Sir Jory came upon them then, red-faced. By the motions and grunts Sir Monster was gesturing to him, Sir Jory wouldn't translate, and neither of them men at the table needed him to. Thankfully, Chureal's attention was drawn to the goblet full of milk and bowl of strawberries that had been placed in front of her. Mugs of strong smelling ale were set in front of everyone else. Dinner came soon after, and Cryelos was pleased that it was a thick stew of lamb and beef, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, and a piece of fresh bread for each of them. A tray of honey and butter stayed mostly in front of Chureal, who only ate a bite or two of the stew, then traded the remains of her bowl with Sir Monster for his bread, which she drowned with honey before munching down.
Sneak slipped away, and only Cryelos seemed to notice until the elf elbowed Braxton and nodded toward the door just as the little man's shadow slipped out of sight.
Braxton felt a shiver of something strange creep up his spine, and when he looked, it reminded him of the feeling he’d had just before the sea wolf pounced and knocked the breath out of him. Chureal poked him and brought his attention back to the table. She had somehow managed to get honey all over her fingers and her cheeks, and a small piece of bread was dangling from her long hair, but her smile was huge and full of youthful joy.
"It's time to get you a bath." Braxton grinned back at her. He picked the piece of bread out of her hair and got Hunter's attention.
"Can you ask if she can have her bath now, before us?" Braxton asked him.
"Sure," Hunter said and rolled his eyes when he saw what a mess she was. "I will also see if she can have a stable boy clean her chainmail, too."
Sir Monster began to grunt and gesture to Sir Jory insistently, and Braxton realized the big knight understood what they had been saying.
"He said he would rather clean her mail himself," Sir Jory translated, then lowered his voice a little bit. "You can't trust dwarven chainmail to a stable boy." Then to Braxton in a near whisper nonchalantly, indicating Chureal's neck, "Does that medallion come off?"
Braxton shook his head in the negative. "She will have to bathe herself. No nosy innkeeps or barmaids." Braxton sighed. "And one of us will have to guard the room while she does."
"She can take care of herself, Mother," Cryelos mocked Braxton, causing Sir Jory to roll his eyes and look away. Braxton flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. He would rather look like a foolish mother than for harm to come to her. "Anybody who tried to take that medallion from her would wind up tangled in a shrub or dangling from Cobalt’s teeth." The elf grinned. "Come on, Brax."
Braxton looked at Chureal, who was trying desperately to fling the finger cloth from where it had stuck to her hand while trying also to let go of the goblet of milk stuck to her other hand. Braxton looked at Cryelos, who fought a laugh and shook his head at her. "She will bathe alone, and we will guard the room," Braxton's tone brooked no argument, not even the joking kind. As powerful as she was, she was still a ten-year-old girl.
Thankfully, Chureal's bath was uneventful, and when she was done, Braxton left her with the two knights while he and Cryelos took their turns. When they returned to the room, Sneak was waiting, listening intently to Chureal's excited description of the dwarven kingdom as seen through her eyes. Thankfully for them all, she had to stop jabbering every so often to let Sir Jory translate to Sir Monster what she was saying.
Sneak looked up and made eye contact with Braxton but didn't interrupt Chureal, nor did Braxton want him to. She was telling them now about fighting the wood and rock trolls in Uppervale, a battle that Braxton hadn't witnessed, but which had taken place in his home town.
She'd been going on and on, but then stopped at the part where the demon showed up, and she suddenly teared up and began to cry. Cryelos finally broke the group up so she could deal with her memories in private.
That time in Uppervail had been the last time Chureal had seen Nixy, or who she thought was Nixy, before Pharark had killed her. But it wasn't Nixy in that cage, and even though she knew that, she still felt horrible because now, for the first time, she decided she knew who it was who had died in Nixy's place.
She waited until only she and Cryelos were left in the room before saying anything.
"Cryelos," she sniffled. "It was Suclair, not Nixy."
"What?" He wasn't sure what she was talking about. Suclair had left their group with Nixy to go do something. He couldn't quite remember what it was, but it had to do with saving Nixy's family and avenging Suclair's father, the old wizard Debain.
"Nixy's not dead," said Chureal, still crying and sniffling. She crawled into Cryelos's lap and hugged him. "Braxton knows, but what he doesn't know is that it was Suclair that the demon killed."
Cryelos had to shake his head in wonder. Suclair had been a brave young girl, if a bit careless with her use of magic. She'd once burned all the hair off her head practicing a fire spell, but she'd also saved his and Braxton's lives more than once. To learn that she was dead was a sad thing for him, as it would be for Braxton.
Chureal cried herself to sleep in his lap, and Cryelos gently laid her in her bed. He could hear Braxton and Sneak talking quietly through the thin walls and went next door to find out what the thief had learned, and to let Braxton know that he wanted to talk in private.
Knowing how thin the walls were, he hoped that Hunter and the knights didn't bring those bar maids back to their rooms. He wanted to get a good night's sleep, and he didn't think there was any way Sir Monster could be with a woman and not break the furniture.
Sneak didn't have very much to say that was good. At least, Cryelos didn’t think the information was good. The thief had found them a small fishing boat, a boat they would all barely fit in. To make matters worse, it was grass eel season, so they had to pay a small fortune upfront, which they couldn't get back no matter how long they used the craft. Worse, the owner would hold their horses as a deposit.
"Does the owner know that we could be a day or two on the island?" Cryelos asked. "Will he wait that long before selling off our animals?"
"He and his boat could lose out on a lot of eel fishing time," Braxton looked at Sneak. "I think that's why he's charging so much."
"No, you don't understand," said Sneak, all too seriously. "He's not coming with us, and they don't fish for eels in grass eel season."
"Then why do they call it grass eel season?" Cryelos asked with a look that was half worried, half disbelief.
"Grass eels eat the cattle that get too close to the water’s edge," he said, clearly humored by the elf's changing expression. "They call it grass eel season because it's the time of year you don't want your herd to graze in the shallows."
"I'm glad you found us a good boat," Braxton said, a touch of apprehension in his voice. "They don't eat boats do they?"
"Not very often," Sneak answered with a grin that didn't reveal whether he was teasing them or not. "But none of that is why the guy is charging us so much."
"Well, why is he then?" Cryelos asked.
"Obviously, because he doesn't think we will ever make it back."
Chapter Nineteen
Braxton lay awake thinking that he was forgetting something, but no matter how hard he tried to recall what it was, he came up with a blank. Eventually, sleep took him, but that feeling never left. Even in his dreams, he felt like something important was being left undone.
The ship was sinking, he knew, and he couldn't change the coin in the void like Taerak's journal instructed him to do. None of them knew how far from land they were, and he knew if he could change the coin just right, he could maybe plug the massive hole in the bottom of the ship. Up above, Captain Pickerell shouted orders to the crew while below, Vinston-Fret, Cryelos, and half a dozen dwarves bailed water as fast as they could. Soon, it would be Braxton's turn to bail water again, so he pushed it all away and drifted into the void.
He had to hurry.
Nixy appeared then, pushing him onto his back. "I don't want to die a maiden. I don't want to
die. I think–I think I love you." She spoke the words as she unlaced and dropped her doeskin britches and climbed on top of him. It was in that peaceful bliss afterwards were he found the jewel in the void, and though it placed him over the breach in the ship allowing the hole to be patched, he was supposed to have something now.
She'd given it to him and he didn't want to lose it, but what was it?
Nixy's warm smooth skin was pressed against him, and he felt her nuzzle her head into his chest and wrap her arm around him. What had she given him? Where had it gone, and why was she lying limp in the demon's hands like she was–like she was already dead?
The vision of Nixy in the demon's hands spun and twisted as Pharark crunched his teeth down over her head. It wasn't her, he knew now. A thought clawed at the inside of his skull like a cat scratching on a post. He felt it as he saw Pharark hurl her headless body down at him.
What had Nixy given me? No wait, it wasn't Nixy. It was Chureal. What did she give me?
I gave it back because I didn't want to lose it, because it fell off my finger. Then the claws scraping on the inside of his skull ripped through and pried their way out of him.
Zyken-Whay's ring! I am supposed to have it on, so he can come to me, but it's not here, he saw as he looked around the goat pen he and Nixy had been allowed to sleep in on the ship.
"Braxton," she called from across the space with a wide, childlike smile. "The ring."
"You found it?" Braxton exclaimed and started toward her, but the ship rolled and he slammed hard into the wooden deck.
When Braxton opened his eyes, both Cryelos and Chureal were standing over him. The worried expressions on their faces were barely lit by the candle the elf was holding. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Braxton didn't know what to say. He was drenched in sweat and felt like his blood was on fire. "What happened to me?"
"You fell out of bed and hit your head on the nightstand," said Chureal, wiping the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of the big night shirt Princess Trava had given her back at Grey Rock. "I forgot to give you the ring."
He reached to his head and winced when his fingers found the egg-sized lump at his temple. "I dreamed about it. Is there any water?"
Cryelos used the candle to light a small oil lamp and found a skin full of watered wine in the bundles of gear that had been brought up to the room. "Will this do?" he asked. "If you want plain water, I will gladly go to the kitchen and get you some that is fresh."
Braxton took a long swallow and let it wash the sticky feeling of the dream from his mind. "No, my friend, this is fine." Then to Chureal, "Give me the ring and let's all get back to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Cryelos helped Braxton back to his bed. Chureal gave him a big hug and placed the ring on Braxton's little finger and only after Braxton and Chureal were both back in their beds did Cryelos put out the lantern.
Braxton was glad for the darkness. His head hurt, and the flickering flames only worsened the effect. He was still uncomfortably warm, and his skin felt clammy, but he didn't want to alarm the others. As quietly as he could, he took another long swig from the wine skin, and after tossing and turning a bit, he finally fell back asleep. This time, in his slumber, he felt the tingling feeling of the void's power seeping into his veins, and it wasn't long until he found himself standing in the cool cavern at the lake where he'd first found his medallion.
He cupped his hands and drank of the cold lake water, and then splashed some across his face and on the knot on his head. It was cold and, in seconds, the heat he'd been feeling was gone. Then the frigid air around him caused him to begin to shiver. He found a dry place and sat, hugging his knees to his chest, trying to stay warm. He watched the surface of the lake where it met the shore of the cavern for a long time, but nothing stirred save for the occasional drip from the ceiling. After a while, he grew restless. The cold was starting to seep deeper into his body, so he stood and stomped his feet to quicken his blood flow. After a few minutes of pacing, he called out, "Taerak! Are you there? Can you hear me?"
He heard a splash in the water behind him and spun around.
"He won't hear you," a voice came from right behind him, causing his heart to flutter through his chest like a bird in a cage. "He is beyond us now."
Braxton turned to see Zyken-Whay standing there as calm and intimidating as he had been the first time Braxton met him here. "You scared me," Braxton said through chattering teeth. He wanted to say how cold he was, but saw that Zyken-Whay was wearing only an open vest over his rippling, muscled chest. He held his tongue about it in hopes of hurrying this meeting along. "Chureal said you wanted to see me," he felt himself shivering. "That it is important."
"Yes," Zyken said with a half-grin, like an older brother amused by his younger sibling. "Why you chose here, I'm not sure." The big warrior rubbed the goose prickles forming on the skin of his huge arms. "Would you like to go somewhere warmer?"
"Y-y-yes," Braxton chattered back.
"Done," Zyken said, and with a wave of his arm, the whole world shifted.
The damp darkness of the lakeside cavern spun into a kaleidoscope of fractural patterned colors, each its own destination, or part thereof, all in a swirling mix. Braxton saw rocky crags and sandy beaches, red and gold forests, and sharp jagged cliffs, but before he could make them out individually, they all shimmered away into something else. Soon, everything became grey, highlighted with orange and yellow reflections from a warm fire burning in the middle of a different rocky cave.
When he looked at Zyken, his knees turned to water, and he nearly crumpled to the floor, not because of the warrior or his smug, amused expression, but because of the huge pair of eyes that blinked open and shut behind him, eyes that were as big around as Braxton was tall. They were the eyes of a dragon, whose yellow tinted scales shimmered like a massive pile of gold coins in the fire light.
Braxton's fear eased a little when the dragon blinked again, then pulled his curious head back into the shadows.
Zyken sensed Braxton's unease and walked over gesturing for him to sit. "I can see that you noticed Daze." Zyken laughed lightly. "Come on back, Daisy, let me introduce you to Braxton Bray. He is one of us now."
Braxton wasn't sure what one of us was. He knew he was a warrior of the void, as was Zyken and Chureal, but what he and the beautiful yellow-gold dragon shared, he wasn't sure.
"She is shy, and very, very protective over me."
"She's beautiful," Braxton said, then to Daisy, "You're beautiful."
The dragon, who'd been easing her huge head back into the firelight, blinked and made an expression that Braxton could only compare to a slightly embarrassed blush.
"Thank you, Lordss Braxton," she hissed, her voice deep but definitely feminine. "Chureal says you are a good person."
Braxton wondered why Chureal hadn't spoken to him about Daisy, or if she'd been here at this very place in her dreams.
This was the void, he understood then. He recognized the feel of it around him and wondered why he never felt it at the lake cavern? He decided it was probably because the lake cavern was a real place, but for all he knew, this was a real place, too. As if an answer to the multitude of questions that were racing through his mind, Zyken-Whay spoke. "Now that you've been here, you will be able to find this place without the ring. Zyken pushed his long bangs out of his face and sat down across the fire from Braxton. "The ring is to help guide Chureal here without letting some of the more dangerous things that lurk in the void find ways to distract her curious young mind."
Daisy made a long whooshing sound as she exhaled and slowly closed her eyes. Braxton noticed the glazed look and knew from his experiences with Emerald and Cobalt that her belly was full, and she was tired.
"Chureal implied urgency," Braxton said absently to Zyken, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the dazzling display of the fire reflecting in Daisy's scales.
"Dire is more appropriate than urgent," Zyken responded.
"As you know, there is much evil in the world. Evil men, evil beasts, evil spirits, and evil gods, but for each evil, there is a goodness. There is a giver, a healer, a savior, a lover. Something to balance the scales so that neither too much evil nor too much good exists at one particular moment in time. Demons like Pharark create chaos and confusion and destroy, all in hopes of tipping the balance in their favor long enough to let the dark ones loose. It is not much different than a priest preaching and praying and gathering a flock of followers in the hopes they will one day overshadow the darkness long enough for goodness and light to seal up the places of evil so that they can never be reopened."
“This is the balance,” Zyken went on, and Braxton listened raptly, “and the balance must be kept.”
Zyken-Whay paused and studied Braxton for a moment. He was pleased to see the boy was paying attention. He had a lot of respect for the young man, far more than he would let himself show. The killing of a demon was no small thing for Braxton to have done, especially with so little help from Taerak. Not only that, Braxton had brought many of the races of the Narvozian realm together and forced them to work out their differences in a peaceable manner instead of by way of war.
"Neither of the things I just described can be allowed to happen," Zyken continued. "Too much good is bad, and too much evil is worse. That is what we, as warriors of the void, are here for. Not so much to destroy evil, but to contain it so that it doesn't tip the scales too far in its own favor. In most cases, evil will eventually destroy itself before it grows out of control, but sometimes it doesn't. When Taerak, Skyla-Veltin, and I trapped Pharark, we failed to seal his prison properly, and he eventually escaped. As you know all too well, his power grew, and he rose again. When you destroyed him, the balance was tipped to the good, but—"
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