“Jessie why are you here?”
“Mother,” Jess began but stopped as another glass of peach juice arrived, this time by Lamont, the thin man, and Bock surmised that Katty must have decided to make herself scarce.
“And you’ve brought a General,” Miranda added, glancing up at Bock.
“Mother we’ve come to talk to King Marc…” Jess began again.
“He won’t see you,” her mother interrupted.
“I think he will,” Lonogan disagreed. “There are only two Travelers left alive,” he continued, purposefully neglecting to mention either Gwaynn or Laynee. That makes your daughter a very important person.”
Miranda sat very still, breathing heavily. “Well, she’s always been an important person, but Marc is very…well he’s timid. He’ll not hold an audience with you if he suspects it will send the wrong message to the High King…he’s very loyal to Mastoc.”
“Not loyal enough to fight at his side,” Jess interjected.
Miranda shrugged. “As I said, he’s very timid.”
“Perhaps your father…” Lonogan began before Miranda rounded on him, standing quickly to face him on equal terms.
“You will not involve Clark!” she demanded hotly, just short of yelling.
“Mother!” Jess shouted back but then the front door crashed open. Bock spun and drew his kali instinctively. The move was very smooth and very fast. Gwaynn was teaching his General well.
The intruder was a young man of about twenty who gazed at the crouching sword bearing man before him with wide eyes.
“Owen,” Jess said quickly as one of Bock’s men followed the young man inside, “my brother.”
Bock immediately straightened up, and signaled to the man at the door that all was well. The soldier retreated as Bock smoothly replaced his kali.
“Sorry about that Owen,” Lonogan said as the young man cautiously navigated around him. Once passed Bock he broke into a smile and fell upon his sister. They hugged, kissed and tickled just a little before Owen stood and faced Bock once more.
“Owen, this is Lonogan Bock, the Massi General,” Jess said from the couch.
“Excellent!” Owen answered and stuck out his hand.
They shook hands heartily and Jess took a moment to study Lonogan closely. Not surprisingly she found that she completely agreed with her brother’s assessment.
ǂ
Zarina Monde was good, very good. They appeared in the clearing just below the cabin and there, sitting on the porch sipping tea was Tar Nev, smiling down at them. Gwaynn smiled back and waved as they made their way up the hill, but the High Zarina did not share his enthusiasm.
“He’s a bit creepy,” she whispered, “sitting there like he’s waiting for us.”
“He probably is,” Gwaynn whispered back.
“I’ve been expecting you,” Nev said to Gwaynn as they came within speaking distance, then Nev glanced at Monde. “I’ve food ready in the cabin,” he told her and with a slight bow led them both inside.
The table was already set…for three. It held the usual; meat, cheese, fruit, but also on the table was a large bowl of sugar cubes and in the middle a pitcher of liquid that, after a quick inspection, Gwaynn realized was peach juice. He smiled at Nev as Monde again whispered under her breath.
“Creepy.”
“I see your war preparations are going well,” Nev said and they all sat down. The High Zarina did not wait to be invited but immediately began to fill her plate and eat, taking more than her share of sugar cubes.
“Try the juice,” Gwaynn told her and she did without a word. “The High King is coming,” he said to Nev, while picking at the food, eating very little. “There’s no way we can stop him now.”
Nev nodded. “Yes, I heard about the Toranado fleet. Without the help of the Cassinni I don’t think you’ll be able to keep out an invasion by sea. Massi has far too much shoreline to cover.”
Monde raised her eyebrows. “You know about our trip to the Cassinni.”
Nev shook his head negatively. “No, but it is what I would do. Any answer?”
“Not yet,” Gwaynn answered. “But we need all the allies we can get,” he added and it took him a moment to realize that the High Zarina was no longer moving, and the air had become silent.
Nev smiled. “Come,” he said and reached into the bowl for a large handful of sugar cubes. He led Gwaynn outside and away from the frozen Traveler. They moved around to the side of the cabin and without a word Nev bent down and picked up two logs from the stack placed against the cabin wall. Gwaynn followed suit, searching briefly for the two smallest logs he could find.
Nev chuckled. “You’re growing fast,” he said and then fell silent as they both began to climb Mount Erato. Thirty minutes later they were at the cave. Nev dropped his logs just inside and Gwaynn did likewise, then they moved out and sat down on the ledge overlooking the island and the Inland Sea.
Once sitting, Gwaynn gazed out over the island he’d grown to love and realized that for the rest of the world time was still moving very, very slowly. It was eerily quiet and the wind was utterly still. In the distance Gwaynn could make out the white tops of waves, but there was no movement and flow to the water; it was as if someone had placed a giant still painting in front of the true world.
They sat for a moment looking out at the spectacular view and Gwaynn was surprised how much he missed this place.
“I’ll not help you with the High King,” Tar Nev said before Gwaynn even put forth the proposal. “That’s something you will have to do on your own, but have courage. I believe you’re up to it.”
Gwaynn jerked around and looked at his former Master, anger flashing across his face. “You’ll not help?” he asked, suddenly incredulous.
Tar Nev shook his head. “I’m not much longer in this world, and if I was to help it would just make matters worse.”
Gwaynn frowned, shocked then studied his old Master carefully. The Tar did not appear ill; in fact he seemed in a fine state of health. “Not much longer in…” Gwaynn began but stopped as Nev chuckled again.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he answered. “I’ll be leaving, but not in the usual sense. I’ve had enough. I’m moving on to where I can truly be a Solitary.”
Gwaynn shook his head, confused. “But where will you go?”
Again Nev chuckled. “Earth of course, just not this one.”
Gwaynn’s eyes flew wide. “You can travel between worlds like…like Galen Dawkins?”
Nev shrugged and it was his turn to frown. He sat silent for a moment, pondering the question. “I’ve not done it before, but I believe I can. In any case I’m going to try…soon.”