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Cindy felt the rage inside of her and didn't know how to quell her feelings.
She wondered why Lazarus kept his secret about the serial killer and what he did to her only to himself. He should have told her. Yet, she knew Lazarus was under the control of that crazy monster. She could tell by the way he reacted.
She walked dutifully behind Lazarus. He was the strongest of the Alpha Mages, even though he wouldn't admit it. They followed Broethon into his large tent. Royce was too big to enter, so he stayed outside. The large Grog nodded to her. Cindy didn't forget this creature had killed Mathew, but Merlin told them they needed him. She couldn't understand it.
Broethon sat on a plush rug on the floor. The others followed. The tent was large enough to hold the whole group.
Broethon started. "Thank you for coming. We really need your help. The war against the orc tribes is going really badly. We think something, or somebody, got the tribes to unite."
Lazarus spoke next. "Broethon, as I said before, we are not here for your war. We are not part of this. We need to find Merlin before the Vvong come to my land."
It was good Lazarus was insistent, because Marlena knew he was not sure how they would get to Merlin and was not sure how they would get back to their Earth. They didn't have a plan. They had been doing fine without one, but she believed they should think things through.
"I understand," Broethon said. "I know you have your own mission. I have never been to high Earth. The only time we heard of high Earth was from our friend, Tolkien."
"You mean John Tolkien came here?" Lazarus asked.
Grace understood. "You mean the writer of The Hobbit was here?"
Broethon shrugged. "I don't know of this tome. He came here several times and asked a lot of questions. How is he? Is he still alive?"
"No, I'm sorry to say he died a long time ago," replied Lazarus.
Professor Jacobs cleared his throat. "How does a person get between these worlds?"
Cindy thought the Professor was a smart fellow. He was also cute, in his own bookish way.
"Well our great wizards would know the answer to that. I'm just a simple a simple soldier,” said Broethon. “You need to see our Capital. You can visit the library and speak to our wizards."
Cindy felt as if they were getting pushed into going.
Lazarus merely nodded. "Okay, we will go for now. But remember we need to hurry."
"Agree, we will go at first light,” said Broethon.” First, you need to eat. Sorry, we don't have a great table or a grand feast to offer you. But we have stew or soup, and some bread."
"Thank you. Anything will be appreciated."
Broethon stood. "Wait here. I will check on my troops and get you some food."
Lazarus watched as the elf leader walked out of the tent.
"What do you think?" asked Cindy.
"We are getting pushed into helping them. And I don't like it," Lazarus said. He looked pensive and somewhat annoyed. Cindy liked it when he looked like this. She knew that she was in love with him, even though he lied to her and kept the secret about the Season of Fear.
Grace shot her a look.
It was hard not to love him, because Lazarus had something about him that would make anybody follow him. He had magical charisma.
***
THEY HAD A QUICK MEAL of beef stew and bread.
Lazarus noticed that Professor Jacobs was smitten. He kept looking at Della and touching her arm. He could tell they were both in love. It was nice to see this during this harsh time of fighting and tragedy.
They ate in Broethon's tent. He left to start the preparations of getting them their own tents and sleeping blankets.
Lazarus hoped they wouldn't be sleeping out in the forest in the cold. He could feel the chill coming from outside. The food was pleasant and they passed the time just listening to the Professor talk about how Earth had changed. He almost forgot it had been one-hundred years since they walked the land.
"So, Professor, what happened to the United States?" asked Grace.
"It is now called the New United Americas. It still encompasses the same area, but it now covers,"—Professor Jacobs pondered the term—"more of what you once called Canada, Mexico and South America."
Lazarus was surprised. "Is it governed by a democracy?"
"Yes and no. It is run by a Theo-Democracy," Professor Jacobs said.
"What is that?" asked Cindy.
Professor Jacobs answered. "We have a president, as you recall. But we have two governing Presidents, one for each region. They are picked by popular vote and work together for the best of the Union."
Lazarus said, "Wouldn't there be problems between the two Presidents?"
"Well, not really, we have one League of Representatives from each state," Professor Jacobs said.
"So, the League of Representatives watches over the Presidents," Lazarus said.
"Yes," Professor Jacobs replied.
Grace said, "What about Europe?"
"It's a mess," Professor Jacobs answered.
Lazarus nodded and understood. "And magic?"
"Oh, magic is widespread. We have schools all over the New Americas. I teach at the school in New California, but I don't have magic," the Professor said.
"What do you teach, Professor?"
"Well, I teach history."
"So, is that the reason you’re writing a book on the history of the Breaking of the Bastions?" Cindy asked.
"Yes, it was a turbulent time in history when humanity changed for the better and for the worst. There was never proper documentation on the subject, and I wanted to write a comprehensive history on it," Professor Jacobs said.
Broethon came back into his tent, followed by another elf. It was a woman with long black hair tied in braids. She looked every inch a warrior, dressed in black leather armor. Her green eyes scanned Lazarus and then the rest of this group.
Broethon said, "Lilian will show you to your tents. We leave in the morning."
