The Errant Apprentice Book 2 Chapter 13
Distance
Distance
The cave before Gella was extremely dark and she didn’t fancy going inside. It also wasn’t very big. Just tall enough for her to walk into. Again, a thought that didn’t excite her. There were only a few creatures that could fit in that entrance and would be stealing crops from the farmers of Kamerant. Goblins or kobalds.
She gripped the handle of her sword tightly. Terry’s training came back to her though and she relaxed her grip. A tight grip meant sweaty palms, which meant you could drop your sword.
“All right!” she yelled into the cave. “I don’t know who’s in there, but you better come out. I don’t want to have to come in there after you!”
She hoped that last bit sounded like a threat and not a sincere statement of fact. Terry was somewhere behind her watching. He’d been training her these last three weeks as they traveled, and Gella had insisted on handling this town’s troubles. Now that she was here though, she was terrified.
Eyes glowed in the darkness. Yellow, with green pupils. Four sets of them staring at her from absolute darkness.
“Come on out!” she yelled.
Four goblins emerged, each armed with a spear and an unreadable expression. They looked dirty and desperate. She gave her sword a spinning flourish as a warning and took one step forward. The goblins began spreading out to surround her.
“Hold it!” Terry shouted and calmly walked between them all. Gella lowered her sword and the goblins stared at him.
“What?! What did I do?!” She didn’t think she’d made a mistake.
“Nothing,” Terry said as he dropped to a knee in front of one of the goblins. This one had a carved wooden headband on. “This is just something I have experience with,” Terry said and turned back to the goblin.
“Are you the Blame King?” He asked.
The goblin, who had pointed his spear at Terry’s chest, dropped the point now and stared at him.
“You know about our people?”
“Yep!” Terry said. Gella walked around and saw he was grinning. The goblin gave Gella a look before directing his stare at Terry again.
“I’m King Meldon,” the little goblin said. “You can call me King Mel.”
Gella managed to get her sword swung to its proper place on her back. It would be a while before she grew big enough to keep it at her side. She walked up next to Terry and her lack of a sword seemed to calm the other three goblins.
“Well, King Mel,” Terry said, “I’m guessing you guys are going through rough times?”
The goblin nodded.
“Well, what I’m going to do is give you some gold. I want you to head into town, offer restitution for what you’ve taken, and ask if you can trade services for food.”
Gella stared at Terry, but not nearly as incredulously as the little monarch did.
“You seriously think they won’t kill us on sight if we show up in town with gold?”
This King Mel had a point.
“They won’t if we come with you,” Terry replied. “Now, leave your spears here and we’ll head there now. I promise that nothing will happen to you.”
The goblins, for some reason, did exactly as Terry asked. They formed into a small group around Terry and Gella as they began walking back to town. Master Carmichael shook his head from the treeline and followed.
“Terry?” Gella asked quietly, “Why are we helping goblins?”
“Because they need help,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You’ll find that nine times out of ten they’re acting in desperation.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve probably worked with more goblins than humans in my life.”
Gella looked up at him and didn’t know what to think about that. “They’re not all bad?” she asked.
“Gella, the sword is the least thing I hope I can teach you while you’re with me. If you want to be a hero, you help people. People doesn’t just mean humans, either. It means anyone. Dwarves, goblins, orcs, gnomes. It doesn’t matter who they are. As long as it leaves people better than you found them, then its the right thing to do.”
Gella nodded. She didn’t think she’d ever heard anyone talk like that before. She’d always been told by her papa that people, especially from the wide world, were usually selfish and cruel. Terry flew in the face of that idea as if it were a monster, and his weapon seemed to be kindness.
“Did I do badly?” she asked.
“Good lord, no!” Terry said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “You had no idea what was in there. Kobalds don’t give a crap about listening to reason and you would have had a serious fight on your hands. They ARE mobs. No, I just know goblins. I kinda grew up with them.” He looked around at their tiny, green escort. “Just consider this a learning experience and move on. No reason to feel bad about it. No one got hurt.”
A little way into the woods, Terry stopped the party and handed several gold coins to King Mel, who stared at them.
“Now, you give those to the mayor when we get to town. All of them. I promise, this will work.” King Mel gave Gella a questioning look, to which she shrugged.
“All right, but if something happens to me, you better go back and protect the matriarch.”
Terry nodded. “I promise I’ll see her safe.” Gella had no idea what that meant.
Once they reached town, they got some serious stares, but Terry waved everyone off as they found the mayor of Kamerant. He was a broad man with a serious expression name Landrus, and he did not look pleased to see Terry surrounded by goblins.
Gella thought for sure they were going to have to fight their way out of town, but instead, Terry simply explained the situation to the mayor, then said the goblins wanted to make amends.
King Mel stepped forward and held out the coins in his cupped hands.
“Yeah, uh, sorry about all this. We’re kinda starving.”
The mayor gave Terry a nervous look before turning a smile on the King Mel. “Well, perhaps we can come to an arrangement, then. We can’t have neighbors starving, can we?”
The next hour consisted of discussions and negotiations over price and expectations, which Terry watched closely. Gella did as well, but she wasn’t really sure what she was meant to see. By the end, the Goblins were going to be a town patrol at night and some would help in the fields in the day. They’d be paid in coin, but mostly in food and supplies. Gella hoped this would last, because the mayor didn’t seem very happy about the arrangement.
Before they moved on, Terry took Landrus gently by the arm. “Thank you, mayor. I’ll be back to check on you eventually.” The mayor nodded. “And them,” Terry added, and the mayor looked pale. Terry didn’t threaten. He made promises. Gella would have to remember that.
They met Master Carmichael and Aloysius just outside of town.
“Well,” the aged Tutor said, “are we done changing lives? Can we move on?”
Terry looked down at Gella and nodded toward the pair.
She smiled. “Yes, Master Carmichael. I believe my work here is done.” Gella hoped she didn’t sound too full of herself. She wasn’t sure how Terry stayed humble.
Terry picked her up by the waist and sat her on Aloysius’s saddle and began walking again. He tended to take breaks from riding. He’d said he didn’t want bowed legs.
“Aloysius?” Gella asked, “Are we any closer to our destination?”
She heard Terry laugh softly. Maybe she was being a bit much, but she liked feeling important.
“No ma’am. Sorry to say we’re not.” The horse was smiling back at her, and she patted his neck.
“If that’s so, it means we’re going to have to cross the ocean. I was dread to do so,” Master Carmichael said. He shook his head.
“Sea sick?” Terry asked. Gella would have laughed but she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t be throwing up herself if they had to get on a boat.
“No,” the old man said. “I left a life over there I’d hoped to not come back to. I had hoped we find your Delores in the Eastern Empire of the Humanities and not have to go further.”
He seemed to shy away from something in his own mind, because he winced.
“I pray we find her in Mon Hareesh at the very least.”
“What’s Mon Hareesh?” Gella, asked. She had never heard of the place.
Master Carmichael seemed to brighten at the distraction. “Mon Hareesh is the largest trading port in the known realms of the Everywhen, child.” The old man had never gotten past calling her child, and Gella hated it. “In the early days, before the Sin, the Empire of the Humanities made a foothold on the Eastern Continent. They were only halted by the Orc Empire. After the Sin, the Eastern Empire is practically its own entity. They’re technically split, but the Eastern Empire pays lip service to Donareth to keep things civil.”
“Is that because of the Emperor’s curse?” Terry asked.
“Yes. The Empire can’t govern past its own borders here in the west. There was no way to keep hold of its eastern conquests. Now its capital is Mon Hareesh and it outshines Donareth in importance to most of the world.”
The man looked so pleased with himself and his lesson that Gella had to giggle. Arthur scowled at her.
“Sorry,” Gella said. “I just like seeing you in a good mood.” She hadn’t realized how mean it must have seemed to laugh at him when he smiled like that.
The old man rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I should have known you’d be like Terrance. Not a malicious bone in your body, is there?”
Terry, for his part, said nothing, but his smile said enough. Aloysius on the other hand, DID speak.
“Arthur, how long does it take to cross the ocean?”
That definitely brought the man’s mood down.
“Given good winds and no storms, two months. We’d be wise to bring extra food. Something nonperishable.”
Terry’s smile slid from his face and Gella tilted her head.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing,” Terry said. “I’m just going to be real sick of jerky by the end of all this.”
“What in the name of the Great Wolf is jerky?” the Tutor asked with a confused expression. Gella was curious as well. Terry had mentioned it several times over the weeks.
He sighed. “Dried and salted meat. The travel rations. We call it jerky back home. I used to like it before this all got started. I’d kill for a Wally World and a Burger Duke right now.”
“Who’s Wally?” Aloysius asked.
“What’s a burger?” Gella added.
“It must be political if a duke is involved,” Master Carmichael mused. He had a good point.
Terry rubbed his forehead, and Gella felt guilty for piling on with her question.
“Ok,” Terry said. “Wally World is like a series of general stores the size of warehouses owned by one family and they’re all over the wide world.”
Terry looked at each of them and he seemed satisfied by their reactions. Gella’s mind boggled at the idea of owning stores all over the world. They must be a very generous family if they had that much money.
“A burger,” Terry continued to Gella, “is a kind of sandwich with pan seared beef on a fluffy type of bread called a bun, with cheese. And now I’m hungry,” Terry looked as close to homesick as Gella had seen him.
“And the Duke?” Master Carmichael asked.
“Again, it’s the name of a company. They own hundreds and hundreds of restaurants all over the wide world. Probably my favorite.” He suddenly got a wistful look, and Gella grinned. “If I ever get back, I’m going to have ten hamburgers. Ten of them. No fries, no sides. Just ten burgers.” The last time she’d seen Terry look that distant, he’d been talking about his Delores.
“At any rate,” Master Carmichael said, pulling Terry from his burger dreams, “we should reach the seaside town of Walliscott tomorrow morning. We can buy provisions and charter a ship if you’re still intent on making this trek. The One knows you’d have plenty on this side of the ocean to keep you busy.” The old man looked at Terry.
Gella was somewhat annoyed. This wasn’t the first time he’d suggested to Terry that he give up and settle somewhere on this side of the empire. Terry usually took it in stride and shrugged it off. But not this time. Terry grabbed Carmichael by the arm and spun him till they faced each other. Aloysius stopped and Gella exchanged a look with the horse. There was nothing jovial about Terry’s expression.
“Arthur, I’m going to say this one last time, and I mean one LAST time, because one way or another this discussion is over. Do you have any idea what I’ve given up for her? Not just coming here. I gave up my life Arthur. My whole god damned life and everything I thought I wanted. I have nothing left and nothing left to lose.”
Gella blinked. She’d never heard Terry swear before. She’d begun to think he wasn’t physically capable of it. Terry continued.
“I am ecstatic to have companions, FRIENDS, on this journey. But if you don’t think I won’t leave you behind after all the other things I’ve had to give up, bring up quitting one more time. You hear me? One. More. Time.”
With that, Terry turned and started back down the road. He never looked back to see if they followed. Aloysius set out immediately and caught up. The horse didn’t speak. He just looked determined. Gella reached down and touched Terry shoulder. He’d frightened her. She didn’t want to be alone. She had thought Terry would stay with her. She had thought a lot of things.
“I won’t leave you, Gella,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. But I’m not going to give up on this quest until I’m dead or I find her.”
She nodded. She had a feeling Terry was going to be with her for a while.
“I have a daughter!” Carmichael shouted from where he was standing in the road with Ed, and it had the effect of stopping them both. Terry turned.
“What?!” Terry shouted back. He waited as Carmichael approached. The old man suddenly seemed very tired.
“My princess, Terrance. MY princess. She died in childbirth. That child is still in the Orc Empire. The warrant for my arrest and execution still stands. I left nothing but pain and death behind and it’s all I face if I return.”
“You loved an orc, Master Carmichael?” Gella asked. She was shocked. She’d met orcs. Most of them were nice, but the ladies weren’t known for their beauty.
“She was a High Orc,” was all the old man added. Gella had heard of the High Orcs, but that didn’t mean anything to her.
“What’s that?” Terry asked, and Aloysius’s ears perked up to listen.
“The High Orcs have interbred with humans and elves in an attempt to lift the family lines up. They are more intelligent than your average orc and they are much more attractive to the other races. They have blue skin and more gentle features.”
“Ok,” Terry said. “What does that have to do with me stopping my quest.”
“Terrance, life is a story and I’m afraid that yours will lead to Tir-Na-Nog, and that means passing through the Orc Empire. I can’t pass through the Orc Empire.”
Gella couldn’t contain her smile. If his Delores was in Tir-Na-Nog, then they could go all the way there together! Aloysius looked back at her and gave her a grin.
Terry just nodded, expression stony. “I won’t force you to go. I understand why you wouldn’t want to continue, but you have got to work on your tact, man. This is all I’ve got.”
Master Carmichael nodded. “I apologize. That leg of your journey has been clouding my judgment. I’ll at least go to the Eastern Empire with you. I have roots there. I would like to see your story play out.”
“Oh?” Terry asked.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be important for future generations to know the name Terrance Lingal.”
Terry winced. “You REALLY need to stop telling me things like that. Can we go?”
Carmichael nodded.
“And I’m sorry I got angry,” Terry said.
“Why?” Arthur asked, and Gella had been thinking the same thing.
Terry opened and closed his mouth several times before shaking his head.
“I gotta figure out this whole emotions thing,” he said as he turned and started back down the road.
Gella rode a little ways behind, considering Terry as he walked silently by Al. He often seemed wise beyond his years when dealing with other people, then he could turn around and not understand that anger was a perfectly acceptable response to something. At times like that, he seemed younger than her. She just shook her head and decided to watch the roadside. There was still the chance of bandits this far out.