Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series (13 page)

The biggest problem was Sasha. Kovos was right; it
would be impossible to get enough money to the family before next
spring. She was going to have to come with him and Kovos. There was
really no way around it.

He turned to his father. “I’m taking her with me.”
His father didn’t need an explanation. He knew what Legon
meant.

“Are you sure? It’s a big sacrifice. You won’t be
able to get married or start a family of your own until she gets
married or is able to live on her own, and neither seems likely,”
he said, turning to look at his son.

“I know, but it’s the only way to give her a chance.
I don’t like the idea. I don’t know what my life holds, and that
may put her in danger, but we know what will happen if I don’t take
her,” he said flatly.

His mind was made up. Sasha’s situation was
precarious from any angle. If she stayed here she would be made a
slave; if she came with Legon there was a chance that she would get
hurt.

There was a little comfort in the thought of Kovos
coming along. He knew that if things got bad he could always send
Sasha to Kovos and that would at least give her a shot. He
explained this to his father, who gave a deep sigh after he was
done explaining.

“You think it’s a good idea, I take it?”

His father took his time answering. “No, I think it’s
a bad one, but it’s also the only way. Your mother and I have
always hoped that you would take Sasha with you when you left, but
we didn’t want to press you one way or the other. It had to be your
call because you are the one who has to pay the price.” His face
was somber. Legon could tell that he hated the thought of either of
his kids being dealt a bad hand in life.

“I understand. Don’t worry dad, I’ll take care of
her. I’m going to try and tell her later this week. She’ll fight me
on it, but if you and mom back me then Sasha will cave in
eventually.”

“You have our support, but we hate to have this
happen to you two.”

“It’s fine. Everything will work out.”

In truth, part of him was happy at the thought of
Sasha coming with him, but the other part was sad, not because of
the future that he was probably giving up, but because he knew
there was a hard road ahead. He didn’t want Sasha’s life to be any
harder than it already was.

He decided to tell her the next day. He would take
her on a picnic so even if she got upset, she wouldn’t be able to
walk away and lock herself in her room. He knew that this was going
to make her mad, not because she had little choice in the matter,
but because she would see it as Legon throwing his life away. The
biggest argument that he would have to make was that it was very
unlikely that he would be getting married soon, if for no other
reason than he didn’t know if he was going to be Elf or human and
so he would always be in just a bit of danger. He finished with the
pork and began to clean up. They would go in for lunch soon.

When they entered the house Sasha was home, standing
over a pot and stirring. She turned and smiled at them as they
walked in. “I hope you guys are hungry. I found some great
mushrooms in the forest that I made soup with.”

“That sounds good, honey. Where is your mother?”
asked Edis, taking a seat.

“She had to go over to see someone who fell off a
horse and broke their arm or something. I don’t know much about
it,” she said, carrying over the pot and placing it in the center
of the table.

Now seemed as good a time as any. “It’s been nice
lately,” Legon began. “Would you be up for another picnic,
Sash?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. When were you thinking?”

“Oh I don’t know, how about tomorrow? We can go for
lunch. How does that sound?”

* * * * *

Sasha thought about Legon’s proposal. There was more
to this invite than just a pleasant outing, she could see it. Legon
could mask his feelings well from most people, but not her. “Yeah
that works great,” she said, smiling.

“Good,” he said with a slightly relieved smile. He
spooned some soup into his mouth.

“Wow, Sash, you really are something else! This is
amazing!”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.” She could see
that this reaction was the truth. He did like the soup, which was
saying something - Legon hated mushrooms. After lunch Legon and her
father went back to the shop. Sasha stayed in the house cleaning
up.

She was trying to figure out what was on Legon’s
mind. He seemed tense when he had asked her to go on a picnic. She
had tried to use one of their hand gestures to figure out what was
wrong, but he had only told her to wait. She didn’t like waiting,
not when her brother was holding back from her. There could have
been a thousand reasons why he was hesitant, but she couldn’t think
of one that made sense.

The rest of the day and night passed without
incident. Sasha was having a harder time sleeping than before, and
she could hear in the room next to her that Legon was too.

By eleven the next day she had lunch prepared and was
wrapping two glasses into cloth so they wouldn’t break. She heard
the front door open.

“Hey Sash, are you ready?” came Legon’s voice.

“Yep, I’ve got the food, the cedar, and this time the
glasses.” She held up the cloth-covered glasses and smiled.

Their mother was sitting at the table scribbling
something on paper and she looked up. “’This time’? You two haven’t
been drinking from the bottle have you?”

“What are you talking about mom? You know you can’t
work and listen at the same time,” Legon said.

“Sorry dear, you’re right. I shouldn’t have been
eavesdropping. I know you two wouldn’t do that,” she said, looking
back down at her paper.

* * * * *

Legon saw Sasha give him a thumbs-up. It was good she
wasn’t paying full attention to them or they would be getting a
lecture about drinking out of the bottle right now. It was a pet
peeve of hers. Sasha nodded toward the back door and Legon walked
over to her and out of the house. They were greeted by the smell of
all the fields in full bloom. The sun was out and the sky was
clear. She was wearing a bright white top with her hair pulled
back. The white cloth seemed to make her cheeks glow. She was on
his right and the basket with food was slung around her right
shoulder.

“Do you want me to carry that?” he asked

“Yes, thank you,” she said with a smile, passing him
the basket. He placed it on his left shoulder.

They were entering the woods and he felt the air get
cooler as the smell of the woods intensified. It was a nice smell,
and he liked it better than the smell of town. It was funny that he
only noticed that the town had a scent to it when he left it and
was surrounded by a new smell. “
There is so much around us we
don’t see until we leave it,”
he thought. They were climbing
the hill to their favorite spot. When they broke through the trees,
they saw the town in full swing. Little lines of wispy smoke rose
from most of the buildings, as well as the thick greasy line that
was Kovos’ and Brack’s smith. They sat down on the grass and began
to pull out lunch. Sasha unwrapped the glasses and uncorked the
cedar.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on now, or do
I have to wait?” she asked pleasantly.

Legon sighed. He figured it was better to get this
over with now than later.

“Yeah, we can get to it. Listen, I can’t be in this
territory anymore. My best chance at not being noticed is going
someplace where no one knows me or this town. That means that it
will be rare that I can visit here. My life could get dangerous and
I want to protect everyone, including you, from that.”

Her eyes narrowed and a crease crossed the space in
between. “Ok, that makes sense. So what’s the part I’m going to
have a hard time with?”

“I want you to come with me. Now wait—hear me out,”
he said as she pulled back from him. “Look, we both know what’s
going to happen next spring. I was originally going to try and get
money here before taxes, but that isn’t going to work. Furthermore,
you aren’t safe here. I have no choice but to leave, and unless you
want to be a slave or be killed by some idiot here, you don’t have
a choice either,” he said, trying to be calm and reassuring in his
tone.

The look on her face was blank. He could see her body
becoming more and more rigid. He knew she was upset with him.

“So what, I come with you and then what? What do we
become? Legon, don’t you get it? I will be seen as a freak
everywhere I go. Nobody will ever want me as a wife and I will
never be able to support myself. You’ll be stuck with me. I won’t
let you throw your life away!” she said angrily, but by the end
there was sadness in her voice. It tore at him knowing the pain she
felt, but that’s why she needed to come. That was why he needed to
be with her—to protect and shield her from the sorrows of the
world.

“Look, we would be going someplace new and people
won’t know anything about you, so you could be a seamstress or
something. We can keep it quiet. Also, I’m not throwing my life
away. I have to keep my head down until I find out what I’m going
to end up being. Look, my way has more danger than I want you in,
but staying here is worse. You are not going to be hurt by someone
in town, nor are you going to become a slave. Do you get me?”

* * * * *

Sasha heard the resolve in his voice. She did ‘get
him.’ The tone in his voice made it clear that if she stayed he
would too, and when the day came that the collectors came for her,
he would die fighting them off. She didn’t have a choice, and in
truth she did want to go with him. She knew that there was going to
be a high chance of danger and she understood that he didn’t want
her in it, but he didn’t have a choice.

“Ok, fine. You made your point. When do we leave?”
She was surprised at how it made her feel better.

Legon leaned over and hugged her tightly, kissing her
on the cheek. “Thank you, Sash.”

She laughed. “Thank you for what? Why are you hugging
me? You had to know I would give in.”

“Yeah I knew, but I thought I was going to have to
fight you for awhile and pull the ‘mom and dad think it’s a good
idea’ card on you. Now we can actually have a nice lunch.”

“The mom and dad card, huh? So you talked to them
about it, did you?” It was no surprise that they would gang up on
her, she thought wryly.

He didn’t respond, instead pouring the cedar into the
glasses and handing her one.

* * * * *

Legon could feel the tension between them drop. It
was nice to sit at the top of the hill looking out over the town,
eating lunch. As he thought this, a slight shiver ran up his spine.
Not too long ago he had looked out over this town in pitch black
and seen everything. He knew now that it must have been the Elven
side of him that night. The thing that confused him was why he was
having dreams with the black dragon. After all, he was part Elf,
not Iumenta, and that meant that he should belong to the good
brother, not the bad.

“I’m going to talk to Kovos today and tell him that
I’m going to head away from the Salez territory and that you’re
coming with me.”

“Ok. Do you still think that he will want to go with
us?”

He took a sip of cedar. “I think he will, but I want
his input on what part of the empire he wants to live in. I think
he’ll want to go to the south where it’s warmer. That could be good
for us too, in case we need to leave the empire.”

Sasha paused for a moment as she thought. “That’s
good. If we get into trouble we will be closer to the Elves, and
the people in that part of the empire aren’t as loyal to the
queen.”

“Good. I’m glad we agree on that. Let’s pack up. I
want to find Kovos,” Legon said as he stood up.

“You should tell him about your tattoo. He needs to
know everything if he’s coming with us. He’s earned that right.”
Legon nodded and reached down to help her up.

They walked back down to the house. As soon as they
could see it, Legon headed off toward Kovos’. He moved quickly and
with a bounce in his step. The thought of having Sasha with him
made the future seem a bit less doubtful.

It didn’t take him long to get to the smith. When he
entered he found Kovos and Brack hard at work. He was surprised to
see Kovos working on what looked like a sword.

“What are you working on?” Legon yelled over the
persistent roar of the furnace.

“I’m making myself a sword… I don’t want to put up
with you anymore…sorry man.” Kovos gave him a wicked smile.

Legon laughed. “Shouldn’t you learn how to use it
first?”

Kovos was a much better swordsman than him, and he
knew that if they ever got into a real sword fight he would lose.
Kovos didn’t have a sword of his own; he always used his father’s.
The one Kovos was making looked to be a hand and half broadsword.
He could see that the blade was almost done and that he was putting
the finishing touches on the edge.

Legon had always had a hard time thinking of a
broadsword as a ‘blade’, because they weren’t incredibly sharp.
They could cut through an arm or leg that wasn’t protected by
chainmail, but the blades could not be as sharp as a knife because
they would chip in a fight, and even then it would take incredible
strength to go through chainmail and plate armor. They could pierce
leather armor, but it was the force behind the blow that did the
work. The only truly sharp part of the blade was the tip, but other
than that they were about as sharp as an axe.

Kovos was running the new blade across a grinding
stone and seemed to be happy with it. He held it out for Legon to
inspect. He was impressed right away. The sword’s handle was wire
wrapped, the hilt was cross shaped, and the pommel was a large ball
that could be used to hit your opponent. All in all it was a fine
weapon. He turned it in his hands, feeling the balance of the
blade. The weight was good and the blade was straight. Kovos had
gone above and beyond by etching flames up the flat side of the
blade.