CHAPTER TWENTY: THE REVELATION IN MOSSY ROCK CANYON

  After looking ahead at the narrow rock walls that lined the Mossy Rock Canyon before them, Garrick turned and looked back one last time at the trees of Fawndale. Then he kneeled down and pulled up one of the short shrubs that littered the beginning of the trek that would ultimately connect him and his companions to The Tunnels of Kellas.

  “When was the last time the elves saw a river here,” asked the mercenary, looking over at Cerelene.

  “Like most of the other offshoots of The Living River, it has been generations,” replied Cerelene, patting Azure, who was perched on her shoulder. Then after feeling a familiar shrug from the elf maiden, the falcon took flight and moved ahead of them.

  “It is the same with my people,” added Ondibar, surveying the two narrow moss covered rock walls that would widen farther down as they walked.

  After scratching Onyx on his head, Garrick sent the mystic wolf ahead into the canyon and then looked at Maldrin. The old wizard was petting Tal affectionately as she ate a berry.

  Feeling his eyes up on him, Maldrin gripped his staff tightly and pointed down at the dried up river bed. “Hopefully the wells still have water. I know we all have full water skins now…”

  “Do not worry, Maldrin,” replied Anya, placing her staff into the ground next to the wizard’s. “Even if they are not, Elion will get us through. I know it.”

  Standing next to her sister, Deelah began to absentmindedly flip one of her knives up in the air by the blade, only to catch it by the handle. “If I were to ask the god of all creation to provide anything, it is that we would make it through this canyon without resistance. You never know who else could be here.” Then she looked at Garrick. “There has been times a thief or two has used this place to hide or lay low for a bit before moving on from, or to, Fawndale.”

  “You would know,” laughed Elias playfully as he looked off into the distance at both Azure and Onyx up ahead of them. Then he looked at the new dragon head hilt that sat atop his scabbard and sighed. “Most likely those thieves have stolen beautiful works such as this.”

  “You did not complain when I stole the dragon biter arrows,” replied Deelah, upset, as she elbowed Elias sharply. “Or when…”Then the thief stopped and patted the knight’s chest. A second later Deelah smiled cutely as she walked into the narrow canyon. When the others joined her laughing, Elias remained still.

  “Wait. What else have you stolen?” exclaimed Elias. When he caught up to the group, the knight moved next to Garrick. “Did she steal something when I was…when I was…”

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  As Elias searched for the words to use next, Garrick laughed then pointed at the knight’s heart. “She stole that.”

  Happy at seeing Elias unable to hide a smile, Garrick hesitated for a moment, but after seeing the knight comfortable again on the quest, the mercenary finally decided to ask the question they all had wanted to ask since their friend had come back to them fully. It was good enough that Elias was alive and well. And they all had hoped that the knight would speak about the experience on The Cloud Shroud Mountain without being asked. But the mercenary could not let this moment pass.

  “Elias, what do you remember on The Cloud Shroud Mountain?” began Garrick. Then it was his turn to search for words. “You know…after…when you…”

  As suddenly as laughter had rung out the moment before, silence followed. While Garrick, Cerelene, Ondibar and Deelah continued to look ahead, Maldrin began to stroke his beard as he looked at the knight, while Anya looked at the ground.

  “My last thought was Elion’s Embrace. That although I was sad that I would not complete the quest with you all, I was going to see the god of all creation that I have served faithfully. That I would finally see my parents again,” replied Elias calmly, as he, too, looked out ahead at the giant canyon walls before him. After being silent for a few seconds he continued. “I felt as if I was falling asleep and rising into the air at the same time…then…” “Then the knight fell silent again.

  “Then what, my boy?” pressed Maldrin impatiently, tapping the knight quickly on his shoulder with his staff.

  “I heard a voice. A woman’s voice,” continued Elias finally, reliving the moment. “'No, good Knight of Providence, your soul will not travel there yet…'”

  “It was Anya,” spoke Deelah quietly. Then she looked at her sister, who still walked with her head looking only at the ground in front of her feet.

  “No. No, it was not,” answered Elias. Then he looked at Deelah. “I am not as close to your sister as you, but believe me, it was not Anya.”

  When Deelah began to protest, Anya, knowing deep down that that the knight must be right, placed a gentle hand on her sister's arm.

  “The voice commanded me with such strength,” announced the knight, raising his voice.” Then his voice quieted once more, almost to a whisper. “I have met no one, be it human or elf, wizard or warrior, that could match it.”

  Elias watched as Garrick and Ondibar exchanged a quick look. A look by which he could tell that they not only believed him, but that this had already been discussed while he had yet to fully return to them. The knight watched as Cerelene moved over to Anya and patted her hand reassuringly. When Deelah looked from her sister back to him, Elias continued.

  “Then, instead of ascending, I began to feel as if I were descending…and once more felt as if I were falling asleep…”

  When he finally returned from the memory, Elias looked at Deelah, whose eyes were already upon him.

  “When I finally awakened I saw this beautiful thief,” announced Elias, grabbing Deelah’s hand and kissing it. Then they all watched as Deelah removed her hand from Elias, kissed her finger tips and placed them to the knight’s lips.

  Seeing the two together, their love so new and unfettered, Garrick could do nothing but remember Isabelle. As he rubbed his fingers over her ring that was tied tightly around his scabbard, Garrick wondered as he walked.

  He wondered what truly had happened on The Cloud Shroud Mountain. He wondered even more what the quest had in store for him next. He wondered what Elion’s Embrace was truly like. But most of all he wondered, when his life was over, when he was finally there, when he could at long last see his wife, the one he missed the most, what it would feel like, when he held her tight once more.