***
Jerhard could not stand being in the house anymore. He had always been a free spirit, not wanting to be tied down and there was no place that he could even really call home, so after announcing to Seafas that he needed some fresh air, he left out the back door. Truth be told, the young thief had to get farther away from the sick huntress who had found a rather special place in his heart. He had no memories of his own mother at all so the new memories that he was forming with Jirah were very special to him, even if he didn’t say as such. Seeing her lying on that bed, motionless made him want to cry, so now he was outside pacing nervously and trying to make sense of his troubled feelings by talking to himself.
“This Belial guy is really starting to get on my nerves,” he said to himself. “I mean, how evil do you have to be to hurt someone as nice as Jirah, or Rose, or even Logan for that matter?”
A new thought came to his troubled mind, what if he was to pray? All of his new companions seemed to think that it was a normal thing to do, so why not. After all he had seen happen, he could not help but believe that Ya was real; he just did not know what that meant for him yet. So, still pacing feverishly, he began a conversation with the creator.
“Ya, how’s it going? This is Jer speaking.” He hoped that he was talking properly, but he really had no idea how to converse with a god.
“I was just wondering if you could do me a favour. I kinda really like this Jirah gal, but I’m getting scared that she’s gonna die. That would be real bad for me ‘cause I was hoping that she would sorta be my mother when things settle down a bit.”
Speaking these intense thoughts out loud brought a new sensation to the boy and he felt a lump forming in his throat.
“Anyways, that favour I need is for you to heal her please. It seems that you have enough power to do it, so I will leave the details up to you.” Small tears were forming in his eyes now as he finished his first prayer.
“Just let me know if you need me to do something to help. I’m up for anything really; if you could just do this one thing I would be pretty happy.”
Jerhard had no expectations whatsoever for a response to his request so he was more than a little startled when the soft, yet powerful voice of the creator spoke into is mind.
“Jerhard my son,” came the voice of Ya. “There is something you can do for me right now, but you must act quickly.”
Jer stopped his pacing and nearly fell flat on his face. Before he could respond to the new voice in his head the instructions came quickly.
“There is a large group of mercenaries on their way to the house right now,” Ya spoke. “Go and tell Seafas immediately. The two of you must take Jirah and get into his fishing boat.”
“You got it,” Jerhard said resolutely. “Where are we gonna go?”
“Just get out onto to sea as fast as you can my son,” Ya said firmly. “These evil men have been hired to kill you all. I will give you directions once you get out of harm’s way.”
Jer did not have to be told twice when it came to helping Jirah, so he burst into the house with the urgent news.
“We gotta get outta here Seafas,” he said in more of a yell. “A big bunch of soldiers are on their way right now.”
“How in the world would you know this son?” Seafas asked.
“I will explain it all to you once we get Jirah into the boat,” he spoke with such urgency that Seafas could not help but believe in the boy’s sincerity. “We gotta go now!”
Jer opened the seaside door for Seafas as he gently carried Jirah in his arms out to the waiting fish boat.
Not very far off in the distance, a clamour of voices could be heard approaching them and by the time they were pushing out to the open sea, they could see a large group of angry looking men heading towards the house at a fast pace.
“Ye weren’t kidding, son,” Seafas said with a worried face. “How in the world did y’ know they were coming?”
“Don’t think I’m crazy Sea, but Ya told me,” Jer said shrugging his shoulders.
“Well then, this is turning out to be a very interesting day isn’t it?”
“No kidding,” Jer said moving closer to Jirah who was lying on some blankets that they had placed in the bottom of the boat. “I don’t even know where we gotta go yet, but Ya told me to go, so I went.”
“Looks like I will need a new place to live after all this is done,” Seafas said in a mournful voice, looking back to see the mob of mercenaries, destroying his little shack.
“Good thing we got away in time. Sorry about your house. I sure hope that things are goin’ better for Gaost and the gang.”
Jerhard spoke no more, but watched along with Seafas as the seaside home burnt to the ground.
***