Chapter 11: Welcome Back to Grethenril

A whoosh, a flash, and the thud of two humans filled the small room with an odd-looking table. Garrett got to his feet and looked around. They were back in the war room, where they had first left for the necropolis. But how…he looked at Jiarel, who was picking herself up off the ground.

"Why are we back here?" He looked incredulously at Jiarel, who seemed just as confused as the thief.

The one surviving warrior of the siege was silent for a few moments. Then, speaking hesitantly, "When you changed the earth cutter's direction, instead of cutting the ground, it must have cut through the air and ripped open a portal. You and I must have been the closest ones to it."

"But why did we come back here? Why not anywhere else in the universe?"

More silence. Then, "Spontaneously-created portals have a tendency to link back to the most recently-created portals. I believe it's an attraction of their energies. But what I don't understand is why we were delivered back here. Portals are created spontaneously and intentionally about twenty times per hour. We were at the necropolis for three hours. So we had a one in sixty chance of being here."

"So we could have ended up anywhere else in the entire universe, but we just happened to land here?"

"Yes."

Garrett began to feel a cold shiver climb his body. Despite the fact that he had just faced innumerable undead, had one of his arms sliced off and reattached, and rigged an extremely complicated demolition operation that made the difference between a normal or hideously changed world, he felt that this was the closest call yet.

But no matter. He had gotten home safely, and he saved the whole damn world again too. Time to…

To what? Travel on? Stay here? Go back? Through all this decision making, he felt a slight degree of annoyance. Here he was, two-time savior for people who didn't even know him and never would, and he still had to debate his career future. Madness.

Well, he might as well move on. That's how he had gotten into this mess in the first place, right? Turning to the holy warrior next to him, he shrugged. "Well, I guess life goes on. I'll be going to Letheritzia now." Adding a wry grin, he continued, "Thanks for all the fun times."

Jiarel laughed, a very strong, even laugh. "You're quite welcome. And thanks for saving the world. Again." She leaned over and kissed him. "If you ever need anything, just ask. Well, ask by way of this." Pulling a smooth, even stone from her satchel, she placed it in Garrett's palm. "And I'll make sure someone knows your name in Letheritzia. Someone with a lot of work for a master thief such as yourself."

Garrett grinned. "As long as it doesn't involve being the hero who saves the world, I'll do it."

Jiarel smiled again. "Don't worry. You deserve a break. I'm sure it'll be just as easy as before."

It was bright daylight when Garrett stepped out of Fergrin's house and onto the cracked streets of the tiny town. The tiny town no longer under the grip of an ultra-powerful overlord, Garrett reminded himself. As he walked back towards the tavern, he noticed quite a few people out on the streets who looked at him and whispered to each other. Maybe word had gotten out that this was the man who saved their lives from further oppression. But a glance at his reflection in a well reminded him that it was just his clothes; apparently this town didn't see a lot of figures dressed in black robes and hooded cloaks. An unobtrusive sniff reminded him that he really had to do something about that rotting flesh odor that had gotten into his garbs. He allowed himself a cynical smirk. When a hero was described in a book, they never mentioned how much he stank of blood and various body parts.

When he walked into the tavern, he noticed the little servant boy was hurrying around trying to take orders, make them, and serve them. Garrett smiled as the little boy struggled to keep up with the patronage. The boy caught sight of the thief and beamed at him, despite his frantic expression while he tried to keep up with the orders. Garrett smiled back as he went to his room. Once there, he picked up both his heavy bags and walked back out, down the streets, and to the stables.

There was a large board that showed the arrival and departure times of the coaches. Looking for one that would depart of Letheritzia, he was pleasantly surprised that there was one that was leaving in fifteen minutes. He sat down and waited patiently for the coach to arrive.

There was a distant clattering, and then the coach appeared in the small stall. An attendant at the podium announced the arrival of the coach, also denoting its next destination and the fee. Garrett got up and stood in line, ignoring the looks of disgust from the others in line. He sniffed himself again. All right, he really did smell. He'd take a bath in Letheritzia. He probably wasn't wearing the fashion of the times, either. Well, isn't that too bad, he thought. Man who saves the world can't afford to look the part. Handing the coach driver his money, he boarded the carriage and took a seat toward the back. It was a long transport carriage, about twenty feet in length and ten in width. It could easily carry forty passengers. Garrett sat and relaxed in the soft seat. He didn't care that the rest of the passengers left a large buffer between them and him. He didn't care that people who passed him whispered about his odd looks. He didn't care that people moved significantly faster by him. He just looked out the window as the background changed from village to landscape to forest to plains. He smiled. He was finally guaranteed there.

It was dark as the first signs of city light appeared on the horizon. Garrett looked out the window and smiled, then laughed like a maniac as the city walls grew into focus, then its massive gates, then its city streets, and finally its stable. Garrett smiled and laughed to the point of tears. At last he had made it. At last he was in the City of Life. At last he was done with his goddamn journey.

At last he was at his new home.

Chapter 10