The Choosing (19 page)

“Can I help you?”  Seth said, this time quite loudly.

The woman’s face stirred.  The corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and one eyebrow rose as if she were amused by his question.

“Perhaps you can.”  The woman replied, her voice much deeper than Seth had anticipated.  Not so deep it was unnatural for a woman, but deep enough it did not sound as if it came from the woman’s mouth.

“Are you hurt?”  Seth asked.

No answer.

“Can I get you something?”

Again the woman did not respond.

“What can I do for you?”  Seth again asked the woman, this time trying to broaden the range of his question.

“Find me.”  The woman responded simply.

“What do you mean “find me” you’re directly in front of me.”  Seth replied, now thoroughly confused.

“I am lost, and nearly forgotten Seth.  Seek me out once in Valdadore, find me and I shall help you.”  She stated in her hollow voice.

Seth’s mouth hung open.  He did not know how the woman knew his name, or how she knew he was traveling to Valdadore.  Nor did Seth know how the woman expected him to get out of this god forsaken room.  Seth began to get angry, thinking the woman must have something to do with his imprisonment, after all she knew too much about him.  Something in Seth’s subconscious brushed at him as if wanting attention, but Seth mentally brushed it aside, too busy now to deal with anything else.

“Who are you and how did you bring me here?”  Seth demanded of the woman.

“I am who you seek, and I have brought you nowhere.  You came here of your own volition.”  The woman replied, no hint of emotion on her face, nor in her voice.

“I seek no one lady.  Now take me back to my companions.”  Seth again demanded.

“You will seek something eventually and when you do, look to the oldest buildings.”  The woman retorted in a hollow melody.  “When you have found me, and when you know me, I shall help you find what you seek.”

Seth shook his head in both disbelief and anger. 
What was wrong with this woman?  Was she both blind and crazy?  How did she get here?  How am I supposed to get out?  What in the name of the god’s is she talking about?
  All this Seth asked himself, shaking his head, his eyes closed in concentration.  He realized that no matter how crazy the woman might be, she had found a way into the room, and he needed a way out.  He opened his eyes to face her once again and ask her this most important question, but she was gone.  Replacing the woman was a swirl of blackness that steadily grew faster and faster, consuming within it the room and Seth alike.  When the Darkness swallowed Seth he tried to scream, but no sound escaped his lips. Terrified, Seth forced himself to reopen his eyes.

Seth found himself once again within the confines of the small stone cavern that was his shelter.  In his arms slept Sara, peacefully breathing her sweet warm breath into the cold night air.  His twin and Ashton both snored loudly across the small room.  Everything was as he had left it, only he realized now that he had not left.  It had been his dream that had awoken him.  He remembered it clearly.  It had been so real he could swear it had actually happened.  He remembered every detail of the small circular room he had been in, every detail of the woman who was his only company within that room.  A shudder raced down Seth’s spine at the thought of the woman and her unseeing blood-like eyes. It had been an unnatural dream.  Something unlike any other dream Seth could ever remember having.  He knew he would not easily forget it.  Silently hoping to himself that he would not dream again this night, Seth closed his eyes, trying to quickly fall back asleep.  After all, the sooner he slept, the faster the night passed, and the sooner he could again spend the day with Sara.

As expected, morning came all too quickly.  Sara was the first to wake, and decided she should wake the others so they could resume their journey.  She turned in Seth’s lap, and kissed him gently, waking him the nicest way she could imagine.

Seth’s eyes fluttered open, feeling Sara’s lips on his cheek.  He reached his large hands up to cup her face, and lightly grasping it on either side, pulled her mouth to his.  He tasted her sweet breath before their lips met, and reveled in the taste.  Pressing their lips together, Seth held her tightly to him and kissed her firmly, passionately for as long as his sore body would allow.  Releasing her face, he then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body against his and whispered in her ear.

“Good morning angel.”

“Good morning to you love.”  Sara replied softly in her musical voice.

The greeting caught Seth off guard.  There was the word he had been waiting for.  However it was not in the proper context.  He was happy to hear it in any case, assuming that Sara had said it purposely, perhaps testing his reaction.

Sara, having greeted Seth quite deliberately calling him her love, did not bother to gage his reaction.  Instead she looked inward, to see how she herself would feel saying the word.  To her surprise she was able to say it easily, honestly, and it felt great.  No longer afraid she might betray her own emotions, she wished to tell him now her feelings for him.  She pondered for a moment where to start, and then instead decided to wait.  She would wait until she and Seth had some privacy, where they could openly speak their feelings without fear someone might interrupt.  She smiled to herself, her face hidden on Seth’s shoulder, finally able to at least know her own heart.  She hugged Seth’s neck again tightly and kissed his cheek.  Crawling out of his lap Sara stood and watched her dark haired, brown eyed guardian, rise and stretch his weary muscles.  She watched him loving everything about him, wanting to spend forever with him, and wanting to show him her love in every way she was able.

Finishing his stretch, Seth again gathered his angel into his arms and kissed the top of her head.  He held her there a moment, wishing he could do so forever, and scanned the small room around them.  He released Sara reluctantly and strode across the room coming to stand between his brother and Ashton who both snored lightly, sleeping on their backs.  He nudged them each with his booted foot, rousing them.  He then walked back across to Sara picking up the sack of food along the way.

Seth sat near Sara’s feet gesturing for her to join him, and she did so happily.  Garret and Ashton wearily rose from their beds, and joined the others for a filling breakfast.  Their meal consisted of the same food they had shared the previous night, and once again each ate their fill.  Seth stated during the meal that he felt well enough to continue their journey, and so after eating everyone went about gathering their belongings and loading them into their packs.  Everyone prepared quickly, and they headed out of the cavern together, Garret and Ashton taking the lead, Seth and Sara trailing, their hands entwined.  Garret left the Goblin’s short sword in the cavern when they left, not wanting to carry a reminder of the day he nearly lost his brother.

They walked leisurely through the day, stopping to rest often.  Seth was thankful for their stops, his body not as willing as his mind to handle the exertion.  The path widened slowly through the day becoming more level as the path turned eventually into a road.  Seth was able to walk further now without resting as the level ground allowed him to walk more easily.  The group talked merrily, the light conversation allowing Seth to concentrate on something other than his body.  His legs shook and his knees gave out on occasion, but he had been able to catch himself, with Sara’s help each time before he fell. 

Seth limited his input to the group’s conversations, preferring to just listen as they walked.  His mind wandered and he found himself thinking over the last several days, taking in all the events that had come to pass, that had brought him to this point.  Though he had nearly lost his life, he could not believe the tremendous luck that had so obviously filled his life.  He and his twin had traveled from home, accompanied by a man blessed with the gift of healing.  A man he was now proud to call his friend.  They had arrived in Stone Haven, and due to Ashton’s gift had been given free food, and free goods to include the crossbow.  It was also Ashton who inevitably led them to eat outside the inn that morning he first met Sara.  Seth was extremely grateful for this part.  Not only had he met her, he had protected her and in doing so, had laid the foundation for their relationship.  A relationship he now knew he could not live without.  Joined now by the woman he would come to love and adore, they had set out from Stone Haven along the road to raven’s hold.  Sara had slowed them, causing them to fall a day behind, but this too was as if it was meant to be.  Because of their delay, they had fallen into the path of the goblin that had nearly killed him, but as it had turned out, Sara had instead played a vital role in killing the creature that mortally wounded him.  If not for her, Seth would have died, and probably his twin and Ashton as well.  Again Seth had been blessed by Ashton’s friendship, being healed by his friend’s control of the Goddess’s gift.  Their delay had run their stores of food dry, and this had lead to Garret’s meeting with the knights of Valdadore who had rewarded them not only with the food they so badly needed, but also with enough coin to deliver them safely, and comfortably to the castle city of Valdadore with what should be several days of time to spare and enjoy the city.  All this Seth felt had to be more than just pure luck.  No one on the face of Thurr could possibly have ever been this lucky.  Seth felt as if someone watched over him, guiding his life safely to some predetermined end.  He felt thankful for it, he felt blessed.  He now looked at Sara and realized if they had not met, he would not be here to look upon her this day.  She, in his greatest moment of need, had come to the rescue just in time to save his life.  As he had vowed to protect her, she had in turn protected him, his little guardian angel.  The thought made Seth smile, and returning from his daydream found Sara’s eyes watching him.  The small twin suns, that were her eyes, were filled with love for him.  Seth hoped to himself that she too could see his love for her in his own eyes.

The group marched along through the evening much the same as they had through the day.  They talked occasionally about nothing in particular, and Seth had started at one point to relay the dream he had had the previous night to them, but then thought better of it.  This he would keep to himself at least for the time being. 

The flat, bleak, shrub infested plains had slowly cleared as they walked, and now had been replaced by slightly rolling hills.  The hills were covered by tall grass that for the most part remained green.  Occasional groves of trees dotted the hills, and eventually the group could see fenced pastures on the horizon filled with animals.  This they knew marked civilization.  Before long they could see the roof tops of several farm houses over the hills and as they grew nearer, the buildings themselves came into view.  It was not long before they were passing down the road between those very farm houses.  Occasionally they would see someone in one of the fields, tending animals or crops, and each time they spotted someone the person would wave or nod to them in greeting from a distance, and they too would in turn wave back.

The farms continued for a long time, and eventually as the sky began to grow dark on the horizon, they no longer noticed people in the fields.  It was when they were approaching a large gray farmhouse that Garret stopped abruptly in his tracks, and placing his hand above his eyes peered off into the distance ahead of them.  He had stopped so suddenly that Sara had actually run into him, but Garret seemed not to notice as he tried to focus on something just out of sight.  Garret stood frozen searching the horizon as his companions stared at him in wonder.

“I think that’s it.”  Garret stated matter-of-factly.

“What’s what?”  Seth asked his twin.

“That.”  Garret said jabbing his finger toward the horizon in front of them.  “I think that’s raven’s hold.”

All four companions studied the horizon, and after many moments all but Ashton could discern, barely, the massive complex of buildings that was as of now just a smudge on the horizon.

“How far away do you think it is?”  Seth asked his brother.

“It’s hard to tell.”  Garret began.  “I think I first saw this house about three hours ago.”  Garret now pointed to the large gray home only a stone’s throw away from them.  “I would assume, that if that is the city, then it is much bigger than the house here, so probably can be seen from farther away.  If I had to guess I would say four maybe five more hours give or take.”

Seth nodded his agreement to his brother’s calculation, and turned his gaze to the sun.

“We only have a couple hours of light left, three at most.”  Seth stated, knowing as he did three hours was being very generous.

Almost without thought the four began walking once again, a new urgency to their pace.  They agreed shortly after resuming their trek that they would not stop until they reached the city, even if it took them until well past dark.  The road was level and wide here, accustomed to frequent use, and easily discernable from the fields around it.  It would not be hard to keep to the road even in the darkness.

Just over two hours had passed since Garret had spotted the city on the horizon.  Now however the sun began to shrink past the horizon to the west.  They had traveled a great distance in the last few hours, their pace much faster than it had been throughout the day.  Now, in the last minutes of sunlight the city was much more easily discernable in the distance.  It was apparent that they would indeed need to continue a few more hours into the night to reach their destination, but at least now they knew they could see the destination they sought.  Raven’s hold was not what they had thought it was previously.  From a far distance it appeared to be several different sized building jumbled together, creating a broken silhouette.  However now that they could see the city more clearly it was apparent that it was actually several rows of buildings, each row taller than the previous, growing ever taller towards the center of the city.  The whole thing it appeared was surrounded by a great wall of stone, with enormous towers at each corner.  This much the group could see in the last moments of light, however, any more details they might take note of were lost as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon.