Armegon sat next to Ultrecht on a rather large log that they had dragged in from the woods. Sam and Calista were nearby cuddling close and staring into the fire. Sam whispered something into Calista's ear, and she responded with a giggle and a passionate kiss.
"Really, Sam you must do something about those fangs."
"I don't have fangs," he objected. "Just large teeth."
"I think that if this keeps up much longer I’m going to be sick," Armegon muttered.
"You always were insensitive to romance," a voice said over his shoulder.
Armegon whirled around. Any other time he would have blindly attacked an unknown intruder, but this time he did not. It is possible that his subconscious mind recognized the voice even before his shock stricken brain could accept the fraternal figure standing before him. Few times had Armegon shed tears for any reason, and never had anyone ever seen it happen. This time was no exception, because Ultrecht too was in such a state of shock that he dropped a cup of very good wine into the dirt. Calista had thrown herself in a worshipful bow and Sam was trying to figure out what everyone thought was so special.
"You ass!" Armegon cursed. "How dare you let me think you’re dead for over a year then come back and sneak up on me like that!" He jumped to his feet and belted Avery across the jaw.
"Father!" Sam was on his feet and sprinting. He rushed the melee and placed himself between Armegon and the visitor. "This is the Forester!"
"Forester my foot," Ultrecht laughed. "This, Sam, is Avery. He’s one of our oldest and closest friends."
"Friend?" Sam glanced at Armegon then Avery. "With friends like that who needs enemies?"
"Oh, don't mind Armegon," Avery said rubbing his jaw. "He just hates admitting that he’s glad to see me."
Ultrecht and Avery laughed as they engaged in a warm embrace betraying years of acquaintance. Armegon stood fuming for a moment longer. He angrily wiped his eyes dry. "Why didn't you contact me?"
Avery glanced to the heavens. "I detected the operation of the Well of Time," he said. "I was so certain that if anyone would make it back it would be you. It never occurred to me that either of you two would get left behind."
"We didn't," Ultrecht said. "We stayed behind by choice. Armegon had Marlena's son to raise."
"What of Marlena?" Avery asked.
"Sam," Armegon said to the boy. "Your girl friend is groveling in the dirt. Go calm her down."
"Yes sir," Sam said reluctantly. He always wanted to hear stories about his mother.
When Sam left Armegon leaned closer to Avery. "She went back," he said. "She doesn't know about Sam. I kept her unconscious until I could place the baby with a foster home temporarily. Then when she came to I told her the baby was stillborn."
"Why," Avery asked shocked.
"The child didn’t the energy to go home with us," Armegon said. "Someone had to stay behind with it, and I’m the most survivable of the group."
"But to separate a child from its mother is...is..."
"I know," Armegon said. "It's wrong. But sometimes we have to choose the lesser of two evils."
"In the end," Ultrecht added, "it worked out for the best. Avery, she got her memory back."
"There at the end when all hope appeared to be lost, when it looked as if she and I were the only two left, Samson and the others came out of nowhere. She had accepted their deaths," Armegon said, "and then when she saw them again the surprise jolted her memory back."
"Well that explains why you’re here," Avery said to Armegon. He looked at Ultrecht.
"What’s your story?"
"We had reason to think we had been betrayed by Tyson. I wanted to find him and find out if he had betrayed us, and if so why."
"Speaking of Tyson," Armegon said as he looked around, "where is he?"
"He lost his pendant back at the glade where I bumped into him," Avery explained. "He went back to get it. He said he’d be right along."
Armegon glanced sidelong at Ultrecht who returned the look. "Do you think..."
"I wouldn't be surprised," Ultrecht returned. "Remember who we’re talking about."
"If there was any doubt before, he has erased it now." Armegon seemed satisfied. "At least we know now."
"Wait," Avery put up a hand. "Maybe he went back to get his pendant like he said. Maybe he’ll be here any moment. For decency's sake give him a chance to prove himself."
Ultrecht shook his head. "That’s the mistake we made last time."
"Right," Armegon agreed. "We’re decided in this. When next we meet, Tyson is the enemy."
No one slept that night. It took them some time to convince Calista that Avery was not a god and for her to stop groveling at his feet every few moments. The evening was spent with several stories being told. Avery started by telling of his adventure with the storm that separated them to start with. He went on to speak of the druid who found him and nursed him back to health and the coyodiak which had bonded to him and had become a very close friend over the course of the last year over which his reputation for dealing with vagabonds in the forest had earned him the unlikely title of the Forester, a legend the locals had thought reborn.
"Apparently," Avery explained, "the Forester was a sage or hermit who had a knack for detecting lies long ago. I just happened to be hiking through the area and set up camp in the stone circle here. I was visited that night by a traveling pair of village elders who discovered that I too could tell fact from fiction. They believed that I was a living legend in spite of my assurances that I was not."
"One week later, I saw the bonfire on this hill top and came to check it out. A young woman accused of adultery was here and asked me to judge her. I knew that she was innocent and said so. The next week a murderer was here and I dealt with him. The whole episode goes on like that right up until Sam's trial. I always knew that there was a verdict to determine when I saw the glow of the bonfire in the night sky." He went on to say that it was Sam's mentioning of Armegon's name that had intrigued him. That was why he agreed to meet with Sam's guardians, and that was why he had left Mirfak, the coyodiak, behind as a guard.
Sam interrupted to comment on the coyodiak's size, and Ultrecht scoffed at the boy's exaggeration. Avery laughed and reared his head back. With a deep breath, he bellowed forth a howl that left eardrums ringing in the stone circle. After a moment another bellow responded from the distance. Avery mentioned that the coyodiaks were very intelligent. "Like a small child," he said. "They can understand spoken language, but are unable to articulate words themselves."
About that time, Mirfak, the huge horse-sized wolf leaped into the firelight and landed next to Sam. Calista screamed and Ultrecht choked on his wine. When he regained his composure, he promptly apologized to Sam for accusing him of exaggerating.
Sam laughed and Mirfak lay down at the boy's side. There seemed to be a natural affection between the two. Sam reached over and scratched the big creature behind one ear.
"Mirfak," Avery said slowly, "did you smell any other humans in the forest near here?"
The coyodiak snorted once. "One means yes," Avery informed them. "Mirfak, is there anyone still out there?"
"The coyodiak snorted twice. "No," Avery translated. "Tyson has left. And as sensitive to smell and Mirfak is, I suspect he teleported away or else he’d still be close enough to detect and track."
"He’s had ample opportunity to do that before," Armegon noted. "Why now?"
Avery pulled his sword from its scabbard across his back. "This is why. This is the sword, Liberator. Apparently it is something of a legend and part of some prophesy. Over time, I found that the sword had endowed me with the ability to separate truth from fiction."
"And if Tyson has been lying all along," Ultrecht began.
"Then he certainly did not want to be around that sword," Armegon finished.
They spoke a little more on the subject and Avery heard Ultrecht's tale of everything that had happened since the cave in at the mine. Avery was relieved to hear that everyone else had made it home. Armegon also spoke of the journey he and Marlena had made. He spoke of how an assassination had been attempted and how Marlena had saved him. Ultrecht added that Tyson had been traveling with them, but was conveniently absent during that attack.
In this way the talking went on until Calista yawned. Sam nudged her slightly and she responded by leaning over and putting her head in his lap. He absently stroked her short hair.
"So tell me more about what this is all about," Avery said as he nodded at the young couple.
"There’s not much to tell," Armegon said. "His rapid growth rate plunged him headlong into puberty before he had time to learn to deal with the hormonal drives."
"At times like that, we think his paternal heritage gets very strong and the instincts of the wild overpower his psyche," Ultrecht offered.
"Hey!" Armegon sat up alarmingly. "What’s this 'five years to live' stuff all about?"
"You said it yourself," Avery replied. "In two years he aged the equivalent of fifteen human years. Now that he is passing puberty, it will accelerate. In five years he will be the human equivalent of about seventy."
Ultrecht seemed to comprehend this, but Armegon looked ready to argue, then he too accepted the verdict.
"Is there anything that can be done?" Armegon asked.
"I know a druid who has some very, very, unnaturally old critters living in her area. It’s almost sacrilegious how old they are. She might be able to help. It can't hurt to ask.
Besides," Avery smiled, "I know how to convince her to do things for me."
Armegon leaned close and looked his old friend in the face. "Oh, no!" he cried in despair. "Not you too!" He threw his hands up into the air and looked at the night sky. "Sam is only two years old and is, for all practical purposes, married already; Ultrecht may deny it but he has a sweetheart in Allentown who happens to be a warlock; and now you, after I let you out of my sight for a barely more than a year, have also fallen prey to this lunacy." He made a sign of warding. "I hope there is a vaccine for this pox called love."
The next morning they lounged about the campsite. Sam was helping Armegon load the water barrel while Calista and Ultrecht cooked breakfast. Actually Calista was cooking and Ultrecht was tasting. Avery and Mirfak had disappeared around dawn with the promise to return before noon.
"Sam," Armegon said as they lifted the keg into its cradle. "I want you to remember something very important."
"Yes, father?"
"No matter how things look. No matter where we go. If something happens to me or Ultrecht, you can trust Avery. I want you to believe that more strongly than anything you have been taught to believe. You can trust him. He is as much your uncle as Ultrecht is."
"And Tyson?"
"No," Armegon said solidly.
"But Tyson taught me so much," Sam protested.
"He taught you only what he wanted you to know," Armegon said. "He’s evil and a traitor. The reason he’s not here is because Avery could tell us for certain what Tyson was telling the truth about and what he was lying about."
"Doesn't he deserve at least the chance to defend himself against these accusations?" Sam asked.
Armegon sighed. "He did deserve the chance," he said, "but instead he fled."
"That’s no proof of guilt," Sam objected.
"In many ways you’re a wise young man," Armegon complimented him. "But some forms of wisdom can only come with age, and you are very young. Trust me and just do as I say."
Sam agreed, though in his heart he was unsure. Tyson had been so good to him. He had taught Sam how to fight weaponless. He had taught Sam to move with stealth. He had done so much for Sam. He at least deserved a chance to defend himself against these accusations.
And then there was Avery. Sam had at first liked the Forester. But the more he knew him the less he was impressed. Avery was a wimp. He hated fighting. He had even refused to practice combat with Sam earlier. He had said that he would rather run from a fight than run to a fight.
Sam did not understand. Fights were glorious. Oh sure, he had felt bad when he had killed the bandit back on the road, but he had overcome it. The thrill of battle, the rush of victory, Tyson had shown him all these things, and he had come to savor them. The Bandits had fallen before his staff, and the harpies had been found wanting as well.
Sam scoffed. It had been Tyson's training that had made that possible. Avery had probably been watching from the woods the whole time, scared to risk his own neck. No wonder he kept the coyodiak around. Who would mess with him with that kind of a protector.
Sam fingered the belt clasp that Tyson had given him one day after their practice with quarter staffs. Tyson was his friend. Let Armegon and Ultrecht suspect him if they wanted to. He would always give Tyson a chance to be heard.
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