The Changing (13 page)

Without slowing and without hesitation Garret careened into the massive wooden door, driving his shoulder through the wood, sending splinters flying in all directions as portions of the stone wall exploded around him. His feet leaving impressions in the stone cobbled streets, the giant man of steel raced towards the castle proper, blind to everything but the task at hand. As his giant form pounded down the street, windows shattered from the vibrations of his footfalls and people screamed and dove from his path in an attempt to flee a certain death beneath him. Leaving a trail of shattered glass, ruined road and screaming citizens behind him, Garret raced without pause to the castle. Ducking low Garret slid beneath the gated portcullis, sending the guards reeling in panic as he rose back to his full height again, stretching out his strides.

As Garret closed the distance between himself and his destination, he focused on the power coursing through his body. Sealing it away broke the connection between himself and the god he served. Shimmering once again, with a loud popping sound like a cork shot from a bottle, Garret again resumed his original form as he continued the last few strides to the tower of the various orders of mages. Not waiting for the enchanted door to swing open and admit him, Garret lowered his shoulder once again in preparation of the impact. Connecting with the door, this time in his normal flesh and blood, Garret’s shoulder and arm exploded in pain as the door gave way. Shattering his collar bone and dislocating his shoulder did not even give Garret pause. Racing down the main hall of the first floor Garret shouted for help, all the while bearing Sasha's lifeless body with his remaining good arm.

Rushing down the hall, shouting all the while, Garret was somewhat relieved as a head poked out from a doorway ahead, and realizing the source of the commotion in the hall, the man stepped out of the room he had been in revealing the white robes of his order. Garret ran until the last second, and leaning back upon his heels came to a sliding stop on the polished stone floors of the mage’s tower, nearly colliding with the healer who bid him place Sasha on the floor where they stood so he could assess her wounds.

Shaking his head in defeat, the healer looked to Garret with dismay upon his face and without so much as a prayer to his goddess began to speak.

"I am sorry, friend," the healer stated. "I will be of little help to you now. She is already gone, and even if she wasn’t, my healing abilities are very limited. My gift is of another nature."

"What do you mean, gone?" Garret nearly screamed in anger at the frail looking man before him. "She was standing and talking just moments ago. Any healer with half of a shred of talent could have her back on her feet within moments.”

"Perhaps you are correct," the cleric admitted. "However, my talent for healing resides not so much in the flesh as in the spirit, and the only other healer within the city walls at this moment to my knowledge is Karishtala herself, though I know not where she is.”

Garret knew the man's words to be true. The rest of the cities’ healers were with the main force of the army who were at this moment marching back to the city, the same way he had come not long before.

"So there is nothing you can do for her?" Garret whispered, knowing himself defeated. "You have to do something!" Garret demanded attempting to keep his voice from breaking. Death seemed to have surrounded him over the last few days.

"There is one thing I might do, though I have a feeling it will be more for you than for her," the healer replied.

"Do it," Garret begged.

Reaching down to cup Sasha's face in his hands, the healer leaned back his head and began to pray. As his chant grew in volume and in speed his hands began to glow with pale white luminescence. The healer then turned himself to look at the dead woman in his hands, and Garret watched as both the healer and Sasha opened their eyes, their gazes locked upon one another. It was an eerie sight to say the least, with Sasha's lifeless eyes rolled back in her head, showing only the whites, yet even so they seemed transfixed on those of the healer. If that were not enough, the dead woman's mouth began to move as if she were speaking, but no words escaped her lips. Garret watched on in horror as the healer continued to cup Sasha's head in his hands, and they appeared to have an entire silent conversation. Then apparently finished with his task, the healer released Sasha's face, and Garret watched as her eyes again closed and any sign of life left her. The healer's prayer changed in tone and intensity as the glowing ceased in his hands and, with a shudder running through his body, Garret watched knowingly as the healer locked away the power of his goddess. Then the healer once again opened his eyes, this time turning to face Garret.

"Sasha was a very lovely lady, wasn't she?" the healer asked.

"Yes she was," Garret replied, looking at the healer with confusion clearly on his face.

"She spoke fondly of you, Lord Garrett," the healer began. "She said to tell you she was very sorry you had to find her in such a condition, but wanted you to understand you have in no way failed her nor her husband. In fact, she said she needed to be with him now and so took her own life willingly. She wanted to thank you for your attempt to save her, and also asked me to pass on a further request if you are willing to hear it." The healer stated, pausing for his answer.

Garret was a bit taken aback, and for a lack of words simply nodded his head in response.

"Sasha told me you are an honorable man, more so than any other her husband had ever met. She told me that her husband was very fond of you, and believed that one day you would accomplish things more grand than he could ever imagine. Sasha wished to ask you to look after her and Sirus' daughter for her. Her name is Linaya and she can be found within the castle," the healer concluded.

Garret again simply nodded his head in response. He would of course carry out the last wishes of his mentor's wife. Speaking briefly to the healer, Garret was assured that Sasha’s body would be prepared in time to bury with her husband's armor, laying them both to rest. Garret placed her body upon a large stone table in a room designed for such activities, , and silently saying a prayer to Gorandor for the fallen woman and her husband, Garret spun upon his heel and strode back out to the castle to locate his new charge.

Sundown and the meeting that came with it was only an hour away. Garret did not look forward to countless hours of politics. Nor did he have any desire to deal with those striving to gain power and wealth through the deaths of their friends and allies. However, having a greater purpose at the moment, Garret took no time to process the emotions swirling within him, instead concentrating on the task at hand.

Passing through the various courtyards and gates surrounding the castle in waves of defensive structures, Garret strode into the massive stone building with one arm hanging lifeless at his side, a man of singular purpose. Knowing the best resource for the answers he sought would be among the staff of the castle itself, Garret simply wandered the halls until he found a young woman sweeping a vacant corridor. Questioning the woman, Garret was able to establish the location of Linaya’s chambers upon the third floor. Garret navigated the castle quickly knowing his time was growing ever shorter, but he slowed momentarily realizing what it was he was about to do. Once again Garret was the harbinger of bad news, having to tell this woman not only of the death of her father, but also of the loss of her mother. Garret hoped, as he approached the door to the woman's chamber, that this encounter would not turn out the same as the last.

Pausing a moment outside the chambers that were said to be those of Linaya’s, Garret took a deep breath and raised his remaining good hand and knocked loudly upon the unadorned wooden door. As Garret waited for any sound from the other side, he realized just how much pain his ruined shoulder and collar bone were causing now that the adrenaline was leaving his body. Trying to ignore his discomfort, Garret knocked once more. After waiting again for several moments Garret concluded that Linaya must be elsewhere but as he turned to stride back the way he had come, he heard the latch on the door click as it was released from inside. For the second time that day, Garret turned to witness a vision that he could have in no way been prepared to behold.

As Garret turned back to face the opening door, a young woman stepped into the expanse of the hallway of the like that Garret had never seen before. Immediately Garret knew the woman before him was Linaya, as the resemblance to her mother was more than obvious. However beautiful Garret had believed Sasha to be, her memory was diminished greatly in comparison to her daughter. It was true the two women shared the same basic bone structure and figure, and even their faces were shaped very similarly. But for every beautiful trait the mother had, the daughter had it as well, only in the daughter it was perfected and personified in a way as to leave Garret both astonished and breathless having never beheld a sight as beautiful as Linaya, the daughter who now had lost both of her parents.

Gathering his thoughts as best as he was able, Garret found that words had completely escaped him, at least momentarily. Trying to not look a fool, he took a few steps to close the distance between himself and the woman whom he was supposed to look out for. Upon closer inspection, Garret could now distinguish rings around the young woman's eyes, proof that she too had been grieving the loss of Sirus, though Garret was perplexed at the fact that even the puffiness around the woman's eyes and the redness of her nose seemed somehow to be beautiful, as if her beauty was so pure as to make even her flaws attractive. Knowing so long as he held her beauty within his view he would remain unable to concentrate, Garret turned his gaze to the floor before starting to speak.

"M'lady Linaya, forgive me this intrusion," Garret began, and continued without awaiting a response, not wanting to break his resolve. "My name is Garret, I served among the knights with your father, and considered your mother a friend. Though I mourn with you, I must admit that I cannot find the proper words with which to tell you that I must bring you more bad news. Your mother, Lady Sasha, was so overcome with grief that she took her own life. She passed away in my own arms to be once again with your father as I was rushing her to the mage’s tower seeking a healer to treat her wounds."

Garret stood a moment longer, his gaze locked upon the floor at the woman's feet. Moments passed in silence as Garret stood transfixed in place like a newly erected stature in the corridor, but not wanting to seem uncaring he finally raised his head to meet the gaze of the beauty before him.

Linaya stood with her fist clenched to her face obscuring most of her nose and open mouth. Though beautiful as she was, the horror and pain that had overcome her features was nearly too much for Garret to bear. Tears streamed down Linaya’s small face. So in shock was the young woman that she could not relax her muscles enough even to sob, and with her world falling apart around her and the inability to take a breath, Linaya’s legs gave out beneath her and she crumpled to the floor in a heap. Garret reacted instantly, falling to his knees. Gathering up the small woman in his good arm, he pulled her into his chest and simply held her hoping to take some of her pain into himself. Linaya still remained unmoving, having become rigid again once upon the floor. For many moments Garret feared the woman had endured more than her heart could handle, and he feared for a second time this day a woman would die in his arms. But this fear was proved groundless as Linaya’s body shook with grief and her pain was released in a torrent of sobs and tears unlike anything Garret had ever imagined possible from a woman so small. So pure was Linaya’s pain that Garret too began to cry, her pain opening wounds in his own soul he had been ignoring for days. After near an hour Linaya adjusted herself to relieve some physical strain, and without so much as an attempt to rise, wrapped her arms around Garret’s neck, hugging him like a child might her father. She cried into his neck quietly as his own tears fell unchecked upon her hair.

Garret too had lost much in the last week. His brother was dead or missing along with Sara, his twin’s lover. The king whom Garret served was gone, and though Garret had not known the man properly, he did know of the man's deeds and love for his kingdom. Also Garret had lost his mentor and leader, Linaya’s own father, Sirus the head of the order of blessed Knights of Valdadore. To top it off Garret had carried just an hour before the limp body of Sasha, Linaya’s mother and Sirus' wife, as she bled to death in his arms. So many emotions tore at Garret’s soul, he had no choice but release them here in a seldom traveled corridor in the castle of Valdadore with a young woman in his arms, who herself had lost more in a span of days than any person should have to endure. Taking comfort in one another's arms the two young adults let their grieving take hold of them, and together they shed tears for those they lost until at last, calming themselves, both had cried every tear their bodies could manage.

Garret, coming once again to his senses, realized he was overdue at the council meeting going on just two floors below in the war room, yet for the life of him he did not want to leave this beautiful woman alone in such a fragile state. Although he had agreed to look out for her, it was also his responsibility to be at the meeting. Not knowing what other options he had, Garret disentangled himself from the small woman's body and rose to his feet, his damaged arm hanging limply at his side. Watching her face lift to meet his eyes, Garret was momentarily lost in her emerald gaze, but recovering his wits quickly he offered her his uninjured hand and helped the small woman to her feet.

"I am terribly afraid that I have to be going to attend to other duties," Garret stated reluctantly.

"I understand, Lord Garret," Linaya replied softly.

"Would it be all right if I were to return later to check upon you?" Garret asked.

"It would please me to see you again Lord Garret, if you should wish to visit. However, please see that your arm is tended to," Linaya responded a hint of worry in her voice.