Chapter 19
The next three days went by in frustration for Mach. The prospect of being able to search for his mother as soon as he was fit again kept his nerves high, but it also impeded his recovery. The night before the Healers had promised they were going to allow him to leave, his dreams were invaded by the black eyes of the man responsible for his plight. He shivered from simply thinking of the man and each time he dreamt of him he woke in a cold sweat. There was something similar about the beady black eyes and the blood red ones he had first dreamt about after the attack on his home. There was a hunger for power and violence in them that frightened him to no end.
Miatsu was the silent sentry by his side. No matter what had happened in the past between the two of them, Mach had come to rely on the forest imp. Perhaps Miatsu was merely lost in his own thoughts, but the fact that the imp was there to answer any questions that he might have was reassuring. They had talked a lot over the last few days. Miatsu was usually the listener while he did most of the talking, and through their conversations, he realized that it was solely Miatsu's decision to continue with him instead of leaving with the others. This revelation made it possible for Mach to keep his impatience and temper under some control as he waited for the Healers to release him from their care. Despite his task to work with Mendoll and the Stones, he is staying with me…
Once the Healers allowed him to leave his room with a clean bill of health, the first stop he made was to take up George’s offer and head straight for the armory. There he outfitted himself with a new set of oxen hide leather armor, had his sword sharpened by the black smith in charge of the armory and replaced his half-ruined boots. He felt ready to take on Rubious again, and perhaps this time he may do more than merely survive. His plan was to leave the next morning with Miatsu and begin his search for his mother. He would head out and look for any signs of the woodsman’s passing outside of Selane near the forest boundary. Then, he would search the forests until he located the clearing where the woodsman had made his home.
Night had come far too quickly and he found himself sitting on the roof of the inn with Miatsu sitting by his side as always. Together the silent duo stared up at the stars above. Those stars sparkled above in the clear, dark blue sky with the yellow moon beginning its descent in the west just as the red moon of fire rose in the northeast.
He wondered what he would do when he finally found his mother and what he would do if the woodsman refused to let him take her to the Healers in Selane. Perhaps he would have to kill the man if he tried to interfere. After all, if he refused to let him take his mother to get the aid she needed, he was not there to help her. Mach could only pray that it would not come down to that.
Up on the rooftop he could clearly observe his surroundings. He could hear the sounds of the sea and the woods that he had grown up with. Crickets serenaded each other in the peaceful darkness, reaching out to their mates. Out in the distance, a lonely wolf cub cried for its mother again and again without success, echoing the endlessly crashing waves over the rocky shores north of Selane. He felt a kinship with the lost wolf cub that was crying that it was lonely and all of his surroundings calmed him greatly.
Years back, when his father was still alive, the two of them would sit on the roof of their house listening to these same crashing waves. His mother hated it for fear of them falling, but that never stopped them. The two of them would sit up there on their home and try to identify what were the sources of the sounds they heard. His father seemed to be an expert back then but as Mach caught himself listening, he noticed that he too could identify most of the sounds himself, having lived for so many years around them. Experience came with age. He wished that he could sit down and talk to his father now. A little advice would go a long way right now.
“Mach.” George’s voice came from behind him. The blacksmith had opened the roof hatch and Mach could only see the upper portion of his body. “Just wanted to let you know, that if you want any men to go with you when you start your search, you can have 'em. I can free up about twenty or so to join you on your search. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” He said quickly, seeing Mach's raised eyebrows. “You'll be the one in charge. This is your mission after all, but I also want you to have some extra protection. Especially if there's a young chimera out there, there should be an adult as well. Just something for you to consider before you leave in the morning.” George stepped down from the ladder and closed the hatch tightly.
“You take offer?” Miatsu asked softly.
He sighed into the night. “I think I will. It would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes out there. Might see something I will miss, and besides, I can probably split twenty men into three groups and cover more ground.”
He fell asleep on the rooftop with the sounds of the night as his lullaby and awoke the next morning feeling a little on edge. Just the thought of being in charge of a group of men, who were all going to be far older than him, was a little nerve racking. But as difficult as it seemed, this was definitely going to help him find his mother quickly so he was more than willing to do what was needed.
As the first sun was rising in the west, he descended into the inn and entered the dining hall, ready to leave. His comrades were all sitting at a single table, including George. Breakfast was in full swing. Mach, however, was not remotely hungry.
“Good morning, Mach.” Mendoll greeted with a small nod and a smile. “Sleep well?”
“Well enough thank you. George, I'll take you up on that offer. The sooner I find my mother the better and extra eyes will be good to have.”
George smiled confidently. “And you'll have extra muscle in case you run into trouble. Fine, I'll gather the volunteers.” Without another word, George rose from his seat and left the inn without finishing his meal. Mach was a little surprised at the word that George had used. Volunteers?
Mach sat down at the table but did not take any food. He felt a little queasy now and was not entirely sure why. “So this is where we say goodbye, then,” Mendoll said. He chuckled and added, “I mean this is where we split up for the time being. It is going to be boring without the comic relief. Neither Bastra nor I are any kind of fun.”
Mach smirked and threw a spoon at the Mage who caught it in mid-air and placed it in his own bowl of soup. Everyone at the table laughed, including Mach. He would miss the Healing Adept and the others. Perhaps he would be able to catch up with them before they went back out on their journey. Perhaps not.
“Actually,” Mendoll started gently. “The reason we are still here is to let you know that when we are done with our briefing with the king and get what we need from the capital, we will return here. We will wait for a week or two until everything is prepared. However, we cannot wait too long. If we get a lead on the location of the next Stone, we must go for it. There is a chance that Rubious may get the same information or already has it. We will send a message to you through one of the soldiers here in the town. One of the trackers that can match Sehto’s’ abilities will be ready to take anything out into the field.” Mendoll concluded. That made him feel a little better. He reached for a loaf of bread and tore a chunk off, intent on swallowing at least a little bit of breakfast.
He only waited for half an hour before leaving the inn. Though he was in a hurry to find his mother, he was also hesitant to begin his search. He had not had any of those vivid dreams for the last few days, as far as he could remember, and for all he knew she could already dead.
When he walked out of the inn to begin his quest, he was surprised to stand in front of a group of thirty men. George was standing in front of them, his back to the inn. At the sound of Mach’s footsteps behind him, the blacksmith glanced behind before turning back to face the soldiers.
“Men, I want to thank all of you for volunteering. It's good that so many of you feel strongly about aiding the Derune family in this venture. We have a missing person out there in the woods. In case you don’t know her, she's the mother of this young man. S
he is supposedly severely injured and in the care of a local woodsman. She has the same color hair as he does. Some of you from Selane may have met her at one time or another so you should know who I am speaking of.” George spoke as though he were a General issuing orders to his men, staring squarely into every man's eyes to emphasize the gravity of the situation.
“Now,” George continued, “your orders are simple. Follow and protect this young man. So far as you are concerned, this is your Captain. You will follow his will until the search is complete and Lizza Derune is safe. Do you understand?”
“Yes Sir!” All thirty men sounded off in unison.
“They're all yours, Mach,” George said, turning around, and patting him on the shoulder. “All of them are good men, they all volunteered for this. Be careful out there.” He stood for a moment and stared at Mach and for a moment he felt as if the blacksmith wanted nothing more than to reach out and hug him. George let go of his shoulders and walked back into the inn, he looked back one final time and nodded his farewell.
One of the soldiers stepped forward and saluted Mach. “Permission to speak freely, sir.” The man was young, not much older than Mach himself. He was of average height, albeit a little taller than Mach. His hair was of the common brown color of the people in Eldour. His eyes were pale green, a rare shade, but not nearly as rare as his own eyes.
“Go ahead... um...?”
“Private Daren, sir. I talked with George last night. I was the one he asked to gather any volunteers for your search. What I understood, from what he told me, was that there was a group in Madtu already assigned to finding the missing, amongst them supposedly your mother. I asked Bastra and he said that there would surely be a group already hard at work. Might I suggest that we head up there first? They may have some idea of where she is, or where she is not. It might just expedite your search.”
Mach smiled appreciatively. “Thank you for the idea. I think we will do just that. The only plan I had was just searching random areas. Or splitting up. If they have already looked around, the least we can do is to find out where. You're right, we would have no need to search those areas they already have.”
He looked beyond the young man and to the gates of the village. It was time to begin his search. He straightened himself a little, breathed in deeply and took his first step on this quest. The group turned as one and followed him out of the town, Miatsu striding alongside him. It was amazing that these men were going to be taking orders from him. His only hope was that he would find his mother soon.
Mendoll stood at the doorway of the inn, looked out at the son of his best friend, and sighed. There were thirty men under the boy’s command and that was no small feat, but if Mendoll's guess was right about the boy, then this was only a small thing he would have to cope with. It would be for the best that he got used to it. In Mendoll's opinion, it was a good thing that he convinced the blacksmith-turned-leader to assign men to protect and serve Mach as the boy looked for his mother.
Granted it was possible that the kid would have been all right. That he would have succeeded in finding his mother and returning her to Selane on his own, especially with Miatsu there to help. But there was always the chance that something might happen to him. That boy would be needed before all this was over and there was no way that Mendoll was willing to allow him out of his sight without some kind of protection. Things are going to change because of this search for these long lost Stones of Magic. He could only pray they were the very things that he had strived to accomplish for decades.
He was glad indeed that Mach had accepted the help. He would have hated to have to order men out to follow him secretly and spy on his actions. That left one less thing for him to worry about. He had enough on his mind as he thought about how he was going to inform his own king that he now knew the combative magics that were outlawed by the people of the Empire Seas. He may have to lie to his king, or at least leave out portions of the truth, about all that had happened in the last few weeks. It will not be a pleasant experience, but he would deal with it somehow. He was a Guardian of the Realm, not of the king. Bastra agreed with him fully on this. Of course, the Gargoyle placed his loyalties wherever he felt like placing them.
The good thing was that they would reach the capital within no time. They would leave from the docks here and land just across the bay by the time the first sun reaches its zenith. If he borrowed one of the horses from Selane and Bastra flew, they would be there by morning of the next day if not sooner.
The second twin had risen fully when Mach finally disappeared from sight and he turned to Bastra. “Are we ready?” As he turned around, he grimaced at the look on the Gargoyle’s face, “What is wrong, old friend?”
“The kid. I fear that he is in for a world of disappointment and pain.” That was all the explanation that Mendoll needed. That, too, was one of the things that he knew to be in the boy's future. As sure as the world would turn the next day, the boy was going to suffer greatly. And there was no amount of magic or healing that would save him from it.