Echoes of the Past

Chapter Thirty Seven - Part Two

Chapter Thirty Seven: Consequences - Part Two

Sam eyed him for a time, deciding if he should smack Castan or simply walk away. The man was a broken mess.

"We're done," Sam said. "Castan, I don't have time for your problems. And I won't make them my problems. We have bigger things to deal with than your bad judgement."

"I know, I know," Castan said quickly. "I know I messed up, bad. But I have nothing left. That's why I'm here. I've been going up and down these streets all morning waiting for you fellas to show up like you said you would. I'm here to help. I want to help."

Sam spared a look to his waiting companions and turned back to Castan. "What do you think this is? We're not sight-seeing. This is serious business. You can't help us, Castan. Just go home." He remembered that Castan had no home to go back to. His wife and son were dead. Sam sighed, feeling at a loss. He hated the hard edge to his own voice, and how it reminded him of his father.

"Please, Sam. I have nowhere else to go. You fellas are the closest I have to friends. I don't know what else to do."

Sam cursed under his breath and met Castan's eyes. "I'll deal with you later. You understand? But for now, we don't have time for any of this. We're going to bring Jaxx in, and that means a fight. All I need you to do is stay back. Far back. Okay? Under no circumstances are you to approach the iron forge."

Castan gave him a smile that creased his features. "I never deserved to meet you, Sam. Thank you."

Sam shook his head and headed back to James and Evan. There was far too much going on for him. His focus had to remain on Jaxx.

"Everything okay?" James asked.

"Oh, sure," Castan said. "To be honest I just built up a little loss in the casino, and I was hoping Sam could help me even it out."

"Oh," James said. "Yeah, I'm sure we can all help cover it, if it's not too much?"

Castan smiled greatly. "You are all good people."

"Our paths were meant to cross again," Evan said to Castan. "That is for a good reason. I have no doubt."

Sam guessed that if Evan passed a stranger in the street, and then saw the same person when he walked back down the street, he would consider it fate to see them again. He nodded briskly ahead. "Enough. Let's go."

As they walked, he explained to them that Castan would go as far as the end of the next street. James insisted on giving Castan his sat-com, and told him the code to call the Oneron outpost, if he needed to. Sam refrained from arguing against it. He began to feel like they would need all the help they could get.

Sam searched the streets as they walked, a part of him expecting to see Red Guards or armed men rushing towards them at any moment. He spared a glance at Evan beside him, and saw the Voarn was staring at him hard. As if he were trying to see through him. He had a distant look on him, like he wasn't even seeing Sam at all. Sam shook his head again as he turned away from Evan, trying not to think about it.

The heat of the day was smothering; causing a light sheen of sweat over Sam. Like Toolin, Riondon was not as protected against the desert sun as Tyken Town was. They came to the point where Castan would stay back, on a corner by a short building, two streets over from where they would head out into the open by the forge. Castan wished them luck, watching them with uneasy eyes as they left him. Sam focused ahead, his hands balled into loose fists, ready for anything.

They rounded a brick building and came out into the large open area, covering around sixty feet to the forge. The main tower loomed ahead, with the two connected shorter towers either side of it. The gravelled ground crunched under their boots.