Making his way down the narrow wooden stairs, Thorik was excited about seeing his family and friends. The other Nums had been waiting below deck until the captain gave them the all clear. They all stood up when they felt the ship launch into the river.
“Granna!” Thorik yelled with pleasure as he entered their room. She was the closest to the door, and his first greeting. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it out of there without your foresight.” He hugged her tight before releasing her.
Smiling and nodding her head, decorated with various feathers and leaves, Gluic replied, “Sometimes when I grab for a stone I drop a crystal.” Wrinkles tightened around her mouth and eyes as she smiled, causing the soul-markings on her forehead to appear to change shape.
“Very true,” Thorik said with laugh. “I do so miss your view of the world.”
“Not mine, child. Yours.” Pulling one of the feathers from her hair, she placed it into his.
Confused, he didn’t have time to respond, for the young female Num captured his attention. She had been standing in a corner holding onto her pet lizard. “Avanda, I’m so glad to see you’re unharmed. I was so worried about you.”
Reaching out to hug her, Thorik was grabbed by the front of his shirt and pushed up against a wall by his uncle. “I suppose you’re proud of yourself!” His face tense, Brimmelle used his body weight to keep the boy where he was. Furious at his nephew over Avanda’s incident, his thick eyebrows wedged together while he yelled at Thorik. “You let her be violated!”
“No, I didn’t know about it until afterward.” Thorik weighed half that of his uncle and struggled to pull his back off the wall. Even though they weren’t in Farbank any longer, Brimmelle was still his Fir, and rightful leader of the Nums. Thorik would never disrespect the position by taking a swing at him.
“On top of that, you didn’t tell me about your idiotic plan to get in the mine. I had to find out from your grandmother.”
“I knew if I had told you, you wouldn’t have let me go.”
“There is a good reason for that!” Fir Brimmelle yelled. “You could have been killed. And Avanda nearly was!”
Thorik’s grandmother stepped up and placed a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Brimmelle, the boy meant no harm.”
Thorik was thankful that she intervened. She had once again come to his rescue.
Brimmelle shrugged his shoulder, pulling away from her tender hand. “Not this time, Mother. You aren’t going to mediate our problems any more. I’ll handle him like I should have long ago.”
“You think I’m here to be a mediator and keep you from arguing?” she asked with a smirk.
“Not any more. Take Avanda back to our rooms. Thorik and I need to resolve some issues.”
Astonished, yet impressed, with Brimmelle’s stance against her, Gluic gave him devilish grin. “As you say, my son.” Turning, she walked over to hold Avanda’s hand and lead her out of the room.
Thorik’s heart sunk. His grandmother had always helped him out of these types of situations in the past. Where was she going?
Gluic winked at Thorik as she left the room.
Pressed firmly against the wall, Thorik watched Avanda leave as well, lowering her head after sneaking a glance at him, before closing the door behind her.
The moment the door shut, Brimmelle pulled his nephew from the wall and tossed him across the room.
Thorik landed on their supplies, breaking glass jars and spilling open bags. Thorik’s sack of Runestones emptied across the floor as he watched his uncle cross the room toward him. “I’m sorry. I had no idea Avanda was in danger.”
“That’s no excuse,” Brimmelle demanded.
Thorik pushed the supplies out of his way as he worked himself back onto his feet. “How could I have possibly known?”
Brimmelle kneaded his hands as he brewed about the incident. “You have to think ahead and be responsible for what could happen. She was in your care. She was your responsibility.”
“You’re one to talk. How could you let her walk into the city unescorted to find me? This is as much your fault as it is mine.”
Brimmelle’s face flushed with anger, and his Num soul-marking changed to a dark red. “That is enough! I am done with this. I’ve traveled across these lands for you, placing my followers and myself in constant danger. For what? Your disobedience? You’re blaming these issues on me?”
“No. We did this for the saving of Australis, and the saving of Ericc.”
Standing firm with an unpleasant scowl on his face, he raised up one of his overly bushy eyebrows. “So, where is Ericc? I thought the entire reason for us not returning home this last time was for you to enter the mine and free him. Surely this new fat friend of yours, the captain, hasn’t led us astray.”
“Actually, he didn’t. Ericc was in the mines, as he had said. I talked to him.”
Looking around the room, as though he expected Ericc to suddenly appear out of thin air, he asked, “Good, but I don’t see him. Tell me that you didn’t fail, again.”
“I didn’t fail.”
“Then where is he?”
“He escaped before we could break him out.”
“Why would he escape without you?”
“He escaped to travel to Corrock.”
“Again, you failed to recover him and fulfill Ambrosius’ dying wish. You’ve given this a solid attempt, but as you can see, it’s futile. It is time we return to Farbank.”
“We can’t. He plans to hunt down Darkmere. He’ll be killed.”
“Sounds just like his father. The one who led us from our homes in the first place. The one who led the provinces and Altereds into a civil war, which killed most of these people. We would be better off without the both of them.”
“You don’t understand. I have to go after him.”
“No you don’t. You have no debt to that man. He’s not part of your village, your faith, or your family. We, on the other hand, are your family, and yet you continue to place us in danger to follow the desire of a dead man who isn’t.”
“But I owe him.”
“Why? Why must you owe that E’rudite anything? He led us all to Weirfortus. He put himself in a position, which would cost him his life, when we all could have escaped. This is not your responsibility. It was his doing.”
Thorik snapped back at his uncle. “My chest hurts every day from the memories of allowing Ambrosius to die as I stood by and watched. You have no idea what I’m going though.”
“No idea? You repugnant ignorant boy. Do you not recall my saving your life during the storm that took your parents?”
Thorik was furious at the comparison. “You can’t use that against me anymore. I’ve paid my debt to you!” His voice cracked with anger. “Besides, it’s completely different, you saved me. You didn’t sit by and allow me to die.”
“No, even worse, I allowed your mother to die!” Brimmelle yelled back. It felt liberating for him to finally tell the boy of his mother’s true fate, which had been bottled up inside him for years.
“What are you talking about? My mother and I were being caught in the flooded river. She was able to help me up onto a tree before she was swept away. I watched as she sank. She died saving my life.”
“No, she died while I was saving your life.”
“That’s not true.” His face flushed with emotion over the traumatic topic. “I owe her my life and would pay it back if I could.”
“But you can’t,” Fir Brimmelle snapped back. “When I reached you and my sister in that thunderstorm, she had been washed down to an exposed boulder. A section of the hill had just given way and a large wave of debris barreled down the mountainside toward all of us. I only had time to save one of you.”
Guilt overcame anger as Thorik reflected on his existence costing his mother her very own. “You made the wrong choice.”
“I know.” Brimmelle’s teeth clenched. “She was a good woman. The only person I could ever fully trust. And you stole her from me.”
&nb
sp; Thorik wasn’t expecting his uncle to agree with him, and yet somehow he wasn’t surprised by it either.
Recalling the dreadful night, Brimmelle gazed at Thorik. “Turning my back to her, I escaped with you in my arms. I couldn’t face seeing her eyes, knowing I wouldn’t have time to reach out to the boulder and pull her to shore.” Brimmelle’s face twisted as though he had eaten a sour lemon. “Once you and I were safe, I looked back to see that she had made her way to the ledge and had crawled up on her own. Safe from the rushing river, but not from the newly raging mudslide. It swept her away before my very eyes.” Bowing his head he wiped his nose. “All she needed was a few more seconds to reach safety. A few more steps. All she needed was for me to help her. But I failed her. My fear of running back down into danger killed her. My desire for our security. My fear. My selfishness.”
“Why take it out on me?”
“I wouldn’t have had to endure the sight of her death if you had stayed put. By following you into that valley, I saved your life, but cursed my own. Every time I look at you, I hate myself for the cowardly way I let her die.”
“Then why take me on as your Sec?”
“It’s my way of paying my debt to her. Being a Fir and teaching the Mountain King’s words is the only thing I know. What else could I give you?”
“How about encouragement and support for what I want?”
“That’s what I gave my sister. By doing so, I encouraged her to take risks and search out her dreams, costing the lives of both her and your father. My endorsement to search for greater things set them off on their quest past Spirit Peak. I was such a fool to listen to Su’I Sorat. His tales of treasure enticed all of us to forget what was important. At least until it was too late. I learned a hard lesson about trusting outsiders which I will never forget, nor will I ever fall for again.”
Chapter 11
Stained River