Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 65 of 86

Five more years turned the village into a town. The inn stayed full most nights. Zach still cooked, but now he had hands to help him. His twins were no longer babies in a basket. His son ran the yard swinging a wooden sword, chasing chickens and shouting orders at no one. His daughter sat on the porch steps, lining up her dolls in a neat row. Zach watched them from the kitchen door and knew he had built the life he once feared he'd never have. A horn sounded from the road. Zach wiped his hands and stepped outside. A wagon rolled toward the inn, and behind it walked people he had not seen in too long. Talon led them, twin katanas at his hips, his black hair longer now. Beside him rode Lyra, her robe travel-worn, a small girl asleep against her chest. Garrok came next on foot, his axe strapped to his back, one arm around Ayla, whose belly rounded beneath her white robes. "You waited too long to visit," Zach called. He crossed the yard and gripped Talon's arm. "The kingdom keeps me busy," Talon said. "Turns out being a king's heir is harder than fighting demons." He nodded toward the small girl in Lyra's arms. "Meet our daughter. She sleeps through everything." Lyra smiled down at the child. "She has your temper when she wakes." Raven ran from the house and threw her arms around her brother. Then she saw Ayla's belly and covered her mouth. "Cousin. You didn't send word." "We wanted to tell you here," Ayla said. She rested a hand on the curve. "Come spring." Garrok grinned and clapped Zach on the shoulder hard enough to stagger him. "The barbarian's going to be a father. Never thought I'd see it." Zach called his children over. His son marched up with the wooden sword. Talon crouched and studied it with a serious face. "A fine blade," he said. "Hold it lower on the grip." The boy fixed his hands, and Talon nodded once, as if knighting him. That night the inn belonged to them alone. Zach cooked until the tables groaned. The children played beneath them while the grown ones drank and told old stories. Garrok laughed loudest. Lyra rested her head on Talon's shoulder. Ayla ate for two and let Raven feel the baby kick. Zach sat back with Raven's hand in his. He had crossed worlds a lost man with no way home. Now his family filled his own inn, safe and whole. The old ache for his first world was gone. This was home. He had stopped needing anything else. When the fire burned low, Talon set down his cup. "There's talk in the north," he said quietly, so the children wouldn't hear. "Villages emptied. No bodies. King Aldric wants your eyes on it." Zach looked at his sleeping son and knew the peace had an end.