Chapter 69

Emily came up beside and nudged him. He looked up at her admiringly. “So beautiful.”

“Aren’t I looking old?”

“No, you’re perfect.”

She climbed into bed, and Adrian followed, spooning her. “I have dreamt of this.”

“Me too.”

He checked the time. It was three a.m. Adrian knew he should sleep, and he was exhausted, but…

His eyes opened abruptly. There were sounds of movement downstairs as the household woke up.

From what he could tell, a large group was preparing for some sort of expedition. Joe was amongst them and while he did not listen in, Adrian understood he would be a significant part of the conversation.

He briefly considered going down to introduce himself, but Emily had one arm pinned under her and the other trapped within two of her own.

Later.

He could worry about that later.

Smiling, he lay there. Listening to her breathing and the kids and the two dogs both of which choose to sleep at his feet as opposed to next to Emily like they missed him or something.

They probably had.

Adrian thought about the pain he had put himself through to get here.

So worth it.

A rooster’s crow split the room. The dogs jumped awake. Emily stirred, but practically that only meant his arm got hugged tighter.

He kissed her cheek.

“I was supposed to go with the trade convey,” she whispered. “But…”

“Not today,” he agreed.

He dozed briefly.

“Mum?” Natalie’s voice asked worriedly.

Both his and Emily’s eyes snapped open to see Natalie at the base of the bed looking concerned. Then her face transformed.

“DAD!” she squealed and leaped on him. The boys were woken by the commotion and suddenly all three were piled on top of him.

“Dad!”

“Daddy!”

Summer started barking. Small bodies stared cuddling against him.

There was a yelp from Summer as she got partially squished, and then abruptly an even larger mass landed on all of them as she transformed to her large size.

If the normal Summer’s barks were loud, then big Summer’s were deafening.

“Shrink,” he heard Emily say in exasperation, and then Summer was small again but just as excited as previously. Nala was licking his ear.

“When did you get back?” his daughter said in excitement.

“Last night.”

“Dad,” Toby repeated, happiness and excitement with every word. His heart swelled. “Don’t ever go away again.”

“I’m here to stay.”

“How are you? Kids? Jack?”

“I’m good, but mum has too many rules.”

“It’s a dangerous world, son.”

“I know, but with my daily teleport.”

“Your mum’s rules stay,” Adrian said firmly. Whether he agreed with the rules that Em had set did not matter. They had an unofficial agreement to always back up the other. To always present a united front. There might be an apocalypse, but they still needed to keep them under control.

“But Dad!”

He smiled, unable to help himself. He was home, and they could whine and complain as much as they wanted to.

“You need to meet Ollie.”

Adrian felt a spike of panic, recognising the name. It was Natalie’s octopod. “I would love to.”

“Now?”

“But this is nice.”

“I’m hungry,” Toby declared.

Emily nudged him. She was smiling so much that her cheeks had to be hurting. Now that he thought of it, his own ached slightly. “Breaky,” Emily said simply.

The kids rolled off.

Adrian turned to Emily. “Should I invite Jules?”

“Oh god…we should have.” Emily was flustered. “Call her.”

His hand touched his necklace. “Jules?”

“IS SHE THERE!” Jules screamed over the communication necklace. He winced at the volume. Emily next to him grinned at hearing the enthusiasm.

“Yes!”

“YAY, I KNEW IT. AFTER YOU DIDN’T come back, I knew. I’m so happy.”

“We’ll meet you out front.”

He switched it off.

“You should have told her last night,” Emily admonished with no heat.

Adrian shrugged unconcerned. “I was preoccupied.” Then he turned to his kids. “Before eating we’re going to meet one of Dad’s friends. Aunty Jules.”

“Then Ollie,” Natalie reminded them. “I’ll call him.”

“A brief play, then breakfast,” Emily said, ruffling Natalie’s hair. She was getting tall, and despite being eleven was only half a head shorter than her mum.

They walked downstairs. There were a couple of people on the narrow walkways, but they made space for them, retreating into bedrooms. He felt all of them examining him suspiciously, but to a person they smiled at Emily and the kids.

Emily was a druid and the daughter of the owner of the house. By both facts, she would have status. Add in the fact that from the sounds of it Ollie, that name seemed weird to him, had also helped stabilise the little community. It was more than that. There was genuine love being directed her way and Adrian knew it was because she was such an amazing person.

They reached the ground floor and shouts and yells broke out from above them.

“Stop!” Some yelled

“Who are you?” Another female voice challenged.

“Jules,” Adrian said, recognising the problem. She must have jogged, and he could put himself easily enough into the minds of the sentries. A single woman with an evil-looking club turning up at the crack of dawn was suspect.

Emily broke into a run towards the big front doors. “Open!” she yelled.

There were two young men fully armoured playing cards in front of the door. They leapt to their feet, obviously some form of formal guard rotation. One of them looked sleepily at them, but the other one, who was both thicker and taller took one look at who was asking, lifted the huge piece of timbre being used to secure the door, and yanked open the door.

Emily sprinted out with Adrian on her heels. “Stop,” Emily screamed, and stopped in front of Jules with her hands in the air. “Friend.” Emily stood facing the house protecting Jules with her body.

Adrian cast a projectile barrier on both of them.

Jules had a small smile on her face. Adrian hesitated under the porch not wanting to emerge and potentially escalate things further. With his domain, he could sense four people on the roof armed with a mixture of crossbows and the more traditional bow and arrows. They were all at full draw, not that the arrows would do anything with his spell in place and in all honesty only Emily was really exposed.

His wife was waving frantically. “Stop, she’s friendly.”

All but one man lowered their weapons.

“Burke,” he heard a rough voice say above him. “It’s Emily.”

The fourth man turned the crossbow away.

“Emily,” Adrian called.

Emily looked at him standing under the porch. “Don’t shoot, my husband is coming out.”

There was a crowd gathering behind him, and Adrian walked out. With his awareness, he watched Burke and the others above. None of them moved for the weapons. He hooked his arm around Emily because he could and he missed her so much.

“Emily, this is Jules.”

Emily disengaged and stepped forward to give Jules a massive hug. “Thank you for looking after him,” he heard Emily say. She was crying once more. Jules hugged her back.

All three of his kids were behind him. Pressing up against his back but not going beyond him. They were cautious. “I would like you to meet Jules,” he told them. “Aunty Jules, a good friend of your dad’s and a magnificent fighter.” He confided in them, “She’s the strongest person in Melbourne.”

“No way she is too skinny,” Jack proclaimed.

“That’s rude,” Natalie informed him.

“Her arms are like thin.” Jack indicated they were twig sized by holding his hands close together. “There’s no way she is strong.”

“Jack. She heard that,” Adrian told him. “Sorry,” he said to Jules, referring to the previous night and not his son saying embarrassing things.

“I figured you had found her when I didn’t get a message. After an hour, I used a sleep potion to force myself to sleep.”

“Sorry.”

She waved it off.

“Ollie,” Natalie yelled excitedly

Adrian’s head snapped over to the monster that had just emerged on the periphery of his detailed sensory range. It wasn’t classed, but one look with identification told him it was close.

King Octopod.

A solitary hunter that has deceptive speed and strength. The major risk when fighting it is being incapacitated by the tentacles wrapping around and pinning limbs. All tentacles act independently, and killing the octopod requires destruction of most of the creature’s mass.

It was also strong. Far more powerful than the one he had fought when approaching Wagga.

Jules instinctively took a step towards it, her club coming out. Electricity danced around her.

Adrian, even though he had been expecting it, responded. While he held off engaging battle wraith, internal haste kicked in slowing down the perceived movements of everyone else. His magic also answered. Triple blade was stored and ready to launch from the tip of his spear.

He studied the creature in front of him and could see the link stretching from it to Natalie’s ring. This was definitely Ollie but also it was the species he had sworn to wipe off the face of the earth. If it wasn’t bonded, it was a threat. It was massive, twice as big and eight times as heavy as the previous one. Agile, dangerous.

Natalie danced toward the monster.

Step.

He grabbed her and was unsurprised to feel Jules move into position next to him.

“It’s my pet.”

“It’s ok,” Emily called out. “Ollie won’t hurt anyone.”

Adrian looked at his beautiful wife, the monster, and the link between it and his daughter. The bigger cousin of the terrible creature that had scared him so long ago. Then back to his family. Emily’s eyes were imploring him to trust her.

He released Natalie.

Step.

Appearing next to Emily.

She rested her head on his shoulder and Natalie ran over to the animal that was about a hundred times her size. She squealed as the octopod used two tentacles to grab Natalie and throw her in the air before catching her and placing her on its back in a riding position. The boys dashed over laughing and got the same treatment. The octopod charged to the side, pretending to be bucking them off as they yelled in mock terror.

It was a new world, new rules, and he was home.

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