The psionic barrier flared once and disappeared.
The moment it disappeared, Azriim spoke a word and discharged a bolt of black energy from his outstretched hand. Cale and Riven threw themselves against opposite walls and the black ray streaked past them.
Riven bounded forward at Azriim, blades whirling.
Cale charged Dolgan.
* * * * *
Memories of a past life-or was it only a dream?-slipped away from Jak, gossamer wraiths of recollection floating away into oblivion. He knew he remembered things, he just could not quite remember what things. The loss pained him distantly, but even that soon faded.
It did not matter. He was happy where he was.
He stood barefoot on a rolling moor. Swells of plush green grass stretched around him for as far as he could see. The grass felt soft under his feet, between his bare toes. Golden sunshine showered down to warm him. Stately, solitary elms dotted the moor, their canopies casting great swaths of grass in shadow.
Shadow.
A memory bubbled up from somewhere. He almost got his mind around it but it drifted away before he could pin it down. Still, whatever it was made him smile.
A soft breeze stirred the grass, caused the leaves of the elms to whisper among themselves. It also carried from somewhere in the distance the smell of food cooking-a heavy, stomach-warming smell. The aroma was familiar to Jak but he did not know why.
"Oh well," he said, unperturbed.
Following his nose, he started walking. A cerulean sky roofed the land, dotted with puffs of white. He had to have a smoke. It was too nice a day not to have a smoke. He reached for his pipe and discovered that it was not in his belt pouch.
Strange, he thought, but his disappointment faded quickly.
He whistled a tune and walked on. After only a short while, another smell attracted his attention and caused him temporarily to forget about the cooking aroma-the unmistakably wonderful stink of pipeweed. And good quality.
Someone else had decided that the day required a smoke. Surely they would share a spare pipe with a fellow traveler.
"Hello there," Jak called. "Who's there? Who's smoking?"
"Here," returned a voice from the other side of a nearby hill.
Jak legged his way up the hill. When he crested the rise he saw a well-dressed halfling with wavy, sandy hair seated under an elm, his back to the trunk, a wooden pipe stuck between his teeth. A broad-brimmed green hat with a purple feather lay on the ground beside him. The halfling smiled around the stem of his pipe. Jak found the smile infectious.
"Well met!"
Jak returned the smile and said, "Well met."
He was certain he had seen the halfling before, maybe in some dark place underground. He searched his memory but found nothing.
The halfling climbed to his feet, dusted off his red trousers, and said, "You sure took your time. Seems like I've been waiting for you a long while." He banged his feathered hat against his thigh and replanted it atop his head.
"You have?" Jak asked, confused.
"I have," responded the halfling with a wink. "Now come on."
Green cloak swooshing, the halfling walked up to Jak, placed a tindertwig and pipe-already tamped, no less-into his palm.
"You'll be wanting this, I assume. Now, follow me. I know where you're going."
"You do?" Jak asked, and followed along, taking a whiff of the unlit pipeweed. "How? I don't even know where we're going. Do we know each other?"
The halfling looked at him out of the corner of his eye, green eyes glinting.
"We know each other very well, Jak Fleet."
Jak flushed with embarrassment. It was quite rude not to remember an acquaintance.
"Uh ... I'm afraid I don't remember your name."
"No?" the halfling asked with raised eyebrows. "Well, I imagine you will in time. Are you going to smoke that or keep holding it hostage under your nose?"
"Huh? Oh." Jak grinned, struck the tindertwig on the rough leather of his belt pouch, and lit. He took a deep draw. Exquisite.
"Very good," he said. "Where's the leaf from?"
"Around here," the halfling said.
Jak resolved to get some more as soon as possible. Meanwhile, he blew a series of smoke rings as he walked along. His comrade did the same and for a time they held an unspoken competition over who could produce the biggest ring.
Jak lost, but barely. He found that he liked the halfling; he could not help it. Something about the rascal seemed so familiar and yet Jak could not remember his name. He was sure he would in time, just as the halfling had said.
What a strange way to think, he thought.
"Nice around here, isn't it?" his friend asked.
Jak nodded. "Where are we, anyway? I don't know this moor."
"We're right where we are," the halfling answered.
"I know that," Jak replied. He was beginning to think that his comrade was a bit . . . simple. "I mean, what is this place called?"
The halfling smiled. "It's called 'my place'."
Jak was incredulous and could not keep it from his tone. "All of it? Seems like a lot for one halfling."
His comrade grinned. "Oh, it's not for just one."
"No?"
"No. Look." The halfling took his pipe from his mouth as they topped a rise. With it, he pointed down into the valley.
Jak followed his comrade's gesture and saw... .
A small cottage. A smoking chimney rose out of a mud-and-thatch roof. The clank of plates and the wonderful, familiar smell that had drawn Jak across the moor floated through the open shutters. So too did laughter. The voices sounded familiar to Jak.
His comrade took a deep breath. "Smells good, doesn't it? Homey, like."
"It does," Jak answered. He inhaled, drank in the smell, and it triggered a sharp memory from his childhood.
"That's my mother's potato soup!" he said.
The halfling grinned wide. He tapped the stem of his pipe on his temple.
"It is, Jak. She's waiting for you. She and your father. Your grandmother too. Even your younger brother Cob. Do you remember him?"
"Remember him? Of course!" Jak could hardly believe his ears. He had not seen any of those people for years, not since they all had .. .
Not since they all had died.
But that didn't seem right. How could that be right? And his mother shouldn't be there either, should she?
As though reading his mind, the halfling said, "A lot happened after you left Mistledale, Jak. Go on. The soup's going to get cold. This will all make sense soon."
Jak turned, stopped. "Wait. I feel like I'm leaving something behind, something . . . undone."
His friend shook his head and smiled gently. "No. You've done all you can. Memories haunt even better than ghosts. Go on, now."
Jak could not make sense of the halfling's words but that did not keep him from smiling. "Come with me. My mother loves guests. And the soup is wonderful."
The halfling in the green hat shook his head gently and replanted the pipe in his mouth.
"I can't, Jak. Not right now, at least. You go. Go and rest. I'll come back when I can and we'll talk then. Well enough?"
"Well enough," Jak said, and he could not contain a grin. His family! "This is a great place."
"I am glad you think so," replied his companion.
Smiling, Jak turned and sprinted down the rise toward the cottage.
From behind, he heard his companion exclaim, "Oh, drat!"
Jak stopped, turned, and looked back up the rise to see the halfling looking forlornly at his pipe. He held it up for Jak to see.
"It's gone out," he said, and frowned. "Trickster's hairy toes!"
For some reason, that oath made Jak smile.