Mira's Hope (11 page)

She smiled at his shyness and gave him one
more quick kiss before heading off to finish collecting their
things.

She heard Tark descending the stairs a few
minutes later. “Did you want me to fill your bathing basin?” she
asked, turning to him as he stepped onto the floor.

He shook his head and with a single finger
beckoned her over to the sitting area.

Here we go,
she thought,
confession
time.

Elenio joined them, leaning against one of
the walls as he regarded Tark for a moment.

“I’m sure you two have noticed I’ve been kind
of quiet for a little bit.”

Neither elf responded to this, but rather
waited for him to continue.

“I’ve been thinking about the torlics Rau has
sent out. He’s searching for us. He’s not sure where we are, so I
feel this makes him even more dangerous and Tomiro even less safe.
He doesn’t care what the torlics do to the other elves as long as
he gets his prize.”

Galena watched Tark who had begun to rub his
palms across his thighs in a nervous manner.

Elenio crossed his arms across his chest his
expression looked grim as he regarded Tark who was taking a calming
breath.

“I think I should stay behind.” He held up a
hand to stifle the protests that were on Galena lips. “Before you
lay into to me, let me explain my reasoning. I’ve put a lot of
thought into this.”

Galena closed her mouth at that; she couldn’t
deny that last statement.

“We’re leaving all the elves of Tomiro to
deal with Rau’s fury with us as we continue on with our journey.
Sure, we may defeat Rau, but for what? If he destroys everything
that we were fighting for, will beating him really matter? I think
you two should continue toward the cave in the western woods and
let me stay behind to train other elves. We owe it to them to show
them how to defend themselves. Plus, when you finally have
recovered the sword, it’s not as if you’ll be able to stroll right
into Rau’s domain, catch him off guard, and finish this. He’ll have
his own army to reckon with as well. This is where an army of elves
would help.”

Galena bit her lip as his words soaked into
her mind. He was right, she knew he was, but she couldn’t help
feeling abandoned. He would be staying behind and she would be
leaving. She didn’t know if she would ever get to see him again.
Mira had not given her any guarantees that she would be able to
make it past the cave, only that she would be stronger if she did.
She blinked back the tears as this thought occurred to her.

“What made you think this up?” Elenio asked
quietly.

“After taking on a group of torlics to save a
village from them,” Tark said, shrugging nonchalantly. “You see
that I’m right, don’t you?” He looked at them pleadingly. “I’ll
start with this village, teaching their blacksmiths how to create
weapons and then I’ll train whoever is willing to learn. We would
leave some behind to protect their villages, but I want as many to
come with me as possible when the time comes to go to
Blackwell.”

Galena shuddered at the mention of Rau’s
domain. She’d grown up hearing horror stories of that place and was
not looking forward to approaching the tiny island just off the
shores of Tomiro.

“You two could send more elves this way with
instructions to recruit as many along the way as possible. If we
want to be free from Rau, we all have to be willing to fight. I’ll
stay in this village until we have collected as many elves as
possible and have trained them.”

Galena felt the tears starting to make trails
down her cheeks as she listened to what Tark was saying. She
glanced at Elenio who was looking stonily at the floor. She felt
his own sadness and resignation wash through her.

“We’ll miss you brother, but you’re right and
wise for thinking about it. To be honest, the thought had crossed
my mind, but I can’t leave Galena,” Elenio murmured.

Galena looked startled when she heard this;
she hadn’t realized he’d been thinking the same thing. The thought
never crossed her own mind, because she was focused on retrieving
the Sword of Lumina.

“I can check on you with mirror waters. Morgo
explained them to me. You won’t be able to see me, but I’ll be able
to see if you’re okay.”

Tark’s head snapped up, his eyes meeting her
own. “Show me Taura and Silva before you leave.” His longing was
evident upon his face.

Why she hadn’t thought of doing that very
thing before now, was beyond her. She really needed to start
thinking about others more than herself.

Thinking of a mixing bowl, Galena watched as
the wood from the floor pooled up and began to rearrange itself.
When she was at last satisfied with its shape, she created an end
to the stack of slivers, separating the bowl from the floor. She
summoned water into it and looked into its clear depths. According
to what Morgo said, you just had to focus on an object or person.
When the underground elves had been searching for her, Mira
instructed that they be on the lookout for battling torlics and
they would find her, because they had no idea what she looked like.
In this case, Galena focused on Taura and instantly, she was there
in the water. It was like looking through a window, with the
exception of no sound. Taura sat on a low stool, their tiny
daughter sitting between her legs while Taura braided her hair. She
appeared to be talking the whole time, although they couldn’t hear
what she said. They watched as Silva’s face broke into a huge grin
and her shoulders shook with laughter.

Tark covered his face with his hands
releasing a ragged breath and moaned.

Galena cleared the water and reached over to
embrace her brother in a hug. “I’m sorry it took me this long to
give you comfort. Forgive me.” She stroked his head as he continued
to cover his face, his breathing ragged from trying to stifle the
tears he shed.

He nodded and wiping his nose on his sleeve,
he looked up.

Galena wiped the tears from his face and
smiled at him. It felt strange for her to be comforting her
brother. It had always been his role to care for her.

“Thank you for that. You’ve given me the
courage to stay and do a bigger part to protect them.” He cupped
her face and looked gravely into her eyes. The sadness there almost
overwhelmed her and she began to cry once more. “Go little sister
and make me proud even as I stay behind to make you proud of
me.”

Galena choked back a sob, how her heart ached
to leave him behind. “There is not an elf alive that is more proud
of you than me,” she whispered, embracing him once more.

He returned the embrace with full force,
causing Galena to cry harder.

“I will continue to check on you and if I see
anything wrong, I’m coming back.”

“Now, if only I could do the same,” he
responded, his own voice thick with tears.

“I’ll return here before going on to
Blackwell.”

“You’d better, seeing how I’m training up
your army.” He gave her one last squeeze before letting her go and
holding her away at an arm’s length. “We’ll finish this
together.”

She nodded, afraid to trust her voice.

Elenio helped her to stand and then grabbing
Tark by the forearm, hauled him up. They stood, holding each
other’s arms as they each regarded the other.

“Take care of her.”

“You don’t even have to ask.”

Tark nodded once more and then embraced
Elenio quickly before releasing him as well.

Elenio reached for his own pack, his sword
already strapped to his belt. Galena waited for him by the door,
having made sure she had everything they needed to be off,
including Twoit. Taking her hand, Elenio and Galena stepped through
the door and started out toward the village. They’d decided the
night before that it would be easier to go through it than to go
around it. Galena looked back one more time though, feeling
incredibly lonely as she saw Tark standing in the doorway, arms
crossed, watching them leave. She couldn’t help wondering if this
would be the last time they saw each other. He would be left alone,
without her protection. With Mira’s warnings about the dangers of
the cave still ringing in her ears, she realized that both
circumstances could easily prevent their happy reunion. With this
thought in mind, Galena waved once more to Tark before turning and
taking Elenio’s hand, starting her journey without her brother.

Chapter
Fourteen

Tark watched his sister and friend walk away
from his new temporary home. His feelings were mixed. Galena turned
to look once more at him while he watched her, saying no more. He’d
said his goodbyes. Now, all he could do was train others and hope
for the best. The chances of seeing her again were slim, but he
knew what they would be if he didn’t stay behind to work with
others. Sadness and hope welled up in him as they disappeared from
view.

Turning and going back into the house, he
noticed for perhaps the first time, just how big his new
accommodations were. His feelings of loneliness intensified when he
realized that it would be just him for a while. He sighed heavily
and went up the stairs. No sense staying three floors up when there
would be no one staying with him.

After bringing down his pack to his new room,
another problem presented itself. No water. With Galena around,
there had been an endless supply of water whenever they needed a
drink, a bath, or for anything else. Now, he would have to resort
to digging a well before the week was out in order to supply all
the water he would need while he stayed here. This task was hard
enough in the spring or summer, but in the winter, it would be
three times as difficult considering how hard the frozen ground
was. He groaned inwardly when he thought about the amount of work
in store for him over the next couple of days. With this dreadful
thought in mind, he missed Galena even more.

First thing is first,
he thought to
himself.
I need to talk to Amrick and her commitment partner to
get this started
. He left home and started out in the direction
they had originally come into the village, because as he recalled,
Amrick’s house was the first one just on the outside. He walked
down a little path he hadn’t noticed previously for a few minutes
before he came to the tiny little home. He knew it was theirs,
because Quona was playing on the doorstep. He watched as she sat,
her upper half completely bent over on her legs as she examined the
writings she was creating with a small stick. She seemed intent on
her work and did not show any indication she heard him
approaching.

Not wanting to startle her, but seeing no way
around it, he practically whispered, “Hello again.” Just as he had
predicted, the tiny elf nearly jumped two feet into the air. An
impressive feat considering she was sitting at the time.

“I’m sorry.” He smiled when she looked
indignantly at him.

“I thought you left this morning,” she said
bluntly.

“Galena and Elenio did. I decided to stay for
reasons I need to discuss with your mom and dad. Are they
around?”

She nodded and with a jerk of her thumb,
indicated that they were in the house. He stepped past her,
laughing quietly as she resumed her doodles in the dirt. He knocked
on the door while pushing it open to alert them that it wasn’t
their daughter entering. Tark stepped into a sunlit room that must
have served as their common area. Amrick stopped kneading the bread
that sat covered in flour on a round table near one of the windows
in the large room. She reminded him painfully of his own sweet
commitment partner. How he missed her!

“I thought you left this morning,” she said,
surprise written all over her face.

“My sister and Elenio left at sunrise. If you
have a moment, I would like to take the time to explain my reason
for staying behind. I gathered from the other day, that you are
among the elder elves of this village?”

“Aye.” She turned her head as a male elf a
little older than she, entered the common area from another room.
He too had blonde hair that was thrown into a tail. He stood much
taller than Tark with thick shoulders and muscular body. His arms
were completely bare of clothing despite the cold weather and
covered in burn marks. Tark noticed this, but said nothing, nodding
in the direction of the giant elf.

“This is my commitment partner, Fala. You
were saying?”

Fala nodded in return as a way of greeting
and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table. He looked
even larger, sitting on the tiny chair, if that was possible.

He would be a great ally
, Tark thought
to himself. “May I sit?”

With a jerk of her head, Amrick indicated he
could sit in the chair opposite of Fala. Tark sat quickly,
gathering his thoughts on where to start and decided on the
beginning. He started with how his family and he were descendants
of Lamiria and because of a visit from Mira, his son Moira began to
train his own children in the art of fighting. Through the
generations, this tradition had passed from elf to elf, until it
reached Tark and Galena. He explained how his father trained him
and his siblings to fight with bows, swords, and any other weapon
available to them as his own father had. He proceeded to explain
how they discovered Galena’s magical abilities and what this meant
to the elf race. He told of their journey and the difficulties that
they’d come across. How they thought they’d lost Galena at one
point, only to have Mira save her and completely heal her.

“Now, my tale brings to me to here and what
happened the other day. I chose to stay so I may train other elves
to fight and to defend their villages as well. Torlics have been
given free reign over us. It can only be a matter of time before
Rau’s other monsters are allowed the same privileges. I don’t want
to see any elf suffer because of Rau’s anger toward us, but more
importantly, I want to see the end of elf enslavement. That means
we have to be ready to back Galena and help her get into Blackwell.
She is headed to a cave in the western woods as Mira indicated she
should, to retrieve the Sword of Lumina.” At this point, Tark had
to stop, because Amrick broke into laughter. Even Fala had a goofy
smile on his face.