by J. K. Barber
Olivia turned her vitriolic gaze towards the grinning Easterner and gave the captain a quick shove, before stepping away from the man. “Don’t you dare,” she warned, giving Damon a withering glance. “You brought him here,” she said, not even sparing a glance towards the slowly recovering Talas, “and didn’t give me the barest hint of a warning. You don’t get to take a reproachful tone with me you….” Olivia’s voice trailed off, the epithet dying on her lips as she slowly turned her head towards Talas. “You obviously didn’t know either,” she said to the slack-jawed priest. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be standing there like a gaping idiot.”
Jared felt his anger rising at the insult, but it was Sasha who found her voice first. “I would thank you to take a kinder tone towards Brother Talas,” she cautioned. She stood, positioned Gabriel to her hip, and rested her other hand on the hilt of her sword. Olivia looked at the Master Swordswoman, measuring her with her gaze. The younger woman’s red hair was bound in a tight plait that spoke of utility rather than fashion, and though her breastplate did not fit as well as it had before she had begun to swell with child, Sasha was clearly comfortable wearing it. Her demeanor was one that spoke of a warrior, accustomed to violence, and despite the fact that she was holding an infant, her body language and tone spoke clearly of menace were she not heeded. The older woman’s eyes widened slightly, and she spared a quick glance to Talas, looking at his garments rather than the man’s face. Sasha spoke again, and Olivia’s attention returned to the warrior twin. “Now, if everyone is done with their half-spoken recriminations, perhaps you can fill the rest of us in on just exactly what the hell is going on here.” There was a fiery look in Sasha’s eyes that Jared had seen too often recently. The hunter was glad that it was directed towards someone else for a change.
“Damon…,” Olivia began.
“Captain Damon,” the Easterner corrected.
“Shut up!” Olivia and Sasha said in unison. The bemused captain raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Damon,” Olivia continued, “should have told me that Talas had returned. Had I known, I wouldn’t have taken the job. Though, I suspect he knew that.” The scout turned towards Talas, who seemed to be recovering quickly, and indicated his forest green tabard. “I was told you had left the Temple,” she said, though the statement was delivered weakly. The older woman looked confused herself now. When Talas did not reply, Olivia continued, addressing Sasha. “I apologize, but I cannot take your commission. I refuse to work with him,” the woman indicated the priest with a nod of her head.
Talas moved suddenly, as though whatever mental tether had been holding him inactive had abruptly broken. Jared was left grasping air, his friend’s unexpected movement taking him by surprise. Talas looked as though he might try to embrace the newcomer, but Olivia took a step back, looking almost horrified by the gesture. Mid-stride the priest hesitated, his mouth opening and closing, though no sound came out. Abruptly, his expression of confusion was overcome by one of rage. He crossed the rest of the room, grabbed the captain by his vest and slammed a fist into his stomach. Damon doubled over, his voice coming out a mixture of coughing and laughter. “Like I said, you wouldn’t want to miss this,” he said to Jared.
Talas ignored the Easterner’s joke. “You told me she was dead!” his voice one of almost incoherent rage. As Jared pulled the priest off of Damon, the older man managed to punch the captain one more time in the gut and again across the face before the hunter managed to lock his arms under Talas’ arms and up around his neck.
The enraged priest struggled for several moments, before Katya’s voice boomed through the large cabin. “Enough!” she yelled, slamming her staff down on the wooden floor at her feet. Several small arcs of electricity traveled the length of the Master Sorceress’ staff and Jared thought he heard the faint echo of thunder, though he knew the sky outside was completely clear.
Talas stopped struggling against Jared and the hunter released him, though not before placing himself between the priest, Damon and Olivia. A war of emotions waged behind Talas’ eyes, and Jared saw equal parts anger and relief.
“He told me you were dead,” Talas said into the silence following Katya’s proclamation, his shoulders sagging. The priest’s hand went absently to the center of his chest, feeling for something below his shirt. Jared did not think the movement was conscious. Tears were welling up in Talas’ eyes. For the second time, the hunter saw his normally loquacious friend at a loss for words. The priest took half a step forward, but Jared placed his hand on Talas’ chest. The older man looked quizzically at the hunter. Jared gave his friend a look, silently asking for patience. After a moment, Talas stepped back, apparently content to let the scene play out, for now.
“And he told me you had abandoned the Temple, becoming a mercenary,” Olivia replied, though there were threads of doubt woven into her answer.
“In my defense…,” Damon began, before Jared raised his other hand, pointing at the captain and silencing the man with a growl. The Easterner again threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender, though he wore a self-satisfied smirk across his broad face. He remained silent.
“Now,” Katya said, her voice once again holding the now familiar tone of command. “Why don’t we all calm down for a moment and, Talas, you can explain to the rest of us what exactly is going on here.” The sorceress addressed the scout in black. “Olivia, is it?” The woman nodded. “You come highly recommended by Captain Damon here,” Katya shot a scornful look at the grinning Easterner, “though his reliability is becoming more and more suspect, and we would hate to have to find another scout on such short notice. Will you please sit, and we can surely come to some sort of arrangement.”
“I would prefer to stand, Mistress, if it is all the same to you,” Olivia replied. Jared noticed that the woman used Katya’s proper title but put the observation away for a later time.
“As you wish,” the Master Sorceress replied, turning her attention to Talas. “Brother Talas, perhaps you would like to sit so that we can get to the bottom of this disagreement and move forward?” Jared couldn’t help but notice the confident woman who stood before him now, taking command of the situation. Katya had come a long way from the scared young girl he had found in the woods all those moons ago. She stood self-assuredly, requiring the attention of the entire room, the mantle of her station as a Master Sorceress now resting comfortably on her shoulders.
Talas nodded quietly and took a seat at one of the other benches, his back leaning against the table. He looked deflated like a sail hanging limply in an unexpected calm. Jared’s heart ached for the man. He had never seen his friend look so crushed.
“Very well,” Katya said calmly. “Would someone, other than our esteemed captain, please explain to the rest of us exactly what the situation is here?” Damon feigned offense but kept his mouth closed, though the continued smile on his face made Jared want to hit the man himself.
After several moments of silence Olivia cleared her throat to speak. “Some other members of the Temple and I came here on a mission for the Temple of the Great Mother. We were attacked by a local tribe and most of us murdered. I survived but was enslaved by the tribe that slaughtered the others. By the time I regained my freedom the mission that Talas and I were a part of had long since given me up for dead and returned to Illyander.”
“I hadn’t given up,” Talas said quietly. “They made me leave.”
Katya raised her hand to quiet Talas. “You will be given a chance to speak in just a moment, Brother Talas.” She gestured for Olivia to continue.
“By the time I made it back to Tammat, all the other members of the mission had left. I luckily met up with Damon and learned that the Temple would not be returning. I would have purchased passage to return home on my own, but Damon also informed me that Talas had abandoned his vows and taken up a mercenary’s sword. Seeing that my old life was gone, I decided to stay in the Eastern Kingdom and make a fresh start on my own. I eventually found wor
k as a scout for visiting Illyanders. I had learned how to survive in the desert, and the merchants from Valshet were happier to work with one of their own rather than an Easterner.” Olivia took a deep breath and licked her lips.
“So what if he became a mercenary? What was so unforgivable about that?” Jared asked, earning himself a reproachful look from Katya.
“He had turned his back on all that he was, all that we were,” Olivia said. Anger and disappointment were clear in her voice.
“We’ll come to that soon enough,” Katya said to Jared and the scout. “Please, continue.”
“There’s not much more to tell,” Olivia replied. “The man that I knew was as good as dead to me, so I told Damon to keep my survival a secret. The Temple had abandoned me, and I began a new life here in the Eastern Kingdom, trying to forget all those who had betrayed me.”
“Talas,” Katya said gently to her distraught friend. “I would like to hear from you.”
The priest took a deep breath, standing slowly. Talas took a moment to collect himself, straightening his tabard and smoothing out the wrinkles with a pass of his hands. He looked piercingly at Olivia and to her credit the woman did not flinch. “I took a severe blow to the head and was knocked unconscious during the attack. The Brothers who had survived had dragged me to safety. I did not even wake up until we were on the boat returning to Illyander.” Talas paused before continuing, the next part of his anguished tale clearly difficult for him to relate. “I left the Temple, because they wouldn’t mount another expedition to return to look for you or… recover your body.” Talas’ voice cracked with the last statement. He cleared his throat and began directing his words towards the others assembled in the ship’s galley. “I left in anger over their refusal to help, and I began to sell my sword in the hopes that I could hire passage back across the Sea of Twylight to look for her myself. I had earned enough gold crowns in the hopes that Damon would be willing to ferry me back to the Eastern Kingdoms, working as a crew member to earn the rest of what I would have owed him. When I finally caught up to him in Valshet, he told me that she had died.” Talas’ voice waivered again, but the priest recovered his composure quickly. “There was no reason to return here after that, and I didn’t think the Temple would take me back, even had I wanted to return.” He returned his gaze to Olivia. “I was angry at them for a long time over the way they had deserted you.” Talas lowered his eyes to look absently at the floor. The former sellsword looked older than Jared had ever seen him. “Eventually, my anger cooled over the years, and I remained in the life I had created. I still served the Mother in my heart, but not her temple. They had abandoned both of us.”
Olivia spoke quietly, drawing Talas’ head up as she spoke. “So why are you wearing that again?” she asked, indicating the priest’s brown trimmed green tabard. “I see that you forgave them for what they did to me.” The older woman’s voice was laced with a subtle anger.
“Not entirely, no,” Talas replied, his tone an odd mixture of regret and anger-hardened steel. “However, I began to see that there was a plan at work that I had not been able to see before.” The priest’s chin rose slightly, the power of his faith strengthening and supporting him. “The Mother had to place me where She wanted me and that was not in the Temple. She knew that the only thing that could have driven a wedge between me and the Temple was my love for you. She knew that I had to be where I was, in the life I was in, to meet these people.” Talas gestured towards Jared and the twins. “It took a long time, almost fifteen years, but I finally saw what She had in mind for me, and it involved my return to the Temple.” Iron entered the priest’s words. “I have never forgiven the people who serve in Her Temple for what they did, but I had to forgive Her once I saw Her plan. In the end, I realized that it was my anger at Her for taking you away from me that kept me out of the Temple for so long. Once I forgave Her, I was able to return.”
Talas turned a venomous look on Damon. “You, on the other hand will never have my forgiveness for lying to me all these years.” The priest’s hand went to his mace, as his other pointed an accusing finger at the sea captain. “We are done, you and I,” he said with an icy finality that sent a chill up Jared’s spine. The hunter had seen his friend angry before, but there was a frigidity to Talas’ mood that was entirely new. “I am going to collect my things and find an inn in town.” As the priest left the room, he paused and brought his face very close to Damon’s. In an eerily quiet voice he said, “I never want to see your face again. Do we understand one another?” There was a cold menace in the priest’s voice that the hunter had never heard before. Talas did not wait for a reply as he walked away.
Jared had never known the priest to act or speak as he just had, threatening the captain, or anyone for that matter. Damon’s betrayal had struck Talas to the core. Coupled with the cruel reopening of a decade-and-a-half old wound, one that had caused the priest to leave the Temple all those years ago, Jared could only imagine the pain the older man felt. Judging by the small tremor of fear that briefly shown in Damon’s eyes, the hunter saw that the Easterner could probably imagine it a little better.
As Talas closed the door behind him the room was dreadfully silent as the Illyanders struggled to assimilate all that they had heard.
“Well,” Damon said lightheartedly. “That was awkward.”
Jared could take no more. He grabbed the captain by the front of his shirt, simply staring hatred into the man’s eyes, a deep rumbling growl coming from his chest.
“Okay,” the captain said, grabbing one of Jared’s hands. “That’s about enough of people manhandling me aboard my own ship.” The Easterner placed his other hand on the hunter’s elbow and wrenched Jared’s arm forcing him to release the captain’s shirt and twist away. Jared reached for the dagger at his belt, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from drawing the blade. The woodsman looked at the arm that held him at bay and saw that it belonged to Sasha. She had slipped up beside the hunter unnoticed; such was Jared’s anger. The red-haired swordswoman wore a resolute expression as she shook her head slightly. Jared relented and released his grip on the dagger.
Damon’s bemused expression had not changed. “My commission is fulfilled,” he announced. “I would thank you to pay me the rest of what you owe me and then disembark from The Isabella at your earliest opportunity.” Despite the politeness of his words, the captain’s message was clear. He wanted them off his ship and sooner was better.
Katya seemed unaffected by Damon’s proclamation. “Olivia,” she said. The scout turned towards the sound of the sorceress’ voice, a look of bewilderment quickly stealing across her face. “While I don’t doubt that Brother Talas would lay down his life for his friends, I have never seen him like this. There is more to this isn’t there?”
The black-garbed woman nodded, her look of confusion slowly being replaced by one of sadness. Jared could see her eyes beginning to glisten. His mind raced down the paths in the forest of his memory. Pieces of conversation he had had with Talas over the past couple years began to form connections in the hunter’s mind. Scraps that he had heard from the twins, especially about a ring which Talas wore on a chain around his neck about which Sasha had told him, rushed to the front. A wild conclusion formed in the woodsman’s mind. Jared sputtered. his voice weak even to his own ears. “You… you’re…”
“His wife,” Olivia supplied, the growing shock that replaced her earlier anger making her words faint. “Yes, Talas and I were… are married still, I suppose.” She turned to Damon. “Why?” she asked. “How could you not have told us the truth?”
Damon’s face turned serious for the first time since the conversation began. “You had both made your choices; taken completely different paths than the ones I had seen you on when I had first met you,” he said earnestly. “When I told you he had become a mercenary, I could see that he had, in some way, died in your eyes. He had betrayed all that you both held dear. Would you have changed your mind, all those years ago, and forgive
n him?” he asked, his voice conveying his confidence in her answer. “And then, when he heard you had died, the light inside of him faded. I didn’t want it to be completely extinguished, which it might have been had he found out you were alive and then had to deal with you rejecting him for the choices he had made. Even though they were choices he made to try to return to find you.” Damon shook his head. “Better he thought that you were dead and move on than to have hope that you might be reunited and have you crush him with rejection. I don’t think he would have survived it.”
Everyone in the room looked at Damon, the full weight of the lie he had been telling Talas, his friend, for the last fifteen years finally coming to rest in their minds. Jared’s hand once again went to the knife at his belt, and out of the corner of his eye the hunter saw that Olivia’s hand had followed the same slow path to her own blade. A cold lump of hate had begun to form in Jared’s gut and it made his stomach turn. He began to picture the Eastern captain lying in a pool of his own blood as his body slowly cooled on the deck of his precious ship. “You took away his choice,” Jared said angrily.
Sasha’s voice snapped the hunter out of his murderous reverie. “Jared,” she said softly. “Now is not the time for this. We need to find a place to stay. We need to find a place where our son will be safe tonight, because I, for one, refuse to let him stay another minute longer than necessary aboard this ship.” The swordswoman’s voice had an edge sharper than her sword as she spoke the last of her words. Sasha nodded at her twin and began urging Jared out of the room.
Katya did the same with Olivia, gently propelling the woman to follow in the red-haired twin’s footsteps. “Captain Damon,” the sorceress said, her voice all but void of emotion. “Trust that you will be paid what is owed to you. We are people of our word,” the recrimination hung in the air for a moment before Katya continued. “You will get what is your due.”
As Jared looked over his shoulder he saw Iluak and Jugger silently follow the Illyanders out of the oppressive galley.