Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35 Galvin, Aaron (classic fiction txt) 📖

you’re here sitting with me still, I’d say Declan Dolan succeeded in that final act. No greater love than that, either. Any good father would say the same.”

“Well, I wish he would’ve saved himself,” Lenny growled back. “Him being here would’ve done all of you’s more good than me.”

“Might be you’re right, ‘specially if you keep on sulking the way you are now,” said Tom, going on despite the look Lenny gave him. “From what Vasili tells me, it was you who saved him and your father from the Orcs down in the ice tunnels. I’ve heard whispers too that it was the younger Dolan who went into the water to lure the Orcs back. Not just once either. Went out and did it again to stir enough courage in the other Selkies who were sitting on the sidelines to dive in and take action and arms against those soldiers too.”

“So?” Lenny shrugged. “Pop did the same thing before he got hurt. Vasili would’ve done it too, if I hadn’t went in first.”

“Maybe he would’ve, maybe not,” said Tom. “But the truth is we can ‘maybe’ things all day long, Dolan. That’s half the reason I never liked that word. Give you one guess who taught me different.”

Lenny rolled his eyes. “Pop.”

“That’s right,” said Tom. “So, maybe you oughta give yourself a little more credit, kid. ‘Cause this war that’s coming? The one you and me both know is waiting up ahead of us in Bouvetøya? Maybe even beyond? Our side is gonna need people like you who know how to lead and take action, Dolan.”

“You lead them, then,” said Lenny. “All the people who ever followed me just get killed.”

“Then it’s lucky for those who follow you next that you already know how to bear that burden,” said Tom. “The real lessons in life don’t come easy, kid. Losing your father? Your friends and crew? It’s a heavy price, I know, son. Believe me, I do. Nothing harder than those lessons. But it’s a price that hardens you too. Helps you to see and understand things that most others can’t, or won’t, all so that you can spare them from the same.” Tom sighed. “Yeah, or maybe sometimes you just choose to forget it all instead ‘cause it’s easier to close your eyes and pretend that everything’s one way and not the other.”

“Like what?” Lenny asked.

“Like imagining that you can live with yourself if and when you make it back to wherever it is, or whoever it is, you’re trying to get back to,” said Tom. “All the while, you go on knowing others won’t ever make it back. That you could’ve done something about it all, but maybe you didn’t. Or maybe you tried and it failed all the same. Those are the kinds of poisons that’ll really eat at you, Dolan. Eat at your soul more than any loss ever will.”

Thoughts of Declan swelling in his mind, Lenny shook his head. “I don’t know about that.”

“I do,” said Tom. “And much as you miss your father now, much as you’ll miss him all the rest of your days, at least you can live with knowing he made his choice and did right by you and everyone else. That he held true to that choice and his convictions, right till the end, no matter the cost to himself. A man and father who can do that, why, I’d say he’d be right proud to go off and swim them waters of Fiddler’s Green. Aye, and rest easy knowing he did all he could to leave the world a better place for his having been in the thick of it.”

Lenny chewed on that awhile before speaking again, imagining his father lazing on his back in the green waters of Salt lore, looking up at a night sky filled with stars. Maybe even swimming with Racer, Paulo, and all the others gone before, all of them waiting for others to come and join them. Sniffing, rubbing his nose with the back of his Selkie sleeve, Lenny looked over to Tom Weaver, the giant man likewise glassy-eyed and staring at the darkened tunnel they ran from. “Hey, Tommy.”

“Yeah?”

“Your son will know those things about you too,” said Lenny. “Once we get you and Garrett back together.”

Tom smiled wistfully. “I hope so, Dolan. I been dreaming about that day longer than I care to count now . . . see him and my wife again. Try to tell them . . .” He shook his head, licking his lips. “Try to explain to them where I’ve been all this time. That there wasn’t a day gone by I haven’t stopped fighting to get back to them.”

“They’ll know,” said Lenny. “You’ll tell them. Or I will, if anything happens to ya.”

“Appreciate that,” said Tom. “And nothing personal, but I hope to tell them myself.”

Lenny snorted. “Hear, hear.”

Tom nodded. “I suppose all things being equal, we gotta figure us a way to get past them Orcs waiting on us in Bouvetøya first.”

Lenny stewed on the thought, remembering the pit stop they had made when being taken on the way down to Røyrkval. His father had been with him then, Declan warning Lenny to keep back from the door when all others had surged for any hint of light or air. Lenny sneered at the memory of the Orcs waiting on them the moment the doors were opened, the soldiers driving back the Selkie prisoners with their spears only to load still more chained others inside. But will they do the same when we’re going back the other way? Lenny wondered. He glanced at Tom Weaver. “You got a plan?”

“I got the inklings of one,” said Tom. “But, after seeing you wander off back here alone, I thought just maybe you might be cooking something up too. Care to swap ideas?”

“I got nothing,” said Lenny. “It’s like I said . . . Pop was the real planner. All my calls ever do is land me