Returning to the campsite with Santorray, Thorik held his head down low as he listened to the loud crashes of spheres from the glade. Flashes of light helped him see his way, now that the sun had set, and the cool winds cascaded down from the Cuev’Laru mountains into camp.
“Congratulations!” Grewen’s typical baritone voice bellowed forth once he noticed Thorik walk into camp. The Mognin was busy twisting a thick flaming log into the sole of his foot. Sparks flew as he moaned from the enjoyable feeling it gave him.
“Not now, Grewen. I let Granna down and am not ready for an argument.”
Turning his foot, the giant began working the fiery end of the log between his toes. “I was being serious.”
Thorik sighed and picked his head up to view the camp. There, on the far side of the fire, was Bryus and Avanda reading through the book of magic. “How did you find it? I searched all day and nearly had it twice but I wasn’t able to hold on.”
Bryus glanced up at the Num and smiled. “I simply stood on the edge of the glade and waited for it to appear. When it did, I just walked out, picked it up, and brought it back to camp. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”
Avanda looked at Thorik and winked at him. She was glad to see that he had returned to camp but was at the moment very enthralled with what Bryus was teaching her from the book, Vesik.
Thorik was slightly disheartened at her lack of excitement over his return. Even if she hadn’t known how perilous his adventure had been, he still had hoped for her to run over and welcome him back. But she didn’t and for some reason it made his chest feel tight and his stomach churn. He found himself missing her attention.
Santorray patted Thorik on the back. “It doesn’t matter how it was achieved. Success of the mission is what’s important. The book has been found and now your grandmother can be freed.”
Grewen placed his log back into the fire and straightened his legs so the flames would work their way between all his spread out toes. “Oh, Bryus makes it sound simple. But if you hadn’t stirred up that hornets’ nest of spheres, it could have taken him months or even years before it would have appeared.”
“To be honest, I nearly didn’t make it.” Thorik glanced about to see if anyone was willing to listen.
“But you did,” Brimmelle said without any empathy toward his nephew. “So, now that you’re here why don’t you start cooking supper. We haven’t eaten yet.”
All of the gear from Thorik’s pack had been piled up near the main roaring fire. Bryus had created his own smaller second fire, like usual. No beds had been created, no herbs had been gathered, and no one had even gathered water from the nearby stream. “You waited for me to return to cook for you?”
Brimmelle raised one of his thick eyebrows at the young man’s tone. “Don’t be ungrateful. We could have eaten hours ago, but I insisted that we waited for you.”
“I don’t know how to thank you enough.” Thorik didn’t attempt to hide his sarcastic tone.
“Well, you can start by making us something to eat,” Fir Brimmelle shot back at him.
“I’m not your servant, nor your cook. Everyone needs to start sharing some responsibilities around camp.” Thorik stomped the rest of the way into camp and threw his empty backpack down on top to his gear, knocking the pile over. “What would you have done if I hadn’t survived? Would you have even noticed until you became hungry? Would you have all ended up starving to death?”
Grewen cleared his throat. “Um, Thorik, not to change the subject, but-”
“No! I don’t want to change the subject. I’ve had enough of this. I’m tired of carrying more than my fair share of weight around here.”
Grewen cleared his throat again and pointed toward the fire. “Thorik, your backpack is on fire.”
“What?” Thorik yelled as he jumped for the pack and dragged it to safety before stomping out the flames. Flushed with adrenaline, he continued to stomp on his pack to take out his frustrations.
Once he had relieved himself of his anger, he looked up from his sorry excuse for a backpack, knowing he would have to apologize for his overreaction. But instead he saw Bryus teaching Avanda magic while Grewen was lying on his back, slowly chewing on a shrub and getting ready to fall asleep. Everyone had apparently ignored his outburst.
Brimmelle sat next to the fire, waiting for dinner. “I’ll start reciting our nightly Mountain King readings while you make us something to eat. Perhaps I’ll discuss controlling one’s temper.”
Once he cleaned up after they ate, Thorik sat next to Grewen, who was also sitting while chewing on local vegetation. Leaning his back up against the giant’s side, he watched Avanda, who listened intently to what Bryus was saying for nearly two hours. Thorik finally commented to the Mognin. “She’s really grown up, hasn’t she?”
Grewen swallowed a handful of local weeds before answering. “You both have. Your stint in Della Estovia appears to have stolen several years from each of you.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Not what we look like, but how much she’s matured since we left Farbank.”
Grewen had underestimated how much time he had before he would need to talk again, and had tossed half a shrub into his mouth while Thorik was talking. “Yes,” was all the Mognin was able to manage without losing all of his food down his chest.
“We nearly died in Della Estovia.”
Grewen gave a quick swallow but wasn’t able to get it all down. “If you had, your spirit wouldn’t have had to travel far afterward.” His little joke slipped past Thorik’s ears but caused the Mognin to chuckle uncontrollably, as he sprayed leaves and small branches into the fire.
Thorik’s focus was not to be swayed from Avanda. “We became very close down there.”
Choking on a limb, Grewen pounded his chest. “I noticed.”
“Sharing such trauma can strengthen a relationship, you know.” Thorik leaned slightly forward as he watched her.
Pounding his chest again to dislodge the branch, the Mognin nodded his head in agreement.
“But I think something existed between us before we went through all that suffering. And I’m concerned that I want to be closer to her.” Thorik looked up at his companion. “Would it be wrong to fall in love with her? After all, she was once my student.”
A loud snap could be heard in Grewen’s throat as the limb finally busted and slid down into his stomach. After a quick sigh of relief, the Mognin glanced over at Avanda. “It looks like she is Bryus’ student now. She hasn’t been your student since I met you.”
Thorik’s eyebrows raised at the observation. “You’re right. She’s my equal…but I have another concern.”
Pulling another shrub from its roots, Grewen decided to wait until his conversation with Thorik had ended before filling his endless hunger. “And what would that be?”
“Em.”
“What about her? Emilen has been gone a long time.”
“I know, but I still dream about her.”
“Thorik, she led all of us into Darkmere’s trap and nearly got us killed. How can you possibly have feelings for her?”
“I’m still not certain that she had control over her own will. Darkmere’s amulet controlled his followers. How could she be held responsible for her actions? Instead we should be concerned that she is still being held under his powers.”
“Little man, I know how much you cared for her. But I also know that no matter how strong of an enchantment someone may have over another, you cannot cause anyone to do something that is against their core values.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that. People and events are going to influence you all the time. Some are going to entice you with power or seduce you with lust, while others will enchant you into believing you are doing the right thing. Life is full of temptations. But none of these can force you to do something that you are hard-fast against. They can only play on your existing desires in order to push you further.”
“Maybe that’s what hap
pened. Darkmere’s amulet enticed her.”
“To commit murder? To kill her own family? To lead us into a trap to be drowned at Weirfortus? I think not. She has to have accepted these actions in some way to help carry them out.”
Thorik’s head lowered. “Perhaps you’re right. She’s just difficult to get out of my head. I still miss her.”
“Was she your first love?”
Fending off some embarrassment, Thorik looked at the ground while answering. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yes, now that you have your first out of the way, you are ready to get your head out of the clouds and see what is really available to you.”
Thorik peered up from beneath his eyebrows at Avanda. “I think you’re right, Grewen.” A long pause followed before continuing. “To be honest, she may have been right for me all along.”
Grewen waited for the Num to continue before he placed the next shrub into his mouth.
Thorik stayed silent and watched her from a distance.
Grewen finally placed the plant in his mouth and started chewing.
“Should I talk to her and let her know that I’m over Em?”
With a mouthful of limbs and leafs, Grewen sighed. He nodded his answer instead of trying to swallow fast this time.
Thorik stood up and patted his hand against Grewen’s thick skin a few times, partially out of nerves and partially out of respect for the giant’s wise words.
While walking over to the second campfire, Thorik continued to convince himself that he was finally over Em and it was time to move forward with Avanda. Bryus and Avanda stopped talking as soon as he approached. Both looked up at him and waited for him to speak. Uncomfortable about talking to her in front of Bryus, he rubbed his hands together as his throat felt like it was swelling up. “Avanda, I love…”
“Oh no! Why did that come out,” Thorik thought. He had panicked and became flustered. Sweat began to bubble up from his skin as his audience of two sat in front of him looking perplexed. His mind raced on how to finish his sentence before it became too awkward. All he wanted to do was tell her he was in love with her and not Em.
“…Em…” His mind raced, “Oh no! What am I doing? That’s not what I meant. I didn’t want to say I’m in love with Em. How can I change this? Can I just run away? Would it be safer to run back into the Govi Glade?” Then he finally said, “…Embracing new things to learn,” he corrected himself.
Rolling her lip up on one side she squinted her eyes in confusion. “What?”
“Your lessons.” Thorik smiled while hiding his panic. “I love to see you have embraced what Bryus is teaching you.”
“I thought you didn’t like me learning magic.”
“Oh no, that’s not what I meant. I…um, just don’t like you using it. It’s very dangerous.”
Avanda crossed her arms and scowled. “What’s the point of learning it if I can’t use it?”
Thorik continued to paint himself into a corner and needed a way out. “So you can recognize magic when others are using it against us,” he said quickly. “Just thought I’d let you know.” He quickly turned and walked away before she could ask him another question.
Returning to Grewen he fell forward onto Grewen’s thick arm and placed his hands over his own head in an attempt to bury his face out of the light of the campfire.
Grewen chuckled at the sight. “It could have been worse.”
“How? How could it have been any worse?”
“I don’t know.” The Mognin laughed at the situation. “You’re probably right, that’s about as bad as it gets.”
Thorik’s face pressed harder into the Mognin’s arm.
Chapter 35
Ghostly Structure