Homeward

The journey back to Freehold was calm and uneventful. It had to be so; no one was quite sure what to make of recent events. Pigeons were hurriedly sent all across the realms with a single message: The Endless Summer has ended. En route, we met the envoy of the new Islander King, Markos I believed his name was, who offered to help the demons transition to a less… evil leadership. With Gihri's unfortunate demise, the Ogre Stewards took charge of the alliance, so they accepted Markos’ offer.

•

“I almost caught myself saying home, sweet home,” I told my friends and my son as we entered Freehold. “But no, I'm not quite there yet.”

“What even is home to you?” Ipas asked me.

“I am not sure at this point,” was my answer. “Frankly, I was not expecting to be asked that question ever again.”

But not all was well in Freehold. Rumors spread quickly through its halls surrounding my fate after our victory against the Demon Lord. Some said I was set to be arrested any day now. Others suggested I would become an honorary citizen of this kingdom or that kingdom. I ignored all of these.

News echoed from room to room regarding threats of demon army remnants and minor skirmishes between warlords and the various villages in this part of the world. The Ogre Stewards, the Merfolk King, and even the Troll King assured me several times that they had these situations under control. Now, they told me, it was time to relax. And sure enough, I tried to relax. Those old bones of mine were begging for it.

•

On the tenth day after arriving at Freehold, I awoke to the sight of two armored guards standing over my bed. I sighed at their presence, knowing exactly what they wanted.

“Halliyah Zikatta,” the guard on the left bellowed out, “you are under arrest.”

"I had a feeling this would happen," I told the guards, allowing them to arrest me. "Let's get this over with."

•

The guards escorted me to the ziggurat at the center of Freehold. It was not often that trials would be held inside the local ziggurat. In certain very special cases, kings or city leaders could decide to hold some trials in the presence of the gods. Considering how often some of my supposed allies wanted me punished for my cowardice ever since my first arrival here, it made sense that they wanted to make a spectacle about it.

Almost the whole of the alliance, or at least the most important people thereof, were gathered inside the temple at the very top. The Merfolk King, Tritos Kastaki, sat inside his water box in front of statues of the Nine Gods. My assumption was that he had been appointed as the judge over this trial. Standing on each side of him was one of the two Ogre Stewards. Various others stood along each side of the temple, including both Giorg and Ipas.

“Your Highness,” I said as I stood before the Merfolk King.

“Zikatta,” the merman replied.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked him. “Surely we can find a better way to do this.”

“It is not about what I want,” the Merfolk King countered. “It is also not about what any royal or merchant or soldier or priest wants. This is about the law, and the law demands justice be carried out.”

“Very well,” I told him. “Do what the law demands, then.”

“Halliyah Zikatta,” the merman roared, acting in his assigned position as judge, “you stand before this council accused of the crimes of desertion and forsaking your oath before gods and men. How do you answer these charges?”

“Guilty on all of them,” I admitted. “Yes, I was a coward, and ran and hid when I should have kept on the fight. I had not made the most of my second chance at life. I can only hope that by defeating the Demon Lord Ayya, I have paid the price for my past sins.”

“Under the law of your country, the crime of breaking a solemn vow taken before gods and men warrants the penalty of death,” he continued. I held my breath. My hands trembled. Silence filled the room. Everyone waited for the merman to hand out his verdict. “That being said, you have already died once. This is a fact that can be verified by several witnesses. Consider this penalty paid in full.”

A large collective sigh of relief came about in response. I had successfully dodged the more serious of the two charges. My life had been spared… for now…

“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said to the merman. “Words cannot describe -”

“That leaves the charge of desertion,” he continued further. “Under the law of your country, the crime of desertion carries a sentence of exile. You have admitted to this crime and therefore must be sentenced in kind.”

The judge used his hands to pull himself as far out of his water box as he could in an attempt to make himself look larger. Respectfully, I knelt before him to receive my punishment. It was the least I could have done to play along with this little game of his.

“Your Highness…”

“In the name of Hattu the Red, King of the Mountains,” the Merfolk King began his sentence, “I, Tritos Kastaki, King of the Seas and Warden of the Waves, sentence you to life in exile.”

The crowd fell silent once more. One person sneezed, but other than that no one made a sound. Only the Merfolk King and I found it in ourselves to speak further.

“And to which country shall I be exiled?” I asked him. “The country of the elves? Of the dwarves? Perhaps of the Islanders?”

“You shall return to the village of Andawas as soon as possible,” he answered. “You are free to return to your country to live your life as you desire. You have two days to gather up whatever and whomever you need for the journey ahead. At that point, you must leave the city lest you face more punishment.”

Ah yes… Back to where my journey first started. It was quite appropriate, I thought to myself.

•

I spent the next day gathering up whatever I could: food, water, clothing (often gifts from the residents of Freehold), gold and silver for bartering, and of course, some good old fashioned ale. Everyone in Freehold had been incredibly gracious. Several people even visited me to say their goodbyes. The most important people in my life, however, were not among them. Not one to waste time though, I simply continued to make my preparations.

The next morning, as the Watcher opened his eye on the horizon, I had just put the last of my supplies into a large rolling cart. I was ready, they had no idea just how so, to leave this place (and this war) behind at last. All that remained was to wait for the guards to open the city gate.

“You aren't thinking about leaving alone, are you?” an ogre shouted from behind me. I turned around to see Giorg, who also had prepared a rolling cart.

“Giorg, what are you doing?” I asked.

“The post is getting flooded with pigeons,” Giorg explained. “Villages all over your country are getting ambushed every night. It's much too dangerous to go alone. I offered to escort you to Andawas, and the Stewards said I could come with you.”

“You don't need to do that,” I told him. “Your life is here. Mine is out there somewhere.”

He put a hand on my shoulder. “My friend, my life is where I say it is. Right now, it is with you. Where you go, I shall be right beside you.”

“As will I,” Ipas said as she approached us.

“Ipas, I thought you said you were returning to the Islands Beyond the Shore,” Giorg said to her.

“I changed my mind,” Ipas replied. “After consulting with the stones last night, I realized something very important.”

“And what was that?” I asked her.

“I'd like to stick around with the two of you for a while,” was her response, her tail snapping back and forth and a slight blush appearing on her face. “Your country has really grown on me, Halliyah.”

“Is it the country you were only in for, say, two weeks?” I asked her. “Or is it something else?”

“Consider it a vacation,” she replied. “With the Endless Summer finally over, we could all use a nice change of scenery.”

“And a nice change of pace,” Rikkos chimed in. My son was the last to join us, with his armored cat by his side, leading me to run to him and wrap my arms around him.

“Shouldn't you be going home to your mother?” I asked him.

“She will be fine without me for a little bit,” Rikkos answered with a smile. “You and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“That we do, my son,” I replied. “That we do.”

•

The road home was long and silent. None of us spoke a single word on the way back to Andawas. Nobody had anything they wished to say out loud. That aside, it was all smiles from everyone in the party. It was a new beginning, one could have said.

There wasn't much left for me to do now. I thought about returning to being Dan the tavernkeeper. Queen Rini's parting words also itched at the back of my mind. Part of me considered trying to set up a farm once more. As the Islanders have said, three times is lucky, right? I also hadn't discarded the possibility of spending my last days, however many there were, in this world living the life of an adventurer. For me, returning to Andawas would give me ample time to weigh my options.

My bones still ached from the fight against the Demon Lord. No more of Hilami’s healing elixirs. Her sacrifice made sure of that. Perhaps my time in this world was in fact drawing near to its close. With the Demon Lord defeated, all I felt was the wind blowing on me, a much cooler wind than any I had felt these past sixteen years. I decided right there to just let the wind take me wherever it would take me.

The weather had been much milder since the defeat of the Demon Lord, though still quite hot during the daytime. As I expected, it was to be a long while before the world fully healed from the effects of the Endless Summer. It even rained a couple of days during our journey, a light drizzle at best. Without the urgency of needing to get anywhere in a hurry, we took our time getting back to Andawas.

At long last, after a week's journey, we had arrived at the entrance to Andawas. The villagers did a fine good job of rebuilding while we were away. Oddly, the village looked bigger than the last time we left it. More buildings, taller buildings. Whoever they elected to be the village master must have had quite the ego. Perhaps he was compensating for something. Regardless of whatever changed between then and now, I was home, free to live my life the way that I chose. It was just a matter of actually making that choice…