“Then what are you?”
Smirking, the Melkai possessing Michael said, “You know what I am. After all, I’ve returned for the same reason you have!”
He charged, sword raised to strike.
Aisic roared and let loose his flames once again, but the prince ran through them and stabbed forward. The sword scraped across the scales on Aisic’s face, but Aisic quickly shot out one claw and caught it, lifting the weapon high as the prince came up with it.
I’m getting too wounded. I have to finish this now!
He lashed out with his tail, but the prince quickly pulled his sword free from Aisic’s grip, and with a thrust, impaled the blade through the attacking appendage. Aisic yelped as pain shot right up his spine, but he ground his teeth and tried to ignore it. This wound wasn’t fatal, and he now knew what he had to do.
Aisic raised his wings and flapped them down as hard as he could. Ash blew everywhere. He shot up, and with the sword still in his tail, the prince ascended with him. Aisic’s wounds made it harder to fly, but he had to get rid of the Melkai before he killed him.
He flew higher as the prince again held tightly to the hilt of his sword, his body trailing behind Aisic’s tail. Before the prince could try to climb up Aisic’s massive body, Aisic stopped and spun, flicking out his tail in the same angle from which he had been stabbed. The sword dislodged, and like a shooting star, the prince’s glowing, armored form flew across the sky, down toward the earth.
Aisic sighed in relief now that there was some distance between them, but he knew from his first attack that this tactic would not have killed the prince. He began to doubt that it would’ve even wounded him. If the Melkai could move from body to body, the only way to defeat him would be to help Nathan reseal the barrier to the Melkairen. If Nathan failed, nothing would be able to get in that monster’s way.
At least he was safe for now.
Feeling suddenly faint, he flapped weakly and descended into the forest, his wings barely having the energy to support him. As he came to the trees, he slowly began transforming back into his human form. His tail shrunk back to become the blade, his wings reforming to become the cross guard, and as he dropped to the ground, the plates of his armored scales retracted back to become the scabbard.
He collapsed onto the dirt of the forest track next to his sword, exhausted and wounded from the fight and only able to guess at who or what would come across him next.
Chapter 8: The Man in the Woods
Kendra’s boot heel slid on the wet mud. Her leg kicked out, and she waved her arms to regain her balance. Instinctively, Laine reached out and caught hold of the girl’s shoulder to steady her.
“Thanks,” Kendra said as Laine let her go.
“The path is treacherous,” Laine muttered and continued along the track. “Be more careful.”
Having packed up their campsite early in the morning, Kendra sluggishly followed her through the upper parts of the forest. They circumvented the thick Kydian trees and made their way up a narrow ridge of dirt and thick roots.
They had been hiking for most of the morning now, and Laine could tell by Kendra’s slowing pace that she was becoming exhausted, but Laine was determined to walk throughout the day. She was held up a full day in Kydia and needed to regain the ground she had lost.
From the ridge, they could see right down over the sharp banks of the forest, but the trees blocked everything in the far distance from view. Kendra dawdled slightly, appearing to be scanning their surroundings for a place to sit down while Laine’s focus was straight ahead. Laine strode onward, and Kendra skipped to catch up with her.
“What you did back in Kydia was amazing!” Kendra said. “I mean, you had all of those huge men running for their lives and you didn’t even need to attack them. It was incredible!”
Laine shrugged. “It was nothing.”
“Nothing?” Kendra cried. “You had them tripping up over themselves trying to get away. Only moments before they were thinking that we weren’t even a threat, and then bam! It was pretty amazing, Laine.”
Laine smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it was.”
“The greatest thing about it is that you didn’t even have to hurt anyone!” Kendra replied, turning back to the road.
Laine’s smile became a frown. “What do you mean? Don’t you think they deserved it?”
Kendra sighed. “Even so, if you had hurt them, I would have had to stay around and heal them.”
Laine’s eyes widened. “Why? They were going to attack us!”
“I know, I know.” Kendra bit her lip to quash a remark, but then shook her head and said it anyway. “It’s the healer’s code.”
“Healer’s code?” Laine scrutinized the term. It left a bad taste in her mouth.
Kendra nodded. “It’s a code that was created from the old Kydian Tree Keeper philosophy. You see, all full-blooded Kydians love life, especially of the trees as Kydia itself used to be covered in them. But after the war, Kydians became the minority and these new people came to live here: foreign races that had no love for life as we did. That’s why Kydia changed so much after the war.”
Laine listened, not interrupting. All her history lessons had been made up of stories about the monarchy and past wars, but this sounded like actual, modern-day, cultural politics.
“Anyway, the Kydians who believed in this philosophy turned it into the healer’s code to protect life. For instance, if you had to hurt those people, I would have had to make sure you didn’t kill them, and if we were walking along and there was a wounded stranger in our path, I would have to help him. Does that make sense?”
Laine bit her fingernail, trying to decide whether or not to add her own views on the subject. It would be a long trip, and she didn’t want to have an ongoing argument with the girl. Of course, the idea of helping people made sense, but it was naive to think that all people would be worthy of help. As Callahan had demonstrated, not all those in need of help deserved it.
“Helping a friend is one thing, but helping an enemy or even a stranger is another thing entirely.”
“But that’s the idea behind the code. Don’t you see? We believe all life is equal, enemy or ally, it makes no difference.” Kendra smiled and looked down. “It’s dumb, I know.”
“Different yes, but not dumb. Of course, it would depend on the circumstances,” Laine said, trying not to sound too dismissive. “Now that I’ve heard that from you, I don’t think I would know what to do if I ran into a wounded stranger. I guess it would depend on the circumstances.”
Laine turned her attention back to the road, noticing how narrow the ridge they were walking on was becoming. They had to walk single file just to get through. The path was not only narrow but slippery, the rain from the night before dampening the already muddy track.
“Be careful,” Laine warned again, voice rising. “As I said before, the path is not to be trusted.”
Kendra’s eyes suddenly widened, and she cried out, “A bridge!” and ran past Laine, despite Laine’s clear warning.
Arriving next to the bridge, she leaned against its outer railing and sighed in relief. As soon as Kendra’s hand touched the wood, Laine noticed the muddy bank around it begin to shift.
“Don’t stand there!” she shouted.
Kendra responded with a perplexed, raised-eyebrow expression. A single dirt clod fell from the side of the bank. Then with a lurch, the entire outer corner gave way underneath her. Kendra screamed and waved her arms to balance herself on the failing ground. Laine ran up to the bridge, reaching out her hand to catch her. She missed by an inch.
“Help!” Kendra screamed.
Laine’s shocked eyes caught Kendra’s for just a moment before the ground below Kendra separated from the hill in a mudslide. She hit the dirt on her butt and began rolling down the bank, behind the bushes and out of sight. Her screams faded as the falling earth from the slip vanished with her.
Laine ground her
teeth, hand still outstretched. “Damn it!” she hissed. She stood there, staring pensively down the bank’s steep drop, still holding her breath. Then she whirled about and screamed in frustration, “Argh, you idiot!”
This was not part of her plan to find the key, in fact, this went completely against her plan; indeed, it tied her plan in a veritable knot.
“Going down to get her will waste even more of my time, and the hill doesn’t go down for a while still!”
The stupid girl! I warned her twice to be careful!
Laine growled and looked at the links of the bridge’s structure, now visible after the erosion. It still looked stable enough to cross. Throwing caution to the wind, she strode across the bridge. It led to a slope going up to the summit before going down again. She would have to go in an entire loop just to get back on the track again. Her feet pounded along the bridge in anger as she contemplated what she should do, whether it would matter to Kendra if she went back for her or not.
“Melkairen!” she cursed.
We’ve only known each other for a couple of days. I mean, what is she to me really?
She sighed. The girl was naive and clumsy and . . . well-meaning. Laine shook her head and blew out her cheeks, trying to revive the cold, hardened side of her that hadn’t flinched when the knights had died. However, as she thought of Kendra’s smile, her strawberry blonde hair that reminded her of her mother, she couldn’t muster it.
No, she was a nice girl, and you promised to help her. You can’t abandon her like this!
Although angry at the prospect of having to go find her, she still hoped that Kendra was alright after her fall. Laine had told Kendra when they left Kydia that if they ever got separated, she should head downhill where there was a river passing through the forest at its base. She’d assumed the separation would be because of a Melkai attack or Callahan, but she’d hoped they wouldn’t have to use the rendezvous point.
If only there was a quicker way to find her, some way to get a bird’s eye . . .
An idea dawned on her, and she removed her cloak to summon Terachiro. She flicked her arm, and her cloak flew up. Her giant bat glided down in its place, perching on the bridge railing, long talons gripping the wood, ready to do her bidding.
“Terachiro, go find the girl,” she commanded, pointing in the direction Kendra had fallen.
Spreading its wings, Terachiro flew off, swooping between the large trees and out of sight.
Laine’s shoulders lowered, and she continued walking. The bridge was a long dark old thing that looked like it had been there for a long time, and by the solidness with which it held her footfalls, she assumed that its wooden supports went deep into the damp soil. She strode across it, looking over the side to see if she could see anything through the trees, but the brush was too thick and blocked her view. A bird flew through the branches which averted her attention for just a moment as she arrived at the end of the bridge.
She turned back at a groaning sound ahead of her. The wooden railing blocked her view, but she heard it again: a low, husky moan of pain coming from deep within a man’s throat. Apprehensive, she picked up her pace to a jog and saw there was a wounded man lying on the track.
You’re kidding. What are the odds?
“Please . . . help me . . .” the man whispered as Laine came upon him.
Laine looked down at the man, analyzing his state. He had several nasty wounds up his body. If she was to find Kendra as quickly as possible, she couldn’t waste time on this stranger. However, Kendra had been a stranger in need of her help when they had first met as well.
Is it because he’s a man that I’m hesitating to help him?
Her jaw clenched in trepidation. Who knew how he got here? He could have been on the wrong end of a robbery, or maybe he was a robber who was incompetent or even turned on by his own crew. He could have done any number of crimes in his past—likely, or he could have been a hero who was on bad times—unlikely. Still, how much worse would she be if she just left him here to die? He was hurt and probably dying so there was no way he would have superiority over her in this situation, but . . . would he later?
Can I judge this person just because he’s of the opposite sex? Am I that shallow?
The man stared up at her. He was about six-foot-four, and had auburn hair and golden brown eyes. He wore a torn white shirt that was covered in blood from his wounds and loose-fitting pants that were also soaked in blood. From the stains, she could see where the blows had been dealt: one was on his back, another on his neck, and there was a cut on his face, all of which looked shallow enough not to be fatal. Then she spotted a deeper gash on his lower leg, blood still seeping from it.
“How did you get like this?” Laine asked.
“I was set upon . . .” the stranger replied, “by a Melkai.”
“And you survived?” She crossed her arms. “Highly unlikely.”
“I managed to escape, fortunately.”
“With those wounds, I doubt you could have gotten far.”
His worst wound was on his left calf muscle which looked to have been run through. He couldn’t have run away with it. Such an injury would have crippled him. The pool of blood was deeper than the others, and if the leg wasn’t bound, he could possibly die of blood loss.
The man shrugged. “It must not have liked the taste of me. It didn’t search for me for very long after I managed to get away.”
Laine smirked at this and looked around for any sign of evidence that disproved his claim. “Well, there aren’t any other tracks besides your own . . . which seem to have come out of nowhere.”
“It dropped me from the trees. Do you see the sticks that fell around me?”
Laine nodded at the twigs and leaves scattered around him. “Checks out, I guess.”
She knew from her first glance that it wouldn’t take much to stop the bleeding and save his life, but she still hesitated. Something about him put her on edge, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Kendra’s words “All life is equal” sprang up in her head, and she winced.
Stupid girl with her stupid idealism.
“Alright, fine.”
She quickly went to work, pulling a roll of gauze from inside her cloak, and knelt down to study his wound. She pulled up his pant leg, the material thickly caked with his dark blood. Tearing away the cuff, she went about cleaning and binding his wound. It wouldn’t have been enough to allow it to heal completely, but it would stop him from bleeding to death.
The man’s body twitched with laughter. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to help me for a moment . . . but thank you.”
“Well, if I hadn’t lost my friend just before I came by you . . .” Her eyebrows knitted in frustration. “She’s a healer, you see, and could have fixed you up like it had never happened.”
And now you’ve held me up from getting to her.
“You have lost your friend, too? Well, that is unfortunate,” he said in his gravelly voice, sounding amused. “I have also lost my retainer, the one I am to protect. We have a shared situation, you and I. Maybe we should help each other.”
Laine smiled, amused. “I don’t think so. I bet you can barely walk with that leg as it is.”
“All the more reason,” the man said. “Don’t worry. With a tree branch, I’ll be faster than you might think. Don’t suppose you could find one around here?” he asked, looking at the thick branches on the trees all around them with a playful smile.
Laine couldn’t help but find herself smiling also, but then shook her head. “How do I know you won’t just slow me down?”
“We’ll make up time by searching together,” the man insisted. “You’re helping me. Is it so strange that I’d want to return the favor?”
Laine’s decision was beginning to sway even as she stood up to start walking again. “Even if you can walk, how would you even be able to recognize my friend?”
“How many pe
ople do you think travel this forest? I doubt two people would be too hard to find.”
She turned back to the path hesitantly but still did not leave him.
“Please, let me return the favor,” he insisted, his voice soft this time.
She ground her teeth but turned back to one of the large trees around them. She cast her blue-blade spell, using the glowing blade of her hand to snap off a thick branch. She tossed it toward the man.
“Fine. If you say you can walk, then walk!” Laine shouted.
Faster than she had expected, the man staggered to his feet, leaning on the branch.
“Ugh, all right, but once we find my friend, I’m leaving you. Got it?”
“I guess that’s fair,” the man said, walking to her side with the stick as a crutch and a smile on his face. “I’m Aisic by the way.”
Laine took in his smile and returned it with a frown. “You better have good eyesight.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And if we find your friend before we find mine and then you leave me, I’m going to kill you for reneging on our deal. Got it?”
He nodded. “Got it.”
“Laine,” she replied grudgingly and strode ahead.
Aisic shrugged and started hobbling along after her. Laine didn’t know why, but she felt safer traveling with him. Yet, with her abilities and his injury, she could only put it down to his size being useful as a deterrent to anyone they happened to cross paths with. Either that or it was the prospect of being alone again that he was truly saving her from.
She shook her head to rid the thought from her mind and continued, gradually slowing to a pace Aisic could more easily keep up with.
Chapter 9: Reunion
In his dream, everyone towered over him. He was being pulled along a tiled walkway by a tall man in a dark cloak. Finally, the man let him go and gestured for him to explore the Terratheist Castle. He knew the place well, but strangely it felt like it was his first time visiting. He found a beautiful courtyard filled with gardens that were clustered with the colors of different flowers.
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