Dear Reader,
I am incredibly honored that you've made it this far in my book. Maybe my writing isn't quite so bad? :-) Yet, this is the end. The last chapter. No, it's not the finished work. In fact, since I completed the "first draft," I have added about 3,000 more words and I've barely made it to the second chapter in the reading and rewriting process. I am not happy with the professionalism, the quality, and the flow of the story, but it will do as the first draft. Still, this is the last that I will be posting on here. I have in times past reposted chapters when I changed something, but now that the complete first draft is done, no more revisions will be posted. Instead, you will be invited to read the final product, once it has been published by Little Dozen Press. Until then, if you have any comments, please share. I hope you have enjoyed Aquila and her story as much as I have enjoyed penning...er, typing it on paper.

Sincerest Gratitude,
Haley Crenwelge



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Chapter 14

Aquila shuddered at the thought of being attacked by a bird with brass claws and beak. Maybe that was why she felt like she was being watched the whole time. Suddenly the last part registered in her head. A man had stumbled into town half dead from such an attack. Aquila pulled the horses to a stop and turned her full attention on the man. He was not so tall, thin, but had a full head of blond hair above his green eyes that were a little too close together to deem handsome. “That man that came into town, did he live?”
“He is still alive. He was on the brink of death at the beginning, but Doctor Hagan is the best doctor around and he was able to spare his life. He got tore up pretty bad. Had an arrow in one leg and in his back. Looked like the bird grabbed him by the shoulders and knocked him over and then did a work on his back—oh, excuse me, my lady, I did not mean—“
“No, do not apologize. Where can I find this man?” Aquila was almost desperate.
“In the doctor's office, just down the street on the right, just beside the livery stable.” The man climbed onto the bench. “Allow me to drive you there.”
Aquila relinquished the reigns, half hoping the man was her husband and half hoping he was not. The poor man, whoever he was.
A moment later the man pulled back on the reigns and nodded his head towards a nice shanty with a beautifully kept yard. “That be the doctor's home and office. Go right on in.”
“Thank you, sir,” Aquila quickly scrambled down from the wagon. Turning back halfway to the door, she hurried back to the back of the wagon and scooped the babies out of the cradle.
The man climbed down and tethered the horses to the fence. “Have a good day, Madam.”
“Thank you,” Aquila shouted back to him as she burst through the door. “Doctor!”
A short, white haired, portly gentleman appeared, a towel in his hands, his eyebrows going up at the sight of the three crying babies. “May I help you?”
“Yes. The man you have here who was attacked by a Stymphalid, may I see him?” Aquila asked.
“You may, but not with those infants. They will disturb his—“ “Aquila!” someone shouted from a back room.
Aquila almost wilted at the familiar sound of her husband's voice. Ignoring the doctor, she rushed to the back room where the voice had come from. What she saw when she went through the door melted her spirit and she dropped to her knees beside the bed and sobbed. “I thought you were dead!”
Trouble smiled as he gently tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. “Shh, my love. It is all right. I am not dead.”
The doctor appeared in the room and took the babies one by one to another room. When they were alone, Aquila moved to the headboard and softly caressed her husband's face.
Trouble looked her up and down and then frowned. “You have lost a lot of weight.”
Aquila sniffed and tried to smile. “I needed to lose weight.”
“Yes, but not so quickly. You went hungry, did you not?”
“Y—yes. But I am all right.”
“Why are you here?”
“Sir Skelumu hired a new man for your job and told me I had to get out.”
“I heard a wagon. How did you get acquire a wagon?”
“Sir Briggs had one that he kept behind the livery stable.”
“He just gave it to you?”
“No, I traded him the pendant for it.”
“Aquila—“
“No, it is all right,” Aquila quickly assured him. “He was a member of the Royal Guard and was grateful for it. He said it belonged in the depths of the sea and willingly gave the wagon to me in return. Sir Briggs is a nice man.”
Trouble sighed. “My love...I have not ceased to think of you day and night. I am so sorry for abandoning you for so long.”
“No, do not think about it. You could not have helped what happened. Trouble...two weeks after you had left, six men rode into town with a Stymphalid. It had your dagger in its chest.”
Trouble nodded. “I plunged that dagger into its chest all right. I wish I had thought to pull it out, it was a handy thing. How did you know it was my dagger?”
“I went up to see what all of the commotion was about and noticed the inscription. I asked them where they got the dagger and they said they bought it off of a peddler a month or so back.”
Trouble frowned. “That is odd. Why would they lie like that?”
Aquila shrugged and laid her head on the pillow beside his. “I do not know, but that does not matter now. You are alive and getting stronger by the minute, no doubt.”
“Yes. Soon I will be up and walking again.”
Aquila giggled.
“What is so funny?”
“Remember how we met?”
“Yes, quite clearly.”
“It took you months before you could find the strength to get up and move about.”
Trouble's frown deepened. “Yes. But I hope it shall be quite different now. I do not wish to spend months on my back again.”
Looking up at his face, Aquila slipped a hand beneath the covers and patted him safely on his chest. “I am sure it will not take quite so long, my big man, now that you have your wife and children to cheer up your days.”
Trouble kissed her nose and smiled. “I am sure.”

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Two days later Trouble was testing his weight on his one good leg and a crutch the doctor had provided. Aquila stood close by, prepared to catch him if he should fall.
“You could not catch me if I fell!” Trouble had frowned.
“I carried you up a mountain once before, I can catch you if you fall,” Aquila had insisted.
Trouble had just shrugged then and let her be. Once satisfied that the crutch would hold and he could move about comfortably, Trouble moved outside for some fresh air. A falcon soared overhead. Aquila watched it for a moment before gripping her husband's arm. “Trouble!”
“Yes?”
“The falcon. It is one of my brothers or sisters.”
“The falcon is your brother or sister?” Trouble frowned.
“No! It is carrying a missive from one of my brothers or sisters,” Aquila explained.
“Oh. I will get it.”
“Careful. They do not take to strangers very well,” Aquila cautioned.
Trouble slowly and carefully moved to the railing a few feet away that the falcon had perched on. It eyed him suspiciously and moved further down the rail. Stopping not even an arms length away, Trouble gradually lifted his free hand towards the bird. Ever so slowly, he moved towards the bird until he could reach the missive it held.
He returned to Aquila once the task was completed and opened the small parchment. “My dear brothers and sisters, Come home.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did, tears streamed down Aquila's face. “Oh, Wren!”
Trouble stood there, for a moment, at a loss for what to say. He had not been expecting this any more than she had.
“It is over. I can go home!”