by M. Gregg Roe
“That is an excellent idea. We really are in over are heads.”
“Then I will start looking tomorrow.” Maybe she could find a couple with the requisite skills. Then they could live together in one of the guest suites. That would be ideal.
“It’s only for a decade or so,” he said, smirking.
“I predict that it will feel much longer.” She leaned over against her husband, and he put an arm around her shoulders. “I had planned to raise the three girls to take on normal occupations, but I have a bad feeling that all three of them now want to become adventurers.”
“I am certain of it. But not to worry. They also have Audrey to look after them.”
Almera was still worried about the young woman. She was obviously still hiding things from all of them, even Saxloc. It was worrying. But they would just have to trust her, because she was also their daughter, at least as far as Almera was concerned.
“We’re eating out aren’t we?” he asked.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his sly expression. “We are. Round up the children and try to catch Audrey before she teleports off somewhere.”
“Yes, dear.”
She waited until he had disappeared up the stairs before forcing herself to stand. Then she headed up herself to put on a dress. She wanted to look nice for her children, however many there were of them.
Birchbark had never seen Bethany’s skin so yellow. It meant that she was happy, and so was he. His trip to Zardis had gone better than expected. And now, standing behind the house, he had just given her the good news.
“How many?” she begged, as Fern looked on with a look of amusement.
He had only told her that he had found two caverns with survivors, one of which was the one he had spared. That had delighted him. Well, once he managed to convince them he wasn’t there to kill them. They had been understandably suspicious.
“Thirty adults and eleven young,” he announced.
Bethany took a step forward. “Then I should go to them. Please. Can I?”
He allowed his smile to fade. “I’m afraid not. They are already running low on supplies. I’m going to arrange for them to come here.”
“How?” She was nearly back to pale blue.
“I can’t tell you yet.” He could still hardly believe it himself.
On the way home he had stopped in the Witch’s City and spoken to Medea, who was one of his oldest friends. And that had led him to Audrey, a girl he barely knew. She had agreed to help, but he still needed to arrange everything. For one thing, all of them were going to need a place to live. The keep could probably be made to serve for now, but it was going to require some work. Fortunately, the ogres had already agreed to lend their assistance.
He soon dispatched Bethany to start working with the ogres. That would keep her busy for a while. Then he told Fern how he was going to transport the other amalgams to Tritown. This Fern had never met Audrey, but she would soon.
Next year would be interesting. When the weather warmed, they would begin working to restore Faral, to make it into a home for the amalgams, including Bethany. He was looking forward to the challenge.
“Well done, beloved,” said Fern as she wrapped an arm around his waist. “This will, perhaps, in some manner atone for the sins of my previous self.”
Birchbark gave his new/old wife a gentle kiss and then led her inside.
42
‡ Fate ‡
Weaver of fates.
Those words, which the crystalloids had used to describe Lasrina, kept coming to mind. Beauty and luck were the two attributes most often associated with the goddess. Thinking about it, Aliva realized that praying for luck was essentially asking for an alteration of one’s fate. And what she had heard directly from Lasrina herself—all the talk of avoiding undesirable paths, choosing among futures—simply confirmed the description. Lasrina was indeed the weaver of fates.
Aliva put down the stylus she had been using to sketch out a dress design. It was a dreary day in Rohoville, cold and with unpredictable bouts of rain. She just didn’t feel motivated. And besides, it was much more interesting to think about how small events could effect major changes over time.
When she had elected to leave Kaldir and return with her friends to the Witch’s City, Aliva had made a seemingly minor mistake. She had never met Petra before, but she could tell that the girl was infatuated with Gabriel. Aliva’s jest that Gabriel was now her boyfriend had resulted not in laughter but in Petra throwing a massive tantrum. That had led to Petra being sent to Rohoville to live with Branwyn, Milric, and their daughter, Valwyn.
But it didn’t end there. Unbeknownst to anyone, the Collector had been waiting for an opportunity to abduct a witch. Petra’s relocation created an opportunity. That had led not only to Petra’s abduction but also to Valwyn and Hanna being taken. And so Aliva’s well-intentioned joke had resulted in traumatic experiences for three young girls. The good news was that they had not only survived but seemed stronger for it.
There was another oddity. Why, after finally making it back to the Witch’s City, had she promptly agreed to help escort Siljan back to her temple? In hindsight, it made no sense. Temples rarely welcomed demons (unless they were the ones that had summoned them), and the weather at that time had been terrible. Being worried about Ariel had been her excuse at the time, but that no longer rang true. Her friend had been in the perfect place for someone with her issues.
And that led her to think about Audrey. That trip was when the two of them had first met. Aliva had immediately been taken by the clearly overwhelmed teenage girl. She had made a real effort to befriend Audrey, answering her questions and giving advice. It had been the beginning of their friendship.
Audrey’s life was filled with unbelievable instances of good fortune (although there had certainly been some misfortune as well). Audrey had ended up living with the wealthiest family in the Witch’s City. She had turned out to have a real talent for unarmed combat, soon becoming Grasapa’s prize student. Morton’s magical gauntlet, which Aliva had helped to obtain, had turned out to be the perfect as a way to enhance Audrey’s combat skills when she was out adventuring. And this was the girl who still maintained that she had just wanted to find a job and a simple place to live in the Witch’s City!
But all of that paled compared to what Audrey had now become. That ring had made her the most powerful person in all of Andoran’s Realm. That had been a direct result of Audrey being given the brooch with Andoran’s symbol on it. And that had only happened because Farmerton had burned to the ground. Had Lasrina engineered that as well?
Tired of trying to work it all out, Aliva decided to just ask. “Lasrina, how long have you been manipulating Audrey’s life?” She had nearly given up hope when the answer finally came.
It started before she was even born.
The admission startled Aliva. “You arranged for Andoran to father Karin?”
I did not. That piece was already in place.
“What about those giant crocodiles that attacked Farmerton? I asked when I was there. No one had heard about anything like them before. And, as far as I know, they never came back.”
They were the last, preserved for that purpose and disposed of afterward.
“That’s horrible,” cried Aliva. “A little girl was torn apart and eaten in front of her own sister.”
It was necessary. The words rang with both sincerity and sorrow.
“It always seemed unbelievable to me how Saxloc and the others showed up at just the right time to save Audrey’s life.” And then they had arrived at Alessandra’s temple just in time to save her—another incredible coincidence. “They were only there because Wilkin had traveled to the Witch’s City to demand the return of his boat. The timing had to be just right,” she added.
You are thinking too small. Wilkin’s wife had to die young in order to fuel his obsession with the boat named after her. Your friends’ need for that particular boat required that a magical map be found
at the proper time.
Aliva’s mind was whirling. Lasrina had never been so forthright, so willing to reveal secrets.
But those were minor manipulations, continued the goddess. Unlikely couplings needed to be arranged in order to assure the birth of certain individuals.
“Does that include me?” asked Aliva, clutching her chest.
Yes.
The word echoed in Aliva’s head, seeming to grow in intensity rather than fading. It was all too much. The manipulation had started more than a century ago, maybe longer. Suddenly everything was called into question. Had Lasrina caused the Great Cold? That had killed millions, but without it Draymund and others would never have ended up in Andoran’s Realm. Then there would have been no Saxloc to save Audrey’s life in Farmerton. Thinking about it all was making her head ache horribly.
You are overthinking the matter, came Lasrina’s soothing voice. Events are allowed to proceed normally whenever possible. Small changes over long periods of time are the norm. And my orchestrations are fluid, constantly changing to adapt to the unexpected or interference from others.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
Barring unforeseen perturbations, the two of us will not be speaking again for some time. You are on the correct path now, as is Audrey. And there are others that you have not even met as of yet. All of you have roles to play, duties and responsibilities that will be revealed in time.
Fare well, Aliva, daughter of Albert and Wiva. You have served us well.
Aliva’s heart was pounding as she simply sat and stared out the rain-streaked window. Her entire world had been turned upside down. Unlikely events might have been deliberately favored, or they might just be random. Sorting it all out was impossible. Only a god or goddess could hope to understand it. She knew intuitively that she would never tell anyone else about what she had learned even if it was permitted.
Aliva cleared her head and got back to work, but she was soon interrupted by a loud rapping on the front door. She pulled it open and simply stared in shock. Lasrina had promised that she would see him in person, and here he was. “Father!” she cried as she threw herself into his welcoming arms.
It was magnificent. The view seemed to go on forever. The sky was strewn with colorful stars, more than anyone could hope to count. The nearly full moon blazed with pure white light. She had never seen anything like it.
Audrey floated high above the Witch’s City, so high that the air felt as thin as it had when she visited Xlee. She was miles high but not at all afraid. But she really should have worn a heavier cloak. After a moment’s thought, she queried the ring. Soon she felt nice and warm. The number of powers she had access to was incredible.
After rotating to face north, Audrey gazed at the two farming villages that were connected to the city by causeways. In one lived her best friend. Violet had clearly not believed the lies that Audrey had told her, but she hadn’t said anything. In the other village lived much of Conrad’s family. She had barely told him anything, and he hadn’t asked. He really was the perfect boyfriend for her at this time of her life.
Life in Farmerton had been simple. There was no magic or alchemy. Few people were even literate. They were just farmers trying to eke out a living. And when someone died, they were dead for good. Despite that, and despite the fact that her home village was no more, most of her memories were happy ones. Life in Farmerton had been simple, but it had been a good life.
Even though Audrey had chosen to leave Farmerton, her family had remained important to her. She had been devastated when she thought that she had lost them all. The news of her cousins’ survival had cheered her, but they had also lost their mother. Now Audrey had her mother back, not that she could mention that to most people. That made her incredibly happy.
The path Audrey now found herself on was daunting. Her responsibilities were enormous, and they weighed heavily on her. She worried that she wasn’t up to the task, that she would fail the people that called Andoran’s Realm home. But there was no turning back.
“Guardian Ring #1,” she said aloud, throwing the words into the night.
Audrey had worn it on a whim. The simple metal band really had just been a ring of teleportation at first. But then it had recognized her, evaluated her, changed her. She knew, because that information was now available to her. Andoran had begun the research that led to the ring nearly two centuries ago when it first became apparent that many of the Eyes were flawed. An appalling number had taken their own lives. Others he had been forced to destroy when they began to exhibit aberrant behavior, disobeying him and committing acts of senseless violence. A few had even turned on each other.
Andoran had finished the ring shortly before his death (which she suspected he had known was coming), but there was no mention of other rings. Had he originally planned to make seven but then changed his mind? Or was the number, like the ring itself, simply misdirection? Even the word guardian wasn’t really accurate. The Eyes had been able to draw power from the Realm, but they were simply empowered humans. Audrey could also draw upon that power, but that was because, in some indescribable fashion, she was the Realm. And maybe that was the reason there was only one ring.
Eyes of Andoran had always acted alone, and that, perhaps, had been another part of the problem. Audrey already knew that Aliva was connected to her in some fashion, and she had a feeling that there would eventually be others, maybe even people she already knew, such as her adventuring companions. And her goddess was obviously involved somehow, actually communicating directly with Aliva. (That made Audrey jealous, because she wanted to talk to Lasrina too.) The book she had read about Andoran said that he had revered all of the gods equally, but she strongly suspected that he had favored Lasrina. In any event, she wasn’t alone. And she wouldn’t hesitate to ask for help.
With a thought, Audrey was back in her cottage—back home. She opened the kitchen door and called, and Benson soon came sauntering in with his tail held high. He ignored her and went straight to his bed next to the fireplace. After lighting a fire the normal way, she knelt down on the bearskin and watched as the flames began to mount.
Utilizing her Shorinken training, Audrey slowed her breathing and relaxed her body as she focused on happy memories. But Benson soon interrupted her, purring as he rubbed his head against her left knee. She obediently changed position to make a lap that he could climb into, which he promptly did.
By the time that her cousins had reached adulthood, Benson would almost certainly be gone. Her own lifespan was another matter. She had deactivated the power for now, but she could suspend her own aging indefinitely, or at least for as long as the Realm existed. That had cemented her decision to not have children. It was bad enough that she might outlive everyone she knew.
It was good that she had taken that trip to Kaldir because leaving Andoran’s Realm was no longer an option. But even though it was small compared to the continent it was sited on, Andoran’s Realm was still quite large. And so far she had only seen a small portion of it. Who knew what wonders were still out there?
After Benson tired of being petted, Audrey drank some water, washed her face, and then donned a flannel nightgown. It was early to be going to bed, but she was scheduled to teach a class early the next morning. And even the quite possibly no-longer-human guardian of Andoran’s Realm needed her rest. Benson soon joined her in bed, and she drifted off to the sound of his gentle purring.
Here ends the tale of Audrey’s unlikely journey from farmer’s daughter to guardian of Andoran’s Realm. Her path was both long and convoluted. She overcame challenges, forged unlikely friendships, acquired new skills, and traveled to places she had never imagined. There was joy but also suffering. But through it all she remained fundamentally the village girl who had sought so desperately to change her fate: Audrey of Farmerton.
Acknowledgements
First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this book. I would greatly appreciate it if you would leave an honest review
on the retailer site where you obtained it and/or Goodreads. You can contact me directly via Facebook, Twitter, or email. For information on future books, please visit my blog and sign up for the newsletter.
Blog: https://mgreggroe.com
Facebook: M. Gregg Roe
Twitter: @M_Gregg_Roe
Email: [email protected]
This book incorporates portions of actual Dungeons & Dragons adventures that I ran. “Tunnels and Troglodytes” was run on January 14, 2017. “Le Tour de Kaldir” was run on October 15, 2017.
Special thanks to Brian Chevrier, Kat Chevrier, and Kirsten Blair for providing feedback on the initial draft and later revisions. Thanks to many others for providing support and encouragement. The cover was created by Brandi McCann (http://www.ebook-coverdesigns.com).
Index of Names
Abigail – Romee’s deceased mother
Adrian – talented spell-caster and alchemist; married to Asria
Agvak – the leader of the ogres that live in Tritown
Albert – powerful and eccentric wizard who lives on Kaldir; Aliva’s father
Aldruth – Audrey’s sister that died while very young
Alessandra – Priestess of Kyran with a drinking problem; one of Siljan’s teachers
Alinda – daughter of Adrian and Asria; studying archery and sword-fighting
Aliva – half-succubus daughter of Albert and Wiva; talented seamstress
Almera – Saxloc’s meddling mother; married to Draymund; gardening enthusiast
Andoran – god-like wizard that created Andoran’s Realm; deceased
Andrea – the name that Tia now goes by
Anton – Audrey’s deceased father
Ariel – Grasapa’s daughter; married to Dayne; Warrior of Kyran