Tyler's Story (Tales of Quelondain) (12 page)

They waited quietly for what seemed to be hours to
Heidi. She gazed at her surroundings. For as far as she could see,
sand and rock covered the land. The sky was grey though there
wasn’t the smell of rain in the air and she wondered if it was
simply the color of the sky here in the Sandsea.

She looked back into the cave. “Do you think he’s
alright?”

“I haven’t heard anything, so I’m going to assume yes
for the time being.”

“Why hasn’t Bird come back?”

John shrugged and tried to look nonchalant, though he
was starting to worry also.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bird chirped softly from her perch on his shoulder
and he nodded. He could see the light starting to show at the end
of the tunnel. He drew his dagger, ready to defend himself should
he need to.

“There’s no need for that, nephew of the Chosen One.”
The voice was old with and undertone of screeching dragons.

Tyler frowned and kept his blade ready.

“Come in, come in. It isn’t often someone braves the
journey to come see me.” The ancient Wedelven magic wielder turned
from her shelves and grinned at him, her toothless smile sending a
shiver down his back.

“Unfortunately, I do not have in my possession the
object which you seek.” She set a steaming cup of tea on the table
and gestured for him to take it. “Drink.”

“How do you know what it is I want?”

“Drink.” Her unseeing white eyes met his and he
swallowed hard. He reached for the cup and took a sip.

“Sit.”

He did as he was told.

“It isn’t very often a person seeks out a cross gem,
young Tyler. This young woman means a lot to you.”

He shook his head. “I made a promise. I keep my
promises.”

The old woman snorted. “He’s blinder than I am,
Bird.” Ignoring Tyler, she took the cup he’d had a drink of and
took a sip herself. She let the tea sit in her mouth for a few
seconds before swallowing it. Her white eyes closed and she went
still.

Tyler glanced at Bird, unsure of what to do. It
seemed as though she’d fallen asleep. He looked around the small
cavern. The walls were covered with shelves which were in turn
covered in books, herbs, stones, and parts from various animals and
insects. He wondered how she managed to keep her supplies stocked.
His gaze fell back onto the old woman. Asleep. He stood slowly and
turned to leave.

“Stop.”

Tyler jumped as her skeletal hand closed on his
forearm.

“You will have to choose.”

He frowned. “Choose what?”

“Which will be the lesser of your evils…” Her grin
widened as he took his seat.

“Tell me.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Heidi jumped at a distant screech to their left then
lost her balance and fell back at the sight of the large grey wolf
which had materialized before her from the darkness.

Tyler shifted and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
His deep brown eyes were narrowed, his jaw clenched. He started
north at a jog and the others followed.

“Was she there?” John glanced at his friend, worried
by the strange look on his face.

“She was.”

Heidi was scared to ask. “Did she have a gem?”

Tyler’s features softened. “I’m sorry, Heidi. She
didn’t.”

She swallowed hard a few times to get rid of the lump
in her throat. He slowed and stopped so he was facing her.

“Hey, it’s alright. I promised I’d get you home and I
will.” He took a deep breath and turned to John. “I need you to
listen carefully.”

John nodded.

“If something happens to me, it will be up to you to
get her home.”

John opened his mouth to protest but stopped at a
shake of Tyler’s head.

“If something happens, you need to get her to
Sageden. There’s a clearing just north of it. Find Jasper and
Hayden. Tell them you are a part of my pack and that I promised
Heidi I would get her home. They’ll know what to do.” He glanced up
at the sky and got them moving again.

“What happened in there, Tyler?” Heidi put a hand on
his arm and watched his clenched jaw relax.

“Nothing. She claimed to be a dream seer.”

“What did she tell you?”

“Nothing. Come along. I want to reach those trees
before dark so we can set up camp.” He looked into the sky once
more.

“Tyler…” Heidi stopped her protest as something dark
moved into his eyes. Almost as quickly as it had appeared it
vanished with a blink, swept away by long dark lashes.

“Heidi, please. You once said you trusted me. What we
need to do is get out of the open and somewhere where we won’t make
easy prey should a Zerpanay fly overhead.”

Her head snapped up and she looked at the sky.
Without another word, the three of them started off again, this
time with a bit more speed.

By the time they reached the woods, they were all
breathing hard. Heidi doubled over under a large aspen-like tree,
the stitch in her side past the point of moderate, the pain spiking
with every attempt she made to suck in air.

Tyler looked her over. “Are you… alright?” he asked
between gulps of air.

She nodded, unable to speak. John collapsed onto his
back and lay with his arm over his face.

“John?” Tyler walked in small slow circles in an
attempt to slow his heart. His friend gave a small wave to show
he’d be fine.

John peeked out from under his arm at the sound of
Tyler grunting. “By the moons, Tyler, give me a minute and I’ll
help you.”

Tyler ignored him and pulled another long dead branch
to where he had placed the first one. He glanced up at the sky.
John groaned and pushed himself off of the ground, went deeper into
the woods and returned pulling two more long branches. Tyler nodded
his thanks, took the branches and placed them over the others which
were now leaning against the lowest branch of a large pine-like
tree. Heidi forced herself upright and found her own branch to add
to the pile. Her grey green eyes met Tyler’s deep brown ones as she
handed it to him and her heart jumped. His lips, which had been in
a tight straight line while he worked, softened and curled
slightly. She blushed.

John’s arrival with more branches caused the softer
look to disappear and Heidi watched the hard and determined look
take over Tyler’s features. She frowned and went to find more
branches.

When they were done, the makeshift hut was nicely
camouflaged amongst the trees and shrubs around it. Tyler laid his
blankets on the ground inside of it.

“Sorry,” he said and turned to Heidi. “We can’t risk
a fire tonight.” He dug into his pack and pulled out the dark brown
tunic he’d lent her before. “If you need, take the grey one
too.”

“Wait! Where are you going?” Her chest tightened as
he left the hut.

He peeked back inside. “I’ll be right outside.” He
smiled and disappeared. She glanced at John who was lying on his
stomach.

“One of us has to stay on watch.” He gestured to the
door. “Tyler will wake me halfway through the night and we’ll
switch positions so he can get some sleep.”

Heidi felt the chill of the night creep through the
two tunics she was already wearing and decided to take Tyler up on
his offer to borrow another one before settling under his blankets.
She thought of Blake, how he kept his curly hair short because he
hated it, how his dark blue eyes would crinkle in the corners when
he smiled at her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the
green bandana, clutched it to her heart and tried to stay quiet as
the tears ran down her face. If John heard her, he seemed to know
she wanted to be left alone. With the stress and exhaustion of the
past day weighing heavy on her, she fell into an uneasy sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going to
happen?”

Heidi stirred at the sound of John’s voice outside of
the hut.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get
Heidi to Sageden.” Tyler sounded exhausted. “Look, the woman might
have been completely out of her mind for all I know.”

“Does it happen here?”

Tyler must have nodded.

“So why not use the displacement stone to leave, and
don’t give me that ‘I promised Heidi’ crap. I’m sure if it came to
a choice between you dying and having to feel the effects of
displacing again, she’d like for you to live. The moons know you’ve
done enough for her since you found her.”

Heidi frowned. Was Tyler willing to die because of a
promise he’d made to her? She was about to get up but stopped as he
started explaining to John what he’d been told.

“We can’t displace, John. The old woman gave me two
scenarios. Neither one ends well.”

“So if we stay on the path we’re on now, you’ll
die?”

“Zerpanay,” confirmed Tyler.

John grunted. “And if we displace?”

“Something goes wrong. We don’t end up is Sageden
which is where we’re heading. We wind up in the middle of nowhere
in the midst of a pack of rogues.”

“And you get killed protecting her?”

“No.”

John growled. “By the moons, Tyler, just spit it
out.”

“Keep your voice down; you’ll wake her. The old lady
didn’t say if I died or not. All she said was that the rogues brand
her as a traitor.”

“Brand her? Literally?”

Tyler’s growl came from low in his chest. “I don’t
know. What I do know is that I’m not doing anything that’s going to
put her in the middle of a pack of rogues.”

The two were quiet for a moment and someone moved
slightly.

“Do we know when and where the Zerpanay comes?”

“No.”

“Do we know anything other than the fact that you’re
going to die?”

Tyler was quiet and John grunted his disapproval.

“What if we displaced to somewhere other than
Sageden?”

“We can’t take the chance that we’ll get the same end
result.”

“Tyler, you can’t possibly be alright with the fact
that she told you you were going to die.”

Heidi frowned at Tyler’s quiet laugh.

“John, I’m not going to die.”

“But you just said…”

“I told you what she told me she saw. If there’s one
thing I know about dream seer predictions it’s that whatever it is
they see can always be changed. It’s not set in stone, John. I just
have to figure out a way to change the outcome.”

“How are you going to do that?”

Tyler exhaled loudly. “I don’t know.”

Heidi heard someone stand.

“Wake me if you hear anything. Don’t be a hero.”

John snorted. “I’m not the hero type.”

Tyler chuckled and made his way into the hut. He
gazed at Heidi’s form under his blankets and stretched out on top
of John’s.

“Don’t you worry,” he whispered. “One way or another,
I’ll get you home.”

Heidi felt the lump form in her throat and she
swallowed hard to get rid of it. Could it really be possible that
just hours prior she’d been scared of this man? The man who’d just
told another he’d rather die than to let her get hurt? She opened
her mouth to say something, anything, but nothing appropriate came
to mind. Simply saying thank you seemed inadequate. His breathing
slowed into the regular deep breaths of sleep. She reached over and
put a hand on his chest.

Tyler turned in his sleep. “Are you cold?” His voice
was quiet and Heidi wasn’t sure if he was awake.

“A bit.”

“Come here.” He pulled on her blankets so they
covered him and held them up so she could get back under them. She
scooted to the side and lay with her back to his chest. She tensed
as his arm went around her and pulled her close.

“Get some sleep. We’ve a few hours before daylight
yet.”

When it became obvious he had no intentions of doing
anything other than sleep, Heidi relaxed into his warmth and let
sleep take her again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tyler adjusted his pack on his shoulder and ran
another scenario through his head. Could he outrun a Zerpanay? He
really didn’t think so. He growled to himself in frustration. Had
the old woman been able to give him a few more details he might
have been able to prepare a bit more to prevent his impending
death. He took a deep breath. What would Trent have done? Would he
have decided to use the stone and to try and stop that outcome? No.
It was just one more thing the twins had been identical in. Others
came first. The thought of his brother’s grin as he glanced at him,
both of them with their daggers out, ready to fight off a stray
jaink that had thought to make little Chad its next meal flashed
through his mind. The image caught him off guard and he stumbled
over a fallen branch. He caught Heidi looking at him out of the
corner of his eye and he forced himself to relax.

“Are you ok?” She put a hand on his arm.

“I’m fine.” He smiled and this time it wasn’t forced.
He hated to see her frown. Her features relaxed at the sight of his
smile.

“What were you thinking about?”

Tyler shook his head. “Nothing.”

“You’ve barely said two words in the past three
days.”

He stopped, faced her, and seemed about to say
something. He paused, frowning. “John, do you hear that?” He cocked
his head to the side.

John smiled. “I do.”

“What?” Heidi looked around, trying to hear what they
could hear.

Tyler adjusted his pack. “There’s a river up ahead.
Stay here; I’ll go check it out.”

“But…” Heidi cut off her objection at the touch of
John’s hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his hazel eyes,
noticing for the first time how pretty they were. He brushed some
dirty blond bangs out of them.

“Heidi, if you’re going to run with this pack,
there’s one thing you’ll need to remember. Tyler knows what he’s
doing and whether he wants it to be or not, this is his pack.”

“And?”

“And you need to stop questioning everything he does.
He’s trying to get you home, Heidi, and until he gets you there,
he’s going to do his damnedest to keep you safe.” His eyes bore
into hers and she caught the slight tightening of his stubbled
jaw.