Emerald And Aharon

Chapter 20

The Isilk began to move away, back toward their strong hold.  Their movements made me nervous; it wasn’t like them to relinquish territory and certainly not to Druids.  This was strange, and somehow wrong.  Khaliem and some of the others were happy about it, thought we were winning against them.  I disagreed.  I thought they were up to something, some of them agreed, but there were more who didn’t want to hear it.  There were a few who didn’t agree with the war, who thought it was a total waste of time. They thought we should have just taken the Ruin stone back and left the Isilk alone. That the turning of them into hissing monstrosities was too harsh of a punishment.

I disagreed. They deserved what they had gotten.  They had been monstrosities even when they were human. They conquered villages, taking the women and burning the buildings, slaughtering them after they were finished with them. They had just decided to mess with the wrong people, and they had paid the price.  When they attacked us again years later that was what had convinced everyone to fight them.  It had progressed from there.

A door opened, distracting me from my thoughts and Fire stepped through it.  “Someone wants to see you,” she said.

“Who is it?”

“Someone called Khaliem,” Fire replied. “He says that he needs to talk to you, and that it’s urgent.”

I felt my gut tighten, urgent?  Had something with the Isilk develop that made for a more dangerous situation? Fire looked at me waiting for my response and perhaps an explanation.

“Let him in, now.” I snapped.

Fire blinked in surprise, but said nothing and quickly headed away and I followed her.  I made a note to apologize for snapping later, but if Khaliem showed up something was going on and it was important. I came outside not far behind Fire and Khaliem was standing there and Fire scampered off.

I studied Khaliem who looked like he had just come from a battlefield.  His tanned face was streaked with dirt and blood, and he carried his left arm in a position that clearly said it was dislocated.  His dark hair hung loose from it’s usually ponytail and dark circles were around his eyes. “Khaliem! What happened?”

“Orcs,” Khaliem spat. “They are everywhere; the lands here are now crawling with them. They’re working with the Isilk.”

Oh damn... The Isilk on their own were bad enough, but add Orcs to the mix.

“Don’t look like that Aharon. You know Orcs are easy to deal with.  They’re too stupid to think of an attack to destroy the nearby villages let alone this castle.”

“But with the Isilk helping them,” I shook my head as my voice trailed off, “the gods will only know what will happen.”

Khaliem shrugged his good shoulder, “the war will just be harder to win that’s all.”

A sardonic smile passed over my face, “and what makes you think we will win?”

“Always the cautious one aren’t we?” Khaliem shook his head, “we won the last time there is no reason why we won’t win again this time.”

I shook my head but said nothing victory wasn’t guaranteed. “The council is full of themselves thinking victory will come so easily.” I finally said.

Khaliem shrugged, “some of the council yes, they are consumed by this damn war.” He studied me a 

moment, “they need you Aharon.”

“I left because of the determination to wipe out the Isilk and leave our roots in the dark.  When they realize there is more to being a druid then killing Isilk, I’ll come back.”

Khaliem nodded slightly, “some have forgotten, but not all of them.  The council members have changed some since you left, and they want the old ways still practiced.  Our task is to keep a balance, part of that is to get rid of the Isilk, but there is more.  They need you for that more.”

I shrugged my shoulders, but didn’t reply.  I set his shoulder back into place, and he headed inside.  He knew he could come and go as he pleased. He stayed long enough to grab a shower and some food, before heading back out again. I watched him go, and shook my head.  The war was about to get very ugly with the Isilk and the Orcs working together.

A few days later Emerald, Carli and I went to visit Auron and his brood.  I hadn’t seen any of them since I had sent Fire to live with Aurianna to start her training back up.  They welcomed us with open arms like usual, Fire fiercely hugging both Emerald and I, and went back to training with Auri. She was changing from a girl to a young woman, and she looked more and more like Desiree as time passed.

I watched her shoot her bow with Auri instructing her, and I thought of how proud Desiree would be of her youngest. She didn’t like fighting or violence, but she would be proud at how good of a shot her daughter was. She was almost as good as Auri.

The next day, the sun was already warming it to be a hot day and Auron and I were trying to teach Kali how to fight with swords. Auron was showing her how to properly grip the sword and swing it smoothly and I would block the swing. Fire came up to us. “What is it Fire?”

“Emma wants to go walking, and I want to go with her. Can I?” she asked.

I thought about it and nodded my head, “Yes, take your long bow, there are orcs about,” I replied.

She nodded her head and started off to catch up with Emerald, “Take care of her Fire,” I called after her. 

She waved her hand in acknowledgement and soon disappeared from sight. 

I turned back to Auron and Kali and we continued to teach her how to fight.  After a few hours, Auron and I fought to show her what a real sword fight would look like. I won, and Auron smirked at me.

“You got lucky,” he said, “next time I’ll beat you.”

I smiled faintly, “and when will that be LITTLE brother?” I teased.

“Now!” he replied grinning.  He swung again, but this time I didn’t block and his Katana blade sunk into my shoulder slightly. I didn’t notice, a flash of red had caught my attention and Fire came running towards us.

“Daddy!” she yelled, “Emma’s in trouble! Orcs!”

Oh gods! Our fight forgotten we ran after Fire. She led us through the woods to where a band of Orcs were focused around a tree and they were starting to claw at the trunk.

Instantly Auron and I both went in swinging and killing Orcs, most of them didn’t even realize there was an attack going on. Soon the Orcs lay dead and I stood at the base of the tree looking up at Emerald.” 

And how do you propose we get you down?”

She grinned down at me and said, “Like this,” and eased herself down till Auron and I could reach her and help her the rest of the way down. She opened her mouth to say something to me when a look of pain flashed over her face and she bent over, grabbing her stomach.

I grabbed her shoulder, “Are you ok? Did the Orcs hurt you?”

She shook her head and started to straighten up and say something when she collapsed to the ground. I caught her and held her close.

“Is she ok?” Auron asked, concerned.

I opened my mouth to say I didn’t know what was wrong, until it dawned on me, the baby! The baby must be coming.  I stood up and started back towards Auron’s house, “I think it’s the baby,” we got back in what felt like record time. Auri saw us come into the living room and gestured for me to follow her.

She led me into a back room and pointed at the bed, “put her down there, and now go get some towels and a bucket of water.”

I gently set Emerald down and touched her cheek but she didn’t stir, and I quickly headed to get the towels and a bucket of water.  When I got back she took them from me, “go, I will tell you when the child is born.” As I turned to leave I heard Emerald stir and I hesitated, I wanted to be with her, but when Auri said leave she meant leave.

I paced once around their living room, and then started to head outside.

“Where are you going brother?” Auron asked.

“Outside,” I replied, and Auron grabbed my arm and spun me around.

“No you are not. You’re staying put in case Emerald or Auri need you for something.”

I looked at him, and started pacing around the room again. I stopped for a moment and looked down the hall where Emerald and Auri were, and then looked at Auron, “You don’t think immortals can?” I didn’t finish the sentence, nervous to.

“I doubt it.  From what Emerald has said, the only way to truly kill and immortal is to cut their heads off.  She won’t end up like Alienora,” he said reassuringly.

I hoped Auron was right, if she did end up like my first wife I wasn’t sure what I would do. I paced around the room and waited.