Kagon's eyes crack open, the whole world looks blurry and disoriented. When he attempts to sit up a sharp pain pierces through his head and he lets out a loud groan.
"Kagon?" A voice asks worriedly from beside him.
His scribe.
"Aye, lass." Kagon says, then at last his gaze comes into focus and he remembers that he should not be in the living room on a plush couch, but in the cave, on a hard stone floor.
"What happened?" Kagon asks quickly, sitting the rest of the way up though pain throbs in his head like the beat of a harsh drum.
Delia bites her lip for a moment before talking, nervousness lacing her voice. "Well, when we were fighting the creature in the cave it...." She hesitates, "....it knocked you out."
Kagon's jaw drops. Knocked me out?! I was bested?!
The writer continues. "I protected you the best I could with my lack of training, but there was no way the creature would let me leave. They just kept taunting me. Thankfully Kipdale was able to make them retreat and we carried you back here." She finishes.
"Kipdale?"
Delia nods. "The boy that melted us from our icen prisons back in Pik. He also was with me for awhile at the refugee camp." Delia says.
Kagon raises an eyebrow. "Him? How did he find us?"
Delia shrugs. "I don't know, but it is a good thing that he did."
"I suppose." Kagon relents.
"Ah, so I see you're awake." Azzbell says, sauntering into the room. She looks Kagon up and down for a moment. "And taking your failure surprisingly well." She adds with a smirk.
Her words aren't really true. Inside Kagon is reeling. He hasn't been defeated in such a long time and it is almost too much for him to wrap his head around. It takes him back to the day when he wasn't able to protect his family.
"I can't believe it." Kagon mutters aloud.
Hearing this, Azzbell jumps at the opportunity to state her opinion. "I can't either, but it is not like you are perfect. Besides, you probably wouldn't of failed if you would of just listened to Delia."
Delia's face reddens, then she says tentatively. "It's true, we should of researched more. We needed more information about the creature."
Kagon feels angry as he lays his head back down. Maybe I should of listened to the lass after all. As I first noticed when I allowed her to journey with me --she is clever.
"Both of you, leave me. I have some things to think about."
"Of course." Azzbell says, looping her arm through Delia's and nearly dragging the girl out of the room.
The door shuts with a thump, leaving the hero to his thoughts.
〰〰〰
"Will Kagon be okay? He was acting strange." Delia asks as Azzbell pulls her down the hallway and away from the living room.
"Don't be such a worried house-wife." Azzbell jests with a chortle. "He'll be fine. The only thing that was really wounded was his pride."
Delia laughs. "You're probably right, but then again he's been acting a bit different ever since we met up again."
"How?"
Delia ponders this. "I don't know, less confident maybe? Or perhaps he was humbled by his experience in Afflon with the elves."
"He could surely use some humbling! But I see that you're right, he is different from when I saw him all those years ago as well. It's probably for the better." Azzbell waves it off. "Now come, let us go check on your rescuer. He's a very curious person and I have many questions to be answered."
"I don't think he'll like all of the attention." Delia warns.
Azzbell rolls her pretty eyes. "A little bit of attention won't hurt him."
Delia isn't so sure about that.
Once they reach the door to the dining room, Azzbell shoves it open, pulling Delia inside with her.
Kipdale sits at the dining table, eating some kind of cheese to sate his hunger until dinner. Delia is surprised to see that he doesn't eat with as much veracity as she saw him do when she last met up with him.
Perhaps he's learned to feed himself from the land since I've left?
Azzbell doesn't hesitate to flounce across the room and take a seat beside the boy, startling him half to death. Delia shrugs her shoulders before joining the two. If Kipdale becomes overwhelmed by Azzbell's questions she'll be the one to calm him.
"Delia told me that you've saved her and Kagon once before, back in Pik. She also told me that you followed them even after Kagon chased you away. Did you follow Delia after she thought the two of you were separated?" Azzbell asks in a surprisingly tranquil tone.
Kipdale struggles to find his words, but when he does he replies in a croaky voice. "Y-yes. I travelled a day behind her. When she reached..." He trails off on the word, skipping over it. "I waited until she began travelling again and continued following her. When her and that man entered this village I was able to catch up to them. I got to the cave just in time to hear her yelling."
Delia's eyes widen. It is the longest thing she has ever heard him say.
"Thank you for that, Kipdale. Without you Kagon and I wouldn't still be here."
Kipdale reddens and looks down at his plate of cheese.
"Interesting." Azzbell drawls, leaning back in her chair.
Delia can tell that Kipdale's questioning is hardly over.
"And why did you follow her in the first place?"
Kipdale reddens further and flounders to find what he wants to say. So, instead he simply shrugs, falling back into his usual silence.
Azzbell doesn't pry any further, she only watches him with an observing gaze. After a few moments she speaks. "I think that my father needs to see your eyes." She states abruptly.
"No, no, no." Delia intervenes. "It was uncomfortable for me when he read me like that, I doubt Kipdale wants to go through the same experience."
"Well," she says stubbornly, "let's ask him." The woman turns to Kipdale. "Do you mind being read by my father? I assure you it is not painful."
Kipdale shrugs his shoulders.
"I'll take that as a yes!" Azzbell exclaims with a big grin.
At that she hauls Kipdale out of his seat, leading him to Deon's office, leaving Delia alone in the dining room. Sighing, Delia sprints after them. Not before taking a slice of cheese from the plate first, of course.
By the time Delia has eaten the cheese slice she catches up to them at the door of Deon's office. Azzbell doesn't bother to knock, she just bursts in, towing poor Kipdale along as if she were pulling on the leash of a puppy.
"Yes, daughter?" Deon asks from a fancy chair as he finishes signing a sheet of paper.
"Toss away your politics, father, so you can get down to business. This curious boy needs his eyes read promptly!" Azzbell says dramatically, a smirk playing on her full lips.
Deon chuckles and shakes his head. "Alright, alright. Come closer boy, so I can see your eyes properly."
Kipdale hesitates, but Azzbell pushes him forward so his legs brush against Deon's wooden desk.
Deon smiles reassuringly at the boy and leans forward, studying his eyes carefully.
Delia feels uncomfortable and she's not even the one being looked at.
Deon's eyes suddenly gloss over and at last he speaks. "Kipdale, you are going to die."
Silence envelops the room and then, Azzbell laughs.
"Of course he's going to die! Aren't we all?" She jests. "Father, don't scare the boy so much! You read people, not their futures."
Deon shakes his head from the trance and averts his eyes. "Please, everyone, leave my office at once."
Azzbell shrugs, looping an arm through Delia's and her other through Kipdale's.
"Wait." Deon says. "Not the lad, I need to have a conversation with him."
"Good luck!" Azzbell chortles, un-attaching herself from the boy. "He doesn't talk very much."
As Azzbell drags her away Delia can't help but throw a concerned glance over her shoulder. When Kipdale's amber eyes meet her own stormy eyes, she doesn't need Deon to read the unmistakable emotion present within them. Fear.