The Four

Past, Present, and Future

“Enrich!” The word was loud and close to his ear. He started and looked around him. The horse had stopped in the middle of the road, and the rest of the villagers had moved on without them. He felt a shake and turned to look at Ankel.

“What?” he responded as he flicked the reins and continued on as if nothing had happened.

“What!?” the boy exclaimed, “What he says, as if he hasn’t been sitting there staring off into space for the last quarter of an hour, what?” The boy continued to grumble on in his way as the horse ambled towards the village ahead once more.

Enrich smiled to himself at the boy’s consternation and then chuckled full out.

“Ah boy, don’t be alarmed I was just remembering something” he looked towards the setting sun and saw that he had lost some time in his remembrance. He could kick himself for a fool, the way that he had been acting lately. Letting his memories overcome him for unknown lengths of time.

Pfft. was the boy’s response to this, “You’ve been doing that a lot lately, old man.” Enrich harrumphed and that was the end of it.

It wasn’t the end of his thoughts, however, and he found himself wondering why he kept getting lost in the past lately.

Over 600 years in this world, he had learned better, had better control than that. He scratched his chin as he thought it over, pondered the implications and possible causes.

There was only one reason that came to mind, Liandra. He sighed as he thought of her and the battle that he knew was going to come upon their meeting again.

She had never understood why they had to part and he didn’t blame her, he didn’t understand it either.

The only thing he knew, was that it had to be that way. The winds didn’t deign to explain things to measly hedge wizards like him, they just told him what he had to do and he was to do it. There were times that he resented it, leaving Liandra had been a big one. Allowing Ankel’s mother to die when he could have saved her, another.

He recalled his thought of this morning about how something had broken in him upon parting with Liandra, and he knew it to be true. He had hardened his heart to everyone he came into contact with for the last 139 years.

Everyone that is, but Ankel. He didn’t know what it was about the boy that cracked the wall of steal around his heart, but it did.

He wondered if it was caused no little by the guilt of his part in his mother’s death. Or how the boy’s father had never shown him love.