The Great War: Chapter 58
Return what was taken
A healer was on the scene a lot faster than Isaac expected. They rushed to the kidnapper’s side, managing to push through the panicked crowd in record time. But no being approaches poor Anora, and if that kidnapper manages to get back up soon…
Isaac steps forward. She can’t be left alone, lest some other being comes along to drag her away.
“Isaac!” Ishtar calls after him, anxiousness swirling in her mind. Anya, too, fears for his involvement in such a strange situation, even as the two girls remain unaware that he already involved himself in the first place.
He approaches the distressed child, whom stares up at him with fearful eyes. Her hair is a wild mess and her face glistening from her rolling tears. On the surface, she doesn’t appear physically hurt, just emotionally distressed.
“Hi, there,” he says calmly, bending down to get to her eye level. “Where’s your dad?”
Anora hiccups, her words caught in her throat. After everything that’s happened, she doesn’t trust him. Fair enough. She’s also wondering where her dad went. He was right here… keeps cycling through her head.
“Is that your dad?” Isaac asks instead, gesturing to the kidnapper.
Anora shakes her head furiously, another wave of water pouring from her red eyes.
“Can you tell me your dad’s name, then?”
“Mm…” she grunts. She clasps her hands together in front of her and squeezes them tightly. Wordlessly, she recites Edwin’s name countless times, but she has yet to speak it aloud, and he doesn’t want to scare her any further than she is now by revealing that he already knows.
Then again, it’s not like he’s doing a good job at calming Anora down. She shakes her head and leans away from him, trying very poorly to shrink away, no matter how small she wants desperately to become.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Ishtar hums, appearing by Isaac’s side. She’s still having a bit of a hard time wrapping her mind around the whole situation, but what she does know is that Anora here is clearly lost and needs caring for. She also knows that Isaac has already done a horrible job thus far in providing the child that care. Ishtar slowly extends one of her hands towards Anora’s face. At first, the child steps away from her gesture. The two freeze for a brief moment, staring at one another quietly. Ishtar flashes the child a sympathetically kind smile.
“What’s your name?” Ishtar asks.
“…Anora…” Anora answers.
Ishtar smiles ever so slightly brighter at little Anora. “What a magical name.” A small grin slips past Anora’s distressed face, but it quickly fades away as she averts her eyes from the strange woman in front of her.
“Where’s your dad?” she asks the child next. Anora shrugs back.
Growing antsy, Isaac casts his gaze to the healer and kidnapper behind him. He doesn’t want to linger here any longer than they have to, especially with Anora here.
“We should get going,” he warns, gesturing to the downed kidnapper. “He’s not her father.”
“Figures,” Anya comments quietly nearby, observing from a small distance away. She wants to approach Anora, too, but has decided that it’s best not to crowd the little girl any more than she already is. “Should we go find her father, then?”
“Would you like that?” Ishtar asks, extending her hand out to Anora just a little bit more, inviting her to take it. “Would you like us to take you back to your dad?”
It takes a moment for Anora to move. Her mind is still racing, but with her childish naivete, she perks up at the thought of being reunited with Captain Edwin once more. So she takes Ishtar’s hand with a nod and a timid smile of thanks, and together the four of them quickly rush away from the hectic scene.
Once the oppressive cluster of onlookers are put well behind them, they slow their pace and join the flow of the pedestrians. The two elder sisters flank Anora protectively, with Isaac leading the way down the pier.
“Kidnapping a child…” Anya breathes in horror. She stares at Ishtar in disbelief and heartbreak. “Her father must be panicking…”
“A monster,” Ishtar nods, turning her attention to the quiet Anora. “Don’t worry. That man won’t be coming back.”
A small glimmer of happiness swirls inside Anora, though it’s drowned out by the shock of all that she’s been through thus far. She’s still wondering where her dad went after rescuing her.
Even for his first time creating an illusion of that type, knowing full well that he’d struggle to keep up the appearance for any length of time, he still can’t help but feel bad for letting his shock get the better of him and ending the spell early. He’s only confused her even more. Maybe he shouldn’t have even summoned the visage of her dad in the first place.
“What does your dad do?” Ishtar inquires gently.
“Boats…” Anora replies in a quiet voice, so soft that the single word can hardly even be heard over the din of the beings around them.
“Boats?” Ishtar hums back. Anora nods, confirming that she heard right. “Does he build them?” Silence. “Does he buy them?” Nothing. “Does he sail them?” The question sparks Anora’s mind, for the answer to it is yes, but she remains tight-lipped all the same.
“Where are we going, Isaac?” Anya asks. “Do you know who her father is?”
Isaac purses his lips. If he answers positively, he’ll have to make up a story as to how he knows. If he answers negatively, he’ll have to make an excuse for why they’re wandering the way that they are.
“Yes…” he replies carefully, not daring to turn and meet Anya’s gaze. “She… is the daughter of some being aboard the Erima.”
Anya’s somewhat surprised by the fact that Isaac remembers such a small piece of information, which he finds to be mildly interesting as he was expecting her to first question how he even knew in the first place. “The Erima? Really?”
“Some of the sailors were talking about their families and her name was brought up,” Isaac lies. “Anora is a pretty unique name.”
The others are silent. Inside, each one is thankful for him sharing this information. They at least know where to start looking for the child’s father. Anora is the most uplifted. A warm glow of hope ignites in her heart as she stares up at his back.
So they continue down the pier in silence, letting Anora regain her bearings on the world in the care of Ishtar and Anya. She’s slowly starting to like the two wizards. The orange one has a pretty dress and braid, and the blue one looks very warm and hugable.
And the yellow one… She doesn’t have many thoughts about him. He looks weird in his yellow and white outfit, and his golden eyes unnerve her. Everything about him makes her anxious. The only good thing she somewhat likes is his smooth voice. And he’s fine with that.
Finally, the Erima comes into view, its high masts towering over all the other ships around it. But there’s a dark cloud hanging over the large ship. Its ropes and watchtower are crawling with crew. It doesn’t look like there’s any beings on the deck below working away. The closer they get, the louder their thoughts become.
Yes, they’re all worried. Extremely worried. The moment Captain Edwin realized Anora was gone, he called for all hands to scour the pier at once in the hope that she hadn’t gone too far away. Edwin himself is somewhere in the crowd, though he’s nowhere nearby; Isaac can’t sense his mind. But he’s worried. Worried, and also furious.
“There it is,” Isaac announces, pointing to the ship in the near distance. Anora’s eyes light up with excitement. The fact that she recognizes the ship herself is a good sign. She pulls Ishtar’s arm, starting forward with newfound energy.
“This way!” she urges.
“Hey, alright!” Ishtar laughs, letting the child drag her along. Anya can’t help but let out a soft chuckle and follows close behind the two with a light jog. Though she doesn’t get far before she turns back to call, “Isaac?”
Isaac stares back at her blankly, coming to a stop. It takes a moment for her to start wondering why he stopped instead of following behind.
“Go on,” he tells her. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“…Alright,” Anya replies, reluctantly returning to her chase after Anora and Ishtar. He understands why she’s so confused. Isaac… isn’t ready to face Edwin. If and when Anora tells him about him coming along to save her and asking him where he went afterwards, he’ll get suspicious. They all will.
An illusion that good cannot be made from simple visual observations alone. At least, that’s what he assumes. And he’s not ready to explain all his issues to any being just yet.
Just yet…
He huffs and trudges through the crowd. Just yet. Those are the key words. He will reveal everything eventually, and every being will know. It’s only a matter of time. He just doesn’t want that moment to be now.
There’s shouting from the Erima, and following it a loud bell tolls with joyful enthusiasm. Most beings don’t pay the sudden noise any mind, but there are those that break away from the crowd’s flow, being drawn back to the sound with smiles on their faces and hope in their hearts. If the bell is ringing, then that must mean that Anora has been found and returned. There’s no need for the rest of the crew to look further.
This calls the Captain back in a heartbeat, his panicked mind pushing out all others. His daughter is at the forefront of all his concerns as he rushes back to his ship, eager to see her again.
“Anora!” his joyous cry rings out mere moments later. The Captain scoops up his child and hugs her tightly. Anora’s short arms hug him back, a new stream of tears overtaking her. Confused yet happy tears.
Isaac takes his time approaching the ship’s boarding plank as Edwin turns to Anya and Ishtar.
“Thank you both,” he says. It’s all he can think of to say. His thoughts are too muddled to thank them properly from the bottom of his heart. He turns back to his daughter and thinks, What am I going to do with you now?
The king is coming in but three cycles. Edwin is expecting to set sail once more. But he can’t leave Anora home all alone, and he doesn’t know who to turn to. In his mind, Ica has only grown more dangerous with the sudden influx of refugees.
“Are you okay, my little star?” he asks Anora. Throat choked, Anora nods back slowly. She’s just happy to be back in her father’s arms. “That’s good…” he breathes.
“I didn’t know you had a child,” Anya comments with a soft smile.
Edwin slowly puts Anora back down onto the ship’s deck and patting her head. “She’s no secret of mine.” A brief sting of sadness stabs at Edwin’s heart, but no thought comes to mind to explain it. Isaac doesn’t feel like invading the Captain’s privacy any more than he already has to find out why.
As much as there is relief in the air, there is also anxiousness. With such an attempt made to steal Anora away, as much as the crew dreads it, they all know now that she needs some being watching over her at all times. Not even the pier is safe for her to wander around alone anymore.
Isaac taps the side of his leg lightly. He sees the dilemma. Anora needs a caretaker. The crew don’t want to do it, and the Captain can’t. He can’t help but blow a heavy breath through barred teeth. He really doesn’t want to get more involved with this whole situation, and yet it feels as though the universe has forced his involvement for one reason or another. That reason being… well, this.
He makes his way up onto the ship, standing by the boarding plank timidly as he waves to his two companions still admiring the little Anora clinging quietly to her father’s leg.
“Captain,” he nods to Edwin first before turning to Anya and Ishtar. “Okay, she’s back now. Let’s go.”
He doesn’t mean to sound so curt, but he wants to leave Edwin to his problems and get back to his day of doing mostly nothing, waiting patiently for his cycle to come where he is called to the castle. He likes that. He doesn’t need to get more involved in all of this mess any more than he already has.
The universe, however, seems to have a different plan in store for him…
My first novel, Shadowbound, is available for purchase in eBook, paperback, and hardcover formats. Buy Shadowbound from Amazon by clicking the button below. Thank you!