SCARRED; The Dark Tower

Chapter Five: Troubling Thoughts

Birds sang in the trees above Reirdan's head as he leaned over the side of the the bridge to look down into the rippling water below. As he stared at the reflection of his face in the water, his heart ached with the memories that flooded his mind. He tried to fight them away, but they penetrated his defenses and bombarded his mind.

One face came to mind when he closed his eyes. The beauty of the young woman's face brought him only longing and pain.

"Good evening," a voice came from behind him. The face disappeared and Reirdan turned to see Lekira watching him with a friendly smile. "Isn't it beautiful out?"

"How's the boy?" Reirdan asked, ignoring her question. He prefered to avoid such idle conversation as speaking of the weather.

"Jerrick?" Lekira's smile disappeared. "I believe he's finally remembered what happened to him. He woke up this afternoon from a dream and it took me several long minutes trying to calm him down."

"It's strange, don't you think?" Reirdan murmured. "That this boy - Jerrick, I believe you said his name was? - is a valterus and we never knew about him."

Lekira was silent. By the look on her face, the same thought seemed to have passed through her mind. Valteri could feel when a new valterus was born, and they could usually tell where as well - a gift given to them so they could find the new valterus soon enough before they could cause problems. But for Jerrick...

"He's about, what, fifteen?" asked Reirdan.

"I believe so," replied Lekira with a nod.

Reirdan closed his eyes and thought for a minute.

"The only acknowledgement of a newborn valterus I had around that time - besides the ones we found - was..." Reirdan said slowly as the realization struck him.

The realization seemed to have struck Lekira as well, for her eyes widened and she finished his sentence.

"That striking feeling that the chosen one had been born," she whispered. Reirdan nodded.

"When it struck me," continued Lekira, now talking speedily, "I could not sense where he - or she, as I did not then know which at the time - had been born, like I had for other valteri. I figured that I must have simply imagined the feeling, or I had simply gone mad. But then, that morning, you told me that you had felt the same thing!"

"And so I had," Reirdan nodded. "And I too could not sense where he had been born."

"So... Jerrick must be the chosen one!" cried Lekira. "It would explain why those creatures attacked the town, don't you think?"

"To think," Reirdan said grimly, "he was right underneath my nose the whole time. I have no doubt that if he is in fact a valterus, he is the chosen one. How else could none of us - not even Master Aragus! - sense where he was?"

"There is only one person who would know for sure. And she lives leagues away."

"For now, we can only wait and see. And train him. For if he is a valterus, he already has a disadvantage, having supposed to have started his training at least five years ago."

Lekira's shocked expression switched to crestfallen as she stared out into the distance. It was apparent that she had also been thinking of this earlier. If Jerrick was already fifteen, he was already way behind on his training. Most of the valteri around his age were already apprentices, and he was just now getting to Derelda.

Leave it to Lekira to immediately think about the troubling things, Reirdan thought to himself. Lekira was always one to think of the worst and to feel pity for everyone.

"I will go ask Master Aragus what he thinks about it all," Lekira said quietly.

As Reirdan watched her make her way up the hill away from the stream, he reminded himself of the young woman's past. He was not the only one who had a past filled with pain. When Lekira had disappeared over the hill, Reirdan turned toward the water again to become lost in thought once more.