Adelfried

  Adelfried was as empty as the wooden bowl in front of him. He stared through it as the terrible events from earlier in the day ran through his head like a nightmare. The charred and distorted bodies merged with the bloody battlefield of his youth. The deafening silence seemed to stretch on forever until the faint sound of metal clapping against wood found its way to his ears. It was the sound of chopping vegetables.

  “Addy! Did you not hear me?” It was his wife, Leyna. “What are you going to do?” She stirred the pot before stopping to taste the fish stew she was preparing. His wife’s porcelain face, dotted with brown freckles, frowned at him. “Talk to me.”

  Sweet Leyna, his only true confidant. She would share her mind, whether he wanted to hear it or not, which was why he loved her after all. His thoughts drifted back to days long ago, when he was simply the brewer’s son, just back from the war, sneaking her pints of ale hoping to win her favor. It had always been easy to lose himself in her large brown eyes, but it was her inability to hold her tongue and her damn-the-world attitude that held his heart. Those were simpler times. Before he had discovered the seemingly limitless power of the Root. Before the countless people angling for it or his favor. Before they hid deep in the forest. Before he had built the fort to protect his family and the people who had come to him for help.

  “Addy, talk to me,” Leyna said, now standing next to him.

  Still numb, he at last spoke, “He…” The words fought to stay in his mouth. “He should be put to death for that.”

  “Don’t be daft.” Leyna rubbed him on the back of his head. “They came to kill us.”

  “He murdered them. All of them. They didn’t have magic. He had already disposed of the archers. There was nothing to fear, they—”

  “Defended, you mean. What if there were more archers? What if there was someone else with magic? You’ve said it yourself countless times, you can’t protect yourself from something you can’t see.”

  “You know a few hundred arrows are no threat to me now, with or without the Root in my hand.”

  She returned to the stew to give it a stir. “I’ll not argue that what he did was wrong, but that was an army of soldiers, not innocents.”

  “Innocents no, but I can’t shake the feeling that Harold wanted this all along. He’s not the same since he’s come here, he’s…he’s different. The Root is changing him and not for the better.”

  “Of course it has. The Root has changed us all. Think about when you first figured out the magic within it and what you could do with it. You never wanted to start this settlement to help people. You were just a dumb kid with a big heart. You only wanted to drink beer and get me naked.” She paused as if she was expecting at least a small reaction from him.

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is, now you have a massive heart, and you have done so much for all these people now living here under our protection. The Root has changed you and I love you for it, but you are changed. Harold is changing too.”

  Adelfried shook his head. “Sure, he’s always been a little vindictive or petty even, but this…not this.”

  “He has also always been protective, too.” Leyna said, with some encouragement.

  “He wasn’t being protective. He was baiting them.”

  “But you said yourself, he shared your ideas about helping people. Hasn’t he been using the Root to heal people?”

  “Yes, but he has also been saying that the king needed to pay for all the war they have been waging and I think this was his solution.” Adelfried’s words surprised him. It all made sense. It was all a terrible plan put into place by his not so naive brother. This wasn't happenstance, Harold had created the entire situation, on purpose. He had been playing the fool but his choice to leave the fort and face the King was deliberate. It allowed Harold to bait the king into attacking and force Adelfried to protect them. Uneasiness gripped Adelfried. It freed Harold to strike while also giving him a plausible excuse. Adelfried had been set up. But why? For Harold to enact his own form of justice? What was he truly up to?

  Small hands wrapped around him. He melted into his daughter’s hug. “Papa, don’t fight with Mommy.” The lavender scent of Minna’s long brown hair warmed him as he squeezed her back. She had Leyna’s warm brown eyes but lacked her freckles. He always hoped they would fill in as she got older.

  “We aren’t fighting.” Adelfried noticed her small dolls lined up next to a cup of water. “Tell me, what are you playing over there?”

  She ran back to her dolls. “They are fishing like you and Uncle ‘Arold, and he caught the biggest fish.” Minna wiggled a doll in her left hand over the cup of water.

  “Only because he cheats with magic.” Adelfried said, with a smile surprisingly crossing his face.

  “But Papa, you can use magic too, so he says that isn’t cheating.”

  “Just because you can use magic, doesn’t mean you should.”

  “Why not?” Minna said. Her face started to twist angrily. She had that fire within like her mom. “I want to use magic when I get older. You said I could, remember?”

  “I can’t imagine I could stop you if I tried.” Adelfried said with a laugh. “But tell me, why do you want to use magic so badly?”

  “I want to throw those bad men over the waterfall like Uncle ‘Arold did.” She grabbed her least favorite doll with the slightly contorted face and gleefully dunked it into the cup, splashing water on the floor.

  Despair clutched his heart as his innocent daughter meted out judgement to dolls inspired by her uncle who had tossed real men over a waterfall for insulting him. He knew he wouldn’t put his brother to death, but he also knew he would have to separate Harold from the Root. No amount of healing his brother would do could ever make up for this.

  “Is Uncle ‘Arold coming to dinner? He promised to take me fishing tomorrow and I have to remind him, or he will try to sneak out of it again.”

  Adelfried took a deep breath to try and steady himself before putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Minna, your uncle is going to have to go away for a while, and it could be some time before he returns.”

  “Oh.” Her face crinkled in disappointment before looking down at the floor. “For how long?”

  “I am uh…not sure, but we will work it out,” Adelfried turned not wanting to involve his innocent daughter any more than he had to with such topics. “Go play with your dolls. Mommy and I need to talk some more.”

  Leyna came over with a full bowl of stew and set it in front of him. She said under her breath, “So, you’re going to send him away?”

  Adelfried nodded. What other choice did he have? He inhaled the wondrous aroma of the bowl of stew. He took a bite. The herbs and tender fish calmed him and for the first time all day, his nerves started to settle. He knew what he had to do. The muscles in his back eased, until the sound of metal clanking at the door scared his calm away. It was Harold, no doubt, coming to explain away the horrible deeds of the day. “I’ll let him in.”

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  Adelfried trudged to the door, hoping he might never get there, only to find he had. When he opened it, he found his brother brushing his hair back, dressed in his fancy black tunic trimmed in gold thread. It was almost as if he struck a pose when the door opened. He stood holding the staff, with the Root mounted on top. A big smile jumped across his face like he had just won a great honor and was ready to receive it. There was a manic joy in his voice. “Addy! Leyna!” He sniffed the air and swept into the room triumphantly. “Wow, it smells great in here, Leyna.” He saw Adelfried’s startled reaction to the Root in his hand. “With the attack today, I figured it was best to keep it close. Am I right?”

  Adelfried wagged a finger at Harold. “There’s no need for the Root’s power or any magic in here,” he said, not bothering to hide his disgust. “Put it down at once.”

  Harold walked to the corner still preserving his smile and leaned the staff against the wall with reverence. “Satisfied?”

  “Uncle ‘Arold!” Minna came rushing over to give him a hug.

  “And how is my little badger?” Harold said, picking her up and giving her a big squeeze. “Your dad said no magic. So, I am sorry, no fun today.” Harold made an exaggerated frown on his face as he set her down. When Adelfried went to sit back at the table, he caught Harold out of the corner of his eye making his face glow bright red with magic and wagging his finger in the air just as he had. This sent Minna into a fit of giggles.

  “Have you eaten, Harold?” Leyna said, seeing the whole scene unfolding and cracking a small smile.

  “You’d have to chain me in the dungeon to stop me from getting whatever it is you have cooking. I could smell it before grumpy opened the door.”

  “Fish stew. I’ll fix you a bowl.”

  “Thank you, Leyna. I’ll say it again, you made the right decision with this one, Addy. And I am not just talking about how gorgeous she is, but her cooking. You know Leyna, I almost wished you were ugly, then Addy might have missed you and then I could have had a chance,” Harold said, staring at Leyna as she scooped some stew into a bowl.

  Leyna shook her head. “Oh, stop Harold, you are much too kind.”

  Harold turned to Adelfried. “Well, I doubt your husband would agree.”

  “Why?” Adelfried started in a quiet but serious tone hoping Minna would not listen in on the conversation. “Why did you murder hundreds of innocent people?

  Harold's mouth fell open as if insulted. “Innocents? Those innocents were trying to kill us. Don’t be so na?ve.” He turned to Leyna looking for an ally. “I tell you, we sat there and stared down hundreds of soldiers ready to kill us where we stood Leyna. And your husband says innocent. What will we do with him?”

  “A simple show of force would have sufficed. Even Conrad agreed with me. Not a slaughter.”

  “You agree with Conrad? Well, that is a first. I am going to have to remember this day, an extraordinary event indeed.” Harold paused to let his joke lighten the mood, which it failed to do. “Now we can expand our reach and bring peace to all these fighting warlords who call themselves kings. Think of all the wonders you have concocted with the Root, the healing we can provide, the marvels we can share with people. What are a handful of deaths as compared to countless more we can now feed and save? Now we can take over their lands and care for these people. A tiny sacrifice when you think of all—”

  “A tiny sacrifice! Tell that to the piles of ash in the meadow,” Adelfried said, throwing his spoon down on the table in disgust.

  “Addy.” Harold put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. His voice was soothing. “Don’t be so small minded, look past your walls, think of how much more we can do.”

  “Killing is not how you do it.” Adelfried jerked his shoulder out of Harold’s hand.

  Harold retreated to the other side of the table holding his hands up. “I’m just saying we could help people with the Root.”

  “The Root is boiling your mind. In what way is murdering them helping anyone?”

  Leyna stood up, “Come, Minna,” she said as she took her daughter’s hand. “Let Papa and your uncle talk.”

  “What about dessert?” Minna said, raising her voice as if she were being taken advantage of. “I saw that plate of cookies in the kitchen.”

  Leyna’s voice firmed. “Minna, come now, or there will be no dessert.”

  “Can I at least have a cookie? Please!”

  Leyna walked over and grabbed the plate and put it in front of Minna, who grabbed one before running off to the other room. Leyna set down the plate in front of Adelfried and Harold.

  “You two will remember you are brothers.” Leyna commanded, eyeing them both before following Minna out of the room.

  Silence held the room for an uncomfortably long time, both refusing to speak until Harold gave in. “Addy.” His tone was now serious and quiet. “Trust me on this, it might hurt a little at the beginning, but imagine a future where there is no hunger, no fighting, no want for the basics of life for these people. Think about this little paradise you’ve created between these walls. The power of the Root has no limit. With their army gone, we can stop the cycle of war and provide for them, we can provide for everyone.”

  Adelfried slammed his fist down on the table. “Not by force! The first step can’t be killing. This stops now.”

  Harold’s lips pursed, eyes narrowed. His voice lowered. “I suggest you check your tone.”

  Ice grabbed Adelfried’s back. It was as if there were a different person sitting across from him. “Is that a threat?”

  “I said suggest, that is not a threat.” Harold’s voice changed to the same eerie tone from earlier in the day. “Why do you feel threatened?”

  That was it. His brother had gone mad. He had to separate him from and the Root, and it had to be now.

  Adelfried rose, forcing calm into his voice. “Let’s step back and let our heads cool.” He put a hand on Harold’s shoulder. “Here, let me show you what I have been working on. I’ll be right back.”

  He left for his workshop down the hall from the main room. He passed his shelf of rock experiments. He had spent so much time creating varying stone compositions to build the fort. A large orange cat with a jagged scar on its side slept on his workbench. The cat meowed as he approached. It was the first creature he had ever healed successfully, and it never left his workshop because of it. It was amazing how far he had come.

  Adelfried thumbed through a selection of small glass vials on the workbench, each filled with water and a small white crystal. He picked up a vial with the largest crystal in it. These crystals could be endowed with magic. It had been one of his main areas of study as of late. The larger the crystal, the more magic it could hold. His most recent discovery was the ability to open long-distance doorways with a potion. He swirled the potion with the largest crystal in his hand. He didn’t have a choice, he reminded himself. He had to do this. He grabbed a bag of silver coins and left to face his brother in the main room.

  “This is one of my new gateway elixirs,” Adelfried held it up for Harold to see. “More powerful than the one that I use to go to the lake.”

  “Yes, those are becoming one of your more useful marvels.”

  Adelfried put the bottle down on the table and took a deep breath. He stared directly at Harold and in a somber voice said, “I have decided that your punishment is banishment. You shall be cut off from the Root henceforth.”

  “What?” Harold said, raising his voice. “Why, because I defended us? I protected your family and the people here. You dare tell me to leave?”

  “Harold, I love you, and I am doing what I must, for you as much as everyone else.” Adelfried tossed the bag coins on the table. “This will let you live comfortably until I come and check up on you.”

  “You are banishing me because of these evil people. They—”

  “Which people?” Adelfried yelled. “The ones you threw over the waterfall or the thousand dead in the meadow?”

  Harold hands curled into fists. His eyes darted side to side like trapped animal looking for an escape. “You’re pathetic. You have the power to shape the world and yet you lack the conviction to do anything meaningful. A fort and a handful of curatives is all you have to show for being handed the powers of a god. You don’t deserve the Root.” His hand reached for the staff. It flew towards his outstretched hand. Adelfried, expecting a desperate move like this, hit Harold’s hand with a bolt of magic. He screamed, grabbing his hand.

  The staff clattered as it hit the floor. Adelfried picked it up and examined the Root which was still held in place by the delicate prongs.

  “How dare you!” Harold screamed. He cradled his charred black hand with his good one. “You care about that damn Root more than your own brother.”

  Adelfried’s chest heaved. In his haste he had hit Harold with too strong of a blast. He stepped towards his brother. “I’m sorry, let Leyna heal it for you, she—”

  “Stay away from me!” Harold screamed.

  Minna came running into the room. “Papa, don’t argue with Uncle ‘Arold, let’s all eat cookies.” Harold grabbed Minna in a big hug with his good hand.

  “Yes, Adelfried, let’s have cookies.” Harold said, with malice in his voice. “I say you put the Root down and I put Minna down and we enjoy some of Leyna’s delicious cookies and talk about this. What do you say, brother?”

  Minna struggled against the hold she was in. “Uncle ‘Arold, you are holding me too tight. You’re hurting me.”

  “How dare you!” Leyna screamed, appearing from behind Harold and smashing a ceramic pot into the back of Harold’s head. He crumpled to his knees letting Minna loose from his grip.

  “Addy, now! Send him away!” Leyna yelled swooping up Minna and running from the room.

  “I don’t think so.” Harold growled. He fired a blast of magic from his good hand.

  Adelfried raised his arms instinctively deflecting the attack. It ricocheted into the table which exploded into a cloud of splinters. The doorway potion sailed through the air towards Adelfried and the Root before slamming into it. A flash of blinding light forced his eyes closed. His knees buckled. He fell to the ground. But instead of the stone floor, the ground was soft and wet.