World of Stone

[Komi Banton]

?This winding path, these miles I've walked alone
While looking for the light that calls me home,
Candle at homestead door, you draw me on,
A beacon in the night, shining 'til dawn.?

Komi?s voice broke as she sang in the quiet evening light. She sat in the sand in a far corner of the training yard. A storm had brought night on early and everybeast else had gone to dinner. She had little appetite.

?And others walk this path with other fears
Sometimes; I call them friends and hold them dear.
Homebound with noble hearts, they're at my side,
And I by theirs; we keep each other's stride.?

Aldridge Moor was dead. Jossia had killed him in her quest for revenge. Komi would have rather that the poison had been for her. Not Aldridge. He?d done nothing to deserve such a fate.

?At times I walk alone on path gone black,
And though I wish to flee, to turn my back,
I keep their love inside and I press on,
By everything we share, I can stay strong.?

All she could think of was how she?d not spoken to him again after their argument. She?d wanted to give him space. She wanted space herself, to cool her head. Now there was an impassable space between them.

?I've seen enough out in those lands unknown,
And nothing now shall keep me from my home.?

The last quavery notes died away in the cool twilight. Komi closed her eyes, a few fresh tears squeezing their way out to follow the tracks in her fur. He was gone, as Tavin was gone, and she was alone again.

Kentrith?s voice said, ?I always did like that song.?

?It was Alder?s favorite,? Komi said. She opened her eyes and looked at the fox trainer where he leaned against the wall. She didn?t know how long the fox had been there listening to her. ?Suppose you?re here to fetch me inside for the night??

?Soon,? the fox said, looking up at the clouds. ?I needed to talk to you first.?

Komi sighed, and steeled her spirit for the task ahead. She may be alone again, yet others counted on her still. ?Right. I need to Face The Night before anything else.?

?No,? Kentrith said. ?Not that.? He rubbed a paw over his stump of an ear, looking away for a moment. ?I suppose you?ve heard that I?ve been here before??

What could Kentrith have to say to her that wasn?t to do with the FTN? ?Here being the Crater?? Komi asked, eyebrow raised.

?Yes, as a healer. After some time, Nire decided that I needed a different job. After what I was forced to do, I couldn?t stomach it anymore and left. I wandered for a while, with little motivation to better my lot in life. Some friends managed to rouse me out of my depression. They took me to the one place they thought would heal me.? He looked at her. ?Redwall Abbey.?

Komi whispered a curse and let her head fall back against the stone wall. ?Of course. It always comes back to those bloody red walls.?

Silence stretched between them, until Kentrith cleared his throat. ?Yes, well. Memories of those times were not easily forgotten by them either. When I arrived, it had not been long since the siege, and it was still a subject often discussed amongst the inhabitants. One whom it had impacted the most was a young beast scarred by the experience.? Kentrith drew a deep breath. ?He had been outside the wall, ordered to gathered stray arrows.?

Komi?s fur prickled all along the back of her neck and she straightened, staring at Kentrith.

?An unlucky shot from one of the defenders struck him and he fell just before Redwall broke the horde?s hold. After the remaining stragglers had fled, the Redwallers found him alive, but badly wounded.?

Komi?s voice sounded hollow in her ears as she pushed herself to her feet. ?How dare you! Mocking me like this. You?re just repeating what I told Alder at the spider?s cage, but twisting it to give me false hope!?

Kentrith drew something from a pouch at his side and held it out wordlessly. It was a dagger, double-edged with no crosspiece, and hilt that looked woven of metal. Identical to the one hidden in Alder?s workshop.

Except this one was sized for a kit?s paw.

?It took two years of building a friendship before he would show this to me. It never left his side. The fact that you died at Redwall was one of the most painful experiences of his life. The news that you were alive, I feared, would be more painful still.?

Komi couldn?t breath. She couldn?t think. She only stared at the blade in Kentrith?s paw. A blade she?d had commissioned from the horde?s blacksmith, who?d had rare skill. Tavin had prized that blade. ?This is impossible,? she choked, too afraid to believe the fox.

?He?s here. Tavin?s here. In Northvale.? Kentrith?s voice was kind. ?I saw him this afternoon. He gave this to me to show to you, so you?d know he was coming for you. I?ve been threatened on pain of death to return it.?

Komi shook her head. ?This isn?t real. He can?t be here. Even if he were alive, how would he know where to find me??

?I told him. Your name has always been familiar to me, but I didn?t know why. When I heard you singing to Aldridge in the Fell Wing that day, I recognized the song. Took me a while to remember that Tavin used to sing it. I sent him a letter that day.?

?My son died at Redwall,? Komi choked, eyes not leaving the blade. ?An arrow took him in the throat. I saw him fall.?

?But you were never able to get to his body. Galleran prevented you and the tide of the battle turned. Komi, the arrow missed the windpipe. It missed the arteries in his neck. It hit just above the collarbone and went in his shoulder, but he survived.?

Like a cloudburst, Komi?s wall broke, and she stumbled back until she thumped against the wall. She slid to the sand once more. ?I left him behind,? she whispered, horrified. ?I abandoned him. He was alive and I left him for dead.?

?Shh, shh,? Kentrith crouched at her side, one paw on her shoulder. ?You couldn?t have know. He had a near miss, and a lucky one. There?s no way you could have known that.?

?I abandoned him,? she said, her voice choking on the words.

?Yet he?s here. The moment he received word that there was a Komi Banton in Northvale, he came. He?s missed you and he loves you still.?

All these long seasons alone, and he was still alive. Still there. At Redwall.

Alder?

Tears flowed afresh. Aldridge would never know his son. He?d missed him by only a few days.

?Why didn?t you tell me sooner?? she said, her voice steadying in the thread of anger she found to hold. ?You?ve known since I sang to Alder? Why didn?t you tell me??

?Would you have believed me?? the fox asked. He shrugged. ?And I was trying to protect him. What if he didn?t want to see you again, angry that you?d left him? And what if I told you and you tried to escape again, and failed worse than before? And what if your escapes damaged plans with the FTN? So many reasons, Komi. I?m sorry.?

?I have to see him,? she said. ?I have to know it?s really him.?

Kentrith?s paw held her in place. ?I know. He said much the same. But listen, I still need your help. The FTN. The Dibbuns upstairs. You have to help us, so we can all get out together. I didn?t want to tell you he was here, but Tavin insisted. He looked about ready to kill me when I told him you didn?t know he was alive. He?s working on the outside. You?re on the inside. If all goes well, you can meet in the middle.?

?I don?t want him anywhere near this place,? Komi said. ?This is no place for a kit!? Even as the words left her mouth, she realized the folly of them. Tavin wasn?t the kit she?d last seen at Redwall. After all these long seasons, he?d be grown. He?d grown up, and she?d missed it.

?You try stopping Tavin when he?d got his mind set on something. He?s a young beast of action, much like somebeast else I know.? Kentrith?s paw squeezed reassuringly on her shoulder. ?Still up for releasing those boars??

Komi nodded. Rain began to patter down around her, further dampening her face.

Kentrith whispered, ?Listen, I?ve seen the roster for the Tourney fights. You?re the second fight and going to be fighting a pair of toads. If Nire can?t find you before your fight, it?s going to ruin everything, so you?ve got to see that through first. But, Komi, you win that fight, and you get the boars free as soon as it?s over. When that?s done, you meet us at the kitchen entrance and we?ll all get out together.?

Thunder rumbled overhead and the rain began to fall in earnest. The fox and stoat stood and Komi raised her face to the rain. It cooled her eyes, which ached from crying.

If Kentrith were telling the truth, and the dagger was Tavin?s and not some copy he?d had made of hers, then her son was waiting just beyond the walls. She?d see him soon.

?Kentrith, if I find out you?ve lied to me about Tavin ? if all this is just some ruse to make sure I do as the FTN wants ? I will gut you and strangle you with your own entrails.?