A Land Of Fire (Book 12) (8 page)

Gwen, standing at the bow of her ship,
leaned over, clutched the baby, and peered into the ocean, searching for any
sign of Thorgrin. On all sides of the ship her men also examined the waters.

“THORGRIN!” called out the sailors all
around the ship—and this was echoed by the sailors on the other two other ships
of her fleet. The three ships, spread a good hundred yards from each other, combed
the waters together, all shouting Thor’s name. From the top of the masts, they tolled
the bells, all three of them, intermittently, looking for any sign of him.

Gwendolyn felt like weeping inside. She
had been unable to find Guwayne, and now she had no sign of Thor. She hated
this ocean, cursed the day that she ever set sail from the Ring. She knew her chances
were grim. Thor and Mycoples had ridden fearlessly into battle, one dragon
against dozens, and even if they managed to vanquish them, how could Thor
defeat Romulus’s entire fleet? How could he possibly survive?

At the same time, Gwendolyn knew, by
sailing in this direction, she was endangering her men, bringing them closer
and closer to Romulus’s fleet.

Gwen heard a sudden cracking noise down
below at the hull, and she looked over the edge, startled. Below she spotted debris—planks,
an old mast, a remnant of a sail…  She scanned the waters, looking closely, and
saw a vast sea of debris.

“What can it be?” came the voice.

Gwendolyn turned to see Kendrick by her
side, Reece coming up on her other side, along with Godfrey and Steffen, all of
them joining her and looking down in wonder.

“Look! The Empire banner!” Steffen called
out, pointing.

Gwen looked, saw the soiled and torn
flag, and realize he was correct.

“This is Empire debris,” Reece said,
stating what was on everyone’s minds.

“But how?” Godfrey asked. “The entire
Empire fleet destroyed? How is it possible?”

Gwen searched the skies for any sign of
Thorgrin, wondering. Had he done this?

“It was Thorgrin,” Gwen said, hoping it
to be true,
willing
it to be true. “He destroyed them all.”

“Then where is he?” Kendrick asked. The
bells continued to toll as they headed south, further out into this sea. “I see
no sign of Mycoples.”

“I do now know,” Gwen replied. “But even
if Mycoples is dead, Thor might be alive. If there is debris, Thor might be floating
on it.”

“My lady,” came a voice.

She turned to see Aberthol standing
close by.

“I love Thorgrin as much as anyone here.
But you do realize we are sailing closer and closer to the Empire. Even if
Romulus’s fleet is destroyed, surely his million-man army remains on the
mainland of the Ring. We cannot head back to the Ring. We must find a new home,
set sail in a new direction. You want to find Thorgrin, and I admire that. But
it’s been days, and still we have no sign of him. We have limited provisions.
Our people are starving. They’re homeless, have lost loved ones, and are mad
with grief. They are desperate for direction. We need food and shelter. We are running
out of provisions.”

She knew he was right. Her people needed
another direction.

“Our people need you,” Srog added.

Gwen stared out into the horizon, holding
the baby, and still there was no sign of Thor. She closed her eyes, wiping a
tear, and she willed God to answer. Why did life have to be so hard?

Please, God, tell me where he is. I will
give you anything. Just let me save him. If I cannot save my son, let me save
him. Please, don’t let me lose them both.

Gwendolyn waited, very still, hoping for
a response. She opened her eyes, hoping for a sign, anything, something.

But none came.

She felt hollowed out. Abandoned.

Resolved, she finally turned and nodded
to her men.

“Turn the fleet around,” she said. “We
shall sail this time for land.”

“Turn the fleet!” echoed up and down the
ships.

Everyone turned and looked in their new
direction, except for Gwendolyn. She kept herself facing the direction they
were sailing away from, her heart breaking, hoping for any sign of Thor.

As they began to drift further and
further away, the debris getting smaller, Gwen felt every good thing left in
the world being stripped from her. Was that what it meant to be Queen? Did it
mean you cared more for your people than for your family? For your very own
self? At this moment, being Queen was what Gwendolyn no longer wanted. At this
moment, she hated her people, hated everything about being Queen. She wanted
only Thorgrin and her son, and nothing else.

But as they set sail in a new direction,
as the bells tolled on the masts, she knew it was not meant to be, and they
felt like bells tolling on her heart.

Thor tried to grab onto something,
anything, as he felt himself sliding down a slimy tunnel, in a gush of liquid
and seawater—but there was nothing to hang onto. As the world rushed by him in
this cacophonous tunnel, he realized he was being washed down into the belly of
this beast. The blackness deepened, and he braced himself for death.

Thor slid deeper and deeper down the
contours of the beast’s endlessly long throat—it felt like hundreds of feet—until
finally he found himself ejected into a huge cavernous space. He went flying
through the air, shouting as he plummeted a good twenty feet, until he finally
landed in a pool of water, up to his knees, on a soft surface. He realized he
must have landed on the whale’s soft stomach.

As Thor lay in the shallow water,
wondering if he was dead, he heard his own breathing echo in the blackness; water
swished gently back and forth on the whale’s stomach as it moved through the
sea. Thor imagined the whale swimming through the ocean, turning side to side,
diving up and down. He could faintly hear all the sounds of the ocean outside, dim
from here, muted.

Thor tried to stand but stumbled as the whale
raced along the ocean. There came a loud gushing noise, and Thor looked up and felt
a gush of water come down on his head, along with several fish flying down
through the air, landing in the belly with him. Some of them were luminescent
fish, and as they landed they emitted a soft glow, lighting up the whale’s
belly. Thor could finally see in here, no longer in utter blackness.

A part of him wished he was. Thor looked
up and was repulsed by the inner lining of the whale’s belly, skin hanging off
of it in pieces, remnants of dead fish and insects clinging to it, and on its
floor. Strange valves opened and closed, muscles and intestines contracted and
expanded, emitting bad odors, and Thor took it all in in wonder.

Thor leaned his head back against the stomach
wall and breathed deeply, exhausted; his wounds were still killing him, and he
felt as if he’d come to the depths of his life. He sensed there was no way out
of here; he had finally come to the end.

Thor closed his eyes and shook his head.

Why, God? Why am I being tested like
this?

Thor lay there for a very long time in
the darkness, and finally he heard an answer. It was a small voice, inside his
head.

Because you are a great warrior. The
greatest warriors are always tested the most.

“But have I not already proven myself?” Thor
asked aloud.

Each time you prove yourself, you will
be tested again. Each time, the tests will become greater. The more you
struggle, the greater person you can become. Each test is not a difficulty—it
is a precious opportunity. Be thankful for it. The more you suffer, the more
thankful you must be.

Thor leaned his head back, exhausted,
slipping away to the blackness, feeling his life force ebb, and he tried to be
grateful. It was hard, so hard. He felt as if he’d already lived many
lifetimes, and he was deeply exhausted.

There came another gushing sound, and
Thor looked up and saw more water rush down into the belly of the whale, and
yet more fish, along with other strange sea animals. This whale’s appetite
obviously was insatiable.

With each gush of water, Thor felt the
water level rising, felt it rise from his ankles to his knees as he lay along
the side of the wall. There came still another gush of water, and the level
rose again, now up to his thighs. Thor knew that if he did not get out of here soon,
he would drown in this awful place.

Drained from his wounds, Thor could barely
keep his eyes open. If he were destined to die here, he realized, then so be
it. For now, there was nothing more he could do than allow his heavy eyes to
close, allow himself to be carried away by sweet sleep.

Thor’s eyes opened and closed as he
moved in and out of consciousness for he did not know how long. He saw flashes,
memories, perhaps glimpses of the future. He saw Mycoples’s face, then Ralibar’s.
He saw himself flying on Mycoples, under a perfect clear sky, Mycoples happier
than he’d ever seen her. He saw them both criss-crossing each other, flying
beside each other, both of them young and healthy and happy. He could feel how
much they loved him.

Thor looked down into Mycoples’s face.

“I’m sorry that I let you down,” he
said.

You’ve never let me down, Thorgrin. You
gave me a chance to truly live.

Thor blinked and found himself standing
in the skywalk, in the Land of the Druids. But this time, he was not facing his
mother’s castle, but facing the mainland, walking
away
from the castle,
his back to it. His mother, he sensed, was somewhere behind him, and yet as
much as he wanted to, he was unable to look back.

“Go, Thorgrin,” came her voice. “It is
time for you to walk. Alone. It is time for you to leave this place, to venture
out into the world. Only out in the world, on an unknown path, will you become
a great warrior.”

Thor took one step down the skywalk,
then the next. Step by step, he walked alone, away from the castle, from the
cliff, feeling his mother’s presence behind him but unable to turn back. He did
not know where the path would take him, but he knew he was meant to be on it.

Thor blinked and found himself standing on
a foreign shore with bright yellow sand, a million small stones sparkling
within it. He saw a small, lone boat on the shore, and a small baby inside, crying.
Thor walked over to it and leaned down, his heart pounding at the thought of
seeing his son again.

He looked down and his heart lifted to
see Guwayne, looking back with Thor’s same gray eyes. Thor reached out to grab him.

As he did, suddenly, savage tribesmen appeared
and snatched the boy away, and turned and ran. Thor watched in horror as dozens
of tribesmen ran off with Guwayne, screaming and reaching out for him.

“NO!” Thor yelled.

He tried to run for him, but he looked
down to find his feet stuck in the sand.

Suddenly, the sand opened up, and Thor
was sucked down into the sand, which turned to waters, and sucked back into the
ocean. He sank, shrieking, lower and lower, sinking into the blackness.

Thor opened his eyes to hear another
gushing of water, and he looked up to see water once again pouring down from
the whale’s throat to its belly, filling it up. He looked down and saw the
water was now up to his chest.

Thor, still breathing hard from his
nightmare, tried to escape the rising tide—but the next gush brought the water up
to his throat. Thor realized that his time here was scarce. In a few moments,
he would drown.

Thor closed his eyes and thought of Gwendolyn,
of Guwayne, of all those he’d known and loved. He thought of his son, needing
him; of Gwendolyn, needing him. He felt the bracelet on his wrist, and he
thought of his mother, of Alistair, of Ralibar and Mycoples. No one would know
that he died down here.

I must do it for them
, Thor thought.
I
must live for them.

Thor opened his eyes and felt himself
infused with a sudden surge of strength. He sensed the very fabric of this
whale, could sense that they were all a part of the same universe. And that he
could change that universe.

Thor closed his eyes and raised his
palms overhead, and he felt tremendous heat emanating from them. Beams of light
shot forth from them, into the belly of the whale, and they became like ropes,
pulling Thor up, just before the next wave of water drowned him, high above the
water, higher and higher. He soon dangled above the pool of water below, and as
he swung there, he focused.

I command you, whale. Rise to the
surface. Let me out. Because I deserve to live. For everyone I’ve ever known in
my life, for everyone who ever sacrificed for me, and for everyone who I will
ever sacrifice for, I deserve to live.

There came a distant roar, echoing
inside the belly, and Thor suddenly felt the whale change direction, turning upward,
shooting up at full speed, heading for the surface. It rose faster and faster,
the lights from Thor’s palms keeping him dangling from the ceiling as he held
on.

Finally, the whale broke the surface and
Thor felt it rising in the air in a high arc, and then landing back on the
surface, splashing, its entire belly shaking.

It sat there, still, flat on the surface
of the ocean, and as Thor peered into its throat, he suddenly saw daylight. The
whale opened its jaws, light flooding in through its massive teeth, and as it
did, Thor released himself from the ceiling and dove into the whale’s throat.

This time the flood of waters took him
back down the whale’s throat, toward sunlight. Thor went sliding along, back
down the whale’s long, slimy tongue, slipping every which way.

Thor soon found himself sliding through
the whale’s teeth, out of his mouth, and back out into daylight, onto the
surface of the water.

Thor flailed in the open ocean, startled
by how cold it was, and he reached out and grabbed onto several wooden planks
of debris. As he lay there, floating, Thor turned and looked at the beast.

The whale stared back at Thor with its
immense eye, unblinking, an ancient eye which seemed to hold all the knowledge
and secrets of the world. It remained there, floating on the surface, examining
Thor as if he were an old friend.

Finally, without warning, it lowered its
head and dipped below the water, disappearing just as quickly as it had
appeared. Thor was rocked by the waves left in its wake.

Thor, all alone again, floated there,
exhausted, bent over the piece of debris. He looked out to the ocean hoping to
see someone, something.

But there was nothing. He was all alone
again, alive, but floating into nothingness, with no land in sight.

*

Gwen remained at the bow of her ship, even
as it turned around, unable to pull herself away. She did not know that Thor
was out there, that was true, and yet, somehow, heading south back toward where
they had last seen the Empire fleet had made her feel better, as if she were getting
closer to where she had last seen him. Maybe all the others had been right:
maybe Thor was not there at all. Maybe, even, she hated to think, he was dead.

But as they sailed away, Gwen could not
ignore her inner instinct, could not ignore that small, irrational part of
herself that insisted that Thor was alive, that he was out there, that he was
waiting for her. She felt as if she were leaving the last great thing in her
life behind. It made no rational sense, but something inside was screaming at
her, telling her that she was making a mistake.

It was telling her to turn around.

Gwendolyn, the only person left still
facing the rear, standing there, clutching the baby, watched the debris bobbing
in the waters. There was no sign of Thor anywhere, only black clouds looming on
the horizon, getting closer and closer, and the endless ruins of what had once
been the Empire fleet. Still, she realized, sometimes she just had to follow
her instinct, however crazy, and do things that made no sense.

“Turn the fleet around,” Gwen suddenly
commanded Steffen, surprising even herself.

Steffen stared back at her, eyes wide
open in shock.

“Did I hear correctly, my lady?” he
asked.

She nodded.

“But why?” Kendrick asked, coming up
beside her, concern etched across his face.

“I cannot turn my back on Thorgrin,”
Gwen said. “I sense that he’s out there. I sense that he needs me.”

All the others were now standing beside
her, looking at her as if she were mad.

“Our people are desperate, my lady,”
Kendrick said. “We may not find land for who knows how long. If we turn back
for Thor, who might not even be there, then we might all die trying.”

Gwen faced him, her expression hard.

“Then we shall die trying.”

Kendrick lowered his head, silent.

“Anyone who wants to leave us,” Gwen
said, her voice booming, “can join the other ships and leave us. I am turning
this ship around.”

Her men all stared at her, silent, in
shock, then finally they broke into action.

“Turn her around!” one sailor called
out.

His called was echoed up and down the line,
and soon sails were hoisted, and turned, and Gwen felt the huge ship turning
back around. She immediately felt better as it did, felt a rock lift from her
heart.

“My sister, I am glad you trusted your
instinct,” Reece said. “Even if you’re wrong, I admire you for it. I wanted to
turn around myself.”

“As did I,” Kendrick added.

“And I,” came the chorus of voices.

Gwen felt warmed by their support, and
they all turned back to the rail and searched the waters. As Gwen stared, she
heard a screech, high up, and she craned her neck and saw a familiar bird.
There was Estopheles, soaring high. She screeched, swooping down then up again;
Gwen felt she was trying to tell them something.