Chapter Eleven: Loose Ends
They stopped at Elfland Castle to inform the regent, an older man named Arcilmo, that Astos had been defeated. Arcilmo had asked what they planned to do next. Valon, who had been speaking for the group, informed him that they would be heading to Melmond next. The regent sadly told them that the canal had been filled in by a landslide and that Melmond was inaccessible at the moment. Arcilmo then suggested that they go talk to a dwarven smith who was a guest at the castle at the time.
They found the blacksmith who was, coincidentally, named Smith. He told him that one of his kinsman, Nerrick, was trying to rebuild the canal, but he was having difficulties. He said that he needed some kind of explosive, but the only source of explosive that anyone knew of was in the locked treasury of Coneria Castle and only the prince knew where the key was. Unfortunately, Astos' spell hadn't worn off yet so they were stuck.
Goro had suggested that they take the crystal back to Matoya until they could think of what to do next. They agreed and were going to leave at first light.
Thol now sat in his room looking out the window at the city of Elfland. He had pretty much worn out his anger and now was stuck in a depressed sort of daze. He didn't hear the knock at the door the first time. "Go away," he said automatically.
"Thol. It's Tor. We need to talk," the voice on the other side of the door said.
"I don't have anything to talk about. Go away," Thol said again.
"Thol. If you don't open this door I'm going to break it down. We need to talk."
Tor didn't hear anything at first. He was about to ready himself to break it down when it finally opened.
Thol just stood there and stared at him. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you coming in?" he asked eventually.
Tor entered without a word and seated himself at the small table that was contained in the room. Thol closed the door and turned to look at him again. Tor motioned for him to sit on the opposite side of the table. He did.
"So are you going to tell me about it?" Tor asked.
"About what?" Thol asked in a dead voice.
"I think you know what I'm talking about."
"Enlighten me."
"What happened between you and Melira?"
"Nothing that is any of your business."
"Actually, Thol, it is my business. You may not know it, but we all look to you as a sort of leader. Valon can lead us just fine, but he isn't comfortable doing it. He also lacks the confidence and that's going to get us in trouble soon. I need to know what happened so that I can help you fix it."
"There's nothing to fix. She hates me. You all heard it."
"She just said that because she is angry and hurt."
"I doubt it."
"Thol. Tell me."
"No."
"Thol. I promise that I'll keep it confidential. I won't tell the others anything."
Thol just sat there staring at him. "Fine. You obviously won't leave me alone until I tell you," he said. He paused for a second and let out a deep breath. "She asked me a question that I could have answered a little better then I did. She took some offence to it and it just got worse from there. I ended up saying things that I really didn't mean."
"And?"
"And nothing. That's the end of it. She hates me and there's nothing I can do about it."
"What did she ask you?"
"Forget it."
"No, Thol. I need to know."
He sighed again. "She asked my why I was protecting her."
"And what did you say?"
He told him.
"What was so bad about that?"
"She seemed to think I was trying to say that she is helpless. Apparently she doesn't think so."
"Do you?"
"No. Not helpless at least. She just isn't at the same level as the rest of us."
"Okay, but that's hardly a reason for her to hate you."
"I told her that her father asked me to look after her. She said that she didn't need looking after and that she wasn't a child."
"I think I can see where this is going. Continue."
"I was rather irritated at that point. We had said more to each other before that, but this was the crux of it all. I told her that she was acting like a child and she hasn't spoken to me since. End of story."
Tor let it all sink in for a moment. "Damn it all!" he shouted suddenly.
Thol was a little startled by his friends sudden out burst. "What?"
"You're both being childish! You're putting the fate of the world on the line over a silly, childish argument!" Tor told him, uncharacteristic anger in his voice.
Thol was taken aback by his friend's words. There was more important things going on other then his relationship with Melira and he was rather directly involved in them. "You're. . . Right, Tor. I have been acting selfish about this. I'll try and be a bit more lively from now on and brood over my personal problems on my own time."
Tor let out a huge sigh of relief. "Good. I was really getting worried for a while. Don't worry too much Thol. Things'll turn out in the end."
"I don't think so. Childish or not, she still hates me."
"No she doesn't, Thol. You'll see," Tor said. He said goodnight to his friend and left him alone in his room.
Thol thought about the conversation for a long time. Tor may be right. She might not hate me, but it will never be the same again. That night, he slept better then he had since that day. . . .
* * * *
Thol took over as leader again the next day when they set off for North Port and back to The Zakonian. He was pretty much back to normal other then being a little less enthusiastic about things. Melira on the other hand was still quite depressed. She paid little attention to Thol's sudden change back to normal. She wasn't really that angry at him anymore. After she had cooled down and thought it over, she realized that she was being childish, but that didn't change the fact that Thol still didn't care about her. She still cried when she was alone and dwelling on it and still wished that she could change things. However, she couldn't so she remained in her depressed state all the way to the ship.
On the ship, she sat in an unoccupied room staring out at the sea. Someone knocked at the door. She didn't feel like talking to anyone so she just ignored it. They knocked again and she still ignored it.
"Melira? It's Goro," said a voice outside the door.
She was surprised it was him. Last time he got so sea sick that he spent the entire voyage in meditation. "Come in," she said finally in a quiet voice.
Goro must have heard because the door opened. She didn't turn to look at him because there was no need. He stood a respectful distance and waited for her to notice he was there.
After a moment or so, she finally spoke. "Yes, Goro? What did you want?"
"To talk."
"About what?" she said, unknowingly mimicking Thol's words.
"It's not good for your health to be depressed like this."
"So?"
"So, you need to snap out of it."
"And how might I do that, Goro? Tell me," she said, tonelessly sarcastic.
"Tell me what's bothering you."
"There's nothing to tell. He doesn't care about me," she said, contradicting herself.
"Thol?"
She didn't say anything. Instead, she bowed her head a little. "He was being so nice to me. I mean, he gave me this pendant," she said as she held it in her hand and looked at it. "It has to be worth a fortune. And he was always trying to keep me from being harmed. . ." She trailed off suddenly and let out a painful sob. "He was only doing it because my father asked him to. He doesn't care," she said, tears once again sliding down her face.
Goro put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No. You're wrong. He does care about you. You hurt him more then you could imagine when you told him that you hated him. You don't, do you?"
"Of course not. I lo. . ." she said, breaking off before she said what she was going to say.
"Is it really so hard to say it? We all know how you feel about him. You remember what I told you back at Matoya's cave?"
She shook her head, still crying.
"I told you to tell him how you feel. For some reason he is the only one who isn't aware of how you feel. Of course, you're the same way. Everyone except you knows how he feels about you."
"I know. He doesn't care," she said weakly.
Goro sighed. "Melira, you'll have to start talking to him again one day. The sooner the better. He's not going to try talking to you anymore. Tor tells me that he's convinced that you hate him. You should also try telling him how you feel. That's another thing he's not going to do."
She didn't say anything at first. She simply sat there crying lightly. "How can I even look at him after what I've done? He'll never forgive me."
"Yes he will. Try it."
"I-I'm not ready yet. I can't do it."
"Very well. At least try to get out of this depression you're in. At the very least. He does car. Trust me," Goro said. He stood there for a few more seconds and then left her on her own.
She sat there for some time not moving. Her tears had stopped and she was able to think clearly. She wasn't sure when she would finally be able to talk to him again, but she was going to eventually. She had to. . . .
* * * *
"Those two are so stubborn!" Goro exclaimed as he entered the room where the others, minus Thol, were sitting.
"Her too?" Tor asked.
"Yes. She's totally convinced that Thol doesn't care about her at all."
"Oh, those two. We should just lock them in a room together until they finally admit it to each other," Tor said.
"That might work," Keza commented.
"Or it might backfire," Valon added.
"Pessimist," Keza replied.
Tor just shook his head at the antics of his two friends. . . .
* * * *
Thol was thirsty. He had been moping about his room for the entire day thinking about Melira. He was trying to come to grips with what he felt for the girl. He was ready to admit it. He was in love with her. As illogical as it sounded, he managed to fall in love with her in less then thirty days. That has to be some sort of record, he thought. He didn't really believe in love at first sight, but what had happened with Melira was pretty damned close.
He was on his way to the galley and was about to round the corner to get there and stopped dead. Melira had also just begun rounding the corner and they nearly collided. Again, Thol's thoughts reminded him.
For what seemed like a long time, they both just stood there staring at each other. Melira was the one who broke the spell. Her face suddenly tightened from the pain and she looked down at the floor and walked away.
Thol's shoulders slumped as she went by. "I'm sorry," he said in a voice so quiet that it nearly didn't exist. . . .
* * * *
They docked at Coneria Port four days after leaving Elfland. The weather was gloomy and it had been raining constantly for two days. Lucky for them the storm was mild so there were no complications out at sea.
Thol looked up at the sky that was producing the horrible weather and thought, Well at least it suits my mood. He turned to the others, trying to avoid looking at Melira. "Alright. We'll stay here until tomorrow so we'll get rooms at the inn. Whatever else you want to do while you're here is entirely up to you," he said. He started off and left the others behind.
Melira also left without a word. She headed off in a different direction though.
The others went to the pub to see what was happening in the city. After they had rescued the princess, things around Coneria returned pretty much back to normal, as they found out. There were still rumors floating about concerning Matoya but they had mostly dried out due to her confinement to her cave.
Word had spread from Provoka of the incident with Bikke's pirates as well. Trade had resumed with the port city and things there had returned to normal as well.
"Seems like everywhere we go, things start fixing themselves," Keza commented.
"I'm guessing that's the general idea behind this whole Light Warriors thing," Tor replied.
"Not everything has been fixed. The elements are still decaying," Valon said.
"That's why we're trying to get to Melmond," Tor said.
"I know. Just making conversation."
"Whatever," Keza said.
Goro had been fairly silent since they had arrived. "I think I'll go see how they are fairing with the new library," he said suddenly. He got up and left without another word. The pub was obviously not a place he liked to be.
The trip to the partially build library was a short but wet one. It had started raining a little harder since they had arrived at port. He didn't run into too many people as he expected. The library, he could see, was coming along well. They had finished the roof on it so the workers had some place to store their tools at times like this when it was raining. He walked into the building via one of the unfinished walls. The interior was moving along as well. He figured that the library would be completed within a month or two.
He eventually arrived in a large, empty chamber. It had been awhile since he had last meditated so he figured that he would do so here. He picked the approximate center of the room and sat down. His meditation lasted well into the night. . . .
* * * *
It took them two days to reach Matoya's cave. They didn't have anything pressing to do until they could figure out a way to Melmond so they had taken their time. The outside of the cave looked the same other than the few weeds that had grown in. The immediate inside was the same as well. The cavern where Matoya actually lived, however, was starting to show signs of inattention.
"Matoya?" Goro called as they entered.
From the other room they heard a voice. "Who's there?" she asked, again in a frightened voice.
"It is us. We have returned with your crystal," Goro replied. He obviously didn't stop to think that she wouldn't know who 'us' was.
Nevertheless, Matoya slowly made her way into the room. Goro went over to her immediately to help her. "Goro. You have my crystal?"
Goro opened his pouch and took it out. Matoya seemed to sense it and took it from him. She blinked a few times while her eyes got used to being able to see again. She looked at Goro then and smiled at him.
"Thank you," she said. She turned to look at the others. "Please sit down. I'd like to talk for awhile now that I can see all of you."
They sat and talked for the rest of the day. The others brought her up-to-date on their quest.
"The prince is still sleeping? You should have said so earlier," Matoya said. She got up from where she was sitting and went into a different room. She returned with a frown on her face and a jar with some sort of plant leaf in it. "This place is a mess. I've really got to get it cleaned." She gave the jar to Goro. "This herb will cure any magical ailment there is. Give it to the doctors in Elfland and they'll know what to do."
"Thank you, Matoya," Tor said. "You have greatly aided us in our quest."
"Oh, don't be silly. It's the least I can do after you got back my crystal," she said. She looked at Thol then and realized that he hadn't said a word yet. He was sitting and staring at the wall with his head propped up on his fist. She looked across the room at Melira, who also had said nothing and was staring at the floor. She was about to ask what happened, but Goro stopped her. She looked at him and he shook his head.
She looked around her home then and sighed theatrically. "Well, I guess I should start getting this place cleaned up. You're all welcome to stay the night as long as you keep out from under my feet while I'm cleaning."
Tor once again thanked her and they moved out of the room while she cleaned. They soon found out that Matoya's 'little' home was far from little. Thol had disappeared as soon as he left the room as did Melira, both going to different places.
It was much later when Matoya found Thol sitting by himself staring into a fire that he had built. She wordlessly sat down next to him and also stared into the fire. After a few moments, she finally spoke.
"I've never seen you like this before, Thol. What's happened to you?"
He was silent for a few moments. "Nothing."
"Come on, Thol. We've been friends for a long time. I know you better then that. What happened between you and your white mage?"
He was silent again at first. He found it peculiar how she kept referring to Melira as 'his' white mage. He sighed and told her exactly what happened.
"Oh, Thol. You can be such a silly fool at times. Why did you ever do such a thing?"
"I don't know. I wish I could take it all back, but it's too late now. She hates me."
"Oh really? Do you think that if she really hated you that she would still be moping around like she is?"
He didn't have an answer for that.
"You're in love with her, right?"
He nodded after a short hesitation.
"Have you told her that?"
He shook his head.
"You should. I think you'd be surprised."
He didn't respond to that at first. "She hates me," he said again.
She stood up suddenly, frustrated. "Thol! You're so stubborn! You can't see what's right in front of you! Would it surprise you to know that I was in love with you at one point?"
Thol looked up at her suddenly. He was surprised to hear that.
"Of course you are. You're blind, Thol. You are more blind then I ever was without my crystal," she said. She left him there like that to think it over.
He sat for a long time thinking about what she had just said. Maybe I am blind. Maybe she doesn't hate me after all, he thought. He stared into the fire again wondering what he was going to do. . . .
* * * *
They said their goodbyes the next day. Matoya's goodbye to Goro was excessively long and led the others to jump to conclusions, all of which were right. Thol's farewell was simple. He embraced his friend. The others could hear them whisper something to each other and they figured it had something to do with Melira.
Melira had already left by then. She had returned to her belief that Thol was in love with Matoya and couldn't bear to watch.
They arrived back at the port in Coneria in a day and a half and to North Port in three days. They arrived at the castle near dusk and delivered the herb to the physicians. The prince woke up with a start and demanded to know where Astos was. After the regent explained that he had been asleep for over twenty years and what had happened since then, the prince ordered a national celebration for the coming of the Light Warriors.
Again, they were all forced to dress up and be publicly honored. More so then last time, Thol hated it. After the main ceremony, Thol sat looking out at the city again. He didn't know where his friends were at the moment and really didn't care. He finished his current drink and decided that he had had enough of sitting around. He found his way to an unoccupied balcony again and spent his time staring at the stars. Eventually he tired of looking at the stars and let his head droop down to rest on his folded arms.
He never knew how long he stood there like that, but afterwards he went back to his room and went to sleep. . . .
* * * *
The prince's coronation was to be held the next day. The Light Warriors were expected to attend of course. Again, Thol sat looking off in the distance not really caring what was going on. It took about two hours for the ceremony to be completed. Thol was headed to his room when he happened to glance over at the balcony to his left. Melira was standing looking out over the landscape similar to how he was the night before. He stopped and watched her for a while, debating whether he should go over there with her.
She must have felt that someone was watching her as she eventually turned around and looked at him. They stared at each other for a while before Thol continued on his way. He wasn't ready yet. He figured that he'd eventually have to start speaking with her again, if only for the sake of the quest, but not today.
It took until the next day before they could see the prince, who was now king, concerning the matter of the Key of Coneria. The king was, of course, only too happy to see them.
They were admitted to the throne room around noon and had gone through the business of addressing each other in proper form.
"Now I assume that you asked to see me for reasons other than spouting silly formalities?" the king said once they were all seated.
"You're absolutely correct, your majesty," Tor said.
"Please, we are friends. Simply call me Arastari."
"As you wish."
"So what is it you wish of me?"
"Your ancestor was given the Key of Coneria as a gift of friendship a long time ago. We have a need for it. Would you, by chance, lend it to us?"
"Why of course. I owe you much more then that. I'll get it right away," Arastari said. He got up and left the room then.
"Good, we can finally get on with our quest," Keza said.
"Yes. All this inactivity has me out of shape," Goro replied.
"I thought you practiced every day?" Valon asked.
"Between all these ceremonies and ship rides, I haven't had all that much time."
"True," Valon said, nodding once.
Arastari returned a moment later with the key. "And here it is," he said handing it to Tor. "Bring it back whenever you are finished with it."
"Thank you, Arastari. With this key we can continue with our quest."
"I pray that you are successful. We have felt keenly the rot of the earth and the rapid decent of the other elements."
Thol stood up now. "If you'll excuse us, we really should be moving on now. We must again cross the Aldi Sea to Coneria and the weather doesn't look like it's going to hold for much longer."
"I understand. Good luck then, and farewell," Arastari said.
They set out later that day after getting the sail replaced. A sudden strong wind had kicked up while they were lowering the sail when they docked earlier and it had torn it almost half way down. They took only half an hour to replace it and they were on their way.
The weather turned sour on them during their second day of travel. A large rainstorm accompanied by strong winds kept both sailors and passengers alike on their toes. The storm had blown them way off course so it took almost five days to finally reach Coneria. The ship needed repairs from the storm so they would be grounded for a few days.
They headed directly to the castle and to the throne room where they requested an audience with the king.
"Ah! You're back. How fares the quest?" the king asked as they were admitted to the throne room.
"It goes well thus far, your Majesty. We do, however, have a request of you," Thol said.
"Go right ahead. Anything that you need, I'll provide."
"Right," Thol said. He took the key out to show the king. "As you can see, this is the Key of Coneria which we have borrowed from his majesty, king Arastari of Elfland, who has recently been reawakened from the Dark Elf Astos' sleeping spell. There is an item in the locked treasury that we require. If you would be so kind as to inform us to the location of this treasury, then we will return to our quest just as soon as we finish the repairs to our vessel."
"At once. Kraim," the king said.
A fully armored soldier stepped forward. "Yes, your majesty?"
"Show the Light Warriors to the treasury and then return here as soon as they are finished."
"At once, sire," Kraim said. He turned to the six of them. "If you'll follow me, sirs."
The trip to the treasury took no more then ten minutes. One look at the inside, however, told them that it would take much longer to locate the explosives.
"Well there's not room enough for all six of us. Goro, Keza, and I will work on finding it. The rest of you go rest or whatever. We'll send for you when we find it," Thol said. He turned to Keza then. "And we're going to find only the explosives, right Keza?"
"Of course," he replied.
The other three left immediately afterwards. Tor went to find his princess who he wasn't able to see during their last visit. Valon decided to look into the library in the castle for any scrolls that Elfland didn't have. Melira simply went to her room that was set aside for her by the king. They all had similar rooms that they could use whenever they were at the castle.
It took the three of them four hours to finally locate the old, half rotten case of explosives. The explosives themselves were still in good condition though, so it wasn't a waste of time.
With their main task out of the way, Thol set out to track Tor down. He found him with his princess sitting by a balcony in the eastern part of the castle.
"Tor," he said as he approached.
"Did you find them?"
"Yes," he replied. He turned to Princess Sara and bowed. "Your highness."
"Hello, Thol. How have you been?"
"Don't ask," he said. He turned to Tor again. "I hate to tear you away from your princess, but I'd like you to go down to the port and find out how long the repairs are liable to take."
"Alright. Where will you be?"
"I'm not sure. I might be in my room or I might just wander around a bit. I'm feeling kinda restless right now."
"Did you fix things with. . ."
"No," Thol said, cutting him off in mid sentence. "I tried once already if you recall. I don't hold too much hope for things to just fix themselves either."
"I still think you should try."
"We'll see," Thol replied.
He wandered around for about an hour before he went to his room. Tor showed up thirty minutes later to tell him that the repairs would take another twenty hours at least.
He sent Tor to check on things again the next morning and then went to find Valon. He had been working on trying to figure out how the explosives worked just in case there was a need for them again in the future.
"Well?" Thol asked as he entered.
Valon was cursing loudly as he looked at one of the explosives that he had taken apart. "I understand how it's put together physically. It's the magic in it that I don't understand. I can't seem to figure out exactly what the mage used on it."
"Let me see," Thol said. He waved a hand over it to try to see what sort of magic was cast on it. He was confounded by the results. The spell seemed to be a black magic spell, but there was more to it then just that. "What in the Hell? Is that white magic?"
"That's what I thought too, but no one has ever been able to combine a white and black magic spell. I think this is out of our league, my friend."
"For now anyway. If we ever have to go near Crescent Lake, I'll get the sages to have a look at it. They should be able to tell us something."
"Right. I'll keep this one separate from the others."
Thol nodded and headed back to his room. He was so busy concentrating on figuring out the secret to the explosives that he failed to notice that he had passed by Melira who was sitting with the Princess Adonna, Sara's younger sister.
"It must be exciting to be on a grand quest like that," Adonna was saying.
Melira sighed. "I guess so. I don't really do too much in fights. I'm not very good at fighting actually. I'm a healer after all," she said. Thol was right. I don't know why I got so mad at him. I wish I had never asked him why, she thought to herself.
"But you get to travel all over the world! I'm stuck in this castle all day and every day. Surely that must be fun."
She sighed again. "I suppose it is," she replied, half-heartedly.
"What ever is the matter, dear? You've been sighing like you've lost your only friend and you haven't smiled once."
You're pretty close to what's wrong, she thought. "It's nothing to worry about. It was my fault anyway."
"Do tell me about it. I might be able to help you."
I doubt it. "Alright. Here goes," she said, telling her what happened. . . .
* * * *
They left later that day to find the dwarf caves. The king had informed them that the dwarfs had a seaport somewhere to the west of the castle. It took them four days to finally find it. The port itself was deserted other then a rickety old ship that was securely tied and anchored down. They docked next to it and secured their own ship in a similar way.
There was a crudely drawn map posted on a sign that told them that the cave was southwest of the docks. From the map, Goro estimated that it would take them about a day and a half to get there.
During their second day of traveling, they ran into some problems.
"Hey, Thol," Tor said.
"Yeah? What do you want?"
"What happened to the lower part of your mask anyway? You haven't been wearing it for quite awhile now,"
Thol let out a snorting laugh. "I lost it at Coneria sometime during that stupid celebration."
"Oh," Tor said, stupidly.
They walked on in silence for a few moments when they were attacked by a large pack of gray wolves. There were about three wolves for every one of them so they knew that they were in for some trouble.
Thol immediately cast a lightning spell on his group of wolves. It didn't have the same effect as it did on the ones near Coneria, however, so he was forced to fight them with his staff.
Tor killed two of them in seconds and a third almost immediately after. He made his way over to Keza who seemed to be having some difficulty with the four attacking him.
Valon and Goro were backed up against a large rock by seven more of the things. Between the two of them, they managed to hold them back, but they weren't doing very much damage in the process.
Over where Thol was fighting, the wolves seemed to be getting smarter. He was hard pressed to keep them back and on more then one occasion, they made it through his guard. He eventually got tired of it all and sent an ice spell at them. The spell took care of two of them so he only had to deal with one more. He finally finished it off with a vicious shot to the head. He paused for a minute to catch his breath when he heard Melira let out a scream.
He rushed over to her and let out another lightning spell as he went. One of them had knocked her down and she was just barely keeping it back with her staff. The other one took the brunt of the spell and was staggering around. He kicked that one out of the way and bashed the other one over the skull with his staff. It gave up its attack on Melira immediately and instead attacked Thol. He hit it again with his staff and was suddenly hit from behind by the other wolf. It bit into his staff arm and had him fairly well pinned down. The second wolf was rushing for him but Thol released a fire spell right in its eyes, blinding it. He was about to turn his attention to the wolf that was tearing into his arm when Melira crashed her staff into the back of its neck. The thing yelped and jumped away. Thol wasted no time getting to his feet and blasting it with his last lightning spell. He kneeled on the ground, leaning on his staff trying to catch his breath and wondering how much damage the wolf did to his arm.
Goro eventually broke free of the barrier of wolves and the two of them caught the remaining five wolves in a pincer attack. With only three of them remaining, Tor and Keza also joined in. It was over in seconds.
In the end, Thol took the worst of the damage because he had faced down five of them almost single-handedly. Melira, though saying nothing, did her best to heal him. Thol also said nothing but let her heal him.
Due to their run in with the pack of wolves, it took them until the next day to finally make it to the Dwarf Cave. The pair of dwarves that stood guard at the gates to the city greeted them warmly. Thol inquired at to where they might find Nerrick and the guards told them.
They ran into Smith on their way there. The old dwarf said that he would take them to Nerrick. He lead them trough a series of winding tunnels where they could here the sound of rock being moved. "Nerrick!" the old dwarf yelled. "Nerrick! Where are you, damn it?"
The noise stopped suddenly and a muscular dwarf stepped around the corner. "Smith. Can't you see that I'm busy?"
"Oh shut yer hole, you blundering ape! These people have something for you."
"Oh yeah? And what might that be?"
Valon stepped forward and handed him the box of explosives. The Nerrick opened it and his eyes went wide. "Where did you get this? The only supply of explosives on this continent is in Coneria and that door is locked!"
Thol held up the key. "Not anymore it isn't."
The dwarf's eyes went wide again. "Who are you people?" he asked.
"We are the Light Warriors of Lukahn's Prophecy," Tor said.
"Lukahn? Isn't that fool Guran always talking about him?" Nerrick asked.
"Aye. Believe me, old friend, they truly are who they claim. I was in Elfland when they returned from their victory over the Dark Elf Astos!"
"So it's true," Nerrick said. He looked at the six of them. "You have done me a great favor by giving me these. If there's anything I can do for you in return, just ask."
"We wish that you simply finish the rebuilding of the canal. We have business in Melmond that we cannot attend until the way is clear," Tor said.
"Not a problem! Smith, take them to the inn and tell Ukthal that they can stay for as long as it takes me to finish this canal. Tell him I'll pay for their stay."
"You are very kind, Nerrick. We thank you," Tor said.
"Bah! It's nothing. I'll have someone inform you when the canal is finished, until then enjoy yourselves. We dwarves know how to throw one Hell of a party!"
And that they did as soon a word got around of who they were and their gift to Nerrick. Thol did manage to have a little fun, but he still retired early and went back to the inn. He had borrowed a book from the innkeeper, Ukthal, and was in the process of trying to learn Dwarfish. He had been reading when there was a barely detectable rap on the door. Wondering who it could possibly be, he got up and opened the door.
It was Melira, the last person he expected to see. He let his surprise show through the fact that he didn't say anything for over a minute.
"May I come in?" she asked, almost as if she was afraid to.
Finally managing to find his voice, he replied. "Of course."
She entered but didn't sit down. She instead stood using the back of a chair for support. Thol closed the door and turned to her. She was facing away from him with her head bowed slightly.
She didn't say anything for quite awhile. When she finally did, her voice was broken and quiet. "Thol, I. . ." she started to say. He took a step toward her. "I don't know why I got so mad at you. You were right. I can't fight. You had to save me again outside the caves. I'm sorry, Thol. I don't hate you. I was just mad when I said that." She had begun to cry again as much as she tried not to.
Thol wordlessly stepped up to her and wrapped his arms around her. She turned to face him and clung to him. "I'm sorry," she said again through her tears.
"Don't worry about it. It's over now. It was my fault just as much as it was yours, if not more," he replied in a soft voice.
"No. You were right. I was being childish."
"So was I. Let's just forget that it ever happened."
She nodded her head and tried to stop crying. Thol continued to hold her and said nothing.
After some five minutes or so, she spoke again. "Thol?"
"Yes?"
"Were you really just protecting me because my father asked you to?"
He hesitated a moment. "No. That wasn't it. He did ask me, but that wasn't why."
"Why did you then?"
Again, he hesitated. "Because I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt."
She smiled and was silent for a moment. "Thank you," she said quietly and everything was right again. . . .
* * * *