Deliverance (20 page)

Blaze could not believe his ears. Was the
general actually thanking him for something?

“I seriously misjudged you;” Gavril
continued, “You must care a lot for Crystal to do such a
thing.”

“What? Why do you think I care about her?”
Blaze asked.

“Well, there is only one reason that a man
would take a nearly fatal knife wound for a woman,” Gavril
stated.

“And what reason is that?” Blaze asked.

Gavril shrugged his shoulders and replied,
“Because he values her life more than his own.”

Blaze laughed, much to Gavril’s surprise and
retorted, “Look, old man, I wasn’t thinking straight. I was
unarmed, moved without realizing it, and got stabbed. It was a
momentary lapse of judgment that almost got me killed.”

Gavril didn’t push the subject further.
Instead, he said, “Well then, I suppose you want to rest.” Then,
just when he was about to get up from his seat, Thaddeus entered
the room.

“Oh, I am sorry, did I interrupt?” the old
mage asked.

“Not at all;” replied Gavril, “Oh, good, I
see you’ve finished the tonic!”

Blaze then saw that Thaddeus was holding a
small bottle with green liquid inside.

“The what?” he asked.

“I’ve been preparing a special tonic for
you, Blaze;” Thaddeus replied, holding up the bottle, “It will make
your wound heal much faster. Here you are then, drink up!” Thaddeus
then approached Blaze’s bed and held out the bottle. After slowly
sitting up—and wincing from the pain of course—Blaze held out his
hand and hesitantly accepted the bottle from the old mage. He then
removed the cork and took a slight sniff with his nose.

Blaze jerked back after the strong scent of
the tonic made the inside of his nose burn slightly. He then
wrinkled his nose and muttered, “It’s . . . strong.”

“Yes, I apologize. It’s a work in progress,
but I assure you it will work well enough. Once I can figure out a
few more things, I will be able to make more tonics in the future
that are less overwhelming in smell;” Thaddeus explained, “Go on
then, drink up.”

Blaze hesitated again, but eventually took a
quick swallow. The liquid felt cool as it traveled down his throat
and became warm as it entered his stomach. After allowing the taste
to settle, Blaze said, “Hey, it’s not that bad. What’s in this
stuff anyway?” He then started drinking again.

“Well, I had to send for a few herbs from
the City of Magi, but there were a few herbs that grow here in the
mountains that I used. I also used a few I grow myself, like the
sap of a special Elven flower, spicy root . . .” Thaddeus
explained. He then paused for a moment and added, “Oh, and fairy
excrement!”

As soon as Thaddeus had uttered the last few
words, Blaze spit the liquid in his mouth across the room. Thaddeus
laughed loudly as Blaze gagged and wiped his tongue on his bed
sheets while Gavril shook his head and buried his face in his
hand.

“Relax lad! It was just a little joke!”
assured Thaddeus as he walked towards the door.

Blaze stared at the old mage in utter
disbelief.

“Oh,” Thaddeus said, stopping himself before
he left the room, “But I am sure it will please you to know that
Crystal helped me make the tonic.”

“What do you mean?” asked Blaze, trying to
hide his temper.

“Well, considering you jumped in front of a
knife for her . . .” the mage replied, trailing off at the end.

“Why does everyone assume that I have a
thing for Crystal?” asked Blaze, no longer hiding how annoyed he
was.

“I never said that, Blaze,” replied
Thaddeus. “You did.”

Before Blaze could respond, the old mage
began laughing again and left the room. Gavril tried in vain to
hold back a laugh. Blaze gave him a cold look, which made the
general clear his throat and try to stop again.

“Sorry Blaze;” Gavril said, “Thaddeus has .
. . an odd sense of humor.” He then choked back yet another
laugh.

Blaze lay back down and muttered, “He’s a
senile old coot.”

“Well that may be so, but Thaddeus means
well. And he only plays his silly jokes on people he likes. If the
rest of the rebels come to trust you as Thaddeus does, then that
tracking mark will no longer have to burden you. I can assure you
that you have gained my trust as well, and if I can learn to trust
you, everyone else here can,” Gavril said. He then rose from the
chair and added, “Well, I will let you sleep now. By tomorrow, you
should be able to at least get out of bed and stretch your legs.
Just finish drinking the potion so you can recover quicker,” He
then left the room in silence.

Blaze felt tired again, but could not bring
himself to close his eyes. Thoughts flooded his head in a confused
mess. Even he knew that his
lapse-of-judgment-and-won’t-happen-again theory was about as true
as Bogdan was a saint, but he couldn’t understand why he did what
he did. Could the others have been right?

All Blaze knew was that he desperately
needed a drink, and not the tonic he held in his hand. Still, he
sat up enough to swallow the last bit of liquid in the bottle in
hopes that he wouldn’t need to be in bed much longer. After all the
crap the rebels had put him through, he was going to need an entire
barrel of ale.

****

Gavril wasn’t kidding when he said Blaze
would be able to get out of bed by the next day. In fact, Blaze was
well enough to walk around the hideout almost normally, aside from
the fact that moving his left arm too much made him feel sore. He
didn’t even need to wear bandages anymore because the gash in his
side was already almost sealed up. Even his ribs, which he was told
were broken and cracked in some places by the impact, seemed to
have healed already. Even so, Thaddeus advised him against training
for about a week. Blaze’s clothes had also been covered in blood,
so Gavril had given him another shirt to wear. This one had long
sleeves and was cream white in color, and Blaze wore it with his
usual trousers and boots.

Even though Blaze had nothing to do, he was
just happy to have a chance to get out of bed. He exercised his
legs by walking around the hideout, but he was not just doing it
for fun. He still could not grasp the reason for why he jumped in
front of the knife for Crystal, and he needed to talk her not only
about that, but also about why she kissed his cheek.

To his annoyance, every time Blaze asked
someone where Crystal was, they smiled and sometimes chuckled
before telling him that they didn’t know. He also kept running into
people that constantly thanked him everywhere he went. Why the hell
are they thanking me? I didn’t save them, he thought.

By the time night fell, it seemed like
Crystal had vanished from the face of the earth. Blaze checked
everywhere, and no one had seen her in hours. When he finally
became fed up with asking everyone, Blaze decided to look on his
own, but after crossing the hideout back and forth four times, he
still couldn’t find her.

It was when he cocked his head back to moan
in frustration that he noticed something silhouetted against the
moon. It was a cliff that he did not remember seeing before, and on
top of it lay an enormous white tree. On one of the branches, Blaze
could see what looked like a person sitting upright.

Could it be her? he thought. Blaze decided
that since he checked everywhere else, he might as well give this
new area a shot. He ventured in the direction of the cliff, all the
while checking frequently to make sure that the figure he saw was
still there, and eventually found a path that led uphill towards
the cliff. It was hidden behind a warehouse that he had checked
inside several times, but obviously he missed the path before. He
began to walk upward, never taking his eyes off of the tree.

As he came closer to his destination, he
could see that the white on the tree was made up of thousands of
flowers that decorated it. The night wind blew stray petals that
lightly brushed across his face and danced around his feet.
Finally, Blaze’s suspicions were confirmed when he was close enough
to identify the figure as Crystal. She must have heard him
approach, because she turned her head and faced him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I should ask you the same question;”
replied Blaze, stopping a few feet before her, “Being a loner isn’t
your style.”

Crystal turned around, dropped to the ground
from the tree branch, and landed on her feet. She then walked to
the edge of the cliff. From where he was standing, Blaze could see
more of the Dwarven Mountains in the distance and what looked like
the ocean several miles beyond them.

The wind began blowing Crystal’s hair behind
her, which took Blaze’s focus away from the scenery. He couldn’t
help but take a few steps forward, but even though he was
intrigued, something in the back of his mind made him keep his
distance.

“I come here every now and then when I feel
sad or lonely;” Crystal said without facing Blaze, “My parents used
to have an enormous white tree like this one in the castle gardens,
and my mother would often read to me while I sat on my father’s lap
on a bench underneath the tree. Coming here makes me feel like they
are still around, and it comforts me.”

“Why would you feel alone? You have no
reason to,” replied Blaze.

Crystal turned around and said, “What are
you talking about?”

“Hell, you have all of Cierith following you
the end. You have friends out the ass who worship you, and I must
have been thanked by every rebel in this damned hideout at least
twice since this morning, so they obviously highly regard you. The
only reason I ever got that kind of respect was because my father
scared everyone into giving it to me, but then he dropped me like
garbage when he had no more use for me! If anything, I should be
the one who—” Blaze suddenly stopped and trailed off.

Crystal’s faced softened and she suddenly
walked toward him. His head was telling him to back away, but
something else that was unknown to him was urging him to step
forward. Caught in a struggle between the two forces, Blaze’s feet
remained planted firmly to the ground.

Crystal then wrapped her arms around Blaze
and held him. The first time she had done this in Ordale, Blaze
felt too proud to return the gesture, but this time, he found
embracing her back. Even though he did it hesitantly, he could tell
that Crystal appreciated the gesture, because she held him tighter
when he did it.

“No matter who you are, who you associate
yourself with, or however happy you may be, everyone feels lonely
at some point,” Crystal whispered into his shirt. She then released
her hold on Blaze, looked up at him, and said, “But sometimes, you
just need to know that someone is there for you in order to feel
better.”

Unsure of how to respond, Blaze silently
stepped back and leaned against the tree trunk. His chest hurt,
though he didn’t understand why. Then he remembered that he wanted
to ask Crystal about the kiss, so he used that as an excuse to
change the subject.

“By the way,” he began, “I wanted to ask you
why you kissed my cheek yesterday?” His face suddenly grew hot with
embarrassment, but then he saw Crystal’s face turn red in unison
and she suddenly looked away.

“I’m so sorry!” she stammered, “I really
don’t know what came over me!”

“Don’t worry about it. I was just curious;
it didn’t bother me,” Blaze replied quickly, trying to calm her
down. He then turned away from the tree to hide his
embarrassment.

“Well I guess I wasn’t really thinking;”
said Crystal, “I just wanted to thank you, and for some reason,
that was the best way I could think of.”

Blaze turned back around to see her leaning
against the tree trunk and staring at the ground. He suddenly had
an amused look form on his face as he said, “Funny, I suppose we
aren’t so different after all. I impulsively save your life, and
you impulsively thank me by kissing me.”

Crystal gave out a little laugh. Blaze found
himself staring at her smile and in a way, it made him feel better
knowing that he put it on her face.

“I guess you’re right, Blaze,” she muttered.
Crystal then looked right at him, and even though he felt like a
weirdo when he was staring at her, he still didn’t look away.
Before he knew it, his feet were moving, carrying him closer to
her. Even when he felt he could control his movements, he still
didn’t stop. The unknown force that opposed the feelings in his
head seemed to have won control over his body.

When Blaze’s face was finally inches from
Crystal’s, he stopped momentarily after placing his hand gently on
her waist and whispered, “But for future reference, I would have
preferred this kind of ‘thank you.’”

When he saw that Crystal’s puzzled
expression soften and she stayed her ground, Blaze tenderly cupped
her face with his free hand, leaned closer, and without any further
hesitation, kissed her lips.

For a split second that seemed like hours,
he could hear his heartbeat ringing in his ears. What the hell are
you doing? his mind screamed at him, but his mind, along with the
rest of his body, relaxed when he felt Crystal’s lips move with his
and her arms wrap around his waist.

Blaze then inched his hand down Crystal’s
hip, pushed his body closer to her, and pressed her against the
tree trunk. Crystal moved her arms from Blaze’s waist and wrapped
them around his neck. After his body was relaxed and the kiss felt
more natural, Blaze then slipped his tongue into Crystal’s mouth.
He felt her wince, but it seemed that it was only because she
didn’t expect it. Her body soon relaxed again and she pulled Blaze
closer.

After about a minute, their lips finally
pulled apart and they stared at each other silently.

Blushing, Crystal finally whispered, “I’ll
remember that for next time.”