Ashflows

  Slyran watched as his daughter and son came back down the steps and met up with Isa.

  “I’ll just be having them out front,” Isa said softly. Her feline eyes were trained intensely on Lorzio, who simply smiled at her. Slyran’s children visibly shuddered when the valendi bared his teeth in what was supposed to be a calming gesture. His smile simply did not work. Isa ushered them outside and the door shut. Nobody spoke as the sounds of their feet trudging through snow grew quieter and quieter.

  The silence was broken by Cailynn’s voice, her tone as cold as ice. “What the hells are you doing here, you conniving skink? Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn’t turn you to ash.”

  Slyran raised a cautious hand to his wife and said, “Cailynn, please—”

  Her eyes shot daggers at him as her face contorted with disgust. “Are you seriously going to defend him?!”

  Slyran bit his lip. “N-No, but—”

  Lorzio raised his hands to show he meant no harm and said, “I know you’re still upset, Moon—”

  “Upset?!” Cailynn recoiled. “Upset?! I’m more than upset!” She jammed her finger into the valendi’s chest. “It’s because of you that Cyrus is dead! You killed her! You killed her!”

  Slyran balled his fists as his teeth pierced his lower lip, filling his mouth with the taste of iron. Looking at his wife, he shivered. He stepped forward and gently gripped her shoulder. “Cailynn, I’m upset too, but please, let Lorzio speak.”

  Cailynn’s lip quivered; her eyes red as tears formed on the brims. With a quick wipe of her wrists, she steeled herself, gring unimaginable hate at the man across from her.

  Lorzio looked back at her, his face emotionless. He finally blinked, his guttural tone wavering slightly. He said, “I know it’s my fault, Moonweaver.”

  Cailynn rolled her eyes and said, “Stop it! Stop calling me that!”

  Lorzio lowered his head. “Apologies,” he said. “I just got caught up in the moment.” He shook his head and looked up at her. “No matter what I say, Cailynn, I know you’ll never forgive me or see things as I do.”

  “We can both agree on that.” She crossed her arms.

  Lorzio took a tentative step forward and held a cwed hand out to her. “But I come to you and your family with urgent news that I know will help you.” His voice shuddered.

  Cailynn cocked her head to the side, and she scowled. “Why should we care what you have to say?” Slyran gripped her shoulder once more.

  “Because I want to make things right!” Lorzio said, both of his hands reaching out pleadingly.

  She ft-out ughed, her head flung back as she howled, as if the man had made a joke.

  Her husband sighed and closed his eyes. “Cailynn, please, let him speak.”

  “Speak?” She turned to him wiping the fresh tears from her eyes, still sniffling. Then all humor was gone. “This snake,” she sneered, “wants to slither into our home and repent.” She looked back at Lorzio. “Do you honestly think you can ever make things right?”

  Lorzio flinched. “No! I’m not sure; I doubt I’ll ever be able to make things right, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try, at least.” He lowered himself to his knees, the others surprised as the valendi groveled. “I know there is no pce left for me in the Current when I go and that my time on Enora is coming to a close. Yet please, allow me the privilege of knowing that at least I helped the ones I wronged.” He looked up. “Please, I have nothing to gain from this. My employer doesn’t even know I’m here, and if they find out what information I have, I’ll surely lose my head. So please, I beg, let me speak.”

  Slyran looked at Cailynn, who grimaced, closed her eyes, and then sighed. Her face softened ever so slightly, yet her eyes, when they opened, still raged with an inferno.

  “Fine,” she said. “You can say your piece and leave. Now, get up.” She jabbed her thumb upwards.

  Lorzio nodded, pushed himself to his feet, and dusted off his pants. “Thank you, Cailynn. May we use your table?”

  “As you’re aware, the Sovereign Right has eyes nearly everywhere.” Stacking the children’s books and stationery on the far end of the table, Lorzio then reached into his suit to pull out a mani folder.

  He revealed maps, finely typed documents, and scrycaptured pictures of what seemed to be camoufged instaltions seen from the air, just barely visible.

  “Two years ago,” Lorzio continued, “I was promoted to the role of Guiding Hand, and I oversaw much of the intelligence coming in and out of the organization. What we uncovered was deeply troubling.” He watched Slyran and Cailynn sift through the documents, their eyes squinting at the printed text.

  Lorzio set his palms on the table and said, “Darkness is coming to all of Enora; the Veillites are preparing for something drastic, and yet more importantly, it’ll happen here.” He tapped on the table. “Oren will be on the front lines.”

  Cailynn looked up; her brow knitted in skepticism. There hadn’t been a war in over two millennia; the G.A.N. had kept the peace since the Twilight War. “Lorzio, surely if Veilnd was going to attack Heinmarr…” She tapped the map of the Heinmarr-Veilnd border, one riddled with battle lines. “The rest of the Global Alliance would interfere.”

  “You’re right to think that, and they will. Yet Veilnd is not alone in this.” He produced more documents written in several nguages, such as Xhin and Khemu, the nguages of the Xing and Sunlit empires. “The Warriors of Light are mustering their forces, and these documents here expin the cry for a Keshmeniri, a Great Crusade.”

  “By the roots you’re kidding me,” Slyran muttered under his breath as his eyes flicked over a page he picked off the table. “The bastards want to strike the wall. Religious nuts, they’re going to plunge the entire world into war, if this is to be believed!”

  “Exactly. An attack on the wall is an attack on all.” Lorzio took a deep breath. “From what my boys have shown me, Veilnd has already called upon thirty thousand able bodies and has been stockpiling weapons and gold for their war chest. Supplies and troops have been subtly shifting towards the border for some time now, and estimates have it that they pn to attack in roughly one and a half to two years.”

  Cailynn and Slyran gnced at one another. “Why did you come to us with this, Lorzio?” Slyran asked. Lorzio stared back, dumbfounded.

  “I told you already: I want you both and your children to make it out of here. Leave, leave, before this war breaks out.” He gestured to the front door. “Find somepce safe. The two of you are well-off and have experience on the road; find a summer home away from all of this, like Iona or Kaesolona.”

  Cailynn took a deep breath and gently took Slyran by the hand. “Do you believe him?”

  Lorzio gasped, “Why would I lie? What could I possibly have to gain from this?”

  Cailynn watched Slyran as he squeezed her hand gently before letting go. He then leaned over the documents and photos on the table. His brow knitted tightly as he rested both hands on the table. Her jaw was set, as she already knew what her husband was going to say; she’d known him long enough to read him like an open book. After a minute Slyran looked at Lorzio and said, “I believe you, and I thank you for coming to warn us.”

  Cailynn tensed, though she tried to hide it, it was if his words had dropped weights upon her shoulders. Taking a calming breath, she tried to loosen up but as she looked at Lorzio, her expression was tight once again. “Thank you,” she said. “If Slyran believes you, then I will too. The next question, though, is what to do.”

  “You leave,” Lorzio said instantly. “Toss everything into a wagon and go and go far.”

  “Well, thank you, Mr. Bxen, but it isn’t that simple. Unlike the st time we met, we have children now. Rounding them up and uprooting everything would be devastating for them. Not to mention a costly endeavor. We may be well-off, but we don’t even own a strider or a wagon.” She sighed.

  Slyran took her shoulder once more. “Well, just as Lorzio said, we have time, Cailynn, just not a lot of it.” He draped an arm around his wife. “We’ll figure something out; we always do. I can check by Harold’s when the snowfall lightens and see if he has a strider avaible, and I can check by Henderson’s shop and commission a wagon.”

  “Yes,” Lorzio said. “It is of the utmost importance that you find somepce safe.” He straightened up. “I won’t be in your way too much longer, though I’ll let you know I will be staying in town for the remainder of the winter and spring for work. I’ll be at the Step Right Inn.”

  “Well, now I know where not to send Luna and Varis,” Cailynn muttered under her breath, and Slyran snorted.

  “Again, thank you, Lorzio.” Slyran stepped forward. “I’ll help you clean this up and take you back out to your strider.” He reached a hand out and Lorzio shook it. “If we have any more questions, I’ll reach out.”

  Releasing his hand, Lorzio hesitated. “Oh, one more thing. Major General Hossler’s Third Brigade will be arriving in Oren come spring, as the rest of his division has been instructed to bolster the Stricknd Line. So, expect this pce to get crowded.”

  “Are they not doing the Frostnd March this year?” Slyran asked, putting papers back into the folder.

  “I don’t recall hearing it’d be cancelled.” Lorzio stuffed the folder into his coat. “And I doubt the Kaiser would risk canceling such an event.” Everyone nodded to each other. With a deep breath, Lorzio donned his hat and said, “Farewell, Cailynn.” The elven woman didn’t respond.

  As Lorzio and Slyran approached the front door, Lorzio’s gaze darted to the window, where a fleeting shadow passed by. Slyran unlocked the front door, silent but with narrowed eyes.

  “Ah shit, it’s bloody cold. I hope you bundled up well,” the elf muttered.

  With his trench coat buttoned up, Lorzio went out onto the modest front porch and swiftly cocked his head to the right, where shrubs sat iced over. He gazed towards the window and observed little footprints leading up to it; then, as he looked left, he caught an elven girl’s face peering at him from behind a bush. A combination of his snort and smile—which revealed his teeth—caused her to squeal and duck behind the shrub.

  “I forgot to mention, Slyran.” He snarled mischievously.

  “Aye, what is it?” The man stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged towards the dark-scaled nd strider at his property fence. He could see Isa trying to stop Varis from provoking the creature.

  “Your children, they’re adorable.”

  By the decree of the Global Allied Nations, we all agree that it is our duty to stand together in times of strife and need. We agree that if any form of aggression is taken against an ally, it means that it is an attack on us. For if we do not defend our own, who will be there to defend us when the time comes? That is why we agree that an attack on one is an attack on all.

  —Codes of Peace, Article III.