Death Or Fortune (64 page)

     The trip
home passed without incident.  With most of Captain Nathan’s crew dead, we
all pitched in to help.  It made the time at sea pass rather quickly to be
honest.  Kandella even offered to help out, she proved to be very good at
the helm.  She would stand at the wheel at night and sing to herself.
 She had a very good voice but most of the men didn't know what it was she
was singing about as she sang in elven, yet they all seemed to enjoy it.
 I don't know if they would have liked the fact that she was singing songs
about Solarth.  The only time she didn't sing or man the helm was when we
were cutting up the Fingers of Soranus.  While we passed though Toryth
Vol, she stayed in her quarters.  Remembering how Zender was affected I
didn't blame her for staying below and out of sight.  She has written a
complete report of her findings on the island, the events that happened and how
they ended.  She sent me a letter a few months back, asking me to come
read it.  Honestly, I didn't care to, writing this has been hard enough.
     When we arrived in Rohloff I sent Bryce to find a
wagon to cart Michaels home in.  He was so happy to be back on dry land he
would have carried the paladin all the way home on his back if I told him to.
 Once Michaels was loaded onto the wagon, Curry pulled me aside.  He
told me he was asked to stay with the crew of Nathan's Bounty.  After all
that time at sea, he didn't want to give it up.
'I have found my true love
.'
he told me.  He resigned from the Arcadian Royal Guard right there, with
my blessing.  The other members of the Dead Squad gathered around him to
say their goodbyes.  The rest of the members still serve the royal guard
today.  They have also been known to ride with me from time to time, when
Turk doesn't like what I am doing or where I am going.  Now that I think
about it seems to be more often these days.  Twice since we have been home,
we have all gathered together at The Red Dragon Inn for a private dinner.
 We remember those we lost and celebrate still being alive.  Truth be
told, it is just a chance for all of us to get rip roaring drunk together.
 On those nights, Zackary will man the door for us to make sure that no
one bothers us.
     Windfall said his goodbye to all of us in Klassen.
 He told me that he missed his wife and that he needed to track down
Zender, to give him the news of his grandfather.  Last I heard from him,
Zender and Lomark had joined with another companion.  They were going to
Westheath to help in the aftermath of another invasion.  Toryth Vol once
again reached out with its dead hands to kill their centuries old enemy.
 There are rumors of the city being filled with undead troops.  I
don’t know for sure what is real, only what Turk tells me, which isn't much.
 Windfall has visited once since we have returned home, a little more than
two weeks ago.  It was a quick and quiet visit, which is just fine with
me.  As he was leaving, he told me he was returning home for a while.
There has been word of trouble in Eystlund, he said it had something to do with
a threat to Darius but he wasn’t sure of the details.  He told me when he
learned all that there was to know, he would send me a letter.  I told him
if he needed a place to bring his wife, my home was always open to him.
 Should the threat to Eystlund be serious that is.  I also told him
that if it was that serious, to bring my mother as well.  If I know
Windfall, sometime in the next few weeks I will have an elderly woman on my
door step with my mother.  I doubt he will leave Eystlund if there is real
trouble there.
     It took us two weeks to return to the capital.
 We arrived in town in the middle of the night, the streets were quiet.
 I told Bryce and the Dead Squad that they could return to their homes,
see their families.  They all refused, insisting that they would complete
the final task of taking Michaels home to the temple of Solarth.  It was
grim and silent procession through the city. Sometimes I can still hear the
sound of the draft horse pulling the wagon over the cobblestone streets.
 When we arrived at the temple of Solarth I told Kandella to go inside to
let the Bishop know we were waiting out here for him.  I jumped down from
the wagon, looking in the back at my friends.  Michaels was still wrapped
in the cloth we found for him.  Pare and Mason were curled up together,
sleeping. I thought about waking him but figured I would let him sleep. Two
minutes after Kandella went into the temple doors, Hans came running back out
of them.  Still dressed in his night robes, my friend came running down
the steps in his bare feet.  He said nothing, only wrapping his arms
around me.  After he stepped back he looked around at the gathered men.
'It
is good to see you all my friends. May Solarth shine his light on all of you.'
He then looked at me and only said one thing, Michaels.
     I put my arm around the shoulders of my friend and
took him to the back of the wagon.  I told him he saved us all and that
his final request was to be brought back home.
'Let me get some brothers to
take him to the crypt.'
he said with a somber voice.  It was Wayne who
spoke up first.
'No sir, he is our charge, we will carry him to where he
needs to go.'
When Hans looked back to me I could only nod my head.
 Six men stepped forward to carry Michaels into the temple, Hans lead the
way, the rest of us followed behind.  Once we were in the crypt, Hans took
us to a room with a single large stone table.
'We shall prepare his body
here, thank you for all that you have done.
' I shook the hand of each of
them as they filled out of the crypt, thanking them for their service.
 After they were all gone, Hans had begun to unwrap the body.  I
asked him if I should leave but he shook his head no.  His body, which had
been dead for over three months still looked the same as the last time I had
seen him.  Hans later said it had something to do with Solarths Fist, I
never told anyone about that.  Two days later we were all together again
in that crypt.  There was a small funeral for my friend, in addition to
Pare, Bryce and the Dead Squad was Captain Turk and King Roderick.  He was
entombed in a silver etched coffin, Solarths Fist still rest in his hands.
     Bryce was promoted to Captain by the king and held the
rank long enough to retire.
'I am tired, it is time for me to stay home.'
he told me later.  Bryce was a good man and a good friend during a long
and tough trip.  He was home for six months before he passed away in the
middle of the night.  He had given twenty years of service to his country
and his king.  He was allowed to spend the last six months of his life at
home, next to the woman he loved.  He was buried in a plot reserved for
the king’s personal guard.  The cleric who attended to him said his heart
had stopped working.  His wife later told me that Bryce's father had died
the same way at a much younger age.
'I saw the signs
.' she told me.
'I
expected him to pass on years ago but he was so stubborn, it was almost as if
he refused to die until he was good and well ready.'
At the age of forty
five years old, Captain Bryce was given his leave to explore the afterlife and
to question the gods until he is blue in the face. If there was anyone who
earned the right to die in their own bed, it was him.
     After we delivered Michaels to the temple I went back
outside to the wagon, I looked in the back and saw Pare there, still sleeping
with that damn wolf.  I gave the wagon a good shake and Mason looked up at
me, Pare was still snoring.  After another shake the halfling sat up and
looked around.
'We're home
!' he said while rubbing the sleep from his
eyes. I told him to come on, that we were going to walk home the rest of the
way.
'What do we do with the wagon?'
he asked me after climbing down, I
told him that Hans could have his people take care of it.  I honestly
never wanted to see it again.  The image of Michaels preserved body was
still fresh on my mind.  As we walked, Pare looked up at me and asked what
was next?  I told him we go home and see Jasmin.
'Nooooo!'
he said
to me.
'What adventure do we go on next?  I mean we pretty much have
done it all. We won a war, fought a pack of dragons, you went to Toryth Vol to
get that rod thingy while I was fighting criminals, now we have pretty much
saved all of the world. What do we do now?
' I looked down at my friend and
laughed, telling him that we didn't save the whole world.
'Are you sure?
That Argon guy wanted to hurt a lot of people.'
I told him while we had
helped a lot of people, we didn't save the whole world.
     As we walked the city streets, I felt something a bit
like pride come over me.  While I was born somewhere else, this was my
home now, my city, my country.  We arrived at my home just as the sun was
coming up.  Charles opened the door to us as we were walking in the main
gates.
'Lord Kromwell sir, it is good to see you home. Shall I tell the king
that you have returned?'
I looked at my trusted servant and smiled, even at
that time of the morning, he had not a hair out of place.  I later learned
that he had bribed the city watch to inform him the moment I returned to town.
'Lady
Kromwell is still sleeping.  The midwife has told her she should not be
out of bed until the child comes. She has been, most difficult.
' I handed
Charles my bags as I walked past him, heading straight for the stairs.  As
I was walking up I heard him ask me
'Will this creature be staying here?'
Pare, without missing a beat said
'I am not a creature Chuck, come on Mason,
I will show you my room.'
It was all I could do to keep from laughing.
     I slowly opened the door to my room, there was a
single lamp burning on the table next to my side of the bed. I saw my wife
sleeping there, never have I seen anything so beautiful.  I stripped off
my armor and went to lay down beside her. I waited there until she opened her
eyes. When she did open them, she slowly reached out to touch me.  I
smiled and said yes, I am home.  She smiled back at me as she dropped her hand,
'I know, my dreams of you smell better, get out of my bed until you have had
a bath.'
I leaned over to kiss her, softly at first, then as the kiss was
accepted, deeper.  I looked at her in the eye as I placed my hand on her
swollen belly, she just looked at me and said
'bath.
' Two weeks later I
was there as she gave birth to my son, A...
__________________________________________________________
     The sound of metal crashing on the floor made Lord
Kromwell look up from his writings. With a soft sigh, he waited for what he
knew was coming next.  It was the sound of feet running down the hall.
When the door flew open without so much of a single knock, he knew it was one
of two people.
     "Hiya Darmot!" Pare said as he rushed into
the room. "Hey, do you still have that Dragon sword downstairs?  We
might need it.  Oh and you better come talk to Kaffis, he made Chuck pass
out." Lord Kromwell set aside his writing quill and put the cap on his ink
well.  Kaffis was now the Foreman of the lumber camp that resided on the
Lords lands.  Darmot knew if Kaffis was there, something had gone wrong at
the lumber camp.  Rushing out of the office, past his halfling friend Lord
Darmot Kromwell went running down the hall. "Wait for me!" the
halfling shouted at him.
     "Chuk, lunch Chuk!" Lord Kromwell saw his
son bent over at the waist, talking to the servant who was passed out on the
floor. "Chuk!" he said again as he was now trying to force open the
eyelids of the servant.
     "Arturo!" Darmot shouted. The two year old
stood straight up to look at his father. "Go find your mother. Tell her to
come down, do that and I will have Uncle Pare make you something to eat."
 The two years old, Arturo Michaels Kromwell had a smile on his face as he
started to run up the stairs to find his mother.  Uncle Pare always made
him something sticky and sweet to eat. This was not something he would miss out
on.  Darmot looked down at his servant, silver dishes were scattered all
over the floor along with what he guessed was what should have been his son's
lunch. "Kaffis help me get him up, Pare will you get the boy something to
eat?" he said.  Darmot and his camp Foreman took Charles to his room
and laid him on his bed. After the door was closed the lord reached out to
Kaffis, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what happened."
     "Well sir, I can't believe it has happened twice
now but it did. Yesterday afternoon a dragon landed at the camp. It was
screaming at us about its mate. That was so long ago though."
     "Kaffis, dragons live for thousands of years,
five years isn't that long to a dragon."
     "Anyway, it kicked some stuff around, ate two
horses then as it took off it set Charles house on fire. There is nothing left
of it."
     "Did you bring everyone back to town with you?
Was anyone hurt?" Darmot asked.
     "Yes sir! Just as you ordered, anything goes
wrong we all come back to town.  Most of them are over at the Star Sword
Inn.  Old Dave broke his leg but other than that we all got away
clean."
     "Good, follow me." Darmot started back down
the long haul to his office in the back of the house.  He went straight to
his desk, setting aside the book he was writing in and pulled out a single
piece of parchment.  While he wrote, he told him "I want you to take
this to Captain Turk. Tell him I might need some help. Then I want you to take
it to the Temple of Solarth, take it directly to Bishop Hans. Tell him to sneak
out after dark.  We will wait for him at the north gate out of town.
 I know he is itching to get out of that temple." Kaffis then watched
as Lord Kromwell slid open a drawer of the desk.  He pulled out a sack of
heavy coin and tossed it to the lumberjack. "Give that to Linda, it will
make sure you guys are all paid up until I can get this taken care of.
 Keep a couple for yourself."