by Wolfe Locke
Thank the tree gods, the Titan said. It was so claustrophobic in there. Promise me we’ll never have to do that again.
“Uh,” Zander said. “I can’t promise you that. I know you hated it, but you were a great team in battle.”
Well, give me a little warning first next time.
Rocktooth sighed and stretched his arms above his head. All right. I need a break after that. Heading back to the other world. See you in a few days.
Zander looked at him blankly. “Huh?”
Bye.
With a pop, the golem vanished. Zander stared at the empty spot where he had been, shocked.
“I didn’t know that he could do that,” he said.
There’s a lot you don’t know about summons, child, the Forest Titan said. You’ve got your work cut out for you if you want to pursue this as a career.
“Right,” Zander said. “So they say.”
Celeste had come down from the sky and changed back to human form, and she wrapped her cloak around herself to cover up. “There’s no way I’m going to sleep after this. Should we just push on toward Haven?”
“Yeah. I guess. We should be able to get there by morning, and we can rest in the village. Hopefully things are all right there.”
“They will be,” Celeste said gently. “We killed Dagon. We stopped him from doing to Haven what he did to Meoxia. Things will be fine. Everyone there is safe from the threat.”
“Yeah. Hope Dagon was the only threat. That reminds me, too.”
He bent down and worked one of the demon’s sharp canines out of his mouth.
“I have to tell the village Elders about this,” he said. “But they’ll be skeptical that we actually did this. They always want proof.”
“Well, you know what they want better than I do,” Terra said, making a face. “But keep that thing away from me. It’s gross.”
Notification: You have defeated a Grand Demon. The experience has left its own mark on you. You will experience change in subtle ways in the coming days. Other demons will not as easily find you.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Haven and Beyond
They traveled all night, moving quickly through the forest, and arrived at Haven just after dawn. Zander felt a moment of panic right before they turned the corner to the village. What if they’d arrived too late? What if something had gone wrong? What if there were more demons on the loose? He knew it was paranoid, but he couldn’t let anything happen to his home.
When they finally limped into the village, though, all was well. The early morning sunlight filtered through the trees and cast rippling shadows on the ground, and he could hear the soothing tones of birdsong coming from the meadow behind the town.
“That’s a nuthatch,” he said excitedly.
“I know,” Terra said. “I’m a wood nymph. I know all the birds in this area”
It was still early, but some of the villagers were already out and about, gathering downed wood from the forest and tending to the animals. Children rushed out to greet them, smiling.
“Careful,” Zander muttered to Celeste. “They’ll try to get you to give them presents. Don’t fall for it. They’re all spoiled—every last one of them.”
They heard hoofbeats behind them, and they turned to see a tall elf riding up the path on a gray stag.
“Taura!” Zander said. “Guys, this is our village leader. He and I are old friends. Grew up together.”
“Look at you!” Taura said, pulling up next to them. “You all look terrible. Where did you go this time?”
“Atlanta.” Zander responded.
“Get anything good?” Was the reply.
“Inheritances. And lots of them. But we need to talk. We ran into Dagon on the way back, and—” Zander explained.
“Dagon? Are you nuts?” Taura was shocked.
“No. And that’s not the only thing. We killed him.” Zander was beaming.
He rummaged through his pack and pulled the tooth out. Taura took it from him and inspected it closely, frowning.
“This is from a grand demon, all right,” he said. “Mind if I take this to the elders? We’ll need to have a council about this. Decide what to do.”
“Go ahead.” Zander nodded.
“In the meantime, take whatever you need from the village stores. Rest up and heal." Taura suggested "There’ll be a market later today if you want to offload some of your goods.”
“Thanks. We’ll check it out.” Zander responded, ready to see what was out there.
“I’ll be in touch later today about the council,” Taura said. “We’ll probably have some questions for you.”
He dug his spurs into the elk’s sides and galloped off toward the chief’s house at the top of the hill, likely to talk to the Elders about Dagon. Zander hoped they’d listen.
More elves came out to greet them as they pushed farther into the village, looking at them with wonder. Zander had never come back with companions before, and the children of Haven peeked at Celeste shyly from behind their mothers’ legs. The attitude was respectful—while the villagers couldn’t possibly know what they’d been through, it was clear to everyone that they’d just been in a difficult fight. Laurel, the village healer, pushed his way to the front of the crowd.
“Need healing?” he said. “You all look like you’ve been through the wringer.”
They all gratefully accepted Laurel’s offer, and he handed them a small satchel full of potions.
“Elves have powerful healing magic,” Zander explained. “And Laurel’s one of the best we have. His stuff will heal you in seconds.”
“Bottoms up,” Celeste said, clinking her potion vial with Caroline’s. They both drank their potions in one big gulp, like a shot.
“Yeah!” the cat said, shaking out her wounded arm. “This feels great. It’s completely fine now.”
“Told you,” Zander said—a little smugly. He was proud of what his village could do.
They went back to his cottage to rest while he traded the inheritances he’d gathered in Atlanta. Terra hesitated at the door.
“This is a house?” she said, looking uncertain. “I’ve never been in a house before.”
You can stay with me outside, if you’d like, the Forest Titan said. I’m going to sit by the woodpile and mourn for the trees that died so that elves could have warm homes and campfires.
“No,” said Terra uncomfortably. “I’ll try the house.”
“It’s nice in here!” Caroline said from inside. “Cozy. You’ve done a nice job with it, Zander.”
“Yeah, not bad,” Celeste said. “You know, I don’t normally expect guys to be good at decorating.”
“I’m an elf. Maybe humans are different. We like our homes to be welcoming.”
Once he was satisfied the others were settled in, he headed to the market. It had just opened, but the stalls were already crowded with villagers trying to buy groceries and goods for the weekend.
“Hey, Rek,” he said, sidling up to his usual buyer.
“Zander. What you got for me today?” The Merchant asked with a smile.
Rek was tall and scrawny, with a long white beard that hid his real age. He was a lot younger than he looked, but he wanted to appear to be a canny old man who drove a hard bargain and no one in Haven had ever bothered to question his act. Zander had always suspected the beard was dyed.
“Lots of nice things,” he said, dumping some of the contents of his [Spatial Ring] on the counter and pulling everything else out of storage. Rek inspected everything carefully, squinting through his green glass monocle.
“Valuable,” he said. “A lot of valuable items. No junk this time. You’re learning.”
Zander grimaced. When he’d first started scavenging, he hadn’t known what was good and what was worthless. He’d wasted a lot of time and energy carrying things he couldn’t sell.
Rek set the last inheritance down. “Five thousand sols. And not a penny more.”
“Five—thousand?” Zander’s jaw almost h
ung open in shock. That was more cash than he’d ever had in his life. “Are you sure?”
“Never been more sure of anything." rek admitted, "You did good work today, Zander. Keep it up.”
Privately, Zander prayed that he didn’t have to ‘keep it up’. He hoped that his scavenger days were numbered, and that soon he’d be able to move on to summoning full time. But he didn’t tell Rek that. There was no point in severing a useful business contact before he’d actually made the jump. He still might need to sell to Rek for a while yet.
Cash in hand, he sauntered over to the training booth.
“Welcome back, Zander,” Mira said. She was the village’s Master-at-Arms, and she ran the booth every Sunday at market. He’d always admired her. As a child he’d thought she could do anything, and part of him still believed it.
“Training session, please!” he said, throwing three thousand sols down on the table. Mira’s eyes widened.
“Good haul?” she said.
“The best yet.” Zander admitted.
“What’s your specialty today?” She asked.
He grinned. “Summons. Whatever you’ve got, I’ll take.”
“Coming right up.” She responded.
She rummaged on the shelves behind her, looking for the scroll she wanted. Finally, she found it and dropped it in front of him. “Summons,” she said. “New abilities. I think you’ll like this one.”
He unfurled the scroll, greedy for the knowledge, and felt the new ability enter his brain with a rush. An ability that would further hone Rocktooth's power.
Still a little dizzy, he thanked Mira and headed back to his cottage. He’d done his work for the morning, and he still had two thousand sols in his pocket. It was time to rest.
Felt you learn something, the Forest Titan said as he approached the cottage. Powerful techniques you’ve got here. Thanks for that.
“No problem. Hey, Forest Titan, if you’re going to come with us for the rest of our journey—what’s your name? Do you have one?”
I do.
Zander waited.
But it’s for me to know and you to not know.
“Oh,” he said, deflated. “That’s fine.” The Titan was kind of a buzzkill. He hoped Rocktooth came back soon.
Terra and Caroline approached him when he entered the cottage. Both of them looked nervous.
“What’s going on?” he said. “Everything okay?”
“We were thinking,” Caroline said eagerly.
“Realistically, I was thinking,” Terra added.
“How would you feel about us coming along with you? Permanently?” Terra pressed.
“On scavenging missions?” he said. “Or--?”
“Wherever you go,” Caroline said. “Fighting Dagon was hard, but sort of fun. Rewarding, at least. And there’s not much for me in Meoxia anymore.”
“I want to go back to my forest,” Terra said. “Eventually. But there’s a lot of world to see. I want to see it.”
“Terra, I mostly just go to Atlanta and back,” Zander said. “I’m not adventuring all over the world or anything.”
“Still. It’s more than I’ve ever done. I want to come with you.”
He thought about it. “Okay. Sure!”
“Really?” They asked in unison.
“Yeah. It’s nice to have friends who aren’t Rocktooth. He’s cool, but—you know how he is. Terse.”
“I like Rocktooth!” Celeste shouted from the corner of the room. “He’s great. Worth his weight in gold.”
Zander agreed, but he was still a little miffed about the golem’s sudden disappearance. He didn’t respond, just scowled in her direction and headed to bed for a long midday nap.
Just after sunset, a messenger pounded on his door.
“Council’s meeting,” he said gruffly. “Up at the chief’s house. The Elders have already been talking all day, but they want to get your input.”
“Gladly,” Zander said, pulling his cloak around his shoulders. “Be there in a moment.”
Celeste got up to follow him, but the messenger stood in her way. “Sorry, miss. Elves only for this one. I’m sure you’ll understand.”
“Sure,” she said. “I get it. Tell us how it goes, Zander.”
He followed the messenger up the hill toward Taura’s house, trying to quell his anxiety. If the Elders had been talking all day, what had they been talking about? Would they take this threat to Haven’s safety seriously?
“Ah,” Taura said when he arrived. “Good. We’ve been waiting for you. We all looked at the fang you gave us, and we’ve determined that it’s definitely from a grand demon.”
“Great!” Zander said. “So what are we doing?”
“Sit down,” Taura said, gesturing toward the high bench at the head of the meeting hall. “The Elders want to talk to you.”
He sat and looked out over the assembled council. They were a pack of scrawny greybeards, and their eyes were full of fear.
“Who are you?” one of them said, leaning on his cane. “A mere scavenger? How could you defeat the grand demon?”
“I’m not a ‘mere scavenger’—” Zander protested, but Taura held up a hand to silence him.
“Let’s listen to the elders,” he said. “They’ve debated all day, and they have much to share.”
“The old ones are moving,” an old woman said, addressing the crowd. “First Dagon—then who else?”
“I killed Dagon. He’s dead. Haven is safe,” Zander said, but Taura hushed him into silence again.
“There are rumors of other villages being destroyed,” the old woman went on. “Meoxia. Red Hills. Decatur Wood. That can’t all be Dagon’s doing. There are others. I’m sure of it.”
“We have to protect ourselves,” another old man said. “This scavenger here will attract the old ones’ attention.”
“Wait,” Zander said. “What?”
“He must be cast out. It’s the only way. He can’t be allowed to draw evil down on our village.”
“Hold on,” Taura whispered. “Don’t worry. This has to go to a vote. These two are some of our more fiery elders. I’m sure the others won’t vote to cast you out.”
“Is there a real danger that I’m going to be banished from Haven for this?”
“Uh,” Taura said. “I don’t know.”
“A vote!” the old man said. “Now! We must decide whether the scavenger should stay or go!”
“Aye,” the Elders chorused. “To a vote.”
“Aye for go, Nay for stay!”
Taura gave him an anxious look as the Elders pulled out the white and black stones and bronze tallying bowls that they used for voting. For the first time, Zander started to worry that he was going to come out on the wrong end of this. But that was crazy—right? Surely they wouldn’t actually cast him out of Haven. This was his home.
“To the bowls!” the old man said. “Drop your tallies. Black is Aye. White is Nay. Think of Haven as you cast your votes. Think of our future!”
Taura watched the Elders drop their stones in the bowl, face pale. It was hard to tell how the vote was going, and Zander resorted to staring down at the table in front of him, trying to keep his thoughts positive. He had no control over what happened, either way.
The tally was close, at least. Zander took some comfort in that. But the Ayes had it. The council of Elders voted to banish him from Haven forever. Taura, at least, voted against it, as did many of the Elders he’d known from childhood. But many Elders that he’d thought were safe, that he’d shared wonderful experiences with, voted to cast him out.
“I’m so sorry,” Taura said as they filed out, faces grim. “They’re scared. It makes people act in weird ways. If it helps, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get the provisions you need. Heal up, free potions, whatever it takes. Spend the night here.”
“But then go,” Zander said, heartbroken.
“Yes,” Taura said. “And then go. Head south toward New Panama in the morning. Take the coast
as much as you can. Stay safe. Here—you should even sleep in. Don’t leave at first light, or anything. I can definitely do that much.”
It wasn’t enough, and they both knew it. They parted ways in silence, and Zander went back to tell the girls, still in a state of shock.