"So that was a left-over storm from the last war?" Simon asked.
"No!" Abe exclaimed. "There hasn't been one for several hundred years. It's a new one. Someone is starting the war machine back up."
"Who is fighting who, and what are they fighting for?" I looked at Abe, then at Corwin and Connor, then back at Abe.
"Land," Abe responded when no one else had anything to say.
"It is told that in the far distant ancient past, your people came from a distant star and landed here. At the time, you were the sole inhabitants of the Earth. Your kind spread out everywhere.
He motioned with a weary hand. "But then came the humans, and at first, we all shared the land. However, you live long lives and so do not have many children, whereas humans, with our short lives, reproduced like rabbits."
He shook his head. "Soon, the world was covered with human settlements and that was when the border skirmishes began."
"That's not what our history books say." Simon muttered.
"Perhaps not, but I am relating to you what human history tells." He sighed. "Since history is written by the victors, consider what I say to be half the truth and what you learned from your people to be the other half."
He paused, took a sip from his cup and then continued. "History states that your kind began to be pushed out of your strongholds and soon, you were hunted down and persecuted."
His face was grim. "In an attempt to preserve your way of life, you tried to segregate humans to various land masses while you kept other land masses for yourselves."
Simon waggled a finger. "Ah! The different continents with all those ancient artifacts that were created by us mages."
"Yes. In search of new land to settle, they loaded up their boats and landed on your shores. All those mage energy distribution systems and magiked structures stopped working when the humans overran their areas and took over your lands, destroying key components."
He shook his head. "Once that happened, you had nowhere else to go, so you fought back. For a time, it worked, but the human population was bursting through the seams."
"There were so many of us, and with not enough land to live on, we threw huge numbers of warriors at you. Although your people are superhuman and able to do many powerful things, the sheer number of us humans overwhelmed you, so you did what you had to do."
"What did we do?" I asked, fearing the answer to my question.
"You left this plane of existence. You created for yourselves a bubble world which exists between this world and the shadow world."
"Your bubble world was one where humans could not enter without your intervention. The masters who created your world were highly skilled. Their craftsmanship of the world was exquisite and without flaw.
"But over time, the bubble began to weaken in several places because those who knew how to maintain the bubble had died in the creation of the bubble. Where the breeches occurred, shadow beings from the other side began to gain access."
Simon shuddered. "Shadow beings are called Demons in our world."
"Yes. They are called demons in my world as well. In any case, fearing your world would not be stable enough in the long-run, you had no choice but to return to this world and try to live among the humans."
"This time, however, your people went into stealth mode, co-mingling with the human population, even marrying into the human race."
"Most of the times, there were no live births, but once in awhile…once in a long and lucky while, a hybrid survives."
"A half-blood. Interesting…" Simon muttered, his eyes lighting up. "I wonder if there are any half-bloods out there now."
Abe shrugged and continued his tale. "The state of co-mingling lasted for some time; however, your natures cannot be hidden forever, and eventually, your people were exposed and almost completely eradicated from existence. In a last desperate attempt to survive, you created a number of horrible weapons."
He shuddered and covered his face. "I can understand the reasons why you would do that, but it still horrifies me, what those weapons are capable of doing."
Abe Torrington looked out over the horizon. "The storm that you saw pass overhead is one such. Had we been caught in the middle of that Scourge Wind, the flesh would have been stripped from our bones by the time the storm blew past."
He waved a hand over the desolate plain beyond, slowly sinking into twilight. "This landscape used to be a huge populated urban area. The scourge winds came through and within ten minutes, had killed every living thing, grinding down soft parts to the bone."
I looked out over the landscape, shuddering at the thought that we had just driven an entire day across a vast metropolis which had vanished in a matter of minutes.
"After that last horrible war, your people fled back to the bubble in a last-ditch attempt to sustain your remaining members and to rebuild your population. It was stable only for a short while, but then it began to fail."
He shook his head. "There were numerous attempts to repair the bubble, but ultimately, it is a losing battle. You have no choice but to return to this world."
I sat completely stunned.
"How…how do you know all this?" I managed to croak out after a long silence in which we all tried to digest all this information.
"Who do you think ferry you people across The Wastes?" He shot me a sad grim look.
=====
Once the caravan had been fixed, Abe Torrington wanted to leave immediately. I didn't blame him. The scourged and blackened landscape was unholy and eerie in the moonlight.
We all piled in, with Simon in the front seat next to Abe, chattering nonstop about the Scourge Wind and the possible magikal reasons that were causing the hellish storms to blow.
Tarzan and Max took the middle seat and stretched themselves out, taking up the entire bench. They didn't have much of a choice as the twins had pulled me between them and taken over the back seat.
Within a matter of minutes, Tarzan and Max were snoring up a storm and I was caught in the middle of a wizards' war, fought with harsh whispers and daggered glares.
The twins looked like they wanted to kill each other.
"What's going on between you and Nana?" Connor started in on Corwin as we settled into our seats.
"What do you mean?" Corwin turned away and looked out the window on his side.
"I'm talking about you and Nana."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Don't even go there, Corey. You know what I'm talking about. Don't treat me like I'm some stupid fool."
"Don't start anything that makes you look like a fool," Corwin's eyes blazed with anger.
"Am I a fool? Maybe I am, for trusting you."
"Connor, this is not the time or place to be discussing this. Just drop it." Corwin turned away, but Connor would not be appeased.
"Look man, you know how I feel about her. I have been very clear, from the start."
"So what are you suggesting?" Corwin retorted.
"All bets are off as of right now. I'm not deferring to you any more." Connor hissed.
"Do what ever you want. Just make sure she doesn't get hurt by somebody out there while you're busy fighting with me."
"I wouldn't be fighting you if you hadn't stepped over the line. I don't know what just happened between the two of you, but I know Nana enough to know that she wouldn't be the one who instigated it."
"Look, if you want to find out what's going on between me and Inanna, why don't you ask her yourself? She's sitting right next to you."
Connor sat there for a few minutes, stewing his turmoiled thoughts. "You're right. It's not you that I have to discuss this with, it's her."
He turned to face me with a terrible intensity burning in his eyes. "Inanna. You do know how I feel about you, yes?"
I swallowed. I was caught between two monstrous forces of nature, and no matter which way I turned, I knew I was going to get swept into the maelstrom.
I hesitated before speaking. This was dangerous territory and I knew I needed to feel my way.
Slow and methodical.
"Not-not in particular." I swallowed.
"Then let me clear it up for you. A week ago, back at the Academy, I asked you if you had a boyfriend and you said no." Connor slammed his fist into the armrest. "I was happy because I thought I would have a chance to get closer to you."
"But it has been a week of us constantly moving and trying to stay alive." He sighed. "I have not even had a minute alone with you."
Tell me," he turned mournful eyes towards me. "Have I lost my chance? Has something started between you and my brother?"
I stared at Connor, not knowing what to say. This was truly unexpected.
Connor reached out and took my hand in his. "I need to know where I stand, or if I even have a place to stand in your world."
Faced with such overwhelming sincerity, I found myself needing to reassure him.
"Connor, nothing's changed since we last spoke about this. I love you both, but to be honest with you, my most pressing concern right now has nothing to do with either you or Corwin.
I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. "I just want to get this job done so I can go home, sleep in my own bed, eat at the dinning hall, and do my job at the Academy—if it still exists, that is."
The feeling of exhaustion was starting to set in. "Right now, it feels as if we've only just begun to understand each other. Give me more time to get to know the two of you.
"You've known us for almost two years," Connor raged. "How much more time do you need?"
"No Connor." I turned to him. "I met you two years ago, but I truly still don't know much about either of you."
"When we first met, all I knew about you was that you sat behind me during my senior year and played class clowns all semester long."
I rubbed my aching eyes. "I never took you guys that seriously because you joked with everyone in the class. But then when I sought you out for help, you both went out of your way to help me and I got to know you better."
I reached out and grasped each of their hands. "Look. You are both very important to me."
Connor covered my hand with his own. "If you had been anyone else, I would think that you're just saying that because you can't tell the difference between us."
Corwin agreed. "But we know better. You truly can tell the difference between me and Connor, and you do treat us differently."
"I do?" I was puzzled at this new twist to Corwin's logic because I had always tried my best to not favor one twin over the other.
"Of course." Connor smiled. "You treat us like two different individuals. You don't lump us together as one person every time you interact with us just because you can't tell us apart."
"Do people actually do that?" I gave him an incredulous stare.
Connor nodded. "Most people have a hard time knowing who's who, so they end up treating us the same which is the safest course of action."
"But you—you've never done that." Corwin rubbed my hand with his thumb in gentle rolling motions. "You have always treated us as individuals and not half of a single person, or worse yet, the same person."
"And why is this important to you?" I turned to Corwin.
Connor reached out and turned my head to face him. "Because when the time comes for us to ask you to choose between me and my brother, I know that you will choose the one you really want."
He looked almost desperate. "I have faith that you won't just randomly pick one of us since you can't tell the difference anyway. You are uniquely aware that we are separate individuals, and your choice would be that much more precious to us."
I sighed, leaning back on the seat and closing my eyes.
"Right now, I'd just like to sit here and close my eyes and relax for a bit. I'd like to know that you are both ok with all of us just taking each day as a gift that allows each of us to be able to take care of each other."
Then I opened my eyes and looked at them both, in turn. "Are you? Ok with that, I mean?"
"More than you will ever know," Connor replied, even as Corwin nodded his agreement and squeezed my right hand.
I secretly let out a huge breath I'd been holding inside.
I had somehow managed to put out a huge fire, for now. I could only hope things would remain balanced on this fine thin edge of truce until I could figure out what to do next.