“I’m sorry, mom,” Nyx whispers. She hears a choked off cry from Tzefira and realizes what she said. She has enough time to take a deep breath before she is pulled into a surprisingly powerful hug.
“You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of hearing my daughter call me that,” the weeping elf admits, years of sorrow surging to the surface. “I’m sure your father has the same dream, so I hope you go directly to him when you arrive at the academy. I think I’ll let him be a surprise for you, but I’m positive that you will love him and he will love you.”
Nyx slips out of the hug and smiles at her mother. She wipes the tears off her face, realizing they are her own. They stare at each other in silence, neither knowing what to talk about or if their relationship has settled. An idea suddenly comes to Nyx and she quickly snatches her mother’s necklace. Tzefira is momentarily stunned while Nyx presses her mother’s necklace against her own. Her hands emit a color-changing light as she struggles to remember and alter the intended spell. A few curious drunks wander around the tent, but they hurry away when Tzefira glares at them.
“That should do it,” Nyx says in a low, raspy voice. She hands the sapphire necklace back to Tzefira, who curiously examines it. “I enchanted it with a communication spell, but I altered the casting to allow me to add dad when I meet him. It only lets us talk and you can’t hear anything unless the other person responds to your call. To make contact, you hold the necklace to your mouth and utter the name of the person you want to talk to. The target will feel a slight tremor in their chest and hear your voice saying their name. They have to touch the necklace to their mouth to activate their end, so you can be denied if your timing is bad. For example, I won’t be able to talk if you contact me in the middle of a battle.”
“You created two magical items in a few minutes,” Tzefira states, dangling the necklace in front of her eyes. She can see the sapphire now has a small light at its core. “This is why I wanted you to get real training, Nyx. There is something special about your aura that I’ve never seen before. It’s like you’re a focal point for the aura of Windemere and you can channel it through your body and mind.”
“You’re the second person to mention channeling to me,” Nyx points out as she puts her necklace back on. “The Lich said it too and then ran into his basement to do something. If I had the time, I would try to go back to the mausoleum and investigate. Maybe he left a clue there.”
Tzefira places a gentle hand on the side of Nyx’s head and rubs her daughter’s ear. “Don’t worry about that. You will find the answers when they feel like revealing themselves, so avoid rushing into danger. Though, I’m afraid you’re still heading into trouble when you leave Hero’s Gate.”
“It’s my destiny to fight Baron Kernaghan and protect Windemere,” the half-elf bluntly claims with a fire burning in her violet eyes.
“I know you’re destined to fight this coming darkness,” Tzefira responds with a worried smile. “I was actually referring to the trouble brewing at Hamilton Military Academy. There have been rumors of two armies in the Caster Swamp. One army is composed of orcs and the other is a large tribe of giltris. Selenia believes the Lich has gathered these armies to rebuild his castle and attack. She’s gathering warriors at her school, so you will be arriving at the dawn of another battle.”
“There’s simply no rest for a champion,” Nyx mutters, getting to her feet and glancing at the stars. “I hope we can get there quickly because I want some time with dad. Luke and I need to bring some pies to Fizzle, who should be waking up from his slumber within a few days.”
“Fizzle?” Tzefira asks, unfamiliar with the name.
“He’s a drite who lives in Visindor Forest and he made friends with Luke,” Nyx answers, smiling at the memory of the adorable creature. “Fizzle followed Luke when he left the academy and traveled with us until he had to slumber. He’s very strong and saved me quite a few times. I wish you could have met him, mom.”
“My daughter is a powerful caster, battles the queen of the chaos elves, and is close friends with a drite,” Tzefira says, wrapping her arm around Nyx’s shoulders. “I think it’s time we sat down and had a long conversation about your life. We only have tonight and breakfast to catch up, so let’s get started.”
Nyx smiles as Tzefira leads her back to the celebration. The half-elf puts her arm around her mother’s waist and gives her a hug. The confusion and pain Nyx has held onto for her entire life fades away. Within minutes, the only thing she feels is the happiness of a lost child who has finally been found.
*****
Luke gasps for air as he hides in the stables, waiting patiently for the guards to move on. He can hear his prey shuffling in the hayloft, but he refuses to climb the ladder until he is sure it is her. Through a crack in the wall, he watches the guards search the street and nearby alleys. Their glazed eyes and broad smiles are tell-tale signs that Sari has enchanted them to create another obstacle for Luke. He moves to another hole to take a look at the Flooding Falls, where this chase began over an hour ago. The mist from the falls is thicker and covering more of the area than it has since he arrived, which is why he never saw the spearmen lurking near an illusionary Sari. Luke fights the urge to curse and risk detection until the guards move to another block, finally giving him a chance to wring the water out of his soaked clothes.
The scuffling from the hayloft pulls at his attention and he finally approaches the ladder. He already has his hand on the rough wood when he stops to think about his previous failures. Sari’s illusions have consistently been set in a place where he will fall into the open and her magically charmed guards could find him. Thinking about it, he realizes that the only way she can cast illusions all over the city and direct the guards to his location is if she is high enough to see everything. He ignores the loud whimpering from the hayloft as he sneaks to the door and peeks outside.
“DragonEye’s tower would be a good place, but I doubt Sari would be there. The tower could be trapped and there’s the smell of death wafting off it,” Luke whispers to himself while the noise in the hayloft gets louder. “If I was going to use illusions and throw a professional tracker off my trail, what would I do? Well, without illusions I would try to double-back and hide where the tracker has already searched. With illusions, I could hide in plain sight and . . . I should have known. It’s so obvious.”
Luke leaves the stables through a side window, making sure he is hidden in the shadows of an alley. He tests the windows of the next building until he finds one that he can force open and slips inside. Again, he hurries through the building and uses a window to escape into another alley. Miraculously, he repeats the process and makes his way to the Flooding Falls, taking cover whenever he hears the bellowing shouts of the guards. The warriors are becoming more agitated and frantic as they feed off Sari’s frustration at losing sight of Luke. One of the guards attempts to investigate the alley where the half-elf is crouching behind a crate, but the guard freezes after taking a few steps inside. He stumbles back to the street as if a sudden vertigo has overtaken him before wandering off.
Luke inches toward the mouth of the alley, knowing he has to make a final sprint for the roaring waterfall. The guards are on another street, giving him a clear path to the rocky blue stones at the edge of the Flooding Falls. He takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out then races down the empty street as fast as he can. He is about to dive into the rolling mist when the pounding water shifts and warps. Skidding to stop, Luke watches the entire waterfall rise into the air and turn into a dripping fist.
“Don’t do this, Sari!” he shouts, getting the attention of the guards.
The guards arrive in time to see a griffin soar into the air and a fist of water smash onto the street. A roaring wave washes the warriors down the street while the giant hand swings and swats at the agile griffin. With a roaring screech, the griffin flies high into the air and spirals down to rocket through the water. Luke is already transforming back by the time he lands behind
Sari. She is spinning around when he tackles her off the top of the waterfall. She loses control of the waterfall, which falls back into its normal form and pushes the pair toward the basin below. The force is too strong for Sari’s boots to withstand, so the two adventurers are shot into the water with a body-numbing crash. They quickly come to the surface with Luke dragging Sari to the edge, his right arm around her waist.
“You could have killed us,” Sari gasps as she grabs a slick rock. “Honestly, Luke, you claim to not want me, but you chase me back to the city. I’m not interested in playing an emotional hide-and-seek with you. I don’t want to have anything to do with you until you get your act together and treat me the way you really want to treat me. Now, go away and let me be alone.”
“You’re right, Sari,” Luke says. He grabs the stones to her sides, preventing Sari from getting away unless she dives underwater. “I’ve treated you badly and I’ve lied to you. You don’t deserve to be put through this.”
“Then, what are you going to do about it?” Sari asks, feeling the push and pull of the water against her.
“I was hoping you had an answer,” Luke sheepishly replies.
Sari smacks him on the head, her strikes barely stronger than slaps because she has trouble staying afloat. “For Cessia’s sake, stop being such a wimp and do something. I’m not going to do all the work when I can’t even figure out how you really feel about me. If you can’t take any initiative then you aren’t worthy of a gypsy like me. I take back every nice thing I ever said about you.”
Sari is about to say more when Luke kisses her, pressing her against the cold edge of the basin. She wraps her arms around his neck as he lets go of the rocks and hugs her. They are barely aware of the water moving to keep them afloat, but only their heads remain above water. Gradually, Luke’s hands run up her back and rub her neck while she hooks a leg around his waist. Sari grunts in frustration after they dip below the water and the kiss nearly breaks. She stretches one of her arms and uses her free leg to roil the water, creating a whirlpool that swallows them. Sari kisses Luke with all of her might as they are magically pulled up the waterfall and gently deposited on the blue stones at the top. Feeling her balance falter, Sari uncoils her leg and becomes immovable to avoid falling back into the basin. The mist grows thicker around them until they are masked from any curious eyes.
“I love you,” Luke whispers when the kiss finally ends. “I’m sorry that it took so long for me to tell you that.”
“I love you too,” Sari replies, holding him tight while the mist swirls around them. “So, what are we going to do?”
“Enjoy each other’s company until the inevitable,” Luke suggests with a heavy sigh. “I really don’t want to think about it.”
“Then make a promise to me,” the gypsy says as the water drips off their bodies and returns to the roaring waterfall. “You will love me for as long as we’re together, but when the time comes, you will let me go. Kira won your heart first, so you will settle down with her. I used to think I was unlucky to have fallen in love with a man who would have to leave me. Now, I realize this is what I really want. I want to be in love without having to worry about making a future.”
“Why do you assume you’ll lose?” the half-elf asks, tenderly stroking her moist cheek. “I don’t understand how you can go through with this and openly declare that you’re not going to try to win.”
Sari gives Luke a quick kiss on the lips and lays her head on his shoulder. “I know you’re going to pick Kira because I want you to pick her. I’m not the type to stop wandering and your wanderlust will fade as you get older. It always does with your family. If you chose me then it wouldn’t end well for us. Besides, this isn’t really a game, so I can neither win nor lose. I can only enjoy my time with you while it lasts. You keep talking as if I’m some city girl who will break into a million pieces if she loses her man to another woman. Stuff like this happens all the time with my people. Not every couple stays together after their year is at an end, but that doesn’t mean the love they shared was false.”
“It’s just that you sound so sad,” Luke mentions, caressing her hair and kissing her cheek. “I know what you’re saying and I can’t convince you otherwise. Still, you sound like you want to be unhappy for the rest of your life.”
“I’m happiest when I’m in love and helping others fall in love,” the gypsy states with a proud smile. “On the day you and Kira get married, I will be cheering louder than everyone because I will know I had a hand in your union. You see, I can handle the person I love marrying someone else because I know they’re in love and happy. It’s when someone abuses love or is taken from me by force that I get upset. Am I making any sense to you?”
“I think I understand what you’re saying. I’m going to chalk it up to you being one of a kind,” Luke declares, catching her by the wrists before she can tickle him. It is a sudden motion that nearly sends them off the waterfall. “We should get down from here and find another place to talk.”
“All you want to do is talk?” Sari asks incredulously.
Luke stares at her with a worried expression on his face. “I thought we still had some things to discuss.”
“That dryad was right,” she says with a heavy sigh. “I’m going to have to strip you and mount you if we’re going to get anywhere.”
Luke sputters and chokes on his words while Sari kisses him on the neck. She hops off the waterfall and slowly floats down to the basin. Looking up, she can see the hazy silhouette of Luke swiftly climbing down the slick rocks. With a frown, she focuses on the mist and it moves away to give Luke a clear view of his path. He is surprised to see Sari standing on top of the churning water. She reaches out for him to take her hand and pull her to the shore where she gives him another passionate kiss. This time they are out in the open where a passing guard sees them and clears his throat. They break the kiss to embarrassingly peek at the guard, who nods to them and walks away whistling a dwarven love song.
“I want you to promise something to me,” Luke whispers as she leads him away from the waterfall. “It’s only fair since you have me promising something.”
“I’ll agree after I hear your offer,” she responds in a playful, teasing voice. “I’ve made a few bad promises in the past that left me in trouble.”
“I want you to stay around when I marry Kira,” Luke requests. He places a gentle finger against Sari’s lips before she can argue and she kisses up his arm. “I don’t mean that I want to keep you as a mistress or anything that would betray Kira. You’re an important part of my life and I don’t want to lose you entirely. Even if Kira has a problem with it, I want us to remain friends. It would hurt too much if my decision cut you completely out of my life.”
“You will never be rid of me, Luke Callindor,” Sari coos. She blows on the tip of his ear, causing his knees to buckle. “I always wanted to see if that trick worked on someone with elf blood. Now, where are we going to finish our night?”
“I was thinking we could go back to the celebration,” Luke says. A sigh of exasperation from Sari causes him to tense up. “I have no idea what I said wrong, so don’t get mad at me.”
“Think back to something I said at the top of the waterfall,” Sari demands. She watches as he goes over the conversation in his head and realizes what she is talking about. “You really are denser than a dragon’s hide. I’m starting to wonder if you and Kira did anything besides kissing. If you did go all the way then I have to ask her how she got you to go that far.”
“We had a private place we went to and things naturally took their course,” Luke casually mentions, his cheeks turning slightly red.
Sari rolls her tongue against the inside of her cheek as she thinks about where they can go for some privacy. She considers using Timoran’s room, but she has already imposed herself enough on the barbarian. To use his bed for what she is planning feels very inconsiderate and she would be mortified if the barbarian walked in on them. There is the cavern that Kayn
once used, but she is sure that would be uncomfortable for Luke. It would raise questions that she did not feel like answering and her kisses could only distract him for so long.
“We don’t have to do anything more than talking and kissing tonight,” Luke states nonchalantly. He is immediately brought to his knees by Sari licking and blowing on the tip of his right ear. “That’s playing dirty. By the gods that feels good.”
“We don’t have to, but we want to,” the gypsy seductively whispers, helping Luke back to his feet. “We’ve wanted to since our first kiss in Haven. I’ve been very patient with you, but after everything I’ve been through in this city, I want to cut loose. Now, I’m one step away from following that dryad’s suggestion and getting us put in jail again. So, where can we go for some privacy?”
“You’re very blunt tonight,” Luke says, hiding the smirk on his face. “Well, we do have an open invitation to use Lord . . . I mean, Mayor Highrider’s guest room if we need a place to sleep. We only have to leave a message with his butler. This is moving really fast, Sari.”
“Do you love me, Luke?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I’m gorgeous?”
“You’re beautiful.”
“Do you want to have me all night?”
“Ye . . . I’m . . .”
Sari grabs Luke by the wrists and jumps into his arms, curling against his chest. “I think it’s time we got naked and enjoyed each other’s company. We’re adults who want this to happen. The romance of the moment has kind of sputtered and died since you can’t take a hint, but I’m sure we can recapture our momentum.”
“I’m sure we can,” Luke awkwardly agrees. He gives Sari a gentle, soft kiss, which makes her go limp in his arms. “I do love you, Sari.”
Legends of Windemere: 03 - Family of the Tri-Rune Page 41