The Innkeeper's Son

by Jeremy Brooks

  Three of the guards she could see reached the safe zone, but one man tripped during his escape, falling far behind the others. Maehril watched in horror as four rovers caught him from behind and began savagely ripping him apart, limb from limb. The scene made Maehril cry out in horror. She could feel the weight of his death already piling on her shoulders.

  “Dear God,” Yennit whispered as the rovers quickly finished their kill and moved on.

  The archers on the roofs began raining arrows down on the rovers. One by one they fell, but their charge never faltered. The guards on the ground, no longer able to escape on foot, turned with swords drawn to face the challenge. They stood their ground, swords slicing and stabbing at any rover that strayed into their path as the hail of arrows fell around them, some finding their mark in an unlucky beast, others sticking harmlessly into the ground.

  “We must go upstairs with the others, my dear,” Yennit said, turning with his cane and ambling slowly to the door.

  Maehril followed, but she had no intention of joining Yennit in the safe rooms. The voice had given her instructions, and though she didn’t believe she could face the challenge, something happened deep inside of her when she had witnessed the guardsman being torn apart. She had seen darkness, witnessed it with her own eyes in the flesh. The rovers were unnatural, a defiance of the laws of creation. She could see that they were an evolution caused by the stain of darkness, a corruption of a species into a being intrinsically evil. It was the first time she had truly encountered creatures of darkness, and she knew she had to stop them before more people died.

  When they reached the stairway in the hall, Yennit, with Harriet supporting him, turned to go upstairs. Maehril went the other way. She took off at a run down the staircase to join the action below. Instinctively, she followed a hallway near the bottom of the stairs that led to the kitchen and then to a back door. Jerron and Cano were there when she burst outside, and both turned to her with shocked expressions.

  “What in the name of creation are ya doing out here girl?” Cano shouted. He held a strange dagger in his hand that glowed with a clean white light.

  “Get back inside!” Jerron shouted frantically, trying to grab her. In his right hand he held a crescent battle axe with a sharp spike at the top.

  Maehril was sorry that she couldn’t explain herself, but she pushed away from Jerron and dodged the continued attempts of both men to corral her back inside the house. They fumbled clumsily and shouted after her as she ran further away.

  “What are you doing?” Jerron shouted. His blue eyes, looking wild and fervent, blazed in the light from Cano’s dagger.

  Arrows flew through the sky above, aimed at rovers that were now only moments from reaching the house. Several emerged from the direction of the slaughterhouse and stopped in their tracks when they spotted Maehril. Jerron and Cano took up defensive postures on either side of her, determined to defend her with their last breaths if necessary. The love she felt in her heart for her two valiant guardians only increased the intensity of the surge of power that was erupting inside of her.

  The rovers, finding their mark, turned their heads to the sky and let out a long loud bay, letting the rest of the force know where to aim the attack. She expected them to come at her with an all-out charge, but they advanced slowly, trotting toward her as though they saw no threat, only easy pickings.

  Jerron and Cano had backed up, closing in at her sides until they were practically standing on her feet.

  “Stand tall my, boy. The light of the Creator is shining upon us,” Cano cried out, bravely.

  “Don’t worry about me, Fishman,” Jerron’s voice was thick with battle lust. He had the zealous fervor of a man who desired the thrill of combat. “My axe is hungry.”

  Maehril heard Cano curse and mumble something about foolishness and youth. The two men were chivalrous, but she didn’t need their help. She took hold of her power and used it to lift Cano and Jerron, depositing each man next to the door to the house. She could hear the surprised reactions and shouted protests, but her mind was centered on one objective - eradicating darkness.

  White light glowed in the palms of her hands, pulsed from the tips of her fingers. Rovers were entering the area in droves, their large deathly eyes fixed upon her. Their massive jaws, lined with long sharp teeth, dripped thick gobs of saliva. Around each of the beasts a dark aura hung like a collar of evil. Cano and Jerron, mouths agape, watched from the side as she began her assault. She threw beams of light like arrows at the rovers, firing them with the ferocity of her inherent hatred of the darkness that had created their souls. The beams ripped through the rovers, leaving gaping holes in their bodies, searing off limbs, killing them instantly. One by one they fell, their screams echoing in the twilight, a viral song intoning justified death. Maehril worked feverishly, her consciousness suspended by the concentration of her theurgy. Her focus was singular, driving the power she held out through her hands, a weapon of light's wrath. The swarm seemed endless with countless rovers charging after her, unswayed by the terrible fates of their brethren. Some got close, but Maehril cut them down under a hail of beams.

  Cano was transfixed by the scene, but Jerron had his own need for blood. He ignored the spectacle and ran to the end of the house, finding unsuspecting rovers coming around the corner. His axe swung and cleaved, beheading one rover, then cutting another through its midsection.

  The destruction lasted for only a few minutes in all, but to Maehril it had felt like hours. Finally the flow of rovers whittled down to a trickle as the last few stragglers made their final desperate attempt to fulfill their task. When the onslaught was finished, and she was certain that the threat had passed, Maehril released her hold on the power, letting the light fade in her hands. Weariness flooded into her limbs. She turned to her friends, looking into Cano’s distressed face. He looked terrified, but she knew that he was afraid for her, and not of what she had done.

  Jerron walked over to Cano’s side, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. In the dim light of twilight, she could still make out the blood that covered his hands and clothes. He put a hand on Cano’s shoulder, whispered an encouragement into the old man’s ear, and led him across the grass. She smiled as they approached. Cano held his arms out to take her into a hug, and she fell against him. For a brief moment, she thought she saw tears forming in his eyes, but the weakness overcame her, and she lost consciousness, slumping heavily into his fatherly embrace.

  *******************************************************************

  Cano still didn’t believe it. He was sitting in the library with Jerron, Westin, Mueller and Yennit, nursing a mug of strong ale, trying to make sense of what had happened earlier that night. He knew Maehril had told them that she wasn’t the Creator, but he had seen it twice now; the white light of heaven erupting from her in the face of darkness. What else could she be if not the Creator? No human being could have done that. No trival was capable of such power. Yennit said it was impossible. He’d never heard of such a thing. But she is a Harven, he had pointed out. Her capacity for supposed miracles was bottomless.

  When she passed out in his arms, for the second time in a week, he didn’t worry as badly. They debated feeding her one of the fruits, but Cano argued that after such a show of force, the girl needed a rest. Maybe not a week of sleep, but a goodnight’s rest at the very least. If she wasn’t awake by noon the next day, then they would go ahead and try the fruit.

  Jerron had carried her like a priceless crystal vase up to the same bedroom she had occupied before. For a while, he and Cano stood staring down at her as she slept. Neither said a word. Neither really knew what to say.

  They were in the library now waiting for Harriet to let them know that dinner was ready to be served. Each man sat quietly, alone with his thoughts. The rest of the manor was buzzing with gossip. Everyone had seen it. All of the women up on the top floor had come to the windows and watched from above. The archers had watched from their posts on th
e roofs and balconies. The soldiers in the fields had chased the rovers in and watched like all the rest. Who was this mysterious girl who could wield arrows of light? Where did she come from?

  Cano had his own concerns to worry about. Now that her secret was out, was she safe at Yennit’s manor? As far as he knew, Desirmor was more concerned with her brother than with finding her. But how long would that last? News had a way of spreading quickly, and often times it became twisted and exaggerated with each retelling. It was a matter of time before the story of the girl who commanded the power of light, reached the castle at Fandrall. Then she would never be safe. Desirmor would hunt her to the ends of the Earth.

  “Dinner is ready,” Harriet announced from the doorway.

  Each man stood up slowly and waited for Yennit to lead the way into a large dining room. There was a long table with ten chairs on each side and one on each end. Yennit didn’t generally entertain guests in his dining room anymore, but after the events earlier that night, he asked them to join him for a meal so that they might discuss what they had all seen, and what it meant for them going forward.

  Cano took a seat next to Mueller. Jerron and Westin sat on the opposite side, with Yennit at the head of the table. There was fresh bread and pitchers of water and wine already set up. A servant came around and filled everyone’s glasses. Cano took a long drink of his wine, hoping the spirits would help settle his nerves. It might take the whole pitcher to put him at ease.

  Servants entered the room, carrying bowls of soup, placing one in front of each man, then walking away to give them privacy. Cano took a spoonful and sipped it carefully. It was light, salty and full of vegetables. Not bad, he thought as he suddenly realized how hungry he was.

  “Well, Yennit, what are we going to do about her?” Westin said, between tastes. Cano had come to realize that Westin was a nervous man who didn’t like things that differed from his usual routine.

  Yennit looked tired. He gazed down into his soup, collecting his thoughts before he addressed the group. “We must do everything we can to protect and assist her.”

  “We need to send her and this…’ Westin pointed at Cano with a small measure of distaste, ‘this fishman here, on their way. You’ve brought us nothing but trouble. You hear me?”

  “Enough of that, Pa,” Jerron chirped in angrily. His eyes made apologies to Cano. “They didn’t mean to bring us trouble. It just happened. You saw her tonight, same as I did. That girl up there is special. Yennit’s right, we have to protect her.”

  “Don’t you be raising your voice to me, young man!” Westin shouted. “I’m your father.” Jerron and Westin fixed each other with a hard stare. The boy’s got some backbone, Cano thought. “I saw her. I don’t know what it was that I saw, of course, but I saw her. She doesn’t need our protection. She handled them rovers just fine if you ask me. But today it was rovers. What’s tomorrow going to bring? Hmm? Marralors? Vallrykans? How about Desirmor himself? Is that what you want? You want ol’ Desirmor to show up here once he gets word of what happened?”

  “Be at ease, old friend,” Yennit said. “I will gather everyone together and try to impress upon them the need for secrecy, but undoubtedly, Desirmor will still hear about this eventually. He’ll send a contingent of Defenders to investigate, but I don’t think he’ll just up and murder everyone based on a rumor.”

  “Tell that to my dead kinsman,” Westin spat bitterly.

  Yennit sighed deeply and shook his head. “We can’t abandon her Westin. She is the catalyst of prophecy. Her purpose in this world is to see Desirmor removed from rule. To restore the balance of light and dark. Surely you of all people can see the importance of helping her.”

  Westin seemed stung by Yennit’s words. His pudgy face was flush with anger, but instead of fighting for his point of view, he looked away shamefully. Jerron looked upon his father sadly.

  “We’re playing a dangerous game, my Lord,” Mueller said. Cano didn’t like the steely coldness in the man’s brown eyes. Mueller was a seasoned soldier, a veteran of many battles. Men like him tended to detach themselves from a situation emotionally. They made decisions based on rationality. Cano never trusted people who didn’t have something to fight for. Mueller looked like a man who was willing to die because it was his duty. Cano wondered if there was anything a man like that truly cared about.

  “Are you concerned about Desirmor as well?” Yennit asked.

  “I am always concerned about Desirmor. Aren’t we all?” Mueller asked stoically. “Westin’s point of view may be one made from cowardice, but his point is strong all the same. What if it is Vallrykans next time? Or worse? Can we be certain that this girl is capable of similar force every time we are besieged? There are many women and children who live and work on your estate. Can we guarantee their continued safety if this girl’s presence is likely to cause more attacks?”

  “Then what do we do?” Jerron cried out. The boy was full of passion. “Send her packing? We have to help her, Yennit. We have to.”

  “Mueller makes a strong point my boy,” Yennit said thoughtfully, despite Jerron’s protests. “I am responsible for the safety of all who live and work for me. I cannot ignore that.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Jerron said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re all a bunch of cowards.”

  “I never said I was going to send her away, Jerron,” Yennit calmed him. “I am simply examining all of the circumstances that we are faced with. To make an informed decision, you must first understand the facts.” Yennit looked around the room. “Are there any amongst you who does not believe in the prophecy?”

  Cano watched Westin and Mueller grumble silently, but they didn’t respond. He looked down at his half-empty bowl of soup and wondered why everything in life always came down to a man’s point of view. How many wars had been started simply because two men couldn’t come to terms on one simple principle? “I told ya before, Yennit. I don’t care nothing fer yer prophecy.” He looked around the table, pausing on Westin a moment longer than the rest. “What are we even debating here? Ya said ya saw what she did. That girl is pure light. Light, I tell ya! Not one of yer lives is worth even a half of hers, and ya all know it. I don’t care what the rest of ya do. My life is bound to hers fer as long as she’ll have me. If some fool prophecy says she has to jump into a volcano, well guess where I’m going. I doubt these gills of mine will do much good swimming in a pool of lava, but I’m diving in after her all the same.”

  “Me too, Cano,” Jerron said, as he slammed his fist down on the table, rattling all the dishes. “I’m with you.”

  “Well, she is going to need guardians and I applaud your valor,” Yennit said, watching them.

  The servants entered again carrying dishes of roasted chicken and potatoes. They quickly cleared the soup bowls, placing a plate of food in front of each man and then departed. Cano deeply inhaled the wonderful smell of his dinner. It had been a long time since he had last eaten chicken. Living out on the ocean, his diet consisted mainly of fish he caught off his boat. A chicken dinner was a rare and welcome meal.

  “So what do we do for now?” Westin asked, as they began to eat their dinner.

  “For now, I think, we wait for her to wake up. Then we’ll see what she wants to do,” Yennit said.

  “May I make a suggestion?” Mueller asked. With a mouthful of chicken, Yennit inclined his head. “You have your lake house. Why not send her to stay there? We could post a small contingent of guards to keep an eye on her, and that would take the threat of attack away from the innocent people who work your land.”

  Yennit took his time considering Mueller’s idea. Westin, unable to talk as he stuffed his face, nodded in eager agreement.

  “I will take that suggestion under advisement, Mueller” Yennit said seriously. “I like the idea, but I believe I would like to leave the final decision up to Maehril. The lake house is a bit remote. Sending her there might just be putting her in greater danger.”

  “Greater da
nger?” Westin said, as bits of chicken projected from his mouth. “She can handle danger. Mueller’s right, we need to keep the people around here safe in case something else we haven’t thought of comes looking for her. What’s the difference if she’s here or at the lake house?”

  “It’s settled for now gentlemen. Mueller made a fine suggestion, but we will let Maehril decide,” Yennit said with finality.

  The room was quiet for awhile, save for the clatter of silverware scraping porcelain. Cano didn’t care if they went to the lake house or stayed with Yennit. He would have been fine putting her back out on his boat and sailing her around the world with him on his treasure searches. Whatever she chose to do, he would remain at her side.

  “Did any of you hear that sound out there?” Jerron asked with fascination. “What was that?”

  “It sounded like a choir of children,” Mueller said.

  “I got chills when I heard it. Was it her? I couldn’t tell,” Jerron shook his head in disbelief.

  “She made the same sound when that wall of blackness came at us back on my boat,” Cano added.

  “And how about her eyes? It was like that light was pouring out of her. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Jerron said, with wide-eyed amazement.

  “I told ya before, boy, she is the light made flesh,” Cano said, firmly.

  “I’ve been a soldier for most of my life, and I’ve seen many things -- wonders that would reduce a man to tears and horrors that will haunt my dreams forever.” Mueller looked very seriously at each man in turn. “But I have never seen anything like that. It was the strangest thing. I could swear to you that for the briefest of moments I felt as though all of my sins were absolved. I felt a peace wash over me that I could never fully explain. I feel changed.”