A Warrior's Journey (35 page)

Some parts of me were still mourning for
those who had been lost and the brother I may never see again. I
saw Gavin as usual at the blacksmith shop as I rode by. He
understood the underlying cost of what it had took to make the
mission a success and while grateful in its success for the
victorious outcome, he had respect for what had been lost too.

Seeing me he smiled and lifted a hand. I
broke out of the party and made my way over and extended a hand
down to him. He took it and slid onto Relentless’s back behind me,
as I helped pull him up. I had missed my twin brother and it was a
comfort to have him near again.

“Rough time of it?” Gavin asked, into my ear
matter-of-factly.

I simply nodded and I felt his hands squeeze
my shoulders and nothing else was said or needed to be. We
understood each other that well. Relentless bore the extra weight
easily, as we headed out of the town and up towards the ancestral
home of our forefathers.

From where I rode I could see that Evette’s
eyes were as big as dinner plates, as the towering walls and the
beauty that was Thunder Ridge came closer and closer. Seeing her
reaction to seeing my home for the first time brought home to me
how fortunate I had been to be born here and to have the parents
and the people around me that I did. Making our way through the
gates and up to the grand hall I saw my mother on the road
ahead.

“Here you take this. I know you’re dying to
hold it anyway.” I said as I handed the Bible back to Gavin.

He fairly snatched it out of my hands, as I
dismounted from Relentless and ran up the hill towards my mother,
who was coming towards me with open arms. I met her and we hugged
each other tightly. I felt tears squeeze out of my eyes into her
shoulder as I held her.

“Shhhh….. there son! Your home now! You came
back to me! I thank God for your safe return! Now it’s time for you
to rest. We’ve asked far too much of you in your youth! But oh son,
how proud you have made me! I can hold my head up high with a son
like you to call my own!”

She didn’t let go of me, until I made the
move to release and even then I really didn’t want to let go. It
was like hugging comfort itself and it was hard to say no to more
of it, when it was so freely given.

“Mother, Talaric didn’t come back with us,
but.....”

Mother held a hand softly over my mouth
stopping my words. “I know your father sent word of what happened
to me. Worry no more about your brother, he is in the Creator’s
hands and that’s the very best place to be of all!”

I nodded and stepped aside as Larc, who had
been waiting, enfolded Mother in a bear hug that lifted her off of
the ground.

Two short years after Larc’s reunitement
with his birthmother she had died of an illness and Krista had been
there for him ever since.

Larc drew back and gave her a big kid grin,
“I have someone special for you to meet.”

“Yes I have heard about this special
someone!”

Krista approached Evette with open arms and
hugged her. Drawing back she said with a smile, “It makes me very
happy to have you here! Welcome to your new home!”

Evette smiled shyly, “I’m happy to be here.
It’s been an odd journey to this moment.”

Krista still holding onto Evette’s shoulders
said, “Yes my dear, life can often seem strange in how our paths
twist and turn, but your here now and it’s time to enjoy life
instead of fearing what comes next.”

They both smiled at each other, as if
sensing already that they were kindred spirits, in what they had
faced and the trials they had come through in life.

Krista winked at Evette out of the eyeshot
of Larc and let her face go serious. Evette wasn’t sure what was
going on, but tried to stay game for whatever Krista was cooking
up.

Krista reached for Evette’s left hand and
held it up in full view of Larc. “No rings Larc? Surely you’ve
bought the love of your life some token of your affection and
commitment to her?”

Larc looked lost and stammered slightly, “I
ahhh…. well I didn’t get to that yet, the mission and everything
you know. Everything just happened too fast.” He finished
lamely.

“And in all this hustle and bustle to
complete the mission I’m sure that you at least had a ceremony of
union performed?”

Larc looked like he knew he was fighting a
war he couldn’t win, “I uhhh actually, no.”

Ice creeping into her tone Krista asked, as
she continued to grill Larc with her eyes, “Then may I ask what
bond of union you have enacted with my new daughter in place of the
timeworn traditional practices of yoking a man and woman together
in holy union?”

Resigned to his fate Larc mumbled out, “I
claimed her for my own.”

“You claimed her? I give you credit for
tying up the best thing that ever happened to you early on, but
perhaps you were not aware of a promise I made to myself. As you
put it I was ‘claimed’ myself once!”

All eyes went to Roric, who did his best to
bear up under the scrutiny nonchalantly, “I thought we moved past
all that my dear?” Intoned Roric gently as he put a commiserating
hand on Larc’s back.

“We did dear, but don’t you think we should
see that the right thing is done with our own children? Set the
balance right so to speak?”

There was silence from Roric and as if
reading that as an answer Krista continued, “I made up my mind that
every one of my daughters would have the opportunity at a full and
proper ceremony. Evette dear would you like a wedding
ceremony?”

Evette had barely been able to hold back the
giggles that had threatened to escape her during the whole drama.
It was funny to see how much Larc looked like a dejected little
schoolboy, after having been scolded by the teacher.

“Yes I would like that!”

Krista turned back to Larc “And how about
you then? Can you put off claiming your woman until after the
ceremony?”

Larc’s face flushed a little at her choice
of wording, but he nodded his assent.

“Well then it’s settled! Come with me
Evette. There is much to do in order to pull off a wedding tomorrow
that one hasn’t even begun to plan yet!” Krista said all
business.

Evette gasped as she hurried after Krista,
“Tomorrow?”

Krista refrained from saying what she was
thinking, she may have seemed to be overly harsh with Larc, but she
wasn’t about to deny him what he had waited for so long for any
longer than she had to.

Larc watched them go feeling like he had
been taken to the woodshed.

Roric patted him on the back, “It gets
better.”

Larc shook his head, things had been so much
simpler his way, but he did want a ceremony for Evette to
remember.

It may not be overly important to him,
because to him she was already his no matter what Krista said, but
he was sensitive enough to know that this was for Evette’s best and
he was fine with the extra hassle because of that.

After all the hubbub had died down and
everyone was thinking more about the wedding than anything else
Roric managed to slip away with the Bible. He moved with a light
step into the underground laboratory and was greeted warmly by
Abby.

“Good evening master Roric! I see that you
have brought it with you. Shall we start?”

“Yes, we shall!”

Roric looked at the big book in his hands
for a moment and then over at Abby, “I believe you said 17% chance.
How’s this for a miracle, to be holding the Holy Scriptures in my
hands after all!” Exclaimed Roric triumphantly.

Abby smiled broadly, “It’s even more of a
miracle than you know. The figure of 17% was my most unlikely
statistical projection. The lowest projection was 3% with the
average of all the tests coming in at 9%. That isn’t all though.
I’ve run a complete check of the ship’s log. It indicates that when
they were leaving the surface of the planet that they initiated one
of the weapon platforms to defend the ship against incoming enemy
fire that would have destroyed the ship.”

Roric’s eyebrows rose, as he considered what
a close call that had been. “You didn’t even teach them anything in
concern to the ship’s weapons systems!”

“That isn’t the miracle! The miracle is that
none of the ships weapons were available for active use! They were
theoretical weapon applications only that the ancestors intended on
testing, but never got around to. The system that they used wasn’t
even installed on the ship. It was only a theoretical application
that was undergoing testing to my knowledge.”

Roric stared at her for a moment and then
asked, “Is the room ready?”

“Yes, it is just down the hall, follow me.”
Abby replied.

As Roric followed her down the hallway that
lit up at their approach he repeated a litany of ‘Thank you God’
over and over in his head.

He must’ve been mumbling it too, because
when he got to the room and stopped he heard Abby say ‘Amen’, he
looked at her strangely, but it was as if she hadn’t spoken.

Abby per his instructions had created a
glorified printing press. She directed him to a table with a bright
light trained on to it, which was about a foot and a half above
it.

“Simply place the Bible here so it lines up
and then hit this button on the table and then turn the page. Any
questions?”

“No I don’t think so, thank you Abby.”

“If you need anything just call me and I’ll
be there.” Abby said as she faded from view.

Roric pushed the button and turned the page
making sure to hold the pages level before he hit the button and
heard the click. All night long he repeated the process until every
page had been scanned.

Abby appeared beside him, “You should get
your rest master. Today is another big day with the wedding taking
place.”

“I know, but I want to take a new copy with
me.”

Abby sighed, “Very well master.” And as if
summoned by some command the rest of the room sprang into
action.

Page after page of the finest vellum were
imprinted with indelible ink faster than the eye could blink. The
entire process was mechanized for speed and efficiency. Within 20
minutes a fully complete copy of the Bible bound in the finest
leather was handed to Roric by a robotic arm that had been
constructed as part of the printing process.

Awkwardly taking the Bible from the
otherworldly device, Roric then held it up to the light and
inspected it. It was a perfect duplicate. The process of making the
Bibles had never ceased taking place in the room around him, as he
had studied the copy that he held.

“Perfect Abby! Absolutely perfect! You’ll
take over now and make sure that the new Bibles are delivered to
the reception later today?”

“Everything will be taken care of
master.”

In the next instant Roric was in his room
standing beside his sleeping wife. One of Abby’s many abilities
included being able to transport people and things virtually
anywhere within the castle.

He was dying to read the complete version of
the Holy Scriptures, but he restrained himself. He would begin
reading it later. He laid it down on a table beside the bed and
crawled into the comfort of the bed and was instantly mobbed by his
still sleeping wife, who was attracted to his heat.

Surprisingly he slept for a couple of hours.
He woke to the sun shining brightly into the room and into his
eyes. He saw Krista sitting up holding the Bible in her lap. He sat
up beside her and they smiled at each other and kissed good
morning.

Krista opened the big book to the beginning
and they both began to read about how the Creator had made the
heavens and the Earth and formed man out of the dust of the ground
and given him a living spirit from the breadth of His nostrils.

How He had given man a purpose to walk upon
the Earth and tend it. Seeing man’s loneliness the Creator had made
woman to come from out of the man and they had been one flesh and
were given dominion over every living thing upon the Earth and God
saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good!

Evette stood in front of the mirror and
looked at her reflection in it. Her hair had been done up all fancy
and was in an intricate coil of braids on top of her head.

She stood before the mirror dressed only in
a white chemise; the beautiful white wedding gown lay on the floor
behind her. She hadn’t put it on yet, she wasn’t sure that she was
going to. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she hated
what she saw in the mirror.

Everything was good and perfect except for
her!

Oh she was pretty enough she guessed, but
she was far from being perfect. Larc deserved better than her.

Tears tracked down her face, as her eyes
took in the scars on her chest that were visible. Despite Orhanin’s
best efforts her chest that was visible showed a trace work of
little white lines and single white spots. What was showing was
echoed beneath the chemise as well.

She was scarred outside and inside. Her body
jerked on a sob, when she considered the scars that she bore
inside, they were never far from threatening her with their imagery
and remembered feeling.

She couldn’t do this!

Krista knocked on the door, “Are you almost
ready Evette? Do you need some help?”

Silence answered her from within the room
except for a soft sound that she identified as crying. She eased
the door open and stepped in.

Coming up behind Evette standing in front of
the mirror softly crying she asked, “What’s wrong honey?”

Evette glanced at her out of teary eyes.

“I’m ugly! Larc deserves something better
than what I have to offer!”

Krista shocked by the outburst spun Evette
around, “You’re not ugly honey! You’re a beautiful young woman that
any man would consider himself lucky to get!”