“That’s ENOUGH!” Hana yelled as she stood up and moved between the two. I shrunk back at her intensity; having never heard her voice go louder than a laugh, the power she suddenly exuded was intimidating. “Marlia, take a walk and cool off.” The two locked eyes for a tense moment before Lia threw up her hands and hopped out of the still-moving wagon, muttering under her breath as she went.
After another few seconds of heavy silence, Hana crossed the wagon and sat down on the box beside mine where Lia had been. “Marten, you know Lux is right.”
His mouth fell agape at the declaration. “I do NOT know Lux is right!”
“Yes, you do. We need to leave the country as soon as possible, and this is the only way to do it.” She turned to me with a serious expression. “Based on what you told us, you’re keeping Lia away from the bulk of the fighting on purpose, aren’t you?”
Her shrewd analysis surprised me. “Yes, that’s right. If I’m being honest, I would rather carry out this plan alone, but Lia would never allow it. If I factor her into the plans, at least I can try to keep her where the fighting will be at its least dangerous.” I paused for a moment, considering whether I had said too much. “Please don’t tell her I said that.”
She nodded. “You’re confident you can do this?”
“Yes. I’ll need to do some scouting to make a specific plan, but I have no doubt in my mind that I can keep us all safe.” I looked each of them in the eyes. “I swear that I’ll do what it takes to keep our family safe, whatever the cost. You’ll all get through that gate alive and unharmed. You have my word.”
Hana looked at Marten expectantly, and he recrossed his arms and looked away. “Fine. I still don’t like it, though.”
I moved to make my case again, but Hana put a hand on my arm and shook her head. “You should go check on Lia. He’ll be fine.”
“Good idea,” I agreed as I stood to leave. “Thank you. Both of you. I know this isn’t easy, but I promise it’ll be over soon.” Hana smiled, then moved back to sit beside Marten as I climbed out of the wagon into the snow. The twilight sky was filled with low, heavy clouds, and the surrounding fields were dark. Despite that, Lia was easy to locate via a clear set of footsteps leading away to a thicket of trees and a consistent mix of thuds and scrapes from somewhere inside.
As I wove through the trees, I was greeted suddenly by a snowball to the face. The cold snow stung against my cheeks, and I wiped away the lingering crystals to find Lia standing at the center of a clearing with a sly grin. “Sorry,” she called out unapologetically, “I thought you might have been my father.”
The Detection magic I felt from her confirmed the lie and brought a grin to my face. “Apology accepted,” I answered with a roll of my eyes as I approached. “You seem...less angry than I thought you’d be.”
She shrugged and kicked at the snow, looking away. “I shouldn’t have yelled at him. I guess I just forgot that all of this,” she paused to gesture in a vague circle with her hand, “isn’t normal. Plus, he isn’t scared for himself; he’s worried about the rest of us.” She crouched down and formed another snowball, then lobbed it at a tree with multiple snowy impacts already covering the trunk. “I’ll apologize when we go back.”
I made a snowball of my own and hit the tree next to hers. “That’s a very—”
“Don’t even think about saying mature,” she interrupted loudly with raised eyebrows.
I laughed, raising my hands in admission. “You’re right, you’re right.” Holding the edge of my cloak in each hand, I stepped forward and hugged her, wrapping her in the warming fabric. “You’re not the same girl from the dungeons anymore.”
Her arms wrapped around my waist. “And you’re not the same prisoner who broke me out.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said, nuzzling my face into the top of her head. “Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome,” she answered with a giggle. We stood together in the field for a time, quietly enjoying each other’s warmth until Lia broke the silence. “Are you sure we can do this?”
“Yes, I am,” I replied confidently. “They have no idea what we’re capable of, and I’m going to show them.” After a final squeeze, I took a step back and looked at her with determination. “After tomorrow, they’ll never try to harm our family again.” She gave me a small nod, but her downcast eyes told me there was more on her mind. “Are you scared?”
“No. Well, yes, but that’s not…” she trailed off as her brow furrowed in deep thought. “There’s always a chance that something could go wrong tomorrow, but I know we’re strong enough to get through it together.” She reached out and took my right hand in both of hers, holding it out gently between us. “I’m worried about you. Are you going to be okay? Are you going to stay...you?”
My heart sank as I saw a spark of fear in her eyes. “Lia...I can’t make you that promise, because I don’t understand all of this myself. If I had a choice, I would never use that power again.” I looked away, full of shame as the memories of my rampage in the plaza filled my mind. “I can promise you this, though: No matter what happens, I’ll always come back. As long as you’re around, I’ll never be lost for long. I know it’s not enough, but it’s what I can—”
She lunged forward and hugged me tightly, knocking me back a step. “I’ll always be here to bring you back. Always.”
I fought back against the lump that formed in my throat as I embraced her in return. “Thank you,” I whispered. I waited until I felt confident my voice wouldn’t break before speaking again. “Just one more day until we’re rid of this place. One more hurdle between us and the rest of our life.”
Lia looked up at me with a smile. “Nothing is going to stop us now. You still owe me my adventures; the Primes themselves couldn’t stop me from getting those now.” I saw Marten and Hana emerge from the wagon through my Detection as they began to prepare for dinner, and judging by the apprehensive expression on Lia’s face, she saw it, too. “I guess I should go apologize now.”
“The sooner the better, I think,” I replied. I could still feel the anxiety through her extended mana, and I formulated a quick plan to cheer her up. “I’ll stay here to give you a few minutes of privacy. Good luck,” I said, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. She took a deep breath, then nodded and turned to head back towards camp. When she was a few steps away, I crouched down and silently packed a snowball, then stood and threw it at the back of her head. It exploded with a satisfying spray of snow and left her black hair shimmering with icy crystals.
Her head whipped back to look at me and sent another flurry of snow from her hair to the ground. Her mouth was open in surprise, and her eyes burned with a playful fire. “What?” I asked, hiding my hands behind my back. “To be fair, you started it.” In response, she charged across the field and dove towards me, tackling me to the ground. With remarkable speed and efficiency, she mounted my chest, using her knees to pin my arms to the ground and scooping up a large handful of snow to dump unceremoniously on my face.
“Alright, okay, I yield!” I sputtered through the onslaught of snow. When I finally managed to sneak an arm out from beneath her knee and brush off my face, the back of my neck and the hood of my cloak were soaked with melted snow. She leaned back and let out a triumphant laugh; the movement shifted her center of gravity enough to allow me to rock her forward into my arms and flip her onto her back, reversing our positions in mere moments. I paused with my face and chest suspended just a few inches above hers. “You know, I could dump snow in your face, too, but I’m choosing not to because I’m such—”
My sarcastic remarks were interrupted as she stretched up and kissed me. For a brief moment, I forgot how we had ended up entangled on the ground or what waited for us in the future; the only thing that mattered was her lips pressed against mine, her hands running through my hair, and the radiating warmth of her body beneath me. My mind threatened to shut down entirely as I felt her aura intermingling with mine, and her consciousn
ess filtered into my head and sent another wave of overwhelming emotion through me.
I managed to break away from her long enough to catch my breath and laugh. “I think you should, uhm…” I trailed off, distracted by her suddenly sultry eyes and wicked grin. Shaking my head, I wedged my arms under her shoulders and flipped us over once again, landing on my back with her resting comfortably on my chest. “What were you going to do, again?”
“I can’t remember, I got distracted,” she said with a breathless voice before leaning in for another kiss. I laughed again and felt her lips smile against mine. My worries about our inevitable encounter at the Mountain Gate seemed so small and insignificant against the mountainous love I felt for her. Whatever soldiers waited for us, whatever preparations they had made, or whatever darkness sat dormant within me waiting for its next chance to take over didn’t matter: our bond would shatter them all.
After another blissful moment in the snow, I pushed us up into a sitting position, then sprang to my feet, carrying her up with me. I spun her around in a final, tight embrace, before setting her down to stand in front of me. “You should go apologize to your father now.”
She looked at me with an overexaggerated pout, her cheeks flushed. “You’re the worst, you know that?”
“That wasn’t the impression I just got,” I said, motioning down to our imprints in the snow.
It looked as though she were going to respond with another wry comment, but she instead just laughed and shook her head. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I echoed. “Now go on, back to camp with you. I promise I’ll come back at an opportune moment if you look like you’re in trouble.”
“You’d better!” she called out as she moved to the edge of the clearing. She hesitated at the treeline, glancing back at me one last time before disappearing from view.
I’m going to marry that girl. The thought brought a wide smile to my face as I strolled to a nearby tree to lean and wait for Lia’s apology to be over.
You shouldn’t lie to the poor girl like that, Elden. The cold, brutal voice of Amaya echoed through my head and sent a chill down my spine. Now you’ve gone and gotten her hopes up. I stood frozen in place, clenching my jaw in a furious silence. The world was quiet for a long moment before her voice cut through my mind again. Ignoring me doesn’t mean I’m wrong.
What the fuck do you think you know? I didn’t lie to her. It was infuriating that, of all possible times, the presence would show up when I had a rare moment of joy. You don’t know a thing about me, so you can fuck off with your advice. Preferably forever.
A cacophonous laugh made up of hundreds of voices thundered through my head, all bitter and cruel. I know you better than anybody, Elden. You’re not the kind of person who gets to be satisfied with a happy ending, and you know it.
No. You’re wrong. It’s going to be different this time, and I’ll kill anybody who tries to get in my way. Even you.
The voice changed again, and I heard the familiar sound of Kel sighing at me. Three lives lived, and still so naive. You’ll figure it out soon enough, though, and when you’re begging me to come back and help you...well, maybe I’ll consider it. You’ve been rather rude today.
As quickly as it had arrived, the presence vanished. I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding over the course of the conversation and gasped for fresh air. It’s not true. I can do it. I can live a normal life. I can be happy. The next few minutes passed slowly as I took deep, measured breaths in an effort to settle my shaken mind and tense body. I can do it. I can do it. I can be happy.
Off at camp, I saw Lia stand from her seat by the fire and hug Marten, and I took it as my cue to return. The smiles were wide around the camp as I approached, and Hana waved me over. “Thank you,” she said quietly, as to not be heard on the opposite side of the fire. “Whatever you said to Marlia certainly had an effect.”
“Oh, no thanks necessary,” I answered. “She was already determined to apologize before I found her.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Was she, now?” Her head tilted to one side as she watched her daughter with loving eyes. “She’s certainly grown into a lovely young woman lately, hasn’t she? So confident and mature.”
“Yeah, about that,” I chuckled. “You may not want to bring that up to her. I can tell you from experience that a comment about her maturity has a funny way of bringing out her immaturity.”
“Duly noted,” Hana laughed. “I suppose I should thank you for that as well. She’s never been as full of life as she has been after meeting you. You changed her life in a way nobody else could have.”
“I’m not so sure,” I admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, I love her, but…” Hana’s ears perked up at the mention of love, but she remained quiet and allowed me to continue. “...I have to wonder if she would have been better off without me. If I hadn’t made so many promises, or if I had left after she was home safe, you all could have lived your lives without all of this. No matter what I do, death and hardships seem to follow me.”
“Whatever we face tomorrow, or the next day, or the next hundred days, will have been worth it to see that smile,” she said with a nod to Lia, who was laughing loudly with her father. “There was nothing in Tolamar for Lia. Her potential was wasted on us; as much as we loved to have her home, we knew it wasn’t enough for her. After all of the rejected proposals, it was clear she was waiting for something, so we let her wait.” She turned to me and gave me a thorough look up and down. “I’m glad we did.”
My cheeks burned as I looked away. “Thank you, Hana. I needed to hear that.” A sudden thought took hold of me, and I turned to her excitedly and lowered my voice even further. “I just remembered that I wanted to ask you about Kaldanic marriage customs! I’m not sure what I should—”
“Lux!” Marin chirped loudly from her seat beside Lia. “I just finished dinner; come get it while it’s hot!”
I staved off a grimace and instead gave her a thankful smile. “We can discuss that later,” Hana whispered in my ear, “once our lives have settled down.” I gave her a grateful nod, then walked across camp to accept my dinner.
In spite of the danger waiting for us at the Mountain Gate, the meal we shared together was full of carefree conversation and laughter. Marten and Hana shared stories from Lia’s childhood, which were interrupted often and loudly with Lia’s own corrections. Marin joined in with more stories about her time in Attetsia with Daeron, further illustrating his ineptitude in all areas of life in an overly comical fashion. To my own surprise, I shared a few choice moments from my adventures with Lia during our day trip through Atsal.
The night stretched on as we continued to talk, lit by a full moon in the cloudless sky above and our slowly dying fire. Lia had dozed off with her arm intertwined with mine and her head against my shoulder, and Marin looked ready to follow her lead at any moment. Marten was finishing a particularly circuitous story about a merchant he met in Bale that had tried to swindle him out of a delivery fee. “...And so I packed up my wagon, waved goodbye, and took it all back with me without another word! Found another buyer in Yoria that was willing to pay in full,” he finished with a hearty laugh.
Hana nodded and patted him gently on the knee, her eyes glistening with a faraway quality that told me she had heard the story plenty of times before. She let out a loud yawn and stretched her arms over her head, bumping Marten intently with her shoulder. The signal was clearly received as he stood and held out a hand to help her up. “I suppose it’s time for us to leave you for the night,” he sighed. “We won’t want to be yawning tomorrow.”
“Thank you for the company,” Hana added. “It was nice to forget what’s waiting for us in the morning.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll have to do it again tomorrow night, then,” I responded with a grin. “We’ll all have quite the story to tell by then, I imagine.”
My voice woke Marin, whose forehead had dipped down to rest against the side of my arm. She looked up at me wit
h sleep-filled eyes, blinking slowly as she attempted to remember where she was. “This way, dear,” Hana called to her, waving towards the wagon. Marin nodded and stood to follow along behind them, but paused to give me a soft pat on the head before leaving without further comment. I grinned as I watched the group disappear into the back of the wagon before turning back to Lia, who had managed to fully fall asleep against my other shoulder.
I brushed a stray strand of hair from her face as I spoke into her ear. “I think you’ll be more comfortable sleeping in the wagon than on my arm.”
Her eyes flitted open, and she smiled as she met my eyes. “Oh, Lux. I was just having such a nice dream. We were at the inn we stayed at in Attetsia, and everybody was there. You and me, my parents, Marin, and...Val. Everybody was drinking and having fun.” She paused as her eyebrows furrowed, and her smile faded to a frown. “Do you think we’ll ever see her again?”
“If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you. Make sure that doesn’t happen.” The memory of my last words to Val echoed in my head, and I held back a grimace. “I don’t know.” Her eyes fell, and I rubbed her back in comforting circles. “I’ll say this, though; fate seems to have an odd sense of humor when it comes to me. It seems unlikely, but it’s not impossible, either.” I stood up and offered her a hand. “Now, let’s get you to bed.”
I walked her to the wagon and said my goodnights, then returned to the lonely campfire. One small kick of dirt and snow was enough to extinguish the sputtering coals, and I sat down in a clear spot beside the smoking pit. The sky was relatively free of clouds, and the light of the moon reflected off of the fresh snow to perfectly illuminate the world around me. Our nearby surroundings were similar to what we had driven through for the past week, with thickets of trees and bushes dotting the roadside, but the path ahead was barren and uninviting.
The mountains that separated Lybesa from Kaldan dominated the view before me, with peaks stretching up to the clouds and spreading unbroken to the north and south for as far as my eyes could see. To the northwest I could just make out the tips of the ivory towers of Atsal; we had taken an intentionally wide path around the city at my request, following smaller and less used dirt paths in an effort to avoid as many patrols as possible. From our current position, we would reach the main road between the city and the Mountain Gate after a half day of travel and pass through the gate itself by sundown.
Restart Again: Volume 3 Page 8
