Tale of Mongomery Chapter 11

I watched Luca from the doorway of the fortress. He was carrying logs to our oven, sweat covering his body and soaking through his clothes. Normally, I would be helping, but I just couldn't help but watch him do it.

Just then, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around, and it was Ebba.

"Oh, hey Ebba," I said quickly, hoping she didn't notice me staring at Luca as if he were my object.

"Do you love him?" she asked.

Her question completely threw me off. "How could I not?" I replied quickly, probably too quickly.

Ebba laughed, putting me at ease, and I smiled and laughed with her.

"Does he know?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, trailing off.

Luca looked up from his work, waved, and smiled at us. We both waved back.

"You know he needs you," she said.

"I need him too," I said.

"I don't think you do," said Ebba.

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"I think you WANT him... but I think he needs you," she said.

"Before you came, the only thing he enjoyed was playing with Carrot. Since you arrived, he has risen early every day, worked hard, and smiled more. You give him a reason to live. I think he was just existing before," said Ebba.

I couldn't help but smile. "You should tell him if you love him, and just so you know, I told him the same thing," she said.

I tried to hide the sheer glee I was feeling.

"Now, quit staring at my son and help him sharpen these darts," she said with a smirk and poked my arm slightly with a dull dart.

I rolled my eyes jokingly like she were my mother. I grabbed a handful of darts from her basket. We sat down and began scraping them across sharp rocks to make the points jagged. I had never known my mother as she had died when I was born, but I hoped she would have been somthing like Ebba.

As I finished the last dart, Nyx came running inside the fortress and grabbed her sword.

"What's going on?" asked Ebba.

"I spotted the Wizard in the forest close to the villages," she said through gasps of air.

Ebba jumped up from the floor, grabbed her flail off the wall, and ran to the stables with Nyx close behind.

I didn't have time to think; I grabbed my axes and ran to Luca. I quickly told him what I had witnessed, and he grabbed my hand, and we quickly went to the stables.

Once we had gotten on the horses, Nyx and Ebba were already ahead of us.

When we reached what I assumed was the Wizard, he was dressed in an old black pointy hat and a matching cloak. I couldn't see much of his face, but judging from his odor, he had been living in the wilderness for quite a long time.

Ebba looked down at him from her horse. "Today is your last day, Wizard."

I drew my axes, and Luca motioned for me to stop. "They have this one," he said, pointing to his mother.

Ebba took the flail from her hip and threw it in the direction of the man with the sword. The spikes tore into his side, and he screamed out in pain, then turned and faced her. In one fast motion, she jumped off her horse. He breathed in, and I could see his nostrils flaring and the red blood dripping from his side. He charged toward Ebba with his sword extended forward. She threw her flail into the air, and I watched as it came crashing down, the chains wrapping around the man's neck twice. He quickly dropped his sword, and I heard the man's neck snap under the pressure of the chains. He took his last breath and then fell to the ground, dead. Ebba pulled her weapon from the man's body and placed it back on her hip. She took her foot and moved the man's body to where it was face up, then spat on his face and walked away.

I was speechless, to say the least. I looked at Luca and whispered, "Who was that?"

Luca looked down at the ground. "We have been looking for him for years now. He stole Ebba's baby long ago."

"Did she ever find it?" I asked.

"No," said Luca.

"Oh," I replied.

Nyx walked behind Ebba, wrapped her arms around her neck, and placed her chin on Ebba's shoulders.

"They are all gone," whispered Nyx.

Ebba took both her hands and placed them on Nyx's arms and sighed.

Ebba looked at Luca and motioned for him to come close. Nyx let go of her shoulders and walked over to me.

Nyx, unlike Ebba, had very short red hair that she kept pulled back tight to her head.

Ebba grabbed Luca and held him tightly in her arms. Luca held her back and placed his head on her shoulders.

I leaned over to Nyx. "I feel like I missed something major," I said.

"That man took Ebba's youngest child for sacrifice to his gods... However, he is the last of his kind, and the wizards of Utuk are dead," said Nyx.

"That's awful," I said slowly.

"The child would have been almost 15 now," said Nyx.

"Was it a boy or a girl?" I asked.

Nyx smiled. "A girl, she was my neice. Ebba's husband was my dear older brother.

Luca took his sword from his side and sliced the man's head off his body.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to display this where the villages can see, with a sign that reads, 'The last Wizard of Utuk,'" replied Luca.

Ebba got on her horse. Her long pale braids had come undone from the top of her head and seemed to fall down her back like a waterfall. "Come with me, Lilith," she said.

I quickly hoisted myself back onto Saturn and came to her side.

We rode back to the fortress in silence for a while. Then she spoke up. "I can't live without knowing Luca is going to be safe," she said.

"I think that's very understandable," I said quietly.

"I know he would go above and beyond to keep others safe, but I need to know you will help keep him safe," she said.

I reached out and grabbed her horse's reins and looked her in the eyes. "I will keep him safe or die trying."

She grabbed my hand. "I believe you."