A Warrior's Return

by Guy Stanton III

  I should never have brought Rafael here!

  I had followed my heart instead of doing what was best for Rafael. I should’ve taken the money and run with him!

  ‘And then what?’, came the corresponding thought. What would’ve happened when the money ran out?

  There were as many, if not more, dangers down that road than the one I had taken. I just didn’t know. I just didn’t know.

  Talaric stopped back from Eva a short distance. More than anything he wanted to go to her, but he felt like it would be a mistake somehow. He was grateful when he saw his mother fall to her knees beside Eva along with his sister, both of them reaching out to hold her.

  He looked away from Eva to the burning Saratoga. What was he going to do now?

  His father’s hand came to rest on his shoulder and he glanced to the side at him and saw understanding reflected back at him in the depths of his father’s eyes.

  “Don’t despair. It’s times like these that God’s glory and provision are manifested like never before, only believe and keep doing what you know to do.”

  Talaric nodded, but his jaw tensed with the emotion that he was keeping bottled up inside.

  “Sparky what can be done? Can we salvage anything?”

  Sparky pulled his glasses off to clean them, as he shook his head no. Putting his glasses back on he turned to look at the abandoned chopper that showed signs of gunfire on it.

  “Maybe with this one.”

  He started rolling up his sleeves, as he approached the shot up chopper.

  Titus finally had to look away from the sad scene of Eva crumpled over on her knees in the sand. He walked out into the desert a little needing some space. Folding his big hands with his back to the others he looked out over the desert not really seeing it.

  “Oh dear Lord, this old life just ain’t fair sometimes. If you could please help Miss Eva. She needs you now oh Lord. Poor girls broken. I hope Miss Eleanor be with you now Lord. She sure was a good one!”

  He stopped not really knowing what was left to say. He started to turn back to the others, when something ruffled in a sudden breeze, which was unusual for the middle of the day. It was a book.

  “What you trying to tell me good Lord?”

  Walking to the book he picked it up. Sand spilled out of it. It was one of Eleanor’s books, ‘Jules Vern’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

  Opening the cover he found that a crude hollow had been made by cutting out the center of the pages. The hollow had been filled with wet sand. His brow furrowed deeply in concentrated thought.

  He turned to bellow at Sparky, “Get over here little man!”

  Sparky soon arrived accompanied by most of the others.

  Titus handed him the book, “Miss Eleanor never treat a book like that excepting she had a reason to!”

  Sparky looked at the book curiously, “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea?”

  He picked up some of the wet sand, “Wet sand? Everyone spread out and look for anything unusual, especially more books!” Sparky said excitedly.

  Everyone spread out and soon three more books were found. They were all classical tales of Pirates and treasure; all three were filled with dry sand.

  “What does it mean?” Sparky muttered out aloud.

  “Well even I knows what it means!” Titus said matter-of-factly.

  Sparky looked over the brim of his glasses at the big man, “Well then, would you mind enlightening the rest of us!” He said testily.

  “Well Sir, the way I sees it, is the first book plays off the book title, only instead of water something is buried under the sand, which is in place of the water.”

  “We got that!” Interjected Sparky heatedly.

  Titus held up a hand forestalling him from continuing, “Hear me out little man, all in good time. These other three books are pirate books about treasurer and the such. Their filled with dry sand and we haven’t found any more than just those three. These books is a map for something. There’s treasure buried under the sand and as everybody knows ……”

  Sparky cut in excitedly, “X marks the spot! Each of you men go to where the four books were found!” Sparky said.

  As individuals found their positions Sparky aligned himself up between the four men.

  “Search this area around me!” He said indicating the space around him.

  Moments later Ellanara called out, “Over here!

  As one everyone rushed over to her. She indicated a black hose laying on the surface that disappeared down into the sand.

  Titus started to reach for it, but both Ellanara and Sparky screamed, “No!”

  They both sank to their knees and started scooping sand away as fast as they could and out behind them. Talaric joined in and within moments their fingers struck a wooden crate that the hose disappeared into. Lifting the crate revealed a scared looking Rafael.

  “Rafael!” I screamed pulling him up into my arms.

  “Oh God! Thank you God!” I said, as I pulled back to look him over to make sure that he was okay.

  “Are you okay Rafael?” I asked worriedly, as I rejoiced at the feel of him in my arms.

  Shocked at the sight of the burning plane behind me he continued to stare at the flames, but he nodded yes.

  “Where’s Eleanor, Rafael?” I asked.

  He looked around for her and then back to me his little face having an awful expression of fear on it, “I don’t know! We were playing a game. I thought she’d forgotten about me!”

  I hugged him close again, “No she didn’t forget about you Rafael! She saved you! God bless her, she saved you!”

  Sparky pulled a case up out of the sand that lay next to the old crate. Opening it he pulled out his personal laptop.

  Initializing it his screen popped up that showed an ever changing topography map that had a green flashing icon moving on it.

  “She’s still alive Talaric! She must’ve tagged herself with a tracking chip. They’re taking her north. It looks like somewhere in central Europe.” Sparky said softly.

  Talaric looked at the green dot for a moment, “We’re going after her!” He said in a tone that indicated that he would tolerate no other consensus of opinion.

  “Yes, yes we are, as well as after what they took.”

  Sparky looked at the burning Saratoga and then back to the green blinking dot, “This has all been my fault!” He finished.

  Talaric spoke up, “You couldn’t have known this was going to happen Sparky!”

  But Sparky shook his head solemnly, “The crystals, in my study of them I detected and energy frequency signal emanating from them. They must have tracked the signal to the Saratoga. Not only do they now have the crystals, but the crystals themselves I believe to be the essential components of the bar-Seth’s main drive. It’s possible that the signal I noticed could be backtracked to the bar-Seth itself, which could be the source of the signal! We have to go! I only wish I’d realized the significance of the signal earlier and shielded it somehow!”

  Ellanara reached out and touched Sparky’s arm, as he continued to stare dejectedly at the computer screen.

  “I need your help with this flying contraption. Once we are up and running we can go about fixing the situation. Will you help me, please?”

  “Yes, we must fix it, we must!”

  They both headed off towards the chopper. I carried Rafael toward the shade offered by a nearby sand dune not letting go of him for even a moment.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Forgive Me?

  It had grown dark and Sparky and Ellanara were still working on the chopper. Talaric stared at where Eva still held a sleeping Rafael in her arms.

  He felt his mother’s presence and turned to her. She was as beautiful as ever and as perceptive too. She took his hands holding them for a moment.

  “Got yourself a girl and a family didn’t we.” She said softly studying him.

  He looked away towards Eva, “I thought I had.”

  “And you
still do!” His mother said firmly shaking his hands a little to get his attention back to her. Talaric spoke his thoughts.

  “I get the feeling that she doesn’t like me right now. I can see why she would feel like that, but I had no other choice.”

  Krista was silent for a moment and then spoke her tone, softly assuring in its confidence.

  “Talaric relationships are complex to say the least. It’s very much possible to be angry even perhaps hate in a way, someone you love and are committed to in a relationship. No matter how loving or cherishing a relationship between any one man or woman may be there are bound to be circumstances that seek to draw them apart. Your father and I haven’t always gotten along smoothly with each other. We’ve had our share of fights, cold silences, and personal dislikes of each other in amidst the joys of our marriage. What sets a good relationship apart from one that’s not is the underlying love that has to be there in order for a relationship to not only survive adversity, but to also thrive in the midst of it. That deep shared love is what will help both of you work past your differences. To forgive or ask forgiveness, if need be and even to change as a person. Communication is key to working through the harder times together; however it usually has to be started by one of you before it becomes a team activity.”

  “That sounds hard.” Talaric intoned softly.

  “It can be very hard, but the question you have to ask yourself is, is she worth it? Is your relationship worth enough to risk being hurt further?”

  Krista pressed gently on her son’s back and he did the rest by stepping out toward where Eva sat with Rafael in her arms.

  I looked up to see Talaric walking towards me in the gloom of the evening. He came to a stop directly in front of me and I looked upward.

  “I’m sorry that my actions of holding you back caused you to suffer in the anxiousness you had to reach your son, but I’d do it all over again, because you could have been killed if I’d let you go down there along with the rest of us.”

  “I know. Thank you. I was mad at you, but I’ll get over it.” I finished softly looking back down at Rafael still sleeping in my arms.

  My arms hurt from holding him, but I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. I had been lonely ever since he had fallen asleep tormented by my thoughts and actions.

  “Would you care to sit down for a while?” I asked almost too softly to be heard.

  Quick as a cat he was sitting beside me in the sand and I knew relief inside.

  “Could I hold him for a while?”

  Surprised at his offer I let go of Rafael, as Talaric basically pulled him from me over onto his lap. Somewhat relieved feeling I couldn’t hold back the tiredness from the days actions or the heavy emotions of it and I leaned against Talaric’s side and let my head fall over against his big shoulder. The fingers of one of his hands found and intertwined with mine.

  “I love him too.” Talaric said softly.

  “I know you do.”

  There was something I had been going to tell him.

  “I want to come with you to help rescue Eleanor.”

  I could feel that he wanted to say no to me, but instead I heard him mutter, “Okay.”, but it came very grudgingly out of him. I closed my eyes glad to have my warrior back by my side.

  Sparky pushed his glasses back up from where they had slipped down onto his nose, “Well it is good to see that at least something has been fixed this night.”

  Ellanara followed his gaze to where Talaric and Eva were sitting together. She was happy for her big brother. He had never had much time for her back on their world, but he had changed while here on Earth.

  She was looking forward to interacting with this new side of her brother. He was more like father now and that was a very good thing in her book. She directed her attention back to the scattered pieces of what remained of the navigational equipment.

  They had cannibalized it and most of the backup safety systems to provide what they needed to fix the damaged chopper. Sparky observed as she made the last few minor adjustments to the jury rigged patch job.

  “You never really needed my help did you my dear? You were just graciously trying to give me a purpose to distract me from my grave error of judgment.”

  Ellanara shrugged slightly, “You’ve been a lot of help Sparky, but yes I did manipulate the situation a little.”

  She worked quietly for a moment, “We all make mistakes Sparky. You and I are a lot alike in that we don’t usually make mistakes in the realm of our interest, which is our work. So when we do mess up, which is inevitable at some point, we feel like the world is lost and everything has been a pointless waste of time. It’s an emotional response that’s aggravated by how much we hate to be wrong about anything much less at fault for anything. We’re slightly immature in this area of our natures Sparky. Unlike my father or even Talaric, who when faced with this type of situation choose to doggedly press on, we on the other hand choose to dwell in our mistake and flounder about in self pity, with the repercussions of wasting our thought and imagination in the process.”

  She glanced up to see if Sparky was being made angry by her words, but he wasn’t. He was smiling and nodding his head along with her words.

  “Yes, yes, I’ve had this lesson before, but never from one so young and astute as you.”

  Ellanara smiled, “I have a good teacher. She’s showed me my weaknesses and how best to deal with them, but it still isn’t easy.” Ellanara finished with an emphatic shake of her head.

  Sparky studied her curiously, “Just what is it you do on your world my dear?”

  She stopped working and looked up, “I suppose you could say that I’m preparing in advance for the surprises and circumstances of the future.” She smiled mysteriously.

  He would have asked more, but she cut him off, “How about we try this thing out?”

  I was jarred awake by the firing of the engines coming to life. It was all quick paced then. We packed into the helicopter with barely enough room to spare. Titus with his great bulk squeezed into the copilot’s chair, while Sparky kneeled between him and Ellanara, who was going to fly the chopper.

  Three of Roric’s men sat across from me, with Katie stretched out across their laps. She looked very happy with her seating arrangement and I had to shake my head at her obvious satisfaction. I sat on top of Talaric’s lap while Roric’s fourth man sat beside us holding Rafael. Krista sat on top of Roric on the other side; it was tight, but manageable.

  The ride was bumpy taking off and I shifted slightly on Talaric’s lap and noticed a problem. Cautiously I turned my head slightly in order to get a look at Talaric. He wasn’t looking at me, but instead he was looking out the window as if his eyes were glued to it. The muscles of his neck were sharply tensed. I straightened back around forward and tried to hold myself still, but it was nearly impossible to.

  I felt sorry for his obvious discomfort. Truly I did, but I couldn’t help derive some amusement from his predicament. Carefully I scanned around the faces of those in the cargo hold to see if they had noticed Talaric’s impassioned tenseness.

  The three men across from us were completely engrossed with the blond laying across their laps and she with them. The warrior beside us was fully engrossed in showing Rafael how to whittle an animal out of a piece of wood with a small knife, which wasn’t something I considered safe as bumpy as the fight was, but I let it pass upon seeing how engrossed Rafael was in what the man was showing him.

  My eyes drifted over to Roric only to see him also looking out the window his neck muscles acutely tensed. Father like son apparently, I thought to myself with a quirk of an eyebrow.

  My eyes flickered to Krista to see that she was looking directly at me, with a knowing smile. I blush slightly; it was awkward that she knew what I knew, especially since it was her son I was sitting on.

  She gave me a suggestive wink and shocked me completely, when she deliberately shifted her rear resting on her husband’s lap, ever so slightly. The visible pulse in R
oric’s neck pounded hard for several seconds, but his focus remained on the window.

  My hand flew to my mouth to help hold back the chortling laugh that I managed to turn into a believable hacked out cough. I hoped that everyone else would think my cough was the cause of my red face. I avoided looking at Talaric’s mother again. She was so bad!

  What she’d done was almost mean. The truth though was that I could barely resist tormenting Talaric in the same way Krista had her husband. Talaric wasn’t my husband yet so I had to resist the impulse to torment him in such a fashion, but when he was my husband….. Oh how I wished that he was mine to openly torment and be tormented by in return by him! It was going to be a long flight.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Past Revisited

  Several days later we were in Switzerland. I had never heard of the place before. Geography had never been my strong subject in school.

  Switzerland was the governing voice of what remained of Europe, as it was the location of the European Coalition’s Headquarters.

  Sparky, Talaric, Ellanara, Roric, and I were sitting around a café table in a small alpine town. We were pretending to be merely interested tourists.

  We studied the castle chalet that lay posed against the surrounding mountain slopes that rose above the town.

  “The castle chalet masquerades as the home of a wealthy Swiss businessman, but the man purported to own it has never even set foot in it. It is a research and development base that masquerades as a picturesque tourist attraction. What you see currently was constructed over four hundred years ago overtop of an even older Castle that was dated back into the medieval era. The current structure is perfectly legit and is rented out for state receptions and private get together functions. The research facility is located in the renovated ruins of the castle that was before the structure that you now see. It is impregnable for the most part, as it was first built remodeled as a bomb shelter, by a group of Swiss businessman during World War II. There is only one entrance from the chalet above the facility and it is closely guarded and has an extremely tight security clearance requirement. The only other means of access to the facility is by a high-speed rail that runs through the mountain that connects to a military base on the other side of the mountain. As you may have gathered this is not a place that we can go in all cowboy with guns blazing. No we must practice patience and the fine art of deception, if we hope to rescue our friend and the crystals. Timing will be everything as well as luck. We’ll need lots of luck.”