The Halfing

Chapter 6: Plans

The plan was a simple one: take the group of soldiers Janai and Amaya had brought and head for the fortress. There wasn't much else they could do. Runaan had gotten an idea of the place's layout but had no clue if there was more to it or how deep it went. They'd be setting out the next day as soon as Lujanne arrived (a message had been sent to her) and Ezran couldn't help but worry about Sarai. He'd poked his head into her room to check on her, only to find her asleep by the window instead of in her bed. Like the good uncle he was, he gently tucked her back under the covers.

"...Mama..." she mumbled in her sleep.

"You'll have her back soon," Ezran assured her. "I'll see you in the morning."

He exited his niece's room and headed back towards the stairs. On his way, he spotted that another door was slightly ajar. He was just going to close it when he saw through the crack that it was another bedroom—this one clearly Callum and Rayla's. Curiosity got the better of him and he opened it all the way to look around.

There were pictures in Callum's art style all around the room—of Sarai, of Runaan and Ethari, of Ezran, of everyone in their lives. One that particularly got Ezran's attention was one of a heavily-pregnant Rayla sitting on a chair with her hands on her belly. Beside it was a picture of Rayla sitting on a dock while watching Sarai in the water. So much loving detail had been put into every aspect of the drawings that it struck Ezran that this was real. His brother and sister-in-law had been kidnapped, ripped from their child by a cruel twist of fate and he wondered what had gone through Callum's mind before he told Sarai to run.

"Ya know, I raised Rayla from when she was a wee thing." Ezran turned to see Ethari in the doorway. "Yet the most terrified I've ever seen her was the day that she found out she was goin' ta be a mother."

"How did Callum take it?"

"He was shocked, then he almost lost consciousness, and then he was excited. Runaan didn't visit them throughout the pregnancy, at least nowhere near as often as I did."

He picked up a drawing of Sarai sitting on Runaan's shoulders.

"Rayla and Runaan like to say that Sarai's had Callum wrapped 'round her finger since the day she was born, but it started before that. Never seen a man so devoted to his child as that one."

"Well, that's Callum for you. We lost our mother when we were young, so my dad raised us until I was ten. After he died, it was Opeli, Corvus, Rayla, and Callum who got me to adulthood."

"I'm sorry that he..."

"He knew he wouldn't make it through the night. That's why he was going to send me and Callum away, but I'm glad that we were delayed in leaving. If we'd left on time... Callum and Rayla wouldn't have met and there would still be a war going on."

"It's a terrible thing ta think about."

"I know. But I keep thinking about it anyway because... it's only because of Callum and Rayla that I'm alive now. She refused to kill me as soon as I showed her Zym's egg because she thought it was pointless to take revenge for something that never happened."

Ethari set the picture back down and he and Ezran headed back downstairs.

It was going to be a long night.

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Claudia, thankfully, was the only visitor they had now that they were in the same cell. They never saw anyone else, not even Viren, and that struck both Callum and Rayla as odd. Not to mention their meals were slightly better now, too. Whenever they asked about what was going on, she'd dodge their questions and run off before they could ask again. She seemed worried about something—what, they had no idea. Until she came to their cell, panting heavily like she had just run all the way there.