Tuesday Excerpt, "Repercussions"

She looked up and saw him bobbing just off the ground with a red glow surrounding him. “Falconfeather is a most incredible sword,” she said. “She was just telling me about your uncle and the special bond you two have. He sounds like someone I would like.”

Linvin disrobed and cast a layer of red magic around his bandages to keep them dry. Then he immersed himself in the water and began the painstaking job of washing the Trogoandras blood off him. “Anvar would have liked you as well. It is unfortunate that I do not think you will ever meet.”

Corilon stood and began pacing with Falconfeather in her hand. Every time she looked like she was going to speak, she would stop herself. Finally, her frustration overcame her and she spoke plainly. “So let me see if I have this right. Mandrean has your uncle. If you don’t go, he will kill him. It is so late in the year he might have already killed him. So you feel your duty is to sacrifice yourself when you know Mandrean will certainly kill you both. Am I correct in all these statements?”

Linvin hovered out of the water and over to his clothes. “I believe now is the part where you tell me there is no point in going at all. But if you know all of that, then you know I cannot forsake Anvar even if there is the most remote chance that I can save him.”

Corilon placed her hands on her hips and stated angrily, “You forgot the part where I remind you that Mandrean doesn’t want Anvar. He wants you. Going there is exactly what he desires. You will not survive. Falconfeather is the most prideful, arrogant entity I have ever known and even she expects you to die. So why, why must you go?”

Linvin had just pulled on his trousers and addressed her harshly. “Because I am his only chance. I love you, but you are not in danger. I love him and he is in danger. For that reason, I must go. He would not be in this danger if not for me. That is another reason. Did Falconfeather forget to tell you I have a knack of making impossible situations work?”

“So you have a plan?’ Corilon asked.

“I have nothing set as of yet, but I assure you I do not intend to go quietly into their trap. I am going in with the mindset that I will bring both Anvar and myself home alive. Then I could take you home with me to Sartan. You would not want for anything.”

“And my family? What would happen to them?”

Linvin finished dressing. He shrunk the staff and stuck it to his back. Then he recalled Falconfeather and put her to sleep in her scabbard. “I will buy them whatever farm they want in Sartan. They can live in safety and prosperity for generations.” He hovered over and picked up his wife, kissing her. At first she kissed back and then began pounding him in the chest with the bottom parts of her fists.

“No, no, no. You’re living in a dreamland. If you leave now, I will never see you again. I know it. You said only moments ago that you didn’t think Anvar and I would ever meet. That means you believe it as well.” Then she turned away for a moment and hid her tears. Her voice became resolute. “I could stop you from going, you know.”