“Three freaking months?” Richard gasped in shock. His words broke the silence that had fallen over the garden at Flreu’s announcement. All eyes turned toward him as he voiced the thought in everyone’s mind. “How the hell are we supposed to be ready in three months? We can’t waste another day here!”
“Rich is right.” Geoff added in. “Three months is a short time. How’re we supposed to get everything ready in that time?”
“We don’t really have a choice in the matter. We do what we have to, yes?” Isleen said. Howie linked his hand with hers and squeezed. “We don’t have a choice.” He added on in a low voice. “It’s either fight him or let him win. I refuse to let him win.”
Marzio was the next to speak up. “Possa Dio avere pietà della nostra anima.” He whispered quietly. But his eyes were bright and strong, looking first to Sofia, then to everyone else. “What else can we do but fight? He cannot be allowed to do this thing.” In his face was the look of a warrior. Beside him sat Sofia, a pixie like woman that no one would think twice about in a fight. That was their mistake. Her eyes were hard and her face fierce as she said “We will destroy him before he does this thing. Our lives are pledged to do this. Combatteremo.”
A lump filled Brian’s throat. He and AJ needed no words between one another to know what their plan was going to be. There was no doubt in their minds what they had to do. That resolve was a firm feeling that flowed between them. But they looked at their friends, these people who had been traveling with them, who had already been called on to be used.
Ignoring his grandfather, his uncle, AJ looked at each one of his friends. There was no decision more important than this one. He wanted to make sure that they made it rationally, not in the heat of their emotions. First he looked to Sofia. “Piccolo guerriero, this battle is going to be a fierce one. There’s a chance that some or all of us won’t come home no matter if we win or lose. Think hard on if that’s a sacrifice you’re willing to make.” His gaze shifted to take in Marzio too. “Or you. Can you commit to this, knowing that there’s a chance your partner may die?” Sharp eyes slid over to Howie and Isleen. “Or either of you?”
“We understand what could happen, Alyck.” Howie whispered softly, his hand tightening over Isleen’s. She nodded at him. Marzio and Sofia were nodding together as well.
It was Brian’s who spoke up, cutting through everything. Without even raising his voice, he captured their attention. “Do you really? Do you really understand what Alex means? Your partners may die. One or both of you could fall in the middle of one of the biggest fights we’ll ever see. Can you really understand the implications behind it?” He looked at them all, wondering if they really did understand. How could they? Yet he knew. He had understood exactly what AJ had meant before he’d even spoken.
AJ’s voice was just as quiet, and just as powerful, when he spoke. “I don’t mean just the grief of losing a loved one. Think long and hard about this. If we’re joined together, if we’re linked and our circle is our only strength, and one of us falls, if your partner falls, can you knowingly stand there and let them potentially die for the greater good? Or would you abandon the circle to help your loved one, and in doing so, doom us all?”
His words shocked the two couples. They stared at him as if they had never even thought of what he said. As if they were surprised that he had thought of this, and horrified by the idea.
“Postresti?” Marzio asked him. “Could you or yours do this?”
“In a heartbeat.” Brian and AJ spoke simultaneously. There was no hesitation. They continued to hold one another’s hands, but their eyes were bright as they looked around the circle.
Flreu looked to AJ and Brian with pride on his face. He muttered something in elvish that had AJ dipping his head in respect. It was a comment of pride that his grandson had grown to this place, and was wise enough to recognize what needed to be done. “Thank you, grandfather.”
The garden was silent again while they all digested what AJ said. Could they all honestly commit to this? What he had said was true. They had to be willing to sacrifice anything in the world; the life of a loved one, or even their own life, in a life or death situation. If stopping to help that loved one meant that they would compromise everything that they were working towards, they needed to be able to keep going. That was a high price to pay.
“We will do it.” Howie and Isleen spoke together. Their words trembled slightly, but were firm. In their eyes AJ could see their resolve. They spoke true.
Sofia and Marzio spoke next, and there was no trace of hesitation in them. “You may trust in us.”
“And so the circle of eight is born.” Tadhg whispered quietly.
AJ and Brian looked to one another. They turned back to their friends. “So shall it be.” They whispered.
~~~~~~~~~~~
There was so much that needed planned. Things needed to be prepared. Where they would go next, and to whom. Everyone had to be alerted. AJ pressed his fingers to his temples for a moment, losing himself in thought. Three months wasn’t a long time, not in the human world. A thought occurred to him, and he snapped just his eyes up to look at Flreu. “Three months human time or elven time?”
“Ah, yes. I see, grandson. I should have clarified that. Three months of time in the elven kingdom.”
Relief warred through AJ. Well, that could definitely make things very different. He vaguely heard Flreu telling the others “In the elven kingdom time runs different. For every day here, two days have passed in the human world. Our time is not lined together. So in here there is three months until the ceremony, but in the human world that would be six. Close to, I believe.”
There was so much he needed to plan for. AJ’s brain was trying to figure things out; to readjust the schedule he’d been thinking of. There as less time for some things, and more time for others, and yet in the end, he wondered if there would be enough time. If they stayed out of the elven kingdom for a while, they would run off of the time in the human world. The elvish kingdom was the only one that ran this speed.
‘What was it you once told me? Quit thinking so hard, or you’re going to give me a headache.’ Brian’s mind voice floated through AJ’s thoughts, tinged with humor. Unable to resist, the corners of AJ’s mouth curved. He shut off the outside discussion, Flreu trying to explain the time differences to everyone, and instead turned his attention further inward. When they were like this, it was almost the same sensation as when they lay in bed together and talked. The same intimacy and privacy.
‘Sorry, love. Just trying to figure everything out. There’s a lot that needs to be done. So many people we have left to see. An I was hoping to spend at least a week here to be able to practice with magic. There’s always something to learn from the elves, and I wanted to show you a few things, let you practice some. We need all the strength we can get. But if we spend a week in here, that’s two weeks out there. Can we really afford to lose half a month?’
‘I’d say the question isn’t can we afford to lose it, but can we afford not to do it? Is the practice you want here that important, Alex?’
AJ thought about it for a second. ‘Yes, I think it is.’
‘Then we’ll figure out a way to make it work. We can’t give up anything that will help us.’
‘But we’ve got to get going to speak with everyone else. Messages have to be passed along. The races have got to be warned!’
‘Does it have to be you, personally that goes?’
The question threw AJ back for a second. God, he was an idiot. Here he was, trying to figure out how to be in a million different places and once and panicking because he wouldn’t be able to. Was he really that egotistical? Brian was right. He didn’t have to personally go to all of them. In fact, some of them held better relations with the elves than with him.
Not realizing that he was interrupting, AJ looked up to Flreu and asked “How fares the relations with the other races, Sire?” The use of Flreu’s title let him know that AJ was asking not as a grandchild, but as a subject, as a warrior. Flreu responded in kind. “Same as when you were last here, young one. Things have become no worse, no better.”
AJ slipped back into contemplation for a moment, running things through in his mind. Now that he had included Flreu, though, his King was paying close attention to him. Everyone was silent. Again AJ looked up sharply. “How fares the relations between the elves and the Brownies?”
“We are on strong terms, young one. You would have us speak with them, I am guessing.”
Absently AJ shrugged, a gesture so natural that he didn’t even realize he did it, or even see the smile on Brian and Howie’s faces at a thing that had become purely part of that AJ personality. “They do not like me.” AJ admitted, and his grin was suddenly razor sharp and full of humor. “I have too strong of opinions on living life only to serve others. We’ve debated once too often about it. But they need to be warned, and if at all possible, they could be a great help to us.”
Flreu nodded at him. “It is good to see you are willing to seek help where needed, and to admit your own shortcomings. We will help with this. There are some races out there that we can handle, while I believe with others they would seek you or your friends’ best.”
“Yes, my King. On this our thoughts run equal. I humbly ask if it might be possible for your kingdom to spare a few warriors. I would pair them with my friends and have each go to different lands to prepare each culture in their way.” AJ spoke as the thoughts entered his mind, or entered Brian’s. Their link was still open enough that even as AJ was conversing with the King, thoughts and impressions still ran back and forth between him and Brian. It was like carrying on two conversations at one time, and each one feeding the other.
“Granted.” Flreu decreed. His expression was that of the King; calm, cool, and collected. “Where would you send these, Alyck?”
AJ looked around at them all, scrunching his face in thought. “Geoff I would send with a sea elf to speak to the merfolk. Though their kingdom is underwater, and there may be no need for them to worry, I feel they have that right to know what is going on. Though I wouldn’t demand anything of them, they would need to know what is coming and that any help from allies would be appreciated.”
He leaned back, looking at Brian for a minute. Who to send where? “Richard would be good to send to the centaurs.” AJ finally decided. “With his history, and with a warrior elf, they would be looked upon with more favor than most. The satyrs too.”
“Isleen would be good to go to the nymphs.” Brian pointed out. “You said they’re very emotional, and you have to be careful and gauge what you say and their emotions. That would be easy enough for her. Plus having Howi with her will let them see the magic that backs her. Maybe the Imps you were telling me about as well.”
AJ nodded, chewing distractedly on his lip. “Which leaves Sofia and Marzio. They’d be good for the Pixies, don’t you think? Being such good listeners, and pixies such talkers, who better? Maybe with a forest elf, as they’re the only ones a pixie really respects in any way, which isn’t that much if you think about it. Then they could contact the Dryads.”
“That would leave you and I.”
“Yeah, but I know where we need to go. First we need to practice here, and get you a little stronger. Maybe not the week I wanted, but an extra day or two. After that we need to go to the goblins, and the dwarves. I had strong ties with them, and they would listen well to me, I think.” AJ stopped, his mind spinning as all the plans laid out before them. “This can’t wait, though. The rest of you should be off as quickly as possible. Before they day even ends, I think. There isn’t much time to waste.”
He looked back at everyone, and realized for the first time that he had taken total control of the conversation, dictating who would go and where. He had been acting like a King marshaling his troops. Suddenly nervous, he looked to Flreu. It was a dangerous thing to dictate and order people around, most especially in front of a king in his own kingdom. But instead of the anger or censor he expected to see on Flreu’s face, there was pride, and a touch of sorrow.
“Spoken like a true trulion.” Flreu said gently. The use of that word had AJ’s eyes going wide in shock. To the magical world, a trulion was a warrior above all warriors. He was a warrior, not for a single people, or for a single race, but for all. They were a rule unto their own. Very rarely were there true trulion in history. But AJ had been taught history by Flreu and the other elves, and he knew the few who had existed, and the legends that went along with it.
It was said that in times of great need a trulion was born. Called truth-seeker by some, and wise-warrior by others. A trulion was the epitome of all that was good and just in the world. They were a law of their own, bowing down to no King, mortal or magical. When a trulion spoke, all listened, for they knew that he or she had the best interests of all at heart. When a real trulion comes, all bow down in his wisdom and are happy to bed led, so the legends say.
The questions must have been apparent in AJ’s eyes, because Flreu nodded lightly at him before speaking. “I have long thought to myself that the trulion was in you, grandson. Why else would Rothalo seek to kill you before you could be changed? The only one in the world who stands a chance of destroying him and what he seeks to do. When destroying you did not work, he sought to put you on his side. Still that did not work, for a true trulion is above the lies and deceit. He will not be steered from the path he knows is right. The righteous rage of a trulion is terrible and beautiful to behold. It is said that one will come in times of great need, and all will bow before his strength, or all will be lost. As yet more and more creatures sought you out as they have no other, and you made peace with them all, befriending them, it became clearer to me.”
To the surprise of all present, Flreu moved to kneel in front of AJ in the same fashion that AJ had once knelt before him. Forehead to ground, Flreu spoke in a clear, ringing voice. “I pledge my life and my cause to the one true trulion.”
Shock rippled over AJ’s face. It intensified when he heard that phrase repeated from all around him. Everywhere he looked, elves were bowing down in the same fashion, arms behind their backs, foreheads to the ground. All swore to him. He looked at them all and felt the mantle of a hero laid upon his shoulders. In that moment he carried the weight of his duty.
In pledging to him, they put their faith in him, and their respect. It was a heady feeling, and a heavy one. By doing this, they placed their lives in his hands.
One by one his friends joined the elves in the same posture, each one repeating “I pledge my life and my cause to the one true trulion.”
Responsibility settled heavily on AJ’s shoulders. He sat in the grass, suddenly confronted with his destiny, and he felt the rightness of it as well as the burden. Softly he whispered to himself “So shall it be.” With those words, he accepted what they offered to him, and knew that he would pledge his life to them all.
All of this he drew around him like a cloak as he rose to his feet. He stood above them all, looking at all the forms that were bowed down. He had never wanted this kind of power. He hadn’t wanted ot be responsible for so many lives. Yet there was no way he could turn them down. But when he saw Brian move to kneel, he put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Never will you kneel to me.” He whispered, drawing Brian to his side. “A trulion has one in their life that is their companion. One who is the heart that keeps them moving. You are mine. Never will you bow to me, Brian Littrell. You will stand by my side as my heart-song, my consort, my partner.”
Turning to look around him, AJ raised his voice for all to hear, speaking strong and clear. “Rise, my children. So I accept your pledge, and so we are bound.”
He raised his hands to the sky, releasing a strong burst of spirit, as strong as he could manage. Into the magic he shouted “Let all who seek to threaten and destroy be warned. A trulion has come, and your time is short!”