Sons of Ironstorm - Book 2: Griffon's Call

Chapter 26: Return to Aquila

"I couldn't say whether I was relieved or dismayed

To learn that the Wielder of the Star had been amongst us since the beginning.

I was ashamed of how we welcomed a human for the first time in centuries.

Yet, I was proud that he was raised as an elf, with our values and beliefs.

For only the greatest warriors could prevail against the return of the demons.

And only the greatest of those could be Wielders of Weapons of Power."

- from Ciradaan Aeinwaje's personal journal

<<We need to move, Shawn,>> Feladorn grimly suggested as he stepped to his long time friend's side, wiping his own weapon clean with a torn piece of cloth before sheathing it, throwing the bloodied rag to the ground. All around them the Redeemed worked smoothly and quickly to gather the wounded and dispatch any tjor'riin that managed to avoid death the first time around.

<<We're exposed and vulnerable here; if the Ka'thesck were to take another shot at us here in the open, we'd take a pounding.>>

The powerful human quickly nodded in acknowledgment as he wiped his hands with another rag torn from the tunic of a fallen tjor'riin soldier.

<<As soon as the worst of the wounded are healed enough to travel, I'll open a portal to Aerlorn and get us out of here,>> he indicated with a gesture at a handful of writhing and groaning wounded that still awaited his attention. Thankfully the sa'anish runes he was using for healing required little actual life force and worked easily to completely heal even the greatest of injuries.

That in itself was good; with each passing moment Shawn could feel the attention of the Shadow swinging closer and closer to this battlefield, and to the Weapon of Power on his back. Both were mute testimony to the wisdom of Feladorn's suggestion. They would indeed take a pounding if the Shadow's forces were to bring their full might to bear on them here, out in the open.  

So he went as quickly as he dared with what knowledge and power he had, to heal those they could then to quit this place as swiftly as was mortally possible.

<<Right; I'll grab Thom and Banik and get to piling some of the dead so we can light the pyre before we jump,>> Feladorn said with a resolute nod, all business now that he had been returned to something a bit more familiar to most elves: a battlefield.

<<Good idea,>> Shawn replied with a nod of his own and Feladorn strode off to go find their two friends, leaving the thoughtful human contemplating the nearest of the fallen elves.

It was as he had begun to work on healing the fallen that Shawn had noticed amongst the wounded were elves still wearing Ka'thesck colors. Yet the wounds they carried for the most part were those made by tjor'riin weapons. Why had the Redeemed recovered these for healing? Had they somehow identified kindred spirits created by another wave of conversation by the Star's awakening? If so, the Star's return had reached even further than he could've imagined!

<<Father, I've a question for you.>> The young human healed the last of those brought to him and stood. His eyes found his father some paces away, kneeling beside one of his own company as he quickly and expertly wound a bandage on the elf's head wound.

<<I hope I have an answer, Shawn.>> KeLarion said in reply, nodding in reply to the elf he had bandaged as his comrade thanked the veteran warrior for his efforts. He then stood and looked over at his adopted son. <<I see by your expression your mind worries a puzzle, my boy. What is it?>>