CHAPTER 12
There were many preparations that needed to be made. Richard looked down at his watch. It was 0300. He picked up his iPhone and texted his brother-in-laws a simple message: CAMP NOW. He then hesitated before sending a text to Rourk: CAMP NOW, BRING YOUR FATHER.
Groggy from sleep, Rourk heard his phone go off. He flipped it open and saw the text, and was instantly awake. He threw on the clothes he wore the day before, unworried whether they were clean or not. Fully alert, he walked to his father’s room and didn’t bother to knock. “Richard needs us,” he called into the dark.
His father bolted out of bed. With haste, he got ready, and the two men left to make the drive to camp. They arrived just as the other men did.
Richard looked at Rourk, and told him, “You’ve been relieved of your duty.”
Rourk’s face did not change. His mind raced. Did he find out I killed that guy? He could think of nothing else he’d done that would cause his dismissal. He felt a dull ache in his heart at the thought of not seeing Keegan again.
“Thaddeus has had a vision,” Richard said. All eyes turned to Thaddeus where he sat with his hands clasped in his lap and his face serene.
“I have seen the place and date of the Great Battle,” Thaddeus said, his voice strong and sure. The men all looked slightly surprised, glancing around at each other in shock, and eager to learn more. “We have five months to prepare. September twelfth during the harvest moon, our battle will be raging.”
They all had questions, but knew it was pointless to ask.
Richard stepped forward, commanding the room. “This obviously gives us the upper hand. We must prepare our men. With this knowledge, I feel we will prevail.”
Drew, smiling, replied, “Save your pep talks for the soldiers.”
Richard grinned, “You’re right, force of habit.”
They all relaxed and sat down as equals to discuss the preparations. They were all powerful men, but the one who held the most power was the youngest—Thaddeus. Rourk was glad he was on their side.
Rourk was relieved to know Richard wasn’t angry with him and he was honored to be among the small group making preparations for the battle. Rourk also knew he had to push Keegan out of his thoughts for now. He needed to be 100% focused on what lay ahead. Of course, keeping Keegan off his mind was going to be extremely difficult. She’d been thinking about him almost constantly since the concert. Rourk knew if they didn’t win this battle he would never have the pleasure of getting to know her.
They had to win.
***
Keegan woke up knowing she’d had no dreams the night before. Usually she looked forward to it, but she didn’t want to go to school. Everyone paled in comparison to Rourk. She had to figure out a way to find him. He obviously didn’t live too far away if he was at the concert. She was still puzzled by the fact that he was there. Her mother would say that it was fate. Keegan thought it was a bit too much of a coincidence.
Keegan and her mother were still not talking after the jean incident. They both were so stubborn that sometimes they would stay angry for days. Keegan was anxious to tell her about Rourk. She came down the stairs to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper over a mug of tea.
“Mom, I’m sorry.” She really didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but she knew it was the quickest way to get back in her good graces.
Her mother was silent a moment. “Perhaps I overreacted. I just don’t want you to take things for granted.”
Keegan smiled and gave her a hug, then slid into the seat next to her. “You won’t believe what happened at the concert.”
“What happened?” Looking at her daughter, Emerald felt a rush of warmth mixed with relief. Of course, Katrina had already filled her in on what happened. She was just grateful that her daughter was unharmed. Katrina did not believe the boy was Rourk so when Keegan got to that part of the story, Emerald was surprised to hear her describe Rourk in detail.
“Mother, I know it was him, it had to be.”
Her mom looked thoughtful and answered slowly. “I hope it was him. Then you’ll have a wonderful story to tell your children at bedtime.”
Emerald dropped Keegan off at school and then called her husband. Richard was sitting over some paperwork at his desk with an intense headache when heard his phone ring. He was surprised to see it was his wife. She never called.
“Will you be coming home for lunch?”
He sighed, “You know I would love to, but I am very busy today.”
In a calm tone she said, “I think it would be a good idea if you made time to see me. If you would like I can come to your camp or we can meet somewhere.”
He knew he was in trouble. His wife had the quickest temper of anyone he had ever met, so he knew to be worried when she was eerily calm. “On second thought, of course I have time to come home and have lunch with my beautiful wife. I will be there before noon.”
She hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
Richard didn’t have time to dissect what his wife was angry about. He would deal with it when he got there. He knew he would never understand the way her mind worked. She had always been a mystery to him. He thought of a quote from one of his favorite books: Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. ~Francisco d’Anconia.
Smiling Richard thought, Francisco, you have not met my wife.
***
At school, Keegan could not stop thinking of Rourk. Usually she was loud and bubbly. Today, she didn’t even have the patience for Donald and his crew. They seemed so childish. She knew Rourk would never act like them. They were running around the halls, trying to catch and attack one another. Normally, she would join them, but now it just seemed lame. She felt like yelling at them to grow up.
Keegan sent a text to her mom that said: Can I come home early?
Of course her mom wanted to know why. How could she explain she just suddenly felt like she didn’t belong there anymore?
I have a headache, Keegan wrote.
The quick response: Motrin. Ugh!
Please mom, I just don’t want to be here. Everyone’s getting on my nerves, they seem so childish.
There was a long break before Keegan received a response: No, I will pick you up at the normal time.
***
Emerald slammed her phone on the counter. What was Richard thinking? She decided to go to the gym. She needed to burn off some of her frustration. It was going to be hard enough to control herself when she talked to her husband. He once told her if he could change one thing about her it would be her temper. She tried to control it, but it didn’t always work. She had her father to thank for passing down the trait.
Emerald met up with Richard when he arrived home and shared her frustrations with him.
“Believe it or not I also went through hell during the three months after we met,” he said. “Thankfully, I threw myself into my job. My friends thought I had gone crazy. I no longer chased women and didn’t want to drink or go out.” Richard frowned, “I’m sorry I didn’t think that far ahead. I was selfish. My only concern was keeping our daughter safe and I knew Rourk would protect her with his life.”
Emerald knew there were things her husband was unable to tell her. “So what do you think we should do?” he asked.
Taking a deep breath she said, “I think we should allow them to be together.”
This was not what he expected her to say. “Are you sure that is a good idea?”
“I think it is our only option. I will not allow our daughter to be miserable because you made a mistake in judgment.” There was the sharp tongue he’d been expecting. She always knew just what to say to get under his skin.
“Let’s compromise,” he said. “We will allow them to meet on her seventeenth birthday.”
She looked at him suspiciously. “That is five months away.” He closed his eyes, thinking. The only thing he could do was tell her the truth. “Rourk is going to be busy until then. The great battle is going to take place on Keegan’s birthday.”
Emerald walked towards the couch and sat down. “So soon? I thought we would have more time.”
He could sense her mind quickly going over scenarios. She had a sharp mind which was one of the things he found most appealing about her. She was just as dangerous as the most experienced soldiers. He wished he could take credit for that, but it was her father. He never got the son he wanted so the next best thing was his tomboy of a daughter. She had all the training that Thaddeus had and then some. Emerald’s father was fearless. He was the worst kind of solider. When you have no fear, you don’t use the most valuable weapon, which of course is the mind. As a result, he was killed in battle.
“Do you remember the first time we sparred?” Richard asked fondly.
She smiled, “Of course, you underestimated me.”
He laughed, “You looked so innocent and tiny. I never respected anyone more and I still feel that way. Whatever you think is the correct thing to do, we’ll do it.”
He knew he had said the right thing when he saw her shoulders relax.
“What does a man have to do to get fed around here?” he said. “I don’t have much time left.”
***
Once Richard was gone, Emerald sat down to think. She knew he was correct. She smiled. He was usually right, but she didn’t like to let him know. She also knew he only had Keegan’s best interest at heart and she shouldn’t be angry at him for that. They would wait until after the battle. Rourk would have too much on his mind and throwing Keegan into the mix would almost be cruel. She was going to have to work hard to keep Keegan occupied in the meantime.
Emerald picked Keegan up from school that day, giving her a big smile as she climbed in the car. She couldn’t help but think how beautiful her daughter was, even in her school uniform. “So I was thinking. You know how your birthday is in five months?”
Keegan tucked her backpack on the floorboard between her legs and turned wide eyes to her mother. She loved her birthday, almost as much as she loved the presents.
“We promised you when you turned 17 that we would get you a vehicle.” Emerald saw the spark come back to Keegan’s eyes.
“I know exactly what I want, a navy blue four door Jeep. Of course, it will have to be lifted and have big tires. Dad said I could only get a two door jeep, but do you think you can convince him a four door would be better?”
Emerald smiled, “Well, they are safer.” Keegan started bouncing up and down like she was five again. Her daughter could drive her crazy at times, but she loved her more than life itself. “Would you like to test drive some?”
Keegan looked over in disbelief. “Seriously?”
They spend the rest of the day driving from one dealership to the next looking at Jeeps and then headed for home. Emerald knew Richard would not be home for dinner. He would probably miss many meals over the next few months. She worried about Thaddeus because of his age. She had to let that go. He was born for the great battle.
Emerald called her sisters and asked if they wanted to come over for dinner. They gladly accepted. She wondered if they knew what was going on. Having them there would also help keep Keegan’s mind off things. Distraction was the game plan.
Keara walked through the door first. She was clad in long flowing pink skirt with flowers and a fitted long sleeve t-shirt that looked great on her tall frame. Her hair was wild and standing up all over the place.
“Nice fro, Keara,” Keegan said. She patted the top of her wiry dark hair; it went down like a sponge.
Keara did a little dance and bopped her hair around and snapped her fingers. She looked like someone from the seventies.
“I love your hair Keara. If I had your hair I’d be wearing it wild all the time, it looks awesome.” Keegan said.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s easy for you to say. It takes hours to get it relaxed or braided. I’d trade with you in a second. Mom won’t let me wear it like this very often.”
“Brigid, you need to let Keara wear her hair like this, it’s incredible. I’m so jealous.”
“Sure, Keegan as long as you come over and deal with it, she can wear it any way she wants.”
Keara sighed and slumped down on to the couch.
“So what’s been going on with you? How’s school? You like any boys?” Keegan asked her as she sat down next to her on the cushions.
“School sucks, nothing has been going on with me, and you know I don’t like boys. I’m going to be a nun.”
“Wait until you meet your chosen; your thoughts of becoming a nun will be out the window.”
Keara turned her eyes to her cousin, sadness filling them. “Keegan, we don’t even know if I’ll have a chosen. I’m not full blooded like you guys.”
“You’ll have a chosen, you’re too awesome not to.”
Keegan had never really thought of that issue. She knew it was hard for Keara being different from them, but she never really thought of the consequences that came with her being half elf.
“Let’s go play with the rest of the kids,” Keegan said. “I think we should take them outside and you can start a rainstorm. That way we can play in the puddles.”
Keara smiled wickedly as they headed out the door.
Emerald and her sisters stayed in the living room chatting away.
Kat broke the ice on what they were all thinking about. “It’s hard to believe that The Great Battle is going to take place in our lifetime, and we are all so deeply involved. Life as we know it could all be over soon. Do you think we will be able to win?”
Brigid looked away. “John says the numbers are against us.” They all lapsed into silence. Everyone knew John would be able to calculate the probability.
Emerald leaned back in her chair. “Fate has been set in motion. We need to wait and see.”
Katrina looked annoyed. “How can you just sit back all relaxed and say fate will decide? Your husband is the leader of the light.”
This was the wrong thing to say. Glaring at her sister, Emerald said, “You are one to talk, both of you. Neither of you could protect yourself if needed. If anyone is sitting back and letting things take its course, it’s you.”
Her comment struck a nerve. They had both been envious of the time their father spent training her. Although, at the time, neither of them had any interest.
Katrina knew enough to diffuse the situation. “You have a valid point.”
Emerald had tried several times to get Katrina interested. Katrina would humor her for a little while. She’d seemed to enjoy Krav Maga. However, she lost interest after a short time and stopped going.
Emerald had an idea. “What do you say you guys start coming over in the evenings, and we will train together? Keegan has been training, and now that Thaddeus is busy, she lost her training partner.”
Brigid and Katrina glanced at each other. Finally, Brigid shrugged her shoulder, “Sure why not? We have nothing better to do.”
Keegan came into the room with Warrick and Mackenna clinging to her legs and giggling. Katrina said, “You’ve got three new training partners.”
Keegan stared at them, “What are you talking about?”
“Your mother pointed out the fact that we don’t have the ability to protect ourselves. We decided we would join in on your training sessions,” Brigid said with a grin. “Aren’t you lucky?”
Keegan smiled. “That sounds like fun.”