Chapter Forty Eight
'Justice! Victory! I finally got her to say 'Mama'! It only took three weeks, but she said it!
Halt is finally going to wipe that smug, arrogant look off his face!'
'Tried to get her to say 'Mama' in front of Halt.
She said 'Dada'. And 'Pitur' which I'm assuming is Pritchard. Neither of them would stop laughing.
Traitorous little child.'
'Well she is now crawling. I know this because she crawled right over to the door when I was making lunch and was halfway across the porch when Halt saw her.
Oh my gosh, this child, I love her dearly, but she will be the death of me.
And she's still a complete daddy's girl. She was crawling to where he was practicing. She looked so happy when he picked her up.
I guess she misses him since he spends most of the day training with Pritchard.'
'Pritchard received a letter from his old apprentice, Crowley, today. I don't know how he knew where to send it, I can only assume Pritchard sent him a message first. He says the letter is genuine.
Anyway, the situation is getting worse in Araluen. About half of the Ranger Corps has been dismissed or banished now and Morgarath is amassing more allies.
Pritchard looks worried. I can't blame him. We got lucky, having our little untouched corner of the world here in Celtica, but that letter was a harsh reminder for him.
Halt and I know exactly how it feels to lose a kingdom to a corrupt king, I'd hate to see Araluen go down that same path.
What can we do though? We're so outnumbered!
Halt feels guilty, I know he does. We ran from the last major problem we had and even though we are happy with our life and our choice, Halt hates having to abandon his family like that.
I wish my dad was here. He'd know what to do.'
'Halt was trying to teach Nellie to walk today. It was the funniest thing!
She is going to be a year old soon and Halt insisted that it was time she started walking. She'll hold onto your hands and let you walk around the cabin, but won't do it on her own.
Every time he stood her up and tried to make her walk, she just plopped down and started crawling towards him, laughing like it was some kind of game.
That girl is not going to walk until she is good and ready. He kept trying though.
And Halt wonders where she got her stubbornness.'
The voices were hushed, muffled by his mind which was still clinging to sleep. Instinctively he knew that it had only been a few hours since he had gone to bed and, opening his eyes, he confirmed it by spotting the moon shining through the window.
Selethen blinked, rubbing his eyes. They arrived in Redmont at the ranger's cabin just before sundown, deciding to wait until the morning to announce their arrival with the baron.
He and Nellie were in one room of the cabin that apparently Halt has shared with his apprentices. The furniture showed a clear division of the room and he could just make out Nel's huddled form on the opposite bed, still fast asleep, soft snores ruffling the hair that had fallen in front of her face. Cassandra was in Nel's old room, the two Rangers insisting that they would be fine sleeping by the fire, no matter how much he protested.
The soft voices came again, reminding him of what woke him up. He was in the bed closest to the door. It wasn't closed all the way, just barely touching the door frame, but it was enough to muffle the voices until he couldn't make out what was being said.
The tall Wakir lay in the bed for a moment, struggling with his curiosity until it finally won out. Stretching his arm as far as he could, Selethen could just barely brush the edge of the door, opening it just an inch or two. He didn't dare try for more than that, fear of rusty hinges giving him away.
But it was enough, ungarbling the whispered words so he could understand them.
"...still don't understand." Crowley was saying in a soft, whispered tone.
"Me either," Cassandra agreed, "Why would he turn on his own country like that?"
"He isn't turning on his country. He's turning on Atanyan. No one else knew what the Emrikir was-is planning." Halt told them.
"I'm finding it hard to spot a difference." the princess scoffed, "Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but Atanyan is his family. As angry as I've ever been with Dad, I wouldn't ever be able to turn my back on him."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Halt muttered, "Something happened in Arrida, something Nel can't tell me, but it's made her believe in his loyalty."
"No offense to Nellie," Crowley began cautiously, "but are we sure she isn't just…love struck? I mean, we've all seen the way she looks at him and no one ever wants to think the worst of somebody they care for."
"Nel's too smart for that," Cassandra protested.
"Anyone can fall for it though." Halt sighed, "And Nellie's never been in love before. She'll be more naive about it than most."
"Will she tell us what happened in Arrida?" Crowley asked, "Convince her to let us be the judge?"
"No, she won't. I already tried on the boat trip over when we weren't throwing up. Her lips are sealed."
A smile spread across his face and he looked at his wife lovingly. He had no clue that Halt had been pressuring her for his secret, but she'd refused.
"How are we supposed to trust him then? How do we know that he's not a spy or another assassin?"
"Nellie trusts him and I trust her." Halt told the other two, "We don't question Will or Gilan, we won't question Nel. That'll have to be good enough for now."
"I don't like this Halt." Crowley grumbled, "We don't work on blind faith."
"Well this time we have to. We don't have any other choice. Besides…it's Nellie."
The group of Araluens was silent for a long moment. Finally, he heard Halt sigh again, "We'll talk more in the morning and figure out some sort of plan. If either of you think you can get Nel to talk, go ahead and try, but she'll refuse, I can already tell you that much. We might as well get some sleep."
The other two agreed, moving softly to go back to bed. Selethen lay there for a long time, even after Crowley began snoring, lost to his thoughts.
They didn't trust him. It wasn't a surprise, although he had been expecting this to happen earlier, and if the roles were reversed, he would be just as distrustful of them.
That didn't make it hurt any less.
They actually thought he would side with Atanyan? After everything he'd done?
But…they didn't know about what he'd done and Selethen wasn't about to tell them. It had been hard enough to tell Nel and the pitying look in her eyes when she found out was horrible.
The two of them hadn't had a real chance to talk privately about it since they left Arrida and now they had far more to discuss.
He groaned, rubbing his head. How had life gotten so messed up? How did they fix it?
There was so much wrong with the world, so many problems, and it felt like it was all hinging on them and what they did now.
As much as they may say they had time, that they weren't leaving until spring, that was only a few months away. It wasn't very long at all. If anything, this was just the calm before the storm.
Glancing at Nellie again, a vague idea crossed his mind, but he was shaking his head before he gave it any real thought.
There was no way she would run away with him and hide somewhere. She loved her family too much. She would give up the world for them, but give up them for him? Never and he hated himself for even thinking of asking her.
Besides, deep down, he knew he couldn't do it. He cared about his own country too much. Arrida was his home, it was a part of him. As much as he may hate Atanyan, he loved Arrida more. It was one of the many reasons he had never tried to run away again.
That still meant they were no closer to a solution though. He groaned again, rolling over. Despite his promises to Nellie, his mind was full of doubts. If he couldn't protect himself, how was he supposed to protect her or their kids?
The question plagued him until he fell into a fitful sleep.
"What if we followed them?" Stig asked, "No one would expect us to invade their homeland. When they got to Nihon-Ja, the Temujai would be stuck between a hammer and an anvil."
Hal was already shaking his head, "5,000, marching across unknown territory, leaving our home undefended, to possibly get there in time to fight a minimum 10,000 warriors, probably more? It'll never work."
Stig grumbled, rolling his eyes, but not offended by his friend's words. He wasn't a strategist. His opinion was that a simple plan worked best, but Hal often saw it another way.
The Herons and Gilan were gathered at Hal's mom's inn, nursing their coffee and trying to come up with a plan. Sadly, Stig's was still the best.
"Are you sure we wouldn't get to Nihon-Ja in time?" Jesper asked.
"Even if we refitted every wolfship with the Heron sail plan, by the time we got there, the fighting would be over." Hal sighed, "We're twice as fast as a normal square sail, but it would still take us at least four months to get there. That's in perfect weather, not factoring in winter sailing."
"Hopefully we'll hear back from Shigeru any day saying he got our message." Gilan put in, trying to cheer them up.
"What do we do though?" Edvin asked, "All the plans were if the Temujai went after Toscana, not Nihon-Ja."
"They were able to retake Gallica and Iberion." Thorn huffed, "So our next step come spring is Teutlandt, meet our allies there and slowly push the Riders back. Our plans don't change just because our enemies aren't playing along."
"It's like a game of chess, but you don't see the other side's pieces until they move them." Lydia grumbled.
"Not frustrating at all." Stefan agreed sarcastically.
Hal sighed, turning to the Ranger, "Any word from Araluen?"
Gilan shook his head sadly, "Nothing from anyone as far as I know, not since the message about Gallica and Iberion, not even if Halt's ok after the battle."
"I'm sure Halt's fine." Lydia said comfortingly, "He's probably just still busy from the battle for Gallica."
Gilan didn't respond, taking a large drink of coffee.
"So what, we're just supposed to sit around and wait?" Stig said, annoyed.
"No." Thorn responded, harshly and quickly, "We train. Now, you lot have seen your fair share of battles, and you're good, but this is a war, and you need to be better."
The group could only nod in solemn agreement.
Hal drained the last of his coffee in one gulp before standing up, "Let's get to it then. It's only noon, plenty of time to work today."
"Get to the Hallasholm training yard then." Thorn said, "Erak always has it open and it should be relatively clear of snow."
Gilan cleared his throat, catching their attention, "I'll be a few minutes late. I need to grab something from my room."
"What do you need?"
"A bow." he answered, nodding towards Lydia, "For her."
"For me?" she asked, looking at him in shock. Her crewmates wore mirrored expressions.
He nodded again, "For you. It's something I've been making."
"But…why?"
"Look, you're absolutely deadly with that atlatl, there's no denying it, and I'm not suggesting that you give it up," Gilan told her calmly, making sure she was focused on everything he was saying, "But it can only take you so far. Every weapon has their disadvantages. A recurve bow will give you more force behind your attacks, more range, and a faster reload time. In battle, even a second or two can make all the difference."
"He's right." Thorn put in, "Besides, everyone should have a backup weapon. If you run out of darts, there's only so much you can do with your dirk."
Lydia looked back and forth between them stubbornly before finally sighing, "Ok, ok. You make some good points. Gil…would you mind teaching me?"
He smiled, laying a hand on her shoulder, "If I minded, I wouldn't have made you a bow."
Random Arasel Tidbit:
Nel's starter pokemon is Bulbasaur.
Selethen's is Squirtle.