Chapter 15 #2
“Your desire to save our past is admirable, Finley. Voices like yours should be raised up. But as to working with elven power sources… Well, we just like our independence here,” Rohannan said firmly.
“You’re too young to remember when OPEC controlled our oil supplies and the chaos that caused, but–”
“What happens when the gasoline runs out and the batteries run dry?” Finley pressed. “You’re going to have to switch over then. Why wait? The longer we wait, the more is lost.”
“Have you been talking to Cara?” Rohannan chuckled, a little uneasily.
“If she believes in melding technology with magic then I’m more than interested in talking to her,” Finley said.
Rohannan dug the pointed toe of his boot into the ground as he said, “As I’ve told my daughter, you might think you’re picking and choosing what you let in, but soon enough it floods you. We’ll find our own way to power our communities.”
Finley opened his mouth to say something more, but then he looked at Aquilan and bit it back. “I see we disagree on many things. But this is not what we’re here for. Forgive me, King Aquilan, for bringing my own concerns to this meeting.”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Finley. I wish to hear what everyone has to say,” Aquilan told him genuinely.
He looked towards Declan to see what his Shadow thought about all of this, but Declan’s handsome face was impassive. He imagined that Declan likely thought as Finley did that this was a fool’s errand to continue to be independent when that risked so much.
With the Leviathan threat more contained, they are relatively safe here, so close to Tyrael’s dome and the Protectors. This gives them the illusion of independence.
Rohannan turned to Declan with a look of respect on his face and Aquilan realized that the tales of Declan’s heroics at the Dawn had definitely found this man’s eager ears.
“You take out any more orcs lately, Declan?” Rohannan asked.
“They know better than to make trouble at the Dawn,” Declan answered simply.
“I bet they do. I bet they do.” He turned around to the three young men who still flanked him.
“Declan, here, works at the dwarven tavern, The Sudden Dawn, over in Lightwell. Six orcs thought that they could get away with mischief as there was only a human bartender on duty. Declan showed them they couldn’t. ”
“I wouldn’t mind bashing some orc heads together,” one of the young men with a pugnacious face smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose said.
“Oh, yes, especially if you desire an early grave,” Rhalyf said, that toothy smile still firmly in place.
“I’m twice Declan’s size! I could take an orc or two!
” The pugnacious young man pointed out as he jerked his head towards the lean, lithe Declan.
He was, indeed, of a larger build than Declan with bulging muscles that his shirt could hardly contain and thick thighs that could have cracked walnuts.
But Declan’s strength would have been ten times his.
“It’s not always the size of the package, Warren,” one of his fellows joked as he shoved Warren’s shoulder playfully.
“Fuck off, Jeff,” Warren scowled.
“Declan has some moves. Like martial arts moves. You’re slow as shit, Warren,” the third chortled.
“I could totally take one out, Dean!” Warren retorted hotly.
“Stay away from orcs,” Declan commanded without turning to look at them. And it was a command though he did not raise his voice or drop it to an intimidating growl. He simply spoke and there it was: leadership.
And the three young men clearly felt it.
They suddenly quieted down and viewed Declan with something akin to fear.
Or not fear. Not exactly. Maybe alertness?
No. It was wariness. Yes, that was the emotion.
They clearly respected what Declan was saying.
Rohannan merely observed the exchange and moved his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other.
He thinks Declan is an amazing human. He wants me to see how powerful Declan is and extrapolate from that that the rest of humanity is just as powerful. But Declan isn’t human. And humanity can’t fight Leviathan let alone orcs.
“Well, you have good choices in companions, King Aquilan, with them two boys,” Rohannan finally remarked.
“Yes, indeed, but let me introduce you to my other…” Aquilan looked around. Neither Haera nor Vex were anywhere to be seen. His eyes sought out Rhalyf’s.
Rhalyf gave the faintest negative head movement.
He was aware they were missing. Had Rhalyf sent his sister to monitor Vex?
Aquilan tried not to be worried about the missing Night King.
Surely, Vex understood he had to keep a low profile and not cause chaos in the human encampment, didn’t he?
Or would he delight in bomb-throwing? While he couldn’t remember his time as Ailduin, he had a feeling that the latter had played quite a bit in Vex’s personality.
At least, he wouldn’t have to make up some name and backstory for Vex.
But still, to have the Night King loose in the encampment…
He could have come to Hope any time he wished. Perhaps he has even been here before and I did not know. Controlling him is like trying to control the tide. Nature always wins in the end, Aquilan realized.
“You waiting on someone else?” Rohannan cocked his head to the side.
“No, no. I thought that… it matters not. My party is all here,” Aquilan answered even as he did send out his magical senses looking for Vex.
He thought he sensed him somewhere inside of Hope, but it was just a trace of his magic.
He hoped that if Rhalyf had sent Haera after him that she kept a safe distance from the Night King and did not try to impede him in any way.
“Let me take you on the tour then.” Rohannan brought his hands together in front of him. “If there’s anything you want more information on, let me know. If you’d like to stop in anywhere, let me know that, too. Many of your people seem to like our sweets.”
This had Rhalyf visibly brightening with a genuine smile this time as he said, “Caramel corn is quite something, Aquilan. And you must try a Twinkie. I hear you have those here, Rohannan.”
Rohannan grinned. “We do indeed. Both the old ones and a new bakery that’s putting out a pretty close version. I keep hoping they’ll figure out how to make Ho-Ho’s myself.”
“Ho-Ho’s?” Rhalyf was very alert at this.
“Moist chocolate cake with a vanilla cream filling and a fudgy topping,” Rohannan described.
Aquilan thought that Rhalyf might start drooling, but then his best friend seemed to catch himself and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Sounds interesting. I look forward to trying one,” Rhalyf said.
“I have a pack or two. I might give you one,” Rohannan said. “We do share when we are asked.”
That was definitely a loaded dig at Aquilan and the Empire. But could he blame Rohannan? He was certain the human Separatist leader had heard about the plan to carve up Earth among the big Aravae Houses.
“After our tour, we can go to the music hall where there will be food and music,” Rohannan suggested.
“I am excited to experience all Hope has to offer,” Aquilan said genuinely.
“All right then. Come this way. We built Hope on a concentric castle design,” Rohannan said as he and Aquilan walked through the arched gates into a main circular area inside the first wall.
“Basically, we have three concentric curtain walls. This is the outermost ward, but in case of danger, the people can move behind the second wall or even the third into the inner ward where we have our government offices–”
“And your home,” Finley said. His expression was neutral, but there was something sharp in his eyes that showed he thought this cowardly.
Though, really, none of these walls would have saved anyone against the Leviathan or any kind of creature attack. There was no more safety in the center of this place than there would have been if one had stood outside of it.
“Yes, and my home is there too as it formed the basis of Hope in the very beginning,” Rohannan answered just as neutrally back. “Most of our vendors set up their shops here with their homes being behind the second wall.”
As Rohannan spoke, Aquilan looked around him, allowing his mind to drift.
Though he was certain his brother and Rohannan would have hated the comparison, they both liked to talk about the architectural equivalent of cabbages.
He was more interested in simply seeing things for himself.
So he, admittedly, tuned out most of what Rohannan was saying.
The shops were small made out of corrugated metal and plastic that was taped or nailed together.
They were definitely filled with scavenged materials from what was left of Chicago.
He saw plenty of items that were scorched from their use of Sunstones in the major metropolitan areas of Earth.
For some reason, he thought of the lichen in the Under Dark.
But while there had been another way to get rid of the nest in Illithor without the power of a Sunstone, that hadn’t been the case on Earth.
They had been fighting against time to save as many humans as possible.
Every moment that the Leviathan had free reign in the dark, humans died.
But the Sunstone’s destructive powers had leveled buildings and destroyed much human history.
These shops–though filled with tattered objects–were somehow still bright and cheery.
One of them was filled with children’s toys that had clearly been well loved before they came onto the shop’s shelves.
A little boy with chubby arms and legs and pink cheeks was standing in the door of the shop, holding onto his mother’s hand, and staring with clear desire at a red ball that was just out of his reach.
“Do you want that?” Aquilan asked him as he crouched down so he was near the boy’s level.
The child turned to him, lifting a rather sticky hand up to his cherubic mouth.
But when he saw Aquilan, instead of answering the question about the ball, his eyes grew wide with fear.
He made a panicked sound at the back of his throat and scrambled to get behind his mother’s legs. Aquilan stared in shock.
“N-No! N-No h-hurt!” The boy stammered.
His mother turned to see Aquilan and she, too, let out a small gasp and moved deeper into the tiny shop, trying to get away from him.
“Please… please… we’re not doing anything! Why–why are you here? This is our–our place!” The woman cried.
Aquilan’s mouth opened, but no words came out as he slowly rose. He was too stunned to speak.
“Rohannan! Are they here to take our homes?” the mother asked.
“No, no, Mary,” Rohannan quickly assured the woman, stepping between her and Aquilan, holding up his hands. “There’s no need to be concerned. This here is King Aquilan–”
“I know who he is! He’s on their money!” she got out.
Declan was suddenly by his side. His Shadow took his nearest hand and squeezed it.
“Are you all right?” Declan asked softly.
“I… I am fine, but what is… why is that child afraid of me? Telling me not to hurt him?” Aquilan found himself saying.
Declan grimaced. But he didn’t say anything.
Having soothed the mother and child, Rohannan turned back around towards him. “Sorry about that. Just a miscommunication, but–”
“Why is that child afraid of me? Of Aravae?” Aquilan asked, realizing he needed to hear the reason from someone who had no compunction about telling him the full truth in this matter. Or, at least, how it was seen from the Separatist side.
Rohannan moved that toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. “You really don’t know?”
“I do not. Clearly, this child had a bad experience with an Aravae. I would know what happened!” Aquilan demanded.
Rohannan answered, “Little Bobby was with his parents gathering wood and other materials in the forest, they were attacked and run off by some Aravae for stealing. Stealing our own wood from our own damned forests. Scared little Bobby there to death.”
“I would know their names. To attack a child? To go after people gathering wood with aggression–”
“Their names don’t matter, King Aquilan.” Rohannan put his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. “It’s not just one Aravae, King Aquilan, or a dozen. It’s all of them. All of your people see us as vermin and want us gone.”
“That is surely not true–”
“Ask your brother if you don’t believe me,” Rohannan interrupted coldly. “He was one of them, King Aquilan. One of the Aravae that makes Bobby and his mother quake in fear.”
The Story Continues in Book 6