Our travelling routine was extremely efficient, mostly due to Val’s strict scheduling and our forced adherence to it: break camp before dawn, travel until midday, one short break to relieve bodily functions, travel until it was too dark for the horses to continue, make camp, sleep, repeat. Most of my waking hours in the wagon were filled with consistent annoyed comments from Marin about her older sister’s stringent rules, despite Lia’s best efforts to justify the urgency of our mission. The pettiness of her complaints was strangely comforting to me; the trivial nature of her “not enough bathroom breaks” grievances reminded me that we were no longer in mortal danger, a fact that continually slipped my mind.
My intermittent hibernation finally ended on our third day of travel. I awoke in the back of the wagon late in the afternoon to the sound of Marin and Lia’s laughter. Although I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, I knew that I was back to full strength before my eyes opened. I rose with a satisfied grin and stretched, which caught Lia’s attention.
“Lux! I’m sorry if we woke you,” she said sheepishly.
“Don’t worry about it. I’d say it’s about time I stopped lying around all day,” I chuckled, moving up to the front of the wagon to take a seat on a small crate. “What have I missed?”
Marin snorted. “Trees, fields, cold wind, and no breaks.” She craned her neck past the side of the covered wagon and looked behind us. “We just drove by some flowers, so I guess that makes today pretty eventful.”
“I see,” I said, nodding enthusiastically, “very exciting.” Squinting off into the distance, I looked for any recognizable landmarks that would help me to gauge our progress. When I came up unsuccessful, I looked back to Marin. “When do you expect we’ll get to Yoria?”
“We’ll be close tonight, but it’ll take a few more hours in the morning before we get to the city proper,” she explained. “If we keep our current pace, which I’m sure we will, we’ll get to Tolamar just after sunrise, and you’ll get to the walls well before noon.”
I cocked my head to the side. “You aren’t coming to the city? I thought you were moving back to live with your parents.”
“That’s right, you were asleep!” Lia chimed in. “While we go take care of things with Val, Marin is going to go meet my parents. My father could always use some help running his business, and with her experience managing a store, I’m sure they’ll figure out something for her to do!”
“I’m not good at sitting around doing nothing,” Marin explained. “I’ll go insane if I don’t find a job. Just living at home, sitting around with my parents…” she trailed off with a shudder.
“I think that’s a great idea,” I said, laughing at her exaggerated reaction. “You and Marten will definitely get along. Plus, given how much he likes your sister, there’s no way he’ll say no to you working with him just for the off chance that she comes by to visit every now and then.”
She spun around and glared at me. “He’s going to give me a job because I’m good at what I do, not because my sister is a famous hero.”
“Of course!” I held up my hands to appease her. “I’m just saying, don’t be surprised if he brings her up in conversation. More than once.”
Lia gave an embarrassed chuckle as Marin grumbled something under her breath. Her bad mood was short lived, and she quickly shifted back to the bubbly, upbeat personality I had come to expect from her. She launched into a series of stories about her time running her store in Attetsia, both before and during the occupation, and about her layabout ex-fiancé Daeron.
It was difficult to piece together the missing details from her retelling of events, but it sounded as if the two had fallen for each other while he was in Yoria for a business deal; after she made the decision to go with him back to Attetsia, she had discovered he hadn’t been entirely truthful about either the successful nature of his business, nor his dedication to running it. Luckily, she found that her natural aptitude for both customer relations and business management far exceeded Daeron’s, and she quickly took over running the shop herself. By the time he left to join the Unbound he had given her complete control of the business, which she intended to sell for a healthy profit.
The three of us traded stories over the course of our uneventful ride across the countryside, laughing and bantering like old friends. Marin’s extroverted energy was difficult to match, but it was a refreshing change of pace after the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety that had clung to us while on our mission, and I was more than happy to take a backseat in the conversation. I had hardly noticed the fading light around us before Val pulled her wagon off to the side of the road ahead, signaling our new camping spot for the night.
I hopped out of the wagon as soon as it had parked for the night and jogged over to meet Val. As she stepped down from the driver’s bench and noticed my approach, her eyebrows twitched up in momentary surprise. “Lux. You are awake.”
“I am indeed,” I answered with a chuckle.
“That is good.” She held her hands behind her back and looked away. “I was beginning to grow worried that you required more serious medical attention.”
I waved away her concern. “Rest has always been the best medicine for me. That, and home cooked meals. I only had one of the two this time, so it took a bit longer to get back to normal.” I nodded my head towards the side of the wagon. “How’s he been so far?”
“Quiet and cooperative,” Val answered, “though that is likely due in large part to his new restraints.” I grinned at the idea of the Strategist being unable to speak, sitting silent and frustrated day in and day out. Our conversation faded away, and I found myself awkwardly waiting for her to continue, while she seemed to do the same. “Lux, I am—”
“Hey, could—” We both spoke up at the same time, ratcheting the strange tension between us up another notch. “Sorry,” I said, holding up a hand, “you first.”
She nodded and cleared her throat. “There is a matter that I had hoped to speak with you about, if you awoke before we reached Yoria. Privately.”
“Conveniently, I was just about to ask the same of you,” I replied, letting out a small sigh of relief. “Let’s talk after we get the camp set up and have something to eat. Lia can keep an eye on the Strategist for you.”
“That is amenable,” she agreed. “Thank you, Lux.”
“No, thank you,” I said, giving her one last nod before I turned to head back to Marin’s wagon. My brow furrowed the instant she was behind me as I thought about what could be important enough for her to ask for a private meeting. With our return to Yoria imminent, I knew I had to talk with her about what she would tell the King about me during her debriefing. To my own surprise, I had grown to trust her a great deal over the course of our mission, but that trust was infinitely outweighed by my contempt for Virram; a report given to him in good faith could still be dangerous to Lia and myself if Val told him certain details of what had transpired in Attetsia.
That’s what I wanted to talk about, but what does she want to talk about? The question lingered in the back of my mind as I helped Lia and Marin make camp. When our small fire was strong enough to span against the cold night air, we prepared a meal of roasted apples with asperfruit jam alongside our usual trail rations of hard tack and dried meat. While we worked, Val let the Strategist out of the wagon for his nightly bathroom break, then returned him to his mobile prison with his rations. When she had finished with her guard duties, she leaned against the side of the wagon across from the fire and watched me intently, seemingly uninterested in dinner.
I did my best to enjoy my meal and hold a pleasant conversation with Marin and Lia, but I could feel Val’s eyes boring a focused hole into my forehead the entire time. As soon as I finished my food, I leaned over to whisper in Lia’s ear. “I need to go talk with Val. Can you keep an eye on the Strategist for a bit?”
She nodded as she tapped her temple with two fingers, and I felt a faint rush of energy trace my body as her Detection magic scanned out thr
ough the camp. “I’m on it,” she whispered back.
Satisfied, I stood and took the opportunity to warm my hands by the fireside one last time before walking over to meet Val. “Shall we?” I asked quietly, waving my hand out before us. She followed me out to the back of Marin’s wagon, where we were out of both eyeline and earshot of the camp. I could still feel Lia’s mana running along the surface of my skin, but I knew she wouldn’t pry; although I intended to relay anything of importance to her when the secret rendezvous was over, it was important to me that what Val thought was a private meeting was indeed private.
I took a seat on the back edge of the wagon, and Val followed suit. The old wood groaned as it sagged under the weight of her heavy armor, and we both sunk a few inches closer to the ground. My legs swung restlessly over the side as I stared up at the stars and waited for Val to start the conversation. When she failed to do so, I eventually broke the silence myself. “So...you can turn invisible. That’s a neat trick.”
She turned to me with an impressively arched eyebrow. “I am unsure what you are referring to.”
“During the fight with the General. You appeared from nowhere in a flash of light and saved Lia at the last possible second,” I explained. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
“Oh.” She looked up into the night sky with a ponderous expression. “Do not thank me. I should never have let her fight the General alone; I was the only reason she was in danger to begin with.”
“Well, that’s not true at all,” I scoffed. “I’m the reason she was on the mission in the first place. Although, I guess you could blame Virram for that, which I do by the way. If you go back far enough you can really blame—”
Val held up a hand. “No. That was my fight, and I failed to act. Saving Lia was the least I could do, and even then, I would have failed if not for the Primes. If they had not answered my prayers, I am not sure I would have found the strength to fight.” She turned her hand slowly in front of her face, examining it in the dim starlight. “I was...unaware of what transpired, exactly.”
Spontaneous magic. Not surprising, given the circumstances. “What did you pray for?”
She shrugged. “I simply asked for the strength to give my life to save Lia’s.”
“Well...I’m glad that didn’t happen,” I said, unsure of how else to respond to the admission. I felt another uncomfortable silence coming on and cut it off before it could begin. “Sorry for distracting you; what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Her head turned towards me slowly, and her eyes fell to my scarred right hand. “When we left you alone in the courtyard, how did you survive?” I felt my stomach drop as the question caught me off guard. “I know you are a skilled fighter, but that was not a matter of skill; you were outnumbered fifty to one by a generous estimate. There were…” she trailed off, turning away as her voice fell to little more than a hoarse whisper. “There were not any bodies. Just blood and ash.”
I closed my eyes and saw the terrified faces of the men I slaughtered staring at me in vivid detail. “I did what I had to do to make sure we succeeded,” I muttered, absentmindedly tracing a jagged black scar across my palm with my thumb. “I can’t explain it further. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
There was a long moment of silence as she studied my hand with interest. “Those markings...I have seen them once before.”
The statement took me a moment to process, until the tortured face of another man I had marked floated to the forefront of my mind. “Jack. I assume he told quite a story.”
She gave me an odd look. “In a manner of speaking. His autopsy revealed—”
“Autopsy?” I interrupted her. “Did you say his autopsy?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Of the corpses found in the barracks on the night of your escape, Jack was the only one worth investigating. He appeared to have died from a self-inflicted stab wound, but his body was covered in mysterious black scars.” She gestured gently towards my hand for emphasis.
The news of Jack’s suicide would have affected me more powerfully, had I not already felt so sick and numb. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“I want you to explain what happened.”
“I can’t. Now, more than ever, I can’t.” I paused for a moment, then let out a frustrated sigh. “Power comes at a cost, Val. Sometimes, the cost is worth it. Sometimes it isn’t.” I buried my scarred hand inside my cloak. “We accomplished our mission. That’s all that’s important.”
“That is not enough, Lux,” she replied, her voice tremulous. “I need to give an accurate account of what transpired in Attetsia.”
“No, you don’t,” I said forcefully, turning to look at her face to face. “If you tell the King every detail of our mission, he’ll never let us leave the city alive.”
Her eyebrows flicked upwards as the last of her composure left her. “I am not sure what you mean.” She turned away, too late to hide the fear I saw in her eyes.
“Don’t lie to me. If Virram knows what Lia and I are capable of, he’ll demand that we keep working for him. If we refuse, he’ll have us killed.” I paused until she met my eyes again. “More accurately, he’ll attempt to have us killed. You probably know him better than anybody; do you think I’m wrong?”
The silence between us was all I needed as an answer. “I cannot lie to him,” she whispered eventually, avoiding the question.
“Then tell the truth. I distracted the guards outside while you and Lia snuck into the statehouse. You defeated the General with her help, while I took care of an unarmed priestess. You set the terms with the Strategist, and you convinced the Company to leave Attetsia without violence.” I stared intensely into her wide, olive eyes, hoping to find agreement. “All we want to do is leave, Val. I don’t care about payment, or honors, or anything else. Just let us leave.”
“You could accept his offer,” she said hopefully. “With your skills, you and Lia would easily climb up the ranks of Kaldan’s military. You could even join the Trinity Guard. Together, the three of us would bring Kaldan into a new age of safety and prosperity.”
I shook my head sadly. “I can’t do that, Val; I can’t keep living that life. All of the danger, the stress, the death...I don’t want that to become my whole life again. I want to be good for something other than bloodshed. I want peace, and happiness, and…” I paused as my honesty took me by surprise, “...and a family.” My eyes closed as my mind wandered to the memory of Alda and Amaya standing together, smiling at me. “I will never lose my family again.”
When my eyes reopened, I was shocked to see a tear streak down Val’s cheek. “I will do what I can to help you,” she said, her voice threatening to break at every word, “but I cannot make you any guarantees. While I believe the King will do—”
Her voice cut out abruptly as I hugged her around her shoulders. “That’s all I’m asking. Thank you, Valandra.” I felt her body freeze at my touch, but she quickly relaxed into the embrace, gingerly wrapping one arm under mine to return the gesture. Despite our occasional disagreements, I couldn’t deny that I had come to care about her over the course of our mission, and I felt a moment of sadness when I realized I would most likely never see her again after our debriefing with the King.
I heard her let out a single, sharp breath as her shoulders shook, but when I pulled away, she had already regained most of her lost composure, and any sign of the tears on her face had been wiped away. “It is the least I can do for you, after everything you have done for me,” she stated.
“Well, once we’re free to leave, you can consider us even,” I said with a chuckle. A small smile spread across her face as she gave me a nod in agreement. With a clap of my hands, I hopped to my feet and peered around the edge of the wagon. “Great! Now, unless you had anything else you wanted to talk about, I should get back to Lia. I’m sure she’s curious about where we disappeared to.”
She held a hand out to stop me. “Lux, there was…” she paused, looking away, “no
thing else.”
Her halting speech and downcast eyes informed me otherwise. “Are you sure? We won’t have much of a chance to talk after tonight.”
“Yes, I am sure. Thank you for speaking with me,” she replied. “You should return to Lia. I am going to patrol our perimeter.” Immediately, she stood and began to walk in the opposite direction of our camp.
“Alright. Be careful,” I called after her. I watched until she disappeared from sight in a thicket of trees, then shrugged and made my way back to camp. As much as I was distracted by the odd interaction she had left me with, I was satisfied with the outcome of our meeting. It was strange to feel even a small ray of hope after everything we had been through, but for the first time since leaving Yoria, I believed we had a chance of finishing our mission and moving on with our lives.
Marin was on her way out of camp when I entered. “Oh good, you’re back.” She looked out behind me into the darkness. “Where’s my sister?”
“She’s out on a patrol around the camp,” I answered. “I think she has a hard time sitting still, just like you.”
“That sounds about right.” She suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down. “What were you two talking about, anyway? Why so secretive?”
“Val was just explaining how our debriefing would go tomorrow: how to respond to certain questions, where we would go at what time, the order of—”
Marin brushed past me with a heavy sigh. “Boring!” she shouted over her shoulder, drawing the word out for emphasis. “I’m going to bed. You and Lia should come grab your bedrolls; I have a very important business meeting in the morning, so I’d like to sleep undisturbed.”
Restart Again: Volume 2 Page 33
