Double love today
Feel the love.
In other news Dark System is coming along. I don't know if I will post it or not yet, but for now it isn't an issue.
Here you go.
48
Maureen had a hard time falling asleep. She tossed and turned for more than an hour before she finally gave up.
She got out of bed and left the room, careful not to wake Julius.
Her long nightgown flowed about her ankles as she walked.
She went into the kitchen, rummaged through a drawer, and pulled free a flashlight.
Clicking it on she slipped on some sandals and quietly went out the front door.
She inhaled deep the cool air of the night. It felt good. She held the breath, not wanting to relinquish the comfort that it brought.
The sandals crunched the gravel as she walked toward the sidewalk, but once she reached the even cement her footfalls barely made any noise.
She enjoyed the silence of the night. It gave her time to think, to reflect on her life. It was something she couldn’t always get at home.
She wasn’t doing much thinking this night, however.
Instead she was just enjoying the calm of the night. She was just enjoying life.
The moon and stars were bright. She smiled. It was how she wanted it to be.
At some point a calm had fallen over her. She was resolved not to worry about the battle, not to let the fear of possible death overwhelm her. She was resolved to walk into battle with her head held high, and win.
Death was a possibility, but not an option.
She was resolved to protect life, to protect what she knew.
She accepted that the only way to protect her family and be with them was to fight. If Julius was right, then it was her only option.
A twig crunched behind her.
She stopped, and turned.
“Hello, Kyra,” a strange voice said.
She was immediately on the defensive, ready to fight at the first sign of aggression.
The voice stepped into the beam of the flashlight.
“Do not worry, I am not here to harm you.”
“Who are you?” she asked, still ready to fight.
“My name is Claudius. I am from the same community as Julius.”
“How do I know that you speak truth?”
“You don’t, but he will. He can verify anything that I tell you, just mention Asgarath to him.”
“What is that?”
“Understand that I tell you only so that you may know the truth I speak.
Asgarath was a battle between elves and humans, many years ago. He felt he owed a debt to the elves that had trained him, even though they were long dead. He repaid that debt by defending the descendants. When the elven city was besieged we acted as a nighttime defense.”
The vampire stepped back out of the light.
“Is that all?”
“For verification, yes. However, I do have another message to deliver.”
“What is it?”
“That the time difference is within an hour now.”
Maureen looked at him quizzically.
“Is that all?”
“There was personal news, but I would rather tell him myself. Since it was not important, I think it can wait.”
Maureen was almost insulted by this, but chose not to say anything.
“If that is all then… Goodnight.” She started to walk away.
“I have news, if you want it,” Claudius said, annoyance tinged his voice.
“Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“Because I don’t think that you want to hear it.”
“Then why do you bring it up now?”
“It is not my place to withhold information. Whether you accept it or not is your choice.”
“Then what is this information concerning?”
“Our timeframe. We are fairly certain that we know when this whole thing will start.”
Curiosity almost overwhelmed her. She almost asked for the information.
“You… were right. I don’t want to know.”
“It is probably better. And now I shall leave you.”
Maureen didn’t even hear his footsteps take him away.
She walked on past a few more houses. Dark windows stared blindly at her as the occupants slept within.
She wondered what would change.
She reached the end of her street, and turned back.
She half expected to see the vampire waiting for her as she approached the spot where they had talked, but as promised he was gone.
She stopped, wondering if there was any meaning to any of it.
A war between good and evil, to decide the fate of life itself.
Would there be, could there be any survivors?
She walked on, questions without answers now occupying her thoughts.
She clicked off the flashlight as she mounted the front steps.
She silently slipped back into the house.
Sandals came off and she headed for the kitchen to put the flashlight away.
As she passed through the living room a voice came out of nowhere.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
The flashlight clattered as it hit the floor.
49
Maureen slugged Julius in the arm. “Why the hell did you have to scare me like that?”
Julius rubbed the spot. “You have a good arm.”
Maureen didn’t have much regret, and hadn’t actually hit him that hard.
“Thanks. Now answer the question. Why did you scare me like that?”
Julius turned slightly away, abashed. “Sorry. I honestly thought that you had seen me.”
“Well I didn’t,” she scolded.
She knelt and picked up the dropped flashlight. She examined it, and then stormed off into the kitchen to put it away.
Julius was confused. He had never seen her angry like this. He didn’t think that one little scare would upset her so much. But he also didn’t know what could set her off like this.
He didn’t know whether he should follow her into the kitchen or wait for her to come back to the living room.
She made the decision for him, returning from the kitchen and flopping into a chair.
“Well?” she asked, glaring at him.
“Well what?” he returned, confused. “I don’t understand what you are so angry about.”
“You scaring me! That’s what I’m angry about!”
“Kyra, I’ve scared you before, but you’ve never acted like this. So what are you really angry about?”
Maureen halted in her tirade.
He was right, she was upset with him for no reason.
Julius saw immediately the change in her demeanor.
“I’m sorry Julius, I guess my nerves are just taking over. That was my second scare of the night and I’m too on edge to handle it right now.”
“Second scare? What happened while you were outside?”
Maureen considered how she wanted to tell him about her encounter. Finally, “What does Asgarath mean to you?”
“Ah, Claudius does have a nasty habit of sneaking up on people.”
“So he was telling the truth, he is who he says.”
“Yes. Very few know of our role at Asgarath, so few that when we hear it used to pass messages we know that the message is true.”
“What happened there? He said than an elven city was under siege, but not much more.”
“He had asked of my training. Rather than tell him I took him to where your elven grandfather had been laid to rest. I thought it was the only way he would truly believe me.
While we were there the city was attacked. We worked to defend it.”
“He said that you felt you owed a debt.”
“I did. The way I was treated, and the skills I was given, are things that cannot be repaid through wealth. They can only be repaid through reciprocal generosity. Protecting the city is only one way that I have worked to repay the debt.”
“How did you help?”
“Nighttime defense. We took out spies, and sometimes raided the attackers’ camps. By keeping the attackers alert and unable to rest we forced them to give up much sooner and with fewer casualties than if we hadn’t worked with the elves.”
“Is that all?”
“Pretty much. Even though the humans were well armed, and set for a long siege, they were in no way prepared for the weapons of the elves and the ability for he elves to work around all the human’s siege tactics.”
“Doesn’t sound like much of a battle.”
“It doesn’t mostly because it wasn’t a bloodshed. If you had been there you would have a different opinion. The city is huge, and the army that came to besiege it numbered easily in the thousands, if not tens of thousands.”
“Oh.”
Silence fell while Maureen absorbed the information.
“So what did Claudius have to say?”
“Well, it was a bit confusing, at least to me. He said that the time difference is within an hour.”
Julius sat, pondering the news.
He stood up and started pacing.
Maureen merely watched. The news meant nothing to her, but it obviously was important to Julius.
She yawned, suddenly ready for bed.
Julius looked at her. “I’m sorry. I should let you go to bed.”
“You weren’t keeping me up. That was me.”
“But you seemed as if you were waiting for something from me.”
“I was just hoping that you might explain what the message meant.”
“Oh, that’s no problem.
We measure the time left before the war gets into full swing by the time difference between the realms. The closer they are to each other the closer we are to the war.”
“Oh,” she said flatly. “I guess I shouldn’t have asked.”
Julius cocked his head. “Why?”
“Because the next obvious question is ‘how long?’ But that is a question that I don’t want the answer to.”
“Then you don’t have to ask it.”
Maureen smiled. “I think I’m going to head for bed.”
“Sleep well.”
Maureen almost made it out of the room when she turned toward Julius.
“He had more to say.”
Julius raised an eyebrow.
“He said he had some personal news for you, but he didn’t want it to go through me.”
“It must not have been important.”
Maureen shook her head. “It seemed that way to me as well.”
“Was that all?”
“He also offered to tell me how long until Jack strikes.”
“And?”
“I declined. Good night.” She left the room.
Julius smiled.
posted by Phoenixwaller | 9:38 AM
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