The Worlds of the Sheaf

Escape - Part 5

     Their celebrityhood in Belthar lasted almost a month and Thomas and Lirenna made the most of it, enjoying the balls and banquets. The parades and the trips to the outlying regions of the huge kingdom. All of them places of outstanding natural beauty.

     The only part of their tour that caused them some unease was their visit to Fort Bow and the northern border forts. The defensive line that had been built just after the end of the war to keep out the undead hordes of Darkthorne. The last of the Circle of Raks and the inheritor of what was left of the Shadowarmy. The border was quiet, though, and there was no hint of any trouble during their stay there.

     Eventually, though, they became old news and interest in them faded. The soldiers were given an extended leave of absence and Matthew made ready to go home. He invited Thomas and Lirenna to come with him, and they agreed immediately, eager for the chance to spend some time with their friend and get to know his family.

     Heather was the daughter of a family that owned and lived on a farm to the south of the country, close to the westernmost fringes of the Darkenmoors. Matthew had told each family about the other and their meeting, so long anticipated, was every bit as jubilant as they'd known it would be. Heather’s family were solid, down to earth people that Thomas and Lirenna took to immediately, and Matthew's family were entranced by Lirenna's more than human beauty. A beauty that overawed them almost as much as the fact that she was a wizard.

     Matthew, Heather and their children had a building to themselves adjoining the main farm buildings, and Thomas and Lirenna were given the spare room in the attic; luxurious compared to Thomas's cabin aboard the Jules Verne. They spent the evenings in the larger building beside it, though, where they enjoyed long conversations with Heather's father and brothers. Big, burly men who'd been soldiers themselves during the Fourth Shadowwar before returning to the agricultural life with the return of peace.

     "I actually saw the Sceptre of Samnos once," one of them, Hamos, the eldest brother, told them during the first evening after their arrival. "I was at the third battle of Fort Dirk and Resalintas himself led the charge. I only saw him from a distance, of course. Just a tiny speck half a mile away. But when he activated the Sceptre we all felt it, like fire in our blood! It made us feel like giants, like nothing in the world could stand against us! Our swords shone like liquid fire and the Shads fled at the sight of us, while up ahead the Sceptre was shining like the sun, so bright no-one could look at it. The Sceptre itself! They say it can only be used once every hundred years, and I was there! I saw it, with my very own eyes!"

     Thomas and Lirenna listened attentively as he continued speaking, and now and again they glanced towards Matthew, who clearly hadn't told him about his own involvement with the Sceptre, or that of the wizards. On the contrary, a troop of actors had passed this way a few months earlier, putting on a performance of 'The Sceptre of Samnos', and the version of events depicted in the play was now accepted gospel, even among people who should have known better. When their eyes met, Thomas took the opportunity to nod gratefully, and the soldier grinned in return. Matthew clearly shared their desire for a quiet life, and Thomas took a moment to wonder what the King would have done had he known more about Matthew's past.

     Hamos was married with a teenage son who was speaking of joining the army, fired up by the tales of action and adventure he'd heard from his father and uncles. "Makes me worry about my own boys," Matthew admitted to the wizards one quiet evening after they'd returned to his own home and were sitting in front of a crackling fire. "I try not to talk about the war in front of them, except to tell them how terrible it is, but they're surrounded by old war heroes on all sides. What do I tell them? That it's okay for me to run off and have adventures and become a hero but not them? I wouldn't mind if it really was over, but there's still Darkthorne to the north, gathering his forces and plotting to start the whole thing all over again. What if my boys join up just in time for the outbreak of the Fifth Shadowwar? What if..." He leaned forward in his chair, staring into the fire and looking thoroughly miserable.