“And if I hadn’t had been so caught up in myself he would still be here. I am his brother.” Tristen buried his face in his hands. “I wish I could see him again, just once.”
Garrot and Rooney looked at one another, deciding it was time to change the subject. “So, where are you going after you leave here?” Rooney asked him.
“That’s top secret!” Tristen said, and meant it.
“Ah, I see, for the son of Cove to know and the others to find out, eh?” Rooney said.
“You will know soon enough,” Tristen said. “For now, I must be on my way.” Tristen got up from where he sat and grabbed another piece of bread from the counter top.
“Leaving so soon?” Garrot asked him. “You just got here!”
“Yes, but I need to meet up with my friend—my friends.”
“Friend?” Rooney asked. “A woman friend?” He smiled when he asked.
“One of them is a woman. She is a woman friend, nothing more than that.”
Garrot smiled and said, “Uh-huh, we believe you.” He began to laugh.
“Staysia is very special to me, but she is in love with someone else. Her heart belongs to Gabriel. I can see it in the way she looks at him.” Tristen answered finally.
Both of their smiles faded. Tristen put his bread down on the table. “I best be on my way,” he said.
“Sorry Tristen,” Rooney said.
Tristen shook his head briefly. “It’s alright.” He smiled. “See you both soon.” He had only pretended he was okay with Staysia being in love with another, but inside, he ached for her love.
“Bye!” Rooney gave him a hug.
“See you soon,” Garrot called as Tristen left the hut.
* * *
Staysia, Gabriel, Jasper, Barthesus, and the Spanish lizard named Humberto were nearing the sea.
“I really do feel better!” Staysia smiled and wrapped her arms tighter around Gabriel as she rode behind him on his horse. And she really did, she felt a great deal of relief. “I feel like I have fulfilled my parents’ dying wishes.”
“Of course you have, Staysia. May I put in my two cents on the matter?” Gabriel asked.
“Sure!”
“I believe your parents wanted you to discover what was in store for you. They wanted you to find the Sea Child. I think your happiness is more important to them than revenge.”
Staysia smiled and thought of her mother and her father. She thought of all the years of love they had given her. “Perhaps you are,” she said.
She looked over her shoulder to find Jasper asleep in his buggy. “I hope Cove does something for the trolls. They aren’t as bad as people make them out to be. Jasper is a wonderful little troll and a great friend.”
“Jasper the Great Beast Tamer!” Gabriel said.
“Ah yes! Jasper the Great!”
Gabriel and Staysia thought that Jasper was asleep, but he was not. He had his eyes shut, but he was not asleep. He lay awake in his buggy listening to every word. He smiled to himself and took in a long breath of fresh air. The air did smell nice. It was filled with the aroma of flowers of all sorts. It was one of those mornings where you could almost smell the sun coming up. One of those mornings you could feel refreshing morning mist on your cheeks. Jasper was indulging in every moment of it.
A tiny sparkling ball of light shot across the sky. Staysia happened to have her eyes on the clouds above when it did.
“Did you see that?” she asked Gabriel.
“See what?”
“I don’t know, maybe I was imagining it.”
“You weren’t imagining it, Staysia!” a voice chimed.
“Who said that?” Staysia looked left and right and over her shoulder.
The light began to bounce up and down on the road in front of them. “Hee! Hee! Hee!” the sound of laughter got closer until the light was just in front of Staysia. Lilliana appeared in place of the light.
“Lilliana!” Staysia exclaimed. “It’s great to see you!
She clutched Staysia’s necklace in her hands. The chain was wrapped around her tiny fingers, and the vial of fairy dust slowly swayed back and forth.
“You got it back? How did you get it?” Staysia asked.
“It was really no problem! The old ogre isn’t as bad as he seems.”
“He was just horrible to us! I couldn’t imagine trying to get it back from him.”
“Well, it took a little fairy magic. It took a grin and a kiss on the cheek!” Lilliana giggled when she said this.
“You charmed him? Wow!” Staysia said. She took the necklace, and Gabriel turned and fastened it safely around her neck. The necklace was where it belonged once again.
“As you may know, I am a busy, busy fairy. I must be on my way.” Lilliana waved and smiled, and she was gone.
“Goodbye!” Staysia called, but she was too late. “Wow, she really was in a hurry!”
“I’m a busy, busy fairy!” Gabriel mimicked her in a joking way.
Jasper couldn’t help but laugh when he did. “I heard that!” Staysia said. “I thought you were sleeping!”
“Are we there yet?” Jasper asked.
“Almost, not quite. We will be coming upon the sea very soon. Then it’s off to meet the Sea Child. I can’t wait!”
“Listen—” Gabriel stopped the horse and cupped his hand around his ear. “Can you hear it—can you hear the sea?”
Staysia nodded. “Sounds beautiful. Gabriel, you haven’t given your horse a name yet. Have you?”
“No, not yet, what do you think I should call him?”
“He’s your horse, why don’t you pick something out?”
“Did you name Isis?”
“Yes,” Staysia replied.
“Then it is settled, you could name him better than I could.” Gabriel said.
“I will not! He is your horse,”
“Well then, since he is black, I will call him Midnight.”
“Calling your horse Midnight because he is black is not putting much thought into it.”
“I could call him Blackey!”
“Calling him Blackey because he is black isn’t any better!”
“I’m no good at picking out names for anything really.”
“Yes you are, I’m sure. You aren’t trying.”
“Well then, I will need more time,” Gabriel said as he tugged on the horse’s mane.
“Take all the time you need, just give this horse a name! I wonder what Lilliana was talking about when she said I would soon put my necklace to use.”
“I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to find out!” Gabriel said as he pointed ahead.
Straight ahead there were three ape-like creatures that stood to be ten feet tall. They swung their arms from left to right as they walked. Their screams sounded like a man that was being murdered. One of them pounded his chest in fury when he saw Staysia and Gabriel traveling towards them. He uprooted a tree by pulling it out of the ground with his hands, and broke it across his knee. He screamed and threw the halved tree in two parts on each side of him. The three monstrous beasts began running down the road, headed straight for Gabriel and Staysia, Jasper, Barthesus and Humberto, and the horse with no name. Their mere breathing was laced with a deep growl.
“Oh no! What do we do now?” Staysia panicked.
“Head for the hills!” Jasper bellowed, sitting up now in his buggy with one finger in the air and the others curled in a ball.
Gabriel halted the horse and jumped to his feet, and onto the ground below, the same ground that the three beasts nearly shook as they sprinted forward. Gabriel began jumping up and down. He made silly noises like a monkey. He bent his knees and swung his arms. He ran to a tree as a monkey. He climbed the tree hastily and grabbed a vine. When he swung from one side of the other and bellowed like Tarzan, the three beasts stopped and watched him. Their heads moved from side to side as they watched Gabriel intently. Staysia glanced at Jasper and then turned her attention back to Gabriel, who now hung upside down
from the vine, swinging from side to side. Her eyes were wide; her mouth agape. She swallowed hard and looked at the creatures again.
The three of them looked at one another and then at Gabriel. The one who stood in the center scratched his head. The one on his left side grabbed a tree branch and swung it around over his head. He cried out loudly and let go of the branch. He then jumped up and down and growled fiercely. His two friends growled with him, and they charged toward Gabriel. One of them grabbed the vine, causing Gabriel to stop swinging back and forth. Gabriel folded his body forward and grabbed the vine to pull himself up. Before he could, one of them pushed him onto the ground. Gabriel came to his feet. He took a deep breath and began pounding on his own chest. He mimicked them by screaming as if he were in agony. He growled at the three of them and pounded his chest again.
“He’s trying to tame them!” Staysia said to Jasper, filled with terror, perhaps a bit hopeful, but not very.
Jasper held up a shaky finger that pointed at the beasts. They had looks of hellish fury across their faces. Their loud growls echoed throughout the forest and caused birds to fly from the trees that surrounded them. Staysia could’ve sworn she could smell their breath from where she sat.
Gabriel looked up at the humongous beasts that towered over him. He compared to a child being scorned. Only they didn’t seem to be seeking for him the punishment a father or mother may give. Gabriel was sure this could be his last chance to show Staysia he wasn’t a complete failure. Now was his chance to save her from something without Tristen around to take over. He had skills to tame the crazed attackers. The same skills he had used to tame any beast. In the back of his mind, he could see them tearing him to pieces.
He knew his tactics had failed. It was time to move on to plan B. He turned to Staysia and Jasper, and with a hand cupped around his mouth, he whispered, “Play dead!” Staysia and Jasper looked at one another, shrugged, and did as they were told. There was a silence, but it didn’t last long. The beasts began to laugh loudly. Gabriel slowly opened one of his eyes to peek at them. One of them was bending down and was getting closer and closer to him. He squeezed both of his eyes shut. He felt a nudge on his chest and heard a growl and then more laughter. They knew he wasn’t dead.
Gabriel opened up both eyes and came to his feet. He held out his hand. “Friends then?” he asked as he smiled up at them. One of the beasts made a monkey sound and began scratching beneath his arms. The other two joined him and they all three stopped at the same time. They all stared at Gabriel as if they were waiting for him to retaliate. The one who stood in the center held out his arm to Gabriel and made a brief growling sound, but it wasn’t a threat. He was waiting for Gabriel to put on another show for them by swinging from the branches and acting as a monkey. Gabriel tugged twice on the vine that hung beside him. The three beasts folded their arms across their chests and stood straight.
Gabriel raised his brows and nodded his head. He grabbed onto the vine and hung upside down from it. The beasts began to laugh again. Gabriel swung his arms around as if he were trying to swing the vine. One of the beasts decided he needed a little extra help and swung him high into the air. Gabriel had intended for them to swing him, but he wasn’t expecting to be swung so high. He held on tight and turned himself upright. Staysia and Jasper began to laugh. When they did, the three beasts walked towards them. The both of them quit laughing instantly and became intimidated. Jasper slowly put his hand in the air and waved, and said, “Hello there.” Gabriel watched closely from where he swung. The beasts looked at their hands and wiggled their fingers at Jasper. “Hell-o,” they said together. Staysia and Jasper felt relieved when they did.
Gabriel was getting a headache and so he jumped on to the ground. “All right then, I guess we will be on our way! It was nice to meet the three of you.” He hopped onto the horse with Staysia and kicked the side of his horse. Jasper kicked his buggy, and Humberto spread his wings and began to glide away. It wasn’t going to be as easy as they had expected. The three beasts growled loudly at them and pounded on their chests. “They don’t want us to leave,” said Gabriel, looking back at the three huge ape-like beasts.
“What do we do?” Staysia asked him. Gabriel shrugged and turned the horse around.
“You stay,” Gabriel said, as he pointed at them. “We go!” Gabriel finished, as he put a hand on his chest and then Staysia’s shoulder.
Staysia nodded her head and smiled at them. “Yes—we go.”
They didn’t seem to understand. One of them stomped his feet and the other two didn’t look very pleased. One of them put his head down briefly and kicked at some dirt. He looked back up at them and growled.
“Oh boy!” said Gabriel. “We must go!” He pointed down the road. “We will come back.” The three beasts looked at one another and finally waved goodbye.
“You think it’s safe to go?” Staysia asked.
“I think so,” Gabriel answered. They began to ride away again and looked back at the three beasts, who, with their heads down, slowly walked in the opposite direction. Staysia sighed and laughed. She put her head on Gabriel’s shoulder briefly and then looked at him. Gabriel winked at her and they were on their way to the nearby sea, where Miridious awaited them.
“I’m impressed!” Staysia said.
“Great! That is exactly what I wanted you to say.” Gabriel smirked when he said this.
“Well, I guess you got what you wanted then. They were so frightening and you just completely changed their minds! You are magnificent!”
“So are you, Staysia, so are you.”
“Oh yeah? Let me put you up to the challenge of explaining just why you find me magnificent?”
“A challenge? You would consider it a challenge?” Gabriel asked her.
“Well, you haven’t known me very long and there really isn’t much of anything magnificent about me. So yes, I would say I am definitely putting you up to a challenge. What is it that is so magnificent, Gabriel?”
“Where should I begin?” Gabriel said.
“At the beginning,” said Jasper. “You must always begin at the beginning or else you will miss something!”
“Okay, starting from the beginning,” Gabriel began. “The first time I laid eyes upon you, you happened to be in a sword fight with a creeper. Your magnificently long hair would have caught my eye first if you hadn’t have been there fighting off the creeper. You completely forgot about the creeper when you saw me, which I found to be incredibly heroic,”
Staysia breathed in deep, laughed, and finally sputtered out the word, “Heroic?”
“Heroic, yes,”
“Why?”
“The way you were going to allow the creeper to eat yourself and everyone else alive just so you could get one more glimpse of me.”
“Ah! Sarcasm, of course! See, you cannot tell me what is so magnificent about me after all.”
“Staysia, your hair would have been the first thing I noticed. Instead, you stood before me protecting a few trolls from a creeper. That, my dear, is magnificent. Your eyes, your eyes are a color I have never seen on anyone before. Your eyes would have been the second thing I noticed. But instead, I was drawn to your fingers,”
“My fingers?” Staysia asked.
Jasper quickly interrupted her. “Bah! Let him finish, Staysia!”
“Oh yes, you must be enjoying this, Jasper.” Staysia said.
Gabriel began to speak again. He began to speak in his gentle, but manly voice. Staysia listened to this voice of his more intently than before. It sounded to her like he had a butterfly in his throat that gently fluttered its wings when he spoke. She realized, there was something more that she found magnificent about the beast tamer, it was his voice. Gabriel said, “Yes! You may think me silly, but Staysia, you have gorgeous fingers. Do you remember what you did when you saw me?”
“What did I do?”
“You ran your fingers down your clothing to straightened them out. I found it magnificent Staysia, that you
were concerned about your attire while you commenced your battle with the creeper, who, might I add, was quite frightening back then!”
“You were! Weren’t you?” Jasper said to Barthesus.
“I still am!” Barthesis insisted.
“But, I’m not finished yet. The next thing I noticed was your eyelashes. They curled into your eye sockets as if the humidity had curled them so tight that the tiny hairs almost met at your eyelids. But Staysia, it was not humid that day.” Gabriel stopped and looked back at her eyes. “Nor is it humid today.” Staysia waited for him to turn his head, and when he did, she ran her finger across her own eyelashes. She never noticed them, but Gabriel certainly had.
“Go on, go on,” Jasper said.
“Then—then I looked into your eyes. Your eyes took my breath away. You said ‘Hi there,’ and then you stuck your sword in the ground,” he paused and laughed. “You stuck your sword in the ground!”
“Yes?” Staysia replied. She obviously didn’t find it as amusing as Gabriel had.
“You forgot about the creeper because of me.”
“I guess I did.”
“You did!”
“You did!” Jasper said. “Why is that, Staysia?”
“I didn’t exactly forget about him. I mean, I-I was surprised that Gabriel was alive.”
“It was love at first sight,” Jasper just had to say it.
“There it is! I can see the sea,” Staysia said as she pointed at the sea ahead of them. She felt a ball of nerves in the pit of her stomach. “It’s time to meet the Sea Child.”
“Much more flattering than meeting Griffon, eh?” said Gabriel.
“What will I say to him?”
“You won’t have to say much. He is expecting you,” said Gabriel.
“Yes, I will tell him who I am. He should have something to say after that, shouldn’t he?”
“Of course,” said Gabriel.
“Thank you, Staysia. Thank you for bringing me along with you.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Where is my map?” said a loud voice. The sky turned black.
“It’s Nox!” Staysia told Gabriel.
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