Chapter 22: Grace of the Light

Sehn frowned as the group took their first steps into the Jinkar forest. Between the uneven ground, massive trees that forced them to double back and sidetrack, and the constant assault by biting insects, Sehn was ready to turn around and go home.

Nero rode alongside him, his features beaming in delighted fascination as he looked at the sights around him. It was somewhat dark, if not dim. The massive trees blocked out quite a bit of the sun, making the forest darker, but also cooler. The lowered temperature was one of the few positive things about the place. Nero gasped as he looked around at many of the odd creatures that lived in the place.

They were only just entering the forest, and yet they could already make out two of the weirdest looking creatures Sehn had ever seen. The creatures somewhat resembled baboons, but they were also very large. They had yellow triangular faces, with multi-colored dots covering their entire bodies. Their hands were somewhat Human shaped, and they were each grabbing an end of a piece of fruit, fighting over which would be allowed to eat it.

Sehn laughed at a funny thought that came to him, and Princess Saerina whispered something into Cah’lia’s ears. Her features tightened in anger, and she gave Sehn an accusing look.

“Saerina just predicted what you were thinking, Sehn. I am not happy.”

Damn that woman. How does she always know what I’m thinking?

“You were just thinking that Cah’lia looks like one of those Babbaliths, weren’t you?” Saerina asked.

Sehn almost fell off his horse, laughing. “They’re called Babbaliths? Haha! That is the perfect name for Cah’lia. Nero, fetch me a Sehn-Seal. I shall sign a decree stating that from this day forward, Cah’lia is to be known only as Babbalith-Bitch.”

Rina was the first to come to Cah’lia’s defense, riding with Cah’lia until she learned how to mount and ride a horse of her own. Sehn began to feel worry when he saw the look on her face. Since they had rescued the girl, the deadness in her eyes had faded, and was slowly being replaced with childish wonder. Yet the look she held now was one of confidence, it was the first time Sehn had ever seen that in the usually meek girl. There was something else, too, something that frightened him. Rina had a look of amusement, and a very mischievous glint.

“Rina knows,” she said.

Sehn panicked. “Knows what? What are you talking about, Rina?”

“Master Sehn knows what Rina is talking about,” she giggled. “Rina knows.”

“And what is it you know, foolish girl?”

Sehn had an idea of what she’d say, but that didn’t make it any easier to listen to. “Rina knows that Sehn loves Cah’lia! Rina knows they smooched, and that -”

Sehn screamed at the girl. “Silence, fool! I do not like Cah’lia! I don’t know what lies she has told you, but we did not kiss. I was merely trying to pucker my lips to practice my whistling—after all, one day I will need to whistle to call my servants—when I accidentally tripped on a log and fell into her face!”

Cah’lia covered her face to hide her laughter, while Rina began to sing, loud enough so that everyone in the group of them could hear it. Sehn wanted to crawl into a ditch and die as her childish voice carried through the forest.

“Sehn loves Cah’lia! Sehn loves Cah’lia!”

Sehn didn’t know if he was hallucinating or not, but it seemed to him that even the animals were laughing. He whirled around his head and ignored them, followed by Nero’s similar gesture. He would not give them the dignity of a response. Sehn did not love, like, or even care for Cah’lia. It was true!

The sound of horse hoofs beating against the ground caused Sehn to turn. Daniel was riding toward them, sweating and panting. “I know you guys aren’t going to want to hear this,” he said. “But we’ve already got a problem. The wagon got stuck on some mud, and it’s going to take me an hour or two to get it out.”

Patrick and Saerith did not look pleased. “More wasted time!” Patrick called out. “Daniel, what good are you? Rillith, go help him. We might as well eat an early lunch. We’ve been in this forest not two hours, and we’re stuck already.”

Since Patrick had revealed he was a prince, he had been much more commanding with his men. Prince Saerith seemed to approve of his behavior, nodding in places and tilting his head in others. Sehn watched as a small circle formed around a dry patch of forest just a few feet from them, Cah’lia and Saerina setting up a makeshift camp.

Cah’lia roasted boar-meat over the fire, and brought plates and eating utensils over to where Sehn was sitting with Nero. She sat on the ground next to them, and met Sehn’s gaze.

Here we go again, Sehn thought.

“Look,” Sehn began. “I’m not hungry, Cah’lia, and nothing you can say will change that. I don’t want to start a fight today as well. As it is, you’re lucky I spared your life yesterday. Now, just take it easy and slowly put down the food, there’s no reason for anybody here to have to get Sehn’d.”

She didn’t respond. She only looked at him with an eerie, contemplative silence. Sehn didn’t like it, these evaluating looks she gave him. She didn’t even eat, she just held out the food, and remained motionless.

Why won’t she say something? Sehn wondered.

“Cah’lia, I said I don’t want any.”

She seemed to be ignoring him, keeping her arms extended with the plate of food, eyes penetrating his skull like a dagger. To call it awkward would be a vast understatement. Sehn pulled back his lower lip and gave her a threatening stare.

“Speak, Cah’lia! Why do you look at me and say nothing?”

Still she remained silent. It was beginning to unnerve Sehn, the quiet but fierce stare, the stillness of her posture. Finally, Sehn grabbed the plate from her hands and forced himself to devour it. It was difficult, and it made him feel nauseous.

She smiled. “Thank you, Sehn.”

Sehn ignored her, and rubbed his shoulder. The dull ache had become just a bit more painful, but he wondered why it wasn’t going away or getting better. Cah’lia watched him and seemed to hesitate, opening and closing her mouth like she wanted to speak. After a moment she did.

“Sehn, why are you rubbing your shoulder? Does it hurt?”

“Of course not. The Great Sehn feels no pain. My body is merely testing me, forcing me to prove I am worthy of walking in such Godly shoes. I am so great, that I might not even be worthy of being myself.”

“That sounds confusing,” Nero said, munching into his food.

“It’s supposed to be,” Sehn answered with confidence.

Cah’lia seemed disturbed by something, walking away without saying a word. Sehn looked over to Nero. The boy was holding his plate in the air and licking it like some kind of animal.

“This was pretty good,” he said, ears wobbling.

A gripping and almost overwhelming emotion swelled up in Sehn. He tried to force it down, but he was unable to control it. As he watched Nero eat and smile, a powerful torrent of emotion flooded into him. He didn’t know why he was feeling it now, he didn’t understand fully what he was feeling, but watching the little Elven boy smile and ask him questions about their journey, Sehn began to understand something.

The thought was as clear as the water in the grand fountains of central Elvar. Looking at Nero, Sehn came to terms with something from deep inside of him. If anyone, from any race, ever tried to harm, kill, or attack Nero, then Sehn would unleash upon them a downpour of hatred and violence so ruthless, that nothing of them would remain in this world.

Sehn shook his head, ashamed of the thought. Cah’lia was returning with the princess. The two sat down beside Sehn.

“I understand you are having some shoulder pain,” Saerina said. “Let me take a look.”

Sehn glared at Cah’lia. “What in the fuck is this, Cah’lia? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…did you just tell on me?”

“Hmph,” she said, turning around and raising her neck.

Saerina placed a warm hand on Sehn’s shoulder, far warmer than an Elven woman’s hand should’ve been. Sehn had to admit she was quite stunning. She didn’t even need any of the outrageously expensive clothing she wore. Her looks alone were enough to woo any man.

She ran her hand along Sehn’s right shoulder. It almost burned at the touch. “I’m afraid this is one of those things I won’t be able to do anything about, Cah’lia. It’s part of the process.”

Sehn wasn’t sure if he was mishearing, and with Cah’lia turned around he couldn’t see to be sure, but it sounded like she was sniffing, the sound of someone trying to cry without making much noise. Sehn sighed, unable to come to grips or understand the mysteries of women.

“Thank you for lunch,” Nero said. “My sister’s cooking is so good. Hey, Sehn, you haven’t made any fireballs lately. I wanna see one, do it!”

Saerina gave Nero a stern look. It wasn’t filled with anger, but it was the look of a person wishing to correct and educate. “Young Nero,” the beautiful Elven princess said. Nero turned around and blushed. Sehn knew he was still uncomfortable being in the presence of the princess herself.

“The Grace of the Light or, Magic, as the Humans call it, is not something to be used for entertainment. It is a force of light, to be used, protected, and cared for.”

Sehn laughed at the woman. “What a foolish thing to say, princess. Nero, ignore everything this woman just told you.” The glare she gave Sehn was not the educational sort she used with Nero, but one filled with great disappointment. Sehn didn’t care.

“Magic,” Sehn explained. “Is a tool to be used for personal gain and party tricks. Only an idiot would actually show respect to it.”

It wasn’t until Sehn felt the stinging in his face, that he realized the woman had actually slapped him. Him, the Great Sehn!

“I tolerate quite a bit from you, Sehn, because I know what lies within you, even if sometimes you don’t. However, if I ever hear you say such a terrible thing again, I will remove one of your arms.”

Sehn opened his mouth to shout at the young woman, but was interrupted. She raised a hand. “Silence!” it was the first time Sehn had ever heard her raise her voice in command.

“Do you think I am not serious? Look,” she said. She pointed to a tree in the distance. “Sellos RAHL”

Sehn and Nero gasped in unison as a giant tree was cleaved clean in two in the distance, falling over and smashing with a loud crash to the forest floor. Critters and forest animals that lived in the tree scampered out, some bloody, and one was cut clean in half, somehow walking with only its front two legs. Sehn was shocked. An entire tree cut in half in an instant, something that had stood for hundreds of years.

The lower half of the tree still remained standing, a humongous stump amidst the giants that only moments before it was a part of, now nothing more than an unexplained phenomenon in the middle of a forest. Sehn felt the bite of fear deep in his heart.

“I have just violated nature, an awful thing. I did it so that you may understand me, Sehn.”

“Th-th-th-that was nothing,” Sehn murmured. “I c-c-could do that in my sleep.”

Saerina laughed at him, and gave him a playful punch in the arm. Sehn flinched, a humiliating gesture. “I’ll take your response as understanding. It’s not your words that have ever bothered me, Sehn. If it were, then I’d have killed you the moment I met you. No, I care only for what lies in here.” She ran a smooth hand over his heart, and Sehn felt a heat building as the exotic Elf winked at him. “And I think I love what’s there.”

Nero didn’t seem to be observing the exchange, he was still watching with glee as the leaves and branches of the broken tree scattered everywhere. “Magic is so cool!” he shouted. He stood up from the ground, and smiled at Sehn and Saerina.

“Boy do I really wish I were like you two, especially Sehn! I wish I could hold out my hand like this,” Nero said demonstrating, extending his palm. “And yell Remmos Salas!”

There was a cry of surprise and pain as a ball of flame burst forth from Nero’s extended palm, zipping wildly through the air at a speed that rivaled Sehn’s. It shot through the dark forest, narrowly missing tree after tree, and even flying through a small crack in the bark of one. It emerged from the other end, and disappeared. Sehn had his mouth held open in shock, but Saerina only looked once again disappointed, only this time in herself. Sehn didn’t know what to say, or how to even begin forming words. He was saved from the need to speak by the sound of Daniel’s voice crying out in the night.

“Sehn!” The voice screamed in agony. “Again you did this to me! I’ll kill you Sehn! Ahhh! Put it out, put it out, I’m dying!”

Sehn didn’t know what to do, and from the looks of things neither did Cah’lia. Nero looked down at his burned, scorched palm, at his smoking fingers. The damage didn’t look bad, but it did look painful. His eyes began to tremble, his lips following in suit. Sehn knew at that moment, that Nero was going to do the thing he sometimes did. The thing Sehn didn’t know how to handle, the one that reminded him that even with his braveness Nero was still just a little boy.

Nero’s eyes widened as he watched the smoke leaving his hand. He wiggled his fingers, the worst thing he could have done. When Sehn had first learned the fireball spell, he remembered how painful the first spellcast was. Wiggling the scorched hand would only make it so much worse.

Nero’s eyes trembled, and his mouth wobbled just a little more. His eyes grew moist, and Sehn braced himself for the explosion, that thing that Nero sometimes did.

“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. CAH’LIA! IT HUURRTTS. MY HANDY HURTS! CAH’LIA! PWEASE HELP IT HURTS SO BAD.”

Sehn tried to cover his ears as the tears fell like a waterfall down the boy’s face. When he got like this, it could go on for hours, and hours. The first time Sehn had ever seen Nero react like this, was when he and Sehn had been climbing one of the older trees in Elvar, and Nero had gotten a painful splinter. Cah’lia almost murdered him, until Nero told her it was his own stupid fault.

Cah’lia rushed to her brother’s side, and gripped him in a tight hug. “It’s okay, it’s okay, shh, it’s okay, Nero. Let me see it, let me see it.”

“NO!” he cried. Sehn wondered how there was even enough water in his tiny body to fit all those tears. “YOU’RE GOING TO USE THE BURNING STUFF. WAHHHHHHHHH. I WANNA GO HOME. DON’T GO, SEHN!”

Sehn tried to sneak away, but Cah’lia gave him an evil look that promised great pain if he attempted to flee. Sehn was going to have to sit through this. Patrick, Rillith, and Prince Saerith came rushing to their side.

“Sehn!” Patrick roared at him. “This time you really have gone too far. Again, you have assaulted one of my men, and again you have set him on fire.”

Sehn growled. “It wasn’t me, Patrick. How dare you make such accusations?”

This time Patrick did not back down, growling right back at Sehn. “Oh, so now I am supposed to believe that a random fireball just slammed into Daniel from out of nowhere?”

Saerina stood, and Patrick gave her a questioning look. “It was the boy. Nero,” she said. “I was here for the entire ordeal. If you must blame someone, good Prince Patrick, please blame me. I should have instructed the boy in magic from the moment I laid eyes on him. I chose instead to put it off and deal with more pressing matters.”

Sehn watched as Patrick immediately reverted to his diplomatic mannerisms, going in an instant from furious to calm. “I see, my lovely princes Saerina. Allow me to offer my apologies for my unsightly behavior.”

“All is well,” she assured him.

Cah’lia was holding Nero in a grip that looked to be more painful than the burn marks. Sehn struggled not to laugh, and failed. Cah’lia turned her head and snarled at him. “Find something funny, Sehn?” she snapped.

“I am just thinking about what Daniel must be feeling right now.”

Cah’lia twitched, and Sehn knew she too was trying to hold back the laughter. If Nero was hurting that badly from a little scorch, Daniel was probably once again in unbearable agony. It was the second time during their journey he’d been fireballed.