The Path to Destiny: Tia's Folly (11 page)

Spinning away from the grisly scene,
Uren vomited repeatedly until his stomach was empty. Squeezing his eyes closed,
he couldn’t erase the images and knew he would never be able to forget the
things he saw…

           
Sighing in defeat, he shook his head at her. Uren knew
he would never tell anyone the whole truth of what he had seen. Deciding to
give her as little information as possible, he hedged and tried to talk his way
around her seemingly simple question.

           
“You have just recovered from a terrible ordeal,” he
admitted. “I do not want to cause you more harm. Regardless of your
un-Druid-like stubbornness, I love you like a daughter. I am protecting you.”

           
 
“That is sweet of
you, Uren.” Tia smiled at him. “But after this last year, I do believe I am
resilient enough to handle it.”

           
Uren paused before sighing and running a hand over his
face.

           
“The Phoenix
know
what happened
to the child.” He got right to the point. “They are requesting you as a
mediator. Before we join Roland there, you need to know that many of the races
will be missing.”

           
“Why?”

           
“They are gone.”

           
“Gone?”

           
“Extinct,” Uren clarified with a catch in his voice.

           
“
Who?
”

           
“There are no more Satyrs, Pixies, Water Sprites,
Centaurs, Dragons, Nymphs
or
Imps;
they’ve all been eradicated.” he said bluntly. “We just …We don’t even know
which or even how many of the Demi-Gods were lost. The Humans were stripped of
their magic for siding with the Phoenix…” he shook his head at their stupidity,
“But the worst is what happened to Gremlaw. While we initially believed it to
be dead, it’s not…It’s dying, and there’s nothing we can do to save it.”

           
Drawing a deep breath, Tia resolved to remain strong. She
thought of telling Uren about the Centaurs trapped on Lesbos but there were so
few of them; and all females. In less than fifty years, they would all be gone
and their race would truly be extinct anyhow.

           
“What about Faye and Cora?” She hoped they had been smart
enough to avoid the final battle.

           
“Faye is
fine,
she is at the
Falkerie City tending to Armond who was injured in battle.” Uren looked down
unable to meet her eyes. “Cora is dead. She died in the Great Battle.”

           
Laying her head on his shoulder, Tia allowed herself time
to grieve for her lost friend. Ignoring the tears running down her face she
remembered Cora. She could only hope the Gods treated Cora as well as she
deserved to be treated. Refusing to mourn her friend long, she wiped her tears
on Uren’s shoulder and did her best to pull herself together.

           
“So, what do we do now?” She asked, wondering exactly
what they expected
her
to do.

           
“We salvage what we can.” Uren shrugged helplessly.

           
Tia silently pondered his words and studied him.
Her eyes
landed on
a walking stick that Uren was
using to support his weight. She frowned in concern and returned her eyes to
his.

           
“Since when do you need a walking stick?”

           
“I fell off my horse and hurt my leg,” Uren admitted
somewhat gruffly, not meeting her eyes.

           
“Really?”
Tia laughed. “I would
have loved to see that! And you always said
I
was the worst horse rider you had ever seen!”

           
And with that, the tension and awkwardness of the
situation disappeared. Each showed a hint of a smile, relieved and comforted by
the familiarity between a father and his child.

           
Teacher and student spent very little time catching up
before mounting their horses, and then continued on their journey. Travel was
slow for the pair causing their day-and-a-half journey to stretch into three.
On the third day, they finally spotted the ring. Both were relieved that the
journey was over, but neither could say they were happy at where it ended.

           
“Things will be different this time,” Uren promised her. “The
Falkeries are here and the Phoenix Nobles are here to talk peace.”

           
Nodding, Tia scanned the rows of tents and huts for signs
of Roland. She was eager to see him and start the first day of the rest of
their lives together. She knew he would love her regardless of the fact that
she was now barren. They would take in the orphans that were sure to be around
after battles; they would raise those children as their own and love them
regardless.

 
Suddenly noticing the lack of noise or people,
Tia turned to Uren.

           
“Where is everyone?”

           
“From what I understand,” he explained somberly, “they
have been sitting around a large bonfire - at an impasse – waiting for you.”

           
Nodding, Tia continued on towards the ring, dismounting
upon arrival. Turning to assist her injured Elder, she helped him down and then
held his hand for comfort as they prepared to walk to the other side. Squeezing
his hand for reassurance, she felt a little better when he squeezed back and
led her forward.

           
As they slowly made their way, Tia turned her attention
to the silent crowd that was gathered. One of the first things she noticed was
the haggard look on everyone’s face. One by one, heads turned her way as people
finally noticed her and Uren. Upon seeing Roland, Tia almost cried out at his
appearance.

           
There was a large, bright-pink scar stretching down one
side of his face. It appeared to start at the hair line on his forehead and
extended down his right cheek to his chin. His eye, thankfully, appeared to
have avoided injury. Tia looked into his eyes and knew immediately that the
deepest wound was to his heart. Sending all the love she could in her gaze, she
regretfully looked away to address everyone else.

           
“There is no doubt in my mind that very few of you have
gotten much sleep recently.” She looked around the gathering and waited a
moment for anyone to deny this. Hearing no denials, she continued, “I recommend
we post sentries - each leader has a guard or two anyhow – and reconvene
tomorrow after everyone has slept off the sleeping draught I plan on giving
you.

           
“I realize that you may not feel comfortable sleeping in
tents next to someone who was your bitter enemy not so long ago. However, I
would also like you to consider this before you try to tell me no.” Tia paused
for effect. “
You all look like hell
!
It is blatantly obvious no one here has had a decent night’s sleep for a long
time. How can you hope to plan a working peace agreement when you all look, and
I presume also feel, like dead men walking?”

           
Tia was surprised when - instead of the opposition she
had expected - all she heard was murmurs of agreement. Yawns could be heard
from all around the camp at the mere mention of sleep.

           
“If you could all
please
just go back to your tents, eat something, and set up your guard rotation. I
will be around within the next couple of hours,” she directed the group gently.

           
Watching anxiously as everyone shuffled towards their
tents, Tia couldn’t help but notice that most showed evidence of fighting in
the war. The scars varied greatly; partially missing limbs, burns, and so on,
but the worst were the beings with hollow eyes. It was as though the war had
stolen a part of their souls.

           
Unable to contain herself anymore, she crossed the
distance separating her from Roland and threw herself into his arms. Closing
her eyes, Tia pressed her cheek to Roland’s and was surprised to feel the warm
moisture of his tears. Slowly dragging her to the ground, her bonded collapsed
to his knees, sobbing. Bringing his head to her chest, she held him as close as
she could even as she looked to Uren with questions in her eyes. Giving her a
slight bow, Uren gazed at her sadly for the space of two heartbeats, and then
retreated to give them some time.

           
“Shh-’’ Tia tried to sooth him but ended up gasping for
air as Roland squeezed her chest painfully.

           
“You’re dead!” Roland whispered into her chest. “Uren
swore
that bitch
was lying but she
explained your death in gruesome detail to me!”

           
“I am not dead,” she reassured him. “I am right here and
I will do everything in my power to remain by your side for the rest of our
days.”

           
Seeming not to hear her, Roland just continued to babble.
Tia didn’t know what to do, the more he talked the more upset he appeared to be
getting.

           
“She said the child burst into flames inside of you!” His
shoulders shook as he held her tighter still. “She said you
burned
to death from the inside out!”

           
“Roland,” she slowly turned his tear-streaked face
upwards to look at her. “Do I look dead? Do I feel dead? Helena lied to you! I
do not know why, but she did.”

           
“I fought in the Great Battle,” Roland brokenly confessed
as he crumpled once again. “I wanted to
kill
Bylan for what he did to you but I couldn’t get close enough.”

           
“Oh Roland!”
Tia felt her heart
sink a little. “You used Druid magic in the battle?”

           
The only response she received was Roland burying his
face in her cloak. That was answer enough. She wondered what the Gods would do
to punish him. It was forbidden to use Druid magic to influence this war.
Unless they were being invaded, and needed to protect Druid lands, they had
been commanded never to use their power for war; no matter how just the reason.

           
“You’re not dead,” he repeated into her cloak. “It was
all for nothing.”

           
“What did the Gods say was the punishment for disobeying
that decree?” Being only an apprentice and then suddenly promoted to Gatherer,
Tia had never been told anything more. Even the Gods had kept quiet about her
destiny, which made her pretty sure she was technically still an apprentice.

           
“They said that within two seasons, they would contrive
the most horrific death any Druid has ever suffered.”

           
“Six moon cycles.” She quickly did the math in her head.
“How many moon cycles has it been since the Great battle?”

           
“A little more than one,” he mumbled, tightening his arms
around her again.

           
Tia took a deep ragged breath as she felt a spear of pain
go through her chest. After all of
this,
they
had – maybe - five moon cycles together in this lifetime. Squeezing her eyes
together, she willed herself not to cry.

           
Still kneeling, Roland relaxed his hold and straightened
so they were chest to chest. Cupping her face, he lowered his head to kiss
her.
 
It was a bitter sweet kiss, holding
all of the promises of tomorrow when today was all they might have.

           
“Anyone can see us,” Tia whispered against him mouth.
Pressing another kiss on his lips, she stood up and led them to the ring.
Placing a hand on the ring, she watched as a pair of stones silently slid open
to admit them.

           
Roland basically pounced on her and pulled her to the
ground as they stepped though and the stones slid closed behind them. Tia tried
to slow him down but the desperation in his actions was just too frantic for
her to calm. Deciding he definitely needed this, she let him continue at his
furious pace.

           
Laying flat on her back, she cringed as he lay fully
clothed on top of her and ground his erection painfully into her stomach. His
hands wandered quickly from her hips to her breasts and back around to her
buttocks. Squeezing her rear-end, Roland pushed her up into his swollen
appendage as he groaned in frustration.

           
Tia still tried to soothe him, afraid he was about to
hurt her if he didn’t slow down. Holding his head hostage, she kissed him
deeply, trying to will her body into feeling desire for her bonded. Pulling her
mouth away from his, she rained kisses along his jaw until she reached his
sensitive neck. Swirling her tongue over the pulse point, she then closed her
mouth over the area and lightly suckled. His corresponding moans of pleasure
filled the room and for just a moment, Tia thought she had succeeded in taming
the beast that seemed to be driving his actions.