Brian's Adventures Ch. 10

"Exactly, I will not abandon my husband!" Jealile said defiantly and stood even closer to me.

"You are all mad!" Irillis said in utter astonishment. "You can't be serious!" Irillis added as she shook her head in disbelief. "Even if you make it to Kincaid, you will be completely on your own! You will not get any help should you run into trouble! Trouble you surely will find if you go there!" Irillis urgently pleaded her case. "Listen to reason! Don't throw your lives away for nothing!" Irillis begged with passion shaking her head in disbelief as she fell silent once more.

"I thank you for your news and please send my warmest regards back to Felleona. I wish I could see her again but I understand if it is not possible. I have no intention of throwing my life away but I will not let others dictate to me what I can and can't have. I'm confident that I can find a reasonable solution to whatever greets me at Kincaid." I said confidently and calmly and smiled warmly at Irillis.

Nothing more was said of consequence before Irillis left still convinced of our certain doom and collective madness. The rest of the evening was spent in the manner that it should have been all along, namely celebrating. Long into the night we drank, sang and celebrated with Jealile's family and our friends. Oddly enough we were too tired from all the celebrating to make love on our wedding night. It was okay though as we had consummated the marriage earlier in the evening and the urgency was released. I was happy and content to simply hold her that night, satisfied in the knowledge that she was my wife. We belonged to each other now and would face all challenges together, and that was enough for pure happiness for me. No matter where fate would take us, I could be happy as long as I had Jealile.

In the morning, letters were dispatched to Felleona announcing Jealile and Yeoline's resignations from the Guards. The wagon was also loaded down with all manner of stuff. We had turned down the coach that Perriolich had offered due to the large manner of stuff we were taking with us. Most of it was Jealile's things a small portion was Yeoline's and an even smaller portion of it was mine. Add to that the gold and equipment that Perriolich had given us, and you have either a full wagon or an overloaded coach that can't move.

It was suggested that we leave most of the stuff behind and travel light, come back for it some time later when we could. That was dismissed because it would breed failure thinking, hedging our bets in case we could not successfully claim Kincaid. We were going in one direction, to Kincaid! We were moving there, not visiting and made sure that everyone who saw us knew that. We knew we would succeed where other's had failed simply because we had to!

After a teary and emotional farewell from Jealile and Yeoline's families that turned out to see us off, we departed. None of the ladies that I had grown so attached to were there to see us off and this saddened me. I had hoped that I would see them one more time before leaving on such a perilous journey. After all I didn't know what the future would bring, nor if I would ever return. I wanted to at least say goodbye one final time.

Once we had passed through the large city gates of Teroncia and had entered the vast rural expanse beyond frowns turned to smiles. We were on our way and we all breathed easier after finally being out of that city. As grand as it was, it was not were my future was. I was finally on my journey to what was to be my home on this strange island, Kincaid, finally a place to call my own.

We had not gone far, just down the hill and into the first grove of trees when a shadowy figure could be seen lurking amongst the shadows of the trees. As we approached, the figure moved into the open and both ladies reached for their stowed swords as I slowed the wagon down. As we drew even closer the figure dropped the hood on their cloak and a familiar and most welcome face came into view.

"Careful, you could hurt someone with those." Treabilla chuckled as she pointed at the now drawn swords.

"Treabilla!" The three of us shouted together in pleasant surprise at the sight of her smiling face.

"You didn't think I'd let you tear off in to God-knows-what danger without standing by your side did you?" Treabilla said as she looked me dead in the eye and smiled warmly.

"I was wondering why you didn't show up to see us off." Jealile said with a smile as she extended a hand to Treabilla help her in the wagon. Treabilla gave each of us a kiss before she sat in the back of the wagon on a chest that she made as comfortable as she could.

"Come-on get out here already!" Treabilla shouted to the tree where she had been hiding and almost immediately a figure slowly emerged. "You made such a fuss about being left behind I would have figured you would have jumped out before me!" Treabilla scolded the second figure that now made their way toward the wagon. The figure was also dressed in a black cloak and dropped their hood as they neared the wagon. "Do you know this one Brian?" Treabilla asked as Shelea's face came to view. "She knows you alright."

"Yes, she took care of me when I arrived, she tended to me when I was unconscious. I owe her my life." I replied as I helped Shelea into the wagon and she too sat in the back next to Treabilla after kissing me. "Both of you are quite mad to be going with us!" I said with a broad smile. "You're Father will kill both of us when he finds us." I said to Treabilla, "And you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." I said as I turned to Shelea. "It is good to see you again but you should go home now before it is too late." I said with a tender smile as I held Shelea's hand.

"No." Shelea said defiantly. "I'm not leaving." She finished plainly.

"Give it up Brian, I've been through all this with this one, it's no use. She's as stubborn as the rest of us." Treabilla warned with a shake of her head. "Besides, if we're mad than at least we're in good company." Treabilla said with a bright smile and this brought uproarious laughter from the group that started with a contagious snicker.

"What am I going to do with the pair of you?" I asked with a thankful smile to both of them as I shook my head.

"Thank us by getting this wagon moving before it gets dark." Treabilla said as she returned my smile.

"Agreed, and thank you." I said as I turned back to the front, picked up the reigns and got the wagon moving once more.