Rise

Chapter 10

10

The shed was basic but well cared for. The floor was made of broad planks sanded smooth and unvarnished. There were two small windows on the far walls of the space; both looked out to the forest beyond. As Royal had said, there was a stove. It sat in the corner between the windows, round, black and empty, a single rocking chair sat before it. Near the door, opposite the stove, was an average sized single bed. The sight of the utterly ordinary piece of furniture filled me with calm. The grizzled looking man with grey-tinged wings laying on it did not.

“Hi.” I’m so eloquent.

“Hello.” Birds of a feather.

“Can we talk?”

“Yep.”

“About earlier?”

“Yep.”

This was going well.

I shut the door and then dragged the rocking chair over to the bed and sat down. My wings were not happy. I fussed for several minutes as the weight of my wings knocked the rocking chair into overdrive. Eventually, I settled on wings straight up in the air as the best way to stabilise myself in the chair. When I finally looked at Royal, he was sitting up and smiling, okay, laughing at me.

“Damn girl, sometimes I forget how young you are.”

“I’m not that young.”

“How old are you?” he asked.

“I thought Travellers don’t do age.” I smiled back.

“Indulge me.”

“Well, I’m thirty, almost thirty-one.” Now he outright laughed. “That’s not young!” I pouted.

“You’re a baby!”

“How old are you?”

“Well, let me do the math,” he thought for a moment, “in your old world, I’d be about seven hundred and fifty-six.”

“Whaaa?”

“Yeah, I think I showed up around the middle ages. Does that sound right?”

“I didn’t study history.”

“History. Funny stuff.”

We lapsed into silence for a few moments.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“I know you are.”

“You do?”

“You don’t puke like that if you aren’t.” He smiled sadly.

“Yeah.”

“You still got some on your face.”

“Crap.” I reached up and pawed at the leftover vomit.

“Not much, don’t worry about.”

“I’ll clean up when I change clothes.”

“Oh, not feeling the metallic are we?” He chuckled.

“No.”

“Listen, honey,” he swung his legs out of bed and took my hands in his. “What happened today was awful. And you should remember it forever, but not to punish yourself, to learn. You’re not a god.”

“Or a queen,” I said quietly.

“Or a queen.” He rubbed at my cheek.

“Royal?”

“Yes, honey?”

“I’m sorry I made you kill Karn.” He stopped pawing at my face.

“Is that what you’re upset about?” I nodded as a tear rolled down my cheek. “Don’t be. It had to be done. He wasn’t long for this earth, and he was terrified. It was the humane thing to do. He was also the enemy.” Royal grunted, “we showed more mercy than they would have.”

“I guess.”

“Don’t guess. Know.”

“Right.” I looked at him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He c****d his head like a bird, his eyes looking into the distance. “Someone’s at the gate.”