Excerpt from Alexan’s Ninth Journal, The Great Crusade.

And so it has come to this.

Humans against the world. I wish I could say we didn't deserve it. Not that the voices calling for our heads are any better. There are no heroes here, no matter what the history books will come to claim.

I wish I could leave everyone to fight their petty wars, but that option never existed for me. I am far too powerful for that.

Unnamed Tal

[So you have met the latest me, have you?]

“Yeah, I, uh, ate you,” Tal admitted.

[I hope it was for a good reason!]

Perkay decided to ruin the awkward moment. “Yeah, yeah, sometimes you have to chew on a problem. Let’s get to the important bit. Thinking of sneaking into the Heart during the scattering, right? What do you think of that, Weldy?”

“Not the worst plan!” Weldy replied from above Tal’s head.

Tal almost lost his concentration on the glove refilling the Sentinel’s mana. He’d heard the sliding of a wooden panel that had signalled her arrival, but it hadn’t registered with him, concentrating as he was.

Now that he had gotten a handle on what he was doing, Tal could feel the dull emptiness that the Sentinel understood as hunger.

Nolsa was still there, of course. “The tower in the heart extends from the very bottom of the underglade to the very top. If I remember correctly, there is a nest of bristlebacks above the tower…”

[Under is not an option,] the Sentinel warned. [The pedestal is only the tip of the iceberg. The lower depths of the tower are full of aether constructs that maintain and regulate the barrier. The forces there could tear you apart and there is nothing I could do to stop it.]

Tal looked at Nolsa. When her eyes met his he mouthed the unfamiliar word at her as a question. “Iceberg?”

She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

Perkay had resumed whittling at a pit as he talked. “Comin’ in from the top still isn’t the worst plan, but we should move up the schedule.”

“You think they’ll guess you’re coming?” Weldy asked.

“Darisen is corrupt, but he’s no fool,” Perkay answered. “What better time than when a buncha wardens are occupied lookin’ after some Erlkin who can use a bit of wind?”

Perkay looked up at Tal, then at Nolsa, then continued. “Right now is when. Darisen is sure to have his wardens lookin’ for us instead of watching the pedestal.”

“If we can get past them,” Tal pointed out.

“That was always goin’ to be a problem,” Perkay said with a shake of his head.

“If they’re listening like they should, we can probably help with that,” Weldy offered. “Doesn’t take much to run around and talk like we’re scared.”

“I wouldn’t turn down the help,” Nolsa said with a slight nod. “But that leaves us with the problem of getting past the spider nest.” As Nolsa spoke, she placed a cup of tea in front of Perkay, Tal and placed a tiny pitcher on the balcony for Weldy to serve herself. His and Nolsa’s hands were a bit too big for that purpose.

Perkay rubbed his chin in thought. “Hmm, do we lure them or scare them somehow…”

Tal could barely keep up with it all. It wasn’t just Nolsa and Easil. Not just Layessa and Perkay, but now even more help was being offered by the Gnomes…

Hunching his shoulders, Tal concentrated on filling the Sentinel with mana.

Master Woodcrafter Perkay.

The conversation had come to a halt. They had already hashed out their plans, and now Weldy had departed for the sake of organizing the decoy parties.

Perkay took a sip of the tea, keeping an eye on the brooding young Human in front of him. The boy and the bird were catching up on Tal’s previous meeting with the Sentinel. How Tal had met that Sentinel was quite a story, but now they were catching up on how the barrier had come to be.

Nolsa was riveted, listening to the history of her world. Perkay had already heard the tale though, and Tal hadn’t said anything that deviated from that story.

There was a tiny knock, followed by a small door next to the main door swinging open. A young Gnomish man stepped through the door sideways, a big hunk of wood in his arms, his chin resting on his cargo. He grunted as the chunk caught on the door jamb and he suddenly had to fight to maintain his balance.

It was a big piece for the Gnome for sure. It was rather comical watching the little guy struggle with his awkward load, but Perkay wasn’t without sympathy.

“That looks like the piece of wood I asked for, let me take that off you,” Perkay offered, reaching down to lift the wood from his arms.

“Thank you,” the Gnome replied. “Compliments of Kustel.”

“Tell the old knurl I said thanks,” Perkay replied.

The gnome waved as he departed.

Pulling out his whittling knife, Perkay started shaving large chunks from what would eventually be a medallion for Nolsa’s newly refined spell gems.

Suddenly, Nolsa started up a new conversation. “Perkay, I should tell you about Alamia!”

The sudden diffusion of dark mana into the air made Perkay narrow his eyes. That explained the gray in Nolsa’s hair. “Alamia?” He asked.

“Nolsa’s daughter,” Tal supplied. “A short Erlkin about my age, you might of met her, she always liked exploring.” The young Human was suddenly radiating a surprising amount of aether as well. His clean aether joined with Nolsa’s much heavier dark mana with ease.

“Ah yes, Human,” Perkay thought to himself. He looked into Nolsa’s eyes and saw not a shred of doubt or hesitation.

Perkay was the result of two headstrong parents with their own ideas. Ideas that included not inviting other Erlkin to his life story.

Looking down on his project, Perkay exhaled and began the process of participation, complaining as he whittled. “Alamia you say, so it is you I can blame for that headache!”

Nolsa twitched as she felt the weight behind his words.

“That troublesome girl, always picking my apples without so much as a please or thank you! Then, while chewing on her ill-gotten goods, she comes up and knocks on my door!” He allowed himself a little smile as he let himself be taken by the story.

Perkay understood Nolsa’s thinking all too well. And because he understood it, he wasn’t going to let her bleed herself dry. Even if she was pushing hard to complete the story in time.

He could feel it too: Tal wouldn’t be staying in Linumbra’s Hollow Home.

He couldn’t stay. Not if what Perkay had pried out of the Sentinel was true.

Unnamed Tal

Tal wasn’t sure how, but the three of them had talked for hours about Alamia. Hours!

Tal had participated and fed the life story for as long as Nolsa and Perkay had continued, but then the conversation returned to planning how to get into the tower.

Nolsa mentioned the warden Seft as a potential ally and suddenly Tal needed to get out.

And so Tal escaped the house and the heavy conversations, not that his escape had taken him far. He currently sat just outside the mansion, leaning against the wall next to the door with his legs splayed out.

The squeak of the Gnomish door didn’t escape him. Tal looked over, expecting to see Layessa.

“You should be resting!” Tal almost shouted.

Easil lifted a cane up, “I’m taking it very easy,” he explained. Still, he couldn’t hide the pain and fatigue in his voice. He had a wrap around his head that held a thick pad over each of his ears. He was wearing pants and a jerkin donated by the Gnomes of the twist. Easil’s own clothes needed to be cleaned of his blood.

Shutting his mouth, Tal glared at the wooden wall opposite from him.

“You’re sitting on your thoughts like you’re constipated,” Easil joked.

“Mmmm,” Tal mumbled, not sure how to reply.

Easil walked over and plopped himself down so he could lean on Tal’s leg. “What’s bothering you, son?”

“We’re going tomorrow,” Tal grumbled.

“I’m sorry son, I need you to speak louder.”

Tal flinched, then said it again without grumbling, “We’re going tomorrow.”

“Ah, I won’t be able to go with you,” Easil sighed.

“That might be for the best,” Tal snapped.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Easil asked.

“I mean, I just…” Tal scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I don’t know.”

“But it’s obviously important. What is bothering you Tal?” Easil pressed. “You don’t want me with you for this?”

Tal shook his head. “No, I do, but, but you…”

“Almost died?” Easil finished Tal’s sentence. “You’re worried about me dying?”

Tal couldn’t answer.

“It’s not just me, is it,” Easil asked as if the answer was obvious. “It’s about everyone who might die, isn’t it?”

Tal felt his stomach drop and he had to unclench his jaw to speak, “all these people, just for me!” Tal almost spit the words. “Layessa almost got eaten by the marten, Nolsa giving her life for Alamia, and your mana burn! And before that, Nisk and Ouran when fighting the wyrm!”

He had to take a deep breath after his outburst. Tal blinked when he realized how much he’d said.

“So you’ve noticed,” Easil replied mildly. “It’s good that you’ve recognized the risks we’re all taking for you.”

Easil’s words made Tal feel ill.

“But you are missing half the story,” Easil stood and turned around to glare up at Tal.

“Half what?” Tal asked, confused by Easil’s sudden shift in tone.

Raising his hand, Easil pointed at Tal as he laid into him. “The only person here who is helping you purely for you, is me! Nolsa is living an adventure she could never have without you! Perkay is in it to get justice for his son! And the Gnomes still tell and re-tell the stories of freely wandering as we wished! All any of them needed was a single chosen to make the right choice! And you never asked for any of this! You just reacted as best you knew how!”

Perkay’s words echoed in Tal’s head, “There’s no use in helping someone who won’t help themself.”

Slumping against Tal’s leg, Easil braced himself with his hands as he recovered from his rant. “Don’t be guilty, Tal, just be grateful, and don’t waste everyone’s efforts.”

It took him a long moment to digest Easil’s words, but Tal felt better now. “Okay,” Tal replied, “I think I can do that.”

Easil sat down against Tal’s leg again. “I hate that I can’t go with you.”

“Me too,” Tal agreed.

Teacher Nolsa

“A dull boy, but he’s got a decent heart.”

Nolsa looked up at the old craftsman next to her as he spoke. She looked back down at the spell gem Perkay had carved out from the gem fruit pit. The light of the gem had given way to the dark mana now packed within it.

It was impressive work, one needed to have an incredible amount of skill to remove the disruptive outer shell of the pit without ruining the organic stone within. Perkay had made it look easy.

“He didn’t have many options,” Nolsa explained. “No one would have him, so he was becoming a forager after Easil. Of course Elder Darisen ensured Tal would be trained in the use of aether, but not with any further goal in mind.”

“Of course, what use is there in training someone who won’t be around long?” Perkay asked rhetorically. The medallion in his hands was coming along, the disk fully revealed with two of the gem sockets carved out.

“The other kids picked up on it as well. They knew something was wrong and kept their distance from him as a result,” Nolsa frowned as she remembered the number of times she’d walked in on her students reinforcing Tal’s isolation in the midst of their ignorance. She rolled the stone around in her hand, watching the way little sparks of light escaped the darkness.

“Hnrgh,” Perkay grunted. “That Easil did better with the boy than I would have thought.”

Nolsa nodded as she replied, “He did.”

For a long moment, they did not speak. Only the sound of Perkay’s knife scraping through the wood filled the air.

“So, bird, you should tell Nolsa what you told me,” Perkay said to the Sentinel.

[If you wish,] the Sentinel replied, turning its head towards Nolsa.

“Wait, should Tal not be here for this?” Nolsa asked, holding up a hand.

Perkay didn’t look up from his project. “No, knowing everything could confuse him or mess up his decision; he’s better off coming into this with an honest mind and heart. Knowing the truth won’t change your mind though, so you should be aware of what kind of life you are asking Alamia to live.”

Perkay looked at the space above Nolsa’s head, looking at the wisps of shadow dancing about her horns. Perkay’s mana, will and help, had made the difference.

“Okay then,” Nolsa set down the gem and clasped her hands. She took a breath, preparing for whatever it was Perkay was about to drop on her.

“Tell me.”

End Chapter