Below the Peak (Sola)(112)

With arms folded in front of her, she watched as Calemir saddled up.

“It was nice meeting you once again Lady Nara,” Tarron said.

Nara pursed her mouth harder.

The two elves departed.

***

Could the day get any worse? Calemir mused darkly as Leena trotted toward them. He and Tarron had just left town, a mile behind them only to come across with Leena’s patrol group. He heard Tarron huffing as they halted. The light breeze carried his anxiety to him. Calemir stole a glance at Tarron and found him fidgeting with the reins.

“Does seeing her scare you?” He cracked awkwardly. Since they had left the house, they hadn’t spoken at all.

“Well, it has been a while” Tarron muttered, his eyes forward to the woman nearing.

“Where are you going?” Leena asked as she halted in front of them, her eyes flitting from Tarron to Calemir.

“Elloveben” Tarron replied. Leena shifted her gaze from Calemir to the man staring at her strangely. Her eyes narrowed, she looked him over before her eyes locked on his. Her stomach flipped as goosebumps broke over her skin. “Have we met before?” she asked very cautiously.

“Many times,” Tarron said, his heart beating fast in his chest. Leena looked at Calemir. “Tell me I am not wrong?” she pleaded, her eyes moving back to Tarron.

“It is him” Calemir replied.

Leena leaped to the ground. “Come down” she ordered the man she terribly hoped he might be and not just a fragment of her imagination. Leena clucked her tongue when he didn’t get down quick enough. “Still impatient as ever” Tarron jested, watching her as she took a step forward that they were standing so close to each other.

“Tarron” his name came out from her lips with a nervous breath infused with desperate hope. Leena touched his face with shaking fingers, whole body tight.

“It is me” Tarron assured her as she rubbed her index finger behind his left ear, searching for the scar she had given him. Leena’s eyes widened, then turned glassy with withheld tears. She retracted her fingers from his face and backhanded him.

“Ouch” Tarron flexed his jaw.

“Where have you been?” Leena demanded, wringing the hand she had slapped him with. “I thought you were dead!” she croaked, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“I am sorry” Tarron apologized, grabbing her hand, he crushed her to him. Leena clung back.

Calemir and Leena’s fellow soldiers both watched the ordeal in silence.

“How is it possible? What happened to your hair?” Leena asked with a tearful smile once they separated reluctantly.

Tarron crooked a smile. “Both are long stories for another day.”

Leena exhaled, she was still astonished. “You can tell me because I am coming with you.” She didn’t want to lose him from her sight, not after she had just found out he was alive. She knew it was irrational, but she was scared that he might vanish.

Tarron gave her an apologetic look. “Unfortunately, you cannot, we are going to see the king.”

Leena nodded. Family matters. “Will I see you again?” she asked, unable to hide her hope and fear of the possibility that she might not see him.

“Once we return from Elloveben, I will come for you” Tarron promised.

“Swear it” she begged.

“I swear” his eyes bore into hers with an intensity that almost shook her.

Reluctantly, Tarron mounted back and together with Calemir they continued their journey.





Chapter Fifty-nine


The Kalil Kingdom.

“You are a good man Abasi, I’m sorry it has to be this way,” Dagny said with distressed look directed at her sick husband beside her.

“My son had been telling the truth” Abasi wheezed, his red rimmed eyes struggling to stay open.

“Yes,” Dagny admitted, ghosting her fingers on his damp cold skin of his forehead. She moved that hand to his chest, listening to his fading heartbeat. “But I did it for my sisters you must understand. We had suffered so much.” Her chest constricted as painful memories flashed in her eyes.

“What sisters?” he asked.

Dagny features hardened, anger bristling beneath the surface of her skin. “Sisters whom your ancestors tortured, maltreated.” Valkyrja.

Abasi’s eyelids fluttered, heavy with tiredness, not understanding what she said. He peered at her through the small space between his upper and lower lashes of his eyelids.

“Now” Dagny began with an ominous tone of delight, fingers on his chest tapping lightly. “would you like me to end your suffering?”

“Yes,” Abasi replied. He was in so much pain. He had lost the functions of most of his body parts, his hearing had gotten worse, his feet no longer worked, he could no longer stand. He had diminished to some thin bones of meat. But the worst was he lost his dignity, the sickness has robbed him everything. He wasn’t man anymore, and it hurt when he saw the face of his son when he visited him on his sick bed. So much shame and humiliation.

“But please don’t hurt him” Abasi begged.

“That is his decision on whether he would not interfere” Dagny replied.

Abasi swallowed. And suddenly his eyes rolled back, only the whites visible, his breathing shallowed. Time seemed to stand still as his heart beat for the last time in his chest.