Jedd fell into Lororis's arms, the queen harpy embraced him, her eyes filled with a mix of sorrow and longing. It was then that they both realized that they had been in love when she was a young blooming harpy before the siege and the years of separation had torn them apart.
Jedd's eyes met hers, and she saw the pain and regret in his gaze. "I never forgot you," he whispered as he caressed her beautiful face, his voice filled with a sense of longing. "Even when we were apart, I always held onto the memory of our love."
Lororis smiled weakly, his eyes filled with tears. "I..I," stammered at first, and she was able to voice her words.
"I..no..forget you.. too," she replied in the broken common tongue, her voice barely above a whisper. "You were always in my heart, even when we were apart."
As they held each other, the defenders watched in silence, their hearts heavy with the weight of the moment. They knew that Jedd's time was running out, that the wounds inflicted by the queen harpy's claws were too severe to heal.
Lororis held Jedd close, her tears falling onto his face. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, her voice filled with regret. "I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to hurt you."
The harpy queen smiled weakly, her eyes now filled with a sense of peace. "It's all right," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I forgive you. I always have."
"I would never forget our dance,"
As Jedd's breathing grew shallow and his eyes began to close, the defenders gathered around him, their hearts heavy with grief. They knew that they had lost a dear friend and a brave defender, a man who had given his life to protect their village and their way of life.
And as they mourned the loss of Jedd, they couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness and regret. They knew that the war against the harpies had taken a heavy toll and that the losses they had suffered were too great to bear.
But even in the face of such tragedy, they knew that they had to carry on. They had to honor Jedd's memory and continue the fight against the harpies, to protect their village and their way of life.
And so, with heavy hearts and a renewed sense of purpose, the defenders prepared to face the challenges ahead. They knew that the road would be long and difficult, but they also knew that they had the strength and resilience to overcome. They were part of a community that had faced many hardships and emerged stronger for it, and they were ready to face whatever lay ahead.
All the harpies, the villagers, and the rescue party alike stood in silence.
"What.. what is happening?" Aden asked trying to process all of this. It was happening so fast. All he knew was that Queen Harpy swooped down to snatch Gilbert. Old Man Jedd stepped in between them. He got stabbed by the Queen Harpy. Hug the Queen Harpy and she suddenly dropped onto her knees, crying, with the Old Man wrapped around her wings.
⁕⁕⁕
Father Edgar stepped closer and tapped Aden's shoulder from behind.
"There is only one explanation for this," Father Edgar conveyed his assumption theory, "She, the Queen Harpy..is true, Lororis."
"Lororis?" Aden widened his eyes, "She was Jedd's..?"
Father Edgar described the white cloth with yellow streak accents as resembling the wings of a Queen Harpy, which also had streaks of yellow running through it.
The defenders and villagers stood in awe, their mouths agape at the revelation that Old Man Jedd was once the harpy queen's love interest, a hushed silence fell over the crowd. The harpy queen, tears streaming down her face, looked at Jedd with a mix of sorrow and longing.
Aden, moved by the sight before him, stepped forward.
Fearful yet uncertain, Aden approached the crying harpy queen and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I will take care of him," he said softly, his voice filled with compassion. "We will do everything we can to help him."
The harpy queen looked up at Aden, her deep-set eyes conveying a profound sadness. Taking the frail body of the old man in her arms, she knelt down and placed him on the ground with great care and gentleness. She paused for a few moments to bow her head as if in prayer, before slowly standing back up and taking several steps backward.
And as the village continued to rebuild and recover from the harpy attacks, a newfound sense of unity and compassion filled the air. The harpy queen's presence served as a reminder that love and forgiveness could transcend even the deepest of wounds.
In the end, the story of Old Man Jedd and the harpy queen became a legend in Serendale village. It was a tale of love, redemption, and the power of second chances. As the years passed, their story would be passed down from generation to generation, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring power of love.
Aden approached the wailing queen. Held his longsword in reverse grip as a gesture of non-hostile. A grey-colored wing harpy hissed, warning Aden to not come any closer. The queen took a glance at him.
"You seem like you understand our tongue," Aden opened up a conversation with the queen.
"All I'm trying to say is.." He put down his sword gently in front of the queen, and the queen harpy shifted her eyes to the sword.
"It all ends here. This endless killing ends here. We both suffer from this confrontation." said Aden.
"I don't know about your side of the story but Jedd spent his life searching for you, through all the corners in this realm." Aden explained what he just summarized in a brief moment, "He was tortured inside when he heard about a certain harpy, and he volunteered to this very village. Not knowing whether his search will be fruitful."
"He always had a nightmare. calling for your name in his sleep, asking forgiveness." Aden
"Your forgiveness," Aden emphasized.
The queen could only vaguely smile at Jedd while sobbing. Whether it was just Aden's imagination or not Aden could see her lips said sorry to Jedd.
"Will you.. forgive him?" Aden
The queen gave a gentle nod.
"Yes," she answered with a raspy voice.
"Let us take care of him," Aden looked deep into the queen's sorrowful eyes, " give a proper funeral for him. Give him the peace he deserves."
The queen harpy returned her gaze toward the lifeless Jedd. She gently wiped Jedd's face with her wing. As she observed him closely, he might've wrinkled and his hair ashened yet she could recognize his face.
She still couldn't let him go. She has so much to say, so much to reconcile.
For five decades she has been searching for him out of vengeance, to kill him, to torture him. She believe Jedd was the one responsible for the massacre of her harpiries in the harpy valley. She used to believe Jedd was the one who led the poachers to the secret passage to her harpiries but she knew that it wouldn't be him. She let herself consumed in hatred. Blinded her
The queen bowed her head in resignation, never expecting that she would lose something way more precious than everything in this world. Something that's left of love, purity, innocence, something she never knew she still had and she already lost it — just like the war against the wyverns more than a decade ago.
All of her hatred toward the very man who put her through the misery had vanished. Washed away by his sincere smile. Jedd suffered all this time, tormented inside for putting Lororis in constant abuse at the hands of the humans.
Captain Willem stepped forward and also put down his sword, "We are at your mercy, you can kill us all you want but if you do, other humans will come with better weapons and hunt every one of you till your last kind."
She looked at the captain with a mix of disdain and a sad expression on her face.
Captain Willem bluffed or not, yet even in defeat he still made another offensive with his words. He just wanted Queen Harpy to know that humans are more relentless and merciless than them. It was not an empty bluff, even if all the villagers and the defenders were all killed, the Crown would send another party. A party that was way stronger and more prepared than the initial party for this seaport and the village played a crucial part in the imperial economy.
"Humans...no hunt..harpy." The queen spoke with a rasped voice. Everyone was taken aback, This was the first time everyone heard of a harpy that spoke a common tongue.
"Hunt harpy? isn't it the other way around?" Gilbert mumbled, the nerdy acolyte confused, "Aren't they the ones who hunt us like animals?"
"Shh," Hjalmar hushed Gilbert. Close Gilbert's mouth with his huge hand.
The battered captain looked at the queen who still held the Old Man tight, "As long as you do the same." said the captain in resolve.
The queen harpy took a last deep look at the lifeless Jedd. She glanced back at Captain Willem and looked around the battlefield —to the injured harpies, the dead harpies on the sandy beach, to the defenders, and to the villagers at the mouth road under the trees.
Contemplated the result of the confrontation. She realized that, unlike with the wyverns, she could make a deal with the humans.
She nodded. She placed Jedd gently on the ground, stood up, and talked in harpy tongue, soothed with a mix of clacked and clicked like a knocking on a door. All the harpies listened to her in obedience.
This was the first time Aden heard such tongue. She commanded something to her subordinates. The harpies bowed to the queen. The queen spread her wings and leaped up to the sky. She hovered for some time, took her last gaze on her long-lost love, and flew away beyond the mountain at the back of the seaport. The harpies followed.
The harpies retreated in peace. The villagers were flabbergasted. They traded looks at each other. It was so unreal for them. The harpies were just leave them alone in peace. Not a single harpy lingered on the beach or the sky.
Aden dropped his butt on the sand. He let out a huge sigh. It was a bittersweet ending for two long-lost loves only to be reunited with a dying moment of one of them.
Gilbert approached and asked, "Is it over?"
"Yes, Gilbert. I believe it's over." Aden
The defenders cheered on.
"It's over everyone! it's over."
the villagers embrace the ending of the village siege by the harpies in jubilee,
"It's over."
Laura and Eugene walked towards Aden. Laura hugged Aden, he embraced her and Eugene. Indry and little Jasmine followed. Five of them were hugging each other tight.
⁕⁕⁕
As Aden and the villagers celebrate his eyes fell on an individual who looked out of the place. The kid Oliver didn't join the celebration. The boy just sat on the sandy beach by himself.
Everyone was so caught up in Old Man Jedd that they didn't notice Oliver sitting on the beach, clutching his stomach.
"Oliver," Aden called the boy sitting on the sand quietly. The boy grabbed his stomach.
"It is over kid," Aden patted the boy's shoulder conveying the good news.
"It's over?" in a trembling voice
"Yes, now let's go to the fish farm,"
Oliver didn't budge
"What's the matter?" Aden asked.
"I think I might have to postpone my dream to be a Jinn." Oliver looked at his hands covering his stomach,
Aden took Oliver's hand off his stomach. Aden felt something moist and warm in his hand when he took a good look at it he realized it was blood, the boy was bleeding.
A jagged and sharp piece of wooden stake was lodged deep into the boy's abdomen. It punctured him so thoroughly that extra wood protruded from the exit wound in the back.
No one noticed it, not even Aden.
"No no no,"
"Aden.." Oliver tried to talk.
"No no, don't talk kid"
"Ad..en, please.." Oliver, "Get my.. plaque.. under the xxx tree near the xxx fountain.
Shit, it won't stop. the bleeding won't stop
Aden grabbed Oliver and rushed to the warehouse,
"Healer.. I need a healer here!"
the celebration was cut short by Aden's cry for help.
"What happened?" Father Edgar came
"He was pierced by a wooden shrapnel to his stomach," Aden worried sick.
"Tell my sister in the monastery that I... I love her and I didn't sell it," Oliver's gaze faded as the life in him soon dimmed away.
"No stop talking kid," Aden worried as Father Edgar examined the boy
"How does it look?" Aden asked Father Edgar
Father Edgar looked at Aden sadly and said, "I'm sorry, but the kid can't be saved."
Oliver died, and the kid drew his last breath in Aden's arm. Ethan rushed in only to find Oliver already passing away.
That morning, Aden already lost another two people he just getting close to.
Kazama fixed Aden's dislocated arm and shoulder. A painful but swift fix indeed.
"damn it," Aden slammed his fist against the dock's wooden floor in grieve, cursing himself for his shortcomings. He lost his composure. This is the first time Aden felt powerless. He felt like he let down the people who trusted him.
All this time he had only been fighting for himself. He had nothing but his loyalty to the Banner that provided for him.
Death was just death; a commonality among Jinn mercenaries, who already get used to when one of their own falls in battle, because they see it is coming sooner or later. It is part of the job of any mercenary and soldier.
In the battlefield, none but those prepared for death dwell - No children, women, or elderly were found amongst the fray.
But this battle was different. This was the battle for survival. The harpies had no regard for the rules of war as they followed their own set of guidelines and only their own.
These creatures cannot be spoken to or negotiated with, yet they still manage to cause tremendous destruction in one village.
But today was a historical day, and the people were able to strike a truce with the harpies.
Although there was no paper and quill to record it. It is for the better. The truce would only stand as long as both parties act upon it, not just in parchment or papers just like a man-made's sometimes hollow promise.
⁕⁕⁕
Aden tried to wrap his head around as he walked to the entrance of the Monterei road. He recalled everything that happened in the village.
Everything makes sense now, the harpy trap which the smugglers' acquired was of no coincidence. They must've found it in the poachers' hideout somewhere in the village. The poachers were rampant hunting the harpies to the point they had to escalate the confrontation into an all-out war against the village.
The poachers profit off of the harpies and the village paying the price now. The absence of imperial patrol in the mountain area made the poachers run around unchecked.
Father Edgar slowly approached Aden, who was sitting by the dock, consumed in a deep and sorrowful contemplation of the breathtaking melancholy sunset.
"Beautiful sunset isn't it?"
Aden wiped his tears and looked up at the village chief, his face illuminated by a golden light as the sun sank beneath the horizon. He was an imposing figure, one that inspired reverence even in Aden's shattered state.
"I used to bring my daughter to watch the sunset,"
"After she had gone, I brought in my granddaughter Laura in her stead." Father Edgar sat on the edge of the ramp and put both his feet into the cold seawater. "Laura loves to dip her feet into the seawater, just like her mother."
Father Edgar smiled, "Laura never knew her mother as she died when Laura was only two years old."
"Whether you like it or not, the sun will set at her own pace," said Father Edgar in cryptic. He also referred to the sun as a she unlike all the common views in Wessen that the sun is a he.
"We can't fast forward, nor we can delay the sun from setting on her resting place."
"I can't bring back my daughter, but sure do I can bring the moment we share to her daughter."
He leaned on the base of the postal lamp. The lamp was long off.
Aden glanced at Father Edgar with teary eyes, "I promised Victor I would take that kid to Median and make him a Jinn student."
"If only.." Aden paused. He never had any regrets in his life, but this one, he would remember this to the end of his life.
"We don't know, Aden. " said Father Edgar "We don't know what could've been happen to Victor, to Oliver, or to any of us."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Father Edgar keep on his "All we can do is to carry on their will."
"See it as one of another lesson in our life," Father Edgar, "Tch, now I sound like an old man.
"The harpies are gone," as Aden looked around before asking Father Edgar, "So what now?"
"Aye, the harpies are nowhere to be seen, we assume that they already ceased their hostility and the recon knights have already made a decision," Father Edgar gave the current situation.
"I just came after the meeting with the recon knights. The Knights would survey the village and its surroundings to find out if the Harpies had truly stopped their hostility. Should that be confirmed, we can then proceed to bury those who have passed and rebuild what is left of the village."
"That's good," Aden was glad to hear that. He couldn't shake the thought of leaving the fallen comrades rotting on some cold street exposed like some dead animal.
"We are far from safe. Harpies are just one of the threats we face in this village. There are still goblins and wolves in this mountain and forests nearby. We can't let our guard down just because we are able to survive one."
"Again, one problem at a time." The village chief
Father Edgar shared his wisdom once again, "If we unite and stick together, there is nothing we cannot overcome."
"yes, I'll see what I can do," Aden regained his will, rose, and followed the village chief back to the warehouse.
"That's the spirit."
"We will bury the dead as soon as we can. If the truce is already in effect."
⁕⁕⁕
Everyone went back to the fish farm safely
Aden noticed that everyone was seemingly off.
"Okay, what? What is it?" Aden spoke up, "Why are you guys like that? As if I ate a baby."
Aden had to clear the air.
"You have to call her old hag?" Hjalmar's face looks very disappointed.
"among all the men here, I thought you were the most cultured one."
"I need to turn her body towards me so I can impale her with my spear. So we can end this madness for good. Thank you."
"but you don't have to call her that, ruhimi. I thought you knew better."
"Don't you have a mother?"
"Didn't your mother teach you?"
"Taught what?"
"One shall not call a Wessen, wait no..any woman, old hag."
"but she is a harpy."
"and she is still a lady."
"you guys should know I'm not the villain in this story," Aden defended himself, "It's her. The harpy queen. Remember? she is the villain. "
"I'm disappointed in you."
"We are disappointed in you."
"To hell with you guys."