Chapter 10-1

Chapter 10-1

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Syneral Tomas and Captains of light gathered around the table with their charts and maps scattered here and there on the table. Jaydan in a transparent form with Glen slowly paced among them. “No!” Glen shouted as his fist pounded on the table. “We will not leave these lands to ruin after we have saved its people and the harvest is at hand.”

Syneral Tomas pours some more wine into his glass and ponders over the maps; his eyes slowly shift in small degrees over the leaders of his troops. Jaydan confirms with his eyes as their eyes meet his body transparent. “My friends he is right, our people have come to far just to run away once more from these shores. My reports say that only a shadow rider and small band of soldiers have been dispatched while Hess and his Dark Prince travel onward near the shores of Quratsa, towards the boy, now that Hess and Morgan no thanks to their spies and the rider they have sent with an army to destroy us. ” Jaydan replied. Syneral Tomas nods placing a dark statue on the map made of wood. Moving other pieces as information dwindles in from his advance runners.

Glen, he too is transparent as he stands next too Jaydan still feeling weak yet strong and holds fast to the task at hand interrupts with a slight cough. “Yes this may be well and good my dear friends and I agree that we may have the numbers to our advantage. I still say we should take the weaker part of our people and continue on the journey towards the north. Leading to lands of the Knee abees and gather all our provisions within the caverns of Galena. Hold back only those that can fight while we bring in the harvest and fight this oncoming battle and bring it to their knees.”

Captains and the troops roared with approval, each rising in a voice of victory and banter, slapping each other on the shoulder of the already won victory. Bowden turned quickly eyeing the room. “We have not won yet my dear friends. For our victory will be only short-lived, even though we send their beaten soldiers back to where they come from. They will once more rise again and again until we are able to close for good the gate beyond their realm.”

Jaydan tries to hush the crowd as they whispered among the troops and it Captains. His right hand raised for silence. “Yes my fellow comrades it is true we may only win this battle for a short time, we must do it to save our people from starvation. In time we will be able to go against them in true strength as we search and prepare a way to rid ourselves of these Dark soldiers and their leaders. We will and we must without question or doubt seal once more the gate where once they evolve.  I have foreseen our future and it is hard, yet if we endure the fight, we will prevail in the end.” 

Jaydan raises both hands in the air stirring the crowd of soldiers. Giving them hope as they themselves prepare for battle, yet his mind ponders on the task at hand looking upon the old maps on the table.  

His eyes slowly gaze upon the mountain of Hinsdale where some of the hardened metal is needed to form the disks of light may be found. Jaydan slowly points to the spot as Syneral Tomas marks it on the map in shape of a key.  His and Bowden eyes meet as Bowden stands and turned towards his Captains. “I will stay with Derrick while you Syneral Tomas take your people to caverns of Galena. There we shall meet and dived the harvest then split up and go forth from there.”

Jaydan stands forward whispering into Glen’s ear as he frowns and nods. Glen stands forward not liking the idea at all. “I will take a small group with me to harvest what remains where New Downing once stood considering Morgan may have already left there unsatisfied and the danger is now minimum.” Bowden nods his head in agreement.

Jaydan slowly makes his way towards the middle of the compound seeing his wife Lizzy holding a child in her arms as she rocks it back and forth. Jaydan smiles as he makes his way towards them. Lizzy smiles back as she sits rocking her newborn child, Oh how long has it been? Jaydan wonders as he wrestles with his mind, seeing his firstborn son after so many months away from them.

His thoughts constrained as his family lives here among his people, with barely a roof over their head as danger increase for them, his heart torn by love for his people, and love for his family. Lizzy looks up seeing her husband transparent figure and smiles as she holds their son in her arms. She slowly lifts the blanket so Jaydan can see his face. Jaydan places his hand on her shoulder even though she could not feel it, it meant more to her too have him there. They named him Mirwyn after his great, grandfather.

“Lizzy dear,” Jaydan whispered in a choked voice. “I was wondering if you would like to join me in two days now that things have sort of quieted down where I am at and where the danger here is increasing to the point of being on the move again.” Tears formed in Lizzy eyes as she looked around the camp being taken down preparing to move once more. She nods yes as she slowly bends down kissing her son. 

Jaydan with his eyes filled with love places his hand on hers. His eyes glowed as small inner light expands over him and his family then slowly winks out, their tent and their small provision now standing in the middle of the yard on Jasper's estates, looking over the large crystal dome surrounding the lake.  Yet Jaydan was not there to greet them as Jasper with her sister Mary came running out of the house, finding Lizzy standing there among her few belongings, Lizzy holding her child in her arms.

Mary gasped seeing Lizzy's newborn child as tears of joy and concern flow down her cheeks. Mary taking the baby in her arms watching him coo and smile as his green eyes sparkle. Jasper's whistles for his house servants to bring in the few belonging as he walks towards the two women. “Welcome,” he shouts with open arms. “Welcome to our humble home,” Jasper puts his arm around Lizzy as they all walked into the house.

Lizzy gives a heavy sigh as she looked about the large wooden home. It’s large and open windows filled with warm sunshine as the light shows through them revealing the pink cherry blossom on the distant hillside and the small town gathered around a small pond, preparing for a major celebration.

On her left a crystal dome shining brightly. Robins singing in the nearby trees, this was the closest thing she could call home in a very long time.  Yet she was saddened that Jaydan was not here to greet her as she watched Mary fuss over the baby as she yells at the servants as they hastily preparing her a room.

Mary brings out a tray of tea and a plate of fresh butter chip cookies, setting it down on a small wooden table offering her a seat. Lizzy sighs as the tiredness sets in. Not realizing how tired she actually was. While she watched her baby sleep in a small wooden play pin carved with designs of small roses and petals along its borders, the delicate designs engraved close to being real themselves. Crescent moons and twinkling stars outlining the small baby blanket around her firstborn son.

Mary slowly pours the mint tea, picking up her little teacup, as she sips and watches the baby sleep. Creasing the white crystal teacup in her hands taking small sips as each sip lingers a cool refreshing feeling.

Mary slowly sighs. “Lizzy it so good to see you after nearly a year has quickly past us by, what news do have that brings you here amongst us once more besides your young son?” She asked trying to be as delicate yet patient as possible as she looked out the window staring at the crystal dome that surrounds the large lake.

Lizzy slowly taking another sip before answering Mary’s question still feeling giddy as a schoolgirl inside. Slowly Lizzy lifts her hand with a simple wave as her eyes slowly gaze down at her son. She giggles watching the blanket tuck its self in with a mothers care. Like she has done countless of times without thought then lifts her fingers and points to the plate of cookies as one of the cookies floats into her hand.

Mary eyes astonish, but not all that shock. For she her self have mastered that gift and more as they both giggle at their selves watching their new lives take place around them.

Lizzy leans forward. “Mary dear you know I can’t go into detail regarding where they are and where they are going. For even here there are ears listening, but I can tell what we have been doing which of course is no surprise, especially if you were in our shoes.” Lizzy said taking another sip of her tea draining the cup and pouring her some more as she licked her lips.

“I can also tell you it’s been quite an adventure as we help others worst off than ourselves that Morgan has displaced. Not just the people, but the wildlife as well. We having to heal or bury the bodies of so many.

“Morgan not caring who or what lay in his path he had destroyed. It was our job to put right the wrongs once more healing the lands. Planting new seed in hopes of saving what was taken away then leaving it behind to grow on its own, never to be seen by us again. With the remaining of these people in which now I to call my own.” She sheds tears of great sadness, leaving the dead in unmarked graves and small and large towns in ruins.

Mary frowns as each deed is pounced; her sister gaining strength in mystery has become very bold indeed. Mary sighed as she patted Lizzy on the hand. “So it is true then? Jasper and Glen have said as much. So much devastation, so much death, yet this is only the beginning.”

“I am afraid so,” she said refreshing her cup. “Well I have some news of my own dear sister some of which you're not going to like, but it was necessary according to your husband Jaydan and his companions,” Mary said as she passes over a note hand to her with an invitation to the festivities for tomorrow night.

No one knows about the boy himself in regards to what the Whitmore’s have done by giving him a new body for his spirit to dwell and become stronger; just the fact that Lady of the lake of living water has taken the boy as her son, and has made him her’s, as her new prince of living water.

Other then the news from the towns around the lake and far and wide have been told that Prince Orin her son has been brought home to take his place now that he is of age, and in line for the thrown; that his coronation is to be tomorrow night, for all to see.

Lizzy eyes shocked as she reads as her dear sister’s whispers even though she placed a ward around them against listening ears. Lizzy shouts “No, NO!!” She can’t do that, we must stop it!” Lizzy shouts her mind frantic reading and listening to what has happened regarding her nephew EJ. Lizzy shouts no again pointing to the crystal dome.

Mary slowly pats her hand watching Glen’s wife Melee walking down the stairs. “Lizzy it is too late, they have already done it and they can not undo it. I totally agree with you on this decision that they reckless made in such a hurry, it would have been better he reminded a wood Elf until a better solution presented itself, instead of letting her take him as her own.  Yet what you have just told me and the news that Glen and Melee have given me, I see they had no choice. All we can do is support him where he needs it the most…”

Reviews

[Miles W.]

Holy flipping hannah. Where the heck have I been? Well, I fell behind on this story between finishing up writing "War", and during this pandemic, I actually work in a grocery store, so I've been busy these last few months. I finally finished up the book, and my job has slowed down to a point where I could try to get back into this book. Once again, I've caught up to try and refresh my memory of where I'm at with this story. And I also looked back over at my old reviews to see if there was some form of repetition that I could avoid talking about or if there were things that I missed and overlooked that I could rectify with these strings of new reviews. So, I think I've talked to death already about editing and things like that, as well as my opinions on the dialogue. But looking past all that, you do have some solid ideas and foundations to build off of for your characters. While I do sometimes feel like we are spending too much time in certain locations, you do have good interactions. Every once in a while, I feel like these characters would really interact and bond with each other in the real world. I believe their interactions for the world they inhabit. Also, I looked over your last comment on my review of the last chapter and noticed you mentioned this was going to be a twelve book series. Well dang. Props to you dude for creating a universe that spans that long, but I would air on the side of caution with that, because you could run into an issue of needing padding. Padding can be good if done right, but if done wrong, it can derail a story and make it unnecessary to the larger picture. I've dealt with it myself a lot in the past as well. I originally had ideas for three other villains in "Order", but I realized that was going to be too big a cast with an already big cast, and decided to cut it down. Heck, even some of the elements I kept in probably could have been trimmed down. I had all these villains and only one or two of them had big defining characteristics that made them stand out. Long story short, don't be afraid to trim the fat, but don't abandon your ideas either. Maybe they won't work in this story, but maybe another story it will work. Heck, maybe even later down the road in this series, you'll find a way to introduce ideas more organically. Okay, long rambling is done. I'm going to press on and review as much as I can. I do think this story has some solid ideas, and despite it being the fifth book in the series, I applaud you for finding pieces and ideas here and there to get me invested and keep me reading despite the fact that I'm jumping in around the halfway point.