “She’s a sun elf. I am not.”

  “Forget all that. No one cares, and hardly anyone can tell anyway. Without your tattoos, there is nothing to give it away. And if it really bothers you that much, change your skin color. Surely you can do that with magic.”

  She considered it, but said no more.

  “It’ll all work out, Krentz. You’ll see,” he said. “It always does.”

  “Are you still going to Drindellia with Whill and the others?”

  “I intended to, but I wanted you to come along. We could use some adventure.”

  Krentz laughed. “Six months of peace and you are chomping at the bit for action. You just don’t know what to do with yourself when you don’t have daggers in your hands, do you?”

  “What? Can you honestly say that you aren’t bored here?”

  “So, it’s boring when we aren’t fighting for our lives?”

  “Come on, you know what I mean.”

  “Dirk, I fought because I had to fight. I killed because I had to kill. Now our enemies have been destroyed, and for once in my life I would enjoy some peace. And with the child…No, I do not intend on going and looking for a fight in Drindellia. You are doing good things here as governor; you are really making a difference for the common folk. Why do you seek trouble?”

  “I don’t seek trouble.”

  Krentz rolled her eyes. “You don’t believe yourself, do you?”

  Dirk laughed, but he wondered; could he live a life of peace and be content?

  “Let Whill and the others worry about Drindellia,” said Krentz. “And let us try to enjoy a little normalcy.”

  Dirk lay back with Krentz in his arms, and they spoke no more about it. Sleep eluded him for many hours, and as Krentz slept softly, he thought about what she had said.

  Chapter 27

  The Legend of the Hillmen

  To Raene’s annoyance, Azzeal took a full day to study the drekkon sorcerer. He kept the creature unconscious the entire time, but that did little to alleviate Raene’s apprehension about having the drekkon in camp with them. They had flown with Zorriaz and Moonbeam twenty miles south to a cave on a high bluff so that Azzeal might do his inspection in peace. It was disgusting, Raene thought, to poke and prod the creature the way the elf did. It gave her the creeps just to think about touching one, let alone count its teeth, spikes, and scales. Azzeal made measurements of the drekkon as well, focusing on what he called the cranium. He had determined that the drekkon were quite smart, given his findings, and to further Raene’
s dislike of the situation, Azzeal intended on interviewing the beast while it was awake.

  “He’s pretty serious about his work, eh?” said Ragnar.

  He sat opposite her beside the fire, poking it with a stick for no apparent reason and chewing on his jerky.

  “He’s a thorough one,” said Raene. She was glad that he had spoken, for they had sat in uncomfortable silence for the last half hour since Raene had come back from her scouting flight. She had been trying to get the memory of Ragnar’s embrace out of her head. He had most likely saved her from great injury, she knew, for the drekkon had pushed her hard, and it had all been a blur of motion. Had Ragnar not intervened, Raene would have hit the wall with bone-crushing force. And the speed with which he had burst into action was impressive, for he had acted on instinct, and his instinct had been to protect her. Raene realized that she had been angry for having gotten herself in that situation in the first place. She had frozen when she came face to face with the drekkon—something that she had never done when faced with an enemy. And what had it been about the drekkon that had been so alarming? It wasn’t the clothes, the elf-like face, or the glowing gem upon its forehead. What had alarmed Raene was the intelligence and the awareness that she had seen in those eyes. More alarming still was how Raene’s body had reacted to Ragnar’s embrace. She had tried to deny it, but she couldn’t lie to herself.

  “I wanted to say that I am sorry, once again, if I insulted you yesterday,” said Ragnar, as if reading her mind.

  What if he can read my mind? Oh, no! Raene panicked momentarily. Nah, she realized, he’s got dwarf power, not elf powers.

  “Should be me who be apologizin’,” said Raene. “I just…I just never needed no help from menfolk. I ain’t used to it.”