The Legend of Valtera: Chapter 23
Kael froze mid-step. This couldn’t be possible, he thought. But he knew. He didn’t know how, but he knew this boy was Carr. The sunny boy skipping down the road was Prea’s little brother, the one she had died trying to save. He was a ball of energy, that was for sure. Kael just watched as Carr stopped and turned, calling out to the red-haired woman.
“Beda…” Carr cut off, the name dying on his lips. His eyes had caught sight of Kael and now he was staring. Kael’s heart stopped; the resemblance to Prea was striking, except for the eyes. Carr didn’t have her grassy green eyes.
Carr remained like a statue, gaze fixed on Kael, their eyes locked. The red-haired woman reached him. “Carr, what’s wrong?” She laid a hand on the child’s shoulder and turned to see what had captured his attention. “What are you looking at?”
The boy took a tentative step in Kael’s direction, ignoring the woman’s questions. He walked steadily towards Kael, stopping about ten feet away.
“Kael?” Carr wondered, a quizzical look on his face. Kael’s shock stopped both his mind and his heart for a second. How did this boy know his name? The same way he knew it was Carr, Kael supposed.
“How…how are you awake?” Kael stammered finally. “Prea said you were unconscious. She went all that way to wake you up.”
“She’s not coming home, is she?” Carr asked reluctantly, as if he hadn’t spoken.
“No, she’s not,” Kael replied sadly. “When…when you did you wake up?”
“A few days ago,” Carr muttered quietly.
Beda had followed Carr, her eyes narrowing as suspicion entered her expression. “Carr, honey. Who’s this? What’s going on?” Carr never behaved like this. He had been bubbly and energetic five minutes ago and the sudden change had sparked Beda’s concern.
Kael turned his gaze to Beda and held out his hand. “Hello. My name is Kael. I’m a friend of Prea’s,” he said, by way of introduction and explanation. He still had no idea how Carr knew who he was or what was going on. All Kael was prepared to do was help Carr, so he hadn’t thought much about what he was going to say or do. But now that Carr was clearly healthy, words failed him.
Beda’s head jerked back in surprise and she glanced down at Carr before turning back to Kael. “I’m Beda,” she murmured in greeting. “Have you seen Prea recently? Do you know where she is? When she’ll be back?”
He didn’t know how to do this, didn’t know how to give such terrible news. He barely accepted what he saw, was still reeling from it all and now he had to fulfill his promise to Prea and help her family. He looked uncomfortable, eyes swinging back and forth between Carr and Beda, as he tried to form his answer.
“Prea…there was an accident,” Kael muttered, stumbling over the words as tears formed. “She fell…she’s gone. I’m so sorry.”
“What do you mean, gone?” Beda countered sharply. “She can’t be gone? She…” Beda’s voice broke. She fell to the ground, grabbing Carr, unsure of his reaction. But Carr was calm, unusually composed. “Carr, honey, are you okay?” Beda asked him, now crying quietly.
“She told me, Beda. She told me about Kael, about everything. She said everything will be all right,” Carr explained slowly. “And I believe her, Beda. Everything is going to be all right.” Kael couldn’t believe that this boy, one who had just lost the closest thing he had left to a parent, was more concerned with consoling his sister’s friend.
“Who told you, Carr?” Beda asked, clearly confused.
“Prea did,” Carr answered simply. “I…I saw her before I woke up and she explained it all. She said we shouldn’t be sad, that she is always going to look after us.” He turned to Kael. “She told me about you. That you were coming. That you’re part of our family now.” Carr’s blue eyes met Kael’s with the innocence and complete acceptance of a child.
Kael was dumbfounded and overwhelmed. He dropped to the ground, clutching his head in his hands. He’d been angry with Prea. She had promised that he could count on her, that she would be there for him. Then she broke that promise and left him. He knew it wasn’t her fault, but he felt abandoned nonetheless. And here she hadn’t abandoned him after all, but was keeping her promise even after she was gone.
She’d given him her family, people he could count on. And in turn, she gave him to her family.
He was jolted out of his pain when Beda gently pried his hand from his face and held it in her own. “You didn’t just know her…” Beda guessed.
“No, I didn’t just know her. I love her. I’ll always love her,” Kael quietly confessed.
Carr patted Kael lightly on the shoulder. “Prea loves you, too. She always will.”
* * *
The three made it to the Reed family home, but the house felt as though all the air had been sucked out, leaving the inhabitants emotionally and physically depleted. Carr and Kael took seats at the kitchen table while Beda began fiddling around the room, keeping herself busy as she cried softly. Kael couldn’t stop either, leaving Carr the only one composed.
“What happened here?” he asked, now that his mind was working again. “Since Prea left. I expected to find Carr in a deep sleep. How did he wake?”
Beda took a moment before she finally answered his question. “We…we actually don’t really know what happened,” she said. “A few days ago, he just woke up out of the blue as if nothing had happened.”
“And you have no idea why?” Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised, he had seen a lot the past few months that defied explanation.
“None. Not even Alvie has a clue. But then again, we don’t know what was wrong with him to begin with.”
“Maybe it happened when Prea got the stone,” Kael wondered quietly.
“She got the stone?” Beda asked surprised. “You found it?”
“Of course Prea found it,” Carr muttered, but the others ignored him.
“Yes, we found it. But that was…a few weeks ago. Would that make sense?”
“I have no idea. I can’t believe it,” Beda admitted, shaking her head. “I’ve always trusted Prea and, basically if anyone were to find it, it would have been her.”
“You never believed in it either?”
“Well, that’s…complicated. My family, not to mention Dal’s, were never big believers in the legend. It was a story, that was it.” She paused, wiping away tears. “And then there were the Reeds.”
“What about us?” Carr wondered.
“Unlike Dal who remains a skeptic to this day, I was influenced by the Reeds, the more time I spent with them. Isa believed in it all. It was…an experience to hear her tell the story. And it wasn’t just the story of the legend, she added details, elaborated on the history of Valtera. It was amazing.”
“I miss Mama’s stories,” Carr murmured sadly.
“I know you do, cricket,” Beda said. “Anyway, after enough time, they made me believe in the legend and other possibilities. Most of our childhood was spent playing in the woods and on the cliff pretending to be Delmare and Aldera. Alvie and Dal would join in sometimes. We had so much fun pretending we were from the heavens and had powers over the land.”
“How come we never played that?” Carr asked.
“Because we were too old once you came around,” Beda answered indulgently before turning back to Kael. “But then I came of age and started working at my parents’ store. Reality set in and I stopped giving it much thought. The story became a legend again, but there was always a part of me that, because of the Reeds, believed in the possibility.”
Kael considered Beda’s story and realized it was much like his own. The more time he had spent with Prea, he hadn’t necessarily believed in the stone, but he believed in the possibility of the stone. He believed in her. “Maybe the closer I brought the stone, the better he got?” Kael said, still trying to work it out.
“Who knows? We’re in a whole other realm here and the only one who understood any of it, is the one who isn’t here,” Beda explained her voice breaking on the last part, tears still falling.
“Would Alvie have any ideas? Now that we know the stone is real?”
“Perhaps. But she didn’t believe it was real either. She thought Prea was crazy for going after it.”
“I know. Prea told me.”
She studied the stranger sitting in her kitchen. “You knew her well.”
He nodded. “I’d like to think I did.”
Beda began to make tea. “What happened? What happened to Prea?”
Kael eyed the boy sitting across from him. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin Carr’s memory of Prea. He didn’t want to burden him with the knowledge of her final moments and risk him imagining her death. Prea had gone days without eating or sleeping because the image of Leal’s last moment had been too much for her. He didn’t want to do the same thing to Carr, or anyone for that matter.
“I’m not sure how much I should say. I don’t want to make things worse for anyone,” Kael muttered quietly. He was waiting for a signal, permission from this boy to divulge the details of his sister’s death. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that he would ever be in a situation such as this. Kael didn’t want to remember that day or her face or how her last words had been that she loved him.
Carr nodded minutely. That was enough for Kael.
He sighed and steeled himself. “We were coming back over the mountains near the border between Alder and Nodin. The air was frigid and we were climbing down an icy glacier. She sneezed, slipped on the ice and fell to the ground. I was downhill ahead of her. She got to her feet but rested for a minute. The summer sun must have melted the ice. It began to crack and the ground below her shattered,” Kael whispered, choking on the words. This was without a doubt the most difficult thing he had ever done or would do in his life. “She fell, but managed to hold on to the edge for a little while. The rest of the ice broke under her arms and she disappeared.” The images of her face from that day raced through his mind over and over. Kael released a quiet sob.
Carr’s composure finally dissolved and tears rolled down his face. Beda had turned away and stood, staring out the window as the kettle whistled loudly.
“I’m so sorry,” Kael exclaimed. “I should have done something more to save her. But she wanted nothing more than to see you safe.”
The boy was wise beyond his years, seemingly taking everything in stride. “There was nothing more you could do. You kept her safe,” Carr said reassuringly.
* * *
The shroud of darkness descended outside before any noise reached the front door. Alvie and Dal were laughing when they crossed the threshold hand in hand. Three heads lifted in unison and turned toward the doorway, as they waited for Alvie and Dal to enter the kitchen. The couple stopped in their tracks when they saw the group sitting quietly at the table. Smiles vanished and happiness fled as the two deduced that something was unbelievably wrong.
“What’s going on?” Alvie asked anxiously. “Beda…Carr, who is this?”
Beda stood and took a step towards the pair who hadn’t moved from the doorway. Alvie immediately took a step back and held up her free hand. “Stop, Beda. What’s going on? What’s wrong? Just tell me.”
“Alvie, this is Kael…he,” Beda stammered. She was never at a loss for words, always got right to the point and tact wasn’t exactly her strong suit. But right now, she couldn’t get the words out. “He knew Prea,” she finished softly.
Alvie’s face was a kaleidoscope as confusion hit first, followed by a spark of fear before reluctant realization crept in. Her icy eyes were wide, her lips framed the word no, her head shook back and forth and her grip tightened on Dal’s hand. Dal reached the same conclusion, though quicker, and his face lost all color until it was snow white in understanding.
“Beda, you said ‘knew’,” Alvie choked out, eyes welling with unshed tears. “You said he knew Prea. What happened? Where is she?”
“There was an accident, Alvie,” Beda explained. “Prea…she fell. She’s gone, honey.”
“No…” Alvie sobbed. “That can’t be. She can’t be gone.”
Dal was prepared and caught Alvie as her legs gave out and they slumped to the floor together. He pulled her close, wrapped her tight in his arms as she sobbed on his shoulder. His hand stroked her back soothingly and his own tears streamed down his cheeks.
The similarities were striking as the scene mirrored the night Dal told Prea about her father and Leal. He had been there for her, catching her as she collapsed to the ground in grief. Just like Prea, Alvie had now lost the last person who had looked out for her, her last guardian on this land and in this life. She had lost her sister, her friend and her guide. This time, though, Alvie wasn’t furious; now she just felt completely alone. Carr was her only family now and she was the responsible one. She had to look after him, raise him, be his parent, his sister and his entire family.
There was nothing to be done. Beda, Kael and Carr couldn’t do anything to help Alvie or Dal. They could only wait for the emotions to play out.
