Part 42: Epilogue
After a few days, Arka was well enough to travel. The two menkis had gone on ahead to rescue Erelenga and report to Lolitra. Rell had left with Sarine as she needed to get back to her boys.
Aerianna found Arka, tidying her parents’ grave.
“Are you all right, Arka?”
Arka nodded. “Where is Einnol?”
“He is with Andoryn. They are taking a look around.”
“How is he? I was worried that meeting Sudisir might have affected him.”
Aerianna smiled. “You needn’t worry, Arka. Einnol is a lot stronger than you think. It was just the shock of hearing his voice, I think. He seems to be back to normal again.”
Arka nodded. “I was amazed he let Andoryn use her magick. He’s normally so sceptical about all that.”
“We were all surprised. To start with, he tried to make out that you were just ill and he needed to help you. Sarine and I were to keep guard, away from the forge in case there was any trouble. It wasn’t very convincing. Rell managed to get it out of him that Sudisir was after you. We thought he had killed you, Arka. It was terrible.”
“I thought he wanted to kill me too,” agreed Arka, “But in the end…”
“Well, we all thought Sudisir was likely to be armed with magick, so Andoryn argued that it would be better to disarm him with a spell before Einnol led an attack. But when Einnol lost his nerve, it took us all by surprise.”
“Poor Einnol, it must have been a real shock hearing that voice again. He must have thought he was losing his mind.”
“Honestly, Arka, he seems fine now,” said Aerianna. She fell silent for a while, just looking at the gravestone with the carved runes. “I’m sorry about what happened here,” she said at length.
“So am I.”
“I still don’t understand how you can forgive him, Sudisir, I mean.”
“Neither do I,” Arka smiled, “But sometimes you have to put your personal feelings aside. Greater issues were at stake.”
She re-arranged the posy of flowers in the earthenware jar and made sure it was firmly planted in the ground.
“You made a good job of the headstone,” said Aerianna, feeling a little uncomfortable.
Arka looked up, surprised. “That’s odd. Sudisir said something very similar. He said I’d made a good job repairing it.”
She stood up and walked around the grave. Running her fingers along the smooth surface of the stone, she was amazed to find faint cracks running along the face. They had been expertly repaired, so that the join was almost invisible.
“Look at this, Aeri. The stone has been repaired. I wonder who did it.”
“Aerianna took a close look. It looks like its been done by magick. You could hardly tell. Nothing is as it seems.”
Arka didn’t answer. Aerianna’s words had opened up old memories. Her, floating in a sphere of light in the Temple in Hydlaa; balloons and streamers at her birthday party; and a hunt, many, many years ago, with a tefusang fur beard that kept coming unstuck. And most of all, a good friend who had always been there for her. A very special dwarf, strong in will and adept in the Ways. And now she knew who had repaired the headstone, of its crack, its ‘frakkert’ you could say. Just as she and Sudisir had, she hoped, repaired the Rodfrakkert. And that, too, was a kind of magick.
It would soon be time for her to return to Hydlaa, a journey she had made many times before. She looked up at the brightening sky, tears springing to her eyes. “Thank you Pinante,” she said, “wherever you are. Garamdor, Eldamart, garamdor.”
END
Arka put down her quill and looked at the pile of papers stacked neatly on her desk. She wondered what to do next. The tale was finished, but a new chapter in her life was beginning. Maybe a walk would do her good. Now her strength was returning, she might risk a hunt in a day or two. She opened the shutters of her study window and gazed out over the smoking chimneys of East Hydlaa. It was a clear, brisk morning, and the hills looked so close you could almost touch them. Why wait another day?
She opened her desk drawer and took out the knife Zorbels had given her, Crossing the room, she carefully lifted her Great Axe from its mountings above the fire, and briefly wondered what had happened to its twin. She hoped that Sudisir would keep it to remember his time in Yliakum. More than ever, she hoped there would be no more Dwafish blood spilled. Pulling her cloak around her she clattered down the steps and into the cold morning.
"Watch out, Trepors," she said to herself, "Arka's back!"
[To all of you who made it to the end: A very happy holiday and a glorious new year!]
Arka
